#conroy page

[wsimons03973176]

What are you doing here? You’ve been here far longer than I have!

its none of your concern, junior

[gon-and-killuas-mother]

crying screaming banging my fists on the floor (⁠╯⁠°⁠□⁠°⁠）⁠╯⁠︵⁠ ⁠┻⁠━⁠┻

KEVIN CONROY USED THE PAIN OF BEING A CLOSETED GAY MAN, AS WELL AS FROM CHILDHOOD ABUSE/NEGLECT, TO BRING BATMAN TO LIFE

HELLO YEAH I'M GONNA BREAK SOMETHING

[daily-cassie-sandsmark]

[pageuberalles]

It's amusing to see you in such a site. Tell me, what are you doing here?

Is it wrong for a father to try connecting with their son?

[digitalnewberry]

How's your cursive?

William Ellen Wallace whaling logbook, 1841-1844 (view | transcribe)

Newberry Transcribe -- our crowdsourcing site where you can help with historical research by transcribing handwritten letters and diaries -- is back in action!

From screenwriters to socialists to soldiers, the subjects of our collections left behind a wealth of primary source materials -- such as the above 1840s whaling logbook that includes what some of us thought were whimsical doodles, but turned out to be a much less fun industry convention indicating "how many gallons of oil were procured from each [whale] body."

Libraries lack sufficient staff to transcribe the millions of manuscript pages in our collections, so it used to be up to the user to painstakingly decipher every page, with each individual replicating this work from scratch. Thanks to the magic of crowdsourcing, the public can volunteer to help out by transcribing the page once and for all, allowing researchers to easily find, search, and browse the material.

Plus, figuring out the handwriting can be a fun challenge. Wordle, shmordle -- come solve puzzles while also learning about history and contributing to humanities research!

Visit Newberry Transcribe

Read our project newsletter

Jack Conroy correspondence at Newberry Transcribe

[jesncin]

Not to push my luck and talk about Johnstantine and King Shark again, but I just want to discuss how,,,sad it is that these characters get treated so differently by fandom and how their legacy has been deeply unkind to non-white characters.

Johnstantine has a fantastic, well-written run that portrays a dimensional character with palpable humanity. It's to the point fans treat John like a real person that shouldn't be joked about because "he matters to people! He survived the AIDS crisis!" (while conveniently leaving out characters like Ray Monde or Davey) even when he is a fictional character at the end of the day. I'm not a fan of modern bi-jokes galore flandarized DC!John either and I recognize Vertigo!John's historical importance as a queer character, but I don't like fandom's attempt to moralize liking him "the correct way" by acting like he's a real person. Some of yall talk about him like he's Kevin Conroy or Howard Ashman or Freddie Mercury and that's odd. Like yes it would be distasteful to write those real people into flandarized characters and ships, but John isn't real. He is at the mercy of whatever writer writes him, for better or worse.

Ultimately John is a fictional character, and that's okay- you can have preferences on how he's written over decades without moralizing your tastes. I don't get this "he's flandarized into ships with cartoon characters" sentiment like what do you mean? John himself has been a cartoon character as often as Zatanna has been. If a ship like JohnZee isn't one of these flandarized fandom ships, then what are you talking about? Nanaue? The usual punching bag to the "Johnstantine is being flandarized" discourse, right?

And that's when I get sad. Because Nanaue doesn't get to have a well-written debut story the way John did. No, King Shark is from Superboy 94, a run that largely takes place in Hawai'i. With a deeply racist and orientalist depiction of Hawaiian characters and myth. Nanaue is appropriated nearly whole cloth from Hawaiian mythology and has since then been mostly brought back as a "big idiot brute" joke character often divorced from his indigenous roots. I've been told countless times that people didn't know King Shark is a native character. He doesn't get the dignity of characters like the Monkey Prince get to have under Gene Yang's pen. We're lucky if DC even remembers that part of him.

And yes I recognize that myth!Nanaue and DC!Nanaue are entirely different figures. But it's disingenuous to see how this character was adapted from native religion with his name and backstory attached, then portrayed as a "thuggish buffoon"- to be a neutral adaptation without racist or ableist connotations.

I look at these new preview pages for Supergirl and it's depressing. We now have "Princess Shark" a Sharknado joke villain who Supergirl just dunks into the ocean and flies off as the story centers a white girl. I wonder if they'll even bother giving Princess Shark a Hawaiian name. They sure didn't bother giving her native clothes. The optics would've been weird, so whitewashing King Shark's native roots is clearly the better option.

