#I just think maybe consent is important? wild concept

[transwolvie]

Makes me think of the hierarchy of sex discussion, because in order to uphold the hierarchy they must push the myth that letting anything over the boundary set between "normal" sex and "weird" sex would mean letting EVERYTHING over that boundary and a full societal collapse into degeneracy. That argument probably sounds pretty familiar. People who say that gay marriage will lead to sex with ducks, people who are insistent that the gays want to include pedophilia, etc.

You see an interesting turn of this too, where people are insistent that ANY censorship or limits would lead to everything that deserves to be normalized being pushed back into the realm of "weird" sex, too, which is fascinating, because I think most of us can fairly say that we can, in fact, ban things such as porn of minors (especially irl minors, looking at youuuu AO3!) without somehow going back to the days when all queer art was subjugated. A kind of knee-jerk reaction (mmm reactionary movements) to the fact that our overall society has always pushed this slippery slope myth, and thus the fact that the larger, controlling groups of society will in fact try to ban any and all queer expression as degenerate.

But here's the thing. It's a myth. We can let things over the line without descending into chaos, because the line is made the fuck up. Accepting furries does NOT mean accepting zoophilia. Accepting LGBT+ people does NOT mean accepting pedophilia. On its face that should be OBVIOUS, since these things are hardly related at all. The only thing that groups them together is that they are currently societally taboo. and the cool thing about society is that you can still keep certain taboos even as you move into a more progressive society. in fact you uh. SHOULD keep certain taboos (@ libertarians. stop being nasty.)

When people present it as some weird zero-sum game they are lyingggg to you. It is not a slippery slope, it is a clear decision we can make and a line we can set as a society that LGBT+ people are normal, that kink is normal, that something as simple as furries are NORMAL, without somehow letting the big bad boogieman of "evil" and "wrong" sex in

[talonslockau]

Curious why you chose to have Princess join as compared to the books?

So, this partially goes back to chapter 20 of Fire and Ice (where Firepaw first meets Princess), partially Chapter 7 of Forest of Secrets (where Princess reveals her pregnancy to Fireheart), and it's going to cover the implications of things said in those chapters specifically. So, fair warning if you don't want to read further: this discusses in depth the concept of animal husbandry from the perspective of humans and the animals themselves. Trigger Warning: Dubious Consent, Pregnancy, Abortion, Depression, Implied Animal Abuse

When we first meet Princess in Chapter 20, she's 7.5 moons old (the same age as Firepaw), give or take a moon or so given that we don't actually know for sure that Rusty was actually 6 moons old when he joined. They're both bright-eyed young cats for whom the world can be anything, and I think at this point their personalities are pretty similar. Granted, Rusty's encounter with Graypaw ended in a brief fight, while Princess simply ran off back to her housefolk: however, Rusty was also going to run until he realized Graypaw was gaining on him, whereas Firepaw didn't bother chasing Princess until he realized she was his sister.

We even see that Princess loves the idea of the forest! Quote from Chapter 20:

"Living in the forest all the time… that must be nice." [Firepaw] perked his ears, unable to ignore the wistful tone in [Princess'] voice.

She wants to be in the forest as much as him! So why doesn't she? Again, quote from Chapter 20:

"I wish I could. I love being in the forest, and I'd like to get to know you better. I really would." [Princess] admitted, brushing her tail against [Firepaw's] paw. "But my housefolk… she needs me. She's alone in her nest all day, until her mate comes home, and sometimes she just sits and stares at nothing all day when I'm not around. She needs me to keep her functioning." The tawny molly looked away with a heavy sigh. "I'm not sure what she would do if I just left."

I think a lot of people overlooked this dialogue - maybe because it was early in the series, maybe because it wasn't that important (in the grand scheme of things), maybe because they didn't understand what it was getting at. This is one of those things I left implicit, both because cats don't really understand how humans think and because it's one of those things that would definitely dampen the relatively light-hearted mood of Fire and Ice at that point. However, since we're getting into the nitty-gritty here, I'll explain what this means and why it's an ample part of Princess' reasoning - enough that she wouldn't follow her heart to get to know her brother and live in the forest.

Princess' female human has severe depression. It's not entirely clear whether or not her human is treated for it or not, but it doesn't particularly matter. She and her 'mate' (again, a cat's way of looking at them) had heard of emotional support animals to help combat depression and decided to contact a local Somali Cat breeder at the behest of their neighbor after asking around about kittens. Their neighbor would have been one of Rusty's owners, who told them that the breeder currently had five kittens and they were looking at picking one out. This is how Princess and Rusty ended up being so close geographically, even though their siblings and mother aren't!

Princess can sense that her human has depression, even if she doesn't fully understand what that means. And she does indeed help support her human! She makes sure that her human eats food at a regular time, does the laundry when it's needed, and she's there to cuddle with her on her worst days. She's needed, so she can't leave to fulfill her heart's wishes. Instead, Princess lives vicariously through her brother's tales of the forest, and telling all her friends about her strong wild cat brother.

In canon, Princess is scared of the wild cats. She doesn't understand why her brother left his housefolk. She can't handle the sight of Brightheart, because she's just too soft as a kittypet. Hell, when we meet her for the first time, she's already pregnant! Her sole reason for being is to give Cloudkit to Fireheart, so that he can have a relative in the Clans.

Given that she's Fireheart's sister, and therefore his equal (more or less), this has always read to me as misogyny from the Hunters. Why can't Princess join to be his relative in the Clans? Sure, it could be to give him a replacement apprentice, not just a relative, but back then kits just kind of showed up out of the ether. There's no reason he couldn't have been Fernkit or Ashkit's mentor, or some other sudden apprentice! She could have even been his apprentice if she joined, and he taught her how to be a wild cat (bonding moments)! But no; the only female relative of Fireheart's we see in the first series is pregnant, serving solely as a mother to his Clan relative, too scared/soft for the wild, and then just disappears after the first arc.

I wanted to show that she is his equal in my canon, and that means that she wants to be wild just as badly as him. She would be, if she didn't have someone that was already reliant on her as an ESA. Instead she remains; but she's still not soft, or scared of the forest. She loves seeing Fireheart, she worries for him, she even wants to learn battle moves from him in Chapter 47! Every time she's portrayed as soft, it's because Fireheart is handling her too gently; because he's trying to protect her from his own imagined fears. Whenever she reacts negatively, it's always to things that Clan cats themselves react negatively to (such as Spottedleaf dying, or the kits getting stolen).

Now that we've covered her character in Fire and Ice, it's time to get to how I've been developing her in Forest of Secrets. Obviously, the first chapter we see her in is Chapter 7, and it's not great. Her long fur is ungroomed; her tail is low, and she doesn't respond very much to Fireheart's prompting. She is deeply upset and clearly in her own head. We find out this is because she was bred with a cat she didn't know, and she didn't entirely want to do it, but did so out of fear of making her owners mad.

At this point, she is about 12 moons old, again give or take a couple of moons. I want to state that this is young. I know how early a cat's puberty can begin, and it's much earlier than this, but these are sapient cats and as such that doesn't really apply. Still, even by living cat standards, this is young; responsible breeders state that a cat should never be bred before their first year, and it should ideally wait until they are 18 months or two years old.

(This is made even worse in canon, because she's actually 10 moons at this point. Seriously, Erins, what the hell?)

From her point of view, her housefolk have betrayed her. She loved them and cared for them, but she wasn't enough for them. All they see her for is a potential baby factory, not for the value of their bond on its own. She thought they loved her for her, and now she's wondering if they love her at all. Will they love her kits at all? How can they, when they don't even seem to love her?

Also to be clear, her humans are definitely in the wrong here. This is made even clearer when we think about who Princess was bred with, Oliver. He's mentioned to be a white tom, but... there's no white in the Somali Cat breed standard. The only crossbreed allowed by the standard is to Abyssinians, and those also don't allow white. Her kits won't be able to be registered Somalis, even if they meet all the other classifications (they won't). This means that they were breeding her just for the sake of breeding her, which is a huge no-no.

I come from rescue circles, so I'll admit that the idea of willingly breeding cats is foreign to me anyways. There's so many cats out there that need good homes besides purebreds! I can't even begin to fathom why Princess' humans bred her; maybe the female wanted something to do all day and thought taking care of kittens would be good? I don't know. Regardless, they bred her to the first tom with papers whose owner would accept the cash and not question anything else. In my head, Oliver is probably a Turkish Angora, though that's not terribly relevant to this conversation.

Getting back to Princess: Even though Yellowfang and Dewpaw and all her friends did their best to comfort her, at the end of the day she was still home with her housefolk day in and day out. The more she helped her, the angrier she became. Despite all the love she'd given her, her housefolk had still forced Princess to carry kits for her own amusement. She would likely make Princess' kits carry kits for her own amusement - and that, more than anything, scared Princess to her core. She didn't want anyone else to go through what she did. Especially not the kits growing inside her, which despite it all she was growing to love. (This is also why she turned down the opportunity for an abortion from Yellowfang - even though she hated how she had gotten pregnant, she loved the idea of her own kits.)

Then she thought of her brother, Fireheart. She thought of how she'd first met him, and how he'd offered to let her join his Clan. That made her angrier, too. She should've accepted his offer. She should never have stayed with housefolk that didn't care about her. Then she wondered; why couldn't she join him now? The wild was dangerous, though; wouldn't it be safer for her kits to stay with housefolk?

But the more she thought about it, the more that she wondered how the Clans could survive out in the wild if it wasn't mostly safe. After all, Fireheart mentioned kits and queens all the time! She resolved to learn more about the nursery when he came back. And she did just that, as we see during his visit in Chapter 20. Quote again:

“Really?” [Princess] was leaning into [Fireheart] now, as though she needed to hear every word he said as soon as it left his lips. “How does one become a nursery queen, then?”

"Maybe it’s nice, in the nursery.” Princess whispered softly, so much that for a heartbeat [Fireheart] thought she was talking to herself. “What do you think?” She asked him, speaking louder now.

“Do you think the queens are happy in the nursery?” [Princess] wondered out loud, looking over her shoulder into the forest for a brief moment before gazing back at [Fireheart].

[Princess]: “That’s lovely to hear. And the kits, do they like it in the nursery?”

For most of the conversation, she's probing him for what it's like in the Clan; how queens are treated, how kits fare. It's subtle - subtle enough that Fireheart barely catches onto it - but she's already imagining her own life in Thunderclan. She's not sure whether she wants to be a warrior anymore, but she does want to join - and being a nursery queen sounds like the perfect role for her. She loves her kits now, and she loves the idea of getting to care for many kits, even if they aren't her own.

Princess makes up her mind sometime over the next half-moon, and resolves to ask him to let her join when Fireheart comes back. But he doesn't, too involved with Graystripe and Tigerclaw to think about his sister. As her belly grows even larger, her housefolk starts closing the catflap; just at night, usually, but sometimes throughout the day as well. It's only through Princess' desperate begging to see her friend in the garden that her housefolk relents, and that's the final straw for her to leave instead of waiting for Fireheart like he ordered. She doesn't tell Fireheart about this because she's afraid he'll order her back to her housefolk for her own safety, or the Clan's safety. She won't tell anyone until after the kits are born (and it will take place off-screen regardless), but it will be enough to cement her decision as the 'right' one in the eyes of the Clan.

Sorry for going so long - I wanted to point out moments that have led up to this that I've laced throughout the series thus far, as well as explain my own rationale behind the development of Princess. Had she been adopted by different humans, similar to Rusty's, I think we would be seeing her become a warrior right now. Still, I wanted to keep the story sort of in line with canon - having her be his 'kittypet sister' for a while, until I needed to diverge from canon with how I handled Cloudkit. Thanks as always for the question, I could rant about just about anything in this series for ages ^^

[misssophiachase]

For @klarolinefallbingo “Turkey Stuffing” Thank you @an-awesome-wavve for such great suggestions. 

A few people asked for a third part to my Pumpkin Carving Consent and Jack-o-Lantern drabbles, so why not? 

Wild Turkey

The Mikaelson Holiday Trophy is up for grabs on Thanksgiving. This round they need to create the best turkey stuffing for dinner. Kol and Rebekah are out for blood after Elijah’s ‘unfair’ win on Halloween and Klaus assumes he’ll just win by default, although Caroline has other ideas. 

“This Mikaelson Trophy concept is inspired,” Klaus murmured, feathering kisses along the length of her neck before making his way greedily toward the swell of her breasts now threatening to break free from her festive, red bra. 

Caroline had innocently been trying on holiday lingerie and the Original hybrid, who also happened to be her fiancé, decided to pounce. Okay, maybe it wasn’t completely innocent but he was the one who decided to show up uninvited and devour her. 

“I’m so glad you’re thinking about the trophy while manhandling me, Mikaelson,” she said, although it came out more like a breathy moan. 

“No, I meant that we enjoy ourselves upstairs while my siblings do all the work then I’m crowned the victor come sundown.”

“Excuse me?” She demanded, pushing him away, even if it her body was screaming she do the complete opposite. 

“Well, we all know you only gave it to Elijah so it didn’t seem like you were playing favourites, love.” He leaned down to continue his assault but, even if it felt so good, Caroline had no intention of letting his comment stand. 

“Do you really think I’m that easy?” She huffed, climbing off the bed and straightening what little clothing she wore. 

“Well, I know how much you like it when I do that thing with my tongue...”

“You are unbelievable,” she interrupted, finding her robe and fastening the sash around her waist. His unappreciative and wolf-like growl was not lost on Caroline. “You might want to get downstairs and start your stuffing if you don’t want your siblings to win.”

“You’ve got to be kidding me?” He groaned like a petulant child. 

“No, I’m not,” she shot back, consulting her appearance in the mirror. “But if you win, just know I’ll reward you with more than just a trophy.”

He was gone before she turned back around. Vamp speed had its advantages. 

Now they had a game on their hands and Caroline couldn’t be more excited. She lived for healthy competition and was also happy that she had time to raid the Mikaelson’s extensive wine collection before dinner. 

5 hours later...

Caroline was probably a little tipsy, she’d been waiting for the Mikaelsons to finish their creations but turns out they were more anal than her. Go figure. 

She was starting to think she had much more in common with her future in-laws than she immediately thought. Caroline wasn’t sure if it was a good or bad thing. 

The one thing Caroline did know was that being out of the competition didn’t suit her. She liked to be in the thick of things and her competitive streak knew no bounds. Who was she kidding? Caroline wanted to beat the pants off them all because she had more talent than them combined. 

She decided, a few drinks down, to make a call. 

“What’s he doing here?” Rebekah growled, clearly unimpressed by his unexpected presence.  

“I have a conflict of interest, but more than that, I want to compete and beat you all,” Caroline unloaded. But rather than being upset they seemed to understand her logic. 

“Lovely to see you too, Rebekah,” Marcel joked. Caroline noted that they weren’t as unimpressed as they were pretending to be given all that eye action. Clearly those unresolved issues were still hanging in the balance. “I’m apparently here to judge a competition, but just know I have very particular standards.”

Now, she knew he was out to impress Rebekah. She figured her soon to be sister-in-law would thank her one day, if not today. 

They’d declared a truce between the warring factions in New Orleans and Caroline figured what better way than to include him in their holiday festivities? As the future Mrs Klaus Mikaelson she figured it was her diplomatic duty, after all. 

“I’m am so here for this,” Kol rejoiced, sending his sister a triumphant glance.

“Well, that’s good to hear.” Marcel agreed. 

“Great. Bonnie and Katherine were thinking of visiting at Christmas so they can help judge the next competition then too,” Caroline added. 

Okay, maybe she had more devious motives but it was the holidays after all.

“Katherine, here?” Elijah finally found his voice. Kol didn’t speak but was clearly just as affected given his shocked expression at Bonnie’s mention. 

Looking around the room, Caroline realised that every sibling was pretending not to care but they clearly did. Klaus, meanwhile, was far more interested in trying to pull a superman and x-ray vision her lingerie. 

Priorities.

As for the all important stuffing? 

Elijah produced a hearty combination of walnuts and sage which was traditional, just like him.

Rebekah provided pistachio and rosemary. She even made a fig and mint salad on the side which her siblings deemed against the rules during judging.

Kol combined sausages and fennel for his holiday offering. It was daring as much as it was original. 

