#and she's such a fascinating character in general!!

[dilemmadraws]

How I would have fixed the finale of Doctor Who, because that was whack!

Firstly given Belinda actual characterisation throughout the series. I would have had her start the same, skeptical of the doctor wanting to go home. Maybe she softens to him as the series goes on but ultimately she doesn’t want to die a million miles and years away from home. She’s got a shift in the morning and she doesn’t want to let her patients down. The series plays out much the same, in the story and the engine she reluctantly saves the doctor as he’s her route home and maybe hearing his life story starts to believe that he really is trying his best to get her home. Then we have the interstellar song contest. This is the first time it’s Belinda who asks to say, like she did in the episode. But when it all goes wrong and she realises she stranded light years and centuries away from home she remembers that the doctor is dangerous and his friends just keep on dying. When she realises he’s alive she’s happy, maybe she can go home and this nightmare will be over. But then she sees him torturing Kid. She realises the doctor isn’t just dangerous because he get himself into scrapes he’s actively letting his rage get the better of him. She realises he could actually be a danger to her. Maybe she pretends it’s all fine and accepts his “triggered” explanation to his face but we can see that she’s scared. She can’t wait to get home. Then the tardis explodes exactly like it did in the episode and we’re in wish world.

The other change I’d make to interstellar song contest is that either the Rani just regenerates normally or if she bi-generates she straight up kills her previous incarnation. Great evil introduction to the character.

In the wish world Belinda is the doctors loving devoted wife. The horror of this all the more stark since we know she doesn’t trust him now. There’s no poppy. Just a heteronormative marriage. There are still doubts and slips. Belinda remembering flashes of reasons not to trust John smith. The Doctors heteronormative hell. And we see the whole first day. They go to sleep and wake up and it’s 23rd of May again. We watch multiple time loops. Each time the slips and doubts getting bigger and behind it all the rani absolutely loving life. The Doctor sees Rogue like in the episode, telling him he’s slipping into the underverse. Just before the final time loop starts.

Meanwhile in the bone palace Conrad isn’t just telling his story he’s also created his own little heteronormative bubble with Ruby. Brainwashed into being his wife with the wish baby as their child. She starts doubting why she never kisses her baby.

Eventually after some time loop existential  horror Belinda and the doctor wake up like they have so many times and Belinda doesn’t say “morning Mr Smith” but blurts out “Doctor” they both snap out of it and the world stars cracking. Suddenly the police are at their door and they’re being arrested and taken to the bone palace.

The Rani explains her evil plan etc. but this time the doctor laughs at her. Omega didn’t create the timelords, Tectun did. He’s the timeless child the first timelord. The Rani is horrified but also fascinated. This means she doesn’t need Omega’s dna she can take the Doctors. She tries to capture him but he laughs again and says but you did all this work to get omega. Can’t waste your hard work. He uses the sonic screwdriver to open the door to the underverse. But who steps out.. not omega but Rouge. Yep the doctor didn’t forget he existed and used the energy the Rani was going to use to save him. Triumphantly ending the heteronormative bullshit reality with a kiss. This strips away the wish world finally and Ruby fully wakes up. She punches Conrad in the face and grabs the baby. Realising she’s in the tardis. The Rani sees things have gone to shit and teleports away. The doctor takes rouges hand and they run as the bone palace collapses to the tardis doors. Once inside he finds Ruby, queue cute reunion, and Conrad on the floor. There’s celebration but Belinda just stands there. She says quietly and then louder. Can I go home now. She’s just exhausted. Ruby says the same, I need to see my mum and someone’s got to look after this baby. The doctor first takes Belinda back. Before she leaves she tells the doctor that she still thinks he’s dangerous, and not only that she’s seen how he acts like a god. No better than Lux or the Barber. She tells him that hurt people hurt people. Before going inside her smashed up flat to get changed so she can go to work.

They drop Ruby to her mums. The doctor assumes she going to leave the baby there and come with but she explains that she wants to take care of him. He was her baby, even if it was a wish. And someone’s got to stop him from ever being used like Conrad and the Rani did.

Now if you’ve got Ncuti for another series you just have him and rouge go off into the sunset together. But if not go with the below.

The doctor finally drops Conrad off in prison, I told you you would die here blah blah blah. But who is there but the Rani. She kills the doctor and steals some dna or something maybe it’s more potent mid-regeneration or something. Rouge drags him back to the tardis and 15 dies in his arms. We don’t see who the new doctor is because why make a rushed decision when you haven’t even been renewed. You could even tease rose coming back as the tardis opens a compartment and the time vortex starts bleeding out. Play the bad wolf theme or something idc.

Thanks for reading if you did. Probably written like shit but i was thinking about this all last night so needed to get it out.

[c4hr4yz3e]

George Clarkey Dating a Law Student Headcannons

This is shit, but it's been sitting in my drafts for months and I felt like posting something. If yall have any specific ones you'd like to see like George dating a ___ student or George dating ___ profession, feel free send me a request!! I did get a few requests in - I will start working on these after my uni exams!

Warnings: I think like 1 swear, 2 slightly NSFW prompt but nothing too explicit, shit formatting :D

George Clarkey x Fem!Reader

___________________________________________________________

He is always bragging about you. He thinks you’re such a kind-hearted, hard-working person and isn’t afraid to tell the entire world.

“Yeah, my missus is studying law. Oh, she’s incredible."

He is not afraid for anyone to know how whipped he is for you.

We know how up-to-date and interested he is in what his sister studied/es, so he's absolutely the same for you, if not more. Best believe he always remembers what you're studying at any given time, and remembers little tidbits of everything.