There's all this talk of dignity to fictional white guy Johnstantine (a character made by white guys based on Sting, a white guy). When, the irony is, if there is any character more based in reality when it comes to the Johnstantine x King Shark ship, it's Nanaue. He's the one who has basis in real Hawaiian beliefs, mythology, religion, and history. I get that DC's treating Nanaue as a joke most of the time, and it's wishful thinking to believe the white dominant fandom would do better- but at least I want us to think about it.

Hawaiian culture and history are victims to cultural genocide from violent colonization. Adapting a character from their myth is not a neutral act. Ignoring that history and whitewashing it is not a neutral act. If we recognize that John is a politically important character as a punk from the 80s-90s during the height of the AIDS crisis, then can we even give a fraction of that energy to non-white characters? Even when they're not well written? Just because DC doesn't respect these myths, doesn't mean you should too.

[prof-dr-worm]

What makes bat family content so important, is that it proves a core thesis I have about modern media as a whole. Which is, that quiet, intimate moments between characters (if done well) improve most stories. In this essay I will

The most beloved version of Batman, to my knowledge, is the one from Batman: the Animated Series/Justice League Unlimited. While that is in part due to Kevin Conroy's (rip) performance, but more importantly the fact that this version of the character has these short but very emotional moments with other characters.

Harvey Dent is explicitly introduced as Bruce's friend, with a very painful spiral into Two-Face, followed up by a plotline where Bruce tries to reintegrate him into society, which heartbreakingly fails.

He even treats villains without any personal connection with respect, especially the more tragic cases.

Baby doll, Calendar Girl, Mr Freeze, most impactfully to me Ace in JLU. A reality bender, a literal human weapon of mass destruction, actively dying which threatens to destroy an entire city and Batman is giving the task to neutralise her. But instead of using the very convenient and "humane" Killswitch given to him by Amanda Waller (ie. the person responsible for her current state), he chooses not to. She is a frightened little girl, turned into a monster by the government, so he does the right thing, he approaches her, calmly, listens to what she has to say, and stays with her until she dies, peacefully.

These moments are so important because they add the one thing most other stories these days lack so dearly, humanisation. It's such a simple way to grant characters so much more depth. And here's where the fans do such a phenomenal job, they create hundreds if not thousands of these moments, not just for Batman and the Batfam, but for every other piece of media, inadvertently, through the death of the author, elevateing characters from maybe mediocre or decent to true greatness. Of course not everyone adds to this, to the same degree but neither do multi milion dollar projects.

I wish it could be implemented into "cannon" media but time and page constraints but it still urcs me to no end that barely any writers add some humanising elements to their storys.

[readingtoinfinity]

DC Pride 2025

For all that it is rainbow capitalism, I'm glad DC released a pride issue this year, especially because the queer community has a decidedly unfriendly environment with the current administration. That a corporation would take pride in it still says that we're not quite so far gone as we could be. It's not the be-all, end-all of activism, but it's a canary that's still happily chirping in the coal mine.

With that said, there's no expectation of quality, so I'm going to go through these individual and giving some quick thoughts... or at least I was. There's apparently only two stories in here, those being "The Heart Wants" and "Master Planner". Scrolling through the pages it does appear that "The Heart Wants" is a step-through story connecting a bunch of little stories into a larger whole, so it's not titled. Instead I'm going to try to go over each individual bit, making it clear by focusing on the character named.

"The Heart Wants"

Alan Scott, Green Lantern: Seems to be the framing device, being as he is on a date with a trans soldier named Ethan, telling about the community he came out (and then left) from the late 30s.

I have really appreciated Alan's coming out story, even if it doesn't jive with the canon as it's been set down so far. I could make some arguments there were signs in the comics I've been reading, but for the most part if Alan Scott is gay then he's the most heavily-closeted man in the universe. But the resulting discussion of Alan's relationship with his son and the queer community in the 20th century provides a look into the dark, more repressed eras that the United States has lived through, and a warning about what it may become if we let things slide back too far.

Each of the heroes is connected by their queerness, obviously, but I don't know if there's a different reason they're all being pulled to this one bar. A desire for a better life, maybe? Each of the characters is affected by an illusion giving them everything they think they want, and how each of them pulls themselves out of it is distinct for each; and it turns out that the location informs more of why they've been pulled in than the person.

And indeed, he becomes the focal point of this pride comic, which explains why he's so prominent on the cover. I won't get into it for spoilers but his history with his sexuality forms the crux about which the stories revolve.

