#it's an inter white problem

[saltcherry]

my hot take on ‘can you use food words to describe skin color, especially of nonwhite people or characters’ is, you probably can do it in a reasonable way, it just depends on how racist the rest of your writing is whether is comes off as creepy. like it’s well-established in English literature to describe skin “as white as milk” and “cheeks as rosy as apples” etc., typically to describe young women or girls. the fetishistic tone is not going to hinge solely on the words chosen (of course, associations have to be considered). the real issue is that the fetishization of white women and of Black women or brown women operates differently. the words used to do it are different. the associations with sexuality are different (y do u think white women who want to assert sexuality often choose to do it by either embodying stereotypes associated with women of color or by directly appropriating aspects of nonwhite culture?). so really the challenge for the writer is not to remove all purple descriptors from their language, even stilted or outdated ones, and their associations (impossible task) but to be good enough at their craft to challenge, remake, critique, etc. those associations. like idk it seems like a very hard task and that’s why the advice is to simply remove that language! however it’s more interesting to try to grapple with language imo. and ultimately more productive because many many types of words carry associations of otherness, sexuality, prejudice, etc. when applied to nonwhite vs white people, Black vs nonBlack people, etc. the language problem can only be understood when you know this and only solved when you work at it with deep knowledge. (I guess the reason some people balk hard at “I don’t get why this is perceived as racist” over e.g. “she had skin like chocolate” is because they are lacking that deep knowledge accrued from reading a lot. related: if you don’t read a lot, and you write with that type of language, without knowledge either conscious or unconscious of those biases, will you replicate them? form new associations? is knowledge a curse, lol?

[tanglepelt]

Random Dc x dp idea 2

I love when the justice league finds out about the GIW or how Danny gets bombed with the news he is ghost king so why not mash them together.

Imagine a ghost council warning Danny that if the GIW/Fenton parents continue experiments the infinite realm will start an inter-dimensional war. Danny and crew are obviously freaking out. Working their butts of freeing ghosts from labs and getting them back in the zone.

Then the GIW catch cujo and instead of going to labs located near amity they go to a newly built lab. One that’s in a city with known dc hero’s such as gotham. So off Danny went to free cujo.

Danny would have to sneak in human with all the ecto detection and anti ecto weapons. The bats are suspicious of this new building. Perhaps seeing medical equipment or other nefarious items being brought in. So when they see a child geared up sneaking into said facility they intervene.

The bathfam wasn’t expecting the kid to be unstrapping a glowing green dog from a table guys in white knocked out unconscious. Danny clutching cujo in one arm is like hey I’m just trying to stop an inter-dimensional war.

He ends up in the watchtower. Constantine and any magic users are freaking out and confused. You just don’t mess with the infinite realm the ghost king wasn’t merciful. Danny is just going off about the laws and ends up emptying his backpack and out comes the ring of rage and crown of fire. Constantine just stares at them then Danny and just asks how. Danny shrugs and says that clockworth said they were his problem cause he lead the attack on pariah that ended with him locked in the Sarcophagus of Forever Sleep.

Danny grabs the notebook he was looking for and keeps going with his rant now citing different labs and attacks the GIW have done and the anti ecto laws. Constantine interrupts and just starts talking about the right of conquest. Danny and him just argue cause as far as Danny cares he did not defeat him he sealed him away.

After bickering and going back and forth he only stops when an observant makes an appearance stating he is indeed the king hence why he was informed the council was considering war. Danny just has a surprised pikachu face.

[psychotrenny]

I’ve been thinking about the whole “ACAB includes tankie cops” stance lately (it’s not like it’s been a recent subject of “discourse” but it’s definitely something I’ve seen thrown around before) and I reckon that it reveals a fundamental misunderstanding of class society. Like at its most oversimplified level the state is a social construct for one class to supress/control another with the nature of the state determining which class in the dominant and which in the marginalised position. The police and the role they play serve as an obvious example of this. But while there are countless examples of corruption in polices forces all over the world if you think that this is the primary problem with policing, that cops do what they’re not meant to is the problem, you’re following the same logic as Liberal Reformists.

From a leftist perspective the fundamental issue with police in the Capitalist world is that they are the violent enforces of the Bourgeoisie state. This goes for even the most kind, well-meaning and up-standing cop who doesn’t even know what a bribe is and has never reached for his gun in his entire career. As bad as it is when cops do what they’re “not meant to”, the reason for the “All” in ACAB is because what they’re meant to do is hardly any better. And hell, you shouldn’t ignore the class interests of cops and how that relates to what behaviours they engage in; a lot of “corruption” and officially condemned but unofficial tolerated or even celebrated behaviours still affirms their actual role. Like terrorising minority communities serves to maintain the hierarchical structures that reinforce capitalism on both a material and ideological level; considering deep inter-connections between white supremacy and capitalism is it any surprise that the violent defenders of capitalism are inclined to violent white supremacy

And now the problem with lumping in the police forces of Socialist countries is that their role is different on a fundamental level; the purpose of the worker’s state and its agents is to suppress the interests of the Bourgeoisie and maintain the power of the Proletariat. And you can debate about how effective they are at this (i.e. all those discussions of “state capitalism” or “bureaucratisation”) or offer criticisms about the performance of particular police forces (serving a Socialist state certainly doesn’t make one immune to corruption or bigotry-although I would argue that it doesn’t actively encourage it in the same way service to a Capitalist one does). Like there are very much arguments to be had about how the innate flaws of modern policing (an armed body institutionally separated from the people it is meant to “protect and serve”) and the opportunities we have to replace it with something better. But you have to actually *make* those arguments rather than taking them for granted. And such arguments are fundamentally hollow if you don’t even acknowledge the difference between who the cops are meant to “protect and serve” in a Capitalist versus a Socialist state. Like whatever your criticisms of (for example) the Cuban PNR it is incredibly foolish to make them on the exact same terms as you would the British NCA

[thetaxicabber]

Chapter 12 art for Voyagers of Time and Shadow!

This amazing art by @giselsann-opencommissions I'm so excited to continue getting art for this series! If you've read it let me know which scenes you'd like to see! :)

“Look,” Hermione jabs her finger onto the paper laid out on the table. Evie scans the headline.

Next to her Sebastian chokes, eyes widening. “Is this real?”

“Very,” Ron answers grimly and his eyes momentarily dart to Harry.

“Nobody has ever escaped Azkaban,” Sebastian whispers to Evie. “I told you about it…remember?”

Evie does remember. They were in the Undercroft after the Scriptorium, before he taught her any of the Unforgivable Curses. She’d heard about the wizarding prison from Fig in passing, but Sebastian is the one that told her more about it. He said that it was the worst place in the world, guarded by monsters and impossible to escape. He told her if anyone ever caught them using the curses they’d be sent there for life. Most people go mad or even die after arriving. It’s why Evie would rather have died then let Anne or Ominis send Sebastian there after what happened with Solomon. She never would have let him be taken, she'd have fought against all the aurors in the world to protect him and she would have won.

“Someone has,” Hermione lowers her voice till it’s barely a whisper. “Two years ago. But they were innocent. These are all convicted criminals, major supporters of…You-Know-Who.”

The photos are moving across the newspaper, showing mugshots of the escapees. Evie’s eyes lock on the bold name under the second photo. Her heart skips a beat in her chest. The man’s face is disfigured by pocks and the photo is in black and white but she recognizes the shape of his eyes and the set to his jaw. The same bored expression as he shifts back and forth in the frame.

Augustus Rookwood

“He…looks like Victor Rookwood,” Evie whispers and Sebastian glares daggers at the portraits. Evie doesn’t think anyone hates Victor Rookwood more than Sebastian. He's the one that cursed Anne, the one that terrorized the entire country at Ranrok's side, the one that almost killed Evie.

“Purebloods,” Hermione reasons and her lip curls slightly. “Many supremacists inter marry. Not that it matters in regards to magic. But biologically it’s terrible for their genes. Fools.” She shakes her head. "It's why they have such problems. At least that's what I think."

“They do at that,” Sebastian whispers, his face twisted in a grimace. “Ominis was potentially going to marry a third cousin if he couldn’t escape his family. His parents were first cousins. It’s disturbing.”

“How many escaped from the prison?”

“Ten prisoners,” Hermione folds her paper back up and tucks it into her brown leather bag. “All of them old supporters. Death Eaters. It’s bad.”

“So he’s getting his gang back together,” Evie reasons, resting her chin atop her hand. “It’s what I would do if I was an evil overlord. Especially since nobody seems to care that I’ve returned to power. Now is the time to gather power and allies without really anyone to stop him. It's a good way to get the upper hand. Then once power has been consolidated you strike hard and fast.”

“Put a lot of thought into what you’d do if you were evil?” Sebastian breaks the tension with a wry smile.

“Obviously,” Evie rolls her eyes, doing her best to ignore his teasing. “To end a dark wizard…or goblin,” she lowers her voice so only they can hear her. “One must first get ahead of them.”

[julienbakerpls]

I can see you - Julien Baker x reader 18+

"hey! if u take requests could you do something inspired by i can see you by taylor swift like the lyric ‘i can see you up against the wall with me’ and then like smut"

picture by @/pics.by.dana on ig

ALSO this is RPF if ur uncomfortable with that don't READ ✨

You had been working for boygenius as a guitar tech for the last few weeks of tour, due to their old one having a scheduling conflict. You were enjoying the work, but you were also enjoying getting to be around the boys. They really went out of their way to make sure you felt included in the inter workings of the band and the tour.

