#ask sca-nerd

[sca-nerd]

Don't come at me in my asks with your barely concealed white supremacy poorly decorated in the interest of certain medieval cultures.

Those cultures would have called you an asshole, too.

[wordswithkittywitch]

I am aware that my "sincere" tone often comes out as "passive-aggressive" and I'm working on that. So, with the knowledge I'm going for "sincere" here, I want as many people as possible to know about a key difference between renfaires and SCA events.

Renfaires have audiences. SCA events have participants.

This means that SCA events are often a lot cheaper to get into, because there are no actors practising skits, just nerds like you who have been doing it a bit longer. You still can watch people sing and swordfight, but there's no plot to follow. Because we are doing this for ourselves.

And you can join in! We want you to join in! We want to teach you how to spin flax and swordfight and forge armor and build kilns!

Because you aren't an audience. You're playing the same game as the rest of us and you have to play by the rules. We will loan you garb. It's free, we're happy to do it. But if you refuse to wear it, we are permitted to ask you to leave, because you aren't following the rules of the event.

I know you don't have to wear garb at a renfaire, but the SCA isn't a renfaire.

Anyone can reblog this. Even if you don't intend on attending an SCA event or a renfaire you should know the difference.

[rederiswrites]

My Pennsic camp has one athletic person, which the rest of us regard with a sort of baffled awe. We have one active, serious heavy fighter, whom we listen to with the amusement of a person who does care about that subject, but like, way way less. We have one person who likes football, and he is well aware that that's embarrassing in this social circle and tries not to bring up the sportsball. We have two people who care about the SCA social hierarchy, and we regard this with a sort of ironic bemusement and treat them with no additional respect whatsoever.

"Seems like a huge pain in the ass tbh" we say, and they agree. Being the titular leaders of the entire SCA barony encompassing Boston and its suburbs is fucking WORK, and expensive at that. Fuck it, we say, and they almost agree.

Overwhelmingly, we're anarchic, anti-authoritarian craft nerds. As I explained to new camp members this year, we're Fraggles--"We each lead ourselves, and we all lead each other". We're nearly half teenagers and children, and they also are feral creatures, raised to think for themselves. "What should I do if I'm out and I see someone with a fancy crown?" asks one of my wards, new to the event. I begin to explain that, at least at Pennsic, you can just step aside with a slight bow and keep moving, when the mom next to me just says, "Avoid them." "Or that," I say. "That works 99% of the time."

What we care about is Doing. Making. Cooking in the fire. Pottery. Learning how to work heavy bronze wire. Casting pewter in the fire pit. Midnight sweet potatoes in the coals. Shibori dyeing with an indigo dye bath, fascinated by the slight rotting-plant odor. Brewing and distilling. Firing stained glass at midnight in the middle of camp. In our camp, you earn respect because of what you've done. The only authority we care about comes from expertise, from actions. Assumed authority, official authority, pretensions of greatness, have historically pulled some truly remarkable acts of creative spite out of our members.

In my shop, I serve knights and duchesses. I do not use titles to any of them. Someone drops a hint: "I mean, if you'd like I'd take you as apprentice, too." Apprenticing to a Laurel is a good way to climb the ranks towards Laurel yourself. But I know I'm better than her already, and don't need the cookie. "I don't think I'm apprentice material," I laugh. She doesn't bring it up again.

In other words, these are my people. Creative rebels.

[the-punforgiven]

Hey, i wanted to ask because you seem to know your stuff, do you have any resources/books/sites you recommend for people who wanna know more about knights?

To be honest I'm really not sure, most of what I know comes from just like, hearing it secondhand and then googling it later tbh

If you're more in the market for dry academia I've heard an effective approach is like, searching for weapons/armor/whatever on wikipedia, and then like, scolling down to their sources for something interesting to read, but idk if that's your speed (Tbh it's usually not mine either, unless I'm having a catastrophic autism moment lol)

To be honest the place I got the majority of my knowledge from is just from like, getting curious about random shit and googling it, I really wish I had better resources I could give but tbh I often just like, don't really keep track about what I'm googling, I just google some shit like "What centuries were people wearing close helms" or whatever and then just read several different pages to make sure the information lines up

Or I'll hear something in passing about like, "The heaviest sword ever used in battle was 7 feet long and weighed 14 pounds" or something and google that one, which opened up a huge rabbit hole for me that was very fun to dig down into

(Admittedly, whenever I'm curious about something related to combat or swordsmanship techniques, I usually end up finding my way back to this wiki specifically though)

I also got a lot of what I know specifically from like, traveling medieval festivals and my SCA friends, so if you can find a festival or a branch of the SCA around wherever you live I'm sure you can find some nerds willing to share weird history facts with you

Because to be honest, basically all my knowledge of knights and such just came from either random idle curiosity or word of mouth + google. Like, Listen to something cool someone says, google it, voraciously consume information on the topic, repeat

That's also why my knowledge is very very spotty, I have a lot of knowledge but it's full of weird gaps that make it difficult to really talk about what I know with other people who like, actually know their shit lol

Alternatively again I know there are plenty of youtubers who like talking history, I know Skallagrim is a popular one (and largely responsible for making End Him Rightly a meme back in the day) but tbh I kinda fell off watching his videos a few years back so I have no idea what kinda content he's making nowadays

If you're more interested in the swordplay than the history I know I got my start on that from the Blood and Iron HEMA channel, but admittedly I fell off from watching their videos a few years back as well lol

That said I also recommend googling the shit out of whatever youtubers say that piques your fancy, since idk I've found youtubers are more likely to get their sources mixed up than anyone else for some reason

I'm sorry I really don't have much in terms of resources to give you tbh, basically everything I know came from me hearing about something cool and falling down a rabbit hole googling it

The only other advice I can give is that if you see a weapon in a videogame that's got a fancy name that sounds like, vaguely european, maybe try googling that too, you might find something neat!

Sorry for the wall of text also, and doubly sorry there's so little substance in it ;-;

@history mutuals please share whatever you've got below, for both anon and me lol

[rockshitty]

Sca heavy

Sca foil

Amtgard

Belegarth

Dagohir

Hearthlight

(I’m not even gonna try to list the lightest touch games. There are literally hundreds of them in the US alone. Find a nerd and ask what they know.)

