#eventually they will have nobody to attack and they will turn on the women and everybody else they recruit

[sk3l3t0n444]

wow i havent cried at transphobia in like forever...

[decolonize-the-left]

Hey this might be a weird question but you seem to know a lot about the strategies TERFs use and what they're hiding, so I just wanted to ask and you don't have to answer.

Why do so many TERFs have this weird hostility towards bi and ace people? I don't think either of those identities have anything to do with being trans but I've seen so many TERFs who are also biphobic and/or aphobic. My gut instinct was that there was some large overlap between bi/ace people and trans people, but then I've found TERFs give shit to cis bis and aces so I'm not sure if it's that or some other reason. I'm not trans myself but I want to be able to recognize TERF rhetoric to be a better ally to trans people.

A couple reasons.

First one is that hating bis/aces is at the entrance of the TERF pipeline; they utilize this 'soft bigotry' to radicalize LGBTs and it usually looks like this:

To recruit queer ppl first they try to get us to stop considering aces as Oppressed. That's how it starts. They're aren't Doing anything so how can they be oppressed? They don't know what it's like to marginalized....how could they? They're just stealing the spotlight of Actually oppressed ppl

And once you accept that they turn to bisexuals. Who are only half gay, you know? And most of them date men anyway or end up marrying men so like? How the hell would they know what it's like to literally Live oppression 24/7? Do we we really want them to have a voice and speak for those of us that don't have an escape from our oppression?

This works because on the surface TERFS/Radfems appear to care about women and gender equality, which a lot of queer people obviously support. But they exploit those of us that don't know enough about feminism's intersectional (and very gay) history to identify them as bad actors.

From here the person they've targeted will either a- accept this and likewise will eventually also accept that trans oppression isnt real either (fulfilling the TERF's actual goal of recruitment) OR b- they'll realize they've been manipulated and try to deconstruct.

Secondly:

TERFs are white supremacist and their beliefs are founded white supremacist ideology and outdated scientific theories that Support white supremacist rhetoric.

It's called gender-essentialism which is a branch of bio-essentialism which is the belief that the biological body you have has inherent skills and abilities. Racists have used this to deny Black humanity just as TERFs use it to deny the existence of gender diversity.

But nobody is inherently weaker because of a uterus, nor are they bad drivers just because they have a uterus. All women are not good mothers just because they are women. Men are not all abusers just because they are men.

TERFs would have you swallow these beliefs; they're vital to maintaining the Core TERF Value that that trans people aren't Real and people with uteri are always helpless victims to be defended against evil men.

And as white supremacists their goal is to disrupt and destroy minority communities so that we are too divided to unify against legal attacks. TERFs do this from the inside out by putting bis/aces in a different category from the other queers while disguising their bigotry as feminist. They get us to voluntarily undermine and destroy our own movement this way by causing intercommunity "bi/ace discourse" that makes bis/aces out to be an enemy of "real" oppressed people (like transphobic lesbians for example)

Thirdly:

Lots of queer people are feminists which makes us easy targets and that's why they focus on the queer community. Additionally, the queer community has a history of being a threat to the white supremacist establishment so dividing us is vital to their goal of eventually wiping out anyone who isnt cis, straight, white, neurotypical, and able bodied

[jordisblogg]

she’s gone..

shuri.u x reader

warnings: heavy angst, shuri has a panic attack

a/n: i saw an edit on tiktok from @/m1rales so that’s what inspired this. that edit made me cry no joke😭

“so.. we’re going to need you to address the queen’s death and make a statement shuri, how you’re going to be taking over her duties as the one next in line for the throne.” okoye explained, dusting off imaginary lint off of shuri’s shoulder.

it was precisely 2 days after queen romanda’s death and shuri was still shaken up about the whole thing. she hasn’t spoken since it happened, she hasn’t eaten, hasn’t slept. you tried to get her to relax but every time you tried she gave no response to anything. it’s like she was.. dissociated from the entire world.

“the cameras will be going live in. . 4 minutes.” the general checked the time on her kimoyo beads.

shuri was looking past okoye, staring blankly at the wall. “it should take no more then 10 minutes” she finished.

you, nakia and riri stood to the side. you three would be on the sidelines while shuri would be addressing the situation.

“she’s not ready for this..” you mumbled to yourself, but riri heard you. she hasn’t known shuri for as long as you have but she can obviously tell as well as you, that she was in no shape to be on national television.

“30 seconds, princess” one of the camera women stated.

shuri walked from out of the room and onto the large balcony, that sat above the city. as soon as she made it outside, she was hit by the flashing of camera lights, she held her down, staring at the mic.

she looked back at the camera woman who counted her fingers down from three, then a thumbs up, letting everybody know they were live.

shuri cleared her throat softly and opened her mouth to speak..

nothing came out.

her throat ran dry, why couldn’t she speak?

how did she even get to this point? what has she done?

everything was finally hitting her, her father was gone, her brother was gone, her mother was.. gone.

her mother was gone.

her entire family was gone and she was the only one who remained. she could never be able to see any of them ever again.

she was left with all the responsibilities, she was left with the mantel, she was left with the duty of being queen, she was left alone.

her chest stared to get tight, she couldn’t breathe.

you stared at her, searching for any movement and debating of whether to go up there or not to get her.

the cameras continued to flash, she felt like she was being blinded.

she couldn’t see, she felt dizzy, her cheeks felt wet, her hands were shaking, she was sweating profusely, what the hell is this?!

“princess shuri?”

“princess shuri?”

shuri finally turned her head to you and the sight you saw completely destroyed you.

fat tears were streaming down her cheeks and her nose was red. “.. i can’t..” she whispered, you couldn’t hear her or read lips, but just seeing her face, you knew enough was enough.

“okoye, cut this off, now.” you demanded as you ran up to shuri, grabbed her hand, and rushed her back into the palace.

you quickly shut and locked the door, bending down to shuri on the floor, who was struggling the breathe.

“baby— baby look at me. it’s okay.. it’s alright, breathe—“

“i can’t—i couldn’t do it— i couldn’t— i’m sorry!” she cried. you placed your hands on the side of her face, staring into her wet, red eyes.

“it’s okay baby, nobody’s mad at you, but you have to breathe, please!”

“she’s gone—everyone’s gone—they’re gone!”

“shuri! breathe!” you cried, trying your best to stay calm for her.

she closed her eyes and you brought her head to your chest, letting her listen to your heartbeat, as you cradled her in your arms.

her breathing started to decelerate, eventually coming to a steady pace, but you kept her close. your shirt was wet from her tears but you didn’t care.

“it’s my fault. .” she muttered against your chest. you only looked down at her, is that what she was feeling this entire time?

“i could’ve stopped.. namor.. i could’ve saved tchalla. it’s my fault” more tears started to flood down your silk shirt. you kissed the top of her head and ran your fingers through her curls.

“you are not at fault here shuri, the events that happened was nothing you could’ve predicted. the world was just placing too much on your shoulders at those moments. you know just as well as the rest of us that your family is extremely proud of you, and they’ve known you’re doing your best considering what’s been happening. i wish i had the power to rewind time or— take all of your pain away. i would do anything, but the only thing i can do.. is be here for you.. if you let me..”

shuri let out a shaky sigh, burning her face deeper in your bosom.

“you won’t—“

“i’m not going to leave you shuri, i promise. i’m going to be here as long as you need me. whenever you’re sad, you call me, whenever you’re angry, you call me, whenever you feel like you’re world is starting to crumble, you. call. me. i’ll gladly pick up the piece and rebuild it for you. i’m never going to let you feel like you’re here by yourself, like you have no one. you have me.. and nakia and okoye and riri. were all here, shuri. and were all going to help you through this. ”

for the first time in a while, she let a small genuine smile spread across her face.

“promise?” she whispered

“i promise. as long as you promise that you won’t shut us out..”

“i promise..” she sighed once more.

it only rung of silence, you and shuri, locked in the bathroom, holding onto each other.

and for the first time in the past week, shuri finally got some sleep, peacefully, knowing that when she woke up, she wouldn’t be alone.

she wouldn’t have to worry about facing her trials by herself.

and knowing that, made her feel. .

at peace.

[wellthebardsdead]

Falûne: *returned to the house of hope in search of the Orphic hammer* uncle?? Korrilla?? *looks around sending no presence of either of them* huh… they must be out.

Astarion: probably off busying himself with some other poor souls.

Falûne: he helps people, that’s what he does astarion. *huffs curling his tail around his leg, visibly getting fed up with the groups commentary on his uncle and himself for being devils, so blinded by his love for him and the facade he’s built that he can’t accept the truth* the hammers in the archive last I checked. *walks past the archivist* let them through please.

Archivist: yes your grace. *steps aside letting them through* your uncles currently out but if you require any assistance I am at your service.

Falûne: yes actually, where do we keep the Orphic hammer again?

Archivist: oh?… are you? Releasing Hope?

Falûne: no we’re releasing Orpheus the- whose?… whose Hope?…

Archivist: *realising he’s made a horrific mistake* oh um, nobody important young prince. Please the hammers this way. *scurries off ahead*

Falûne: … *follows after him and takes the hammer from the pedestal* I won’t get angry at you, and I won’t let any harm come to you… Who. Is. Hope?…

Archivist: th-the masters already heard my blunder. Sh-she’s in the dungeon your grace. I- I have to go! *turns and hurries out, his footsteps fading down the hall*

Falûne: we… have a dungeon?…

Everyone: *silent realising the wool is about to be lifted from his eyes*

Falûne: *walks past them and through the house of hope, before eventually entering the area his uncle had previously barred him from entering his whole life, the entrance to the dungeon* … why would we have a dungeon?… uncle always said it was just a wine cellar here… *enters the dungeon with the group following behind, only to be immediately met with the presence of several imps and two beholders, guarding two crystals keeping a dwarven women bound in infernal chains* what is, what is this?

Hope: *looks up, face visibly paling, not seeing a young blue cambion, but Raphael in another form* No no! Not again! Not again please!

The beholders: *both turn to face him along with the imps, not to attack, but as if awaiting command*

Falûne: I… *looks at them then at the woman* …Stand down. *walks to the first crystal and shatters it before walking to the other and doing the same, setting her free*

Hope: *drops to the ground and immediately cowers as she backs away from him* no more- please no more I just want my sister please I-

Falûne: shhh, shhh it’s okay, I’m… im not going to hurt you, who are you? Why are you here?

Hope: you?… *blearily focuses on him seeing not a shred of evil within him, only a relationship to one she considers wholly evil* you’re not Raphael… I’m… I’m Hope… Raphael he came to us, me and Korrilla, me and my sister he offered us a deal- he offered us power, Korrilla said yes, I didn’t. He… he kept me down here, tortured me for my defiance, said he’d break me eventually. They tore me to pieces over and over again, my eyes are gone my ears, my lips, my mind broken bit by bit.

Falûne: my?… my uncle did this to you- no. No he wouldn’t, h-he wouldn’t do this he’s, he’s-

Hope: evil! He’s evil pure evil! He doesn’t like what he can’t control! He doesn’t like what doesn’t fit his rules! He’s a monster!

Falûne: *wings flaring up with his temper* HES NOT A MONSTER!!!

Hope: *cowers again at his outburst*

???: Lûny!

Falûne: *spins around to see Raphael standing at the dungeons entry, the group between him and them* uncle, uncle what’s going on here? Say it’s not true! She did something bad that’s why she’s here right?! Right?…

Raphael: *blood boiling seeing his facades finally been lifted, but feeling an unexpected sadness gripping his heart as he realises he’s lost his nephews trust* I tried my best to keep you from seeing this side of being a devil, nephew… This is why I handle all the hard work of being an archduke to keep you shielded from our true nature.

