#that circulate tumblr!!!! and circulated dA before then!!!!!!

[thecubes]

my controversial opinion is that ai generated images are just neither here or there in terms of Goodness. people like to be really mad about it but half the time these people are fanfic writer or fanart makers or gif makers or people who rp or make spinoffs of fave media or make ocs and self inserts for medias they like and. listening to these people. say with their full chest. that ai steals art and remixes it into a regurgitation of art. and that is morally corrupt. and we need copyright laws to protect us. makes me feel like finding tumblrs servers irl and just pulling the plug on it tbqh

[legallyacceptibleurl]

of the blogs that i keep track of, there’s definitely obvious cliques. all of them have posts circulate to all parts eventually, but one thing i’ve noticed is a clear divide between the american liberal zionist bloggers and the israeli zionist bloggers in that space. the american liberal bloggers are more concerned about respectability and here and there might even push back when someone says something more egregiously islamophobic or racist (rarely tho). this is not the case at all for the israeli bloggers, they will just say shit like “all palestinians are nazis and should be wiped out” with their whole chest and then move on with no repercussions

there’s a handful of bridging blogs which keep the flow of posts between the two cliques circulating, but they rarely ever touch the more genocidal posts or reblogs

that’s where i come in I guess, i am working on posting some of the more shocking screenshots and connecting them to the people who reblog from them

i love posting examples, let’s use this one

ID: screenshot of a post that @shofarsogood reblogged from @stupid-jewishwhiteboy

@some-israeli-guy: “I want to take a few minutes to talk about my connection to Israel, as a Jew. I want to do that because some people desperately need to understand this, and also I'm procrastinating on uni homework.”

the rest of the post is cut off by me. End ID.

i often use these two because it’s by far the most infuriating example. shofarsogood is a very popular blog on here and is mutuals both with people who would be incredibly offended at being called zionists, and also just fully unapologetic zionists. meanwhile, some-israeli-guy is someone who will just straight up say “kill all palestinians”, and it’s fucking horrible but from a purely practical perspective i can appreciate the honesty because it makes my job easier. it’s like a touchstone for the level of hate speech these people will tolerate as long as it’s on their side

ID: screenshot of a reblog by @some-israeli-guy:

“Beautiful! Kill them all and erase Palestine from history!” End ID.

so, how does a post travel from the “kill them all” side of tumblr to the “we just want peace in gaza but conveniently all pro-palestine advocacy is antisemitic” side of tumblr? very easily it turns out

it starts with this

ID: a screenshot showing @homochadensistm reblogging from @some-israeli-guy. End ID.

here’s what kind of blog we’re dealing with at this point

ID: screenshot of a reblog by @homochadensistm:

“1. This poll is from the west bank, or do you think thats a place in gaza?

2. BBC reports Gazans are fed up with hamas: uuuuch WhErE dA BidEO eViDEncE

Some rando with a tumblr posts about 5 gorillion children dying in a nuclear explosion in Khan younis:”

under the text is an image of the wojak meme called “Two Soyjaks Pointing”

@homochadensistm’s tags: “#gazans will be freed of the bronze age islamists who took over them via a coup #whether u like it or not <3”

End ID.

next is this

ID: a screenshot showing @stupidjewishwhiteboy reblogged from @homochadensistm. End ID.

ID: screenshot of a post reblogged by @stupidjewishwhiteboy.

@not-antisemitic-receipts: “"Genocide Denier"

Yes, I "deny" accusations of genocide levied against Jews by antisemites, be they from Jihadist Islamofascists claiming "Palestine Genocide" or Nazi Fascists claiming "White Genocide."

"Denial" of conspiracy theories is simply common sense, Period.”

End ID.

and then it’s… wait that’s it?

ID: a screenshot showing @shofarsogood reblogging from @stupidjewishwhiteboy. End ID.

huh. i’m sure that doesn’t mean anything

oh but i’m going to be fair to everyone involved. at the time he posted that post that went around, he hadn’t yet said “kill all palestinians”. how cruel of me to expect these people to see into the future

except you don’t have to be raven fucking symoné to see that it was only a matter of time

here is @some-israeli-guy three days before his post about his connection to israel

ID: a reblog by @some-israeli-guy:

“As someone with a relative who fought in the Warsaw ghetto uprising, my first reaction was being infuriated.

My second emotion though? Hope. Same as how everything hamas and the pro hamas crowd blame Israel of, they've done themselves, everything they wish for us, they will receive. The Israeli people love life. We celebrate life in spite of everyone trying to kill us. Palestine, on the other hand, is a death cult. They worship death and find no meaning in life other than sacrificing it. Palestinian society is based on hate and death, and a society like that will never win.

The nazis lost. The nazis always lose, and my relative survived and came to Israel.

#israel #jumbIr #palestine is a death cult #i/p #palestine”

there were also a couple tags in hebrew that i cannot copy paste. End ID.

hell, let’s take a look at the tail end of the post that got reblogged by everyone and their fucking mom

ID: “To anyone who call us "colonizers": These "ancient" Israelites don't just share a religion with us, they ARE us. We were expelled from our homeland, but we kept our identity, we refused to let go, we kept wishing to come back home. We were always indigenous to Israel. We don't belong anywhere but here.

And now they're are trying to tell us that some people with a name invented by Rome to erase Judea and Israel, with a religion and language from Arabia, who didn't have a distinct cultural identity other than "Arab" until a few decades ago, belong here more than we do? I don't think so.”

End ID.

[wingsofhcpe]

At this point i feel like all greek users on this site know & follow each other one way or another

[ladylannisterxo]

Is that a cigarette? I have nothing against smokers. I don't smoke, but I do have my own vices so I would be a hypocrite if I commented on any vices that other people have. Anyway! I can't imagine Joseph being a smoker. And while I'm on this topic.. I felt cheated that we never saw Eddie smoke, he was about to smoke before Robin ripped up the cigarette. (eddiesluver. tumblr. com/post/689423476707246080/das-hot-joseph-got-me-screaming)

Yes, it's a cigarette. He is a smoker, there was a video circulating for a hot minute of him standing outside a building during his press tour with Jamie smoking. I don't smoke either (asthma and all that jazz) but while I don't love it, I do find it insanely attractive. It's a weird contradiction.

And YES, Robin saying "gross!" as she jacked that cigarette straight outta Eddie's mouth was funny but ahhhhh, let him smoke! Let me see it!! Besides, he's been having a time, let him take the edge off 😂

[robininthelabyrinth]

Thank you "Worthwhile Trade". The idea of Baxia turning into an guai is so interesting. I liked imagining the part where she hit NMJ for his idiocy. My brain is projecting "married couple" vibes, omg. I admit despite how weird WWX spoke about the events, the time travel part flew over my head until the tags spelled it out for me. (TBC)

(Cont'd) Also... did NMJ mean it in THAT dual-thing way when talking WRH's prefs? And the last part, where WWX used resentful energy to sub NMJ's qi. I assume he can still cultivate since his core's still there, if emptied? But I wonder what'll happen to his energy once restored Can't help but think his renewed qi will inevitably be affected by the traces of the previous energy that once circulated. He's not going to become a walking stygian tiger or something, is he? Off the wall guess, sorry!

----

sequel to Worthwhile Trade (ao3), also on tumblr

Wei Wuxian didn’t understand Nie Mingjue.

He didn’t understand the way he thought, the way he acted – the way he smiled when he woke up, the way he opened his arms when Nie Huaisang threw himself into them with a wail and said, “It was worth it for you, didi; it always is if it’s for you. Don’t you know that?” the way Wei Wuxian had always shamefully thought of saying, as if something like that could just be said like that, out in the open.

The way Nie Mingjue shrugged when the doctors said his cultivation would likely never recover, that he should have died, that they didn’t understand why he hadn’t; the way he said, seeming even satisfied, that it was a worthwhile trade.

It’s not a trade, Wei Wuxian wanted to scream at him. It’s a sacrifice! It hurts and you’re sad, no, worse, you’re resentful about it and you shouldn’t be because it was your choice, your decision, but you see someone else with everything that you worked so hard for and you’re angry when you shouldn’t be angry and you feel bad and you turn away; it hurts them when you do and you’re glad, you miserable thing, you’re happy that they’re hurt because why should you be the only one whose hurt –

Perhaps the problem wasn’t that he didn’t understand Nie Mingjue.

Perhaps it was only that he saw in Nie Mingjue his own faults, his own deficiencies, the ones he’d tried so hard to hide in the sea of his poor memory.

“You’ll die if you don’t find a way to cultivate,” he said instead, hovering by the door. He’d say that he didn’t mean to ruin the mood, but he kind of did, and Baxia’s eyes on him were cold as if she knew.

As if she knew everything.

How he’d gone back to the past, how he’d changed things, how it was his fault that Nie Mingjue – who’d never done a single thing to hurt him, who’d been upright and righteous and good and whose brother loved him enough to –

Wei Wuxian had made a point of avoiding Baxia.

Not that she was that easy to avoid. She was tall for a woman – not as tall as Nie Mingjue, but proportionate to him in the sense that she was as much taller than the average woman as he was taller than the average man – and she walked as though people should flee before her, a tread that only felt heavy because of the almost visceral rage that surrounded her like a cloud.

Nie Huaisang had found robes for her, somehow, and they were the least feminine robes Wei Wuxian had ever seen a woman wear, though he supposed he still hadn’t seen that given that Baxia wasn’t exactly a woman.  Cut in a martial style, a dark shimmering grey that seemed in some lights to be almost red – she had been born as a human in a mantle of blood and she would not let anyone forget it.

“I should have died already,” Nie Mingjue said, as if the world’s scariest guai didn’t have her hand on his shoulder right next to his vulnerable neck. “You came up with a solution, Wei-gongzi, and for that I thank you. Even if we are not able to solve the next stage, being able to see my loved ones is worthwhile.”

Wei Wuxian could learn to hate that word.

“I have a solution, of a sort,” he said, irritated and not entirely because his reveal had been preempted. He’d hoped to sort of ease into it, somehow. “You lack the capacity for regular cultivation, but that doesn’t mean you can’t use demonic cultivation.”

“What? No, we can’t do that,” Nie Huaisang said, biting his fingers anxiously. “Anyway, doesn’t demonic cultivation harm the temperament?”

“You mean my temperament can get worse?” Nie Mingjue teased, and Nie Huaisang smacked him so lightly that it didn’t even displace his clothing. “I don’t know any means of demonic cultivation, Wei-gongzi –”

“Call me Wei Wuxian,” Wei Wuxian said. “Please.”

“Wei Wuxian, then,” Nie Mingjue said. “All the methods I’ve ever heard of were forbidden for very good reasons – but perhaps those conditions are not the same in the method you know.”

Wei Wuxian tensed. “How do you know that I know one?”

“You saved me, didn’t you?” Nie Mingjue said practically, and well, yes, Wei Wuxian supposed he had a point – “And anyway, Baxia can tell.”

Wei Wuxian shivered. “I don’t use it,” he argued. “How can she tell?”

At Nie Huaisang’s instigation, Baxia had recently started experimenting with smiles. She put one on her face now.

It was terrifying.

“Tell me about it,” Nie Mingjue requested. “The powers and the price, all of it.”

“You’re actually considering this?” Nie Huaisang exclaimed. “But da-ge…!”

“Wei Wuxian was not wrong when he said that I would die if I didn’t find a way to cultivate despite having given up what I have,” Nie Mingjue said. “If I die, what will you do?”

Oh, not much, just become a mastermind capable of puppeting the entire cultivation world to enact revenge for your death. Nothing big.

“But – da-ge has always put such a priority on remaining on the righteous path…”

“That’s why I asked about the costs,” Nie Mingjue said patiently. “I will not abandon righteousness simply because I adopt a new method of cultivating.”

“Everyone will revile you even if you are righteous,” Wei Wuxian warned him.

Nie Mingjue shrugged. “Who is everyone? What do I care for them? You do the right thing because it is right, not for the sake of fame.”

Wei Wuxian had once thought the same.

“If everyone in the cultivation world thinks you are evil, they will paint you as evil no matter what you do,” he insisted. “No matter how righteous your motives –”

“Let them think he’s evil, then!” Nie Huaisang exclaimed. “He could be the most black-hearted cultivator in the land, but he’s still my da-ge; my Nie sect and I will protect him!”

“Huaisang! No! That is not how righteousness works – if I ever truly become evil, you are to cut me off at once, kill me if necessary –”

“No way!”

“Huaisang – Baxia, tell him; evil cannot be endured –”

Baxia was looking at her fingernails. She’d picked that gesture up from Sect Leader Ouyang, when he was trying to be pointed about ignoring someone; it was extremely irritating to absolutely everyone who wanted to know who she was and what she was doing here and Nie Huaisang and Wei Wuxian had teamed up to convince her to keep doing it.

Possibly a mistake, in retrospect.

“Baxia. I know you agree with me on this. Evil is evil, and must be eradicated no matter who it may be.”

She gave him an unimpressed look.

“I know I’m not evil yet,” Nie Mingjue argued, apparently understanding her without any difficulty whatsoever. He’d just woken up from a month-long coma and he could already speak fluent human-saber, it was really unfair. And this man had succumbed to Jin Guangyao’s wiles? Lan Xichen had more to answer for than he knew. “But if I ever become evil – what? No, we will not burn that bridge when we come to it, that’s not even the right idiom, who is teaching you these things –”

Nie Huaisang coughed and hid his face behind a fan.

Wei Wuxian was not going to laugh.

Nie Mingjue growled at them all and turned back to Wei Wuxian. “Explain,” he demanded. “The rest of you, out.”

“But –”

“Out. One of us has to cultivate the righteous path, and if it can’t be me, it has to be you. Baxia?”

She picked Nie Huaisang up by his collar, for all the world like a mother dog picking up her pup by the scruff of its neck, and walked out.

Nie Mingjue picked up demonic cultivation faster than anyone else Wei Wuxian had ever met or even heard of. He wasn’t sure if that demonstrated an unnerving aptitude or if it was simply that Nie Mingjue was surpassingly talented – Wei Wuxian had never met anyone like himself before, someone for whom all things came easy, and it was an unexpected delight to meet a kindred soul somewhere where he’d long ago given up hope. He’d never planned to unveil demonic cultivation in this life unless he truly needed it – he didn’t want to hurt his Lan Zhan the way he had in his first life, and anyway Jiang Cheng and Uncle Jiang and Madame Yu were all alive, with hundreds of Jiang sect members to boot, there was no need for his sacrifice – but the part of him that was more researcher and inventor than cultivator luxuriated in their discussions.

Nie Mingjue was a lot more concerned than Wei Wuxian had ever been with consequences, and how to mitigate them, but he supposed that made sense: losing his cultivation hadn’t impacted that Nie temper one bit, and demonic cultivation was likely to make things worse. Moreover, Nie Mingjue was simply who he was, stiff and unbending, as much steel in his spine as in Baxia’s; he could almost be described as being rigid in his thinking except for the fact that he was in fact seriously considering becoming a demonic cultivator.

“We’re saber cultivators,” Nie Mingjue said when Wei Wuxian tentatively brought it up. “Like a saber, our nature is to be firm and unyielding, not flexible like the sword, but we cannot allow ourselves to become too rigid – a too-rigid saber will break upon encountering an obstacle. It’s a difficult balance to keep, and one made more difficult by our cultivation style.”

“The demonic cultivation aspects, you mean? Using yao to refine your saber spirit?”

