#a mother which is a bit out of line with cultural influence

[vigilantdesert]

biological + motherhood, for the mom asks !!

Mothers

biological ’ — for my muse to explain and describe who their biological mother is, and what genetic features or traits they inherited from her.

"My vavhi, Chieftain Romah, was a noble woman. I'm honored to be her daughter," she began, thumping her right hand to her left shoulder as a sign of respect. "Of course, I inherited our family's power from her. Beyond that, we Gerudo tend to be fairly close copies of our mothers. It's easier to note what's different between the two of us."

She chuckled, imagining her mother's dour face for a moment -

"At least physically. She had flecks of yellow in her eyes, something I was not lucky enough to be born with, and I'm about a head taller than she ever got. She also kept her hair cropped, but we really do have the same texture. I relax it regularly, which was not something she desired, or patient enough to do on a regular basis. She also went pink much earlier than myself."

Or, perhaps, she was also unwilling to dye her hair as often as her daughter did.

‘ motherhood ’ — for my muse to elaborate on motherhood in general, and what they believe motherhood should entail.

"That is the question, isn't it?" She mused idly, in the same drawl she used when trying to avoid questions. "There are so many ways to become a mother, and giving birth, I don't-" She began before realizing it would lead in endless circles. She sighed, bringing a hand to her eyes before she tried again.

"In old Gerudo, there are three words for 'orphan.' 'Jand,' which refers to anybody whose mother has passed away, 'fare,' which refers to a child who lost their mother before they were weaned, and who survive by the grace of the skies alone, and 'otan,' which means a child who has lost all of their caregivers - their mothers, godmothers, and any blood or familial relatives they may have. We are lucky enough to live in a time when such a distinction is unnecessary, and only 'jand' is still used commonly, and I'm grateful for that. However, I think much of the emphasis on giving birth to your own daughter could be alleviated if we allowed each form of orphan-hood to inform how we view motherhood."

[hourglassfish]

A (long) Aside on 1:7 and 2:10

There are two responses to 1:7 and 2:10 that always quietly horrify me.

The first, and you know, I'm writing a multi part series on it, so it's no mystery - is that Sydney was arrogant/a brat/ couldn't hack it/ wrong to walk out, and that the situation as a whole was her fault. Nah. She was right to walk out, the biggest failure of that episode is not fucking pulling the breaks when Richie gets stabbed. The workplace has gone from dysfunctional to dangerous, she has been responsible for that danger, the perpetrator of it, and she is right to leave.

little bit of an asshole but i love you so i don't care

Carmy sees Syd saying she's going to stab Richie (as she holds her knife to his chest!) while they're up in each other's faces (with Richie goading her) and he does... nothing. He tells them to shut the fuck up and make giardiniera. At this point they needed to be separated! One or both of them needed to cool off. We've seen Syd bodily put herself between a fighting Carmy and Richie. A little reciprocity would have gone a long way here.

It's wild to me that people think that Carmy was justified in his anger and aggression towards Marcus and Syd and ignore that he is aggressive to Richie also! Richie, typically one of the more confrontational characters in the show asks him to calm down, to cool it. That so many viewers so quickly and uncritically accept Carmy's narrative point of view, even while the show actively challenges it confirms something that has been in the culture a long time: that we are much more used to excusing and aligning ourselves with abusive behaviour, than we are at challenging and refusing it. That people - many of whom have received this kind of behaviour themselves - want to defend it, makes me so, so sad.

It always hurts me a little that in 1:8 Tina tells Carmy that if he 'tries that shit with her, she'll fuck him up'. It's a fun line! But I'm sorry, no she won't. He screams at her too, while chucking bowls around and Sydney's words in 1:7 clearly hurt her. Tina categorically did nothing wrong. She doesn't deserve that shit. But at the end of the day, she is a middle aged Latinx woman and a mother, and so her tolerance level has to be higher. She needs that job! Shedoes not, as far as we know, have a father she can live with rent free, she does not have youth and the promise of exploitable potential to offer to employers in an ageist job market, she does not have CIA qualifications or a CV full of ‘serious heat’.

Carmy. holds. a. position. of. power. over. these. people. He is their boss, not their manager, and he owns the place, mob loan or no. He has the power to sack them all, to cut their hours, to cut their wages; thus the impact of that power extends not just to them, but also to their children and families. Louis being present in Review is not just to add an obstacle, it's also a reminder of those stakes.

Carmy has influence in the fine dining industry, regardless of whether that social and cultural capital is respected at The Beef or not. The very same oppourtunities that he provides them with in season 2 are things he could also lock them out of if he so chose. Any analysis of 1:7 that ignores this power is flawed from its root. When you are a boss, this power is ever present. One of the few things you can do to alter your boss's behaviour is to withdraw your labour. It's not the only option you have, but everything else is at their discretion, or mediated by lengthy, expensive legal processes.

yeh, i hate this

Carmy knows this, even if you don't! It's why the apology he gives Marcus - which Marcus does not ask for - is so heartfelt. Carmy has been on the receiving end of what that power, wielded cruelly, can do. He does not want to do this to others. We see him talk to staff with respect even while he endures horrid abuse in a flashback. We see him teach and explain himself, we see him listen and invite feedback - ‘say more’. His commitment to being a good boss is sincere, that kindness is in his bones.

The second thing people say that makes me want to die a little inside is that Carmy bought getting locked in the fridge on himself, that he deserved it in some way, and that getting locked in the fridge was him abandoning Sydney.

Oh my god!

He does not have a diagnosis yet - so anything we see is an interpretation. But it feels explicit that Carmy has panic disorder, and perhaps generalised anxiety disorder and CPTSD from both his workplace experiences and his childhood. A couple of things that he says and does suggest ADHD, or some other neurodiversity. He is not very careful with himself, and does not recognise these things as treatable problems (Richie says he experiences anxiety and dread, Carmy's response is 'who doesn't' - wince, cruel to Richie, cruel to himself - vomiting everyday and crying out of nowhere are presented as something 'loads of people do' to Sugar. Tumblr loves to send people to therapy, but I just want to send this man to do a basic google search of more than fun tbh). But they are debilitating for him, especially at work.

What happens to how we read Carmy's behaviour when he is presented as someone with an untreated disability, and absolutely no support plan in place? Does he still get his just desserts at the end of the season?

The fridge thing is a bit clumsy, I think. It's silly that over the space of three months, no one at any point just takes that job off him as a priority, or at least makes it something where Tony will call the restaurant, not Carmy specifically. It is unrealistic that there would not be some kind of back up safety lock inside the fridge. But you know, they're characters in a TV show, it also does not take two people swivelling around on the floor to tighten the coat hooks on a table (LOOOOOOL) - it's realistic until its not.

But, you know, it's doing a thing, several things - it's Chekov's gun, isn't it, it's the tangible impact of the lapse of focus that Uncle Jimmy is constantly trying to warn them about.

He wanted to cry here so bad!!! It makes me laugh every time

But umm... guys? What happens to him on that night is so, so horrible. They're a chef down, they're running out of forks, Richie's giving him shit (and Carmy is so susceptible to Richie giving him shit), Marcus and Syd are being all weird. He thinks one of his abusers (Donna) might come, or that she might not come and there will be emotional fallout from that. He thinks he sees his other abuser (Evil Joel Mc Hale) - and he's triggered. He goes in the kitchen and yells, but Syd pulls him back in. Then he goes into the fridge, partly to do chef stuff, I'm sure, but also partly to fucking get his shit together aaaaaand he gets locked in there! He has a panic attack! In a fridge! That he is locked in! And the people he loves most in the world, are the other side of that door, and for five minutes, an eternity in panic attack time, they ignore him! He has no clue what's going on! Last time shit hit the fan, two of his staff walked out (he's still not over Syd walking out cus they never talk about it properly), another one got stabbed and all these new ones are 'emerald green'. And he still thinks evil Joel Mc Hale is out there!

My loves, that shit is the stuff of nightmares! I know he tells himself that he bought this on himself but can we please! stop! uncritically! accepting! his narrative! point! of view!

I don't think anybody on screen recognises that a panic attack is what he's having. That's not their fault. None of them have seen him have a panic attack! They don’t get to see inside his head like we do (which saves them from a lot of R.E.M.) He is locked in the fridge, they just hear the bear banging on the door of his cage! It's not even in the language of the show at this point (though i am curious about how and when Richie came to get his Xanax). But that's what's happening. The team are fine. They do great. He has a terrible, terrible time.

My support worker found 2:10 deeply triggering - and her reason for this, she said, was that a lot of her job was supporting people with panic disorders who are leading teams, and seeing that moment coming, the moment where the panic crashes headlong into their role as leader. Part of her role is anticipating it, and trying to turn it around before they reach the point of no return. And as soon as Carmy thinks he sees Old Boss, he's gone. His body is in flight or fight, and he is alone with that. He can’t show up for Syd at that point, he is in his equivalent of the trenches.

This is also what is happening in 1:7. Somehow his response is often framed as a) rational or b) just an asshole - but it is so outsize to the situation, and to who we know him to be most of the time (quiet, kind, thoughtful, sensitive, BITCHY), that we know it has to be more than that.

None of this is helped by the fact that Carmy's panic attacks are... well they're kind of ugly! His meltdowns are aggressive and shouty, on the edge of physical violence, in an industry where people behave like that because they can. It is hard, parsing through that to the triggers, and fears, and panic beneath. It's scary! It asks so much of people to see that and want to help, not run away. But that is where he's at.

I do not have language for how much I hate how physical he gets with Marcus here, it is deeply upsetting

I have an access rider, to help me work well with people, and to help them work well with me. My mental health turns up in every job I do. All the time. Has done for years. It can make me unreliable, uncommunicative and absent. It can mean that people have to step up sometimes in ways they weren't anticipating. And one of the things the rider asks for is 'Good Faith' - a belief that I have not shut down because I'm an asshole, but rather because I have some unhelpful coping mechanisms that I am trying to work my way out of, that my triggers are real, not excuses for laziness or an expression of lack of care, that i will give as much as I can when I can.

Syd and Carmy are beginning to work towards this - Carmy says over and over again that he doesn't want to be shitty. Claire fucking muddies things, because I will not meet you skiving off to see your girlfriend with good faith fam. That shit he needs to be held accountable for. Dropping that envelope was a perfect Richie job, I'm still pissed about that. But being locked in the fridge... there's way more going on there.

