#balfour boys

[zipadeea]

I see people talking about how Poppy is obviously Sotoria reborn, but not enough people talking about how Attes has a horse named Setti...and has dimples...and has sworn to protect Sotoria's soul in her next life...and can turn into a HAWK.

[vikingmagic33]

As promised, @beaumaismortel I have posted my first FBAA fic. Kieran POV and a bit of a fix-it fic for a key part from TWOTQ.

You can find my NSFW fic on AO3.

Thank you to @mystical-blaise and @headcanonheadcase and @hlizr50 for commiserating with me around this and to @hlizr50 specifically for fixing my canon misspellings. Enjoy!

[xleggy]

Eric Balfour

shot by James White

for Flaunt, 2003

[immediatebreakfast]

"The mist rose and died away, and showed us that country lying as waste as the sea; only the moorfowl and the pewees crying upon it, and far over to the east, a herd of deer, moving like dots. Much of it was red with heather; much of the rest broken up with bogs and hags and peaty pools; some had been burnt black in a heath fire; and in another place there was quite a forest of dead firs, standing like skeletons. A wearier-looking desert man never saw; but at least it was clear of troops, which was our point."

One thing that I appreciate a lot, and noticed in RLS' writing is how in his descriptions he doesn't just say "it was hot, and..." To tell us about the atmosphere in which his characters are. Instead, what we get is Davie painfully describing how the heat is affecting everything around him.

Davie doesn't say that it's hot, he says that the water in brandy bottle is now gone under a blazing sun, that him and Alan had to take multiple rest stops so they could continue. The heated climate reduced a forest to dead trees that resemble bones.

And Davie himself? He sounds like he is two breaths away from faiting via heatstroke. I don't even want to imagine how it feels to walk, and stop many times under the scorching sun while wearing what they were. On top of not walking on two feet, but crawling like a rabbit.

[cassianandfenrysaremyboyos]

Casteel: *about Poppy* I don't love her ok... I just care for her, and feel lust for her, and have respect and admiration for her, and want to spend all my time with her, and feel a sense of peace around her, and would do anything for her, and would kill anyone who hurts her, and would defy my own father, the King for her, and would choose her over my brother who I've spent all this time trying to get back

[forsty]

THEMS MY BOYS

[brujahinaskirt]

For the longest time, I couldn't figure out a pattern behind the strangers Arthur is drawn to -- the ones he likes, approves of, and generally enjoys. He seems to gravitate to wildly different types of people: dandy city boys and rugged mountaineers, perky showgirls and abrasive weirdos, gentle souls and circus "freaks," friendly socialites and social outcasts. At first glance, it appears he's simply drawn to people who are unlike him, perhaps out of a sense of curiosity. But I think it's a little more complex than that...

I think Arthur is drawn to people who flamboyantly and courageously defy the expectations placed upon them by their communities, parents, and social circles, whatever those circles may be.

[meta essay, mild side-quest spoilers below...]

While Arthur (being naturally artistic himself) definitely appreciates artists of every field, and while he definitely has a soft spot for young lovers (projection much…), that's only the tip of the iceberg.

Just look at the shortlist! Albert Mason, the hapless urbane gentleman who decided to strike out and chase his passion for wildlife even if it cost him his life and career. Penelope Braithwaite, the young suffragette who loathed tradition and the bumbling pretty-boy son of her wealthy family's arch-nemesis. Charles Châtenay, a gender-bending social troll of an artist who gleefully infuriates prudes and puritans everywhere he goes. Sally Nash, the perky aspiring "second-best woman lion-tamer" in the world. Acrisius and Proetus, the feuding academician brothers who eagerly partake in increasingly ridiculous tests of idiot daring. Charlotte Balfour, a rich big-city widow who eschews her former high-life to live simply with nothing but a rifle she doesn't know how to use. Algernon Wasp, the hapless dandy obsessed with eccentricities and craftswork few people appreciate (but who apparently makes excellent tea). Jaime Gillis, the aimless kid who knows nothing about himself except that he likes apples and can't bear to live the life his father wants for him. Hamish Sinclair, the one-legged veteran who rides, hunts, and remains self-sufficient despite the difficulty of rough-living with his amputation. Marko Dragic, the frankly unpleasant epitome of shunned mad scientist. Miss Marjorie and her "sons," who fight tooth and nail but somehow find a way to love each other in the face of civilization's rejection, a mirror image of Arthur's own outcast family.