Falûne: our true nature?… this isn’t our true nature! *gestures around the chamber then at hope* This isn’t mine!

Raphael: isn’t it? How easily you resort to unrelenting cruelty towards those who would do your loved ones harm? Did you forget how you laughed when you held your grandfathers head in your lap as your portrait was painted? Or how you revelled in painting the chamber of Baal with orins insides? And what of the goblins who desecrated the shrine to your mothers, ‘beloved moonmaiden’.

Falûne: th-that’s different, grandfather tried to kill you, orin kidnapped and tried to kill my friends! And-

Raphael: Ha! Friends! Wake up Falûne! They’ll never see you as a friend! To them you’ll be nothing more than another devil! Evil incarnate. Just like me. They don’t care about you! They’ll n-

Astarion: SHUT UP! *steps forward drawing his rapier* I love him! More than anything in this miserable reality! He’s made me realise there’s more to my existence than just darkness and pain! He is my hope!

Karlach: Our hope! He gave me my heart back, and I’ll be damned if I break his! *grips her axe tight*

Wyll: And if we have to fight our way out of here to keep him safe from you then so be it!

The rest of the group: *readies their blades to fight*

Falûne: *heart burning hot in his chest as his friends rally around him, for the first time in his life, he no longer feels completely alone* my friends…

Hope: *steps out from behind Falûne, finding her courage to stand with them against her tormentor* Your nephews just like me… are you doing to bind him up to?… what good will that do you in the end?…

Raphael: *looks at her, then at his nephew, knowing full well he wouldn’t be able to take him in a fight… even if he wanted to* …I can’t hurt you… *sighs and shakes his head* very well… If you want her to go free. So be it… I’ll see you when you return home. *snaps his fingers, disappearing into flame as the imps and beholders do the same*

Falûne: … *looks down at hope* you can leave now… *walks to his friends and quietly pulls Astarion into a hug* …You were right.

Astarion: shhh. It’s okay…

Falûne: it’s not… but it will be. *sighs and exits the dungeon, face paling as he sees what’s left of the Archivist splattered across the wall after Raphael got his claws into him*

???: he did it all for you… it was all to keep you safe… mine is just one of many souls giving you power.

Falûne: *looks from the blood splatter to see Korrilla standing there awkwardly* …How could you do that to your own sister?

Korrilla: it’s complicated lû.

Falûne: it’s cruel and selfish is what it is… just get out of my way… I don’t want to see you or Raphael ever again… I won’t be coming home.

*a few days later after the absolutes defeat*

Falûne: *sitting in the elfsong tavern with Astarion, planning on their next adventure* I’ve never been allowed to leave the hells, I’d love to see all of the sword coast. Maybe waterdeep? I’d love to heckle Gale in one of his lectures~

Astarion: you know as well as I he’ll bring up the cheese incident again as a retort.

Falûne: you had it coming~

???: there you are!

Falûne: *blinks as hope suddenly hurries over and sits at their table with him* Hope? I- you’ve been looking for me?

Hope: yes! Your uncles been missing you!

Falûne: he’s?… missing me? Wait? Why do you know that? I thought you escaped?

Hope: oh I thought about it, but my sisters still employed with him and he seemed really sorry about it so I forgave him. Now me and my sister share a room and mr Yurgir is quite nice company~ but your uncles not your bedroom since you left. An your pet flying piglets been depressed too.

Astarion: I- hold on a minute he seemed sorry about it?! So you just forgave him?!

Falûne: Uncle can get stuck in his head when he’s depressed …I do miss Hen too…

Astarion: you’re not seriously considering going back?

Falûne: I… I don’t really have a choice. I’ll need to go back to the hells eventually… I am the archduke by name and all, and… it’s my home… will you, come with me?

Astarion: no I’m going to stay here worrying the worst may happen to you. Yes I’m coming with you! *takes his hand*

Falûne: *snorts* thank you…

*a few hours later*

Raphael: *sitting in Falûnes room, Hen the flying pig in his lap snoring peacefully as he pats their wing. Feeling a mess of conflicting and confusing feelings no devil would be used to experiencing… no devil except for Falûne. A kind hearted boy that he raised to be that way, a gentle soul filled with nothing but hope* gods… what have I done hen?… I’ve driven away the only person who cares about me… nevermind the fact he can snap my spine like a toothpick… I miss him.

“Uncle? I’m home…”

Raphael: *launches out of the chair so fast the pig is sent literally flying* nephew?! *speeds from the room leaving hen spinning in circles in the air*

[do-you-know-this-queer-character]

hey i noticed an anon mentioned submitting a lot of arcana characters and i wanted to pop in to say that that game is a racist, fetishizing mess. not only do they have a brown character who is kept literally in chains and is a vessel for one of the writers’ thinly veiled bucky barnes slavery kink, one of the bad endings features their fantasy-jewish-coded character turning into a literal bird, not to mention his numerous bird motifs.

between asra, nadia, and julian, asra and nadia are clearly more sexualized throughout the course of the game, even when fans have asked them to tone it down and stop fetishizing their “exotic” brown characters.

the fandom is and has been historically overwhelmingly hostile to fans/people of color who try to mention these problems. fans of color trying to dissuade people from writing nadia as a step on me dommy mommy queen have been shut down by elle trying to spin it into a “women can be dommes too!” issue, when the problem is that nobody would be treating nadia like this if she was white. asra gets his paid scenes hijacked by the white LI and then is painted as the toxic one in his and julian’s relationship (of which is only there due to elle’s mlm abuse fetishization) because god forbid their favorite white boy isn’t a perpetual victim.

outside of the game itself, dana rune has run a fanzine about an incestuous fire emblem fates ship (corrin/ryoma/xander) and further information can be found at the relations_zine handle on twitter. she may have scrubbed her name from it but it’s clearly her art style lmfao, and iirc she’s still in the followers/following list on that account. elle has a long history of fetishizing mlm abuse/slavery/“yaoi” on their tumblr that they’ve since deleted, but like. i googled “elle thalassiq fetishizing mlm” and immediately found posts with thorough screenshots so it existed lmfao. and even if it didn’t, it’s very evident with how they treat asra/julian/muriel.

this is heated and not thorough, but i’d like to end this by saying that this is coming from a former fan who eventually had to leave the game and fandom altogether because of the compounded issues that were never addressed, brushed under the rug, or actively encouraged time and time again. do not play the arcana. there are better games out there. and the last i was in it, the fandom was a toxic cesspool that would attack anyone, especially fans of color, who ever voiced a dissenting opinion about anything in the game. i hold my queer media to better standards and you should too. this game does not treat dark, heavy topics with respect, it treats them as fetish fodder.

Okay, I figured something like this would hit this blog eventually. The point of this blog is not for me take a stance and say what media is good and what media is bad. I am not brushing off your concerns - that’s a whole lot of awful information, and from me posting your ask, people can make their own choice about wether they want to engage with the game or the fandom. But I am just one person, and I don’t know anything about 90% of the media that is submitted here. If I excluded every piece of media that someone said was below a standard, I wouldn’t have any media left. This blog is simply a recognition game, I’m not trying to promote these pieces of media. I’m not saying that because they have queer characters that they’re fantastic or anything like that. I’m not taking any stance on any of it, actually.

This isn’t about the quality of a media, the quality of a fandom, or the quality of the representation that a character represents. It’s just a recognition game.

I am not going to get into any of these debates myself, since I know almost nothing about most fandoms here, but if you have serious concerns with a particular media posted here, send in an ask like this detailing the problems and I will post it, so that people looking at this blog can see valid criticisms before diving into a new piece of media.

As a further note, racist and antisemetic comments or tags on any post will be blocked on sight.

I will tag all asks like this with “media critical”.

[lesboriptide]

Need that angst/comfort drabble of rhea realizing how little tjd actually care for her and then Becky comes in and bam, rhea isn’t alone anymore(I am delusional about them)

Isn’t That Worth Holding On?

Eeeeowch! This took on a bit of a life of its own, haha. Nevertheless, I really enjoyed writing this! Thank you, and keep em coming!

For clarification, this takes place in kayfabe and is before these two officially get together. And yes, I am keeping up with naming these after Mitski lyrics.

TWs: implied manipulation/gaslighting, abusive platonic relationship

She lost.

She fucking lost, and Nia Jax was the new Women’s World Champion. Rhea could barely comprehend the moments leading up to it. All that rang through her head were the deafening boos of the crowd and Nia’s laugh. As far as anything else was concerned, none of it was real. Rhea had lost in her home country, with the Irresistible Force defying the odds and crushing her dreams. Crushing her like she was little more than a tree branch.

And once again, they weren’t there for her. Judgment Day were nowhere to be seen. She understood that it would be tasteless for them to attack or hit Nia, but they couldn’t even escort her out of the ring. They could have distracted the ref, distracted Nia…shit, that big-headed freak could’ve launched himself out of a cannon, for all Rhea could’ve cared. At least it would be something, anything to allow her to regain the upper hand.

But they didn’t, because why wouldn’t they? They were barely there for her during the build-up to the Fatal Five Way. They were nowhere to be seen when she battled Zoey Stark and Ivy Nile. They deemed R-Truth and The Miz as higher priorities than her getting beaten down by Nia every single fucking week leading up to Elimination Chamber. Dominik was still devoted to her, but his attention span swayed rapidly between her and the sausage party currently known as Judgment Day.

As she took a seat on a backstage equipment case, Rhea finally broke. She curled into herself and sobbed, hating herself for being so naive. She truly thought that that bastard Edge was right, that Judgment Day would be her true family and calling, that nobody would understand her like them. But of course, Rhea could see that was all a sick and demented lie. Edge never wanted to see her succeed — he wanted someone to control, someone to mold in his image before he eventually jumped off the burning WWE ship. Judgment Day ruined her friendships, her perception of family and love…it ruined her life, and now her Women’s World Championship reign has been ruined because of them.

Suddenly, she felt a light but distinct weight on her knee. Rhea looked up and saw that the weight was a hand, one that belonged to Becky Lynch. Because of course she had to see her like this, sobbing and broken after seeing her dreams of a match together fall apart. Having won the Women’s Chamber match earlier, she was now slated to fight Nia at Wrestlemania. Fucking terrific.

From the look on Becky’s face, she wasn’t thrilled either. But she seemingly knew better than to crowd up on Rhea, especially when she’s as emotional as she is right now. When the two met eye contact, Becky circled her thumb ever so slightly on her knee, her frown now turning into an anxious lip bite.

“It’ll be alright, Rhea,” the older woman said. “Don’t wanna overwhelm you, lass. If you need me, you have my number.”

And with that, she left as soon as she appeared. But with Rhea’s back now straight and her tears now drying on her face, the younger woman felt oddly at peace. She was still upset, but maybe, just maybe…she could find people to be happy with again.

[sheetsonfire]

Old Flames Can Still Burn You | Part 1

Fandom: Chicago Med / Chicago PD

Pairing: Jay Halstead x Reader

Genre: Angst, drama, romance

Warnings: Descriptions of past domestic abuse, emotional manipulation, blackmail, panic attacks

Word Count: 3494

Prompt From @afro-hispwriter: Ava Bekker is from Reader's past, now together with Jay Halstead they must face the return of everything Reader wanted to escape from.

A/N: I don't know if this is darker than expected, but I hope you enjoy it all the same!

-

You cradled your coffee in your hands, letting the radiating heat warm up cold fingers as you sat on the bench outside the hospital. You were bundled in your hat and coat, sitting next to Natalie and April as they chattered away about Owen’s new pre-school and what Noah had been like as a toddler. The giggles from the two women made you smile - it felt good to be among friends, with a job you cherished.

