#unrealistic but pretty

[rainystressed247]

Fae!Dream Fae!Dream Fae!Dream.

Sorry I was overcome by the need to see fae!Dream again >.<

Also yes, I was busy but I finally have some time. Also, also, there are a lot of art coming in this week so stay tuned!!! <3

[tragicotps]

What age was Gillian Anderson in The X-Files? (x)

[wickwackity]

it’s a bird it’s a plane it’s a hatzegopteryx

[orengejoshi]

Paperhatober Day 19: Glasses🔍

he's SPEECHLESS he's never seen such beauty.

[whoisspence]

they really tried to convince us this guy couldn't pull any bitches ???? lmao yeah right

[rystiel]

can’t blame in-ho tbh i’d also stare at gi-hun all day

[jewish-vents]

what if we jews did a version of a blackout on october 7? No posting, no reblogging or comments or messages on tumblr at all.

let gentiles sit in awkward silence

As much as this idea is interesting, I'm not sure if: 1) the idea will catch on at all, 2) that many people will notice if Jews stopped posting on the internet. You've seen how easy it was for them to throw away friendships that lasted years once Oct 7 hit. - 🦦ྀི

[taradactyls]

So I could be totally wrong but, I believe it was sort of expected that men/gentlemen lose their virginity before marriage in regency times. But I also there’s some fandom ‘debate’ about whether or not Mr Darcy would’ve had sex before getting married. So I was just curious about what your canon for Mr Darcy in T3W is. Is he a virgin or not?

I knew someone would ask me this eventually, haha. I've actually had really long conversations with my beta reader about this trying to figure it out. It sounds like this might all be stuff that you’ve already seen discussed in the fandom, but I’ve never thought about it deeply before and so these are new thoughts to me.

I keep going over the historical real-world likelihood, the authorial intent, and the text itself but I’m still not 100%. I’ll explain my thinking and what I find most likely, but here’s your warning that it’s not a clear cut yes/no.

Because on one hand, at that time period it was most common for men in his position to have seen sex workers or have casual encounters/mistresses with women from their estates. Though I do absolutely believe not all men did that, no matter how much wealth and power they had. To go back some centuries, William the Conqueror seemed to be famously celibate (no hints of male lovers either according to the biography I read) until his marriage, and there's no evidence of affairs after it either. The best guesses as to why are that it was due to his religious devotion and the problems that had arisen from himself being a bastard and not wanting to recreate that situation. Concerns over religion and illegitimate children would certainly still have been applicable in the regency to men who thought that way. And in modern times I've seen sex workers say that when an 18/21yo is booked in by his family/friends to 'become a man' often they end up just talking and agree to lie about the encounter. After all, it’s not like every man wants casual sex, even if they aren’t demisexual or something in that vein. But, statistically speaking, the precedent of regency gentlemen would make Darcy not a virgin.

On the other hand, just how aware was Jane Austen, the very religious daughter of a country rector, of the commonness of this? There’s a huge difference between knowing affairs and sex workers existed (and no one who had seen a Georgian newspaper could be blind to this) and realising that the majority of wealthy men saw sex workers at some point even if they condemned the more public and profligate affairs. The literature for young ladies at the time paints extramarital sex - including the lust of men outside of marriage - as pretty universally bad and dangerous. This message is seen from 'Pamela' and other gothic fiction to non-fiction conduct books which Jane Austen would have encountered. Here's something I found in 'Letters to a Young Lady' by the reverend John Bennett which I found particularly interesting as it's in direct conversation with other opinions of the era:

"A reformed rake makes the best husband." Does he? It would be very extraordinary, if he should. Besides, are you very certain, that you have power to reform him? It is a matter, that requires some deliberation. This reformation, if it is to be accomplished, must take place before marriage. Then if ever, is the period of your power. But how will you be assured that he is reformed? If he appears so, is he not insidiously concealing his vices, to gain your affections? And when he knows, they are secured, may he not, gradually, throw off the mask, and be dissipated, as before? Profligacy of this kind is seldom eradicated. It resembles some cutaneous disorders, which appear to be healed, and yet are, continually, making themselves visible by fresh eruptions. A man, who has carried on a criminal intercourse with immoral women is not to be trusted, His opinion of all females is an insult to their delicacy. His attachment is to sex alone, under particular modifications.