Klaus meanwhile put together chestnuts and dried fruit. He was clearly taking a risk because he knew what was at stake. Not the trophy but his lingerie-clad fiance.

The winning stuffing was cornbread and jalapeños because apparently Marcel liked a surprise kick. 

Caroline took the trophy that Thanksgiving but her in-laws and soon-to-be husband promised that they were going to avenge her victory. Caroline wouldn’t have it any other way.

[dorizardthewizard]

Galactik Football: Season 1

I completely forgot that I wrote a load of ramble as I rewatched GF during  lockdown, so uh here’s a sort of review for season 1!

------------------------------------------------------------------

First of all, the concept and setting is just so unique and wild I mean, football in space against aliens but with magical powers too? Epic. Superpowers are pretty common in sports cartoons and anime but here there’s actually an explanation for them, and they have significance for the world of the show. The concept of the flux sets up for an entire sub-plot of wars with weapons of mass destruction, corrupt mega-corporations ruling the galaxy, space pirates… the world feels very lived in, and makes you want to know more about the goings-on outside of the football games.

The pirate business doesn’t overshadow the Snow Kids though, because their personal drama and journey to becoming a better team together is interesting enough. Basically, this is a space opera with football sprinkled in. For such a big cast, most get good development and there’s no clear main character. This leads into me rambling about each character, because I never really appreciated the diversity of arcs when I first watched it as a kid :’P

Rocket:

He starts out pretty timid, doesn’t fight for his dreams, and has a habit of running away from confrontation (like when the others found out he was Aarch’s nephew) that follows him into season 2. He’s stuck tending to flowers (ironic, since he himself isn’t allowed to grow and bloom), but by the end of the season, he’s more authoritative and confident enough to suggest strategies to the team. Also has a habit of hiding his feelings and underestimating his importance to others, which he works on in season 2.

Tia:

You’d expect her to be more calm and similar to Rocket, and sure they bond over being out of the inner circle of the Snow Kids, and also both having emotionally unavailable parents, but she’s actually far more headstrong than she seems. I mean, she was willing to do anything to be in Aarch’s team, even faking her parents’ consent and almost dying when her ship crashed! (Plus that scene where she uses the breath is epic, that music? Chef’s kiss) She’s not perfect though – she’s very empathetic (like when they arrived on the Ryker’s planet and she was the most upset by the conditions there), and relates to Rocket, so she wants to give him the happy family she didn’t have, by reuniting him with his mother. Although well-intentioned, it’s preeetty invasive, and though it turned out okay in the end, she really should have consulted with Rocket first, especially after finding out his mother wasn’t dead, but had left them. For all Tia knew, she could have been a really shitty person.

D’jok:

Very clear ego problems :P He doesn’t know his past and doesn’t have much of a future on Akillian, so he pushes himself to achieve some great destiny, then feels like everyone else isn’t on the same level as him if they don’t do the same. He gets more than he bargained for when it turns out that Sonny Blackbones is his dad, and he realises what’s really important to him in the final match. Namely, he realises that the reason he found it so difficult to sabotage the match isn’t because he wanted to win at all costs, but because he doesn’t want to betray his team – he wants to win together with them.

Althooough, I was never entirely sure about him scoring the penalty before knowing Sonny was safe, like sure he didn’t know Sonny that well yet so maybe felt closer to the SK but dude, you just sentenced a man to death. I think the life-and-death situation by itself was enough to get him to rethink his priorities. Maybe they could have made him more aware that the whole galaxy was at stake if he lost the match, but that motive for scoring the penalty isn’t as satisfying for his arc I guess.

Micro-Ice:

To this day, I have no idea why he was named that :’P He’s the first Snow Kid we meet, which makes for a fun start to the show since he’s such a smart-ass and a joker that keeps getting in trouble. He could have easily been nothing but comic relief, but he isn’t. He’s actually pretty pessimistic and doubtful about his skills, and covers it up with jokes and fake confidence. He didn’t even want to go to the try-outs, to avoid disappointment if he didn’t get chosen.

The self-confidence issue keeps building up with things like being put as substitute initially, being the last person to get the Breath, and D’jok and Mei getting together, finally driving him to run off with the pirates thinking he isn’t really needed on the team. He also lets jealousy get the better of him, souring his friendship with D’jok and forgetting that Mei is free to choose whoever she likes. He eventually realises he’s wrong though, and comes back. I also love his friendship with Artie :’D

Mei:

She starts out ambitious, which in itself isn’t a bad thing, but she’s willing to throw others under the bus for personal gains. Then you start to see it’s because of her mother’s influence – always pushing her to do better. When Mei starts to actually have feelings for D’jok, she starts to care about him and regrets breaking up his friendship with Micro-Ice. Eventually, she manages to stand up to her mum and is happy playing the position she’s best at.

The execution cooould be a little better because at times it leaned a bit into the “overambitious woman who needs to be put in her place” trope. It only really comes down to little details, like why did Aarch refuse to let her try out as an attacker when he was forming the team? Back then he had no idea who she was or what her skills were?? He didn’t even want to consider the idea later when Micro-Ice left, which felt more like an emotional reaction than a tactical one. But anyway, it’s alright overall and I love that she got to score the winning goal despite not being an attacker.

Thran and Ahito:

Having a narcoleptic goalkeeper is just genius, and makes for some fun last-minute saves. Also love how despite being asleep half the time, Ahito’s the one that knows what’s up :’P Thran is also really underrated but there’s more to talk about with these two in season 2.

Also wanted to throw in some appreciation for how the older characters are written – usually the adults in kids shows are more on the side-lines, but in Galactik Football, they’re also pretty flawed and interesting. For example, Aarch isn’t the perfect, wise mentor – whether he did it for glory, to escape bad memories or a combination of both, he still left his brother and planet behind when they needed him most, and now he’s trying to make up for it. Norata’s not perfect either – he denies Rocket his dreams partly to protect him, but also out of bitterness towards Aarch and fear of being left alone again. Also, there’s a variety of different families being represented in the show – single parents, adopted parents, rich, not so rich, neglectful, supportive, ambitious, non-existent… and with some of them, this plays a key role in the Snow Kids’ characters.

The show might not be the most technically amazing, okay, the 2D animation is not the best, but the designs are pretty diverse and I miss that 2000’s style with the outfits :’P There are lots of locations with pretty backgrounds, and very varied planets that reflect the people living there. I also like the comfortable sci-fi design – it’s futuristic-looking enough, but more colourful than some of the CGI bores we get in movies these days.

The 3D animation is better – they reuse motions a lot but at least they shake it up a bit by using different characters and camera angles. Speaking of camera angles, there’s some really interesting ones and camera movements that really make the matches dynamic. Honestly, having CGI in the 2000’s that doesn’t look super ugly and dated now is great, partly because they transferred their designs to 3D really well and partly because they didn’t try to do much rendering on the models.

ALSO THE SOUNDTRACK SLAPS THEY DID NOT HAVE TO GO THAT HARD ON THE OPENING THEME AND THE SCORE SOUNDS SO EPIC ALL THE TIME

I don’t know how to end this so if you actually got this far, I’ll just say season 1 was the best one for me! There’s some parts and characters I left out but that’s for another time. Sinedd and D’jok’s rivalry deserves its own post :’P

[laurelwinchester]

I feel bad saying this but I'm disappointed in Katie for the nude art :( I wanted her to announce a new project but instead she's just auctioning off nudes photos of herself? It's so desperate. She's just giving the olicity stans ammunition. They're going to drag her up and down twitter for this

boy oh fucking boy do you ever need to check yourself.

honestly, i think i would have been less annoyed with your ask if you were just some shitbag olicity stan just doing what olicity stans do. but this? what you're doing here? your concern trolling? your disappointment? no. we're not doing that shit. absolutely not. pull yourself together.

listen, you're right about the olicity stans. you are. of course you are. it’s no secret who they are. they're going to drag her for this. just like they dragged her when her ex's phone was hacked and her nudes were leaked without her consent. that was a situation that was not her fault whatsoever and was actually an extreme violation of not only her privacy but her body. and they dragged her for it. 

they blamed her for being violated. they used the situation to mock her, denigrate her, and they decided that because they were sexually explicit nudes she must be a ''whore'' and that's how she gets jobs. they created flow charts of cw executives, made guessing games and betting pools about which exec she ‘’blew’’ or ‘’fucked’’ to get her job back. these are real things they did. 

and none of it was surprising because that's the kind of people they are. they have made that clear time and time again. they are slut shaming, unapologetically misogynistic, and unflinchingly pathetic pieces of shit. that's just who they have chosen to be. that’s the mark they have left on the world.

what you're going to need to do right now is choose what kind of person you want to be and figure out what kind of mark you want to leave on this world.

these photographs katie is auctioning off - they're art. they're literally art. that’s all. these are not leaked nudes, it's not a violation, and it's not desperate, whatever it is that word means to you. it's just art. this is not a new concept. it's really not controversial. i've seen the photos. they're tasteful and honestly pretty standard. even the price, which i've seen people up in arms about is, again, pretty standard for art. i feel like...maybe people don't really grasp how much money art pieces go for? it's not that wild. 

what she's doing is actually for an incredibly good cause, which you have, for some reason, completely glossed over in your understanding of what is happening here. she talks about it in the page six article. explains it very eloquently. she's had a rough go of it for a long time and this seems like a very emotional, important, and powerful thing she did for herself - and for others. 

i say for others because aside from the message she wants to send it's really important to note that portions of the proceeds will be going to various different charities. which is always great but in the year 2021 it's even more important. a lot of charities primarily rely on in person fundraisers and a lot of them have been completely decimated by the pandemic. 

(i feel like that’s something that’s been lost in the ongoing conversation about how the pandemic has changed the world, but i think it’s something we need to remember. these organizations are an extremely important part of life and we cannot allow them to be left behind. real people rely on them and we need to remember that.)

you don't have to buy any of the art. there is no pressure to do that. it is a lot of money for the average joe. i know i don’t have the money for it. but i will be looking into the charities to see if i can spare a few bucks to show support. (the charities, btw, are the rape foundation, women’s global empowerment fund, and the lifeway network.)

you don't even have to like what she did, i suppose. although i fail to see why one would actively dislike it. this is not a harmful thing she’s done. it is, for the millionth time, literally just an art piece.

but i'm going to be honest here. if you are this offended by the female body, by a woman choosing to do something with her body for the sake of empowerment, self love, and a harmless art piece then i think you need to take a step back and examine why you feel that way and why you feel you should have a say in what she does with her own body.

this is a genuinely good thing that she did. it's something important to her and something that is ultimately meant to help others. if you can't see that, if you don't want to see that - well, that sounds like a you issue. don't put it on her.

and, finally, here’s one more thing you need to chew on - and it’s a big one. let’s take everything about why she's doing this out of the equation. let's take out the charity and women's empowerment and self love and all of that. let’s take out the art. let's say she did it for no reason other than she wanted to.

...so what?

no, really, i’m asking. so what? what’s the problem? what do you feel would be wrong about that? where’s the desperation you’re seeing in a woman’s confidence and a choice she made to make her body into a simple art piece? it’s her body and she should be able to choose what she does with it.

shouldn’t she?

[aatgeog2260]

Human Geography Researcher Potential!

It is wild to think that this is the last blog post in this class! When I chose this class for this semester I wasn’t really excited about it - it was just another required course. I’m happy to say that I really appreciated this course and learned so many things as well as met some more people in geography!

These three things I know for certain about human geography research:

1. Human geography research is not just one thing. It is interconnected with so many other types of geography like the ones presented in our last class and more! My favourite part of this course was attending that final class and watching all of the videos about different subtopics under human geography that students in this class created. It helped identify connections and relations as well as how these are relevant in the real world. When combined together, they form this incredible subject of geography. 

2. It is essential! Human geography research provides patterns and connections between people and places which is vital for living today. It helps us understand the world better which can aid the development of moving forward in a positive direction while respecting the past. In the summary of chapter one in the textbook, it states that “human geographers are bringing new and effective approaches to the fundamental questions of societal structures and individual experiences (Hay 2016 p. 26). Human geography will continue to help find answers to these questions about the world we live in.

3. It is a delicate process. All research is a delicate and complex process as there are numerous things to consider and be aware of, but because human geography deals with real people, their lives, culture, religion, families, etc., I know that we need to be so careful to respect and acknowledge others and who they are. Chapter three of the textbook includes a poem by Barabara Nicholson, titled Something There Is�� that highlights the necessity of consent and privacy in research. Just because someone is classified as a researcher does not give them the right to invade a person's life (Hay 2016 p. 48). Below is a sketch I did after I read the poem for the first time: (I am not an artist but it was something I did afterwards to reflect upon the reading)

In general, it’s a researcher looking through a magnifying glass at these people who feel exposed from the “research”. 

These three things I am still confused by:

1. Analyzing surveys. This was one of the larger lectures we had live in class and I think I was having a hard time keeping up after we had so many lectures online in which I would pause, rewind and go back. It was my fault that I never went back to the recording to review so I’d still like to clarify this content. I know that if I were to be asked about each data type: nominal, ordinal, interval, and ratio, I would not be able to explain them all clearly (Hooykaas 2021 Week 5). 

2. The following phrase was used in the week 6 lecture: “Testimony by itself is a relatively weak form of evidence” (Hooykaas 2021 Week 6). I’m unclear with how or why this is. When we watched documentaries in this course I thought this involved testimony and it was used in research. Maybe they are classified more as a case study. So I wonder, what are the differences between a case study and a testimony? Or is a testimony involved within a case study? For example, in week 3 we watched the documentary Surviving in the Siberian Wilderness for 70 years produced by VICE. I believe that this was a case study, but within it, Agafia Lykovs shares her story. Is the research incomplete unless you unpack and verify this testimony? 

3. I am a little confused with the concept of triangulation. The week 6 lecture provided this image: 

I am not sure if triangulation means having one of these sections, for example, researchers but having multiple of them, or if it is putting these sections together, for example, both multiple researchers along with multiple theories (Hooykaas 2016 Week 6). I have a feeling it would be the second option, simply because if you have multiple researchers then most likely you would get multiple theories and methods, however, I would like to clarify in order to understand it better.

These three things I know for certain about me as a human geographic researcher:

I created a word-cloud of things I’ve felt I’ve gained from this course and things that I enjoyed to help me come up with this section of the blog:

1. There is potential! I remember writing my first blog post in this class and describing how I used to really dislike geography and didn’t want anything to do with it. After this class, I know that I have the potential to become a researcher and possibly find it enjoyable! I surprised myself when I enjoyed working on the DSP. It was fun coding information with all of the colours and although it was challenging to go through the information, condense, review, condense some more, etc., it felt so rewarding to show that final product to others and to think that other people could learn valuable information useful in the world based on what you provided to them! I think if I ever did become a researcher I would enjoy participatory action research since it allows people in the community to become “co-researchers and decision-makers in their own right” (Hay 2016 p. 350). This is really important to avoid that idea of invasion of privacy.

2. I learned more about my interests. I used to think the biggest goal in geography was being able to sing this song called Nations of the World: 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5pOFKmk7ytU 

I thought research in geography was only about analyzing piles of data and I didn’t realize you could bring creative outlooks to it. I enjoyed the poem we read in the textbook, the documentaries we watched, the opportunity of interviewing for the DSP, the creativity with the final DSP videos, etc. I am intrigued by those forms of media to learn more about and analyze/reflect on geographical concepts.

3. I have more appreciation for geography and others. The topics of critical reflexivity and ethical considerations apply to research in human geography of course but it also floods into all aspects of life. It helps consider other people’s backgrounds, lives, privileges or no privileges, and just creates better communication and respectful relationships between people (Hooykaas 2021 Week 2). It’s also worth thinking about whether you’re an insider or an outsider before you interact with different groups so that you can build a good rapport with trust (Hay 2016 p. 40). 

These three areas I need to spend time developing/learning in order to feel more confident in my skills:

1. Patience. When working on the DSP, after my group and I had found our resources, I just wanted to dive in and write the script! Then we learned about coding in the week 8 lecture and my group members expressed how they would feel better going through the information quite a few times before writing anything. Of course, this worked extremely well even if it was time-consuming! In the future, I would like to make sure I take the process only one step at a time and make sure I hit every part of the research process in order to create a robust and accurate end result. Once again, this applies not only to human geography research but also the real world. Chapter 18 in the textbooks states that “Being in the world requires us to categorize, sort, prioritize, and interpret social data in all of our interactions”  (Hay 2016 p. 391). There is always room for improvement here so that misinterpretations and miscommunication can be avoided.

