#and the smallpox comment...........

[hippo-pot]

i watched Barbie because they made an ASL-interpreted version (with a Deaf interpreter, as they should) and i was like oh okay, even if i don't think i'll LOVE the movie, this should be a fun way to get some ASL receptive practice. unfortunately it was only fun for like 20 min. did not enjoy the movie

[vampirekinn]

barbie was fun to watch with friends but i am never watching anything directed by greta gerwig ever again, good fucking lord

[sleepygaymerdisease]

BARBIE MOVIE VERDICT: it was certainly a movie...????

[deprecious]

This kind of feels like that time Taika Waititi won the Oscar over Greta and white feminists were like "another MAN winning an Oscar" not realizing the significance of an Indigenous man winning an Oscar. Like, I'm gonna watch the movie and enjoy it but that smallpox reference is always gonna be there for me now.

[ollyvoile]

Add your reasons, if you like!

Other people have added these:

• Yellow fever @notoverjoyed

• Scurvy @monitorchakas

• Lymph disease @wyrmalien

• Diphtheria ( I couldn’t fit this one)

• Malaria “ye olde marsh fever” @bombadilbaddie

• Scrofula “The King’s Evil” @hasturswig

Edit for all the people telling me “uhhh tuberculosis still exists”: I know! :) In fact, all of these sicknesses still exist. In the modern world we live in, however, most of these are only prevalent in developing countries, and certainly not to the extent they once were.

[lastwave]

aghj fuck everything ok. i say this as someone who enjoys analyzing jean! hes an interesting little guy. but so so many people refuuuuse to acknowledge just how much privilege jean has over harry as an ablebodied, never-addict, (comparatively) ableminded, and arguably straight dude.

SO LIKE. Harry's very chronically ill like. canonically. post polio syndrome, all the shit that comes with hep c (joint pain, organ damage, etc etc), and his use of speed implies chronic fatigue. AND when jean gets to him after the tribunal he has at LEAST one gunshot wound (in some playthroughs he gets shot twice), and we don't even know if Kim GOT the bullet(s) out. jean is ablebodied. he has facial scarring from when he had smallpox(?) but other than that he seems to have made a full recovery while harry never did- harry still has partial paralysis. and even IF jean was in some form chronically ill, still jean feels entitled to make some smarmy comment about disability pension even tho harry has more than earned that shit.

its very easy to see the subtext that jean thinks harry deserves this. he basically outright says it in the "you know what he told me?" line. he took that not as a sign that something was deeply fucking wrong and that harry needed help (which, btw, "i want to get worse" is almost always a cry for help and an indication that someone has completely given up), but jean took it as someone accepting whats coming to them and that harry needed to learn a lesson. which, depending on the playthrough, harry was a major ass, but during the midst of a mental breakdown is NOT the time to address that. and that isn't teaching a lesson.

its exacting revenge jean felt entitled to for "putting up" with him. he thinks hes some martyr- and not even for harry's assholery. to be clear. in the fascist and some moralist playthroughs jean expresses frustration at having to go to sensitivity training. not what harry actually said. which, while speaking volumes abt harry's character, also says a fuck ton about jean's. ALSO, there are several instances where he complains about conservative talking points- "falling marriage rates", "the liberals" (in context of the f slur, not economic liberalism). which leaves one thing for jean to be upset over- harry's addiction, mental illness and disability.

its very very simple! jean thinks that harry deserves bad things because he's an addict, and thinks that harry's a burden because he's both mentally and physically disabled. and its not frustration that comes from a place of love, because otherwise he would have fucking been there. he would have reintroduced himself when he realized harry did for real have total retrograde amnesia. the fact anyone even let harry continue the investigation after finding out abt that is pretty damn heinous.

he doesn't HAVE sympathy for harry and he doesn't care about his well being- jean cares about what harry's presence in his life makes him feel like. Jean likes to pity himself and Harry's existence lets him position himself as some long suffering angel that "so graciously keeps giving harry chances". this is especially apparent in the "sorry i didn't feel like buttering you up, i have clinical depression" line. (sorry WHAT about a man that tries to drown himself in his car by driving it over a roof implies not depressed?).

like. even ignoring all of harry's other shit he had before the bender, retrograde amnesia and functional clinical depression are not comparable. that AND harry probably has a dissociative disorder AND some form of mania its just ??????

jeans very very privileged over harry and exerts it often. hes an asshole. a very interesting asshole! but an asshole nonetheless

[madlori]

"The Crackpots and These Women"

Ugh. This episode.

First of all the so-called "crackpots" are...not. Especially poorly-aged is the scene where CJ meets with some wolf biologist proposing wolf-friendly corridors. She acts like this is some crazy notion. Cut to today, when wildlife overpasses and safe crossings are becoming increasingly common, not to mention the knowledge that wolves are essential to healthy ecosystems.

Also Surprise!Nick Offerman in that scene. Woot!

It's hilariously obvious that they wrote these lines about the First Lady and her Ouija board before they'd really written or conceived of the character that Abby Bartlet ended up being because the idea of that character being all woo-woo into mysticism is laughable.