The idea that Carmy should, and will, leave the culinary world keeps coming up in various metas. But... the problem isn't cooking? I think Carmy loves cooking, still. I think he likes being part of a team, and wants to be good at it. I think he likes teaching, and he is good at that. I think he likes picking the right silent plates and having his CDC in Thom Browne. I also think he likes being there a lot and being absorbed by his job.

The problem is that the workplace he is in is not one that is set up to his needs right now - it's not set up so that he can rest enough, so that he can eat well, so that he can exercise, or whatever he needs to do to help him manage his brain and nervous system. It's not set up so that if he is triggered, he and his team knows how to keep going with the service *and* not abandon him to the worst of his brain.

Ohhhh it's bad

Carmy ignoring Claire's call and not calling Tony feels bizarre stripped of the context of his panic attack that morning. But we know that anxiety and panic and executive dysfunction take simple things and make them insurmountable. It's not about Sydney in that moment, or even really about Claire*, and self sabotage feels so weighted with judgement when I think about what those frozen moments feel like from the inside. And I've had my diagnoses for 12 years! I've been doing that work, the long slog of trying to make sure my employees know enough context that my MH doesn't fuck up their day, whilst also maintaining my own dignity and right to privacy.

The disentangling of symptoms from personality traits is so hard - fuck ups from trauma responses, what was preventable, and what might have happened even if you did everything right. I never want to lose sight of compassion for Carmy, and the reality of how long it takes to break those cycles.

I also never want to stop seeing the power that he has over the people that he works with, and how, unfortunately, one of the responsibilities of leadership is that you have to be trying to get your shit together, you have to know yourself, and know how your baggage, combined with your power could be creating harm. It’s hard, but there’s not way around it. It is essential that he gets the support he needs, and puts the measures in place that means that he can also be vulnerable, not just for him, but for the team as whole. The power and the lack of framework together are so very harmful for everyone.

makes for delicious tv though 😉

I think a lot about the ticket machines in The Bear. I'm not thinking about them as a former line chef, cus I'm not that, I'm an artist and writer, that waitressed for a while (while a lot of chefs did a lot of coke out back!) and The Bear is fiction, not a documentary. Those little tickets are used for so many things. They're the sound of pressure. They're where a bunch of intrusive thoughts get flashed up on the screen. They are the presence of tech and of speed and alienation. They are the gap where two human beings, one asking for food, and one cooking that food, become consumer and producer. They are a presence of the machine in the workplace, and they stand in for Marcus's machines in McDonald's and for Evil Joel McHale and for financial failure.

One of the things that capitalism demands is that we always listen to that machine. That when we are making a choice, between the people stood around us, who we work with daily, who we live massive chunks of our life with, and the demand for production for go go go - that we choose the latter, even if it harms the former. That we open for service, even though one of our oldest friends just got stabbed. That we prioritise getting the service turned around on Friends and Family night (the easiest night of the year to go out, pour more wine, and say service is a little delayed, but we've got this), rather than maybe asking Fak or even Claire, to come and talk to Carmy through the door, as well, make sure that he's OK. That we just keep going.

And there are so many really important reasons to do that! Keeping going is how we learn and grow, it's how we make sure that we can pay the bills, how we provide beautiful experiences for customers and guests who are more than consumers to us.

But at some point, we have to ask at what cost. When do we stop and make different? When do we try something else, make new systems, that work for us?

A moment - a small, tiny moment - of triumph for me, is when Richie and Syd turn the table around. So rather than one person, facing the tickets alone, with their back to the kitchen as they yell out orders, the person on Expo faces in. yes they can see the tickets, but they can also see the people they are working with. They can see stress, and worry and joy. They can see how hard they are working. They can see that they are not alone, not just in a promise before service, but during service, when you need that connection most.

My hope is that Season 3 will have more of them making these decisions - ones that lean into seeing each other, where their relationships keep growing, and they build a system where the love and care they have for each other is truthfully at the heart of it.

Richie is not my bag, that's just for me, personally, but I get how much he means to others, and he's beautiful here.

*Man, I do think the romance subplot was a bit of a misstep. Pop always feels like such a waste of the audience's time, time not spent with Ebra and Tina, time spent on a presentation of romance that has been done to death and is never especially satisfying. Truncates a lot of empathy for Carmy. Boo. Hiss.

[alpaca-clouds]

Worldbuild Differently: Unthink Patriarchy

This week I want to talk a bit about one thing I see in both fantasy and scifi worldbuilding: Certain things about our world that we live in right now are assumed to be natural, and hence just adapted in the fantasy world. With just one tiny problem: They are not natural, and there were more than enough societies historically that avoided those pitfalls.

You know what i hate in fantasy and science fiction media?

When it is patriarchal, even though it says it isn't. Because the people writing it have not really looked into the many ways that patriarchy has influenced out world.

Let me explain this once again.

Patriarchy per se in not about the subjugation of women, though this is a logical outcome of it. But in general patriarchy is just about one thing: Ownership is a thing, and whatever you own (both in terms of physical stuff, and stuff like power and influence) gets inherited down the patrial line. So from father to son or from father to sons. Women cannot inherit stuff or can only inherit when there is not a male heir to begin with.

But this brings a problem of course: Until fairly recently in human history we did not have DNA tests. As such the only way to make sure that the patrichal line of inheritence could be ensured was to make sure that every woman only ever had sex with one man. Now, a man did not necessarily only have one woman to ensure this, but the other way around it needed to be ensured. So, women and their sexuality needed to be heavily controlled.

And because it turned out that if you allowed men to have multiple women, and women only to ever sleep with one men, it created a situation where some men never got a wife... Well, enforced monogamy was born. And of course also heteronormativity, because sexuality suddenly was always just about procreation.

Why do we know that? Well for once, because logic, but also because we thankfully got to observe other cultures (before we fucking destroyed most of them), in which we did not have patriarchy, and in which hence all those other things were way, way lessened. Close to none heteronormativity, no mononormativity. And yes, also: In societies that are matriarchal, men are not as controlled as women are in patriachal societiies. Which makes sense, of course, because the matriarchal society has inheritance from mother to daughter, and a mother will always know who her daughter is. It does not matter whether the father has only slept with the mother or with ten other women.

And as I said: No, patriarchy is not the natural way of being. The reason why it is more common in human cultures in the real world is again simple from a logical perspective: Men in a matriarchal society are fairly free, and do have some incentive to try and establish a patriarchy. Some do. While women under patriarchy are less free and hence have less abilities to try and establish matriarchy.

However, we also have to see that patriarchy is very much a result of certain real world effects. And a fantasy world with magic and dragons and what not, will not necessarily develop the same kind of stuff.

Hells, even if we had a patriarchal fantasy world... If there was a spell available to quickly check whether a man and a kid were blood-related, that patriachy might not develop the kind of control over women that developed in the real world.

But yeah... I am personally sick of writers (often white cis women), who wanna write a world without patriarchy and then still will write a world with mononormativity and heteronormativity. Two things that are a direct result of the patriarchy.

Also: Folks really should keep in mind, that "but in the real middle ages" and stuff like that are actually not that good of arguments. One, because of the holes we have in the primary materials, and two, because of the fact that if you write high fantasy, you are writing in a world that are explicitly not the real middle ages, but a world with magic, and dragons and what not. Don't assume that everything is gonna be the same. Part of worldbuilding is to actually think about how the culture your world is set in has developed.

And yes, this is something I am often annoyed with. There is some amazing worldbuilding in the works of Tolkien. But fuck Tolkien in this regard: There is absolutely no valid reason within the worldbuilding on why the world is patriarchal in every way. It does not make any sense for some of the cultures we see.

[intuitive-revelations]

I need to rewatch that episode at some point to fully digest it, as I was watching with my family, but I have a bit of a theory coming out of it. Granted it might also be wishful thinking, since it's kind-of what I would do if I was in RTD's shoes, but hear me out:

Getting another mention of the Timeless Child arc feels very deliberate, despite (again) the new series obstensibly being a jumping on point for new viewers.

The episode is filled with themes regarding being a 'foundling' (that wording from Davina was a VERY deliberate choice - granted it's already floating around in pop-culture a bit with The Mandalorian, but it's also specifically the wording the Master used to describe the Timeless Child), not to mention fostering from the parent's point of view, and ambiguous family relationships (daughter / foster kid etc.).

There's clearly a coincidence parallel there. Indeed we hear as much from Fifteen himself.

"I'm adopted." "Are you?" "Yeah, yeah. I, uh, only found out recently."

Meanwhile we also get this element of the timeline changing, and it completely changing the life and personality of Carla.

And finally, there's the Doctor watching Ruby's birth mother (?) leave despite seemingly being tempted to confront her vs Ruby immediately running off when she realises the Doctor's a time traveller (RTD clearly influencing himself there, given the similarities with Rose's debut).

My guess (and hope, full disclaimer) is that we might get some development of the Doctor's origins to make them a bit more ambiguous beyond the Timeless Child mystery. Ideally via changing timelines as per Unnatural History IMHO, like I mentioned in a recent post.

We've got some hints of RTD thinking this way already, given his reasoning for sharing Doctor Who and the Time War during lockdown:

More importantly, the idea has come of age. This chapter only died because it became, continuity-wise, incorrect. But now, the Thirteenth Doctor has shown us Doctors galore, with infinite possibilities. All Doctors exist. All stories are true.

Tales of the TARDIS also seems to lean quite hard into this, with each past Doctor having aged beyond their regenerations due to the constantly changing time tracks. (This also feels kinda like what he was getting at with his 'all Doctors bigenerated' comment, even if it actually occuring in-universe as it did with Fourteen woud be a disaster.)

Do I think we will get too focused on timelines shifting? ...no not necessarily. But I do think we might see some key themes regarding having multiple families (biological, adopted, fostered, found etc.) and these might get applied directly to the Doctor, with him acknowledging having multiple pasts and multiple families. Like that line from Lungbarrow:

'Goodbye, Lungbarrovians,' he called. 'Don't worry. I don't ask for your forgiveness. Time runs in circles. I have other families!

Granted, a lot of this is pure speculation, but I do think there's clear setup for Ruby and Fifteen to be foils to each other going forward, which may indicate similar arcs, even if they don't necessarily unfold at the same time.

However there is one big thing that really might just link it together for me..

The way the family changes as the timelines change. The way Carla's relationship with her foster children changes too. The difference in the number of photos.