The definition of a rake is more than a man who has seen a sex worker once, it's about appearance and general conduct too, but again, would that distinction be made to young ladies? Because they seem to simply be continuously taught 'lust when unmarried is bad and beware men who you know engage in extramarital sex.' As a side note, Jane Austen certainly knew at least something about the mechanics of sex: her letters and literature she read alludes to it, and she grew up around farm animals in the countryside which is an education in itself.

We can also see from this exert that the school of thought seems to be 'reformed rake' vs 'never a rake' in contention for the title of best husband, there's no debate over whether a current rake is unsuitable for a young lady. And, from Willoughby to Wickham to Crawford, I think we have a very clear idea of Jane Austen's ideas of how likely it is notably promiscuous men can reform. This does not preclude the possibility that her disparaging commentary around their lust is based more on over-indulgence or the class of women they seduce, but it's undoubtedly a condemnation of such men directly in line with the first part of what John Bennett says so it's no stretch to believe she saw merit in the follow-on conclusions of the second part as well. Whether she would view it with enough merit to consider celibacy the only respectable option for unmarried men is a bit unclearer.

I did consider that perhaps Jane Austen consciously treated this as a grey area where she couldn’t possibly know what young men did (the same reasoning is why we never see the men in the dining room after the ladies retire, etc) and so didn't hold an opinion on men's extramarital encounters with sex workers/lower-class women at all, but I think there actually are enough hints in her works that this isn’t the case. Though, unsurprisingly, given the delicacy of the subject, there’s no direct mention of sex workers or gentlemen having casual lovers from among the lower-classes in her texts.

That also prevents us from definitively knowing whether she thought extramarital sex was so common, and as unremarkable, as most gentlemen treated it. But we do see from her commentary around the consequences of Maria Bertram and Henry Crawford's elopement that she had criticism of the double standards men and women were held to when violating sexual virtue. Another indication that she perhaps expected good men to be capable of waiting until marriage in the way that she very clearly believed women should. At the very least, a man who often indulges in extramarital sex does not seem to be one who would be considered highly by Jane Austen.

She makes a point of saying, in regards to not liking his wife, that Mr Bennet “was not of a disposition to seek comfort for the disappointment which his own imprudence had brought on, in any of those pleasures which too often console the unfortunate for their folly or their vice.” This must include affairs, though cheating on a wife cannot be a 1:1 equivalent of single young men sleeping around before marriage. However, the latter is generally critically accepted to be one of the flaws that Darcy lays at Wickham’s door along with gambling when talking about their youth and his “vicious propensities" and "want of principle." Though this could be argued that it’s more the extent or publicity of it (but remembering that it couldn't be anything uncommon enough that it couldn't be hidden from Darcy Sr. or explained away) rather than the act itself, or maybe seductions instead of paying women offering those services. I also believe Persuasion mentioning Sunday travelling as proof of thoughtless/immoral activity supports the idea that Jane Austen might have been religious enough that she would never create a hero who had extramarital sex.

So, taken all together this would make Darcy potentially a virgin, or, since I couldn't find absolute evidence of her opinions, leave enough room that he isn’t but extramarital sex isn’t a regular (or perhaps recent) thing and he would never have had anything so established as a mistress.

I’ve also been wondering, if Darcy isn’t a virgin, who would he have slept with? I’ve been musing on arguments for and against each option for weeks at this point. No romantasy has ever made me think about a fictional man's sexual habits so much as the question of Darcy's sexual history. What is my life.

Sex workers are an obvious answer, and the visits wouldn’t have raised any eyebrows. Discretion was part of their job, it was a clean transaction with no further responsibilities towards them, and effective (and reusable, ew) condoms existed at this time so there was little risk of children and no ability to exactly determine the paternity even if there was an accident. It was a fairly ‘responsible’ choice if one wanted no strings attached. In opposition to this, syphilis was rampant at the time, and had been known to spread sexually for centuries. Sex workers were at greater risk of it than anyone else and so the more sensible and risk-averse someone is (and I think Mr Darcy would be careful) the less likely they would be to visit sex workers. Contracting something that was known as potentially deadly and capable of making a future wife infertile if it spread to her could make any intelligent and cautious man think twice.