Armored combat league

Battle for the nations

Buhurt

Fencing

The saber legion

Light saber league

And that’s just the list that I know. Go hit your friend with a stick.

We are living in the golden age of swinging swords at your friends.

[quixoticanarchy]

Would you do 11, 26, and 33 for the ask game, please?

Oh only just saw these bc apparently the inbox function is hidden from me now and can only be found by clicking on individual notifications directly... functional site.

Anyway thank you :))

11. favorite extracurricular activity?

I didn't really do school extracurriculars I more did like.. community organizing stuff, but in terms of just pastimes currently I am enjoying learning to throw spears and knives (through the sca)

26. a scenario that you’ve replayed multiple times?

Like a hypothetical scenario? or a memory? I run through a lot of scenarios in my head before doing anything and I'll also replay both good memories to relive them and bad ones in order to do them over better, but I'm not sure which this is asking for. I will do a lot of imagining just being in nice places hanging out w people I love

33. the last adventure you’ve been on?

Wondering what qualifies as an adventure... I went to the US desert southwest a couple months ago and that was excellent; I went camping at a medieval nerd event more recently and I think that's also a bit of an adventure. Lots of things can be depending on your approach

[fluffyferalkacchan]

BNHA Headcanons #3: Kacchan is afraid of ghosts

Okay so pull Bakugou into a Battle Royal style situation, surrounded by villains? He'd just smirk while going Great Explosion Murder God Dynamight on their ass.

But ask him to watch a ghost movie, or go to a supposedly haunted place? He'd nope his way out faster than Hawks at full speed.

So whenever the Ashido or Kaminari invited him to a ghost stories night, he'd categorically refuse. On every friday night aka. "movie night" he'd ask whoever is inviting him (a member of the Bakusquad or Todoroki, absolutely NOT Deku though) what movies they were supposed to watch (thankfully after the First Movie Night Fiasco, Iida instated some rules which worked in Bakugou's favor) so he'd googled it and knew when it was safe to come.

Besides the ghost types of horror movie, he's actually fine with all the other ones, so no one picked up on the fact that he didn't like ghost movies yet. (He's definitely not asking Deku, because he knew that that nerd would notice the pattern).

Somewhere along the line though Kaminari and Todoroki ended up finding out about it. In totally different circumstances, though.

Kaminari

After coming back from his supplementary classes, Bakugou was dragged to movie and since he was tired he totally forgot to ask about the title. He totally should have though, because it became obvious ten minutes into the movie that this was going to be about ghosts. But at this point it was too late to extract himself from the situation.

Halfway through, Kaminari, who was sitting right next to him on the sofa, noticed that Bakugou had gone strangely stiff and that he was clutching very hard at his knees. One subtle peek at Bakugou tense face and wide-eyes was enough for Kaminari to understand. And he mentally went like "Oh shit."

So like three seconds later he went like "Eeeek!" and splashed the full content of his glasses on Bakugou's face. Predictably, everyone around them went like "?!!!!", while Bakugou was like "What the actual fuck, dunce face?!"

Kaminari made a super sheepish face and explained that he felt something touching his neck from behind so he got super jumpy. So he dragged Bakugou to the bathroom to try to help him clean up, all the while apologizing super loudly.

"Whoa you got strawberry milk in your hair! Hmm... how about you go wash your face, while I take care of your shirt, okay? Just take it off and hand it over, I'm really sorry, Bakugou!"

He was half-expecting the other teen to explode on his face and to bite his head off for telling him what to do, but Bakugou was oddly silent and just studying for a while. Then,

"You did that on purpose. What's your deal, dunce face?"

Busted.

"Hmm.... I just sort of feel guilty 'cause I'm the one who dragged you there to watch the movie? And you must really be super tired 'cause you didn't even ask what we were going to watch and.....now that I think of it you probably ask for that specific reason so -"

"Quit the fucking rambling you sound like the nerd!! Get to the fucking point!"

"Right, so like, I think it's really not cool to force you to watch something if you don't like it? "

"The hell? I was fine!"

"Dude, it was written all over your face that you were sca-"

"I WASN'T SCARED!"

"... that you'd rather go kiss an octopus than be anywhere near that scary ghost lady. Unless you want to go back there?"

"..."

"Yeah that's what I thought. Now give me your shirt."

.

.

.

"Don't fucking expect me to thank you for throwing milk at my face!"

"Yeah no, no, don't. t'was my fault, anyway!"

(Though if sometimes afterwards Bakugou tutored Kaminari with way more implication than usual, it was because that dunce face was even more dumb that usual and absolutely not because he was feeling grateful or anything.)

.

.

"But like dude, it's actually kinda unexpected... like you seem the type to go full on "DIE, DIE, DIE" on anyone even on ghosts."

"... ghosts are not corporeal, dumbshit. And they're already fucking dead."

"Oh, right!"

Kaminari thought right there and then, that it actually made a whole lot of sense that Bakugou would be afraid of things that he was defenseless against and couldn't physically fought off.

Todoroki

Todoroki actually figured it out on his own by noticing which movies Bakugou tended to avoid and how he'd react when sometimes someone in the class would talk about that or that rumor. So one day he just came up to Bakugou and bluntly announced. "You are afraid of ghosts."

Bakugou of course blew up a gasket trying to deny it, but then Todoroki just went and showed him a picture of Sadako up close and reaching out like she was about to come out of the screen on his phone and Bakugou swatted at the phone so hard that it nearly fell down on the floor. "GET THAT THING OUTTA MY FACE!"

So yeah, the cat was out of the bag after that.

At some point, class 1A went to an amusement park and they decided to do the haunted maze.

Todoroki, whispering: Do you want to take my at hand?

Bakugou, hissing like a feral cat: Ask me that one more time and I'll fucking punch you in your asymmetrical face!

(Bakugou is fine with haunted attraction, because when he was a kid he once punched a fake ghost in the face and it actually went down, so hunted attraction are (relatively) safe).

The Origin Trio

Actually, I think that Bakugou is not the only one afraid of ghosts. This probably extends to any of the Origin Trio. Like all three of them are super badass and used to harsher and more dangerous situations than any other hero-in-training were at their age (and even than some actual pro heroes)...