Toby is particularly irritating in this episode, and Mandy makes the fair point that he is taking victory and declaring defeat.

Big Block of Cheese Day is a fun idea and the real White House actually does it (albeit virtually).

Josh's speech about how WW3 won't be nuclear bombs but something like a smallpox outbreak...hits different

Sorkins is at his absolute condescending worst with this corny "we can't get over these women" speech in the residence. It's so cringe, I can barely watch it. It's so "look at us with our Strong Female Characters," but the fact that he's having the male characters speechify about Why The Women Are Worthy just makes me think he's not putting in the time to SHOW us why they're worthy. Plus, aside from CJ and Mandy, every single woman they mention is a side character who is an assistant. Way to put your money where your mouth is, Aaron. It doesn't help that like 0.2 seconds later Bartlet is very dismissive and weird about his wife being in Pakistan.

You know what else hits different about this show now? The offhand comments about how the cold war is over. Yeah, about that.

[metanarrates]

Okay i drafted this in docs when i saw the barbie movie yesterday against my will with my family. The Barbie movie isnt bad for what it is per se (summer hollywood blockbuster) but set it against any higher standards and it falls short in almost every department. There's a lot of incredibly tasteless leftist political jabs about the status quo and a comparison of the smallpox genocide that claimed millions of indigenous lives to Patriarchy (because it's not mainstream feminism if we don't elevate the oppression of women at the expense of other marginalizations). The choreography and costumes were nice but in regards to its messaging i cant find a whole lot to compliment. It amounts to "humans establish gender hierarchies because we dont know to think of any other way society could be arranged :( let's all pinky promise to work towards the eradication of ALL sexism***" which is massively reductive and fails to address a plethora of issues, including the fact that patriarchy as an institution is foundationally violent 🫠

***Ken's whole arc is about him resorting to establishing a superficially patriarchal system in Barbieland because he didn't have any other outlet to claim agency for his own person. The role reversal of Ken, the "man", being an accessory who can't exist outside of Barbie, the "woman", was likely intended to highlight gender inequality in a way that would be easier for regular people to sympathize with. Unfortunately I can't help but disagree with the idea that we cling to male supremacy simply because we lack the insight to seek other methods of liberation

Uhmm anywya. I dont even particuarly care for this cultural bandwagon i just needed to be a hater for a minute. If my opinion matters at all

your hater opinions ALWAYS matter to me :) we love thinking about how movies are ideologically messes here

i was talking to a friend last night abt this, but it sounds like the messaging here is very confused. it tries to make a statement abt sexism, but since there's the aforementioned issue of the writer not understanding that patriarchy is a violently enforced system of power, it comes across as the movie ending up positing that men are just Inherently Susceptible to being patriarchial and women likewise are Inherently Susceptible to being victimized by patriarchy. which is um. BAD!

also wtf is up with that smallpox comment. it sounds fucking evil!!!!!

[scotianostra]

July 28th 1746 saw the trials of Jacobite Lords, William Earl of Kilmarnock, George Earl of Cromartie, and Arthur Lord Balmerino began.

The trial of the three Scots peers took place at the House of Lords convened in Westminster Hal, they had been arrested following the collapse of the Jacobite rebellion. William, earl of Kilmarnock, George, earl of Cromartie, and Arthur, Lord Balmerino had all been part of Charles Edward Stuart’s Jacobite uprising.

As was usual, in advance of the proceedings the House authorities wrote to summon all absent peers to hurry to London to be present for the trial. Equally predictably, a flurry of letters then came back from sick and distant members of the House, seeking leave to remain away.

What is particularly striking is that several lords looking to absent themselves all reached for the same excuse. Of 49 members of the Lords who failed to attend the trials, stretching from (the most senior) Frederick Prince of Wales, and his brother, the duke of Cumberland, who was still busy in Scotland stamping out the last traces of rebellion, to the most junior peer Lord Middleton, several wrote in advance to Lord Chancellor Hardwicke, pleading fears of smallpox as their reason for staying away.

Indeed smallpox was an issue in London at this time, but no more so than previous years, although London Smallpox Hospital, established in 1746. A table of diseases for the beginning of July noted the numbers of those suffering certain complaints in London as: consumption 52, convulsion 109, dropsy 15, fever 74 and smallpox 88. By the middle of the month the numbers had declined slightly. Now the table read: consumption 69, convulsion 124, dropsy 22, fever 85 and smallpox 76. Some commentators have said that the Lords not attending were maybe not wanting to be seen to have Jacobite sympathies.

The absence of the 49 lords from the proceedings made no material difference to the progress of the trials. Kilmarnock and Cromartie both pleaded guilty and only Balmerino troubled the House by denying the charges against him. He need not have bothered, as he was found guilty by all lords present in any case.