Everything was going great, except that you had an overwhelmingly embarrassing crush on Julien.

It was like Julien knew, no matter how great you thought you were at hiding it. They're were the lingering touches, the prolonged eye contact, the way she insisted on sitting right next to you and watching whenever you had to replace strings on her guitar that she'd damaged on stage.

You were loosing your mind with how badly you wanted her.

"Hey, I'm so sorry I broke like 3 strings tonight..." Julien said shyly after getting off stage, the sweat making her white button up cling to her body.

"No problem.... that's what i'm here for right." You laughed gently, walking over to Julien's stage case that held all of her guitars and equipment.

"is it?" You heard Julien whisper under her breath, you heart skipping a beat in your chest.

"What?" you asked trying to make sure you heard her correctly, tripping on a cord as you spun around to look at her. Julien instantly caught you around the waist steadying you, as you faced her.

"Nothing, You're just really great at what you do..." She smiled, tilting her head up to look at you. Her hands tightening around your waist before going to pull away.

"You don't have to.." You said, placing your hands over hers. Julien looked at you questioningly before pushing you back into the space between her case and the wall effectively blocking the two of you from view. She gently pulled your face to hers, kissing you lightly. You kissed back maybe too enthusiastically, causing Julien to smile into the kiss before deepening it. She wrapped one hand around your waist pulling you closer and slotting her thigh between your legs, the other hand softly caressing your cheek. You tangled your hands in her hair pulling gently, causing her to moan into your mouth pulling you down roughly onto her thigh. You gasp into her mouth, biting down on her bottom lip.

"JB?" You hear Lucy call, from somewhere behind Julien both of you instantly untangling yourselves from the other. You look at Julien wide eyed seeing how flushed her face is, she smiles at you covering your mouth with her hand effectively quieting you.

"I think JB already went back to the bus." You hear Phoebe say, along with the sounds of their footsteps leaving.

"That was close..." You whisper into Juliens hand. She smiles letting her hand fall away from your mouth, tracing your lips.

"Jay..." You start to say, Julien cuts you off pressing a kiss to your lips.

She pulls away from you, giving you one last smile before following in the direction of the boys, leaving you panting against the wall. You open the case to start restringing the guitars, but pause seeing that there are no broken strings at all. Smiling to yourself you close and lock the case back, before making your way to the crew buses.

-

"Ten minutes until we're on!" One of the sound guys yelled. You were getting Julien's guitars ready making sure that she wouldn't have to tune anything during the show.

"Hey, can you help me with this?" You turned to see Julien walking towards you, vest completely unbuttoned and rainbow tape in her hands. You felt your mouth start to water at the sight of her.

"Oh uh yeah," You stumbled towards her, she grasped your hand tugging you into the nearest bathroom locking the door behind you, before pressing you up against the door.

"You drive me fucking crazy.." Julien said, biting and sucking along your neck, You grab her hips pulling her into you. You press your thigh between her legs, watching as she visibly jolts when she pressed down onto it.

"Fuck..." Julien whines into your neck, taking one of your hands and pressing it to her breast. You gasp feeling her hard nipple press into your hand. You massage her breast, playing with her nipples loving the way she moans into your neck. Your other hand travels down her toned stomach playing with the button of her slacks. Julien gets inpatient with you, popping the button herself, while still riding your thigh.

"Please baby," She gasps into your neck, biting down beside you collarbone, forcing the breath out of your lungs. You push your hand into juliens boxers feeling how wet and aroused she is, you circle her clit gently. You and julien moan into each others mouth moving closer to sloppily kiss, speeding up your hand before moving it down to push a finger into her. Julien breaks away from the kiss throwing her head back.

"WHERE'S JULIEN? LESS THAN A MINUTE!" You hear someone yell from behind the locked bathroom door. You pull away from Julien quickly taking the rainbow nipple pasties from where they fell from her hands and start applying them to her hard nipples. Julien groans, quickly buttoning her pants, and her vest once you were done with applying the tape.

You unlock the door and let Julien go out first before following. You watch as she gets her guitar on and meets the boys for without you without them. You make your way to side stage, making sure you make eye contact with her before sucking your fingers clean of her. Julien bites her lip to hold back the moan in her throat, while you force yourself not to smile too smugly.

-

You're tuning Julien's banjo before the Nashville date, listening to the boys come up with their drag names. Julien comes out in her full drag elvis look and makes her way over to you.

"What do you think?" Julien smiles doing a spin for you, opening her jacket so you can see her nipple pasties.

"Oh Jay, you looks so good." You say smiling at her, following her with your eyes as she moves to sit next to you.

"Thanks, you know I haven't worn heels in like seven years." Julien laughs when she stretches her legs out.

"You look amazing," You smile, strumming her banjo to make sure it's tuned. Julien smiles, leaning in closer to you.

"You know... I'm planning on sleeping in my own bed tonight," Julien starts off placing a small kiss to your neck.

"Oh yeah?" You ask turning to fully face her placing the banjo on its stand. Julien smiles at you, blush coloring her cheeks.

"Yeah, I was hoping you'd want to join me." She says, pulling one of your hands into her lap. You watch her holding your hand, tracing her tattooed fingers over the lines there.

"Yeah, I'd really like that." You smile, laughing when Julien tugs on your hand pulling you into a soft kiss.

"Shit JB get some!" Phoebe yells behind the two of you. You try to pull away from Julien but she holds you to her continuing to kiss you while she flips off phoebe.

"Honestly it's about time, we were getting sick of watching you two pant after each other," Lucy says, wrapping Phoebe into a hug as they watch the two of you.

Julien pulls away placing one last kiss to your lips, before getting up and pulling you up with her.

"Alright let's go!" Julien says, walking and stumbling slightly but recovering quickly. You laugh, smiling when Julien checks back to see if you noticed and laughing when she sees that you did.

-

Julien came off stage, her wig falling off and her jacket off completely. She knew how crazy her in just nipple covers did to you.

The boys posed for photos for vogue magazine before cleaning the makeup and sweat off of them, while you retuned her guitars and changed strings that needed to be fixed.

"Are you ready baby?" Julien asks coming up behind you just as your locking her case. You smile feeling her wrap herself around you from behind.

"I'm ready when you are." You smile turning in her arms to face her. She smiles up at you now makeup free and in just a plain white tank top, you pull her in for a kiss moaning when you feel that she's not wearing a bra.

"God Julien, I'm so turned on right now," you say against her lips. Julien smiles into the kiss, starting to tug you in the direction of the door.

"I can't wait to get you home, have you against the wall, the bed, in the shower, everywhere I can have you.." Julien says now kissing into your neck.

Julien pulls you out the door and almost immediately pushes you up against her car. Kissing her way down your neck and running her hands over your body and under your shirt. She massages your breasts paying special attention to your nipples, loving the way you gasp into her mouth. She opens the door for you, helping you into the car before going around to the drivers seat.

Julien drives like a maniac blaring Mayhem from her speakers. She has one hand on the wheel the other making it's way into your leggings, she rubs circles into your clit to the beat of the thrash metal song.

"Jay, Oh my god," you gasp, wrapping your hands around her wrist to try and pull her away from you before you cum on her hand in her car. Luckily for you right as you were on the edge Julien whipped the car into her driveway. She was parked and out of the car before you could blink, Julien opened you door pushing you against the car again. She kisses you intensely, wrapping herself around you.

"Julien, you're so fucking perfect, but next time we go anywhere i'm driving," You pull away from her to say, smiling when she laughs with her whole body.

"I'm so sorry, baby I just couldn't wait to get you home.." Julien says kissing you deeply, pressing her body against yours. You moan at the feeling of her pressed against you with no bra and just the thin tank on.

"Fuck, Jay, take me inside please." You whine into her mouth. Julien quickly grabs you by your waist walking you backwards towards the door, and kissing your neck. Laughing when you both stumble up the stairs and into the house.

As soon as the door was closed and locked Julien had you pressed against it, pulling your shirt over your head and throwing it somewhere over her shoulder. She pressed in impossibly closer to you to unclasp your bra throwing that somewhere, before attaching her lips to your nipple and playing with the other. The moans that were falling from your mouth were loud and obscene and just turning her on more.

"Jay," You whined, throwing your head back the two of you laughing when it slams against the door.

"Are you okay, Baby?" Julien asks, reaching up to gently rub your head. You giggle and pull her in for a sweet kiss, loving the feeling of her smiling into it.

"Take this off..." you say, tugging on Juliens tank top, she presses a kiss to your nose before pulling it over her head. You hardly suppress the moan in your throat at the sight of her shirtless. You launch yourself into her arms forcing Julien up against the wall, palming her breasts and kissing down her neck. Julien gasps pulling you up to kiss her, the kiss is deep and heated stealing both of your breath away. You trail your hands down her body pushing one hand into the front of her pants loving the way she arches up into you. You let one finger circle her clit, gathering her wetness on your fingers and pushing that finger into her. Julien pants into the kiss, pressing her body further into you. You slide a second finger in pressing you palm against her clit, kissing her neck when she gets too caught up to keep kissing.