“One day, though not today, I’m going to ask you how you know about that,” Nie Mingjue remarked, and although his tone was causal Wei Wuxian’s back went cold. “And I’ll expect you to tell me the truth when I do. But not today. Anyway, yes, that’s what I mean. Do you know what they mean when they say that demonic cultivation harms the temperament?”

Wei Wuxian hesitated. “I assume you’re going to tell me something other than ‘it drives you crazy and makes you kill people’?”

Nie Mingjue snorted. “Sometimes I wonder how someone as smart as you got sent home before you finished your lessons at the Cloud Recesses, but other times it’s fairly obvious.”

Wei Wuxian shrugged, embarrassed.

“Do you really not know?”

“No one taught this to me,” Wei Wuxian said, stung. “I came up with it on my own. How would I know?”

“All demonic cultivation has the same root,” Nie Mingjue said. “Obsession.”

“With killing, yeah, I know, I’ve heard it a million times –”

“Shut up and listen, you impertinent brat. The killing comes later. It starts with obsession. Obsession with righteousness, obsession with love, obsession with the pleasures of this world, with power – a human becomes a demon when they cannot overcome the obsessions within their heart, and the obsession consumes them. In time, a demonic cultivator who is obsessed with power will do whatever it takes to obtain that power, and not mind the blood shed to do it; a demonic cultivator who is obsessed with love will kill everyone who they perceive stands between them and their love, a demonic cultivator who is obsessed with righteousness will turn to murder when in their judgment something that ought to be condemned goes unpunished…”

“What about one who only wants what’s best for his family?” Wei Wuxian said, and he did not know if the challenge in his voice was about Nie Mingjue’s future or his own past.

Nie Mingjue shrugged. “Two roads that I can see: first, their family turns away from them for what they have become and they become vicious with the abandonment, becoming quick to lash out against the world and eventually doing something that causes the world to turn against them.  Second, their family stands by them, and eventually the world causes some harm to them – and the demonic cultivator turns to madness in revenge.”

“Not exactly an optimistic outlook.”

“Not especially, no.”

“You don’t seem as concerned by that as I would have thought.”

Nie Mingjue’s lips twitched. “I have a solution.”

“Would you like to share?”

“Using resentful energy to cultivate our sabers makes them prone to obsession, driving them ceaselessly to fight evil, destroy it, without discrimination. It makes them stronger, but also more dangerous – and that is why they must be carefully controlled.”

Wei Wuxian frowned. “So, what? You’re going to be the saber now? Under whose control?”

“Huaisang’s, of course,” Nie Mingjue said, as if it were obvious. “For better or for worse, he is sect leader now. Who else would it be?”

“But – what if you disagree? What if he wants to do things one way, and you another –”

“Then I argue and probably yell a lot, and if in the end he still insists on doing things his way, I listen,” Nie Mingjue said dryly. “That’s how hierarchy works. Isn’t it the same for you? When your shidi, Jiang Cheng, becomes sect leader, you’ll need to listen to him – or leave the sect. There’s no middle ground.”

Wei Wuxian scowled.

“A sect leader that can’t control his disciples is worse than a demonic cultivator,” Nie Mingjue said. “He’s weak. A target, ripe to be ripped apart and devoured by other sects – resources raided, disciples poached, responsibilities taken away...It’s not a fate I would wish on anyone. If you can’t commit to obeying, commit to leaving so that you don’t end up promising more than you can give.”

Ouch.

Just – ouch.

Great advice, fantastic advice, world-class advice, and totally useless because Jiang Cheng had travelled back in time with him and was therefore convinced that Wei Wuxian was just looking for the first way out of the Jiang sect he could find, no matter what Wei Wuxian said or did about it.

(Even Madame Yu was concerned by the new coldness in their relationship and had tried to talk to him about it, which – Wei Wuxian didn’t know what to do with that. It didn’t match any of what he had thought he’d understood.)

He decided to focus back in on the demonic cultivation lessons, shifting from theoretical discussions to the practical, and that, unfortunately, was when they encountered an issue.

“What do you mean you can’t play an instrument?” Wei Wuxian demanded, appalled. “It’s one of the Six Arts! Everyone can play some sort of instrument – even Nie Huaisang plays an instrument!”

“Everyone agreed it was better that I stop learning,” Nie Mingjue said defensively. “It’s all just plucking on strings or blowing air in pipes, and yet no matter that I did exactly what the teacher said to do, it never worked, that’s all.”

“Didn’t Zewu-jun offer to teach you…?”

“He did. And then he said it would be better if we stopped, too.”

The reason, Wei Wuxian soon learned, was that Nie Mingjue was almost completely tone deaf, and the only reason it was almost was that he was still capable of differentiating speech.

“I agree with the majority,” he said after an extremely frustrating day. “Stop. Never pick up an instrument ever again. And don’t let anyone but Zewu-jun play something especially for you, either, okay? Even if they’re highly recommended.”

“An interesting request,” Nie Mingjue said, eyebrows arched skeptically. “May I ask why?”

“Because you’ll have no idea if they’ve changed the music on you,” Wei Wuxian said bluntly. A great deal about the man’s murder in a different life made sense now, and Jin Guangyao’s brilliance in hiding the score of Turmoil inside of Clarity was a little less impressive when played to a man who thought all music, without exception, was just plucking strings or blowing air. “Musical cultivation is deadly in the right hands, especially if you lower your defenses against it. Just consider it a precaution.”

Nie Mingjue’s eyebrows remained arched, but he hummed in agreement.

“I guess we’ll have to think of a new way for you to cultivate demonic cultivation,” Wei Wuxian said, rubbing his face. He had not been planning on having to invent demonic cultivation at all in this life, and now he needed to not only ‘invent’ the original but actually come up with something new. Why was his life so hard? “How did you previously manipulate external energy?”

“With Baxia.”

“Well, that’s not helpful, is it? You can’t wield a human being. Perhaps another saber…?”

That didn’t work, primarily because it turned out that Baxia had strong feelings about Nie Mingjue even thinking about using another saber and well, as far as Wei Wuxian was concerned, whatever Baxia wanted, Baxia got.

(Nie Huaisang had had to go to Heijan once, with Wei Wuxian and Baxia accompanying him since Nie Mingjue wasn’t ready yet, and some unlucky Wen captain had tried to ambush them. That captain, and his squad, were not granted the courtesy of an intact corpse, and Baxia hadn’t even gotten a speck of blood on her nice new robes – no, Wei Wuxian would not be crossing Baxia any time soon.)

“There’s got to be something,” Wei Wuxian said, and Nie Mingjue agreed, and in the end they found something.

Nie Mingjue had been absent-mindedly playing around with one of Nie Huaisang’s fans when one of the fierce corpses Wei Wuxian had raised as practice targets had gotten loose; instinct had taken over and Nie Mingjue had lashed out with the weapon at hand as if it were a saber, and the resentful energy had surged in response –

Baxia was apparently not threatened by the notion of her master using a fan as a weapon, not even one inlaid with steel and heavy cloth with enough layers to catch a sword in.

(If Wei Wuxian needed to go have some time to himself at the sight of Nie Huaisang, dressed as a sect leader with his saber always at his side, standing next to Nie Mingjue holding a fan – well, that was his problem, and also one he intended to show to Jiang Cheng at the next possible opportunity. Someone else deserved to have their mind wrecked by the incongruity as much as he had.)

Even without the weirdness of Nie Mingjue, it was more than a little odd to see Nie Huaisang in the robes of a sect leader without him acting like the Head-shaker. The shock of having to become sect leader had fallen heavily on him: he had become a little more serious, a little more earnest (though still a bit frivolous); he was more inclined to listen and think things over, less inclined to run away.

“If da-ge is going to become a demonic cultivator, someone needs to stand behind him,” Nie Huaisang said simply when Wei Wuxian had tried probing. “He’s always held the world up for me – it’s the least I can do for him. I may not be able to do much, I might be terrible at it, but I owe it to him to at least try.”

Wei Wuxian wondered, sometimes, if Jiang Cheng would have stood up for him if only he had trusted in him, believed in him, the way Nie Mingjue believed in his notoriously useless little brother.

Maybe he’d ask, when he went back to the Jiang sect.

Maybe he’d –

“What the fuck is wrong with you,” Jiang Cheng said as a greeting, and for once Uncle Jiang didn’t disagree. “All those letters and you never once mentioned the terrors?”

“The what,” Wei Wuxian said, and that was how he learned that while he was on his way back to Yunmeng neither Baxia nor Nie Mingjue had wasted any time utilizing their newfound skills out on the battlefield.

Nie Huaisang was never going to be a particularly respected sect leader, especially by those that had met him beforehand, but evidently that wasn’t really important given that he was constantly flanked by what was being called the two terrors of Qinghe.

Nie Mingjue preferred darker colors now that he was no longer sect leader, the same dark grey shading towards black that Baxia had selected for herself, and the selection somehow made him seem even taller, verging on inhuman, and Baxia standing beside him, her human features patterned roughly after his, made the two of them appear a matched set. Nie Mingjue wielded the fan that Wei Wuxian had helped him design, which he had forged with his own hands out of the metal from the Xuanwu’s cave that Wei Wuxian had foolishly figured someone ought to get some use out of, painted over with a cinnabar array in Nie Huaisang’s careful brushstrokes, and in his hands it was both weapon and conduit for the raising of armies of corpses. Baxia, for her part, held nothing but required nothing, a sweeping gesture of her hand more devastating than a dozen blows with the saber.

They were terrifying, a nightmare writ large and unmistakably dangerous, undeniably demonic cultivators in a way that was entirely different from Wei Wuxian’s own dramatics, and it unnerved the rest of the cultivation world the way Wei Wuxian had feared it would.

“It won’t be a problem,” Jiang Cheng said impatiently. “The Nie sect are ascending in strength, and this only adds to their mystique – who would challenge them?”

“Uh, Jin Guangshan,” Wei Wuxian said. “Like last time?”

Jiang Cheng huffed. “At this rate, I don’t even think Jin Guangyao will bother defecting to the Jin sect,” he said. “Not if he knows how to play his cards right. The Nie sect’s strength in the original version was never about Chifeng-zun’s skill with the blade alone. It was the whole sect’s strength, with Chifeng-zun’s ability to wield them as skillfully as he did his saber; he’s an outstanding general. And now they have him as a general, him as a demonic cultivator, and whatever the fuck is going on with Lady Baxia –”

“I already told you. She’s a guai.”

“Like I already told you, it doesn’t matter how many times you say that, I will immediately expel the knowledge from my mind and you should too. ‘Immortal cultivator cousin that my brother named his saber after’, like what Nie Huaisang has been putting about, is a perfectly acceptable cover story.”

“And the fact that his saber disappeared at the same time?”

“Coincidence,” Jiang Cheng said firmly. “And we’re sticking with that. Anyway, the point is that if you’re an ambitious man, the Nie sect is the place to be right now and probably will continue to be in the future. This is going to be evident to both Jin Guangshan and the future Jin Guangyao, and we’ll need to deal with that.”

“I’ll keep an eye out,” Wei Wuxian promised. “After rescuing Chifeng-zun and helping with the demonic cultivation, I’ve gotten pretty close to them.”

“Mm. And how about your other mission?”

Wei Wuxian scowled at the smirk on Jiang Cheng’s face. “You know perfectly well that I haven’t had any time to seduce Lan Wangji, what with how busy I’ve been. I don’t even know for sure if he likes me yet -!”

“You’re an idiot, he does, and you’re not allowed to keep us all in suspense for two decades this time. Figure it out.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

“It means that I’m sticking you with the job of being an information courier and you leave for the Lan sect front line tomorrow.”

“You are the best shidi ever,” Wei Wuxian said, and meant it.

Jiang Cheng huffed. “Yeah, well,” he said as if his cheeks weren’t red. “Remember that in the future. In this life we’re the Twin Heroes, you hear me? No take-backs.”

Nie Mingjue was right: Wei Wuxian would need to either learn to obey or tell Jiang Cheng early on that he was leaving, and walking a path in the middle would only cause heartbreak all over again.

“Okay,” he said, deciding to ask Lan Wangji for advice on obedience. Surely that was something that could be learned? “Deal. You do know that that means Lan Wangji’s going to have to marry in, right?”

“Oh no,” Jiang Cheng said, voice entirely flat. “How terrible. I’ll find a way to manage dealing with that ice block somehow…listen, I don’t care if you end up calling him Wei Sizhui in this life, but don’t ruin his character. He was perfectly nice.”

“I don’t know if he’s even been born yet,” Wei Wuxian said glumly. “I’ve been looking, but…”

“I’ve asked some of Mother’s spies to keep track of Wen Ning and Wen Qing,” Jiang Cheng said. “Collecting evidence we’ll need for their inevitable post-war trial, assuming we want them to live better lives than just refugees. Give it time, we’ll find him.”

“Now I just need to see if Lan Wangji will want to raise children with me…”

“Wei Wuxian. I don’t care. Go.”

[good-omens-classic]

Hi Good Omens fans, ever since making this blog, and trawling through the archives for old art, I have been thinking again about trends from before the TV-show, and the way people draw Aziraphale and Crowley.  I wanted to make this post addressing it but this is not “discourse” or to start a fight, in fact I would be perfectly content if all I did was make people think critically about what I am about to say and not even interact with this post at all, but I feel like I need to say it.

Talking about any racist undertones to the way people draw our two favorite boys usually makes people dig their heels in pretty fast.  This is not a callout post for any artist in particular, this is not me trying to be overly critical of artists especially since they have more talent and skill than I do, and I’m going to address some common counterpoints that I frankly find unsatisfactory.  Let’s just take a moment to set aside our defensiveness and think objectively about these trends.  It took me a while to unlearn my dismissive attitude about these concerns so maybe I can help others get over that hurdle a little faster.  Now let’s begin.

I’ve been kicking around the Good Omens fandom since maybe 2015 and for art based in book canon, whether it was made before the TV show came out, or because the artist is consciously drawing different, original designs, I’m going to estimate that a decent 75% of all fanart looks like this

Aziraphale is white and blonde and blue-eyed while Crowley is the typical “racially ambiguous” brown skin tone it’s become so popular to draw podcast characters as nowadays.

And the question is why?  With the obvious answer being “it’s racist,” but let’s delve a little deeper than that.

A common thing I hear is that people get appearance headcanons fixed in their mind because the coverart of the book pictures the characters a certain way.  My first point is this only shifts the question to why the illustrators drew them that way, when there aren’t many physical descriptions in the book.  My second point is that while there definitely are cover arts that picture Aziraphale as cherubic, blonde, and white and Crowley as swarthy, dark-skinned, and racially ambiguous...

(side note: why is Crowley’s hand so tiny?  what the hell is going on in this cover?)

It’s much more common for the covers to simplified, stylized, and without any particular unambiguous skin tones

I don’t know about the UK but the most popular version in the United States is the dual black and white matching covers

And while you could make an argument that the shading on Crowley’s face could suggest a darker skintone, it seems obvious to me that lacking any color these are not supposed to suggest any particular race for either of these two, and the contrasting colors are a stylistic choice to emphasize how they are on opposite sides.  If anything, to me it suggests they are both white.

In short I simply do not buy the argument that people are drawing Aziraphale and Crowley this way because that’s how they were represented on the cover art of the book.  If you draw them the way they are on the cover then whatever, I don’t care, but I don’t believe that’s what’s driving this trend.