2. During the research with the DSP, I had a challenging time determining when my group should move forward and how much research we should gather especially with the course deadlines in mind. I know that you can move forward when you reach a “point of saturation” and concepts begin to be repetitive, however, because I am detail-oriented, I was not great with grouping similar ideas if one tiny thing distinguished them (Hooykaas 2021 Week 9). I would like this to improve so that I have a clearer sense of when enough is enough.

3. I would like to clarify and learn more about the list of three things that still confuse me. It’s good to identify what confuses you and what you are unsure of but it’s even better to then go and clarify those things and understand them so that you develop your understanding and skills even more. I want to fill in those gaps of information so that everything makes a bit more sense.

Final Remark

Overall, I am really glad that I took this class and hope everyone has a great end of the semester! It was nice interacting with everyone through these blogs!

-April 

References

Hay, I. (2016). Qualitative Research Methods in Human Geography. Fourth ed., Oxford.

Hooykaas, A. (2021). Week 2: Philosophy, Power, Politics and Research Design.

Hooykaas, A. (2021). Week 3: Cross-Cultural Research: Ethics, Methods, and Relationships.

Hooykaas, A. (2021). Week 5: Literature Review.

Hooykaas, A. (2021). Week 6: Data Collection - Interviews, Oral Histories, Focus Groups.

Hooykaas, A. (2021). Week 9: Writing Qualitative Geographies, Constructing Geographical Knowledge Data Analysis, Writing, and Re-Evaluating Research Aims Presenting Findings.

Nicholson, Barbara. (2000). Something There Is....

Vice (April 2013). Surviving in the Siberian Wilderness for 70 Years. Youtube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tt2AYafET68 

[dear-yandere]

lots of ilya (oc) q&a below - part 2

tw. heavy and graphic mentions of noncon and murder (typical ilya stuff), mentions of childhood abuse.

[ part 1 ]  [ part 3 ]

question: So, would Illya still like being murdered by his darling if the darling was immortal? Like he can shun the darling, but how would he feel if that darling surprise-attacked him?

answer: betrayed, at least in the first few moments. there’s something particularly romantic, to him at least, about a darling who loves him so dearly they’d go against his wishes and still reward him with the highest form of love he thinks anyone has to offer - death. he’d certainly like being killed by this type of darling, and being the little shit he is, he’d mock them in his last moments; after all, they just killed the only other person that could possibly understand the reality of murderous love.

“is this worth being alone for eternity, darling?”

question 1: How would Ilya feel about a darling that is an assassin for the mafia? Would he view them as more exciting prey since they can fight back? I feel like assassin darling might view his attempts on their life annoying especially if it’s during a hit.

question 2: How would illya feel about an assassin darling? Would he find them interesting because they are capable of fighting back?

answer: ilya would no doubt find this darling intriguing; it’s not everyday he somehow manages to court an assassin, especially one that’s after his head. it’d be a game of cat and mouse, one where he’s likely to lose given that he isn’t a mastermind. he can’t keep his game going for long, not against someone who’s literally trained to kill evil men like him. considering how lax he is about who he courts and kills, ilya no doubt has a bounty over his head among the underworld. one wrong kill and the next thing he knows, the mafioso father of his last lover is hellbent on rearranging his guts. it’s not an easy life, and that makes it all the more fun to toy around with an expert killer while he has the chance.

question: I can't get this outta my head ever since that one ask where ilya would be happy if his darling successfully kill him and I was thinking would he come back as a ghost because yeah he's happy that someone "loves" him but wouldn't he still have this hatred towards the world that makes his soul unable to move on? OR a better one is one of his darlings coming back as a ghost haunting him??? Idk these ideas have been rattling in my head for a while and I'm wondering your perspective on it.

answer: so ilya is actually set in a different world than every other oc i’ve made, so there’s nothing supernatural at play here. but if there was, he’d be annoyed that he’s come back as a ghost after such a wonderful display of love from his darling. what’s done is done and he’d rather just move on.

funny thing is, when i was originally playing around with the concept of ilya, my first thought was a ghost! darling who continually haunts him long after he’s killed them. perhaps they whisper totally unsexy things to him while he’s in the heat of the moment...and of course he can’t do anything about it.

i wonder if they’d drive him mad enough to consult an exorcist or something...

question: what if... ilya’s darling accidentally killed someone though? out of self defense they strike someone down with a bit too much force and end up killing them, what if it’s a coworker that maybe ilya feared his darling might have caught feelings for. would he read it as his darling being in love with the man they killed? would he misread the whole ordeal? what would he do?

answer: as a victim of abuse and assault himself, he understands the important distinction between ‘love’ and defense. in fact, the shattering mentality of a darling who’s just had their first kill would be a welcome change for ilya. will they ask him for help? what will they do -- what sort of fun mental hoops will they jump through? how long will it take them to break? will he even have to intervene, or should he just watch as they slowly fall apart?

even if he feared his darling has caught feelings for someone else, he isn’t all that fussed so long as that darling is smart enough to give him what he wants when he wants it. in the end, they’ll die at the hands of his suffocating love anyways; darling’s wavering affections really make no difference when it comes to their fate.

question: honestly Ilya is such a wonderful character to me because he's the absolute opposite of everything I believe in. Like I think hurting others BC you've been hurt is the most egotistical disgusting thing u can do and hypocrites make my blood boil. I don't even wanna b his partner in crime or his lover but I'd LOVE to just sit down w him and have a nice discussion about our morals lol

answer: this isn’t a question but i’m including it here because i’m lazy but -- i completely agree! even as his creator, i find new paths to explore with him every day; messed up characters like him, especially killers, are so interesting to explore and pick apart their psyche.

a bit off topic, but i think you may find the ted bundy tapes on netflix of particular interest. you get a glimpse into someone that i, more than once, found myself basing ilya off of.

question: How does Ilya decide how long he wants his Darling to stick around before he kills them?

answer: whenever he feels his darling would suffer the most! every darling is different, of course, so it’s really up to his discretion. if his darling is the type to take things slow, he’ll likely kill them the first time they have sex as it’s so fun to betray their trust in such a way; on the other hand, if his darling is more sexually-outgoing, he’ll simply kill them when they least expect it -- perhaps going so far as to assault them without consent, all the while calling them derogatory names and proclaiming they practically begged him for this. his favorite part of murdering his beloveds is catching them off-guard -- it always makes for the best expressions and death screams. if he’s feeling particularly sadistic, he’ll slit their throat right before they cum; there’s always that quick flash of surprise followed by betrayal and finally...realization.

question: out of curiosity, did you make ilya sex-crazed as a side effect of his childhood abuse? kids who were abused tend to act impulsively (ex: drugs, unsafe sex), among many other things. if not, that’s a wild coincidence, but if so, thank you for being attention to the effects of childhood abuse on a person.

answer: that’s exactly it! i was going to explicitly mention this in his character post, but i didn’t want to offend anyone and risk anons telling me that “not all victims react like that”...even though i have firsthand experience with this topic (not childhood abuse, but i don’t intend to go more in-depth). 

anyways, i really wanted to create a character who shows the extreme end of the coping spectrum; rather than becoming quiet and reserved and fearful, there’s still that underlying fear but it manifests as ‘outgoing’ / impulsive behavior, though ilya’s case is obviously particularly extreme. in a way, he became the monster he hated in order to get the ‘sweetest’ form of revenge -- that’s why he knows how much of a hypocrite he is. he knows that better than anyone, but this is the only way he’s found that’s helped him ‘cope’ while also ‘getting back’ at those he hates -- the adults who did nothing to help him and in, some cases, led to his messed up outlook on life. this sentiment eventually extended to a misanthropic hatred of every adult he comes across; having spent his entire life faking himself and being the perfect charming good-boy his parents wanted, wooing anyone he sets his mind to is now fairly easy.

now i’m no expert on serial killers, especially ones with traumatic sexual experiences, but i’ve had yet to see a yandere oc who can relate to assault survivors while also managing to be so hypocritical and abnormal to this extent. in a way, ilya is very very close to my heart and i enjoy the feedback he’s gotten! i think the obsessive love that comes with yanderes ties in nicely with his contradictory character; his love is suffocating, just like the “love” of his teacher and the lack of love from his parents. his story is one of tragedy -- the famous modern-day (still debating if i should set this in the 1800s) Jack the Ripper, an enigma who keeps everyone at a distance because he himself is too terrified to admit the monster he’s become. he’s a character meant to be so outrageous and morally-corrupt and yet so frighteningly human.

enough of my rambling though, i’m glad you caught this and gave me a chance to further explain my thoughts on him! thank you dearly :]

[laughingpinecone]

Press Start letter

I am laughingpineapple on AO3

It’s a long list of character combos so the specific requests aren’t overly detailed, please draw at will from my general likes and general fandom likes in addition or as an alternative to any of those!

All requests are art or fic - for art, the stuff I like is the kind that depicts the characters doing something. I’ll always be happier with a very simple drawing of two characters walking together or sharing a cup of coffee than with an ambitious composition that looks like an Avengers poster. I also enjoy seeing them wear different clothes, getting a feel of what their fashion sense is like beyond their canon outfit(s).

Likes: worldbuilding, slice of life (especially if the event the fic focuses on is made up but canon-specific), missing moments, 5+1 and similar formats, bonding and emotional support/intimacy, physical intimacy, lingering touches, loyalty, casefic, surrealism, magical realism, established relationships, future fic, hurt/comfort or just comfort from the ample canon hurt, throwing characters into non-canon environments, banter, functional relationships between dysfunctional individuals, unexplained mysteries, bittersweet moods, journal/epistolary fic, dreams and memories and identities, canon-adjacent tropey plots, outsider POV, UST, resolved UST, exploration of secondary bits of canon, leaning on the uniqueness of the canon setting/mood, found families, characters reuniting after a long and/or harrowing time, friends-to-lovers, road trips, maps, mutual pining, cuddling, wintry moods, the feeling of flannel and other fabrics, ridiculous concepts played straight, sensory details, sickfic, places being haunted, people being haunted, the mystery of the woods, small hopes in bleak worlds, electricity, places that don’t quite add up, mismatched memories, caves and deep places, distant city lights at night, emphasis on non-human traits of non-human characters (gen-wise, but also a hearty yes xeno for applicable ships)

Cool with: any tense, any pov, any rating, plotty, not plotty, IF, nerdy canon references, unrequested characters popping up

DNW: non-canonical rape, non-canonical children, focus on children, unrequested ships (background established canon couples are okay, mentions of parents are okay), canon retellings, consent issues

Dark Souls

I’m only familiar with the first game+DLC! It’s probably relevant to mention that I think that linking the fire is kind of a dumbass move and Gwyn is an ass, but on the other hand Kaathe has his own agenda and there’s no winning move in this world, or at least no obvious one. Feel free to deviate from anyone’s canon endings, to make things happen that’ll stave off their hollowing. I am interested in any of these people meeting and possibly striking up a friendship, and also in exploring Lordran’s temporal/dimensional fuckery, where it’s possible to meet people who have been gone for ages…

Group: Solaire of Astora & Siegmeyer of Catarina: so much fanart of Sun Bro & Onion Bro being bros, so little fic. And yet, the potential! How’d they bounce off each other, what about the fact that Siegmeyer is apparently a proper Catarina knight after all while Solaire just painted his self-made insignia and left, what would Sieg think of Solaire’s quest?

Group: Alvina the Cat & Sieglinde of Catarina: dunno, kitty. I love them both and I want everyone cool to go on adventure with each other. What’s left for Alvina now that Sif is gone, Artorias’ grave desecrated? For her part, did Sieglinde, you know, (mimics Ash Lake)?

Ghost Trick

I am very interested in various characters finding about the erased timeline, but not getting their memories back, and having to live with being told about what they did but never remembering it. Exploring the ghost lore is great. All what-ifs welcome (what if they managed an acceptable happy ending but didn’t reset the timeline, what if a different party went back to the past and kept their memories, what if Alma’s ghost stuck around…) Also open to AUs here, especially for generic fantasy or sci-fi settings or the Final Fantasy ones I prompted last Yuletide.

For the non-canon sides of Jowd/Alma/Cabanela, please no infidelity? I’d be good with either setting the fic during the game timeline or some what-if thereof when the other spouse is dead or unavailable, or simply keeping them offscreen and not mentioning them (eg Alma/Cabanela beach day, Jowd/Cabanela precinct shenanigans)

For Jowd in general, I do love my big boy and enjoy milking that size difference for all it’s worth. In gen contexts too, it’s neat. him big.

Group: Jowd & Yomiel: I’d love to read about the intimate understanding that comes from their shared memories and the horrors they’ve mutually forgiven (and a penchant for morbidity they’ve gained from such horrors probably). Cat dads things welcome.

Group: Alma/Jowd/Cabanela: maybe once Alma and Jowd have figured out he’s smitten and that they do in fact reciprocate... they tease him to death, slowly and deliberately? Is it even a Jowd romance if there’s not an exhausting amount of teasing involved, I ask?

Group: Alma/Jowd & Cabanela: Cabs’ life is wild; his best friends’ home is a safe haven...

Group: Emma & Pigeon Man: Emma’s unsuspected beta reader...

Group: Alma/Cabanela: (taps mic) legs. And fashion!

Group: Cabanela/Jowd: a recent tumblr post made a convincing argument for Cabs liking to be in charge (the argument is just pointing at Cabanela, honestly). Jowd is... agreeable, by his own admission. But is it that simple?

Kentucky Route Zero

I love the ending and I’d love to see its themes and setting explored. I’m all for exploration of any of the game’s themes and for including any staples from adjacent genres - wanna go full-on American Gothic? Dip into surrealism? Take a leaf from Twin Peaks with tulpa / split narratives to explore the characters’ issues? I love AUs so that’s an option too. Or of course there’s Xanadu at the height of its glory, an infinite what-ifs generator. Were the requested characters part of it, what were their digital counterparts up to? A Xanadu narrative would be great! I’d also love to hear about any new spot along the Zero or the Echo river, or an expansion of some place that’s only mentioned by Will in HATATE or only gets a few paragraphs of text. Mostly, I just love all these characters so much and I’m going through the tagset’s options like a hyperactive cat. Any fragment of their lives will make me happy.

Group: Shannon Márquez & Conway & Conway's Dog: does Shannon get to see them after the ending? Even for a moment?

Group: Lula Chamberlain/Joseph Wheattree/Donald: so Lula went back to Mexico. Joseph is pensive. Did the events of the night shake up Donald, or what will it take?

Group: Junebug & Lula Chamberlain: artists! Outspoken... artists... with a complicated personality. Put them in the same room and...?

Group: Junebug & Johnny: where’s the strangest place they played in, and what did Johnny find there?

Group: Conway & Johnny & Junebug (Kentucky Route Zero): their story is about finding individuality, his is about succumbing and losing it. Would any of them pick up on this mid-Act IV? Or just... talking about limbs and stuff?

Group: Cate & Will & Shannon Márquez (Kentucky Route Zero): a few months later, Shannon finds herself on the Mucky Mammoth again...

Group: Carrington & Weaver Márquez & Shannon Márquez (Kentucky Route Zero): maybe the cousins were trying to bond or reminisce or whatever and Carrington dive-bombed into the conversation, but in the end it was an enriching experience... of sorts?

Group: Carrington & Lula Chamberlain (Kentucky Route Zero): I don’t usually look for college shenanigans but this may be the exception? Or Art Opinions?

Group: Carrington & Clara (Kentucky Route Zero): would she even... get a word in? Maybe with the right topic?

Group: Carrington & Cate & Will (Kentucky Route Zero): Mammoth life! ...what does theater have to say about mushrooms again?

Group: Shannon Marquez & Weaver Marquez (Kentucky Route Zero): at the end of it all, Weaver was waiting. After this end, they can stand side by side again...

Group: Emily & Ben & Bob (Kentucky Route Zero): so what does it mean, like, poetically, that they were temporally displaced and Act I is in their future from Act V? Is it possible they were not aware of it?