"Uh fuck, princess," Julien gasps when you bite down on her collar bone, and adding a third finger. You feel her body start to tense, legs shaking. You press her more firmly to the wall to steady her and Julien clenches down on your fingers. She cums with her head on your shoulder, whining into your ear how good your making her feel.

once Julien comes down from her high she's on you with renewed energy, pulling you up the stairs and into her bedroom. She pushes you on the bed, before attacking the waist band of your leggings. She almost rips them in her fierce struggle to get them off of you along with your underwear in one not so swift motion. You can't help laughing when she looks so pleased with herself holding both pieces of clothing up for you to see. She throws her head back laughing before launching herself at you. You're still giggling when Julien kisses you, both of you now naked and panting.

"I've been watching you for ages, and I spent my time trying not to feel it... but now I get to touch you.." Julien said, running her hands over your body, pushing your thighs farther apart and making a space for herself between your legs.

Julien kisses and sucks her way down your body pausing only to suck love bites into your skin wherever she pleases. The two of you fought this off for so long, and it was no surprise to you how intense everything felt with her.

"Please," You pant, tangling your hands in her hair, Julien finally decides to stop torturing you and spreads your drenched folds with one of her calloused hands. She lets her tongue rub back and forth along your seam, drinking in your wetness and moaning at the taste. You gasp at the vibrations her moans are causing before she roughly sucks your clit into her mouth, pushing a finger into you at the same time.

"Julien!" You call out, eyes rolling back into your head, you tug on her hair causing her to moan louder into your folds.

Julien thrusts her fingers in and out of you at such a deliciously fast rythme, keeping pace with her sucking on your clit your convinced you've died and gone to heaven. You feel the knots in your stomach start to tighten, getting impossibly tighter when Julien moves one hand you to pinch your nipples. You back arches off the bed involuntarily, causing Julien to force you back onto the bed with her mouth, the added pressure sending you hurtling over the edge. Your vision goes completely white for all of 10 seconds before you start to make out shapes and eventually Julien herself. She's looking up at you as she licks up your cum, the sight sending you over the edge yet again.

Julien takes her time cleaning you up, before she crawls up to your sprawled out frame. Kissing your body along the way, she smiles down at you.

"Jay, I don't even know how to describe how good that was l," You start but she cuts you off with a sweet kiss before pulling you into her arms. Just as the two of you drift off into peaceful slumber, tangled naked in her bedsheets you hear Julien whisper "Baby if you only knew," Before your sound asleep.

[olderthannetfic]

https://olderthannetfic.tumblr.com/post/753295388848553984/thinking-the-progressive-pride-flag-is-ugly-is#notes

Bruh, I'm sorry but that reasoning does not hold up to any scrutiny if you even give a lick of care to learn the actual bullshit that goes on in queer sphere.

"(poc+trans) they’re marginalized even within the community,"

I'm a bisexual woman. I've been explicitly and blatantly excluded from queer and LGBT+ events when it came out I was 100% bisexual. Even at times where I had a woman as a partner. I've had to deal with accusations of being a predator from the lesbian community when dating lesbians, or "invading" lesbian spaces. I've dealt with accusations of transphobia for using the label bisexual, rather than "more inclusive" labels. I've been told to shut up when talking about my experiences as a bisexual woman, especially if it was me criticizing the behavior from the rest of queer spaces.

I've had to deal with being excluded from queer community events, helplines, or other resources for queer people because I was bisexual. Do not get me started on the times I was with a man, or male presenting partner. I've had to deal with people demanding that bisexuals get dropped from queer spaces, and that we should "choose a side" and that bisexuality doesn't exist.

And you know what? I know that the exact same shit happens to aces. In a slightly different coat of paint, but it nonetheless the same level of vitriol and exclusion happens on a constant basis. There's a reason why there's such a deep solidarity between aces and bis "It’s a flag that was created to draw attention to intra-community issues,"

It's a flag that pretends to draw attention to intra-community issues, but in reality only shines light on a tiny part, and in reality doesn't even do that well. I don't even think most people flying that flag have any idea as to the alleged specifics of why these designs were made. I've seen people throw out incredibly subjective and/or vague assumptions and assertions as to why they exist, while they're clearing doing guesswork.

It's not your accusation that people believe that the "progress pride flag is separating trans people and POC and acting like they weren’t previously included" it's that it feels incredibly shallow and ignorant of queer history, and queer POC history and racism-even from within queer POC spaces-.

It's the problem that people think that flying that flag while doing absolute fuck all to change the problems in queer communities is enough, intra-community also doesn't work if the communities represented don't also actively weed out their own problems. Don't add me I know about the NB-phobia, and inter-trans transphobia, "If you want to pass you're a traitor", dumbshit like "no rice or spice" shit from poc users on (certain) queer dating sites... That shit is and was never exclusive to white people.

The rainbow flag as a battleground for these issues feels cheap, shallow, and childish because it was never created to exclude or target a specific sexuality. It was always a symbol of togetherness and fighting for our rights and right to live. Then some people decided that the flag that always represented the message "We're standing together" suddenly doesn't represent that message anymore, not because the flag doesn't stand for togetherness or the message has changed. No, it's because some idiots completely unrelated to the flag and it's meaning are being terrible people. No, just because someone is queer doesn't mean they get to poison the well for all other queer people and rot the meaning of a flag that always was for everyone, or their actions suddenly get to smear that the meaning of the flag from the get go included everyone, black, white, asian, brown, fucking translucent, and was always meant to show solidarity between all the sexualities. We're standing together as queers, but that doesn't mean individual queers can't be shits all on their own.

At this point we should just slap a triangle on all the pride flags, the flags themselves have absolutely nothing to do with it, but at least we can pretend like it does something, because a few dingbats can't behave and happen to be #that-sexuality/genderID. Let's add a bi and ace triangle to the gay, lesbian and trans-flag. Add an extra trans triangle to the trans-flag, maybe the NB and bi flag as well.

You can have your progress pride flag. You can have your feel good messaging if that's what it takes. But for the love of the rainbow, stop pretending the flag is anything but a shallow way to show-off that you at least know the surface level issues in the queer community.

--

[jeannereames]

I know this can be too much of an outlier, but do we have any idea if Alexander was a particularly fashionable person? Either if he was into fashion itself or if he was considered fashionable in his clothing style for example

Clothes Make the King?

Alexander’s clothing choices weren’t about fashion, but about POLITICS. What he wore sent a message.

First, three quick points about clothes in ancient Greece:

They were relatively simple with few sewn seams, and by Alexander’s day, any patterning largely along the edges. Most was made of wool, linen being very pricy.

They were made at home by one’s female family members. Yes, even the wealthy. A woman’s worth wasn’t measured by her pie crust or biscuits, but her weaving quality.*

They were expensive if one had to purchase cloth (as opposed to having it made at home). Most people had only a handful of tunics, one cloak and/or one himation (wrap), and one pair of shoes.

And finally, pertinent to this discussion:

By the 4th century, especially austere clothing was associated with moral virtue, while highly patterned clothing + lots of jewelry with moral decadence (the East/Persia).

Ergo, descriptions of Alexander’s clothing in the sources send a moral message: as he descended into vices and Asian tyranny, authors show him wearing extravagant, Asian-style clothing.

BUT he also did make choices of what to wear (insofar as we can be sure they were his choices), that conveyed his own messaging. Detangling his messaging from later author’s messaging is a continual problem, but sometimes it’s possible.

We’re told Alexander dressed the same as his soldiers. Differences in wealth would have been indicated by the quality of the wool and COLOR, but not the style. Being able to wear, say, black (made from the wool of baby lambs born black but who turn white as they age), or saffron yellow (made from the tiny pistils of flowers), or dark blue or purple (made from murex snails and imported at a hefty price)—THOSE tell you the person has money. The cut and drape of the clothing mostly doesn’t. You can pick out the king by the bright dot of yellow or black in a sea of dun, browns, dull reds, darker greens, and ecru.

What message is he sending? “I’m one of you…except the king”: primo inter pares (first among equals). Similarly, his armor was the same type, just brighter and better-made. His (iron!) helmet must have looked like he raided a mop closet with a big red horsehair crest and two fluffy white feather prongs beside it. But otherwise, it was a Phyrgian-style helm like the rest. This makes him easy to spot during battle, by his own men—but also the enemy. That’s also the point: he has the bravery to make himself a target.

After the death of Darius, he began to adopt some Persian royal dress, at least when dealing with Persians—with a couple exceptions. He refused to don trousers, the kandys (a special sleeved coat), and (maybe) the upright tiara. There’s some debate on the latter. Basically, he adopted Persian clothing that was less likely to offend the Greeks. It offended them anyway (because it was Persian), but he stayed away from garments especially associated with Asia: hated Asian trousers, the kandys, and the Persian “crown,” or upright tiara, going with the less offensive diadema that was already in use in Greece, albeit not as a symbol of royalty. Men already regularly wore a fillet; it was as ubiquitous as a ballcap in the US (and equally associated with “sporty” types).

So, he was trying to walk a middle road with the symbols of kingship while avoiding the more notorious. Again, he seems to have let COLOR stand in, giving purple cloaks and hats (kausia) to his Companions (Hetairoi), and Persian-style red horse trappings.

So he wasn’t a fashion guru in the usual sense. As king, he set style, he didn’t mimic it. Below is a late Hellenistic-era statue of him (Demetrio Alexander) wearing what seems to be standard Macedonian soldier dress.