Brings you snacks, tea, and coffee when you’re studying late or doing assignments because he wants to make sure you’re eating and drinking enough.

If you go to the bathroom or just step out to do something, he'll refill your mug so you have a fresh cup when you get back.

If you've been having a stressful time and he's streaming, he'll go check on you every couple of hours to make sure you're okay. ("Hang on chat, I gotta go check on my girl real quick.")

You guys often make dinner together, considering it one of your 'couple traditions'. But whenever one of you is busy, the other surprises them with dinner. Mid study session he'll pop his head through the door like "Dinner'll be up in about 15 minutes, lovey. Finish up for a bit and come eat with me?"

You don't even have to be working - you could be curled up in bed for a lazy evening and movie. He'll slip away mid-movie without a word and come back half an hour later with a warm meal, a bottle of wine, and a sweet treat for dessert. He LOVES acts of service, and doesn't expect any praise or acknowledgement from them. He almost views them as a 'non-neogotiable'; the George Clarke Package just includes it and he will hear no arguments.

Is genuinely super interested in your work and your day. Every night during dinner he’ll ask about your day and listen intently while you go through it all.

He’ll sit and listen while you think out loud when working through legal problems. Won't try and interrupt (unless you ask, of course) - he just lets you have your moment. How your mind works absolutely fascinates him. Definitely smiles to himself unconsciously when you have your 'ah-ha' moment

100% would roleplay being your client or something if it helped you, even if he doesn’t really know what he’s doing. He’d probably insist on making up different characters and giving them different accents.

“Where is my character from?”

“It doesn’t really matter, honey. You’re just a generic person.”

“This character kind of sounds like an arsehole... French it is.”

Yes, it makes it more difficult to do the task with a straight face, but he loves making you smile.

“George, did you know that you legally cannot steal a pigeon?” “…Darling on a completely unrelated note, how would you feel about a pet?”

Will check on you while you’re studying to make sure you’re having breaks.

“Come have a cup of tea with me, love. You deserve a little break.”

Drives him insane when you study with a messy bun and one of his hoodies. And if you wear glasses? God help this man

Absolute study buddy king. Helps you with flashcards, quizzes, the whole nine yards. He does try to make it more lighthearted, because that is his nature, but if you really need him to he will knuckle down and be serious.

If you do a quiz, 10/10 will be Game Show Host George. Half the time you have to convince him not to break out the rainbow sequin suit he (for some reason) owns.

Definitely tries to turn it into cheeky drinking or strip games, but he reads you like a book and knows whether you're in the right frame of mind for that. Would never presssure you into anything, but he may encourage you to unwind and enjoy yourself a little, particularly if you've been stressed recently.

I cannot stress this enough; he is so proud of you. He knows how stressful of an industry it is, and if you’re putting yourself through university he just admires you that much more. You genuinely inspire him to work hard and achieve his goals (and he is not afraid to tell you or anyone else this).

He remembers a random tidbits of what you tell him. Like he’d definitely be with his friends and they’d say something incorrect or inaccurate, and he just has an “Erm, actually☝️🤓” moment in his signature cocky sort of way. (he kind of loves showing off that he remembers things)

Already campaigning for you to be a consultant of some sort for the podcast.

George: "She'd be pefect, honestly. We gotta hire her."

Max: "I am really not the person to be talking to about this."

George: "But then we'd be able to work together!"

You: "I'm not even registered yet, George."

George: "But when you are, boom! Immediate job! Not that you'd need help getting one but surely working on the world's best podcast would be great on the ol resume, eh?"

Max: "Ah yes, because of all the legal problems we experience on a daily basis?"

George: "Well with the shit we talk about, wouldn't be surprised if something comes up one of these days."

Absolutely invites you on YouTube Court, and just sits back and watches with the biggest smile as you deliver the most air-tight and well researched defences to the most ridiculous cases ever. Proud Boyfriend George moment. His subscribers LOVE you - George is flooded with comments and DM's asking for you to come back.

Does his judge costume from YouTube Court get used outside the videos? Perhaps. Cause let's be real, he'd be down to clown in some wacky roleplays just for shits and giggles, even if it's only for a little bit. Knowing him, he'd make some dumb, joking comment when the cameras stop rolling and it just progresses from there.

George: "So, missy. You know disrespecting the judge is a criminal offence, and I feel it's only fair to impose a punishment. Do you have anything to say for yourself before his Honour teaches you a lesson?"

Stephen: "George, we're all still here, you haven't left the Discord call yet, ya twat."

Maybe gets a little bit dejected sometimes. As much as he adores his job, he gets a bit worried that you secretly want someone who is doing something more than YouTube and content creation. But you always assure him his achievements are just as important as yours, if not more, and he’s the one for you. You're endlessly proud of him.

You definitely get on really well with ArthurTV. Being an ex-lawyer, he loves being able to give you tips and help you out. He definitely reads your papers. Not even necessarily to proofread them (although he will: "I just highlighted a couple of minor typos") or anything, he just finds them fascinating.

He definitely organises date nights, both spontaneous and planned (after consulting your shared calendar, of course). He likes to find the cutest and chilliest things for you guys to do; think mini-golf, arcading, and movie marathons. He also loves adventuring around with you to find new spots to try.

I reckon he’d put something in the calendar a week or two in advance like “Date Night <3” so it gives you time to organise yourself. But he never pressures you if you are too busy. Or organises things wayy in advance as post-exam treats or something.

George is a spontaneous guy though, so if either of you are ever free, best believe he’s taking you out or ordering takeout for a relaxing night in. After a long day, he'd message something like, "Just seen a new Italian placed opened up a few streets away. Care for a bite?"