The second thing people will say is that Good Omens is a work of satire, and it’s based in Christian mythology which has this trend of depicting angels as white, and it is embodying the trope of a “white, cherubic angel” paired with a dark-skinned demon for the explicit purpose of subverting the trope of “white angel is good, dark demon is bad” since Aziraphale is not an unambiguous hero and Crowley is not a villain.  “It’s not actually like that because Crowley isn’t a bad demon, and Aziraphale isn’t actually a perfect angel” is the argument.  This has a certain logic to it and allows some nuance to the topic, but to this I say:

Uncritically reproducing a trope, even in the context of a satire novel, is not enough to subvert it.  Good Omens is not criticising the racist history of the church, and while the book does have some pointed jabs at white British culture (such as Madam Tracy conning gullible Brits with an unbelievably ignorant stereotype of a Native American) it is not being critical of the conception of angels as white and blonde or the literal demonization of non-white people.  That’s just not what the book is about.  So making the angel white and the demon dark-skinned, playing directly into harmful tropes and stereotypes, is not somehow subversive or counter-cultural when doing so doesn’t say anything about anything.

Please consider fully the ramifications of the conception of white and blonde people as innocent and cherubic and dark-skinned people as infernal and mischievous, especially in modern contexts...

Black people are more likely to be viewed as violent, angry, and dangerous.  Priming with a dark-skinned face makes people more likely to mistake a tool for a gun.  Black people are viewed as experiencing pain less intensely by medical professionals.  Black men are viewed as physically larger and more imposing than they actually are.  The subconscious racial bias favoring light skin is so ingrained it’s measurable by objective scientific studies, on top of the anecdotal evidence of things like news stories choosing flattering, “cherubic” pictures of white and blond criminals while using unflattering mugshots for non-white offenders.

This is why I say that if you’re going to invoke the “whites are angelic” trope, you better have a damn good subversion of it to justify it, because this idea causes real harm to real people in the real world.  And Aziraphale being a bit of a bastard despite being an angel, I just don’t see that as sufficient.  I am especially cautious of when it’s my fellow white fans that make this argument, not because I believe they do this out of any sort of malice or hatred of people with dark skin, but because I know first-hand it stems from a dismissiveness rooted in not wanting to think about it for too long because it makes us uncomfortable.  Non-white people do not have the luxury of not thinking about it, because it’s part of their life.

Now the strongest textual evidence people use, in the absence of much real descriptor, is this:

"Many people, meeting Aziraphale for the first time, formed three impressions: that he was English, that he was intelligent, and that he was gayer than a tree full of monkeys on nitrous oxide. Two of these were wrong; Heaven is not in England, whatever certain poets may have thought, and angels are sexless unless they really want to make an effort" 

This piece of art has circulated in the fandom for so long I don’t know the original artist and it’s been used for everything from fancovers to perfume.  This is where I found it and it’s one of the first things that come up when you google this quote about Aziraphale.  

Doesn’t it just feel like this is the man that’s describing, some blonde effeminate gay man?  Well guess what, there’s the “blonde as innocence” trope rearing its ugly head again, because the stereotype of gay men and effeminacy as being a white and blonde thing is--ding ding ding you guessed it--racism.  And why would intelligent suggest a white and blonde person, except if the stereotype of a dark-skinned person is less intelligent?

Now the point of “people assume Aziraphale is British” is another sticking point people will often use, claiming that the stereotype of a British person is white and blonde.  I guess this has some merit, since the British empire was one of the biggest forces behind white colonial expansion, and it seems disingenuous to assign “British” as “nonwhite” as soon as we’re being satirical, in the same way I found it distasteful that the TV show made God female when so many of the criticisms of the church are about its misogyny and lose their teeth as soon as God is no longer male.

However consider that 1.4 million Indian people live in the UK.  I heard a man say aloud once that the concept of a black person having a British accent was a little funny, as though Doctor Who doesn’t exist and have black people on it.  And I’m not overly familiar with the social landscape of the UK, but I understand they’re experiencing a xenophobia boom and non-white Brits aren’t considered “really British.”  The stereotype of non-white people not being British only exists because of reinforcement in media.  If you really want to be subversive, drawing Aziraphale as Indian goes way further than drawing him as white IMO.

Now let’s talk about Crowley.  He is almost always drawn with a darker skin tone than Aziraphale, even when they are both white, and while I’ve outlined above how this is problematic on terms of linking light skin with innocence, I think it does have an extra layer.  I think it also has to do with the exotification and fetishization of brown skin and non-white people.

This artist’s tumblr is gone now but their art is still on dA and while it’s definitely beautiful and well-done, I think this is a very good example of what I’m talking about.

Crowley and Aziraphale necessarily contrast each other, so describing Aziraphale as “British” might suggest that Crowley is “foreign-looking.”  I also know *ahem* that the fandom generally thirsts over Crowley to hell and back, so making him a swarthy, tall dark and handsome is not necessarily surprising.

An interesting thing happened when the TV show came out, and everyone started drawing Michael Sheen!Aziraphale and David Tennant!Crowley more and more often:  It’s not ubiquitous, but it does happen that sometimes artists will draw David Tennant’s skin darker than it actually is.  The subconscious urge to see Crowley with dark skin is for some reason that strong for many people.  And I really encourage people doing this to think about why.  Not naming any names but I’ve working with fanartists before for collabs who I had to ask to lighten “bad guy” demon’s skin tones because it looked like they were making the skin darker on purpose to make them look scarier.  This person is a perfectly pleasant person who tries not to be racist!  And we both still fell into it accidentally, and it took me a while to notice and point it out, because the ingrained stigmatization of darker skin is pervasive yet often goes unnoticed.

What is the solution?  I don’t know, and as a white person I’m not really qualified to make that call.  Do we draw them both with the exact same skin tone?  Is it better to make them both white?  Should we make both of them non-white?  Should we only make Aziraphale non-white?  I am consciously aware of the fact that the Good Omens fandom is mostly white people, so most of the art we make is being both made by and consumed by white people, so I don’t feel comfortable saying “draw these characters of color specifically” because that can also veer into fetishization territory very quickly.  This is not specific to good omens but I think we should pay attention to what fans of color say in all fandom spaces and weigh our choices even if they seem insignificant.  And it’s important to realize that fans of color will not be a monolith in their opinion either, and it’s our responsibility to recognize that everyone can be affected by racism and social issues differently, the same way all women are affected by misogyny differently so just because one woman says such as such is misogynistic and another says it’s not.  I’m sure there are non-white fans who think it’s perfectly fine to draw Aziraphale as white and Crowley as ambiguously non-white.  I’m not saying they’re wrong.  And I’m not saying you can’t reblog this kind of art, or that people who make or made it should feel bad about themselves.  But so often this sort of thing goes unaddressed just because people don’t like thinking about it, and well, avoiding hard questions never really goes well I think.

[sharkapologists]

Get to Know Meme/20 Questions

Tagged by @pikapeppa​ and @kittimau (AHH FANGIRL SCREAMING)

Never done one of these before, despite being on tumblr forever, figure it’s about time

Rules: Answer 20 questions, then tag 20 bloggers you want to get to know better.

Name:  Savannah!

Nicknames: I’ve gone by a few over the years such as Sav, Savvy, and Freckles, but none really stuck. My newly coined (by Pika actually) online nickname is Sharky though and I really like it!

Zodiac Sign: Gemini. But also I just read horoscopes for the lols

Height: 5′10″

Languages: English, 3 years of forgotten high school French, and about 10 hours of Duolingo Spanish (Soooo pretty much just English lol)

Nationality: American 

Favorite Season: I really love fall! Unfortunately is seems like fall has stopped existing in California over the last few years and has since been relegated to the last week of October only, sigh.

Favorite Flower: Sunflowers, California poppies, and alpine lupines! The last two bloom at the same time and the purple and bright orange together are so pretty <3

Favorite Scent: I don’t like artificial scents, they give me headaches most of the time, but I think my favorite natural scents are redwood forest and pavement after it rains for the first time in a while.

Favorite Color: Just look at my blog haha. I love turquoise and really all the shades between blue and green. My favorite color to wear is purple though!

Favorite Animal: Cats! Or foxes! Or dragons, if we’re allowed to get mythical.

Favorite Fictional Character: Literally impossible to pick just one! But I think in terms of who I most want to be like, Aloy from Horizon: Zero Dawn comes to mind. Badass and takes 0 shits from anyone haha.

Coffee, tea, or hot chocolate: Tea or hot chocolate!

Average Sleep Hours: Literally as many as possible. I always shoot for 8, but if I don’t have to be up, I will regularly sleep for 11-12 hrs

Dog or Cat person: Cats! But dogs are fun to visit

Number of Blankets Slept With: My California King-sized fleece blanket (turquoise, of course) folded in half and on top of that my 20 lb weighted blanket (blue lol, I have a theme)

Dream Trip: I got to spend a week in New Zealand after studying abroad in Australia in college and it wasn’t nearly enough time! Other than that, somewhere with amazing scuba diving opportunities like the Caribbean would be lovely.

Blog Established: Ehh I think in like 2011? Based on what I recognized from the “Tumblr through the decade” thing that went around last month. 

Followers: Tumblr says 148, but I think that includes the porn bots that I block so probably closer to like 40 lol

Random Fact: I’ve only recently gotten into DnD, but in the last year and a half I’ve probably consumed about 500 hours of various dnd content and it has slowly been taking over my blog haha (Ask me about Dimension 20 or naddpod!)

Bonus: Beach selfie! Because as a true Northern Californian, I will go to the Pacific in October, and I will swim in it. And then I’ll get ice cream afterwards.

Tagging to: Gosh I don’t think I know 20 people on tumblr who either don’t know me in real life or who care about who I am beyond the shitposts I circulate haha, but here’s what I got! @zeldadonovan​ @enigmalea​ @aiszhemire​ @jennserr​ @lethendralis-paints @schoute​ @beverlytoegoldv​ @riz-gukgak​ @rabdoidal​ and because it would be truly wild if he saw this @brennanleemulligan​. Also @yeaboomerang​ because I tag you in everything else on tumblr, might as well tag you in this too lol

Also I am now realizing that I put mostly my new friends from Schoute’s and Kittimau’s DA discords so hi on Tumblr lol. Pls ignore this if it’s not your thing, and feel free to say hi! 

[xbarrjallenx]

The Only One

Pairing: Newt Scamander x Reader

Summary: A drunk and cheeky Newt asked (Y/N) to give him some love once again. Would the latter grant his request before their reunion night came to an end?

Word count: 2.890

Posted: 12th of December 2018

A/N: And here is the third and the final part of Happier! I don’t know how it turned out, but I did my best to give it a fair ending. Please leave some feedbacks, because I really need to know what you think about it, so please please, I am desperately begging you.

My song inspiration for this part is Ed Sheeran’s “One”. It is one of my favourite songs, so please give it a listen. Thank you very much for the love and support!

- G. x

P.S.: Tumblr is having problems with links in the post, so if you want to read the first and the second part, you can go to my profile and search for Happier and Give Me Love in my Masterlist, under Fantastic Beasts section. Thank you and sorry for the inconvenience!

Tags: @atlas-of-a-human-soul; @i-ship-it-ironically; @dreacantsleep; @writtenbypics; @themagicforceofmischief; @ann-is-amazing-person; @llealia

“Wha-,” Your eyes grew wide in shock as soon as you heard his request, which was also a kind of a confession, and your heart hastily pounded against your chest. “What? Newt, are you okay?” You were startled, because he wasn’t a very straightforward person before, but his older brother and your best friend just widely smiled to encourage you to believe him.

Give me love like never before, because after all this time, I still feel the same for you.

You were completely confused and your brain suddenly seized by hearing his muffled, but still understandable words. Well, that was the most bemusing thing that you have ever heard in your life.

What did he just say? He still felt the same for you? He still loved you? He wanted for you to love him again? Absurd!

“It’s okay, if you do-,” Newt started his indistinctive mumbles once again, but Leta cut him off as she pushed you closer to him, giggling in excitement. You almost knocked him off his feet, but you thankfully gripped on the table in front of you.

“She’s going with you.”

You swore to Merlin that you have never loathed anyone in your life until that very specific moment. How would you talk to him? You didn’t have any shots of firewhisky to build your courage high, what were you going to tell him?

“Good night!” The couple greeted you as soon as you and Newt bid your goodbye. You rolled your eyes at the sight of their cheeky smiles, but then you just shrugged it off. Newt was still a special person for you, after all.

The journey to Newt’s home was rather quiet and awkward. Many things ran through your clouded mind, but Newt didn’t seem to be bothered by any of his thoughts. In fact, he was being carefree as he hummed to a song that you barely recognised.

Give me love like never before, but how would you if he already had Tina? I still feel the same for you, when did he exactly realise it?

You walked beside him, your steps were serene, but his were messy, obviously because of the drunkenness. The space between you was just right, not too far, not that near either, but sometimes your hand would brush against his and you couldn’t deny that a powerful electricity would still gush through your veins. You longed for him, you longed for his touch and you missed him so much, his confession might be true, but then you realised: he was just drunk. You shouldn’t be too delusional!

“You are too quiet tonight, my (Y/N). What are you thinking about?” Newt instantaneously blurted out, grabbing your icy-cold hand to halt you from walking for a little while.

“Huh?” You were shocked for his direct actions too, mostly for him calling you his, but you quickly calmed down as his hand gave you the warmth that you were searching for ever since you got out of Theseus’ house. The cold winter breeze slightly woke him up, but the circulating alcohol in his system still kept him warm.

“What are you thinking about?” He repeated his question and your heart skipped its beat once again as he tightened his grip on your freezing hand. He still had the same effect on you, he still invigorated you.

“Nothing.” You lied through your teeth and, although you hated on doing it, you retracted your hand from his grasp and kept on walking. You heard him groan in annoyance, but he kept on walking in zigzags.

“(Y/N)!” He childishly whined to call your attention. This wasn’t obviously the Newt that you used to know, but well, ta-da, alcohol’s work, but you loved seeing him act in that way. He slightly made you chuckle, but you quickly stopped it, so you wouldn’t give him the wrong idea.

“What did you drink with your brother tonight, Mr. Scamander?” You raised an eyebrow while you waited for him to be beside you again. “Well, apart from the Champagne.”

“Fire-whis-keey!” He honestly answered, exaggeratedly emphasising every syllable of the word. Oh, what a naughty Hufflepuff!

“Firewhisky?” If it weren’t a night full of surprises! His simple answer suddenly explained why you had a very straightforward Newt Scamander in front of you. That alcoholic drink gifted courage. Every sear that your throat would endure was equivalent to a great quantity of courage. “Theseus, ugh!”

“Actually, it was my choice.” He slightly giggled as he looked at your perplexed, but annoyed facial expression. “It bu-burnt my throat a lot. How did you manage drinking that?”

You just rolled your eyes in response, but your gaze softened when you realised that you were slowly feeling comfortable with Newt once again. After all, you were having a normal conversation right now, as if he didn’t say anything bonkers minutes before. “I was broken hearted and I wanted to forget you. What about you? What is your motive?”

“Forget me?” He playfully scoffed as he remembered the last night you saw each other. “I remember otherwise.”

“Oh, shut up, Scamander!” You vexedly slapped his chest as he continuously teased, but you both burst into a noisy laughter soon after, making some chaos in the serene street you were walking on. “So, what is your motive? Are you trying to forget someone too?”

