#historian consumes content

[kaiserin-erzsebet]

I got a video recommended to me on YouTube that was effectively saying "stop romanticizing Sisi. She wasn't a good empress."

And I have to ask: Do people sincerely think that those of us who like Elisabeth think she was a good empress? I think most of us find her compelling because her personality was so ill-suited for such a structured and confining role. We know she was absent, that she tried to escape it, and that her mental health suffered because of it. These are not knocks against her; they're part of why her story resonates with people.

It feels a bit like saying "Marilyn Monroe wasn't a good actress" or "Princess Diana wasn't good at following royal protocols" because sure, that might be true, but it isn't really the point of why people find these figures interesting.

[0sbrain]

some people need to SERIOUSLY reconsider how they engage with media.

if you don't try making the bare minimum level of engagement with whatever media you watch, you don't get to complain and be surprised when the people you trusted to do the analysis for you didn't bother to do it either.

[mcmansionhell]

2007-core nostalgia extravaganza

Quick PSA: someone on Facebook is apparently impersonating me using an account called "McMansion Hell 2.0" -- If you see it, please report! Thanks!

Howdy folks! I hope if you were born between 1995 and 2001 you're ready for some indelible pre-recession vibes because I think this entire house, including the photos have not been touched since that time.

This Wake County, NC house, built in 2007, currently boasts a price tag of 1.7 million smackaroos. Its buxom 4 bedrooms and 4.5 baths brings the total size to a completely reasonable and not at all housing-bubble-spurred 5,000 square feet.

I know everyone (at least on TikTok) thinks 2007 and goes immediately to the Tuscan theming trend that was super popular at the time (along with lots of other pseudo-euro looks, e.g. "french country" "tudor" etc). In reality, a lot of decor wasn't particularly themed at all but more "transitional" which is to say, neither contemporary nor super traditional. This can be pulled off (in fact, it's where the old-school Joanna Gaines excelled) but it's usually, well, bland. Overwhelmingly neutral. Still, these interiors stir up fond memories of the last few months before mommy was on the phone with the bank crying.

I think I've seen these red/navy/beige rugs in literally every mid-2000s time capsule house. I want to know where they came from first and how they came to be everywhere. My mom got one from Kirkland's Home back in the day. I guess the 2010s equivalent would be those fake distressed overdyed rugs.

I hate the kitchen bench trend. Literally the most uncomfortable seating imaginable for the house's most sociable room. You are not at a 19th century soda fountain!!! You are a salesforce employee in Ohio!!!

You could take every window treatment in this house and create a sampler. A field guide to dust traps.

Before I demanded privacy, my parents had a completely beige spare bedroom. Truly random stuff on the walls. An oversized Monet poster they should have kept tbh. Also putting the rug on the beige carpet here is diabolical.

FYI the term "Global Village Coffeehouse" originates with the design historian Evan Collins whose work with the Consumer Aesthetics Research Institute!!!!

This photo smells like a Yankee Candle.

Ok, now onto the last usable photo in the set:

No but WHY is the house a different COLOR??????? WHAT?????

Alright, I hope you enjoyed this special trip down memory lane! Happy (American) Labor Day Weekend! (Don't forget that labor is entitled to all it creates!)

If you like this post and want more like it, support McMansion Hell on Patreon for as little as $1/month for access to great bonus content including a discord server, extra posts, and livestreams.

Not into recurring payments? Try the tip jar! Student loans just started back up!

[darkficsyouneveraskedfor]

The Perfect Gift

Warnings: non/dubcon, and other dark elements. My username actually says you never asked for any of this.

My warnings are not exhaustive but be aware this is a dark fic and may include potentially triggering topics. Please use your common sense when consuming content. I am not responsible for your decisions.

Characters: Bucky Barnes, older!reader (50s)

Summary: you remember Bucky's birthday but he wants more than you give him.

Note: HAPPY BIRTHDAY, BUCKO.

As usual, I would appreciate any and all feedback. I’m happy to once more go on this adventure with all of you! Thank you in advance for your comments and for reblogging ❤️

It's a bit silly. A bit of extra effort feels like a lot. You're almost embarrassed at the thought of it. You should just keep it to yourself. Give it to someone else. You probably won't even see him. 

You stand at the tall lab table, one elbow planted as you hover your pen over the report. There's not much going on that day but it's still special. For him. He must have plans, certainly with someone else. Forget it, do your work.  

No one needs any stitching up so you'll stick with the usual. You still can't figure out what that thick blue sludge is. A venom that sticks to the skin like tar. Despite running it through almost every piece of equipment available to you, it remains mysterious and it wouldn't be too unusual to find it isn't an earthly substance. 

Sigh. The icing's going to melt. You're stupid. And too old to be. 

You cringe behind your hand as you lean your forehead into your palm. The door slides open from the other side and you sit up, the stool wobbling beneath you dangerously. You latch onto the table and steady the feet. 

Oh, it's him. Shoot. Despite the work you put into the surprise, you suddenly wish he'd stayed away. That he kept to his actual friends. 

"Hey," Bucky marches up to the end of the table. "You figure out that gas?" 

"Gas... er, oh yes," you perk up. Work is easy to talk about. It's what you know. They only thing you've ever known. "I'm surprised it didn't knock you out. You brought me an empty canister." 

"Serum," he shrugs, his vibranium arm flexing as if reminding you of who he is. How can you forget that? 

"Right, uh, about that--" 

"No more needles, doc. I heard you got enough samples from Hydra," he crosses his arms. Despite his warning, humour dimples in his cheek. 

"No, I wasn't..." you shake your head. "I was just thinking you could do eight hours on a treadmill while I monitor your levels." 

"You are insane," he scoffs and unfolds his arms. He rounds the table, dragging his metal fingertips over it. 

"Anyway, er, about that gas," you hop off the stool before he can reach you. "It's designed to inhibit neural processing. I mean, the immediate effects are typical. Unconsciousness but after that, it sticks around." You look at him and squint, "how are you feeling?" 

"As good as I ever do," he levels his hand and wiggles it, "middling." 

"Right," you exhale and tap your toe nervously. "Even... on your birthday?" 

He pokes his tongue into his cheek and his eyes list away, "you remembered?" 

"I have a thing for dates." You say. 

"A historian and a doctor, wow," he utters. 

You look away, "sorry... if I overstepped. I know some people like that to keep that stuff private. You know, small celebrations." 

"Well, I haven't celebrated since 1941, so... yeah, not on the top of my list." 

His words hang in the air. Your heart races and he sighs. He slowly nears. 

"But..." he drags out the last consonant, "you did something." 

"Bucky..." 

"I can hear your heart. No use pretending. Oh, shit, please don't say it's a surprise party. I knew Sam was up to something," he growls. 

You laugh. It's nice of him to think you'd be included. You shake your head and back up. 

"It's... just from me. Nothing big," you go to your locker and reach into the cooler bag. "I hope you have a sweet tooth--" 

You turn back and find him right in front of you. You flinch. You gasp in surprise. He's fast. And silent. 

"It's er," you look past him, at where he just was, on the other side of the table, "a cupcake. Strawberry swirl with a shortcake crumple on top and cream cheese icing," you cradle the container daintily. 

"Wow, you did that? For me?" 

"I mean, it's a hobby. I always end up giving cookies out to the neighborhood kids," you shrug. "Really, it's small. Nothing big." 

His blue eyes focus on the clear top of the container. He blinks. His jaw tenses and his dimples deepen, the cleft in his chin tautens. You nearly wilt at the heat roiling from him; or that's just you and your stupid self. 

"I... thanks," he reaches to take it, his fingers brushing yours. "That's..." he exhales. "That's nice of you. It's... incredible." He turns it and examines your delicate work. "The last birthday cake I had didn't even have eggs." He looks you in the eye, "rationing." 

"Oh, right," you heave. You forget he's technically older than you. That serum has surely helped. "Well, I hope you enjoy it." 

"I'm sure I will. It's almost a shame to eat it. It's so nice," he says. "At least, it would be a shame to eat it al--" 

"There you are!" A voice calls from the doorway. "Did you forget?" 

You look over at Nat as she puts her hand on her perfectly curved hip. Even in street clothes, you can tell she has an hourglass figure. And she's stunning with her bold red hair and porcelain complexion. 

"I didn't forget," he rebuffs and sends you a goofy smile. "Girlfriends." 