As had become a tradition since Connor’s arrival, he would buy his friends' lunch at least once a month if not more often - today was one of those occasions. Taking a bite of your own tortilla, you watched Connor squabble with Will to the side of the food cart, the former trying to convince the latter to try a new tortilla filling. Your smile turned into soft rumbles of laughter as Natalie shook her head at the men - they were the real children sometimes.

Eventually, Connor and Will return to the group with their lunch choices and Will seems smug, you assume he got his way instead of caving to Connor’s recommendations. You catch Connor’s eye, shaking your head with a grin, shrugging as if to say “What can you do?” 

“Hey! I saw that!” Will grumbles at you, only making you laugh more when he swats the back of Connor’s head. 

You shrug with a teasing smile, “It’s not my fault you’re afraid of change. Maybe we should get you to Dr Charles about that…”

Will playfully kicks your shoe and you swipe back at him with your foot, Will smarting back at you that Dr Charles is “a psychiatrist, not a therapist.” 

“Hm, I never said you didn’t need both, buddy.” You wink, taking a bigger bite of your lunch as Will comes to sit opposite you with Connor who was stifling his amusement to avoid another whack.

“Remind me why we’re outside again?” You sigh, feeling the cold creep beneath your clothes and to your skin, despite your layers. 

April groaned in sympathy, she had a scarf on as well as a jacket and hat, yet looked colder than you. “Because the cafeteria had a leak this morning, it’s apparently a limited-capacity area for the rest of the day.”

“And we’re not in the on-call room because…?” You sipped more eagerly at your coffee, 

“Because it’s already got people in there who called first dibs.” Natalie supplies, rolling her eyes at the bad luck your troupe had been handed.

You wrinkle your nose in disapproval, knowing you only had about five more minutes until you caved and went back inside to do literally anything, so long as you could stay warm. “Ah…Suppose the fresh air is something, but maybe too fresh.”

“Besides…” Will starts, finishing a mouth full of his lunch, “Connor’s avoiding his new competition.” He raises his eyebrows, clearly pleased with himself for having ‘gossip’. 

You and your two bench companions turn your attention to Connor who sighs, wishing Will hadn’t brought it up. Things had been difficult of late, he was starting to think his reaction to the new CT Fellow was more to do with his mood than anything else.

“Look, things have been hard enough proving to Dr Latham I’m good enough to be his CT fellow and then the hospital decided to let a second Fellow join. He seemed delighted this morning when he told me.”

Natalie chimes in, having known Dr Latham a lot longer than Connor she had been periodically trying to reassure the surgeon that Dr Latham had the greatest respect for him. 

“Connor, you know Dr Latham isn’t petty like that, and we all know how good of a physician you are." Natalie encourages, and you nod in agreement, nobody ever doubted how excellent Connor was at his job, Nat then continues, "He’s probably just excited to have two great minds instead of one working for him. Presumably, this new doctor is a great mind too, right?”

Connor’s jaw clenches, thinking back to his first interaction with the new doctor, she had been… forward. It wasn’t usually a problem for Connor but there was a smugness to her, and he had felt defensive when she immediately diagnosed Dr Latham with Asperger's, annoyed that she would presume to know the man he had tried so hard to build a rapport with. Then again, he mused, the referral he had seen spoke for itself, she was an exciting new prospect from a professional standpoint. 

“Well yeah… yeah, of course, she was one of the top names in South Africa, Latham’s pick before me. Goodwin encouraged him to put his faith in me like Dr Downey did…" You all nod, sparing a thought for the late Dr Downey with whom Connor had really connected.

Connor turns to you, "Actually, she’s come from Groote Schuur in Cape Town. Y/N, you might have heard of her, Ava Bekker?”

The second Connor had said “Groote Schuur” your stomach had threatened to return your lunch back to the picnic table and over your friends. Your stomach felt like lead and you could feel the clamminess instantly break out over your skin beneath your winter layers. The world had started to zone out from focus, clumsily putting your coffee back on the table before you could drop it entirely.

Your friends knew you had spent nearly two years in South Africa, after becoming a fully qualified Emergency Medicine doctor as part of a fellowship programme. You had worked in the ED of Groote Schuur… but what they didn’t know was that you knew Ava Bekker all too well.

“Y/N, you okay?” Connor asks, confused at your reaction. 

Your throat felt tight, and your heart hammered away with adrenaline pulsing, you had to take a second away from the group, you didn’t want them to see how messed up you felt at the mere mention of her. 

“I-I’m fine, just uh…overate. I just need to take a walk, I’ll be right back, you guys go on inside before you, uh, freeze...” You give them all a tight smile, shuffling off the wooden seat, leaving behind a half-eaten tortilla that didn’t quite convince them of your excuse. You headed in the direction of the parking lot, not daring to look back at the concerned faces of your friends.

-

“Should I follow-?” Connor asks, Will considering the same himself. 

Natalie shakes her head, “Give her a minute, we can find out what that was soon enough.”

-

With shaking legs you hastily move towards a rarely used break spot at the side of the ED's main building, adjacent to the rows of parked cars, except as you stumbled with your head down you walked smack bang into a firm body. 

You yelp, “Oh god, I’m so sorry, I-I-...” You can’t help your jittered words as your brain fires a thousand thoughts at once. Ready to apologise profusely for not being more observant, you're panting hard. Steadying hands grasp your shoulders gently, making you finally look up to see who it was. 

“Y/N?” Jay’s face falls from confusion to concern when he sees your panicked expression. “What’s wrong?” 

Seeing Jay brings all of your emotions to the fore, tears stinging your dried-out eyes in the cold, your breaths are erratic and you can’t make the pain in your chest shift. 

“J-ay…” Trying your best to communicate to your boyfriend of almost a year what the problem was. 

“Hey, come on, it’s alright. Just breathe for me, sweetheart. I got you, let’s step inside out of the cold.” He puts a gentle arm around you, supporting you as he guides you through a side door, let in by one of the security guards.

It’s then that a nurse spots your boyfriend holding your distressed frame, watching him look for somewhere to take you away from the commotion of the hospital. 

She wanders over, coming over to see if you needed help.

“Sir, is everything okay, is she hurt?” 

“Uh no, sorry, Dr Y/L/N works here, I think she’s having a panic attack... I’m her boyfriend.” Jay flashes his badge, “Detective Jay Halstead. You got somewhere private, so we can just take a second?”

The nurse glances at you, watching you try and take slow steady breaths, hot tears running down your cheeks, shaking from the cold and the anxiety. 

“Do you know this Detective, hon, do you need me to stay?” She asks gently, hoping Jay wouldn’t take too much offence, as she did her due diligence to keep a fellow staff member safe, you could never be too careful.

“I-It’s okay, he is…” You take another deep inhale and exhale, “...my boyfriend.”

The nurse smiles sympathetically. “Alright, hon. This assessment room here is free for the next hour, you take the time you need, okay?” She takes in the colour of your scrubs, knowing you came from the ED. “Is your Charge Nurse, Maggie Lockwood?” 

You nod, sniffing as you focus on Jay’s hands on you, the warmth of his touch is something to ground you as nausea sits uncomfortably in your throat.

“I’ll let her know where you are and who you’re with. If you need anything, I’m gonna be at that station over there, alright?” 

You nod again, trying for a smile but you’re sure it comes out as a weary sniffle.

“Thank you, ma’am.” Jay thanks her sincerely, guiding you to the room as he helps you sit in a chair, moving away only to close the door gently. 

You sit staring at your hands as they shake, your head still spinning as you hear Jay approach, the soft rustle of him taking his coat off. He bends down to crouch in front of you,

“Sweetheart, can I scoot in a little closer and hold your hands?” He asks gently, 

You nod to convey your permission, “You…can…” eyes closed in some sort of relief as your boyfriend carefully takes your hands in his, thumbs immediately stroking over your knuckles. 

“You’re freezing.” He murmurs, moving a little closer so he can see your face. 

You lift your head slightly with a pained expression that makes Jay’s chest ache, inhaling as deeply as you can before releasing a shaky exhale, your extremities feel weak and numb, just taking the time to catch your breath again. 

Jay scans the room, thankful that there was a pile of thin blankets in a cupboard just within reach. It would do for now.

Carefully he helps you shed your jacket and your hat, replacing it with the warm, dry, blanket around you. A gentle hand rubs your back slowly,

“I got you, I’m right here, Y/N. Just take it easy, I know it’s scary but you’ll be okay… I just need to let Voight know where I am, give me two seconds.” You nod silently, clutching Jay’s arm a little as he reaches for his phone, still feeling panicked as you don’t want him to move away.

“It’s alright, I’m staying, I won’t let go.” He soothes, dialling Hank’s cell, watching you with concern as he sees the exhaustion setting in from your attack.

“Voight, I’ve got a family emergency with Y/N… No, she’s, she’s gonna be okay, but I need an hour to take care of it. Yeah, of course, no, it’s alright, I just need some time… Appreciate it, alright, thanks.” 

Your boyfriend turns his attention back to you, one hand settling back over yours, the other remaining in soothing motions across your back, you put your head down a little more, trying to get nausea to shift, you can feel the edges of your vision going, tilting to one side as you lose your sense of gravity. “Woah, hey, it’s alright, honey, I’ve got you.” 

Jay stands in such a way that he can continue to support your wavering body, flexing out a leg to hook a second chair in the room with his boot, bringing it closer to sit by your side, letting you fall completely against him.

“It’s okay, feel my hands, squeeze if you can, breathe with me, slow it down, Y/N…”

Once you’re sure you’re not going to pass out, you relax into Jay’s hold, but you find it hard to stay awake as your heart skitters, only the sounds of your laboured breathing fill the room.

“That’s it, Y/N, it’s going to pass. You’re breathing better, you got this.”

You don’t how much time passes, but eventually the ringing stops, your extremities regain their feeling and your breathing is virtually back to normal. You’re so tired, but at least aware of yourself again. Feeling the heat of embarrassment creep up on you, you try and sit up in Jay’s embrace.

Jay remains quiet, letting you gather your thoughts. 

“Hi…” You rasp, sniffing as you wipe away the wetness on your cheeks. 

“Hey, you with me now?” Jay asks softly, soothing your forehead with a kiss. 

You nod, groaning as you can’t believe how badly you reacted to the conversation during lunch.

“I’m so embarrassed.” You murmur, resting your head on Jay’s shoulder, wrapping your arms around him.

“No need to feel embarrassed, honey. That was a bad one, you haven’t had one of those since those first months we met…” Jay doesn’t push, but he wants to know what could have triggered you so badly, squeezing you gently in the hug.

“Yeah, I know.” You sigh, lifting your head to look at the detective. “Uh…I, um, Jay… She’s here. A-...Ava’s here.” You exhale harshly, still feeling a visceral anger and fear at what this could mean for you.

“What? The reason you came back home, Ava?” Jay’s eyes have darkened, he knew all about your ex from before, it was part of the reason you had struggled so much to let Jay be there for you at first.

You nod, a moroseness overcoming your mood.

Yes, Ava Bekker was the reason you’d come home to Chicago last year. What at first had seemed like an exciting and hopeful romance, with even a permanent future to speak of, had turned into a mess of manipulative, controlling and exhausting behaviour on Ava’s part. 

It had got to the point where you had felt like you were going crazy, with no other choice but to take it to the police in Cape Town. It should have been a straightforward process, their laws on domestic violence were clear, but eventually, Ava had weaselled her way out of legal repercussions and you were left alone without a support system. Without so much as a restraining order to rely on, you decided it was better to simply walk away from your life there, coming back to Chicago where you knew she couldn’t follow. Until now, at least.

Coming back out of your thoughts you turn your gaze to Jay, you cup his cheek gently and lean in for a kiss, feeling his presence was doing wonders for your nerves. As you wrap yourself around him for a tighter embrace, you feel the rough material of his tactical vest. You pull back, frowning, realising that somewhere in your panic that you had heard him talk to Voight on the phone. 