The following month, Kilmarnock and Balmerino lost their heads on Tower Hill. Cromartie was pardoned, on condition that he never again travelled north of the Trent. The sentence of beheading was, at the time, seen as a privilege of rank, of the ordinary rank and file, the vast majority of 120 convicted to death were executed by hanging, drawing and quartering. Of the remainder, more than six hundred died in prison; 936 were transported to the West Indies to be sold as slaves [which, at that time, meant that they would almost certainly be dead of yellow fever or the like within two years], 121 were banished ‘outside our Dominions’; and 1287 were released or exchanged” Many of those released would have been so due to them joining redcoat army battalions.

[stesierra]

WIP INTRO- SCHOOL OF SOULS

Title: School of Souls

Genre: YA fantasy

Setting: the Bighorn Mountains, in an alternative modern earth

Tropes: ghosts, monsters, magic is science, science is magic, abusing prescription drugs, soul-death, actual death, vegetarians, haunted boarding school, wilderness rehabilitation, dead parents, teenage crush that doesn't work out because of secrets, If you want to break the laws of physics, you have to know what they are

Story:

When Juniper's dad died, it should've been the worst thing to ever happen to her. But then her mom ships her off to some boarding school in the Bighorn Mountains to wean her off her zolpidem addiction—which, hello, she only took because Dad died. The boarding school claimed to not only fix every kid who enters its doors, but also to turn them into first-rate sorcerers. Juniper wants to become a healer so nobody else's dad dies, but the kids who arrive at the Seramia Boarding School aren’t the same ones who graduate.

Something in those woods destroys souls. Ghosts haunt the school, waiting to take teenage bodies as soon as they're empty. If Juniper doesn't shut the school down, she and all the other freshmen will die a death so final they won't even dream of heaven.

The Characters:

Juniper Fellows- our main character and first person narrator. She's not over her dad dying. She might have let it ruin her life, maybe. She's a high school freshman at a boarding school in the wilderness, and she's still bitter about not getting a cell phone signal. Also, the vegetarian options there suck.

Declan Finch- Juniper's new roommate! Wait, her roommate is a boy? Whose idea was this? Declan is a junior, so he's been at the school a while. He's a full blown sorcerer in training- an entroper. It means he studies a lot of thermodynamics. But he says his dad died of smallpox. That can't be right.

Opal Patton- the ghost that wants Juniper's body. She dresses like a flapper.

Ophelia Spanos- another junior, one who lives nextdoor to Juniper. She's a mind-bender and exactly as awful as it sounds.

Beatrix Seramia- the lady who founded the school. Does she know what she's done?

Worst Comment from an Alpha Reader: It's not scary enough. I only like dark fantasy. (Paraphrased.)

Status Check: Complete first draft. Available for alpha reading by interested mutuals. My first drafts are other people's second or third drafts.

First chapter here.

Credit for (modified) WIP intro format @sleepyowlwrites

Art commissioned from KozzDraws.

Tag list for everything

@anonymousfoz

@moremysteriesthantragedies

@elizababie

@sm-writes-chaos

@bellascarousel

@macabremoons

@the-dragon-chronicler

@teacupsandstarlight

@vorskra

@wrenofthewords

@amostdelectablescribbler

@mysticstarlightduck

@phantommill

@gracewritesbooks

@aziz-reads

@owlsandwich

@symbioticsimplicity

@squarebracket-trick

@fishythewriter

@koala2all

@rmgrey-author

@atomatowriter

[hmsannlett]

Turn Week 2023: Day 2 — Content Creator Appreciation Day

In honor of today's prompt, I've put together a rec list of some of the Annlett fics I've enjoyed over the past few years. Leave a kudo and comment if you enjoy them, too!

And Now I Must Quit You by SheWasXena (NR, 23k, in progress):

Edmund Hewlett finds himself adrift after his broken engagement with Anna Strong. But when Anna seemingly pulls him back into her life, the two realize that their romance may be far from concluded.

fade into you by @viola-ophelia (G, ~600 words):

"No one had looked at Anna like that since– well, ever. She got the sense he saw something in her she’d never seen in herself..." anna jumps out of a boat and finds her way back to a different purpose than the one she'd thought she had.

Homecoming by violetdelights (G, 1.2k):

Major Edmund Hewlett has returned to Setauket, but he doesn't feel as if he has reached home until the night Anna finds him alone beneath a starless sky.

i look for love, i find a stone by @viola-ophelia (T, 1.9K):

would you help me rise up touch my face and watch me try to breathe again would you let me do this burn down the final wall Anna's feelings for Hewlett cause her to struggle with her personal loyalties.

Inklings and Overflowings by @lucyemers​ (G, ~700 words):

On the night Hewlett is kidnapped Anna thinks back over several moments and what they meant to her.

On This Cold Night by slushiepuff (G, 2.4k):

Her singular presence and no other meant fewer rules. They could be Anna and Edmund. They could sit a little too close. They could speak freely.

shattered ring by @viola-ophelia (G, 200 words):

"In the morning she’d wake up raw with the loss of him and keep on living." A set of two drabbles written for the ValenTURNs Day 2023 ship bingo. Hewlett sinks. Anna rises.