Here are two earlier posts (with pictures!) about Macedonian (top) and Greek (bottom) clothing.

* There’s a funny story of Alexander getting in trouble by sending the Persian royal women a gift of weaving material for their entertainment. In Persia, slaves and low-borns did the weaving, so they thought he was telling them they were to be slaves and/or insulting them. He’d meant it as a compliment! His own mother (and/or sisters) made his clothing, so he was offering them status as his family members.

[garden-of-mancers]

Hihihi! I wasn't sure who to come to for this info, and I couldn't find anything related to this, so if you don't have an answer/insufficient research or something like that, then feel free to ignore this! /gen/neu

What's the difference between a tulpamancy and imagimancy? Ty if you answer this ask! <333

No problem! Full disclosure: I have done more research into the Buddhist origins of tulpamancy, but I'm not Buddhist or a tulpamancer, so if I get any academic or cultural information wrong, I apologize.

So, tulpamancy has an origin in Buddhist spirituality, and the modern western "tulpamancy" you see on tumblr is a misappropriated version of it.

In Tibetan Buddhism, tulpamancy is the act of creating a thoughtform (tulpa) with the goal for it to become an autonomous person through developing independent thought, emotions, etc. These thoughtforms are also called "emanations" or "emanation bodies" depending on the Buddhist you're talking to. Most tulpas also break away from their creators once they reach autonomy, therefore completing a cycle or the exercise. I know it's originally supposed to be an exercise to teach the Buddhist student *something* about nirvana and being a living human, but I can't remember or figure out what the specific goal is, so I apologize if any part of this explanation is 'off.' I'm not Buddhist, so I encourage you to take my answer as a starting-off point to do your own research into the topic.

Here's a reddit post by a Tibetan Buddhist on tulpamancy, and here's another reddit thread with multiple insights on the purpose of tulpas.

Appropriated tulpamancy like you see on tumblr, where the tulpamancer is making more than one thoughtform, isn't working towards the goal of autonomy, or is utilizing manifestation techniques to create headmates or "friends" is not tulpamancy. It's thoughtformism--it's a completely different practice that is just using terminology from a different (religious and culturally charged) practice. It should not be practiced under the guise of tulpamancy. It's not cultural appropriation because you're white, (anyone can convert to Buddhism); it's cultural appropriation because you're using terms and ideas in a way completely divorced from the original (cultural, religious) context.

(This cultural shift didn't start on tumblr, by the way. Occultists and westerners were recontextualizing and appropriating tulpas long before people on tumblr did it.)

After a lot of POC and Buddhists criticized the tulpa community, a few secular thoughtformist communities have come up. Daemonism is one example, where the "lore" and framework around your thoughtform is based on the novel His Dark Materials by Philip Pullman. (Although, what I've seen in the community is that daemians can play pretty fast and loose with the rules and no one really minds it.) But a lot of thoughtformists I've seen on tumblr just seem to make a certain flavor of dude (like a servitor, egregore, godhead--all things I'm not yet familiar enough with to explain) without tulpamancy OR daemonism as a label (which is a good thing!).

Imagimancy is the latest thoughtformist community to come up, and in my perspective, it feels like a "configurable" experience in thoughtformism. There's no more religious or cultural context, there's no more lore from already-existing books or movies, there aren't even any occulty or mystical labels if you don't want there to be. It's just... imaginary friends, but taken seriously and refined into a practice or activity that "older kids" and adults can do in a fulfilling way. To me, imagimancy IS the closest thing to what appropriated "tulpamancers" wanted tulpamancy to be. There are no rules or restrictions. One of the co-coiners of the imagimancy term describes imagimancy as "not trying to reinvent or relabel things; just filling the gaps between [thoughtformist] communities," and I think that's the best explanation out there tbh.

This isn't a "tulpas dni" post or anything like that; I'm interested in everyone's experiences of thoughtformism, even if someone's vocabulary isn't the most culturally sensitive. But I am very much in the ballpark of "what you're doing isn't tulpamancy. Call it something else" as a person tbh.

[tweeterwilbury]

Okay I’m curious, what exactly is the story of George Harrison at Woodstock?

I will try to be brief.

Ok, so in 1968, right after the white album was released, George was invited to go to woodstock for the thanksgiving. As he said on I Me Mine; "I was invited there by The Band. It was Thanksgiving time and I'd just finished producing a Jackie Lomax album, directly after the Beatles 'White' Album."

He also mentions in an interview — I think it's for Musician, in 1987? — that he thinks he was invited there by Robbie Robertson.

Robbie mentions the visit in his memoir, Testimony, and he says that he had to convince Albert Grossman to let George stay at his house, and also that "Bob [Dylan] was keeping a very low profile, and when I asked him if he wanted to see George while he was in town, he too was a little iffy at first."

It's a very known fact that George was a big fan of Bob Dylan — he mentioned that in a lot of interviews, and everyone around him mentioned that too, besides the fact that he was always quoting Bob —, and during that time in Woodstock, he wrote two songs with Bob.

The first one is I'd have you anytime:

I have a post about the unused lyrics for that song that might be interesting for now.

George mentions in I Me Mine that "He [Bob] seemed very nervous, and I felt a little uncomfortable — it seemed strange, especially as he was in his own house.", and he also says that the song was written in the third day there. Later, Olivia mentioned that, when George wrote the lines 'Let me in here, I know I've been here, Let me into your heart', he was "directly talking to Bob".

The second song that they wrote together was...

One thing about this song: it wasn't finished. There are only demos of it. But it still is a very interesting song... in the lyrics on I Me Mine, there is this unused part:

That was substituted with "I get tired of being Beatle Jeff" / "I get tired of being Beatle Ted".

One fun fact about that song is that it had different names through the years. This was mentioned the George Harrison website: "Nowhere To Go was a collaboration between George and Dylan from their 1968 Thanksgiving visit that also yielded ‘I’d Have You Anytime’. It was first called ‘Thingymubob’, then ‘When Everybody Comes to Town’. ‘I Get Tired’ was also a working title and finally, by the time of the All Things Must Pass sessions, it is titled ‘Nowhere To Go’."

George mentioned the song using the title 'Thingymubob' in a letter to Bob, where he wrote the chords of the song.

Going back to The Band, Robbie said this, on testimony: "I was very curious about recording techniques the Beatles had discovered. George described their process as extremely experimental and sometimes accidental. I could definitely relate to that. When George inquired about the Band’s recording methods, I could barely keep up with him. For every question I posed to him, he asked me two about [Music From] Big Pink and The Basement Tapes [...]"

He also said this: "But George was one of the most open people I’d ever met, and Pattie was one of the prettiest and sweetest. George spoke incredibly candidly about the problems within the Beatles. John, he said, was far out on a limb, testing his balance. “Kinda crazy,” he laughed. And our dear Ringo was following in the tradition of many a hard-drinking Brit—apparently he had threatened to quit the band at one point. George was quick to admit there were serious tensions between Paul and him. 'Whenever I present a tune, the Lennon and McCartney songwriting team will ignore it as long as they can,' he said. 'Sometimes I even have to fight for my guitar parts. Paul has such a clear idea of how the song should go that he tells me what to play, or he wants to play it himself.'"

Two very interesting things here: the fact that George was talking about the problems in the Beatles, and also the fact that he was very interested in asking about the band records.

From I Me Mine; "When I wrote 'All Things Must Pass', I was trying to do a Robbie Robertson-Band sort of tune and that is what it turned into." He also mentioned that, while writing the song, he always thought about Levon singing it. (I'm not sure about where he mentioned that, tho.)

There are some songs that Bob showed to George on that time and he played later — for example, I threw it all away, a song that was released on Nashville Skyline, was played by George during the get back sessions, in january 1969, even before Bob recorded his version, and also I don't want to do it, that was released by George in 1985 —, and that travel was basically the start of a long collaboration in music, between George and Bob.

Also, George talking about the problems in the Beatles during that travel makes Nowhere to Go have even more sense. And then, when the beatles got together to record an album, it was on the get back/let it be sessions.... when he famously quit the beatles for some days.

Well, i think I've talked a lot, but that's basically the story. George also gave a guitar to Bob, but I'm not sure about when that happened — especially because he used that guitar during the get back/let it be sessions, and then on the abbey road sessions...

Anyway, here are two pictures; in the first, Bob and George, and in the second, Robbie and George.

AND THAT'S IT! i think. Sorry if this wasn't brief at all. It took me one hour and a half to write all this, so i think i probably got lost somewhere and maybe i am forgetting something.