This last bit is particulary interesting, because it has two possible subtextual meanings in my head. Let's assume the theory is right, everything involving Ruby is meant to foreshadow the Doctor's own multiple pasts and multiple families.

Does the number of photos represent the size of his family (eg. 45 cousins in a House vs a handful of siblings and stepsiblings)?

"You've got the biggest family in the world." "I have. What about you?" "Uh... I've got no one."

(Although it is worth noting that this is also exactly what Sarah Jane said to Ten about the companions in Journeys End. I'm not how, or if, this is meaningful, but I figured I'd note it.)

Or... and this is a stretch of a stretch... could it represent the number of incarnations the Doctor has had in each timetrack?

"All those lives... you fostered thirty-three." "How many? Not me, darling. Don't be so stupid."

There's not that much to go off yet, so a lot of this may be well off what actually happens, but on a thematic level at least, I do very much think Ruby and the Doctor will continue to be foils to eachother regarding their relationships with their families and trying to find their 'true origin'.

[autumnslance]

Hi Autumn/Lyn! First things first, as someone who's embarrassingly into WoLcred stuff, I wanted to say that I love your writing and I'm a huge fan! Thanks for sharing your work with us!

I really relate to your WoL Aeryn (I too am Thavnairian irl Indian, in love with Thancred, love reading, main RDM, etc etc), which is super funny to me because I don't identify at all with my own WoL, who was originally meant as a self-insert, even (I didn't know what an "OC" was so I just made myself but in-game?), but then had her own ideas and went and became her own person (example: she has dyslexia and hates reading). No clue how this happened, and I still love my daughter OC dearly, but… you see why I also love your Aeryn. Lol.

I wanted to ask, did Aeryn inherit her grey eyes from her father? Or does the Thavnairian side of her family have a tendency towards grey eyes too? Does she have any relatives other than Zaine who have grey eyes?

I'm not sure why, but I got fixated on this one little thing because I've always loved grey eyes (especially described in literature) and the idea of a South Asian fantasy-equivalent with grey eyes fascinates me. Anyway, apologies in advance if this is too weird and/or offensive! Also sorry about how long this ask got! Thanks for reading, and I hope you have a great day!

Thank you so much, what a lovely ask to get! And funny how our WoL kids just do their own things, huh? Can't stop won't stop the WoL, not even their own writers. 😉

Aeryn did indeed get her eyes from her father (and it is mentioned most strongly, I think, in Bearing Sins of the Past), though there's probably some predisposition in her mother's side; her mom's eyes were very dark blue. I lean into the fantasy world's idea of "similar, inspired and influenced by, but not 100% the same" for the setting and characters, and am pleased Thavnair ended up labeled by the devs explicitly as a "melting pot" society (which makes sense for such a centrally located trade hub). Since I had Aeryn raised in Thavnair, with her reasons to return to Eorzea as an adult, but this was back in late Heavensward/early Stormblood before we had it in game, I had her mother's people be a more "recent" immigrant group (within the last couple hundred years) so they have mostly assimilated into Thavnairian culture, while maintaining some of their own traditions to give myself leeway, not knowing how the devs would go into the South Asian influences when we eventually got there.

Also I am very white, and know there's nuance I'd be missing, so while I wanted it to be a part of her character, and be respectful, I'm not trying to write about an Indian experience I have no inherent connection to, but a character whose upbringing includes similar influences to shape her. It's a weird and fine line when writing characters different from oneself.

There's also the meta where I based Aeryn's appearance roughly on the unused CGI Midlander woman model, though Aeryn's darker skinned (I'm still not sure if I want to adjust her facial features post-graphics upgrade or not, I might need to play around a bit). I wanted her to do some dragoon stuff for HW, but not just cuz "she's the WoL" so that got some of the backstory in there, which also worked with "she left as a kid and is now returning as an adult." And the idea that 1.0 WoL, based on Meteor (with some color shifts again), was her lost brother and it gave her a weird tie to Ardbert (before Shadowbringers even came out!).

Even the skintones for my FF14 characters are meta, as having played in earlier versions of World of Warcraft where the natural skin color options for humans/dwarves/gnomes/blood elves were "different shades of white", and my priest glowed like a lightbulb under Ashenvale's bloom lighting, seeing the sheer variety of the palettes in FF14 back in HW was a delight, and so Dark Autumn ended up brown cuz it wasn't an option at all in the other game (at that time). Even C'oretta's in the middle of the options for Seekers as my lightest OC...and Iyna being darkest Rava was playing in the Benchmark while annoyed at the examples shown by the devs at that FanFest.

What a character looks like, either in a visual video game or in a piece of writing, often comes early on to me, and in Aeryn's case, there was an appearance I wanted to adjust and build off of, and then went "OK, so what's the reasons for not only her looks, but also X and Y things I want to do with her story, and how would that work and shape her, and let's use the devs' trick of being a little vague here and there for now until the lore updates, and...."

I do fret sometimes, about how my characters look and how I portray them, especially with Thavnair having such a strong inspiring influence. But I mostly follow the game lore, fill in some gaps with light research, make up a few of my own things and remain consistent with them, and try to be true to the character and story I've written, and let the rest sort itself out. I can't and won't please everyone, but I'm always glad to hear from those who love my girls and their stories.

[maleswillbemale]

What were gender roles like historically for Lakota people and how have they changed over time?

For historical gender roles, most commonly Lakota women were in charge of raising children, cooking, tending to crops, making clothing/tools, and offering guidance for larger decisions being made. There were some warriors and medicine women, but not nearly as many as there were males in those roles. They were exceptionally rare.

We are matrilineal, meaning that our descent in regards to what band we're from is determined by where our mother's family line came from, which is pretty common for plains tribes to my knowledge. It's kind of like how your last name is determined by your father in modern-day culture. That's one of the few positive things we have over men in our society.

Men married into families, not the other way around. With that being said though, husbands still had a lot of power over their wives, and they could marry multiple if they had the status for it. They would just have to be able to provide for them all. Women didn't always get a say in who they married, and it was extremely difficult to leave marriages if they didn't approve of their husbands.

I will say that sexual violence wasn't encouraged culturally. One of our most well-known stories, the White Buffalo Woman, involves punishing a man who attempts to steal the White Buffalo Woman to have as his wife. That didn't mean that assaults didn't happen (especially to women caught during raids/wars with other tribes) but it wasn't as common as white people pushed.

That can't be said for modern Lakota women. One out of five I believe is the statistic right now for us to experience sexual abuse at least once in our lives. While this often comes from outside influences besides our family and tribe, I have experienced and also known many women who have suffered sexual abuse from their own family members on the reservation.

In the Lakota language, there are two different ways to speak - one for men, and one for women. There weren't no pronouns, you will know the gender based on how someone is speaking Lakota.

You will likely hear about "Two-Spirit" history that we have and you'll probably see the word "winkte". Winkte roughly means 'He wants to be like a woman'. Being called winkte is not generally seen as a good thing on the rez - and it's not for women. The only acceptance my tribe really had for gender-nonconformity historically was for males who were often (but not always) homosexual and expressed themselves by speaking in the female Lakota dialect and performing specific cultural roles in the tribe.

After colonization, being winkte wasn't encouraged and most of that cultural role is gone...and even the bits that remain are for feminine men only. Women weren't encouraged to step outside of their roles much even before white men introduced more misogyny into our culture.

That hasn't changed, and if anything it has gotten more rigid over time. Women are not allowed to play the drum or sing a lot of the songs. Women are not allowed to dance men's dances. If you as a woman wore men's regalia and/or danced a man's dance, you would be immediately shut down by elders.

It is undeniable that colonization has impacted how we treat our women, but we can't push all the blame on it either. And being Winkte actually meant something. You had a specific role in the tribe, you had expectations and a job to do. It was a lifestyle, a way to express being a feminine/homosexual male. And it's great that this existed, but females got none of that treatment, and we still don't.

Being a lesbian native woman means you get judged by elders, you don't get access to a cultural role in your tribe, you're seen as failing because you won't be giving birth to native babies. Being a native woman at all makes native men feel like you are obligated to have children to "keep the bloodline going". You're harassed and shamed for being with other women or with someone who isn't native.

Native men with a white woman = getting back at the colonizers, saving the tribe, generally good, his children are welcomed in whole-heartedly, etc.

Native women with a white man = colonized, a traitor, stupid, her children are often scrutinized for only being so and so percentage especially if they're lighter skinned, etc.

It's seriously twisted in Indian country.

I guess basically what I want non-natives to understand is that we weren't a magical haven before colonization. We didn't worship women and protect them from all harm and we didn't have a magical spiritual gender that celebrated all gender-nonconformity. We were typically more understanding towards homosexual men, yes, but not homosexual women. We weren't evil savages who raped every woman in sight, but we also didn't give women all the power over themselves. We were complicated individuals just like any other society.

[meonlyred]

I talked with my DM last night, our original campaign has been on indefinite hiatus for 6 years now. She asked us once we finish Descent into Avernus what we wanted to play next. I had expressed interest in either going back to our original campaign or at least having her tell me what was going to happen. Whichever we do I wanted the chance to play Lark again as well.

We are not going back to our campaign unfortunately, our DM said that there was too much foreshadowing and such that we likely do not remember tiny things like that and she is not sure how she would be able to reincorporate that foreshadowing without making it obvious. So she just spilled all the spoilers.

Turns our our BBEG, "The Master," is actually Gargauth who has been siphoning power from a campaign created demi god. (Its funny because Gargauth plays a part in Descent into Avernus but this campaign started years before that module came out. lol oops) Gargauth, pissed that we freed her he would have sent his cult to raze one of the towns we were affiliated with to the ground. We would have went to try and hold the line but would have been overwhelm and forcing to flee. One of our long time allies and a few others would have stayed to buy us more time to get the citizens out.

Gargauth would then be calling all his forces together and sent a Dracolich against us. Again forcing us to retreat further and making a last stand in Waterdeep. Because and I quote "because I want an excuse to use the Walking Statues of Waterdeep."

Ya know these things. The giant fuck you massive walking statues that are dormant until called upon to defend the city. (Well there is that one time during the Spellplague... don't worry about that. Ha ha...)

One of our other long time allies, Lady Layne Greyson of Silverymoon, would have come to help. She is the mother of two of the men that killed Lark's lover, Aiden. She doesn't fault Lark for having to kill one of her sons. They had been influenced by their father, Jader "Venom Eye," who was a follower of Asmodeus. She had asked that we capture the other son she had with Jader and bring him back so that she can "correct" his behavior. Turns out she is a lot older than she looks and is a level 20 Archwizard.

