#i have to do this for a class for the record. i don't typically write poetry nor do i like to

[bitegore]

no one on here would be particularly interested in reading poetry i've written, right?

[qqueenofhades]

For creative writing purposes, can you go into what a typical day is for a professor? Like what their teaching schedule looks like, when most fit in their research time, etc?

Ahaha, well. I don't want to just say "you can completely make it up," but also.... you can pretty much just make it up, and what is the case for one professor is definitely not going to be true for another. I have known people who will send emails at 1am and/or 4am, and actually finding and fitting in research time for most academics is also "lololololol what." So I can give you a roster of typical daily academic tasks and categories, and then let you know if that if you want to throw them up in the air and scatter them around in literally whatever-the-fuck order, there is probably a beleaguered academic who has done that, but with an even worse sleep schedule. So:

Most permanent faculty at a university are hired as assistant (tenure-track) professors. Once they pass the tenure-committee review (usually about 5 years into the job) they are appointed as associate (tenured) professors. Full professors are considerably senior and/or have been in the field for a long time and have a distinguished service record, excluding various wunderkinds who get it early (but are not common).

If the faculty is just teaching one class a semester or has an irregular appointment, i.e. they step in to teach when the university needs them, they are adjunct professors. You can gain a lot of cred and/or commiserating groaning in your AO3 comments by complaining about how little money the adjunct faculty makes, how erratic their schedule is, and how there is generally little-to-no actual career advancement possible in that position, unless they manage to reapply to a permanent post.

There are also a lot of Visiting Assistant Professors (and similar title), for 2- or 3-year/non-permanent appointments. Many institutions now also offer 1-year VAPs with only a possibility of renewal for 1 additional year or not at all. Those institutions should go straight to hell.

Most professors have 3/3 teaching loads, i.e. they'll teach 3 classes per semester (assuming winter/spring semester). Others have 2/2/2 loads for trimesters (also known as quarters). It can be more, i.e. 4/4, but that's for sucky entry-level teaching-only positions and someone in that role would be unlikely to have any research or service (i.e. institutional committee or internal college) commitments. They would probably also mostly be teaching introductory or freshman-year general survey courses. It depends on how much you want to torture your fictional academic.

Free food? Yes. You will see a healthy amount of the department there, whether faculty or student.

Please remember to have your fictional academic receive approximately 50 student emails a day wherein they ask something that is clearly answered in the syllabus or on the course website, and to see how polite they can possibly be in telling said student this.

Most grading is now done online, so the red pen is only metaphorical, but you can leave SO many Pointed Comments on Canvas Speed Grader. But if you want to torture Dr. Blorbo, you can have the e-grading system suddenly stop working, so they have to grade three classes' worth of introductory freshman history essays by hand. Not based on real events.

Likewise, there will be endless bullshit with the dean's office and/or central university administration, wherein there will be so many Urgent Budget Updates and Breaking News From The Chancellor and We Regret To Inform You We Cannot Hire Someone For That Position.

Related to the budget woes: they will ask you to do things like "make sure you print on both sides of the paper!" or otherwise "economize." Contemplating murder is acceptable and encouraged.

The administrative assistant in each department holds the entire department together. They will be extremely indispensable. Your fictional academic, if they know what's good for them, will befriend that person and/or grovel at their feet. Said person is also usually responsible for scheduling classrooms, which can cause all kinds of juicy drama in the academic fandom if there is One Particular Classroom that everyone hates and lo and behold, Dr. Blorbo is stuck there yet again. They will then probably also fire off multiple passive-aggressive emails attempting to correct the problem. The administrative assistant can grant and/or ignore these requests at their discretion, depending on how much beef they have with Dr. Blorbo and/or how motivated they are to solve their problems.

Department meetings! Who asked for them? Nobody! Who has to attend them? Everybody! They go on for two hours every other week (possibly more depending on how meeting-happy your department chair is) and you will wish for death!

Likewise, the department staff sending out passive-aggressive emails about how they really NEED one more volunteer for (insert university event here). Dr. Blorbo, if they are smart, will delete these emails and pretend they never saw them, but sometimes it may be unavoidable. Bitching and moaning will follow.

For research: it really depends on what academic field Dr. Blorbo is in, since the hard sciences, etc. look quite different and I, as a humanities person, can't speak to that. Most academics aim to fairly regularly publish a piece in a peer-reviewed journal; you can check Dr. Blorbo's field to see what journals they might be trying to submit a journal article (usually max. 8000 words, sometimes more) to.

This will go through a process called Peer Review, wherein two anonymous academics review your work (also anonymized to them) to make sure that you are not talking out of your ass. It is a running joke that Reviewer 2 will always, ALWAYS be more grumpy and critical and otherwise annoying. Invoking the specter of Dr. Blorbo receiving a peer review evaluation for their article will send a shiver down every academic's spine.

If Dr. Blorbo has recently finished their PhD, they may be working on converting their PhD thesis into an academic monograph. The most horrible part of this process, hands down, is reviewing proofs to make an index. Don't ask me how I know this.

However, academic monographs take a lot of time and work and most academics are mostly focused on publishing journal articles, book chapters (in collected volumes) or editing/working in collaboration with other projects.

Likewise: Dr. Blorbo will have to write book reviews. This is accomplished by the very scientific method of subscribing to various industry publications and/or email lists that will sometimes send out lists of books that need to be reviewed and solicit people to sign up. You will then receive a hard copy of the book (usually) and have 3 months or so to read it and write a review. The first 2 months of this, give or take, will consist of the book sitting untouched on the academic's desk as they remind themselves that they still have plenty of time to do it.

There can, however, be INCREDIBLE beef in book reviews, and while the standards of professional courtesy dictate that you don't go great-guns-flaming calling someone else in your field a moron (in more technical language), sometimes it is unavoidable.

Do they get paid for any of this extra intellectual work? Lol. No. No they do not. They don't get paid enough for their actual job.

Dr. Blorbo will inevitably hear some Hot Gossip about what nonsense has recently happened at which field-specific conference (where academics go to present research papers and network with other academics and make regrettable decisions at the open bar). They will then rush to secretly text all their other academic friends with OOH JUICY ACADEMIC DRAMA. Their friends will do the same whenever the opportunity arises to reciprocate.

Removing the coffee machine from the break room/faculty kitchen is grounds for mutiny.

Anyway. I am sure there are many, MANY more, but if you want an authentic slice of long-suffering academic life for Dr. Blorbo, this is all a good place to start.

[mask131]

The gods of Gaul: Introduction, or why it is so hard to find anything

As I announced, I open today a series of post covering what some can call the "Gaulish mythology": the gods and deities of Ancient Gaul. (Personal decision, I will try avoiding using the English adjective "Gaulish" because... I just do not like it. It sounds wrong. In French we have the adjectif "Gaulois" but "Gaulish"... sounds like ghoulish or garrish, no thank you. I'll use "of Gaul", much more poetic)

[EDIT: I have just found out one can use "Gallic" as a legitimate adjective in English and I am so happy because I much prefer this word to "Gaulish", so I'll be using Gallic from now on!]

If you are French, you are bound to have heard of them one way or another. Sure, we got the Greek and Roman gods coming from the South and covering up the land in temples and statues ; and sure we had some Germanic deities walking over the rivers and mountains from the North-East to leave holiday traditions and folk-beliefs... But the oldest gods of France, the true Antiquity of France, was Gaul. And then the Roman Gaul, and that's already where the problems start.

The mythology of Gaul is one of the various branches of the wide group known as Celtic mythology or Celtic gods. When it comes to Celtic deities, the most famous are those of the British Isles, due to being much more preserved (though heavily Christianized) - the gods of Ireland and the Welsh gods are typically the gods every know about when talking about Celtic deities. But there were Celts on the mainland, continental Celts - and Gaul was one of the most important group of continental Celts. So were their gods.

Then... why does nobody know anything about them?