Sheet Bends and Sunscreen by @tortoisesshells (T, 1k):

A few moments in which Anna Smith Strong snoops on Edmund Hewlett's life via his reading choices - though, really, he's happy enough to talk that it truly isn't snooping?

yet Man is not consum’d by @tortoisesshells​ (G, 1.1k):

AU for 2x05: Smallpox arrives on the tails of the Rangers, and much of Setauket scrambles for quarantine or for variolation. In the midst of this, Anna Strong finds herself erstwhile nurse to the denizens of Whitehall - an occupation that gives her time to reflect on the help Major Hewlett has offered her.

[sanjoongie]

Cowboy! San

🐎Inspired by the That That cover 🐎Pairing: Choi San x Reader (f) 🐎Genre: non-idol au, Westworld Au 🐎Word Count: 2,808 🐎Warnings: mentions of death, blood, gun fights, sex (cowgirl position because hello), m and f orgasm 🐎Rated: 18+ MDNI, smut with no plot 🐎Dedication~ @mejuii @downtoamagicalland  my beta writers and part of the reason this exists. my cowboy san gc @toxicccred​ @cherryxsang​ for making this a thing too. @flurrys-creativity​ because you wanted this as well.....

~TBZ Outlaws (hosts): Sunwoo, Changmin, Kevin, Juyeon, Haknyeon

~ATZ Cowboys(guests): Mingi, Yeosang, Yunho and Hongjoong

~TXT town boys(hosts): Yeonjun and Soobin

🐎Synopsis: Westworld~ a meticulously crafted theme park where you can immerse yourself in the world of the wild west. You can fuck, kill and commit whatever sin, or glory, you decide. Other than the other guests, all the players in this world are androids, or known as Hosts, who don't even know of the outside world. All they know is what the narrative, or story, that’s filled their heads. The guests can never die, but there is one risk… falling in love with an android.

🐎A/N: if you’re not familiar with Westworld, the guests(or the humans) can talk about the outside world or about the androids (hosts), and the hosts won’t react to it. They will pretend like nothing was said. It’s to keep them in the narrative. They’ll never ask what a cellphone is or wonder why the guests mock them.

You’ve lived on the ranch all your life. Your father was a horse breeder, sold some of the best steeds in the state. Your mother, bless her soul, died in the attempt to birth your brother. Your brother died of smallpox before the age of ten. And your father had just recently passed after a horse threw him when he was breaking him into saddle riding. So it was just you at the ranch now, haunted by the memories of your family.

The town treated you well, especially because the quality of horses never faltered, even after your father passed. It was frowned upon, certainly, that you had never married, but other than that, they still traded with you and that got you by.

The only true danger lay in strangers. More specifically, outlaws.

You were out in the training ring late one evening, working on a colt. You were trying to gauge if he was ready for horse shoes or not, and so you had him running the ring. It was late but you just didn’t want to be cooped up in your cabin yet.

“Well, look what we have here boys,” A man with sharp features called out, “A bonafide cowgirl.” The group snickered at the comment. 

You pushed your hat upwards so you could get a good look at the group. They looked travel-worn and they were still on their horses. Perhaps they had been previous customers of your father’s. “You looking to buy a horse?” You said, putting on a warm smile.

The men exchanged long looks. “You could say that.”

“Town ain’t that far,” You offered, “You could find some rooms and then come back at sunrise.”

“Noooooo,” Another man, with plush lips and wicked glint in his eye, said. “I think we’ll stay here.”

You frowned. “You’re welcome to some water and hay for your horses, but the town really isn’t that far.” No need to inform them that you were on your own. That wouldn’t bode well for you.

"Darlin’, I don't think you understand the situation." You swallowed hard when one of them descended from his horse. "We're here to steal your horses. And there isn't anything you can do about it."

"Changmin!" Another frowned, "Don't tell her! That'll take the fun out of it."

Your eyes immediately went to your father's shotgun leaning against the rail post. If only you could--

"It'll still be fun, Juyeon," The last man, with an evil grin, reached for your gun and pulled it through the fence. He winked at you. "Don't you worry."

Kevin, the ringleader of the gang, ordered Sunwoo, Juyeon and Changmin to round up the horses. Haknyeon, the one with the evil grin, was in charge of you. 

You kicked and screamed as Haknyeon grabbed you by your waist and dragged you back to your cabin. Sunwoo complained loudly about Haknyeon getting all the fun jobs while he had wrangle horses.

"Like that ever stopped you before," Changmin said snidely, snickering behind his hand as a blood burst from his chest.

Whooping and hollering erupting from the main trail and out came five other men on horses. They had shot Changmin, so clearly they weren't with the outlaws.

Oddly enough, they drew up to the five men, guns drawn and aimed, but not shooting.

"This is our catch, Cowboy." Kevin stepped up to a black haired man with a jean jacket and tight vest underneath.

"Did you have to shoot so prematurely, Mingi?" One of the men said, face in hand as if exasperated.

Mingi shrugged with a goofy grin on his face. "I got excited, Hongjoong, what can I say?"

"Bet he said that to the whore from earlier too," A man with long black hair snickered.