But put them in a situation where they might be confronted to a ghost, like an old 'haunted' place? They'd react just like any scared teenagers would and I think it's hilarious.

Like at some point during their week-end internship with Endeavor, they went to an old inn in the middle of nowhere. And Endeavor had left them there alone for the night, while he went ahead to some place he wanted to scope beforehand.

While being served to eat, Midoriya asked the owner if she'd notice anything strange going around here recently. He actually just wanted to know if the suspect they were chasing had escaped there, but she ended up talking about how sometimes at night there would be that weird low scratching noose, like nails dragged on the wall and thumping in room where no one was supposed to be... and cue interjection from other resident of the inn about local tragic deaths and ghost rumors.

Which of course caused Bakugou to turn two shades whiter. But aside from that they determined that it probably wasn't the villain they were looking for and put it out of their mind. Until they heard the exact same scratching the owner had been talking about in the middle of the night... coming from inside their closet.

Midoriya, looking uneasy as they are inching closer to the closet: M-maybe it's just wind...

Bakugou, looking just as uneasy, if not worse: Inside the fucking closet?!

Midoriya, mumbling, mumbling: well, depending on the structure of the inn, there might actually be some places susceptible to air leakage and because of the difference of pressure between the inside and the outside -

Bakugou: Oh for fuck's sake, shut up.

And of course the light chose that exact moment to malfunction. Then a loud banging noise came from the inside of the closet, causing all three of them to flinch and frantically using Todoroki's light and Bakugou's explosion as their source of light.

Midoriya, sweating bullet and voice shaking: I think it wants to come out. See? It's banging and scratching on the closet door as if it is stuck in there... maybe it is too weak to properly move the door yet? Or it has not realized that the door is a sliding -

Bakugou, swatting him on the head: Are you freaking dumb, don't give it ideas on how to escape, damn Deku!

Todoroki, who had kept his poker face until now actually started to feel scared as well: M-Midoriya, what if I burn the whole closet down, while it's in there?

Midoriya: No your fire probably wouldn't be able to affect it. Odds are you'd actually end up burning only the closet door... which would actually allow it to escape....

Todoroki: Oh.... I think I understand now why you're scared of ghost movies, Bakugou. Feeling this helpless is very unpleasant.

Midoriya: Wait, what?! Is that why you're avoiding movie night, Kacchan?

Bakugou: Can we fucking focus on the actual fucking threat trying to break through our closet door?!

Midoriya: But now that I think about it, it's really strange that the door managed to physically restrain it while it's supposed to be incorporeal. Was there some kind of seal on the door? Or is it actually linked to the way it died -

And then the "actual fucking threat trying to break through the closet door" mewled. Yes mewled. Because, turned out it was actually just a cat who had sneaked in at some point and got stuck in there.

(And when Endeavor came back some time later, they unanimously decided not to tell him about what happened.)

.

.

So yeah, while Bakugou is the type to be afraid of anything ghost related and avoid them as much as possible, Todoroki is fine with ghost stories and movies and so on, but he would be the type to be really scared when actually confronted to a "possible ghost encounter situation". Midoriya, while still scared shitless, is probably the one who would be the most level-headed in such situation, 'cause he's sort of used to be scared?

.

.

.

About ten years ago.

Kid Deku and Kid Kacchan were exploring some part of the forest and they saw an abandoned shack and Kacchan wanted to go look inside,

Deku: Kacchan, it looks like it's haunted. What if we meet a ghost? Aren't you scared?

Kacchan: I'm not scared! Even if there's a ghost, I'll just use explosion on it!

Deku: But ghost doesn't have bodies. I don't think you can touch or hurt it. But it can touch you.

Kacchan, going super still:...

Deku: So what if we see one, and it tries to hurt us because we went inside its house?

Kacchan, looking at Deku with wide eyes: ....

Deku: Or what if it follows us home and attack us when we're asleep? I don't wanna go in there, Kacchan. Let's go back?

Kacchan, close to tears: F-fine, but that's just 'cause you're scared! I'd totally go on my own!

.

.

.

Deku accidentally being the source of Kacchan's traumas and totally forgetting about it, since time immemorial.

[bottleofspilledink]

God’s Watching, Put on a Show || Chapter IX

“So…” Eve began, staring at the various stands and stalls and tables with all sorts of different agendas, occasionally shifting her gaze to the people who would weave between it all.

In every sense of the word, today was, for lack of a better word, eventful.

This was most likely why, when they were gathered in the gymnasium for club sign-ups, the pair simply stood amidst the somewhat organized chaos, clueless.

“What now?” Eve pulled out the club sign-up form from her skirt pocket, thankful she hadn’t lost it in all the ruckus. “My offer still stands, I really don’t mind letting you pick the club we join.”

“I mean. I already told you earlier that I don’t really care what club we go to either way.” Lilith shrugged. She wasn’t trying to sound apathetic, but she couldn’t really remember the last time she enjoyed club time solely for it’s activities and not the friends she would do them with. “You pick.”

“Alright, we’re not gonna get anywhere with this, so how about a compromise?”

“I’m listening,” Lilith chuckled. Of course Eve would be the type to suggest something like that.

The girl in question blushed at the sound, but fought to gather her thoughts and continue.

“You can tell me the clubs you don’t like and I’ll do the same. After we narrow down the list, we can settle on a club that we both like, or at least a club that on of us can tolerate.”

“Okay, but let me tell you now, there are a lot of clubs I don’t like.”

It was Eve’s turn to laugh, her hand automatically coming to cover her mouth as she grinned and giggled.

“Tell me anyway.”

“No music club,” Lilith said, right off the bat. “I’m a mediocre singer and I don’t want to spend two or three hours a week singing hymns.”

“Reasonable enough.” Eve recalled being given a small flier when they entered, the colourful paper listing all available clubs and emptied her pockets once more in search of it before crossing out the words “music club” with a pen she had found while looking for the paper. “Anything else?”

“No home economics. You know why.”

Eve just nodded an drew a line across it.

She was doing this to make up for what she did, not draw attention to it.