This is what this introduction is about: how hard it actually is to reconstruct the religion of Gaul and understand its gods. Heck we can't ACTUALLY speak of a Gaulish mythology because... we have no myth! We have not preserved any full myth or complete legend from Ancient Gaul. The pantheon of Gaul is the Celtic pantheon we probably know the least about...

Why? A few reasons.

Reason number one, and the most important: We have no record of what the Gauls believed. Or almost none. Because the people of Gaul did not write their religion.

This is the biggest obstacle in the research for the gods of Gaul. It was known that the art of writing was, in the society of Gaul, an elite art that was not for the common folks and used only for very important occasions. The druids were the ones who knew how to read and write, and they kept this prerogative - it was something the upper-class (nobility, rulers) could know, but not always. Writing was considered something powerful, sacred and magical not to be used recklessly or carelessly. As a result, the culture of Gaul was a heavily oral one, and their religion and myths were preserved in an oral fashion. Resulting in a great lack of written sources comng directly from the Gallic tribes... We do have written and engraved fragments, but they are pieces of a puzzle we need to reconstruct. We have votive offerings with prayers and demands inscribed on it - and while they can give us the names of some deities, they don't explain much about them. We have sculptures and visual representations of the deities on pillars and cups and jewels and cauldrons - but they are just visuals and symbols without names. We have calendars - but again, these are just fragments. We have names and images, and we need to make sense out of it all.

To try to find the explanations behind these fragments, comparisons to other Celtic religions and mythologies are of course needed - since they are all branches of a same tree. The same way Germanic mythology can be understood by looking at the Norse one, the same way Etruscan, Greek and Roman mythologies answer each other, the mythology and religion of Gaul has echoes with the Celtic deities of the Isles (though staying quite different from each other). The other comparison needed to put things back into context is reason number 2...

Reason number two: The Romans were there.

Everybody knows that the death of Ancient Gaul was the Roman Empire. Every French student learns the date of Alesia, the battle that symbolized the Roman victory over the Gallic forces. Gaul was conquered by the Romans and became one of the most famous and important provinces of the Roman Empire: it was the Gallo-Roman era.

The Romans were FASCINATED by Gaul. Really. They couldn't stop writing about them, in either admiration or hate. As a result, since we lack direct Gallic sources, most of what we know about Ancient Gaul comes from the Romans. And you can guess why it is a problem. Some records of their religion were written in hatred - after all, they were the barbarian ennemies that Romans were fighting against and needed to dominate. As such, they contain several elements that can be put in doubt (notably numerous references to brutal and violent human sacrifices - real depictions of blood-cults, or exaggeratons and inventions to depict the gods of Gaul as demonic monstrosities?) But even the positive and admirative, or neutral, records are biased because Romans kept comparing the religion of the Gauls to their own, and using the names of Roman deities to designate the gods of Gaul...

Leading to the other big problem when studying the gods of Gaul: the Roman syncretism. The Gallo-Roman era saw a boom in the depictions and representations of the Gallic gods... But in their syncretized form, fused with and assimilated to the Roman gods. As such we have lots of representations and descriptions of the "Jupiter of Gaul", of the "Mercury of Gaul", of the "Gallic Mars" or "Gallic Minerva". But it is extremely hard to identify what was imported Roman elements, what was a pure Gallic element under a Roman name, and what was born of the fusion of Gallic and Roman traditions...

Finally, reason number three: Gaul itself had a very complicated approach to its own gods.

We know there are "pan-gallic" gods, as in gods that were respected and honored by ALL the people of Gaul, forming the cohesion of the nation. But... Gaul wasn't actually a nation. It was very much like the many city-states of Greece: Ancient Gaul was unified by common traditions, a common society, a common religion and a common language... But Gaul was a tribal area divided into tribes, clans and villages, each with their own variations on the laws, each with their own customs and each with their own spin on religion. As a result, while there are a handful of "great gods" common to all the communities of Gaul, there are hundreds and hundreds of local gods that only existed in a specific area or around a specific town ; and given there were also many local twists and spins on the "great gods", it becomes extremely hard to know which divine name is a local deity, a great-common god, a local variation on a deity, or just a common nickname shared by different deities... If you find a local god, it can be indeed a local, unique deity ; or it can be an alternate identity of a shared divine archetype ; or it can be a god we know elsewhere but that goes by a different name here.

To tell you how fragmented Gaul was: Gaul was never a unified nation with one king or ruler. The greatest and largest division you can make identifies three Gauls. Cisalpine Gaul, the Gaul located in Northern Italy, conquered by the Romans in the second century BCE, and thus known as "the Gaul in toga" for being the most Roman of the three. Then there was the "Gaul in breeches" (la Gaule en braies), which borders the Mediterranean sea, spanning between the Alps and the Pyrenean mountains, and which was conquered in the 117 BCE (becoming the province of Narbonne). And finally the "Hairy Gaul", which stayed an independant territory until Cesar conquered it. And the Hairy Gaul itself was divided into three great areas each very different from each other: the Aquitaine Gaul, located south of the Garonne ; the Celtic Gaul located between the Garonne and the Marne (became the Gaul of Lyon after the Roman conquest) ; and finally the Belgian Gaul, located between the Marne and the Rhine. And this all is the largest division you can make, not counting all the smaller clans and tribes in which each area was divided. And all offering just as many local gods or local facets of a god...

And if it wasn't hard enough: given all the sculptures and visuals depictions of the gods of Gaul are very "late" in the context of the history of Gaul... It seems that the gods of Gaul were originally "abstract" or at least not depicted in any concrete form, and that it was only in a late development, shortly before the Roman invasions, that people of Gaul decided to offer engravings and statues to their gods, alternating between humanoid and animal forms.

All of this put together explains why the gods of Gaul are so mysterious today.

[ghcstao3]

I saw your tags, you have challenged me!

Scary Show AU (cw for cannibalism and murder)

Ghost is a very well-known yet still semi-anonymous Voice Actor for spooky shit. There's a huge following for him because, regardless of what role he's playing, he does a phenomenal job. He's only listed in the cast list as "S.R.Ghost"

Typically he plays the role of the creatures in this super popular show called "Cryptid Season" which follows a gang of college kids desperate for extra credit in their Biology class so they hunt cryptids as evidence/to study for their papers. He does the voice over and some of the motion capture (he's a big dude) for the monsters and such, his most famous one being "Goatman" (from the demonic Goatman's bridge in I think Texas?)

Meanwhile Soap is this animator who's starting to become really popular, and he announces a new show in the work: "Consume", where he voices one of the two lead roles. It's presented as a show about a normal, if not very lonely man, being tormented by a demonic presence in his home.

Plot twist: dude's actually a cannibalistic serial killer and ends up quickly befriending the demon. The demon helps make the man harder to track by police forces in exchange for the bones and souls of his victims.

Cast:

Soap as the killer

Ghost as the demonic entity

Gaz as a detective who's new to the case but also best friends with Soap's character

Price voices the seasoned detective who's been working this case "too damn long"

Ghost and Soap ABSOLUTELY fall in love while recording scenes together. The banter, the flirting, the sexy scenario of cutting up a corpse together; it's too much not to fall in love irl

(actually such a big brain idea but I don't know how you'd write it tbh lmao. Maybe the show itself, where the boys keep their names? Idk the original idea turned into something much greater)

took a minute to figure something out i'm ngl but i did. something (in any case i would love to see your proper takes(s) if you'd be up to it, seeing as it's your idea!! i feel like i couldn’t do it justice)

-

Just like any other actor, Ghost had to audition for the role.

His agent books it for him without consultation, knowing the project would be right up his alley—horror, monsters, no face required—and Ghost makes no argument in sending in his tape. He recognizes this process and takes no issue with it, and once out of his hands, he waits patiently for a congratulatory offer or a gentle rejection.

Just like any other movie, or show, or what have you. Consume is no different.

Supposedly. At first.

John "Soap" MacTavish is... many things. He's charming, according to most. Talented. A joy to be around. A man who wears more than several hats of a project, which certainly tells of someone trying to worm their way into the commercial industry.

