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girlwithsharpt33th · 3 months

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ANGELIC - 𝓼𝓾𝓴𝓾𝓷𝓪

art cred: @innaillus (also on twit)

content: AFAB!reader, softkuna, brief mention of cannibalism, flashbacks, heian era sukuna, bittersweet love

a/n: second part of my angelic series! I tried a lil something new, adding some poetic elements

Being inexplicably connected to the King of Curses means your life can only consist of one of two things: calmness or chaos. You never know what to expect with such a temperamental partner. This particular night, however, you are quite certain it is the former.

He looks completely content, cerebral. not a drop of blood stains his lips, putrid metallic smell seeping from every pore of his body. Nor even a hint of something vile lurking beneath the surface. He smells clean, like soap. It’s almost like the abyss of sleep has baptized him, cleansing him of all of his twisted complexities.

he looks beautiful, your guardian angel incarnate. As if the memory of him consuming a woman’s breast not even an hour earlier was an illusion, gore encrusted lips grinning at you lustfully.

“Sit on my lap and watch me.”

communicating with his piercing gaze as he swirls his tongue over the stiff nipple.

shoving his fingers into your mouth, covered in the woman’s blood.

“Suck.”

Voice low and deep.

You shake your head. No good to dwell on things that happen every day. Right now he’s calm.

Bathe in his tranquility.

Your troubled thoughts dissipate and you’re brought back to reality as a finger darts out, poking you hard on the forehead. The force of this seemingly minuscule touch knocks your head back a little. His bottom left eye is partially open, peering at you. The curvature of it makes it appear as if it’s grinning at you. A soft smile plays on his lips.

“Sleep.” he says simply, pressing his fingers to your eyelids, shutting them. You can tell he likes the attention of your admiring gaze, though. He loves how you love him.

You hold the massive hand closest to you with your much smaller one and kiss it, smiling mischievously at him. “No, you.” you murmur. He lays on his back with his upper hands behind his head, closing his eyes and smiling broader. He’s listening to you. The thought makes your heart swell.

❀ ･゜ﾟ･*

You wake, having apparently snuggled up against your King’s side in your sleep. Warm sunlight spreads across his face, highlighting his features; warped mask, black tattoos, broad nose. Statuesque. Heat rises to your cheeks.

Your fingers dance along his bare pecs. He feels so warm. His belly mouth appears and you stick a finger inside of it, the large, flat tongue engulfing the digit. The muscle moves so slowly, sensually. One of his hands gently guides your chin to look at his crotch, propping one of his legs up, exposing his hardening cocks.

You quickly look up at him, curious to see if his eyes are open. They’re not, face expressionless. You look back at his cocks and wrap a hand around the bottom one automatically, his silent invitation not so much an invitation but an order. You struggle to wrap your whole hand around it.

He begins to react now, letting out a pleased hum. You smile and wrap your lips around his unoccupied cock, bobbing your head up and down lazily as he takes a fistful of your hair into a makeshift ponytail.

He doesn’t press your head down like he usually would, instead letting you choose your own pace. So gentle. What did you do to deserve this? He’s peeking at you now, his eyes trained on you in rapt attention, hazy with lust and admiration.

Suddenly, he extracts you from his cocks, grabbing your waist and lowering your pussy onto his face. “How generous.” you say and shakily laugh as his dexterous tongue explores your folds. His nose nudges your clit sending shockwaves of pleasure down your spine. You grab a fistful of his hair, riding his tongue. He groans in approval, pressing a thumb to your clit.

He peers up at you, his amber eyes half closed. He’s making you feel like heaven and the sun illuminating the room enhances the feeling tenfold. You clench your thighs as you feel that familiar drop in your belly. He speeds up his movements, fucking your needy hole with his tongue and pressing down hard on your clit.

You swivel your trembling thighs as you cum with a gasp, groaning hoarsely as his tongue collects every last drop of your release. His cocks lay neglected against his stomach and you move to get up to relieve him, but he grips your thighs tight, holding you in place.

He shifts your hips slightly, just enough to speak.

“This morning is for you, little dove.”

Your mind barely registers his sweet words before his tongue dips back into your sex, eyes so full of an emotion you can’t even put words to.

Your mind blank, save for 3 words, a mantra, echoes in your brain

My Love, My Lord, My Savior.

#sukuna x you #sukuna x afab!reader #sukuna x reader #sukuna smut #heian era sukuna smut #jujutsu kaisen #ravenwrites

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whenmemorydies · 8 days

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Preliminary thoughts on The Bear, race, power and privilege

I’m a non-Black woman of colour who has spent all of my life in the west…so I’ve consumed a lot of television media that is produced by and for the white gaze. The most obvious way that gaze plays out is when people of colour are non-existent in a cast, or when they are included, are tokenistic, bit players.

A more insidious manifestation is where POC are cast to play parts that could just as easily be played by white folks: characters that have no interiority or external relationships related to their cultural identities, wider communities or individual or collective histories (for example, Mindy in The Mindy Project for most of its run, or the characters of colour in Season 1 of Bridgerton).

I've had some thoughts about how The Bear (thankfully) avoids tokenistic and "colour-blind" representation. I also have some thoughts about how the show models meaningful allyship. I'm so keen to discuss this with folks and hear what others think about it too.

Unambiguous and unapologetic

The Bear is confined in its universe, particularly in season 1 where it’s focus is tightly bound to the physical location of The Beef as the setting for almost every scene. Episodes of The Bear are generally not very long, so time is precious (every second really does count). These factors necessarily limit how deep we can get into each character. But the show is so good at drawing on different means of communication: images, lighting, score, soundtrack, phrasing, callbacks to previous episodes, other cultural references etc, that each episode is like a jewellery box with gems waiting to be unpacked and pored over. I've said that I have started reading this show like a tarot deck because of how rich the symbolism in each episode is.

So despite the constraints of time and setting, characters of colour in this show are also so very rich in their realisation and portrayal. These characters are unambiguously and - this is important - unapologetically racialised: through language (see: Tina’s use - and occasional weaponisation lmao - of Spanish), physical appearance (see: Sydney’s two-tone braids and her stunning, prolific collection of headscarves throughout the show), culturally distinct names (see: Sydney Adamu, Ebraheim, Tina Marrero, etc), food (see: Carmy’s peace offering to Syd in ep 1x03 of Ebra’s family chicken suqaar - a popular dish in the latter character’s birth country of Somalia), etc.

GIF by @chefkids

These may seem like small and inconsequential details to some. In fact I’ve been seeing a lot of commentary from folks online saying that what they like about The Bear is that race isn’t mentioned at all on the show. But make no mistake: race is all over this thing. The examples I've given are only some of the many references to racialised histories and cultures that build out the broader fabric of multicultural Chicago here.

What is not present in The Bear is a script that is wasting time explaining the characters of colour and their rich inner and outer lives to white folks. Those things are just a given and we are invited to witness them being brought to vivid life by this cast and crew. And I am fucking here for it.

Respect and allyship

Another thing I LOVE about this show is the respect given to, and the recognition of, the experience, talent, drive and ambition of its characters of colour.

This is most obvious in the relationship between Syd and Carmy who are signalled as complementary equals in many ways. Others have written on the importance of the representation embodied by Sydney’s character and you should search out that analyses, especially when its authored by Black women. The only other thing I’d say about it is that I love Sydney’s character and I also love endgame Sydcarmy (even if it’s only hinted at in the last second of the last frame of the last ever episode lmao…I will take whatever I can get of these two 😭).

I also see the show’s respect and recognition manifest in The Bear's investment in its staff, particularly in season 2. Everyone who worked at The Beef has a role at The Bear and Carmy, Syd and Nat fund the ongoing training and upskilling of their largely racialised staff to make sure this happens. Ebra and Tina are paid to attend culinary school (Carmy also gives Tina his prized knife for her studies and beyond). Marcus is sent to stage in Copenhagen to develop his skills as a patissier. And then we have The Bear itself - what started as Carmy and Michael’s vision, is now the whole team’s baby, with Sydney literally being made the captain of the ship by Carmy at the end of ep 2x09.

GIF by @savagegood

Part of what was so tragic about Carmy's fridge spiral at the end of season 2 was that he didn't get to see how beautifully the team came through in a crisis. Instead we had him internalising, regressing and lamenting how he had let everyone down. This language centred Carmy as the be all and end all of The Bear (saviour vibes) when this couldn't have been further from the truth (particularly in a season where the man spent so much of his time not in the restaurant but chasing manic pixie no-last-name-having Claire....but I digress).

Carmy is his best when he checks his ego, takes a step back and realises that he is not alone. He is part of a whole chosen family supporting one another at The Bear. And I get the sense that the folks creating this show know that we need more white folks using their power and privilege to step back and facilitate access, and less gatekeeping white saviours taking credit where its not due.

After all, and paraphrasing Viola Davis, the only thing that separates people of colour from anyone else, is opportunity.

12/04/24 Note: I’ve amended this post because I forgot to mention the most pivotal example of Sydney along with her relationship with Carmy. Also made some slight stylistic changes to phrasing cos i fixate on errors lol

#the bear #the bear hulu #the bear fx #white gaze #critical race theory #carmen berzatto #sydney adamu #tina marrero #ebraheim #marcus brooks #allyship #white privilege #power #chris storer #joanna calo #sydney x carmen #sydcarmy #carmy x sydney

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hadesoftheladies · 7 months

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Greed is Male Culture

This isn't a misandry post (sorry to disappoint). Neither is it an essay (yet). It's a deep reflection on what I think is the beginning of humanity's most evil systems, like the actual beginning. These are just my thoughts based on what I know, and I'm sure other people have said what I am about to. This is not a research paper (yet), but it is based on my readings regarding marxism, feminism, and industrial/colonial history (and some marginal knowledge of animal species). This is an opinion/think-piece, the beginning of some of my broader ideas.