(Also how did Robin and Catman get here. That wasn't in previous bits of the story. I think they just get introduced as the story proceeds and we don't get to see their stories. Also I just realized that Extraño is a pun on Doctor Strange, that's pretty funny)

The ending is bittersweet, reaffirming that we will almost always have to fight for the right of queer people to exist. There's always work to be done.

Wasn't expecting a theme like that to come from this anthology, but it brought everything into a cohesive whole, making each individual part stronger as a result. I would highly recommend this to anyone interested in the ways human behavior can be wrapped into superhero comics.

(editing note: I wanted to include thoughts on all the sub-stories but that didn't fit in a single post. Just know I liked all of them and loved a few)

"Master Planner"

Thank you to Sara Soler, whom I follow on Instagram, for reminding me this book was happening this year!

I also had no idea that Jenny Blake Isabella, aka Tony (a name she continues to use, so I feel comfortable with), the creator of Black Lightning, came out as trans earlier this year. It's a brave thing to do, obviously at her age, in this administration, but I especially love the way she writes about the way comic books and superheros informed it, something like what Kevin Conroy did in a previous comic. It's a nice story, and I'm glad it's being told.

There's also a bunch of letters at the end for what superheros and pride means for fans of these series, and it's just pages of affirming the queerness of these comics, in the past and present. I got misty-eyed scrolling through them, and I would recommend them to anyone who wants to see the queer side of these characters represented.

Years ago, Seduction of the Innocent tried to use the inherent queerness of the comics to say they were vile, of the devil. I think it's a wonderful turn of irony that we affirm this today as a cry - nay, a demand! - for equal rights.

Happy pride, everyone. Stay alive, stay safe, in brightest day, in blackest night.

[daily-cassie-sandsmark]

[maturemenoftvandfilms]

Son of The Great Santini

Featuring Bestselling Author, Pat Conroy

In the summer of 1995, famed Southern author, Pat Conroy sat hunched over his desk in his Charleston home, his fingers tapping rhythmically on the keys of his old typewriter. A half-finished manuscript of Beach Music lay in front of him, the pages filled with ideas and fragments of stories that seemed to spill out of him like waves crashing onto the shore. The novel was demanding, as his works always were, and the weight of the characters, the setting, and the complex histories he wove together was both exhilarating and exhausting.

At 54 years old, Pat had earned his place as one of the most prominent writers of his generation. His deep, soulful eyes and rugged face, marked by years of lived experience, spoke of a man who had spent much of his life in search of meaning. His once unruly dark hair, now gray, fell loosely over his forehead gave him the air of a man perpetually lost in thought.

But today, despite his focus on the manuscript, Pat felt the weight of the work more than usual. Beach Music was proving to be a challenge. It required a depth of research. Research that Pat had come to dread. He was a writer, not a historian, and yet, to fully capture the post-Vietnam era in America and the particular tensions in Charleston, South Carolina, he needed someone who could help him dig into the specifics.

That’s when he decided it was time to ask for help. But who? Stepping out for a break, Pat noticed his neighbor, a 24-year-old named Will, lived two doors down from Pat's house, jog past in a faded T-shirt and shorts. He hadn’t run for exercise in years, but Will seemed to carry the energy of youth in every stride. Will had always struck Pat as an interesting young man—bright-eyed, with a sharp wit and a hunger for knowledge. Will was tall, athletic, with sandy brown hair that seemed perpetually windblown, as if he'd just stepped off a surfboard, and he had a smile that seemed to light up the room. Though he was still finding his way in the world, Will had an easy confidence about him that Pat admired.

“Will!” Pat called, stepping out onto the porch. Will slowed his pace and jogged up the steps.

“Mr. Conroy,” Will said with a grin, wiping sweat from his brow. “How’s the book coming?”

Pat hesitated before answering. The truth was, he had been struggling. “It’s… coming. Slowly. Listen, I’m in need of some help, actually. Would you be interested in working as a research assistant for a while?”

Will raised an eyebrow, intrigued. “Research assistant? For your book?”

Pat nodded, his expression serious. “Yeah. a lot of it’s in my head, but I need someone to help me organize the details.”

Will considered the offer for a moment, wiping the sweat from his face. “I’ve got some free time. I’d love to help, Mr. Conroy. What do I need to do?”

Pat chuckled. “Call me Pat. Let’s get to work.”