Arthur doesn't just begrudgingly help these particular strangers; for the most part, he really likes these people, writes about and draws them favorably in his journal. Admires them, in a way, as foolish and imperiled as they often are.

While it seems the people he likes have little in common with each other, and often little in common with Arthur, they've all boldly done something Arthur himself is trying to find the courage to one day do...

They don't behave. As big and bad as Arthur is in the world at large, within the confines of his own community, he's extremely well-behaved. He does what's asked of him and plays the role of the big baddie gang lieutenant, which is what his elders tell him to be, even when it's in direct conflict with his wishes and (if honorable) his morals and perhaps even his "natural" personality.

tl;dr: Arthur likes defiers of all kinds, because they prove that defiance can be done. Not just simple defiance of laws, but a deeper, more complete defiance. Defiance of the expectations of family, of the roles dictated to you by those close to you, of responsibility heaped upon you without consent -- and yes, even of Dutch.

[guesswho334455667788]

Eric Balfour

Posted at:

[dogstarve]

                    TALIA  BALFOUR                AKA:  THE  DOG  TOOTH.

basics.

given  name.     talia  balfour. nickname.     tally,   give  her  some. age.     twenty-nine   (   january  29,   1995   ). place  of  birth.     manhattan,   new  york. gender  identity.     cis  woman   (   she   +   her   ). orientation.     bisexual,   would  probably  say  she’s  never  been  in  a  relationship,   even  though  she  absolutely  has  been.     give  her  psychosexual  nonsense  or  give  her  nothing. occupation.     pharmacist  for  cloyne  pharmacy. song.     girl,   you’ll  be  a  woman  soon  by  urge  overkill. moral  alignment.     neutral  evil. character  inspiration.     lee  harker   (   longlegs   ),   emma  frost   (   marvel   ),   sofia  falcone   (   the  penguin   ),   audrey  horne   (   twin  peaks   ),   lily   &   amanda   (   thoroughbreds   ),   victoria  neuman   (   the  boys   ),   mima  kirigoe   (   perfect  blue   ),   amma  crellin   (   sharp  objects   ),   eve   (   the  bible   ).

background.

you’re  not  a  miracle;   you’re  barely  a  statistic.     pink  fruit  from  a  round  womb.     grown  at  a  hill’s  crest,   a  strand  of  wet  grass  below  the  peach  tree,   overlooking  a  herd  of  sun-dried  cows.     no  one  would  notice  your  cotton  cradle.     no  one  but  the  stars.     and  your  mother’s  eyes  do  not  glisten  upon  watching  your  first  blink.     nor  your  first  day  at  school.     nor  your  first  ballet  recital.     without  a  picture,   you  wouldn’t  even  know  she  was  there.     you  forget  her  youth   ––   in  your  wet  baby-toothed  way   ––   for  there’s  nothing  to  chew  from  her.     bent  from  its  frame,   your  memory  holds  a  father’s  smile,   and  his  heavy  hand  upon  your  lithe  shoulder.

the  eve  of  your  fourteenth  birthday,   your  mother  cups  your  jaw  in  both  hands.     splayed  fingers  brush  against  your  slow  pulse.     your  breath  dampens  her  skin.     you  feel  it,   now,   more  than  she  did.     her  warmth  spilled  across  your  neck  like  air-thickened  blood.     this  is  before  the  second  step-mother,   right  at  the  precipice  of  your  first.     watch  him  for  me,   your  mother  says,   watch  him  at  night  for  me.     for  me.     almost  too  easy,   your  mother  would  say.     a  simple  kiss  at  their  temple,   and  a  child  remembers  their  mother.     quiet  malice,   salted  to  taste,   by  your  father  forgetting  to  call  you  his  favourite  girl.     and  there,   the  axe  earns  its  first  swing.