He has the spirit and creativity, Ghost will allow him that. But he also doesn't know when to stop talking as soon as the important work is done.

Is Soap professional? Sure. Does Soap make sure all jobs are done with efficiency and done well? Yes, he does. Does it make him any less of a nuisance to Ghost? Absolutely not.

But Ghost would be damned if the project doesn’t find its way into his soft spots, despite its nature. He’d be damned if he doesn’t fall in love with Soap’s animations and the hard work and craft he puts into them.

Then he blinks, and the pilot is premiering. It does well (again, considering its content), and Consume is properly green-lit.

Which is when Soap proposes the idea of recording their lines in the same room. Together. Facing one another. Because banter, and chemistry, and whatever other reasons he insists upon.

Personally, Ghost wants to decline. He’s always felt somewhat awkward when recording as such with anyone, but professionally? He couldn’t really say no, could he?

And it is awkward, at first. There’s more takes than usual, and Ghost can sense Soap’s frustration, though the man never expresses it. He just plasters on a tight smile, calls for a break, and pulls Ghost aside.

Surely, surely this is where Ghost gets fired. This is where Ghost is told he’s going to be replaced, where he’s told to say goodbye to Gaz and Price and wish them luck, and move onto his next gig. This is where—

“Have I done something wrong?”

Soap’s face is so earnest. So painfully sincere.

Ghost clenches his jaw. Shakes his head.

“No, I—“ He sighs. “Just have to get used to the… face-to-face. Let’s—I’ll try again.”

Soap smiles wider, now, as he nods, something kind and warm and brilliant.

The second try goes much smoother. Ghost takes a deep breath and eases himself into scripted dialogue, into witty banter and subtle flirts like it’s any other project.

They continue to record lines as such, just the two of them, each episode at a time. At some point, Ghost worries, the line between script and show and reality gets blurred. At some point, he fears, that flirting becomes genuine.

And what would he know—the reviews only get better as that line becomes less and less clear. Natural, real-feeling dialogue, critics say. The relationship is authentic, claim viewers.

The love is actually heartfelt.

And fuck, if that doesn’t make Ghost realize a few things about himself.

About Soap.

Consume is no different, his ass. He might have to have a stern talk with his agent in the near future.

(Or not.)

[yuri-is-online]

I'm not sure if the position of honor student exists in real life in the Japanese school system, but I wanted to ask if you could headcanon the authorities the MC, as an honor student, might have. Canonically, we know she is an inspector, and she can ditch class if necessary, though it seems all ghouls can do that. She has a personal allowance, and the academy generally treats her better than, say, Haru, who mentioned he has a budget for buying things, implying he uses his own allowance rather than one given by the academy. Am I missing any other authorities?

"Honor student" typically just means a student with high grades, so if we look at it from that perspective, then the MC's powers seem a bit strange. What seems to be happening is that the MC has been given a role similar to that of a prefect, which does exist in schools in Europe and I think some private schools in Japan. You can think of her as an authorized student worker for the Institute. She does a lot of paperwork and manages the ghouls for the school, the ditching classes thing is something she is allowed to do to assist the ghouls on their missions. The ghouls aren't required to attend class at all, but they can't graduate unless they do which is allegedly the issue with Ed. And if they don't graduate they don't get to leave the school and have a life.

As for her allowance vs Haru... if Darkwick runs like my University does then you need to submit a budget request for things you need, so what I think is happening in Jabberwock is that Haru is a chronic overspender constantly getting things he doesn't need so the school has stopped approving his budget requests. With MC, her allowance could be seen as payment for her work as an inspector, and I doubt it's much more than what she needs to cover basic expenses like food and maybe some casual clothes to replace what she was forced to leave at home.

Powers wise, we know she has access to certain documents like the Catsmo travel records but that made me think. MC's title is probably specifically honor student to avoid giving her more powers (like to write a student up for example) as most of what the school allows her to do seems to be relegated to dealing with the ghouls. I don't think she has any powers over the normal students. The academy certainly treats her better now, but if her curse progresses to a point they think she's dangerous that would change real quick. I was re-reading the intro a bit ago and the word they used for what they were going to do to MC was "detain." She was going to be detained while they studied her curse.

In other words I'm sort of curious if she was headed to Ultio prison and a cell next to Lyca. Something to think about.

[transmutationisms]

hi caden, i love your blog. you completely changed my understanding of succession when i first stumbled upon your writing. i wanted to ask what you thought of the use of pete seeger's 'which side are you on?' in season 1. it is one of the only overt gestures towards anticapitalist politics in the show and maybe the only one that comes to mind where the show calls in in other media (because one of the only other times that i can think of is ewan's anticapitalist lawyer) so it feels more 'real' to me, if that makes sense, because 'which side are you on?' has had a real-world role in anticapitalist politics in a way that ewan's lawyer has not lmao. i was wondering what you thought of that choice narratively/stylistically/etc. thank you! hope you're well.

hi! honestly, i read that as one of the most cynical moments in the entire show. the whole premise of the seeger song is that there's an inside and an outside to capitalist class interests: you'll either be a union man or a thug for jh blair. so, choosing a side makes an actual difference: are you defending or opposing capitalist class interests? with kendall and the vote of no confidence, obviously, there is no analogous choice. kendall and logan are both fighting for the same thing, namely control of the company. picking one of them over the other does nothing to alter the underlying power structures the way unions do, or are supposed to. the song pokes fun at kendall for having styled himself a revolutionary in order to make his media conglomerate power grab.

narratively and stylistically, i find this scene intensely satisfying. lines like "come all of you good workers" playing over footage of a billionaire wandering wall street are an extremely effective way to convey both how removed kendall's world is from that of struggling kentuckian miners, and how kendall is trapped by his own outrageous wealth and inability to imagine an escape from the company or his father. it's not an entirely unsympathetic sequence, but it's certainly not a flattering one. the joke here is that kendall wants to engage in the picture-book heroics of taking down the big evil boss, but he has no interest in why that boss exists in the first place. so, unlike striking miners, he's simply trying to maintain the same class structure but with himself at the very top of the hierarchy. even being logan's son and very much a member of the capitalist class isn't enough for kendall; he needs the actual ceo position. that he sees this as a way out of his father's abuse and control, rather than an avenue to his own perpetration of the same things, is indicative of how little he thinks of anyone besides himself and logan as a person with interests and needs.

the contrast between the shiny new glass and bustle of manhattan, versus the old-recording sound of the song, also points to some way in which union politics from the 1930s tend to falter when confronting the labour laws and practices of the 21st century. gig economies, cyberspatial capital, &c don't speak exactly the same language as unions modelled on organising tactics of nearly a century ago; kendall thus looks doubly absurd, trying to fancy himself not just a rebelling worker but one whose strategies simply seem incommensurable with the functioning of a modern media conglomerate (in deleuzian or foucauldian terms, the labour union is an effective strategy when dealing with a disciplinary society with disciplinary workspaces, like a factory; if it is to achieve anything in the control society with its corporations and neoliberalisation, it needs to update its tactics).

politically this is a good example of how the show typically leans more on satire of capitalism than on active or positive engagement with anti-capitalism. i also remember that the first time i watched the show, this was one of the moments where i felt like it was clear how the general trajectory for these characters is going to go. kendall is always going to pursue logan's empire; he's never going to seek a way out, and his actualisation, which is loganification, will always come at the expense of countless unnamed other people. he will never get the victorious moment he dreams of because his narratives for understanding the world are extremely limited and simplistic, and he can only cast himself as a few heroic archetypes that don't exist and that certainly wouldn't be him if they did.

for me this sequence is emblematic of both the show's strengths and what many leftists ultimately find frustrating about it, namely its refusal to engage with anti-capitalism beyond using it to mock the capitalist class. the song ends up telling us a lot about kendall and his relationship with logan, but isn't really trying to link the show up with actual alternatives to the capitalist systems of control that pen kendall in. it's a gesture toward awareness of proletarians (like the shots scattered through the show of domestic workers, event staff, &c) but is ultimately limited by the pov characters' own refusal to think about such people in any sustained capacity. again, i think this works incredibly well and succinctly as a piece of character work for a billionaire; but for people who want the show to engage more directly with labour politics and anti-capitalism, rather than such character study (& i can certainly understand that position), it's also a moment that sums up the fundamental problems of the premise and the writers' overall approach to politics.