For the next several weeks, Will spent hours in Pat’s home, surrounded by towering piles of books, old Charleston photographs, and historical archives. Pat would often look up from his desk, his eyes slightly bleary from hours of writing, to find Will poring over a stack of documents, catching the young man starring. Will was lustfully checking out the mound in Pat's pants. From what he could make out Pat had an above average size cock and big balls. Pat began to spread his legs a little farther apart as if to give the young man a better view, but never said anything. Later that evening Will went home and jacked off thinking about his hairy balls.

Weeks later, on one particularly humid evening, with the sound of cicadas buzzing in the background, Pat and Will sat on his cozy back porch having a nice conversation, looking out over Battery Creek and the autumn-gilded marsh. After we each had two glasses of wine, the mood started to turn sexual. Just then Pat leaned back in his chair, spread his legs and absently stroked his belly.

The sight of this white haired man leaning back in his seat as if he wanted Will to crawl on top of him, got the young man so aroused that he haphazardly said to Pat, "You look sexy."

What he did next shocked Will. He kissed him. A twice married father and step-father of six, kissed him. After seeing how receptive Will was, Pat grabbed him and pulled him closer to him and they began to kiss frantically. Will's hands quickly roamed Pat's body, feeling at his sides and chest, running my hands under his shirt to feel his chest. Pat's big hands were eager too, roaming Will's muscled torso, rolling down the incline of his abs to the mound in my jeans. Tearing himself away from the husky, hunky next door neighbor and gulping air into his lungs.

'I want you.' Will growled as he started lifting up Pat's shirt.

He clucked approvingly as he caught sight of his big chest with the large red nipples as his mouth instantly fastened to it. This was a first for Pat; in all the sex play he had with his wives, somehow they had never gotten around to sucking his nipples. He sighed as Will sucked his very sensitive and erect nipples all the while running his fingers through his hair.

Will kissed his lips across his chest, inhaling the magical scent of a daddy still in his prime. He had Pat take the shirt off completely as Will's cock grew harder and harder. It rubbed up against Pat's belly and the older man liked what he felt. His hands closed around Will's tight little ass and massaged the cheeks. Then he slipped his hands under the young stud's shorts and underneath his underpants, feeling his silky smooth cheeks. Will got up and shed his clothes. His slim eight incher boner jumped free and pointed up at his navel.

'Damn, that's a mighty fine cock you have there.' Pat said as he reached out for it.

He stroked the slender cock, watching the head disappear and reappear with each stroke. It was just the perfect size for his hand, mouth and ass. Pat pulled the young stallion towards him and took the beautiful cock into his mouth. Swallowing half of his dick, Pat began bobbing his head up and down Will's shaft as his nuts bounced invitingly against Pat's chin. All the while, out there on the back porch.

Suddenly as if realising for the first time where they were, Pat pulled away from his cock and stood up.

"Fuck, you feel good," Pat rasped into Will's ear, followed by a flick of his tongue, making him shudder. "Lenore is asleep already. She took an aspirin with a sleep aid, she won't wake up till morning."

With their cocks dripping in anticipation, Pat took Will by the hand and led him into the nearby spare bedroom where they began to strip. Will whistled in delight when he saw his soon to be lover exposed at last. Pat's portly body was like a work of art: broad shoulders, beefy, ass, and ample belly. And hanging below, a thick circumcised cock with a pair of oversized fuzzy brown balls. Will kneeled and pressed his face into Pat's big thatch of pubes.

The sweet smell of Pat's crotch was utterly intoxicating to Will and he couldn't stop himself from sucking him. Will ran his tongue all over the cock head before putting his mouth over it and began to suck this old author off. Pat hadn't received many blowjobs and Will could tell it really turned him on to have him pumping up and down on his dick. Suddenly Pat the young man by the head as he began to spasm and groan like a wild animal, firing his load down Will's throat. And like that, he had finished him off.

Sensing Will's need to fuck him, Pat quickly got on all fours on the bed, turning his pale, beefy ass him and smiled as he said, "come and get it."

Presented with this view, Will pushed his mouth down to Pat's asshole and started running his moist tongue back and forth against his virgin asshole. When the young man pushed his tongue inside of him. This drove Pat wild and he pushed his ass back farther on Will's probing tongue, moaning loudly. After several minutes, Pat was begging for the young man 7-incher.

Complying, Will spit in his hand, grabbed his cock and slicked it up as best he could. Will thought he was going to shoot off before he could get his cock into the portly author. Rearing his head back, Pat said, "go slow" as Will started to touch the rim of his hot wet ass hole.