flesh  is  sweet  and  bought  hostility  is  sweeter.     levied  by  her  parents,   held  like  a  serrated  knife.     where  love  should  be  milk-bathed  and  pat  dry,   your  definition  curdles  into  a  tight  smile.     rehearsed  in  the  dark  mirror  of  another’s  pupil.     by  your  twenties,   you  reach  a  third  step-mother.     and  yet,   there  is  only  one  that  you  call  father.     the  game  loses  its  fresh  scent   –   stale  like  wrinkled,   doughy  hands   –   and  your  teeth  grow  sturdy.     their  quiet  plea  for  your  return  wafts  close  to  your  ear,   like  the  sound  of  crashing  water  from  a  seashell  as  the  sea  rolls  against  your  feet.

[padawan-historian]

To better upRoot our miseducation about settler-colonialism, antisemitism, islamophobia, apartheid, and the growing military industrial complex, here are a few urgent and timely reading recommendations from your friendly neighborhood historian (books with ** are my padawan picks)

Books on Muslim Identities & Solidarities:  

Islamophobia and the Politics of Empire: Twenty Years After 9/11 | Deepa Kumar **

The New Crusades: Islamophobia and the Global War on Muslims | Khaled A. Beydoun 

Tolerance and Risk: How U.S. Liberalism Racializes Muslims | Mitra Rastegar **

The Muslims Are Coming: Islamophobia, Extremism, and the Domestic War on Terror | Arun Kundnani **

Things You May Find Hidden in My Ear: Poems from Gaza | Mosab Abu Toha  **

The Way to the Spring: Life and Death in Palestine | Ben Ehrenreich 

Erasing Palestine: Free Speech and Palestinian Freedom | Rebecca Gould **

Books on Jewish Identities & Religious Imperialism: 

Holocaust to Resistance, My Journey | Suzanne Berliner Weiss  **

A Land with a People: Palestinians and Jews Confront Zionism  

Ten Myths about Israel | Ilan Pappe **

Voices from the Warsaw Ghetto: Writing Our History 

Whatever Happened to Antisemitism?: Redefinition and the Myth of the 'Collective Jew' | Antony Lerman **

Books on the Histories & Afterlives of Palestine: 

The Palestinians | Rosemary Sayigh 

The Balfour Declaration: Empire, the Mandate and Resistance in Palestine | Bernard Regan **

The Hundred Years' War on Palestine: A History of Settler Colonialism and Resistance, 1917-2017 |  Rashid Khalidi **

The Great War and the Remaking of Palestine | Salim Tamari 

The Ethnic Cleansing of Palestine | Ilan Pappe **

Stone Men: The Palestinians Who Built Israel | Andrew Ross **

Gaza Under Hamas: From Islamic Democracy to Islamist Governance | Bjorn Brenner 

The Biggest Prison on Earth: A History of the Occupied Territories | Ilan Pappe

The Battle for Justice in Palestine | Ali Abunimah 

In Search of the River Jordan: A Story of Palestine, Israel and the Struggle for Water | James Fergusson **

Books on Queer Liberation & Apartheid: 

Queer Palestine and the Empire of Critique |  Sa'ed Atshan **

We Have Always Been Here: A Queer Muslim Memoir | Samra Habib **

Terrorist Assemblages: Homonationalism in Queer Times | Jasbir K. Puar 

Exile and Pride: Disability, Queerness, and Liberation | Eli Clare

Books for Young Readers & Growing Families on Palestine, Apartheid, and Racism: 

Young Palestinians Speak: Living Under Occupation **

You Are The Color **

The 1619 Project: Born on the Water **

A Little Piece of Ground 

Wishing Upon the Same Stars **

The Shepherd's Granddaughter **

They Called Me a Lioness: A Palestinian Girl's Fight for Freedom **

A Long Way Gone: Memoirs of a Boy Soldier **

We Are Displaced: My Journey and Stories from Refugee Girls Around the World **

Books for upRooting Political & Academic Imperialism 

Except for Palestine: The Limits of Progressive Politics | Marc Lamont Hill + Mitchell Plitnick **

