#i mean it's fats fans in general but i don't feel like getting into it with them

[bonefall]

what are the main prey animals that Shadowclan eat in better bones? because in my rewrite, i can only find like 5 british marshland birds, the frogs like canon, and a common lizard, while the other clans have dozens of prey species. I don't think 7 prey species can feed 50 cats for the generations i need them to, yknow?

This is hard to find out because of the unfortunate reality that wetlands are an "unpopular" natural biome. It's hell out there. No one appreciates their local swamps and marshes </3

But I'M here, NUMBER 1 GOO FAN. Quickie on some of the most common species ShadowClan will be hunting, in an English wetland. 5 for your convenience.

Small intro/recap to BB!ShadowClan's food culture; For a mixture of several reasons, including early collaboration and trade with WindClan, living in an area heavily affected by seasonal changes, and cultural pride in being able to eat anything, ShadowClan has one of the most varied diets of any Clan. Mammals, fish, birds, if they can get their mouth on it, they will eat it.

(Yes. This means predators as well. Other Clans will avoid eating predators for culture and taste reasons. ShadowClan finds it offensive to just let good meat rot.)

The most important reason in that list must be stressed; winter is CRUEL to ShadowClan. The RiverClan river is a moving source of water which rarely completely ices over, most animals in ThunderClan don't hibernate, WindClan's rabbits are active in the snow. For most Clans, they will not feel the "bite" of winter until towards the end, when the prey populations crash. ShadowClan feels it immediately.

That's a problem because Prey Item Number 1 Will Surprise you. The most popular prey in ShadowClan is...

1: Ducks.

And with the most common species, mallards, at about 2 pounds on average (with males being slightly larger) you're looking at 5,442 calories each. Enough to feed 15 warriors for a day.

(Note: This estimate is low; actual value would probably be higher. This measurement is taken from this chart which measured whole carcasses and caloric value rounded from 5.9 to 6, and this particular duck was "dressed"-- so its organs, the most valuable part of the animal, were already removed.)

Ducks are SO valuable as prey it's hard to oversell them. They're huge, they're highly nutritious (thiamin, vitamin a, vitamin b, iron), and they're PACKED with fats. They also lay eggs, TONS of them, which ShadowClan will happily snatch from inattentive hens.

The problem with ducks is, they don't stick around in the winter. Mallards might stay if the weather is mild, but if the water starts freezing, they're a-leaving.

That means that right when ShadowClan needs them the most, they'll vanish. If the marsh freezes, which is VERY likely because it's stillwater, they can't access ANYTHING under the ice. So Prey Animal Number 2 ALSO becomes an issue;

2: Carp

Their size and weight varies immensely, but the european carp is a species that AVERAGES 6 - 15 pounds. Using our rough estimation numbers and only a 6 pound fish, that's 10,884 calories. That's a whole Clan fed, if it's rationed perfectly.

Many carp are larger and heavier than cats. Here is a picture of a human fisher with two 5-pound bass so you can get a feel for just how big fish are

The biggest problem with carp, aside from the fact that icy winter conditions will block access to catching them, is that their gallbladders are poisonous. Carp bile is the only dangerous type of bile Clan cats encounter (that I know about so far). When being eaten, Clan cats must take care to gut them gently and remove the organ without spilling toxic green slime everywhere.

(ShadowClan actually collects and uses this bile for other purposes. Dried and diluted, it can be used as a medicine for treating parasites, and wet and mixed into a poultice it can be used to dress wounds. If gargled, it can also dissolve and loosen stuck bones in the throat, VERY important for unknowing kittens who tried to eat cooked bird bones.)

These two are the most common animals in the highly varied ShadowClan diet. Hunt in the shallow marsh, and you're bound to bump into either a duck or a carp at some point.

But when winter rolls in, they start to rely on mammalian prey.

3: Rats

While some rats can breach 2 pounds (SHOUT OUT TO ALL MY NEW YORKERS) most of them only clock in at about half a pound-- 250 grams. That's 1,250 calories. About 3 cats fed.

(NOTE: These estimations of how MANY cats they feed assumes that these bites are being distributed evenly, such as if the animal was being put into a soup or meticulously portioned. It's more likely that a single rat is eaten alone or only shared between two warriors who then bulk up. The sensation of "fullness" is determined by weight rather than caloric value.)

Rats are highly adaptable omnivores, but most of their diet is actually plants! Humans associate them with garbage and filth, and yes, the rats from carrionplace would certainly taste awful. But most of the rats ShadowClan catches would be living in natural conditions, eating nuts, fruits, and smaller animals. So it doesn't make sense that canon sees ALL rats as dirty-- they should actually be a HUGE part of a warrior's diet!

Especially in ShadowClan, where the invasive brown rat has all but eliminated the native black rat population. Brown rats are huge, thick-tailed, excellent swimmers who stick around in the winter and find themselves right at home in a marsh or swamp.

In fact, ShadowClan thinks hunting them is a two-way blessing. A cat stays fed through the winter, and more resources are freed up for the rarer, but more delicious water vole. ThunderClan isn't the only Clan that understands population management.

And speaking of...

4: Squirrels

Significantly smaller than carp and ducks, gray squirrels are usually about 500 grams. I've heard it said that they triple in mass over the winter, but since I'm not sure if that means they triple in weight, I'll simply rule that a wintertime gray squirrel is 1000 grams. Which means about 5,000 calories, enough to feed 14 cats.

...but also. don't underestimate how big a squirrel is. You are a 200-pound bipedal ape, these are 10 pound cats. They are also eating all the organs you, a human, would usually toss.

The general term, wetland, refers to all land that is... take a guess... wet. The difference between a marsh and a swamp is that a swamp is wooded land, which means squirrels can live there!

ShadowClan often finds itself in conflict with ThunderClan over squirrels. The native, endangered red squirrel is a cultural icon to ThunderClan and they believe it's important to protect it at all costs by killing gray squirrels whenever possible. ShadowClan, meanwhile, agrees red squirrels are beautiful, but isn't willing to be aggressive with gray squirrel populations to protect them.

5: Cheating

In true ShadowClan fashion I do what I want and use number 5 to babble about several animals they turn into grub

And SPEAKING of grubs, they love to forage for larval treats. They regularly make snacks out of chafer grubs, stag beetle larvae, cutworms, and if they can manage it, baby honeybees. Chafer grubs are their absolute favorite, which is another reason why WindClan is so passionate about maintaining their moorland; when it turns into grassland, ShadowClan is energized to fight for grub foraging space.

The "problem" with the meat of predators is that it's said to be tough and taste strong and unpalatable. ShadowClan doesn't entirely mind it, but if they end up with a predator in spring and summer, they like to use the seasonal stream (called a syke) that cuts across ThunderClan to soak the meat in running water for a few days.

Not to mention that they really will just grab at any animal, in addition to those lizards and frogs they're notorious for. Hedgehogs, crayfish, waterbirds, snails. There's all sorts of spices they'll use to try to season a strange meat, between mushrooms, pellitory, juniper, rosemary, so on.

It's harder to find something they WON'T eat.

[ronearoundblindly]

I just want to start this off by saying you are one of my favorite Steve writers of all time I can’t believe I just randomly found you one day. Every time I read something I think “oh this is her best” and then I go to something else and literally the same reaction so thank you of sharing this for free. The comfort reading your Steve stories give me is unexplainable.

LOL the funniest thing is I found your works on ao3 first and at first I didn’t click the tumblr there so when I found the CEO au here I was like “um excuse me who tf is plagiarizing — oh wait no same person. Thank god”

So I don’t know how you feel about writing about pregnancy and kids but Steve having to deal with that especially in the Sun Salt and Shield AU is so hilarious to me. Is there a hc you have about that? Or just in general about them getting more serious. I love that you didn’t take the easy way out and just “Splash”ify the mermaid reader.

Um🥹😚, all of this is great, and I'm not trying to just skip over all your lovely compliments (also, good looking out on the plagiarism because that issue's going around again 🥲). I just want to jump right into the headcanon of pregnancy and kids for Sun, Salt, and Shield.

This is mostly rambling. Sorry it's not well-formed, but there *might* be a chapter of fic percolating from this. No warnings. No detailed talk of pregnancy or birth, only vague reference.

Just the other day I revisited an ask about MissG/Doll not having the more humanoid body of idk-what-to-call-them classical mermaids?? And I wondered if that (the classic look) could have been a blended species from way in the past between deep sea mermaids and humans--essentially, would Doll and Steve have children that looked more like what we typically see as mermaids?

It's an interesting train of thought, and, frankly, perfectly logical. If they had a kid or kids, that's likely how I'd do it.

However--and this is a big HOWEVER,--I am admittedly not a big fan of pregnancy, kidfics, and all that 'adorable' parenthood stuff. Sounds a little cruel that way, but there you have it. I'm me. I make things more complicated than they need to be.

I would make pregnancy a different experience from humans. Doll's kind would have a different mentality toward offspring than humans. Some hilarious and/or angsty misunderstandings could ensue.

