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prinxlegolass · 3 months

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Smut War Fic: Exit Wound

Well, this wasn't a war I was going to sit out. Please enjoy my 6th fic. First attempt at smut, but as you have already seen from my TrAuMa meme, it also has a lot of angst in it. I hope you enjoy it x

Rating: Explicit

CW/TW:

These are expanded upon further in the summary if you'd like to also read that for context, but take care of yourself :)

- Demon in Snake Form / Goddess in Human Form Sexual Encounter. Both are aware of what the other is, and both can consent

- Slight dubcon due to magic, feeling highly connected to someone and a sense of not being in control as a result, more so due to an inherent primal instrinct. All beings are acting on free will and are able to consent for the smut bits

- In the epilogue, a character describes a murder he witnesses without gory detail (the victim is not Aziraphale or Crowley). The nature of the murder is patriarchal and of spiritual colonisation in nature, but there is no sexual assault / motive. The fic can be read without the epilogue if you're curious but want to skip this subject.

-Angst ending

- Snake bite, snake sex and descriptions that could trigger claustrophobia

Summary

Hell sends Crowley to 5th Century Ireland, much to his chagrin, to investigate a mysterious source of power. Uphill from a deep rainforest he finds an ancient structure with something far more ancient and far more powerful than any blessing or curse he’d seen before.

This is a story of love, of loss, coming home, and everything that never was. Join me for a re-telling of an Irish Celtic Myth that has been sanitised and long-forgotten. Taking place in one hundred years into Early Christian Ireland, it weaves themes of spiritual colonisation with the ineffability of a great plan and the parts of us that are never truly lost.

But this is a smut war - and you can expect a sexy divine being, human sex and snake sex; not just hemi-penes, but hemi-clitorae! Sex magic rituals being used as a sensual tool for transformation and rebirth; and plenty of vulva pleasure and gratification.

There are three (because it’s a magic number) sexual configurations - demon in snake form / Goddess in human form, Snake / Snake, Human / Human. That culminates in a healing and surrendering love.

The epilogue features angst with an unhappy ending. As you can imagine, the resistance to Christianity did not end well for the Irish Pagans. In the epilogue, one character describes witnessing the murder (no sexual assault) of another. But the story stands well enough on its own without the epilogue if you want to skip this part.

5,014 word count

Excerpt:

“I’ve been waiting for you, Crowley.”

“Who are you?” Crowley hissed. His aggressive exterior betraying the powerlessness he felt to draw nearer.

“I am many things, Crowley. I am one of many mothers; both death and rebirth. I am the inhale and the exhale; the dawn that rises after the cold, hard winter; I bring joy and I am feared; and soon, none will remember…”

Crowley inched forward, concertina twinings marking the dirt, barely sensing the heat of the fire in the woman’s lure.

“Your name!” He growled insistently.

“You already know it, Crowley. Look deep inside you, my beloved serpent,” was her soft response with kind eyes. Crowley flicked his tongue at the fingers of her extended palm. The woman’s skin was steeped in the essence of her words; the taste of finely plucked sycamore seeds carried lovingly by the wind to pre-destined soils. Tears doomed never to fall filled Crowley’s heart as the thread that connected him to this woman tugged him closer on her arm; the most he had ever touched or been touched by a human in his snake-form. Only she wasn’t human, was she? A foreign name Crowley had always known moved from the back of his mouth to dance on his tongue.

“Caoira…”

Green eyes smiled through tears at the demon’s whisper.

“Yes my dear. It’s me. I’m so glad you’re here.”

Crowley’s thought-form longed to ask questions. About knowledge, that began before words; curiosity, that existed before symbols; and meaning, established before sounds. But he had already found his answer in her eyes. Another Almighty; new and much more ancient. A Goddess.

Crowley’s body took over once again, unable to resist the draw to her. Climbing her arm and shoulders, his tongue could not cease flicking, planting forked kisses on her neck. Quivering, he meandered down her shoulder, elongating his form to drape around her. Powerless over the compulsion to place his chin on every part of her body, Crowley’s tail vibrated in her lap and Caoira breathed sighs of joy in his scaled ministrations.

Fingers that had borne the very wells of the earth stroked the obsidian pearls of Crowley’s back, before coming to delicately caress the ridges of his snout and brow. Crowley flinched in the touch, haunted by memories of the fall; of centuries spent curled around the cooling magma of igneous rock. Curled around any form of connection to replace the Almighty’s as his wings burned.

Coos of Caoira’s attunement honeyed Crowley’s ears, and with no way of crying, sweating or spitting it out; his serpent-form became fevered with fury for what had happened to him. His body flailed in twisted, hissing reverberations in the centre of the Goddess’s crossed legs. In his uncontrolled anguish, Crowley felt his jaw unhinge and his fangs hook into Caoira's thighs, breaking her skin. Punishment for his other mother, who had placed a similar hook in his heart only to cut the cord in the end. This time, he was never letting go.