Tolerance Is a Wasteland: Palestine and the Culture of Denial | Saree Makdisi

The Palestine Laboratory: How Israel Exports the Technology of Occupation Around the World | Antony Loewenstein **

We Are Not One: A History of America's Fight Over Israel | Eric Alterman **

Beyond Occupation: Apartheid, Colonialism and International Law in the Occupied Palestinian Territories | Virginia Tilley

Set the World on Fire: Black Nationalist Women and the Global Struggle for Freedom | Keisha Blain

Beyond Walls and Cages: Prisons, Borders, and Global Crisis | Matt Mitchelson

Books for Decolonized Scholarship & Community Building: 

The Wretched of the Earth | Franz Fanon **

Necropolitics | Achille Mbembe **

Freedom Is a Constant Struggle: Ferguson, Palestine, and the Foundations of a Movement | Angela Davis **

Captive Revolution: Palestinian Women's Anti-Colonial Struggle within the Israeli Prison System | Nahla Abdo **

Europe's Fault Lines: Racism and the Rise of the Right | Elizabeth Fekete 

The New Age of Empire: How Racism and Colonialism Still Rule the World | Kehinde Andrews **

The Republic Shall Be Kept Clean: How Settler Colonial Violence Shaped Antileft Repression | Tariq D. Khan 

Decolonial Marxism: Essays from the Pan-African Revolution | Walter Rodney

You can explore more decolonized book recs + history reads over on Neighborhood Historian or access deeper history lessons (and support these public resources + works) through my Patreon.

[trashmenace]

Death ed Stuart David Schiff

Death ed Stuart David Schiff 1982, Playboy Paperbacks

Two Bottles of Relish by Lord Dunsany (orig Time & Tide, Nov 12, 1932)

A variation on a locked door mystery - a body disposal without leaving the house mystery. This one stayed with me since childhood, though the premise wasn't as locked in as it could be.

Deathtracks by Dennis Etchison

A Nielson family survey taker visits a couple who look for hidden messages in TV laugh tracks to explain why their son died in Vietnam.

Always Together by Hugh B. Cave

One elderly twin murders the other and keeps up a ruse that she's still alive. A good setup for a twist in the tale which never happens.

Toilet Paper Run by Juleen Brantingham

Engaging story set in a girls' reform school, but the ending felt tacked on to fit the genre.

The Green Parrot by Joseph Payne Brennan (orig Weird Tales, July 1952)

Another boring entry in the "that person you thought was alive turns out was already dead" style of ghost story.

Fragment from a Charred Diary by Davis Grubb

Comedy piece about a man using a voodoo doll to commit the political assassinations of the 1960s, escalating from there.

The Scarf by Bernice Balfour

A disfigured woman concealing her face with a scarf and a curious newspaper delivery boy.

Sentences by Richard Christian Matheson

Comedy twist in the tale about a man getting his life rewritten.

Prickly by David A. Riley

A child corrupting Satanist with a monkey familiar kills himself in a British tenement building. Years later, strange creatures scuttle the halls, and children sing nursery rhymes about Prickly.

The Kennel by Maurice Level (orig Tales of Mystery and Horror, 1920)

A cuckold husband finds the body of his wife's lover and disposes of it.

Onawa by Alan Ryan

An adoptive native girl with a taste for blood

A Telephone Booth by Wade Kenny

A gambler can get tips from the future from a pay phone.

Straw Goat by Ken Wiseman

Folk horror with murderous farmers and a sacrificial straw goat.

Horrible Imaginings by Fritz Leiber

Long piece about a creep being obsessed with his neighbor, which I skipped.

The Blind Spot by Saki (orig Beasts and Super-Beasts, 1914)

Comedy piece about a killer servant.

The Dust by Al Sarrantonio

A simpleton shut-in is obsessed with dust.

It Grows on You by Stephen King

A vignette of small town misery which feels more like background to a fuller story. It's been re-written a few times, and later versions may be more tied in to the Castle Rock mythos and be more explicitly horrific. Something about a house getting a new wing built connected with people dying, but not much meat on the bones here.

