#this was sitting in my drafts waiting for you all!
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virginia is for lovers | s.reid
summary: model!reader accidentally exposes their relationship through a soft launch instagram post
tags: model!reader x spencer, penelope included <3, smau
a/n: this is kinda short n pointless but i wanted a reason to write reader tweeting abt spencer and its been in my drafts for weeks so
word count: 1.1k
masterlist
Spencer had worked hard to keep you a secret.
Not because he wasn’t thrilled to be in your life, because he really, really was. Historically, things had a tendency to go south as soon as word got out, especially when it came to his personal life.
You had met in a bookstore. It was a short interaction; you were busy debating which translation of The Stranger was most appropriate to read. You must have been standing in the aisle of the bookstore a little too long, holding two copies side by side, when he had offered his two cents on the matter.
Typically, you weren’t one to entertain conversation in public. Nine times out of ten, you’d get one word in before the inevitable “Please can I take a picture? I love your blog so much!”, but this was different. You weren’t even sure he had even seen your face before he started talking to you. He wasn’t initially trying to hit on you, either. He was genuinely excited that someone was willing to listen to him ramble about the differences between the Ward and Guilbert translations, so when you responded in such a way that asked him to continue on, he was surprised.
That day, you’d left the store with four more books than intended, and a single bookmark where he had written his phone number after you asked for it. He had asked you for your name; a confirmation that he actually had no idea who you were.
The rest was history. You saw him whenever possible, spent nights on the phone together, and flew across the country often just to see him. You loved having a relationship that didn’t need to be public, but you were also excited to share bits of it with the world.
It was late at night, and he was sitting at his desk in the bullpen, trying to finish the last of the paperwork he’d been assigned, when he heard commotion from Penelope’s office. He figured it was nothing new; probably just some news about the royal family or one of the real housewives again, but she’d thrown her door open in such a way that it garnered attention from everyone in the office.
“Spencer Reid,” She gripped her phone and rushed across the room with determination. “Do you have something you want to share with me?”
He looked up from his paperwork, furrowing his eyebrows. “What are you talking about?”
“Why are you on my Instagram feed?” She placed her phone on his desk in front of him.
“I’m not on instagram,” he replied.
“Oh, but you are,” she said. “You are such a little liar. I can’t wait to tell Derek about this.”
She pushed his paperwork aside, plopping her phone down in front of him. It was a slideshow on instagram. A photo of the most recent bouquet he bought for you. A few from the museum you’d visited together, including several where his hands or shoes were visible, but nothing that really pointed to him. He could almost make the argument Penelope was mistaken, until the last photo, which included just enough of his apartment to confirm her questioning.
“You said you were seeing someone and I thought… someone from a chess tournament, or maybe… oh, I don't know. Literally anyone else? But you bagged a model?”
“I-” he sighed. “How did you find her?”
“I didn’t find her, Spencer. I’ve followed her for years! I see her posts all the time. I can’t believe you.”
He scrolled down.
liked by @jjareau and others
@yourusername: virginia is for lovers :) posted 12 hours ago
↪ @randomuser1: GIRL STOP TEASING WHO IS HE
↪ @randomuser3: i’ve been trying to figure it out since that tweet last month 😞
↪ @randomuser2: this is the sweetest soft launch i’ve ever seen <3
↪ 12k comments
He clicked onto your profile.
@yourusername
5.2M Followers
Followed by @jjareau, @emp.sergio and more
“You’ve got to see her Twitter, lover boy. She’s been gushing about you.”
“Oh, god,” he groans. So much for privacy. He lets her take the phone back, redirecting his attention to your Twitter page. She scrolls back to June before handing it over, letting him read in chronological order.
June 10
@yourusername: hot girl summer is officially over. just asked a man for HIS number.
June 25
@yourusername: is it offensive to men if you call them pretty? bc this man is rlly pretty
@yourusername: update: apparently it is not :)
July 30:
@yourusername: good morning text + picture of a dog that he claims reminded him of me???? gonna ask for his hand in marriage
August 15
@yourusername: up til 2 bc hes explaining quantum mechanics to me 🧚🏻
@yourusername: embarrassed to say that form of dirty talk worked on me
August 20
@yourusername: oh btw im a girlfriend now!
↪@yourfan1: look u long enough wtf girl
↪@yourusername: dw im locking him down 🫡
↪@yourfan2: thats OUR man now 💘
“Oh, wow.”
She takes the phone back. “Why didn’t you tell anyone? Or me? Oh, this is great news. You’re bringing her to Rossi’s next, week, right?”
“I- Pen, I have no idea.” He laughs. He watches her type away on the device aggressively. “Are you texting everyone?”
“Yuh-huh. I need to call JJ, like… yesterday. And this isn't the end of this conversation!” She darted back into her office quickly, letting the door fall shut behind her.
He decided his remaining paperwork could wait. He packed his things up in a hurry, and decided to head out of the office, dialing your number on the way out.
You picked up on the first ring.
“Hey,” you started. “How was work? Are you heading out?”
“Yeah,” He started. He pushed through the glass doors of the office, staring towards the stairwell. “It was… busy. I just had a really interesting conversation with my coworker.”
“Mhm…” You had been lounging in your hotel room waiting for his call. “About..?”
“You, actually.” He replied. “She follows you on instagram. Apparently most of the office does. She showed me your post today.”
“Oh,” you replied. “Oh god, Spence. I’m sorry. I didn’t think… anyone would be able to tell who you were.”
He laughs. “Yeah, well… I work with some… characters. It’s totally fine, though.”
“Are you sure?” You ask, anxiously.
“Yeah. It was cute,” he replied, smiling to himself as he exited the building. “Tasteful.”
“That's what I wanted,” You reply.
“I thought Twitter was much more interesting, though.”
You froze, cringing. “Oh, god. Tell me you didn't read all of it.
He chuckles. “I skimmed it.”
You groan.
#criminal minds#spencer reid x reader#my things!#model!reader#spencer reid#spencerreid#fanfiction#spencer reid fluff#smau#penelope garcia
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Helloo!! So I love love love all of your work you have do on AO3 so much I'm so happy I found you on tumbler! Your writing is absolutely beautiful. I was wondering if you could maybe do a short fluff piece going off of speed dating and easy? Something where reader has had a hard day and isn't up for spicy time and just wants to be taken care of? Just something soft and sweet please and thank yooouuu! 💓🫶🏻💓
hiii!!! giggling at your super sweet compliments thank you so so much! i love the speed dating universe so even though this was sitting half-baked in my drafts for a while this was really nice to write!!! thanks so much for waiting, i hope you like this! under the cut:
boring stan/reader (gender-neutral) pre/during/post-canon/unspecified fluff, 800 words (bonus: sfw bedtime stan headcanons)
You're in bed, lying on your side, Stan's whole body pressed against yours when you finally squirm away from his lips on your shoulder. He stops, his hand stilling on your waist where he'd bunched up your shirt to touch your bare skin. You're clenching your eyes shut, embarrassed, as a beat of silence passes.
“You okay, sweetheart?” Stan asks from behind you, his voice hesitant. He starts to slide his hand off your waist when you grab it, keeping it there. Stan stops again, but this time sounds confused when he starts, “Uh, did I—”
“No. You didn't do anything, sorry, I'm just…” You struggle to find the words for a second. Another tense pause passes, unusual, even eerie in your normally lively company with Stan. Finally, you sigh. “I'm really tired.”
You hesitate for another moment before tugging Stan's hand over your waist, further underneath your shirt to the bare skin of your stomach. Stan goes along with it, like he always does, just letting you move his arm and press his palm flat to your body. The touch draws another deep sigh from you.
“Tough day, huh?” Stan says, any heat gone from his voice to make room for something softer. He glides his thumb over your stomach and you relax as his breath fans over your shoulder. He's kind of awkward with the emotional stuff, and maybe a little put out by you wriggling away from him a moment ago. You are, too. But Stan's voice is still kind when he offers, “You wanna… I dunno. Talk about it? Vent?”
“I think I just need to lay here,” you mutter, unmoving. Stan hums behind you, idly tracing light arches into your skin.
Then he pulls away, shuffling backwards away from your body towards his (mutually agreed-upon, unspoken) side of the bed. Your brows furrow and you turn to look over your shoulder as Stan gets comfortable on his back. He sighs when his head hits the pillow, then catches your eye. There's a little pink to his cheeks when he opens his arms.