I consider greed to be largely irrational and even (mostly) unnatural. Greed is not like hunger or fear. Greed, right now, is about excess. And I think excess is unnatural, and the desire for it even more so. Sort of like how plastic is from nature, but cannot decompose like organic matter. I think greed is a synthetic desire. Mimicking organic feelings like hunger or fear. In a world of safety, community and fulfilment, the desire for power over another is foreign. Unnatural. There are no threats. There is nothing to inspire the thought or desire of greed (especially coming from a materialist perspective). So how did the quest for power for the sake of power (and not safety, survival, or protection) come to be in human beings?

I posit that it could only (and did) arise from male-to-male peer relations.

In most animal (at least mammalian and some other) species, males do not need to be as populous as females. If you want a robust chance at a second generation of animals, you need only one male for twenty or so females. A handful of males of which females would select the best and breed with. The handful of males would have more than enough chances at partnering, and the females would have no shortage of seed if they so wanted to be pregnant.

But that's not the case. Males and females are 1:1, and sometimes, males are slightly more than females in most sexually dimorphic animal species.

So now we have some complications. Something that had been good in a previous context (males for seed) now became problematic. Now, imagine there are slightly more males than females in society. Up until this point, the value for the human male has been two things: seed and manual labor. This is the basis of his relevance to society and identity. These are the only two avenues for him to find any value as a man (not an individual). But now, he senses that he is in jeopardy. He is exceedingly replaceable! There are many men, so not only are the chances for his seed being chosen reduced, but the amount of seed he could spread is also reduced! He doesn't want to share, and he cannot stomach being replaceable or losing access to females, who are the ones who dictate whether he has a legacy or not. Whether he has offspring or not.

So now the many males have to compete. They have to be more flamboyant, robust, more beautiful than the other males so they can get picked by a female (note, they are not concerned with picking a female because any female will do). But the competition gets steeper and keeps escalating for different reasons (environmental or evolutionary) as time goes on. So now, violence, aggression, and killing have become parts of the competition. Like any sport, the rules and stakes evolve as time goes.

The choice of females is now diminished in this first stage. This is the beginning of the loss of their freedom. It is not that they are simply mating with the "prettiest" male, per se, but that they are also left with the male that survives the battle between males.

And thus the concept of "territory" arrives. Man has come to see other men as his greatest threat. Other men can annihilate him by annihilating his chances at offspring. This is not something women experience because every offspring is theirs, regardless of what seed it came from. Women can never be "erased" on a biological level, because their DNA is the blueprint of all humanity. It started with women and it will end when women end. But this is a big existential fear to men. They can be replaced. They were not the beginning. He (singular) can be erased. There are other men ready and willing to replace him.

So now man needs assurances. He needs to assert himself to other men so that the threat is mitigated. He knows other men are out to get him, because all men are now at war with each other. They evolved strength, not to protect women and children (because females in nearly every species have been the main if not sole providers and protectors), but to protect himself from other men. Really, it couldn't be to protect women and children, because female animals are able to wield similar weapons (claws, spears, stones, beaks) against threats to themselves or their young. No, men need strength to defend themselves from other men, who are out to propagate themselves. Men have become the special targets of other men.

And so, in this struggle, the competition evolves again. The stakes heighten. Man needs to assert himself to other men or he's dead meat, and he finds new ways to do so. At this point, he also realizes that women pose no threat to him in this sense. They do not seek to dominate him. He is not that relevant to her. He is replaceable. So women seize to be as important (in terms of threat) and become relegated to assets. Women do not need to assert themselves, so because they do not, man sees them as different to him. Not the same kind of animal. Not human. Women do not need to establish themselves using violence, and he equates that to women not having agency or ambition. Women now become assets. But he needs them as assurance. Remember, they are the only way he has legacy. So he must find a way to control them. To make them permanently his somehow. He asserts himself using violence, even reproductive violence and it works. Women are now part of the territory. Conquests and wars ensue. Men now view acquiring women and land as the same thing. Now in order to ensure their legacy, men know that it will not just take killing other men, but policing women. Even killing (but mainly stealing and raping) the women of other men since women are now resources and not people. Women cannot assert themselves physically the way men can. They cannot impregnate themselves. This is convenient for him to exploit.

Factions start to form. Kings, chiefs, and dictators rise up as territory and assets expand. Women die in in the crossfire, and policing them becomes more brutal. Their mistreatment from their own offspring and species has now become their biggest threat. Men are now the plunderers and predators of women. Women's resistance is a threat to his precious resources and assurances against other men and his annihilation. The increase of brutality towards women means that more women die, and there are more men than women, making competition even steeper. Now, man moves in packs. He hunts in packs. He covers more ground and acquires more territory, and so long as he is top of the hierarchy, the men beneath him pose no threat. If anything, he makes sure they benefit, for they help him better maintain that hierarchy. More men are required to fight other men and plunder their resources. Armies form. Nations form. Territory.

Now we come to the modern world. After a history of colonialism, capitalism, slavery, genocides, grotesque war. The underpinnings of all these systems are the same. Competition between males. For what? Hierarchy. Why? To assert himself to other males. To what end? His humanity.

Man, the animal, has now come to equate his personhood with supremacy. To men, dominance is a virtue, because to assert yourself, to impose your will, is to be human. Man needs something to be dominant over or he seizes to be relevant. Man needs something to subjugate, or he becomes meat to be devoured by other men. There are more men now than there ever was. The world suffers because ALL these men "need" to assert themselves, to become human to other men.

This is probably part of the reason why women aren't seen as human. Not simply because they are regarded as assets instead of persons, but because to be subjugated is to be inhuman. To be subjugated is how you become an asset. Or at least, dehumanizing you as an asset makes it easier to christen your subjugation as morally right and economically necessary. This idea is especially prevalent in politics since the 18th century. Man sees living things in two castes: dominant and submissive. Because that is how he sees himself in comparison to other men. Cattle, sheep, nature, men who take it from the back, women . . . submissive and thus inhuman. If a man can subject you, you are no longer human to him because you cannot or do not assert yourself in the way he does. You are now an asset that he can use to assert himself to other men. You are not a relevant threat. This is also possibly why pacifism is largely regarded as feminine or "pussification." Even unnatural. Men equate violence to agency since violence is when they start to become their own people.

This becomes even more plain when you look at the underpinings of man's existential thoughts throughout religion, art, and philosophy. What makes a man a man? What makes a man useful? What makes life meaningful to a man? What traits do they worship about god? Omnipotence. Omniscience. Being the owner of all things. The capacity to impose yourself and image on the world and to be able to do so forever via offspring. Ownership and property only became relevant to man when another man competed with him. Excess is useful now because it is a grand way of asserting yourself. Fame and excess are equated to legacy. Now, they are all that is worth striving for. As a boast to other men. A synthetic desire (greed) from an organic feeling (fear of threat).

Man's purpose is now to win the competition, no matter how silly the sport gets. To assert himself and be a threat. And if he is not a threat, he is irrelevant and unspectacular (to humanity). And if he is not relevant, as his ancestors once feared, . . . then what is he? He cannot become a woman who is eternally necessary and relevant to human society and history.

So what else can he be? There are only two options in the male world.

Both these options cannot do anything but ultimately destroy what humanity is left in him.

Greed only makes sense if the satisfaction (mimicking hunger) is found in other people's perception of you. Men need men to perceive them as successful, because that has been how they protected themselves from other men. And now that competition exists in all forms of society, whether economic or social, we all participate on some level with it. It's not that greed is natural to the human heart, but that it has become increasingly relevant to our societies, from how we consume to how we relate. Now, every fraction of society has to have its own model of dominant/submissive, superior/inferior, etc. Because men hate themselves, hate each other, and hate everyone else.

Anyways . . . nighty, night!

PS: This is kind of like conflict theory meets feminist analysis, and it's more of a collection of my ideas than anything else. I find it interesting to look at modern human politics and arts, at least between the 20th century and now, in this lens. If you don't like what I have to say, at least let your criticisms be constructive. I do not mind reasonable disagreement.

#radblr #feminism #history #just thinking about it #capitalism #colonialism

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justanotherfanartist · 20 days

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taps mic. ahem.

help a student write a dumb rvb research paper? pretty please?? for funsies???

This is exactly what it sounds like.

My current final of the year for my language composition class is a massive synthesis + argumentative research paper on any topic of our choosing, and Roosterteeth + RVB has too much messy junk going on that I’m knee-deep invested in mentally at this point to pass up the opportunity to write about it.

And yknow, I see a ton of media analysis posts coming out of the fandom all the time and I’ve always loved seeing it and reading into it and sharing ideas and whatnot and this feels like my way of doing that too.

Essentially what I’m reaching out for is for you guys to help me crowdsource resources and share your ideas with me to include in my term paper*.

things that would be wizard cool of you to send me are:

any interviews or behind the scenes with the cast and creators you happen to know of

your own analysis or hot takes of the characters or the show as a whole

what the show has meant to you

any clips of old Roosterteeth expos

for the older fans, a rough idea of what the release timeline looked like for the episodes and what the buildup and fan reaction was for each one

any commentary or hot takes on how the fandom has changed since you joined/that you know of

what Roosterteeth did wrong (writing wise and irl)

what Roosterteeth did right (writing wise and irl)

tropes within the show you noticed whether originated by the show or not

tropes within the fandom, things like similar portrayals or bad/good takes on characters or face canons that span artists

literally anything you can give me, media, commentary, or opinion wise

(not to say I can’t find things on my own, I already have, but this is also about varying opinions and the general outlook of the fandom as a whole and measuring the broader impact of a show like RvB and it would be incredibly cool of you to help me out even with just crumbs of character opinions)

The idea is to get evidence together from clips, personal anecdotes, and opinions so I can present an accurate read on the fandom, especially when it comes to fan interpretation of RVB vs Roosterteeth’s intentions for the show (and behavior as a company) and explore what the show was supposed to be, what it literally is, how people see it, what its impact has been, and a general overview of the it’s legacy and lifespan, that sort of thing.