For example--because I don't think too deeply into these matters, shhhh--based on the sheer size of her whole species, I don't think deep sea mermaids visibly look pregnant like humans. Their hips simply get wider and they sort of thicken all the way through their torsos to mid-tail. Honest to goodness, humans truly just think Miss G is getting fat, but just in a 'putting on weight' way, not a nasty judgy way. In this event, and since you/G do not have the vocabulary to explain, your pregnancy goes unnoticed until it is very advanced.

To you, this is a common inevitability in the sea between mates, but there isn't the type of hoopla--for lack of a better term--surrounding the process.

So you're pregnant? Big deal?

Ummmm, wow, the wheels are really starting to turn on this, but also your species doesn't have a calculated sense of time. You live in mostly darkness (and the ambient/changing light of other mermaids' tails), so you wouldn't have any real way of explaining how long gestation for a baby is. Likely, the kid would grow super fast, too. Means Tony still doesn't know the average lifespan of your species because there are no common/known markers to describe how long your 'elders' have been alive.

Stuff I haven't worked out yet: would the child of a deep sea mermaid and a human be able to live in either native environment? That's where I'm thinking the lower-depth, classic mermaid comes into play; still has fins, can breathe air for short periods (but longer than you), probably can't handle heavy pressure for very long though (since you spend far longer in a pool, not the pressure chamber asleep, than most deep sea-ers while pregnant), and is lighter colored in scales and features than you due to the shallower water (more affected by sunlight).

I do think it would be cute for the child to have Steve's blond hair and blue eyes simply because that is unheard of in your species (as are the paler scales and armoring. I should mention that since you have lavender eyes--i.e. very light sensitive--human blue eyes are comparatively dark.

You'll notice I'm not saying son or daughter. When newborn young...I don't think anyone can tell if the child is male or female. I don't thing G's species cares, and I think you'd be very confused by how intently Tony and Steve try to figure that out. Conceptually, it simply doesn't matter at all what sex the kid is until puberty, and even then...it still sort of doesn't??

Hmm. That's all I got on this for now, but I sense I could probably come up with some interesting angst with a happy ending from it.

Thank you for asking!

A/N: Not that it matters, but I love 'Splash.' I've learned that it's fine to explore fantastical things to all sorts of degrees, and as almost all of fandom can tell you, fluff is great, fluff is necessary, and fluff keeps us afloat. Big HOWEVER, it is not okay to wash away anyone's race or heritage (in this case--obviously fake--a species' culture). Be respectful. It's that easy.

[Main Masterlist; Light Masterlist; Ko-Fi]

@fandom-has-taken-me-hostage @leah2901 @blogbog710

[ryansjane]

the fucking hypocrisy that gl fans have tho, when geminifourth got announced to be in 23.5 everyone and their fcking mother was hating on them, tagging them to get out of the show and calling them ugly and shit like that, and now that there is gonna be a bl side pair everyone suddenly silent and like nothing happened, side eye.

I mean... I didn't see this unfurl so I won't comment much on it & of course no one deserves this kind of hate at all, but I'm gonna be honest... I can see where the root of it is coming. we've waited literal YEARS to get gl shows, and they're still like 1% of what bl shows are. especially since geminifourth went from unknown to huge in between the announcement of the show & its start of production, I understand milklove & gl fans who were worried they would steal their thunder when we all know pretty much ONLY male actors at gmmtv get any type of attention. the difference with the nawintinh side ship is HUGE imo tho. firstly they're not even the secondary ship, they're the third one after aylinluna so there's a lot less chance of stealing any thunder, and, as I've mentioned in my text posts on the topic, nawin being a queer plus size person getting a love storyline is literally REVOLUTIONARY. yes, the bar is low, but that's what us fat people have to beg for. you do not realize how much since nawin got his ep 3 storyline I've been thinking about him, I finally feel represented in a thai drama. so I understand people cheering this bl side ship more than the first one, and I think the situations are wildly different. however I don't think generalizing all gl fans as bullies like you did in your ask is right, I would've been happy with geminifourth as a side ship but I'm happier with juneview & euroford as side ships bc they're more pressing representation imo. the vocal minority of haters will always be the loudest, but thinking the ENTIRE 23.5 fandom bullied geminifourth & are hypocrites is a bit insane to me, as if bl fans aren't even more toxic (I would know, I've been in both fandoms lol...)

xxx

[punkeropercyjackson]

A lot of white aroaces aren't any less racist towards interracial/poc4poc ships than a lot of white gays are and i feel that really needs to be said more.The whole Huntlow antis clown fest when snowroaches in the Toh fandom were 'proudly' to quote their own loser ass words hating on it because they were disgusted Hunter choose a fat disabled biracial girl as his soulmate and that Willow choose an abused disabled non-conventionally attractive boy as her soulmate just as much and straight up mock/insult Huntlow stans for being upset over the erasure and mean-spiritedness towards our ship that means so much to us because Hunter and Willow are like US because apperantly their rep that was never offered to or hinted at is 'more needed'.That time a white ass weirdo was so out of pocket they deadass reblogged my post saying as an aspec black person myself i don't like aroace Hobie(Spiderpunk)headcanons because they feel antiblack due to how important his love interest status to Gwen and Miles is with how black he is and told me with 'ummm i don't mean to be that guy but seems like you're wearing shipping googles.Gwen said Hobie's just a friend-'and i didn't get to read the rest because they deleted their rb they didn't even properly comment on and just spoke in the tags like the racist pussy they are.Aroace hcs for black girl love interests are a massive trend ONLY when they get in the way of popular ships or is the wifey of a fan fave male character,ironically enough the same thing as the lesbophobic tendency to only headcanon fem characters in general as lesbians for the same reason just to not explore they're lesbianism at all.If you're a white person who actively goes out of their way to hate on poc love rep,then you're racist.Fullstop,no ifs or buts.Being queer literally dosen't matter in this context and yeah,that includes the lack of attraction kind,especially because 2/3 of the specific examples i used are canon queer ships(bi4pan Huntlow and transmasc4transfem Ghostpunk).You're not immune to being racist just because 'it's not about race,i just don't like romance at ALL' dude

[nobodysuspectsthebutterfly]

What will Jaime's reaction and development in response to the probable slaughter of Freys and Lannisters ("Red Wedding 2.0") by Lady Stoneheart, and the rebellion of the Riverlands that will likely follow, be? While there are a lot of valonqar theories and theories of how he might survive the encounter with Stoneheart, but for some reason I don't recall any theories on this front. Might there be a realization that his family's, and his, actions in the Riverlands from AGoT forward were wrong?

Generally people who theorize about Red Wedding: Back 2 Tha Hood have this elaborate fantasy about Jaime being tied up and forced to watch. Usually in conjunction with the theory that he's already half mad because he had to kill Brienne, who sacrificed herself for him. I think the latter theory is highly contrary to both plot and character, so I've been rather doubtful of the former theory as well. (As well as it being in Riverrun: no this is not an invite for proponents of that element of the theory to tell me about it, I've seen it all before and nothing but TWOW will move me.) Personally, I think RW2: First Blood could be one of those downbeat refusal-of-catharsis moments GRRM does sometimes, which includes no direct POV, just hearing about the atrocities after the fact. It may be otherwise, but I'm still sure fans will not be remotely as satisfied as they expect to be.

Anyway. Jaime already knows the actions of his family in the Riverlands were wrong. His whole arc from ASOS onwards just rubbed his nose into it over and over and over again. Notably including his encounter with the Bloody Mummers his father brought to Westeros, notably returning to Harrenhal and finding the house of horrors Gregor had turned it into, notably the whole siege of Riverrun where he's hating the Freys, hating every moment he has to reward idiots like his uncle Emmon or a "scheming turncloak bitch" like Sybell Spicer. Just look at his conversation with Hoster Blackwood in ADWD:

"My father had a saying too. Never wound a foe when you can kill him. Dead men don't claim vengeance." "Their sons do," said Hoster, apologetically. "Not if you kill the sons as well. Ask the Casterlys about that if you doubt me. Ask Lord and Lady Tarbeck, or the Reynes of Castamere. Ask the Prince of Dragonstone." For an instant, the deep red clouds that crowned the western hills reminded him of Rhaegar's children, all wrapped up in crimson cloaks. "Is that why you killed all the Starks?" "Not all," said Jaime. "Lord Eddard's daughters live. One has just been wed. The other…" Brienne, where are you? Have you found her? "…if the gods are good, she'll forget she was a Stark. She'll wed some burly blacksmith or fat-faced innkeep, fill his house with children, and never need to fear that some knight might come along to smash their heads against a wall." "The gods are good," his hostage said, uncertainly. You go on believing that. Jaime let Honor feel his spurs.

This is not a man who is happy with his life and his or his family's actions. Especially considering he took the very first opportunity to abandon it all to help Brienne with her quest.