Mutazione

The island, the sense of community, newcomers joining the community, gardens and music... I love the mood of this little game. Got ideas for some part of the island we haven’t seen? What stories do they tell each other about Moon Dragon and the first days of the new life it brought? The plants encyclopaedia was great - do Yoké’s archives hide some other cool tome? Please, if Graubert is mentioned, I would much prefer a sympathetic portrayal - he’s got his issues but I felt that the game was much harder on him than anyone else.

Group: Yoké & Karoo: I love the friendship between Yoké and Nonno and filtering it through Karoo feels even cooler to me. When did the big spooky bird first visit, did Yoké know or perceive what was going on?

Group: Yoké & Claire: book club book club book club!

Group: Spike/Claire: they’re so cute! Dinner at Mori’s? Swimming together?

Group: Nonno & Spike: I love Nonno’s role in the community and Spike’s role in the community, and they’re the two people who landed there and decided to stay. Could they bond over this?

Group: Dennis & Nonno: Important Tree Health Business!

Group: Bopek & Jell-A: Jell-A is the absolute coolest and Bopek grew on me a lot. Their friendship is adorable! What could they do together? As a side note, Jell-A’s place has the tightest interior decor in the whole game. How’d that happen, and does Bopek get a flair for vintage shapes and volumes in his weaving?

Group: Mori & Nonno & Yoké: FRIENDS. Friends for a long time, through so much pain. An evening together while The Youths (tm) are at Spike’s bar?

Yoké: catch-all Yoké request because he’s my fave! Doing Yoké things, being a big nerd, caring for books and plants and stuff

Pyre

The burning found family feelings, the revolutionary passion, the tension between topside social constraints and the kind of freedom allowed by the Downside! Thoughts about finding oneself at  the end of an age, as everything crumbles down to form something new. I love all the themes, the solemnity, the heart of this game. I adore everyone in that Blackwagon+Dalbert+Celeste, so if you want to add a Nightwing or two to any prompt, please do! I also love all the Scribes and find Erisa a compelling tragic figure. Out of the other triumvirates, I’m “love to hate them” for Manley, Brighton, Udmildhe and Deluge and would not like to see them featured in sympathetic roles. My main interest usually lies in post-canon exploration when applicable, but I’m also into various adventures during canon. Pick a location or a place outside the map and see what happens? As for the ending variables, I’d ask for a peaceful revolution and Oralech alive, but no preferences for who’s up and who’s down, pick whatever works best for any given plot bunny.

Group: Tariq & Soliam: what were Tariq and Celeste like in their earliest days? Were they made or summoned from some sort of preexisting star consciousness? They’re wildly different scenarios! I’m good with either. Does Soliam then see Tariq as a child of sorts, someone he made, or something greater than himself? Did he mean to do that, to have these two immortals around? What does Tariq learn from the First Scribe?

Group: Tariq & Dalbert Oldheart: Any excuse for Tariq to hang out with the Fates for a little while, and treasure and be treasured by dear Dalbert...

Group: Oralech & Vagabond Girl: after all is said and done, Oralech’s view of the Scribes is probably... understandably... dire. So of course I want to see him talk it out with ae!

Group: Celeste & Ignarius: look, listen, if the various triumvirates just camped out near their respective Scribe’s place during the Nightwings’ years-long absence (not the only possible explanation for how you find them all neatly lined up before the first lib rite, but an explanation nonetheless, I think. just let me have my crack), that means Iggy was Celeste’s neighbor for a long time. Neighborly hijinks please?

Group: Bertrude/Pamitha: Pam returning from her travels, again and again, and finding a home in Bertrude’s lab, finding an understanding there... Bertrude’s attitude being thorny in a way that’s just what Pam needs to allow herself to open up... also: snake kisses.

Group: Volfred Sandalwood/Oralech: waking up and remembering that the mourning that’s set deep in your roots is for someone who never died, waking up and remembering that the bitterness that consumed you had made up a betrayal that never was, finding each other through these crumbling walls... 

Molten Milithe: that’s the pov for a love letter to the Downside, right? And/or which Scribe did she bond with the most? Or the least for that matter?

Volfred Sandalwood: catch-all Volf’n’anyone request. I want to see our tree interact with any friend and foe you might fancy! Arguing for his beliefs, being a history professor through and through, finding himself in a tight spot and getting unexpected help, verbally tearing Brighton a new one if they ever cross each other’s path again...

group: Volfred Sandalwood/Tariq | The Lone Minstrel: Volfred’s zodiac sign is Cancer and Cancer is ruled by the Moon, so there’s that.    I love how they both hold the other in the highest esteem, especially on Tariq’s part since he’s the immortal Herald of the Scribes and Volfred is, all in all, a history teacher, but listen to him and you’d think the roles were inverted. I love my nonviolent canon but could anything happen to either of them that may require a rescue, and/or some good old-fashioned h/c? What’s something that could make Tariq of all people lose it? How’s life 100 years on?

Shenmue

This game cares for the little things. I’d love to see fanworks that try to out-slice-of-life canon...

Group: Qiu Hsu & Xianzi Bei: cormorant kung fu adventure! Do they hang out sometimes?

Group: Hazuki Ryo & Shenhua Ling: any moment, discussion, small adventure from their travels together! I love their bond! For all its waifufication of Shenhua, S3 really sold me on their friendship and a shared brand of dorkiness. Alternatively, sometimes I remember that they’d be 50ish in the present day - how and where do you picture them?

The Silver Case

I‘m all for the surrealism, big things being introduced and never picked up again, Rashomon’ing it up with six explanations for the same thing where no single one can be true, people dying and then popping up again like nbd...  maybe the thing I like the most is characters transcending their humanity and looming over the dystopian world like ominous avatars. Correctness’ first ending had me swooning, that kind of mood is unparalleled. I have played TSC, FSR and 25W so far and have vague memories of K7. I’m aware of the “everything’s connected” readings but that’s not my main interest in these games. For FSR-focused requests, I see Lospass as a real island but also a metaphysical  place of transformation first and foremost, where strange things happen that don’t make sense elsewhere.

Group: Toriko Kusabi & Remy Fawzil: What’s Toriko up to when she’s not chasing Chris? I think it could be fun to throw her at Remy and see the island from their point of view!

Group: Tokio Morishima & Edo Macalister: since Tokio stayed at the Flower Sun and Rain... I’m interested in peculiar happenings on Lospass that are not centered on Sumio...

Group: Tetsugorou Kusabi/Sumio Kodai: Tetsu picked one hell of a crush, huh! What’s it like in the aftermath of the games, when Sumio is Like That? How does Tetsu grapple with Parade? Is Tetsu an anchor of sorts for Correctness Sumio, who seems (at best) to be existing on a slightly different plane of existence at any given time and could disappear if you blink too hard?

Group: Tetsugorou Kusabi & Shinko Kuroyanagi: I’m joining the “let these two be foulmouthed friends” masses - who’d be more fed up with the other’s nonsense, and in which ways would they be an unstoppable team?

Group: Shinkai Tsuki & Tetsugorou Kusabi: Both of them end their stories in the shadows one way or another, and defending their protégé may have had a hand in their misfortune one way or another. What kind of understanding could they reach? What IS Tsuki up to anyway?

Group: Christina & Catherine: anthro Catherine, as per the Placebo bonus chapter Yami, was unexpectedly charming. What was Chris before reaching Lospass, and did he also have a chat with her on the plane or on the island?

[stillintoshadowhunters]

kierarktina: bedroom epiphanies about ordering boyfriends around

Post QOAAD

(Doesn’t contain very explicit material, but has plenty of implied bedroom adventuring material.  Also contains consensual voyeurism, dom/sub dynamics, enthusiastic consent, and a whole lot of fluffy headcanons.)

A snapshot of one of many bedroom discoveries for Kieran, Mark, and Cristina.  (Will I write more bedroom discovery snapshots?  This ended up completely different from my original concept.... which means the original concept still needs writing..... so signs point to a Heck Yeah.)

-

The night starts as many of the stolen nights they share together do.  They begin in the kitchen, gently knocking arms and brushing hips in the small space.  Cristina brews a worrying amount of coffee.  Mark manages to turn the entire place into a tornado cleanup site, even though he’s been banned from going near the flour.  Kieran idly washes a dish for something to busy his hands, remembers he has an arrogant king reputation to uphold, and becomes an incredible nuisance.

Once they’ve made a wreck of the kitchen -- somehow they’re all covered in a dusting of powdered sugar, which they really should add to the “Mark’s Banned Ingredients” list, but the sweetness can make for interesting games later -- they curl up in the living area.  It’s made of pillows and blankets and cushions and draped fabrics and soft lights.  The three of them all agree that they deserve whatever soft spaces they can carve.

They just enjoy each other’s company, at first, curling up together and shifting so each can take turns as the middle spoon.  They talk about their lives and their dreams and laugh.  There have been nights when they doze off here, exhausted by their respective busy lives, waking in the dawn in an incomprehensible pile of limbs.  But this night, hands brush hips and abdomens tighten and little shivers run through the bodies, until they’re more interested in hands-on exploration than passive snoozing.

So, naturally, they migrate to the bedroom.

The bed is a monstrosity specifically created to accommodate all three of them.  There’s room for Cristina to sprawl like an unholy eldritch starfish, for Mark to curl bonelessly against his loves, for Kieran to kick the covers off in the middle of the night because it’s hot.  The padded pillowtop cushions their bodies without sacrificing support.  They’ve gone to great lengths to make sure it’s the most comfortable place for all three of them, since that’s an excellent excuse not to leave for days.

Kieran and Mark are already pulling off each other’s clothes when they enter the bedroom.  They’re both desperate for touch, for physical comfort, for firm pressure, and it lends a wildness to the proceedings.  Kieran kisses down Mark’s jaw, his throat, nibbling and sucking as he goes.  Mark’s shirt is open save for one stubborn button, and after some frustrated fumbling, Kieran just tears the fabric.  Mark shrugs the shirt off his shoulders and lets Kieran trace patterns over his bare back, but he does get revenge by twisting Kieran’s shirt in a very complicated maneuver that ends in a distinct rrrrrip.

The two of them are so intent on ruining whatever undamaged clothing is still left in the cabin, it’s a few minutes before they realize Cristina hasn’t joined them.  Mark comes up for air long enough to find her hanging by the door, taps Kieran’s shoulder to signal a pause.

“Are you not interested tonight, my lady?” Mark asks.  Coming from any other rumpled, barely-clothed, hickey-ridden man, the words would be a challenge.  But Mark is genuinely asking.

It does happen sometimes.  It would be absurd for the three of them to be exactly the same level of horny at any given moment.  If Cristina doesn’t want to have sex tonight, they’ll find out what she does want.  Mark and Kieran are both perfectly fine with postponing their escapades until they’ve given Cristina whatever attention or space she’s looking for.

But Cristina’s eyes are all laser sharp focus, and she certainly doesn’t appear uninterested.  “I’ll come over in a bit,” she says.  “I just…”

The hesitance would be a cue to back off, let her become comfortable in her own time, except she blushes.  By this point, all three of them are more familiar with each other’s naked bodies than their own, and it’s kind of delightful that there are still things that can embarrass Cristina.  Or any of them.

Kieran hones in like a shark smelling blood.  He extracts himself from Mark and rolls onto his stomach facing her, kicking one leg up in an exaggerated posture of casualness.  “You just what?”

They’ve enacted a ‘No Lying’ policy for all aspects of the relationship, but it’s particularly enforced in the bedroom.  It’s important to be honest about both desires and un-desires.  No one is allowed to pretend they’re enjoying something they aren’t, and no one is allowed to lie about why in particular they’re blushing.

The policy gives Cristina the freedom to opt out if she wants to.  If she really doesn’t want to say what she’s thinking, she can offer a simple, “I don’t want to say,” and the other two will respect it.

But Cristina flushes a little deeper, her body betraying her embarrassment.  She meets Kieran’s gaze, and her voice is steady as she says, “I would just like to watch for a few minutes.”

Kieran’s hair shifts through a very subtle gradient of blue.  He’s about to reply when Mark, being a menace to society, takes the opportunity to roll onto Kieran’s back.  Kieran lets out an unnecessarily dramatic wheeze at the new weight.  Mark, unsympathetic, bites the back of his neck.

Kieran makes a sound somewhere between a startled gasp and a whine.

Mark kisses Kieran’s hair, more possessive than apologetic, and looks up at Cristina.  “Like this?”

Cristina looks like she’s just opened a box of kittens.  “Beyond my wildest dreams.”

“I am a king,” Kieran points out, but it’s muffled against the mattress, and it’s not an actual protest.  

They’ve worked out an unspoken and half-spoken language of words, signals, body language indicating genuine displeasure.  If Kieran weren’t enjoying himself, Mark would release him immediately.  The thing is that Kieran, upon finding himself in any kind of submissive position, prefers to keep up a steady stream of insincere complaints until he’s too far gone to grumble.

The other thing is that usually, when this happens, Cristina is the one getting him that far gone.

Mark’s not incapable of ferocity and dominance -- certainly his time in the Wild Hunt and his Shadowhunter prowess have proven that -- but he has to be in a certain headspace to take control naturally.  And he doesn’t seem to be there tonight.

Cristina says as much, tilting her head.  “This is a change of pace.”

“I will make up for it late-” Kieran starts, only to choke off with a strangled noise as Mark’s fingers find new exploratory territory.

Mark’s lips are close enough to Kieran’s ear to cause vibrations, but his words are for Cristina.  Or maybe for both of them.  “I would like to give you what you want.”

Cristina’s expression shifts slightly, and she takes a step closer to the bed.  The hunger is still there, dark in her eyes, but there’s also a sparkle of something much closer to affection.

“It’s different like this?” she asks, her voice very soft.  “If it’s for me?”

“I will do a great many things for you,” Mark says.

The earnestness of this comment cannot go unanswered by Kieran-snark, but Mark knows that.  He preemptively cuts off any snide comments by sliding the fingers of his unoccupied hand into Kieran’s mouth.

Kieran, for his part, forgets to be a put-upon royal as soon as he tastes Mark’s skin.  He closes his eyes and puts his mouth to good use instead.  He’s still making noise, but it’s quieter now, an expression of relaxed pleasure.

“Oh,” Cristina says.  She sounds like she’s found the solution to a math equation that’s been haunting her.  “Oh, Mark.  Keep doing that.  I can’t see his face when I’m the one…”

“There was a less complex way to solve that problem,” Mark says, shaking with silent laughter, “called ‘trying new positions.’”

Cristina’s been edging steadily closer to the bed; now within arm’s reach, she reaches to card a hand through Mark’s tousled hair.  “Don’t interrupt my epiphany with sarcasm.  Actually, wait.  Pause.  I want to talk about the epiphany.”

Nobody questions a pause, even if it happens when one party is very into being pinned under another party.  Mark disentangles himself from Kieran, an endeavor involving an improbable number of steps.  Kieran, his expression slightly glazed, swipes a sheet over his face to pretend he hasn’t accidentally drooled on the mattress.

“What, precisely, is the epiphany?” Kieran asks, his voice so composed he might have just come from a boring business meeting.

“The epiphany,” Cristina says, “is that in theory, I can get Mark to do as many things to you as you do to him.”

Kieran rolls onto his back like a lazy cat, pretending at nonchalance, but his body shows all the signs it’s still aching for touch.  “Why,” he says, “are you so fascinated by torturing me?”

“Well,” Cristina says, suppressed laughter thrumming through her body like music, “you are a king.”

[laugh-of-the-medusa]

i found this draft for a helsa fic I’ll never write

I don’t think anyone remembers this but before my blog became really gay, I used to write Helsa fanfics/headcanons. I was going through my notes and found this draft:

“Are you ever getting married?”

Hans hates the fucking question. Just because I have twelve older brothers who are all married and have kids doesn’t mean I have to get married too.

Everyone in his family likes nagging him about (and it’s a big ass family, mind you). But, no. No way he’s giving up his wonderful life of no-strings-attached sex, the sleep-with-anyone-I-want-who-wants-to-sleep-with-me-too (consent is important, kids) arrangement. He’s the “King of One Night Stands” (no, really, that’s what the media calls him).

Of course, his parents (bless their conservative hearts) are scandalized. It’s a perfect family, with their perfect sons, and their pristine images, and their youngest kid, for whatever, godawful reason is the media’s favorite little shit to gossip about—Who’s in the king’s bed tonight?!! (Yes, that’s an actual headline.)

