#intriguing or something lol

[wonder-worker]

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

[rox-of-iu]

ayoo guess who finally sat down and caught up with cultivate B)

is me. so you know what that means.

spoiler warning for cultivate ch 30-37

there was actually.... more things i wanted to draw but I already did so many I had to physically restrain myself hfsjkkdh anyway yes can you tell i love this fic very much

yet once again. cultivate by the wonderful @neonghostcat

[wavesoutbeingtossed]

“The crowd goes wild at her fingertips/half moonshine, full eclipse” — I don’t mean to overthink (lol) before the songs come out but taken like this (after seeing it set to eras gifs) I love the interpretation I’ve seen that it’s like, she gets on stage and the roar of the crowd is an intoxicating tonic that momentarily overshadows whatever she’s going through. Or, that the magic she creates intoxicates the crowd, all eyes on her in total rapture.

Idk idk idk I know these songs are going to just grab me in a chokehold

[rinbylin]

re: jianghu as a queer space in mlc

here to answer @redemption-revenge !! in reply to this post

(also tagging @markiafc @ananeiah <3)

there are many definitions of jianghu, but this is specifically based on the framing of jianghu as the space people retreat to, away from the mainstream sphere governed by the imperial court. in that is a sense of rejection and defiance against the patriarchal, heteronormative values and norms, which had been enforced through a fixation on upkeeping order in the society. as such i guess it's not too much of a stretch to interpret jianghu as a queer space in a way that's characterised by a spirit of nonconformity to the norms. consequently, it makes sense for stories set in jianghu be used to illustrate and navigate queer identities/experiences/feelings - which I came to believe mlc had made really good use of.

there's always kind of a dichotomy between 江湖 jianghu and 庙堂 miaotang (ie. imperial court). like in mlc, there are two separate, distinct law enforcement bodies from the respective spheres - and jianghu strives to keep imperial court from interfering in their affairs. like how li xiangyi firmly stands against getting imperial court involved in jianghu matters. like how fang duobing is actively running away from the grip of the royal court on his life choices. the rejection of the mainstream (very conveniently and broadly put, confucian) norms in mlc also manifests in many of its key relationships being non-familial (in the sense of blood/marriage-based kinship) and there being little emphasis on the main characters' biological familial ties. (anyway this is for a whole different meta on its own... edit: it's here)

it's then actually a sort of irony that the imperial court's institution of law and order is what sigu sect/baichuan court had been formed to be a de facto counterpart to. so when li xiangyi becomes li lianhua, it triggered the process of deconstructing the meaning of installing such an institution and the need to maintain order to a fundamentally nonconforming space such as jianghu. mama fang's seemingly throwaway line of criticising li xiangyi and his mission is in fact the thesis statement in this particular reading of mlc's story: jianghu makes its own rules. nobody should dare to do it in its place.

now deprived of all means to fight like he used to, li xiangyi's new life as li lianhua is essentially a refresh of how he views jianghu. the death of li xiangyi the leader of sigu sect and top of wulin, meant taking apart the idea that jianghu is a lawless arena where the fittest fight to the top for power and control over wulin. and li lianhua then putting together lotus tower, living a life focusing on a domestic lifestyle this time for real far from the reach of the governance both from the imperial court and sigu sect/baichuan court, is him living the jianghu that's defined as a space away from any form of conformity.

with that, there's also a sense of queerness to this particular way of living as li lianhua, if you consider the chinese conceptualisation of gender being more social than biological. if femininity and masculinity were respectively characterised by inner/domestic sphere and external/any space outside of that, dare I say...it actually makes li lianhua's moving house mindblowingly smart as a metaphor for gender fluidity. lonely wanderers are common in wuxia but housed lonely wanderers? he carved for himself a domestic (ie. feminine) space in the wilderness - among a jianghu space that's still dominated by masculine values of aggression and competition. and being freely mobile makes this feminine space more fluid and less tied down than the more rigid, inert domestic, feminine spaces in traditional mainstream society. when you combine it with how his character has been fem-coded - even as li xiangyi (eg. yin-coded powers/energy) (also a whole other meta on its own... edit: it's here now), it speaks to a part of him that has always found appeal in qualities conventionally associated with femininity of stability, gentleness and non-aggression. and a rejection of expectations to fight and destroy. he is defining who he is in his own terms, in the true spirit of jianghu.