“And lastly,” Lilith said, voice tinted with humor as she tried to lighten the mood, somewhat guilty when she saw Eve’s face fall when she mentioned home economics, “no math club. ‘Cause I’m not a nerd.”

The girl succeeded, getting a tiny, genuine laugh from Eve that made her heart flutter like a hummingbird’s wing whenever it graced her ears.

“It’s fine, I’m bad at math too.”

Lilith visibly perked up at the words, the teasing grin Eve had so missed making a comeback at long last, “I never said I was bad at math. I’m pretty good at it, actually. I just don’t like doing it more than I have to.”

“Really?” Eve joked, displaying a mock-disbelief. Lilith was no idiot, though judging by her work ethic when it came to CLE, Eve couldn’t help but make a few assumptions. “What score did you get on the practice test a few days ago then?”

“Ninety-four percent.”

At that Eve’s eyes grew wide as saucers. That was better than she had gotten, and, more surprisingly, it was better than what Mary had gotten, ninety percent, an A minus that paled in comparison to Lilith’s A.

“Oh. That’s neat.” What could she say in response to that?

Fortunately, she didn’t have to struggle to say more, as Lilith returned the question to her.

“What did you get on the test.” Lilith wasn’t the type to gloat, at least not to a person she liked, but the thought of Eve thinking her a fool or a failure wasn’t the kind of image she wanted to project either.

“Eighty-seven…” She stared at the floor in shame, suddenly enamored in the scuff marks a muddy sneaker had left on the floor, shame flooding her face in the form of blood, her cheeks taking on a soft pink for different reasons now. Who could have left this here? A student who had forgotten to clean the soles of her shoes? A janitor, maybe?

Lilith couldn’t help but melt at the sight, immediately speaking to comfort the girl.

“Hey, come on. There’s no need to be embarrassed, that’s a pretty good grade, especially coming from someone who says they’re bad at math!” She clasped Eve’s shoulder and gave a gentle, encouraging squeeze, trying to get her to look up from the floor. “That’s like, what, a solid B? A B plus even?”

When that didn’t work, she slid her hand down to Eve’s and ran the pad of her thumb over the soft skin before giving another, more tender squeeze. “I’m sorry, I wasn’t trying to embarrass you when I asked that. If you want, I can help you review for the next test?” She put on a smile and tried to sound optimistic, mind running a mile a minute as she tried to figure out what to say next.

“There’s always room for improvement!” Lilith said, stealing one of Paula’s lines in the rare occasion that Joan flubbed a test or lost a game. She’d have to thank her for that later.

Meanwhile, Eve hoped that Lilith wouldn’t be able to feel her pulse through her wrist, the pink hue her face took on having faded, only to return with a vengeance when Lilith opted to hold her hand, the way the girl soothed her thumb over her knuckles nearly sending her into cardiac arrest, the momentary squeeze stealing the air from her lungs and running for the hills, if only for an instant before she mustered up enough breath to speak.

“You’d really do that? Or are you just saying that to make me feel better?”

“Are you kidding me?” Lilith grinned, incredulous. “Of course I’d help! With a score like that, there isn’t even all that much to do.”

The way Eve looked at her when she said those words, amber eyes adoring and brimming with marvel as it were, Lilith couldn’t bring herself to look away, it was like she was lost and slowly, willingly sinking into the entrancing, honeyed hue that was Eve’s eyes.

She could hardly handle being the subject of the girl’s gratitude-filled gaze, her heart clenching tenderly when Eve smiled at her, because of her, soft and sweet, dimples appearing on her rosy cheeks, unaware of the near-painful longing that welled up in Lilith’s chest.

In the split second silence, Lilith wondered whether it was for better or worse that Eve didn’t know how her heart ached whenever she made her smile, knowing that Eve, kind person she was, would never want to hurt her, even in the most gentle way, the soft tightening of her chest Lilith herself would sometimes even long for.

“Anyway,” Eve said, breaking the quiet that had settled over them, “I really can’t join the art club, so that’s out of the question. My drawing skills are literally non-existent.”

“Yeah?”

“Yeah! The best I can do are stick figures, bee doodles, and really loopy flowers.”

They scratched that off the list and began roaming around, Eve unsure of what clubs were a hard no for her but wanting to narrow down the list further.

“Oh, definitely no debate club.” She said out the moment she saw their stand, stopwatch, hardwood podium and all.

“Okay, but why?” Lilith took the list from her and crossed it out, skimming over it in search of clubs the both of them could enjoy.

“They’re sca-“

“Lilith!”

A girl with shoulder-length black hair swishing slightly with every step came up from behind them and hugged Lilith with a fierce grip, nearly making the both of them fall to the ground in the process, her long-suffering partner, local gossip girl, Margaret, merely trailing a few paces behind her, not wanting to be associated with the girl who managed to make at least eleven heads turn towards them.

“Joan told me everything this morning. Where is she?” The girl let go, swinging her head around frantically and craning her neck in an exaggerated search. “I’m gonna beat this chick’s ass if it’s the last thing I do!”

Finally, Margaret came closer and tried to put a stop to whatever was unfolding. “Swearing is against the rules, Julia. I can report you for that.”

The girl, Julia, apparently, turned to look at her partner, joyful demeanor fading in an instant.

“So is make-up and cheating, but you don’t see me yapping about it, do you?”

That shut Margaret up effectively, cheeks probably red with indignance under her foundation.

“Anyway, where is the bitch? I’ll-“

“Okay, before you finish that sentence, I think you should know that the girl you’re calling a bitch is right beside me. Right now.” Lilith said, grabbing her by the shoulders and making her face Eve.

Julia looked at her.

She looked at Julia.

“Hi.”

“Oh shit. Hey…” They stared at each other, a split second of tension filled silence passing between them. “I’m not taking back what I said though, you’re a bitch. I mean seriously, I get not being gay but did you have to- OW!”

Lilith’s elbow met Julia’s rib, harshly.

“When did Joan say all this?” She sighed. The last thing she needed right now was someone making Eve feel worse after everything that happened today, especially now that they were just starting to patch things up and talk free of any awkwardness.

“I already told you, she said all that this morning. We sat next to each other in CLE and passed notes while Sister Jane wasn’t looking.”