"Ha, right," you sidle away awkwardly and go back to the lab table. He crosses to Nat as she stands by the door. 

"Whatever," she drawls. "Oh, what's that?" 

"Cake. My cake," he insists and holds the container out of her grasp. 

You peek up as he raises his hand and meet Nat's eyes. You blanch. She tilts her head slightly. You offer a weak smile. 

"Just see if you can keep it from me," she returns her attention to him with a snarl. "I mean, we were planning on wrestling anyway." 

She grabs the front of his tee shirt and pulls him to her. She stands on her toes and pushes her lips to his as he angles down to meet her. You quickly look at the forgotten report and search for your notes.  

Ugh, you are so lame. You really thought you'd outgrown crushes. Well, time heals everything, doesn't it? That man is all the proof you need of that. 

🧁

You look at the clock and sigh. You did it again. Time is your nemesis, always eluding you. You rub your eyes and stifle a yawn. If you head out now, you might actually get some sleep.  

You open your locker and slide the tablet into your burgundy leather bag. You wish you were as sophisticated as you seemed. From the outside, you have a degree, several, you splurge on labels, you always have good food...  

But you don't do anything. You don't go out with friends. You don't have friends. You have acquaintances.  

A subtle swish prickles your hackles. You peer over as the lab door opens. You fumble your bag at the figure there.  

Bucky cradles his face as he looks around with his uncovered eye. He winces as he sees you and enters, "thank god you're here, doc, think I need stitches."  

"Stitches?" You grimace and put your bag back on the shelf. "How on earth--"  

You hurry over to him as he chuckles, "yeah, I know. I always gotta ruin things."  

You tut and wave him over to the table. You open a drawer and take out a sanitizing wipe. "Let me see."  

He lowers his hand. His eye socket is already discoloured and there's a gash in his brow. Your eyes round.  

"What happened?" You reach to dab away the blood gently.  

He groans, "well, you know, Russians and their vodka."  

You look him in the eye curiously. You continue to wipe away the blood. You try not to ogle him. How many times have you patched him up? Don't be a fool.

"Natasha?" You wonder.  

"Mhm. Well, I mean, she gets rough just typically... in a different context," he laughs again and the insinuation makes you twitch.  "We were arguing..."  

"Arguing," you echo as you toss the wipe and examine the cut. "No stitches. I can glue it shut."  

"Right," he nods, leaning in to give you a better angle. "Anyway, we were kidding around and it got a bit serious. She gets jealous easy, ya know?"  

You uncap the bottle and place a hand gentle on his head, framing his brow. You're as careful as you can be. He hardly seems bothered. You apply the glue precisely.  

"Jealous?" You prompt.  

"Ha, yeah, funny thing," he clucks. "She's jealous of you."  

"Me?" You put the glue away and snort. You busy yourself as you tuck the kit away then go to wash your hands. You feel him watching.  

"That cake you made me. I might have been drooling over it," he says. "You're a hell of a baker. You got a degree in that too?"  

You roll your eyes then face him, once more startled to find him close. You steady yourself as you lean on the table behind you.  

"Well, I'm glad you enjoyed it," you murmur, clearing your throat as it clenches. "You know, it's not my place but she did some nasty work on you."  

"Yeah, she did," he touches his brow and winces. "But you got me, doc. Like always."  

"Yep, well, you're all good, so..."  

You realise how close he is. It would be hard to slip by without brushing him. You freeze and stare at him, confused.  

"I think you forgot something," he says.  

Your brows knit and your lips downturn, "I did?"  

"Yeah," he runs his knuckles up your arm, "aren't you going to kiss it better?"  

You blink. Then you guffaw. Then you feel horribly dumb.  

"Don't be silly," you catch his hand as it crawls along your shoulder.  

He doesn't stop. He flicks your fingers away and tickles your neck. You gulp and lean away.  

"Not being silly," he grabs your chin, his grip firm. "I'm serious. I think it would help," he grins.  

"I don't... alright. I think it's late and I--"  

"Those lips have gotta be just as tender as those hands," he stretches his thumb up to touch your lips. You shiver.   

"Bucky," you say appeasingly. You have to be asleep at the table, dreaming again.  

"You think I can't hear your heart hitch every time I walk in? Hm?" He steps closer to loom over you, "think I can't smell it in your sweat? That I can't smell you getting wet--"  

"Stop! Stop, please," you try to pull away from his hand. "Bucky, that's... please."  

"A little kiss," he growls. "Just here."  

He lets you go and traces the cut. You quiver, blood surging, skin alight. You slowly hover closer and press your lips to his brow. He hums.  

He pulls away. He's too quick for you to elude. You have to no time to react as he takes you off your feet. 

His hands are on your hips. You wriggle. You’re overly conscious of the extra cushion there as his fingers curl into it. You yelp. 

“Please, Bucky,” you push on his hands.  

“I know you want me,” he snarls as he slides his fingers under your ass, groping you as he pushes between your knees. 

“Bucky, it’s just--” 

“It’s just...” he interjects as he leans in until his nose touches yours, “my birthday and I know exactly what I want.” 

[rqbossman]

Helloo,,,, I just listened to the Magnus Protocol season 1 Q&A. Would you ever consider selling your Alchemy Notes as merch/a companion novel?

At this point, it would probably have spoilers, but when the show is done, could that logistically be a thing?

Also thanks for releasing season two on the 27th! Happy birthday to me 🤩

So this actually a really interesting question because it partly comes down to my perceptions of what is and is not appropriate content for sale. So, generally speaking in media we try to repackage "creative exhaust" where possible. That's just a gross way of saying try to find ways to make the bits that don't make it to release still useful. Selling a series bible is a really interesting idea that I don't think could ever happen unless it was heavily redacted due to confidential info on processes (it is a technical document after all) and due to spoilers since we also explicitly flag spin off opportunities, bonus content hooks etc. That's a shame as its a HUGE amount of really interesting work to just sit on a shelf. There is however a second layer to it. All my work on Alchemy is itself based on other people's (mostly historian's) work. It would need full academic citing and reformatting into a more consumer friendly format before it could even be used, not to mention paying licensing/ commissioning images etc. That's a lot of work and I wouldn't want to do it without all that because at that point we'd just be part of the problem when it comes to appropriation of work. All that said, I definitely want to share aspects of the bible when we are all done if only because some of it is really interesting but I doubt it will be in a formally published format.

[angel-of-the-moons]

Need Steven with a freak. Let’s say he’s been dating this girl for a while and he’s ready to take it to the next step. He’s super worried he’ll make you all uncomfortable and stuff when he asks but the next thing he know he’s being ridden till the break of dawn

(I’m ovulating I am so sorry-)

OMG SAMESIES AND I. AM. ✨FERAL✨ RN

Please

Steven Grant x Fem!Reader

TW/CW: Smut, just smut af, protected sex (implant), oral sex (m!receiving) creampie, overstimulation

MINORS DNI I AM NOT RESPONSIBLE FOR CONTENT YOU CONSUME

A/N: This lil dress here is what I had in mind for the outfit in the start. (I'm a sucker for sunflower patterns)

🌒🌒🌒🌒🌒🌒🌒🌒🌒🌒

It had to be tonight. He just couldn't take it anymore. None of them could.

But Steven was the worst about his urges. He felt awkward and worried it would chase you away, the first girlfriend he ever got to finally have; all the others didn't understand his... Problems.

Problems he later learned were triggered by Marc (and in some cases, Jake), but you? You took them in stride, like a duck to water.

The moment he first saw you, his breath had been sucked right out of him. Marc and Jake went dead silent, too.

It was a gloomy, dreary day; the rain coming down in heavy droplets, casting a grim light down on the London streets.

But there you were, walking around the museum, looking at exhibits and scribbling notes in your tiny notebook with oh, so many post-its sticking out, fattening the tiny book until it looked close to bursting.

You were the only ray of sunshine on that day, your yellow dress that hugged your body just right, little sunflowers covering the fabric. Your hair done just the right way to accentuate your face as your eyes studied each artifact and bauble you saw.

To say the boys were instantly smitten was an understatement.

It took weeks of bumping into you to work up the courage to talk to you, and it was only when you came in to buy a rather dinky looking scarab plushie in the gift shop. It's this conversation where he finds out you're in school, trying to become an archaeologist and historian.