Jader's partner in crime known only as Stone Eye would have also helped us for a time. Because Gargauth has been trying to overthrow Asmodeus. As pissed as he might be at use for killing Venom Eye, its an enemy of my enemy kind of thing.

I also found out there had been a flashback kind of scene planned where we went back 30+ years and been involved with Lark's mother's Uthgardt tribe. We would have found out that Lark's mother Eiriol was a once in a century extremely powerful Wild Magic Sorcerer. While the Uthgardt don't like arcane magic in the first place, they fear the next time a sorcerer with that kind of power would be born amongst them. Which is the biggest reason the Black Raven Tribe traded Eiriol to the Snowcat tribe. The Snowcats sought to keep Eiriol on a leash and use her power for their own ends. She of course escaped and eventually meets Bran, Lark's father.

Something I already knew but it was expanded upon, was that once Eiriol died in childbirth along with her second child, she possessed the forest and was the reason why the Wild Surge that killed the highwaymen who killed Aiden and tried to kill her happened. That I knew and I knew Eiriol's spirit had been looking after Lark when she was a younger. What was expanded on was that Eiriol was a bit more aware and had been sending animals to play with Lark when she was young. It was her influence in the Cold Wood that allowed Lark to be able to play in these extremely dangerous woods as a kid.

There was also plans of us going down to Menzoberranzan to help an Drow ally who was secretly Eilistraee worshipers and been hoping to subtlety change Drow culture from the inside. Our ally had been in an arranged marriage with another House whose daughters had unwittingly joined the cult of Gargauth. And because our party killed our ally's fiance, her sister had sworn to destroy our ally's House and us.

I am sad that we didn't get to play this out because having a huge last stand in Waterdeep with the Walking Statues, the Lord's Alliance, a level 20 Archwizard, and whatever else allies we had made a long the way. But I am glad I know now. I will play a campaign where we get those Walking Statues up and running, oh yes, I will.

[sogno-ao3]

Hey, how are you?

Thinking about Mollie's origin and culture, could you recommend a book or movie?

In fact, I'm going to start reading Jane Eyre under the influence of Still Waters ;)

hello! thank you for such an amazing question. since you said "origin and culture," it really got me thinking on what I would consider as influences for Still Waters and how I came to conceive of Mollie & the story in general...

I think there have been three main influences: literary classics, kdrama, and fanfiction--a mix of high and low culture. This mixture is reflected in Still Waters; readers may choose a surface-level read, or they may choose to read more deeply into the thematic elements... either is perfectly fine and neither is preferable to the other.

In each category, I'll list a few works with some relevant links to books, movies, TV shows, etc. You also might be interested in a post I made awhile back discussing books I've named in the work.

Literary classics

Jane Eyre, Charlotte Brontë

Gutenberg, BBC 2006, BBC 1983

Like Still Waters, Jane Eyre is a coming-of-age and romance with an older man with a dark past. I've read it many times by now, and it's so fascinating to observe how my relationship with it has changed--I used to think of it as the epitome of romance, but now I have much more nuanced thoughts about it. There have been many more adaptations than the ones I have listed; it is also fascinating to see how differently people interpret it... which dovetails my experience--this book seems to grow with people as they change.

Works by Jane Austen

Mansfield Park: Gutenberg, ITV

Persuasion: Gutenberg, ITV

Both of these works feature introvert women as protagonists; many people around them tend to underestimate them because they are naturally quiet and outwardly obedient. Persuasion is also the classic example of slow burn and mutual pining.

Woman Warrior, Maxine Hong Kingston

Goodreads

This work is a coming-of-age myth/memoir featuring a Chinese American female protagonist. While it's not a romance, Woman Warrior showed me how flimsy the divider between fantasy and reality can be, and how language can be used to blur the lines. It's also written in first person.

Korean Dramas

When I was younger, I watched many kdramas. I think what really impressed upon me at the time is how small gestures can mean so much to someone, the softness that men could exhibit, and unfortunately for all my readers, how much I loved the tension & anguished pain before the main couple finally got together (or not)...

Some kdramas I'd recommend: My Lovely Sam Soon, Coffee Prince, Crash Landing on You, To My Star 1 & 2.

Fanfiction

Some of you might be amused to know my very first work on AO3 was an explicit M/M oneshot in 2014. I've been reading and writing fanfiction for a long time; in fanfiction, one could transcend the mores of traditional media and remake relationships to feature more equality, male leads that did not have toxic masculinity, etc...

When I watched Peaky Blinders for the first time, I immediately felt that Tommy's relationship with his mother was quite pivotal and yet never explored. I also hated that the Chinese people in the series were relegated to decorative ethnic roles. If they had swapped out Chinese for Japanese, it wouldn't have mattered a bit to the story... and so the idea for Still Waters came surprisingly quickly out of my discontent!

I would informally posit that the past few years of the rocketing popularity of spicy romance novels has largely been due to fanfiction and how it was able to push the boundaries and show publishers what people in our subpopulation actually liked... it was fanfiction where I read my first slow burns coupled with expertly written smut that to this day, are quite a bit better than what I read in a traditionally published book.

Here are some fanfictions I'd recommend:

[Redemption of Love] Fandom: Lord of the Rings, Pairing: Legolas/Thranduil

[Going Live] Fandom: EXO; Pairing: Kai/Reader

[Redamancy] Fandom: James Bond, Pairing: James Bond/Q

[Draco Malfoy and the Mortifying Ordeal of Being in Love] Fandom: Harry Potter, Pairing: Draco/Hermione

[Beginning and End] Fandom: Harry Potter, Pairing: Draco/Hermione

[my life is better when we're together] Fandom: Kuroko no basuke, Pairing: Midorima/Kise

[In Darkest Knights, The Brightest Sparks] Fandom: Batman, Pairing: Batman/Harley Quinn

[goronska]

My OCs - Merahtua and Garura

To shed some light on Merah's past let's talk today about her parents.

(they never got much attention illustration-wise, so just enjoy their royal picrews ;D)

Merahtua [in her late 50s, she/her, pansexual/demiromantic, Vermillian]

The ruling queen of Vermillion. Stylish, but as the ideal of female there - rather cold and useless. She comes from a long line of royals, all her female predecessors Traced by the Red Goddess. Her Trace can be found on her ribcage, on the right side. She is very religious, because since being crowned, she has very close ties with the goddess Ubisi. Many times she bantered whatever she had, to have things her way. Most extreme sacrifices include her physical womb to make sure Merah will never get Traced or harmed by Ubisi and slicing away a slave's hand (which is forbidden by law, any physical harm to servants / slaves is not only fined heavily, but get you improsioned or enslaved yourself) to offer his pain together with her OWN LOVE to her daughter to try to heal Merah from her memory loss and brain damage.

She confides the most in Setia, her right-hand slave, and later, when Garura dies, she even frees his and appoints her new husband and king of Vermillion.

She would also do anything, and that means absolutely anything, to keep her subjects happy and the kingdom peaceful and stable. Marrying an ex-slave included. Merahtua loves only one thing more than her country - her daughter. When she is introduced to Sydney as her future mother-in-law, she absolutely is opposed to the whole idea and is outraged by the possibility of her daughter working abroad in a pub, but once they get married in secret, she embraces not only Sydney, but also becomes best friend with her mum (Life) and her freshly adopted daughter Jennifer, looking out for her and preparing the girl to take over the throne with all her might.

She generally would put her own desires third to Vermillion and Merah, and she would never speak about it again, just bottle it all up. However, if she doesn't like something and it's not connected with the wellbeing of her daughter or the kingdom, OH, you are in DEEP trouble.

Garura [in his late 50s, he/him, heterosexual, Vermillian]

Our favourite palace malewife and househusband. Raised in Vermillion he was always the one to be the caring parent, good in sewing and makeup. He was the one mostly raising Merah as a baby and toddler and a little girl. With age, understanding how he is bumping his head against the glass ceiling and losing any shred of influence or power he had, he starts losing it from desperation. He becomes moody, pushes people around and generally opposes to everything his daughter or wife say.

After finally lashing out and physically attacking his step-granddaughter Jennifer, whom she expect to replace him too soon for his liking, he's been sedated by the palace medics, and then Setia prays to Eodum, The Demi-God of Time, to fast forward him a bit. One night Eodum brings him almost 20 years forward, making him die of old age in his bed within a night.

Naming Fun Fact: People in Vermillion don't have surnames, just names. Merah is Indonesian for Red Merahtua is Indonesian for Crimson. Garura is Hausa for Deep Red. Cultural Fun Fact: Vermillion as a country has been in detail created and described in the RP it's serving, but the royal pair is a good example of how it's appropriate for men to rather sport long hair, while women mostly have practical, short cuts.

[mikka-minns]

I think the Chinese myths forbade the union of Gods and Humans make sense since they are entirely of different worlds China also used to have strict ideals and philosophies way back in Ancient times so I think it also influences their mythology, I mean I also heard that in their Myths, Gods have an obsessively strict Divine Hierarchy too, which tied back to their heavy hierarchy in real ancient periods

But it wouldn't make sense here as Vietnamese people came from the union of 2 Gods, hence we have a bit of divinity in each of us despite how everyone is fully human, even though the Age of the Gods' Children is already gone and since the 100 Children of the 2 Creation Gods, who are the Sea Dragon God and Mountain Fairy, were said to have married humans to widen the populace and filled up the lands with people hence the Vietnamese people were born, ig the God blood became dormant through thousands of years mixing with mortal blood

Though this can be an interesting concept as Vietnamese people are also called The Children of the Dragon and The Fairy to speak of their origin as Children of Gods. I think it would be fun to have Characters that are born with the God Blood active inside them hence they're the "Children of the Dragon and the Fairy", they're special as the divinity is active in them whereas everyone else is human since they're empty of such divinity

Sidenote: This might sound rude, but I feel that Erlang Shen might be jealous he was born in the wrong country since in the New Gods movie and I'm assuming the myths too, his family line has a sort of a "Human-God forbidden love" thing going on and in the movie, both his Mother and Sister were executed for it cuz they both have children with human men. I feel like he might feel unfair that in Vietnam, they quite made an entire country because of the unions of Gods' Children and Humans and a Major Mountain God here has a human princess wife for godsake (FYI she has her own mountain peak named after her and a temple right in the Mountain Range which her husband resides at, how romantic). Like bruh what's heavily forbidden in your own kind/culture/country is actually the opposite in another country and everyone there is totally fine with that forbidden thing that caused tragedies to your parents and sibling cuz that's what created them and another one from your kind but in a different land is doing well while committing that forbidden thing, free of punishment, it's quite unfair for Erlang if you ask me, that's why I'm quite suprised knowing that God-Human unions are forbidden in Chinese myths, technically speaking, I am literally a descendant of Gods and no heaven official has a problem with me, well I mean then they would have a problem with a country's population, wouldn't they? Lol Erlang Shen should move here, we're very welcoming here!