You avoided his gaze as Tina Goldstein came across your mind. Was he doing the same thing you did when you wanted to forget him? Was he ruining himself too to relieve his broken heart? Did Tina even break his heart? If yes, how could she? Newt was the most amazing person that you have ever known in your life.

He stopped you once again from walking, gripping on your arm this time. “No, stop torturing yourself with your useless thoughts! I did it just because I wanted to have an overflowing amount of courage on doing this.”

Newt nonchalantly pulled you close to him, your body tenderly bumping against his. His warm hand was brought on your crimson red cheek and he suddenly leant in to press a gentle kiss on your quivering lips. Saying that you were flabbergasted wasn’t enough, you never expected for this to happen!

Newt was literally out of his mind, but you realised that you were too, when you chose to flutter close your eyes and move your lips together with his. You missed this, you missed him. Your heart was crazily beating, because of the tenderness of his touch. You were kissing him again, after months of not seeing each other, after months of avoiding each other.

The kiss was so romantic and sweet, needy at the right point. He missed you, he needed you and to deepen the kiss even more, he slithered his arms around your waist, while you brought yours around his neck, slowly tugging your icy-cold fingers in his messy dark-auburn locks. His massive lips gave you comfort and warmth, albeit the bitter taste of the alcohol invaded your taste buds. His touch brought you to another world, a world where all the wrong things seemed so right and the right things seemed so wrong.

“Newt!” You called him out in the middle of your little making out session in one of the serene and quiet streets of London. You loved everything about it, you loved locking lips with him once again, but a little thought rapidly brought you back to the reality. “This is wrong.”

“Your lips and your body said otherwise, love.” Newt cheekily smirked as soon as you pushed him away from you, hands sadly leaving his tousled hair. You wanted to stay in his arms the whole night, but it was all wrong.

You were confused as different emotions wrapped your system: worry, because you still longed for his warmth, although it was erratic and inappropriate; sadness, because he wasn’t yours to hold anymore; agony, because your heart still beat for him even after he hurt you; nostalgia, because the taste that his lips allowed awakened most of your wonderful memories with him.

“Oh, the guy who flirts with you at work. Right!” Newt’s smirk speedily faltered as he remembered something that has been mentioned during the dinner earlier. How could he be so stupid sometimes?

You shook your head in response, hoping that he would understand that the guy meant really nothing to you. “I actually meant your girl, Tina.” You softly pronounced her name and warm teardrops briskly rolled down your face.

The thought of her having the man that you once loved broke you, hurt you.

“You don’t have to worry about her.” Newt assured you with a soft purr as he pulled you close to him once again. “Stop crying.”

“Why?” You asked while he cupped your cheeks with his calloused hand and wiped your hot tears with his thumbs just like how he used to.

Give me love like never before, because after all this time, I still feel the same for you.

His words echoed through the walls of your fuzzy mind once again and you just knew that the time of asking him what he really meant earlier came. After all, he didn’t answer your question regarding his new love interest.

“Newt?” You calmly called and he hummed in response to tell you that he was listening. “What do you even mean when you asked me to give you love like never before?”

Newt considered your eyes and squeezed your cheeks sheepishly. “It’s not that hard to understand, (Y/N).”

“I know, but all of this is bonkers for me, Newt!” You truthfully explained, grabbing his coat’s sleeves to take his hands off your reddened face. “I don’t even know if I should believe you or not.”

“Why is it difficult to believe me?” He eagerly asked and you just unleashed a long and heavy sigh before starting to walk once again. “Is it because I am drunk?”

“Yes,” You confidently and honestly answered. “aren’t you?”

“May I ask you a question, (Y/N)?” He asked as he walked towards your direction, still following you in zigzags. He kept on dropping important topics aside and he started getting on your nerves.

“Answering a question with another question isn’t very respectful, Mr. Scamander,” You sarcastically told him, shaking your head as you saw him struggling to walk properly. “but fire away.”

“Did you really mean what you said to me that night? That you would wait for me until she breaks my heart?” He brought the most improper topic up, still having lots of courage in his store. He never had the chance to ask you about it, he started avoiding you and you started avoiding him, right? This was his time.

You suddenly stopped from walking as you remembered what you told him that night and you suddenly felt a pang in your chest. Why did you do this to yourself? “Should I still wait for a very long time?”

“Answering a question with another question isn’t very respectful, (Y/N).” The cheeky Hufflepuff fired back, copying your statement minutes before. Touché, but couldn’t he be serious for just one time?

“Newton Scamander!” You pouted while you severely scolded him. He just laughed at your actions, but stopped on walking to face you.

“What?”

“You are so miffing!” You whined and you earned more tumultuous laughs from him. He could be very annoying, but he acted that way even when he was sober, so you just shook it off.

Well, he was so adorable when he would enjoy himself and it somehow fluttered your heart, breaking the thick walls that you were slowly building around your heart, in case he revealed you something that would hurt you by the end of your inexhaustible walk.

“But yes, I did mean every single word I said that night. Why would you think that I would lie?” You seriously asked him, making him stop from laughing. “Because I was drunk?”

“Exactly my point, love!” He slightly chuckled while he walked back towards your direction to grab your hand and pulled you as you both walked together. “You know, even though I am drunk, I am still aware of what I am doing, (Y/N), because I know what my heart wants.”

“And what does your heart want?” You curiously asked, considering his bluish-green orbs as you walked hand in hand. You weren’t paying attention to where you were going, but he still guided you. Was it you or Newt the drunk one?

“Another request for the night!” He blurted out with a wide grin on his face. He changed your topic once again and he was really trying to annoy you.

This limitless walk with Newt seemed like a very long rollercoaster ride. It was a walk full of ups, downs and loops of emotions.

“Again?” You vexedly whined, childishly pouting.

“You asked me what my heart wants, (Y/N)!” He sternly exclaimed to let you know that he was being serious this time.

“Ugh,” You groaned in annoyance, but your expression lit up as you finally saw his house from afar. It would be his last request for the night. It was too much, but you didn’t want to regret anything else for the rest of your life. Seize the night, just like what Theseus said before the dinner has started. “what is it?”

You both halted on walking as soon as you reached his porch and he leant in towards your direction to mumble something in your ear. “P-Please s-stay with me.”

“S-s-stay with you?” You terribly stuttered while curiosity and anxiety filled your senses. You couldn’t believe that he was requesting such thing from you, in fact you thought it was just one of his lame ways to make fun of you, but when you considered his stunning eyes, he seemed very sober and earnest. “Newt?”

“Yes,” He nodded sincerely with a warm toothy smile plastered on his face. “please stay with me forever.”

“Huh?” You harshly bit your lower lip, unanswerable questions popping in your head. “I don’t understand. How about Tina? Where is Tina? Why are you asking me this? What are you, Newt? Insane?”

Newt just shook his head in disbelief, letting go of your hand as he pulled you close to him. He was so touchy, still alcohol’s works, but you loved it when he welcomed your body in a lighthearted embrace.

“You might have noticed that I was happy with Tina that time, but the truth is that I am happier with you, (Y/N).” He truthfully confessed while he lovingly caressed your hair with his fingers. His voice was gloomy, but honest. He was hurt when you walked away from him that night, because that was when he realised that you were his everything. He realised that leaving the only person that he loved the most was the greatest mistake that he has ever done in his life and he wanted that person back. He needed you back. “I only have these eyes for you and I realised how important you are to me.”

You were important to him? That confession overwhelmed you even more. He still wanted you in his life and you were having mixed emotions once again, but this time, you could barely explain to yourself what you were exactly feeling, but happiness was surely dominating.

“Did she break your heart?” You calmly asked, being as stupid as Newt when he pointed out the guy who flirted with you at work during a very serious moment.

“All my senses came to light, (Y/N).” He softly mumbled as he left a sweet kiss on your temple. You shut your eyes as you enjoyed Newt’s presence, smelling his perfume as you buried your head on the crook of his neck. “I still love you, (Y/N).”

He still loved you! He still did and that moment seemed so surreal for you that you were so afraid to let him go, because you thought that might just lose him again. It seemed like a very unrealistic dream, because he took you back to him in just a heart beat. You were back in his arms, you were back in your own home.

“A-are you staying?” His voice nonchalantly broke, confidence and courage slowly deflating when he didn’t hear you answer back. “(Y/N)?”

“I love you too, Newt, and I am absolutely staying with you!” You suddenly hugged him back, snaking your arms around his torso tightly. He wanted you back and, it was useless to not grant his last request, because you wanted him too, you needed him too. “Please don’t ever leave me again, Newt.”

You kept your eyes solidly shut and your grip around his body was even tighter.

“I already made a mistake when I left you once, my little (Y/N). I wouldn’t forgive myself if I made another one.” He honestly muttered, planting a kiss on the top of your head while some choked sobs left his lips. The fear of completely losing you was still fresh in his mind.

“Newt, my love,” You comforted him by rubbing his back with your hands. “I am here now.”

“And I promise I’ll never leave again,” He proudly pledged, both of your hearts beating as one. “because you are the only one, my only one.”

[rem289]

Response to (idiotic) accusations made by some people against me and especially Aoimotion

(which is why I have to waste time writing this stuff)

Hi guys,

Here I am again, with a "small" update of the journal published a few days ago here on my blog  in response to an offensive, derogatory and defamatory post that unfortunately has been circulating for a month without the direct interested, I and above Aoimotion , being aware about it, as we weren’t intentionally mentioned, so we were denied the right to reply.

Of course I took care to reply immediately after discovering it, telling our version of the facts. But the post was soon removed, so all I could read were four short comments left by the owner of the blog on which the announcement was written, @spanish-vega

Needless to say, the cancellation didn’t bring benefits to its victims, since eliminating a post to the source on Tumblr has only the (partial) effect of hiding the identity of its author. Therefore, if you are interested in knowing what I am talking about, a copy of the accusations I’m going to reply to can still be found here.

This only shows how its content was a distorted interpretation of real facts that, once brought to light, irreparably refuted the veracity of the post in question, forcing the author, or more likely: the authors, to eliminate it before taking their own responsibility and have a real confrontation with me. Unfortunately, this action was too serious for me to ignore it. In this regard, I will now proceed to respond to the feedback I received from Miss Vega. There really would not be much to say, given that the comments (written, among other things, under HER OWN post), can hardly be considered an answer, so I will take this opportunity to focus on many issues that are close to my heart.

I want to warn you that in the following part the subjects will change often, sometimes I will refer to those directly involved or only one of them, sometimes to a wider audience, so sorry for this confusion, unfortunately the topics to be addressed are many.

Dear Vega, here we are again. I don’t know whether to feel more sad or worried by the fact that after all the time that has passed and even now that I have placed you before the fact, you say you have not regretted having  basically tried to ruin a person's reputation. In part I envy you, I would also like to face certain things with such coldness. On my way I have met many boring and dishonest people, yet I have never dreamed of defaming them publicly, notwithstanding all the evil they had done and the reason I could have. Same for Aoi, of course, who between the two was the most oppressed in recent years. But in your case perhaps, this is the only way to really solve the matter, since the private ways don’t work, or rather, only serve to make fun of me, taking advantage of my honesty and fairness. It’s too convenient to pillory someone publicly and then demand to settle things in private; you all have always speculated on the fact that both Aoi and I are much more mature and discrete than you, so we would never have put ourselves at your own level (or your own pettiness, depending on your point of view). In fact, it was supposed to be like this, but unfortunately my tolerance has reached the limit, you managed to make me infuriate as few have succeeded in my life, so now I will repay you with your own medicine, the only one you know and that maybe have some effect on you.

You affirm that your wish was to make the truth known to the Spaniards, but I think it was more correct to say: "the Spaniards had to know my version of the facts", given that this was the case. Because the intention of the post you wrote wasn’t to inform people, but simply to seek consensus and compassion from them. If you had even had the slightest respect for those who would have read, you should have also involved the parts you accused so that the readers were provided with more complete information and not just your distorted and incomplete version. But I can imagine that, from the perspective of a liar, the idea of acting in conditions of complete incontestability is very appetizing, so I cannot say I'm surprised. Embittered, but not surprised.

You also continue to reiterate: "you know what Aoi did to @landsec (sorry, the tag doesn’t work because this person has blocked me, I will return to this point later)". Obviously I know, as a huge amount of people know, thanks to the political propaganda that your friend has not failed to do. Aoimotion had a heated discussion with him, as a result of which she apologized in spite of, let me to reiterate it once again, the first to be wrong was Landsec, for the reasons I explained in the previous post and that you will surely remember (assuming that you have read them). Too bad that, in addition to this episode of which Aoi has largely repented, for her part there has been no other action directed against Landsec.  An intervention, perhaps more "important", happened later on my part. On this intervention, many words were spent in private, with the usual sharing of screenshots, but none in public. Perhaps, if the real problem were the things I myself told Landsec, it would have been more correct to address ME directly to make his grievances, rather than going through a person whose role in this feud is mostly incidental, and certainly not because Aoi or I asked for it. Anyway, some time later the famous translation policy post appeared on our channels. And here Aoi actually made a mistake, the only mistake that could be attributed to her: on DA, she signed the post with her name. She did it out of habit, because it was a few months since the account had passed from being “RemArt” to be “AoiRemArt”, so she tried to point out that it was now managed by two people, not just one. In addition, I let her write the posts because unfortunately it’s known that English isn’t my strong suit, so I agree it’s easy to associate her writing with her name. But it takes a lot of imagination to imagine that such a crucial and important post was written only by one of the two, from a common account, as if I had been watching while she was preparing the crime or, even worse, she had bound me and gagged me to deprive me of any freedom of speech, so she could freely do what she wanted. A fantasy that I prefer to call "convenience". The concepts of the post and the way in which they are exposed have been agreed both by Aoi and by me, as it has always been and as it still is, therefore, whatever offense you may have received in your opinion, be aware that it came fully in the name of both. The only thing I'm so sorry about is that I didn’t stop her right away when I saw that she had signed only on her behalf, because I gave people I thought smarter another opportunity to pour their hatred and frustration on her.

Anyway, I'm sorry to disappoint you, dear Vega, and all the rest of the people who share your thoughts, but even then you totally misrepresented what we were saying. We can only validate the Italian and English versions because they are the only ones edited by the original author of the texts: Aoimotion, who writes them personally and has full control. Since we don’t know other languages outside of these two, we have no tools or knowledge to verify the content of the text with confidence and to consider it 100% faithful to the original, correct or reliable. It’s pure and simple logic, concepts that should also be within your reach.

I’m sorry that my authorization has implied the opposite and has made you consider these texts as official, perhaps better than the original ones. It's probably another thing that I should have explained from the beginning. We don’t want to diminish the work behind it, but yours is still a fan-translation, certainly not considered as an official language released by us. If we did it we would take responsibility for making official a thing we don’t know, it would not be serious on our part.

About this, I take this opportunity to apologize to the translators for not having explained well right away that the first translations were authorized only by me and only by inexperience, due to the fact that I myself felt like I was using borrowed characters and I sincerely regret that all this happened, because if I had been more careful and far-sighted from the beginning, now there would be no translation in the first place and now we would have no problem.

Secondly, after all the conflicts that have existed, and still exist between us, not only I consider your vain attempts to flatter me ("incredible artist", "fantastic person" and so on) extremely hypocritical, but the thing that makes me laugh is how in public you proudly declare that you have no problem with me (feelings that, even if they were true, would not be returned from me anyway), when in private things go in a very different way.