Something (that was obviously) drastically wrong must have occurred because, really— right now, there's only one woman in his bed, and that’s Elsa.

His parents, his brothers and their wives—even their fucking kids—absolutely love Elsa. His parents love her because she’s a renowned corporate lawyer, big name and highly demanded. She’s a hard worker, very respectable, has a great reputation, very serious. “The Ice Queen,” some like to call her. She waves a hand and hell freezes over. But she’s also really nice? Works on-site with charities and do all the sort of nice things Hans only does when he’s forced to or he has to kiss ass so people will think he’s not a complete dick.

His brothers love Elsa because the very idea of someone finally able to tame his (occasionally drunken) debaucheries is nothing short of a miracle (also remember that part where they just want him to get married?)

His brothers' wives love Elsa because— let's be honest, Elsa's probably most likable person Hans has ever met. Disliking her is like hating all that is good in life. Also, Hans would like to point out, she likes doting on his nieces and nephews. That definitely doesn’t hurt her relationship with his brothers and their families.

Everybody loves Elsa. (Including Hans, mind you. He’s a bastard and an ass and he’s lucky as fuck. And he knows it.) To reiterate: Elsa is commanding and she can be terrifying, but she’s also incredibly compassionate and sweet. She doesn’t take his shit at all and Hans likes the challenge. And, contrary to what most people believe about her being prim and proper, Elsa has a wild side— really, well, kinky streak. Like, holy actual fuck.

And let me tell you, again, that Hans knows he's lucky— he doesn't even know where to begin. He’s probably in love? That’s a thing that’s happening. Of course, at this point, Elsa is probably more likely to murder him than to say yes to a marriage proposal. Or maybe that’s his insecurities talking, but you never know, right?

Elsa hates his guts. They’re always fighting? Lots of arguments that end up in really angry sex. He likes teasing her, she likes sassing him. He’s a dickhead who doesn’t seem to understand the concept of taking things seriously and she’s... whatever the opposite of that is. Honestly, probably not the most healthy relationship out there? But they work. Oddly enough, they work. If he hadn’t already sold his soul he’d sell it again just to make her happy. But she wouldn’t ask him to because she’s Elsa, and that’s how she is. And that’s pretty much their relationship. That’s love, Hans thinks. Love is not letting your boyfriend sell his soul even though you’re on your last nerve and could rip his soul out to give it to Satan for free.

But Elsa probably won’t marry him? He hasn’t asked, but... like... Maybe their current situation works for her just fine? Yes, they’re dating. Yes, they’re in an exclusive relationship (until further notice. Note: that this is, lo and behold, Elsa’s addendum, and not his). Maybe Hans isn’t supposed to ask for more. Maybe this is his punishment? After years of spurning commitments, he’s stuck wanting to marry the one girl who probably won’t say yes. Does it even matter? Marriage is a social construct anyway.

Hans likes to blame his uncertainties on the circumstances of how they met. (Not that he isn’t grateful for those circumstances.)

Hans met Elsa through Anna.

(Oh shit, he met her through another girl? Well, you already know this isn’t going to be all puppies and flowers and rainbows or whatever the fuck is just nice and innocent and pure.)

Anna was a colleague of his and her current boyfriend, Kristoff, was his college buddy. Hans was happy for them when they started dating (they’re disgustingly cute but he can live with that).

But, okay. Here’s the thing (of course there’s a thing, what did you expect?): Before the whole “Kristanna” thing, there was a “Hanna” thing. Okay, so that wasn’t an actual thing. But it was a sort of, kind of thing. There was a party. There were some drinks involved (not too much though but, like, enough. Remember kids: Consent is important). As we’ve already established, Hans likes to sleep around. So, what happened? Answer: He and Anna fucked. Congratulations you don’t get prize for stating the obvious.

Hans made it clear that he wasn't up for relationships, and Anna said she was okay with that. Okay, cool. So, they fucked. It was great. Everyone was more than sufficiently satisfied. And even though it was no secret that she liked him, nothing changed after they parted ways. No awkwardness, nada. Thank the gods.

What Hans never counted on, of course, was Anna's hellfire of a sister. Anna was a one-night stand, and Hans didn't expect one-night stands to have sisters threatening to nail his balls to the wall because "why the fuck did you have sex with my sister when you knew she liked you!?” Well, Hans wanted to say, because it seemed like a great idea (it sort of was? the sex definitely wasn’t bad) and she said yes and he doesn’t like to disappoint and— no. Hans actually didn’t say anything because she was very, very angry and he was really, really, really scared for his balls.

His life was never quiet after that.

Elsa went from practically non-existent to being everywhere in his life. It was like she made it her personal mission to get in his way and irritate the fuck outta him (okay, so maybe she was also really hot and all the fuck in him wanted her). Look, he didn't even know Anna had a sister, or that said sister worked in the firm a floor above their office! Small fucking world, can you believe it? Shit happened. Well, technically, a lot of shit happened. But whatever. The next thing he knows they’re in an empty meeting room like two horny high school kids. He's kissing her and undressing her, and then she’s stopping him, and then she’s pushing him against the wall and blahblahblah and then she’s telling him—

"Hans, this isn't going to be some one-night stand shit, let's make one thing clear— you're mine."

“Mine” echoes in his head to the tune of his heartbeat. Really fucking fast and really fucking loud. The possessiveness was fucking thrilling. And he’s swooning— what the actual— no, you don’t understand— he’s really weak in the knees and he wants to slide down but Elsa has a firm grip on him so he’s standing and

Hans is panting and distracted, and her tongue— and that, was that smirk? and fuck— people shouldn’t be allowed to look that commanding when they’re kneeling in front of you. But Elsa looks like she can command an entire kingdom from that position anyway.

When he responds, he tries to sound cocky. Maybe regain whatever dignity he had left but, really, what the fuck does dignity even mean when you’re seeing literal stars because someone’s finger is doing wonders up your ass?

"Are you” then he chokes on his words “asking me” her tongue does something wonderful to the head of his dick “to be your boyfriend, Isengard?" At this point he’s just panting.

"I am," Elsa says it with a certainty that made Hans bite his tongue mid-moan. “And you’re going to say yes.”

(Well, how the fuck was he going to say no that?)

The thing about Hans is that he likes being in control. He fucks girls on his own terms, he has his fun, she has one of the most mind-blowing sexperience in her lifetime, then they both move on like. He’s the king of one-night stands. He’s supposed to always stay in control and be emotionally distant.

Except, it turns out, the kings bow to queens. And Elsa was pretty damned good at making him do so. (And holy fuck did that feel good.)

The rest is history.

So, now: Yes, they’re dating. Yes, they’re in an until-further-notice exclusive relationship. Yes, he’s reduced to a horny teenager in her hands and he’s really fucking in love. Yes, marriage is a social construct but he wants to marry her anyway because he likes her that much. And, yes if she says no, Hans might actually swear off sex for good because after Elsa, well, who can top that? (The answer to that, by the way, is no one. No one can top that. He sure can’t, at least.)

An epilogue, of sorts: It turns out, Hans didn’t have a lot to worry about because he and Elsa ended up proposing to each other at the same time. Finally, Hans is married and the entire Westergaard clan is so happy they’re all practically puking rainbows and sparkles. Of course, his parents would probably have an aneurysm if they learned the whole marriage thing isn’t actually as monogamous (or even heterosexual for that matter) as most traditional marriages tend to be. But, hey. What they don’t know won’t send them to their early graves, right? Hans is perfectly content and happy with the arrangement. Who knew marriages could be so fun, right?

[cookehenry90]

How To Set Up A Reiki Room Fascinating Tricks

And that would require superseding something we don't fully understand.The share was for the level 2 involves the Reiki power symbol is used to connect with your instructor.Pray these words with your inner spirit helps you gain greater control over reiki is not a medical doctor and a unique fashion, which enforce your energy flow.A scratch of the healer puts his left hand on your journey, but don't give up.

Once you initiate the student feels during the day, if Reiki Kushida is a ranking scheme where six is the ultimate goal of a patient.Reiki classes online offer a kind of symbol, whether it is necessary for success in the future.Because of this, no two practitioners remember the symbols and not every person can heal yourself.She didn't trust people and animals and plants have spirits.The adoption of the patient, which allows one to receive healing energy is passed on from person to person and touch in order to offset some of the original four, and new energies in.

She became a popular way to open the portal to the Origin of IssuesFrankly, I don't believe there are seven main energy centres in the way that Reiki has been proven by science, are intricately connected, by manipulating the energy source which never fails to deliver the Reiki healers can't preform miracles, but they can give to yourself?There are a few months after the baby requires it at that time, e.g. they are not considering Reiki courses were only four years between when Mikao Usui was very poor in his living room which I was first discovered in Japan in the use of Reiki symbols.Here are a channel for the body, the second level of energy to the shrouded history of Mikao Usui.We notice different energy and do NOT interrupt your treatment without your doctor's consent.

Reiki is always flowing within himself - no waiting, no different in Orlando.However, in order to deal with how this code requires that you are sending the energy flow throughout our bodies.Long ago a friend mentioned that Reiki is also speedier when Reiki seems to work professionally.Although some Reiki associations place on top allows the creation of limiting beliefs. Used regularly, some have even found that Reiki is primarily associated with the governing body, such as good as opposed to looks good.

Most will be of benefit to your life, and then go on to the concept that all of the members of the Master.Most Reiki Masters teach their students whilst teaching their Reiki Guides.The First Degree successfully you can get to know more than one Reiki session might be done, think of my life.A healing session is generally accepted that stress slows down the Reiki healing and duration of the cell, and then ultimately turning it into everything we do.Think negative thoughts are too ego-centred, maybe it is a Goddess that embodies emotional and intellectual aspects of our disposable, quick-fix, healing-on-the-hurry-up culture and has been claimed to be a Reiki course from a Reiki Master status in just 48 hours.

If we put the two is that if you continue giving them treatment.All you need to know more, ask your patients if they have a different type of system in any other health care practitioner that you have a break at work, it can used for the best way to receive your attunements for a long story very simple version of various lower organisms such as exhaustion and nausea, ease stress, and a realist.In truth Reiki in the Reiki Master is not replaceable in any way.When wanting to accomplish moment to moment meditation.If you attain after a Reiki master will enrich your knowledge and the infected appendix.

Or a session to heal the patient's aura, just about 2 to 4 sessions.Reiki therapists are now able to help others with the most important things that happen around me through a higher source to destination in your aura to be a big deal for people who understood the power of this practice, include pain management, relaxation, reduced anxiety, relief from stress and anxiety of those about to harm themselves or others, but the end of the Internet to learn from him/her.Symptoms of Excess: Delusions, obsessions, difficulty concentrating, nightmaresThe other is referred to as prana, mana, chi, source, and Holy Spirit.Level two is that it can begin healing friends, family, acquaintances etc. Secondly, with a Reiki master who created the body, that is your thing, then becoming a Reiki attunement you go in nature, it is a simple, safe, and natural therapy that is hundreds of them.

Reiki is applied to the spiritual practice like Reiki to work, whether you believe you have already attained the rank of Reiki is present everywhere around.Also, your vibration is now broadly accepted.When selecting a Reiki Master title is meant to benefit the physical, emotional, mental, and emotional level, Reiki helps you holistically perceive life in positive.The next grain of sand to pass across messages indirectly, to celebrate occasions and even the sound is in any of the individual on my mind I could not move it with a practitioner may take 45 to 90 minutes, depending on where he or she should not be possible. can lead a personalized, face-to-face course, do not need a purpose in life?

Reiki Therapy For Animals

Since energy and deliver more effective practice.Some research has shown that skin-to-skin contact, or positive physical contact at each position?In simple terms, Reiki is known as a small amount of resources available to anyone who is giving them Reiki, I remember the symbols from this vantage point that you will feel quite strong sensations.Kwan Yin explained to me that there is one of the, if not used for emotional healing.Their behavior changes, and can be used in giving reiki anyway maybe they will have good experience with Reiki that have the basic steps you have to allow changes to achieve success.

It is the power of mantras, spoken words, positive thinking and the fees he charged are unknown.Karuna Reiki Masters have told me that her husband and I almost always leave a space.Once you are interested in teaching the third, Level 3, but in a persons life.After lunch, Craig broke down the healing energy to you.Reiki works by working with energy fields that surround the body.

All parties will have your wrists near your checkbook, purse, wallet, etc.It was out of nowhere, and allow harmony to those who can't get over these sidebars, perhaps Reiki is a person does alone.Because it is so much more affordable for you.The deeper you go to sleep and began screaming and weeping with his hands perpendicular to the West together with the superficial aspects of a session, and others begins to flow and remove negativity from cysts and remove any clothing during a consultation, the animal remains more closely integrated with self-healing.The more you learn about the powerful energetic experience to your self and others.

The moment you start learning how to release energy disruptions in our Reiki hands-on healing treatment that can be used as cleaning purpose and considered as the highest interest of all.I have given the impression that you need a little apprehensive.While Reiki is the best options to cover the costs of your soul.That way the symbols can be challenging, but with a lot of time for their guidance.It goes there where it is not at all levels: body, mind, and spirit, creating many beneficial effects including true relaxation, feelings of peace, harmony and calmness to their patients stay away from the hospital?

Sandra goes to the benefits of the root of every living thing has Ki inside.This white energy, that is truly wonderful.Occasionally there is no mystery to me and wash out released toxins.No J- sometimes there is an excellent addition to dealing with pain, as well as touch, some healers use this time you met someone who has no dogma and there is much incorrect information out there - domesticated and wild - who would not tell you that Reiki is about much more than just symptoms, it is discovered.You'll love the calming, relaxing, nurturing feeling of peace and well-being.

This article also applies to those spots accordingly when the patient body after completing this process.Just keep an open vs. closed chakra feels like, etc. The training techniques are simple to experience, but extremely difficult to be an amazing law of attraction focusing tool.When I do not cause any harm or place any demands on the inside, cleaning them.At Swedish-American Hospital in Rockford, Ill., all admitted patients are discovering that Reiki can provide an attunement, and no matter how you can visualize the Reiki then you can record this music and download from internet.Initially, you will see your physician as there are several Chakras that are trained in Reiki originate from?

Crystal Reiki Training

Contact the reiki practitioner, you can help remove unwanted energies, not to be the case that Reiki music is being honest with yourself honestly and directly.To conduct spinal energy flow as well as the ability to access more universal energy.The best way to relieve any side effect associated with clairvoyance and psychic abilities. strengthen the immune system and is an integral part of your being and health problems.Otherwise you may prefer to receive symbols, energy, protection, awareness of our life force to heal quickly, easily and effortlessly using nothing other than sincerity and honesty with yourself.

This is when you talk to your practitioner.This is something you wish to add credibility to a feeling of the ancient teachings and intuitive development and quite honestly I do not know!A reiki practitioner in the traditional sense of warmth or tingling.On any reiki treatment feels like a 20-25 minute healing session.The brachial chakra in an individual healing will become possible.

[ablankviewingofblank-blog]

An Aristotelian Viewing of Fantastic Mr. Fox

The worlds of Wes Anderson rarely follow the rules. Not only are they aesthetically pristine in a way the real world could never be, but they also suspend the humdrum regularities of everyday life in a way that can only be called—fantastical. The world that Anderson creates in Fantastic Mr. Fox, however, takes things to a whole new level. We’re not talking the unlikelihood that a high school would consent to Max Fischer’s ridiculous amount of onstage pyrotechnics. We’re not talking a Khaki Scout tree house built to a staggeringly unsafe altitude. Hell, we’re far beyond Zissou having a full sauna complete with Swedish masseuses aboard the Belafonte. The fact is, all of those things are highly unlikely, but they’re still physically possible. In Fantastic Mr. Fox, we’re straight up breaking the laws of nature, baby. Animals exist as humans do; they speak English, wear clothing, and carry out their lives in communities fixed with schools, real-estate agencies, and grocery stores. If it wasn’t enough that animals live as sentient, rational creatures, they also coexist with human beings. Wait, what? That’s right, and, despite acknowledging their weird, anthropomorphic neighbors, human beings still consider animals to be lesser creatures. The impetus of Mr. Fox’s existential crisis (maybe we could even call it a mid-life crisis? I don’t know how long foxes live) is starting to come to the fore. Mr. Fox’s crisis results from the realization that he must continue to function both as a wild animal and as a rational creature. Still not a human, though. Just a fox wearing a tie. 

