#force-measurement

[marzipanandminutiae]

Of course, the burkini ban is messed up on grounds of religious freedom and racial discrimination. But also

Under any other circumstances, people would be HORRIFIED at a government mandate that women have to show a certain amount of skin. Like. That’s fucking dystopian, and the absolute opposite of feminism. If a government tried to pass a law that all women had to wear tube tops and miniskirts to go outside, people would rightfully be up in arms demanding blood

But because it’s targeting a marginalized religious group, many folks are lauding the blatant forced sexualization of women. Appalling

(apparently the ban also outlaws things like sun – protecting bathing suits if they cover too much skin. Which like. Yes, let’s give everyone skin cancer just so we can spite a religion we’ve decided to hate. Sounds like a good plan </s>)

[stefisdoingthings]

he watched a show and he HAS to talk about it

[merrysithmas]

when ppl see this & this, directed by the same person, and think the narrative is "anakin is evil" not "anakin is a steward of the balance, a force demi god, as was foretold on Mortis" 😂

[levemetal]

Local minor heavenly official ignoring instructions to not approach calamity ghost.

Day 5: Caught / Found

Ascended Yue Qingyuan and Calamity SJ! Consider this a continuation of Day 2 :) There's their happy ending, they finally meet again. Fits for both prompts tho I drew this with Found in mind.

memey extra under cut

[wonder-worker]

Wild how we know that Elizabeth Woodville was officially appointed to royal councils in her own right during her husband’s reign and fortified the Tower of London in preparation of a siege while 8-months pregnant and had forces gathering at Westminster “in the queen’s name” in 1483 – only for NONE of these things to be even included, let alone explored, in the vast majority of scholarship and historical novels involving her.

[feral-and-or-horny]

Thinking about desperately humping a girl's thigh and then being forced to lick up the mess I make

[cerullos]

watching my favorite lesbian tragedy

[griffin-stone]

Healing Light

Lemme just... just fix this here. Acolyte spoilers below the cut.

Yeah, so it took me all of ten minutes to go, "nah, they didn't really die" and start writing it. It's messy but have a lil balm for ep. 5.

----------

  Breathe.

   Just breathe.

   Easier said than done. Breathing shouldn’t have been so difficult, but… but her lungs wouldn’t obey her. Nothing obeyed her orders, not her lungs or her closed eyes or…

   She felt only one thing. Her heart thudding dully in her chest. Slowing and slowing…

   She heard voices over her. Loud and angry, pounding upon her ears with the icy darkness pressing upon her aching chest.

   Then, silence.

   Silence and ice and nothingness and…

   “Breathe.”

   Her lungs spasmed, then dusty air touched her tongue and throat. She wanted to cough, but her weak lungs only took in more of the filthy, cold air.

   Air slid from her lungs, then back in. Each slow breath came easier, charged by the silent command she felt rather than heard.

   “Breathe.”

   Her eyes didn’t obey her, but she realized they were open and the darkness was above her. Not in her. The ice receded with each slow breath.

   “Breathe.”

   Finally, Jecki blinked. Her vision cleared somewhat, so the dark shadows became branches and trees and leaves. And a face.

   “Breathe.”

   Jecki blinked again, and she could see the dust and mud and tears streaking the face over hers. She seemed to have control of her lungs for the first time, as her exhale was a sigh and her eyes fell so they were only halfway open.

   “Yord.”

   Yord offered an exhausted smile, then slid to the side. Jecki heard him thump to the ground beside her. 

   Turning her head, Jecki saw Yord’s ignited lightsaber. That explained why she’d been able to see again. 

   For several moments, padawan and knight laid silently side-by-side, just breathing. 

   Yord was the first to move again, sitting slowly up. He looked back down at Jecki.

   “Still here, padawan?” Yord asked slowly, his voice rasping.

   Jecki blinked slowly. “You’re supposed… to be on… the ship.”

   “Osha came back.”

   Jecki snorted, a little impressed with Osha.

   “He was going to kill you.”

   Jecki hummed. “I kind of... thought he did.”

   “Yeah. Same here.”

   The two of them didn’t move for a moment longer. Then something clicked in Jecki’s mind, and she sat up enough to look down.

   Three holes were burned into her padawan robes, as well as on her chest. But when she touched the wounds, she found rough scars. She looked at Yord.

   “What happened?” Jecki asked.

   Yord shrugged, apparently too tired to be his usual knowing self. “I don’t know. We were fighting, I think, then… then it was dark and cold…”

   Jecki nodded slowly. “It was the same for me.”

   There was another long silence, then both of them looked sharply at the other and yelled in unison.

   “Master Sol!”

   Jecki scrambled to stand up, but her legs gave out and she fell. She cried out when the impact sent a blaze of pain across her chest, and quickly rolled over to relieve the pressure on her chest.

   “Slowly,” Yord said from where he still sat. “I think you just came back from the dead.”

   “People don’t come back from the dead,” Jecki said. 

   Yord shrugged. “You just did.”

   Jecki looked skeptically at Yord. But with the location of her wounds… how did she survive?