I'm really sorry, Vega, that you spent your time writing a post in defense of Landsec, that you, blinded probably by some feeling that I don’t feel entitled to determine, called "one of the kindest members of this fandom". The same kind member who didn’t stop you when he had to and could do it, but made you cancel the post only when I intervened, exactly after a month. The same kind member who has denied any involvement in your actions, either in public or in private with me (I will spare you the agony of reading his own words because, unlike Landsec and probably many of his friends, we don’t have the same habit of divulging private conversations, even when we could take advantage from them, as in this case), running for cover,  reblogging my post as if he wants to declare himself on my side, pleading - we don’t know who - to leave him alone, and discharging all responsibility on you and yours impulsivity, and then, on top of the cake, canceling his reblog just five minutes after doing it. The same kind member that blocked me just two days after the answer to my post in which he recited: "I don’t have any problems with Rem" and "We. Are. Cool. ". I suppose he must have been very afraid of being ignored for the first time by me, after I’ve always endeavored to behave with maturity towards him in an attempt to smooth out the shameful situations created by himself. In light of the fact that I find myself writing this unhappy communication, when I could use my time in more pleasant and productive ways, I gather that I was the only one of us who ever intended to definitively close this story.

Fortunately, before Landsec took his "precautionary measures", I had time to realize that the post in which he announced his retirement (the real one, not the defamatory garbage written a month ago) had been promptly canceled by his main channels. Evidently, when a better scapegoat was presented to him, which would have made his gesture a heroic martyr, he thought well to change the version of events. I could make a lot of comments about it, but I think that's already self-commenting. In any case, a "proof" that this post existed can be found at this link  dating back to May 9th, in which it's clearly mentioned the retreat, already happened, of our kind member. 

Now you will ask, why insist on this point? In reality it's very simple: the author of the defamatory post, quoted and linked at the top, has accused us, -no, maybe it's better to be precise: only Aoimotion- of Landsec's withdrawal, inserting this accusation even as subtitle of her the post ("Motivo del retiro de Landsec") . But if this post that I found refers to the Landsec's withdrawal on the 9th of May, I can assume that his abandonment was announced at least a few days before the 9th of May. And if the very first private discussion between Landsec and us took place about fifteen days later (in May 23-24th); And if the post about translation policy we made that, according to the opinion of the author of the post, would have completely destroyed the good intentions to continue in the translations of her friend, was published on June 25th, I wonder: it’s possible that these people have the gift of clairvoyance? Or can I just assume that unfounded and ridiculous accusations have been made with the intention of demonizing a person and, at the same time, gathering support and compassion?

Returning to us, always wanting to quote his "hit and run" reblog, in fact it was the same Landsec who writes: "So if you have any involvement with it [your post, Vega], solve it yourself and LEAVE ME ALONE ". So, from woman to woman, I hope that you, Vega, have long thought and drawn your conclusions after this shabby show. After all, he practically left you alone in my clutches, after you had exposed yourself so much to defend him. He didn't even try a second to protect you like you did with him. A kind person like him, does he really deserve your loyalty?

The connections between people are simple as long as they are coalescing in the face of the possibility of slandering, mortifying and tarnishing someone. In that case, people are ready to swear loyalty, support and mutual affection from here until the end of time. As soon as the nuance of reason and congruence is destroyed by the reality of facts, this is how these bonds crumble and change into the vile, filthy and disgusting vault I have ever seen.

That would be great, since everyone is free to build their personal bonds in the way that best suits him/her ... if not that, these same people ready to tear each other if the situation worsens, even find the courage to distort the partnership between me and Aoi, painting it like a toxic relationship in which she manipulates me according to her will, and I'm reduced to a doll that is limited to executing orders or, in the best case, watching while she sows discord and destruction in the name of both.

At this point, you understand that I cannot ignore such a foul-smelling accusation, so let me tell you how things are: none, and again, none of the things I've said or done in the past two years have been influenced by Aoi. Because, you know, I'm also capable of independent judgment (ability that instead of many of you are missing, I noticed) and not only, I'm even able to get angry! I understand that it sounds absurd, so take a minute of meditation to assimilate this information, and then take a few hours, or days, or even weeks, to realize how all the things that you didn't like and that you think damaged you, that you considered more convenient to attribute to my partner, in reality they were the combined and harmonious effect of two minds that have always worked in perfect harmony, without never prevaricate each other. And perhaps, for many of you, the problem has been (and still is) just that. You can hardly forgive me for I have found a partner "out of the group" (who anyway I knew and with whom I had a firm friendship since well before knowing you, in case you didn't know or you were conveniently forgotten) with whom I chose to work closely, a person whom I admire and whom I appreciate, an I'm very fond of, who made me embark on a project for which I decided it was worth it, which goes beyond fame and glory and any other value to which you attach importance. Perhaps many of you have been wondering for months: "Why Aoi? Why not us?", and so, you decided to vent this suppressed frustration on her,  when perhaps, and I say perhaps, the person you really wanted to vent your livership was and is me.

I will not deny that, for the short time I attended your group, I appreciated your company. As I told to Landsec in the last message I sent him months ago, there were people among you whom I esteemed and respected and which were pleasing to me, but I always treated our relationship lightly;  I never thought there was anything between us that could go beyond kindness and mutual courtesy. We were acquaintances, and nothing more than that, and I'm really sorry if my attitudes (which no doubt were wrong) may have given some of you reason to think otherwise, or in any case to "elevate" our relationship to something more. But this has never authorized you to treat Aoi in the way you did, to denigrate her, to deride her and to accuse her of having performed actions on behalf of both, overshadowing my will and my ideas completely, as if there was no way that I could be something else than what you thought I was. Your myth of Rem always kind, always available and always friendly is an image that you have created of me, which absolutely doesn't belong to me, which I consider incredibly reductive and silly to apply on a person since, sorry if I always repeat the obvious, the reactions are adapted to the situations and you have given me many reasons to be anything but courteous and kind to you. All of this is a mirror of what your real opinion is of us, of the presumption that you have to know two people whom you have always chosen to see only the part that made you more comfortable, and probably even what is the limit of your reasoning ability.

And now I refer directly to the “translators”, I regret to find out that for a long time you have translated comics written by a person you don't esteem at all, as opposed to what you claim to think of me. I sincerely ask myself why you decided to put your blog and your "face" in a story and in dialogues that you thought so bad of, since apparently the only thing that you appreciated the comic were the drawings. Maybe you could create your own comic and think about the interactions between the characters, the story and the dialogues, and translate them into English as it is a far less demanding work than translating into your language.

From this point of view, I understand why you always want to boast about how much effort you make in translations, literally using every possible excuse to reiterate how hard and draining your work is. But then I wonder: if for you to translate from English TO YOUR MOTHER LANGUAGE is so hard, so demanding, then what Aoi should say, as she translates every day from our mother tongue (which I remind you, it's Italian. Maybe it was clear with me but not with her) to English and vice versa, if her work requires to? I’m sure that you too know that translating from English to your own language is not as difficult as doing the opposite, given that you proclaim yourselves to be certified and expert translators and you, Vega, also defined yourself as a writer, as if this title could authorize you to say all the balderdash that left your keyboard. Aoi has been doing this every day for more than two years, but I don't remember ever having seen her making noise for what she has chosen to do, not even when many people ignored (deliberately or not) her role as author in the comics and she would have all the right to point out that she was the mind behind those stories that everyone liked so much. For this, I cannot help but applaud the despicable courage with which you have diminished Aoi's work, who is a translator like you and even more than you, besides being so many other things that you aren't, and laugh at how you have mortified her while you were doing your master work by basing yourself on a translation that came well before you. Therefore, maintaining the scale of judgment with which you have always judged her contribution to comics: if you want to rate Aoi's work as zero, go ahead. But at this point, following your reasoning, I ask you: how should your work be defined? With a negative number? Or even better, with an imaginary number?

In conclusion, I regret that many people believed in Vega's version, full of holes and inconsistencies, without even ascertaining the veracity of what they were being offered. To believe in facts without evidence to support them is a very serious act, which sets out a very dangerous trend to this day. Dangerous for these people, and also for who / what is found in the crosshairs of such lies.

And speaking of these people, I would like to use this post to respond to some brilliant comments that I found myself reading under Vega's propaganda, released by people who arrived like flies that, attracted by the trash, got themselves gathered around it to feast festively, though mostly, I will do nothing but reiterate old concepts. I will not mention names, because there is no need; in any case, those who are curious can go to read through the comments of the post of which I attached the link above, although I don't recommend doing it to those who are particularly weak stomach.

When you accuse Aoimotion of having had, and still have, a very strong influence on me, there is one thing you're right about: if it was not for her, I would have stopped having any contact with the Zootopia fandom already two years ago. Probably my interest would be exhausted within a couple of comics, or even stripes, given the general attention that I can have in fandom, especially if it's fandom related to films and therefore self-contained stories. But then I met her, who overwhelmed me with her imagination, her enthusiasm and above all her pure and unconditional love for the narration, which pushed me to continue. To make a lot more comics than I had expected, to draw a lot more pictures of Nick and Judy than I would have done alone. 90% of what I have produced, and for which you have idolized me (and given the situation in which I'm now, I wonder how sincere these flattery were), exists because she was with me, by my side, close to every process of creation and always ready to advise me, encourage me and help me. So, when you accuse Aoimotion of having forced me to leave the fandom, you should instead thank her, for holding me into it a lot, so much more than I could have predicted.

When you accuse my style of drawing to be "Zootopian", know that first of all this is just a neologism devoid of any meaning, given that Zootopia itself is a Disney-style film and that then brings the style of his factory. And that just because dozens of artists have thrown into the cauldron called "Zootopia" any anthropomorphic animal their pen has created, doesn't mean that the same applies to me. In any case, know that my style is evolving and will evolve again and again, until finally this latest silly accusation will fall into the pit of the "absurd accusations" that are offered to us every day by this fandom.

When you accuse us of wanting to "steal Jack Savage from Disney", when you even use your time to create meme and "fun" comic of dubious taste, of which only the authors, the stupids and their little friends can laugh, hold on to mind that Jack Savage has always been, and always will be, nothing but a sketch on an artbook with a few lines of background, and that all we have built on him is OURS, including much of his physical appearance (which, like everything that is in this fandom, has soon become a collective good, like it happens in the best communist societies). And that we have the right and the duty to take it back, while you have neither of those to come and tell us something. If, as you think according to the legal knowledge of which you are definitely in possession, what we have in mind to do (which, incidentally, has not yet been disclosed to anyone, then as well as experienced lawyers, you're also skilled Espers able to read our minds; if I had your powers, now I would fight in the biggest tribunals of the world, not brawling from behind a keyboard) is wrong, we will pay the consequences; but if what we are doing is simply a nuisance to you, and it stings you as if you were thrown into a bush of nettles, I'm sorry to say that it is not our problem. Maybe you need to take a break from the internet, as I suggested to Vega and Landsec, to review your priorities and give a little more value of your time. Or you could "give yourself to horse racing", as we say in our parts.

Among other things, while we can afford to take away from Jack any connotation in common with his concept and have our fanbase almost unchanged, if anyone else tried to do the same would find himself in a second to swim in anonymity. I invite you to ask yourself why, and if you can, even to give you an answer. It would be sufficient to explain a few of our apparently incomprehensible reasons, and even the reasons for those whose main purpose in recent months seems to have been to discourage and mock us.

The Jack’s question is very well connected with another theme that we considered closed for months, but that obviously still doesn't really go down to some of you: the alleged plot against our readers, hatched by Aoi and me, which established to introduce our OCs in Black Jack, in order to impose them on you and force you to appreciate them and follow their vicissitudes.

We have always considered this accusation extremely funny (it’s a pity that the harassment we suffered because of it were not) and all in all, putting ourselves in the shoes of the average fan and reasoning (indeed, refusing to reason) as such, the thing could also make sense. So we let it go. This only until the moment we published Black Jack.

Once this comic ended (and even a few months before it ended), we reiterated several times that we would never treat Zootopia again. Of course, you understand that we couldn't write "WE WILL NOT DO ANYTHING ABOUT NICK AND JUDY !!" at the end of each post or as a watermark on the pages of the new comic, otherwise some brilliant mind would have told us that we were paranoid and unpleasant. So, at a certain point, we stopped coming back to the subject.

At this point, as far as I'm concerned, anyone who has continued to follow us after Black Jack, has done so of his own free will. Perhaps it's hard to publicly admit that you find an interesting story that does not have Nick, Judy or the "Zootopia" tag inside; It’s easier not to express yourself, to avoid the risk that some friend, fervent supporter of the fandom (because now there are no longer supporters of the movie but of the fandom), can stone you on the spot. In this way, you have at any moment the possibility of turning silence-assent into fierce indignation, pulling out the fable that someone is manipulating you to force you to follow something you don’t like and don’t care about. I'm sorry if you felt obliged to follow us by some dark force that you could not fight back, it was absolutely not our intention. We have never been interested in gathering as much support as possible (if we wanted to do it, we would certainly emulate some eminent fandom figure who knows how to keep fans tight), what we always wanted is to express ourselves artistically in absolute freedom, and be judged without any "fandomistic" prejudice .

Therefore, I will reiterate it once again:

if you have no interest in our current work and/or continue to follow us hoping that one day we'll rekindle the desire to work again on Zootopia;

if you have decided to follow us because this gives you the illusion that we're still feeding the dunghill that this fandom has become;

if you’re bad and evil in the soul and find pleasure in spitting poison on a couple of artists who didn't do anything wrong (because now, honestly, what have we ever done to deserve certain crap? After all we have given you for a year or more, you should just learn to be quiet) ...

If you're one of these things, more than one or all put together, I warmly and DEFINITELY invite you to vanish and never return.

Regardless of everything, I'm here to reiterate that we will go on, while the best these people can get is to fossilize themselves where they are now. We are trying to do something big and original, bigger than a mere sub-project of another work, more original than creating new animals that stand on two legs and exist somewhere in the universe of Zootopia (without nothing to take away from those who do it, we simply have different ideas and different objectives). And you know, partly we have already succeeded, and I feel once again to thank Aoi about this, thanks to her characterization and her stories wich allows us to give our OCs peculiarity, to distinguish them from the crowd even if some people try always to imitate the character design of others artists. The more time passes, the more people from the fandom stop following us; but for each of them that leaves, two new readers follow us, people who often have nothing to do with Zootopia and its fandom. And if this is not a victory, I don’t know what it is.

Summing up, I would say that perhaps, rather than feeling angry at certain people, the most appropriate feeling here is compassion. But for respect of ourselves, it's right that even the most miserable and vile of individuals will learn what their place is; for how much compassion I can feel for them, I’ll never transact ever before a villainous gesture. Unfortunately, the more falsehoods are propitiated and stacked, the more the truth will be evident and lethal later. The more you are liars, the more you will be hurt when someone puts you in front of the reality of the facts, exposing your slanders for what they really are: snake venom. For this reason, from now on I strongly advise you to dose more carefully your nonsense, in order to avoid having to hide like rats the moment the truth will surface. This is the last thing I will tell you because, after this refreshing parenthesis, I hope I will never again have to deal with any of you, anywhere in the internet.

And if it were to happen, however, I beg you this time to call things by their real name; to strike directly and clearly who you REALLY want to hit, without first making a shield of people who have nothing to do with the problems you may have with someone. In any case, we will be ready to respond, using the most effective weapon in our possession, the truth; Therefore, I sincerely dissuade you from doing so.