Now, if you mean, will Red Wedding 2: The Revenge cause Jaime to admit out loud that he and his dad done bad? *pfft* Not a clue in the world. Jaime's going to have a lot going on in TWOW, not in the least however he and Brienne escape (my personal theories including divine Bran intervention; there's a reason why the Brotherhood's cave is full of weirwood roots and has a weirwood throne just like Bloodraven's), and not in the least whatever the hell Cersei gets up to in KL and her probable flight to the Rock. I'm afraid that prejudging Jaime's personality changes that may come from all this is beyond my power, sorry.

________

@windriverdelta replied to your post “What will Jaime's reaction and development in...”:

Yeah, it was the "Now, if you mean, will Red Wedding 2: The Revenge cause Jaime to admit out loud that he and his dad done bad?" question - because for all what he knows and thinks, he's still doing these bad things.

​aha, so you're asking more like, will he stop. And like I said, Jaime's going to be very busy, I think his Riverlands enforcement tour will be well past done by the time he gets out of it all. Mind you, I don't think he's going to ever give up entirely on the Lannister state of mind (Tywin's ability to give people complexes is very hard to shake). But a lot of the Riverlands tour was guilt over being responsible for his father's death (since Jaime freed Tyrion and gave him a reason to kill Tywin), which undoubtely made him extra-Lannistery for a while. And also Jaime was trying to get away and deal with his Cersei issues (by using Ilyn as a rubber duck therapist who beats you up), so a lot of his um, complex actions greatly depend on what Cersei ends up doing and how that makes him feel. (Even if they've "broken up", they'll always be connected.) And however the valonqar plays out, alas...

[iblameashley]

A - to - Z's of Simon 'Ghost' Riley

Made a similar list for Konig a while back, figured it was time for Simon / Ghost. This list is hella gay, FYI.

!!!!NSFW!!!!

A - Aftercare

Simon / Ghost cares a great deal about aftercare regardless if its a one-night stand or a longer term relationship. It will always start with asking how you're doing and what you liked and what you didn't. He'll make sure you're actually okay before he'll ask if you need anything else; water, food or a shower. Though he still struggles with requests for cuddles. Its very intimate for him, but if he likes you, he'll give you a bone crushing cuddle.

B - Body part (their favourite)

Stomach. Simon / Ghost likes guys with a bit of belly fat, something soft and preferably hairy. It's so different from his toned body, and though he'd never admit it to you, it makes him feel happy and calm just laying on it.

C - Cum (anything)

Generally speaking his cum is rather neutral in taste, a hint of salt. But its thick and hot, and he shoots long ropes of it when he cums. Refuses to jerk off while on long missions because he wants to 'save it all' for you.

You don't have to worry about overstimulating him either, he'll do it happily himself until he empties his balls inside you. You'll feel his cock head throbbing inside you as he whimpers and trembles on top of you.

D - Dirty secret (pretty self explanatory, a dirty secret of theirs)

Really wants to eat your ass out after he's cum in it, but is afraid you'll be disgusted by it and refuse.

E - Experience (how experienced are they?)

On a scale of Virgin Pure – Barracks Bunny? He's a solid 'Took the bloke from the pub home'. He's not adverse to having sex; in fact, he loves it... its the intimacy that people tend to want that freaks him out. Simon / Ghost doesn't know how to reciprocate (or so he tells himself). But he's more than happy to get his rocks off if he fancies a man.

F - Favourite position

Generally speaking, as long as he's on top, he's happy. He loves looking down at your handsome face or even the back of your head as he takes you. That being said, Simon / Ghost is also a big fan of you on your knees. The way you look up at him with his cock in your mouth? Fuck... drives him wild.

G - Goofy (Serious of Humorous)

During sex, this man is on a mission. You are both going to have a good time, even if it kills him. BUT, after sex? After you're thoroughly pleased and unable to walk? This man will treat you to the worst jokes in his shitty-joke roster and there is nothing you can do to escape it.

H - Hair (Body / Groomed / Color)

Dirty-bond / Sandy hair in tufts between his pectorals that runs down his abdomen and into this pants. Keeps his pubes trimmed (but never shaved!) Its incredibly soft, too because Simon / Ghost takes care of his hair.

His ass has a nice dusting that trails down into surprisingly hairy legs. Oddly though, has almost no arm-hair at all.

I - Intimacy

He would tell you he'd rather be waterboarded or have his fingers and toes broken with a hammer than be intimate, but he's a Goddamn liar. He doesn't recognize his own intimate moments, thinking that the things he does for you 'just makes sense', but are actually very sweet deep down. But he does struggle with accepting intimacy. He'll tense at hug, pull away for kisses – you've learned to not be insulted – and tries not to let his heart skip a beat when he looks you in the eyes as he's buried deep inside you.

But at the end of the day, even if he fails – real or imagined – at intimacy, he'll never hurt you. He is very aware of your emotional well-being and he'd be damned to ever raise a hand to you.

J - Jack off

Used to mostly just be a form of release between missions and hook-ups. A means to an end, so to speak. But once he met you? Fuck... the way you looked at him, the way you looked at him when you walked in on him jerking off.

He loves to stroke his cock for you. He'll take it nice and slow, building himself up to an orgasm and then denying himself until you give him permission to release – usually on your face – and he's never been more satisfied with masturbation. Its so much better than his two-minute, violently jerking off somewhere on base experiences.

K - Kink (one or more of their kinks)

Loves size difference most of all. He'll be your big-strong man if you'll be his charming short king. There is something about the power dynamic that just gets him going. But again, he'd never use his size or strength to hurt you; he wants to feel like all his power is doing something other than killing... and what better way than to pleasure a charming man sexually?

As previously mentioned, chubby guys too. Loves a squishy body to touch and massage. Loves the soft flesh against the marred skin of his body (how do you not pull away from him?!).

Simon / Ghost longs to let go of his need for control and be dominated by a man; but trust is hard earned and he only reserves bottoming for that special-someone.

Has tried a variety of toys and only has a few select he actually likes. pocket masturbators are great compared to his calloused hands, and he's enjoyed a few butt plugs and dildo's, but he's not be able to venture too far with his exploration; there's still a little bit of shame and embarrassment he feels when he uses them (you'll make him get over it...).

L - Location (favorite places to do the do)

Simon / Ghost is a private man in general, so it would always have to be somewhere he felt safe. This would likely be his flat, your flat, his quarters on base or maybe even his office – locked, of course – if he was feeling a bit more adventurous.

As long as you're in the safety and comfort of a flat, though, any and all surfaces are acceptable. Tables, sofa's, counters, the bed or the shower are all perfect places to drive himself into your prostate and make you writhe for him.

M - Motivation (turn on’s)

Simon / Ghost loves it when you reach under his shirt and just gently play with the small of his back. Instant way to get this man in the mood, followed closely by teasing him by slipping fingers under the waist of his pants.

Can't go wrong with a classic, either; give his thighs some attention. Caress and tease slowly up towards his groin and you'll have this man growling like an animal.

Just seeing you being you. Walk around the flat in your lounging clothes, or his hoodie, or even shirtless. Simon / Ghost just enjoys seeing you in your most relaxed state around him since most people aren't.

N - No (wouldn’t do; turn offs)

Wouldn't hurt you. That should go without saying, but its still a deeply rooted fear that he projects onto you. He's a killer after all, so you must be waiting for the day he looses it on you. He won't. Not ever. Not you... not the one man who looks at him like that.

As for things he won't do in bed or let you do? Handcuffs are a no-go. Ever. Same with blindfolding.

Simon / Ghost also don't enjoy hickies, burns, scars or love marks, but that's due to his feelings regarding his scars and burns. Absolutely no choking either, but that also goes along with not hurting you, though he's not a fan of being choked either.

No scat, blood, diaper play, baby talk, age-gaps or age role-play.

O - Oral (preference in giving or receiving, skill, etc.)

Simon / Ghost already has a difficult time trying to sub for his lovers, so like hell he's going to deny himself -and you- the pleasure of sucking a man off. He can get lost in the moment as he swallows your cock whole, swirling his tongue around and playing with your foreskin. He will moan and groan over your length and swallow every last drop of your cum.

As for his skill? He's better at killing people for sure, but he'll make sure you get off.

P - Pace (are they fast and rough? slow and sensual? etc.)

Generally speaking, Simon / Ghost would prefer a slower, steadier pace. He wanted to enjoy every last moment of pleasure you're both experiencing. He doesn't take leave often and he doesn't have much time between missions as it is, so he leeches every second of pleasure from every encounter.

He sometimes gets a little too into the pleasure though and will go a bit feral. A need to just pound into you deep and hard until you're both a puddle of sweat and semen stuck to each other.

Q - Quickie (their opinions on quickies, how often, etc.)

Depends on how you define a quickie. Simon / Ghost isn't one to just blow a load into you in five minutes and run, but if he's on a time constraint... sure. He usually saves quickies for jerking off.

R - Risk (are they game to experiment? do they take risks? etc.)

Simon / Ghost already takes enough risk in his military life, so doesn't take nearly as many in his personal life. As long as your risky suggestions don't include high risk of infections or illness, or harm (obviously), he's open to considering them.

S - Stamina (how many rounds can they go for? how long do they last?)