The man in the jean jacket looked to another with a green jacket. The man in the green jacket shrugged. "This is a completely new story line, San. It's your birthday weekend. Why don't you choose how we do this?"

San stared at you, hurt racking over his face. "Let's kill these assholes and save the girl, Yunho."

Yunho smiled. "I was hoping you'd say that."

It was a shoot-out, plain and simple. Haknyeon threw you to the ground, expecting you to sob and cry like any other girl they'd have come across. But you weren't about to let someone else decide your fate. 

While Haknyeon flicked the hammer of his revolver, shooting as quickly as his hands would allow him, you grabbed your shotgun. Haknyeon’s aim was reaching San. You shot Haknyeon from behind and the outlaw collapsed. San's jaw would have been on the floor if not for the fact he was still on his horse.

"Shit, San, she saved you!" Yeosang's eyes were wide in surprise for a moment. "Maybe your girlfriend--"

"Shut up, Yunho!" San hissed.

Yunho mimed zipping his mouth. Hongjoong and Yeosang exchanged a look. Yeosang spoke. "Is that her?"

San didn't respond. He simply got off his horse and walked to you. He crouched down by you, ignoring Haknyeon's body. "You okay? They didn't…"

You shook your head. "No. You got here just in time."

San smiled, showing off a pair of dimples. "Good. You saved my life back there. I should thank you." He stood up and offered you a hand.

You took it, clapping your palm to his. You suddenly had an intense headache and your vision became blurry. 

"Hi, my name is San. I've never done this before, actually."

You felt your face smile broadly at your shy customer. "No problem, Darlin'. I'll take it easy with you."

The cowboy took his hat off, respectful and a gentleman. He scratched the back of his head, smiling and showing off a pair of dimples. "Actually, I'm hoping you won't."

You quirked an eyebrow up at him. "Oh? Are you the type of cowboy that enjoys a bucking bronco?"

San’s neck got red, highlighting some freckles there. "Yeah. I kinda do."

"Well, shall we?" You offered your hand.

San took it, fingers fluttering along your wrist. "I'd love to."

"Hey, are you sure you're okay?" San’s eyebrows furrowed inwards, looking worried.

You rubbed the heel of your hand into your eye. "I'm shook up over everything. But I think it's me that should be thanking you. If you hadn't interrupted them…"

Mingi was using his toe to poke at Kevin’s body. "Should we…uh?" He looked at Yeosang for any hint of what they should do with the bodies.

Yeosang jerked his chin angrily to motion to Mingi to get away from the body. "Staff'll clean it up. Don't worry about it. You're un-immersing me, Mingi!"

"You need some time, San?" Yunho asked, eyebrows lifted inwards.

San had not let go of your hand still. "You wanna go to the town? Better make sure that's all of the outlaws. Otherwise the sheriff won't give us a reward."

"But!" Mingi protested.

"Take the hint, Mingi, geez." Hongjoong clapped Mingi on the shoulder. "We'll be in town, San. Come find us when you're done."

You lead the way back to your house. You worked in silence as you prepared a meal for the two of you. The sun was setting and you had to light a fire. Instead, San took care of it and it made your heart ache. The simple act of someone doing a chore for you was not something you had experienced in a long time.

After the meal, you began to think of the evening and how it might pan out. San was easy on the eyes and you can’t say you didn’t contemplate taking him to your bed. It wasn’t so much the gratitude of him saving you, but more so, you were just lonely. Forming a new memory that didn’t have anything to do with your family would be nice as well.

“I hope the bed is to your liking,” You shouted as you made it from your room. “I’ll just replace the sheets and then--”

“No!” San shouted, clearing his voice when it cracked. “No no, you don’t need to offer me the bed. I’ll just--sleep in front of the fire. Your floor is softer than the hard packed earth outside at least.”

San curled up in front of the fireplace, pulling his jacket off and using it as a pillow. His broad shoulders practically blotted out the firelight. 

Well that wouldn’t do. You began to unbutton your blouse. “Always such a gentleman,” You cooed.

San sat up all of a sudden, eyes wide. “What did you say?”

“You helped me up earlier.” You finished unbuttoning your blouse. “I’m all alone in this world right now, Cowboy. My heart is cold as ice. I can’t care anymore about anyone. My father, my mother, my brother, they’re all dead. Maybe you could warm it up for me?”

You weren’t a virgin. Your first time was with Soobin, the bank manager’s son. He had climbed on top of you in his bed, when his mother was out at a friend’s house and his father was working late. Only a few pumps later, however, and he was done. You thought that sex wasn’t all that cracked up to be. How was it that others paid for this service? 

With that thought in mind, you decided to try again. You took some earnings your father had insisted on giving you after a profitable year selling horses you had helped train and bring up, and you had gone to the whorehouse. You paid for the services of Yeonjun, who spent an entire evening teaching you the pleasures of lying with another man. Yeonjun had you cursing your weakness for shy men when you could have been experiencing so much more between your legs.

San stared up at you, watching as you discarded your blouse. “You don’t know what you’re offering.”