The Copper Bowl by George Fielding Eliot (orig Weird Tales, December 1928)

Nasty proto-shudder pulp yellow peril story of a French Legionnaire's love being tortured by a Chinese despot.

From Amazon https://amzn.to/3vkEvlR

[immediatebreakfast]

"Zi means a boy and xi means a baby, and that name exactly accords with the fundamental Doctrine of the Baby Boy."

This is actual translated dialogue taken from the naming ceremony scene of Sun Wukong by the immortal Patriarch Subodhi in the 431 years old book Journey to the West...

This whole thing is amazing.

[scotianostra]

Robert Louis Stevenson, Colinton

Wherever you go in Edinburgh you can understand why it was awarded UNESCO City of Literature. Its contributions to the world of literature are so rich and well-recognised that in 2004, Edinburgh became the world's first to be awarded the honour.

Arguably our most famous son is Robert, you can find his "fingerprints all over Edinburgh, from The Hawes Inn at South Queensferry, that I highlighted last month, to the statue of the main characters of Kidnapped, David Balfour and Alan Breck Stewart located at Corstorphine and into the city centre where there's a stone in Princess Street Gardens which states “RLS – A Man of Letters 1850–1894". Head up the Mound and through Makars Courts you have The Writers Museum that devotes an entire room to the works of the author. Wander down the Royal Mile and into St Giles and you will find a bronze relief sculpture which is a memorial to Stevenson. Further down the Royal Mile in Canongate Kirkyard a plaque on fellow Makar Robert Fergusson's grave is another reminder, and out to the "Village" of Colinton, where the old Railway Tunnel has been made into a giant tribute to RLS, and then beside Colinton Kirk is this statue to Robert, as a boy, he spent many days in Colinton, at the time it would have been a village, but now is engulfed in the city. There is an RLS trail in Colinton with info boards and poems.

[dizzyedgc]

[ tom blyth, man, he/they ] — whoa! CERRUS BALFOUR just stole my cab! not cool, but maybe they needed it more. they have lived in the city for TWO YEARS, working as an UBER DRIVER & UBER EATS DELIVERY MAN. that can’t be easy, especially at only TWENTY-FIVE. some people say they can be a little bit PESSIMISTIC and GLOOMY, but i know them to be CREATIVE and COMPASSIONATE. whatever. i guess i’ll catch the next cab. hope they like the ride back to MANHATTAN! — (freddie, twenty-four, aest, they/them)

BASIC INFO —

full name: cerrus chord balfour nickname/s: cer preferred name: cerrus age: twenty-five birthday: december 17th zodiac: sagittarius gender: man pronouns: he/him & they/them occupation: uber driver & uber eats delivery man sexuality: bisexualrelationship status: single ( + open for ships )

PHYSICAL APPEARANCE —

faceclaim: tom blyth hair colour: brownhair length / style: short & wavy eye colour: blue height: 6'2" tattoos: none currently piercings: none currently scars: small scars littered around body - hardly noticeable unless you're properly looking

PERSONALITY —

positive traits: creative, compassionate, street smart, athletic, flexible, gentle, kind-hearted, considerate, loyal, loving, devoted, caring, experienced, worldly, good-intentioned negative traits: pessimistic, gloomy, frustrated, burnt, stubborn, reserved, nosey, scatterbrained, brooding, distracted, conflicted likes: music, films, theatre, dancing, outdoors, nature, animals, fresh air, the smell of popcorn, sweets, fresh sheets, days off dislikes: traffic, deadlines, strict timeframes, insincerity, hypocrites, being stuck inside, boats, being in one place for too long, heartbreak, broken promises hobbies: working, watching films, listening to music, going for walks - he's actively trying to avoid most of his regular / previous hobbies bad habits: smoking, being overly stubborn, working too much, being unable to say no

BACKGROUND —

cerrus was born to eccentric performers, raised all over the world in their very own travelling circus. it was unconventional, but so magical for the young boy.

he became a performer before he could even walk, quickly developing his own skills, roles, and interests in each town they passed.