[sunsafewriting]

Do a Flip - part 3

No Halo / Modern AU. After leaving St Michael’s, Ava does everything she can to support Diego, including taking him to extracurriculars. Beatrice is his aikido instructor, and it changes everything.

---

Lilith. 

She's so used to seeing Ava help Beatrice pack up after a class that it takes her nearly a full minute to realise that it's Thursday. Diego isn't in the Thursday class, which means Ava has zero fucking excuse to be in Lilith's dojo. 

Lilith glares at Ava from where she's doing her paperwork at the front desk. Ava doesn't even notice. In fact, she’s pretty sure that neither of them have even realised she’s still here.  

Typical. 

"— and I heard from one of the guys at the bar that they're doing this lantern thing down by the pier tonight, so I thought we could do that after, if you're down? No pressure, obviously. I know you've got an early lecture tomorrow."

Someone should tell Ava that memorising another person's class schedule by osmosis is desperately tragic. Maybe Lilith will take the time to be that person. As a public service. 

"Of course, if you want to," Beatrice says. Which is also a bit tragic, but Beatrice was socialised in a conservative fishbowl, so she gets a pass for her lack of game.

Not for her lack of taste, though. 

"Speaking of things I want," Ava continues, and Lilith rolls her eyes into infinity. But also starts filling in her paperwork a little faster, just in case, God forbid, Ava has actually worked up the courage to discuss her ridiculous crush. "You said we couldn't do aikido at my place because I don't have safety mats."

"That was months ago." 

"Yep. And how convenient of me to remember while we’re surrounded by safety mats."

"You'd like me to teach you how to do a throw? Now ?"

"Or you could throw me," Ava shrugs. "I don't mind. I just want to try it."

Lilith isn't about to comprise on the quality of her record-keeping. She's meticulous. She is. 

But the idea of Beatrice and Ava sparring as a way to get close without it having to mean anything is somehow worse than them talking about their fucking feelings, and Lilith does not want to be around for it. 

She lets herself write a tiny bit faster. 

"Alright," Beatrice agrees. 

Lilith remembers when Beatrice wouldn't get within a square mile of a girl she might even theoretically, eventually, possibly like. Is this progress, then? Or has Beatrice just completed the requisite mental gymnastics necessary to convince herself that she isn't attracted to Ava?

She can hear Beatrice explaining the throw to Ava. Her window for escape is closing. Lilith speeds through the next form. 

"So, I put my hands here?"

"Yes. And I put mine here, like this, see?"

"Oh. I mean, yep. Seems — um. Solid."

Lilith wants to smack her face into the desk. 

Okay, she wants to smack Ava's face against the desk. She won't; she owes too many favours to Beatrice. 

Lilith hears the familiar sound of a body hitting the mat. She looks up instinctively, and regrets it. 

Beatrice has got Ava pinned to the floor. 

There's a beat of silence. 

It drags on and fucking on. 

"I really see why people are into this," Ava says at last, disgustingly breathless. "I mean, like, why they like it. Sports."

"I told you that Lilith teaches adult classes."

Lilith should leave quietly. She should. She's just signed her last form, and slipping out the door unnoticed is now officially an option. 

But she can't resist the opportunity that’s been so neatly laid before her. 

"I don’t think Ava would enjoy that nearly as much," Lilith says loudly, and they both startle. 

Beatrice leaps to her feet, not quite as graceful as usual. 

Ava just drops both her hands onto her face and holds them there, blocking out the world, exhibiting absolutely no interest in getting up. "Hi, Lilith," she calls out, her voice still slightly strangled. 

"What’s that supposed to mean?" Beatrice demands, the muscles in her jaw cinching tight. "She wanted a demonstration. I demonstrated."

Sometimes, Lilith wonders if there's truly no upper limit to what Beatrice can successfully repress. Or if one of these days, Ava is going to manage to hit the right button in the right way, and all of Beatrice's carefully constructed internal architecture is going to collapse irreparably. 

Probably the latter. 

Lilith just hopes that when that day comes, she's too far away to see or hear anything. 

"Just don't demonstrate in front of me," she says. 

She makes something of a show of filing her paperwork and gathering her things.

Ava and Beatrice just watch her. Ava doesn't even have the decency to stay embarrassed. If anything, she looks kind of annoyed with Lilith, and maybe not just because she interrupted her full body contact with Beatrice. 

And. Well. Ava's an idiot, and no one's arguing that, but maybe Lilith should've been a bit less direct. While Beatrice seems to be settling into herself more as of late, she’s still liable to spook easily. And as much as she's inclined to cause trouble for Ava — and she's very inclined — she doesn't want to set Beatrice back. Not after everything. Not when it would take so little to undo so much. 

"Enjoy your night," she grumbles, nodding at them before heading out the door. 

And please remember that the dojo’s windows face the street , Lilith would add, if she weren't convinced that they're going to be standing a minimum of six feet away from each other for the next hour or so. 

[burningthemidnightcityoil]

The biggest thing I find disappointing about any of the "official" sequels to Homestuck, is that... They don't really expand on Homestuck.

They simply add problems, that weren't needed, and are churning out solutions, that didn't matter--because the problems in the first place weren't needed.

My idea of a Homestuck sequel would be to have the world-build, because now we have that idea of the "world" and how it "works", but start from scratch (haha).

Make new characters in classes and aspects we haven't seen yet, or didn't see enough of (Mages and Thieves and Sylphs, oh my, Dooms and Rages and Blood, oh my!). Make new characters that have new remixes of classes and aspects we already know of.

Make new inner memes and repetitions, Homestuck is nothing if not repetitious. Have some actual fun with your sequel. I can't imagine the current stuff being Fun, not with what's its building from.

Say something new in the story, or say something old in a different way. HS is all about ridiculous bullshit all the time anyway, just as much so as its about serious shit all the time always.

Personally, I'd rather not go through SBURB again, I'd want to see how HS works without SBURB being the main focus--or maybe have a SBURB that is completely off its knocker and is impossible to play, as its background.

( Earth C is a perfect place for that )

There are, of course, several things that can be expanded and thoroughly explored that HS leaves open.

Throughout your life, you are going to have more than one class or aspect. I know huh? Its a thing we've seen out of the Adults that pop up in HS--they always have at least one more class and aspect, and are capable of performing those classes and aspects successfully. And this even falls in line with typical character dynamics on writing and comprehension. A 3D character changes depending on what situation they're in and who they're with. And with such, we can assume that HS is about your Core unchangable Classpect--Who are you that is you?-- But now, let's have another!

All your Lives are Connected Yeah yeah sounds like Utilma-Self horseshit. But there is clearly a thing to explore here; you are connected to yourself, throughout time and space. So even if one of yourself dies, it'll still live on as long as you exist.

The Afterlife Okay, we've seen hints, maybe, but now I kinda want to know how this works without Dream Bubbles. Dream Bubbles are a SBURB thing, and even then, its only sessions that touch on the Troll Session (Like the human one), who get access. And even then... its only for Players. Everything else is a recorded memory.

What's a universe like when it has its Gods? Its clear that when SBURB makes a universe, its generally intended that its players become its gods of that universe. So... what happens when that does actually happen, and not some tomfuckery coming along.

And of course, this is just the HOmestuck World-Build stuff.

You can tell so many different stories from this, from any variety, from silly to serious (And in HS's case--both). Hell, take someone off the street, throw them randomly at this, see how they react, that sort of deal.

And it can be done, without slogging HS's characters through the murk.

If the intention of the current "sequels" were to make things tired, dragged out, and not even fun anymore... Yeah congrats. The story worked as intended. So much so that I'm not even going to keep up with it.

That's how tired its made me.