[punkeropercyjackson]

HM How do i put this.So people often think 'punk' and 'asshole' are synomyous and this causes problems when it comes to character interpretations(and irl too ofc but that's for a future post).Now i'm not saying you can't be punk and an asshole because that would be absolutely stupid and just incorrect but the latter does not make the former and you shouldn't force anyone to when they're not even if they're fictional since how you treat characters who're part of a group reflects how you think of the irl one

I'm gonna use the example that prompted this post:Spiderpunk aka Hobie Brown.Hobie is often characterized as mean-spirited and perverted because he's explicitly meant as the embodiment of black punks but the thing is,in the actual movie and og comics,Hobs is an incredibly sweet and gentle person and if you think i'm being ridicilous for saying that about the dude who kills fascists and runs his mouth all the time,consider that direct action is not an act of cruelty but kindness towards oppressed people by helping them have a safer world and that Hobie's only actually rude to authority figures and with everyone else he's just goofy.He's also pretty open with how much he loves his friends and always has their backs and i find it very odd how often he gets assumed to be an extremely sexual person when there were never even any under the radar adult jokes about or by him and the smoker headcanon for him is baseless too and pretty obviously only happens for sex appeal

And that's a general problem with both canonical and popularly headcanon punk characters-Most fandom members think punk is 1.Exclusively male and 2.Inherently made to make yourself attractive.There's nothing wrong with finding punk men super hot but there IS a lot wrong is assigning punkhood to them with that intention alone,especially often the characters are not only just EdgyTM but also straight up fascists(Hp and Marauders Flop Era 'kinnies',please touch grass)

This leads to defanging of punk female characters.Katara is a classic example and Zuko is a rich boy with weird biases he's very open about that didn't fade until adulthood while Katara is an eco-terrorist who reclaims girlhood for herself by being anti-traditionalist and feminine in her own way yet Zuko is always the punk of the Gaang in aus.Stephanie Brown and not a girl but Duke Thomas are a poor woman who grew up friendless and abused by her dad and had a drug addict mom so she became a vigilante at 14 to help people like her and is implied to be a metalhead and a black boy who grew up getting kicked out schools and in and out of foster homes and joined a gang of crime fighters respectively but Stephanie is called scene instead(cause pastel punks don't exist right /s)and Duke is turned a meek black boyloser stereotype so that Jason Todd can be the punk Batkid instead,which is certainly......a choice seeing as Under The Red Hood is basically about him doing freestyle death penalty and is not actively an activist even if he does enjoy helping people and does whenever he has the opportunity to by narrative.Very important sidenote is that Stephanie and Duke are often entierly erased from Batman fan content despite being Jason's Batgirl and Robin and i think you can guess why(that obviously the coolest Batkid has to be the fan favorite white boy /s x2)

And i feel the need to include this one due to my url and that is Percy Jackson.Percy is representation for audhd and dyslexic people who can never mask and got bullied and abused for it but remained kind against all world's cruelty and choose to help others since they wanted the world to be like that to them as a kid instead but they ALSO aren't a pussy about it so they openly stand up to corrupted people and refuse to be like them no matter how hard they try to get them to and they openly hate them for what they're like and they act like a parental figure to younger minorities.Their creator stated he never inteded Percy as being bisexual and has no interest in it but he also said he'd be happy and supportive of Percy being played by a poc one day and within the books Percy is extremely transfem-coded so obviously the fandom pops several blood vessels when literally any of this is aknowledged because they read the wrong books and wanted a white male power fantasy in ancient greek gays flavor

You can be super nice and punk because punk is a subculture,not an entire personality type.And i hate to break it to edgecases on here but being super mean to people without a justified reason because you think it's cool or finding irresistibly hot on others is one of the most normal things you can do

[somepsychopomp]

What does simon think of bonnibel?

I could answer that plainly, but I thought I'd attach an excerpt from my Vampire!Simon AU that deals with exactly this! It's pretty divorced from the overarching narrative so I guess it could be considered a one shot set within my AU or a prequel maybe.

Forgive me for any typos or bad pacing, I started writing at 3 am. This is very much also a rough draft that I'd like to clean up before posting to Ao3, but this is really exciting for me to share :)

(There’s also one small reference to the special vampire power I chose for Simon)

Word count: 2460

+++

The Star heard Temperance coming, she could tell by the click of his heels against the floor. She never understood why he refused to use his power of levitation, but she loved him all the same for his funny habits. 

As it was, she was rather bored. Dad was commanding the minions from his throne, commanding them to push their territory outward to search for more food. 

“Hey, Temperance,” The Star said, drifting away from her dad to follow after Temperance. He was wearing his long-tailed coat today, as well as his polished leather boots. 

He smiled at her and tucked a lock of white hair behind his ear. The Star used to wear her hair long as well, but she’d taken to keeping it short in recent decades. But her Temperance was always a bit old fashioned, keeping the same long hair all these centuries. His neat braid reached the end of his coat tails, brushing against the back of his knees. 

She took his braid and swept it over his shoulder. She asked, “Are you going somewhere?”

“Just out for a walk,” he said. 

The Star’s eyes brightened. “Do you want me to come with you?”

The hive was fine and all, but she was itching to stretch her legs. Metaphorically speaking, that was. She preferred floating, but it would be nice to spend some time away from Dad and the minions. 

“Ah,” Temperance said, holding up his hands, “No, you don’t have to come with me, that’s alright.”

Her face fell. Then she popped her lips. 

“Oh, is this one of your thinking walks?”

Temperance nodded. “Yes, exactly! You wouldn’t want to hear an old man talking to himself, trust me.”

The Star laughed and let go of his braid. “I would if it was you.”

Temperance liked his long walks, he claimed he used the time to mulling over questions of philosophy or history. Or to talk himself through the next steps in taking care of his garden. 

She’d still like going with him, but knew Temperance had a fondness for his alone time. 

“If you’re leaving the hive,” another voice said, “Then you must take a guard.”

They both turned toward the king. He regarded them both with those bright eyes. 

Temperance made a short sigh under his breath. “I won’t be gone long.”

“I don’t care,” Dad said. “Take some drones or take The Star. Either way, I don’t want you out there alone.”

For a second, she really did think Temperance would choose her. She couldn’t remember the last time they had a few hours away from everything else. And The Star knew he missed her company, too.

“I’ll take the minions,” Temperance said, voice calm and clipped. 

Dad gestured to the three nearest vampires and they approached Temperance, stopping at a respectful difference. 

Temperance touched The Star’s arm and smiled. “I’ll see you later. Go help your father with his plans.”

She rolled her eyes and blew her bangs out of her face. “Alright, alright.”

He smiled one last time, then he was gone. 

+++

Simon tried to resist the instinct to levitate as much as possible. He had to remind himself that with his eternal life, wandering the land on his own two feet was no longer a taxing, unending endeavor. It wasn’t like those years after the apocalypse began. 

Now, he had somewhat of the opposite problem. As royalty, he was expected to sever his ties to human ways. 

And that was just something he could never do. 

As he left the hive behind him, Simon tried to ignore the three minions drifting behind him. They kept him within sight but were also interested in picking through the desolate streets for anything to eat. Not that there tended to be much life this close to home. 

Simon walked for an hour before some unknown force compelled him to stop. He lifted his nose and smelled the air. 

There was a faint trace of sharp, rich blood. Human. 

His brows furrowed as his stomach sank. What on earth was a human doing this close to the hive? An injured human?

They must have been driven here by some of the vampire drones. On instinct, Simon tried to determine where the source was coming from. He turned around and almost let out a scream when he saw a flash of human eyes before they vanished behind the broken remains of an old wall. 

So close. 

And if he could smell the poor soul, so would the drones. Simon began hurrying along, keeping his composure. Knowing the others would happily stop to pick apart easy prey, Simon cleared his throat. 

“Stay close to me,” he said. 

He didn’t look back, but could hear the glide of his vampire guards as they reluctantly gave up looking for food. 

Simon walked for about another hour, pulling out the gilded pocket watch from within his coat more and more often the farther he went. He hoped he’d be on time. 

Ahead, at a crossroads between two streets, was a faded metal sign and a bench. A bus stop.

Simon sat down and massaged his ankle, feigning some fatigue. After a moment, he leaned against the bench and lifted his gaze to the clouded skies. 

“Come here,” he said to the clouds. 

But it was the drones that obeyed. The lesser vampires within the hive were bound to the court like slaves or draft animals. It would’ve troubled Simon terribly, if not for the way these vampires so happily abandoned their human ways in exchange for supposedly eternal life.

Two drones hovered in the air above him and another crouched at his feet. 

Unperturbed, Simon asked, “Look at the sky and tell me what you see.”

And because he was Temperance, the king’s advisor, the minions obeyed. 

“I see…” one of them began, “...I see clouds.”

“Look harder,” Simon said. “Really take a moment.”

And as they looked, Simon checked his pocket watch once more. 

Without warning, three gunshots rang out. Three sharp, shrill cries followed. 

Then the sounds of three stakes hitting the ground. 

Simon put his watch away. He breathed a short sigh of relief. They were both right on time. 

He listened for the sound of heavy footsteps. Simon picked up the stake that had killed the vampire at his feet and turned it over in his hands; it wasn’t too badly blunted. 

A figure dressed in pink came up from behind him, falling into the space alongside him. Simon held out the stake and she took it. 

“Thanks,” Bonnie said. She slid the stake into a slot in the bandolier over her chest. She looked exhausted, skin covered in scratches and dirt. 

“You know,” Simon said, “If it’s so hard for you to get this close to the hive on your own, I could always meet you farther out.”

Realistically, he could probably walk for days without suspicion being raised. To his kind, weeks could pass like hours and hours were nothing more than moments. 

Say nothing of the discarded minions. The hive had so many drones that Simon could slip back inside and not have anyone notice he returned alone. 

Bonnie groaned and said, “Save it, Petrikov. We both know it’s better for you to keep close. I can’t have the King going ballistic at the idea of you missing.”

Or The Star, but she didn’t need to say that part. 

He sighed, knowing she was right. But Bonnie was tough, he knew. She got herself here without that tank of hers, knowing it was too big and would draw too much attention. And she did it every year. 