I fully believe that you'd submit an assignment or get a good grade back and he'd immediately crank the music in the flat for an inpromtu dance-party. 10/10 ends in a sweet old-timey dance where he's spinning and dipping you around the living room before you both collapse in a fit of laughter and you order dinner. (Your pick of food, of course.)

"I'm sorry to tell you poppet, but you can't admitted as a lawyer. You know they don't allow criminals."

"I'm not a criminal?"

"You are - you're a thief!"

"???"

"You've stolen my heart."

"Oh my days."

For some reason, he just kind of assumes that you read the Terms and Conditions on absolutely everything.

"Oh yeah? Well my girlfriend's a lawyer, and she'll sue your ass!" (he says this a LOT. no matter how many times you try to correct him)

If something happens when you go out, like the boys get bombarded or followed by fans or something, ask them to leave. If it's really bad, and you have to throw in like a "Don't make me press charges for harassment," #proudboyfriendgeorge is just standing across from you like "Yes slayy girl queen! Serving absolute professional-lawyer-puss over 'ere!" (he's a bit drunk atp)

"Y/n, Simon murdered me via Among Us. Can I press charges?"

When you graduate, you best believe he's in the closest row possible with the biggest bouquet of flowers ever.

Definitely has a lil something to remind him of you on his Useless Hotline desk. It'd be something subtle like a lego car you guys built together, or a gift you bought him.

If Max asks you to come on the podcast, George is so excited. George normally sits next to Max when they have a podcast guest. Not when you're there. He's right beside you, hand resting on your thigh just out of camera shot, smiling lovingly as Max asks you about your degree and life with George.

All in all, he's so proud of you and loves telling anyone who will listen that his lady is a badass lawyer.

[creaturemoment]

um helll. scrolling tags and saw your post. WHO IS THE CANNIBALIZED BRITISH WOMAN????

I THOUGHT YOU'D NEVER ASK >:D

(Cover art, Fanart from a Youtube thumbnail, Picrew)

Greta Vern from the Warhammer 40k audio drama The Watcher in the Rain!! Released on November 9th 2019, one hour and fourteen minutes long, and if you ask me, SEVERELY UNDERRATED

[spinaart]

hey leader!!!

[welcometogrouchland]

I love Steph's origin as told in the Secret Origins 80 page giant- I just overall think it strengthens her character by giving her a lot of pathos and adding to her heroism (which isn't something writers were focused on in her actual intro in detective comics #647 since she was just meant to act as a plot device back then) BUT there is one tiny detail in it i will begrudge, and that is the portrayal of her having a minor love at first sight moment for tim

Secret origins 80 page giant, ID in alt

(or well, technically this was their second meeting in that story (the brick was the first) so...love at second sight?)

Mostly because Stephanie showed no interest in her introduction and only showed romantic feelings towards Tim AFTER this moment here:

Robin (1993) #4, ID in alt

Straight up the progression here goes:

The adventure in 'tec where they first meet -> Tim investigating the same crime scene as Steph -> she beats him up not knowing it's him at first, apologizes but says he shouldn't have scared her -> he remembers her/the moniker she goes by -> they talk about plot for a few pages -> Stephanie starts flirting

Robin (1993) #4, ID in alt

Which...is so fascinating to me and says so much about Stephanie. She highlights the fact that Tim "remembered" her. Like. Steph. Girl. This is our bar? It's sweet but kind of speaks to how much Stephanie is ignored at home/how little and sporadically she's shown interacting with her peers (and rarely ever the same kids twice). Her idea of peak romance is just...being on someone's mind even when you're not there.

Kind of also adds layers to Steph's proclivity towards jealousy later on, a manifestation of her insecurity and loneliness (though don't get it twisted, she's not written this way bc Dixon and co think it's an interesting character flaw, they wrote it bc they think it's an inherent character flaw of (particularly young) women/girls, which is very apparent in how he approaches Ariana's character as well from what I've read)

Also the fact that Steph becomes so smitten for Tim almost immediately after this is (a few issues later she aggressively flirts with him during AN ACTIVE HOSTAGE SITUATION. WHERE SHE'S THE HOSTAGE) again is kind of a mixture of kind of funny and sad. One boy is nice to her once and she's fully ready to wife him. Girl you are deranged (affectionate) (concerned)

[electricpurrs]

tex red vs blue is insanely transgender but im the only one who sees it that way because im crazy in the head.

what if there was a past version of yourself. a woman, a wife, a mother, with long hair and a sweet smile. and she died long ago. and you are her. but you are not her. you're nothing like her, but the people who knew her desperately want you to be her, want to preserve the memory they have in their minds of the woman they loved through you. but you never asked to be her, never asked to carry the burden of someone else's expectation of who or what you should be. you have a new name. you prefer to go by this one. people remark on how weird it is that it's a guy's name. sometimes the people who loved [the past version of] you call you by your old name. they are not referring to you when they say it. you live in the shadows of someone who's long gone, and you're something different now, but you don't feel like you're ever allowed to define yourself on your own terms, to be your own person, to control your own life, because you exist solely through the memories people had of you. and the longer she has been gone for, the more desperately people try to get her back, the less you resemble her and the less you know who you are, or if you ever even got to be anything at all. what i mean is that transition could have saved him

[serpentface]

how is sex work perceived and treated - spiritually, legally, morally - in broad areas relevant to the white calf core cast? imperial wardi, the hills etc

Sex work is EXTREMELY stigmatized in Imperial Wardin, yet generally regarded as an element of society and a necessary function, not one to be eliminated. You'll occasionally find fringe groups decrying the presence of brothels as polluting elements upon cities, but they are minority figures- sex work is legal, generally accepted, and very common.