ADDENDUM:

A lot of people, found comfort, relation, and personal importance, in HS's characters.

And what was done to several character, was a horrible, disgusting, and terrible thing to do, to characters that people found comfortable, relatable and personally important.

And How it was handled afterwards, whether it was staged or not, was A Shit Way to Handle It.

Occurring at a time and place in history where you Should Not Have Fucked That Up.

Because of this, I am not going to accept the "Sequels". I'm not going to accept any justification for the "Sequels".

As far as I'm concerned, Homestuck ended with Homestuck, a silly ridiculous serious webcomic that lasted a very long time and long after the time period it was in (To a point where nobody remembers what early '10s / late 00's internet was like), no publication attached.

[ya-bug-boy]

Could you write something about piers liking a gn reader that has autism and social anxiety? Like, he tries to gain their trust and make them as happy as they can be. Always looking out for them. I think that they wouldn't go to his concerts cause, big bad noise. Them being so excited over something they do the flappy hands, I think he would find it cute(I hope).

Wow, this is practically a self insert, I feel a little embarrassed. You can ignore this if it would be too much. I know learning about autism can be annoying to some people because of all the information you have to search for and read. So, please, ignore this if you don't want to write it, thank you^^

Piers x GN Autistic Reader

Not gonna lie, people are surprised when they learn about you being Piers' partner. Not to say that you're a particularly bad person or the wrong kind of partner, but because of your certain needs and limitations.

You sometimes have trouble looking at people in the eye. This dates back to your youth. You fortunately got a lot better at speaking with people through extensive vocal therapy classes though. You also get overwhelmed with sensory overload in particular scenarios. It varies. Sometimes the lights and loud music in stores are too much, it depends on how mentally prepared you are to be in there, but having a pair of sunglasses and noise cancelling headphones does help when some days get too harsh for you. You don't have a verbal tick, but you do stim from time to time. Typically you flap your hands in place or rock back and forth in a chair, but this is to indicate that you're in a good mood!

You can still hold a conversation, take relatively good care of yourself, and even work at a job. But just in case, you do have a therapy Pokemon. It's a Riolu, he comes with you everywhere you go. You unfortunately suffer from anxiety and though anxiety/panic attacks has lessened throughout the years due to your well managed coping mechanisms, help from support groups, and regular therapy, there might come across a time in which you need help. However, you live alone. So your Riolu is necessary to help prevent you from getting too close to dangerous situations.

Piers was checking out the local records shop when he found you there. There's only one record shop in the entire Galar region and it's themed like an old fashioned pub.

Piers doesn't really have a preference as to what kind of partner he desires, but admittedly you were very attractive and your Riolu wearing a vest that was labelled, "WORKING. THERAPY POKEMON," caught his interest.

Piers politely walked over and waved at you to get your attention, to which you turn around. He's not entirely aware as to why you can't look at him in the eyes but with the conversation you have with him, he finds you interesting enough to ask for your number.

You talk with him a lot over text and he gets to know more about your personality. You become more relaxed, cheery, and even playful as you share with him memes and images.

But when he tries to invite you to one of your shows, you politely decline and explain why. You have trouble being in crowded, overstimulating scenarios. You explain that you might suffer from an anxiety attack and didn't want him to see that.

He becomes more gentle after that. He doesn't invite you to his shows, but he's always showing you his new music because he loves your opinion. It's always shared safely in the comfort of your home or his.

Since he's not entirely sure of what your boundaries or limitations are, he's always asking for permission before he does ordinary things, like asking to hold your hand or to even hug you. Despite his broody and glum demeanor, he's quite the gentleman.

He starts to read a few books about autism after you two start dating. He wants to make sure he's doing things right. You swear you've never had a boyfriend as sweet as him, to which he scoffs, turns his head so you don't see his blush on his pale face.

He's a sweetheart and more importantly, he's yours.

[airenyah]

get to know me ask game

considering i was tagged by 4 different people (@lurkingteapot, @recentadultburnout, @telomeke, @nongnaos -- thank you guys <3) in the last two-ish weeks i think it's about time i finally get to this. sorry i'm late dfkgkldfgkldf

RULES: bold the ones that are true and tag some people to do it.

APPEARANCE

Blonde hair // I prefer loose clothing to tight clothing [it's just so much more comfy lbr] // I have one or more piercings // I have at least one tattoo // I have dyed or highlighted my hair [i had red highlights as a child and i've gone blonde twice] // I have gotten plastic surgery // I have or had braces // I sunburn easily // I have freckles // I paint my nails [sort of -- i used to for quite a while bc it's the only thing stopping me from my horrible nail biting habit but unfortunately i got lazy during lockdowns and now i hardly paint them anymore] // I typically wear makeup // I don’t often smile // I am pleased with how I look // I prefer Nike to Adidas // I wear baseball hats backwards

HOBBIES AND TALENTS

I play a sport // I can play an instrument [i've played the violin on and off since i was 5 years old (currently at 3 years of lessons since my last break), i also played the piano from age 7 to 19 and the recorder from age 6 to 15 (that is soprano recorder, alto recorder, tenor recorder and even bass recorder for a semester or so)] // I am artistic [i'd say so... i mean i'm not the most talented person but i HAVE worked as a professional graphic designer for a year and a half and i sometimes make gifs (if you want to see them then search for the tag meine grafiken on my blog)] // I know more than one language [lmao i mean... i'm not a monolingual english speaker so... ok but in all seriousness: my native language is german/austrian dialect and obviously i know english. part of my family is italian so i know conversational italian as well (plus it's one of my working languages at uni). i can understand conversational norwegian and i'm slowly starting to understand more and more conversational thai (i'm at a point where i can watch a lot of shows without subtitles and understand the main plot, even if i miss some details) i had french in school and remember some basics (like how to introduce myself and some specific vocabulary like colours or numbers) and i've also looked into korean so i can read it and i know some basic grammar and a few words here and there] // I have won a trophy in some sort of competition // I can cook or bake without a recipe // I know how to swim [perks of being part italian means that unlike most austrians i actually learned how to swim in the mediterranean sea hehehe] // I enjoy writing [kinda?? i enjoyed writing stories in school but i never really write in my free time although sometimes i think i'd like to. but then when i sit down to do it i just never have any ideas and so i give up] // I can do origami // I prefer movies to tv shows // I can execute a perfect somersault // I enjoy singing [i went to an elementary school with a music focus which is why i played 3 instruments and my class was also a choir. i also took group singing lessons at the local music school in my teens. if i had the time and the money i'd get some solo singing lessons. i've considered looking into it for the coming winter semester] // I could survive in the wild on my own // I have read a new book series this year // I enjoy spending time with friends [i love them so much 🥺🥺🥺] // I travel during work or school breaks [i love traveling internationally when i can afford it. i also travel within austria sometimes, especially since they introduced the klimaticket which is a ticket that lets you use a whole bunch of public transports from trains to trams to busses all around austria. every few months i go visit my friend who studies in southern austria] // I can do a handstand

RELATIONSHIP

I am in a relationship // I have been single for over a year [i don't really care much for dating and relationships tbh] // I have a crush // I have a best friend who I’ve known for ten years [we met at summer camp 12 years ago and we're celebrating our 10 year anniversary of being best friends this winter -- hi @magsimags ily] // my parents are together [i don't understand how but somehow they've made it work for lthe past 30ish years idk] // I have dated my best friend // I am adopted // My crush has confessed to me // I have a long distance relationship // I am an only child // I give advice to my friends [i mean if it comes up or if they actively ask for it then sure] // I have made an online friend [a few actually, i've made quite a few online fandom friends and then i also have a few online language tandem friends] // I met up with someone I have met online [i've met up with a bunch of language tandem partners irl that i found online first. as for my tumblr mutuals, there are 4 in total that i've seen irl -- you know who you are <333]