“Julia, you’re fucking nuts and I love you for that,” Lilith sighed again, pinching the bridge of her nose in frustration, “but now is really not the time. Go ask Joan or Paula to catch you up on things, they should be around here somewhere. We’re busy looking for a club. Until they tell you what happened earlier, you can not call Eve anything except Eve.”

“Oh wow, okay. I must have missed something big if you’re defending the girl who made you sob so hard, you almost-”

“The details aren’t important! Besides, you weren’t there, so you don’t know what happened.”

Julia raised a brow at the girl, shutting up to help her save face, but going in for one last tease before she went looking for Paula to see the whole picture, “I literally just said that Joan told me everything, but okay.” She put her hands up in a sort of surrender. “Say what you want, babe! I’ll get the truth out of you the next time we get wasted anyways, so yeah!” And with that she turned to leave before, rather impulsively, Eve called out to her.

“What club did you join?”

“You’re really gonna look at me and not immediately assume I’m in the softball club? You offend me, Eve. I mean really! You know what they say about softball. It’s the sport of my people!”

The blonde merely stood in silence, absolutely dumbfounded, mouth opening and closing like a fish yet not a syllable leaving her lips.

Julia cackled, tossing her head back and ruffling her soft curls. “Oh God, she doesn’t know?” She asked Lilith, her eyebrows raised so far up that no one watching would be surprised if they receded even further back to join the hair on her head. “You really know how to pick ‘em, sweetheart!”

She walked away, giggling and giving them – well, more Lilith than Eve – finger guns all the while.

“Okay, I’m just going to ask. What was that whole thing about softball about?”

At this, Lilith herself couldn’t help but laugh. “Basically, it’s kinda a stereotype that, and this isn’t a thing we made up, lesbians play softball.”

Eve’s look of confusion turned to bafflement turned to a somewhat exasperated and incredulous amusement. “That makes no sense, but I’m going with it anyway. How did that even start?”

“I actually don’t know, but we went along with it too, cause why the fuck not? You know?” Lilith shrugged and they continued walking again. “There’s probably a bit of truth in there somewhere. It’s how Joan and Paula got together, so there’s that! And Julia has an ex that used to be a member.”

Eve took the list back from her while she was distracted, eyes quickly scanning over it to see if Lilith had crossed anything out while it was in her possession. “I’m assuming there’s a story behind that?”

“Yup!” She snatched the flier away from Eve once more, holding it high above her head when the girl tried to get it again. “But not one you get to hear. Not yet.”

She huffed at that. Eve, despite already standing on her toes, the four inch height difference between them made it so she couldn’t get the list back from Lilith.

“Okay then. But one last question.”

“Yeah?”

“Sweetheart? Babe?” Eve asked, a twinge of jealousy in her. Granted, she had no right to be, at least in her own mind she didn’t. She wasn’t even supposed to be feeling anything for Lilith other than disdain, but what could she do? Her only consolation was the fact she’d yet to act on said emotions.

Technically.

Eve tried to justify what she could, mind jumping from hoop to hoop, connecting loose strings, drawing lines between dots that were barely there. Earlier wasn’t anything akin to love. It was just a friend taking care of a friend.

Yes.

“Oh, that? Yeah, Julia calls everyone that, really. It’s nothing personal.” Lilith felt delusional. Were her feeling for Eve so strong as to warp her mind and affect her hearing, going so far as to imagine Eve’s voice with a pang of envy. “If you get on her good side, she’ll probably call you something too. Not what she called you earlier, though.”

A wave of relief washed over the blonde… followed immediately by guilt for feeling said relief.

It was nothing another round of mental gymnastics couldn’t fix.

The only reason she was relieved was because Lilith not being in a relationship meant that she wasn’t beyond saving.

Of course.

“I hope so, too.” Eve said. They turned to walk down a different aisle, about forty-five minutes left for them to find and join a club.

The pair strolled between stalls leisurely, narrowing down the list bit by bit, encircling the ones they had taken a particular liking to, chatting about clubs.

“The gardening club seems cool.” Lilith suggested, looking at their small stall decorated with small, origami flowers, the girls who ran it not having the heart to pluck what they had grown just yet. “It’s outside so I get some fresh air and it’s no sport, so you won’t have to strain yourself like you did in gym. Whaddya think of it?”

She looked over at Eve, only to see her frowning, a mix of disappointment and contempt in her eyes.

“I’d love to join, but I’m not allowed. My mom doesn’t like me gardening.” Her frown turned into a pout, eyes growing glassy with frustrated tears that had been building up for nearly a decade now. “She made me stop when I was eight because my hands were getting rough…”

“Use me.”

“What?”

“Use me as an excuse. Tell her I made you join it.”

Her words were temptation, the apple offered to Eve by the serpent.

Lilith held the sign-up slip and the red pen out to her, the folded paper an open invitation to rebellion. She wouldn’t force Eve, however, wanting this decision, this sin, to be hers and hers alone, the girl refusing to even write her own name on the paper.

Eve could feel the fifth commandment ringing in her ears, as the Eve before her knew she was defying god.

“Honour thy father and thy mother.”

And yet, Eve could also feel the dirt between her fingers and under her nails, the weight of a trowel in her hands, the sun beating on her back through the gaps in the leaves of their oak tree, the scent of the earth and the flowers carried by the breeze.

The nagging voice in her ears faded and morphed to the gentle buzzing of the bees and the high-pitched chirping of the birds.

Eve took the form and filled it up.

Eve took the apple and ate of it.