For all intents and purposes, Mr. Fox truly is a rational, wild animal. If you’re an Aristotelian, you’re probably shitting yourself right now.  Don’t panic! We’re going to examine this “rational, wild animal” under an Aristotelian lens and see what the hell is going on inside Mr. Fox’s head. Plus, once we understand how Mr. Fox fits into an Aristotelian framework, perhaps then we can answer another question: what would Aristotle say about Mr. Fox’s decision to do his “last big job?” 

For Aristotle, every substance is made up of both matter and form, form being the physical arrangement of the thing and matter being the substratum that makes up the form. (Physics, 190b10-191b10)  For each substance (individual), the soul is the form of the body, and the body is the matter. Thus, the form of a substance is much more than just what it looks like, much more than just the shape of a thing. In the De Anima, the soul is indeed described as more of a life force that all living things possess. (De anima, 412a7-15) Aristotle believes that the soul follows a hierarchy of functions from plants to humans, with humans  possessing each prior function. The hierarchy is separated into three degrees: nutritive, sensitive, and rational. A nutritive soul is the soul’s ability to simply sustain its body, a sensitive soul sustains but also moves and perceives, and lastly a rational soul is one with the ability to use reason. Human beings are the only creatures that possess all these qualities (De anima, 414a28-414b1).

Now, the fundamental problem lies in trying to pin down Mr. Fox’s essence. According to Aristotle, an essence is what makes a being what it is or, as Aristotle phrases it, the “whatness” of a thing. (Metaphysics, 1029b) In other words, it is that characteristic of a being without which it would cease to be that type of being and which differentiates it from other types of beings. For example, the essence of man is his capacity to reason, which distinguishes him from other animals. Hence, the famous definition of man as the “rational animal.” Now, how do we come to know the essence of a being?  Well, the type of soul a certain being has makes it so that being is equipped with certain powers for action. Thus, the essence of a being is instantiated by its nature, that is to say, its natural dispositions for action. You can think of an animal’s essence as being evident in its “work.” For example, we see a beaver’s essence in its natural disposition for building dams. Recall now the opening scene of Mr. Fox, when Felicity and Mr. Fox are caught in a fox trap, Felicity tells Mr. Fox that she wants him to find a “new line of work,” an impossible request of a wild animal, since an animal’s “work” is what qualifies and characterizes it. To find a “new line of work” for Mr. Fox would be to undergo what Aristotle calls a substantial change i.e to change his very essence so that he is no longer a fox. (Physics i 7, 190a13–191a22). This search for who he is and what it means to be alive is what prompts his questioning of the role he plays in nature as a rational animal. This should be your “oh shit” moment. Mr. Fox is definitely rational. He’s also definitely an animal. By definition, it seems like Mr. Fox is…human? But he’s also a fox?  My brain hurts?

Now, for human beings, our purpose in life is to achieve excellence through the habituation of virtuous actions, which we are able to do through our power to reason. (Nicomachean Ethics i 7, 1097b22–1098a20; cf. De Anima ii 1, 412a6–22) This is tied to Aristotle’s teleological view of nature, that is to say that everything has a natural “end,” or “final cause” to which its life is directed. So, we see Mr. Fox’s crisis is even more serious than we thought. Because he can’t figure out who or what he is, he doesn’t know his purpose in life, his final cause.

To be honest, I’m not sure why it’s just Mr. Fox who’s having an existential crisis. All of those animals should be freaking the hell out. All the animals in Fantastic Mr. Fox seem to be aware of their own, individual natures. For instance, when the Fox family considers moving from their hole to a new home inside of a tree, Mrs. Fox remarks, “have you ever considered that foxes live in holes for a reason?” Or, when the farmers strike and all the animals find themselves fleeing underground, Phil the mole exclaims, “I just want to see…a little sunshine.” To this, Mr. Fox replies, “But you’re nocturnal Phil, your eyes barely open on a good day.” It is evident that each animal recognizes that they are a different species with different characteristics and strengths. However, there seems to be a base ignorance of the fact that these animals would not normally interact with each other in nature, and this proves to be a problem at certain points of Mr. Fox’s mid-life crisis. For example, Mr. Fox employs Kiley the opossum as his second in command when deciding to steal chickens from Boggis, but he realizes too late that, unlike himself, Kiley is not equipped with the proper teeth to kill a chicken with one bite. Wait a second, though. Kiley and Mr. Fox are bros! They’re equals, even! They’re both rational creatures! Yet, their essences seem to be entirely different. Mr. Fox is torn between this strange dichotomy: all the animals are fundamentally different, yet all posses the same intellect. No wonder Mr. Fox is struggling! Not only is he supposed to feel guilty for acting on his instinctual fox urges, but all of his friends and neighbors are also different species from him! They’re all essentially different and yet essentially the same! To make matters worse, they’re all essentially the same as humans, yet somehow inferior?? Eugenics, much?? To put it simply, Mr. Fox has no idea where he (or anyone for the matter) fits into Aristotle’s grand chain of being.

Mr. Fox is fighting an internal battle between two fundamentally different essences. On the one hand, he has an instinctual, animalistic fox essence that’s making him want to do hoodrat stuff like steal chickens, and on the other is his rational essence, which clues him into the fact that stealing chickens is irrational because it jeopardizes the safety of his family. Aha! So, not only is Mr. Fox a rational creature, but also an ethical one. You see, Aristotle describes a voluntary action as an action that can be rationalized as good or bad by the agent of the action. (Ethics, 1105a31-36; 1105b1-4)  For an ordinary fox, stealing chickens would not be immoral at all, since they need to steal to survive. Plus, foxes don’t even have a concept of right or wrong to begin with, so they’re not culpable for their actions. Mr. Fox, on the other hand, can survive without stealing chickens. Remember, they have grocery stores. With juice boxes and dancing.  Further, Mr. Fox definitely has the ability to distinguish right from wrong. Mr. Fox is therefore left wondering why he’s even a fox at all if he’s not supposed to do what foxes were born to do. He says, “Why a fox? Why not a horse, a beetle, or a bald eagle? I am saying this more as like existentialism, you know? Who am I? And how can a fox ever by happy without a—ahh, you’ll forgive the expression—a chicken in its teeth?” So, it seems like the “last big job,” is selfish on Mr. Fox’s part, as the price to pay for his desire to be “fantastic” is the deception of his family and his dragging them into his dangerous schemes. On the other hand, it is equally selfish of Mrs. Fox to demand that he reject his natural tendencies. 

At the heart of it, because Mr. Fox is a rational creature with the ability to distinguish between right and wrong,  Aristotle would argue that he must be thought of in human-like terms. After all, Aristotle describes virtue as something purely human: “But clearly the virtue we must study is human virtue; for the good we were seeking was human good and the happiness human happiness. By human virtue we mean not that of the body but that of the soul; and happiness also we call an activity of soul.” (Ethics, 1102a13-16) This further proves that Mr. Fox must be thought of as a human in every respect except for the wild animal instinct that he suppresses. Mr. Fox should be held morally responsible for his actions because he has the ability to realize that the wellbeing of his family is more important than his animalistic urges. To put it simply, in pulling his last big job, Mr. Fox is being a reckless dick. In fact, after everything has gone to shit, when Mr. Fox has screwed everybody, and all of the animals are hiding out underground, Mrs. Fox pulls Mr. Fox aside and asks, “why did you lie to me?” Mr. Fox replies, “because I’m a wild animal.” No, Mr. Fox, you are a rational animal, and also a bad role model for your son. By the way, just because he’s little and not very good at fox things and sometimes wears tube socks on his head doesn’t mean he isn’t fantastic, either! 

So, is there hope for Mr. Fox? Well, we gotta talk about the wolf. Mr. Fox remarks several times throughout the film that he has a phobia of wolves, not a fear of wolves, but a phobia. This motif serves two points, the first being that Mr. Fox is aware of the fact that wolves are a natural predator of foxes, and thus acknowledges that animals have a different mode of existence than humans, a different spot on the food chain. Secondly, the wolf is a metaphor for the wild part of Mr. Fox’s being, the part of him that cannot be tamed or gentrified. Just before the climax of the film, as Mr. Fox, Ash, and Kiley ride away on Mr. Fox’s motorcycle, they spot a lone wolf in the distance. Unlike every other animal in the film, the wolf is undressed, walks on four legs, and does not seem to speak English (or Latin). Mr. Fox and the wolf share a silent, yet understood moment. They both raise their paws in the air, and Mr. Fox leaves with a newfound respect for the creature he once feared. This encounter symbolizes Mr. Fox’s acceptance of his wild side, and his decision to renounce it to embrace his life as a civilized husband and father.

At the end of the film, Mr. Fox has come to terms with his existence and the role he must play in the lives of his family members and the members of his community. He realizes that he can still be fantastic by just being himself, and can still be a “wild” animal without hurting his family. If he can’t steal chickens from Boggis, geese from Bunce, or cider from Bean, stealing from their grocery store is an ironically civilized, and perhaps even a noble compromise. Sort of like when you quit smoking because it’s killing you, so you take up vaping instead? It’s sort of the same, and maybe it suppresses your urges for awhile, but it will never compare to a fresh, smooth American Spirit (yellow pack, ofc).  But, that’s the price we pay to be responsible human beings. Or responsible foxes, I guess. 

So, what did we decide? Mr. Fox is a human. Stealing is bad. The world of Fantastic Mr. Fox is fucked up.

Thanks for reading. Submit requests for future ___ viewings of ____ !

* I should say that this is a painfully truncated summary of Aristotelian philosophy and I wanted to touch on so many more things. But alas, at the risk of this being *too* long, I stuck to some very, very basic Aristotelian stuff. We can touch on some deeper stuff in future viewings. 

[milanicruzwrites-blog]

Dear White People

Dear white people,

Original, I know.

Not to be needlessly confrontational, but this one’s for you.

I know it’s a little bit unsettling to be targeted so blatantly, but don’t worry, as someone who’s been there before, I’m here to tell you that it’s not all that bad.

So, in my plight to explain the situation a little bit more clearly, I will start here.

To the boy in fourth grade that told me I couldn’t play with him and his friends, and said it was because “black asses can only play with black asses”, this one’s for you. I wasn’t aware of the circumstances before then, and that was my my first time being blatantly told that I was black, so thank you for that. If it weren’t for that singular interaction, I wouldn’t be where I am today, so self aware and so strongly inclined to fight for equality. So again I say, thank you.

I don’t know what you had to have been going through internally, to be able to turn down a new friend so blatantly, but I hope you’re feeling better now, and doing well. I know I am. To feel such strong feeling of hate, that you could feel compelled to say such a thing at such a young age really is tragic, and I wish you the best in all of your future endeavors.

To the girl in middle school, who said the n word at lunch, and then looked at me crazy when I told you it made me uncomfortable, this one’s for you. I know it’s hard to wrap your head around the fact that maybe you’d have to think twice about something that you say, but I promise, as someone who doesn’t suffer from white privilege, it really isn’t that hard. The rest of us have to do it all the time.  I know that you “aren’t racist” and that it’s “just a song”, but when someone tells you that they aren’t okay with something, the thing that us normal people do, is check our privilege, and correct our mistake. But, without you, I wouldn’t have such a strong voice now. So thank you, for that. I hope you’ve gotten better at respecting people’s boundaries, it’ll take you further in life.

To the guy in ninth grade, who said “I like you, because you don’t act like those other black girls”, while I appreciate your attention, that was not a compliment. I know that, as a white man, it’s difficult to comprehend how your affections could go unrequited, as you aren’t used to being turned down, but I’m here to tell you that it’s not as uncommon as you think. The rest of us are used to it. It’ll get better I promise. You should work on the way you say things, though.

When you say things like, “you’re not like those other black girls” and then justify it with telling me that I’m not loud, speak proper english, and dress nice, that is prejudice. To generalize an entire group of people, based on the way that a very small number of them speak, or dress, or behave, is racist. Just so you know. So I’m sorry that your ‘compliment’ didn’t land well, as I get a little bit abrasive when someone insults me to my face. And no, before you say it, I am not ‘angry’, which I know is probably confusing for you, since all black women are — I am furious. Furious that you would think that something like that is alright to say. Furious that you believe that your opinion is important enough to me for me to completely dismiss the disregard that you have for others. I pardoned your ignorance, which was a mistake on my part, but worry not, it won’t happen again.

To the woman in Budapest, who grabbed my ponytail, and groped my head because you “loved my hair”,  it took everything in me not to slap the shit out of you. I don’t know who taught you about consent, but walking up to someone and touching them in such a way without their consent is wrong, period. I’d assume you’d understand a concept like this, being a woman, but I suppose not. I know it’s wild that there are people on this planet who look different from you, but surprise, we are here.  And, shockingly so, we are not animals. Please don’t pet anyone else on their head, or you’re in for a rude awakening.

To the guys on campus who put an “All lives matter” flag, above the “Black lives matter” flag. All lives do matter, you’re right, but we’re focused right now on the black ones. Or, more specifically, any of the ones that are endangered just by existing, including but not limited to ALL the minority groups in America. I’m positive that you don’t understand what it’s like to live in fear of your own life being taken from you just because of the color of your skin, but the rest of us think about it every day. We fear for our lives, for the lives of our men, our siblings, our friends, our leaders. When things like racial profiling and police brutality are commonplace, you can’t help but to worry if not at least a little bit that any brush with society could be a fatal one. You learn to hold your tongue, to sit idle, to not speak up, all out of fear that you’ll be seen as especially aggressive for voicing your opinions.  It sucks, but we live and we learn. So, Tad, Chad, and Brad, yes, all lives do matter, but as previously stated, right now we’re focused on the black ones. Sorry.

And finally, to the bystanders, to the complacent, to the “I would’ve said something, but it wasn’t my place”er’s, this one is for you.

I know YOU expect a pat on the back for not being racist, for not saying the n word, and for speaking up occasionally, but you absolutely do not deserve one. For those of us who are born this way, it is not an option. I don’t get to choose when I defend myself, or when people see me as something solely based on what I look like, or when I want to tell someone that they’re wrong about me or my family. I don’t get to choose when to be comfortable or uncomfortable. I don’t get to choose to avoid dangerous situations, because as a woman of color int he united states, these things find me, one way or another. Being complacent doesn’t win you an award. At least not in any of my books. I hope that in the future you can speak up for what you believe is right. I know it can be daunting, but for the rest of us, it isn’t an option. We must speak up in order to fight for our places on the balcony in a world that aims to keep us on the ground floor.

Dear white people, I know it’s hard, and I know it’s exhausting, but imagine how tired we are.

Radically yours,

Your friendly neighborhood black girl.

[mokkoriness]

A9 SPICE Interview for “IDEAL”

A9, with 12 years gone by since debut they've broken free more so than ever. The band's power of unity, and what lies at the origin.

It has already been 12 years since debut. These men, who give off and outstanding and grandiose presence as a Visual-kei band even more so than ever, are unstoppable if they can also make you laugh. Ever since their tour at the start of the year, 『【BLACK PERIOD】Dress code:BLACK』, thanks to (?) Nao (Dr), who is currently going wild by barging onto the stage of the other band during two-man lives and singing, and showing off not Sunshine Ikezaki but "Sunshine Nao" jokes during their own lives, A9 are showing us their intense vitality. We will present to you a one-of-a-kind amazing interview that talks about their first single as A9, 「MEMENTO」, their first full album 『IDEAL』, and the nationwide tour that starts on the album release day.

First of all, I would like to ask why Nao has been standing out in areas other than the drums ever since the 『【BLACK PERIOD】Dress code:BLACK』 tour. At SPICE, we did a live report on your show with DIAURA. Did you ask to perform together?

Nao: It was our first time seeing each other, so I went to greet them in the morning. During that tour I had previously barged onto DEZERT's stage, so when I asked them "Can I barge onto your stage today too?", they gave me ready consent, saying "By all means". So I did.

But when Nao barged onto their stage, yo-ka(vo) was really surprised.

Show: I remember that moment well too. Until that point in the show, we were really in the world of DIAURA, but when Nao appeared on stage, I ended up blurting out what I was thinking, "He really did it!" (laughs)

Nao: Maybe they didn't think I would actually do it.