AESTHETICS

I have heard the ocean in a conch shell // I have watched the sun rise [let me be clear, it was bc i pulled an all-nighter or was suffering from insomnia. NOT bc i'd voluntarily get up at an insane hour in the morning to watch the sun rise. plus in the winter it's a lot easier to watch the sun rise without meaning to bc if you happen to have class or work early in the morning you might actually get to see it rise while you're on your way there] // I enjoy rainy days // I have slept under the stars [one time during summer camp we spent the night on a field underneath the stars, it was very lovely] // I meditate outside // the sound of chirping calms me [i like spring!! i like summer!! i like warmth!! chirping means it's spring or summer and warm!!!!] // I enjoy the smell of the beach [i spent a significant amount of time at the mediterranean sea when i was a child and i miss the sea so fucking much. unfortunately austria is a landlocked country] // I know what snow tastes like [it snows in the winter in austria, you can bet your ass i've eaten snow as a child] // I listen to music to fall asleep // I enjoy thunderstorms [only in the summer tho and when i'm safe and sound inside and it's not keeping me up in the middle of the night when i'm trying to sleep] // I enjoy cloud watching [kinda!! i mean the sky is so pretty like!!!!] // I have attended a bonfire [not big ones but we regularly had fires at summer camp] // I pay close attention to colors // I find mystery in the ocean [idk if i'd say i find mystery in the ocean but i sure find it fascinating] // I enjoy hiking on nature paths // autumn is my favorite season

MISCELLANEOUS

I can fall asleep in a moving vehicle // I am the mom friend [around certain people i absolutely turn into the mom friend, but not around everyone so i won't make this red] // I live by a certain quote [yeah "wenn's passt, dann passt's". it's tricky to translate, something like "if it's a good fit, it'll work out". the literal meaning is "if it fits, it fits" or "if it works out, it works out"] // I like the smell of sharpies // I am involved in extracurricular activities // I enjoy Mexican food // I can drive a stick shift // I believe in true love // I make up scenarios to fall asleep [sometimes?????] // I sing in the shower // I wish I lived in a video game // I have a canopy above my bed // I am multiracial // I am a redhead // I own at least 3 dogs

since i'm late to the party i have absolutely no idea who's gotten tagged already so if you've done this already or don't want to do it at all feel free to ignore!!

tagging: @solo-silenzio @magsimags @newyearknwwme @killiru @gaym3bo1 @elnotwoods @swabianhotpocket @cornflowershade @gillianthecat

[quietbluejay]

Angel Exterminatus 8

this is funny to me perturabo who is the one abusing your sons perturabo look at me

typical fascism

you must be drowning in it

manifest destiny! take a shot! you know, the Americans said it was for their survival, too

this is actually a really interesting conversation

no, we're going to fight evil by doing more evil and creating the conditions in which evil flourishes

prayer, fasting, good works, etc have killed millions press x to doubt meanwhile you have killed billions by this point, probably, so even if we do want to evaluate it purely as a numbers game

I don't even think I need to provide the commentary here

BUT I WILL

and I'm gonna pull out the Solzhenitsyn too!

see the thing is prayer fasting etc are all primarily tools for fighting the evil within (insofar as they as used for fighting evil, they do have other purposes) the emperor is doing a classic "externalize the evil and paint a specific outsider group with the "evil" brush" the emperor just being like "we are the good guys thus by default everything we do in the pursuit of our goal is good, morally speaking"

“Gradually it was disclosed to me that the line separating good and evil passes not through states, nor between classes, nor between political parties either -- but right through every human heart -- and through all human hearts. This line shifts. Inside us, it oscillates with the years. And even within hearts overwhelmed by evil, one small bridgehead of good is retained. And even in the best of all hearts, there remains ... an unuprooted small corner of evil. Since then I have come to understand the truth of all the religions of the world: They struggle with the evil inside a human being (inside every human being). It is impossible to expel evil from the world in its entirety, but it is possible to constrict it within each person.”

There's the Solzhenitsyn for you.

I do actually have more but it really only makes sense in the context of the book as a whole so I'll save it to the end I could probably write an entire essay about this

when it comes to eye language, Perturabo is Jared, 19

it's…really weird there's this bit earlier where Perturabo thinks about Magnus in like a friendly fashion but then it's like "he didn't have friends or anyone he was close to, but Fulgrim was probably the closest thing" and then there's this here

ow i know i keep banging on and on about it but it's a repeated theme and motif in these books! that the entire thing was done with a consequentialist mindset but in the end all they had was means

And this did happen to Perturabo! He became the means he employed!

but also, this explains a lot about perturabo's progression through the great crusade i don't know if this is super well supported by the text, maybe I'm just going out on a limb but the feeling I'm getting is that a lot of why he was so bitter was because he did end up realizing that all they had was their means an endless array of them and that also plays a role in/contributes to him leaving all his designs unbuilt i don't think it's the only thing (behind his bitterness) but i definitely think it plays a role and honestly it feels much more important to him and fits in what i've seen of his character so far than being bitter due to being passed over for recognition, and being given the rough jobs which is what i see people say is the big reason for his bitterness like don't get me wrong i think that's playing a role, it's the cherry on top of the shit sundae but it's insult to injury rather than the injury itself okay tbf i haven't read any other perturabo books so maybe his characterization is different in the other ones?

"idealism and hope" we established at the beginning of the book that the iron warriors have been ground down by the constant war but yeah this is absolutely leading up to him ragequitting the siege of terra

perturabo makes an account on alternatehistory.com and manages in a record period of time to get banned oh boy Soulaka looking through the rescued third legion trying to help like ?????

RIP

also why is everyone weird about the four humours in like 3/4 of the books i've read

okay this is going to be an interesting exchange between fulgrim and perturabo popcorn.gif

[smok3inm1rrors]

It's Charm son sharing circle time @charmfamily

Darrel Charm Under the cut as it is a bit long.

[ PERSONAL ]

$ Financial: wealthy (While "Charm" is a relatively new name, Minerva is a descendent of one of the coven's founding families so they are very much loaded) / moderate / poor / in poverty ✚ Medical: fit/ moderate (Although physically strong, calling a man who abuses several substances and hardly sleeps fit or healthy is a joke) / sickly / disabled / disadvantaged / non applicable ✪ Class or Caste: upper / middle / working / unsure / other ✔ Education: qualified (Went to regular human college, studied art) / unqualified (If you ask his dad) / studying / other ✖ Criminal Record: yes, for major crimes / yes, for minor crimes / no / has committed crimes, but not caught yet (typical teenage tresspassing in abandoned buildings for parties)/ yes, but charges were dismissed (same incident as Morgyn)

[ FAMILY ]

◒ Children: had a child or children / has no children (If he ever has kids, he wants them far far away from the rest of the Charm clan^tm) / wants children ◑ Relationship with Family: close with sibling(s) (He sees Gemma as the only other sane member of his family) / not close with sibling(s) (anymore) / has no siblings / sibling(s) is deceased ◔ Affiliation: orphaned / adopted / disowned / raised by birth parent (Both Minerva and Papa Charm until 16 and then Minerva alone onwards) / not applicable  

[ TRAITS + TENDENCIES ]

♦ extroverted (An ENFP) / introverted / in between ♦ disorganized / organized / in between ♦ close minded / open-minded / in between ♦ calm / anxious / in between ♦ disagreeable / agreeable / in between ♦ cautious / reckless / in between ♦ patient / impatient / in between ♦ outspoken / reserved / in between ♦ leader / follower (doormat might be a better word for him, most trouble he got into as a kid and a teenager...and a young-er adult was because of following Morgyn around) / in between ♦ empathetic / vicious bastard / in between (A decent confidant and cheerleader when not being an asshole. When being an asshole he's 98% talk and the other 2% he's getting a glass bottle to the face after breaking Kiril Barov's nose ignore that he's missing the scar in that shhh it's a tettoo and I must have took it off accidently Will be elaborated on in stoy if I ever continuing writing it and stop fucking around with the scenery. but the gist is: easily triggered into being an asshole, feels bad about being an asshole, apologizes, wants to stop being an asshole doesn't know how and feels like shit, repeat.) ♦ optimistic / pessimistic / in between ♦ traditional / modern / in between ♦ hard-working / lazy / in between ♦ cultured / uncultured / in between / unknown ♦ loyal (to a fault, bordering if not just outright codependent in some instances) / disloyal / unknown ♦ faithful / unfaithful / unknown / Meh? While he's never physically cheated, his behaviors in past relationships have been...questionable.