Servants and tenants of the estate are another simple and common answer. Less risk of stds, it can be based on actual attraction more than money (though money might still change hands), and is a bit more intimate. But Wickham’s called wicked for something very similar, when he dallies (whether he only got to serious flirting, kissing, or sleeping with them I don’t think we can conclusively say) with the common women of Meryton: “his intrigues, all honoured with the title of seduction, had been extended into every tradesman's family.” And it isn't as though Wickham had any personal duty towards those people beyond the claims of basic dignity. Darcy, who is shown to have such respect and understanding for his responsibilities towards the people of his estate and duties of a landlord, would keenly feel if any of his actions were leading his servants/tenants astray and down immoral paths. Servants, especially, were considered directly under the protection of the family whose house they worked in. I think it's undoubtable that Mrs Reynolds (whose was responsible for the wellbeing - both physically and spiritually - of the female servants) would not think so well of Mr Darcy if he had experimented with maids in his youth. It would reflect badly on her if a family entrusted their daughter to her care and she 'lost her virtue' under her watch. Daughters/widows of others living on the estate not under the roof of Pemberley House are a little more likely, but still, if he did have an affair with any of them I can only think it possible when he was much younger and did not feel his duties quite so strongly. Of course lots of real men didn't care about any of this, but Darcy is so far from being depicted as careless about his duties that the narrative makes a point of how exceptional his quality of care was. Frankly, it's undeniable that none of Jane Austen's heroes were flippant about their responsibilities towards those under their protection. I cannot serious entertain an interpretation that makes Darcy not, at his current age, at least, cognizant of the contemporary problems inherent in sleeping with servants or others on his estate.

A servant in a friend’s house would remove some of that personal responsibility, but transfer it to instead be leading his friend’s servants astray and in a manner which he is less able to know about if a child did result. That latter remains a problem even if we move the setting to his college, so not particularly likely for his character as we know it… though it wouldn’t be unusual for someone to be more unthinking and reckless in their teenage years than they are at twenty-eight so I don’t think having sex then can be ruled out. Kissing I can much more easily believe, especially when at Oxford or Cambridge, but every scenario of sleeping with a lower-class woman has some compelling arguments against it especially the closer we get to the time of the novel.

Men did of course also have affairs with women of ranks similar to their own, though given Jane Austen’s well-known feelings towards men who ‘ruined’ the virtue of young ladies we can safely say that Darcy never slept with an unwed middle- or upper-class woman. Any decent man would have married them out of duty if it got so far; but if he was the sort to let it get so far, I think it impossible Jane Austen would consider him respectable. Widows are a possibility, but again, the respectable thing to do would be to marry them. Perhaps a poorer merchant’s widow would be low enough that marriage is off the table but high enough that the ‘leading astray’ aspect loses its master-servant responsibilities (though the male-female ‘protect the gentler sex’ aspect remains) but his social circle didn’t facilitate meeting many ladies like that. Plus, an affair with a woman in society would remove many layers of privacy and anonymity that sex-workers and lower-class lovers provided by simply being unremarkable to the world at large. It carries a far greater risk of scandal and a heavier sense of immorality in the terms of respecting a woman’s purity which classism prevented from applying so heavily to lower-class women.

I think it’s important to note here that something that removes the need to think about duties of landlords towards the lower-classes or gentlemen towards gentlewomen is having affairs with other men of a similar rank. But, aside from the risk of scandal and what could be called the irresponsibility of engaging in illegal acts, it’s almost certain that Jane Austen would never have supported this. For a devout author in this era the way I’m calculating likelihoods makes it not even a possibility. But if you want to write a different fanfiction (and perhaps something like a break-up could explain why Darcy doesn’t seem to have any closer friend than someone whom he must have only met two or so years ago despite being in society for years before that) it does have that advantage over affairs with women of equal- and lower-classes. I support alternate interpretations entirely – it just isn’t how I’m deciding things in this instance.