______________________________

Taglist: @anon-nom-nom95 @melpomenismask @littlemisscalamity @i-wanna-be-a-rock @extrabitterbrain @gaypeaches @phillyinthebathroom @leahstypewriter @madame-ree @pirateofblood

[yaninus-de-venoix]

hi, id love to know more abt the metal parts of your armor! i saw a post abt you adjusting your helmet, does that mean you know how to make all of that yourself? if you wanna be detailed as hell, be my guest, please! ive been curious abt medieval style fighting for a little while, it seems fun, but even if i dont do it, i still have cosplay im working on that requires armor, so knowing how to at least make it look realistic would help me a lot! links to tutorials would already be a huge help!

that's super cool! so I'm not necessarily the best person to ask, there are other folks who are way more into making their own armor. but I'll do my best. First thing, if you're interested in doing medieval style fighting, you should see if there's an SCA branch in your area! There are also other armored combat groups, but I don't know as much about them. At least where I live, if you know what branch you're in, if you look them up on facebook there's probably a local fighter fb group. Join that, and especially if you let someone know ahead of time so they can bring loaner gear, you can probably just… show up to a practice and people will help you get set up and loan you some armor and teach you the basics. If you don't have facebook, look up the local SCA branch and email the chatelaine (their job is to welcome newcomers), or any other relevant official. Say that you're interested in learning heavy fighting (assuming that's what you're interested in? heavy fighting is wacky-wacky, what I do. rapier fighting is swishy-poky, more like fencing), and ask them about fight practices in your area, and who to contact about loaner gear. They'll get you set up. Once you've been to a fight practice or two, you've tried it out with loaner armor, if you've made up your mind that this is something you want to do, you can probably just talk to the people you've met at practice and they'll be happy to help you get your own armor figured out. Now, because of quarantine, irl practices aren't happening rn. But the facebook groups are still pretty active! So if you can find the fb groups for your local sca branch and the fight practices in your area, you can introduce yourself and ask your questions on there. I'll give you a quick run-down on what I know… Most of my armor is leather, which is a bit easier to work with, especially with limited tools. Basic principles for working with leather is, you get it wet (move it around a bit under the water to make sure it soaks in all the way), shape it into the form you want, and then set it up so it'll dry in the right shape. Then you dye it if you're going to do that thing, then wax it. Then you stitch it, by poking or drilling holes in it and then sewing it with sinew. You'll need to know how to set a rivet, that's easy enough to look up on youtube. Simple sandwich rivets are fine for most things, actual rivets with washers are good for when you need something more heavy-duty. Most of the metal bits I bought online. Helms are hard to make yourself. With the shoulder and knee bits, you could do it yourself, but it's a bit of a pain. Doing some poking around online, r/sca has some good resources, there's a thread that's pretty similar to your question right here: https://www.reddit.com/r/sca/comments/2x89pa/how_do_you_guys_make_armor_specifically_metal_and/ and I found an old forum with a lot more resources: http://forums.armourarchive.org/phpBB3/ and for specific skills, like "how to set a rivet" or "how to dish metal", youtube is really useful. @sca-nerd might be able to refer you to more info? Good luck!

[saunteringvaguelydownwards]

My Dragon Con photos pt. 3

Descriptions below (L-R, T-B)

M’Lee, Rygel, Scorpius, and Sikozu from Farscape. It’s the 20th anniversary of Farscape this year (good lord), so a large portion of the cast was there, as were the Farscape cosplays. Managed to snag this photo as the last Farscape panel of the week was letting out. Incredibly well done

Chiana from Farscape. Another awesome cosplay. That amount of paint and makeup is insanely difficult, both to make look good in the first place, and to make it stay that way for hours. Not to mention the wig and the costume. Really cool to see my favorite character done well.

Mark Watney from The Martian. This was the same day as the Winter Soldier and Umbrella Academy photos. Honestly, there were so many photos I wanted to take right then, but I really had to get to my photo op with David Tennant, so I only got those two and this one. I couldn’t not. Love that movie. Asked for a photo and he dropped into the Fonzie pose from the scene in the movie and once I stopped laughing enough to take a steady photo I thanked him and booked it through the hotel.

Aladdin, Bellydancer!Genie, and Jafar. Like I mentioned, big Disney cosplay photoshoot on Saturday, and my friend Kaz is a huge nerd Disney fan. This was her first Dragon Con, but she has been to many many other conventions, and is a Russian garb Laurel in the SCA. She made all three of our JediPuff Girl costumes, as well as my Viking!Loki tunic and coat. Girl can sew. So she decided she wanted to do Genie from Aladdin. In the morning she was cheerleader!Genie, with the blonde wig and the tiny little J flag and everything. And then she changed into Bellydancer!Genie. She sewed all that. She figured out how to make it so the lamp would stay on her head while dancing, but could be removed for humorous photo opportunities. She took bellydancing lessons in the months leading up to the con so she’d know what she was doing for poses and videos. *Wayne’s World bows to her awesomeness*

Genie and Indiana Jones. The archeologist and the artifact. Kaz saw him and said “hey, do you think you can stick this somewhere no one will find it for another 1000 years? I need a nap!” So he pondered and he planned and then I kicked myself for being in photo mode and not video because he grabbed the thing and took off through the crowd, looking back and my friend gave chase while shaking her fist dramatically. Awesome bit of improv. I think someone got a video. They had a seriously impressive camera with a bright-as-fuck light and looked like they were taping in someone sort of official capacity for the con, so I hope it surfaces cuz it was hilarious.

[locym]

So. While I intend to continue to read all the posts etc from you lovely people, I’m rededicating this Tumblr Blog to following my current goal. I am attempting to go for my Seargeantry in the SCA. I am a resident of the Kingdom of An Tir in the Barony of Blatha An Oir. You can find the Sergeantry Trials requirements here: http://blathaanoir.antir.sca.org/events-gatherings/sergeants-trials/  Also, if you are not a member of the SCA, but are interested, you should check out the website: https://www.sca.org/ 

The first step, since I am aiming for a Martial Sergeant Rank, that of Sergeant master of Arms, I clearly need Heavy Armor again.

Again you might ask? Yes, again I answer. You see a long time ago when I was 18 I was gifted a cobbled together suit of An Tir legal Heavy Armor. I wore the SHIT out of that and fought in more than one List, never winning a tournament mind you, but I did have a blast and participated in One Autumn War. However, I left the state of Washington and joined the Army. While I was serving, my Parent’s house, where I kept my armor caught fire and was destroyed. 

Many ask me why I didn’t just choose to rebuild it and join the Heavy Lists again earlier, and the answer is complicated. The short version is I had a child and quickly became a single father. I wanted to as I LOVED Heavy Fighting, and it was a goal of mine to be a Knight in An Tir someday somehow, but it wasn’t practical. Single parenting is expensive and every time I came close to being able to coble my own armor together something happened in the realm of parenting. 