“Wait, you here for work? Did I take you away from work?” 

Jay smiles wryly, stroking the back of your neck soothingly. “Sort of. It’s fine, I’d already given the witness statement I came to get to Voight before you ran into me.” 

You take a breath, “Okay, okay good… Seriously, Jay, you didn’t have to stay.” 

Jay huffs out a laugh, shaking his head as he kisses you again. “I was supposed to scoot you on over to Will and leave you to it? Now that I know why you were so upset? I don’t think so, honey.” 

You smile sheepishly, he had a point. “Okay, fair. It’s just, you know I hate being an inconvenience.” 

Jay cups your face, giving you a loving but stern look. “Being worried about this is not an inconvenience, Y/N. Seriously, I don’t have to tell you that domestic abuse is no light and breezy thing. You still have the police reports you gave back in South Africa, right?”

You nod, worrying your lip between your teeth. 

“Okay, so we’re gonna keep documentation of everything that happens here. Is there anything you can do in terms of reporting a conflict of interest to Goodwin?” 

“I…” Your heart picks up again, nerves jangling in your veins. “I don’t know, Jay. It’s my word against Ava's here, these people don’t know her like I do. I could try, I just… she made it hard for people to be around me last time, this is how it started, people questioning what was going on, thinking I was too much trouble because of her.” Tears spring back to your eyes, and you swipe them away angrily. 

“This is a nightmare, you…you think she came here because she knows I’m here?” You swallow, partially already knowing the answer. Ava knew every facet of your life before, she would always cancel plans with your friends, citing you had fallen ill or had something else come up, then when it came to seeing those friends again they would ask how you were after the cancellation and you never knew what they were talking about - it made you out to be a liar. 

She guilted you into thinking you weren’t grateful for her companionship, so you would overcompensate and do more to please her and win her affection. It had become an endless cycle, one that started to affect your work with patients and colleagues. In Ava’s eyes, her knowledge and expertise were always superior, it meant you began to question everything you did, which led you to self-medicating to cope - that had been the end for you.

“Sweetheart, I have to be honest, I’ve seen these types of situations a lot in my work. It would be naive to think she didn’t come here to mess with you, but now that we know she’s around, we’re gonna be vigilant. We’re gonna talk to Goodwin, Ethan, Maggie, Will… we’ll make sure that enough people know to keep her on a short leash. You have good friends here, family, and they’re not going to ditch you for her. You know that right?”

You sniff, resting your head on Jay’s shoulder. “Yeah… I know, I trust all of you… And Connor…she’s his new CT fellow. Oh god, poor Connor.”

His warm hand rests on the back of your head, lightly massaging your scalp. “We’ll make sure Connor knows too, it’s alright.” 

You nod against his shoulder again, taking another measured inhale and exhale. “Okay. Thank you, Jay, I am so glad you’re with me on this.” You lean back, squeezing his arm gratefully. You knew what a loving, healthy and communicative relationship could be like thanks to him.

He smiles fondly, “This isn’t a thankable situation, you just deserve better, and I want to make sure you have that… Do you want me to take you home?” 

You think about it for a moment, you sort if it did just want to curl up in your shared apartment with Jay and reset tomorrow. But you shake your head, a steeled look overtaking your worried expression.

“She’s crashed into my home, my life, I won’t let her scare me off already. I want to get back to work and face it all head-on.” 

Jay leans in to kiss you again, nodding, “Whatever you choose, I’m with you. Let’s get you back to the ED. If you’re ready, I’ll talk to some of the others real quick, and then I’ll head back to the 21st.”

-

You make your way out of the small room with Jay in tow, and you feel his hand rest comfortingly on the small of your back. 

The nurse gives you an inquiring look, and you smile and nod in confirmation that you were doing better. 

As you approached the double doors to the ED you felt your stomach knot up once again, Jay could feel you tense next to him.

He carefully stops you, turning to face you, “Hey, you don’t have to do this if you’re not ready. People will understand.”

You look into Jay’s intensely sincere eyes, wondering how you could be so lucky to have someone like him. You felt tired but not so much that the rest of the day was a write-off, you really wanted to make sure you didn’t let this disrupt your life already, Ava couldn’t do this to you again. You shake your head, “I can do it. You’re here, I’m going to be alright.”

He smiles, leaning in to kiss you soft and slow, you rest your hand on his chest, letting the moment linger, both of you unaware of the burning eyes that watch you from down the hall.

-

End of Part 1

@dumb-fawkin-bitch

Part 2

[pronoun-fucker]

The trouble with JK Rowling is that she has done nothing wrong. Back in 2020, she wrote a carefully worded, compassionate piece about sex and gender. It’s here if you want to read it.

In it, she described “a climate of fear that serves nobody – least of all trans youth – well”. At no point did she express the even mildest disapproval of gender non-conformity, let alone call for “trans genocide”. “Trans people,” she wrote, “need and deserve protection […] I feel nothing but empathy and solidarity with trans women who’ve been abused by men.”

The response to this piece was obscene. Some of it’s here if you want to read it. I am aware, however, that checking original source material is not the done thing when it comes to having an opinion on Rowling.

Shortly after the publication of her blogpost, countless op-eds appeared explaining what Rowling “really” meant. To summarise them all, Rowling was lying about not hating trans people and wanting them dead, and you could tell this by the fact she said she didn’t hate trans people and didn’t want them dead.

There then followed a succession of lengthy, meandering (and deadly boring) essays on what it meant to be a Harry Potter fan now that Potter’s creator turned out to be evil. Idiotic references to the Sorting Hat, which confused maintaining a strong sense of self regardless of external forces with getting to choose one’s biological sex, seemed to be de rigueur.

As for the rape and death threats, it was quickly established that taking issue with tweets such as “JK rowling suck my fat cock and choke on it” was transphobic. Indeed, when one group of literary figures signed an open letter condemning such messages, the response of over 200 writers, publishers and journalists was to sign a different one stating “trans rights are human rights”.

It’s a response that could have been predicted by Rowling herself. “It would be so much easier,” she’d written in her original blog, “to tweet the approved hashtags – because of course trans rights are human rights and of course trans lives matter – scoop up the woke cookies and bask in a virtue-signalling afterglow.”

That this was so obvious and so lazy didn’t matter to writers including Jeannette Winterson, Malorie Blackman and Joanne Harris. As witch-hunter Martin Del Rio put it in 1599’s Disquisitionum Magicarum Libri Sex, “it is evidence of witchcraft to defend witches”. This may be why Kiran Millwood Hargrave, another signatory of the second letter (and, ironically, author of a novel about a witch hunt), refused to sit on a panel alongside Amanda Craig, a signatory of the first.

The lack of support extended to Rowling by so many in the publishing industry has been nothing short of appalling. True, in the aftermath of the recent attack on Salman Rushdie – and Society of Authors chair Harris’s initially crass response to the suggestion that threats against Rowling should be taken seriously, too – it has been grudgingly acknowledged that all death threats matter, even those against women deemed to be TERF scum.

“Yes, I support trans rights,” Harris eventually tweeted, “But my personal feelings about the gender-critical movement don’t affect my belief in free speech, or what I do for the Society of Authors.”

How magnanimous! This is not enough, though. It’s a position that still falls back on the misrepresentation of Rowling, positioning her as someone who does not “support trans rights”. What’s more, it is a position that uses the very rape and death threats it purports to condemn as a way of dodging accountability. Finally admitting that another woman should not be burned at the stake is not so gracious an act it entitles you to continue calling her a witch.

The monstering of JK Rowling has taken place in two registers: the obscene social media version, and the genteel, literary version, in which horrified articles are written about books not read, advertising campaigns imagine “Harry Potter without its creator” and twee references are made to “the wizard lady” to avoid the distress caused by naming her. You might think the two registers are different – the one, blind hate, the other, political disagreement – but the latter depends on the former. How do we know “the wizard lady” is bad? Well, just look at how hated she is!

This is a situation in which the punishment has created the crime and it’s one that is needed by members of the publishing industry who have spent years embracing the arguments of the most extreme trans activists while ignoring those of feminists. They need Rowling to be a monster. Otherwise they might have to respond, not just to what Rowling has written, but to the realities of the movement to which they have pledged allegiance.

Intelligent writers, many of whom call themselves feminists, have painted themselves into a corner from which they are now forced to play along with utter absurdities. They must pretend that Andrea Long Chu and Grace Lavery are thoughtful commentators on the contemporary sexual landscape, that the only reason a female writer would use a male pseudonym would be if she wasn’t a woman, and that the London Review of Books describing women’s fear of rape as “the sort of fairy-tale fear-mongering that puts them in league with the far right” is top-class feminist analysis.

It is intellectually and morally degrading. I would not want to be the person who, having glibly conflated trans activism with supporting gender non-conformity and gay liberation, now finds herself on the same side as a movement which orders lesbians to “suck my huge trans cock”. No wonder so many writers and journalists, rather than take responsibility for their own politics, prefer to promote the myth that they’re taking a brave stand against the genocidal author of Harry Potter (while expecting an award for nuance and reasonableness for noting that they wouldn’t actually kill her).

The trouble with JK Rowling is not that she is transphobic, but that she isn’t. Her honesty has shamed a literary community that thought it could squint a bit and fudge things when it came to the question of “what is a woman and do they matter, anyway?” Because of this, the extreme, violent misrepresentation of Rowling has become a way to defer any reckoning with the harmful messages those in publishing and the creative arts have been waving through.

Extraordinary women weren’t women! Femaleness is an expectant ass and blank, blank eyes! Books which encourage children to accept their bodies are transphobic propaganda! Less than five seconds’ consideration of such ideas would show them to be regressive nonsense, only JK Rowling disagrees with them and she wants people dead!

Except she doesn’t and that is the problem. The monstering is wearing thin. Last week’s collective attempt to trash The Ink Black Heart by people who hadn’t read it felt far less enthusiastic than 2020’s shot at Troubled Blood. I do not think it can last. People like their fiction, but they do eventually tire of lies.

Link | Archived Link

[verraising]

Have some Myrri lore because I can't sleep despite being exhausted from travelling, and I have nothing else to do:

- She comes from Venko, a village in traditional Veena Viera territory, so the forests bordering the Skatay Range. Other than that though her village used to be pretty non-traditional, only very loosely following the Green Word, mostly by respecting and caring for the forest. There was no seperation of genders though, no wood-warders, and the village frequently welcomed outside visitors in the form of traders due to being relatively close to the forest's southern edge (about 3 days of travel).

- Her mother is the chieftess and her father was a hunter and woodworker. As the oldest child her mom put a lot of pressure on her from a young age on to grow into a good leader who had their people's best interests in mind at all times to take over her position one day, and Myrri struggled with not wanting to let her mom down while also not really being that interested in the responsibilities in the first place. She preferred to go hunt and forage with her dad, since she loved to roam and wander the forest more than being confined in the village.

- The rose she wears in her hair is actually a carved and painted wooden hairclip her dad made for her. It also has a small vitality enchantment because her dad knew she was struggling and hoped it would just be a lil extra boost to keep her spirits up.

- She was about 10 years old when the Garleans invaded Dalmasca, and soon their village's proximity to the forest's edge which had helped it to thrive for so long proved to be its downfall as it didn't take long for them to get attacked. Though the adults tried to organize a defense they soon got overwhelmed - many died fighting back, many got taken prisoners, and what little survivors remained scattered and retreated deeper into the forest.

- Her dad was one of the unfortunate who got taken prisoners. Her mom, who had been fighting after entrusting her children to those fleeing to safety, managed to escape alive. Once the Garleans were gone she gathered the survivors and they retreated as deep into the forest as possible to tend to their wounds, mourn their dead, and eventually begin the painful process of rebuilding their lives.