The gods in myths defenetly reflect the people that write them(i think that something we can all agree on).

I genuenly need a series of different mythological gods just existing at the same time and causing drama when they find out about each other

Erlang would speed to Vietnam so fast

And Wukong would hide, seeing as at least two pantheons normalize having intercourse with animals

[srijellyfishtempura]

We need to talk about Elinor Wrobel.

I (as I relatively often do) was looking for a Grainger quote that I remember from my first Grainger era (about to go into my third Grainger era), that quote being "yours, for meat-shun-ment and world-peace, Percy Grainger". In searching for this, I found this weird catalogue of exhibits in the Percy Grainger museum:

The weird thing about this to me was the foreword - it feels like an essay someone had to write about how the ocean and the sea affected Grainger's life and composition, but being written by someone clearly very knowledgeable about Grainger and trying to stoke more interest in the exhibit than there actually is. This text begins with a full timeline of the major events in his life, including the fact that he learnt acting and painting when he was 9?

Anyway, it describes Grainger as "a performer, composer, educationalist, linguist, artist, writer, archivist, sado-masochist, clothes reformer and women’s liberationist. Anti-Puritan, uneducated conventionally [and] a gregarious socialite" which is just. Such a collection of adjectives to put together. I would somewhat argue against him being a women's liberationist but go off I guess. This essay also goes on to describe Grainger as influenced by basically every culture, as well as this amazing quote: "As an embryo he rocked, awash and secure in an ambiotic sea in his mother’s womb." THAT IS THE ENTIRE PARAGRAPH. THAT IS ONE SENTENCE SEPARATE FROM EVERYTHING ELSE. I cannot stress enough how much the author stretches to relate everything back to the sea, because the entire thesis statement is to try to get people to come into the Grainger museum to see the sea exhibit.

I swear I'm getting to Elinor, but I just want to share some of my favourite (most concerning) bits of this essay:

Casual Racism!

"maybe Rose whipping her philandering husband fucked up Percy a little bit. ANYWAY, here's his family history!"

Grainger really doing some eucharist bullshit here according to Cyril Scott (in a letter to someone else)

What the fuck is the connection here like author really just used a run-on sentence here

This is the ending lines.

Anyway, here's where we get to Elinor. Elinor Wrobel is the author of this catalogue, and the curator of the seas exhibit of the Grainger museum (that was put on as a special exhibit in 1998 I believe). The first thing that stuck out to me about her writing is that a significant portion of her references were to her own essays or program notes, which I should go read after this on a day i want to feel pretentious - Another thing I noticed was the absolute pretention that all of this is written with. Every time I got to a new paragraph I was excited to see what new combination of words Elinor would come up with to describe Grainger in the most idiosyncratic way possible.

So naturally, after seeing how weird this writing is, and how fun it was to do a dramatic reading of, my friend (who I was on a call with while discovering all this) decide to google Elinor, to see what her whole deal is. Buckle up, things are about to get weird. Also probably good idea to say cw discussion of death.

This is Elinor Wrobel:

She is cackling in front of a wall of specimens, which just so happen to be body parts of dead people! The Sydney Morning Herald has described her as the "matron of morbidity" for her work in curating the Lucy-Osborn Nightingale museum in the hospital of Sydney, a museum FULL OF DEAD BODY PARTS.

They have the hand of the first radiologist in Australia still preserved in resin - he did Australia's first radiology experiment in 1896! They have an almost full-term abortion preserved from a time before abortions had medical procedures, where both the child and the mother died. She absolutely slayed the day away at all times and she was very instrumental in preserving and celebrating hidden parts of the body in Sydney Hospital. She received an OAM (Order of Australia Medal, one of the highest awards an artist can receive in Australia) for her work, and should be known more. In terms of Grainger, she was one of the key contributors to the Grainger museum in the 90s, curating many exhibits and being very clearly knowledgeable and loving of his music.

There's an excellent quote that I've found from her while writing this post (god I have so many tabs open) - "I think that if anyone is just remembered past your lifetime, that's amazing! I don't think that I will be remembered for anything," especially prescient right now, as unfortunately she passed away just 7 days ago. I, for one, think that her work in preserving Grainger's memory, and in setting up Sydney Hospital Museum to remain a haven for body parts, and all of the other work that she has done, makes her deserving of being remembered. Please go and remember Elinor Wrobel.

Yours, for meat-shun-ment and world-peace,

Nath

[iamacolor]

when you study philology (polish, german, scandinavian, english... whatever you pick), you focus mostly on literature and linguistics but also theater, film, art, music... i truly had all sorts of classes, including history and philosophy as well. basically everything important to understand not only literature and language but also culture of the country. and yeah, you also answered your own question about latin haha 😂 but the sentence is actually from the 13th century 😉 not that it's important lol. btw my year in uni was the first one who didn't have to take old church slavonic... truly a blessing because historical grammar was already hard and imo it counted as a foreign language... proto-slavic is nothing like modern polish 🥲

yeah, jewish people lived everywhere. from big towns to small villages. i always try to read and learn as much as i can, even about the most traumatic parts of their history here, and it always makes me feel like there's a big hole here which will never be filled.

oh i do like paris, it's a lovely place, so full of art and history 😍 i hope i can go at least one more time and experience it all again. that reminds me i went to a small shop with turkish pastries with my friend and the owner didn't know the word poland in english but he really wanted to know where we're from (he was super nice) and we tried everything, including explaining that it's where chopin was from but it obviously didn't help 🤣 luckily a younger guy came and explained it to him in turkish lmao. and another time i was standing in a line for something and some old guy approached me and started talking a bit in polish (he heard me talk on the phone), said he worked on ships and lived there for a bit so he still remembered some of the language 😂 so yeah, i met some nice people...just not "native" parisians 😬

we do study some history of music in schools but my passion comes from my mom who loves classical music and opera! i basically grew up on it. of course, i am not an expert or anything, just an enjoyer, but i listen to it a lot, go to many, many concerts and just love it dearly. and yes, film music can be classical music, of course :) as for chopin...i can't pick a fave, it really depends on my mood. my mom's ringtone is the so-called revolutionary etude 😊 if you want you, can try listening to ingolf wunder's chopin (he's my fave classical pianist) and if you like jazz, definitely check out leszek możdżer's impressions on chopin! but please don't feel obligated or anything, these are just my little recs 😳

oh and as for jp2, he actually saved the entire world. just so you know 🙂🙃🙂🙃

that genuinely sounds sooo interesting and fulfilling to study! also can't believe wikipedia lied to me like that about the date 😤 old-church slavonic does not sound fun lol

a huge part of the country's people and history is gone with them... even though they built this country as well and are part. I read last year a fantasy novel titled sinning silver and its main character is jewish and I think the author is polish-lithuanian-american so it's heavily influenced by the history of jewish people in the region

I'm glad you had a good time here (and also that I'm not the only one who didn't know where chopin was from 😂) there are so many nice things to do and see (and eat!!)

it's so cool that your mother shared her passion with you and that now it's also yours, that's a lovely thing to have in common 😊 my parents didn't listen to a lot when I was growing up and for some reason the only type of classical music that I can remember them listening to (although I know they listened to a bit more than just that lol) are some stabat maters because my father had a compilation cd or something like that lol but my grandmother loves it so I did go to an open air violin recital with her once (I don't know if you've heard of the menton music festival but it's her region and the setting of the concert is gorgeous, I love this town) and she once offered me a subscription for a program of operas being broadcasted in cinemas it was really cool! I've came back home this weekend for my birthday so I listened to some ingolf under (I picked the chopin recital album) and it was perfect to listen to as I watched the landscape go by my window on the train, but I do like jazz so I'm looking forward to your other rec!

also another fun info : we had my birthday lunch today (even if it's tomorrow) because it was more practical and so we got to also have a little celebration for my brother's girlfriend's birthday, anyway I love most cakes and her fave is what we call a tropézienne (named after the town, St tropez, where it was created) so that's what my mother made and by researching a recipe she learned that it was created by a polish pastry maker who came to france after ww2 and adapted a recipe from his grandmother to the south of france so after a week of chatting about poland and france I've had a french-polish cake for my birthday 🥰

[cielrouge]

YA SFF Books by Black Authors 

A Song Below Water by Bethany C. Morrow: About the strength of black sisterhood set in Portland, OR, best friends Tavi and Effie discover their true supernatural identity when Effie starts being haunted by demons from her past, and Tavia accidentally lets out her magical siren voice during a police stop.

A Chorus Rises (A Song Below Water #2) by Bethany C. Morrow: Teen influencer Naema Bradshaw is an Eloko, a person who’s gifted with a song that woos anyone who hears it. Everyone loves her — well, until she's cast as the awful person who exposed Tavia’s secret siren powers. When a new, flourishing segment of Naema’s online supporters start targeting black girls, however, Naema must discover the true purpose of her magical voice.

A Song of Wraiths and Ruin by Roseanne A. Brown: Inspired by West African folklore in which a grieving crown princess, Karina, and a desperate refugee, Malik, find themselves on a collision course to murder each other, despite their growing attraction.

Akata Witch by Nnedi Okorafor: Sunny Nwazue, an American-born albino child of Nigerian parents, moves with her family back to Nigeria, where she learns that she has latent magical powers which she and three similarly gifted friends use to catch a serial killer.

Akata Warrior (Akata Witch #2) by Nnedi Okorafor: Now stronger, feistier, and a bit older, Sunny Nwazue, along with her friends from the the Leopard Society, travel through worlds, both visible and invisible, to the mysterious town of Osisi, where they fight in a climactic battle to save humanity.