[laraslandlockedblues]

Lara’s Master Writing Post

My Master Writing List can be found as a page here, and writing prompts only found on Tumblr can be found by searching my tag “writing prompt.”

But I realized I’ve never shared an easily mobile/rebloggable version before so here goes. Was just going to share again because I’ve updated it but also because I’ve gotten a lot of new followers since the last time I shared this. I suppose though since it’s Fanfiction Appreciation Day, though, I may as well share!

Dragon Age Inquisition - Lightning Struck Series - Cullen Rutherford and Evelyn Trevelyan

1. Eye of the Storm - Work in Progress

Evelyn is far too naive, young, and overwhelmed by everything asked of her after the Conclave. She tries to put on a brave face, but she’s slowly falling apart. Cullen is far too weary, self-loathing, and searching for redemption in his role as the Commander of the Inquisition’s forces, but he doesn’t think he’s worth finding any. They both feel broken, but maybe they can find a way to feel whole again.

Main canon fic for my Cullen/Evelyn pairing.

2. Moments Passed - Work in Progress

What if Cullen was sent to the Ostwick Circle instead of Kirkwall after the Fifth Blight was ended? An AU exploring the relationship between he and Evelyn Trevelyan after they meet following his relocation to Ostwick.

3. Miss Grey - Work in Progress

Commander Cullen came to Haven from Kirkwall to join the Inquisition, but he didn’t come alone. And no one quite knows what to make of the small Tranquil who follows him wherever he goes, never out of his sight.

4. Rehabilitation - Completed Work

Modern AU that focuses on Cullen’s lyrium withdrawal and recovery after he is sent to a rehabilitation center under the care of Dr. Evelyn Trevelyan. Follows his recovery and their blossoming relationship as he makes it through his addiction and eventually sets out to help others who wish to follow in his footsteps. Little to do with DA:I.

5. Even Doves Have Pride - Completed Work

An arranged betrothal leads to a rebellious, wild Evelyn, and her father enlists a certain former Templar-turned-bodyguard to keep her in line until the big day.

Modern Bodyguard AU with eventual smut and romance featuring lots of references to popular songs, including Prince, Led Zeppelin, and Tom Petty. Features little to do with DA or DA:I.

6. Bound to Burn - Work In Progress, Co-written with WindySuspirations.

A trip to Redcliffe to make reparations for the Mage Rebellion brings more complications that expected when rooms run short and the naive Inquisitor finds herself in close quarters with the man she can’t possibly ever have - her smirking Commander.

7. What Are the Odds - Completed Work

A chance encounter at the Hanged Man for some stress relief leaves Knight-Commander Cullen with a few questions, and an insatiable desire for the mystery woman he met.

DA2 & DA:I AU that places Evelyn in Kirkwall following the rebellion at the Gallows, where she meets and becomes involved with Cullen before he joins the Inquisition.

8. Dream a Little Dream of Me - One Shot

Evelyn’s usual wanderings of the Fade take an unusual turn when it starts to recreate the desires she has for the Commander, becoming more vivid each time she dreams. And Cullen finds himself waking from dreams that seem so real he swears he can still feel and taste her on him.

There’s no harm in indulging in fantasies, right? Unless there’s more going on than simple imagination.

9. The Deal - One Shot

Evelyn wishes she could more easily soothe all of Cullen’s issues, and help him sleep better at night. But after yet another bad night’s sleep, she gets an idea that just may work.

10. Discretion - Tumblr Prompt One Shot

A brief flare of jealousy in Evelyn makes Cullen wonder why he tries so hard to keep things private.

11. An Awkward Start - Tumblr Prompt One Shot

The Commander gets caught in an intimate moment, but it turns out better than he could have expected. Based on the Tumblr prompt, “You weren’t supposed to hear that,” requested for Cullen.

12. Just One Dance - Tumblr Prompt One Shot

Cullen asks for help from the last person he’d usually seek out, but an evening he dreads turns into confusion as it reveals things they both didn’t realize they wanted. Modern AU. Based on the Tumblr prompt, “Just pretend to be my date.”

13. The Dance of Love - Prompted One Shot

A first date on Valentine’s Day takes a turn when Cullen accidentally takes Evelyn to a dance club. Modern AU.

14. The Sun and The Moon - Marian Hawke/Fenris, Work in Progress/Very Slow to Update

Chronicles the important moments in the romance of the fem!Hawke/Fenris pairing that features in Eye of the Storm and other works in the Lightning Struck series. Inside are some spoilers for Eye of the Storm, as well as some background/headcanon Cullen moments.

Dragon Age Inquisition - Just Say Lass Series - Knight-Captain Rylen and MGIT Abigail Henderson

1. After Rain - Work in Progress

Abigail Henderson just wanted more out of life as everything began to fall apart - a chance to start over, a chance to be herself again.

When she ends up in Thedas, she finds more than she bargained for - as does the former Templar who finds himself fascinated by the woman from a place called Earth. Also features Inquisitor Evelyn Trevelyan from the Lightning Struck series.

2. Just Like Heaven - Work in Progress

Knight-Captain Rylen just wanted to do what he could to help defend the innocent people of Thedas - especially when the sky split ope and demons started falling out of the Fade.

When he somehow ends up in a place called Earth, instead, he has to come to terms with every part of his strange new reality - including the fascinating woman, Abigail, who finds him and helps save his life.

3. Wicked Game - OC/OC WIP

He’ll break your heart, Abigail. A man like that is used to having the world cater to his every whim, and you’ll never be enough. Be careful.

Companion piece to Just Like Heaven, a collection of semi-one shots from the perspective of Abigail Henderson’s soon-to-be ex-husband, John Baker. Gives insight into how they met, how their relationship began, how it fell apart, and later on will include insight into scenes from its parent fic.

4. Knight-Captain Rylen Appreciation Week 2018 - Completed Work

Collection of drabbles and one shots to celebrate Knight-Captain Rylen Appreciation Week!

5. Of All the Things to Fangirl Over… - Gift One Shot inspired by this art piece by Sloth-Race

MGiT Abigail Henderson has one of her first - very common - experiences in Thedas, and Rylen can’t quite figure out why she’s so excited about it. Set within After Rain canon.

6. Burning Up - Tumblr Prompted One Shot

Abigail meets a dashing Starkhaven stranger one night at the bar she works at, but one drunken decision turns into more when he comes back the next day. Modern Thedas AU. From the Tumblr prompt “You make adorable sounds.”

7. Stud - Tumblr Prompted One Shot

After a long day’s work at Skyhold, Abigail helps Rylen work through his stress. From the Tumblr prompt “Your skin is so soft.”

8. Never Enough - Tumblr Prompted One Shot

Rylen finds a few moments along with Abigail. From the Tumblr prompt, “Try to keep quiet…we wouldn’t want to get caught.”

9. His Lass - Tumblr Prompted One Shot

From a Tumblr prompt to see Rylen take care of things for himself when he’s away from Abigail.

10. Anniversary - Tumblr Prompted One Shot

From a Tumblr prompt for Rylen to see Abigail in a pretty dress and all dolled up for the first time.

11. Stolen Moments - Giveaway fic prize for Kawakaeguri

Each time, every time, just a smirk and the words “my lass,” and she caves. But why bother resisting if she doesn’t want to? Set within After Rain canon.

Dragon Age - And the Sky Will Burn Series - Modern Kirkwall AU Co-Written with Dismalzelenka

Part One: Your Arms Feel Like Home - Work in Progress

Two women with no connection to each other. A chance meeting and a quick goodbye. Neither of them expected everything to change.

Abigail Henderson was enduring a blind date turned cautionary Tinder tale. Solona Amell was just doing her job bounty hunting for a local bail bonds office. When Abby’s date and Solona’s target turn out to be one and the same, neither of them expects how quickly their lives will turn upside down.

When an altercation with local law enforcement is caught on video and begins to circulate the Internet, they both find themselves thrown headfirst into the lingering mage-templar conflict still gripping the Free Marches twenty years after the violent destruction of the Kirkwall Chantry. Their personal lives aren’t left unscathed either, as both women find themselves grappling with strange new acquaintances and relatively unwanted attractions to two former Templars now working as detectives with the Kirkwall City Police Department.

Tensions rise as past transgressions begin to surface, but everyone has secrets to hide.

Part Two Coming Soon!

Dragon Age Stand Alones

Beautiful Disaster - MGiT Cecilia Moore and Cullen Rutherford - Work in Progress

When she thought about how much she wanted to get away, she never realized just how far she would end up.

Just another Modern Girl in Thedas story.

Hero Worship - Mara Trevelyan and Garrett Hawke - Work in Progress

The Inquisitor can’t seem to think straight around the heroic and devilishly handsome Champion of Kirkwall. And he doesn’t make it any easier on her when he unexpectedly invites her to his room one night.

And what starts off as a fling turns into a whirlwind romance neither one of them is prepared for.

Out of the Ashes - Nemaine Tabris and Alistair WIP (on indefinite hiatus)

Nemaine Tabris’ life just seems to go from bad to worse after the traumatic interruption of her wedding causes her to be conscripted by the Grey Warden Duncan. But in the midst of the Blight, she finds herself thrown together with someone who just may help her survive and thrive.

In the Grotto - Knight-Captain Rylen and Cassandra Pentaghast - One Shot

Knight-Captain Rylen discovers what makes Seeker Pentaghast happy, and does his best to help her find some stress relief.

Inspired by this piece by SangoSweetz (NSFW Art)

The Hope of the Desert Bloom - Adoribull Giveaway fic prize for SoulRebel

Too much to hope, too much to dream that maybe - just maybe - this time it could be something more.

Mass Effect - Stress Relief Series - Fiona Shepard and Garrus Vakarian

Part One: Goose Bumps - Completed Work

Fiona Shepard woke up on a Cerberus operating table, apparently after being dead for two years. She wants nothing more than to see a familiar face, someone who will have her back as she works with her former enemies and tries to save the galaxy. Again.

And then after one trip to Omega, she’s reunited with her best friend in the galaxy.

But he looks at her differently, now - and she can’t seem to shake this new feeling. Especially not once she realizes it’s not really a new feeling.

Part Two: Ride or Die - Work in Progress (on hiatus)

It had been one hundred and eighty-four days when they finally sent for her.

Commander Fiona Shepard had spent six months relieved of duty, essentially on house arrest.

She had spent her time distracting herself, preparing herself, and resisting the urge to write to *him* for a prison break.

But now the Reapers have arrived, and all she can think about is getting back to him, and keeping the promise she made.

[all-hail-the-witcher]

(for that fic commentary thing :) ) Mush tried desperately to make eye contact with Blink to see if it was real, but Blink stubbornly kept his head down. Mush felt hot tears in his eyes. Surely, this wasn’t how they would end, this had to be a dream. He would wake up any second and Blink would put his arms around him and hold him close and reassure him that he would never leave him.However, it was not a dream, and Mush found that out the hard way when Oscars knuckles connected with his skull.

I should really title my shit

comments in these bad bois ()

_________

Mush had been on edge all morning. He listened to Jack ramble to Weasel about the strike, scanning the crowd of newsboys for a familiar head of sandy hair. Blink hadn’t been at the lodge that morning and Mush was beginning to get worried. What if he had bailed on them? (Welp that’s a terrible opening, it doesn’t even establish if they’re at the actual strike or not but yolo I’m leaving it)

Mush’s worst fears were confirmed when he saw his boyfriend walking up to the circulation gate amongst the other scabs to buy papers. His stomach sunk down to his shoes. (is that a term? isn’t it sinking to the floor? they’re outside there is no floor….Wait is it your heart?) Surely Blink wouldn’t do that. He wouldn’t betray all of them. Would he? (oh yes he would)

Mush tried desperately to make eye contact with Blink to see if it was real, but Blink stubbornly kept his head down. Mush felt hot tears in his eyes. (ew that’s cringy. can tears even be hot? I don’t think I’m using this correctly…..) Surely, this wasn’t how they would end, this had to be a dream. He would wake up any second and Blink would put his arms around him and hold him close and reassure him that he would never leave him.

However, it was not a dream, (no shit) and Mush found that out the hard way when Oscars knuckles connected with his skull. (that was a disgusting intro argh I regret writing this)

•••

Hours later, after getting beaten beyond recognition by the bulls and the brothers, Mush staggered into an ally to rest a moment. (wait what injuries does he have? im confused, should I work those out...nah) He was trying to get back to the lodge, to all of his brothers whom (is this an instance where I should use whom, idfk but it sounds cool) he knew should be worried about him, but he lacked the strength. (seriously what happened to him??) All he could hope was that one of the boys found him.

And someone did, eventually. But it wasn’t the someone he had been hoping for.

“Mush?! Oh my god. Mush, can you hear me? Oh my god, oh my god.” (ah yes I forgot to add those italics when I published whoops)

Mush blinked open his eyes to see the one person who, until this morning, he had trusted more than anything. Blink was kneeling down in front of him, concern and worry clouding his face. (I use the word clouding way too much) Mush wasn’t sure if he was relieved or terrified to see him.

Blink reached out his hand to touch Mush’s face, but he flinched away. Blink looked hurt. “Mush…” he whispered in disbelief. (awwwwwww)

“No,” Mush croaked out. “You don’ ge’ t’ touc’ me an’mor’.” (Argh stuttering and slurring is so hard to write is that even legible)

“Mush, listen I-” (sHuT uP bLinK)

“No,” Mush said again with as much force as he could muster. He paused to spat some blood out of his mouth. (Seriously boi What happened to you? If you’re that badly hurt Blink should havebrought you to the lodge instead of talking) “You b’tray’d us. You shoul’n’ e’en be ‘ere. Jus’ -”

“Michael Myers, will you just shut up and listen to me?” (FUCK IS HIS NAME MICHAEL SHIT FUCK CRAP I NEED TUMBLR)

Mush was so startled by the use of his real name that he paused his rant.

“Oscar and Morris,” Blink began, “they cornered me yesterday. Offered me three dollars (is three dollars even a lot back then?) and a promise that they wouldn’t hurt you during the strike if I became a scab. As I didn’t-” Blink paused, sniffling slightly. “I didn’t want you to get hurt. And money’s been tight at the lodge recently and I knew we would need some to buy medical stuff and food once the strike started. And I didn’t want to, believe me it was the last thing I wanted. But I had to keep you safe, I had to at least try, I can’t….I can’t lose you too.” (too? Who else have you lost? Idk but I’m putting it in) Blink wiped at his eyes with the bottom of his shirt. “But it looks like it was all for nothing cause they beat you up so bad I barely even recognized you coming in here. It was all for nothing and now you probably hate me and the boys all probably hate me so I’ll just bring you back to the lodge and then I’ll be gone, okay? I’ll leave and never come back. None of you guys are going to want to have a traitor there anyway.” (awwwwwwwwwwwww soft soft boyo I love you)

Mush stared at Blink in a stunned silence for several long seconds before reaching out his less injured arm to clasp Blinks hand. (Less injured arm? Has this kid gone through a war or something?) Blink looked up in surprise at the contact.

“I firgiv’ ya,” Mush slurred. (fuck more slurring) “Ya did th’ wron’ thing fir th’ righ’ re’sins. An’ ‘f any uh da fellas can’ see tha’...” Mush trailed off. There was so much more he wanted to say. Blink had been so brave, doing something he knew might get him kicked out of his only home just to protect him. Admittedly, it hadn’t worked in his favor but it was the thought that counted.