You'll likely get the best hour of your life out of Simon / Ghost. He'll set a pace and stick to it... If he decides to overstimulate himself in the process, you can get another thirty to forty-five minutes out of him.

T - Toys (Own toys? Use them? on a partner or themselves?)

A few dildo and butt plugs, nothing too fancy or large and owns a few different pocket masturbators.

U - Unfair (how much they like to tease)

Not a teaser, not overly vocal in general. Will grunt and groan, whine a bit when overstimulated, but doesn't really talk outside of a check in. You're safe until he's spent and the bad jokes start.

V - Volume (how loud they are, what sounds they make, etc.)

Simon / Ghost will grunt rather loudly once he gets into it.

W - Wild card (a random headcanon for the character)

Would never hurt you or do anything to make you uncomfortable, but loves it when a man beats him off and abuses his foreskin. Beat the man off hard and fast and be ready to take his load when you push him over the edge.

X - X-ray (let’s see what’s going on under those clothes)

6' 4” Tall

Mildly hairy

Bulky

Curved cock

6.5” Hard and foreskin pulls all the way back over his head

Keeps everything tidy down there

Y - Yearning (how high is their sex drive?)

Before a mission? Low

During a mission? Low

After a mission? High. So very high... he'll find a nice lad to sate him the day he returns home.

Z - Zzz (how quickly they fall asleep afterwards)

Simon /Ghost rarely sleeps more than three hours a night on the best of days, to say nothing of the nightmares he has regularly. So even after a long night of fucking and sucking, he's still not likely to fall asleep very quickly; if at all.

Assuming he likes you long enough to stay the night, he'll only fall asleep after you have, and he'll be awake long before you as well. He'll probably be gone too, if you aren't dating... but don't worry, he'll leave a note.

[fanfic-lover-girl]

What do you think is the worst case of hypocritism in Harry Potter.

I just realized how many inbox messages I have. Gosh, I need to address those...

It's hard to choose but if I had to choose:

In the story itself

The morality of an action depends on who the character is. The purebloods like the Malfoys and Blacks are bigots for scorning mudbloods but it's A-ok for the Gryffindor characters to discriminate against and endanger muggles and magical creatures. If Draco disrespects Hagrid it's a sin, but when Hermione disrespects Trelawney she's a girlboss. Draco objectively and simply points out that Molly is fat in a relatively mild Yo Mama joke and it's framed as bullying (no complaints there). But Harry describes how obese Dudley is in excruciating and needless detail, it's funny. This is the same Harry who regularly compares people to animals when he describes appearances. Draco bullies Neville - it's wrong (as it should be). Harry and co. bully and degrade Neville - it's funny and ok. There are many more examples. JKR is a disgusting and mean-spirited writer. I have several 'Double Standards' posts because of this.

In HP fandom

This extends to how HP fandom views certain fans. In particular, some Hermione, Romione and other Gryfindor stans will sneer and condescend to you if you happen to like characters like Draco and other Slytherins like the Death eaters. And if you criticize their darlings, they discredit your criticisms because you like the 'morally questionable' antagonist. It's hilarious how these people refuse to admit that THEIR characters are morally questionabletoo. Almost every HP character is morally questionable. They act as if the golden trio and the other Gryffindor characters are heroes who are justified in all their crappy actions. I have seen a disgusting Hermione stan (whom I blocked) condone and justify Hermione kidnapping and imprisoning Rita, erasing her parents' memory, attacking Ron with canaries and scarring Marietta for life. If stans like that don't outright say Hermione was right, they downplay it by saying she's a young girl and/or she had no choice. They say the criticism is overblown. Yet, they have no issue overblowing the actions of the unlikable characters like Draco and Rita. For example, they act as if Draco calling Hermione 'mudblood' is such a devasting crime. When wonder witch herself could care less about Draco's stale taunts. And Hermione being muggleborne has little impact on her for the most part. Total hypocrisy.

Honestly, I would like JKR's 'good' characters more if not for these atrocious double standards in the fandom and the narrative. But it's fine, I'll just enjoy my HP babies like Neville and Draco in my corner.

As much as I feel sorry for the hate JKR gets, I can say that she is partially to blame. She taught an entire generation of kids to believe they have the right to violence if they think they are the heroes in their story. And that their opponents are subhuman if they don't share their views. I hope Joanne realizes that one day.

[fins0up]

GRAAAHHHH I HAVE TO TALK ABOUT THE MINECRAFT MOVIE I HAVE TO I HAVE TO!!!

(Small disclaimer: I don't blame any of the underpaid and overworked writers & animators. They deserved better than this slop, I'm sure of it.

like the general public, I too despise the trailer. Let me just start with the trailer itself.

1.) Love how you can tell where the fucking green screen is. /sarc. Also the line "This guy is such a toolbag" they give her feels not only millennial, but fucking stupid jesus christ. You could've made a block joke there like. "...This guy is such a blockhead." "Yeah everything's made of blocks here." Or something AT LEAST TRYYY GUYYYSSS...

2.) The artstyle I know everyone talks about it but the FUCKING ARTSTYLE OH MY GOOODDDD IM DYING why has literally no one talked about the wolf though LIKE???

why is the wolf's body literally discord shaped. Why is Built like That. What the fact did they do to you??? Like, I just... I hate the combination of the realism and the blocks like??? JUST MAKE IT FULLY BLOVKY???? WHAT THE FUCK IS THIIIISSSSS GOD it's so fucking uncanny I hate it. I hate it so.

3.) Love the whitewashed Steve /sarc. Fr though, are we surprised? I hate that Jack Black of all people is playing him like guys that was a joke people was making. Are y'all able to understand jokes? Or understand what a pos Jack Black is? Jesus fuck gamers he's not only ableist (supports Autism Speaks) but a zionist as well. But besides that Steve feels like. Hold on.

Look at Steve. If he actually existed in the real world, I have a feeling he would be muscular (because he mines, builds, + farms like all day), and probably somewhere around his 20's-30's. You're telling me that Jack Black, an actor + musician who's in his 50's. Like, this isn't to say that Steve wouldn't have some tummy fat at all, he probably would! But like... Jack Black just doesn't... feel like Steve at all. Jack Black is like the exact opposite.

There's just like this... massive, icky vibe about the entire trailer that makes me hate it. I think it's a mixture of the live action "isekai" shit with the like... blocky textures that makes everything uncanny and gross to look at. And it feels like rather than taking the concept and saying "Hey, since the experience is so varied, let's take multiple characters and storylines and take proper care of each to tell a different story of the same game" (like Fallout the Show) they're just like, "Eh... I mean... I'm sure the Isekai trope will work again."

Not only that, but like over all it feels like rather than looking and seeing this game and being able to "laugh with" Minecraft fans (side note: I wouldn't mind Minecraft being comedic, admittedly, a block world is a fucking ridiculous concept. But, I'd still say keep the same sentiment that the game has which is, "You can build your own version of the world from the ground up, you are the master of your destiny") they're looking at it like that one mom from that AITA post and saying, "This is ridiculous and childish. Why do you like this? It's stupid. It's just some game about blocks."

I'm not gonna sit here and pretend that fans can't be picky about videogame movies/tv shows at all. Because I enjoyed the Mario movie, despite some fans hatred of it. I can't ignore the fact that videogame movies tend to be 50/50 on how fans will react to them. But still, really? This is what you guys have to show after 10 years? This is what we get? It feels like a punch in the gut, dude. I hate so much. I can't stop thinking about it.

[amemenojaku]

Hisami and Zanmu for 1 on that ask game!

When I started shipping it if I did: Since day 1 when I read Hisami's dialogues, like most people I believe lol. I mean, how can you see her and not start cheering for her to get what she wants... Since it's still pretty recent I can add that two lines in particular made me seriously consider it and think about it beyond 'this is nice/funny': when Hisami tells Zanmu that she doesn't have to hold back around her, and when Zanmu tells Hisami that she knew Hisami would mess up on purpose, and that she'll give her a reward anyway - both are about danmaku obviously, but it got my brain gears turning >:]

My thoughts: They've slowly but steadily been going up my favorite ships, especially for the past 2-3 months... They work well together. Obviously I'd love the ship in touhou where one of them has a big fat actual canon crush on the other one, I've been in this hole since 2010 or something so Hisami's kind of a gift... but also in general I think it's a good spin on the boss/henchman trope when the boss is some mega charismatic chessmaster who could probably get anyone they want on their knees and yet their subordinate is one of the only people they can't fully predict/control. The wild card aspect is really funny to me and I love seeing fanworks where Zanmu's like... fondly sighing at Hisami's antics.

Things done in fanworks that annoy me: I think there's too many fanworks where Zanmu looks generally uncomfortable around Hisami despite never doing so even once ingame, and also too many fanworks where Hisami harasses Zanmu, sometimes to make very early 2000s jokes in very poor taste... I won't name anyone but there's a few big yuri artists on twitter who do that and it makes me want to bash my head against the wall when they get praised for it just because their artstyle looks good..... On a more positive note there's a few people who've been creating constantly good content of this pair and I think given a year or two nature will be healing!!