Steven's dream girl, and he had hearts in his eyes at every word you spoke.

He couldn't help but blubber out a request for a date, and you agreed.

The rest... History in the making.

You'd been dating for two months, but already he could feel the pull of urges he didn't necessarily indulge in often.

Sure, he, Marc and Jake could indulge in it themselves, trying to take the edge off. But sometimes it felt like the more he indulged in it, the more intense his fantasies got.

He simply couldn't keep tugging his cock for momentary relief anymore, imagining it was your soft hand, your mouth, your tits or something else wrapped around his cock that had him practically drooling: your sweet cunt.

But tonight? Tonight was the night. He was afraid to bring it up because he didn't want you to feel like he was moving too fast; and he could barely function when you admitted you were a little surprised he waited so long. (And teased him a little for how sometimes he just wasn't stealthy when trying to conceal a surprise boner.)

You'd told him that you thought about him too, and that you were more than willing to let him indulge.

But it was from there that you found out that Steven had never actually been intimate with anyone. Jake and Marc had, yes. But poor Steven has just never had the luck.

And that's how Steven found himself in this precarious situation, you on your knees, your pretty little mouth wrapped around his cock as you bobbed your head so sweetly, tongue laving around his length, hollowing and sucking your cheeks with every drag, tracing the vein that ran up the side of him.

He couldn't stop with the babbling praises, the sweet petting in your hair.

Honestly, if you knew he was this weak? You'd have jumped his bones a lot sooner. Probably after the fourth or fifth date. It was rare you found someone who was intellectually a joy to talk to (not excluding Marc and Jake) who was so handsome and sweet to you.

One hand was thrust down into your panties, playing with yourself, dress hiked up so you could have better access as you continue sucking him off, the lewd sounds coming from both of you more suited to a pornography than the quiet air of his flat.

You could feel your orgasm cresting already, but you knew that you didn't want to just cum on your fingers like you had so many times before, you wanted to feel Steven inside of you and god did you want to drain him for everything he had.

Steven made a whine, babbling your name again.

"L-luv, I'm--I'm gonna--ugh--"

He couldn't even get the sentence out before you felt him spill down your throat, his hips bucking suddenly you gagged, carefully adjusting so you didn't choke as he pumped his load into your greedy mouth.

Well... you weren't surprised he didn't last very long...

He immediately started rattling off apologies that had you giggling.

God damn, you were going to enjoy draining him. Maybe Marc and Jake, too.

The blush that spread up to his ears made him look absolutely adorable.

"I-I'm sorry, I didn't mean to--" He stammered out, covering his face. "In--in your mouth, I--"

With the fluid grace of a cat you climb into his lap, straddling him.

You cup his cheeks and kiss him softly, before pulling away.

"You're alright." You assure him, peppering his adorable face with kisses.

It's when he squeezes your thighs and ruts up into you, his face buried in your neck that you realize he's still hard.

You bite your lip and kiss his ear.

"Steven, do you want me to ride you?"

"Ohgodsyesplease." He breathes out on a whimper.

You hastily line his cock up with your hole and sink down, taking him in inch by delicious inch until you're stretched beautifully around him.

You tip your head back with a groan. He certainly had girth for days, that was for sure.

"I'm... Already close. Can you help me?" You say, giving him a sweet pout that makes his heart jump up into his throat.

"Y-yes, I can--"

The way he keeps cutting himself off makes you want to cuddle him and cover him with kisses, but at the same time fuck him until his legs go numb.

Maybe you'd do the former later.

You pull his fingers into your mouth and he makes a soft moan when you suck his fingers, swirling your tongue around his calloused digits until you deemed them wet enough.

Then, you guide his hand down your body to your throbbing clit, and show him the rhythm that'd work for you best.

"Try to keep it in time with me, m'kay?" You groan, grinding down on him in one slow, languid movement.

His eyes roll back, but he nods and keeps his fingers over your clit, massaging the bundle of nerves in time with each downward stroke of your hips.

Every bit of him had you aching, from his electric touches to his fat cock spearing you open and fucking your weeping pussy in the best way possible, you kicked yourself mentally again for not bringing up sex sooner.

Steven's cock felt far better inside of you than your fingers or your toys at home. He felt hot, he felt real. And real is what you'd been lacking lately.

Whatever Steven would give you, you planned on taking happily. You would--

Your eyes flutter open when Steven suddenly arches his back and hits you deeper than you expected him to; opening your mouth in a quiet cry, no sound escapes as your orgasm hits you and Steven continues swiping at your clit, fucking you from below as you shudder and collapse on top of him as he continues breathing on the hot embers of your orgasm to keep it going for as long as possible.

"Please." He whines in your ear.

"Pleasepleasepleasepleaseplease."

"In-inside--" You whimper, biting down on his shoulder, earning a toe-curling moan from him.

"You can do it inside."

He grits his teeth and let's out a hissing cry, veins popping in his neck and forehead as he fucks his spend up into you, his orgasm burning and flaying his nerves raw as he pumps you full.

He drops back onto the cushions of the couch and sofa, breathing hard, desperately trying to drag oxygen back into his lungs.

Reality however, is a cruel mistress and he looks down at where you two were connected.

"Oh, b-bloody hell. I--I didn't--"

"Relax, hon." You giggle, leaning back with one hand braced on one of his knees for support, your other hand trailing lazily down to where his cock still split you open, his cum leaking out around his length. The sight of you sent a dizzying spiral through him.

"I'm safe, promise. I have an implant. Still good for another three years."

The thought that he could keep doing this for three years--

His mind went blank when you grind down on his lap, feeling his cock stir to life despite the fact he was now exhausted.

"L-luv, I... I don't think I can..." He panted desperately.

Your brace your hands on his chest and start bouncing on his lap, grinning wickedly the whole time.

"I'm gonna keep going until I drain you dry, sweetheart. Get comfortable."

The gulp he made was audible in the space you shared, as was the sinful slap of skin on skin.

[homecominggame]

HOMECOMING

Your parents are dead—killed in what the authorities claim was a tragic accident. But you know better. Returning to the sprawling mansion of your youth, you inherit wealth, power, and a tangled web of deceit. Within the ornate halls, whispers of betrayal echo, and the shadows seem to know more than they should.

As you unravel the mystery, you'll face dangerous situations, uncover long-buried truths, and navigate fragile alliances. The path you choose will shape your destiny—and your family’s legacy.

Trust carefully, tread lightly, and beware: the deeper you dig, the darker the shadows become.

Will you unearth the truth, or be consumed by it?

RATED 16+ FOR SUGGESTIVE CONTENT (OPTIONAL), VIOLENCE, MENTIONS OF SUICIDE AND SELF HARM.

PEOPLE OF INTEREST

Alex Harper (M/F)– The dependable estate manager who knows more than they let on. Can loyalty be enough to erase guilt?

DESC. straight black hair stopping at their shoulders, light brown skin, swirling hazel eyes akin to a lush forest. they stand at 5'6. Alex just...wears whatever's in their closet, which consists of an embarrassing amount of leopard print and thrifted jeans.

Evelyn/Evan Hayes (M/F)– A charming journalist whose ambition might cost you everything—or lead you to the truth.

DESC. short, black curls that fall above their shoulders, freckled brown skin that makes their green eyes pop, 6'1. E enjoys their perfectly tailored, business casual clothes and seems to always wear something green. has a tattoo of a ladybug on their wrist.

Scarlett Vale (F) (ONLY F/NB MCS CAN ROMANCE) – Your childhood rival turned reluctant ally. Beneath her sharp exterior hides a vulnerable heart.

DESC. chest length sandy blonde curls worn in a ponytail more often than not, medium beige skin, brown, nearly black eyes, 5'11. sense of fashion as sharp as her wit, she often wears crisp button ups, pencil skirts and stylish dresses. One would think casual is foreign to her.

Lucy/Luca Moretti (M/F) – The enigmatic historian researching your family’s past. Soft-spoken but fiercely intelligent, they may hold the key to the estate’s mysteries—or their own motives.

DESC. waist length platinum blonde waves, usually worn in a loose braid, heterochromatic brown and green eyes. lean and graceful, L stands at 5'10. they prefer casual clothes, sweaters, flowy pants, etc.

Multiple endings, branching choices, and your legacy at stake. Ready to inherit the secrets of Blackthorne?