life on the road was as isolating as it was exciting; there were always pros and cons, but cerrus found it so much easier to love when he was so young.

the older he got, the more unconventional he felt, and the more trouble he faced from the kids in each neighbourhood he passed through that he tried to befriend.

at fourteen, cerrus experienced his first true feelings of hate for the lifestyle.

at this age, he developed his first crush, and while he had had to leave friends before, leaving somebody that he developed a much more special connection with was much harder.

unfortunately, this routine became his norm. each time cerrus met somebody who showed a real interest in him - something that was rare for the constantly picked on boy - he had to up and leave them before long.

he settled into an unhappy role in the circus until at twenty, he fell hard, and for somebody who reciprocated his feelings.

upon having to leave the town in which he found love, cerrus finally stood up and admitted to his parents that he could no longer live the nomadic lifestyle, and one that constantly had him labelled unpleasant things.

in his desperation to save his love, and due to his parents shock as cerrus had never voiced concerns before, the discussion turned into an enormous fight that ended with cerrus leaving on bad terms with his parents.

the fight was so ugly that cerrus developed an aversion for everything that reminded him of his old life; after not too long, this was what lost him his love.

saddened and in search of a life opposite to the one he had lived, cerrus found himself in search of the most mundane job in the most 'normal' place.

he moved into the city of new york, the closest city to him at the time, and he settled into what he tried to make the most mundane life possible - something that's proven hard, as it's as if cerrus is a magnet to those more peculiar, those like who he is deep down at his core.

WANTED CONNECTIONS —

ex love interest - the person that cerrus fell in love with at twenty years old; they eventually broke up as cerrus changed too much as he forced himself to be someone who he's not. i imagine they broke up with him, and he's still gutted about it. they met not too far from new york, but out of the city. any gender, similar age preferred, really open to plotting more together!

past audience - people who recognise cerrus from his time in the circus; they caught a show ( or maybe even multiple if they ever travelled themselves ) and they're shocked to see him acting as he is now. he likely pretended that he didn't know what they were talking about upon initially interacting.

oddballs - they could be friends, neighbours, roommates, enemies, anything! the only requirement is that they're a little odd, an unconventional person. cerrus tries so hard to live a 'normal' life, but he can't escape his true self - which is what i'm hoping they bring out of him more!

ex crush / flings from his circus days - cerrus travelled through their town with his family's circus aged fourteen to twenty, and either crushed on them, or had a fling with them before he had to leave town to go to his next destination. any gender, similar age required, open to plotting more together!

ex crush / flings / relationships in new york - cerrus hasn't been in any situationship or relationship especially serious, but he has dipped his toes into the dating pool in the city. it's hard as he's not being the most authentic version of himself, and searching for all of the wrong people, but maybe something interesting could have still come from it!

roommates - i don't imagine cerrus being able to afford his own place in manhattan ( can anyone ? ) so he's definitely got multiple roommates that he shares an apartment with. he's a relatively good person to live with, being considerate and caring to make good connections, but he is known to shut himself in his room for days on end when he's feeling blue.

friends - a big part of why he left his previous situation was to build connections he wouldn't have to leave. i picture cerrus having a group of close friends that he never takes for granted; they likely see his more authentic self more than others, and with them cerrus experiences true moments of happiness.

crush / love interest - similar to the friend connection, cerrus left the circus for a purpose, so it'd be super nice to see him romantically involved with somebody that he doesn't have to leave! unfortunately i think he looks for all of the wrong people, but it'd be super cool if he formed a connection with someone more like his true self ( an oddball, perhaps ) and if something happened real naturally.

customers - people who he consistently drives around, or delivers food to. maybe they don't get along, but he's the only uber driver who's always closest at the odd time that they need him, or maybe they've struck up a real friendship and he comes inside with their food delivery so that they can share meals together.

cerrus is also open to so much more, i'm happy to brainstorm or listen to any / all of your ideas !

[cowboydisaster]

Another tfiye question!!!

There's soo many I just picked the most popular ones, if you have any other ideas just click 'other' and send it to me!