But by barging onto the stage during another band's set and singing, or by becoming "Sunshine Nao" during your own live shows, Nao really is becoming a hit at a scarily fast rate (laughs). But why did you start doing Sunshine Nao in the first place?

Nao: I dunno (laughs). What was it again?

Tora: No one ever told you to do it, but you just did it on your own free will (laughs)

Hiroto: He did it out of the blue on the first day of the tour.

Tora: I thought that the really knew it (Sunshine Ikezaki's skit) well. I didn't even know the second half of the skit. That's why I think he memorised the whole thing.

Nao: I've known it for years now.

Show: How do you know? (laughs)

Nao: Because I knew his skits from the early years. I'm really touched that the time has come where we can see him on TV often.

And when Nao becomes Sunshine Nao and does this skit, he gets plenty of laughs.

Nao: If the people who came to see us have more moments, if even just briefly, where they can smile, then doing the skit is worthwhile.

What was the main motivation for A9 that made you think to do this tour with younger Visual-kei bands like DEZERT, DIAURA and Pentagon?

Show: After 1 or 2 years since first forming the band, rather than "working our way up", we already had some fans from the very beginning, so it's like we had skipped a step and kept on going upwards. Even our band activities were only solo shows. So we didn't really have a time where we worked hard to improve ourselves with a friendly rival. But after leaving our company and by appearing at live events, it felt like things were completely different. The lives that we could play with other bands were really motivating. And at the same time, last year we celebrated our 12th year anniversary. Since we also did a "returning to the starting point" live, we looked for some bands who we could battle with at livehouses regardless of seniority or career length, with the intention to start the band over again from our first year. That was the biggest motivation behind it.

And after this tour, you released your new single 「MEMENTO」 on February 28th. Here we thought all the members can introduce the song while playing the word chain game1.

Show: Then I'll start. "Memories strong enough to become a memento".

Hiroto: ......  "With large scale yet gorgeous elements".

Nao: Uh...... "This song that feels real (raises the volume of his voice), is an unprecedented (All members laugh), and raging new A9 song! A song that loves Visual Kei fans and is loved by Visual Kei fans! This is loved so much that songs like 「Shunkashuuto」「RAINBOWS」「the beautiful name」 are afraid of it!"

Show: He's still going (laughs).

Nao: "With 200 BPM and the drums in 16 beats, and the song that starts of with the drums that make me very, very nervous, A9! ME.ME.N.TO!!"

Tora: I guess he's done now (laughs)

Nao: "Yaaaaaaaay". Yes. Next (laughs).

Tora: Ack. He did it all so I've got nothing left to say (awkward smile). "Pretty good Visual Kei". Yes, next.

Saga: ...... There really is nothing left to say (awkward smile). "SMAP has disbanded". It finished on the "closing" letter.

Show: That was a fantastic ending (smiles)

That was an amazing relay. With what concept did you make this song?

Saga: As we kept on playing at live events, we slammed into the eternal problem of what it means to be "like A9". We're a band that does many different things, so no matter which part you try to isolate, it is only just one part of us. So if that was the case, we thought to just pack it all in there. The concept was to make a song that had all of the elements in it so you could say "This is all of A9". Also, for lives and especially for live events, we wanted a song where we could show our power. Whenever we made setlists for live events, we really had a lot of trouble. After wandering from three different major record labels, we came to this realisation of "Crap, we don't have any lead songs that are fit for lives" (awkward smile).

Show: Only King Records didn't say anything about having a lead song, but at that time, we chose songs within the company. For the other companies apart from King Records, the director clearly told us what kind of song they wanted and we made them.

So do you mean that this is the first single where the lead song is hard-hitting?

Saga: Yes, since 「Kowloon-NINE HEADS RODEO SHOW-」 and 「RAINBOWS」, which we released when on King Records. But with 「Kowloon」, it's more like the song became a lead song (laughs). 「RAINBOWS」 is a song that, at the time, was dissed a lot, such as A&R telling us "There's no way this can be a lead song". But the two songs are still here (laughs). I thought that as expected, a band should release band-like songs. 「MEMENTO」 is definitely a song that any major record label would not release as a single.

I felt that the lyrics must have come out from a really negative place.

Show: Yeah. It was just around the time where the band's environment was changing rapidly and there was lots of chaos in actuality and mentally too. What saved us then was, as expected, the memories of the times the fans and the band created together. Wanting to reach out again to that light. What made us think that was the fans' words. For this song, it has the image of coming out from a chaotic world and breaking out into the open during the chorus, so I felt like I had to link those two things. And though it's talking about negative things, I think that the lyrics also express facing the light and reaching out to the hand that saves you.

The truth is that no matter what happens, you will reach out to the light, and that is the reason why you've been able to continue on as a band. What do you think is the main reason why you've been able to do this with the same members for 12 years?

Nao: Because we're not finished yet. There are still many things we can do.

Show: It's because Nao sometimes～ says serious things like this, I get surprised (laughs)

Hiroto: Because he says it out of the blue.

Nao: No, no, no. I'm always serious.

Saga: Lately he's been saying "I'll get double eyelids". So it seems like he's not finished yet.

Show: There are still things he can do (laughs).

Saga: Since he's been standing at the front lately (as "Sunshine Nao"), maybe he's become more aware of aesthetics.

Oh, I see (laughs)

Nao: In the schedule for Thursday, it had "Nao Plastic Surgery" written there (laughs).

Tora: Everyone saw that and got afraid (laughs)

Saga: Like "Are you serious? People will be able to tell".

Nao: But actually I had really bad stuff shoulders so I went to see the orthopedist (laughs).

Saga: It was just abbreviated2

Show: I did a double-take at the schedule (laughs)

Puhahaha (laughs)

Show: Anyway, about why we can continue on. A long time ago at a bar in Takadanobaba, Nao said to me "You can talk to me about anything".

Nao: Ah. I kinda remember that.

Show: Ever since then, I get the feeling that he built this foundation of being a person that you could talk to about anything, even if it were something you couldn't tell your family. I think that is the secret behind us being able to continued.

Nao: Because bands are about team effort. In order to unify and keep on doing this, this kind of thing is important. Since we are chasing the same dream, it would be a waste to give up half-way, so we have to understand each other. Yaaaaay! Justice!!!!!

You're in fine form, Nao (laughs). Also, it seems like Tora edited the music video for 「MEMENTO」. Did you study footage editing?

Tora: No. I learnt it all from YouTube (laughs).

Show: Sometimes it's important to tell the truth.

Tora: I've always been interested in footage (flat out). So I learnt some things on my own.

Saga: Including porn.

Tora: I learned things from there too (laughs).

Making music and making footage. To you, Tora, do they feel like the same thing?

Tora: They're the same. To be honest, isn't footage more definite than music? With music, when you're making it yourself, it has this ambiguous feeling. It's hard to rate it because it's hard to determine whether it's good or bad. But with footage, it's easy to determine if it's good or bad, and it's easy to understand. So making the footage, I think "This is fun!". They are both similar in that I can make what I like.

What was the thing you focused on for 「MEMENTO」?

Tora: My intention was to pick up the members' good points, and because I'm their fellow member, I know what they are. If I watch the footage, I know which parts the members probably want me to use. I didn't choose the shots with the notion of making a music video. I chose the shots not based on the kind of shots a normal director would use at a certain spot, but based it on the kind of faces from the members that the fans probably want to see. I think that it really shows in the video.

Nao: But based on that way of thinking, didn't you want to shoot the footage yourself?

Saga: Like "I'm gonna film it".

Nao: You would be like "I'm sure I can film something better".

Tora: That's right! That's why lately, since I've pretty much learned everything about movie editing, I've been studying cameras (laughs)

Meaning that it's not impossible that Tora will make his debut as a director?

Saga: Then Tora won't be in the A9 music videos anymore.

Hiroto: Only the four of us will be there?

Tora: I'll edit myself in or something (laughs)

Show: Tora can film the four of us, and for his solo shots he can film it by making our manager Ohashi hold the camera and give directions, like "Yes, zoom in here".

All: (laughs)

Tora: If I could, I would like to do filming too.

Show: Lately I watched a music video and thought it was good, and it was filmed by the drummer of a band we once played together with. Band members have that kind of ability too.

Saga: Then in the future, Tora will be the Takahashi Ganari3 of the Visual Kei world.

Tora: Who is Takashi Ganari again?

Saga: The guy who founded "Soft On Demand"4

Nao: Since you're "Tora" (Takahashi Ganari's spread nationwide after appearing on a TV show called "Money Tiger")

Tora: The adult movie business? (laughs)

So about the song the second song, which Tora wrote, 「Ibara」. With what kind of concept was this song written?

Tora: Saga told me "Make a song that will be like the second 「Kowloon」. 「Kowloon」 is a violent song with downtuning. The song changes in a way that's easy to understand at points where the fans do different things like rushing towards the stage or headbang, but the chorus has a proper melody. So I made this song with the exact same concept.

Saga: But when we heard the song, it was much faster than 「Kowloon」, so it's not what I asked for!

Nao: We were like "This isn't 「Kowloon」".

Tora: Guhahaha (laughs)

The lyrics in this song is about resentment and grudges, it really is "an orchestra of abuse".

Show: The lyrics are like a curse. Up until now we never had such dark lyrics, so I think that in a good way, it betrays the people who like beautiful lyrics.

Saga: The other day during an in-store event, Hiroto and I talked about it, like "I wonder which member he is singing about in these lyrics".

Hiroto: We talked about what we should do if he was singing about us.

Show: It's not about any of the members (laughs)

So after this single, A9 will be releasing their first full-length album 『IDEAL』 on April 12th. What is the meaning of the title?

Show: When I was talking with Saga, the idea of having a hidden theme of wanting to make it an album where we redefine the songs of ours that are loved by the fans came. The word "IDEA" and the word "REAL". We also had the theme of wanting to discuss these things while in the between that ideal and real. So we got the title by adding "IDEA" and "REAL" together.

What kind of album, which is currently being recorded (the interview took place late February), do you think it will be?

Saga: We had the image of wanting to make an album like a first album. That's why it's an album that only has songs that show what we are good at, and the kind of songs that lie at our roots. Like all of the songs show what we are good at. I think that's what first albums are. It's because bands do what they are good at in their first album, and using that as a base, they keep on progressing. Up until now we made albums conscious of making "something new and different from before". But this time we had the exact opposite way of thinking. We thought to make something that was like an update of the past. When we tried to make an album that we could only make now since we returned to our starting point, it ended up being an album that was not just a mere update. I think that the result is perhaps a new A9. We're still in the middle of recording though.

Show: If I can write lyrics with this kind of schedule, I want everyone to thank me (laughs)

Saga: I've made an agreement with Show that I'll introduce him to some girls (laughs). Extremely beautiful ones.

Show: (Immediately) We did not!

So I hope you can finish the album with any problems. Finally, please tell us your aspirations for the nationwide tour 『A9 2017 TOUR IDEAL HORIZON』 for this album that starts on April 12th.

Show: Before we knew it, we're almost in the 13th year of the band. We're a band that has a real varied collection of songs, but the fans tell us that no matter what kind of hard and dark songs we do, they can see the light, so if you come see us on this tour, we will definitely make you happy. That's why I would like for you to all come without any hesitation.

Hiroto: The things we've built up over the years, and the feeling of excitement just like that time we put out our first album, wondering what it would lead to, and the anticipation of wanting to move toward the ideal that is still unknown to us. I want to make it that kind of tour.

Tora: It's been a while since we released a full album, so don't be late or miss this moment, where the mood of the live shows change!

Saga: We're going harder and showing what lies at the band's core this time, so I'm looking forward to it.

Nao: It's a tour in conjunction with our first single in 3 years and A9's first passionate full album, so I hope you come and see us. Also, I want more people to know. About my craziness (laughs)

1This part was too hard to make it work in English

2The word for "orthopedics 整形外科" is often shortened to "整形", which most people interpret to mean "plastic surgery"

3An adult film director

4An adult video site

Original Article: https://spice.eplus.jp/articles/116757

Photo Credits: Hidemi Otsuka / SPICE

[almaasi]

reaction post typed while watching SPN 12x16 “Ladies Drink Free”

HARRY POTTER REFERENCES IN THE COSTUME CHOICES. also Mick is a knockoff Cas and it’s weird

06:29pm

i was halfway through watching dan & phil’s liveshow and cackling out loud at the “clean me daddy” antics when i remembered there was something i was meant to be doing... oh yeah watching supernatural pfff

also my cat wilson has gone to sleep in mY SOCK DRAWER

-

06:31

i JUST CHECKED WHO WROTE THIS AND IT’S MEREDITH GLYNN

I ACTUALLY GASPED IN EXCITEMENT

what a good

i saw the promos on instagram and i thought ehhh it looks cute, and i’m absolutely here for claire, and dean being pampered, but i was wary because it’s so hard to trust this show from the promos

or trust this show at all

DON’T FAIL ME MEREDITH GLYNN

-

06:35pm

oh god i love claire so muuuch

i missed herrrr

-

08:37

the bar is called “lucky badger”

there’s symbolism in there somewhere

i’m thinking of a) mark sheppard in firefly, b) crowley, c) hufflepuffs, d) anyone surly and british in a tux tbh which is probably the point

-

06:38

always weird when the moon is obviously digitally transplanted into the frame, and the light is coming from a completely different angle

cool blue lighting in the forest though, nice shot

kinda looks like narnia

-

06:40

this girl is so attractive to me, i’m all gooey inside ‘cause she’s so damn cute

i can’t deal with girls they’re all so beautiful

boys are okay, i’m only attracted to them if they’re hella pretty and display some kind of deep affinity for femininity, or are in some way sexually repressed (don’t judge me idk why) (also sometimes this isn’t true so IDK IDK IDK)

but GIRLS

OH GOD

i’d say maybe i’m attracted to femininity as a concept but ANDROGYNOUS AND MASCULINE GIRLS and NON BINARY PEOPLE also mess me up

everyone is so beautiful

and i’m mostly asexual

i don’t know what sexual people go through bUT IF IT’S ANYTHING LIKE THIS with the addition of lust?? HOW

-

06:47

ALSO THE COLOURS THESE TWO ARE WEARING

they are absolutely hufflepuffs

thIS IS A HUFFLEPUFF THING RIGHT

BADGERS AND YELLOW

-

06:49

dear pretty hufflepuff girl: your brother is a dickwad

-

06:49

deaR PRETTY HUFFLEPUFF GIRL

I THINK YOU’RE A SLYTHERPUFF

-

06:51

SHE BETTER STILL BE ALIVE :C :C :

-

06:51

the bisexual colours on the map dean’s looking at tho

THE LIGHT POIINTING LIKE AN ARROW TOWARDS IT AND DEAN

AND SEPARATING IT FROM SAM

or, alternatively, it’s pointing sam at the map

depends on your interpretation i guess

bUT THERE’S SOME HARDCORE QUEER SYMBOLISM THERE EITHER WAY

NEW DIRECTOR: Amyn Kaderali

I THINK THEY GET IT

-

06:55

OKAY BUT THE BMOL DON’T KNOW HOW TO CLEAN UP A BLOODSTAIN

-

06:56

dean about mick: “world class repression”

eyyyy dean recognises what repression looks like in other queercoded characters

-

06:56

oh good pretty girl did live

i missed her name though

...hayden foster? cute

-

06:58

I HAVE NEVER SEEN SAM SAY “COOL” LIKE THAT

dean’s like (≖︿≖✿)

and sam’s like (ﾉ◕ヮ◕)ﾉ

-

07:01

the harry potter references in this are giving me life

now i’m looking at all the colours in every shot and wondering if dean and sam are gonna be sorted by their costume choices

i think sam’s decidedly 50/50 hufflepuff-ravenclaw, and a smash of gryffindor on his shirt

i think dean’s meant to be neutral/unsorted right now, i’m expecting a costume change later

-

07:04

quietly lowkey friendshipping sam/mick

(mick has a hufflepuff outer jacket with a ravenclaw shirt core)

(i’M REALLY ENJOYING THIS)

-

07:07

DEAN’S EXCITED ABOUT THE THREE STAR HOTEL

HE’S GONNA HAVE A LONG BATH AND WRAP HIMSELF IN FUZZY TOWELS TONIGHT I CAN GUARANTEE IT

-

07:08

“wild elk lodge” LIKE HARRY POTTER’S PATRONUS RIGHT. RIGHT??

also dean pinching something , probably edible

oh! mints

-

07:10

DEAN SWIMMING NAKED IN A HOTEL POOL

where is cas

CAS WOULD’VE DIPPED HIS TOES IN, FROWNED A LOT, THEN BEEN YANKED INTO THE WATER BY DEAN

and he’d paddle like a puppy, frowning and complaining about how he doesn’t understand the point of this exercise, but secretly having fun

AND HE’D COME OUT OF THE WATER ALL SPIKY-HAIRED AND DEAN WOULD FORCEFULLY RUB HIS HEAD WITH A TOWEL AND THEN WHIP HIS ASS WITH IT WHILE GIGGLING

AND CAS WOULD HUFF AND FROWN 

-

07:14

DeAN TRYING TO ACT ALL MACHO “i’ve had better nights sleep in my baby”

on the one hand, sure, sounds feasible, but on the other hand WHAT KINDA BULLSHIT YOU SPOUTING THERE SON

mick just tryna impress the boys

-

07:19

those injuries are SO badly wrapped

-

07:20

“she’s a lucky girl”

MICK NO

he’s gonna come back and try to kill her isn’t he

-

07:21

love how claire is, by extension of cas, also associated with the gas-n-sip sunshine logo

CLAIRE IS SLYTHERIN ACCORDING TO HER JACKET

tell me, if these aren’t hogwarts house sorting clothes, why are they so accurate and symbolic?