You knelt down to his level, smoothing your skirts over your bottom instinctively. You cupped his face. “I wanna share the night with you, San.” Your eyes traveled over the planes of his handsome face. “Something inside of me wants to give my all to you. I feel like I can trust you with everything, even my cold, dead heart.”

Even with his soft protests, his lips opened slightly so that you could kiss him. It was gentle and warm and soft and it matched him somehow. Your hands descended to those broad shoulders you had been admiring earlier. The pads of your fingers followed the line of his vest, slipping over his collarbones and tracing the v that framed his chest. Your fingers found the first button but San’s hands stopped you. “Wait.” He broke the kiss.

“San,” You said gently.

“I brought you the flower you wanted to see. It’s dried and flat but it’s the best I could do.” San pulled out a lovely pink flower that looked too fragile for the harsh world of the west. “Hibiscus, remember?”

“I--” Wasn’t this the first time meeting this cowboy? Had you met San before? Surely you would have remembered such a gentle cowboy. They were rare in this world, that hardened everyone.

You shook your head, “I’m sorry…”

San smiled. It was a bright smile but his eyes brimmed with tears. “It’s okay. I’ll remember enough for the two of us.”

You grabbed your head, another headache threatening to take you out of consciousness. 

“I’m sorry, I’m sorry. I’ll stop. I’ll just try to enjoy our time. I won’t bring up our past again. I don’t want to see you in pain.” When you opened your eyes, tears were streaming down San’s face and he was clutching his heart. 

“What’s wrong, Cowboy?” You reached over and wiped away his tears. “Maybe I can fix your heart too. Let’s heal each other.”

You leaned in and kissed his cheekbones as new tears fell. You could taste the salt on your tongue. You finished unbuttoning his vest and ran an appreciative hand down the planes of his stomach. He felt like carved marble but somehow living. You pulled up your skirts and straddled him in front of the fireplace.

“Fill me up,” You murmured, “Make my heart warm again.”

San’s hands smoothed up your thighs, warm and surprisingly soft for a cowboy. “You know I can’t say no to you, even like this.”

“Then don’t say no to me.” You smiled impishly, and fished for his cock in the confines of his pants. It wasn’t hard to find. 

San moaned, his back arching into your touch. You swiveled your hips, running your outer lips along his cock. Your slickness covered his cock as his cockhead nudged your sensitive nub, making you moan in return as well.

San's nails dug into your skin, tongue licking his lower lip. "You always.. tease me!"

"Isn’t that what you want?” You crept your hands up his stomach and then gently raked your nails down the skin there. 

“Please!” San sat up, locking his arms behind your back. “Take me,” he whispered against your lips, “Make me yours again.”

You swiftly raised his cock and your body, only to sink down on his cock, taking him inch by sweet inch. It felt good to be stretched out like this. San was girthy and it gave you a new-found pleasure to take him all inside of you.

When you looked back at San, he was sucking down on his bottom lip, his eyes hooded and staring at you. This was all up to you, you could feel that in his gaze. He'd take whatever you gave him.

You raised your body, lifting it up until San was barely still within you and then swiftly descended. San’s eyes rolled into the back of his head and that was how you decided on the pace. Slowly unsheathing him within you and then a quick push back inwards. Your thighs, used to riding horses, had no problem with the pace and you were glad for it.

"Sweet--sweetheart!" San groaned.

"It's--?" You pressed your lips inward, "It's good?"

"You have no goddamn idea," San groaned again.

"I want it to be good for you," You found yourself saying.

San’s hands found your waist and tightened, thrusting up into you. Your hands clung to his upper arms, a cry leaving your lips. "You're always good for me, Sweetheart. Made just right for me, you are. A heart of gold and a spine of steel. You're perfect for me."

You smiled. "Feels pretty perfect, doesn't it?"

The two of you came in a crescendo of intense shouts. San’s hair clung to his face, sweat drenching his face and you panting because of the ride. “That was…”

San smiled up at you and finished your sentence, “...out of this world.”

You got up and offered him a hand. “Now come to bed.”

You fell asleep to San’s heart beating against your eardrum, your cheek pressed up against his chest. His arms were wrapped around you so tightly, as if he thought you’d steal away during the night. Your mother did always warn you that if you gave your body away, men became possessive, but this didn’t seem like that. It seemed like San never wanted to let you go.

Except… Come morning, there was no San and his horse was gone. All that you had to remind yourself of him was the pressed, dried flower that he said was for you. You rode hard to town but the sheriff said the group of men had already claimed their bounty and had moved on to hunt down other outlaws and hooligans. 

For a chance, one night spent encounter, your heart hurt harder than it should have. You blamed it on the loneliness that permeated the horse ranch since everyone you loved was gone.

🐎 🐎 🐎

“You sure you wanna leave without saying goodbye?” Yunho wondered as their horses plodded out of the town.

San pulled his hat down over his eyes. “I won’t be able to say goodbye if she’s awake. Besides,” San pushed off his grief with a joke, “I already checked. They won’t let me live here.”

Yeosang and Hongjoong exchanged a look of pity. “So what are you going to do?” Hongjoong asked. Even Mingi was interested in the answer.