I keep coming back to the conclusion that, at the very least, Darcy hasn’t had sex recently and it was never a common occurrence. It wouldn’t surprise me if Jane Austen felt he hadn’t done it ever. Kissing, as we can see from all the parlour games at the time, wasn’t viewed as harshly, so I think he’s likely made out with someone before. But in almost every situation it does seem that the responsible and religious thing to do (which Jane Austen values so highly) is for it to never have progressed to sex. I also don’t think it conflicts with his canon characterisation to say that he wouldn’t regard sexual experience as a crucial element of his life thus far, and his personality isn’t driven to pursue pleasure for himself, so it’s entirely possible that he would never go out of his way to seek it. So, I’m inclined to think that the authorial and textual evidence is in favour of Darcy being a virgin even if the real-world contemporary standard is the opposite. (Though both leave enough room for exceptions that I’m not going to argue with anyone who feels differently; and even if you agree with all my points, you might simply weight authorial intent/textual evidence/contemporary likelihoods differently than I do and come to a different conclusion).

Remember that even if Darcy is a virgin this wouldn’t necessarily equate to lack of knowledge, only experience. There were plenty of books and artwork focused on sex, and Darcy, studious man that he is, would no doubt pay attention to what knowledge his friends/male relatives shared. Though some of it (Looking especially at you, 'Fanny Hill, Memoirs of a Woman of Pleasure') should NEVER be an example of appropriate practice for taking a woman's virginity. Darcy would almost certainly have been taught directly or learnt through exposure to other men talking to make sex good for a woman – it was a commonly held misconception (since Elizabethan England, I believe) that women had to orgasm to conceive. It would be in his interests as an empathetic husband, and head of a family, to know how to please his wife.

Basically, I’m convinced Darcy isn’t very experienced, if at all, and will be learning with Elizabeth. But he does have a lot of theoretical knowledge which he’s paid careful attention to and is eager to apply.

[boydadbuck]

evan buckley I need you to be so fucking for real rn

[embracesadness]

Attempted some sketches of the 90's YJ crew in my own style! With our favorite Impulse and his two coincidentally blonde (well, most of the time for Cassie) and double "S" named BFF's, Cissie and Cassie! Lowkey love the 90's style on them. They look WAY cool haha. And you gotta adore solid rep for platonic friendships between guys and gals where they can be close physically but it doesn't necessarily have to be romantic🙏  (And, yes, I made the glasses reflective so I wouldn't have to draw his eyes because they are HARD, don't JUDGE me XD)

[joethehoeee]

Stricklake month week 4: Blood/Healing (TW)

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{In a world plunged into eternal night by the forces of darkness, Barbara Lake fights to survive alongside Walter Strickler, a changeling who once passed as human. After a brutal encounter with monstrous Gumm-Gumms leaves Barbara gravely injured.}

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

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{Walter desperately tries to save her, revealing his deep love for her. Tormented by guilt over his role in her son Jim's death, Walter is determined to protect Barbara, despite the secrets he keeps. Her trust in him gives him the strength to continue, even as the darkness of their world closes in.}

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And????

Is that fun???

Missed this AU?????😃😁

Come on, we all know you missed it. That's why I am saying yall might get a full on fanfiction. (I know yall hate me for it.)

But first: Link for the short prompt story.

You don't need to know much, the summary explains enough and the story as well. If you want to know more, go to my Masterpost and search through the DystopiaStricklake!AU.

Closeup:

[boilingrain]

Despite how often I do LoZ stuff about BotW & TotK, I actually think that Tetra is probably my favorite "Zelda" in the series so far, and she's been my favorite since I was a kid. She's definitely interesting and my fingers are crossed that one day in a future game we'll see more of the Adult Timeline and perhaps more of the new kingdom of Hyrule that Tetra founded, even though I don't have high hopes for anything connected to Tetra specifically to make an appearance in anything canonical anytime soon.

Anyways I hope I made her look unhappy enough in her pretty pink princess dress. Honestly I've always found it a bit icky that her skintone changes so much when she gets Zeldafied. Like I get that we're supposed to be unhappy about the Zelda thing because "Princess Zelda" has never been who Tetra is as a person, but I feel like they still could have made that point without changing her skintone. I'm pretty sure this isn't an unpopular opinion amongst Wind Waker fans though, so I'm not gonna keep yapping about it.