"It hurts." The old man said in a choking, husky voice as his tight ass began to open. Will pushed his cock in all the way in Pat's love hole.

His ass was so tight and wonderful Will didn't want to pull back, he just started to gyrate his hips to giving this married man the full sensation of being fucked. Surprisingly, Pat began to rock up and then slammed his butt back onto the young man's dick, pushing his hungry hole farther on to it. The slapping of thighs echoed throughout the room as Will began to wildly fuck his hot ass.

Wanting to see the look on Pat's face while fucking him, Will put him on his back the way he would have fucked his wife, missionary style. With their eyes locked on each other, Pat raises his beefy legs, spreading them wide apart, giving Will full access to his butt as he whispers "give it to me." His love hole didn't resist as much this time as Will buried himself deep in this handsome man. Then he was planting kissing on his cheeks, forehead and all over his face as he slowly continued fucking him. Pat moaned pleasurably as his entire rectum became slippery and no longer resisted the young man's thrusts.

After a few minutes, both men were moaning as it felt so good that neither of them wanted it to end. By now, the wetness of Pat's tight hole was making a suction sound which only helped to intensify the sensation. I tried not to cum too quickly and yet I was really enjoying the sensation of his virgin ass squeezing my dick. And Pat knew from the look on his face that he was getting close and said, "Fuck me hard Will, I need it."

Will doubled his effort and pounded Pats butt even harder, gyrating his hips to give him the full effect of his cock rimming him out. He kept fucking until finally he couldn't hold it any more and drove his cock deep down inside Pat and I let go of his load, spasming three or four times. The exhausted young man stayed on top of Pat for a while until I had enough energy to roll off, in utter bliss, still replaying the entire scene in their minds.

[wanderingmind867]

I find it funny spotting a reference to Kevin Conroy in the background of that first page there (a K Conroy is performing as Hamlet, that can't be anything but a big reference). And despite how i've said i don't actually like kevin conroy's batman, i still find the reference pretty cool.

But I also think this story is significantly helping me feel more sympathy for scarecrow. He's obsessed with being feared, yet he seems to shrivel up in fright every time he's without his costume, surrounded by the public. I'm really starting to feel like his powers of fear are mostly him trying to compensate for his own internal fears. That's certainly the vibes the writers are giving me, and that actually makes scarecrow far less scary to me. I still can't say i find him a favourite, but if he's as weak in the nerves as me...then i think that goes a long, long way towards getting me to like him as a character. Because it gives me a hook, something I can relate to and really empathise with. And if a character isn't always entertaining to me, then i at least need them to be slightly relatable for me to really, really like them. (Batman Adventures #19):

[thelastgherkin]

GHERKIN’S UNTITLED GUIDEBOOK PROJECT (Part 2 of ???)

Last time I posted some of these was nearly three years ago.  This one has been sat in my drafts since May 2022 waiting for other pages to join it that have so far not materialised.  Today’s other Bumblebee gallery felt like a good enough occasion to launch it!

Please enjoy this blend between Transformers (2007 movie), Car and Cable, BotBots, and my refusal to use the name Exhaust.  Text transcription after the break!

MUFFY

(Repurposed from Worlds Collide Bumblebee)

A.K.A. Muffler

Faction: Autobot

Primary function: Xenolinguist

Bio: War rarely offers second chances, so when given the option to voluntarily separate from the Autobots to live in disguise on Earth, Muffler seized the opportunity with great enthusiasm.  The sights, the sounds, the culture – to Muffler, it’s all so wonderful. Her boundless fascination with alien societies developed after a voicebox dysfunction required her to explore alternate means of communication.  To be among an unfamiliar species in all its splendour proved irresistible… and led to her accidentally revealing herself to a small-town farming family, the Conroys, not long after leaving the Ark.  Taken in by them and “talking” using borrowed radio broadcasts, she is discovering all about human culture from Matt and his children, Eddie and Wendy – the latter of whom nicknamed her “Muffy”, for short – just as much as they are learning to see life through a new lens from her.

Muffy has a stubborn side, however, and not just in her squabbles with the Conroys’ dog, Burt Reynolds.  An avowed pacifist, Muffy has held a deep disgust for the war ever since her conscription and, in the hopes of quelling a resurgence of the conflict, has smuggled the life-giving Allspark away from the Ark.  Keeping it hidden means that she and the Conroys have to put up with occasional outbreaks of mutated household appliances, but to Muffy, that’s preferable to sending newborn bots into a fight they never chose.