“C'mon, let's get you comfortable,” Stan grumbles, though his eyes are warm. You brighten, just a little, and quickly roll over to lay your chest on his. Stan's big arms come around you as you hug him, pressing your cheek to his collarbone and slinging one leg over his. Once you settle down, the two of you are thoroughly tangled up in each other in a way you can only describe as cozy.
“This is nice,” you sigh, nosing at the base of his neck before letting your head lay comfortably on his shoulder. Stan rubs his hand over your spine, making you melt into him. You yawn.
“Am I boring you?” Stan says, grin in his voice. You laugh through the tail end of your yawn, shaking your head.
“If anything, I'm boring you,” you say, but Stan tuts and cuts you off before you can say anything else.
“None o’ that. I didn't have the energy anyway,” he says, nonchalant. You lean upwards slightly to raise a brow at him, glancing pointedly at the tent in his boxers. Stan grabs the side of your head and shoves you back into his chest, making you laugh. “Ignore that.”
“I love you,” you say, because it feels like the right thing to say. Stan freezes. You pause, your smile dropping. Was that the first time you've ever said that? “Um… You don't have to—”
“Love you, too, sweetheart—Uh, honey. Honey sweet… sugar. Sugar sweet, syrup baby—bird. Baby bird,” Stan rambles, his voice becoming more strained with every word. You laugh out loud again as he continues, stumbling over the nicknames, “Honey ball, uh, balls—Sugar balls. Candy pie.”
“Sugar balls!” you cackle, trying to shove yourself up again. But Stan tightens his grip on you, one arm pinning you down by your back and the other coming around to keep your head still on his chest as you kick your feet. “Haha, Stan! Let me up, I'm suffocating, I'm dying—”
“I'll see you in the afterlife,” Stan says sagely, then rolls over to pin you under his full weight. You're still laughing, and Stan starts to laugh with you, even as he play-fights his hand over your mouth to get you to stop. You peek up at him, giddiness growing in your chest at the violent flush on his face, the shy fondness in his smile.
You chuckle into his hand and lick his palm, making Stan yelp and rip it away, and you take advantage to wriggle out from under him and shove him onto his side.
You'll get back to cuddling in a few minutes. For now, you're gonna wrestle and laugh and let the person you love make you feel better.
sfw bedtime stan headcanons:
stan loves staying in bed all day when he has someone to do it with, especially since he rarely has off-days between work and the portal and post-canon sailing with ford
he is touch-starveddd and loves laying there doing nothing but cuddling or rolling around or wrestling or... you know... giggles
he doesn't do it often because he does believe in eating food and watching television. but when he does, he's there ALL day
he's gross he has crumbs in his bed you can't look me in the eyes and say he doesn't
i feel like during canon it would be reasonable for him to have developed insomnia... but post-canon i think he'd love sleeping in with VERY specific circumstances. his brother is out solo-exploring for a day, the twins are at a sleepover and don't need breakfast, stan isn't expected to visit the shack? he's sleeping for 20 hours straight
even if he doesn't sleep in i feel like if his partner had the day off or even worked from home and hung out in their room all day stan would absolutely be glued to the mattress
maybe these hcs feel out of character to me just a little bit but consider: you wake up to big beefy arms tugging you closer by your waist and a LOUD ass cozy snore from above your head
giggling about morning breath and trying to push stan off the bed to guzzle some mouthwash
he's embarrassed at first because he has to take his dentures out in front of you and pop em back in in the morning it's a whole thing, but eventually he gets comfortable enough that you're allowed to make the cleaning solution for him at bedtime and offer the glass for him to put the dentures in
sorry if the dentures thing threw anyone off because for a few seconds there it threw me off erm but i'm nothing if not determined to establish my alpha position as old man lover no matter what.
ANYWAY. this list got away from me a little bit
final bed hc stan is not used to sharing a bed with another person he hogs the blankets. as in he'll literally wake you up in the middle of the night because he'll be sleeping and roll over and take all the blankets with him and you will never get to have them again without tugging so hard. he has no idea he does this until you offhandedly mention it months into dating
#i fear... this is boring i hope it isn't#HAHAHAHAHA#had to shove my hcs in there bc i'm noticing a theme in my writing#so much of my content takes place in bed#i think because i loooove being in bed#teehee anyway#thanks sm for reading!!! and for your lovely kind words!#fluff#my writing#my headcanons#gravity falls#stanley pines x reader#reader insert
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✩ ˛˚ . Use your words ✩ ˛˚ .
Synopsis: You and your husband decide to try something different. As he’s tied up, nude, and at your mercy, you restrain from initiating anything until Reiner tells you verbatim what he needs.
Pairing: Reiner Braun x fem!reader
Genre: smut
a/n: my obsession for Reiner comes back every few weeks so I decided to go into my drafts and finally finish this one which I started like idk when (also isn’t this aesthetic so cute 🤭)
You just finished tying Reiner with the new ropes you two bought together the other day.
“How do they feel baby? Too tight? Too loose?” You ask waiting for a response.
“Um.. they feel.. fine.” Reiner shys away, blushing at the situation. No matter how excited his is for this, he’ll always feel embarrassed at the way he’s exposed for you.
“You sure you still wanna do this?” You give him another chance to stop right there, and continue like you guys have done in the past. But he insists that he wants this.
“Yes! Yes.. I want to.. with you.” You smile at him, caressing his cheek as he looks up at you with a pleading expression.
“You’re so cute, y’ know that?” You take your hands and run them up and down his abs and back, making him shiver. He throws his head back, whimpering quietly in anticipation of whatever you were planning to do with him.
You gently suck on his pale neck, leaving hickeys all over and pulling more whimpers from him.
“Y-Y/N..” you smile and straddle his lap, gently grinding on his hard cock, still restrained in his boxers.
“A-ah.. you’re so beautiful, an’ make me feel so good.” Reiner showers you in praise, slightly bucking his hips up, creating friction between his cock and your cunt. “N-never had someone love me like this before.. thank you Y/N.” He holds you tight, nuzzling himself into your neck as you grind on each other lovingly.
“You deserve so much more, always a good boy for me.” He whimpers at the praise you give him, your honey-like voice going straight to his dick.
You get up from his lap, leaving him reaching for more as you take off the rest of the clothing separating you from each other. You then release his cock from his restraining boxers, and he winces at the light, airy contact.
You slowly walk around, tracing your finger along Reiner’s jawline, his eyes never leaving your hands. Again, you gently suck on his neck, dragging your fingernails down his chest. He looks up at you, a glint of love, admiration, and neediness in his eyes. You don’t want to wait any longer and neither does he.
“What do you want to do, love?” You ask your sweet husband. You were eager, but tonight you felt the urge to take care of your baby.
“Ah.. I don’t.. I don’t know. Whatever you want to do. I’ll be happy with whatever you choose.” He stammers, waiting for your next action.
“C’mon, Reiner. Nothing.. in mind at all?” Lacing your words with seduction, you slowly lower yourself down below his knees, his eyes following your every move.
You walk your fingers up the inside of his thighs causing him to squirm slightly. A wave of pink flushes his face, and he frantically looks around the room, avoiding the trance of your deep brown eyes.
You continue to walk your fingers up, stopping right before you reach his heavy balls. The sudden halt worries him.
“W-why’d you stop..?” He questions, a puzzled look on his face.
“Words, Reiner. You have to use your words. What do you want me to do for you?” You know exactly what he wants but you’re working on getting Reiner to express his needs on his own, rather than letting you guess what he wants all the time.
“But.. Y/N..” He whines.
“Mm? What’s the problem?” You’re set on pushing him to ask you directly for what he wants and prefers.
“I can’t.. i can’t.. ‘s too embarassing..” he says, hanging his head low.
“Well I can’t either. If you won’t talk I can’t help you.” It almost hurts to be so stern with your sweet husband, but he needs to learn to be more assertive.
“Guess I’ll just sit here.” You sigh, seemingly bored, and begin drawing circles with your finger on his muscled thigh. Through your peripheral vision, you can see him staring at the wall, occasionally glancing at you. It’s obvious he wants to say something but can’t find the words.
“The longer you take the longer it’ll take for you-“ You begin explaining until the sound of his voice interrupts you.
“T-touch.. me.. want you to touch me.. p-please.” Now you’re getting somewhere. You grin like a Cheshire Cat before making your next move.
“I see. Where? Where do you want me to touch you? You question, acting clueless to the obvious answer. His eyebrows furrow, his expression akin to one of a kicked puppy. But you still stick to the agenda, waiting for his response.
“…my d-dick.. please..” he finally spits out, his volume decreasing each syllable that left his mouth. For such a big man he’s awfully timid, and it’s so cute.