Also I'm of the opinion that Zanmu's fairly tall herself, just a bit shorter than Hisami, so I'm not big on the crazy size difference stuff (funny coming from a seishin fan, I know......)

Things I look for in fanworks: MUTUAL UNDERSTANDING!!! Getting to know each other past the infatuation (in Hisami's case)/the curiosity (in Zanmu's case) in deeper ways. I promise this isn't about sex lol (I do think about that too but not here rn) I really want to see how their relationship can grow and I especially want to see Zanmu enjoying it (as a petty reaction to the stuff listed above...). In their case I think physical intimacy would be a good setting for that kind of scene where their emotional bond grows, so that's what I'd go with if I were to create something like it, but anything can work if it's done in good taste imo. And in general I want to see Zanmu answering Hisami's affections with a positive emotion... whatever it is... I'm desperate.......

Who I’d be comfortable them ending up with, if not each other: It's difficult for me to imagine Hisami with anyone else, although I do think she'd have physical relationships with a bunch of women while her feelings for her boss are still unrequited. Zanmu on the other hand I can picture being interested in a few other characters like Reimu or other onis or even the sages, but ultimately not as something she'd commit to and take seriously. The only real endgame is still zanhisa haha

My prefered future/ending for them: Whenever Zanmu considers them close enough to tell Hisami to drop the honorifics and overly reverent language when they're alone, and whenever Hisami feels comfortable doing that would be the ideal "endpoint" for me because of all the things it implies :) I don't care if at that point they actually consider themselves in a relationship or if they just aknowledge there's something going on. Though if they do get in a relationship proper I imagine they'd be very discreet about it. Also I think Hisami should get a promotion so she can directly work as Zanmu's prefered right hand arm man. woman. her everything. her confidant. her silly rabbi

What is their favorite activity together: Probably drinking. I imagine with how old she is and hanging out with onis Hisami's built up a decent hold on alcohol, and Zanmu appreciates it. They reminisce about their respective pasts and talk about the inner workings of hell and Zanmu gets a huge ego boost from showing off her 4D chess plans and Hisami praising her for it

[everlastiingiimmortals]

SHIPPING INFO. Answer the following for your muse(s) so people know how shipping works on your blog.

What’s your OTP for your Muse(s)?

I do have ships I'm especially partial to, but I don't really see a purpose in stating them because I'm not intentionally looking for those ships — I'd rather see them develop naturally, and because they're something I'm partial to, I'm picky. Some people jump the gun on ships (and that is their preference! that's fine) and might think that because they have the other half of an "OTP" of mine that it'll be easier to ship with me, and that is just. not the case. I don't want to give that impression by listing OTPs.

What are you willing to RP when it comes to shipping?

Certainly none of the obvious big no's that end up in everyone's rules by default. I am willing to explore darker and generally unhealthy ships though, particularly with time, communication, and trust between muns. Aside from that, polyam is great, one sided romances are a heartwrenching delight, anything and everything that can spin a good (and reasonable) narrative is on the table. I love me doomed ships. I love me toxic codependency. I love me soulmates. I love me marriages. But if you're coming to ship with me with those latter two in mind, that's probably something to reconsider because that's not something I'm willing to engage in with people I'm not incredibly close to.

How large does the age gap have to be to make it uncomfortable?

Listen man I rp a guy who is 800 years old, I've rp'ed older, at some point when it's between two adults it's not about age but about chemistry, emotional and mental maturity, and the context surrounding their initial relationship (ex. I will never ship my J.ing Y.uan with an adult Y.anqing or a J.ingliu because he RAISED that boy and that woman TAUGHT him since he was a boy!! absolutely not!). And obviously, aging up to be "legal" for shipping is a big fat no.

Are you selective when shipping?

Yes. I don't want to write a ship only to regret it because I don't click with the mun or my muse doesn't click with theirs. Not all interpretations are equal, so just because I write a ship (R.atio with Ventium's A.venturine, for example) doesn't mean I'll write all or many of that same pairing. Another thing is that I'm not the biggest fan of instant/pre-established romantic pairings? I find that they do a disservice to the effort I've put into my muses, especially those with HEAVY baggage. If I don't know you as a person well, expect me to write slowburn. And if you do know me well, I will still probably write slowburn. A lot. Like, years worth. It has happened before. It will happen again.

How far do steamy moments have to go before they’re considered NSFW?

Maybe it's because I don't write NSFW but this question confuses me. Am I just stupid- HSJSFNLSKFL. Anyway, uhhh I guess for me the line gets drawn at any explicit acts or explicit descriptions. The word explicit is key, because fade to blacks or whatever are fine? Like. I dunno man LMAO. AO3 rating standards are a good reference point I guess.

Who are other muses you ship your muse with?

Gestures at my relationship tab. While I do have pairings I think look good together, that doesn't mean I ship them. Everything is interpretation dependent.

Does one have to ask to ship with you?

...Is that not common courtesy? Yes, please ask to ship, because 1) you sorely underestimate both my and my muses' obliviousness and 2) I might say no.

How often do you like to ship?

This is also a weird question! I ship when I ship, if the chemistry strikes and both muns agree then I'm gonna ship. Some days I may feel a little more shippy than others but that doesn't hold any weight towards actively pairing muses together.

Are you multiship?

Ya. I see no reason to not ship multiple pairings or multiple iterations of a specific pairing. Because each interpretation is different, each can bring something new to the table or tell a different narrative; me being selective does not bear down on this. Exclusivity is something I only really keep for very special people and their interpretations (like Starry, who I've known for five years). If someone wants to exclusively ship their muse with one of mine, that's fine! I'm flattered! But if they expect me to be exclusive to them without any prior conversation, that's going to be a problem, especially if I'm not close to them.

Are you ship obsessed or ship more-or-less?

...Now with all of my griping out of the way, let it be known that I fucking love ships. I love shipping I do HAUDJWIFJS, I just need it done right. Give me a reason to ship and I will be so on board, but it has to be a good reason, not just "they look good together." I yearn to ship, I yearn to have easier ships, but my fucking dumb ass always picks up the difficult muses!! Always!!!!! And if they're not a pain in the ass to ship with I make them one!! I'm so sorry!! Augh!!!!

What is your favorite ship in your current fandom?

This is where I will list a few shoutouts instead:

- j.ingl.uo, y.ingy.uan, j.ingr.en and r.atior.ine with Starry. All of these are on discord more than not but Starry is always, always on the same wavelength as me. She's one of my best friends, and I couldn't ask for a better partner who not only matches my desire for tragedy (j.ingl.uo and j.ingr.en) but also the sweetest and most fun of pairings (y.ingy.uan and r.atior.ine). Her Y.ingxing/B.lade is the biggest reason why I cry so much over J.ing Y.uan's heartache, because she writes him in a way that I really and truly feel the loss of who he was, and it hurts J.ing Y.uan in such unbelievable but cathartic ways. And don't get me started on her L.uocha because how did we end up plotting literally an entire decades-long romantic arc between him and J.ing Y.uan only to reach the most tragic fucking conclusion because L.uocha is too far gone to put his ways to rest for good.

- j.ingf.eng with Luna! I don't know what happened here but with our very first thread the muses took the wheel and then we had a ship. It was embarrassing. This really does not happen often with me at all but we just clicked instantly, and now I am in permanent fluff and angst hell with Luna because J.ing Y.uan loves a little too much and Yinyue does too. Also a ship that happens more on discord than not!

- r.atior.ine with Ventium! Ven's A.venturine. My goodness. I am absolutely enamored with the push and pull between these two and their way of walking the very delicate line between them, almost as if afraid of shattering what they've built up, whatever it is — because even defining it could break the illusion. And yet they read each other so well and even though they don't say anything, they know something is there, regardless of whether it's spoken into existence or not.

- himetio with Koi. we spent hours thinking up backstories for H.imeko and R.atio together and I just... ahhhh 🥺🥹🥺🥹 childhood friends to lovers is such a special and beautiful thing to me and this is one of the rare preestablished ships I have but oh my god I love it. R.atio's hypocrisy and mortality come out in full force with H.imeko and it is so fun to navigate.

I am running out of space so I will stop here. Yes, most of this is with Starry. my bestie. my bro. my goat. my single celled organism. she exists on tumblr once every three months but gdi go follow her @celestial-narwhal she is the bane of my existence and the sole reason she, Luna and I have straight copium AUs and I love her so much

Finally, how does one ship with you?

I expect the muses in question to have at least one interaction (preferably far more) before shipping happens and for me to have some level of rapport with a mun, because how else am I supposed to read IC and OOC chemistry? (If I know you and your muse well enough and vice versa, we can obviously skip the first part.) So if you and your muse qualify and this post hasn't scared you off yet, hit me up! Just ask! I promise I'm not scary, the worst I can say is no.

Tagged by: @apocryphis ! tyyyy

Tagging: @etherealguard @deathsmaidens @heavnslayer @ofinflorescence @lunaetis and anyone else who wants to do this!!