[ BELIEFS ]

★ Faith: monotheist / polytheist (The coven has no offical stance on where magic "comes from" exactly, just rules on what you can't do therefore beliefs are varried. Darrel has no concrete stance, but he's leaning in this direction based on personal events) / atheist / agnostic ☆ Belief in Ghosts or Spirits: yes (dealing with such is his main focus. In an earlier draft of the story he was going to be in some knock-off ghostbusters gig run by Jennicor Tricou with an alive Guidry, Chastity Gere, who he was the woman he was texting here (the "her" in text being being Jennicor) and Gunther Munch who despite being just some guy ended up landing a spot as their secretary when you're desperate to move out and will take any job A bit of that whole thing here. EDIT: A character says “sleeping” with and implies the existence of a sex tape, guess that was enough for imgur to give it a warning? Don't ask me about the layout, this is a year old) / no / don’t know / don’t care ✮ Belief in an Afterlife: yes / no / don’t know / don’t care ✯ Belief in Reincarnation: yes / no / don’t know / don’t care ❃ Belief in Aliens: yes / no / don’t know / don’t care ✧ Religious: orthodox / liberal / in between / not religious ❀ Philosophical: yes (and annoying abut it) / no

[ SEXUALITY & ROMANTIC INCLINATION ]

❤ Sexuality: heterosexual / homosexual / bisexual / asexual / pansexual/ ❥ Sex: sex repulsed / sex neutral / sex favorable / naive and clueless ♥ Romance: romance repulsed / romance neutral / romance favorable /naive and clueless / romance suspicious / puts the "hopeless" in hopeless romantic ❣ Sexually: adventurous / experienced / naive / inexperienced / curious ⚧ Potential Sexual Partners: male / female / agender / other / none / all ⚧ Potential Romantic Partners: male / female / agender / other / none / all

[ ABILITIES ]

☠ Combat Skills: excellent (With magic) / good / moderate (Without magic, can throw a punch, can not take a punch. Rory is trying to fix that. The sight of seeing someone so good at dueling being utter shit at a physical fights pains her.) / poor/ none ≡ Literacy Skills: excellent / good / moderate / poor / none ✍ Artistic Skills: excellent (piano, guitar, can technically sing, paints/draws) / good / moderate / poor / none ✂ Technical Skills: excellent / good / moderate / poor (He's a decent cook, that's about it and don't ask him to do any type of manual labor, he will complain at you) / none

[ HABITS ]

☕ Drinking Alcohol: never / special occasions / sometimes / frequently / Alcoholic ☁ Smoking: tried it / trying to quit / quit / never / rarely / sometimes / frequently / Chain-smoker ✿ Recreational Drugs: never / special occasions / sometimes / frequently (various, mostly weed) / addict ✌ Medicinal Drugs: never / no longer needs takes medication / some medication needed / frequently / to excess ☻ Unhealthy Food: never / special occasions / sometimes / frequently / binge eater $ Splurge Spending: never / sometimes / frequently / shopaholic ♣ Gambling: never / rarely / sometimes / frequently / compulsive gambler

Bonus because I have free will, songs: X || X || X || X

This took so damn long because I spent my free time trying to figure out how (if possible) to replace trees via .world files and I don't know when to stop.

[countercharmda]

#countercharmd: you gain the ability to use magical notes or words of power to disrupt mind-influencing effects.

a study in support classes, boosting morale, playing a part out of necessity, family vs. legacy, bardic audacity, self ascension, trust over love.

an independent rp blog for a fandomless original character. fantasy-based, with a bg3 verse. low activity, queue-forward. recorded by stella ( 25+ / he/him / white / CST ).

travels with: @bolyde

interest tracker. | rules ( as of aug 15 ) under the cut. | about / lore.

‼️PLEASE READ MY RULES/ABOUT BEFORE YOU FOLLOW! I will know if you don’t‼️

RULES. DNI. i have a list of users on my DNI list. while i have the necessary urls blacklisted, i will probably not follow you if i see you interacting heavily with them. i will also not be writing with any muses from fandoms such as s.tranger things, h.arry potter, or h.azbin hotel / h.elluva boss.

ONE. obligatory 'don't be a dick' rule. bigotry will not be tolerated; nor will godmodding or harassment. if you can't respect my original character's identity, then do not follow me. i will also be writing with muns who are 21+ for my own comfort.

TWO. my activity fluctuates based on how inspired i am to write on tumblr. i will try to keep my queue full of replies so that the blog will stay active on low activity days. my activity is low for my sanity, and i do prioritize people who are interested in writing with me and show me this.

THREE. i tend to softblock over hardblock. if i softblock you, then it means that i don't mind you following me back at a later date! if i hardblock you, then it means i do not want to continue the mutual.

FOUR. i only have access to the beta editor, and my formatting is typically small text, single space, with italics and colored text. if you can't read any of this, let me know and i'll change it for you when i reply to you!

FIVE. as said above, please plot with me! the more we talk about xyz, the more confident i'll feel about writing you something. my tumblr IMs are open to mutuals, and i am always willing to give out my discord if that's easier for you!

SIX. i will be accepting 3 to 5 mains of canon characters; at this moment, i am not practicing exclusivity. just because i don't do this, doesn't mean that i am 'collecting' canon characters. if this changes, and i do accept exclusives, then i expect that enthusiasm and energy to be reciprocated.

at the moment, in ren's bg3 verse, my main gale and shadowheart portrayals on this blog are quake's (bolyde). any mention of these two characters in threads will be referring to these portrayals, excluding threads with other gales or shadowhearts. this does not mean exclusivity! serendipity's default epilogue in bg3 is where he is married to (quake's) gale.

SEVEN. i love shipping! be it romantic or platonic. serendipity and i are over 21. serendipity is also a trans gay man. if you have a trans muse and are wondering about romantic things, the question for you is: does your muse experience dysphoria by being described as the partner of a gay man? no? then it's on the table! i have also been known on occasion to write smut on this blog, if the mood takes me. everything in that vein will be tagged as '#suggestive cw' and/or '#nsft cw'. i will also not be writing any polyamorous ships with serendipity, as he would not be comfortable in them. (this is a him problem, and not a problem with polyamory as a whole.)

EIGHT. i don't have any triggers for you to tag, but i do ask that you tag answered asks and such with the url of the sender. i also ask that you tag dash commentary things, since i blacklist those. i tag everything with '#[subject] cw' ! i am not interested in exploring love triangle plots or angst for the sake of it. this blog will also explore themes of abandonment, escapism, and family abuse. please curate your space!

NINE. when it comes to memes, i generally don’t care about reblog karma. this does not, however, apply to ‘how am i doing / send in a nice thing’ memes. if you can not think of something nice to send me, then reblog the meme from the source or someone else.

[laufire]

yeah I hated sansa’s season 5 plotline, but the reaction, ie. that it was bad not because it happened but because it happened to sansa specifically, that it would have been fine if it had happened to jeyne was…terrible. and honestly I found the book plot with jeyne just as awful and gratuitous as the show plot. i’m obviously not defending the sansa/Ramsey plot because it was gross as fuck, but there was a huge contrast in how the audience reacted to Sansa’s rape vs rape and sexual violence against dany, cersei, and the other women on game of thrones. in fact i literally saw a sansa stan say something like “y’all are mad the show killed of your white savior fave but you said nothing when sansa was raped” and I was thinking like what? Daenerys was literally raped in the first episode, why are you implying she was immune to the show’s misogyny. (also people are allowed to be mad about dany being murdered through intimate partner violence, holy shit)

I think "I love this character, specifically, more than I love other characters, therefore I don't want them to have a poorly done or hurtful storyline" is a more than reasonable stance. "It bothers me when a character I have strong affection for is the target of sexual violence" is, also, perfectly reasonable! Trust me, I understand! I have a terrible track record when it comes to this (Caroline Forbes, Black Sails' Max, Buffy Summers, Mellie Grant, Bela Talbot, Castiel, Priya and Tony in Dollhouse, the characters in Reign... I Get It).