“Your wish is my command.” You tease him before softly taking his leaking cock into your hands.
He groans lightly, tipping his head back and closing his eyes. With your free hand, you feel all over his torso, outlining his defined abs with your long nails.
Reiner’s a sensitive man, so you start slow, careful not to apply too much pressure. It’d be a shame if he finished too quickly. You alternate between slow strokes and short quick strokes, keeping his attention in your grasp.
“Hah…a-ah..Y-Y/N..” he whimpers out, his breathing quickening with each stroke of your hand. He strains at the ties, accentuating the way the ropes squeeze at his muscles even more.
“Reiner, baby. You okay?” You ask, still stroking his cock which now has precum dripping down the side.
“Y-yes.. yeah.” He grits his teeth and adjusts himself in his chair.
As you pump his length, you focus on that sweet, sweet underside that always makes shivers run down his spine. The stimulation of the area causes his mouth to fall slightly agape, and his eyebrows to pinch.
“Ngh.. p-lease.. I’m s-sensitive, Y/N.” He squirms slightly, his hips gently bucking into your hand.
“I know baby. Won’t tease you too much, promise.” You assure him, and you can see his clenched jaw ease. You then begin placing kitten licks and kisses on his dick, eliciting more whimpers and cries from him. You lick a long stripe from the bottom to his cute pinkish tip, circling your tongue around it.
“F-fuck..!” He grits his teeth and furrows his eyebrows, looking down, keeping eye contact with you. It’s so adorable when he looks like this, overwhelmed with pleasure.
Finally, you take his entire dick in your mouth, skillfully rotating your tongue around his mushroom tip. His usual quiet demeanor had broken, now he was in your bedroom, moaning shamelessly.
“A-AH! Ngh.. F-fu.. a-ah Y/N!” He cries out, breathing heavily. He ruts his hips up so eagerly, like he doesn’t have any control over his body. You attempt to hold his hips down and stop him from writhing so much, but it’s no use.
“Reiner, baby. I can’t take care of you if you keep moving like this.” You say, holding back a giggle.
“ ‘m s-so- ngh.. sorry. Just f-feels so good.” He says, his breathing slowing as you release him from your mouth.
“Can I..?” You ask, and he nods his head, his Adam’s apple bobbing up and down in his throat. Again, you take him in your mouth, this time using your free hand to tease his nipples. Over time, you noticed his nipples were extremely sensitive, so from then onward, you never failed to take advantage of this.
“F-f-fuck! O-oh.. s’ too good.. getting c-close..Y/N…” His movements were become more erratic, a clear indication of his approaching organism. But you keep going, not slowing down, and disregarding his warning.
“Close.. c-close.. p-please I’m s’ close..” he begins whimpering, squeezing his eyes shut. You take him out of your mouth, still jerking him off.
“Not yet, Reiner. Can you hold it for me baby?” You ask him.
“M-mh-ngh.. mhm.. y-yes, I c-can.” His moans quiet down, and it seems he’s now focused on holding his orgasm just a little bit longer for you. So sweet, trying so hard to please you.
“D-don’t know.. if I can.. any.. any l-longer. P-please.. cum?” He pleads with you, his voice breaking. He was so close, so close to release, and he was just waiting on your command.
“Go ahead love. You did so well for me.” As soon as the words leave your mouth, he breaks. His whimpers and moans filling the room as his dick releases continuous spirts of his thick cum.
“A-ah! Fuck! F-fuck Y/N! Ah..!” He tries to move his hips, trying to fuck himself through his high, but the orgasm is too strong. So strong it leaves him twitching slightly, so you help him, continuing to jerk him off.
“Good job, baby. Did so, so good.” You coo, kissing up on his neck and chest. He looks up at you with admiration, wanting so badly to touch you, to feel you.
“Wanna.. feel you.. please.” He pleads with you, and you just can’t say no. You leave another kiss on his lips, and walk around to his front.
You lower yourself down until you’re hovering over him. You take his dick in your hand and rub the tip on your wet folds. He moans lightly at the contact as you take him inside you little by little. Reiner is a big man, so it takes a little time to get used to the size of his cock.
“W-wait, Y/N.. wan’ touch you, can you.. untie?” Reiner chokes out, seeming completely out of breath. You comply, releasing his hands from the binds.
Again, you hover over his dick, this time with his hands helping to guide you. Slowly, you sink down fully, moaning quietly. He throws his head back, moaning, and you haven’t even started moving yet.
After allowing the two of you to get used to the familiar feeling, you begin to bounce up and down slightly.
“Ngh.. y-you.. feel so good.”
“Yeah?” You throw one arm over his shoulder to balance yourself, and lift his chin up towards you with your thumb. His gentle, hazel eyes were glossy and filled with desperation. With every movement of his eyebrows pinched, his pink lips slightly parted. The blonde man’s large hands roamed your body, caressing the curves of your hips and the plushy feeling of your thighs.
“H-hah.. ah f..fuck.” He whimpered in between short, shallow breaths. His hips began to slightly rut his hips up into you, the once gentle feeling becoming more crude. Reiner began to suck and nibble at your neck and with each love bite he placed on your skin, you could feel your orgasm rapidly approaching.
“R-Reiner.. g’na.. g’na c-cum..” you cried out.
“ ‘m close.. s’ close.. Y-Y/N.. i-in..? Can I?” You nod subconsciously, not really paying attention to anything but the contact of his mushroom tip against your gummy walls. Reiner’s grip on your hips tightened, and you could tell you were both desperately chasing your highs. His thrusts quickened, becoming slightly rougher as he pleaded to cum.
“Y/N.. c..umming.. ah..!” He cried out into the room, his eyelids shutting tightly and his mouth falling agape. His thighs twitched with each rope of cum he released, tipping you off the edge.
Your orgasm washed over like a strong wave, and pulsed though you like a continuous current. You wrapped Reiner’s neck, holding on to him tightly.
“L-love you.. Y/N.. s’ much.” He sighed, his chest rising up and down softly.
“Love you too.” The two of you sit there for a minute, basking in the warmth of each other’s body heat before hopping in the tub to take a calming bath together.
.・。.・゜✭・.・✫・゜・。. .・。.・゜✭・.・✫
a/n: y’all I got so lazy at the end forgive me 🙏🏾
#aot x reader#aot smut#aot fanfiction#aot#reiner braun#reiner x reader#aot reiner#snk reiner#reiner smut#attack on titan reiner#reiner x you#fem reader#snk x reader#snk smut#snk fanfiction
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A continuation of my Steampunk AU (7)!
Grian had grown to accept his weird attachment to Scar, if with a bit of hesitance. The other was good conversation in a town where everyone else was incredibly boring. It’s why he stuck around with broken machines so often; there’s nothing to predict about them.
Scar was fixed up, no sign of glitches like in N.P.C or Grumbot, and Grian couldn’t predict him if his life depended on it. Whatever AI in the bot’s brain was fascinating, and the strange logic it followed always managed to keep him enraptured.
It quelled that bored drawl in the back of his mind, on a good day.
Today, even with Scar by his side, seemed to crawl along at a slug’s pace.
The wastes were turning up useless scrap after useless scrap, Mumbo too busy with a commission to entertain him, even the ticking of his wings was the same as ever. They didn’t even ache. At least then, complaining or not, wouldn’t leave him bored.
If he’s being honest, he probably shouldn’t have gone out to scavenge.
Days like these are best kept in line by staying in a place with overarching rules, a guarantee he won’t overstep anything and end up missing more than a chunk of wing.
The wastes don’t have that. They have metal, radiation, rust, and scavengers.
“This is a lot further than we’ve travelled before,” remarks Scar, frayed gas mask making him seem bizarrely human, bizarrely out of place in one of mumbo’s white button up and a false corset. He knows by the whirl of Scar’s fans, that the green metal would be warm to the touch.
He climbs the hill anyway.
There’s the clanging of other scavengers, only two of them at the foot, and they’re pulling something out of a shaking pile that’s large and expensive.
“Ooh, a lucky find for those fellas!”
Grian says nothing in return.
His wings click. Once. Twice.
Take it from them.
He widens his stance, careful not to make a sound on copper and aluminum and iron.
Imagine how excited Mumbo will be.
His wings spread like butter across the sky.
And he jumps. Dives, towards the two.
What should’ve happened was a simple wrap of his hands around the machinery and an arc back into the air and away. What should’ve happened would have been enough to satiate his boredom. What should’ve happened, is that he should have been faster.
What did happen, is that he gets his hands curled around the machine. He’s on the upbeat of his wings, when a hand wraps around his ankle.