My thesis is most likely going to end up something in the ballpark of “How Roosterteeth exemplifies the Franchisation of Indie Media” or “Why RvB is one of the most complicated/misunderstood/divisive shows in modern media” or “How Fandoms interpret and recontextualize media”

I’m going to guess that I likely won’t be able to post the finished paper up online without a solid buffer window to avoid the two mortifying scenarios that are (a) being accused of creative plagiarism and (b) having to tell my instructor that the tumblr account with a 100% match to my course final is, in fact, my tumblr account, are two things I desperately want to avoid.

However if I can, simply for the sake of contributing to the fandom and creating something for us to all contribute to and discuss and crediting various peoples’ help and input would be ideal and, if at all possible, that would be the end goal.

so yeah. if you’re up for it I’d love for you to dm me your thoughts or (more conveniently for the both of us) fill out this Google form down here!

*im not gonna, like, repost your detailed character analysis as my own or something. I’m just trying to find some good quotes, general opinions, and ideas from the fandom so that I can accurately represent them and do our little corner of the internet Justice. And also because the audience of a work is a massive factor in media analysis lmfao. and also to create a community sourced Fun Thing™️ we can all look at and bite the corners off of instead of watching Roosterteeth crash and burn in the backgroun

#rvb #red vs blue #roosterteeth #research #me and my dumb little projects #rvb paper

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johannestevans · 1 year

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Possibly an odd question, but……do you have advice on how to be a slut? I’m recently out as a gay trans man, in my 30’s, only ever been with straight cisgender men, and I have no idea where to start. Being on testosterone has helped with the dysphoria, but I can’t seem to let go of old habits from when I was a girl having sex with guys. You can ignore this if you don’t feel comfortable answering, I just thought given the nature of your blog you might have some really good insights

It's not an odd question at all, Anon - I think that for a lot of trans MLM and other people who were raised as or spent a long time being perceived as women transitioning to MLM spaces, it can be a really strange feeling because like... The attitudes to sex and pleasure are just so completely different.

In the West, the culture around sexual and dating life for women who have sex with men is obviously heavily influenced by patriarchal sexual objectification of women, and like...

I do want to write a bit more about this at some point, but straight hook-up and casual dating apps like Tinder and Hinge and so on came after Grindr, and while through the 00s and the 10s there's been a sense of sexual liberation for women who have sex with men, like... Many men still think of women as prizes to be won or status symbols and extensions of their reputation; many people as a rule still think of women as sexually disposable and easily exchangeable, and more than that, they think that women are permanently marked or have their value reduced by the amount of sex or sexual partners they have.

While there has been more discussion and awareness of consent within broader society, ultimately we still live in a patriarchal rape culture that positions men as sexual aggressors and women as receivers of sexual aggression, and ultimately like--

There's the obvious safety concerns to be taken into account, the understanding that women undertake a lot of risk of sexual violence in their pursuit of casual dating and hook-ups specifically because of the way that women are viewed and treated, and obviously with everything I've just said, none of it prioritises women's pleasure or even takes it into account unless it's the performance of pleasure for the sake of male viewers' titillation and satisfaction.

How can you meaningfully communicate about consent and pleasure, as someone perceived as a cis woman, with a cisgender man who thinks of you as sub-human, or as a prize or achievement to be won? How can you talk about what feels good and what you want from sex when your pleasure is viewed and talked about not only as an afterthought, but as something that's inherently less important than the pleasure of the men you have sex with?

How can you talk about sex and desire at all, when the culture you live in says in many ways, implicit and explicit, that you are not capable of such things, and shouldn't be? When it claims that women are sexually desirable, but men are not sexually desirable at all, and are merely beasts to be withstood and endured? When sex itself is something you're meant to be on the "receiving end" of, with your pleasure a side consideration if you're very lucky, and not a mutual experience you share with another person?

Cis women who have sex with men have all that to consider, and as trans men (or other trans people), we're also grappling with our dysphoria, our own feelings about our bodies and sex and desire, our relationships to other men, and particularly to the culture that's in MLM spaces.

I have two guides below - one is about vulvar and vaginal stimulation which is intended for masturbation and self-exploration, but is also good to explore with partners. I think one of the most powerful things we can have in our arsenals is understanding of our own body and our own likes and desires, and hopefully this can be a good starting place for that!

The second is a basic guide to using Grindr as a trans man (it should be usable for nonbinary and other trans ppl), and it also discusses some of the specifics in MLM cruising culture in passing.

Ringing The Devil’s Doorbell: A Light-Hearted, Practical Guide — Let’s talk sex! Vulvar and vaginal stimulation for fun, pleasure, and profit. On Medium.

Looking For 🍑🍆💦: A Beginner’s Guide to Grindr for Trans Men — Approaching Grindr and M/M cruising culture as a trans man. On Patreon / / On Medium.

Feel free to mention any specific bad habits you're having trouble with in follow-up asks, because I'm obviously not you and don't know your personal experiences.

I will say that like... If you do feel you have old habits that are things like not communicating your needs and desires or going silent, faking orgasms, going still and letting someone else "do" sex with you, etc, like.

The use of the phrase "habit" here troubles me a bit, you know? I feel like "old habit" might mean "bad habit" and like...

Cisgender women who do these things are not acting in a vaccuum, and nor are any trans people who are or were perceived as cis women. Nor are you. These are things that people ultimately do out of shame, trauma, uncertainty, fear of communicating explicitly, and a lack of confidence that is firmly embedded in us by a dominant culture that ultimately hates us. Hates women, employs misogyny, but also hates any kind of gender variance, as well as sex that's employed for reasons other than cis patriarchal sexual satisfaction and impregnation.

My point being that none of it is your fault. Not being confident with casual sex with men and/or with sex in general even though you'd like to embrace a slut era is not something to be ashamed of, it's not on you - apart from any dysphoria you might be feeling, even if you haven't experienced sexual violence or abuse, pretty much everyone has some ingrained traumas and fears given to us by the culture we live in, especially when we've been perceived as and treated as women.

So, how do we start with it?

Grindr is the obvious place to start for a lot of MLM - it's easy, it's convenient, it's right there. You might have safety concerns, though, because of the relative anonymity of it, especially if you haven't had sex or been in community with other MLM and queer men before, and you don't feel as comfortable navigating and measuring social or suspicious ones, especially over text!

When I went back to using Grindr after like eight years being celibate for Trauma Reasons, I went for fucking dudes who were staying in hotels - they were tourists, a lot of them, so I wasn't necessarily going to see them a bunch of times afterwards, but also, I preferred the safety of a hotel to seeing people at their homes.

Hotels are staffed, in public places, where you're easily within reach of other people, and unlike in apartment blocks or houses in neighbourhoods, people aren't going to ignore any loud noise and go "Oh it's none of my business" - they'll probably come out to see what the matter is. They also have private ensuite bathrooms, which is a nice convenience and not always guaranteed at someone's home.

Honestly, though? That's very much worse case scenario stuff.

One of the benefits of Grindr for me is that we normally talk in quite explicit terms before meeting up what we like, what we might want from the encounter - and when we meet up, it's normally pretty easy to communicate what we want out loud, saying, "let's do this" or "I like this" aloud as we touch and kiss each other.

The thing about MLM cruising culture and casual sex is that like...

For cis men and women, there is a vision of sex that's going to be upheld - they kiss. They lie in bed together. He puts his penis in her vagina. He thrusts until he comes. Sex is complete, because the man has come.

A lot of people will even refer to penis-in-vagina sex as "real" sex, or have ideas that penetrative sex is the only "real" or "full" sex because of its resemblance to PIV sex. Even when we talk about "foreplay", foreplay is considered almost a necessary evil to "ready" yourself for the real sex - the penetration.

Within MLM cruising culture, while penetration is absolutely the primary goal for a lot of people as a top or bottom, there are also sides (people who don't top or bottom), and even within topping and bottoming, there's plenty of other sex acts. Oral sex, nipple play, jacking each other off, massage, kink acts, etc.

I've had guys come over just to suck me off and then be like "thanks, I'm done" and go - and I've also BEEN that guy, because I love sucking dick, and sometimes it's its own reward.

The encounter is not necessarily finished because the top has orgasmed, either - if you are having penetrative sex, a lot of tops will make sure the bottom has come at least once first (just in terms of muscle relaxation, this is actually a good tip for vaginismus and/or tight anal and vaginal muscles), or they'll come and then start going down on you or fingering you because it's your turn now.

It's not all as simple as "taking turns" or anything, but the thing about MLM cruising culture is that like...

The whole basis of men meeting up to have sex with each other is that we love other men and we desire them. We desire to feel good with other men and to make other men feel good. It's historically been based in anonymity because this desire for each other and the nature of this desire had to be kept clandestine for our safety, but because of its clandestine and simultaneously casual (as in, unattached) nature, it is in many ways extremely sexually liberated.

MLM often explore different kinks and explore different people's desires and their bodies - it's curious and explorative, and a lot of it is about exploring different sex acts, positions, and perspectives of sexuality and relationships, because we already exist in counter to the mainstream cultural shames around sex. Just by desiring men and seeing men as desirable (especially as men ourselves), we're going against the domiannt perspective of the binary as like, women are beautiful, men are ugly.

While there are absolutely people who treat cruising as something transactional just for them to get their rocks off, it's a fundamentally different culture and philosophy around desire and sexuality compared to what exists with casual sex and dating for heterosexual people.

I'm sorry this is so much based in your potential perspective and the cultural aspects rather than specific explicit tips on how to slut around, so I will give a few specific tips on that now! It's just hard to know what angle you're looking for, and I do think a lot of the hardest part is changing our perspectives and exploring what we actually desire and need from our sex life.