“I’ll find a way to save her. One day. Take her out of this damn place. She deserves better,” San mumbled.

“But… San… she’s just a host… just an android…” Yeosang mentioned.

The heat and anger in San’s eyes when he pushed up his hat made Yeosang shrink back into his saddle. “That’s where you’re wrong, Yeosang. She’s her own being, human or not. She has feelings and memories. They just wipe it from her when it’s convenient. Someday these ‘droids are going to realize that they’re more than just humans play toys. Then the real story will begin.”

[tired-fandom-ndn]

Watching the Barbie movie finally. Will update this with my thoughts as I go.

The implication that Barbie invented non-baby dolls for girls. . . The absolute AUDACITY from Mattel for that. Jesus.

The sets and props are amazing quality.

Is there anyone in this movie who isn't skinny at like. Any point.

Oh there is, they're just. Background characters huh.

This seems mostly just. Very self congratulatory on Mattel's part so far, with some pointed jabs at the company's decisions that would be meaningful. . . if they weren't made by the company.

I like the slanted wheelchair wheels. Wheelchair design is pretty much always fucked up in media so it's nice to see effort put into including a wheelchair that would actually be functional.

Some legitimately weird bioessentialist vibes here with Ken apparently being naturally drawn to "masculine" things like. . . big cars and business and telling women to shut up.

Real bold of Mattel to try to make commentary about the company's lack of female CEOs with a man as the CEO now.

The Barbie Mount Rushmore was NOT necessary. I get that it's a "cultural icon" or whatever but it's fucking exhausting to see stolen and desecrated sacred lands be depicted like this.

So in Barbie Land, the Kens were bored and felt unnecessary and unappreciated. . . And in Kendom, the Barbies are literally slaves and eye candy. . . . . . . Okay.

The "indigenous people and smallpox" comment was also super not necessary!! Kendom is not at all comparable to the deliberate biological warfare and genocide that wiped out the majority of the indigenous populations in the Americas!! Fuck!!!

DOES THE MOM LEGITIMATELY NOT HAVE A NAME

Apparently she does, Gloria, it's just said so little that the subtitles call her "Sasha's mom"

Depression Barbie. . . . . . .

The car is very badly designed. Like their heads are well above the windshield, the thing that is literally there to protect their faces and eyes.

Idk who any of these actors or actresses are, but I'm in love with Dr. Barbie.

"Ordinary Barbie" you can just buy a plain Barbie y'know

Did expect it to end with Stereotypical Barbie and Ken getting together, so the ending not having that was a pleasant surprise.

Barbie becoming mortal at the end was also very very unexpected.

How did they get Barbie a social security card

That was. A really weird ending that had a weird implication of "real womanhood" = vagina???

[littlefeather-wolf]

NOTHING ANYONE CAN SAY MAKES THIS OK IN ANY SHAPE AND/OR FORM, UNBELIEVABLE WHAT EXTENT OF GREED A HUMAN CAN DO TO ANOTHER SOUL ...

PASSING CHICKEN POX TO NATIVE AMERICANS 💔

C. 1763 ... On July 13, Bouquet, who at that point was traveling across Pennsylvania with British reinforcements for Fort Pitt, responded to Amherst, promising that he would try to spread the disease to the Native Americans via contaminated blankets, “taking care however not to get the disease myself.” Even if it didn’t work, British officers’ willingness to contemplate using smallpox against the Indians was a sign of their callousness. “Even for that time period, it violated civilized notions of war,” says Kelton, who notes that disease “kills indiscriminately—it would kill women and children, not just warriors.” 😢💔 But Kelton cautions against focusing too much on the smallpox blanket incident as a documented method of attack against Native Americans. He says the tactic, however callous and brutal, is only a small part of a larger story of brutality in the 1600s and 1700s. During this period British forces tried to drive out Native Americans by cutting down their corn and burning their homes, turning them into refugees. In Kelton’s view, that rendered them far more vulnerable to the ravages of disease than a pile of infected blankets ... That tactic seemed to please Amherst, who wrote back in approval on July 16, urging him to spread smallpox “as well as try Every other method that can serve to Extirpate this Execreble [sic] Race.”What Amherst and Bouquet didn’t know was that somebody at Fort Pitt had already thought of trying to infect the Native Americans with smallpox—and had attempted to do it. 😲 ... William Trent, a trader, land speculator and militia captain, wrote in his diary that on June 23, two Delaware emissaries had visited the fort, and asked to hold talks the next day. At that meeting, after the Native American diplomats had tried unsuccessfully to persuade the British to abandon Fort Pitt, they asked for provisions and liquor for their return. The British complied, and also gave them gifts—two blankets and a handkerchief which had come from the smallpox ward. “I hope it will have the desired effect,” Trent wrote ... Though it’s not completely clear who perpetrated the biological warfare attack, documentary evidence points to Trent as the probable culprit. As detailed in Fenn’s 2000 article, the trader later submitted an invoice to the British military for purchasing two blankets and a silk handkerchief “to Replace in kind those which were taken from people in the Hospital to Convey the Smallpox to the Indians.” Ecuyer certified that the items were used to spread smallpox, which indicates that he may have been in on the attempt as well. British Gen. Thomas Gage, who succeeded Amherst that year as colonial commander, eventually approved the payment ... There were an estimated 18 million Native Americans living north of Mexico at the beginning of the European invasion. Prior to the arrival of the Europeans, American Indians were remarkably free of serious diseases. People did not often die from diseases. As the European explorers and colonists began to arrive, this changed and the consequences were disastrous for Native American people ... The death tolls from the newly introduced European diseases often reached 80-90 percent. Entire groups of people vanished on the tidal wave of disease. If we were to compare the overall health of American Indians in North America with that of Europeans in 1500, we would find that Indians were generally healthier. There are a number of reasons for this ...