- Her mother and the entire village changed after this. It was decided that they would adhere to the traditional Viera way of life from now on, that maybe by following the green word as it was intended the forest would protect them from another tragedy like this. And so men left the village, the women stayed, and any outsiders were to be kept away - those mostly came in the form of desperate refugees, the few and far in-between who had been driven deep enough into the forest by fear of the Garleans and survived long enough to stumble over their village. But the doors stayed closed and Venko's guardians, with arrows and blades pointed, would tell them to get lost. Growing up Myrri lost count of all those desperate, fearful faces she had seen turned away, dirty and gaunt, some begging, some bargaining, some demanding to be let in but all being left to the mercy of the forest. And as she grew older she began trying to speak up, but nobody listened, so she had to learn to live with the growing sense of guilt building up in her chest.

- Her pivotal moment came after she ended up befriending a refugee who was hiding out in the ruins of their old village which Myrri liked to frequently return to to be alone. A miqo'te girl, called A'ruta, who had escaped from a garlean labour camp after being shipped there all the way from far away Eorzea. Over the following weeks Myrri returned regularly and brought her supplies and showed her how to hunt and forage, but after a close call with a Garlean patrol she finally decided to take her to Venko, hoping she could sway her mother to make an exception just this once and allow A'ruta to live with them.

- Her mom would not be swayed. Which was the point where Myrri was like Alright then. If you won't let her stay, then I will take her back to Eorzea myself. Because her loved ones are praying for her to come home just like we are waiting for our loved ones to return, and while doing this might not bring THEM home I can only hope that someone out there will extend them a helping hand when they need it most as well. And so Myrri left her home with her new friend, knowing fully well she would never be able to return, but too fed up to care.

- Getting to Eorzea was a long and arduous jorney but by the time they made it A'ruta and Myrri were close like sisters, and after reuniting with her clan Myrri stayed with them, basically getting adopted into the family.

- By that time she actually still went by her forest name, Hlif, but soon after she took on the name A'myrrhis, whike keeping her village's name as her last name.

- She lived with the A Clan until after the calamity, when she decided to become an adventurer because she wanted to travel more and help people in need, but even after leaving she considers them her second family, and they consider her family just as much.

[anueutsuhos-touhou-profiles]

Hata no Kokoro:

Bottom left art by Zounose, bottom right art by Rihito

Hata no Kokoro is a unique kind of tsukumogami known as a menreiki: 66 different masks all coming to life with a single, shared identity.

These masks each represent a single emotion, and are all essential for her identity to function. If even one is damaged or missing, she'll go insane. To make matters worse, you can hypothetically change her mentally by adding different "masks" as substitutes.

Her face never changes from that stoic expression, but it's not that she's emotionless. Her masks and her body language communicate this well enough. Her personality also comes through with these masks: while she looks cold and stoic on the outside, she's very innocent and childish, and actually very perky. Though she does tend to announce how she feels, which kinda gives away how inhuman she is.

She's initially the main antagonist of Touhou 13.5: Hopeless Masquerade. It seems all the Human Villagers have lost all hope due to all the incidents happening beyond their control. However, it turns out it was really because Kokoro had lost her Mask of Hope, and subconsciously compensated by absorbing the hope from the surrounding area. All three major religions in Gensokyo: Shinto, as represented by Reimu (and only her, the Moriya Shrine sits this one out), Buddhism, as represented by the Myouren Temple, and Taoism, as represented by the Divine Spirit Mausoleum, all tried to take advantage of this hopelessness to expand their followers. Even Nitori invented her own Kappaism religion in order to pander to this!

At least Miko tried to solve the incident, however, by making a new Mask of Hope for Kokoro... that looks like Miko's own face. Truly a humble woman. Kokoro actually rejected this mask, though, worried that it would kill her, returning her to a set of inanimate masks.

Eventually, Kokoro learned to control her emotions outside of her masks, with a big help from Mamizou, and confronted the religious leaders on exploiting her issues. At once. She fought Reimu, Byakuren, and Miko all at the same time and won! She celebrated her victory by creating a play with Mamizou about the events of the game, called Shinkirou. Afterwards, it turned out nobody was really sincerely converted to any religion because of the incident: people were just interested in watching these women beating the crap out of each other and placing bets on who would win.

Kokoro later appeared in the manga Forbidden Scrollery, where the hopelessness incident was revealed to have affected Kosuzu back then. She also appeared in Hopeless Masquerade's sequels, 14.5: Urban Legend in Limbo and 15.5: Antinomy of Common Flowers.

In Urban Legend in Limbo, one of her masks is cracked, causing her to believe she's the Kuchisake-onna, a girl from urban legend wearing a facemask who goes around asking people if she's pretty, only to kill them regardless of their answer after taking off the mask and revealing a horrifying mass of eel-like teeth underneath. She tries to get it fixed, but everyone who could is too busy, and she eventually falls into the role completely, besides realizing the question is redundant and so just assaults people on sight. This is, of course, fixed offscreen between games, however.

She's usually seen around Gensokyo, performing Noh theater. Noh, if you're wondering, is a Japanese theater art from the 14th century. She sometimes even does it at the Hakurei Shrine, giving Reimu some much needed donations for once.

She has something of an arch-rivalry with Koishi Komeiji, which makes sense, since it turns out Koishi stole her Mask of Hope in the first place! They act as foils to each other: Kokoro may look emotionless, but she's actually full of emotion, she just communicates it differently than most. Koishi may look perpetually cheerful, but she's really dead on the inside.

In battle, Kokoro uses a surprisingly wide range of attacks, almost all of which involve her masks or the ghostly blue fire surrounding them. Usually she has three masks orbiting around her at a time, each representing happy, sad, and angry. She can propel her masks at her opponents, or cause them to grow in size at the screen like a jumpscare. Each of her masks have laser eyes with different colored beams depending on the emotion: green for happy, blue for sad, and red for angry. She's able to breath (regular-colored) fire out of a big chinese lion mask, she can spit webbing out of a spider mask, and she can bite people with a wolf mask. She also uses a blue laser naginata. She even has fans she uses for weaponized fan dances! And of course she can shoot large waves of that blue fire around her.

Since she had to slowly learn to control her emotions, she's become incredibly good at reading the emotions of others, to borderline psychic levels. It even extends to being able to control other people's emotions through her masks!

Her name means "Kokoro of the Hata clan". The name "Kokoro" means "heart and mind". Hata is the family name of Hata no Kawakatsu, a legendary theatre performer from the Asuka period who had 66 masks made for him by Shoutoku Taishi. He actually predated Noh theater by a long time, the theater he practiced was Kagura.

That's right! Miko made the masks that would become Kokoro!

Hopeless Masquerade is the last game in this "chain of events", and the end of Windows Generation 2. After this, the new antagonists are no longer created or enabled by the previous one. Except a few, but it's no longer a single unbroken chain.

[smartycvnt]

in character

pairing: charlotte flair x reader

prompt: "if i ask you to kiss me in front of all these people will you do it?"

If there was one thing you had learned, it was that nobody put in the effort that Charlotte did. She wanted to be the face of the women's division for as long as she could, and she did that she could to stay on top. You had watched most of it from the sidelines, but then your own career started to move forward and you were right there next to her. You learned firsthand the kinds of sacrifices that Charlotte made to be the best, and you hated it.

Image was everything to Charlotte, even more than your relationship at times. Sneaking around was a hassle, one that you were put through more often than not. Charlotte had you constantly jumping through hoops to keep your relationship a secret. Charlotte Flair didn't have friends, so it didn't make sense for the two of you to be seen hanging around each other.

"Y/n?" Charlotte called out as she neared the little hideaway spot that she had told you to meet her at. You hopped down from the crate you'd been sitting on and pulled Charlotte towards you. "Hi."

"Hey." You pressed a kiss to her cheek. Charlotte shook her head a little and pressed a kiss to your lips. You relaxed into it, opening your mouth just enough for her tongue to slip past your lips. Kissing Charlotte was literally your favorite thing in the world. If you had to pick between wrestling and kissing Charlotte, you'd pick Charlotte.

"Char, are you back here?" Bayley asked as she walked towards the two of you. Charlotte jumped away from you as quickly as she could. You clenched your jaw as you turned your back to the two of them. Tonight they'd be debuting as a team of sorts, out to make Liv's run as a champion a little difficult. You'd be the one who would come to Liv's aid when they went out to attack her, pitting you directly against Charlotte in the storyline.

"Hey Bay," Charlotte greeted. Bayley didn't seem to notice you, so you snuck away from Charlotte. They talked out whatever storyline thing they needed to while you went to find Liv. About 20 minutes later, you were waiting for your music to hit so that you could come to Liv's rescue.

Charlotte focused her fury on Liv while Bayley turned to take care of you. You tossed the Role Model out of the ring and pulled Charlotte off of Liv. The two of you had a lot of chemistry in the ring, which the WWE Universe knew already. Getting Charlotte out of there took more effort than Bayley had. The two of you put on a little show, but eventually you came out victorious. Charlotte had done a number on you though.

"You okay?" Liv asked as she came to stand next to you. Charlotte and Bayley were retreating backstage while you and Liv watched. You turned to look at your new ally and nodded.

"I'm fine." Your tone was a little short, but Liv knew it wasn't about her. In the ring, you couldn't let onto Charlotte having hurt your feelings with Bayley. Instead, you just wiped the blood from your mouth on the back of your hand. "Charlotte got me pretty good."

"Let's go," Liv said as she walked you out of the ring. Backstage, there was someone already waiting with a little rag for you to wipe your mouth. Charlotte and Bayley were talking to each other, but Charlotte's attention was immediately drawn to you once you were through the curtains. "Good luck."

"Thanks," you muttered as Charlotte approached you. You took a deep breath and pulled the rag away from your face so that Charlotte could see the damage.

"Shit," Bayley said as she looked at the bloodied cloth. Charlotte sent her a glare, which caused the other woman to shrink back a bit. "Are you okay Y/n?"

"Yeah, I'm fine. Nothing I can't handle," you told her. Charlotte tilted your head down a little and winced as she saw the severity of your busted lip. "Don't bother, I'm fine."

"I really think you should get that checked out," Charlotte said. You brushed her off and moved past her. She let you get a few feet away before chasing after you. "Hey, did I do something wrong? Other than in the ring, which I am sorry about."

"Don't get too close, we can't have anyone thinking you like me," you said harshly. Charlotte sighed, knowing exactly what this was about. "Seriously, we can't ruin the story Flair."

"Don't be like this," Charlotte told you. She stepped into your personal space and looked down at you. "You know damn well that I love you."

"If I ask you to kiss me in front of all these people, will you do it?" you asked her. Charlotte clammed up a bit and stepped back. "I didn't think so. You know, I think I'm gonna try to room with Lacey tonight."

"Hey, no!" Charlotte yelled as you started to walk away from her again. You stopped, but only in surprise from the outburst. There were eyes on both of you now, but Charlotte still leaned forward and kissed you. It was exactly what you had wanted, but both of you realized quickly after your hiss of pain that it was a mistake.

"Ouch, shit," you swore as you held your hand up to cover your lip.

"Get your ass to medical so I can kiss you later," Charlotte told you. This time, you listened to her instead of going to the locker room to sulk. A few people were watching you as you walked off, but you didn't pay them any mind. Especially since you got to room with Charlotte like you planned and didn't have to seek out Lacey.

[demcnsinmymind]

Updated possession/Azzy/cult lore!