He registers the impact. He registers the stars. He registers how the metal crumples beneath him, denting and damaging the scrap.
And then he registers the pain of being slammed into the ground.
“What the fuck, you little asshat!” The nearest one sounds. Their mask is colored the same white as the gleam of a jawbone. They raise a foot and stomp on Grian’s hand, grinding it into the dry dirt with the heel.
He has half a mind to scan the hills for Scar, but the android is lost among the shadows and the piles of scrap encircling them. His heart sinks.
“Hey, dude!” Comes the second one—their mask is layered to look like a growing of fungus. “Take it easy, they’re already down.”
“Their mask is cool,” remarks the third, the one his missed and the one who grabbed him. Their mask is simple and plain, a stark contrast to his own, hooked in the shape of a beak. They’re dressed in dark browns, almost blended completely against the ground.
“That doesn’t matter, they tried to *steal* from us. Why I oughta—“ And they grab his wing.
Something in his mind goes a little haywire. The bones there are fragile, half-molded to metal and muscle, and he does his darnedest to bash their faces in with the prosthetic.
He manages to clip Shrooms across the temple, drawing his knife and lunging at another, but it doesn’t last long. It was never going to last long, three against one. But he gets some good hits in, spills enough blood.
He ends up fully pinned, a boot against his back and his racing heartbeat prominant in the pressure from a steady, constant pull of his wing in a scavenger’s hand.
“What’s going on here?” Comes a familiar voice, and Grian feels like crying. If they leave him alive, at least Scar can get him back to Mumbo.
“Are you with this vulture,” one of them spits.
“I am, and I promised he’s very much learned his lesson—“
“He sliced my arm open,” they growl. And yeah, he did do that. The drip of blood fills him with a cruel pride that they’re going to need to go home after this and waste the day away.
“You deserved it,” he calls back, and is rewarded with a particularly painful tug on his wing.
“Fellas, I promise you that if you let him go, you’ll never see us ever again. Heck, we’ll even leave you little things for yourself to improve profits! How’s that for a deal?”
“How about instead we slice his throat?” And he knows it’s a bluff. Killing someone over a single piece of scrap is ludicrous, and these guys don’t seem insane enough to do it to a first-time offender. They’re farther than typical from their bubble, and while Grian’s had his own fair share of death threats they’ve only ever been serious in total nowhere. It’s got to be a bluff. It has to be.
He’s going to die if it’s not.
Grian looks up, eyes following metal legs to Scar’s face to find the other staring directly at him.
He doesn’t know what Scar sees in him, but he hears his fan kick on just beneath the noise of the wastes.
The android steps forward, steps closer. Grian can’t tell a single thing about what he’s thinking, but he knows his neck is starting to ache from the angle he’s keeping it at to keep Scar in view. Something about the quiet won’t let him look away. Scar rears back a fist.
And then he hears the crack of bone.
The weight falls off his back, his wing, and Grian is left staring into empty space as Scar takes measured steps behind him, and out of view.
The impacts behind him begins to sound wet, like the repeated thump of a hammer against drowned wood.
Grian has dabbled a bit, long before he met Mumbo, in engineering himself. It was more buildings than robots, trains instead of anything that breathes. But there’s one thing he still remembers, clear as day.
A robot may not injure a human being.
So what does that make the thing in front of him?
#blurb#scarian#steampunk au#hermitcraft fic#hermitcraft#this was sitting in my drafts waiting for you all!#sorry i took so long to post <3#i dont think this blog will be continuing to write for Awhile#schools getting rough!#but if yall have any questions on story beats#ive got some semblace of a plan for a lot of them!#cod boy might be stalled too#we didnt have any writing backed up;;#love yall! im going to enjoy my retirement <3
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ID: clips of azula set to "caesar on a tv screen" by the last dinner party, emphasizing her ambition and her desire to be loved. end ID.
when i was a child, i never felt like a child / i felt like an emperor with a city to burn
#turns out all i needed to do was sit and wait for the video to finish uploading. i feel stupid that it took me til today to try that#in my defense i think you used to be able to draft it so it would post once it was done. like you didn't just get a greyed out post button#ANYWAYS#me? making another azula video with the same few scenes? it's more likely than you think#azula#my fanvids#nina's personal log
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Oh im obses whit your blog like you are such a great historian on vale and love the way you analys stuff admire the way of writing all of your toughs in such a corent way 🩷🩷🐹
this is so nice, thank you!! okay so this ask was initially sent in response to this post about how marc knew what a dick valentino was to his rivals and appreciated/wished to emulate that side of him, in particular in the context of copying the jerez pass. and... well, there is one more follow-up post to that I did want to make. it didn't really work within that post because it's pretty speculative, but I think it's fun! here goes
so you know argentina 2018, right, big drama, reconciliation over, bla bla (I promise this is going in a more fun direction, stick with me here). there's a bit of marc's post-race media scrum that I am a wee bit obsessed with. or well, two specific lines, one in english (0:00) and one in spanish (1:02) - I've included the full responses for context, but in this post I'm really only interested in those two lines
in english:
But he was in the past also 25 years old, and will remember, everybody.
and in spanish:
He has also been 25 years old and, well, I hope that people also remember.
... 25 years old, did you say?
okay, look, fair warning. the rest of this post is going to be reading too much into what was probably an off-handed comment - even if, I'd just like to point out, it is something he felt the need to say twice. but let's just have some fun here, and read too much into it. as a treat
so obviously the most generic way to read this is him saying 'well valentino used to be really aggressive on-track too, so people shouldn't be criticising me more than they did him'. thing is, I wouldn't say there was that much of a noticeable decline in how aggressive valentino was being, and 2017 did still feature some major scraps where valentino very much got his elbows out (cf assen and phillip island, I included a bit more detail on this in the marc race rec post). sure, valentino did increasingly have his reservations about some of the behaviour of younger riders, so maybe he was less aggressive now relative to the field... but I just don't feel like that's quite what this line is implying. it's also not about valentino making 'mistakes' in general, because there would have been no reason to refer back to past-valentino in that regard... the 25 year old version of valentino was considerably more error-free than the 39 year old
so then, my theory is that it's about valentino's controversies! that's what people "will remember", right - it's not the general style of riding, not just innocent mistakes, it's the times when valentino caused a bit of a stir on and off the race track. now, again, you could go the generic route here and say 'ah well maybe marc is just thinking of all the mess valentino got himself involved in when he was younger, from getting into a fist fight with max biaggi at age 22 to pissing off casey stoner through his aggressive riding at laguna at age 29'. but let's say for a moment that marc was thinking a bit more specifically than that... after all, if we're just talking about valentino controversies in general, surely marc should be able to think of a rather more recent example where valentino, like marc at argentina 2018, caused another rider to crash and was subsequently penalised for his riding? of course, marc probably didn't want to bring up that particular controversy - but it's still interesting he feels the need to refer back to a younger version of valentino at all, the fact that this crossed his mind in the first place to make him bring it up unprompted while making his case. so maybe when marc, who is after all a known valentino rossi fan, refers twice to what valentino was like at "25 years old"... he is in fact thinking of what valentino was like when he was 25 years old. and in what year would that be? well, here's the thing. it would be 2004
readers of the sete post can probably guess where I'm going with this, but let's just take a moment to review what specific on-track incidents marc could be thinking of here. let's give him a little bit of extra leeway in terms of the age, even though I trust marc to be more on top of the exact age gap than valentino was in times past. let's throw in one year either way, so 2003 to 2005, and draw up a list of any particularly controversial races valentino was involved in. here's what I've got:
assen 2004 - valentino executed a hard overtake for the win on the last lap on sete gibernau. he's not in complete control and almost loses the front at the next corner, which would have taken them both out
qatar 2004 - after his team rubber up his grid slot the night before, valentino gets slapped with a back-of-the-grid penalty. he ends up crashing out of the race and burns his relationship with sete in the aftermath
jerez 2005 - at a time when their relationship is already very chilly, valentino and sete engage in another duel. valentino executes a block pass with contact at the final corner and is booed by the crowd
motegi 2005 - the first chance to seal that year's title, and one valentino would very much have liked to take to spite honda. an unwise overtaking attempt on melandri leaves both on the ground
so, my guess is that neither assen nor motegi were really big enough controversies to fit the bill, though maybe they stuck in marc's mind as instances of 'reckless riding' that he includes in a more generic internal understanding of young valentino rossi. we do of course know for a fact that marc was more than aware of what happened at jerez 2005, not least because he, you know, directly copied that move twelve years later (again, link to the relevant post). like marc in argentina 2018, valentino barged into a rival in rather controversial fashion, and obviously it also made the relationship between him and said rival deteriorate still further. sure, you can't really argue the move was 'as bad' as argentina 2018, but as far as I'm concerned it has the same general vibe