Bad Witch Burning by Jessica Lewis: For fans of Us and The Chilling Adventures of Sabrina comes a witchy story full of black girl magic as one girl’s dark ability to summon the dead offers her a chance at a new life, while revealing to her an even darker future.

Beasts Made of Night by Tochi Onyebuchi: After he eats the sin of a royal, Taj, a talented aki, or sin-eater who consumes the guilt of others whose transgressions are exorcised from them by powerful but corrupt Mages, is drawn into a plot to destroy the city, and he must fight to save the princess he loves and his own life.

Beasts of Prey by Ayana Gray: Two Black teenagers, talented Beastkeeper Koffi and warrior-in-training Ekon, must trek into a magical jungle to take down an ancient creature menacing the city of Lkossa, before they become the hunted.

The Belles by Dhonielle Clayton: In the opulent world of Orléans, where Beauty is a commodity only a few control, Belle Camellia Beauregard will learn the dark secrets behind her powers, and rise up to change the world. 

A Blade So Black by L.L. McKinney: A whimsical and butt-kicking Alice in Wonderland retelling featuring a black teen heroine who battles Nightmares in the dark and terrifying dream realm known as Wonderland. 

Bleeding Violet by Dia Reeves: 16-year-old Hanna reunites with her estranged mother in an East Texas town that is haunted with doors to dimensions of the dead and protected by demon hunters called Mortmaine.

Blood Like Magic by Liselle Sambury: Set in near-future Toronto in which, after failing to come into her powers, 16-year-old Black witch Voya Thomas must choose between losing her family’s magic forever or murdering her first love.

The Bones of Ruin by Sarah Raughley: Set in Victorian England, African tightrope walker Iris cannot die; but soon gets drafted in the fight-to-the-death tournament of freaks where she learns the terrible truth of who and what she really is.

The Cost of Knowing by Brittney Morris: A gripping, evocative novel about Black teen Alex Rufus, who has the power to see into the future, and whose life turns upside down when he foresees his younger brother’s imminent death.

Children of Blood and Bone by Tomi Adeyemi: 17-year-old Zélie and companions journey to a mythic island seeking a chance to bring back magic to the land of Orïsha, in a fantasy world infused with the textures of West Africa.

Children of Virtue and Vengeance (Legacy of Orïsha #2) by Tomi Adeyemi: After battling the impossible, Zélie and Amari have finally succeeded in bringing magic back to the land of Orïsha. But with civil war looming on the horizon, Zélie finds herself at a breaking point: she must discover a way to bring the kingdom together or watch as Orïsha tears itself apart.

Cinderella Is Dead by Kalynn Bayron: 16-year-old Sophia would much rather marry Erin, her childhood best friend, than parade in front of suitors. At the ball, Sophia flees, hiding in Cinderella’s mausoleum. There, she meets Constance, the last known descendant of Cinderella and her step sisters. Together they vow to bring down the king once and for all.

The Cost of Knowing by Brittney Morris: A gripping, evocative novel about Black teen Alex Rufus, who has the power to see into the future, and whose life turns upside down when he foresees his younger brother’s imminent death.

Crown of Thunder (Beasts Made of Night #2) by Tochi Onyebuchi: Taj has escaped Kos, but Queen Karima will go to any means necessary--including using the most deadly magic--to track him down. 

A Crown So Cursed (Nightmare Verse #3) by L.L. McKinney: Alice is ready to jump into battle when she learns that someone is building an army of Nightmares to attack the mortal world, before she learns of a personal connection to Wonderland.

Daughters of Jubilation by Kara Lee Corthron: In Jim Crow South, black teen Evalene Deschamps finds her place among a family of women gifted with magical abilities, known as jubilation - a gift passed down from generations of black women since the time of slavery.

Dread Nation by Justina Ireland: The Civil War is over, but mostly because the dead rose at Gettysburg—and then started rising everywhere else. Fighting the undead is a breeze for Jane McKenne, an Attendant, trained in both weaponry and etiquette to protect the well-to-do. But the fight for freedom? That’s a different story.

Deathless Divide (Dread Nation #2) by Justina Ireland: After the fall of Summerland, Jane McKeene hoped her life would get simpler. But nothing is easy when you’re a girl trained in putting down the restless dead, and a devastating loss on the road to Nicodermus has Jane questioning everything she thought she knew about surviving in 1880’s America.

A Dream So Dark (Nightmare Verse #2) by L.L. McKinney: Still reeling from her recent battle (and grounded until she graduates) Alice must cross the Veil to rescue her friends and stop the Black Knight once and for all in Wonderland.

Early Departures by Justin A. Reynolds: Jamal’s best friend Q is brought back to life after a freak accident … but they only have a short time together before he will die again.  How can Jamal fix his friendship without the truth?

Fate of Flames by Sarah Raughley:  Before they can save the world from the monstrous phantoms, four girls who have the power to control the classical elements: earth, air, fire, and water must first try to figure out how to work together. 

For All Time by Shanna Miles: Tamar and Fayard, two Black teens, are fated to repeat their love story across hundreds of lifetimes, from 14th-century Mali to the distant future, as they struggle to break the cycle.

The Gilded Ones by Namina Forna: Inspired by the culture of West Africa, a feminist fantasy debut traces the experiences of 16-year-old Deka, who is invited to leave her discriminatory village to join the emperor’s army of near-immortal women warriors.

The Good Luck Girls by Charlotte Nicole Davis: The country of Arketta calls them Good Luck Girls--they know their luck is anything but. Sold to a "welcome house" as children and branded with cursed markings. When Clementine accidentally kills a man, the girls risk a dangerous escape to find freedom, justice, and revenge.

Kingdom of Souls by Rena Barron: Set in a West African-inspired fantasy kingdom, Arrah comes from a long line of powerful witchdoctors, yet fails at magic. When Arrah trade years off her life for magic to stop the Demon King from destroying the world—that is if it doesn’t kill her first.

Legacy of Light (The Effgies #3) by Sarah Raughley: After Saul’s strike on Oslo—one seemingly led by Maia herself—the Effigies’ reputation is in shambles. Belle has gone rogue, Chae Rin and Lake have disappeared, and the Sect is being dismantled and replaced by a terrifying new world order helmed by Blackwell. If the Effigies can’t put the pieces together soon, there may not be much left of the world they’ve fought so desperately to save.

Legendborn by Tracy Deonn: In this King Arthur retelling, Black teen Bree Matthews infiltrates a secret society of powerful magic wielders to find out the truth behind her mother’s untimely death.

Mem by Bethany C. Morrow: In alternate reality Montreal (1925), a young woman’s personality is the result of a startling experimental procedure, leaving her to struggle with the question of who she really is.

Miles Morales, Spider-Man by Jason Reynolds: But Miles Morales accidentally discovers a villainous teacher's plan to turn good kids bad, he will need to come to terms with his own destiny as the new Spider-man. 

Oh My Gods by Alexandra Sheppard: Half-mortal teenager Helen Thomas goes to live with her father—who is Zeus, masquerading as a university professor—and must do her best to keep the family secret intact.

The Opposite of Always by Justin A. Reynolds: After falling for Kate, her unexpected death sends Jack back in time to the moment they first met, but he soon learns that his actions have consequences when someone else close to him dies.

Orleans by Sherri L. Smith: Set in a futuristic, hostile Orleans landscape, Fen de la Guerre must deliver her tribe leader's baby over the Wall into the Outer States before her blood becomes tainted with Delta Fever. 

Nubia: Real One by L.L. McKinney & Robyn Smith: When Nubia’s best friend, Quisha, is threatened by a boy who thinks he owns the town, Nubia will risk it all—her safety, her home, and her crush on that cute kid in English class—to become the hero society tells her she isn’t.

A Phoenix First Must Burn: 16 Stories of Black Girl Magic, Resistance, and Hope edited by Patrice Caldwell: Filled with stories of love and betrayal, strength and resistance, this collection contains an array of complex and true-to-life characters in which you cannot help but see yourself reflected. Witches and scientists, sisters and lovers, priestesses and rebels.

This Poison Heart by Kalynn Bayron: In this contemporary fantasy inspired by The Secret Garden, Black teen Briseis has a gift: she can grow plants with a single touch. Up against a centuries-old curse and the deadliest plant on earth, Bri must harness her gift to protect herself and her family, when a nefarious group comes after her in search of a rare and dangerous immortality elixir.

A Psalm of Storm and Silence (A Song of Wraiths and Ruin #2) by Roseanne A. Brown: As the fabric holding Sonande together begins to tear, Malik and Karina once again find themselves torn between their duties and their desires.

A Queen of Gilded Horns (A River of Royal Blood #2) by Amanda Joy: After learning the truth of her heritage, Eva is on the run with her sister Isa as her captive, but with the Queendom of Myre on the brink of revolution, Eva and Isa must make peace with each other to save their kingdom.

Raybearer by Jordan Ifueko: In a West African-inspired empire, Tarisai is raised by The Lady and sent to kill the Crown Prince once she gains his trust. Tarisai won’t stand by and become someone’s pawn—but is she strong enough to choose a different path for herself?

Redemptor (Raybearer #2) by Jordan Ifueko: For the first time, an Empress Redemptor sits on Aritsar's throne. To appease the sinister spirits of the dead, Tarisai must now anoint a council of her own, coming into her full power as a Raybearer.

The Ravens by Danielle Page & Kass Morgan: The sisters of Kappu Rho Nu share a secret: they’re a coven of witches. For Vivi Deveraux, being one of Kappa Rho Nu’s Ravens means getting a chance to redefine herself. For Scarlett Winters, a bonafide Raven and daughter of a legacy Raven. When Vivi and Scarlett are paired as big and little for initiation, they find themselves sinking into the sinister world of blood oaths and betrayals.

Rebel Sisters (War Girls #2) by Tochi Onyebuchi: Though they are working toward common goals of helping those who suffered, Ify and Uzo are worlds apart. But when a mysterious virus breaks out among the children in the Space Colonies, their paths collide.

Reaper of Souls (Kingdom of Souls #2) by Rena Barron: After so many years yearning for the gift of magic, Arrah has the one thing she’s always wanted—at a terrible price. But the Demon King’s shadow looms closer than she thinks. And as Arrah struggles to unravel her connection to him, defeating him begins to seem more and more impossible.

A River of Royal Blood by Amanda Joy: A North African-inspired feminist fantasy in which two sisters, Eva and Isa must compete in a magical duel to the death for the right to inherit the queendom of Myre.  