[datannapanda]

If a D&D wizard or sorcerer found a way into Veilguard, I bet they could have defeated Elgar'nan and Ghilan'nain fairly easily. Humiliate them further by casting Otto's Irresistible Dance before magic missile-ing them into oblivion.

Their weakness comes in that they can only take 6 seconds to act then have to wait until everyone else goes to do something again but I'm sure they'll manage

[carlosdevilz]

thinking...

[lesbiancarat]

for anyone wondering, what about Han Sungsoo? 🤔 it seems that he hasn't been the CEO of Pledis since early 2022, the role until now was filled by Lee Dahye, a former VP for Bighit. HSS has still remained in the company but was demoted to an internal director

if you're wondering how you missed this, don't worry, there was never an official announcement! 🙃 carats had to find this out more than a year after the fact by doing some digging

but now Lee Dahye is being replaced by Kim Yeon Soo, who's the original VP of Pledis before they were acquired. He's the one that appeared on SVT Club, and he has historically had a good relationship with Seventeen. the way I always thought of it is Nu'est was HSS's project group, where Kim Yeon Soo oversaw the creation of svt. after the acquisition, he was put in charge of Hybe Labels Japan. it seems now he will remain in that position while also taking over as Pledis CEO

personally, I don't know what to think of this yet. on one hand carats have always had a positive view of Kim Yeon Soo, and he's always seemed to have a close relationship with svt. and I would say I'd rather have him in charge than a hybe plant

but the timing of it is very convenient. this is pure speculation on my part but with Seungkwan's Instagram post recently and all the stuff going on with hybe, it wouldn't surprise me if hybe was bringing in Kim Yeon Soo to try and appease the members (and possibly other Pledis employees). it definitely feels like they're trying to appease /somebody/ with this move, and I can't see it being the fans since most carats didn't know about Lee Dahye being the CEO in the first place. so I can only assume it's people within Pledis they're trying to appease 🤷‍♀️

[cabeswaterdrowned]

Jordeclan and Adansey double date scenario but the context is that Rodansey are all together, Pynch have been together long term and Gansey just joined recently so Declan hasn’t been told yet. Declan and Jordan have recruited Adam’s help with a fairy market job because they need a psychic who is down for crimes, and then it turns out Gansey has some connections that will come in handy so he’s tagging along and Declan notices them acting how they usual do read: being freaks, and gets so mad because he thinks Adam is either cheating with Gansey or about to cheat with Gansey. In ordinary circumstances obviously he’d just kill the other guy but it’s Gansey and Declan just got to a relatively better place with Ronan he can’t have that set back over this, so instead he makes it his mission to keep Adam and Gansey from being able to do anything remotely couple-y / cockblock them until either the vibes disperse or they confess / give proof he can go to Ronan with or something. So maybe the business thing involves them traveling together or maybe Declan slashed their tires or something who knows but it turns out they have to spend more time together / go on a lil mini road trip where Declan is getting progressively madder because they’re so Shameless while still not doing anything he thinks Ronan would believe him about, and they end up at this inn that they have to have dinner at then stay the night at and Jordan wants to have like a proper date just the two of them but Declan Insists they all go out together and sits in between Adam and Gansey, when this started Jordan found it funny that Declan was putting his crime skills to use dealing with Ronan’s relationship drama but now she’s getting more and more pissed at him. The last straw is when there are only two beds available at the inn and Declan tries to insist that he and Gansey share a bed while Jordan and Adam share the other, which everyone is aghast about and Jordan settled this by saying she’ll have her own one bed Thank You and storming off, leaving Declan to room with Adansey. Declan realizes he’s gone too far but decides he’ll make amends in the morning the important thing right now is to put this to rest so he can go back to focusing on his Own relationship with his beautiful girlfriend (unsure if they’re married or not yet I don’t even know if this is au or post series). So he then takes Adam’s phone in the middle of the night since he knows Ronan is more likely to pick it up than his, because he spent a while in the bathroom for an IBS episode and when he returned he finally caught them doing something maybe they were already asleep but holding hands and Gansey was sappily saying Adam’s name or some shit, but when he calls Ronan for him to hear this Ronan is like 🫤🫤 okay I knew they do that… why are You sleeping with My boyfriends. And this is when Declan is like wait… boyfriends???