DEMO COMING SOON. <3

[matthew2641]

The Innocent and the Insatiable: Mason Verger and the Art of Desecration

Throughout Hannibal spaces of presumed sanctuary—the home, dining room, and therapeutic office—become arenas of psychological and corporeal violation. One instance in which this thematic inversion is realized is within the Verger estate, amid its grandiloquent furnishings, After the Bath (1890) stands in silent dissonance. Hardly an accent of warmth or nostalgia, but an indictment of the charade that Mason operates under.

Paul Peel’s After the Bath, an ostensibly tender depiction of childhood innocence, serves as an unsettling adornment within Mason Verger’s dining room in Digestivo. Peel, an Academic Classicist of the late 19th century, devoted much of his oeuvre to depictions of children in states of repose, elevating their vulnerability into an aesthetic ideal. The paintings' placement is neither incidental nor merely ironic; rather, it constitutes a perverse iconostasis. It is within this visual dissonance that Hannibal articulates one of its most insidious thematic preoccupations: the profanation of purity and the aestheticisation of monstrosity.

Peel depicts two young siblings—modeled after his children—standing before a fireplace after their ablutions, their nude bodies ensconced in the lambent glow of a hearth. One child stands while the other sits atop a small rug. Both with hands outstretched, entirely preoccupied with the tactile pleasure of warmth. The surrounding interior, suffused with gold and amber, seems to cradle them in an aureate embrace, intimating an idyll of familial sanctity. Yet, for all its tenderness, the composition harbors a latent disquiet. With their backs turned to the viewer, the children are rendered at once inviolate and irrevocably exposed. Such a dialectic of protection and susceptibility renders After the Bath an image freighted with tensions that transcend its initial gentility.

This hallowed evocation of innocence finds its stark counterpoint in Mason’s own corporeal state. Where the canvas presents smooth, unblemished flesh captured in perpetuity, Mason's disfigured body represents its own canvas, ravaged by Hannibal's hand. The series' cinematography accentuates this incongruity, framing Mason against the painting in a composition that juxtaposes his mutilated visage with the pristine forms captured in oil paint. Creating a visual contention between idealized and abject flesh.

The tradition of 19th-century European painting that After the Bath inhabits is itself a locus of competing impulses: idealisation and voyeuristic objectification. Peel’s work, alongside Sir John Everett Millais' Bubbles (1886) or Sophie Anderson's No Walk Today (1856), represents pivotal moments in the cultural construction of childhood as both a symbol of sentimental purity and an aestheticized object of desire—sacrosanct yet consumable within the visual economy of bourgeois aspiration.

Art historian Anne Higonnet, in her seminal Pictures of Innocence: The History and Crisis of Ideal Childhood, offers an incisive critique of this phenomenon through her conception of the “Romantic child.” She contends that the Romantic child ‘’is desirable precisely to the extent that it does not understand desire’’. Herein lies the central paradox: an innocence so meticulously cultivated that it verges upon fiction, its very purity contingent upon an implicit and disavowed eroticization. The aesthetic glorification of childhood is thereby inextricable from mechanisms of symbolic possession. The child’s desirability arises from its subjugation to the adult gaze, positioning innocence as a commodity whose very allure depends upon its vulnerability to consumption.

Additional analysis such as Georges Bataille’s Erotism: Death and Sensuality, elucidates on this contradiction by destabilizing the presumed binary between the sacred and the profane. Rather than constituting discrete ontological categories, the two are, as Bataille posits, fundamentally intertwined. The impulse toward sanctity is inextricably bound to an equally potent compulsion toward transgression. Bataille’s notion of eroticism as “assenting to life up to the point of death” invites a confrontation with this violent tension: purity, in its very form, is already an immanent sacrifice. It is precisely this fleeting fragility that makes its eventual loss not only inevitable, but existentially integral to the aesthetic experience.

In this philosophical framework, After the Bath—when transposed to the domain of the Verger estate—becomes a harrowing manifestation of this dichotomy: an image of innocence, venerated yet wholly vulnerable to desecration. Removed from the sphere of benign appreciation to one defined by predation, the painting now becomes subsumed into the predatory logic that governs the Verger’s possession. In Mason's hands, the painting does not preserve innocence, but negates it through a transference of ownership that compels the subjugation of the ideal to a more insidious appetency: the will to possess and corrupt.

The historical function of such paintings as instruments of social inscription deepens this reading. Within an era of a rapidly industrializing society—namely where the ascendancy of the merchant elite precipitated a crisis of class identity—the possession of these paintings functioned not merely as an aesthetic indulgence but as a strategic exercise in social inscription.  To own the image of innocence was to appropriate its mythos, to fashion oneself as the custodian of an elusive, unsullied virtue amid the inexorable advance of mechanization and capital. These works, coveted by industrialists and aristocrats alike, thus served as fetishized emblems of a vanishing past.  In their gilded artifice, innocence was instrumentalized, a simulacrum of purity whose truest function lay in its deception.

Against this backdrop of calculated aesthetic possession stands Mason Verger—an abomination clad in the vestments of aristocracy—whose very flesh bears the brand of his moral degeneracies. Standing in perfect negation of all that, After the Bath encapsulates:  sanctity, care and renewal. Within his grasp, the act of bathing, venerated across classical and theological traditions as a rite of purification and rebirth, suffers an insidious transfiguration. No longer a benediction, it is rendered profanely transactional. 

Within Hannibal, After the Bath is not merely invoked but defiled, its innocence contorted into a mute vestige of impiety. Where Lecter’s tableaux call upon Renaissance and Baroque masterworks—transforming flesh into an apotheotic medium of aesthetic transcendence—Mason’s use of art is purely desecratory. Lecter’s philosophy, steeped in perverse sacrality, follows a via negativa wherein destruction is transfigured into a violent beatification. Assuming both sacrificer and hierophant, he renders flesh an instrument of divine excess. 

Contrastingly, Mason is no architect of transfiguration but a force of utter ignominy. The Wound Man illustration in Hannibal’s office operates as a sigil of his clinical methodology, the Leda and the Swan (1740) sculpture a cipher for his complex relational entanglements, but Mason’s assemblage of art does not aspire to reconfiguration or reinterpretation; it is but an extension of his own corporeal abomination. After the Bath is neither revered nor recontextualized; it is engulfed in the grotesquerie that pervades its keeper’s domain, its innocence curdled into a symbol of desecration, lingering in silent lamentation.

The economic dimension of art acquisition assumes particular poignancy when considered through the lens of Mason Verger’s transatlantic identity. Though the Verger estate resides in America, After the Bath offers a fragment of European artistic tradition, uprooted and grafted onto the American landscape. This phenomenon, wherein European art is sought as a marker of cultural authenticity and capital, was not merely prevalent but indispensable to the aspirations of the American elite throughout the 19th and early 20th centuries. In an era when the United States wrestled with the uncertainties of its nascent national identity, European art provided a repository of refinement, historical grandeur, and intellectual prestige. It answered, albeit imperfectly, the unspoken anxieties of a nation still straining beneath the immensity of Europe’s cultural hegemony, longing to assert its own artistic sovereignty in the shadow of antiquity.

This fundamental tension between appropriation and disillusionment is echoed in the complex, deeply ambivalent relationship between Mason Verger and Hannibal Lecter. Lecter,  a man steeped in European sophistication and unapproachable elegance, stands as a constant, agonising reminder of all that Mason can never attain. Despite Mason’s vehement hatred for Hannibal, there persists an undeniable allure in the very attributes that Lecter so effortlessly embodies. Intellect, cultivated aesthetic sensibilities, and unassailable self-possession—these are qualities that Mason, despite his ostentation and voracious acquisition of luxury and art, cannot replicate. Hannibal thus becomes a living embodiment of the European ideal, an inaccessible archetype of sophistication against which Mason’s own affectations are laid bare. In this regard, Lecter is not merely his adversary but his mirror, reflecting back at him the cruelest of truths: that Mason’s insatiable hunger for culture, for distinction, is nothing more than a hollow pantomime. 

Art in Hannibal often functions as a projection of one's elaborate interiority, while Mason's acquisition of After the Bath represents the far baser impulse of domination. Within Mason’s menagerie of sadistic appetites, ownership of art is no act of aesthetic devotion; it is an assertion of power and an extension of his subjugative will.