“Here,” he said, reaching into his inner coat pocket. He pulled out a thick wad of paper folded many times over. Bonnie’s one eye watched his every minute movement as a hawk would. Or more accurately, a buzzard aching for a carcass.

She snatched the paper from him and unfurled it, revealing the most up-to-date map of the hive that Simon could design with his limited cartography skills. It was terribly difficult to accurately convey a three-dimensional space filled with irregular chambers and steep, winding halls. 

The hive was almost a living thing. Its corridors were more akin to a labyrinth that shifted and evolved from year to year. Not just to keep intruders out, but to keep their captured prey inside. 

Simon knew that in just a short while, he’d have to start making Bonnie a new map should she ever need it. 

For a good, long while, neither of them spoke as Bonnie poured over the newest alterations to the hive. 

“That old atrium is gone,” she said softly, “You broke it up into a bunch of smaller rooms… and these vestibules along the westward cliffs, they used to be sealed off.”

“Excellent eye as always,” he said. 

“Thanks, Petrikov,” Bonnie said. She folded the map back up and tucked it into her pants pocket.

Simon felt his stomach clench. 

Bonnie had tried and failed over countless years to destroy the hive. She tried an old cache of human-made missiles launched from afar, raising an army of human survivors, biological warfare by pumping live animals with disease vectors… 

Only once did she ever use one of the maps Simon made, to infiltrate the hive alone on what was essentially a suicide mission. She hadn’t told him, but she paid a heavy enough price. 

He stared at her missing eye and the ring of scar tissue that her eyepatch hid. 

“Do you think this will be it?” Simon asked softly. “What’s your plan?”

Bonnie froze. She looked away from him and he realized it was because she was ashamed. 

“You ran out of ideas,” he said. 

“I did not!” 

Bonnie rose to her feet, swayed, then stood tall over Simon. He resisted the urge to ask her to sit back down. When she got into these fits, it was best to let her work through them

So he remained silent as she pointed at him and said, “I’ve tried armies, I’ve tried it solo. Right now, I’m lying low and trying to put together a small, elite team.”

Again, there was that question of and then what?

But Simon only removed a handkerchief from his pocket and polished his glasses. 

Bonnie sometimes went years without directly attacking the hive, The Star, or the King. He knew from scouting reports made by the drones that she devoted most of her time to diminishing the population of lesser vampires. 

She was too prideful, too upset, to admit that she was only really in a position to continue doing that kind of more subtle work. 

By the time Bonnie cooled off, after a good deal of pacing and muttering, and was willing to sit back down, Simon just so happened to be done polishing his glasses. He blinked behind the lenses and, perhaps against his better judgment, gave her shoulder a reassuring squeeze. 

Bonnie tensed. She had a stake out faster than Simon could see and only stopped herself an inch away from skewering his wrist. 

“Sorry,” she said. She put the stake away. 

Simon smiled at her, “It’s alright. You wouldn’t have hurt me either way.”

She scoffed, the corner of her mouth peeling back to show her teeth. “I would’ve ripped your fancy coat.”

True. Very true. 

“Then I would have told my tailor that I was being my clumsy self and tripped.”

To his surprise, Bonnie chuckled softly. She leaned her head against the bench and shut her eye for a moment. 

“What about you?” she asked. 

“What about me?”

Without looking at Simon, she said, “How’s your junk been going?”

Simon felt a twinge of embarrassment. Perhaps this was how Bonnie felt. He ran his hands over his braid, one after another, and cleared his throat. 

“Well… I’ve been successful in keeping more vampires sequestered to the hive by convincing the King we ought to improve fortifications.”

Bonnie smirked, more teasing than mean. “You trying to make my job harder?”

Simon felt his face flush. “Of course not! But more importantly, I think I’ve been making some more progress with The- with Marceline.”

Bonnie’s eye snapped open. She sat up straight and stared at him. 

Simon said, “She’s been eating more of the color red in private with me, I think she’s starting to learn it’s okay to not have blood all the time,” he debated with himself for a moment, then added, “And… well, she almost came with me today.”

At that, Bonnie said nothing. Only clenched her teeth and shot to her feet once more, fists shaking at her sides.

“Bonnie! Please-”

“Did she know you were coming to meet me?” 

Her voice was rough and gravelly. It almost made Simon wince. “No, but-”

Bonnie swore in German. 

He stood up as well but didn’t try to touch her again. He said, “Please, I’m sorry for what she did to you, but I know there’s still good in her! And I wouldn’t have let her hurt you. O-or let you hurt her. Or–”

“Simon,” Bonnie said, in a way that showed just how tired she was. Her voice was nothing more than a low, sad rasp, “I know you love her…”

Though she was facing away from Simon, he knew she was touching her eye. 

Bonnie never would’ve gotten out of the hive the last time if he hadn’t secretly helped her. He practically carried her through the subterranean tunnels when she was dizzy and weak from blood loss. 

She said softly, almost gently, “I know you love her… but she’s never held back against me. So I can’t afford to hold back against her. I’m sorry.”

Bonnie began to walk away, their conversion having come to its end. But Simon had to say something more, if not to defend Marceline than to even attempt to make amends. 

But he found nothing. No words of great inspiration. 

Instead, he simply said, “Stay safe out there, Bonnie. And be careful.”

To his immense surprise, Bonnie paused. Without looking all the way back at him, she said, “Thanks, Petrikov. See you later.”

Later being subject to debate. If they missed their annual illicit meet up next year, it’d take even longer before he’d be able to see her again. To someone Simon’s age, that shouldn’t feel like a long time. 

But just as he walked the earth, he tried so very hard to feel the passage of time the way humans did. To count the minutes and feel like they mattered. 

As he watched her go, Simon felt two ways. 

He could’ve stopped Bonnie. 

He could’ve gone with her. 

But he only turned around and kept his eyes on the distant hive. 

[kisuminight]

I mentioned before that c!Tommy does have a run-in with c!Dream and c!Niki during Dream's Syndicate Arc. It's an interesting meeting, because it forces Tommy to engage with, and reflect on, the image that he's built of Dream in his head.

See, Tommy runs into Dream and Niki when they're doing resource gathering. The two of them have separated a little, but not too far--out of line of sight but still within shouting range. So Tommy runs into Dream when Dream is nominally alone--and doesn't recognize him.

Dream is in blue and white. In a cloak, not a hoodie. His hair is braided, but it's visible--which is more than Dream really ever used to let it be. More importantly, Dream is unarmored and unmasked--when Dream never felt close enough to Tommy to bare his face to him, and didn't even feel safe enough on his own server to walk around unarmored since after the L'Manberg Independence War.

So Tommy comes crashing up and shouting hello to someone he thinks is a brand-new member of the server. And Dream freezes and just about has a panic attack. Because it's bad enough that he's interacting with someone other than the Syndicate, he's now interacting with Tommy. More importantly, Tommy is the person most likely to realize that Dream hasn't lost his memories--if only because of his sheer obstinate paranoia that Dream is always out to get him.

Worst of all, even if Tommy doesn't hurt Dream directly, he's going to tell people. Spread the word that Dream is back, it Niki's Blade, and that is going to put Dream in danger, put Niki in danger when people come hunting for power because apparently power is more important than peace.

For now, though, Dream needs to make sure that he really, really sells the no-memory, newly Awakened Blade bit. And keep Niki out of it, if he can. Being a Blade with an "unknown" Driver will grant her more protection inter-personally than any reputation she could gather by being in Resonance with Dream.

Dream tries to keep his voice quiet and soft when he introduces himself. Make it not immediately recognizable. He shouldn't have bothered. Tommy recognizes it, sputters out Dream's name, and then descends into cursing. He's go a sword in his hand and he's going for Dream.

Dream gets caught in his own head--does he pull his own sword to block and blame it on Procedural Memory? Does he pull his Soul Weapon and let the fishing rod take the blow to throw Tommy off further--too busy trying to be not-previous-Dream.

Then Niki is there (she came as soon as she felt Dream's rising panic). Her shield counters Tommy's sword, and she puts herself between Dream and Tommy. Dream shivers in her shadow and tries not to feel pathetic about feeling grateful.

"Tommy," Niki greets. It's a cool tone, nothing like the warmth she uses for the Syndicate. Her emotions are a curdled and bitter underneath Dream's tongue, though it doesn't seem actively hateful. "Are you alright Dream?"

"Yeah," Dream mutters, fighting the instinct to move further behind Niki. "The kid came out of nowhere." Tommy is a threat because he's surprising, not good at combat--if he tries anything, he won't be able to do enough damage to outpace Dream's healing. The real problem will be if he tries to make a trap, or if he calls backup.

"What the f*** Niki! Why are you protecting Dream!" It's not really a question, as Tommy tries to edge around Niki to get closer to Dream. "And you! Aren't you even going to acknowledge my name?"

Dream takes a deep breath, steps forward, and looks Tommy dead in the eye. "Why do you think I know your name? You didn't even introduce yourself before trying to attack me." He's trying for reasonable. It even comes across that way, for all that his mouth is set in a nervous line and his hands keep clenching and unclenching because he wants a weapon but is worried about making the situation worse.

~

The entire situation is a mess. Tommy is convinced that everybody is Wrong and that Dream isn't a normal Blade (true, not that Dream knows) and that Dream somehow remembers his previous life (also true) and that everything Dream did in his previous life was deliberate without input from Dream's Driver (he's one of the few people to get that right) because Dream is evil (false).