[aroaessidhe]

2024 reads / storygraph

In The Roses of Pieria

dark fantasy romance

a woman takes a well-paying but suspicious sounding job as an archivist working for a mysterious estate owner, and finds herself translating numerous never-before-seen artifacts from her specialty field on an ancient civilisation

as she begins to translate romantic letters between two ancient figures and unravel more about them, her frustration over the knowledge being kept secret and confusion over what the letters reveal grows

but between that and her developing feelings for her employer’s assistant, she finds out that getting to close to these secrets is dangerous

lesbians, vampires, fey

[domokunrainbowkinz]

月亮🌙

(Click for higher quality)

[lithi]

No wayyyy…..

[bmpmp3]

yesterday in vocal synth news

[lucabyte]

✨

[notonlymice]

rumbelle + twilight au moodboard

[rosewilsongf]

okay first of all i love the “written by stevienicks” but i also need to talk bradnate!!

why do they scratch the brain like that!!!

REAL!! (also thank you!) I think it's something to do with that whole dynamic of the king and lionheart? It's a pretty compelling dynamic. like they're loyal to the core with one another but it's not so much spoken as it is shown.

They're both quite reserved about their true emotions, Nate's own reason for this being his job and Brad, I think, is also similar but also because it doesn't seem to be in his nature to really let himself be vulnerable with more 'mushy emotions'? (he's not very good at expressing directly what he really feels like when he was talking about his ex-girlfriend). He also tends to use sarcasm and such to communicate those feelings with the others (aside from Nate, which really plays into the trust between them).

Like, in that sense, they really get each other. The nature of their positions as leaders mean they have to hold back a lot and through the looks and gazes, it's like letting each other know that the other sees and understands on a deeper level. And like that speaks louder than words. They both see the human underneath and when they interact, it's the human underneath they're talking to and not the persona they each put up.

[kashilascorner]

What were the prose Tristan authors eating for lunch when they wrote Mark and Tristan's dynamics seriously it's so toxic but also like they keep hanging around each other? Toxic exes except family instead of lovers

[summertimemusician]

*downs coffee like a shot* Before we go back to our regularly scheduled Linktober/Linktober Shadow (because I don't leave things unfinished if I can help it), I gotta get the idea of Revenant First out of my system and y'all get to suffer with me until it eventually ceases being an idea and it turns into an actual story. For some reason we talk a lot about First already being alive or already a ghost by the time the Chain meets him, but I don't think I've ever heard someone talk about him actually coming back to life and so y'all get to suffer with my insane ramblings like I'm an 1800's psychic ward patient who believes themselves to be a witch.

Can be x Reader or not idk just an idea that won't leave my mind.

Might expand on this later so Part out of I/?

Revenant First, who died for his people and in the name of his Goddess. All alone on the surface, fighting, fighting, fighting, always fighting. Just to make the land a little safer before the next hero arrives, just to contain the Imprisoned for a little while longer with likely nothing than a ordinary, common sword to his name and a slowly rusting armor.

Always giving so so so much for his people, always doing his best to protect them, though they scorned him, loathed him, didn't believe or support him, rejected him.

With a spirit so strong and lovely that a Goddess fell for him, hated herself for having to manipulate and put him through such horrid experiences just to save the many, just to turn the diamond of his soul into an unbreakable lonsdaleite blade agaisnt a mad deity.

Someone whose will would be enough to keep him going, just one more fight right? Just one more kill right? Forward, forward, ever onward, it doesn't matter if the flesh decays, if the blood drips drips drips until he is dry of it, if the liver doesn't process nutrients, if the lungs don't draw air, if the nerves feel nothing but the cold cold numbness of the winter of his final years, if the heart doesn't beat. If the armor rusts or the sword breaks. He must keep going, he must keep fighting.