In many aspects, his acquisition of Peel’s work reflects that of the historical practices of aristocratic patronage, wherein the commissioning of idealised images of children functioned not solely as sentimental mementos but as assertions of lineage, domination, and legacy. Throughout the Gilded Age, industrial magnates—Vanderbilts, Carnegies, Rockefellers—alongside their European counterparts, engaged in aggressive art acquisition, wielding their collections as decrees of cultural legitimation. The period bore witness to what historians have termed ‘conspicuous collection’, which takes from Thorstein Veblen's foundational concept of 'conspicuous consumption' explored in The Theory of the Leisure Class. As Veblen argues, art became not merely decorative but declarative, providing ‘’evidence of wealth’’. Those failing ‘’to consume in due quantity and quality’’ suffered, their consumable inadequacies becoming ‘’a mark of inferiority and demerit.’’ Of particular significance were academic paintings depicting childhood innocence, their saccharine idealism functioning as testaments to the collector’s supposed refinement and moral sensibilities, even as their wealth was amassed through ruthless exploitation.

Mason Verger, as a contemporary iteration of the Gilded Age collector, exploits its precedent while embodying its most depraved distortions. His possession of Peel's work is no homage to art’s higher virtues but a continuation of its function as a mechanism of power. Just as 19th-century industrialists used sentimental imagery to launder their public images—often while engaging in brutal labor practices—Mason employs the veneer of refined taste to comfortably revel in his own perversion. But where the Gilded Age collector sought to enshrine themselves within the lineage of Western artistic tradition, Mason is no such aesthete. His is an anti-collection, a perverse pastiche of refinement that, in truth, signifies nothing but the void of his own putrescence. 

In another setting, such a painting would perhaps evoke warmth, nostalgia, or the rhythms of familial tenderness. Here, however,  it is subsumed into Mason’s decadent economy. For he is not merely a collector of art, but of flesh, of suffering. His wealth grants him access to refinement, yet his engagement with beauty is wholly parasitic—his possession of art mirroring his possession of bodies: total, transactional, annihilatory.

The series consistently entwines domestic comfort with acts of brutality, a visual contrariety established from the very first episode, where family homes become slaughterhouses. After the Bath extends this motif, its image of viridity incongruously placed within a chamber of excess and debasement. As Hannibal's kitchen exists as both culinary sanctuary and abattoir, Will's home as both refuge and psychological battleground, the Verger estate adheres as both aristocratic manor and torture chamber. The painting thus serves as a microcosm of the show's broader visual strategy of domestic subversion.

Ultimately, the placement of After the Bath within Mason Verger's domain serves as a metonym for Hannibal's broader philosophical inquiry into the nature of beauty, corruption, and transformation. Through this singular artistic choice, the series proposes that innocence exists not as an inherent state but as a cultural construct, subject to continuous manufacturing, commodification, and eventually, consumption.  Where Hannibal Lecter's relationship with art transforms destruction into creative expression, Mason's possession of Peel's masterwork represents beauty's antithesis: stagnation, desecration, and ultimate nullification. The painting's silent presence amid such depravity serves not merely as ironic counterpoint but as a visual elegy for purity itself, but a reminder that in the moral universe of Hannibal, even the most sacred images are not above contamination.

[darkfluffydragon]

Phantasmagoria Worldbuilding: The Fountain of Everlasting Serenity

Excerpt the Codex of Myths and Legends: The Fountain of Everlasting Serenity

The Fountain of Everlasting Serenity is a mythical structure said to reside in a hidden location within Earthbread. The surrounding garden is described as an extraordinary haven, 'unmatched in beauty' and 'untouched by time'.

It is said that at the centre of a garden stands the fountain, constructed from flawless white marble. It is the source of the garden's mystical properties, with its waters often referred to as "ambrosia" within various stories mentioning the myth. The golden liquid is believed to grant those who drink it two extraordinary gifts: immortality and an eternal state of happiness. The ambrosia is rumoured to be capable of removing all pain, sorrow, and negative emotions, leaving only peace and contentment. According to legend, it offers a perfect existence, free from hardship and suffering.

While the Fountain of Everlasting Serenity is a tale that is known by many, its true origins remain a mystery. Historians are still unaware of where the myth first began, but records suggest it gained prominence centuries ago within the land now known as the Hollyberry Kingdom. Whether the fountain truly exists or is merely a story passed down through the ages, it is still a popular myth that continues to be passed down through the generations.

From an Old Notebook: R.C's Journal

The Fountain of Everlasting Serenity is not exactly as the rumours claim. I know this because I was there when it was made. I suppose you could say this notebook is my attempt to set the truth down, even if I can never undo what has been done.

The fountain is real, as is the garden surrounding it. The ichor flows from its heart, golden and luminous, granting all who drink it peace and immortality. The legends tell of its beauty, its "power to wash away sorrow, and its promise of eternal happiness." These are not lies. The ichor delivers exactly what the rumours say it will. Everlasting life, endless bliss. All of it. There is not a drop of deceit there.

But they don’t know about the price.

The effects are not instantaneous. Their burdens vanish, their pain melts away, and they are left with nothing but serenity. Over time, though, they begin to grow tired. The peace is all-consuming, pulling them into a deep, dream-filled sleep. It’s a gentle process, so quiet that they don’t even notice it happening. By the time anyone can notice something is wrong, it will already be too late.

Once they’ve fallen asleep, the change begins. Their dough slowly becomes a part of the garden. Flowers, trees, grasses—the vibrant life that makes the garden so beautiful comes from them. The garden is alive, but it only thrives because of those who drink from the fountain. They don’t die, not exactly. I doubt she'd let them. Even like this, she loves them too dearly. Their souls remain in the garden, their dreams lingering in the trees and the flowers.

This was never supposed to happen. The fountain was meant to be a sanctuary, it was meant to be just a memorial.

I didn’t know it would turn out this way. I didn’t understand the consequences when it was made. Perhaps that ignorance was my third sin, but I can’t claim innocence now. The fountain sustains itself, beyond my control, and the garden continues to grow. Though it is contained within the cavern it was made in.

I am writing this because someone needs to know the truth. I cannot ask for forgiveness. This notebook is my confession, my attempt to atone for what I have done.

I cannot hate my creation. Not when her heart lies within it.

-R.C

[tommyssupercoolblog]

Incoming very long ramble about the fragility of internet content and the ways some things are impossible or difficult to preserve

The thing that frustrates me most about poppytwt is how fruitless it all feels.

Like, you can't archive or research poppytwt effectively. You can certainly TRY but you'll find very little!!!

You have people who spent years in the poppytwt fandom who can TELL you about fanfics they read, art they saw, friends they made who were deactivated or doxxed or harassed or who committed suicide or are otherwise lost to time, but they'll have almost nothing to show for it because poppytwt was actively designed to be as impossible to trace back as possible, precisely because people were afraid of harassment.

How are you supposed to find, say, Tommy/Tubbo fanfiction? There's some on the actual tag, sure, especially now that poppytwt is for the most part over and it's considered "okay" to ship them now, but I'll tell you right now there are thousands of fics that won't pop up because the fic had no tags whatsoever, or spelled Tubbo like Tvbb0, or used some God awful emoji combination to convey who they were talking about, or were straight up DELETED. Discord servers moved every few years, fanart and fics were usually tagged with censored bullshit or not tagged at all and then taken down and deleted, entire accounts were ALSO deleted, even assuming something was tagged properly it's probably gone.

Most of us in the fandom at the time didn't think to make archives of anything while it was happening, so we've lost like.... probably enough content to make our own small website full of it, and even more chatrooms.

Almost all of the public facing content left is NSFW and/or more controversial kinks like CNC, watersports, etc, which could be because people who post that content are more resistant to criticism anyway but honestly I don't know why that is, and I know sfw content beyond what you can currently find EXISTED, we consumed tons of it back in the day, but it's almost fucking impossible to find!!! And most of it, when you get your hands on a link, is GONE!!!!

It happens with NSFW content too though, if course. Veradie was one of the most popular artists in poppytwt by far and a lot of the art links don't work. Some have archived versions with working links but a lot is gone because the original post leading to it doesn't work, and Veradie, like, the person, is missing. I'm sure she(?) would know a lot about old fandom and might even have archived some stuff, but if you're some sort of internet historian how in the FUCK are you supposed to find her??? She deactivated without a trace!!!