[greatwyrmgold]

Reading the Amazon Lily arc gave me some thoughts about how One Piece handles women.

I'll start with something positive: The Kuja tribe proves that Eiichiro Oda can draw women who aren't either fat hags or supermodels with I-cups and waists too thin for their intestines. The background characters show almost as much variety in visual design as One Piece's male characters.

On the other hand, this kinda draws attention to the fact that most of One Piece's female characters (especially the named ones) are supermodels with different wigs and sometimes fish tails, while most of the rest are oval-shaped and often have jokes made about how ugly and undesirable they are. (Poor Kokoro.) And to be clear, Oda still defaults to the supermodel shape for lots of the Kuja.

While I'm talking about character design, I'm not a fan of the Kuja tribe's clothes. Most of them wear as little clothing as possible, either a bikini with accessories or unusually skimpy variations on other outfits, like that one Kuja pirate who wears a jacket that leaves her midriff and the middle of her chest bare.

Also, they give Luffy clothes after he arrives, and they're flowery and frilly. Few of the Kuja wear floral clothes and IIRC none have frilly ones; the flowers and frills are just added because they're stereotypically girly, and Oda thought it would be funny to put Luffy in emasculating clothes.

The scene where Luffy accidentally smashes into Boa Hancock's bath was...I'd ask why it had to be her bath and not Hancock doing literally anything else, but I think we know the reason.

Not sure how to feel about Luffy beating up the warrior-women tribe's best warriors without significant effort, even though they're proficient with Haki and he thinks it's that ice sport.* On one hand, it feels awfully close to that stupid trope where women are treated as automatically weaker than men.

On the other hand, the man in question is Monkey D. Luffy, who has fought multiple Warlords of the Sea and usually come out ahead. Also, the Kuja tribe's best warrior, Boa Hancock, doesn't actually fight him. If that status doesn't just come from the Devil Fruit that can't affect Luffy's aroace ass (or any other aroace part of him), maybe a fight between them would have been more even.

*This joke was not made in the actual manga. It should have been, though.

Speaking of Boa Hancock and Luffy, though...the absolute worst part of Kuja Tribe lore is fucking Love Sickness. Apparently some Kuja women suffer literal lovesickness when they fall in love with a guy. It's fatal, unless they leave the island to be with the man they love. Gross.

If Boa Hancock had fallen in love with Luffy after he beat up his sisters, that would have been dumb but tolerable. But making it an actual physiological ailment that's common among the Kuja when they meet men...that feels way too close to saying women need a man to be healthy. I mean, that is literally true for these women who live among other women. And it's apparently a leading cause of death among their empresses. I hate it. Love Sickness should have been damned to editorial hell.

Revealing that the Boa sisters used to be slaves wasn't a big problem. But having that revealed a few chapters apart from Robin getting enslaved on the island she landed on (long story), when that didn't happen to any of the other Straw Hats, when Robin is one of only two women in the Straw Hats...petty, but I mostly want to complain about Robin getting enslaved. I don't think they even put seastone cuffs on her. Why is she just accepting this.

The general tropes about a land of woman being fascinated by the first man they see are a bit irksome, but on reflection, I think they only bother me because of all the other stuff. The Kuja tribe's reactions are mostly expressions of ignorance rather than innately feminine attributes, as expressed in the running gag where they keep assuming that the weird Luffy things Luffy does are what all men must be like. So mark that as another positive.

[loudmound]

jingling miserably across the floor to bring you yet another goddamn post about james sunderland (and the broader themes of sh2 in general)

part one: silent hill is the world's worst exposure therapist and that's honestly it

for starters, i think it's best to get out of the way the notion that the town itself is actively punishing its inhabitants is... silly. it's just silly. when you operate by the logic that silent hill is punishing james for what he did to mary, that logic quickly becomes concerning when we take angela and eddie into account.

does angela deserve to be tormented by a manifestation of the sexual abuse she endured from her father? does eddie deserve to be tormented by manifestations of the emotional and verbal abuse he faced from his bullies? if you have any modicum of compassion, you'd say no.

but we cannot then say with a handwave that "oh well angela and eddie don't deserve it, but james does! because james did something bad!" and like... yes, i do agree that there is a sort of sliding scale of moral justification and negligibility given each of these characters' acts of violence, but all of these people did such to escape their circumstances. and, most importantly, angela, eddie, and james all feel like they deserve to be punished in some way, shape, or form.

angela's been so horrifically abused that she's resigned to the notion that she deserved what happened to her. eddie's been so horrifically abused that he's resigned to the notion that he is just a fat piece of shit. and, with james, while having a tangible distance from any kind of abuse, feels he deserves to be punished for killing mary; something that he'd unwittingly repressed to even keep himself upright. he drove to silent hill to kill himself—to be with mary in death in the last place they were happy together.

and that right there is exactly what silent hill is doing; silent hill is a functionally amoral entity, i'd argue. it does not care whether its inhabitants live or die, it does not care about punishment or exoneration, it is merely drawing from their psyches and projecting manifestations as a means of confrontation, and seeks to see what that person chooses to do in the face of the darkest and ugliest parts of themselves, traumas and all. will you succumb or will you overcome? that's the only question it cares to ask.

part two: stop pretending james is a violently misogynistic sex pest

now, this part is gonna come off as biased, because i am a james fan. i like him a lot. but i'm also not going to pretend that he's not a divisive character or that he did nothing wrong. he most certainly did. that's not the point and i don't want to come off as defending his murder of mary, nor am i trying to convince people to like him. he's a fictional guy, like and hate whomever. i don't care.

what i do care about is analysis, and some people insinuating that james killed mary for the sole, superficial, and juvenile reason that she wouldn't fuck him anymore? it truly baffles me beyond words.

i've seen this take enough times for it to be concerning; the notion of james' deed solely surrounded being denied sex and lashing out with murder because of it. if that sincerely were the case, james would be a very different man and sh2 would be a very different, markedly worse game, because how fucking one-dimensional is that? seriously, think about it for longer than 3 seconds and let it sink in how much worse that would be for sh2's story and overall message.

contrary to this belief: james loved mary! james loves mary! that's kind of the whole point, really! i'm not denying that there isn't a sexual component to the whole ordeal, there most certainly is. maria is the apex of that, as are a good handful of the monsters like the mannequins and the bubblehead nurses. hell, i'm not going to deny that there aren't shades of misogyny within these monsters' looks, either!

but these monsters aren't made for james' wanton, sexual consumption; they're a means of confrontation. they're terrifying and warped. there's a certain shame about them, too, in so far as they're manifested from a man who seems guilty about even existing as a person at all. that he even has sexual thoughts to begin with when his wife lay sick and dying in her hospital bed.

james doesn't seem particularly enthusiastic about much of anything, least of all sex. him never even alluding to such or even saying the word out loud speaks volumes to me at just the magnitude of shame he feels surrounding such a concept, when everything around him is so loudly saying that it's a part of him he's terrified to look in the face. (think of the pin-up he sees in the hospital where he mutters to himself in his head "...this is no time to be looking at a stupid poster.")

your libido doesn't screech to a halt when your significant other is terminally ill, and finding other people attractive when you're in a relationship with someone else is pretty normal, so long as those feelings don't breach the bond you have with said partner. if james fantasized about fucking the hospital nurses or whatever, so what? that's within the realm of fantasy, and i'm sure he's cognizant of such. that doesn't make him an "incel", that doesn't make him unfaithful, it makes him a regular person with a sexuality, and he feels shame for such because his partner—the one that he truly wants—is sick, dying, and sexually unavailable because of the latter facts. the audacity to think of sex at a time like this? how dare he? how disgusting of him!

(sidenote: i really don't like the conflation of the term "incel" with "misogynist". yes, incel culture at large is misogynistic, but literally anybody can be a misogynist and incels are largely self-identified. misogyny is systemic, and incels are a symptom of that. also, james has a partner and is certainly implied to have had sex before. by definition, he is not an incel. a strange, miserable man, yes, but not an incel.)

part three: james did it for so many reasons and sex wasn't one of them

james killed mary because he couldn't watch her suffer any longer. james killed mary because he wanted his life back—to be free of such a burden on his shoulders. james killed mary to be with her in death not long after, because without her, he's got nothing. together, beyond the grave, they could be happy once more.

while james is not a reliable narrator, it's impossible to me that the reason he did it was purely because he couldn't have sex with mary anymore. it's reductive and insulting to insinuate that sh2, a game about death, about grief, about guilt and loss and trauma, as well as love and sex, would have its main protagonist be a flat as a fucking board when it came to the reason he did it.

hell, i'd argue that his reasoning is more complicated than angela's and eddie's reasonings for their respective deeds because they're fucking rock solid reasonings. it's easier to empathize with an sa survivor killing their abusers and a victim of bullying finally snapping and attempting to kill their respective abusers than a man who finally got so sick of it all and killed his wife before the disease eating her from the inside out could kill her instead. there is an obvious callousness in james' deed that repels such a level of compassion, and that's perfectly reasonable. which is why it's so goddamn complicated!

it's already such a terrible thing to do to somebody else, imbued with so many reasons, both selfish and selfless, both loving and resentful, and to just write it off as "oh well james did it because he was mad he couldn't get his dick sucked anymore and silent hill was so bad for him because the town thought he deserved it <3"... see me after class.

anyways, thank you for reading. i'm gonna go the fuck to bed now.