Slice of Cherry by Dia Reeves: In Portero, Texas, teens Kit and Fancy Cordelle, daughters of the infamous Bonesaw Killer, bring two boys with similar tendencies to a world of endless possibilities they have discovered behind a mysterious door.

Siege of Shadows (The Effigies #2) by Sarah Raughley:  After Saul reappears with an army of soldiers with Effigy-like abilities, threatening to unleash the monstrous Phantoms, e-year-old Maia and the other Effigies hope to defeat him by discovering the source of their power over the four classical elements, but they are betrayed by the Sect and bogged down by questions about the previous Fire Effigy's murder.

The Sisters of Reckoning (The Good Luck Girls #2) by Charlotte Nicole Davis: The blockbuster sequel to an alternate Old West-set commercial fantasy adventure.

The Sound of Stars by Alechia Dow: Set in the near-future, in which a captive teen human and a young alien leader—bonded by their love of forbidden books and music—embark on a desperate road trip as they attempt to overturn alien rule and save humankind. 

War Girls by Tochi Onyebuchi: Set in a futuristic, Black Panther-inspired Nigeria, sisters Onyii and Ify, separated by a devastating civil war, must fight their way back to each other against all odds.

Vessel by Sarah Beth Durst: When the goddess Bayla fails to take over Liyana's body, Liyana's people abandon her in the desert to find a more worthy vessel, but she soon meets Korbyn, who says the souls of seven deities have been stolen and he needs Liyana's help to find them.

The Weight of Stars by K. Ancrum: After a horrific accident brings loners Ryann and Alexandria together, Ryann learns that Alexandria's mother is an astronaut who volunteered for a one-way trip to the edge of the solar system.

White Smoke by Tiffany D. Jackson: Black teen Marigold and her blended family move into a newly renovated, picture-perfect home in a dilapidated Midwestern city, and are haunted by what she thinks are ghosts, but might be far worse.

Wings of Ebony by J. Elle: Black teen Rue, from a poor neighborhood who, after learning she is half-human, half-goddess, must embrace both sides of her heritage to unlock her magic and destroy the racist gods poisoning her neighborhood with violence, drugs, and crime.

Witches Steeped in Gold by Ciannon Thomas: In this Jamaican-inspired fantasy debut, two witches from enemy castes—one seeking power, and one seeking revenge—will stop at nothing to overthrow the witch queen, even if it means forming an alliance with each other and unleashing chaos on their island nation.

Within These Wicked Walls by Lauren Blackwood: An Ethiopian-inspired Jane Eyre retelling in which an unlicensed debtera, or exorcist, Andromeda, is hired to rid a castle of its dangerous curses, only to fall in love with Magnus Rochester, a boy whose life hangs in the balance.

Yesterday Is History by Kosoko Jackson: Black teen Andre Cobb undergoes a liver transplant and as a side effect winds up slipping through time from present-day Boston to 1969 NYC on the eve of the Stonewall riots, delivering a story that is part romance, part gay history, and part time-travel drama, exploring how far we have and haven't come. 

[flickeringart]

Planets in the 8th House

Like all the watery houses, the 8th house is mysterious and potent, yet it’s difficult to fully get a grasp of. The area of life that this house represents are usually summarized by worn out key words; death, transformation, regeneration, rebirth, sex, shared finances, the occult, hidden complexes, power struggles, trauma, crisis and the list goes on… from these words one gathers that the 8th is not a light-hearted sphere of life – it signifies struggle and emotional intensity. Having planets in the 8th, strong Pluto or Scorpio influence usually revolves around the same themes – paranoia, the striving for control and a tendency to keep things private and buried in order to sustain power.

I’m not going to discuss the difference of having strong Scorpio-Pluto placements vs. having planets in the 8th house in this post, but since the sign, planet and house are linked and are symbolic of the same themes, there’s a lot of overlap that is to be expected.

A person with planet(s) in the 8th will not act out the planetary principles consciously. Usually, the energy is felt through their aura, quiet but evident, as if the planet makes its presence known without revealing itself. For example, someone with Venus in the 8th might not openly declare affection and love, except in the most intimate of settings, but it’s unquestionably there. Picture the goddess of love living within a person as a body of water. She is there, but she is slippery and unable to manifest through conscious expression in daily life. The reason for planets in the 8th house “hiding” usually has something to do with fear of losing control, of exposing something taboo and risky that could have dire consequences.  We see this phenomenon in movies all the time – a person isn’t conscious of the fact the he or she is in love with a person but it’s obvious to everyone else – this would be typical of Venus in the 8th. One doesn’t dare to express it because it would alter the way of things, it would violate the sense of self-control and expose one’s vulnerability. Pain accompanies planets in the 8th, however benefic, because they impose themselves on the person and puts everything on the line. It’s a little bit like opening Pandora’s box – one can never go back to how things were before one fell in love, yet one resists the power with which one is pulled into a relationship. Even Venus and Jupiter, the most “positive” planets are operating in a way that makes the person feel out of control. Sure, it’s probably more positive to be invaded by love and abundance than anything else, but it can still be shocking and fearful to a person that doesn’t want to acknowledge the autonomy of the planet and has put up rigid defenses against it, only to have them be shattered. In the case of Venus in the 8th, personal love and affection is very private and usually has some kind of trauma or complex tied up with it. Looking at astrotheme’s database of people with Venus in the 8th , Miley Cyrus pops up at the top of the page with this placement. In some of her more personal songs, lyrics hint to her being afraid of love and intimacy. Even in her famous song “Wrecking Ball” she sings about falling under love’s spell and slowly seeing a relationship turn to “ashes on the ground”. If this isn’t typical symbolism of transformation through love I don’t know what is.

With the Moon in the 8th house, the person doesn’t openly express emotion – the emotions erupt volcanically from time to time, and it’s very uncomfortable for the person because there’s a feeling of being exposed and threatened that accompanies this release. Because of the fear that is tied up with emotion, the person might show dislike and defensiveness when faced with other people’s emotional expressions and needs. Sigmund Freud had his Moon in the 8th, which is very telling. He was obviously interested in uncovering the complexes behind certain reactions, presumably because he didn’t feel himself to be in control of his own emotions and inner life. He was certainly motivated to transform and free himself and his clients of the tight grip of the unconscious patterns of the 8th house. He explored the underlying mechanisms of repression, formulated the Oedipus complex and postulated the existence of libido – sexual energy with which the mental processes are invested. The Moon’s placement in the 8th would point to deeply rooted emotional and possibly sexual ties with the mother. The Oedipus complex is after all a desire for sexual involvement with the opposite sex and the presence of repressed incestuous instincts. Freud noted that he had wanted to marry his mother as a child to rival with the father and understood that it must be a universal principle among all boys in all cultures. This has not been thoroughly empirically proven, but it’s certainly reveals something about Freud’s own psychology. In any case with Moon in the 8th, the emotional and instinctual nature is accompanied with a sense of it being taboo and shameful. The emotional nature is experienced to be powerful beyond personal control.

Mercury in the 8th is a another story. Mercury is the planet of communication, thinking and deductive reasoning. When looking up people with this placement, it seems to me that it is common among people who speak up about uncomfortable topics, that which would be considered “risky business” to talk about. Prince Harry has this placement and he has been very open recently about his mental health struggles. Emma Watson has this placement and she has been an advocate for feminism and equality – preaching and advocating strongly with emotional investment when giving the famous UN speech in 2014. Lana Del Rey has this placement and she writes lyrics based on her own personal experiences, not shying away from dark topics like death, heartbreak, destructive and passionate relationships. It seems as if Mercury in this house gives the person a propensity for talking and thinking about that which in uncomfortable, for revealing difficult power-imbalances and dynamics taking place within the psyche. There’s usually a feeling of being cautious of what one reveals, of sitting on information that holds emotional power and that involves other people. With any planet in this house there’s a strong impulse to be aware of other people, in case of Mercury it’s what other people know and don’t know, what they say and don’t say. Mercury in the 8th might be indicative of a person who is controlled by what other people say and feels at the mercy of other people’s opinions – positively and negatively. The narratives and stories of other people might merge with the person on a deep level and fuel one’s own opinions. One might be exposed to challenging, discriminative and harmful opinions, even indoctrinated in them. When speaking one’s mind, one might have to summon a lot of bravery because more than likely there’s a bit of a chokehold that is being felt and effort that is required to break free from deeply instilled thought patterns. This placement could be indicative of a person that likes to think and communicate about deep and taboo topics, reveal and keep secrets.

With Mars in the 8th, one simple interpretation would be “someone who is prone to experience physical violence in intimate relationships”. Either one is the victim of it or the perpetrator, perhaps even a bystander or a protector. The violence, albeit linked to physical action, might just manifest in the form of acting without another’s best interest in mind. There’s usually a sense of being at the mercy of other people’s actions with this placement, but also of having no conscious control over one’s own motivations for doing things, one’s own drive to make things happen. Princess Diana had this placement, conjunct Pluto-Uranus, and she was far from feeling in absolute control of her direction in life. With Pluto-Mars the drive is buried and tied up with the primal survival instinct and latent rage. Her relationship with Prince Charles was anything but smooth and she felt like a victim to greater forces (Pluto-Uranus) making her act in a way that was, most certainly, driven by emotional complexes and not out of conscious will. She also behaved in a way with her compulsive eating and independent streak that was not favorably looked upon. J.F. Kennedy also had this placement, he too had difficulties on the relationship front, mostly because he had a compulsive sexual drive and had a lot of extramarital affairs. This is typical of Mars in the 8th being tied up with emotional complexes – he couldn’t stick to his wife; he had to prove himself and his masculinity through conquering women (he has Jupiter conjunct his Mars and we all know how faithful Jupiter was in mythology). His sexual appetite caused moral problems among the Secret Service agents who were employed to smuggle women in and out of the White House. His behavior was altogether inappropriate but somehow he survived politically as it was kept in the shadows. Diana certainly had her own extramarital affairs as well, perhaps to revenge Charles for his strong tie with Camilla and subsequent declining interest in their marriage. Mars in the 8th is undoubtedly indicative of action taken out of the need to retain emotional integrity, sometimes with unfavorable consequences. Notably, both Diana and J.F. Kennedy died suddenly, Diana in a car accident and J.F. Kennedy through assassination by a bullet. The 8th house is the house of death, and Mars here usually indicates a violent and sudden strike of “fate”.