I made friends with a user called Kencydoo on here and one day I logged on and Kency was just GONE without warning or any indication of where they were moving to, no DMs to people they knew, nothing. I don't even know if it was staff or mass reports or a self-deletion. I do know Kency sometimes posted NSFW dead dove stuff and had tags you could block to avoid it, so it's possible one of those posts blew up and got the blog taken down, but I have no level of certainty.

Reese (I think it was Reese?) had people hunting for a "main account" that didn't exist for harassment and doxxing purposes and then ALMOST left (I'm glad you're still here @reesesrambles )

There's no stability for poppytwt content and no real shelf life which means that most of the history and even the harassment that REQUIRED THE EXISTENCE of a seperate fandom is gone. We can describe what the old dsmp fandom was like and why poppytwt exists and what it means but most of the actual concrete fandom blogs or resources are GONE, absolutely obliterated.

Like you can't make a Strange Æons style video about poppytwt, you literally can't, because almost all of it is like the fucking city of Atlantis. There WAS stuff here, but it was constantly sinking.

Most people I know for a fact were involved in poppy honestly just left for the hermitcraft fandom because people over there are like...normal?? The hermitcraft fandom allows RPF and doesn't give a shit about shipping characters who are "sibling coded" or whatever the fuck. They understand the concept of just not clicking on something you don't want to see, instead of launching a twitter cancellation campaign against people. So like if you can talk about a similar, and GOOD source of content that is also actively ongoing and not get shit for it, why would you chose to create for a discontinued peice of content and/or streamers who you WILL get shit on for writing about?? Like if your options are "write grian RPF and be able to not stress and have a fun time" or "write tommyinnit RPF and delete hate comments every day and watch your back constantly" why the fuck would you pick the latter???

And it's frustrating because the fact everything disappears means it feels like you don't even have much to look back on. The friends you made or content you enjoyed about a series you love is all dust now, and if you were into the DSMP for a long time (and therefore in poppytwt for a long time) then it's so much worse. It all adds up.

Anyways that's my ramble on how fucked up it is that entire communities can be lost in an era where things can supposedly be maintained forever does anyone want to drink a caprisun with me

[losver07]

"fanfiction is not real literature!"

babe. babe look at me. the bible is fanfic and dante's inferno is fanfic of a fanfic. homer's works are fanfics of fanfics too, because every single greek myth is a fanfiction. shakespeare's anthony & cleopatra is fanfic.

same goes for graphic arts. are you gonna tell me all of those medusa sculptures and venus paintings and church ceilings are not fanart? you better not, 'cause lying is wrong.

not creating or consuming fan works does not make you better or cooler or more cultured. plato wrote about how achilles was portrayed in homer's illiad. a fan of a fanfic of a bunch of little fanfic oneshots. does plato seem like an uncultured loser to you? thought so.

just because a fan base is bigger and globally accepted does not mean it is not a fan base. the sherlock holmes and dorian gray and pride & prejudice and hercules poirot adaptations you watch are fan works too. even the sonic movie, yes.

art is still art no matter the subject or inspiration and, actually, having another work as a base allows authors to express their personal opinion in said work. we are humans. we can't just create, we need to consume, and of course that will show up in our work, that is the whole point.

telling artists that fan work is not valid will not make them suddenly start creating the content you like, it will just make them stop creating at all. and i don't know about you, but i think art (all forms of it) is necessary.

you may think you are inmortal, but historians won't agree with you in a couple of years, and they should have something as proof of what we consumed and created to understand what was going on, because you are clearly not ready to make that little reflection just now.

in conclusion: artists, keep feeding me wolfstar fics and doodles, please :)

[emer-al]

the problem with CARI is that it’s not very rigid and they’ve only struck upon about 3 - 4 interesting categories that are correctly generalized as they are on the site. it’s not really an encyclopedia ig (aspiring to be) but seeks to put forth an argument towards developing a consumer aesthetics vernacular, which is good and noble, but is basically wholly underprepared to do so. it needs more historiography rather than a vibes based aesthetic grouping of disparate objects, certainly needs much more periodization within groupings of high and low styles, they should really be tracking creative directors, brands specifically, credited designers, architects, interior decorators etc. there’s kind of a debate about how baudrillard you get with it; I think food is much more a vessel for advertising content these days, is the color of a sandwich postmodern? should be considered. etc. really the ultimate solution is that some sort of index of all advertising material ever made would be appended as a department of the library of congress with mandatory reporting to some sort of memetic FDA but that’s neither here nor there. practically a borgesian fantasy exercise. all of this to say that global village coffeehouse is a coherent aesthetic category that can be quantified but hipness purgatory isn’t but it can be imagined if you squint, and the fact of needing to squint is the problem. the impulse behind CARI comes from squinting curators and not historians and people who can untangle the mess of the ultimate layart of advertising, the one the world runs on. and all caveated to say that this is only a noble goal for a kind of hunched over bureaucrat to do, and would be an industrial-academic effacement of life to anyone else. just some thoughts

[allysw000rld]

Not So Scary Challenge

Welcome to the Not So Scary Challenge!

created by allysw000rld

Have you bought many of The Sims 4 Occult packs and rarely use them? Are Vampires only seen when they show up on your front door? Aliens just... existing in CAS? Mermaids lounging in obscurity? Werewolves seen as a nuisance to your Sims?

  Then this is the challenge for you!

The Not So Scary Challenge is a legacy-style Sims 4 challenge inspired by lilsimsie’s Not So Berry Challenge!

But this time the monsters are the main characters, where you’ll explore the lives of seven generations, (eight including GrimBorn) each tied to a different occult type and represented by a unique color. You’ll get the chance to fully immerse yourself in the magical, mysterious, and often overlooked content from the many Sims 4 packs.

Each generation has its own rules, traits, aspirations, skills, careers, and goals.

This challenge will give your Sims 4 experience new life!

(and death ... and undeath)

Embrace the weird, the magical, and the slightly spooky.

SpellCaster Generation:

You’re a powerful spellcaster obsessed with mastering all branches of magic. But ambition comes at a cost—your magic spirals out of control, leading to your untimely demise. Now you have to raise your child from death himself as a ghost.

Recommended Traits: Creative, Cat Lover, Practice makes perfect or Bookworm.

Start as a Spellcaster in Glimmerbrook.

Adopt a pet familiar.

Income: Have a Five Star in-home magic shop. (selling magical items, potion ingredients, crystals, jewelry etc.)

Grow a perfect quality Crystal Tree.

Grow all Magic Realm plants.

Complete the aspirations: Purveyor of Potions, Spellcraft & Sorcery, and Crystal Crafter.

Max Gemology and Gardening skills.

Summon Grim Reaper using Jet jewelry.

Then Have a baby with the Grim Reaper.

Complete Soul’s Journey.

Die from Spellcaster Overload.

Return as a playable Ghost for Ghost Generation.

Ghost Generation:

Your magic consumed you. Now you live on as a ghost. Even in death, your mission isn’t over: you're raising your child, guiding them with perfect values, and completing your Soul's Journey. Only once your spirit finds peace can you be reborn.

Begin as a playable Ghost (your Spellcaster from Gen One).

Move into a Haunted House Residential lot in Mourningvale, Ravenwood.

Host your own funeral.

Ensure Grimborn completes the Scouting after-school activity.

Help Grimborn earn all 5 character value traits

Complete Aspirations: Ghost Historian (Life and Death), Ghostly Knowledge (Paranormal Stuff).

Income: Max the Undertaker Career, then get Paranormal Investigator license and join career (optional).

Master Medium skill.

Complete the Big Picture Collection.

Complete the Order of Lenore Quest.

Complete the Alice’s Sorrow storyline.

Have successful séance with Bonehilda.

Complete the Ghost Mastery Tree.

Pass down all traits to GrimBorn once they become a Young Adult.

Then, Swim in the Bayful Bog.

Then, Be Reborn as Grimborn’s hot-headed, werewolf child.

Grimborn Generation: (black and white)

Child of a spellcaster, born touched by the afterlife. You’re not an occult, but you’ve always lived alongside the supernatural. Raised with perfect values, you're determined to live a structured, meaningful life despite your eerie existence — you may or may not be magical, but you’re the heart of the family.

Required Traits: Macabre and Loner.

Earn all 5 character value traits.

Get all Scouts badges.

After your parent gets reborn as your child, Then move to Moonwood Mill to start Werewolf Generation.