[scientia-rex]

Hey saw your post about weight loss and I'm a big fan and it makes total sense. Just curious how being overweight affects pregnancy. I feel like because I'm overweight I'm going to have a high risk pregnancy. Not pregnant at all right now but it's been on my mind lately

Oh boy. Weight in pregnancy is a WHOLE other topic, and not in my wheelhouse--I haven't delivered a baby in over two years now. (They love to show up at 3am and I love sleeping.) The short answer is that if you gain more than the recommended amount of weight during pregnancy, baby is also likely to be bigger, and that's a problem because your pelvis is not capable of expanding, so you run a higher risk of shoulder dystocia, which is where the baby actually jams in the pelvis on the way out, which is typically fatal to the baby within 5 minutes if we can't get them out because they can't breathe and their umbilical blood supply is cut off so the oxygen is not available. There is also a higher risk for gestational diabetes, aka high blood sugars in pregnancy, which also raises the risk of a larger baby. HOWEVER, a lot of this raises questions current research doesn't really answer--are fatter people at more risk in pregnancy because they're fat, or are they fat because they're high-risk? And a lot of people who deliver babies, whether they're OBs or family medicine or midwives or, God help us, lay midwives, will go full-on raging fatphobia, which makes it difficult to parse out genuinely helpful advice from terrible bullshit. Obstetrics in general is the least evidence-based medical field, because no one wants to be the asshole who ran a study that somehow hurt babies, so instead we just fumble around blindly in the dark a lot of the time going "well this SHOULD work" and hoping. Also, racism! Huge thing in obstetrics. Black women have 4 times the risk of dying in pregnancy/childbirth as white women, and of course racism and fatphobia dovetail, where fat Black women get treated particularly badly by the medical establishment.

Long story short, the best way to prepare for possible pregnancy is to take the best possible care of YOU--that means exercise and eating lots of veggies, not because that will make you thin, but because it improves your blood vessel and heart health, your bone health, your stash of nutrients that baby will raid during development, your muscle strength, and so on. And take the time BEFORE you want to get pregnant to find a doctor who delivers babies (whether that's an OB/GYN or a family doctor) who treats you like a human being.

And, controversially, I do think it's best to have a doctor for most pregnancies. Not because midwives can't provide excellent care, but because obstetrics is all about the situations where something goes wrong, and we are very bad at predicting who will have something go wrong. The worst delivery I was ever in looked fine on paper. First-time mom, dilated fine, pushing went great, no problems on the fetal heart monitor, baby descended just fine. Then baby crowned, got shoulder dystocia, my attending had to take over for me and do the maneuvers to free the baby, baby comes out and has to go straight to resuscitation, and I look back over at mom to realize more blood is coming out of her vagina than should immediately after delivery, by A LOT, and we almost had to call a massive tranfusion protocol for her. She hemorrhaged 2 liters of blood in minutes. Then she developed post-partum preeclampsia, which can be fatal if you don't have medical management right there. We had to put her on a magnesium drip to prevent seizures. That was the worst delivery I ever did, and I'm counting the 17-year-old primipara (first-time mom) I worked with while a med student, who delivered in the back-ass of nowhere, spoke Spanish only with an attending doctor who spoke English only in a hospital that didn't bother with interpreters until active labor, and needed forceps, a technique fewer and fewer doctors even practice. No epidural. Forceps without an epidural is, no joke, something that scares me to the point where I simply would not do an unblocked birth.

One of the major causes of maternal death is hemorrhage. If you have an IV in someone's arm pouring in fluid, you can survive with as little as about 1/7th of your original blood. Red blood cells can do a LOT of heavy lifting. And that buys you time for someone to get up to Labor & Delivery from the first floor with the on-hand packed red blood cells that then go into the IV and save your life. Blood transfusions are life-saving, and they are life-saving every single day in the US.

And hemorrhage risk goes up with subsequent babies. Someone giving birth for the first time is at higher risk for a lot of things, but someone giving birth for the 5th time who figures they're OK with a home birth because their other births went fine can bleed out in minutes.

I don't like or trust the medical establishment, and I think OB care has a LONG way to go in the US, because we create PTSD in about 11% of people who give birth. Maternal PTSD is far more prevalent in the US than combat PTSD. I would still have a medical doctor be my obstetrical care provider, because I don't want to die like that.

[bengiyo]

Hello hello ~~

Through wen-kexing-apologist's recent post about The Birdcage (which seems to come from your syllabus for baby gays) I got to the original series of reblogs which resulted in said syllabus. I read most of it (not everything because Real Life has my time hostage), and as someone who has seen her fare share of queer media I have now a pretty long to watch list.

As you wrote about how you enjoyed the romance of queer media I have a question.

Recently I have come across a Netflix movie trailer called Love at First Sight. With such a basic trope as a name I checked it out hoping the title to be misleading and to see something surprising in the plot. The disappointment I felt when by the end of it I realized it was exactly what the title sold: the most basic boy meets girl and they have to look for each other throughout the whole movie.

One of the things I really appeciate about queer media (and mainly BL probably) is the possibility to explore different kinds of romances and emotions. Both positive and negative. From Not Me to Heartsopper to Double Mints. I feel that being "out of the norm" they explore such emotions and situations in a more interesting and relatable way (and add to that that I, as a woman, cannot stand women characters making a 360º personality change once they fall in love)

So here's my question: what unusal or out of the ordinary romances would you like to see more of in BLs/queer shows/etc?

I personally would like romances with disabled characters to be more explored (I'm really looking forward to Last Twilight) or polyamory. Also more GL.

I admit this might be a very biased ask, it comes 100% from my subjective view, and I have yet to watch most of the movies in your syllabus for Baby Gays.

Anyway, I hope you have a great day and that this long ask won't bother you ❤

Well look at this ask! Let me get into this!

The Syllabus is on a Google Doc

First, I sincerely appreciate you watching me and @shortpplfedup go back and forth about stuff. For yours and others' convenience, I did put the Queer Cinema Syllabus in a Google Doc for @wen-kexing-apologist

Some Recommendations

If you're looking for a film with a disabled protagonist and also a bit about women, I would recommend checking out Margarita With a Straw (2014), Sleep With Me (2022) (I watched on Gaga), or if you're willing to tolerate hets Isa Pa With Feelings (2019) (currently on Netflix) or Silent (2022) (Viki)

If you're interested in more polyamory, I genuinely think that Quaranthings Season 2 (2021) does some really fascinating stuff worth checking out. We had complicated feelings about Me, My Husband, and My Husband's Boyfriend (2023), but I liked it.

What do I want though?

I think this is a harder question for me to answer than I was expecting. I see myself as a guest when I'm watching a lot of content from Southeast Asia. I will voice my opinion on what I like and don't like, what I'm taking from these shows, and how they're affecting me. However, I don't really consider myself the target audience. I watch the shows as legally as possible and help generate engagement, but the "interfans" they care about are the English-speaking Asians in their region, not really me I feel like.

So when I think about what I want, I don't feel a yearning for any of the BL-producing Asian countries' film industries to make it for me.

I want to see the shit I like in the West get made. I want to see Black queer people presented complexly (Here is my regular plug for For The Boys). I'm a fat black gay nerd. The last time I saw a fat black gay nerd that I liked in an American production was Fire Island (2022).

I'm a 33-year Star Trek fan who still thinks we need more GAYS IN SPACE. I'd like to see more productions like Sort Of (2021- ) where complex queer friend and social groups navigate just existing in the world and finding love and meaning. I'd like to see less of reboots of classic shows like Queer as Folk be about a horrifying mass death event in the city I live in and the spaces I frequent (I refuse to link to it).

I want to see TJ Klune's, Ginn Hale's, or Lynn Flewelling's works adapted to series. I would like to see more wide release queer shit in the West not be overwhelmingly about fit, attractive, young white guys.

I want distribution for queer stories to not always have to go through four years of distribution hell because of the film festival circuit.

I want the West to try to make BL! I don't care if it feels cheap on the front end. I just wish more of us would be willing to throw support behind web shows. We did it for Awkward Black Girl! We can do it again!

This is turning into rambling, so I'll say that I don't necessarily have strong feelings about what I absolutely need to see. I like connecting with the specific humanity of stories, especially if they're about queer people. I didn't know I needed Moonlight (2016) until I saw it. I didn't know I needed Make the Yuletide Gay (2009) or Black Sails (2014-2017) until I watched them.

I just want more people with ideas to get a chance to turn them into something cool for us.

What about the rest of you? Please tag me if you have things you're hoping for.

[mugeesworld]

One Piece Fans Green & Red Flags!!