There are some exceptions- in most of the city-states, only sex work out of registered brothels is considered fully legal (independent sex workers are breaking the law in most city-states, though how much these laws are enforced varies heavily). All legally operating brothels must be officially registered, and are heavily taxed.

Prostitution of children is illegal, and this is one of VERY few protections for sex workers that is strongly enforced. But it should be clear that the societal definition of a child here does not match the contemporary- a person is generally considered an adult woman upon menarche (which is later on average due to poorer nutrition, but is still going to include a lot of like, 14 year olds). Boys are considered adults at the age of 16.

Forced prostitution is also illegal on paper, but this is poorly enforced. Even when not Outright forced, many sex workers are working as indentured laborers, or under prohibitive conditions where they have very little freedom of movement or legal ability to leave during the duration of their contracts.

Sex workers are an incredibly vulnerable, stigmatized social minority that have very few protections and are often subject to abuse.

The stigma against sex work surrounds the sex workers themselves. This is culturally justified and partly rooted in aspects of broader body taboo- receiving penetration = metaphysical vulnerability = openness to spiritual pollution, and they are considered to be heavily polluted by their line of work (regardless of whether or not a given person actually is receiving penetration on a regular basis- male sex workers who primarily have women as clients receive much the same treatment, the stigma here is fundamentally a form of bigotry, not something with a consistent internal logic).

In addition to concerns around penetration, the act of '''selling''' the body itself is seen as a polluting devaluation of the sacred body and using it to extreme excess. Sexuality and libido is societally valued, but in a framework of moderation- sex workers are seen as wildly out of moderation and are often ascribed qualities of an excessive libido by virtue of their line of work.

Sex workers are prohibited from entering most temples and participating in many public rites, justified in their ‘polluted’ status, under the assumption that it will de-purify the place and sully most rites. This serves to keep them isolated from key facets of social life and culture, and can leave many spiritually ostracized (most sex workers from within this cultural sphere are also going to believe in notions that they are spiritually polluted, with limited outlets to cleanse themselves).

There is one folk tradition that has developed to assuage some of these fears and the sense of isolation- an epithet to the Face Ganmache that translates literally to 'Mother of Whores' (a rather strong name that reclaims degrading slang in the original language as well), which watches over sex workers and their labors. This is wholly a folk tradition and not part of core dogma, and priests are self-appointed, mostly elderly former sex workers. They provide rites of purification and blessings for those denied access to temples, sometimes train themselves as midwives to assist in births (or abortions), and will help ensure deceased workers get proper funeral rites.

Generally, the concept of something being spiritually polluted translates to full avoidance of the person/place/thing involved, but these concerns are rarely applied to the Hiring of sex workers (ie they are spiritually polluted and highly impure and shouldn't enter temples but you, the client, are not affected by contact). While some people will try to provide logical explanations for why hiring a sex worker is not polluting, this does not have any true underlying logic and is a product of a society that both reviles sex workers and desires their labor.

They are generally expected to visually identify themselves as sex workers at all times- the exact details vary by city-state, but wearing hair unbraided and an uncovered head in public is most common (particularly in the west of the region).

Male sex workers are denied certain rights otherwise available by default to men (self-legal representation, ability to own land that is not gifted, etc). Female sex workers do not have these rights to begin with, and have even more difficulty than other women in finding legal representation, given that they situationally rarely have fathers/husbands/male family members willing to support them.

Because of their inability to represent themselves in court and the difficulty in finding representation, they often have little to no recourse against abuse or violations of their contracts. There are some lawyers who specialize in representing sex workers (fewer still who do this entirely out of benevolence for a vulnerable social class), but they are few and far between.

The majority of sex work is marketed towards male clients, and the majority of sex workers are women. Male sex workers are mostly young men who serve male clients, and will usually keep themselves beardless and not overtly masculine (while not distinctly effeminate either) to remain desirable targets for the sexual outlet of most men. (There is no concept of sexuality in this culture- if you are a man, you are a penetrative partner in sex and the gender of the receiving partner is of little concern. Younger men beneath you in social stature (in practice, these are almost always sex workers) are considered appropriate targets of male desire, and as such you have some men who would be considered heterosexual by contemporary standards having sex with other men). Male workers who primarily serve female clients tend to vary more in age and have less social restrictions on their appearance or masculine presentation.

Eunuch sex workers usually serve male clients, and are regarded as appropriate targets of male attraction regardless of their age (largely as they are seen as entirely incapable of performing penetrative roles, and conceptualized as de-gendered). Akoshos (those designated male who perform women's gender roles) sex workers are seen as uniquely predisposed to serve both male and female clients, as their gendered space is broadly conceptualized as dual-gendered (being physically capable of performing 'male' penetrative roles while living under women's social roles)

Hiring of sex workers is not considered infidelity and is entirely permissible to do while married, though women are often heavily discouraged from doing so (largely out of concerns of pregnancy, partly out of patriarchal control over women's sexual behavior). A woman who pays for sex work receives more scrutiny than is applied to men. It is not outright inappropriate, but can be considered indicative of an excessive libido or overmasculinization. Women are imagined as having naturally lower libidos than men, so behaviors that challenge this notion tend to be be noted.

The only circumstances in which hiring sex workers as a man attracts scrutiny is when it is deemed excessive, symptomatic of an uncontrolled libido. Men who hire male sex workers closer to their age and/or bearded will also attract scrutiny- while not outright Condemned, it's suspiciously out of the acceptable range for male desire (though will most often similarly be interpreted as an excessive, uncontrolled libido, ie you'll just fuck anything with a hole). Receiving penetration from a sex worker as a man is wholly condemned, as is seen as UNIQUELY violating, not only a severe deviance from male social roles, but at the hands of a stigmatized, polluted figure that is at the absolute bottom of the social ladder. This usually happens in secret and often involves paying the worker off for their silence.