“Thank you,” Blink whispered, curling his fingers gently around Mush’s potentially broken ones. (pretty sure I stole this from a fic oops) “I love you, Mush.”

Mush was too tired to say it back, but he squeezed Blinks hand ever so slightly. Blink seemed to notice Mush’s rapidly deteriorating physical state (oh finally? It’s not like he’s half dead or anything get him back you moron o wait I’m the author I have the power to do that oops) because his eyes widened and he gently picked his boyfriend up. Mush let out a few pained moans, but remained otherwise quiet.

“C’mon babe,” he whispered. “Let’s get you home.” (that could have been longer but I’m lazy argh)

[ricmlm]

On the same day, at 3 pm, the guided tour "Faz Fitas" promises to show you the corners of the house, as well as the way cinema was made before the digital age: with film and a lot of dedication. Participants (also from 8 to 12 years old) will be able to circulate through various spaces in São Jorge and, thus, travel through seven decades of the seventh art. But it's not just to stare: in each space, kids have to look for a piece of film that will be (more or less) hidden. The excerpts found along the way are then given to a projectionist, who will show them how to assemble a film for projection. The visit ends in the main room – the Manoel de Oliveira Room – where they will watch the result of the collage. A party that is a party must have music – and that is why the cine-concert Lugar para Dois is scheduled for the 27th at 2.30 pm. Writer and singer-songwriter Miguel Gizzas promises to cross seven arts to present the novel Lugar para Dois (Leya Prize finalist) and has the help of the voices of actors Ricardo Carriço, Júlio Isidro, João Didelet or Sofia Nicholson. Tickets (€10) are already on sale at the cinema box office and on Ticketline. Don't leave now, the celebration also includes a reading session. The relationships between cinema and literature are old and well known – and the new community of readers of São Jorge, which is called Ler Para Ver, is here to prove it. In this premiere, scheduled for the 27th at 18.00 in Room 2, with the presence of Lídia Jorge and the mediation of Luís Ricardo Duarte, a selection of works is proposed that show the diversity of solutions found in the literary transposition to the big screen. Cinema São Jorge, Avenida da Liberdade 175. https://www.instagram.com/p/CaX7JsIDuym/?utm_medium=tumblr

[naturehealthrejuvenation]

Cupping a natural health staple 5 reasons why! Cupping has become quite a popular, with a great deal of celebrities and athletes using cupping in their health care regime, and now the medical field is catching up with the research. Lets talk about some benefits: 1. Endorphin release - more research has been done than ever before and it shows that cupping actually increases endogenous opioid (endorphin) production that leads to better control over pain. 2. Blood & Lymph circulation - Allows oxygen & nutrients to be delivered to the cells loosens and revitalising connective tissues, enhancing repair, improves immune response and clears built up interstitial toxins, increasing the quality of the blood left. 3. Decrease cholesterol -  specifically in men and has been found a great preventative option for those at higher risk of atherosclerosis and cardiovascular diseases. 4. Increases parasympathetic activity - in other words the activity of the increased blood flow and blood vessel dilation triggers a relaxing response not only to the local area but to the musculoskeletal system. 5. Reduce internal and external inflammation - External effects of inflammation by fluid movement and repairing of tissues as mentioned earlier. Interestingly internal inflammation such as the cause of hay fever (histamine production/ movement) and movement of hormones built up in the interstitium. There are many natural therapies getting a great evidence base now. These long almost lost arts have been used for centuries to provide balance, maintain health and most importantly disease prevention. Will you add cupping to your wellness routine? Check out "do cupping the right way" webinar link in bio @naturehealthrejuvenation to learn how to implement cupping correctly. #scienceofhealth #cupping #naturalhealth #evidencebase https://www.instagram.com/reel/CVffk4Jh-dA/?utm_medium=tumblr

[tokyoteddywolf]

The New Paladins Of Voltron

"FOUND YOU, SUCKER!" The Red Paladin easily caught the convict by his arm, hurling him across the hall and into a waiting cage, grateful that all that extra training bulked up her strength. Waffle slid the cage door shut, offering her friend a high five. "Nice throw. I was worried we might have to call in Sir or Ash." Syeriane smiled and waved a hand dismissively. "I had it handled just fine! Thanks to Vir's route and Mal's plan, we cornered this guy perfectly! But now, how do we punish would-be pirates in our base?" Waffle smirked. "I mean, ropes were suggested as a containing measure, but what do you think?" Syeriane's smile turned wicked. "I say we consult our bondage experts." The would be raider soon found himself well tied up, suspended from the ceiling of a dungeon cell, surrounded by Paladins and gagged. Jaspur tugged the main suspension rope and let the bandit swing, unbelievably smug. "Nice work Jas, if I do say so myself." Sir commented, Mal poking at the suspended alien pirate in amusement, the poor alien practically a piñata. "Yep, but it's not my fault if he loses circulation in his limbs. I have no idea how alien veins work, so it's anyone's guess how long he'll last like this before stuff starts going numb." The Blue Paladin explained, Waffle snickering at the sudden horrified look on the villain's face. "I'm highly sure he regrets trying to ransack my Castle." Ash leveled a glare at the intruder, five seconds away from taking a staff to the poor pirate's face. "Well, we caught him before any damage was done-" Mal started, before Syeriane jumped in with a "I was the one who caught him, thanks!", the Black Paladin sighing before she continued. "-and everything he took has been returned, as according to plan. Good work guys!" The team high fived, each grinning as they left the dungeons and went up to the common rooms. Sir spoke up next. "So, who's feels like dumping that guy on the nearest abandoned planet?" A chorus of "Same!" echoed the statement, which soon gave way to a full blown laugh fest for the Paladins. Ash blinked, confused. "I don't think I understand the joke." Jas patted the Princess' shoulder. "Tumblr" was the only thing she said before dissolving into more giggles. They did end up dropping the bandit off on a pretty beige colored moon, however. --------------------------------------- @syeriane ta-da! This is what happens when you let Teddy write at unholy hours of the night ^~^;; Vir is actually Mr. Voltron Romance (aka Mr. VR or as I say it, Vir) as Coran :) Hope you like it my dude! :3

[mermaidsirennikita]

are you an art historian? sorry if I got that detail wrong but I was wondering if you knew how people know the identity of a person in a portrait? For example, how do you know if a medieval portrait is of the queen or a noble and not an imaginary person or someone unknown? sorry if my question makes no sense

No, it’s a good question!  And I wouldn’t call myself an art historian yet, but I’m a tentatively aspiring one.  I might be one later if I do a fuckton more research and/or… get up the energy for grad school.  But I have my B.A. in art history!

SOOOOOO, spiel below.

Unless there’s an inscription, note, title, etc. written on the portrait it’s technically impossible to be 100% beyond a shadow of a doubt sure about a sitter’s identity…  I actually ranted about this eons ago because people on Tumblr are super desperate to find new portraits of Anne Boleyn (why Anne?  why not literally any other famous lady whose face has been largely lost to history?  because she’s Anne Boleyn, and since several probably authentic images have not proven that she’s super foxy hot people are looking for something that will).  It usually takes years for art historians to come to a consensus about the identities of unidentified sitters, and EVEN THEN, people still argue about it.  I’m sure this painting of Mary, Queen of Scots took tons of effort to uncover and based on what little I’ve read there’s great reason to believe that’s Mary (it even looks like other images we have of her) but I’m sure someone will write an article about how it’s REEEALLY someone else entirely.  I researched Lady with an Ermine by Leonardo da Vinci for my capstone project, and even tho we have letters from Cecilia Gallerani, a mistress of the man most likely to have commissioned the portrait, saying “yeah so you have this portrait of me painted by Leonardo when I was younger” clearly referring to Lady with an Ermine… but there will still be outliers who say it isn’t her.

So.  In more conclusive cases, there will usually be records in place that let us know that a portrait was commissioned in the first place.  In the case of Isabella d’Este, we know that she was after Leonardo to paint her portrait and that it never happened but was in the planning stages–which leads to the conclusion that there are probably preliminary drafts in existence.  You find a preliminary draft of a woman matching Isabella’s general description and age, dating to the right time…  You can probably guess that the woman is Isabella.

Today, we also have technology that can help us guess how old a work is–it’s way harder for forgers to do what they once did because art historians can test for pigments and other materials that were only in use for certain time periods, and that helps narrow down the era.  Before then, there were stylistic notes that could give you an idea of when a painting was made.  For example–prior to the popularization of the three-quarter pose by artists like Leonardo, female sitters of Italy were usually in profile.  So if you find a portrait of an Italian lady sitting in a three-quarters pose, you can probably date the portrait to the late fifteenth century or later–and then you go into things like her style of dress, etc.  Style of dress goes a long way towards identifying a person’s place of origin, especially for women–English women dressed very differently from Italian women of the same era, and so on.

Most European portraits were of a certain class, up until some artists and patrons started playing around with everything from idealized peasant scenes to like... the proto-gritty shit Rembrandt dabbled in.  This is especially true for Catholic nations.  You had to be AT LEAST of the upper middle class to afford to commission a portrait, and for that matter, many artists tended to court a certain specified clientele.  Raphael spent much of the prime of his career working for the pope, and so that meant that he spent a lot of time in Rome, and that in turn meant that he was often in the service of glittery rich Romans.  Now, does this mean that the sitter is always rich?  No.  Raphael also painted a famous nude, La Fornarina, and the sitter was quite possibly his lower-class mistress.  But in that case, the person commissioning the painting was probably a rich guy who wanted a nude, and Raphael was like “fuck yeah getting a chance to paint Margarita naked and get paid for it, life is sweet”.  Patrons normally had $$$, basically, so if we see a typical portrait we know that we’re looking at that class, most likely, and the more expensive the portrait looks, the richer the sitter (and the patron) likely was.  Rarer pigments indicate more money spent, more detail on the clothing equals greater $$$.

When it comes to incredibly important families, there are spmetimes dead giveaways.  Bronzino’s portraits of Cosimo de’ Medici I’s household often featured details like rubies and pearls among the women, which one art historian I read from theorized was a signature of the Medici at that point in time.  It wasn’t unusual for women in particular to wear emblems of their families, because the portraits of them were usually commissioned by fathers or husbands, and essentially these were ownership tags.  That’s what Cosimo was doing, most likely.  If you know the artist–in this case, Bronzino–you probably know where they worked at a certain point in their lives.  If you know when the painting was executed, you know the artist was probably in X city.  Who would be most likely to employ Artist X during that time?  A small cluster of families.  You sort of have to narrow it down.  Most important families of Europe also had coats of arms, which can show up in their paintings–but unfortunately these are often the first to deteriorate and they begin to look similar.

When an artist was painting a famous sitter like Mary, they might include her initials somewhere, maybe in the case of a king or queen with a good Rex or Regina for measure.  Kings and queens are often given little identifiers, too, though these aren’t always consistent.  In several portraits of Mary her hands are emphasized because beautiful hands were prized at the time, Mary was considered a beauty, and so on (also Elizabeth’s hands were rumored to be scarred after her bout of smallpox, and whether or not this was exaggerated I wouldn’t be surprised if this was a dig after her reign began).  Mary is also often depicted in widow’s wear; now, this doesn’t mean that she wore those clothes often, but she was an iconically beautiful young widow after her first husband died, and then she *oh so tragically* lost another…  A lot of artists probably worked off of one painting Mary actually sat for in widow’s wear to have shopped around to potential suitors.  From what I read of this newly discovered portrait, Mary probably never sat for it; it was a tribute/propaganda piece by a support, and most likely the artist was working off of copies.

It’s kind of like how many portraits of Elizabeth I during her reign depict a few of the same things; grand red hair, magnificent clothes and jewels, flawless skin, dark eyes, the same basic facial features.  Did Liz have the time to sit for umpteen portraits?  No!  And she didn’t want to.  She didn’t want the reality of her aging appearance, she wanted the iconic Elizabethan image circulated, and so it was.  Art historians can later pick up on the commonalities between these propaganda pieces and figure out who they’re of.

In the case of this newly discovered work, I imagine the art historian also did a lot of research about the patron’s potential ties to Mary, the political climate at the time, whether or not the artist had materials to work from regarding Mary’s appearance, and so on.  Like I said, the painting looks like Mary, though that… doesn’t necessarily mean much–but the eyes are similar to the other portraits we see, the profile is right, her hair is styled as it was in other paintings, the outline of the clothes seems fine.

Basically, there is soooo much that goes into “proving” a sitter’s identity and even then you’ll never be 100% right in the eyes of everyone.  For years, people thought a portrait was of Katherine Howard, and recently that was debunked.  Everyone shops that portrait of a blond lady with one tit out as Lucrezia Borgia; it’s not.  Identifying people is cool but for a lot of art historians it’s somewhat irrelevant, because we’re more looking at what a portrait reflected about the times and that’s why Mary’s identity IS relevant in this particular case.  Going back to the Secret Anne Boleyn Painting conspiracy theories–people just wanna see a hot Anne there, and that’s what’s frustrating.  By showing us Mary here, this art historian has also given us an example of people showing their support for this embattled queen through propaganda commissions, and for that matter getting scared and covering it up.  That speaks to the political, social, and cultural goings-on of the time.

Some art historians love to find SEKRIT IMAGES because that sells books, but when you ask a lot of professors “do you think that’s a portrait of JANE SEYMOUR” or whatever they’ll probably be like “eh idk man”.  The identity is less important on its own than it is as it relates to the reasons by a commission.  I mean in my case the identities of portraits I studied in school were only really relevant in that I was able to discuss the political constructions that wives and brides became in one Italian court.  Otherwise identity didn’t matter at all.  And tbh, that ambivalence towards identifying people probably makes it even harder for the art historical world to come to a consensus on ANYONE.  But this new discovery sounds pretty solid and honestly, it’s really cool.