I can even understand "I was less uncomfortable when it happened to secondary characters and I could brush it off". I think a statement like that deserves some deep self-reflection, and that if anything, it makes giving such a story to a lead character all the more poignant -in a show that at least pretends it wants to start a conversation about sexual violence, it'd be an easy cop-out to only limit that storyline to unnamed women or prop characters with little incidence on the narrative when the audience has proven perfectly capable of ignoring it while patting themselves in the back for, idek. Recognising it happened or not reacting in the worst possible way.

(sidenote: "authors should never write about rape" is never going to be a statement I can agree with. There are many reasons for this, but probably the most important one is a similar sentiment of some posts I reblogged semi-recently and now can't find in typical tumblr fashion, about how naïve, myopic and privileged is to want children's books to never include any of the dark realities of life, as if there aren't real, living children experiencing such in this very moment. Maybe, just maybe, not every story's existence has to revolve around. Maybe, just maybe, some people need different things from fiction than you do. It's everyone's prerogative to refuse to engage with such storylines! But their existence itself is a different matter.)

In shows like Game of Thrones or Reign, especially, there's something insidious in how people will use the "not for a lead!" argument (even putting aside how ridiculous it is in GOT, where the two other lead women were already rape victims). Namely, that the leads are high-born, and the secondary characters they argue should be the ones suffering those storylines are seen as "beneath" them in the social hierarchy.

It's impossible to deny this influenced audience's reactions, because there were people straight up arguing that Ramsay shouldn't have felt entitled to do that to Sansa, and not Jeyne, because she was highborn (???). Or that objected to Mary's rape in Reign because she was a ~queen. Look, of course certain privileges can help you avoid violence. Social class can be a shield, in particular. But it can become useless when you come face to face with a predator and he decides you're his next target. By that point, the title of lady means absolutely nothing.

Like you, I have no desire to defend the Sansa-Ramsey storyline (among other reasons, I never watched it and I tried not to pronounce definite judgements in storylines I don't have direct experience with). For what I know, D&D were practically eager to jump at the chance to put the actress on such scenes once she was old enough. And, to put it bluntly, I just don't give male creators writing about misogyny and violence against women the benefit of the doubt, not anymore. They have to prove themselves beyond doubt first.

But frankly? I don't give that benefit of the doubt to audiences either. I can't think of a single time that, at the moment a rape storyline occurred, didn't react in appalling, offensive ways. In a lot of fandoms that can evolve with time, or at least in recent years it seems people have grown more prudent about how they come across. But when it came to present-time reactions? Fans have an awful track record, IMO.

“y’all are mad the show killed of your white savior fave but you said nothing when sansa was raped”

This is fucking vile for the exact reasons you listed, jfc.

[colorful-white-ideas]

I agree with what you just said about this place, basically Bill's fandom and I use that word loosely, being dead AF. It's, he, is so boring lately. It took me awhile to really mean that bc I wanted to hope his light would come back again. But he doesn't seem to care about his fans or even himself anymore. Have you noticed he wears the same black outfit (black shirt black pants or jeans) all the time now? He only manages a smile when he's not with you know who. And yet he keeps showing up with you know who. If he can't bother to care why should his fans? I just hope his acting hasn't suffered like his life has. I loved watching him in pretty much anything. Dude can act and it comes naturally. That's something other actors would kill for.

I see hes trying to give some content and trying to look good, younger ( thus the rings and earring , and all that dark clothing) BUT is not enough. He is always hiding , the news that get to come out its because fans are looking for them ... his team is most of the time silent. There is no hype around him , not even in this fandom ( not as it may have been 4 years ago x example) and next year is key , he will have at least 3 movies out in different times of the next year.

Sorry for the following rant it's just to get it out of my chest. I won't talk about that anymore from now.

I want to also say something since sometimes I get some ask that I later erase with the typical " you just hate you are not with him".

Im not stupid , I'm not in love of someone I DONT KNOW. Also I have nothing personal against Alida M, I don't know her personally to hate her. But I DO HAVE A PROBLEM with wasted privilege.

The reason why I started to like Bill and - why not- his family is because you can see they all worked to get what they want. They may have had it easier in some ways but they always wanted to go beyond , try something else to make a name on their own. I admire that. They are not the classical nepo rich kids.

A is the very opposite. She wanted to be a public persona and that's fine but only promoted her rich kid personality while traying ( in interviews ) to portray herself as a working woman. I hate fake humility. It's ok if she just wanted to be a socilite ... why lie ? why say you are an actress but don't look for more projects? why dont take classes? and if its not for you then why not USE THE POSITION you have to build something else? There is alot to do for the industry : casting, writing, make up, production, etc. She bragged on her personal social media acc about the wrong things. Contradiction at it's finnest

A contradiction that reflected onto Bill later on , the humble funny likable guy aware of his upbringing disaspeared before our eyes , he sounded in interviews more and more cocky and selfcentered. He claimed being private but at the same time was being recorded on intimate moments very often. We started to see him stressed , tired ,a shadow of who he was.

There were no changes... 'till now. I gotta acknowledge her attemps to change, also what Bill is trying to do to save - idk - his image and maybe his family too ¿? . Still the damage has been done

Anyway i'm just one among millions in the world , if I or all the people in this fandom leaves , new ones will arrive. We are replaceable.

I wish him luck in whatever he is trying to do.

And yes he can act , thats the only things that keeps his fandom slightly breathing.

[the-nysh]

I, uh... don't think it's very professional of Bones to do what they're doing to Bakugou's character and his relationship with Deku. Hell, what they're doing to the entire class A. You can't make this much shit up, it's like they're writing nother whole ass story to raise up their favorite character/relationship 😐

Honestly at this point, how is the BNHA anime different from an izu//ocha fanfiction that depicts Bakugou as an irredeamable asshole who'll never change from his middle school era? How is that different? The favoritism is becoming ridiculous. 🤡

*sighs* Typical BONES. Their track record has been a predictable pattern, but this time it's just laughable. My reaction was exactly the same expression as Hori's ep sketch of Mina, just shaking my head with a 'told ya so.' (So remember when I said I can't trust this sub-studio to ever handle opm? This is why.) Unfortunate, because while the art & animation are pretty, their 'attempts' to interpret Hori's themes and symbolism come off so very...very....😬 Oh boy. There's no defending that; I would much rather have a faithful adaptation with subpar animation than 'pretty' animation for the studio's glorified 'ocs' in fake canon clothing literally no one signed up for to see.

But even their Iida erasure was particularly egregious this time, esp following his top5 placement in the most recent poll, so the disconnect between what Hori's japanese (manga) audience loves vs what BONES thinks they want couldn't be more glaring. (Because it's not just Kacchan who's affected by their...miscalculations. Free both him and Uraraka from the typecast roles BONES keeps insisting on inserting them into.) Especially unfortunate when it comes off as them desperately(?) trying to market Hori's work as something it's not (or what they think his work should be), while misleading viewers towards tropified expectations that will never happen. That is...if they don't just do a complete re-write as a personal 'I fixed it for you~' giftslap to Hori. Anyway, if BONES are clever, they'd change the frames every ep (like in the ed last cour) to be a different classmate reaching out to Deku, to emphasize how they all contributed and played in a part in saving him from himself, but that concept's probably beyond them to grasp so it's unlikely.

If anything, I feel for Hori - but I'm looking forward to how he will politely smile then double down with spite in the manga (he did it when BONES cut Spinner, but spinning his core themes into their own thing is another story) to emphasize his actual intent as clear as day, since it feels his work is needlessly cursed to be chronically misunderstood when it really...really now, his work isn't that hard to understand, yet they somehow always make it harder on Hori's overstressed workload - shouldn't be.