First of all, I've modified my docs a bit and got rid of some things on there + added some new info, some of which I'm gonna put in a couple of bullet points below the cut if anyone's interested

biggest change :

much less HPL lore. Azzy is the only thing to have ever talked to Lance through the walls, and the only thing to possess him, just the way it's supposed to be

I now added to the lore that Lance actually died to the basement attack at least for a short amount of time, and that this is the reason that tear truly ripped right through and why Az was able to slip right in. Boy was born in 1968 and vanished in 2003. He simply cannot have died in 1948 and it's such a huge clusterfuck paradox that created itself and timeloop mumbo jumbo here it is being able to stay inside him

I play more hardcore into the fact that Friedkin wasn't some sorta evil genius muahaha mastermind kind of torturer who had it all figured out with a grand ole god and everything. My idea is : his son died in the war. He went insane. He thought he could somehow use a body of one of the messed up souls inside his hospital, one nobody was going to miss anyway, as a vessel to bring his son back. Heavily inspired by the canon line from Lance : "he opened a gateway. he took the real world and the spirit world and smashed them together and that tore a hole in the building". Just like in canon, friedkin experimented on patients and tried to turn them into shells. The funniest thing is that it worked, but instead of his son coming back, other things snuck in and stole the limelight, most notably Azzy.

Friedkin just created a cult based around death and resurrection yada yada. My NPC char Brenda Peterson however went completely off the rails when she saw first hand that the idea in itself worked when Lance was possessed by Azzy on that table right before her, reality started to collapse, she was killed and came back as a fucked up demon nurse, and everything just went utterly fuck all chaotic and insane, something that she ended up loving. Unlike Friedkin, she eventually was no longer interested in just bringing a random dude back from the dead. She's full on after Azathoth and thinks that if she can become its bestie and 'free' it by killing Lance and giving it his full body, it'll in return bless her with a cooler/crueler afterlife too. She actually founded the cult of Azathoth on the foundation of Friedkin's work and initial cult, and brought along the teachings and ideas all the way along her family legacy back to the 2000s in my NPC char Andromeda

just general quick shoutout that I'm totally downgrading Friedkin on purpose because this asshole hURT my bOY and he more than deserves to be sit in the shadows of some cooler women mkay

So in general, the cult and all NPCs/players are just a huge, funny little mess with agendas that do not match up in any direction whatsoever: Azathoth couldn't give less of a shit about its own cult and kinda wants most of them dead because they wanna hurt thE Boy, Friedkin was only ever interested in brainwashing and turning people/Lance into a suitable vessel for his son's spirit and maybe experimenting on people in general because he was a dick, the Peterson family turned this basic idea into a fullblown doomsday armageddon death cult that no one other than them and their brainwashed minions have any real interest in whatsoever, and Lance just wants to freaking vibe with his new 'friend' and go the fuck home and be done for the day

Some things that I haven't quite put on the pages yet: Azathoth overall remains a completely OP demonic outergod as it is in its original canon. All the time and space and insanity blasting powers stuff remains. But just in general, it isn't quite such a hardcore sleepy idiot. It isn't outright evil and it isn't good, just very chaotic and unpredictable and with a very specific agenda of its own, just like Collingwood was show in GE canon. I mean if you really think about it and something I continue to enjoy the hell out of - there really wasn't ever any clarification what exactly it was and wanted. Just that it was all sorts of fucked up and wanted 'more'. That is a keeper.

[jellydishes]

i am Asking about your dragon age protags

HDUFHFHCHCHFY

OKAY

SO

•tsurin tabris is a trans lady rogue who is afraid of A Lot of things, and reacts to that fear with the Fluff Up Like A Bird/ghibli character school of thought aka if you act pissed off enough nobody will know you're scared. she carries a lot of guilt about her mother's death, and grew to associate that with an incident from that same night wherein she was attacked by a dog, which resulted in a phobia of dogs (imagine how much fun the brecilian forest quest was, let alone having a mabari). she starts the beginning of the game distrusting mages because she drank some of the chantry coolaid, but she gets better. she spends most of the game wanting to run away but later Learns A Sense of Duty, and became the arlessa of amaranthine. romanced zevran officially, but in my heart she romo's most of the party lol

•ludte hawke similarly internalized a lot of guilt about her father's death, but in her case she turned that into a very severe case of No Weakness Allowed. she is stiff and terse and judgmental and very much a red hawke. everything has to be done her way (which definitely landed her in trouble with carver and bethany), but she gets better by increments. secretly donates money to anders' clinic, and supports mage rights. eventually romances isabela, though in my heart she also romances half the party

•belluel trevelyan started off as a protagonist but i enjoy her more as a side character the protag would be able to recruit, tbh. she is a 60 year old pirate captain with two prosthetic legs, and the cousin of @hornkerling's ista trevelyan. as compared to my other two protags she is cheerful and rarely takes offense, but also is a perpetual liar about pretty much everything, both out of self defense but also because that's just how she interacts with the world now. she makes it obvious that she's lying, but she still will. the only surviving member of a set of triplets, and having previously been in a relationship with her first mate, claudette. she is interested in women and nonbinary people, and is polyamorous

[blazlngblade]

Rosa Rambles about Leon/Elletrix Story Ideas!

This has been in my drafts for the last week and a half or so. I've come back to it constantly to make small edits. But, I think it's time to post it.

I am going to become the CEO of shipping Leon and Elletrix, and nobody can stop me!!

And they will be called "Elleon" as it easy to say, and it puts both "Elle" and "Leon" into it very naturally.

They just look so cool! The awesome seafarer pair! Two beautiful people! I love them both so much! The ex-pirate turned merchant, and the current Grandport Kingdom's lord with the reputation to rehabilitate pirates, it makes for an interesting romance.

I like the idea of their earlier meeting that I wrote up a long while ago, which you can read here.

Just disregard the ending where I said that I don't ship it, I've changed my mind! The chemistry between them and shipping potential is amazing.

So going with that, and expanding on the story ideas in more detail, The idea of Leon still wanting to "make it big" by attacking a Grandport vessel in order to get his motivation back as a pirate is still what would happen. Though, Leon is defeated by Elletrix, so him and his crew are taken into custody by Grandport's army.

No matter how sad he was about Baltazar's passing (or if you're like me and actually prefer the idea he just faked his death, changed his identity, and left to the East to fulfill his dream of becoming a merchant), I can't see Leon wanting to look defeated or show those emotions in front of Elletrix (this would be before she's the lord of Grandport, she's simply just a princess right now). I'm sure there's no a pirate that hasn't heard about the princess of Grandport who can change a pirate's outlook on life just by defeating them. He's pretty prideful and he wouldn't let up so easily, even if he was beginning to doubt things after he lost his friend. We know that he is very prideful thanks to the flashbacks in chapter 3 for Tressa's story.

So after being taken in, I imagine a lot of his crew were pretty quick to just bail out from being pirates, and join the Grandport navy. We're told this is common with pirates she has defeated (mostly because they all love strong women!). Left alone as the singular person who refuses to join her army, Elletrix has no choice but to have him imprisoned. Of course, it doesn't end there, since Elletrix makes it her goal to get this man to change his mind and to walk a better path. I'm sure she likes a challenge every once in a while, as she's the stubborn and strong willed princess, but is in no less a kind person just like her sister.

With that as her goal, perhaps she often visits him, maybe tries to chat, and get to the root of what she can work with. It probably takes a while to make even the smallest breakthrough. This could take months (I'll say about 2-3?), it wouldn't be that easy. After some time, she manages to get the info about Baltazar, whether knowing the two were rivals already and asking herself or he told her himself eventually, perhaps she managed to have him talk about some of Baltazar's last words told to Leon; “Do ye have somethin' precious to ye?”

Now if you read the other post, you would know that I believe that the Eldrite was originally the royal family of Grandport, and the reason behind Elletrix's name. Assuming this is true, that would mean that Elletrix has already met Baltazar in the past, as he was the one who stole it from Grandport, and that he was one of the only pirates to have resisted her forces and successfully steal the Eldrite. With this feat, he gained the title "Baltazar of the Eastern Sea". Whatever her opinion is on Baltazar now, it needs to not overtake her approach on trying to get to the bottom of everything.

Putting it aside, she relates Baltazar's words to her family's quote of "do you have something to protect". She asks Leon this, and which reminds Leon about when Baltazar asked the question, he had no answer for it then or now. Maybe something about this question causes his demeanor or attitude to change and Elletrix notices it. She knows she struck a nerve and it's something to work with. Not being able to give her an answer, they're left in silence. For the moment, she leaves it alone, simply just saying to think about it. The next time she visits, she asks the question again, to which he says, "I don't know". What I like most about Leon taking a bit of time to open up is because we get told in Tressa's chapter 1 and in the Gate of Finis journal for Graham that he doesn't place his trust in others easily. This time she would say that she can help him figure it out, but he has to let her try. Not being able to do much else, and knowing that if both Baltazar and Elletrix have asked him the same question, he finally agrees, knowing enough that it must be important.

At last being let out of the cell, Elletrix decides to take him around Grandport, perhaps down the docks or into the market. She would talk about the benefit of not being a pirate, being able to instead help people than to take from them, probably reminding Leon of his quote, to which she does know. We know in the later parts of life, he dislikes this saying a lot, and I don't blame him. It's a terrible reminder of the things he might have done to other people, likely even innocents.

Perhaps after a long walk around the town, seeing all the merchants selling all kinds of wares and being happy while doing so, Elletrix can point out that people worked hard to gain those things in order to sell them again to customers. They earned their wares through honest means, not through stealing. It could remind Leon of the dream that Baltazar spoke of; the dream of being a merchant. This would help remind Leon that his old friend wanted to do something good despite all the sins as a pirate he might have committed. It gives Leon some food for thought.

Obviously, we can't forget about the fact that Leon is supposed to rebuild Baltazar's ship. We'll get to that soon!

I like to think that after a bit of time and the frequent visits while he is in custody, Leon has decided to actually open up about things with Elletrix. Maybe if she learned about the race between Leon and Baltazar, and how it's assumed that Baltazar had died as his body was nowhere to be found. Perhaps when Elletrix learned this, she told the tale of losing her sister to Edoras, not because she wants to share the story with people, but sometimes it helps to relate to someone's problem or grief by talking about your own. Or at least that's how I've always seen it, I struggle to understand something if I can't relate it to something I know. it would show a growing trust between the two. Elletrix and Leon both cared about their deceased loved ones a lot. Remembering that Leon said he found his friend's ship wrecked on the coast, he thinks about that.

Since the questions of what Leon's precious treasure is, or what he protects have been brought up before, this could be where he decides that Baltazar and his ship are his some of his precious treasures. He decides to rebuild the ship as a major step of his rehab. Elletrix chooses to support this idea, and perhaps after a time, she even helps him rebuild it too. At first, I could see Leon being a bit stubborn to wanting her help, as this is his way to atone and to really understand why this ship is his precious treasure, but after a while I think he would accept her help. She's the daughter of the lord of Grandport and is the captain of her own vessel, so I am sure she knows a thing or two about building a ship. Elletrix is a "hands-on, get-it-done" kind of woman. What better way to bond than to work on a difficult project together? You can work on the ship together and just kind of chat to get to know each other. This project would be the thing that would help deepen their friendship.

Building a ship with very few people would take a long time, so this is something he might have worked on for 7+ years, as well as learning the ins and outs of business to be a merchant. Thanks to being in Grandport and having a connection with the respected daughter of the lord, these things are possible. He was likely very busy in the town, and I know that she was involved with his rehabilitation heavily, and perhaps even tagging a long during the times he was learning about being a merchant, you know, if she didn't teach him herself. Again, daughter of the lord of Grandport, I 100% believe she knows this kind of thing.