you know what else has the same general vibe? here's a race description for you:
a 25 year old rider is sent to the back of the grid for a reason they consider unfair
they proceed to deliver a phenomenal performance even by their lofty standards, quickly working their way up to a position that seemed unattainable to them
they barge a rival out of the way in their impatience, reaching back to apologise for the move
the race ends poorly for them and they fail to score any points
afterwards, their relationship with a rival is ruined as a result of the events of the race, and the whole thing remains a lingering controversy for years to come
one race that fits this description is, of course, argentina 2018. the other is qatar 2004. there's obviously plenty of details that are significantly different - valentino's move on barros is less egregious and far less controversial, and his race ends in the gravel rather than with a post-race time penalty. still, that start of valentino's? the impatience? the post-race fury? the repercussions this race had? come on, look at the race footage I included in the qatar post and tell me there's not a little bit of a shadow of that qatar fury to the argentina recklessness
this is a point I snuck into the marc race recs post, where I included this excerpt from a post-argentina 2018 write-up:
phillip island 2003, hm? as it happens, in the qatar post, I did include a bit of the autobiography that compares those two specific races:
so, phillip island 2003: a performance that made everyone wonder just how much valentino had left in reserve to draw on whenever he needed it. what valentino is saying here is that this performance wasn't a result of him holding back in all the other races that year - this was speed that was accessible to him only in that moment because he was so angry. so yes, maybe it's a valid question to wonder what would have happened at phillip island 2003 if it hadn't just been the ghost of his bike that had to pick its way through the stragglers. then again, valentino says it's not just rage that does the trick for him - it's controlled rage... which is all well and good, except when you lose control
and see also:
that's what argentina 2018 is all about, isn't it? it's a performance that's rooted in impatience, in restlessness, in frustration - where marc tuns his "rage into pure speed", as valentino would put it, in a hubristic dismissal of the rest of the field. ideally, the two of them channel those emotions to spur themselves on to special, signature performances... but sometimes, it gets the better of them. it got the better of marc that day in argentina and cost him the tentative peace with valentino. at qatar, it could have cost valentino the title
(also shades of this in jerez 2020 - an error sets the stage for some extraordinary pace before it all goes wrong) (catalunya 2003 is a fun more compact nephew to that race without the unhappy ending)
now, look, am I saying that marc was really referring back to qatar 2004 specifically, a race that had happened fourteen years earlier, when making an off-hand remark in a post-race media scrum as he tried to do some damage control in the wake of one of the most controversial races of his career? well, no. he could have been! but it's unlikely. maybe he's shit at maths and was actually thinking about laguna 2008 after all. still, I would like to once again point out that he felt the need to mention valentino's behaviour at age twenty five not once but twice. he's telling us that he wants people to remember what valentino was like at that age, and in the most literal sense I am doing what he's asking for. surely it's worth at least noting that there just happens to be a race where valentino was at that exact age and his temper overcame his rationality, leading to him making a costly error... surely it's worth acknowledging this...
even if marc wasn't actually obliquely referring back to that race or indeed any of the races I mentioned above, of course the parallels between valentino's foibles and marc's are in any case interesting. it speaks to how they get those special performances out of themselves, the similarities in how they operate in that regard... but of course also in how they both sometimes stray rather close to the limit, how they repeatedly flirt with crossing the line. a stubbornness and a hubris and a rage that can sometimes lead to disaster for the both of them. and another thing - who knows if marc was thinking about qatar 2004, but he must have been thinking about something. that's the point of that jerez post, right... marc is valentino's successor in so many ways, he has fashioned himself in valentino's image - and he keenly grasps and remains aware of all the different aspects of that legacy. he's the most accomplished of valentino's students and he felt strongly that what he did in that race in argentina was in some way comparable to what valentino himself had been doing at his age, part of the same tradition even. yes, to some extent marc is obviously accusing valentino of hypocrisy here: how can you judge me when you were once young and foolish too? his tone isn't exactly filled with remorse either, is it, he's pretty feisty in that media scrum! still, there's something more to it... something almost poetic to the whole thing, wouldn't you say? valentino had just accused marc of ruining the sport - and in response marc wants people to remember that they are just the same
#the audience (sobbing): you can't just point at everything and say it's about the sete/valentino rivalry#me: *points at argentina 2018* this is about the sete/valentino rivalry#rosquez#//#4693#2018 argentina#muxas-world#and thank you that's REALLY sweet + appreciated#completely forgot about this sitting in my drafts icl#someone interacted with that post again and i was like. wait a moment i have a follow up in my drafts#i do love marc i always feel like spiritually he's alongside me doing my deep cuts and narrative parallels and all that#there's just something so charming about the idea that he's really aware of what comparable thing vale was doing at any given age#that being said. marc. 'i did a few mistakes' 'i think i did everything well' 'i'm very very... very “happy”' marc everything is on fire#motogp race watch marathon and it's phillip island 2003 // qatar 2004 // jerez 2005 // jerez 2013 // argentina 2018 is this anything#maybe chuck in misano 2019 actually. feels like a good bookend#curse tag#idol tag#brr brr
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Don’t know if this is the right place to ask, but could you talk more about zoos? I’ve seen many people say that zoos are inherently exploitative and that we should instead focus on advocating for wildlife preserves, etc., but I’m not sure what to think of that. You seem to know a lot about wildlife protection, so what’s your opinion on this?
There are folks faaaar better than myself to talk about the issues of zoos specifically and I'll try to toss in some sources so you can go and learn more, but let me try and explain my mindset here.
Summary of my opinion on this: BOTH of these things can be poorly managed, and I broadly support both. They should exist in tandem. I am pro-accredited zoo and am extremely sensitive towards misinformation. I also do think the best place for animals to be is in their natural environment, but nature "preserves" aren't inherently perfect. They can also be prone to the capitalist (and colonialist) pressures that less informed people believe they're somehow immune to.
Because of the goal of my project being to make the setting of WC accurate to Northwestern England, my research is based on UK laws, ecology, and conservation programs.
On Zoos
On Nature Reserves
An Aside on Fortress Conservation
On Zoos
The legal definition of a Zoo in the UK (because that is what BB's ecological education is based around), as defined by the Zoo Licensing Act of 1981 (ZLA), is a "place where wild animals are kept for exhibition to the public," excluding circuses and pet shops (which are covered by different laws.)
This applies equally to private, for-profit zoos, as well as zoos run by wildlife charities and conservation organizations. Profit does not define a zoo. If there's a place trying to tell you it's not a zoo but a "sanctuary" or a "wildlife park," but you can still go visit and see captive wild animals, even if it's totally free, it's a marketing trick. Legally that is still a zoo in the UK.
(for fellow Americans; OUR definition is broader, more patchwork because we are 50 little countries in a trenchcoat, and can include collections of animals not displayed to the public.)
That said, there's a HUGE difference between Chester Zoo, run by the North of England Zoological Society, which personally holds the studbooks for maintaining the genetic diversity of 10 endangered species, has 134 captive breeding projects, cultivates 265 threatened plant species, and sends its members as consultants to United Nations conferences on climate change, and Sam Tiddles' Personal Zebra Pit.
Sam Tiddles' Personal Zebra Pit ONLY has to worry about the UK government. There's another standard zoos can hold themselves to if they want to get serious about conservation like Chester Zoo; Accreditation. There are two major zoo organizations in the UK, BIAZA and EAZA.
(Americans may wonder about AZA; that's ours. AZA, EAZA, and BIAZA are all members of the World Association of Aquariums and Zoos, or WAZA, but they are all individual organizations.)
A zoo going for EAZA's "accreditation" has to undergo an entire year of evaluation to make sure they fit the strict standards, and renewal is ongoing. You don't just earn it once. You have to keep your animal welfare up-to-date and in compliance or you will lose it.
The benefit of joining with an accredited org is that it puts the zoo into a huge network of other organizations. They work together for various conservation efforts.
There are DOZENS of species that were prevented from going extinct, and are being reintroduced back to their habitats, because of the work done by zoos. The scimitar-horned oryx, takhi, California condor, the Galapagos tortoise, etc. Some of these WERE extinct in the wild and wouldn't BE here if it hadn't been for zoos!