So, some practical tips on slutting around:

testosterone is not a contraceptive! if you can't use a hormonal contraceptive like the pill or the implant, there are non-hormonal IUDs that you can use at the same time as condoms. if you want to fuck without condoms and can't use hormonal contraceptives, there's also the cap or contraceptive diaphragm!

you can buy condoms in bulk and it's so much cheaper - even the big brands will have bulk-buy options by the few dozen, and it's worth doing. always try and carry a few in your bag, have a few in your medicine cabinet. never go to a hook-up assuming they'll have condoms - always ask in advance and bring a few along!

regular size condoms will be fine in most scenarios, but your hook-up might need a larger size and/or have a latex allergy, so again, asking in advance is always a good idea

emergency contraceptives are not contraindicated with your testosterone. emergency contraceptives are also not contraindicated with emergency PEP (post-exposure prophylaxis), which will prevent you from contracting HIV after exposure. it is important after unprotected vaginal sex that you take both of these into account.

get tested regularly - if you do use Grindr, Grindr can actually regularly remind you to get your STI tests, especially your HIV! otherwise, every 3 to 6 months is a good shout depending on how much sex you're having - even if you never bareback and are on multiple contraceptives, regular STI tests (and pregnancy tests) are a good idea just in case. in ireland (and in some places in the UK), they will even let you do your STI tests for free by post!

use toys while you're having sex if you like them! Use a vibrator, use a vibrating cock ring, play around with it, have some fun! try different condoms - flavoured, ribbed, etc - and try different positions, too. explore, enjoy!

check out local queer and kink groups - there might be local BDSM meet-ups, kink events, raves etc, and it can be nice to be in touch with the local community, and you can pick up skills too, like by doing bondage workshops etc

try and hang out with other MLM, especially other trans MLM! even when you know in your own head that you desire men and to be desired by them, just being in community with other men where that desire is normalised and celebrated does so much to fucking kill the cishetero patriarchal brainworms. it takes a lot of time for any of us to unlearn that shit, and it's a process!

#trans mlm #mlm #long post for ts #musings #anonymous

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tgmsunmontue · 3 months

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It's not who you know 2/4

Non-angsty Nepo!Baby Bradley and his years at the USNA and his head-in-the-sand approach to the nepotism and the fact that he ends up being known as the guy with the two hot dads instead...

PART ONE

SECOND YEAR

“Come on, let’s go for a run. No slacking off just because it’s the summer break. Don’t want to be the slacker come summer training.”

“You wanna race old man?” Bradley taunts, laughs. He loves being at the USNA, but it feels so good to be home.

“You think you can beat me?”

“I could do it blindfolded!”

“Don’t run blindfolded!” Ice calls out, coming up the footpath and pulling his suitcase behind him. Bradley turns to him with a bright smile, wraps his arms around him.

“Hey Ice…It’s good to see you. Missed you.”

“Missed you too. Sorry I’ve been away so much.”

“It’s all good, I get it.”

“Yeah, I know you do. And I know you’ve told Mav all about it, but can you humor an old man and tell me about it? Let me reminisce a little?”

“Did you hear that Bee-radley? He called himself old.”

“He still calling you BeepBeep?”

“He’s trying not to… Mixed results,” Bradley replies, pulling a face.

“Twenty pushups each time you slip up,” Ice states and Mav immediately scowls. Ice leans closer to Bradley, voice low; “He won’t slip up again.” Bradley laughs again.

… … …

“Good first year huh?” Tom asks, can feel the soft smile on his face as he takes in the physical changes in Bradley. The little bit extra height, much broader shoulders, the more confident bearing. It’s a stark difference to the young man he’d last seen at Christmas. Between the distance, work commitments and the limited liberty leave Plebes get it’s been months since he’s seen him.

“The best. I love it.”

“Then I’m glad. Lot of people bitching at me that you’ve made their lives harder.”

Bradley shrugs, he clearly doesn’t care about how the brass feels and Ice knows that that attitude is one-hundred-percent Pete’s fault. Lord help him.

“Have you made friends?” He asks, wants to hear about them.

“Yeah, lots. My platoon is the best though.”

“Always is,” Ice agrees.

… … …

Ron looks around the room, waits for the new staff to arrive and smiles. This year they’re more prepared, Mackenzie isn’t going to be made to feel like an idiot. Maverick and Ice will keep their distance and they can just treat Bradley like any other midshipman.

“Welcome back everyone, you’ve all got the agenda for today. All should be pretty familiar to you. One item we didn’t get in time for last year due to somewhat delayed communications, is Bradley Bradshaw. For those of you that are new, Bradley Bradshaw is going to be entering his second year. His behavior is exemplary, however there is one quirk we have been asked to accommodate.”

“What? We don’t accommodate midshipmen’s quirks…”

The interruption has come from the new guy, William O’Neil, not someone he’s ever had much to do with, but definitely qualified on paper. Ron sighs, because he gets it. He does. They have the Honor Concept, and this seems to fly in the face of it, however it’s a small subterfuge and he’s pretty sure he’d have wanted the same thing if he were in Bradley’s shoes.

“When Admiral Kazansky asks me to accommodate something, I follow his orders. However you’re welcome to give him a call and let him know that you won’t be going along with it…”

“Ah… what is it exactly?”

Glancing around the room Ron smiles, if looks could bury bodies Williams would be six foot under. Several times. Lots of the people in the room have a soft spot for Bradley, for a variety of reasons.

“Bradley Bradshaw is the surviving son of Lieutenant Nicholas Bradshaw, who died in a training incident while at Top Gun in 1986. Captain Peter Mitchell raised Bradley Bradshaw as his own and has been his main caregiver since his mother died of cancer in 1996. When Mitchell has been deployed, Bradshaw has lived with Admiral Kazansky, whom he calls Uncle Ice.”

“Now, in the interest of full disclosure, Bradshaw also grew up calling me Uncle Slider. The particular class of Top Gun I was part of remains very close knit. Now. Bradshaw wishes for us to treat him as if we do not know him. He expects to be treated the same as all the other midshipmen. This is not difficult, because he has been raised by naval aviators and he is already quite focused on that career trajectory. But it can make… teaching him… challenging. He already knows a lot of the material we have to teach them all. Now, obviously not his studies, but the naval orders, he already had them memorized before he got here. So…”

“Is he disrespectful?” O’Neil asks, frowning.

“Never. Which is impressive considering how many times he must bite his tongue when he has the upperclassmen telling him what to do. I’ve had no complaints from anyone. This is just a reminder and a heads up that yes, while he wants to be treated as any other midshipman, he isn’t any other midshipman. Just follow due process and we’ll be fine. I do not want Kazansky ringing me asking questions about unfair treatment, so make sure you keep it fair. Understood?”

… … …

It’s easier now, with the tutors and officers knowing he doesn’t want to be recognized. They slip up sometimes, which he always deflects as he catches their eye rolls, but he also knows that some of them respect him for not expecting special treatment. Although he guesses asking all his commanding officers to ignore his familial ties is special treatment in itself. He sighs. It’s a no-win situation.

… … …

Bradley doesn’t expect the first person to approach him.

“Hey! Bradshaw!”

“Uh, hi Murphy… you doing okay?”

“Yeah. Look. I just… I heard that you have two dads.”

“Yep. You got a problem with that?”

“No! No. Definitely not. Not at all. I was just… uh. I was going to say. Uh. Me too.”

“You have two dads?”

“Uh. No. Well, I have a step dad, does that count? No. I mean. I’m… gay.”

“Oh. Okay. Uh. Why are you telling me?”

“I just thought you’d be… okay with it.”

“Oh! Yeah. Of course I am. I really don’t care man.”

“Thanks. Catch you later Bradshaw.”

Bradley watches him jog off from the quad and he shakes his head.

“That was fucking weird…”

… … …

Tom’s tired, eyes gritty and his chest feels tight, like no matter how deep he breaths in he can’t quite get his lungs full. The light is on in the living room and he walks through, finds Mav sitting on the sofa and flicking through a clothing catalogue.

“What are you looking for?”

“T-shirts.”

Tom frowns, because to his knowledge Mav just goes and buys three or five packs of the cheapest white or black t-shirts from whichever store is open when he remembers he needs them.

“For… Bradley?”

“Nope. I’m making myself a secret identity.”

“What?” It’s not even a question, more of a statement. Of course he is. He didn’t curb his behavior last year so he now figures he has free reign.

“Well, you know Bradley won’t let us visit him because he doesn’t want everyone to know who his family is. So… I’m going for hip-looking professor. Blazer over a t-shirt, but it has to be a t-shirt with a band or something to show I’m hip. It’s similar enough to what I wore last year, maintain the illusion.”

“Do kids actually use the word hip?

“Huh. I don’t know. I made you one by the way.”

“Made what?”

“A secret identity. Want to know what it is?” Pete wiggles his eyebrows suggestively and part of Tom is afraid to ask.

“I’m not wearing a blazer.”

“No. But you know how you had that leather jacket back in the 80s? Thought I’d bring it back…”

“I… do I even have that anymore?”

“Sure do. Bet it still fits too.”

… … …

“Is your dad coming this year?”

Natasha is asking about the upcoming parent visit weekend and he sure as fuck hopes not but they’ve been unnaturally quiet and oh fuck… that’s never a good sign.

“Ugh. Maybe. Probably. Why?”

“Well, I get a bit sick of looking at all the boys around me, sometimes someone needs a proper man to appreciate…change of scenery.”

“I really don’t know whether to be insulted or grossed out.”

“Both, I was aiming for both.”

“Well, mission fucking accomplished. Can we stop talking about my dad?”

“I really want to meet your other dad now, hotness usually goes together you know?”

Bradley groans.

… … …

“Trust me, they won’t recognize you. The uniform does a lot for making you recognizable.”

Tom isn’t quite so sure, but he’s already made a couple of calls to make sure they don’t recognize him. He’s definitely not letting Pete dye his hair, although he has agreed to time their visit after some rare days off so that he has a bit of stubble. Not that his blonde stubble really shows like Mav’s does. He’d only agreed to this madness because this year he won’t be able to see Bradley for Thanksgiving or Christmas. And Hannukah is out of the question. He can’t go nine months without seeing him. So a special trip when Bradley has a liberty weekend. Well. Afternoon. He’d rung Slider and asked. Slider has assured him everything will go smoothly.