To keep them safe he must have faith, faith that he can keep going, to grasp onto that one.single.thread of purpose until the day that fiery, indomitable, determined will finally burns out. Even if his Goddess may have forsaken him knowingly or unknowingly, even if his people have rejected him to the point he isn't even human anymore, even though they reviled him, even if that rejection should by all intents and purposes chained his spirit to the land or ground the jewel of his unbreakable soul into dust, he still loves them, still adores them, still wants to protect them.

No matter how long he must keep going for it. He wishes to see those he holds dear happy, though they cursed and imprisoned him once.

The Chain getting dropped into a completely empty, desolated and undeniably dead version of Sky's Hyrule, only to find the only living thing besides monster is a single man, with rusted gold armor and an old sword, a faded tunic of green with a long, crimson scarf like a bloody banner. With hair and eyes like theirs, undeniably a Link. But so very frigid, so very silent they almost didn't notice him, that they can't help but wonder just how many years he has spent there, eroding away, ruined but still kind, kind, so very gentle. A shadow of his former self, yes, but still himself, still so so so good, doing all he can until Sky's Era comes and maybe, just maybe, he can finally rest.

Or maybe not, after all, someone has to keep the land safe until the Hero after Sky comes around, no?

Just Revenant First in general.

Or maybe we give him the House in Fata Morgana treatment, the House in Fata Hylia Au if you will- *collapses from sleep deprivation*

[soupmanspeaks]

I know I can't be the only one to think "okay, canonically, what room are we in?" when a level is played, Arts in crafts, salon, DJ Music man, Bonnie Bowl, Cold Storage, Fizzy Faz/Food Prep, Endo Warehouse, And Captain Foxy's Log Ride, are pretty easy to assume where they are, they probably all take place sporadically around the PizzaPlex, with Bonk' A' Bon and First Aid probably taking place in a backroom/storage room and some other room down below in the Pizza Sim area respectively, Which leaves Fazerblast, Carousel, and the entirety of the Sister Location levels elsewhere lol

SOOOO uhhhhh something something what if the reason why Jeremy somehow is in the areas of Sister location with the Funtimes even though its technically impossible considering Scrap Baby, Molten Freddy, Ennard, ect, is because of all of the residual remnant within the Pizza Sim area causing him to experience memories from Michael, which is why we see stuff like Ballora Gallery, SL Custom Night, Office Job: Interview, ect, like maybe this could explain the fall fest levels with Carnie, because then the player'd be tapping into Henry's memories, be it his experience at Fall Fest or just his recollection of Carnie/Lefty, Or maybe its not even Henry, maybe its just a cycle of that one plot of land having so much stuff happen to it, like what if before there was Fredbear's there, the Fall Fest was also held on/near that plot of land? So maybe it could function similarly to the ITP Ballpit where the memories/agony/remnant/experiences in, around, or near it can transport someone in a memory or, "Back in time"?

[uncanny-tranny]

Do you think that terfs will calm down with hating on trans women once womb transplants are a thing? Because their whole argument is that "trans women aren't women because no womb uwu"

No, because that frankly isn't their whole argument. They don't argue against trans women solely because "no womb," and if womb transplants were a viable and safe measure, that would absolutely not be a good argument to calm their grievances - a transphobe doesn't deal in a genuine care for others, it a disgust response.

Transphobes already have issues with trans women getting FFS, vaginas, and hell, they even have issues with trans women being fem (or masc), even if they say, "we're okay with gender nonconformity!" as a cover. Because, again, it is a disgust response that blooms in response to their own transohobia, it isn't about being able to debate them, really.

Additionally, with my experience of dealing with that kind of extreme reactionary transphobe, they don't fucking care if they're wrong. Like, do you know how many times I've talked to a TERF who tells me I only transition because of misogyny, only to then talk in circles once I say, "misogyny against me had only increased since I have transitioned to male, plus, I never faced misogyny before I transitioned," because again, it isn't about the trans people themselves per se, it's about this viseral disgust response. It is them trying to reason with their discomfort with hatred. That isn't going to go away when trans care expands or becomes even more advanced.