The one major exception to stigma against sex workers is in the lemna courtesan tradition. Lemna are mostly unmarried women and/or akoshos who are very skilled trained performers who work as entertainers for wealthy clients. Their services are not sexual in nature, rather they sing, dance, act, play music, and recite poetry, and are skilled conversationalists that provide company for clients. Lemna usually operate out of elite brothels, but as separate services to the sex workers, and are in theory never available for sex work. Lemna providing sex work sometimes (though not frequently) occurs in practice, but it is always be presented as something they have not been Paid to do- their payment was for entertainment, and they will present it as a (almost always purely fantastical) situation that they have grown attracted to their client and are engaging in a romantic tryst.

Lemna courtesanship is long-established and a valued part of this culture's art and theater traditions, and they do not face the same stigma as sex workers, rather being seen as an elite class of performers. They do not exactly have a High place in society either (as unmarried civilian women and/or akoshos, they are notably lacking in social power), but the regard towards them is overall positive. The exemption to this stigma partially lies within the framework of body taboo (they do not explicitly 'sell' their bodies or directly engage in sex work), but is largely rooted in the esteem of their tradition rather than any coherent logic.

-----

Sex work has a much less significant, less complicated, and less intensely stigmatized place in the highlands, mostly due to its reduced presence. Most people are living in relatively small agricultural villages, or transiently as herders, so there are fewer opportunities for sex workers to operate on regular and official levels. The only places you can reliably find sex workers within the highlands are in small quasi-towns that crop up around land trade routes, or occasionally as traveling traders (usually offering material goods in addition to sex work services).

There’s also no intra-highlands currency system, so sex workers will usually be paid in goods, which in turn influences the cultural lens on sex work. Goods have direct, immediate utilitarian value that currency does not, and paying goods for service is most pragmatically done as a means of material practicality- forming alliances, acquiring farmhands, receiving the defensive or offensive service of warriors, etc, not for temporary gratification.

The fact that this cultural sphere is fairly egalitarian in terms of gender (though it has strongly enforced, separate gender roles for married men and women) also contributes to the comparative lack of stigma- part of the Imperial Wardi stigma against sex work is interwoven with misogyny (with women sex workers being the most degraded extent of femininity, and male sex workers taking on inappropriate, degraded feminine roles in providing sexual services). Women have equal overall societal power to men in the Hill Tribes cultural sphere, and things associated with femininity are not Themselves degrading (men seen as feminine are not shamed for femininity itself, rather in their specific failure to perform male gender roles- the distinction can be subtle but is very significant to how gender roles are approached).

Casual sex between unmarried men and women is fully accepted, somewhat seen as a hallmark of youth. However, married couples are expected to remain exclusively faithful to one another. This also goes a ways to discourage hiring of sex workers, which would be accepted grounds for a divorce and a mark of shame on the person who strayed.

While not excessively stigmatized, the views on sex work here is nowhere near Enlightened And Supportive either, it’s still seen as a highly degrading, unfortunate line of work. Sex workers are usually going to be unmarried women of marriageable age who could not (or would not) acquire a husband for one reason or another. They are women who failed in expected roles of marriage and becoming the manager of a family’s home and property, and have not even taken an esteemed, productive role for spinsters (usually physical labor in herding, farming, raiding) in favor of one that is considered ‘selling’ one’s body to provide useless, base services to desperate men. It's something that will usually be looked at as sad and unfortunate at best, or an absurd dereliction of duty at worst.

Male sex workers are virtually unheard of (within the highlands at least, there's cultural stereotypes of Wardi men being effeminate and predisposed to sex with men, so of course THEY'VE got male sex workers all over the fucking place), and the concept of a man operating as a sex worker would just seem absurd to most.

But the levels of social shame surrounding sex work are actually higher for the client in this cultural context- it’s suggestive that you either cannot afford to get a wife/do not have the requisite masculine skillset to be a husband, or otherwise that you’re so utterly incapable of getting laid that you have to go to great effort and barter for sex, a petty expense of valuable goods. It's both a foolish waste and in many ways a failure of expected male gender roles. Most men who hire the services of sex workers will keep it on the down low, or (if living near the borders) commute to Wardi towns or tradeways for access. It’s seen as an act of desperation, foolish, emasculating, and will generally be mocked and shamed.

I actually have a framework of a folktale that kind of demonstrates the cultural lens pre-established (no names for the characters or clans involved, it's supposed to be of the far northern Bict-Braíghnnas tribe). I'll put it under the cut:

One of the folktales describes a young woman who was strikingly beautiful and exceedingly clever. She was of the Bict-Braíghnnas, the lone daughter of a very small, very poor clan, consisting only of her immediate family and a few cousins. Her father had died young, and her younger brothers and cousins were malnourished and inexperienced, and could do little to protect or grow their meager herd of horses (they certainly could not afford cattle). She had to take on the role of the provider for herself and remained unmarried long past marriageable age, living day by day doing whatever she could to scrape by and keep her family afloat.

She became aware that the patriarch of her ruling clan had an eye for her, and he began approaching her in hopes of soliciting sex. At first, she always brushed him off. She found him repulsive, as he was foolish and greedy and rather ugly. But she started to see an opportunity in all this. It was a humiliating opportunity, but one she was willing to take.