[ahmadsanusimalaysia]

How to take full advantage and benefit from the last 10 days of Ramadan? How to take full advantage and benefit from the last part of Ramadan ? Though all parts of Ramadan are full of blessings and rewards, its last ten days hold a special status reflected in the recommendations and practices of the Messenger of Allah, salla Allahu alaihi wa sallam, and his companions. I will focus here on three major practices of the Prophet, salla Allahu alaihi wa sallam, and his companions during these days. 1-Praying in the last ten nights of Ramadan Al-Bukhari and Muslim record from 'Aishah that during the last ten days of Ramadan, the Messenger of Allah would wake his wives up during the night and then remain apart from them (that is, being busy in acts of worship). A narration in Muslim states: "He would strive [to do acts of worship] during the last ten days of Ramadan more than he would at any other time." Aisha reported that With the start of the last ten days of Ramadan, the Prophet used to tighten his waist belt (i.e. work hard) and used to pray all the night, and used to keep his family awake for the prayers. [Bukhari] 2-Performing I`tikaf in the Masjid (seclusion in the Mosque) Before going to the essential of this last section, let us stop by one of the great Imam of ahl Assunnah wal jama`ah, one of the greatest revivers of the Da`wah and the methodology of the Salaf, Shaikhul-Islam Shamsuddeen Ibn Qayyim al-Jawziyyah who will give us a brain storming admonition. He says (rahimahu Allah) in Zaad al Ma`aad fi hadyi khairi al `ibaab : "Since the hearts' rectitude and firmness upon the path towards Allah the Most High, rests upon directing it solely upon Allaah and causing it to turn and give all its attention to Allaah the Most High. Since the disorder of the heart cannot be rectified except by turning to Allaah the Most High, and its disorder will be increased by eating and drinking too much, mixing with the people excessively, speaking profusely and sleeping too much. These will cause it to wander into every valley, and cut it off from its path to Allah, weaken it, divert it or put a halt to it. >From the Mercy of the Mighty and Most Merciful is that He has prescribed for them fasting , which will cut off the excesses of eating and drinking, and empties the hear of its desires which divert it on its journey to Allah the Most High. He prescribed it in due proportion as will be appropriate and will benefit the servant, with regard to this world and the Hereafter, and does not harm him, nor damage what is beneficial for him. He also prescribed i`tikaf for them, by which is intended that the heart is fully occupied with Allah, the Most High, concentrated upon Him alone, and cut off from preoccupation with the creation. Rather it is engrossed with Him alone, the One free of all defects, such that remembering Him, loving Him and turning to Him takes the place of all anxieties of the heart and its suggestions, such that he is able to overcome them. Thus all his concerns are for Him. His thoughts are all of remembrance of Him, and thinking of how to attain His Pleasure and what will cause nearness to Him. This leads him to feel contented with Allah instead of the people, so that prepares him for being at peace with Him alone on the day of loneliness in the grave, when there is no one else to give comfort, nor anyone to grant solace except Him. So this is the greater goal of I'tikaf" The book Zaad al Ma`aad as well as all other books of Ibn al-Qayyim are just peaces of art that every Muslim should read. Al-hamdu liLLAH there is a great effort among the followers and revivers of the methodology of the Salaf in translating these books into English. Some of them or part of them are already available. You may want to contact the bookstore of al-Qur'an was-Sunnah Society of North America [USA] or al-Hidaya Publishing in UK. I`tikaf is the seclusion and staying in the mosque with the intention of becoming closer to Allah. This was the practise of the Prophet, salla Allahu alaihi wa sallam, during the last ten days of Ramadan especially. He would do it during other months as well. 'Aisha reported that the Messenger of Allah, salla Allahu alaihi wa sallam, used to practice I`tikaf in the last ten nights of Ramadan and used to say, "Look for the Night of Qadr in the last ten nights of the month of Ramadan" [Bukhari] Abu Hurairah, radiyallahu 'anhu said: "Allah's Messenger, salla Allahu alaihi wa sallam, used to perform i`tikaf for ten days every Ramadan, then when it was the year in which he was taken (died), he performed I`tikaf for twenty days. [Bukhari] 'Aisha reported that the Prophet,salla Allahu alaihi wa sallam, used to practice I`tikaf in the last ten days of Ramadan till he died and then his wives used to practice I`tikaf after him. [Bukhari] `Aishah radhiya Allahu `anha also reported that the Prophet, salla Allahu alaihi wa sallam, "Used to perform i'tikaf in the last ten days of Ramadan until Allah the Mighty and Majestic, took him. [Bukhari and Muslim] Al-Bukhari records from Abu Said that the Prophet (S) said: "Whoever makes I`tikaf with me is to make I'tikaf during the last ten [nights]." This Sunnah of the Prophet, salla Allahu alaihi wa sallam, has been abandoned by many Muslims and it is worth reviving it in this era. Sayyid Sabiq says in Fiqhus-Sunnah : The sunnah or preferred i`tikaf has no specific time limit. It can be fulfilled by staying in the mosque with the intention of making i`tikaf for a long or short time. The reward will be according to how long one stays in the mosque. If one leaves the mosque and then returns, he should renew his intention to perform itikaf. Ya'la ibn Umayyah said: "I secluded myself in the mosque for some time for I`tikaf." 'Ata told him: "That is I`tikaf, as long as you secluded yourself there." One who is performing Sunnah (like in Ramadan) i'tikaf (i.e. not the obligatory one that is made after a vow) may end his i`tikaf at any time, even if it is before the period he intended to stay. 'Aishah related that if the Prophet intended to make itikaf, he would pray the morning prayer and begin it. One time he wanted to make i`tikaf during the last ten nights of Ramadan, and he ordered his tent to be set up. Aishah reported: "When I saw that, I ordered my tent to be set up, and some of the Prophet's wives followed suit. When he [the Prophet] prayed the morning prayer, he saw all of the tents, and said: "What is this?" They said: "We are seeking obedience [to Allah and His Messenger]." Then he ordered his tent and those of his wives to be taken down, and he delayed his i`tikaf to the first ten days [of Shawwal]."[Bukhari] The fact that the Messenger of Allah ordered [his and] his wives' tents to be struck down and [he himself left and] asked them to leave the i`tikaf after they have made the intention for it shows that they discarded the i`tikaf after they had begun it. ([] in this small paragraph are some additional comments to clarify things). It is preferred for the one who is making I`tikaf to perform many supererogatory acts of worship and to occupy himself with prayers, reciting the Qur'an, glorifying and praising Allah, extolling His oneness and His greatness, asking His forgiveness, sending salutations on the Prophet, upon whom be peace, and supplicating Allah - that is, all actions that bring one closer to Allah. Included among these actions is studying and reading books of tafsir and hadith, books on the lives of the Prophets, upon whom be peace, books of fiqh, and so on. It is also preferred to set up a small tent in the courtyard of the mosque as the Prophet did. Permissible Acts for the Mu`takif (the person performing I`tikaf) The following acts are permissible for one who is making I'tikaf (1) The Person may leave his place of I`tikaf to bid farewell to his wife and a Woman can visit her husband who is in I`tikaf} Safiyyah, radhiya Allahu `anha said : The prophet salla Allahu alaihi wa sallam, was making i`tikaf [in the last ten nights of Ramadan], so I came to visit him at night [and his wives were with him and then departed]. I talked with him for a while, then I stood up to leave, [so he said:"Do not hurry for I will accompany you",. He stood along with me to accompany me back -and her dwelling was in the house of Usaamah Ibn Zayd [until when he came to the door of the mosque near the door of Umm Salamah], two men of the Ansaar were passing by, when they saw the Prophet, salla Allahu alaihi wa sallam, they hastened by, so the Prophet, salla Allahu alaihi wa sallam, said : "Be at your ease for she is Safiyyah bintu Huyayy." So they said:" 'SubhanAllah, O Messenger of Allah! [we did not have any doubt about you].' He said: "Indeed Shaytan circulates in the son of Adam just as blood circulates, and I feared that he would insert an evil thought" -or he said : "something - into your hearts" [Bukhari and Muslim, in [] are additional narrations from Abu Dawud] (2) Combing and cutting one's hair, clipping one's nails, cleaning one's body, wearing nice clothes or wearing perfume are all permissible. 'Aishah reported: "The Prophet was Performing itikaf and he would put his head out through the opening to my room and I would clean [or comb in one narration] his hair. I was menstruating at the time." [al-Bukhari, Muslim, and Abu Dawud]. (3) The person may go out for some need that he must perform. 'Aishah reported: "When the Prophet Performed I`tikaf, he brought his head close to me so I could comb his hair, and he would not enter the house except to fulfill the needs a person has." [al-Bukhari, and Muslim]. Ibn al-Mundhir says: "The scholars agree that the one who performs itikaf may leave the mosque in order to answer the call of nature, for this is something that he personally must perform, and he cannot do it in the mosque. Also, if he needs to eat or drink and there is no one to bring him his food, he may leave to get it. If one needs to vomit, he may leave the mosque to do so. For anything that he must do but cannot do in the mosque, he can leave it, and such acts will not void his itikaf, even if they take a long time. Examples of these types of acts would include washing one's self from sexual defilement and cleaning his body or clothes from impurities." (4) The person may eat, drink, and sleep in the mosque, and he should also keep it clean. Actions that Nullify the I`tikaf If a person performs one of the following acts, his I`tikaf will be nullified: (1) Intentionally leaving the mosque without any need to do so, even if it is for just a short time. In such a case, one would not be staying in the mosque, which is one of the principles of I`tikaf. (2) Abandoning belief in Islam, as this would nullify all acts of worship. If you ascribe a partner to Allah, your work will fail and you will be among the losers. (3) Losing one's reason due to insanity or drunkenness, or the onset of menstruation or post-childbirth bleeding, all of which disqualifies a person for itikaf. (4) Sexual intercourse. Allah says [in meaning]: "But do not associate with your wives while you are in seclusion (I`tikaf) in the mosques. Those are Limits (set by) Allah. Approach not nigh thereto. Thus does Allah make clear His Signs to men: that they may learn self-restraint. [al-Baqara; 2:187] I`tikaf is not restricted to men only, women also can do it : 'Aisha (the wife of the Prophet) reported that the Prophet, salla Allahu alaihi wa sallam, used to practice I`tikaf in the last ten days of Ramadan till he died and then his wives used to practice I`tikaf after him.[Bukhari] Dear Sister! when reading this do not forget the modesty and the Hijab of the wife of the Prophet (S) that you should observe if you intend to perform I`tikaf. 3-Seeking Laylatul-Qadr (the Night of Decree) It is the greatest night of the year like the Day of `Arafah is the greatest day of the year. It is a night about which Allah reveled a full Surah, Suratul-Qadr [97:1-5] and the 3rd to the 6th verses of Surat ad-Dukhan [44:3-6] It is the night when the Qur'an was reveled. It is the night when the Message (the Final and seal of all messages) sent to Mohammad, salla Allahu alaihi wa sallam, started It is the night when the light, that would illuminate mankind to the end of life, started It is the night when every matter of ordainment is decreed Allah says in what can be translated as : "Verily! We have sent it (this Qur'aan) down in the Night of Decree (Lailatul-Qadr). And what will make you know what the Night of Decree is? The Night of Decree is better than a thousand months. Therein descend the angels and the Rooh (ie. Jibreel [Gabriel]) by Allaah's Permission with all Decrees, Peace! until the appearance of dawn." [97:1-5] and in Surat ad-Dukhan : "We sent it (this Qur'aan) down on a blessed Night. Verily, We are ever warning (mankind of Our Torment). Therein (that Night) is decreed every matter of ordainment. Amran (i.e. a command or this Qur'aan or His Decree of every matter) from Us. Verily, We are ever sending (the Messenger). (As) a Mercy from your Lord. Verily! He is the All-Hearer, the All-Knower. [44:3-6] A person who misses Laylatul-Qadr is really a deprived person! Abu Hurairah reported that the Prophet, salla Allahu alaihi wa sallam, said " The blessed month has come to you. Allah has made fasting during it obligatory upon you. During it the gates to Paradise are opened and the gates of Hellfire are locked, and the devils are chained. There is a night [during this month] which is better than a thousand months. Whoever is deprived of its good is really deprived [of something great]. [Ahmad, an-Nisa'i and al-Bayhaqi] One who misses this blessed night then he has missed much good for no one misses it except one from whom it is withheld. Therefore it is recommended that the Muslim who is eager to be obedient to Allaah should stand in Prayer during this night out of Eemaan and hoping for the great reward, since if he does this, Allaah will forgive his previous sins (1). What happens to the person who witnesses Laylatul-Qadr? and what should one do? Abu Hurairah Radhiya Allahu `anhu reported that the Messenger of Allah, salla Allahu alaihi wa sallam, said : "Whoever stands (in prayer) in Lailatul-Qadr out of Eemaan (faith and sincerity) and seeking reward then his previous sins are forgiven". [Bukhari] It is recommended to supplicate a lot during this night, it is reported from our mother 'Aishah radhiya Allahu `anha, that she said: "O Messenger of Allah! What if I knew which night Lailatul-Qadr was, then what should I say in it?" He said.- "Say.- (Allahumma innaka 'affuwwun tuhibbul 'afwa fa'fu 'annee.) "O Allaah You are The One Who pardons greatly, and loves to pardon, so pardon me.". [at-Tirmithi and Ibn Majah with a Sahih Isnad] When is Laylatul-Qadr ? It is preferred to seek this night during the last ten odd nights of Ramadan, as the Prophet salla Allahu alaihi wa sallam,, strove his best in seeking it during that time. We have already mentioned that the Prophet would stay up during the last ten nights, would wake his wives, and then would remain apart from them to worship. Ibn Abbas reported that the Prophet,salla Allahu alaihi wa sallam, said, "Look for the Night of Qadr in the last ten nights of Ramadan ,' on the night when nine or seven or five nights remain out of the last ten nights of Ramadan (i.e. 21, 23, 25, respectively)." [Bukhari] `Aishah radhiya Allahu `anha said: "Allah's Messenger used to practice I`itikaf in the last ten nights and say: 'Seek out Lailatul-Qadr in the (odd nights) of the last ten of Ramadan." [Bukhari and Muslim] However if the servant is too weak or unable, then he should at least not let the last seven pass him by, due to what is reported from Ibn 'Umar, who said: Allah's Messenger said: "Seek it in the last ten, and if one of you is too weak or unable then let him not allow that to make him miss the final seven.' [Bukhari and Muslim] This explains his saying: "I see that your dreams are in agreement (that it is in the last seven) so he who wishes to seek it out then let him seek it in the last seven.' [Bukhari and Muslim] It is known from the Sunnah, that knowledge of the exact night upon which Lailatul-Qadr falls was taken up because the people argued, 'Ubaadah ibn as- Saamit, radiyalloahu 'anhu, said: The Prophet came out intending to tell us about Lailatul-Qadr, however two men were arguing and he said: "I come out to inform you about Lailatul-Qadr but so and so, and, so and so were arguing, so it was raised up, and perhaps that is better for you, so seek it on the (twenty) ninth and the (twenty) seventh and the (twenty) fifth.'[Bukhari] Some of the ahadeeth indicate that Lailatul-Qadr is in the last ten nights, while others indicate that it is in the odd nights of the last ten, so the first are general and the second more particular, and the particular has to be given priority over the general. Other ahadeeth state that it is in the last seven - and these are restricted by mention of one who is too weak or unable. So there is no confusion, all the ahadeeth agree and are not contradictory. In conclusion: The Muslim should seek out Lailatui-Qadr in the odd nights of the last ten: the night of the twenty-first, the twenty-third, the twenty-fifth, the twenty-seventh and the twenty-ninth. If he is too weak or unable to seek it out in all the odd nights, then let him seek it out in the odd nights of the of seven: the night of the twenty-fifth, the twenty-seventh and the twenty-ninth And Allah knows best. (1) What are the signs of laylatul-Qadr? Allaah's Messenger , salla Allahu alaihi wa sallam, described the morning after Lailatul-Qadr, so that the Muslim may know which day it is. From Ubayy, radhiya Allahu 'anhu, who said: that he, salla Allahu alaihi wa sallam, said: "On the morning following Lailatui-Qadr the sun rises not having any rays, as if it were a brass dish, until it rises up."[Muslim, Abu Dawud, Tirmithi and Ibn Majah] Abu Hurairah, radhiya Allahu 'anhu, said : "We were discussing Lailatul-Qadr in the presence of Allah's Messenger so he said : 'Which of you remembers [the night] when the moon arose and was like half a plate?... [Muslim] Ibn 'Abbaas, radhiya Allahu 'anhuma, said: Allaah's Messenger, salla Allahu alaihi wa sallam, said: "Lailatul-Qadr is calm and pleasant, neither hot nor cold, the sun arises on its morning being feeble and red." [at-Tayaalisee, Ibn Khuzaimah and al-Bazzaar with a Hasan Isnad] We pray to Allah All Mighty Most Merciful to bless us this Ramadan by witnessing Laylatul-Qadr. http://www.ahmad-sanusi-husain.com/2012/08/how-to-take-full-advantage-and-benefit.html