Only you and your child are allowed in the household after moving. (excluding pets)

Income: Max the Grim Reaper Career.

Werewolf Generation:

Reborn in fur and fury, you’ve left the arcane behind and embraced your primal instincts. Living fully off-the-grid, It’s a wild, raw life—but it’s finally yours. Will you be able to control the beast within?

Required Traits: Hot-Headed(child) and Loner(young adult).

Be Reborn with hot-headed trait, as a werewolf child with Grimborn being your parent.

Explore all underground tunnels in Moonwood Mill.

Read all werewolf books and diaries.

Join Wildfangs as a teen and Complete the Wildfang Renegade aspiration.

Switch and join Moonwood Collective as a young adult (If sim wants to switch the Hot-Headed trait they can at this point.)

Complete the Emissary of the Collective aspiration.

Leave both and Complete the Lone Wolf aspiration, living completely off-the-grid (income: selling things you’ve made or grown)

Max the following skills: Fitness, Wellness (only after joining moonwood collective) and Fabrication Skill: Craft your own furniture and décor.

Master Werewolf Abilities Tree.

Complete the Cure Seeker aspiration (If sim wants to switch the Loner trait they can at this point.)

Have a child (fairy or human) and move to Innisgreen (or other way around).

Complete the Soul’s Journey.

Pass down all traits to the next generation.

Fairy Generation: COMING SOON 7/10 (yellow)

Required Traits: Disruptive (child), Mystical (teen) and Plant Lover (young adult)

Mermaid Generation:

As a mermaid, you live in tune with the ocean, preserve the environment, and spread joy through music and community. Life is slower here, full of beauty and emotion—but your voice carries power, and your song just might change the world.

Required Traits: Child of the Ocean and Child of the Islands.

Live in Sulani with lot traits: Oceanic Paradise, Island Spirits, and (Volcanic Activity or Off the Grid).

Complete Beach Life aspiration.

Fully clean up Sulani and restore the island.

Never Leave Sulani.

Complete all Island Living collection types.

Income: Island Related Odd Jobs (as teen) and Max the Conservationist career.

Be abducted by aliens and have an Alien baby (or adopt one from gallery).

Complete the Soul’s Journey.

Pass down all traits to the next generation.

Alien Generation:

You’ve always felt different—and that’s because you are. An alien genius, you graduate high school early and launch yourself into a fast-tracked academic and scientific career. Science, exploration, and social discovery guide your journey as you seek to understand what it means to be human.

Required Traits: Genius and Socially Awkward.

Complete Nerd Braid Aspiration.

As a teen, graduate high school early, earning as many scholarships as possible.

Apply to university immediately and move into a dorm on campus.

Enroll in university as a teen and Get a degree in Psychology or History (for Military career) and Physics (Optional for Scientist career)

Join Brainiacs, Bot Savants, and Secret Society clubs in University.

Build and fully upgrade Servo.

Complete Academic Aspiration.

Move to Strangerville.

Income: Join the Military Career.

While in the military uncover the Strangerville mystery and fully complete the Strangerville aspiration.

Income: After solving the mystery, switch to the Scientist Career and advance to the top.

Have a Science Lab in your Home.

Move to a different world and Have a Science Baby with Servo.

Complete the Soul’s Journey.

Pass down all traits to the next generation.

Optional: collect all bizarre fruit and all alien collectibles from Sixam.

Build an Alien Lair in Sixam.

Vampire Generation:

You grew up feeling like an outsider, desperate to belong somewhere, anywhere! Until you discovered the existence of vampires. Finally, your wildest dreams felt possible. With immortality and fame at your fingertips, you rise through the ranks of celebrity society using nothing but charm and musical talent. The pipe organ is your one true love—and your only source of income. Will your legacy be eternal… Will you be able to keep your bloodlust out of the public eye?

Required Traits: Gloomy (child), Erractic (teen), and Music Lover (adult).

Max Vampire Lore Skill as a child.

Max Pipe Organ Skill.

Turn on Registered Vampire Lair Lot Trait (a few days before becoming a teen).

Get turned into a vampire after maxing the Vampire Lore Skill (as a teen).

Complete the Good Vampire Aspiration as a teen.

Complete the Vampire Family and Master Vampire Aspirations (as a young adult).

Master both sides of the Vampire Power Tree.

Income: Become a Famous Pipe Organ player (pipe organ is only source of income).

Become Global Superstar.

Move to Forgotten Hollow and build a Vampire Mansion 🏰.

Complete the Soul’s Journey.

The occult are misunderstood...

They’ve been cast aside and forgotten by players.

But in this challenge, every occult has their moment.

Every skill is mastered. Every secret is uncovered.

You’ll become a ghost, summon grim, howl at the moon, explore beyond the stars, and obviously party as a pixie!

7 Generations. 7 Occults. 1 Magical Legacy.

The Not So Scary Challenge isn’t just a legacy,

It’s your chance to experience everything the packs have to offer.

Are you ready to play with the features you forgot existed?

Are you ready to see the not-so-scary side of The Sims 4?

The challenge begins now...

Required Packs: Realm of Magic, Cats and Dogs, Crystal Creations, Businesses and Hobbies, Life and Death, Paranormal Stuff, Parenthood, Werewolves, Eco Living, Cottage Living, Outdoor Retreat, Enchanted by Nature, Island Living, Get to Work, StrangerVille, University, Vampires, Get Famous.

[bruja-engkantada]

ONLINE RESOURCES (for Filipino witches) - by bruja-engkantada

Buying books related to witchcraft, folk magick practice, and tarot might be difficult for Ph-based practitioners because of the following:

Limited budget

Other people might see the physical books

Here are some resources and individuals that helped me delve deeper into my craft. Please do remember that it is important to not only have these resources at hand, but also to consume them, learn from them, and apply what you learned or what resonates with you. What we are doing is a "practice" after all.

I'm still trying to learn tumblr, so I don't know how to link yet, or if multiple links are allowed in a post on this platform. I will edit and add links once I figure it out.

TOPIC: ALBULARYOS & FAITH HEALERS

Interviews by Off the Record (YT) - these interviews are in Filipino language

Lihim na Karunungan (FB Group) - this is where you see the the real albularyos and how they work

BhesTV (YT) - this account focuses on medicinal properties of Ph plants and herbs, and also information about the amulets & talismans in the Philippines

TOPIC: PHILIPPINE HISTORY

Nick Joaquin (Filipino Journalist Writer), Ambeth Ocampo (Filipino Historian) and Lualhati Bautista (Filipino author) - research about their books. Their research and studies focus mainly on Ph artifacts, and Ph history during different colonial periods, and also pre-colonial era. You can also follow Ambeth Ocampo on FB or IG.

The Aswang Project (website) - these have blog entries pertaining to esoteric practices, mythical creatures, and urban legends from Ph.

The Pinay Writer (IG) - also here in tumblr. Their content is mostly focused on pre-colonial history of Ph. You can follow them on IG, and other platforms as well.

TOPIC: TAROT AND COMMUNITIES

Rob Rubin Philippine Tarot Authority (FB/IG) - one the tarot pioneers here in Ph. He also practices the craft.

Mysterium Philippines by Rob Rubin - the Intro to Tarot course they have is like the most official here in Ph. They do offer other courses aside from tarot studies, so check their page out.

Mysterium after Dark by Rob Rubin - a Spotify Podcast about Tarot

FB Groups/Pages - Tarot Philippines Community, Project Tarot: Filipino Tarot Community, Soluna Esoterica Ph

Legitimate Ph Tarot Shops (IG/Shopee) - LunaBrujeria, ArtemisPaints, Shelfscape... National Bookstore and Fully Booked also sell some Tarot Decks & Book Guides

Joe Monteleone (YT) - Tarot Practitioner and mentor. They have great & easy to understand lessons on learning tarot, they also have free guides on their website. You can follow them and subsribe to their YT.

TOPIC: CONTENT CREATORS (you can find them on different social media platforms)

Witch of Wonderlust (IG) - She is Filipinx descent, so you might resonate with her content. (She's a pole instructor too!)

The Mestizo Mystic (IG) - He is Filipinx descent as well. He is a Santa Muerte Devotee, but he also incorporates Catholicism/Christianity in his practice.