The San Diego zoo is preventing the last remaining hawaiian crows from embracing oblivion right now, a species for which SO LITTLE of its wild behavior is known they had to write the book on caring for them, and Chester zoo worked in tandem with the Uganda Wildlife Authority to provide tech and funding towards breakthroughs in surveying wild pangolins.
Don't get me wrong;
MOST zoos are not accredited,
nor is accreditation is REQUIRED to make a good zoo,
nor does it automatically PROVE nothing bad has happened in the zoo,
There are a lot more Sam Tiddles' Personal Zebra Pits than there are Chester Zoos.
That's worth talking about! We SHOULD be having conversations on things like,
Is it appropriate to keep and breed difficult, social megafauna, like elephants or cetaceans? What does the data say? Are there any circumstances where that would be okay, IF the data does confirm we can never provide enough space or stimulation to perfectly meet those species' needs?
How can we improve animal welfare for private zoos? Should we tighten up regulations on who can start or run one (yes)? Are there enough inspectors (no)?
Do those smaller zoos meaningfully contribute to better conservation? How do we know if they are properly educating their visitors? Can we prove this one way or the other?
Who watches the watchmen? Accreditation societies hold themselves accountable. Do these organizations truly have enough transparency?
(I don't agree with Born Free's ultimate conclusion that we should "phase out" zoos, but you should always understand the opposing arguments)
But bottom line of my opinion is; Good zoos are deeply important, and they have a tangible benefit to wildlife conservation. Anyone who tries to tell you that "zoos are inherently unethical" either knows very little about zoos or real conservation work, or... is hiding some deeper, more batshit take, like "having wild animals in any kind of captivity is unlawful imprisonment."
(you'll also get a lot more work done in regulating the exotic animal trade in the UK if you go after private owners, btw. zoos have nothing to do with how lax those laws are.)
Anyway I'm a funny cat blog about battle kitties, and the stuff I do for BB is to educate about the ecosystem of Northern England. If you want to know more about zoos, debunking misconceptions, and critiques from someone with more personal experience, go talk to @why-animals-do-the-thing!
Keep in mind though, again, they talk about American zoos, where this post was written with the UK in mind.
(and even then, England specifically. ALL UK members and also the Isle of Man have differences in their laws.)
(If anyone has other zoo education tumblr blogs in mind, especially if they are European, lmk and I'll edit this post)
On Nature Reserves
Remember how broad the legal definition of a zoo actually was? Same thing over here. A "nature reserve" in the UK is a broad, unofficial generic term for several things. It doesn't inherently involve statutory protection, either, meaning there's some situations where there's no laws to hold anyone accountable for damage
These are the "nature reserve" types relevant to my project; (NOTE: Ramsar sites, SACs, and SPAs are EU-related and honestly, I do not know how Brexit has effected them, if at all, so I won't be explaining something I don't understand.)
Local Wildlife Site (LWS) Selected via scientific survey and managed locally, connecting wildlife habitats together and keeping nature close to home. VERY important... and yet, incredibly prone to destruction because there aren't good reporting processes in place. Whenever a report comes out every few years, the Wildlife Trust says it often only gets data for 15% of all their registered sites, and 12% get destroyed in that timeframe.
Local Nature Reserve (LNR) A site that can be declared by a district or county council, if proven to have geographic, educational, biodiversity, or recreational value. The local authority manages this, BUT, the landowner can remain in control of the property and "lease" it out (and boy oh boy, landowners do some RIDICULOUS things)
National Nature Reserve (NNR) This is probably closest to what you think of when someone says "nature reserve." Designated by Natural England to protect significant habitat ranges and geographic formations, but still usually operates in tandem with private land owners who must get consent if they want to do something potentially damaging to the NNR.
Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) (pronounced Triple S-I) A conservation designation for a particular place, assessed and defined by Natural England for its biological or geographic significance. SSSIs are protected areas, and often become the basis for NNRs, LNRs, Ramsar sites, SACs, SPAs, etc.
So you probably noticed that 3/4 of those needed to have the private ownership problem mentioned right in the summary, and it doesn't end there. Even fully government-managed NNRs and SSSIs work with the private sectors of forestry, tourism, and recreation.
We live under Capitalism; EVERYTHING has a profit motive, not just zoos.
I brushed over some of those factors in my Moorland Research Notes and DESPERATELY tried to stay succinct with them, but it was hard. The things that can happen to skirt around the UK's laws protecting wildlife could make an entire season of Monty Python sketches.
Protestors can angrily oppose felling silver birch (a "weed" in this context which can change the ecosystem) because it made a hike less 'pretty' and they don't understand heath management.
Management can be reluctant to ban dogs and horses for fear of backlash, even as they turn heath to sward before our eyes.
Reserves can be owned by Count Bloodsnurt who thinks crashing through the forest with a pack of dogs to exhaust an animal to death is a profitable traditional British passtime.
Or you can literally just pretend that you accidentally chased a deer for several hours and then killed it while innocently sending your baying hounds down a trail. (NOTE: I am pro-hunting, but not pro-animal cruelty.)
The Forestry Commission can slobber enthusiastically while replacing endangered wildlife habitats with non-native, invasive sitka spruce plantations, pretending most trees are equal while conveniently prioritizing profitable timber species.
I have STORIES to tell about the absolute Looney Tunes bullshit that's going on between conservationists and rich assholes who want to sell grouse hunting access, but I'll leave it at this fascinating tidbit about air guns and mannequins which are "totally, absolutely there for no nefarious reason at all, certainly not to prevent marsh harriers from nesting in an area where they also keep winding up mysteriously killed in illegal snares, no no no"
BUT. Since Nature Reserve isn't a hard defined legal concept, and any organization could get involved in local conservation in the UK, and just about anyone or anything could own one... IT'S CHESTER ZOO WITH THE STEEL CHAIR!!
They received a grant in 2021 to restore habitat to a stretch of 10 miles extending outside of their borders, working with TONS of other entities such as local government and conservation charities in the process. There's now 6,000 square meters of restored meadow, an orchard, new ponds, and maintained reedbeds, because of them.
It isn't just Chester Zoo, either. It's all over the UK. Durrel Wildlife, which runs Jersey Zoo, just acquired 18,500 acres to rewild in Perthshire. Citizen Zoo is working with the Beaver Trust to bring beavers back to London and is always looking for volunteers to help with their river projects, and the Edinburgh Zoo is equipped with gene labs being used to monitor and analyze the remaining populations of non-hybrid Scottish Wildcats.
The point being,
Nature preserves have problems too. They are not magical fairy kingdoms that you put up a fence around and then declare you Saved Nature Hooray! They need to be protected. They need to be continuously assessed. They are prone to capitalist pressures just like everything else on this hell planet. Go talk to my boy Karl he'll give you a hug about it.
"Nature Preserves" are NOT an "alternative" to zoos and vice versa. They do not do the same thing. A zoo is a center of education and wildlife research which displays exotic animals. A nature preserve is a parcel of native ecosystem. We need LOTS of nature preserves and we need them well-managed ASAP.
We could never just "replace" zoos with nature preserves, and we're nowhere near the amount of protected ecosystem space to start thinking of scaling back animals in captivity. Until King Arthur comes out of hibernation to save Britain, that's the world we live in.
An Aside
My project and my research is based on the isle of Great Britain. The more I learn about the ecosystems that are naturally found there, the more venomously I reject the old lie, "humans are a blight."
YOU are an animal. You're a big one, too. You know what the role of big animals in an ecosystem are? Change. Elephants knock over trees, wolves alter the course of rivers, bison fertilize the plains from coast-to-coast. In Great Britain, that's what hominids have done for 900,000 years, their populations ebbing and flowing with every ice age.
Early farming created the moors and grazing sheep and cattle maintain it, hosting hundreds of specialist species. Every old-growth forest has signs of ancient coppicing and pollarding, which create havens for wildlife when well-managed. Corn cockle evolved as a mimic of wheat seeds, so farmers would plant it over and over within their fields.
This garbage idea that humans are somehow "separate" from or "above" nature is poison. It's not true ANYWHERE.
It contributes to an idea that our very presence is somehow damaging to natural spaces, and to "protect" it, we have to completely leave it alone. NO! Absolutely NOT! There are places where we have to limit harvesting and foot traffic, but humans ALWAYS lived in nature.
Even the ecosystems that this mindset comes from rejects it, but this shit doesn't JUST get applied to British people who become alienated and disconnected from their surroundings to the point where they don't know what silver birch does.
It's DEADLY for the indigenous people who protect 80% of our most important ecosystems.