“So, what’s our plan here?”

Unlike previous times they’re planning on taking Bradley out for dinner, want to actually talk with him rather than whatever subterfuge Mav did last time where he just watched from afar. Of course come summer Bradley will be on a carrier and Tom can show a purely professional interest and visit under the guise of work and won’t have to go to the ridiculous lengths that Mav is currently insisting on.

“So, I’m Peter Bradshaw okay?”

“Yes. And what are we calling me? Kazansky is pretty damned specific.”

“I was thinking Tom Mitchell would uh, be…”

His throat catches, wonders what it would be like to actually take Mav’s name, or have Mav take his.

“Yeah, that’s uh, yeah. Tom Mitchell. Sounds good.”

… … …

“Oh my god…”

He’s never seen Ice dressed like this and he’s pretty sure his eyebrows have taken flight off his face in disbelief. Black jeans. Since when has Ice owned black jeans? Or any jeans? The jacket he vaguely remembers from his childhood, but seeing Ice in all black is weird. And he hasn’t shaved. And he’s… he’s smoking a cigarette. What the fuck. Ice turns slightly and now Bradley can also see Mav, wearing a fucking suit. He needs a photo of this whole thing immediately. He’s going to hold this over them forever.

“Uh… hi pops? Dad…” He’s not ever called Ice anything other than Ice before, and that’s clearly not an option right now. The pleased smile he gets though makes him think he should maybe start.

“Bradley!” Mav hugs him and he realizes he must have grown again, because Mav is definitely shorter. He laughs and pats Mav on the head, laughing harder as Ice laughs with him, both of them amused at the scowl on Mav’s face.

“Hi, yeah, you guys made a special trip huh?”

“Liberty time… we thought we could take you out to dinner.”

“Sure,” Bradley says, and he rolls his eyes to let him know how unimpressed he is, but part of him is happy to see them. He hopes Uncle Slider is getting as much amusement from this whole thing as he is at least. Actually…

“You want me to show you around a bit?” Bradley asks, and the look on Mav’s face is positively gleeful. There’s his answer he guesses.

… … …

They walk around and Bradley nips into Bancroft to grab his camera, it’s not really a tour as such, given how familiar he is with the grounds. He’s glad he no longer has to deal with the grueling lifestyle, but equally glad that Bradley is thriving in it. He doesn’t pay attention to the other people wandering around, but then Bradley is calling out.

“Admiral Kerner sir! Sorry. I just thought I’d introduce you to my, uh, parents.”

Fucking hell. Slider. The gleeful grin on Slider’s face, eyes lit with delight and Tom purses his lips, tries to convey his displeasure while also trying to look pleased to apparently meet this person for the first time.

“Of course Midshipman Bradshaw.”

“This is Peter Bradshaw and Tom Mitchell.”

“Pleasure to meet you both,” Slider says, and his grin is almost manic.

“Sir, would you mind taking a photo of me with my parents?”

“Of course.”

They pose and Slider takes a careful photo, passing back the camera.

“Bradley, I want a copy of that you hear me?” Slider asks, voice pitched low and Bradley gives him a cheeky grin.

“Of course sir.”

Bradley and Mav move off a little and he hangs back.

“That photo better not see the light of day.”

“I’ll just bring it out when I need a good laugh. Though, Tom Mitchell huh? You have something you want to tell me?”

“Fuck off Slider…”

“You know, if you do get married and I’m not the best man, I’m going to be fucking pissed.”

“Yeah yeah…”

YEAR THREE

#Nepo!Baby Bradley Bradshaw #IceMav #Top Gun Maverick #Top Gun Maverick Fanfiction #AU where Bradley goes to USNA #it's not who you know

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emma-dennehy-presents · 1 year

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Celebrating Black Queer Icons:

Miss Major Griffin-Gracy

Born on October 25, 1940, Major is a trans women well known as a leader in the broader trans community and an activist, with a particular focus on black and incarcerated trans women. Major grew up in Chicago's South Side and participated in the local drag scene, during her youth. Major described the experiences as glamorous, like going to the Oscars. While she did not have the contemporary language for it, Major has been out as a trans women since the late 1950s. This made her a target of criticism, mistreatment, and violence, even among her queer peers. Majors transition, especially getting her hands on hormones, was largely a black market affair. Given the lack of employment opportunities for black trans women at the time, she largely survived through sex work and other criminalized activities. At some point Major moved to New York City and established herself amongst the cities queer community, despite the prejudice against trans women. She participated in the 1969 Stonewall Uprising. Later, after getting convicted on a burglary charge, Major was imprisoned with men at Clinton Correctional Facility in Dannemora, NY. There she met Frank "Big Black" Smith, a participant in the 1971 Attica Uprising at Attica Correctional Facility. He treated Major, and her identity as a woman, with respect and the two built a friendship. Smith also taught Major a good bit about advocating for herself and other trans women being mistreated by the US Justice System. Major was released from Dannemora in 1974. Major moved to San Diego in 1978 and almost immediately began working on community efforts and participating in grassroots movements. Starting by working at a food bank, she would go on to provide services directly to incarcerated, addicted, and homeless trans women, and would provide additional services after the AIDS epidemic started. In the 1990s Major moved to the San Fransisco Bay Area, where she continued her work, alongside organizations like the Tenderloin AIDS Resource Center. In 2003 Major became the Director of the Transgender Gender Variant Intersex Justice Project, shortly after its founding by attorney and community organizer Alexander L Lee, a trans man. The group works to end human rights abuses in the California Prison System, with a focus on trans, intersex, and gender variant POC. The position has since been passed on to Janetta Johnson, a previously incarcerated trans woman who mentored under Major. She is the focus of the 2015, award winning, documentary Major!. Major has five sons, two biological and three runaways she adopted, after meeting them in a California park. Her oldest son, Christopher was born in 1978, and her youngest, Asiah (rhymes with messiah) in 2021. At 82 years old Miss Major Griffin-Gracy continues to be an active member of her community and an advocate for our rights as trans people.

Haven't settled on which yet, but Willmer "Little Ax" Broadnax or Victor J Mukasa will be next!

#celebrating black queer icons #black history #black history month #black history is queer history #black history is american history #abolish the police #abolish prisons #decriminalize sex work #miss major griffin-gracy #major!#really disappointing to find out she doesnt show up in Popular Tags #stonewall inn #stonewall riots #stonewall uprising #transgender gender variant intersex justice project

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thebibliosphere · 2 years

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Hey, friendly question that you don't even need to answer if you don't have the spoons:

I have APD (Auditory Processing Disorder for those who are unaware, though I assume if someone follows you, they know what that is lol), and I've been considering over the last few years how exactly to quantify it. It is in large part due to my neurodivergencies, but I think it's slightly worsened by the fact that my ears just... make a lot of wax. For these reasons, I often need subtitles, I can become totally lost in certain conversations, when there's a lot of noise, or when I'm speaking to someone who puts different emphasis on words than I expect, or uses a word I am not expecting altogether. Not being able to see someone's lips also makes all of this more difficult.

I also know, from what I've heard and read, that a lot of these things are similar to some of what HoH people experience in the social aspect. I'm not HoH, as far as I know, I haven't experienced any true *hearing* loss, rather, difficulty processing.

My question is, is there a way that I, as a person with APD, can converse with and relate to HoH people from our similarities without making them feel invalidated because I do not experience difficulty with *hearing*? I'm also not sure how HoH and d/Deaf people feel about people with APD requesting similar accessibility aids (closed/open caption, headphones, etc.), especially in cases where there are limited aids available, or how they feel re: APD-ers in general. I don't wish to make it seem as though I expect you to speak for *all* HoH and d/Deaf people, but I am interested in your perspective, as someone who is HoH and has APD. Do you see there being a day when HoH, d/Deaf, and APD will be considered part of the same category, or would it be insulting to the former two categories to have the latter one included in the same breath? Is there ableism that comes from those with APD aimed at HoH and d/Deaf people that we should call ourselves in on (and have I maybe hit some of those even in my attempt to word this well)?

Regardless, thank you for your time, and I hope you're having a good night. Day. Whatever time it is for you 😅

So there's a lot to here that I don't really have the experience to unpack (hopefully, someone else does), but I find it interesting that you are very focused on not wanting to step on anyone's toes in the hoh / d/Deaf community when it comes to needing accommodations for your ADP.

And while I can't speak for the broader community in terms of whether they feel like ADP belongs under the same banner or instances of lateral ableism... I just want to point out that if you benefit from accessibility features like closed captions, headphones, and being able to lip-read... you're not taking resources away from someone who needs them more because YOU need them.

ADP is not well understood, and while the debate rages on over whether it's a learning disability (some places say no, some say yes. Typically, the same places that debate whether ADHD is a learning disability, which for some of us, it absolutely is.) but this stems largely from thinking of disabilities as absolutes and not spectrums that are largely influenced by individual severity.

I've had ADP my whole life, and it is absolutely worse for me than my actual physical hearing loss. Should I not use CC or listening aid devices to help just because my physical hearing loss is not profound?

Some people develop ADP after severe ear infections, head trauma, or conditions like MS. Do they not deserve accommodations just because their inability to process sound differs from someone else who is hoh or d/Deaf?

Of course not. That'd be ableist.

I think, perhaps, you need to be kinder to yourself over this and acknowledge that it's okay for you to use these accessibility aids.

You don't need to suffer more. I promise you.

#disability tag #chronic health tag

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zahri-melitor · 8 months

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Okay here’s a pitch: 2000-2003 in Bat comics is one of its peak ‘rewards readers for following a serial storytelling medium’ periods.

Hush actively should NOT be read straight through as a trade, for instance, you should pause to analyse after every issue. Murderer/Fugitive winds its way into every book and and picks up themes from a year ago while not letting up on that book’s ongoing storyline. Have you been following Cass and David Cain’s ongoing drama, and Bruce and David’s fight over how to parent? Well surprise! you should have been.