Read more on AO3

Thank you:

Goskiagarkowska2 on pixabay for the image. A huge thank you to @sohoscribblers who have been amazing friends since I joined their group. Big thanks to @azeutreciathewicked @aidaran-alha @playdohangel and @rhosmeinir for the Betas x

#good omens smut #ineffable smut war #good omens #crowley and aziraphale #because smut without angst feels like nothing #celtic mythology #good omens au #irish paganism #newgrange #good omens fanfiction

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chirxlity · 6 months

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SATSUKI KIRYUIN

CW: KLK spoilers, mention of: compulsory heterosexuality, physical & emotional violence, s-xual trauma, CSA, SA, r-pe (for the sake of better background and context about this anime & about Satsuki story)

About her character and why she is stone femme headcanon for me.

SATSUKI

This character does not have this cold, strong but sharp and fierce appearance as a random addition of traits just for the sake of fanservice. Her physical appearance and her personality traits are polished and calculated, yet she is pretty vulnerable on the inside and has a huge and rich inner world. She is acutely smart, a powerful strategist, a good and strong leader with the kindest heart I've ever seen in a character apparently so cold, stubborn or even despotic. But we have to keep in mind her upbringing and that she did what she had to do in order to survive because her main goal was to save the world and protect her closest friends. She wanted to free them as well as she wanted to free herself. But... from what?

SATSUKI'S PLOT

about her plans, goals and what Ryuko meant to her

Satsuki had such important goals: she wanted to free humanity (and herself) from the biofibers and the tyranny of her own mother, who was working with them to subjugate all the people on Earth, but she also craved to avenge her father and sister for what Ragyo did to them, so she fought for revenge but also for love. In the end, all that she wanted was to protect the ones she loved the most.

Satsuki believed she could lead a revolution against Ragyo and the biofibers by using the power she had as her daughter against her. She took advantage of that power and the fear it inflicted on everyone to build a hierarchical system based on The Law of the Strongest and blind obedience (basically she militarised the school), and then she started to ‘colonise’ other schools to gather an army. She did this to trick her mother into thinking that she was working for her because her empire was much larger and stronger, so she had to be very cautious or else the chances to defeat Ragyo and the biofibers would be even lesser. All of these factors led her to repress her thoughts, feelings and emotions.

But when she met Ryuko, her plans started to change a bit: she saw a lot of potential in Ryuko and wanted her to get stronger and surpass her from the very beginning. She felt that Ryuko was something more, not just another soldier that could help her defeat Ragyo once and for all, and she wasn't wrong about it: later on they found out that Ryuko was that little sister Satsuki and Ragyo thought dead and that Isshin Matoi was actually Soichiro. He raised Ryuko and hid her from Ragyo with the hope that, one day, she would defeat her and the biofibers.

When these facts were revealed, Satsuki knew everything changed: she could trust someone of her own blood, she could finally have her dream family: one that she'd have built, one that she'd have chosen, one that would have truly and deeply loved her for who she is.

NONON

Now we have to talk about Nonon, Satuski’s best friend and (implicitly) lover, the only person who knew her best and could fully trust: this character can come across as an irritating or pedantic girl, but that’s just the surface; she acts tough the only way she knows just because she wants to show that she’s strong and the most important person in Satsuki’s life. I find it so heartwarming that even though the rest of the Elite Four are respectful and loyal towards Satsuki, it is Nonon that better understands her boundaries, and they treat each other as equals. Nonon is not just another subordinate to Satsuki (and never was). I think that because of this and her appearance (small, cute, etc) she wants her value as a fearsome opponent to be acknowledged, and that's why she acts so sassily and arrogantly (a thing which I personally love about her).

Nonon always finds the courage to fight and never gives up whenever Satsuki is near her; she feels the need to protect her, and she is always willing to carry all the weight if that means Satsuki will be safe and sound.

She is the one who always took care of Satsuki’s deepest wounds but also her dreams, and is the only one who knows best the pain Satsuki had to endure in order to save everyone. Both of them shared their dreams and hopes with each other when they were kids, and since then Nonon took care of hers as well as Satsuki took care of Nonon’s.

JUNKETSU

It is hard to talk about Junketsu and what it felt like his relationship with Satsuki and Ryuko to me right after talking about Nonon, but it has to be done if I want to illustrate why I headcanon Satsuki as a stone femme.