It's a weapon against the Maasai people, stopped from hunting or growing crops on their own land. It's violence for 9 San hunters shot at by a helicopter with a "kill poachers on-sight" policy, as one of the world's LARGEST diamond mines operates in the same motherfucking park. The Havasupai people are kept out of the Grand Canyon that they managed for generations because they might "collect too many nuts" and starve squirrels, Dukha reindeer herders suddenly get banned from chopping wood or fishing, and watch wolves decimate their animals in the absence of their herding dogs.
It's nightmare after nightmare of human displacement in the name of "conservation."
That all ties back to that mindset. This idea that nature is pure, "pristine," and should be totally untouched. There are some starting to call it Fortress Conservation.
You can't begin to understand the criticisms of modern conservation without acknowledging that we are still living under the influence of capitalism and colonialism. Those who fixate on speaking for "animals/nature/trees who don't have a voice" often seem to have no interest in the indigenous people who do.
Listen. There's no simple answer; and the solution will vary for each region.
Again, my project is within the UK, one of the most ecologically devastated areas in the world. There are bad zoos that the law allows a pass. There are incredible zoos that are vital to conservation, in and outside of the country. There's not enough nature preserves. The best ones that exist are often exploited for profit.
I hope that my silly little blog sparks an interest in a handful of people to understand more about their own local ecosystems, and teaches folks about the unique beauty even within a place as "boring" as England.
But, my straightforward statement is that I have no patience for nonconstructive, broad zoo slander that lumps together ALL of them, and open contempt for anyone who tries to sell nature preserves like a perfect, morally superior "alternative." We need them BOTH right now, and we need to acknowledge that zoos AND preserves have legal and ethical issues that aren't openly talked about.
#ALSO THAT GUIDE IVE BEEN WORKING ON IS DONE#Im just waiting for the input of the sensitivity readers bc I made a whole section on--#How ableis m might express in the different clans#And part of it became a thunder-callout post lmaooooo#Also this zoo doc has been sitting competed in my drafts for a while#All this to say that uh. I hope the strange place they visit in the upcoming se is not a zoo :J#I will hit it with a golf club if it is <3#Leaning heavily towards the 'oh no two DEMIGODS ended up in a zoo' idea#Which is objectively funnier#And you know what else is objectively funny. When these posts break orbit and then ppl are surprised that i am a kitty cat blog#Hal. It's about Cats.#Bone Babble
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boy in silly sitting positions compilation
#cats#I especially like the last one where he just has one single paw poking out of that box for some reason lol#I still have costumes to post and like a billion other things.... grr... constantly failing at staying active on social media aughh#I think because currently my Main Focus is on trying to get my game done and stuff.. which basically just means sitting and writing all day#so there's not much to post about. Though I know the Good At Social Media thing to do would be to post about the#writing and share progress and talk about the game and characters or whatever to try to build interest or something but that is SOOO weird#to me.. I could maybe get it if it was like a tiny tiny discord groupchat of playtesters with like 5 people in#it.. But something about talking openly about things before they happen is weird to me?? Like presumptuous feeling or something#''oooo guess whats gonna happen LATER!!!'' like.. how do you know.. what if it doesnt. what if you dont finish it. what if its not the way#you think it's going to be. what if something changes. etc. Like I literally avoid movie trailers and game trailers for the same reason ghj#Even if it's not ME doing it it just feels... weird.. Maybe it has to do with my OCD and how I just don't like talking about ''future''#things in Certain Terms. Like if I was going to say ''Oh yeah sure. come over to my house in a few months''. I would have to follow it up#with like ''HOPEFULLY you can come over to my house in a few months'' or 'They'll come over in a few months MOST LIKELY''. Because just#stating that something will happen matter of factly takes for granted like.. what if somehting horrible happens and I DONT have a house#in a few months? or what if something bad happens to me. or to the person coming over? I can't ever DEFINITELY say with 100% certainty#that one could ACTUALLY come to my house in a few months. anything could change. So I have to allot for that in my phrasing. hbjjkn#There are a lot of situations where you're expected to just Assume Things but for some reason that bothers me. My brain literally does not#even Assume the most basic things.. like how do *I* know that just because it's someones birthday that they want to be wished a happy#birthday? what if they dont? everyone is different and has different preferences. I should check with them first. or wait until they public#ly announce that theyre accepting birthday wishes. I have to allot for all 5034859069 rare possibilities at any given time and never take#anything for certain. etc. ghjbjhbh.... ANYWAY.. I have been feeling a bit sick lately as usual.. but still slowly making progress on some#things. Moslty I need to edit costume photos. make sculptures. and work on the game. Going back reading some of the old writing from like#2018 and suprisingly I don't have to change that much of it? In fact I like it mostly. so that's good. I would be very interested if I were#playing the game myself. Though that doesnt mean much since my tastes are so niche lol..#Still really want to clear some of my million tumblr drafts as well... alas and aughh and ooughh and so on and so forth. Between all of my#evil appointments other such things...why cant I have one billion dollar to retire into relaxed hermit artist life of no stressors.. bleas
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[ 😇 ] — doodle dump from priv
just some smaller things while I have fun w friends and find my groove again :]
Commission Info | Ko-Fi | My Links
#sometimes you just need a private space to make self-indulgent doodles and be silly w people you care abt#I have a lot of ideas I want to work on! especially for some priv exclusive pieces again >:3c#but alas only so much time and energy so we're just taking it easy ya'know#creating what I can when I can and making sure I'm having fun while doing it#I was in a good mood tho and every now and again I like bringing over a few priv doodles I'm fond of nothing major :]#also sorry but y'all are only getting crops of the drummer boy ones lmao they're small but priv exclusive#I can't wait to work on what all I have in store tho 😈#my art#fallout#fallout 4#fo4#nick valentine#nick valentine fallout 4#nick valentine fo4#deacon#deacon fallout 4#deacon fo4#drummer boy#sole survivor#edit: this has been sitting in my drafts and the depression has hit me like a ton of bricks so time to slam that post button babyyyyyy
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Tumblr's stupid queue doesn't work.
Ok y'all it has just come to my attention that tumblr doesn't let you have more than 1 000 posts in the queue (mean), and I gotta clear out my queue so that I can move the 1 000 posts in my drafts into the queue. This would mean that for the next couple of weeks I might have to increase the post frequency from the queue. By a lot. I'm indecisive though, so I'm putting the burden of making a decision on how many times I should post on my own blog onto anyone who sees this post. Right now I post 12 times a day from my queue.
#poll#blog in crisis#uchiha-gaeshi ramblings#(in the tags)#ah the irony#i used the queue as a way to not “overwhelm the dash” (i didn't have a gauge for this when i first started my blog and still lowkey don't)#and now look at me#i pretty much have to overwhelm the dash because my all or nothing brain flooded my queue#tumblr should let you have as many posts in the queue as you want#this is 100% tumblr's fault and 0% my fault#i refuse to take responsibility#how does one use the queue in moderation?#what other tumblr feature should i abuse next 🤔#i can only use my drafts as a temporary reblog shelter for so long because i have *actual* text posts there waiting to cook#and i have to scroll through wonderful hsmd fanart from 2015#a media literacy post#a “fuck israel post”#sns fanart#and meta posts i need to take my time to read#i need to scroll thru all of these at *just* the right spot to find that crack post i was cooking up back in august#i almost forgot about it until i scrolled thru my drafts reminiscing on my growth in the fandom#i already have a bunch of posts i swear i reblogged in july but have been sitting in my drafts since july for some weird reason (me)
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I'm sure that there s a perfectly good reason, but it's just really funny to me that Pompeyo has beef with a teenager (Marcus). What a way to NOT copy Sulla
lmaoo yeah
honestly, it’s very one sided: Pompeyo is trying so hard to get along with Marcus and it’s just not clicking because Marcus distrusts him for being a (former) political ally of Felix.
like, from Marcus' point of view, Pompeyo let Felix fuck Crasso over for his own gain, and fully expects Pompeyo to behave exactly like Felix once Pompeyo fully realigns himself with Crasso. Marcus really only acts civil to Pompeyo because of Publius (who. god. he needs a new name so bad. Paolo? Paris? I might give up trying to pick a name that begins with P and just name him Celestino or something, tbh), and even then. the civility is debatable.
later tho! it takes two events that happen several years apart from each other, but they do come to an Understanding. Pompeyo is actually totally unaware of the moment that Marcus decides that Pompeyo is part of the family.
Marcus still gives Pompeyo a lot of shit, but it's no longer actively hostile. just regular, garden variety fucking around (affectionate) and making Pompeyo's life a little bit difficult on purpose because it's kind of funny.