It’s just so GOOD as it picks up everything from the new status quo at the end of NML and builds this complex interlocking edifice. Characters pop between books. They see each other in passing in the time stream. Their plots impact each other. People other than Bruce get to lead events.

Why’s everyone pissed at Bruce? Well Tower of Babel fallout has been warning the rest of the community OFF the Bats for the last two years and Dick and Tim especially are dealing with team fallout from it. But also Officer Down proved to the Bats INTERNALLY that he was being an excessive dick so also they’re snubbing him, while the broader community also does.

Every time you try to explain a story arc from this period you have to hop between titles and inevitably end with “also this one shot in Gotham Knights really gives added depth to the situation.”

#z canon read throughs

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fuckyeahdindjarin · 11 months

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Behind the Seams: Part III

Welcome to the first instalment of Behind the Seams! Thank you everyone who has responded so positively to this slightly self-indulgent idea I had. I know I take so long in between chapters, this seems like a fun way to keep you guys in the loop, and also to keep myself motivated and productive while I work by sharing my thoughts as I go.

This time, I'll be rambling about focusing on the characters as I'm still in the thick of developing personalities and interpretations in the Seams universe, and I'd love to put all the thoughts that have been rattling around my brain into words to help me process it.

I will be tagging these posts as 'behind the seams' together with the chapter number 'seams iii' so you can filter this out if you don't want to see them! For those who are interested, let's dive in below the cut!

Current status: 3.2k written, fully outlined rough draft with most of the dialogue drafted.

Initial thoughts: This chapter wrote far more easily than I expected to so far. Each story is different, but I tend to find the 3rd to 5th chapters hardest to write, when you're building up the shape of the arc of the whole series.

I'm still keeping my options open with regards to what Seams is or can be, but I'm still thinking 'loose fit series' i.e. there won't be a solid, overarching story arc or ending to the series since it's not a plot-driven story. It will be interesting to see if my approach changes after a couple more chapters!

The challenge: The first two instalments were so hyper-zoomed in on Joel and Pin, I knew that the challenge for this chapter is pulling back the camera and seeing how they interact with each other outside the safety of the Outfitters, and how they fit into the wider community.

Joel and Pin: I was re-reading Threads in preparation for writing Part III, and what strikes me is that these two really don't know a lot about one another. They've barely had a fully formed conversation despite the forced proximity and some very charged moments in the last two chapters. I've tentatively written most of their dialogue in this chapter, and it's interesting that a couple of times, I've stopped myself and thought - is this too playful for a shy person like Pin? Is it too familiar with two people who are practically strangers, despite their chemistry? It's a balance that I'll have to find as I edit, and I'm excited to see how it turns out.

Tommy: For some reason, Tommy comes fairly easily to me, a testament to Pedro and Gabriel’s chemistry on screen. Without giving too much away, I'm really happy with the angle I found for Joel and Tommy in this chapter. There's a lot to unpack between the two brothers, but the happy occasion means that I can focus on the good part of their relationship for now. However, I am keeping the tensions in their history in my back pocket because I don't want to gloss over the very real and three-dimensional relationship we saw in the series.

Ellie: I've talked about how I'm nervous about writing Ellie. My Pedro boys are all lone wolves - sure they have their best friends (Teak to Palomino!Jack, Santi to Grays!Frankie, Pete/Rebecca to Consent!Dieter), but Ellie is Joel's kid, and she's part of his life more than any BFF is to my other Pedro boys. Luckily, I have found an in with Ellie that I think works well with the story in Part III, and also fits in with the broader direction of the fic. It's going to be nerve-wrecking, but I'm ready to write her into Seams!

Tess: I'm not in a place to say too much yet about Tess, but it's so important to me that she isn't erased from the Seams universe despite her not being there. I've been thinking a lot about Tess lately, about how she will fit into the story, how Joel will fit Pin into his and in relation to Tess. There are no easy answers, and it will be something to mull over in the next few chapters.

Something fun: Ok, all this character stuff is pretty heavy, so I want to end on a light-hearted note - Joel's tummy makes a cameo in a white undervest 😌

And that's it for Behind the Seams: Part III! I feel a lot lighter having found a space for all the things I have been thinking about while drafting the chapter. I hope this was a fun deep dive for you guys as well, I'll be hitting Google Docs hard this weekend to try to get all of the writing done for Part III so that I can start editing next week. My askbox is always open if anyone wants to chat 🥰

#fuckyeahseams #behind the seams #seams iii

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themodernwitchsguide · 1 month

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the ogham alphabet and their divinatory meanings

FIRST AICME

ᚁ beith

UPRIGHT: joyful beginnings, new possibilities, renewal and rebirth--even if it is uncomfortable

REVERSED: a blind path, wasted efforts, fixation on the past, longing for the impossible

ᚂ luis

ᚃ fearn

UPRIGHT: clarity, attention to detail, purification, danger avoided or overcome, two paths are open to you

REVERSED: vulnerability, uncertainty, deception, delusion, something (possibly your own emotions) is misleading you

ᚄ saille

UPRIGHT: protection and guidance, emotional security, good advice, prophecy, unexpected solution(s), music, poetry

REVERSED: willful blindness, refusal to listen to advice, arrogance or not enough information

ᚅ nuin

UPRIGHT: go with the flow, intuition, dreaming, unconscious, letting go of preconceptions, feminine energy/connection to the moon

REVERSED: inability to adapt, feeling defeated or lost, lack of movement, difficulty that will inevitably pass

SECOND AICME

UPRIGHT: connection and transformation, being a part of something bigger, fate, divine action/inspiration

REVERSED: isolation and boredom, being blind to (either good or bad) possibilities, take control and be assertive

ᚆ huath

ᚇ duir

UPRIGHT: patience, protection/purification, reserve, feeling suffocated, problems that will eventually change, self-sacrifice

REVERSED: you are acting too hasty, take a second to think OR you're at a standstill, you need to take action

ᚈ tinne

UPRIGHT: sacred spaces, forward movement, power and energy, the power to endure, leadership, endurance

REVERSED: help from those in power, success despite means, borrowed strength, a gift, cowardliness

ᚉ coll

UPRIGHT: challenges or tests, recommends decisive action, balance, integrity, talent/skill/expertise, growth

REVERSED: attack, hardship, aggression, lack of direction or balance

ᚊ quert

UPRIGHT: knowledge and learning, transformation and flexibility, creativity, daydreaming, rituals/divination

REVERSED: intellectual/creative blockages (art/writer's block), lack of insight, fear of failure, ignorance

THIRD AICME

UPRIGHT: happiness, healing, beauty, love affairs, awakenings and new experiences, opportunity (or the choice) to live more fully

REVERSED: despair, ailments, unavoidable choice(s), mixed gain/loss, procrastination

ᚋ muin

ᚌ gort

UPRIGHT: inspiration, prophecy or psychic senses, community and celebration, freedom, rest, examine life's lessons

REVERSED: burdens, difficulties, a need to relax/unwind, you're strung out or trying too hard OR overindulging

ᚍ ngetal

UPRIGHT: slow/indirect progress, wildness, purpose, determination, transformation, follow life's path

REVERSED: entanglement, think twice about what you're doing, and arduous path

ᚎ straif

UPRIGHT: vitality, awareness of environment, creating order from chaos, prioritizing personal health, you aren't finished yet

REVERSED: inability to act, need for healing and patience, you aren't ready to act yet OR you have done all you can

ᚏ ruis

UPRIGHT: necessity/inevitability, fate or omens, death, rebirth, some things cannot be changed, wheel of fortune

REVERSED: pain, difficulty, retribution, necessary suffering, no choice is a good one

FOURTH AICME

UPRIGHT: resolution, completion, looking ahead, omen of success, difficulties permanently overcome

REVERSED: endings and departures, face the facts, shame, illness/disability

ᚐ ailm

ᚑ onn

UPRIGHT: insight, grounded in the present, clear vision, start new project(s), new perspective, foresight

REVERSED: ignorance of the broader picture, unrealistic ideas, step back and reassess, fear and anxiety

ᚒ uhr

UPRIGHT: energy, life, vigor, sexuality, attraction, gathering together, consider changing your life's direction

REVERSED: difficulties and delays, overconfidence, taking too many risks, unrealistic desires

ᚓ eadhadh

UPRIGHT: spiritual/magical power, forces of nature, deep connections, fulfillment, death and memories of loved ones

REVERSED: deception, deceit, loss of contact with nature/spirits, need for recuperation/reconnection in a relationship

ᚔ iodhadh

UPRIGHT: courage and tenacity, a struggle for victory, quest for inner strength, enlightenment

REVERSED: addiction, terror, declining health, compromise and negotiation, choosing a different path

FORFEDHA

UPRIGHT: ancestry, aging or dying, things unchanging, old age, memory

REVERSED: stagnation and immobility, death or mourning, the past is a burden, things lingering past their prime

ᚕ eabhadh

ᚖ oir

UPRIGHT: spiritual wisdom, complexity, place of balance/harmony, presence of many factors, spiritual wisdom

REVERSED: confusion, bewilderment, too many factors at work to allow for a successful prediction/decision

ᚗ uilleann

UPRIGHT: radical transformation, abundance, sudden illumination or destruction that is set about by outside forces

REVERSED: patience, preparation, the path before you is a slow one, wait for outside forces to act

ᚘ ifin

UPRIGHT: knowledge and lore, learning and study, wisdom of the past as a guide, private thoughts or secrets

REVERSED: ignorance, failure to learn from the past, future instead of past

ᚙ eamancholl

UPRIGHT: secrets and revelations, subtle influences, releasing emotions of guilt/shame

REVERSED: the situation is not as it seems, the information that you need is not available to you

UPRIGHT: unexpected change, arrival of new influence, illness

REVERSED: sudden endings or disruptions

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javipispunk · 5 months

Text

PINE SYRUP

Chapter One: Moment of Truth

Jackson Era!Joel Miller x f!reader

Summary: Through the cold and desperation the pine needles do not fall. The needles are sharp and bitter to ward off strangers, yet with tender care they make the richest syrup.