And during breaks of rebuilding the ship, I could see Elletrix insisting that he tags along with her on her patrols to protect Grandport from nearby pirates that threaten her seas. If he were to do this, he would gain the trust of Grandport's army, the townspeople/merchants, and Elletrix's father, Lord Benedict. At around this time, Benedict would have also grown sick and would have begun to give his role of lord to his daughter. While she may be busy with that kind of thing, and the trust of the ex-pirate is more apparent to her, perhaps he could offer to step in as her replacement to patrol the surrounding waters?

If Leon has been doing this while she cannot, it could tie in perfectly with Elletrix's Traveler Memory later too. Please feel free to watch it! It's a pretty good story! We loved translating this one!

She might have been busy with lord work while he was out at sea to which he rescued a castaway from pirates. The fact she comes in and already has heard about it means it was somewhat connected to her own patrols out on the ocean. He tells her about the Miedo Pirates (Avery, Gacco, and Wappa) and then suggests she deals with them. Plus, when the idea of a battle comes up, she says, "Battle? Sounds exhilarating!" as if it's been a while of being able to do it herself. The use of the exclamation point and quick response was like, "At last!" She's been busy with lord training, that these moments of excitement are likely rare now.

The irony that Avery doesn't like Leon, but I wonder if he's aware that it was Leon that allowed Avery to meet Elletrix at all? It'd be funny if he didn't know that though, or if people told him, he'd just brush it off as false..

In the Traveler Memory, I'll always love these exchanges. There's something about the way he says "my lord" is great. Some people have pet names, but he just calls her as the "lord" or "my lord".

This one has that right amount of casual humour, something very few would ever be brave enough to do, helping imply that these two are close. Sure, her subordinates have said some things and she normally pays no mind, but that's exactly it, she pays no mind to it., But, in the next dialogue I will share, she does respond.

This one is after she sends her soldiers to go get ready for battle. He comments about her commanding skills as "scary", but it's got that right amount of humour to it. The fact she responds with a "Hm..." and a somewhat half-laugh audio too. <3 She doesn't often laugh or respond to these kinds of comments, but was able to with his comment? It's intriguing. Something about the fact her eyes are closed as well, I'd believe this comment made her smile as well, another thing she hardly does. To be fair though, people think Leon's pretty scary too. If he can make tease her about that, she can right back. Heck, maybe this is how they would flirt...? <3 I've actually been in the process of drawing this scene. <3

Though honestly, given Elletrix's situation in life, I would not be surprised if she didn't really believe in love all that much. Losing her sister, and Ulrica having to marry someone like Pardis III, is obviously not a form of "love" (Elletrix wouldn't know about Rembrandt/Ulrica though, that was obviously more true love), we don't know who or where Elletrix's mother is. Maybe she left her family and husband after Ulrica was given to Edoras...? Making love seem less real from a younger person's perspective. Not to mention the fact that Elletrix's army, almost half of them or more claim they are in love with her, it probably also sullies the idea it's real. As mentioned earlier, she doesn't react to them when they say things like that to her. So then if you have someone like Leon who manages to prove that it is real, seems kinda interesting. Basically, Paramore's "Only Exception" is now an Elleon song.

My brother tells me he likes the idea of them just keeping it more to themselves for a while, perhaps not really sure how it would be taken as a famous pirate being with the new lord of the kingdom. I do agree though, I find it might be difficult for people to process at first. It's very opposite to what a person would expect from her at first assumption. But, that's what makes it so interesting. On the brightside, it's clear that lots of people actually don't know who Leon is. His story tells us that he has done a very excellent job keeping his identity hidden. I'm sure that was also the help of Elletrix as well. I imagine she has the ability to make sure any of her rehabilitees are protected from people's judgement. If anyone's doing the judgement, it will be her if they step out of line.

Having mentioned his Traveler Story now, the possible timing of the story works out. Since it takes place in Grandport, it might be the most recent visit of his. The great thing about when he gets to Grandport is he says that it "smells of treasure... and danger". Let's be real, he was talking about Elletrix. He was likely going to visit his girlfriend, as well as go do some merchant business, but learned she wasn't there (if we're going with the Bestower of All plotline, she's busy helping to save the continent right now!). So instead some other things happen, and he helps out the painter Bastian instead, as well as help deal with the Chimera Pirates while she is absent.

We will have Leon's Traveler Story uploaded in time, so please be patient with us!

As for the current year of the first game. I'll say that the reason Leon was not a part of the Merchant's Fair competition in Grandport was because he was spending time with Elletrix and watching the competition from a more "VIP" area. I'd say that by this point, they're a little more public about their relationship. I'm not entirely sure what Benedict's status is either, but the two of them might be the true standing rulers of Grandport by now.

As for the Eldrite, since I did mention that, but never mentioned it again, and we just brought up the Merchant's Fair. I would imagine that Leon has confessed to her that he as allowed Tressa to keep it. Honestly, I think she'd be okay with that, even if the Eldrite was once Grandport's treasure, and likely the thing she was named after. Over time, just like Leon, she learns that her own treasure was not the gem, but probably the love of her kingdom. She cares about her home a lot, so the city would be her most precious treasure.

I am really thinking about writing this story out.

For a timeline of the events I'd probably write, it'd be like this:

Ages in the first game would be Leon at 33 and Elletrix at 41. There is an 8 year difference between them.

Elletrix (~17) | Ulrica (~20) | Leon (9) | Baltazar (~13) --- 24 years to Present Time - Elletrix loses her sister, Ulrica, in an exchange for "peace" by the kingdom of Edoras. Ulrica marries King Pardis III. - Leon and Baltazar are struggling to live in the old quarter of Victors Hollow. They result to thievery to survive.

Elletrix (~20) | Ulrica (~23) | Leon (12) | Baltazar (~16) --- 21 years to Present Time - Elletrix decides to keep herself preoccupied from losing her sister by head to the ocean to protect her kingdom. She also recruits ex-pirates as soldiers for Grandport's navy. - Leon and Baltazar have chosen to become pirates in order to better support themselves. Stealing from the rich and weak alike.

Elletrix (~24) | Ulrica (~27) | Leon (16) | Baltazar (~20) --- 17 years to Present Time - Elletrix knows of her nieces, Elrica and Araune, and she travels to Cragspear to rescue them and her sister. Ulrica refuses, and Elletrix leaves before the Edoras soldiers find out. She swears she will never forgive Edoras for stealing her sister from her. - Leon and Baltazar have come to be known as the Sea Serpent and Wild Eagle.

Elletrix (~26) | Ulrica (~29) | Leon (18) | Baltazar (~22) --- 15 years to Present Time - - Leon and Baltazar have a sort of on/off "relationship". It's less of a real relationship, mostly just sexual tension. "Rivals", you know. - Ulrica chooses to protect her daughters by ending her own life. King Pardis III chooses to let his kids live. Elletrix hears the news about Queen Ulrica's death, causing her to hate Edoras even more. - Leon hears about a famous ore called Eldrite that resides with the royal family of Grandport. He aims to try and take it, but Baltazar is quicker to action. - Baltazar goes to Grandport and attacks Elletrix's ship. While she's still grieving from the loss of her sister, her ability to defend her treasure is lesser. He comes out as the victor and steals the Eldrite from her. This earns him the title of "Baltazar of the Eastern Sea". Elletrix might have asked him if stealing from the "hurt", making a reference to Pardis III taking her sister, was worth it. Since then he has questioned his role as a pirate, remembering his childhood dream of being a merchant.

Elletrix (~28) | Leon (20) | Baltazar (~24) --- 13 years to Present Time - Since stealing from Elletrix, Baltazar has begun to act different. He acts distant, and Leon has no idea why. Baltazar asks Leon what his most precious treasure is, Leon cannot answer. - The race between them happens, and Baltazar is the winner as his boat made it to the island first, but he is also assumed dead and no body is found. Leon grieves for his lost friend. - Baltazar used the storm as a way to fake his death, and he escapes, hiding away from Leon to one day making his way towards the East to become a merchant.

Elletrix (~29) | Leon (21) --- 12 years to Present Time - Leon's drive as a pirate has lessened since losing Baltazar. He makes his way towards the Coastlands, where he chooses to challenge a Grandport vessel, to which it ends up being Elletrix's. - Unlike when Elletrix lost to Baltazar, she succeeds against Leon. Taking him and his crew into custody, many of his crew choose to abandon pirate life and pledge to join her army. Leon refuses, and is imprisoned. - Elletrix makes it her goal to get Leon to change his mind, seeing value in him, despite his crimes. Stubborn to agree, it takes about 2-3 months to finally accept her offer of help. - Another month passes, and Leon chooses to rebuild his friend's ship to keep himself busy while being reformed. Elletrix supports the idea and chooses to personally watch over his progress herself. Occasionally, Elletrix helps him with the construction, much to his dismay at first, he gets used to it and eventually accepts her help. - During the months of rebuilding the ship, Elletrix and Leon have begun to develop a bit of a mutual trust. Leon tells her about Baltazar's dream of becoming a merchant. He decides he will do it for him. Elletrix offers to have him trained.

Elletrix (~30) | Leon (22) --- 11 years to Present Time - Leon's training as a merchant has gone smoothly, having already the talent to appraise an item's worth during the time he was a pirate. Alongside ship construction and merchant training, he sometimes accompanies Elletrix on her patrols to protect the Grandport seas.

Elletrix (~31) | Leon (23) --- 10 years to Present Time - At the 3rd anniversary of losing Baltazar, Leon requests to borrow a ship from Elletrix to travel to Victors Hollow, so he can pay respects to his friend from now on. Having more trust in the ex-pirate, she lends him a ship and a small crew of her army, giving them permission to cut Leon down if he makes even one wrong move. "Scary as ever, my lord." :') - She uses this as an opportunity to test his morals. Along with his goal of visiting his old town, Elletrix suggests taking this chance to put his business methods to the test. - The journey goes smoothly and he has a toast to his celebrate Baltazar's life, thanking him for the opportunity to become a new man. Before he could travel back to Grandport, he is approached by Graham Crossford who asks to board his ship to reach Bolderfall quicker. Graham's journal is left behind. - Having been gone for ~2 months, he finally returns back to Grandport, Leon reports to Elletrix that everything went well. Since coming back, their construction project of the ship continues, as does accompanying Elletrix's patrols.

Elletrix (~33) | Leon (25) --- 8 years to Present Time - Lord Benedict, Elletrix's father, has begun to grow ill, but he doesn't shirk his duty as lord. However, he begins to make sure that Elletrix is prepared to take the role one day. She becomes less available for helping ship construction or patrolling the sea. Leon offers to take her place.

Elletrix (~34) | Leon (26) --- 7 years to Present Time -Elletrix has been busy with transitioning as the lord, that she sometimes feels "trapped", not being able to go to the sea as often. However, she takes her duties seriously and is becoming a great lord. - The Miedo Pirates have been targeting the Grandport area, taking down merchant ships. Leon hears of it, and reports to Elletrix. Elletrix's Traveler Memory takes place and she recruits Wappa as a helmsman and Avery and Gacco as soldiers.

Elletrix (~36) | Leon (28) --- 5 years to Present Time - At this point, Leon and Elletrix are very close friends. Though Avery is very loyal to his new lord, he is bothered by the closeness that Elletrix has with Leon, especially with all the time she spends helping him rebuild his ship. - Seven years total have past since the ship construction project begun. The ship is completed. Elletrix gives Leon full freedom to travel away from Grandport without her watch. He accepts, and goes on a journey to prove his mettle as a merchant.

Octopath Traveler: Champions of the Continent begins. Major spoilers ahead for "Master of All", "Bestower of Power", and "Bestower of All". This won't be written in full detail, as it will one day be written in the CotC story about Shelby (our story's Chosen One). I still feel the need to summarize events anyway. Feel free to quit reading here!