First, Indians had better diets and they were less likely to face starvation and hunger. The first Europeans to reach North America often commented on the large stature of the Indians. American Indians were larger than the Europeans simply due to better diets. Unlike the Europeans, Indian political leaders did not store their wealth but accumulated prestige by giving food to those in need. No one in an Indian village or an Indian band starved unless all did so ... Secondly, American Indian populations did not have many of the infectious diseases that were endemic in Europe. A number of reasons have been suggested for this lack of disease. Some scientists have suggested that Indian people came to this continent through the cold, harsh climate of the north and that this acted as a germ filter which screened out infectious diseases ... Others have suggested that Indians were disease-free because of the lack of domesticated animals. Measles, smallpox, and influenza are among the diseases which are closely associated with domesticated animals. Lacking large domesticated animals, there were comparatively few opportunities in this hemisphere for the transfer of infections from animal reservoirs of disease to human beings ... NAMASTE' ¥ EKOSI ✊🏼

[adirectorprepares]

okay here is my review of the barbie movie: (alison bechdel’s mother voice) it does not cohere. i’m kind of offended that i feel the need to expend more thought and energy on understanding it than that, but here we are.

i think the most prominent idea that stands out to me is the interaction between sentiment and doll play (ie an affect studies reading). because there are some facets that play together in interesting ways:

— the centring of emotion as part of a political project (see the lawyer at the beginning saying that she doesn’t feel the need to separate her emotion from her reason and that this makes her more powerful - emotional gestures affording material power). cf the role of emotion in theories of dolls and children’s culture: the idea of dolls training girls in emotional gestures, something that historically both confines white women to a subordinated position in a domestic sphere *and* gives them a position of racialised power (robin bernstein talks about how historically american dolls positioned young white girls not as a mother, but as a *mistress*).

— the idea of emotion as a virus that can contaminate a body and/or a body politic. gloria’s emotions seeping into barbie and rendering her “defective”, physically and internally. patriarchal gestures as a literal virus against which barbies and kens in their fantasy land have no resistance (signalled via the infamous Indigenous peoples and smallpox line).

— critical responses to the movie being dominated by emotion and a sense of belonging / representation politics. “i felt seen by a movie for the first time”; “men wouldn’t get it because it’s not for them, it understands *me*, and critics who don’t feel an emotional sense of belonging and connection to it don’t have an epistemological right to comment on it”

then we have the discursive appeals to reality and authenticity. the central meaning most people in the (very bleak) tag seem to take from the movie is that gender roles are performative (which plays with the movie interpreting ‘types’ of barbies as a kind of aesthetic gestus, a gestus of being rather than of doing) - and that the *solution* to the problem of performative gender roles is to be your authentic self - which crucially involves letting yourself ‘feel’ your emotions, rather than trying to mediate them. ken’s arc is based on him ‘acting out’ because he can’t properly process his emotions about barbie not liking him; his solution at the end is to properly and openly process these emotions, to acknowledge them as real rather than trying to hide or sublimate them. (the ken war is silly and doesn’t solve anything; barbie and ken’s ending conversation is real and does solve things.) see also the fact that feeling ‘real’, complex emotions as part of barbie’s journey to becoming human, the maker rather than the made thing - kind of aligning with elaine scarry in the idea that humans make things to deal with and ameliorate scary or complicated emotions, crucially substituting emotional pain for scarry’s physical pain. (but becoming a real human woman at the end is also physical and embodied - see the other infamous line about the gynaecologist.)

i don’t….really know where i’m going with any of this, and like i said i don’t feel it would be a particularly productive use of my time to try and assemble a proper reading. but…..something something american tradition of sentimentalism and emotional cohesion vs troubled or unsettled or uncaring emotional responses. (something something i am still, somehow, expected to *care* about ken. something something i somehow still feel like i’m being trained in emotional gestures of womanhood.) something something unfortunately for greta gerwig i believe the only way to meaningfully comment on barbie is a two-hour lesbian sex scene between gloria and barbie heavy on the power play. idk.

[nururu]

I went on reddit to get new idv lore info and half the posts are like "I was on idv Twitter for a day and was doxxed and sent smallpox in the mail" with hundreds of comments being like "same" man someone should have warned me I just play pokemon games and not even online.... I didn't know video game ppl were all so miserable