TW: mentions of death, eating, slow burn, eventual smut. mean!joel, age gap (27/56)

A/N: I wanted to write a Jackson Era Enemies to Lovers so lets see how it goes

Word Count: 1.8k

Masterlist

You were mad as hell again. The weather sucked, you were outta food and outta drink and all alone in the wilderness. After weeks out in the Rockies you knew you needed a safe haven, Winter was on the horizon and there was no way you would make it to Spring by yourself. So there you were standing outside of the gates of Jackson. A mirage of the pearly gates, ready to face your judgment. All you had were the clothes on your back, an empty rifle, a half dozen hand rolled cigarettes and a mason jar. You were hoping you could buy your way in with the cigs. The protocol for trying to enter the commune was unclear. You’d been alone for so long you weren’t sure if you still knew how to talk to people, let alone beg for safety.

Then a voice rang out from up high.

“State your business.”

You cleared your throat and tried your best to yell. Your life was spent trying your best to stay quiet, hidden. Being found meant dying. Being loud wasn’t something you were too keen on doing.

“Looking for shelter.” Short and to the point seemed the best way to go about this.

“Hands up. Get on your knees.” You followed orders, no point in making it this far only to be shot because you didn’t feel like listening. It was hard to get down though. You were exhausted. There was a very real possibility that the person yelling at you would have to help you get up.

Out of the corner of your eye you could see two guns trained on you. One to the left of the gate up on the wall and one in the same position on the right. The gates opened up and out came two men, rifles up, ready to shoot and a dog. They approached you cautiously. Your mouth was dry, from nerves and lack of water. You wanted to get a good look at the men but you didn’t want to seem like a threat. One of the men signaled the dog to go up to you. It ran over, sniffed around, walked back in between the two men and laid down.

After they seemed satisfied with the dog's intuition to not tear you to shreds one of the men spoke. His voice was deep and angered.

“You infected?”

“No.” You replied curtly.

“You won’t survive long out there by yourself.”

“No shit. That's why I’m here, bud.” That might have been a little aggressive and probably wouldn’t get you into their good graces but you were starving and just wanted to get the interrogation over with.

“I ain’t your bud”

You huffed. Obviously this man was not your ‘bud’. It was a figure of speech but you were pretty sure this man didn’t care and you were too tired to explain. Either way the point was moot.

The other man raised his hand up to the man that had spoken, silencing him. You finally looked up to take both of them in. The one with his hand up was tall, had pitch black hair and even darker eyes. The one that had been speaking to you was tall as well. His hair was a lighter brown and peppered with grey, this pattern was mirrored in his patchy facial hair. He was broader than the other man too, and quite obviously older. And much to your dismay he was breathtakingly handsome. They both were. There was something broken in the man, a deep festering of anger that matched your own. Something you could only see in someone else if you saw it in yourself.

You didn’t know what day it was. It’s not like you had a calendar on you, just knew it was fall, mid October you were guessing. The air was sorrowful, a crisp breeze rustling the fallen leaves. With the cold came the haunting of old memories, the past dragging you backwards. The ghosts of yesterday getting closer than they have ever been.

The younger man kept his rifle trained on you while the older man slowly approached you

“Don’t move a fucking muscle” he barked. Then he snatched up your own rifle that lay useless on the ground. You wanted to tell him it was empty but figured it would do you better to keep your mouth shut and let him figure that out for himself. And just as you predicted he tried to eject the cartridge and nothing came out.

“Empty.” He said. He then grabbed your bag and walked back to the other man handing him the rifle.

At this moment you decided to speak up. You didn’t want him taking all you had to your name.

“Can I have my bag? You can take the cigs but there ain’t much else in there.”

“If there ain’t much in there then you won’t mind me taking it.”

Before you could protest the other man uttered a warning.

“Joel.” Joel. His name was Joel. At least you didn’t have to call him bud anymore.

“Well Joel.” You said with a snark and pursing of your lips. “What's the verdict?”

He glared daggers at you. You didn’t know what you did to deserve his ire. But you were still at the other end of two rifles and knew you shouldn’t push their buttons too much at risk of being shot, or worse not being let in. A quick death was better than a long one of starvation out in the cold. He let out another huff. Seemed to be his favorite thing to do. The men gave each other a look. The one whose name you still didn’t know gave you a nod.

“Up.” Was all he said. You were stiff and achy so it was a struggle getting up. Your joints felt as ready to snap as dry brush in the desert. It must have been taking too long because Joel spoke out again.

“He said up.”

“I’m trying. Gimme a sec jeez.” And then with a deep exhale you managed to get up.

“Are you hurt?” Not Joel asked. He was nicer than Joel. He had kinder eyes and was obviously more patient.

“No, just a few scrapes and bruises.”

“Follow us.”

So you did, albeit a little hesitantly. This was unfamiliar territory. You hadn’t stepped foot into a community in years, having spent the last while with three other people wandering the west like true desperados. But slowly they got picked off one by one. One a hunting accident, one sickness and one a bite. So here you were sucking up your pride and asking for help, putting blind trust into strangers, breaking your number one rule.

Finally the other man gave you his name. Tommy. And then you gave him yours.

“Lets get some food in ya.” He said as he handed your bag back to you. You weren’t gonna argue with that.

After you had gotten some food you sat with Tommy and Joel. Tommy gave you an overview of how Jackson was run. There was order and routine. Things made sense. You guys got to chatting about what your role in Jackson would be.

“What are you good for?” Tommy asked.

“Shootin shit.” You both let out a small laugh. Joel didn’t.

“What else? No offense but we ain’t gonna let you out on patrol right now.”

“Fine by me. I’m good with produce. Like farming and preserving things. Pickling, curing, making jams, syrups and the like.”

Tommy nodded. Joel rolled his eyes.

“Is that an issue?” You asked Joel pointedly.

Tommy spoke Joels name under his breath.

“No. No issue.” He said through gritted teeth.

“Pretty good with my hands too if things need fixing” you added.

“No need, we got it covered.” Joel dismissed your offer, which made Tommy utter his name yet again.

Then Tommy prodded you, asking more questions.

“Where ya comin’ from that you learned all that?”

“Western Pennsylvania. Swear the folks out there been living their life like it was the apocalypse decades before it actually happened. They know damn near everything about surviving. But I’ve been traveling around for a few years now.”

“Solo?” Joel asked. Finally a question that didn’t have malice behind it. Now it was laced with pity. You didn’t really like him at this point and it seemed like he didn’t like you too much either.

“Recently, yes.” They seemed to understand what that meant, that the people you had been with had been freed from this Hell, this gruesomeness, that you all found yourselves living in. You hoped death had been kind to them. To survive was to know atrocity. And these men were survivors, as were you.

You hoped that you wouldn’t have to work so hard on surviving while in Jackson. You hoped, at least for a little while, that you could just be.

When the conversation had wrapped up Tommy offered to walk you to the house you would be staying in. The streets were quaint. Nothing to write home about but it was a quiet safe town and that's all you could ever ask for. Your own personal Troy, here's to hoping no giant wooden horses would show up.

On the way there he brought up Joel, who you just learned was Tommy’s older brother.

“You’ll have to excuse my brother. He’s not too trusting.” He looked at you wearily.

“That’s fine. I ain’t either. It’s a man eat man world out there. Gotta be careful. I ain’t too keen on talking to strangers either.”

“I know. But he don’t gotta be mean. We can always use the help around here. You said you know how to cure things?”

“Yes sir.” You replied.

“Been trying to perfect our beef jerky recipe. Maybe you can help with that.”

“Sounds good bud.” You gave Tommy a smile. You were pleased he didn’t interject with an ‘I’m not your bud’ like his brother did.

“Here we are.” Tommy said while pointing to a small little home on the right. It was everything you could have asked for. A mailbox, a porch, a fence, a suburban dream that died when the world ended.

You and Tommy walked up the bluestone path to the front door. You smiled thinking about all the weeds you could pick that wormed their way through the cracks in the stones. Something your father had complained about before the outbreak now felt like a luxury. Tommy showed you around, handed you the keys and a set of clean clothes.

There was an empty spice rack in the kitchen. You placed your lone mason jar in it, hoping you could fill it with a myriad of scents one day.

You took a long hot shower, rinsing away grime and sodden memories. Afterwards you changed into clean sleep clothes, laid on a bed you could finally call your own and tried to fall asleep. You were exhausted but adrenaline was still coursing through your veins. You were safe, at least you hoped you were. You kept thinking about Joel, how aggravated he was. You understood people being wary of strangers but Tommy seemed to accept your presence. Maybe if he wasn’t so handsome and didn’t carry an air of such authority it wouldn’t have bothered you so much. Eventually you fell into a much needed sleep.

#joel miller x reader #joel miller x you #joel miller au #joel miller #tlou fanfiction #joel miller fanfiction #pedro pascal characters

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ladykinrannoch · 2 months

Note

Hi Lady Kinrannoch, I thought you would want to know that in Mad World Tarot's latest reading ("99. Harry's Hulu-baloo about Prince William"), she apologized for not uploading videos yesterday because she did a heath check reading on Catherine and also checked in on William in light of the Hulu show about Harry's IG in Canada and they were the darkest readings MWT has ever read on William and Catherine on her YT channel... to the point MWT decided not to upload the readings and deleted the videos. MWT says she will read again in a few days to see if Catherine and William's energy/situation have improved. It surprised me because I know you and Celtic Cross had very nice, positive readings a few weeks ago on Catherine... but I realize that was before the Hulu show premiered the other day. Just thought you would want a heads up as I know you read cards on the British Royal Family too.

Yes I watch MWT regularly so I am aware. This is an interesting question. Since a few of us are struggling with the energies!.