Chaotic Witch Aunt (IG) - they are Italian Folk Practitioner. But since their practice is kind of related to our dominating religion here in Ph, you might resonate with their content as well.

These are some of the free and accessible resources out there, and people who you can follow. I hope I was able to help. Please correct me if there are any wrong or outdated information above.

Books are awesome resources. But while we're trying to save up funds, you can follow these amazing people, join public communities, and learn from free resources. Give thanks and appreciation by following & interacting with their socials.

It is great to learn from experienced and expert individuals, but your practice is unique and your own. I hope you also find the style/type of practice that would best suit you.

[newlabournewromantics]

okay so i'm not british (i'm just a teenage girl hungry for knowledge 😔✊) but i watched one video and as a result i've been consuming an insane amount of new labour media for the past week even though i've never been interested in uk politics besides keeping up with global news LMAO i genuinely wanna know more so where do you think i should start with books films etc 😭

hiii!! excellent question id be more than happy to help! this will be sort of an overview with general recs for newlab beginners (why am I treating this like its a profession omg) so just lmk if you want more specific recs + I've highlighted my favs

books (from the outside)

(by from the outside I mean written by people not directly involved in newlab, so historians/journalists etc)

the two classic newlab texts are servants of the people and the end of the party, both by andrew rawnsley from the observer. provide nice, extensive but not overly fussy histories of newlab from opposition to 2010. good balance of gossip and actual information!

my personal favourite is rivals by james naughtie (bbc reporter), I find the prose in it far more compelling than any other book on this list.

brown's britain (robert peston) is also very good!

you've mentioned that you're not from the UK, so I really really really would recommend reading a book/a few articles on the broader history of the British Labour Party, just so you can understand why newlab was so revolutionary. I quite like keeping the red flag flying

autobiographies/diaries/books from ppl directly involved:

(these will inevitably be more biased)

the new machiavelli by jonathan powell is my absolute favourite self-written newlab book - and you might learn some stuff ant machiavelli whilst ur at it so this is an essential imo

my life our times by gordon brown is another one I really enjoyed, although it's less gossipy than some of the other books on this list. admittedly I do agree with basically everything gordon brown has ever said so this is a very biased review, but I would give it a go!

obviously alastair campbell wrote a load of diaries. I would be careful with which volumes you choose to get - go for the ones published 2010 and onwards bc he made the choice to omit stuff from the first few volumes he published so that it wouldn't' hurt gordon's premiership. also, they're really long and really extensive, so pick which volumes you want to read based on which specific period of newlab you find yourself drawn to!

as a comms/polling fan (boo) I really liked unfinished revolution by philip gould, but this might not be the best book to start with.

damian mcbride's power trip (more diaries) is also interesting

big fan of point of departure by robin cook asw!

I found tony's books excruciating to read but that's bc im crazy and think I know the inside of his mind like its my own so they might be good for you. his new book is FASCINATING but only in the sense of it exposing how big his messiah complex is. don't read any of his books if you're not down to hear about sex and/or technology.

oh a note: mandelson has written books but I don't like him so im not going to recommend them <3

tv/film

tony and gordon aren't really all that into big heartfelt chats about newlab, esp not together, but a few good docs have been made

blair and brown: the new labour revolution (bbc, 2021) - this is a classic, it's where I got my newlab start as a tender sixteen year old politics student u can't beat it! watch this one first

the blair years (bbc 2007)

out of the shadows and we are the treasury (here and here)

blair's thousand days (1 2)

if you're into tbgb, please please please watch the deal. I don't like much of the michael sheen as blair content, but the deal (2003) is so good.

if you want me to rec bits of tv from the newlab years that I think r cool and worth watching then send another ask and ill tell u! but obv theyre not much use if you're just getting into newlab :)

alastair did interviews with tony and ed miliband 6/7 years ago. not all about newlab, but very interesting to watch and observe the dynamics!

podcasts

matt forde of the political party has done interviews with a lot of newlab figures, from tony all the way to the more junior spads. I especially like the joint one he did with ed balls and alastair campbell, and the first tony one. these r less good for actually learning facts about newlab but really like listening to them as a way to sort of get into these ppls heads and observe them in a more casual setting. also a gordon interview asw !

if you can bear listening to george osborne talk (I can but others r more sensible) then political currency is also a good place to get lil tidbits of newlab gossip, bc ed balls is one of the hosts and he's super messy he loves chatting abt gordon.

ideology/boring stuff etc!

ok u can ignore this section if you want but these r some books about the ideology that underpinned newlab - I think it's fascinating!

the third way by giddens (literally the newlab bible and I think the only theory that blair took seriously)

crosland’s the future of socialism!! influenced gb and caused so much internal labour drama so evidently its excellent

if you want a really interesting essay on Iraq I recommend this

podcast on centrism that touches a lot on clinton/newlab/blair etc

oh and just for fun!!!!! here's a playlist of all the songs written canonically actually irl about tony blair.

lmk if you want any other recs!!!!!

[aphrodieties]

Alexander and the Gordian knot—cutting the Gordian knot

Here’s another manifestation challenge for the masses and nothing has changed except the formatting and the execution. I hope you all find this challenge fun and helpful, and I'm always wishing you success.

I do not consider the law of assumption to be complex but many do not share the same sentiments—and that's fine; to a lot of people, manifesting their desires seems to be an extremely difficult and tedious task. It doesn't need to be that way though and this challenge was designed to demonstrate how easily you can apply the law of assumption.

Alexander and the Gordian knot

Cutting the Gordian knot—A Law of Assumption challenge

Alexander and the Gordian knot

As the story goes, in 333 B.C. the Macedonian conqueror marched his army into the Phrygian capital of Gordium in modern-day Turkey. Upon arriving in the city, he encountered an ancient wagon, its yoke tied with what one Roman historian later described as “several knots all so tightly entangled that it was impossible to see how they were fastened.”

Phrygian tradition held that the wagon had once belonged to Gordius, the father of the celebrated King Midas. An oracle had declared that any man who could unravel its elaborate knots was destined to become ruler of all of Asia.

According to the ancient chronicler Arrian, the impetuous Alexander was instantly “seized with an ardent desire” to untie the Gordian knot. After wrestling with it for a time and finding no success, he stepped back from the mass of gnarled ropes and proclaimed, “It makes no difference how they are loosed.” He then drew his sword and sliced the knot in half with a single stroke. — History website.

“Sometimes the best answer to a complex problem is the simplest one.”

Cutting the Gordian knot—A Law of assumption challenge

We’re gonna turn the seemingly complex equation that is the Law of Assumption—into a simple task with a simple application. This challenge will last for two weeks and you can start anytime that you wish!

Rules for the challenge

Do not consume any Law of Assumption-related content during the challenge.

Disregard any questions you may have about the Law of Assumption and trust yourself.

Stick to the routine provided in this post.

Continue to apply the law of assumption after the challenge is finished.

The challenge routine

Before you start your day—I encourage you to immerse yourself in the feeling of the wish fulfilled for about ten minutes.

Throughout the day I encourage you to practice self-curiosity; imagine a state that you want to be in something that you love. Something that implies you are successful in conquering your sin. Then I want you to ask that state a million questions. Create your own questions. How would that version of me feel? How would I think? How would they speak to themselves? Is it calm in their mind? Are they disturbed by this or that? What do they do? How would they feel when they walk or speak to people? Would they be scared of what I am afraid of? How would they breathe, in a sure relaxing manner? What is their perspective on themself? How do they treat themselves? What do they see? What do they hear in their world? Of course this is all you. Every honest answer you give is you. This exercise to arouse a sleeping state of yourself within you. To stir it up and start changing from the inside out. Then start to see from their world. Hear what they hear. Feel what they feel. Frequently go back to them and become curious about a different side, or state of you! Then you will see how intimate you are with this version of you. That is is actually INSIDE you. You don't need to rearrange the outside first before you rearrange the inside but REARRANGE SELF INSIDE! If you persist in anything in life, persist in a change of Self! — Edwardart, “Self-curiosity"

When you're ready to end the day—recant your day in imagination and revise!

Troubleshooting

The 3D doesn't matter—continue to live your life as normal.

Thoughts are an indicator of your state, don't try to combat unfavorable thoughts and change your state instead.

Time doesn't matter.

Stop looking for approval in the 3D. If you're still looking for proof of your desire then you're not fulfilled.

Do not worry about the when or the how and focus on the end.