Elletrix (~38) | Leon (30) --- 3 years to Present Time - The news about Princess Elrica's trial arrives. Not wanting to see Pardis III, Elletrix sends a Grandport official in her place to vote to keep Elrica alive. The Meeting of Kings ends with Pardis III winning, giving him permission to execute his daughter. This refuels her hatred for Edoras. - Being gone for two years, Leon finds himself missing Grandport and Elletrix's company. He makes his way towards Grandport again. Upon arrival, he learns that Elletrix has officially taken the role as the standing lord now that Benedict is too bedridden to continue on. He sticks around to support her as the new lord and helping her get through her father's illness, as well as the execution of her niece.

Elletrix (~39) | Leon (31) --- 2 years to Present Time - The war with Orsterra and G'roha begins. Elletrix is approached by Queen Araune of Edoras to ask for help to defend Orsterra. After a direct attack on her city happens, she accepts to aid Araune. Leon, who has remained in Grandport since coming back, also helps out. - After the war, he decides to confess his feelings to Elletrix, but has a bit of doubt they would be reciprocated knowing her stance on "love". Since almost all of her whole army is in love with her, he doesn't want to come across as "just another one". To his surprise, she tells him she feels the same, and they choose to be a couple, but decide to keep it to themselves while the city is still healing from the scars of war. After the final battle with G'roha, he leaves Grandport again, but promises to come back soon.

Elletrix (~40) | Leon (32) --- 1 year to Present Time - Elletrix is called by Finis to meet with other heroes on the Isle of Orsa to witness the sealing of the Divine Rings with the Chosen One. It ends in betrayal by Sazantos as he wounds Finis, steals the rings aside from the Flamebringer's, and he escapes. Elletrix helps support the Guardians of the Light against Sazantos. - At some point, Leon's Traveler Story begins as he makes his return to Grandport to see Elletrix again. Finding out she's absent, he sticks around Grandport, meeting Bastian, and deals with the Chimera Pirates (as they claim they murdered himself and Baltazar at some point) in place of Elletrix. - With permission from Benedict, if he's not dead anyway, haven't had word from him in forever, Leon tells him that he loves his daughter and would like to ask her hand in marriage one day. Benedict approves, and Leon acts as the substitute lord in her place. - Whatever else happens in Bestower of All, I have yet to learn.

Elletrix (~41) | Leon (33) --- Present Time - CotC plot is over, first game events happen as already written.

If you made it this far, you deserve a pat on the back, because this got long, and I know it's full of rambles!

I've been very "Noelle" in these last few days, I had so much fun thinking about all this story potential.

[bleakfated]

INTERACTIONS. HEADCANONS. PHOTOS. IISMS. WISHLIST. OPENS. SC.

STATISTICS

BASICS: name: theodore lucas bristol age: mid 30s-40s gender & pronouns: male, he/him sexuality: heterosexual faceclaim: jason momoa occupation: hunter and owner of the bar the crossroads location: smith center, kansas unless hunting, take a peek at his house

PERSONALITY: positive traits: warmhearted, courageous, optimistic, honest negative traits: impulsive, stubborn, blunt, moody

APPEARANCE: scars: a few from hunting, nothing significant tattoos: antipossession tattoo on chest, shark teeth tattoos on left leg and arm piercings: none

VERSES

BIOGRAPHY

TL;DR

Theodore Bristol is the owner of the hunter bar The Crossroads in Smith Center, Kansas and is often bartending there. He opened it alongside his mentee Cameron Ambrose whom he met at the ashes of Harvelle's Roadhouse. Theodore still hunts a few times a month and has hired on a couple of extra bartenders to ensure The Crossroads is always open. He got into hunting after being attacked by a vampire when he was seventeen and hasn't ever looked back to normal life. Very close friends and the women that frequent the bar are permitted to call him Teddy, while everyone else calls him Theo.

FULL BIO

Theodore Bristol was born on March 28, 1978. He lived a rather normal life up until he was seventeen. His parents had instilled a strong sense of responsibility into their four sons, which meant part-time jobs in high school. Teddy instantly became more interested in making money than the various sports teams he had been involved in throughout middle school and his early high school years, so he quit the teams and focused more on his studies and his fast food job which helped pay for his jiu-jitsu lessons instead. When working later shifts he often opted to walk home rather than drive, largely so he wouldn’t get caught driving after curfew again if a closing shift didn’t go well. This bit him in the ass one night when he had stayed later than he should have and then needed to meet up with a friend to put some finishing touches on a group project.

Cutting through the local scrap yard to save time as he was desperately exhausted and it was nearing midnight, Teddy happened upon a tearful woman leant up against the fence he was about to hop at the far side of the yard. Concerned, he paused at the fence to offer assistance when he found himself knocked to the ground, winded, with the woman on top of him baring exposed fangs. With his jiu-jitsu training, he was able to gain the upper hand, outmaneuvering her clearly superior strength. Instead of continuing to fight, Teddy thought he could run and was nearly tackled once more by the woman whom seemed to run impossibly fast. Blindly throwing her off of his back, he turned to face her to be met with a gruesome scene. She had been thrown into the sharp frame of an abandoned shelf and nearly decapitated.

The image of her face, accompanied by bared fangs was etched into his memory forever and a prominent feature of many nightmares. He never told anyone about the encounter, because nobody would believe anything that he'd seen. The narrative the police went with when they found her body was that a drug addict had slipped down one of the mountains of scrap while looking for something to steal to make a quick buck and met her untimely demise. After this, Theo spent a lot of time at the public library and began to research monsters, because he recognized that he had nearly fallen victim to a vampire. Upon graduation, he took a bartending job and continued to work on his physical strength. Largely through continued jiu-jitsu, rock climbing, and physical labor which also helped with some extra cash. He started to scan headlines for anything that looked suspicious and eventually took on his first hunt.

Being so inexperienced, the news caught his eye much later than another hunter named Jerry had noticed it. Showing up late and with clear ineptitude, the hunter begrudgingly agreed to show the Teddy how it was done so he wouldn’t get himself killed. After they got the vampire, Jerry sat down with him at a diner and gave him different tips of what in a case could suggest certain monsters and how to kill them as well as where to look for reliable monster information. He also gave him the address to Harvelle’s Roadhouse where he could go for a safe space for people like themselves, where he may even find extra tips or advice if he was among the right company. The two parted ways, but Teddy often called Jerry up for advice throughout the years as he gained his footing in hunting.

A few years into hunting, his parents were killed by a vengeful vampire mate that had tracked down his family. His brothers assumed it had been a vendetta around Theo’s sketchy lifestyle and cut him out of their lives before he had the chance to explain himself. He checked up on them regularly for a while, conflicted, because he wished he had let them all know about vampires at the very least so they could protect themselves. In the end he decided that a clean break was best for everyone. If he was estranged from them, hopefully anything he accidentally let get away wouldn’t think to go after them. It was a very hard lesson about not leaving behind loose ends, even though he had never had the slightest inkling that the vampire had a mate.

Around six years later, Teddy was traveling to The Roadhouse after a particularly rough case only to find the burnt remnants of the building he had once considered as close to home as he’d had in his adult life. He noticed a kid staring at the ash from his tailgate when he pulled up and saw a lot of his younger self in him, since Teddy had been around the same age when he started hunting. The two talked for a couple of hours, and Teddy realized he had heard of the young man's mother a few times at The Roadhouse. He took the young man, named Cameron, under his wing moreso than Jerry had for him around a decade ago.

The hole that for The Roadhouse had left grew until Teddy could no longer bear it and with what was left of his portion of the estate sale of his parents’ and some money from Cameron, he bought a bar in Smith Center, Kansas, a location that was as close to the geographic center of the continental US with a bit of a population to support the business outside of hunters. He named it The Crossroads and he runs the place with the help of Cameron and a couple of other trusted hunters he hired on. Teddy makes sure to go on hunts a few times a month because saving people is still very important to him, but he takes running the bar very seriously.

Most know him by the name of Theo, but he lets those that get close to him call him Teddy if they wish to and he doesn't mind if the women that frequent his bar prefer to call him Teddy. Don’t let the nickname or generally pleasant demeanor fool you, however. He will not hesitate to drag anyone causing any sorts of problems in the bar out by their hair and ban them from The Crossroads permanently. The patrons of the bar know to treat other hunters with respect and an eagerness to keep the hunting community connected and with access to various resources. There are a couple of pool tables but hustling of any kind is prohibited.

[stephenjaymorrisblog]

Collateral Brain Damage

(It is not Israel who is doing the genocide)

Stephen Jay Morris

2/10/2024

©Scientific Morality

When I was among the ranks of the authoritarian left such as “Maoists,” in the early 70’s, there was this thing called “Revolutionary Discipline.” This meant no self-pity or any other bourgeois tendencies were to be indulged in. The collective concern had to be placed above any individualistic concerns. One had to let go of middle-class comforts, such as using an umbrella during a rainstorm, or missing a couple days of food or sleep. This was a romantic attitude of altruistic sacrifice.

Also during this time, America was bombing the shit out of Vietnam. Women and children and the elderly were dying in numbers larger than were American soldiers. We, in the New Left, felt helpless as this campaign of terror was going on. What could we do? Protest? Write letters to our congress members? Some Baby Boomers went as far as using bombs to destroy symbols of the establishment and then would send communiques to the news media. Did it work? That is a debate that is still ongoing.

Eventually, the Vietnamese resistance, also known as the Viet Cong, succeeded in stopping the American incursion with its guerrilla tactics. This small army successfully stopped the giant imperialist nation of the USA. This victory inspired leftists around the world.

Flash forward to now. I have politically changed over the decades. I am now an Anti-Authoritarian Leftist. True, I have my bourgeois comforts and I am now a senior citizen. I have age related ailments such as arthritic knees and short-term memory loss. One thing I haven’t outgrown is a guilty conscience. Here I am in the belly of the beast, safe in my Cape Cod house in Sullivan County. While homeless Americans sleep in the streets, Palestinian men, women, and children are being bombed to death, with our dollars, and the right-wing Likud Party in Israel is spouting the worst propaganda ever seen or heard to justify their genocide. So, what can I do? Participate in a sit-in on an expressway? First, I have great difficulty sitting down. Second, were I to be arrested, I would have a claustrophobic anxiety attack. Maybe I should just be a conservative and nobody would shame me. We leftists must be fearless and take a “vow of poverty,” according to right wing stereotyping. Sure! Good luck in the civil war you’ve been promising us!

Either there is a media black-out or the media is completely ignoring the subject. The Israeli left should have a massive anti-war movement. The October 7 terrorist attack was the perfect alibi to justify ethically cleansing the Gaza Strip. The Likud’s members couldn’t give a rat’s ass about that attack! Hell, they shot Hamas’ Israeli hostages in “friendly fire!” It’s not—I repeat—NOT Israel who is doing this! It is the Zionist revisionists who are! The Likud party is NOT Israel!! But, to old men like Biden, all Israelis are the same. He doesn’t know the difference, so he gives them money like he gives subsidies to oil companies.

By the end of March, I will turn 70 years old. I thank objective reality that I have lived this long. I could have died from a bullet, or cancer. But I am still here. I despise people who think that anyone who has a cause, or a belief, must prove it by dying in combat or making some other sacrifice. Why? There are cemeteries full of men and women who believed in that notion. Why does anybody have to die for their beliefs? What did non-Hamas Palestinians do to get bombed and crushed to death beneath the rubble of buildings?

What kills me is that, somehow, these right-wing Jews are associated with me because I was born from a Jewish womb; that just because I am a Jew, I must be loyal to all Jews. Hell, no! It really takes the piss out of me that a group of Jews are responsible for a Hitler-type of genocide! I have no loyalty to my family, religion, race, or country if they commit evil!