I am becoming more conscious of the fact that some of us may be under psychic attack to disrupt our connections and readings. I am going to start calling quarters and closing a circle before I do BRF readings. The fact that Paula said she felt ill afterwards is to me a sign of psychic interference and bad energy. I think I was just lucky with that last reading.

I snuck in a Celtic Cross reading VERY early this morning while California was sleeping (unless her and Dorito stay up all night hurling psychic attacks to disrupt our readings, there are times in the day that are better than others) and this morning's reading was not bad.

I can't remember everything because I packed it up because the cleaner was coming.

What i can remember. Catherine coming from a feeling of being unfairly treated past energy - Justice Rx - to good news 8 wands upright in what happens next. Situation the Moon upright, all is not as it seems, we are not being told everything, crossed by the Magician (using all the tools at her disposal) - she has done something she needed to do for the greater good of the family. It is something that has been a challenge for her before. Her goal card Queen of Swords upright which suggests she is feeling stronger and harsher. Then...hidden energy Queen of wands Rx I.e Meghan blocked in the situation.

The Hierophant - secrets in the broader context. In others views, The Empress (abundance and fertility) and hopes and fears the Chariot (William and moving forward with pace, direction and fast decisions) together ❤

Outcome Page of Swords Rx. A decision and communication that goes against someone. Clarifier card the slow knight of Pentacles - Harry. I think William will never allow him back.

So I am sticking with my stance that it is not as serious as the squad are dramatizing.

I think William is coming into his own. I am not surprised he opted to stay with Catherine and do the school run. I believe both William and Catherine are embracing their destiny. And I think it will come sooner than everyone thinks. Along with a surprise or two. Like I said if I am wrong I will eat a tarot card.

#brf #british royal family #royal reading #tarot by ladykinrannoch #tarot

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antimony-medusa · 1 year

Text

Okay so inspired by nothing in particular (it's inspired by reading the notes on the ace swag final poll, fun stuff in there), I have been thinking about being Cringe. Cause like, you enter a fandom, and usually, you find out shortly that somebody else hates that fandom. There is no fandom niche enough that it's not Weird to somebody, and there's no fandom mainstream enough that it's not Annoying to somebody else. And given the fact that some people do hatred recreationally, there's often going to be somebody mad enough about your fandom that they're going to go on diatribes about how your fandom is bad and actually harmful and destroying the fabric of civilization, etc. They're gonna pull out anything negative and blow it up until it's the size of the skyline and attack you for liking this negative thing.

Fun times, we've all seen it.

And the thing is, there's an impulse to have this happen and immediately find somebody else to point to and say, yeah, well, I might be weird, but at least I'm not THAT guy. I might read YA, but at least I'm not a Furry— those guys are sexual deviants! I might be into actual play podcasts, but at least I'm not into mcyt— those guys are all harmful and my guy is fine. I might be into danmei, but at least I'm not into bandom— rpf is so gross. I might be a furry, but at least I'm not into mainstream romance novels— senseless drivel aimed at middle class white women. Y'know. Immediately find someone to punch down on.

And boy do I understand why you want to do that, when people are pointing at you, but I don't actually think that it's helpful.

Cause like, every fandom has a logical train of thought and reasonable human impulses behind it. You might not share those impulses— I'm not a furry I don't think, I don't really get true crime— but that doesn't mean I can't have it explained to me by a very patient person in in the writer's workshop common room and go "oh, yeah, kinda pretending to be an animal, but you're gay about it, yeah, makes sense", or "oh yeah, morbid curiosity from the safety of your headphones, it's like a horror movie but real" and nod. Like there isn't a fandom or group out there that doesn't look weird from the outside, and there isn't a fandom or group that can't be explained if someone has thought about the human psyche enough.

And that isn't to say that there isn't sometimes salient critiques for what fandoms are doing or not doing— to grab the two examples above, I have heard people talking about issues with true crime reinforcing the current fucked up justice system, or bigotry at furry cons. But a) most of the time, there is already somebody inside that community that's fighting against those issues, and you just threw them under the bus with the problem they're trying to fix b) you don't usually know the nuances of the actual conversation and problems, you saw a couple callout posts. You saying "Yeah I'm a board game nerd but at least I don't play competitive trading card cames, those guys are doing nothing but feeding the capitalist machine" is not usually helpful towards fixing the ctg scene. It's just a cheap way to score points.

Like, I assure you that the YA scene is aware of the calcification of the genre into a tighter and tighter romantic form and their dependence on going big on tik-tok to sell enough to keep publishing. They know.

You specifically saying that your fandom is better cause it's not [problems you heard about other fandom having] is not actually going to make the person who's hating on you stop hating. They already decided that you're the person they're better than and that they're punching down on, you passing the punching down on to another fandom just makes more people sad on the internet, and potentially starts yet another chain of someone punching down at someone else. The wheel grinds on, everybody gets punched.

I guess this is just kinda turning into a "why hate on the internet, what good does that do" post, which is broader than I meant it to be. But like, there's a difference between thoughtful critique of problems (complicated to do fairly but very necessary) and finding someone new to curbstomp to make yourself feel better/morally superior (look, I'm writing this on a mcyt blog, we've all seen this happen, it does not increase the joy in the world).

Like in MCYT, we all decide to punch down on [other server we hate], or RPF, or people who write kidfic, or people who write e-rated fic/art, or people doing the popular trope of the moment, and sure, it lets you feel morally superior for the moment, at the cost of slapping the guy next to you. Haven't we had enough slapping the guy next to you? There but for the grace of god (got a fun idea/watched the wrong stream/ended up in the wrong brainstorming circle/got fixated on the wrong funny guy) goes I. You're not better than another group just because you saw a couple more callout posts (usually from people inside the community trying to fix things) about them.

We are all Cringe. There is nobody who's not Cringe. Don't say that you're not Cringe because someone else is more Cringe. Stop that.

#discourse #This is another thing where the public/private rule applies too I think #cause social media is public and what you do there is governed by different politeness rules #walking into your friend's dms and saying GOD I AM SO ANNOYED BY [other fandom] is a normal human impulse #posting that where other people can see that is potentially much more like shouting in the face of a random person #idk this is potentially something where me having a thousand followers is warping the perspective #cause I try to be really aware of the fact that who knows what people who see my posts are into #there's nobody I can throw under the bus and not have them see it #if you have eight followers all of which you know #you're much more effectively in a private space #idk #boy reading the tags on that ace swag poll was kinda a Oh Yeah They Really Hate Us moment #I forgot that cause I was just happy over here #but boy are we still an internet's favoured punching bag #and I just think making an effort to not continue to punching bag people might be good #fandom meta

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blueiskewl · 3 months

Text

1,500-year-Old Anglo-Saxon Cemetery Found in UK

One of the most notable discoveries was the burial of a teenage girl and child.

Archaeologists in the United Kingdom have announced a major historical discovery dating back to as early as the 6th century after finding the buried remains of over 20 people alongside a range of grave goods including knives, jewelery and pottery vessels, officials said.

Scientists working on the National Grid’s Viking Link project -- construction of the world’s longest land and subsea interconnector involving installation of submarine and underground cables between the United Kingdom and Denmark -- have dug 50 archaeological sites along the onshore cable route since 2020, according to a statement from Wessex Archaeology in the United Kingdom.

“The wealth of evidence recovered is shedding light on life across rural south-east Lincolnshire from prehistory to the present day, with highlights including a Bronze Age barrow and a Romano-British farmstead. The most striking discovery, however, is the remains of an Anglo-Saxon cemetery,” according to Wessex Archaeology.

“The burials in the cemetery deliberately focus on an earlier Bronze Age ring ditch and indicate the funerary landscape was long established,” scientists said. “Archaeologists uncovered the buried remains of over 20 people alongside a range of grave goods including knives, jewellery and pottery vessels. From these 250 artefacts, experts know the cemetery dates to the 6th and 7th centuries AD.”

Among some of the most notable discovery was the burial of a teenage girl and a child, both of whom lay on their sides with the child tucked in behind the older girl, officials said.

“Two small gold pendants set with garnets and a delicate silver pendant with an amber mount were recovered from around the teenager’s head or chest, together with two small blue glass beads and an annular brooch,” according to Wessex Archaeology.

The relationship between the child and the teenager is not yet known -- and may never be -- but scientists are now conducting research and analysis on the subjects, including isotope and Ancient DNA analysis of the skeletal remains.

Officials say that this critical research could help to identify “familial relationships and broader genetic links both within this community and between others in the region, and the movement of people in wider society.”

“I really enjoyed being part of the project. It was surprising how many artefacts we found across the route - the gold Anglo-Saxon pendant from the burial ground was a highlight as was the outreach with the local communities to share what we found,” said Peter Bryant who led the project for Viking Link. “It has been very interesting and exciting to help unearth the hidden treasures that have lain dormant for hundreds of years, in such a careful way.”

Specialists will also be looking at the artefacts discovered on the burial site as well as the layout of the cemetery in hopes of learning more about the economic, cultural and social factors affecting this specific community, “including the import of exotic goods and the health of those buried within different parts of the cemetery,” according to Wessex Archaeology. “Although many Anglo-Saxon cemeteries are known in Lincolnshire, most were excavated decades ago when the focus was on the grave goods, not the people buried there,” said Jacqueline McKinley, principal osteoarchaeologist of Wessex Archaeology. “Excitingly, here we can employ various scientific advancements, including isotopic and DNA analyses. This will give us a far better understanding of the population, from their mobility to their genetic background and even their diet.”

Said Wessex Archaeology following the discovery: “As this research unfolds, we hope to greatly extend our understanding of Anglo-Saxon life and death in the region."

By Jon Haworth.

#1500-Year-Old Anglo-Saxon Cemetery Found in UK #ancient graves #ancient tombs #ancient artifacts #archeology #archeolgst #history #history news #ancient history #ancient culture #ancient civilizations #ancient jewelry

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