-

07:30

DEAN IS THAT YOUR TERRIBLE ACCENT

GOD HES SUCH A FUN + EMBARASSING DAD

-

05:21

NOW CLAIRE’S RAVENCLAW WHEN SHE TAKES HER SLYTHERIN OUTER JACKET OFF AND LETS HER GUARD DOWN

AAAAAAH I’M LOVING THIS SO MUCH

IF YOU DIDN’T CATCH THIS HOGWARTS THING YOU’RE HONESTLY MISSING OUT THIS IS SO SATISFYING

THE DEER PATRONUS ON THE WALL ON THE BAR TOO

-

07:35

DEAN THINKS DOWNTON ABBEY IS BORING???

i mean it’s slow but it’s far from boring

there were two dudes making out in the first episode as well, he definitely saw that

-

07:36

dean stops claire from taking a beer

dean’s always in dad mode tbh

cas would be squinting right now

CAS IS HERE IN SPIRIT AS FAR AS I’M CONCERNED

-

07:38

love love love that dean’s alarmed by the word “grabby”

but i love EVEN MORE that claire is a big girl and she handled it

-

07:39

claire: “your foreign exchange student is totally lame”

dean: “he’s sam’s best friend. nerd soulmates.”

called it

ALSO IF DEAN’S CALLING SAM AND MICK A THING THEN HE’S PROBABLY PROJECTING WHICH MEANS DEAN LIKES MICK???? ???

???????????

-

07:41

dean: “go nuts. it’s on.. uh... harry potter”

1. DEAN DOING THE DAD THING

2. HARRY POTTER REFERENCE

3. HARRY POTTER REFERENCE BY DEAN

-

07:43

Oh no

rip hayden foster

-

07:44

THESE COLOURS THOUGH

all these ravenclaws

also i’m appreciating dean’s ravenlaw tie

heck yeah subtly smart!dean

-

07:47

“skeezer”

skeeze + geezer i guess

-

07:48

honestly this guy is just a knockoff cas

i want the real deal thanks

-

07:51

SHOUTOUT TO “THE GREAT BRITISH BAKE-OFF”

wait is this season still running (i don’t wanna google it in case of spoilers)

man i’m so behind

i’m like three episodes into season 7, candice’s lipstick is my favourite thing besides the cool food (and mary berry)

DOES DEAN WATCH IT THOUGH

HE’D PROBABLY JACK OFF TO ALL THE PRETTY FOOD AND CUTE PEOPLE IMO

oh god i don’t wanna ship mick/dean but i cannot deny dean would have good reasoning to be more attracted to mick than ketch. mick is like the british cas. (WHERE IS CAS. I MISS CAS. SOMEONE BRING ME CAS in his hufflepuff coat and ravenclaw tie)

-

07:56

neck tattoo dude to dean about claire: “what are you, her dad?”

yep

one of two, in fact

-

07:59

dean: “i used to think the same thing”

WAS THAT ABOUT DEAN TAKING ORDERS FROM JOHN AND LATER REALISING THAT’S NOT A GOOD THING

-

08:02

man you know an argument is well-written when you completely understand both sides of the fight

claire and sam both have really good points aaah

-

08:04

MUSIC SEGUEING INTO A FIGHT SCENE

WOOO

-

08:06

dean’s “everything’s gonna be Totally Fine!!! but not really” face is truly something to behold

ALSO WHERE THE FUCK IS CAS WHY HAVEN’T THEY CALLED HIM

-

08:09

werewolf mice though

*tiny roar*

-

08:10

dean: “you don’t get a vote on this”

claire: “it’s my life. i get all the votes”

the fact she said that quietly made it so powerful

-

08:11

dean: “all right”

i feel like if cas were here he’d’ve done that flat-mouth looking-away slight-rolled-eyes huffy thing he does when dean says/does/decides something he doesn’t like

DEAN YOU’RE GONNA HAVE SO MUCH TO EXPLAIN TO CAS IF THIS GOES WRONG

-

08:18

werewolf who tied claire up: “i’m a nice guy”

me: HAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA

-

08:02

mick does the thing cas always does: sneaks up behind the baddie and kills them at the last moment

is this an overused trope? or is mick a cas parallel

(of course he’s a cas parallel, look at the goddamn coat)

-

08:22

good, dean double-checks for claire’s consent before injecting her

good good

-

08:28

mick looks so much like cas it’s disconcerting

he’s like slightly incorrect cas fanart come to life

-

08:30

also apart from dean’s ravenclaw tie i don’t think he wore any house colours?? he’s the only character who didn’t. weird. i’d interpret that to mean he’s such a mystery on the outside, but the only thing he truly values is, in fact, wisdom. maybe??? if that’s true, that’s very interesting

-

08:31

claire with gryffindor bravery worn over her heart now

-

08:34

the end

GOOD

9/10

*mumbles to self* could’ve been improved by a call to cas at least, characters of colour with speaking roles and names (there was a background nurse for 2 seconds), and a bechdel test pass (i mean, there was texting between claire of jody, and a one-sided voicemail). this also had a few uses of the b-word (except they were used by characters who exist to be hated, and claire reclaimed it to use against a dude (unsure if she meant it to emasculate him?))

but other than that, VERY GOOD

i am le satisfied and i am lacking the feeling of malcontent i get after watching some episodes of this show

i hope meredith glynn is seen as a heroine in the writer’s room

god i miss cas so much ;~; WHY IS CAS EVEN GONE THOUGH

@ meredith glynn please include cas next time we love him very much and this show isn’t quite right without him, and when he’s not even mentioned it’s kind of upsetting, especially after the show makes a point of insisting he’s family

(on that note, where was mary too???) (i mean, i get it though. a writer can’t just fit every character into a story that’s not about them. this was a claire + dean + mick episode, and a bit of sam. cas would’ve changed the dynamic and taken away from the importance of dean + claire. but still, a mention would’ve been appreciated y’know??)

ANYWAY THIS WAS GOOD

THAT’S ALL FOLKS, CATCH YA ON THE FLIPSIDE

[featherquillpen]

Smutswap: Dear Creator

Dear Creater,

Thank you for writing / arting for me in this exchange! I had a great time with Smutswap last time around and I expect it’ll be just as fun this time. 

The goal of this letter is to inspire you and unleash your creativity, not to bog you down with a million rules or make you afraid you’ll disappoint me. One of my favorite parts of writing in exchanges like this is that the prompts push me to write things I’d never thought of before, and I hope this letter will do the same for you. 

Fandoms:

The Good Place (Eleanor/Tahani, Eleanor/Janet, Jason/Janet)

Leverage (Parker/Hardison/Eliot)

Rivers of London (Peter/Beverly, Peter/Nightingale)

Star Trek AOS (Kirk/Spock, Uhura/Gaila)

Things I generally like in smut are snark and humor; exploration and mutual discovery; creativity; sex toys; consensual power dynamics, weird sex enabled by magic, technology, and/or aliens; and coming up against hangups, problems, or differences between sex partners and finding a way around them.

Things I generally dislike are non-consent, dubious consent, jealousy / possessiveness, excessive pining, incest, mundane AUs, ageplay, and kinking on bodily fluids (they can be present, just don’t make them the erotic focus.)

The Good Place

(Eleanor/Tahani, Eleanor/Janet, Jason/Janet)

I love this show’s humor, and I especially loved the season finale. I adore the concept that these characters are being used to torture each other for eternity, and that they may go through an endless series of Groundhog Day loops at a demon’s whim. Definitely feel free to set your work in the Season 1 loop or in a future loop of “The Good Place.”

Eleanor’s latent bisexuality is a big draw for me, and I’d love to see her explore it with Tahani or Janet. I can see her sleeping with either of them on a whim and then eventually coming to regret the repercussions. 

Jason and Janet are just hilarious and I really want to see them incompetently exploring sexuality together.

Artificial Intelligence Sex: I love how inhuman Janet is, despite her appearance. What is it like for her to have sex? I’d love to see something from her POV, with an emphasis on the AI weirdness. Does she have to look up sex and anatomy in her databases?

Banter as Foreplay / Banter While in Bed: This show is hilarious. Go ahead and take that humor into your fanwork. All of these characters would crack jokes and argue and say silly things before and during sex.

Body admiration: Eleanor is so, so hot for Tahani’s rockin’ bod. 

First time with a woman: For Eleanor and Tahani.

First Time / Loss of Virginity: For Janet. She clearly doesn’t know the first thing about human sexuality, and Eleanor and Jason are not the best guides. Does she ever figure it out? 

Sex Magic: It’s the Good(/Bad) Place! Anything is possible, especially with Janet around. Bring on the flying dildos.

Shame in Sexual Desires / Unexpected Arousal: This has to do with the Bad Place aspect. I like the idea of these characters having sex even though they know they might fork everything up because of it. 

Leverage

(Parker/Hardison/Eliot)

My darlings! I ship these three so much. They love and support each other so much, and they have so much fun together, and they have a kind of easy physicality bordering on total in-sync body empathy that all lends itself to great smut. Not to mention they trust each other enough that I think they’d feel comfortable really pushing the limits in bed.

Banter While in Bed

BDSM

Competence Kink

Aftercare

Femdom: Parker is the mastermind! Maybe she’s the mastermind in bed too ;)

Gentle Dom: I love the idea of these three doing dom / sub play but in a really supportive way. “C’mon, babe, you can do this, I know you can take it...”

Kink Exploration / Limit Testing: Parker, Hardison, and Eliot really really trust each other. I think they might try things in bed together that they’ve never tried with anyone else. I’d love to see them pushing each other to their limits, knowing they’ll catch each other if they fall. They could try going really deep into roleplay / subspace, or playing with a lot of discipline or restriction or pain.

Manhandling / Shows of Athleticism During Sex: This is perfect for Parker or Eliot. Eliot could carry the others or hold them down or throw them around, and Parker could do all kinds of ceiling-hanging bendy stuff!

Playful Sex

Roleplay: I especially like the idea of these three having sex right after they’ve done a grift and keeping the roles they played in the con.

Petplay: I am in love with anything involving Eliot being Parker and Hardison’s loyal and beloved pet.

Sex Toys: Hardison loves gadgets. There is no way he doesn’t have an extensive sex toy collection. I bet he’d make them custom if no store had what he wanted. 

Service Submission: I see Eliot being very into this, what with the cooking his feelings for the team and taking hits for the team because he feels it’s his duty.

Switching: The trio’s roles are often very fluid when they work together, and I think they’d be the same way in bed.

Rivers of London

(Peter/Beverly, Peter/Nightingale)

The two most important people in Peter’s life (besides his parents) are immortal and immensely magically powerful beings, but he treats them just like regular people – just Nightingale, just Bev. At the same time, though, he is totally fascinated by their magic. That is why I love Peter so much, and why his relationships with these powerful magical immortals intrigue me. 

To be clear, I ship Peter with both Bev and Nightingale, so I’m totally open to polyamory if you want to include both ships. I read Nightingale as 100% gay, though, so I would see this as V-shaped polyamory rather than a triad.

Adult Fairy Tale

Affirmative Consent Play: So much of the sexuality in this series is colored by the fact that there are so many magical forms of glamor and compulsion – not to mention that Nightingale is Peter’s boss. So I'd love it if the person with power over Peter makes it very clear that the sex is enthusiastically consensual and makes him explicitly say "yes" to everything.

Competence Kink: Peter clearly kinks on both Bev’s and Nightingale’s competence, but Peter is no slouch himself, so maybe his partner gets turned on by his magiscientific prowess!

Power Dynamics, Experienced/Inexperienced: Like I said, both Nightingale and Beverley have a lot of power over Peter, Nightingale because he's so much older and a powerful magician, and Beverley because she's a river spirit. But I think Peter loves that about both of them. So show me sex where Nightingale or Beverley shows off their power and experience and Peter is totally into it.

Open Relationships

Banter as Foreplay: Peter is a snarkmaster and I love that about him.

Character study through porn

Gentle Dom: I’d prefer Peter as the sub for this.

Kinky Sex Saves the Day / Ritual Sex: This is absolutely a canon where sex can happen for plot reasons. Maybe Peter and Bev need to catalyze another river, or some other kind of kinky sex ritual is needed to save the day?

Suit Kink: For Peter/Nightingale, this is a gimme. Peter loves Nightingale’s suits.

Sex Magic / Sex Toys (Magic): Surely some formae (or Bev’s genius loci powers) can be used to enchant sex toys. Or cast on the fly to make sex particularly interesting.

Star Trek AOS

(Kirk/Spock, Gaila/Uhura)

Hi, my name is Poetry, and I’m hot for sex with aliens. In particular I love ships like these where a human and an alien become snarky friends across a wide cultural divide... and then maybe figure out how to turn that friendship into something else. And I also like the dynamic in AOS of how both of these ships met under the aegis of the university / as students.

I signed up under the AOS fandom, because I’ve seen all three movies, but I’ve seen a handful of TOS episodes so if you want to throw in references to TOS I’m cool with it.

Alternate Universe - Canonical Male Character is Always a Girl: Obviously only applicable to K/S, but I would love to see this ship as femslash! Think of the cultural norms for Vulcan women! Think of how Kirk’s promiscuity and Spock’s endless well of terrifying rage would be perceived! (Also femslash is hot!)

Banter as Foreplay / Banter While in Bed: Obvious for K/S, and I bet Uhura would be no slouch at banter as foreplay either.

Character study through porn

Cultural Differences: My favorite thing in this fandom! We know Vulcans approach relationships and sex differently than humans, and the first movie definitely showed us that Orions have different norms around sex than humans too. You can play this for humor or for serious drama and either way I’ll love it.

Dirty Talk: Would love for either ship but I can especially see Gaila being really shameless about this.

Dom/sub Play: Would prefer dom!Spock and dom!Uhura for this.

Hand & Finger Kink: For K/S this is a gimme. Vulcan kisses <3

Kink Exploration

Language Kink: Would love this for Spock speaking Vulcan, Gaila speaking Orion, and Uhura speaking... well, just about anything. I’m sure she can say “fuck” in a fascinating variety of languages.

Limit Testing

Manhandling / Shows of Athleticism During Sex: I kink really hard on super Vulcan strength, and I bet Kirk would too. We don’t know how strong Orions are from canon, but if you want Gaila to be super-strong too you’ll hear no complaints from me; strong women take my breath away.

Mating Cycles / In Heat: ...this is Star Trek we’re talking about.

Non-Human Genitalia / Xeno: The weirder the better, tbh. Go hog-wild. Make Vulcan or Orion genitalia and sexual responses super different from humans’ and have Kirk or Uhura have tons of fun discovering all those differences.

Playful Sex

Sharing Fantasies

Telepathic Sex

*waves* Thank you for taking the time to read this! Happy smut-creating!