Tommy is Not Dealing well with seeing Dream unexpectedly again. He is incredibly resistant to adapting his mental image of people, especially Dream. Since L'Manberg's creation, Dream has been the Enemy. Tommy has a valid reason for why he feels so negatively about Dream--but he's also obsessive about it, and tends to project his feelings for Dream onto Dream (which is... not helped by cannon!Dream eventually falling into using fear as a mechanism to make Tommy do what he wants, or Blade!Dream's passive attention-attraction).

~

Dream is lying extra hard about not remembering and honestly just trying to convince himself that it would be a Bad Idea to just take Tommy's last canon life. Tommy's biggest threat to George was a combination of his chaotic nature, general antipathy, and Dream's lack of a Memory Patch. Tommy is generally sympathetic to Niki, so he's less likely to just start trying to kill her Because.

The problem is that he's feigning that he doesn't have his memory, and suddenly attacking Tommy wouldn't make any sense for the "character" that Dream has been portraying to the Syndicate. In the past, terrifying Tommy has made Tommy run--but Dream doesn't look scary now. And if he tried to make himself terrifying, well, that's hard to blame on Procedural Memory and it might be enough to push Tommy over into attacking Niki, too.

~

Niki still doesn't like Tommy. She's gotten over her desire to see him dead, but there's still a general distrust. She's stopped blaming him for things that weren't his fault--but he's on thin ice for upsetting on of Her People, and it's made worse by the fact that she's getting all the chaotic ups and downs as his presence turns the Emotional Bleed from Dream into a storm.

So Niki plants herself between the two of them and does not move. Tommy's good, but Niki is better, especially as she's been training with Techno as part of the Syndicate meetings. If it comes to a fight, she's confident that she can take Tommy out.

~

While it's a mess, I don't think it would end up in the kind of mess that ends with any of the participants dead. Dream basically going "I don't even know who you are," in various levels of plaintive both makes things better and worse. Tommy is furious that Dream is pretending that everything that happened means nothing, furious that Niki is agreeing with Dream, and furious to cover the deep, cold hurt that is trying to rip him up inside because they were right and Dream doesn't even know him anymore.

Eventually, Niki manages to get him to back off for now. Tommy is loud and brash and declares that he's going to prove everyone wrong about Blades and that Dream really does remember everything. Then he goes charging off in a huff to get Tubbo in on the "plan." Niki takes one look at the situation and decides that it's time to take an extended vacation in the arctic, actually. Tommy doesn't know where her city is, but she doesn't want to be trapped there while waiting for him to get over himself.

Overall, this AU probably isn't going to end with proper closure for Tommy in any way. At this point, the way he's fixated means that he won't stop until he's sure that Dream is gone for good, and finally convincing him that Dream's memories were lost (no matter how false that is) will probably be the best short-term solution.

Admittedly, in the long term it's going to make Tommy feel pretty betrayed, but the Syndicate aren't really characters that care about his opinion overly much? Well, Ranboo might care about how it affects his relationship with Tubbo. But Techno mostly cares that Tommy is annoying and also betrayed him and to Philza, he is just Some Kid that Wilbur was attached to (and Wilbur hasn't even been revived in this AU).

Tommy is good as a plot device and as a character--but he's chaotic and difficult and also he and Dream need to have their therapy arcs in separate time out corners if they're ever going to recover from the catastrophe their relationship became. So for the sake of the story and also healing, Dream's Syndicate Arc is getting precedence

[jadedwolf18-blog]

Mini Phantom Invasion

Hi! So here’s a little fluff and angst. I hand the next chapter almost ready to go, should be up tomorrow and the chapter after that has been outlined. They will be a little angsty and word heavy as they will give some context and world building but I hope you enjoy them too!

So with that I have a question. Should I continue reblogging as I have or start a new post for the next chapters? I kind of like having them all on one stream of blogs but it’s getting a bit long to scroll through.

Or I can try to navigate ao3 or ff.net but I have no idea how posting on either platform works as I’ve only ever read. So what do think?

🤍🖤💚💙💚🖤🤍

Chapter 7

Danny hummed as they walked through the forest, hips swaying to an unheard beet as he made his way to the assassins camp. They wanted to make sure the were gone. The had gone back to the Zone to try and convince the old Stopwatch to pick another time line with a good ending. There had to be one. ‘The damn Ancient probably only picked this one because they found it amusing.’ Huffing to themself, they entered the clearing near the river and paused, they quickly ducked behind a tree and turned invisible. Phasing through the tree he flew closer to the unaware vigilante. He was picking through the wreckage they’d left behind, probably looking for anything on the ‘Pits.’ They couldn’t help but stare. 

Before they could stop themself, they found themselves hovering over the vigilante as he circled around the camp. They took the chance to take in the features they could see, he wasn’t waring the hideous cowl like some versions of wore. His eyes were hidden by the ever present dominos mask but they new that there were steel blue eyes hidden behind those glaring white screens. His skin was pale, paler than their own which surprised them, considering they were as pale as death in their human form. 

Danny hovered so they were face to face with the other man. He had fine aristocratic features that were surprising for a vigilante but knew they fit him well in his civilian life. His top lip was not to thin and curved with a slight cupids bow and his bottom lip was plump. Danny bit his own lip and shook their head before back peddling as Red Robin almost walked through them.

Seeing that the assassins had, clearly, left they took off and headed for they cave.

*****

Danny sat on the opposite side of the cave as he stared at their current problem. The grinning face of what had once been their greatest enemy stared back at them from the dented metal of the thermos. A million thoughts raced through their head. Did he know he was adopted? That the their mother was an inter-dimensional being? Did he know what the Drs Fentons would have done to him if they ever found out they were half ghost? What they did to their mother? Was his sexual orientation even the same? They were the same person, weren’t they? Danny sighed. “Did you Know?”

There was silence and for a moment the thought he wouldn’t answer. “Know what?”

The response was surprisingly lacking of the mocking drawl he had grown used to hearing from the other. “That we were adopted?”

Once again, silence followed the question. “No.”

“So they never told you, in your time line, either.” Danny muttered as drew their legs up and rested their chin on their knees. Tapping one of the earrings in thought, they asked, “Did Maddie ever where a set of red pearl jewellery?”

“Yes.”

“Ever felt drawn to them?” They were slight unnerved by the one word answers. “Did the draw get stronger after…?”

“Yes.” Silence. “Is their a point to all of these questions?”

“Yes.” Ok, so maybe they was feeling a little frustrated with the somewhat one-sided conversation. There was a, rather loud and dramatic, sigh. They smirked before continuing. “They belonged to our birth mother… or rather… made from our birth mother’s blood.”

They lapsed into another long silence and Danny stood up and padded over to the thermos. Stared at it for a moment before gently picking it up and walking out the cave. The hot spring had, unintentionally, become their emotional support spring.

🤍🖤💚💙💚🖤🤍

@akikoyuii

@emeraudesfateandfandoms

@cryinginthevoid

@gay-and-random-shit-i-can-find

@alinmenttreasure

@blackroserelina

@blacksea21090

@seraphinedemort

@jeminiikrystal

@mnemovoid

@sussura

[adarkrainbow]

I was rethinking about how important the use of cultural details is when doing fairytale reinterpretations or adaptations. It is a way of adapting that people tend to forget due to some sort of general agreement that fairytales should escape any type of time-space setting and feel just like a "generic pseudo-medieval pseudo-European" world (except of course if they are set in modern day America, because for the US media the USA is, of course, a setting deemed "universal" enough that should speak to everybody... *cough cough* americanocentrism *cough cough*)

It was something I was already thinking about some times ago, ever since I discovered the Royal New Zealand Ballet's Hansel and Gretel, which has lots of very cool references to various states of German culture, ranging from cinema (the aesthetic of the setting, characters and special effects is meant to evoke the classic mute expressionist movies such as "Nosferatu" or "The Cabinet of Doctor Caligari")...

... to folklore (the show made the insanely clever decision of replacing the bird eating the crumbs in the forest with schnabelperchten brooming them away).

And more recently I have been looking into a 1930 black-and-white French movie called "Cinderella of Paris", that transposes/twists/parodies the Cinderella story within the context of the realistic 1920s Paris.

And the main ball, the equivalent of the titular Cinderella ball, is made into the Sainte-Catherine dance. Which is absolutely fitting and perfect for a Cinderella within an inter-war Paris. If you don't know, up until the mid-20th century, in France Saint Catherine's day was the time of a great popular ball/public dance whose entire purpose was to allow girls of 25 years old or more, yet without a male companion, to find a suitor/husband/boyfriend/fiancé. It was the big time to "solve the problem of the old maids", of which Saint Catherine was the patron - and it was THE big "love day" long before the overwhelming Americanization of Saint Valentine's Day.

All of that to say, I really love the inclusion of little cultural details and elements within fairytales retelling or transpositions - either of the original fairytale's culture, or of the culture in which the fairytale is transposed. Not only does it make the product quite cool, clever and/or interesting, but it also shows that you put a lot of thought into the tale's original setting and the point of moving up to another time period or geographical era. It is the opposite of just slapping a "That's X country" or "That's X time" sticker onto a fairytale without doing much more work.