Quote: “War!  What is it good for?  Absolutely nothing!”

Weapons/abilities: Muffy is a master communicator, having studied many of the galaxy’s spoken and written languages, and she is also fluent in Cybertronian Sign Language.  Her specialisation in xenolinguistics has given her the skills to find unorthodox ways of communicating with alien species that do not necessarily use verbal means.  This resourcefulness also extends to her daily life with the Conroys, as she can quickly scan her surroundings for anything to help her in her regular activities of rounding up mutations, carrying out wilderness rescues, or merely hiding from the neighbours.

Muffy is capable of deploying hydrofoils in vehicle mode, should the need arise.

Weaknesses: Muffy’s natural inquisitiveness, impulsivity, and fierce loyalty to the Conroys often lead her into situations from which she must quickly backpedal.  While pacifism should never be regarded a weakness, Muffy has little combat experience and no armaments; she would be out of her depth should the war ever find her and her new family.  The Decepticon also named Muffler may target her, seeing her as an affront to his name.

Alternate mode: Hatchback sports coupe

[uwmspeccoll]

It's Fine Press Friday!

American letterpress printers Macy Chadwick and Judy Fuglestad composed and printed Endless Narrative in October of 1998 at their In Cahoots Press and Sticky Ink Press, respectively, out of Portland, Oregon, in a limited edition of thirteen. Chadwick, a book artist, has since moved In Cahoots to California, where she runs the press and a residency program for writers and artists in Petaluma (North of San Francisco). 

Linoleum, wire, and a laser printer were used for the images and underlaying words – the rest of the text was printed on a Vandercook Press. The cotton paper is treated in a bole pigment – referring to a reddish-brown variety of clay used in dyes. Five signatures are sewn together in an exposed concertina binding.

The text travels the textured pages in a collage of lines from favorite books. Words by Pat Conroy, Annie Dillard, Naomi Shihab Nye, Margo Morgan, and Wally Lamb march the horizontal spaces, while the curving verse comes directly from Chadwick and Fuglestad. In the colophon, the authors indicate they were inspired by an Anne Michaels novel which reminded them of learning to read. A line from Michaels is printed on both sides of the concertina: time buckled, met itself in pleats and folds.

This book is another donation from the estate of the late Dennis Bayuzick.

View other lovely books from the Daniel Bayuzick estate.

View other Fine Press Friday posts.

--Amanda, Special Collections Graduate Intern

[septimaseverinawannawrite]

Saturday Seven 04

Fandom: Tom Hiddleston's Loki

Type: Mini-Drabble

Pairing: Loki x F!Reader

Warning: NSFW. My English (is my second language).

Rate: M

Words: 303

A/N: *gasping* I can resume my own event again! May this inspiration be with me always, and make me be able to write contless one-shots to mini-series! Annnnnnnnnd don't hit me for cliffhanging, 'cause I might continue what I've started 😉

🌹Click to My AO3

Loki found that a space beside him – that you supposed to sleep and hold him after sensual night full of burning fire, passion, and fervent in this room, your room, happened every Friday night – was emptied and cold. He did not here sound of shower running in bathroom, or clanking at small kitchen of your tiny flat. This made him curious; how strange.

He grabbed a towel at the end of the king-size bed, draped it loose before finding you, sat on a sofa in his black shirt from last night, definitely without any piece of clothes underneath, but you were earnestly reading a small and quite rather vintage book without awareness of present circumstance; Loki had been approaching you with smirk.

“Who is this Ms. Ellen Conroy? She shouldn’t vie to the mighty god of Asgard by drawing your attention from me.”

“Hmm, I thought you knew her.” You raised your eyebrows as Loki sat beside you, snuggling his arms around you. “Oh, here is it! ‘Green in its degraded sense gives us "the green-eyed monster jealousy’…” Your voice was exciting, on contrary to Loki, his eyes narrowed down.

“I must object Ms. Conroy.” He whispered into your ears; a hand fondled your bosom, starting with slow and light paces, accelerating to firm and hard. “Green, particularly with Emerald green: the colour of glorious, graceful and gleaming….and for King and his queen.”

A gasp and moan slipped from your lips; trying to turn a page and muttering under hitched breath. “Y-y- you h-h-haven’t…. Loki…Not now…I-I-I promise P-p-patsy to return this on…hnnnng!”