I seen someone do this on tiktok and thought I would do some of my takes😋 this is as a joke so don't take it to heart

Also these are HELLA specific so don't ask how I know I just do ok

Green

The one piece fans that are still in alabaster and instead of watching one piece they are scrolling on the tiktok # of it. +extra points if you're already doing fanart of them.

non binary luffy/chopper fans (quite silly people I enjoy your company. You probably have a saved collection of videos of cats with silly sounds. Don't lie to me ik you do)

Asexual Zoro and luffy fans

Platonic Nami and luffy shippers (ya know like brother sister dynamic)

Female plus size sanji fans (cough cough me. But I've seen all y'all out their. You freaky bitches)

Usopp fans (enough said)

People that love the usopp and Nami bestie duo.

Dadan fans (period)

People that make fanart of zoro and chopper being cute

People that draw robin with that one nose shape and also draw her like that one lady from criminal minds.

FROBIN SHIPPERS (RAHHHHH🔥🔥⁉️⁉️⁉️🗣️🗣️)

Trans men Franky fans (you started wearing button ups over t-shirts huh. Elite style and funny as hell)

Female Franky shippers (Bless y'all. Y'all my favs probably. Making the best edits I swear. Probably looking for a man's like Franky cause you kin robin)

LESBIAN NAMI FANS (PLEASE LOVE ME ALL Y'ALLS COSPLAYS BE EATING SO HARD BABES)

Nami x Vivi shippers (yeah😋)

Introverted female robin fans (hit my line)

Female buggy fans

Trans men zoro fans

FEMALE OR TRANS MASC WHITEBEARD STAN'S (very rare to come across. Y'all great but y'all need to heal your dad issues)

People that don't leave out Franky, jinbei, and brook in writing stuff

People that write for Franky in general.(he needs more love)

Marco simps (brave soliders right here. You really picked that mf? Yeah me you. IT'S ABOUT PERSONALITY OK???)

Sanji fans that actually find his training arc fun and not gross

Female Mihawk stans (naughty gal😼 you like them cold)

You know what?! Any trans masc one piece fan that picked a character and was like. Yep! He's literally me! Im literally him!

Jinbei fans (you guys are either sweethearts or middle school boys(the mean kind)

Brook fans that do fanart. (See cause y'all gonna eat every time)

Bon clay fans that actually like him and don't just make fun of him.

I forgot his name. Umm Coby? I think? Yeah Coby fans.

Rayleigh simps (insert sound *I'm so hungry I could eat at Arby's! She really is hungry!* Me too girl me too.)

Same for garp ^

The people that been making the shanks love actions edits 😋

People that make corecore/hopecore edits of one piece

Ik I've said it a bunch but the drawing community that has been carrying the one piece fandom on tiktok. (Ty for blessing us)

Plus size one piece fans +points if you cosplay

That hot old lady that took chopper in and the hot old lady with Rayleigh fans. (Those two would be such good friends and serve some major cunt. Drawers! Get to it you know what to do.)

Red

Sanji and zoro fans that ARE CONSTANTLY BICKERING IN COMMENT SECTIONS ABOUT POWER LEVELS AND BLAH BLAH BLAH BLAH BLAH SHUT UP

People that feel the need to tell sanji fans about Fishman Island every chance they get as if other characters don't have their red flags. I said it.

That one person in every comment section with a luffy profile pics saying the most absolutely rude or embarrassing thing ever like "post the on IG reels" (you are immature and not in a good way like luffy)

Zoro fans that's also like Patrick Bateman for the wrong reason

"Yamato is a woman" ("we'll actually Oda said 🤓" EHHHHHHHH *family Feud buzzered noise.* GET OUT)

People that shit on the one piece live action cast. (specifically the ones complaining about nami and her sister. BOY I OTTA!)

People that talk shit about big mom just cause she fat. Like babes so is your mom....

People that still watch one piece and try to say how much they love it but are racist, homophobic, transphobic. When one of the biggest things for luffy is to not be judgemental. You are not him⁉️🗣️ you are a asssss

Akianu fans.

MOST black beard fans (I ain't forgiving no one for what he did to whitebeard I'm not hearing it)

"Zoro would kill the whole crew for luffy🤓" would you kill your whole friend group/family for your best friend/mom or dad..... I didn't think so.

People that hate on English dub watchers. I'm a slow reader y'all. Plus it's hella funny.

People that weren't at least a little mad about GARPS actions in marine ford.

Nami x luffy. Robin x Law. And robin x zoro shippers. Also Any gross illegal ones with gross age gaps.

Thats all I can think of right now!

[starfallcity]

THE ECLIPSE - VOLUME 36

Brought to you by Starfall's longest-running magazine, providing you with quality content about the latest news, trends, and high life of Starfall's elites.

This season is all about love- whether it's romantic or not, this issue of THE ECLIPSE has something for everyone, starring the heartthrob taking social media by storm. Founder and CEO of Dr. Love, and runner of the newest late-night show with a 'zine of his own on the way: everyone, welcome Cupid Amoré!

Interviewer: Thank you, Mr. Amoré for taking the time to sit with us. We know you must be busy.

Cupid: It's no problem at all! I'm honored you thought I was important enough to interview- the email startled me so bad I had to step away from my laptop! It was a little embarrassing...

I: Well I'm glad you found it so exciting! Getting straight into it, what are the basics of what you'd want the readers to know?

C: Hm. [pause] Obviously, there's my name, but that's likely been plastered all over the page by now. [chuckles] I guess from there it'd be my age, and so on- 34, as of right now. I'm a huge romantic- if you couldn't tell already. Mmn... [another pause] I don't really have a lot of nicknames- most people usually call me by my first name. Either that or my last. My favorite of all of them is 'squish', though. My sister gave it to me when I was younger.

I: 34? Wow! You seemed a lot younger- I wouldn't have guessed from your socials. And "Squish"- is there a particular reason behind it?

C: My sister would just say it's because my face was so fat. [sigh, a tired smile spreads on his face] She wasn't wrong, but I still want to whack her for it.

I: Siblings, am I right? Moving on, would you mind explaining the whole deal on your company, Dr. Love? It feels like it sprung up out of nowhere!

C: Well, I've actually run Dr. Love as a small online business for a while now, but only in recent months have we actually expanded into a "real" company. We sell products- mostly themed around couples, though our products can be bought by and gifted to anyone. Candies, cards, bouquets, etcetera. We even have a matchmaking service, and- ahem- 'items' for our older clients to enjoy on sale. Those ones are part of a...slightly different brand, though- the same one used for our late night show.

I: I see...it's nice to see you've taken the time to separate your adult and general brands. What inspired you to take this route? The type of business, I mean.

C: Love, of course! [chuckles] To be more specific, my love of love. I've lived in this city all my life- seen a manner of nasty things come about. I think if people took the time to slow down, and really take the time to appreciate themselves and the people around them- to interact without judgement, that Starfall can become a much better place. Too many people are on edge; trust is low- kindness to strangers is seen as some sort of novelty. If my company can help open hearts and change minds, well, I'd find that just wonderful.

I: An altruistic approach- don't you feel that's a bit naïve? With all the conflicts between humans and non-humans, not to mention the looming possibility of....well, I'm sure you've gotten your fair share of concerning fanmail yourself.

C: I have, and really, both of those issues are tragic to me, in a way. People are averse to change- I can see why someone with no experience would find the sudden appearance of non-humans jarring. Except, they aren't sudden- not in Starfall. They've been a long-standing part of our history. To try and push them out because of some sort of purity complex is, pardon my harsh words, stupid. Stupid and ignorant.

[pause]

C: And yes, that 'possibility' you've mentioned. I can't judge those people too harshly. At the end of the day, that type of behavior is more than your standard pushy fan. It's a sign of something deeper- it's something innate in that person. [frowns] I can't help but feel sad thinking about it. There are people who need help in this city. Real help. They're disturbed, but they're still people. I doubt they actively choose to be the way they are- it's unfortunate.

I: ...Of course. How genuine of you, Mr. Amoré. Aside from your business career, what can we come to expect from you? Publicity wise.

C: Of course there's the show- thinking about it is still nerve wracking, but I'll live. It's a late night show, nothing explicit, but I suggest streaming it after the young'ins have gone to bed. [winks] For our younger fluttering hearts, though, our magazine is all-ages, with an advice column for those struggling hearts in our community. We've been considering featuring some local stories in our magazine as well- meet cutes, self love stories...just things that make you feel fuzzy inside, you know?

I: Looks like we may have a bit of competition, eh? We're looking forward to its official release! Wrapping up now, any final words you have or our readers?

C: I am too. As for final words, not many, surprisingly. I just wish to thank those who have supported me up until this point, and welcome all those who decide to join the little community we've crafted. I wouldn't have gotten as far as I have without your help. Other than that, continue to spread as much love as you can- you never know who really needs it.

I: A touching message. Thank you again, Mr. Amoré, we appreciate you coming in and answering our questions. For our readers who want more of Starfall's newest star, be sure to check out the information listed below about his upcoming projects. Thank you for your time, and stay tuned for the next issue of THE ECLIPSE!