Last but not least, let’s take a look at the Sun in the 8th house. The same people who shows up when searching for Mercury, Mars and even Venus, also have the Sun in this house; J.F. Kennedy, Lana Del Rey, Emma Watson and Prince Harry, which is not surprising considering that the inner planets never stray too far from the Sun. The Sun represents the ego, the sense of self-knowledge and self-awareness. The Sun is representative of the conscious center of the personality. This suggests that the people with this placement are painfully aware of death and violation, of the destructive nature of reality. While the Moon in the 8th might indicate that emotional reactions or lack thereof stem from deep seated autonomous complexes rooted in survival, the Sun might indicate a sense of self and self-expression that stems from the difficulties and hardships one has gone through. This placement can be understood in the sentiment “who am I without my trauma?”. There’s the tendency to identify with the ordeals of one’s life and how one overcame them (or didn’t). This dynamic is evident in all the people listed at the top of this paragraph. Prince Harry being a very obvious one that people make fun of nowadays – he’s coming out as a survivor of past down ancestral trauma, attempting to work through and shine a light on his personal struggles growing up within the Royal Family, attempting to separate himself from the curses of unconscious programming. Lana Del Rey certainly enjoys identifying and expressing the darker side of herself, illuminating the theme of death and emotional hardship in her songs. Emma Watson also seems to identify with the hurt and injustice present in the world and is a spokesperson for collective movements (Sun in the 8th, Leo in the 11th). J.F. Kennedy has the same Sun –Leo house setup as Emma, channeling his experience of personal hardships into his career and public life. In a sense, people who want to appeal to the masses and make a change on a large scale must be personally invested enough to fuel the movement. In the case of the 8th house being involved with Kennedy and Watson, they might feel as if their sense of self is dictated by other people’s values or that they would have to fight to remain in control of their sense of self. As the Sun relates to the father, the father figure might’ve been quite controlling, demanding and dominant. If the Moon in the 8thsays something about a mother complex, the Sun in the 8thdefinitely says something about a father complex.

[goddessofroyalty]

I’m totally in love with your zaun family and first heat care aus! I was wondering if you had any thoughts about jayce, Mel and Viktor having pups in your first heat care au and if so how would the whole pregnancy work if an omega had two alphas? Would it be like how cats can get pregnant from multiple fathers or would it be more like humans? Also how would ambessa be like when she found out about viktor’s pregnancy? I’m totally in love with your writing❤️❤️❤️

Technically it is possible for a person to get pregnant with twins (or I suppose triplets) with different fathers. It's just really really rare (partially because it needs a few things to line up to be possible). But that's a digression.

In this verse I feel like twins are noticably more common than in our world (but possibly still not more common than singles) and just because of the whole fertile period being captured in a heat it's a fair bit more common to see twins with different fathers but obviously only when there are two fathers being involved in the heat-satisfying.

What that means for any pregnancy resulting from that heat? I kind of don't know because I didn't think that far in that idea. I do think they'd up in an awkward position where while they themselves don't care about the parentage of any children that result they kind of have to know because Viktor has the weakest 'name' of the three of them so it makes sense to give the children their sire's name and to do that they have to know the sire. So while they try their hardest not to be influenced by knowing which child is whose/who sired the child it certainly influences how everyone else interactes with/about the child and that ends up affecting how they behave as well (because they kind of have to give preference to their blood-child at least in public because that's the one people see as reflecting back on them).

Alright so looking at Mel compared to her mother makes me suspect that Ambessas pretty-twink-lover-servant is not an outlier and that her type swings towards dainty and slight (even if I think Noxus culture probably generally goes towards 'strong mate = strong pups'; she doesn't have to perfectly abide by her culture and hell keeping a collection of kept pretty-people is a pretty strong statement of your power and wealth). So she's not judging Mel's taste in Viktor entirely she's more judging the situation. Firstly SHARING no Mel should not be sharing her omega in Ambessa's mind - that's basically admitting she sees Jayce as her equal and she shouldn't be doing that (even if she can appreciate that for an alpha Jayce is rather pretty as well and if her daughter swings that way as well who is her mother to judge her?). I also think she does not understand why Mel just lets Viktor keep doing his science-work and set the tone/pace about a lot of things because that's just not what they do - he's clearly pushing himself to far what does that say about Mel and her ability to provide for him? There's... a lot of arguments happening between Mel and her mother (but I mean they're doing that anyway this is just another topic of them).

[arlertwifey]

snk cast x gn!reader + cute summertime romance

18+ ONLY, MINORS DO NOT INTERACT, PLEASE!

☼ — ft. Eren, Armin, Mikasa, Jean, Levi, Hanji, & Erwin (all characters are 18+)

☼ — genre: pure fluff + gn!reader x character, warnings: mentions of vandalism/petty crime, alcohol mentions 

☼ — a/n: please enjoy my first snk x reader content :)

E R E N

Fills his time with a weird mix of volunteering around the city and committing blatant acts of vandalism

He spends his days helping out at the youth shelter and nights scribbling graffiti anywhere he can find a spot. Takes you to spray-paint every underpass you come across

Unnaturally good at arcade games and wins you lots of little random plushies from the claw machines. Your favorite is an angry-looking brown bear that you can’t help but think resembles him

Loves to stay up late and discover new parts of the city with you. Has a bad habit of falling asleep on your shoulder wherever you are though, when he finally runs out of energy

Even though he tries to play it off like he’s too cool for them, insists that you two take cute photobooth pictures together and keeps his favorite of them in his wallet

A R M I N 

Practically lives at the beach during the summer. The two of you plan out your days there in advance so your able to visit the different tide pools and see various sea creatures.

Has a strong sweet tooth. He’s a huge fan of any type of frozen treat, but is extremely partial to slushies. In at least half the pictures you get of your summertime adventures, his mouth is stained teal from the blue-raspberry flavor he always buys.   

Gets surprisingly tan during the summer, due to the fact that he’s outside whenever possible. Even when studying, he prefers to do so at parks around where he lives rather than indoors. His hair bleaches out a little further as well.

Willing to go to parties with you when the two of you are invited by mutual friends, but tends to slip outside to the porch after the first hour. More often than not, the two of you wind up ditching all together and heading off to find someplace to get late night food. 

He brings you to visit his grandfather during the summertime and the two of you help him out with repairs around the house. Being around the two people he loves the most brings out Armin’s talkative side and the three of you spend your vacation days swapping stories over glasses of iced tea.

M I K A S A 

Busy during the summer, so you can’t meet as much as would like

Part of her gym’s regional kickboxing team and helps teach part time. You go to all her matches and cheer till your voice gives out. She tells you that you don’t have to come, but secretly is so, so grateful that you do

On days when you’re both free, you try out all the best brunch places in the city. Mikasa prefers small family-owned businesses. The two of you quickly become regulars at your favorite spots

Sends you voice messages when you are apart ever since you said that you liked to hear her voice. She’s adorably awkward in them, usually just telling you about whatever she’s doing at the time and how much she misses you

Gets misty-eyed when you show up at the airport with flowers for her when she gets back home. Squeezes you till your out of breath and lifts off the ground a little bit when you hug again after your time apart.

J E A N

The actual best at planning a fun day full of activities

Busts his ass working at a couple part time jobs most days, but makes up for how busy is by making sure you two have the best possible time and do the most when you’re together

The type to have a bucket list for all the different activities he thinks you guys should do together. He puts a lot of effort into creating it with you. The two of you decorate two matching posters so that each of you has a copy. 

A little bit of a sucker for cliches: ice cream dates and visiting waterparks. He’s a romantic at heart and with you he feels like he can finally participate in all the classic lovey-dovey activities couples do.

One of those people who acts like an influencer despite the fact that he’s only followed by family and friends. Takes super high quality pics of you so he can brag about how great his s/o is. Took a few photography classes in college and it shows. Every photo he takes of you looks amazing because you can tell just how enamored he is with you.

King of matching couple fits. Loves when the two of you wear coordinating colors or even just similar accessories.

L E V I 

Not a fan of hot weather, so prefers to hang out in the evenings or early mornings when it’s cooler (which works well with the fact that he has to work most days). 

Has no clue what to do during the summer, besides what you two always do, but does his best

You two go for early morning runs at his suggestion and then get breakfast afterwards. There’s a smoothie place down the block from the park that you frequent, with different local fruit specials each week. 

He brings you to his favorite tea shop and you two slowly drink your way through their summer refresher menu throughout the season. You learn

Is willing to go to the beach, but be prepared to cover the man with sunscreen, because he burns. Since he knows that he won’t encounter anyone from work, he sometimes wears a large sunhat for extra UV protection.

When your vacation time finally lines up, the two of you get out of the city and head to the charming town where his mother lives. You get to help Kuchel in her garden and listen to her stories about adorable young Levi.

While he’s not extremely enthusiastic about summer as a season, he does find it far more enjoyable when he gets to spend it with you

H A N J I

Lives for traveling during the summer months, half for fun and half for their work as part of an anthropological research team. Whenever they can’t bring you along, expect lots of silly, cheesy postcards and many late night phone calls.

Thinks that camping is an absolute must. You two go on hikes together to find the best places to camp. Teaches you all sorts of cool facts about the different areas you are in. Likes when the two of you get “lost” and have to navigate back with a compass (and a park map as backup).

Makes their own homemade juice blends (some better than others) and freezes them into popsicles. Brings you them and other snacks when you’re working.

Stays up late with you and points out different constellations while you drink hot cocoa on the rooftop of their apartment building. While you don’t understand everything they are explaining to you, you love to watch their excited expression and enthusiasm as they tell you all about the world.

E R W I N

Glamorous cultural events are Erwin’s favorite part of the summertime 
Expect to to be brought to opening ceremonies, christenings of cruise ships, and wine tastings

Despite the fancy events, Erwin makes sure you don’t feel too out of place by spending the evenings shit talking the other guests with you, and trying to guess who is sleeping with who and who is going to get drunk and ruin the evening

Insists that you get out of the city as often as possible, so expect a lot of weekend getaways

As much as he likes to do things with you, he can also appreciate an afternoon spent drinking sangria and reading by the poolside (a private pool, of course. He can’t resist asking you to put sunblock on his back (half because he actually needs the help, half just to see you blush at the request).

Owns a sleek vintage convertible that he’s only able to drive in the warmer months. Likes to pick you up from work in it while still dressed in his impeccably sharp suit from the office, just to see the looks on your coworkers faces