The next time he approached, she pretended to consider his advances, but only if he should provide payment in turn- if she was as beautiful as he kept saying, and he was as wealthy as he kept bragging, wouldn't it be worth the price? He first offered her a sack of barley, but she laughed him off. He then offered her fine clothes, but she feigned insult, was she not already beautiful even in poor, worn rags? He then offered her a breeding pair of pheasants, and she pushed aside her shawl to expose her breasts, and sweetly asked if he Really could not do better, wealthy in cattle as he was. The man was now, quite clearly, hard in his trousers.

He finally relented to an obscene payment- he would go under his wife (the owner of his cattle)'s nose and give her an adult cow, in payment for having sex with him just once. This is a high price to pay, but she was gorgeous and he was rich in cattle and could afford to lose one (or two. or five. Maybe more.). She accepted his offer and had sex with him, and came away with her very first cow.

(Some tellings of this story go on a tangent here where she sneaks the cow right back into the man's fields under cover of darkness, to breed it with one of his bulls and begin forming her own herd)

Over the next several months, he started regularly approaching her for sex in exchange for cattle, until he had to start coming up with explanations to his wife as to where the missing cattle had gone- he first claimed they were given as gifts, then that some were stolen, inventing wild stories of great raids and declaring open conflict with the greatest rival to his clan, all as means of masking his dalliances. This skirmishing came at great cost to his own clan, but he was too foolish and weak-willed to stop.

The woman was meanwhile using her newfound and growing wealth in cattle to make connections and political moves, slowly establishing herself as a powerful figure and having many in her debt. Her brothers and cousins, finally well fed, grew tall and healthy and began to take on roles as herders, protectors, and raiders, with the assistance of more young men gained in alliance. All the while, she dutifully continued her paid trysts with the patriarch whenever he summoned her.

Eventually, the man had given her so many cattle (which had been bred in the meantime, and more had been acquired in trade and raids) that she had three times as many as he did. One day, she did not appear as expected. She had amassed great wealth for herself and her clan, and had been courting the unwed son of the patriarch’s rival clan. The son paid a hefty bride price for her, and they were wed on that day.

Now the wealthiest in cattle and the most powerful clan in the valley, the woman and her new husband ousted the weakened and disgraced former patriarch, becoming the new ruling clan of the Bict-Braíghnnas. The couple were wise and wealthy rulers, and their clan remains in power and rich in cattle to this day.

---

The cultural outlook on sex work (among other things) is fairly well encapsulated here- the sex work itself is degrading, but this fits into common motifs of this cultural sphere’s folktales where the hero figure overcomes difficult and often degrading situations with wit and social skill, and ultimately rises above it. Note that as a (non-comedic) hero of this tale, she uses her sex work very intentionally and pragmatically for material gain and alongside many other measures to increase her standing. Also note that, when unmarried, she's specified as taking up practical labor roles, and ultimately acquires a husband and ends the story in the expected position as a wife.

The actions of the man who hired her are distinctly shameful. He is performing his role as a husband TERRIBLY- being unfaithful, completely mismanaging his wife’s herds and ultimately driving his clan out of power all in pursuit of petty lust. He is in part an exaggerated, cartoonish embodiment of the cultural perception of the clients of sex workers- desperate, foolishly lustful, and an overall failure as a man. Most hearing this story would find his role highly comedic, a powerful but stupid foe for the clever and pragmatic hero to overcome.

(Very minor side note: the detail of him being enthralled by her breasts is also meant to be comedic- breasts are not sexualized in this culture (women's hips/thighs/buttocks are what is typically seen as sexually attractive), and many women will be out topless on hot days without note being made of it (toplessness is culturally acceptable, exposing genitalia/buttocks is not). The notion of a man being out of his mind horny over the sight of a bare tit would register to listeners as excessively lustful in a humorous capacity)

While the focus of the story is ultimately more on the contrast of thrifty and foolish behaviors, it also functions as a discouragement of hiring sex workers, casting the loss of assets in trade for sex as a similarly foolish venture, degrading to the worker and humiliating to the client.

[vice-like]

reading this now i can see why the exorcist world was gossiping abt it so much lol two past matoba rivals from "failed" clans suddenly working together would definetly be concerning to the status quo, but bc it's natsume's pov we only get a passing comment here, in miharu arc and most importantly in homura where natori actually is helping matoba instead

now i'm rethinking some things abt this situation, like seiji pointing out that natori was working with yorishima was pretty run of the mill bc he spies on natori ever since world unbent (and loooves some gossip as we know it), but having matsuzaki comment on it in the first homura chapter kinda implies that natori and yorishima getting closer recently is well known amongst exorcists and when you top this off with matsuzaki conspiring with shinobu and offering patronage to natori, well it puts things into perspective

which makes me think if natori was sly enough to make his new association with yorishima obvious to other exorcists on purpose, bc let's face it, if what you see on the surface is this would you ever think natori was matoba's personal informant? like idk if he was thinking abt "sharing burdens" ever since yorishima's introduction chapter, but these circunstances definetly make, i'm assuming, majority of exorcists not even consider him as a "support" for the matoba head, but maybe not shinobu tho

[cirrus-grey]

Actually, after taking some time to think about it, I'm kind of glad they answered the alt!jmart question so quickly. I'm nervous enough about what they might do with Basira, Helen, Georgie, and the rest without also having to worry about the two former main characters on top of it all.

[smile-files]

now this, this is fascinating!

even before any kind of reveal, test tube is under the impression that a contestant's existence is dependent on the game they're in -- she doesn't think this season should exist, that it's a mistake, and likewise, she doesn't think these contestants should exist either, that they're a mistake too: a mistake as a by-product of the mistake that is inanimate insanity infinity ever occurring as a season. she doesn't even think that these new characters could've already existed, living their own lives, just recruited by salt and pepper... no, she thinks they were made. and...