   “What happened to you?” Jecki asked after a moment.

   Yord’s gaze became distant. “I’m not sure.”

   “You? Not sure?”

   “Are you wanting to relive that fight?” Yord asked.

   “Okay, okay…” Jecki sighed and laid back. Then she took a determined breath and made herself sit up. “We’ve got to go. I don’t know what happened to Master Sol or Osha or…”

   “The guy from the apothocary,” Yord muttered. “How? What was he?”

   “He had a lightsaber.” Jecki tested her arms’ strength, finding them still too shaky. “A Jedi?”

   “He didn’t fight like a Jedi… or anything I’ve ever encountered,” Yord said.

   The two were silent again. The forest was dark and foggy, and they seemed to be the only things living in the whole forest.

   Yord’s lightsaber deactivated, throwing them into darkness. Jecki inhaled sharply before she could stop herself.

   “Those moth things,” Yord’s voice came out of the darkness. “If they come back…”

   Jecki made herself breathe out slowly. Everything was so dark that she didn’t realize right away that her eyes were closed. She tried to open them, but didn’t have the strength for even that.

   Everything was so dark… so cold… and the two of them were laying there defenseless. The forest was dark and dangerous, and they couldn’t move.

   Jecki let out another slow breath, trying to center her thoughts. She reached for calm, remembering the lessons from Sol. Trust in the Force.

   An unexpected peace came to Jecki. She forgot about her missing master and the stranger with the blood-red blade. It was just her and Yord, and the little pool of light and calm.

   “Jecki.”

   Jecki slid from the calm with a slight groan of protest. She could feel things again, and there was nothing but more pain than she could bear.

   “Jecki, wake up.”

   Jecki opened her eyes to find the forest bathed in light. She was confused briefly, then realized it was morning. The air was cool and clean, and the trees didn’t seem so sinister anymore.

   And Yord was still alive beside her. She could live with that.

--------------

I might keep going, and get a cleaned up version that goes on a bit further and includes Osha to post on A03, but for now, this'll do.

[justinspoliticalcorner]

Alex Bollinger at LGBTQ Nation:

California conservative activists are disappointed that their measure that would have required schools to out transgender students failed to get enough signatures to appear on November’s ballot. “If we had a little more time and a little more money, we would have easily qualified for the ballot,” the leader of the initiative, Roseville school board member Jonathan Zachreson, told the LA Times. If passed, the measure would have required schools to tell parents if a student goes by a nickname or new pronouns while at school or asks to use facilities that aren’t associated with their sex as it appears on official records. The measure also would have banned gender-affirming care for minors in the state. Zachreson said that his campaign for the measure had raised $200,000 to help it get the 546,651 signatures necessary to go on the ballot. But by the deadline—which was yesterday—the campaign had only gotten 400,000 signatures.

Glad to see that an anti-LGBTQ+/anti-trans ballot measure failed to make the ballot in California.

The ballot measure, had it made to the ballot and pass in the election this fall, would have permitted student safety-endangering forced outing policies, banned gender-affirming care for trans minors, and banned trans people from playing sports aligned with their gender identity instead of the gender assigned at birth.

[docmccoy]

I saw some MASH Pacific rim murmurings around and it may be time again for my yearly crack at my beast

[awkward-sultana]

Magnificent Century + Faceless Sultanas: Hafsa Sultan

[bacchuschucklefuck]

"friends of lava" new lgbtq+ euphemism

[the-lonelybarricade]

I know I missed WIP Wednesday, but I'm making progress on Queen of Thieves and wanted to share

-

“In other words, you’re loitering,” she said.

Outside of his line of vision, she could feel moisture collecting in the hollow between her palm and her death grip on the window ledge. It was a concentrated effort not to fidget, particularly as Rhysand cocked his head like he was weighing the audacity in her tone.

Then he smirked. “And if I am, who's going to hold me accountable for it?”

There was a challenge in the way he said it—in his eyes, as he studied her, turning over every inch of her expression for all the pieces of information she was unknowingly betraying. His smile was taunting, like those violet eyes saw past the veneer she painted over her uncertainty, through the defiance of her tipped chin and narrowed brows, right to the pit of apprehension yawning open in her stomach.

This was a mask she’d worn a thousand times over, night after night in that cramped tavern. She’d faced the scrutiny of males with fewer reservations towards violence, and yet none had ever made her feel so unsteady as the High Lord. But none had ever been as powerful, as capable of killing her with half a thought. 

“The press,” she decided, after a moment’s consideration. “I bet I could sell this story for a pretty copper. The High Lord neglects his duties to laze around a sweet shop. Better yet—to stalk a harmless female.” 

[alluralater]

just finished moving around/reorganizing my entire bedroom. i have cried three times today but now i’m laying in bed, my room smells of roses, and i’m eating french bread. this was not the bipolar hot girl mania i was promised but damn if i don’t do it well

[angie8art]

Secret Santa

[iiboronii]

One time in eighth grade my civics teacher said "you become good at the thing you do every day" and I've never been the same since.