I really want to stress how important it is to not whittle their whole argument down to "[trans women*] don't have wombs," because you will end up missing a lot of trans people who are affected by this type of extreme reactionary transphobia.

[blackjackkent]

(Touch Prompts)

Second prompt from @astreamofstars from this ask.

"Shadowheart/your choice - 12"

12. touch on a scar

-----

“Lady of Sorrows guide us,” Shadowheart says with a flicker of muted amusement. “Did you want something? Or am I just that fascinating to stare at?” 

Rakha has been sitting on the stool near her tent and looking at her, almost unblinkingly, for roughly five minutes. Shadowheart isn't usually put off by the big half-orc's behavior (even the darkest bits, which this certainly isn't), but one can only take such attention for so long before commenting on it. 

At Shadowheart's comment, Rakha stirs, then shakes her head as if waking from a dream. “Was I staring?” she asks. 

It's not sarcastic - Shadowheart isn't sure Rakha even knows how to be. “You were,” she says, a smile ghosting across her lips. “I know I'm a looker, but not to that degree.”

If Rakha registers the humor, she doesn't show it. “I was looking at your scar,” she says, in her gruff, blunt way, matter-of-fact. “On your hand. The magic around it. It… is different.”

Shadowheart flinches involuntarily. The mark on her hand is, she feels, a private thing - a holy thing, and it is disconcerting to hear Rakha describe it as nothing more than a curiosity. And yet, despite Rakha's capacity for ill-temper and violence, there is none of that here, no malicious intent. She is simply interested, and her interest has as little nuance as anything else about her. 

“Different how?” Shadowheart asks slowly. 

“Different.” Rakha's expression twists in sudden frustration. “It is… difficult to describe. It is a… hole.”

“In my skin?” 

“In the Weave. A conduit. Tether. Like Wyll's eye. We pull on the Weave to power spells. But something in you also pushes outward.”

Shadowheart chews the inside of her lower lip, trying to follow Rakha's phrasing. “It connects me to the Lady of Loss,” she says slowly. “It was a gift, a blessing.”

Rakha is silent a moment. Then she reaches out one hand, palm up. Shadowheart hesitates, then lifts her left hand and places it into Rakha’s. The other woman’s skin is surprisingly cool; given all the fireballs Rakha throws, Shadowheart half-expected it to feel like flame. 

With uncharacteristic gentleness and an odd air of intense focus, Rakha presses the fingertips of her free hand against the scar above Shadowheart's wrist. There's a sudden surge of energy that makes the hair on the back of her neck stand up, and then for a moment Shadowheart can see a strange, undulating, prismatic texture resonating through the air around them. 

The Weave? she thinks. Too startled to be uncomfortable, she watches that manifestation of magic in fascination - and after a moment she sees what Rakha means. There is a line that penetrates through the overall pattern, barely distinguishable from the magic around it - a cord binding her hand, arcing outward and disappearing beyond sight. 

The vision only lasts a moment. Then it fades, and Rakha takes a sharp, shuddering breath as from some deep exertion. “I cannot channel it as Gale does,” she mutters. 

“What… was that?” Shadowheart says faintly.

Rakha shrugs. “If I ever knew a word for it, it is gone, like the rest,” she says. A pause. “That is why I was staring. It is different. Strange to look at. Like Wyll - you are bound outward. Connected. Watched.”

Before Shadowheart can formulate an answer to this, the mark sparks, the by-now-familiar surge of agony through her hand and up her arm. To her surprise, though, the energy also kicks outward into Rakha's fingertips; the half-orc hisses with pain and lets go, drawing back.

“Sorry,” Shadowheart mutters through clenched teeth, rubbing at the back of her hand as if it would make the pain fade faster. “The Dark Lady doesn't like your interest, I think.” 

She can see the ripple of rage pass through Rakha's eyes and for a moment she feels poised to bolt - but then it passes, and Rakha just nods, her expression going unreadable, withdrawing back into silence again. “I see.”