...oh. damn.

yeah okay the twist wasn't even a twist, was it?

[undyinglantern]

this was tougher than expected

[capcollector]

i’ve talked before about how similar leon and madison are but i really find it so interesting how both kinda approach the subject of the other’s life after fo3 (but prior to them reuniting post-fo4) where it’s like. they’re too afraid to know the answer. madison can’t bear to stick around to see if leon wakes up; leon avoids the commonwealth for years out of fear he’ll get an answer to what really happened to madison. for as much as they’re both ppl who like to be made aware of everything, they’d much rather live with the memory of each other than potentially face the reality that either could be gone forever. they’ve both lost so much and they love each other so much. they’re really all the other has left in some ways, and ignorance is bliss—or they can pretend it is, any way.

[irellia]

ty for turning me into an irelia stan 🫶🏽 i never had super strong feelings about her before but now im fully locked in and love her lol

aw yay!! I ADORE her. She's such a fascinating portrait of an unwilling resistance leader who's lost too much and has been left with...nothing but her blade and anger. She is seriously one of the most nuanced, compelling and deeply tragic characters riot has given us. If they don't make arcane s3/the next chapter of their Runeterra saga about HER or don't give us MORE lore, I am stealing her from them

look at this COMMANDER. she is everything

Also my other favorite riot character is Caitlyn and the fact that this exists makes my heart happy

[greasydumbfuck]

rotating stardew frank in my brain

[finalgirlminamurray]

sawyer sisters loreposting part 3: temperance

Part of my character notes for my TCM AU.

Other posts:

Patience

Chastity

Charity (Lacey)

Full disclosure, she might be my actual favorite. Nubbins Sawyer but a girl: middle child, professional hitcher, amateur occultist, grave robber, vulture culture enthusiast, certified Weird Girl. Temperance/The Queen of Wands, reversed.

Full name: Temperance Nuala Sawyer, named by her mother in an attempt to honor their potential Irish roots, with the drawback that no one knows how to pronounce her middle name. Which is fine by her, since keeping your middle name secret is a good way to protect your true name under certain dealings.

Born: October 22, 1946

Notes:

The younger twin by a good hour or so, and for an hour or so her mother and grandmother were worried she wasn’t going to be born at all, but she made it out. There are all sorts of stories about what happened to her, most told by her mother. This may explain a lot about her.

She did not go to school with her twin sister, because her mother recognized that it wouldn’t be a good environment for her. Homily did her best to teach her at home, but it was slow going, due to Temperance’s short attention span and difficulty retaining certain information. (She did eventually learn to read and write, she just doesn’t do either very often.)

She was on her own a lot as a child, and spent a lot of time outside exploring. She got to know the properties surrounding the house pretty well, but still had an insatiable curiosity about what lay beyond that. (She didn’t get out much – it was hard enough for her mother to keep an eye on her older sisters in public.)

She also spent a fair amount of time with her little sister Charity, making up stories for her and showing her things outside. Charity would follow her around like a loyal puppy, but Temperance never knew how much her sister was really listening.

Chastity’s friends would come by sometimes (never in the house, though) and would even occasionally talk to her. She got the sense they were just trying to be polite, but some of them definitely liked her for her unfiltered honest self. She would have liked to be friends with them, too, but she didn’t see them often enough for that.

She was left with her grandmother a lot, who would mind her and Charity as best she could, and tell them stories that Temperance took to strongly. Most of them seemed to be about what would happen to children who didn’t obey their guardians, but there was plenty in there about fairies and witches, vampires and werewolves, and all sorts of strange magic and mystic forces that she found herself believing had to exist out in the world somewhere, if her grandmother spoke with such conviction.

She developed her own belief system over the years, based on a combination of her grandmother’s stories, generally accepted folk practices, and her own experience in what worked. (She never believed in Chastity’s ideas about astrology and the like, because it was both too structured and too vague; a defined set of rules that could really apply to anything. What she did got results.)

She found a deck of tarot cards in someone’s car once and they let her keep it. She doesn’t really know what most of it means, but she found one card with her name on it, and she keeps it on hand as a sort of good-luck charm.

She started venturing out more as a teenager, when Chastity was going out more often and she was getting particularly restless staying at home. When she expressed her frustration that she couldn’t go out too far or she wouldn’t be able to walk back home in time, Chastity casually suggested that she hitch a ride with someone instead, and she took that to heart.

She never learned how to drive herself. Aside from not having her own car, she just never saw a point to it and her sisters never pushed it, even though Chass did offer to teach her a couple time. Like going to school, and just generally interfacing with people on the regular, driving has always been something that her older sisters did.

She likes getting rides from strangers; she can travel as far as she wants on foot and pretty much always manages to get someone to pick her up and take her back home before it gets dark, and she meets new people every day. She doesn’t mind that she’ll most likely never see them again, at least not usually. Sometimes people are pretty chill with her, and they seem more interested in her eccentricities and social awkwardness than anything. (Or maybe they're taking pity on her, this strange young woman standing by the side of the road clutching a bag of...something that might very well be all she has.) Sometimes they’re less nice and she has to decide whether to stay with them for the ride or get herself kicked out.

(The birthmark does tend to draw stares; it’s a lot more noticeable than Chastity’s, and she’s figured out that a lot of people think it’s a bloodstain at first. She doesn’t think about it often, but sometimes she stares at it in the mirror and traces it with a finger. The fact that Chastity has one on the opposite side of her face but it doesn’t match hers is a source of mild vexation for her.)