I did, however, participate in SCA events, specifically Egils yearly, where I eventually started dating my 2nd Wife. I also did a LOT of boffing, even going so far as to create my own semi successful boffing group of the SCP (Shadow Clan Players) in Eugene Oregon. I say semi successful because apparently when I stopped going it fell apart despite all their complaints about me. Which, many were valid complaints, but many I felt where fabricated nonsense that kind of pissed me off. Petty? Eh Maybe. It was a long time ago and a different chapter of my life. 

So. A Bachelor’s and a Master’s later, both earned at UW, and we find ourselves to today, 2019 CE, or in the SCA  A.S. 54 and I can FINALLY take this step again.  

After 24 long years, I have begun the process of preparing to re-enter the lists for SCA Heavy Combat. This has come at some ... interesting difficulties. The first is that I am no longer 18 and let me tell you, it really is different. Just the feel of being in armor is different. It also doesn’t help that I’m around 120 lbs heavier than when I was 18. I’ve begun working out, eating right, all while I construct and or purchase my armor. There will be parts of my armor that MUST be created by me, for my Sergeantry, and I will document that here, but for the most part, at present, my armor is created from Pikel Barrel by Dark Victory Armory. (Here:https://darkvictory.com/) With my helm and Lobster Gauntlets donated by my good friend and fellow society member Claire Keenan

Pictured above is my first step. Getting into the armor. Done. We can check that off. Next is Sword construction, which I have begun and will show you on my next post. Following that, I’ll try my hand at constructing a shield, which will also be documented.  Before all of that though, I need to get my current armor approved. So once Fighter’s Practice comes up (They just concluded Autumn War so no Fighter’s Practice this week!) I’ll go and try to get my Armor Approved. Claire has mentioned introducing me to a Knight to help make sure my Armor is good to go first.  I’ll keep you all posted! Until then, History on ya Nerds! 

[sca-nerd]

For the SCA-curious anon: If you'd rather not presume someone's gender with a title, it's hard to go wrong with 'Good Gentle.' The SCA-wide 'household' for LGBTQIA+ folks is Clan Blue Feather; they may have a presence in your area! (One can wear a dark blue feather if one is a member of the community, or a light blue feather for an ally, but not everyone follows this custom.) Otherwise, if you or your partner do experience anything untoward, let the Seneschal know as soon as you can. It is their job to deal with harassment and other legal matters.

All excellent things to share, thank you!

This is why I love scadian Tumblr.

[antlersacornsandallium]

100% here for dragging reconstructionists like:

Even good and respected reconstructionists like ocean keltoi (and friends!) are guilty of this patina of elitism, even though they do frequently and loudly call out nazis and white supremacy in heathenry.

Frankly, I think it is a combination of things. Some of which may be the knee jerk urge to distance and differentiate themselves from New Age and Wicca. Because dont ever forget: most norse pagans came from Wicca. Gerald Gardner for his many faults made a damn strong system. It works, obviously. It's extremely popular. But like everything that becomes popular, you've got the Ultra Nerds (affectionate) over there who are upset that the niche thing they loved is now popular.

Recon is a totally valid method - when it isnt being used as a bludgeon to gatekeep. Which it absolutely is right now. This is why my eyes have to witness someone on reddit asking if they need to obtain horse meat to sacrifice to the gods because it was specifically mentioned in historical texts.

Recon is cosplay. Just join the SCA and leave the "woo" practitioners to their own devices.

It feels ironic that I’m writing, but I really don’t give a shit. I feel like it needs to be put out there for my own mental health.

I’ve been a Norse Heathen for 5 years now, and I love my religion. I love the connection I feel with my deities. I love having them there to talk to and support me, and I love all the esoteric weird bullshit and borderline paranormal “woo shit” that comes with being a Pagan.

Which the majority of the Heathen community look down on out of a sense of arrogant self-righteousness and an absolutely massive inferiority complex.

Because Heathenry — as the ancient Norse would have practiced — is a dead religion. Everything we know about it comes either from extremely biased 13th century Christian scholars, cishet white historians, or whatever practicing Heathens pieced together post-1900 following the invention of Asatru in Iceland.

There’s no historical proof that Heathenry was practiced as it is today.

And because Heathens can’t stand the idea of being compared to the gullible and deluded Wiccans—

Note: These are not my personal beliefs. I don’t believe (all) Wiccans are gullible and deluded. The above is a statement based off of my own experiences in the Heathen community cause guess — I used to be a Wiccan. So I’ve experienced this bullshit stigma firsthand.

—The vast community of reconstructionalist Heathens have decided that every aspect of our religion has got to be

A biggest dick contest.

People are constantly trying to one-up each other like,

“Oh-hoh, look what I just learned that makes me vastly superior and absolutely must be true because this vaguely translated 12th century tome that I bought off eBay says so!”

And as if that wasn’t bad enough, a lot of the shit recons are putting out there is racist, anti-LGBT bullshit. So, of course, Heathenry automatically comes with a crash course on how to not be brainwashed by faux feminist white supremacists and literal fucking Nazis. And the fact that the Nazi population has not only been steadily growing since 2018 but has also managed to successfully infiltrate “safe spaces” intended for queer and BIPOC Heathens

Is not exactly what I’d call a win for the Heathen community.

Because there is no community. There is no sense of unity in the general non-Nazi Heathen community at large. Because the recons are all busy being like,

“You can’t do that — that’s NOT how it worked 4,000 years ago! And that God only has a name and a single monolith in Norway. So you can’t worship them, either, cause we’re smart and we said so.”

And when someone does notice that some fucking weird potentially harmful shit is up in the community people are just like,

“Well, we’d look into it but that particular cult of Heathen eugenicists doesn’t seem to exist on Tumblr. So we’re just gonna wait for them to make their way here and see what happens. Now, if you don’t mind I’d like to get back to translating this cave painting that was found a year ago in Iceland.”

And its fucking bullshit. Like there could be — and is — an actual fucking Nazi takeover taking place and reconstructionalist assholes will be dogpiling someone because they bought a fucking Ouija Board or a piece of fucking rose quartz cause they thought it might make them happier.