“Surely she can wait.” He chuckled. Another hand running upon your abdomen, sliding down along underbelly to your, beginning to moist, fold. Finally, his slender fingers passed through, while the book was falling from your hand as your body tensed up.

P.S. The book is The Symbolism of Colours (1921) by Ellen Conroy Mccaffery. Available on Amazon, but if you don't mind reading in typewriting fonts, click here. 💛

[tikay21]

🐺 Saint Conroy

next You can find more information and context through the hashtags attached below.

update 08.06.25 I'm updating* this background page with more information from the past, in light of Grafity’s comeback at the Edgewave Festival. Gravity at Edgewave 2025 I'll be adding some more details from earlier days, as well as pictures of the younger version of the band members - or maybe I’ll do that in a separate post. We’ll see.

more under the cut ...

Saint Conroy This guy is where it all started with for me and The Sims. He was the first male character I ever played all the way through his life. I started playing Sims 20 years ago, and my first household was a girl I focused on - Jolene Winter (later Winter-Conroy). But eventually, she needed a partner by her side, so I created the very first version of him.

Sadly, I don’t have any pictures left from that version.

Saint today

After a long break, I got back to Sims with The Sims 3 because my son wanted it, and - well - I got hooked again, lol.

I recreated them in S3 as best as I could and gave them the look I had imagined with all the new features.

Unfortunatly barely S3 screenshots, cause i didn`t document my GP that time this way, story only in my head and memories - so all images here are from the remade in S4.

Saint’s parents were both soloists in a classical orchestra, his mother a gifted violinist, his father a renowned pianist. Music filled their home, yet they never pushed it on him. He would sometimes play around on the piano as a child, but it wasn't until years later that he truly connected with music on his own terms.

When Saint was six years old, his parents died in a tragic accident. He grew up with his uncle - his mother’s brother - and his wife, who took him in and raised him with care.

One day, while exploring the attic, he came across his uncle’s old guitar - worn, dusty, but still intact. Something about its presence spoke to him. He started strumming, tentatively at first, but soon with growing fascination. That guitar became his voice, his anchor and the true beginning of his own journey into music.

Even though life with his uncle had been good, a quiet yearning grew in him - a longing to leave the sleepy mountain town behind and see the world. As soon as he was old enough, he began taking on small jobs after school. By the time he turned eighteen, he had saved up a little money to rent a room in the city, at least as a temporary solution. Without his uncle’s support, it wouldn’t have lasted long. He left the town for good and never returned - not only because his new life had taken root elsewhere, but also because he realized that certain things had never been explained. Like what became of his inheritance.

Saint first made his way as a street musician, and with his guitar and that special voice of his, word spread quickly. People would stop on their way home or while wandering through the city just to listen to him play.

One day, Jolene passed by the spot where he usually played, a small park with a square and a few benches. She caught his eye, but he didn’t think much of it. A few days later she came again, sat on a bench a little further away, and at some point, when he looked up again, she was gone.

He became curious and hoped she’d come back. When he had already stopped expecting it, she returned and this time she stayed on that bench for quite a while. When she looked over and their eyes met, he smiled at her. Then she disappeared again.

From then on, she came every day. One day, he talked to her, asked her to sit with him, and she did. They talked and laughed. From the very beginning, they felt at ease around each other, but the more often they met, the more those small gestures began to carry something unspoken, a kind of fascination, a quiet pull between them, hard to name but impossible to ignore.

It was on one of those quiet days that he offered to show her how to play the guitar. She nodded, shyly.He handed her the guitar and moved in close, reaching around her to guide her arms and hands into place. A shiver ran through him at the touch. Their eyes met and there was something in the air - quiet, unspoken, yet unmistakable. It felt like magic and then, he kissed her.

Saint landed a few gigs at local venues. He met more people and eventually started the band 'Gravity' with his best friend Phoenix and later on they met Thunder, who completed them.

They practiced in a classic garage setup and were finally discovered, thanks to Saint’s persistence in getting people to listen to his music at least once.

Jolene and Saint married 3 years later while the band started to go it's way and things went very well. Their oldest son, Jaxx, was born, and a little over a year later, their daughter, Cloud. Jaxx was a rebel and despite their best efforts to give him stability, he always struggled with everything.

The unstable lifestyle took its toll, and they argued more and more frequently. Saint often withdrew from conversations and did his own thing. The issues with Jaxx weighed heavily on him, but neither of them knew how to help him. They separated and even got divorced, but continued living together in the large finca (which they later bought and restored) that they had rented with the band. Since, deep down, they couldn’t live without each other, they reconciled and remarried a little over a year later. The beautiful result of their reunion was the birth of two more kids, Leroy and Joshua.