Junketsu is, first and foremost, an allegory for compulsory heterosexuality. He was the symbol of the chastity/virginity forced upon the future bride and spouse, Satsuki (we have to remember it was Soichiro the one who told this to her, that Junketsu was going to be her wedding dress). So it was the underlying expectative of defeating Ragyo by sacrificing her will to Junketsu that her father put on her shoulders, one of the reasons that kept her from loving Nonon freely, openly and wholeheartedly, maybe the main one because Ragyo simply wanted the whole subjugation of her daughter, her complete devotion to the biofibers cause, while Junketsu was just a tool for both her father and mother that would force Satsuki to do the will of one or the other.

But even though Junketsu was just a tool, Satsuki had to wear it on all the time, which means that Satsuki was living constant situations of rape; after all, whenever Satsuki dressed Junketsu and tried to activate him, she endured a lot of pain and ended up very weakened from resisting Junketsu taking full control. And the thing here is, although Satsuki willingly wore Junketsu, that doesn’t mean she had another option. As I said, this suit was made to control her and Ragyo used it later to control Ryuko too. He, as the symbolic husband, tried to tie them up to heterosexuality at some point in their lives.

So as we can see, Satsuki didn’t want to wear any biofiber cloth, she had to use them and let herself be used by them in order to save the whole world and set everyone free.

CONCLUSIONS

I think it is well pictured that Satsuki truly cares about people but felt she couldn’t trust them because of how the world was built by her mother and the biofibers, and also how Ragyo treated her with so much despite at the same time she emotionally and sexually abused her (it’s so obvious that Ragyo is a child abuser and a paedophile). But Ryuko was key to help her understand that things could be different, that she didn’t have to make everyone afraid of her in order to get what she wanted, that she actually could trust people.

So for all that has been explained in this post is why I think Satsuki embodies so perfectly what it’s like to be a stone femme for me and not just for her appearance, but for her choices too. She had to carry so much weight on her shoulders but Nonon and the rest of her friends supported her without putting more pressure on her; they just took care of what Satsuki ordered them to do.

I also find so relatable the way she copes with all the trauma she’s got from facing lots of sexual violence, and physical and emotional abuse, or the fact that a close relative (her own mother) made her believe she was a failure and a good for nothing, that she didn’t belong and would never be enough for her. She didn’t lose her kindness and her hopes and dreams even though she had to turn herself more tough, it just happened that she showed her soft side differently. She actually cares, she is the one who provides and she sacrifices lots of things to protect humanity’s freedom. And she finally learns to trust in the good potential of all humans, and to let the women she loves take care of her too.

To conclude, Satsuki was key to make me come to terms with me being a stone femme because I can see lots of subtle details in how she moves, behaves, thinks and approaches things that -somehow-remind me of myself, although I know we are not on the same league. But I really think she might be a stone femme too because she is a woman with strong and rigid boundaries around every aspect of her life, and she defends and makes everyone respect them. In the whole anime I’ve never seen anybody try to question her and her boundaries, and I truly admire her a lot for this.

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dicesmasher · 3 months

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American Extraplanars

CW: A European slagging off America

I've been thinking about accents. They're a great way to convey cultural differences across different parts of my world, and I draw from real world accents to signify the cultural background of characters when I'm playing and DMing.

In my world, most of the countries thus far established are heavily based on real ones. Graddeland is England, and Rama is France, Ralskyov is Russia, Hjelvord is Sweden, et cetera. But I ran into a slight problem of what to do with the USA.

See, a North America analogue exists in my world, but it's inhabited primarily by the Crelkowaa, analagous to the (diverse, continent-spanning cultures) of Native Americans. My 'Europeans' haven't invaded and made them a minority, for reasons I'm still working on, but the idea of Native American analogues being major players in my world is something I'm really keen on.

Of course, giving the Crelkowaa American accents would be immensely disrespectful to their real inspirations. But American accents also represent a wealth of opportunity and personality. Then it hit me - why not give American accents to fiends, or celestials, or both?

Especially with celestials, since in my world I like to think of celestials as ill-informed arrogant busybodies that like to police the world according to whatever god is commanding them, and may see themselves as its saviours, but they often make things worse with collateral damage or unintended consequences (or for some gods, entirely intended and selfish consequences), and most mortals would really rather they fucked off. A cheeky thematic link between 'divine intervention' and American foreign policy? That would be fun!

It could work well with fiends too. I especially like the idea of portraying devils like overly friendly east-coast fast-talking salesmen, trying to convince you that whatever they're offering is worth your soul. Think Alastor from Hazbin Hotel.

I also recognise that the American accent is derivative of what the English accent was at the time America was being colonised, but I absolutely refuse to ruin the analogue of my own country by making them talk like Americans!