Recons, what the fuck is with you people? The Heathen community is a fucking nightmare. You are killing this community while Nazis are driving people to commit fucking suicide.

Get your fucking shit together.

[archivingspn]

Jibcon 7 Sunday Misha and Jensen panel

Skip to 21:40 Fan: In the last season, Dean confessed that there’s people and feelings that he would like to experience differently with him for the first time, and this season, settling down has come up so many times. And I was just wondering if you think that Dean can ever combine a hunting and a romantic relationship in a way? And for you, Misha, if Cas could have, like, something in between normal and supernatural and stuff. Misha: Are you talking about the work-home life balance, and how we need to strike a better one in Supernatural? (laugh)

Fan: Why not? (laugh) Jensen: You’re asking if Dean’s ever going to have an actual relationship?

Fan: Combined, like, because I don’t think he will ever get away from hunting altogether.

Jensen: (shaking his head) No. However, if there was a huntress… (shrugs and rolls his shoulders in a “who knows” gesture) (audience laughs) ...you guys would kill her.

(audience and Misha laugh and applaud)

Jensen: So... no. I’m (laugh) I’m destined to a life of solitude. And-

Misha: Thanks a lot! (supportive of Jensen’s statement, blaming the audience for that with his tone, but clearly joking)

Jensen: And thank you very much! (blaming the audience for that with his tone, but clearly joking)

Misha: That’s true. You could have been shooting a lot of really steamy sex scenes over the years if it weren’t for these fuckers. (smiling as he gestures at the audience)

Jensen: Oh yeah! (laughs) Oh yeah, no, there could have been a lot of “serious questions” asked. (smiles and then smirks) And a lot of “influence”. (making a joke on the convention’s running gag)

Skip to 26:25 Misha: We had a point, uh, we had a point when we were taking photos earlier where I was holding an ice cream cone that he was licking. (Jensen and audience laugh) And- and I- I thought to myself, “Gosh this isn’t what I imagined it was going to be like.” (Jensen shakes his head) (audience laughs) (Misha smiles at Jensen) Jensen: And then, just to- just to dab a little salt in the wound (mimics shaking salt)-

Misha: (Misha abruptly gets up from his chair with a wide smile) We had an amazing photo session by the way. Jensen: (mimics saking salt) Just to dab a little salt in the wound, (points out vaguely to the audience) You know who you are. (Misha laughs) Whoever you are. (Misha hits his forehead with his mic) This lovely young woman (both Misha and Jensen stand) walks up and says, “I’m going to be in the middle and you two are my bitches.” (audience laughs, some cheer) (Misha and Jensen wag a finger at the audience, shaking their heads)

Misha: That’s not the punchline. Jensen: That’s not the punchline. (audience laughs) The punchline is that me and Misha looked at each other and we went (Misha and Jensen look at each other, shrug, and then begrudgingly pose for the photo) (audience laughs) (Misha and Jensen sit down) No argument.

Misha: (shakes his head) Zero. Jensen: No hesitation.

Misha: No resistance, no dignity. Jensen: No resistance at all, just…. (sighs) yeah. (audience laughs)

Misha: (nods) We get it. (smiles) Jensen: (looks at Misha and then looks down for a bit) And then she walked away, and he looked at me and softly said to me, “That’s where we are now.” (Misha laughs) (audience cheers)

Misha: (turns to Jensen) “Wh-” (laughs) “What’s it like to be on a long-running, successful show?” (audience laughs) (Jensen stands up and throws his head back laughing) (Misha stands) Well, let me tell you (laughs) (audience laughs) And it’s sca- Jensen: It’s when the fans really respect you, love you, adore you, admire you, and walk up to you and say, “You two are the bitches in this one.” (audience laughs)

Misha: (laughs) In the same photo session, we had a piece of, uh, (mimics nerd rope dangling from his mouth) candy, string candy, (Jensen drops his head and mic) that went from- the idea was like a Lady and the Tramp kind of photo, right? And so we had, we had our- Jensen: (off mic yells) You know who you are!

Misha: (laughs) We had our- we had our respective ends, uh, near our mouths (mimics holding the candy) and the woman standing between us said, (in a gritty, commanding voice) “Eat it.” (audience laughs, some cheer) And, then she repeated, “Eat it.” (audience laughs) And so we did. (Jensen mimics afraid but hesitantly taking the candy in his mouth) (Misha sits back down) Jensen: We often get questions, um, “What’s the weirdest thing a fan has asked you to do? “What’s- What-” These are those moments. (Misha briefly slides off his chair laughing and then sits back down) Now, I will say that… most of that photo session - I would say 99% of that photo session -- was very enjoyable. You people are fucking awesome. (sternly) However (moves to the front of his chair) playing Lady and the Tramp (Misha laughs) and acting like bitches (audience and Misha laugh) that’s not on the resume we read years ago.

Misha: No. We have to add that now to our resumes- Jensen: So, now we get to add that into our special.. (Misha giggles) (turns to Misha) What is it? Uh-uh-uh special, uh-

Misha: Special skills. Jensen: Special skills. (Misha laughs) “Special skills:” (mimics writing text on a line) “Bitches.” (audience laughs)

[arasigyrn]

For the ask game 19 & 23

19) when it comes to more complicated narratives, how do you keep track of outlines, characters, development, timeline, ect.?

This part is pretty old-school - I have a notebook in my bag or on my desk that I work out outlines on.  Writing things out longhand helps me get started so if I’m blocked, I’ll break out pen and paper.  I keep a list of OCs and notes that I want to include on the first page and tag the story in question in the upper corner so I can read back on it.

23) any obscure life experiences that you feel have helped your writing?

The joys of being a long-time nerd with friends in the SCA is having people who are willing to help me with details aside, my best experience for writing is trying to keep multiple younger cousins entertained with stories.

[mademoisellesarcasme]

Dear manuscriptblr, if you exist:

I just asked an entire SCA kingdom for scribal help to mimic a manuscript for a personal project and was INUNDATED with advice.

It was amazing.

In case you guys ever feel like knowing that a million nerds who want to make things look like your era.... they’re there.

Love,

M.Sarc aka Rosamund