She knows how dangerous the whole process can be, which is why she’s always prepared. She really doesn’t want Patience to know what she does all day because she’d never let her do it in the first place, and also she doesn’t want her older sister to worry about her too much. (Chass and Lacey already do enough of that.)

She’s always been a creative type; drawing never came naturally to her the way it seemed to for some people, but she liked making things out of objects she found outside, putting them together in configurations that were interesting to her. She was very interested in photography as a way of capturing interesting sights one might not have a chance to see again, but never could get her hands on a camera until one of her drivers let her have an old Polaroid. She was disappointed when it eventually ran out of film, so Chastity gave her a new one for their next birthday. (She never said where she got it, but Temperance certainly didn’t care.)

She likes working with animal remains a lot. The natural world holds a lot of beauty in it, and it makes her feel connected to it. She doesn’t draw much of a distinction between that and human remains; the family never did like letting anything go to waste.

She worked at the slaughterhouse for a few years once she was old enough and did a pretty good job slitting throats, even if most of her coworkers seemed pretty creeped out by her. She took home a lot of souvenirs and kept coming by after she and Lacey were let go. (Chastity was working with Patience at the station around the same time, and no matter how much she complained about her job, she still said she’d never trade places with her twin. Temperance understood – despite what she could do to humans, some people just aren’t cut out for that kind of work.)

She’s never been bothered by the idea of killing animals outside of work, either, but she tries not to do it in front of other people. Even her sisters don’t seem to like when she kills something “unnecessarily”.

Empathy is something she struggles with…or she would, if she felt any desire to get better at it more often. Since most of the people she meets outside of the family are only with her for a short time, she doesn’t really see the point in considering their feelings on the same level as her own, and when they’re dinner guests, then of course she’s not going to bother seeing them as people. If she happens to find their suffering interesting or even entertaining to watch, she doesn’t see why that should matter.

She started visiting the local cemetery on her own once she could. Her own family never buried their dead as far as she could remember, and there was a certain fascination in a place where bodies were treated very differently than in their house. She didn’t get the idea to dig them up herself until she overheard one of the old men who hung around the place talking about grave robbers, and that night she snuck out with a shovel and no further plans than to see what the corpses looked like down there. After doing this a few more times without getting caught, she figured no one really seemed to care what happened to their relatives’ bodies after they were locked away in a box and buried, so she started getting creative. Nobody’s traced it back to her yet, although she remembers one of the old men, passed out at the gates overnight, suddenly waking up and staring right at her while she was standing in an open grave. She stared back until he laid back down, and he was gone by morning.

She finds the sensation of pain interesting. Her sisters really don’t like it when she does things to herself that draw blood, so she also tries not to do that in front of them, but sometimes she forgets if she happens to be holding something sharp and will start idly running it across her palm. It really seems to freak out people she’s riding with, so she tries not to do it in front of them either, unless she has to. Or unless she thinks their reactions will be interesting, too.

She really does believe that she and Chastity have a psychic connection of some sort, owing to their twin status. Chass never really believed it until their respective near-death experiences in 1973. Temperance is certain that she pulled through because she knew she couldn’t let her sister come home to find her gone; consequently, Chastity pulled through because she couldn’t let her sister deal with her never coming back.

She’s heard some of the jokes about her name, but most people don’t seem to know what it means right away. They also tend to drop it when they realize she’s not on any drugs, she’s just like that. (She’s tried drugs a couple times, usually when Chastity tried to get her to share the experience, but she didn’t like how it made her feel.)

Bisexual but almost certainly doesn’t know the words to describe it, just that she’s been interested in both men and women that way, without considering gender as a factor at all. (Or anything, really – it just happens with some people and she doesn’t bother wondering why.) Chastity tried explaining it to her after she mentioned this once, but she just politely listened without thinking too much about it. She’s had a few sexual encounters on the road, mostly just to see what it was like; sex isn’t really something she feels strongly about either way. She can and will defend herself if anyone tries something she doesn’t like.

Also probably nonbinary and never really got the concept of gender anyway; all she knows is that people tend to assume she’s a “woman”, and she’s generally fine with that, but wishes there weren’t so many assumptions that came along with it. Would probably use she/they pronouns interchangeably if she was aware of that as an option.

She's commandeered the side room of the house as her personal studio, to keep all her animal bones and art projects that she's currently working on or there's no space for in the rest of the house. It's a bit of a mess in there, but to her it's organized chaos. Lacey also uses the same room for some of her own purposes when Temperance isn't around, including her attempts to keep a chicken (just one, there isn't room for more.) Sometimes they'll sit quietly and work on their respective projects in there together.

She’s fairly certain she died on the morning of August 19, 1973 when that truck hit her. Something happened to pull her through, but it didn’t happen on that other plane of reality and she just has to live with that knowledge. She only wishes that she’d done more to save that nice boy (or was it a girl? The planes of reality converge a lot) in the wheelchair who’d traded knives with her, before her sister got to them.

[icharchivist]

thinking about how in DAI's Jaws of Hakkon the spirits have been calling the Inquisitor "the one who blazes like fire".

thinking about how Cole supports that because he says in a few banters that he can't see through the Inquisitor because they're too bright, because of the anchor

thinking about the confirmation that elves come from spirits

thinking about how Sera was always hinted to be closer to her spiritual nature and that it's, in a way, likely why she rejected current elven culture

thinking about how Sera's ears point where the Fade is, how Sera sees more into the Breach, how Sera has instincts she can't explain that makes her more Elfy

thinking about Solas saying she had "a purity of purpose", and also says "We are not so far apart, you and I." when Sera describes how she sees the Breach

thinking about how, when meeting Sera, the first thing she asks the Inquisitor is "so you're the one who glows?"