[drarryglobesficrecs]

Post War - drarry fic recs

Kiss the Joy (Until the Sun Rise) by ICMezzo(37k)

The Room of Requirement was severely damaged in the war, but not so much that it could not provide for one lost student and another young hero—especially when they needed each other most of all.

Like Lightning at Your Fingertips by potterwatch(43k)

The problem with living with another insomniac is, eventually, they find out you’re one, too. When Harry and Draco return for their eighth year, they think they’ll see very little of each other. Then McGonagall assigns them to room together. And the castle starts breaking. And there’s that thing with Potter’s magic.

Nice Things by aideomai(22k)

The first thing that happened was Theodore Nott came back from France.

Hurricane by phrynne(121k)

Eleven years after the War, Harry Potter and Draco Malfoy are both still haunted, working themselves to death on the job. But nothing is killing them more than seven years denying their mutual, unrelenting and painful attraction.

Crimson Neon by xanthippe74(20k)

Winter, 1999. Harry thought going to New York would help him get his head on straight, but all he has to show for it are sore feet and a fridge full of takeaway containers. And now he’s homesick on top of everything else. It doesn’t help that his mysterious neighbour in 2C keeps cooking dishes that remind Harry of home and all the people he lost or left behind.

Under the weather by P_pato_roldnart, shushu_yaoi_lj(14k)

Harry Potter arrives on a Friday afternoon.

The sun is shining outside, and the Hogwarts grounds are covered in purple and white crocuses; the first yellow daffodils peeking timidly from behind the trees.

Spring is beautiful this year, Draco thinks, and yet, there’s a dark grey cloud, rumbling ominously and leaving a big puddle right in the middle of the staffroom.

The cloud appears to be right above Harry Potter’s head.

As the World Moves On by InTheShadows(8k)

When Draco falls into a coma after the Battle of Hogwarts, he is admitted to St Mungo's and forgotten. He has no cards, no flowers, no visitors, nothing. Nothing, that is, until Harry stumbles across his room one day. (And then keeps coming back.)

Nyctophilia by prolonged_autumn(107k)

Everyone's back for 8th year, and Harry and his friends seem determined to spend their last year in school running around at night, hyped up on coffee and alcohol and Honeydukes candy, doing all the childish things they didn't have the chance to do before. Draco watches as he's always watched: from afar, quiet and bitter and hopelessly in love. That is, until Pansy decides she's had quite enough of it.

The Sleeping Beauty Curse by who_la_hoop(152k)

When Draco Malfoy falls into a cursed sleep and can only be woken – at least, according to the Daily Prophet, that impeccable source of truth – by ‘true love’s kiss’, Harry Potter knows there’s no way on earth he’s the answer to this particular riddle. Is he . . .?

the in-betweens by derekmaliknurse(42k)

A tale of inter-house unity, Dirty Dancing, the various charms of certain Gryffindors and the Slytherins who fall for them, and Celestina Warbeck, in which Harry James Potter shares a room with one Draco Malfoy and despite seven years of past seething hatred, has the time of his life.

when evil blooms by thedoomofvalyria(83k)

Harry wanted a normal 8th year, but the mysterious and beautiful flowers growing around the castle have other ideas. They're up to something. And so is Draco Malfoy.

The July Tree by oknowkiss(51k)

Neither rain, nor snow, nor sleet, nor hail… nor well-meaning friends, nor questionable communication skills, nor seven years of hating each other’s guts can keep Harry Potter and Draco Malfoy from falling in love.

OR: It’s Eighth Year, and Harry Potter has detention. What else is new? Well, since you asked: Greenhouse Four and the Tree of Life, for a start, and then there’s the new shared Eighth Year common room, and Harry’s sexuality, and these pesky dreams he keeps having about a blond man pushing him into things…

[hauntedppgpaints]

Warden's big fic rec list!

Hey y'all. I was inspired by @simmyfrobby to type up a fic rec, so here we are! These are the fics I have bookmarked on AO3, organized and summarized for everyone. Enjoy! :)

Fics with the rarest pairings (only ones in the relationship tag!):

drivin' nowhere fast. (7810 words) by draisaitleons Rating: Explicit Relationships: Linus Ullmark/Matthew Tkachuk Summary: “Hey, I just wanted to say thank you. For earlier.” Linus looks quizzically at Matthew, clearly unsure of what he means and unaware that he was there until he had spoken. That was going to make this a little more painful than Matthew had been hoping for. “For, you know, protecting my head. On the way down.” Matthew clears his throat, “At the net.”

go ahead and try a little crazy on me (4062 words) by lagerlout Rating: Explicit Relationships: Leon Draisaitl/Artūrs Šilovs Additional Tags: Winner's Room Summary: Leon huffs out a laugh before he can help himself. Goddamn, this fucking goalie is cute. He doesn’t know if he’s trying to be cute but he is.

leave an imprint (on my skin) (2733 words) by cokehead_zeroed Rating: Explicit Relationships: Brad Marchand/Mitch Marner Additional Tags: Alpha/Beta/Omega Dynamics, Knotting, Daddy Kink, Feminization Summary: Mitch does not think that this is what Cooper and Cassidy meant when they said that Team Canada should focus on finding compatibility. Instead of being able to focus on passes and shots, Mitch has found himself perpetually sniffing the air, trying to isolate this one alpha’s scent out of the two dozen ones that are present. Mitch catches sea air, pine, something like brown sugar; the smell of it is electric and intoxicating, and it’s throwing him completely off his game. It’s made even worse by the fact that their lines aren’t gelling, and he’s not sure how much of it is dealing with players and systems and line changes and how much of it is the fact that he just wants to spend the whole Olympics following this scent around.

écoutez-moi (14483 words) by hyacinthed Rating: Explicit Relationships: Mason Marchment/Morgan Rielly Summary: He stares blankly at Madison, 27, who enjoys white wine and pilates and the Blue Jays, staring until his screen shuts off and he’s left with his face reflected in the smudged glass. Things shouldn’t be this hard. Like, logically, people have been figuring out how to get laid for centuries, unaware that the Earth is round but still knowing how to get some, and now it’s 2022 and they’ve moved beyond sundials and Mason’s still scratching his head like a caveman. (Or, the one where Tinder's serving up inter-conference rivals and Mason just can't stay away.)

Fics with rare pairs (less than 20 fics in their tag):

young and new-made green (8750 words) by chevalric Rating: Explicit Relationships: Joel Farabee/Scott Laughton/Michael Raffl Additional Tags: Weird Biology, Non-Human Genitalia, Philadelphia Flyers, Dubious Frog Biology Summary: Joel is fucked, basically. As fucked as it’s possible for a frog to be, and that’s pretty frogging fucked.

Pregame Routine (4406 words) by inlovewithnight Rating: Explicit Relationships: Braden Holtby/Tom Wilson Summary: Tom's going to take care of Holts, going into game five.

Plus Minus (4784 words) by barefootstarz Rating: Teen Relationships: Sean Couturier/Evgeni Malkin Summary: This is most definitely not Romeo and Juliet, despite Sid and Claude's every effort. What it is, is two guys. That's all. Just two guys, a couple of dates, and a new relationship.

Gen fics

Problem Child (8184 words) by aleksrothis Rating: General Audiences Characters: Tyler Seguin, Tuukka Rask, Additional Tags: Age Regression/De-Aging Summary: Tyler knows weird shit happens in hockey, okay, so he shouldn't have been surprised when he opened his hotel room door to find Looch standing there with a screaming child in his arms. “He can be your problem now,” Looch tells him, holding the child out to him. “I need a drink.”

Catch and Release (22722 words) by McSpot Rating: Teen And Up Audiences Characters: Mario Ferraro, Braden Holtby, Brenden Dillon, Brent Burns Summary: If a player gets forced onto the opposing team's bench during play, that player officially becomes a member of their team. There's a whole system to catching players, with strategies determining who the prime targets are and the best way to catch them. Nobody expected Mario to be caught.

You Got a Friend in Me (1050 words) by seascribble Rating: General Audiences Characters: Colorado Avalanche Ensemble, Erik Johnson, Nazem Kadri Summary: EJ puts a lot of work into making the new guys feel welcome, especially Naz.

and a little corner for the horror fans:

Past the Threshold (3265 words) by sevenfists Rating: Teen And Up Audiences Warnings: Major Character Death Relationships: Sidney Crosby/Evgeni Malkin Summary: At the other tables, their teammates talked and ate, laughed, rubbed their eyes, yawned, sipped coffee, were alive. Everything was normal. It was a normal morning before practice. Sid was going to dinner with Geno that evening, and after that he’d probably get laid. Tomorrow they’d play the Jets. Everything was fine. “I hate fucking Winnipeg,” Sid said. Geno grinned. “Yes, same.”

A Voice Behind Me Beckons (3342 words) by CaseyJuTardis Rating: Teen And Up Audiences Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence Characters: Marc-Andre Fleury, Evgeni Malkin, Sidney Crosby, Kris Letang Additional Tags: Horror, Body Horror, Supernatural Elements, Cannibalism, Psychological Horror Summary: There’s no real way to know when it all started. It was first noticed with Flower, but how far back does it go? How long has this curse been passed from person to person, draining life until all that’s left is the all-consuming hunger? No one knows. This thing- this insidious, cloying curse- is ancient. Ever-present but unseen. Like a disease. Or a predator, lying in wait.