With his wife Jolene Winter-Conroy he has four kidz:

Jaxx - Cloud - Leroy und Joshua.

'Gravity' got famous, and he became a clan leader and MC president.

Saint aging

He has a quirky habit: he only wears red shoes.

Now he’s a great-grandfather, but I prefer to not age him more, it's game, so I can do what I want haha. They’ve been through so much family history together, up and downs and some tragedies, but I wasn’t really documenting any of it back then.

So one day, my game stopped working, and I had to make a choice: The Sims 4 or no Sims at all. I put it off for as long as I could, but eventually, I made the switch and left them behind, planning to start fresh. But Sims 4 didn’t have the stuff I loved from Sims 3 – bikers, MCs, musicians, bands – it was really missing for me.

Nevertheless it lasted about two weeks before I started remaking them in Sims 4. I just couldn’t be without them. They’re connected to everything I do in my Game, even if it’s just in the background. They’re the foundation of my whole gameplay.

added 16.06.25* But back then, I didn’t rebuild all the family members, cause of the lack of the GP options and I thought I could live with that - but now, five years later, and with the spark that came through Edgewave, I’ve decided to bring the rest of the family back too. That also means the family tree is incomplete.

I play without aging and death. I manually age them up when it’s time. I just can’t handle a full legacy game with all the consequences. So here we are, and would love cataloging my Sims here now.

The plan is to give each of my characters a profile and update them whenever I feel like it.

Saint Conroy ❤️ Sim made by me @tikay21

in various stages of life.

I would like to introduce some of my Sims (Char/OC) that I’ve created over the years and which are special to me.

Most of this ones I’ve played with for a long time or actually play with.

Conroy - Family Tree

[ometochtli2rabbit]

MAYA:

13.0.12.9.1

wuk[7] IMIX/IMOX[crocodile] - b'olonlajun[19] POP

galactic tone: reflection / mystic power

sun sign: crocodile/red/east

open to new beginnings

NAHUA:

chicome[7] - CIPACTLI

Centeotl | Tonacatecuhtli

papalotl[butterfly]

lord of the night: Tlazolteotl

trecena[7]: Xochiquetzal

x: caxtolli-onei[18] - tlaxochimaco

"Cosmic Energy", Remedios Varo, 1956.

"Anarchic Energy", Conroy Maddox, 1939.

IMIX

A Good Day to:

Cleanse oneself of negative energy

www.mayan-calendar.com

Let's do that with some songs about ENERGY:

Information Society: What's On Your Mind (Pure Energy)

Bob Marley: Redemption Song

Pet Shop Boys: Axis

M.I.A.: Energy Freq

Green Day: Know Your Enemy

Ellie Goulding: Midnight Dreams

Earth, Wind and Fire: Energy

Yes: Into the Lens

Aceyalone: The Energy

Tool: Third Eye

Ariana Grande: Everytime

Die Antwoord: Banana Brain

Flaming Lips: SpongeBob and Patrick Confront the Psychic Wall of Energy

Alicia Keys: Wasted Energy

GZA: Planetary Energy

ABBA: I'm the City

Nas: No Bad Energy

Demi Lovato: I Love Me

Melissa Manchester: Energy

Rush: The Spirit of Radio

ONYX: Mad Energy

Katy Perry: Energy

Talib Kweli: Write at Home

Halsey: Control

The Cult: Dark Energy

Britney Spears: Invitation

Kraftwerk: The Voice of Energy

The Hollies: Emotions

Paramore: You First

The Offspring: Nitro (Youth Energy)

Beyonce: ENERGY

Kool and the Gang: Victory

Lady Gaga: Just Dance

Kylie Minogue: Can't Beat the Feeling & 10 Out of 10

Brian Eno: Energy Fools the Magician

Bob Seger: Turn the Page

The Byrds: Artificial Energy

The Cars: Bye Bye Love

Paul Simon: Tenderness

Bill Withers: Close to Me

Willie Nelson: Energy Follows Thought

Pointer Sisters: Dance Electric

The Rolling Stones: 2000 Light Years Away from Home

The Supremes: High Energy

Metallica: Battery

Marvin Gaye: Ego Tripping Out

Queen: Back Chat

John Lennon: Out the Blue

Snotty Nose Rez Kids: BBE (Big Braid Energy)