#I’m thinking of changing Marcus’ name to Mark to give him another degree of separation between him and his historical namesake#I’ll have to do some sample dialogue scenes to see how it goes#ask tag#anyway. i actually miss so much people stopping by at 11 and pulling out the coffee mugs and the instant coffee and sitting around#uh. wait. this might need a cw#what's. the cw for famine related hunger#cw starvation //#cw child death //#bad governance the series#WAHOO anyway it's all rough drafts so you get to see all of my blocking notes. subject to change the next time i do edits etc#like already ive decided that the weight of marcus changing his opinion on pompeyo has another part to it i just didn't have it#sketched out. so for now. this is the general very barebones idea of the scene
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Another fic?? You bet! I almost finished this about 4 weeks ago, when I got sidetracked by the Dorothy gets dipped fic, so I finally managed to add the finishing touches here :) it's been in the works for about 3 months (off and on; many different projects got in the way) so I'm happy to finally be able to say it's done! (after that final edit at 3 am I posted about last night lol)
Summary
When Blanche announces that she thinks she's pregnant, each of the girls deals with it in her own way. (They find each other in Rose's bedroom in the end, for one reason or another.) // an exploration of S02E01: end of the curse, and what happens in between
#started this the same day i got the news that my friend became a grandma & i was having Feelings about babies <3#it kind of got out of hand after that haha but it was initially supposed to just be a sweet little scene between rose & dorothy!#(but a couple of months passed and of course that means it kept expanding until. uh. i was left with whatever this is)#it could've probably used another final editing round that wasn't at 3 am but hey! it feels okay so i'm putting it out there#i put enough time into it as it is lol#at some point i just get an itch and i *have to* put it out there you know??#like there's some sort of urgency all of a sudden#it's been sitting in my drafts for nearly 3 months but waiting one more day now??? impossible#the words yearn for freedom#(or i yearn for freedom from the words)#(that being said i was actually going to wait & post this tomorrow but i accidentally hit 'post' instead of 'save draft' in ao3 sjkfd)#the golden girls#blanche devereaux#rose nylund#dorothy zbornak#sophia petrillo#golden wives#(ish? you could go for either platonic or romantic with this tbh)#my writing
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Sunday doodles
#you ever just *puts feet on the wall*#or sit upside down off the side of your bed#i saw a post earlier this week I've been trying to find about fearing god#i read it but didn't have time to share my thoughts and i forgot to save it to my drafts so i lost it#anyway they talked about fearing god in service today#the overlap of related events like this scares me all the time#like... i know this stuff just happens and they had this sermon planned for months and it's coincidental#''but what if god is actually real and this is him trying to talk to me? what if he's trying to move me back on track?''#that's something i can't help but think#i'm starting to think I'll never know what is real and whether there's a god and if i really am setting myself up to burn in hell#i have to make a choice whether to leave my friends and hide who I am and go back to the church#or be myself and enjoy my time alive knowing what could be waiting for me when I go#I know that sounds extremely dramatic but it's something I think about a lot#it's one thing for someone to have never gotten to known God#but some say that the one unforgivable sin - the only thing that can keep you out of heaven forever...#...is knowing god and accepting him in your heart but then turning your back on him#I've done those rituals; been baptized and taken communion and said the famous prayer#if that unforgivable sin is true then I guess i've already made my choice; there really is no going back for me haha#damn right that god is scary lol#not tagging the game because I monolouged too much lmao#doodles#sunday doodles#depressing sunday doodle posts have arrived once again#dw im chilling today just lost in thought#was able to put in pto so i get the day to reflect on the very important things 21 year olds think about#things like ''what could've been'' and ''how do i want to draw my next fluffy boy''
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Comparison between the """finished""" and unfinished versions of that drawing I posted.
#my art#art comparison! yayay#i fixed seras lines a little ig#fixed rumi's uneven eyeliner#like yes girl you can wear it but PLEASE PLEASE do your other eye#made her cheek scar look like a scar instead of like. stray hair#i should have left seras hair the original colour but i need to draw it differently anyway#im done with the six years worth of work that was dumped on me to complete within a fortnight!!!! i can breathe!!!#okay fine it was proportional but i have adhd and all the “reasonable time” i was given to complete my work OVERLAPPED#like sync up guys come on are you TRYING to kill me#i have things i want to draw and now i can!!!! huzzah!!!#the differences are really noticable huhh#made this ages ago and its just been sitting in my drafts. waiting.#fished out of the swamp that is my drafts
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SHHH SH HEYYY HEY DONT TELL ANYONE BUT... ive been workin on smth since BITB came out..... itsa lil musical animatic involvin kian and becky.... ITS NO WHERE NEAR DONE YET but loooook look im puttin lil screenshots under the cut. its supposed to go along with Am I In Heaven? by King Gizzard n the Lizard Wizard. infact yknow what cmere come sit with be bc ALOT of songs from the 'IM IN YOUR MIND FUZZ' album makes me think about becky and kian. oh my god. those two make me so damn emotional. like Her and I was the first one to rly resonate with me, and EMPTY was another good one, all just stuff about. yknow LOVE!! doomed by the narrative yet burning SO SO brightly in its last moments, holding hands, playing music, THEY WERE SO IN LOVE WITH YOU THAT THE COPY OF THEM LOVED YOU, AND YOUR COPY LOVES THEM TOO. WHAT A BEAUTIFUL, CRUMBLING, BURNING, HISSING, SQUIRMING, MELTING, CLICKING LOVE STORY..
GET OVER HERE N SCREAM WITH MEEE I LOVE SCREAMING ABOUT THINGS
#THIS IS A DRAFT that i made like. months ago. woopsie.#BUT IM CHIPPING AWAY AT IT AGAIN. IT CANT STAY UNFINISHED FOREVER. ONE DAY YOU WILL ALL SEE! YOULL ALL SSSEEEE!!!!!!!#no reblogs either this stays between US!!!!!!!!!!#and if you guys like it enough i might post an old fuckin wip i have all packaged together on youtube. its a VIDEO it goes w the MUSIC!!#SOUND WITH THE MOVING IMAGE?? IVE ONLY EVER DONE IT ONCE!!!#ill post the Lord of Lightning animatic i made on tumblr when i get the chance. in the meantime i ahve it posted on twitter. GO FETCH#but THIS SECOND ONE is out there.. all synced together..#but its a wip and its rough and old and scuffed and i HATE IT. my son whom i wish was dead#but you can see it. for the small small price of uh. begging.#also ouuhh my god i love becky and kian so much... they make me so emotional.. SOMETHING ABT DOOMED SHIPS...#even as the boat sinks these two clung together so tightly. they really really did love eachother so much. even after ten years of ROTTING#of sitting and waiting and wondering 'where is she?' is she lost? hurt? did something happen? is she okay? did she even want to be here?#does she hate me? did she leave because she hated me? she never wanted to see me again? where is she? where is she? guess ill write a song#FOR TEN YEARS. when i was just busy. i was distracted. so much came up. things got serious. my dream became clear and i had to chase it#i didnt know you were waiting. im sorry. i should have chased the thought of you more. but i was busy. i was just busy.#i wish that i could apologize with the throat that was my own. i hope this copy will suffice. i hope this copy will suffice. UGH
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bestie we just might need some Murphy selfies … for mental health ☺️
#hope this is ok bestie 🥰#it’s from the last time I dog sat#cause I was going through the ones from this weekend and I have a few with me and the baby#but I look gross in all of them#it is sooooo hard to take pictures with Murphy - he just can’t sit long enough 😂#he’s like ‘ugh ok you want another picture???? fiiiiiine….. I’ll sit here for a secon- wait wait wait I have to kiss you all over your face’#I do have some PRECIOUS pictures of just him that I might show soon 🥺#I really can’t decide which one my favorite picture is - I have two that are neck and neck#one is when we were cuddling in the morning - his head is on my pillow and he’s a sleepy baby#the other one is he kept stealing my socks and at one point he just grabbed all of them and stuffed them in his mouth#I took a picture and he’s looking up at me like ‘what???? socks???? I didn’t steal any socks 🥺’#he cuddled with my socks and shoes multiple times#so so so cute#whoopsies I saved this as a draft and never posted it#sorry bestieee#enjoy some Murphy and a little peep of me 😇#I miss Murphy so much already it’s crazy#he was out for a walk yesterday and his owner sent me a pic cause he was sniffing around my car looking for me 🥺🥺🥺#me#mine#rosicheeks#Murphy#🥰🥰🥰🥰🥰🥰🥰#ask#lovely mutuals
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