Besides, I think most of the pressure I felt to give Americans somewhere to be in my world really just comes from the overwhelming dominance of American media and their superpowered role in the current geopolitical ecosystem. In the grand scheme of things, the USA is still a very young country, established by a genocidal invasion from another continent, with very little cultural identity of its own, and certainly none that's very old. I don't think it provides much to inspire fantasy worldbuilding, at least by my own methods and vision.

The continent of North America, though? Incredible landscapes! iconic wildlife! And from a European perspective, riddled with mystery and discovery. This combined with native cultures creates a gold mine of inspiration for monsters and magic. Paradoxically, while the USA doesn't make for particularly good fantasy, the continent of North America does, and its potential is largely wasted.

#Not to imply that Britain hasn't also made horrendous foreign policy decisions and making them token bad guys isn't 100% reasonable #But the difference is England is a REAL country #Not a country where half the population insists they're Irish #or German #or Italian #Or indeed English

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songofwizardry · 4 months

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so for the past few years, i have made a list of 'things i really liked this year' in december, and it's never gone beyond ramblings in my notes app, but this year, finally, it is going on tumblr! mainly bc i enjoy talking about things and i can guarantee i will have forgotten about some of these things in a year and i like records.

so, here we go—a fairly chaotic list of media i enjoyed in 2023 (with links where possible!)

words (prose, poetry, etc):

the word for world is forest by Ursula K. Le Guin [prose]: i have been intending to read this for years, and i finally picked it up at the start of 2023, and it is incredible. it's fairly brutal, but it was... idk, i have not read anything else that captures the violence inherent in colonisation and the effects of the decolonial project this well. what a book

your emergency contact has experienced an emergency by Chen Chen [poetry collection]: this poetry collection was very good and pretty fucking heavy (cw for homophobia throughout) and extremely emotional and made me feel many, many seventeen-year-old-me feelings. honourable mentions to higher education (excerpt here) and doctor's note.

a master of djinn by P. Djèlí Clark [prose]: i did not read as much sff as i wanted to this year, but i did read this one, and it's great. i adore fatma. i want all her outfits. the alternate cairo is super cool. the angels. it's a really good read. there's a pretty good tor dot com review of it here, if you're interested.

darius the great is not okay and darius the great deserves better by Adib Khorram [prose]: i read a truly ridiculous amount of YA this spring/summer. some of it was incredible, some of it was less-so, but i thought at least one YA book should be on here. this was one of my favourites. both books are lovely, a really-well written look at both living with depression and the challenges and joys of being a mixed-race kid. also, Sohrab is a sweetie.

audio & music (yes music-y videos are in here don't question my organisation):

now and for always from the Watermill theatre's revival of the lord of the rings musical [music + video]: i have loved the soundtrack of this musical for years, and then the Watermill ran it over the summer and i had the incredible luck to go watch it, and it was phenomenal. this song makes me cry literally always, Nuwan Hugh Perera as Sam is amazing, and the whole musical but particularly this song with actor-musicians worked so well.

solidarity forever with Billy Bragg at the elmwood starbucks strike [music + video]: i started off this year on strike, and as such was both picking picket music and listening to a lot of Billy Bragg just for. general motivation yknow. anyway this video is posted by Aisling Ayers, who got up to sing with Billy Bragg, and it's really good. it makes me emotional every time.

artist: known from WBUR's Endless Thread [podcast]: this episode was how i got into Endless Thread, which is great fun on my commute, and – as a wrinkle in time fan – the history behind the artist of the cover was fascinating. it's a really interesting episode, and it made me emotional about old sff art.

you're gonna go far by Noah Kahan, from stick season (we'll all be here forever) [music]: this album is actually one of the very few new pieces of english language music i listened to all year (ok this and the new Hozier album) and honestly it's such a good album, incredible song after incredible song. this one is my favourite though. i have been writing more this year, and this one has been on repeat while i've been writing for the last few months.

video:

disney channel's theme: a history mystery by Defunctland [video essay]: look 1 i know we've all watched it by now and 2 yes it was posted in late 2022 but i didn't watch it till 2023 but this may be... my favourite video essay ever? it has everything. the anxiety of wondering if the mystery will be solved. the twist. the impeccable fucking editing. the emotions. the little aside about being a documetarian. it's so good.

the largest telescope that will ever be built* by Tom Scott [video]: we have one (1) more of Tom Scott's regular monday videos before he goes on leave/sabbatical/etc, and he has given us so many gems over the last several years, it's hard to even pick a favourite from this year. but this one is really fucking good. i'm biased though, there's telescopes in this one.

rehearsing a string quartet while speaking different languages by TwoSetViolin [video]: ("salmon, why is this not in the music section?" because there are no rules. this is my list). i fell down a TwoSetViolin rabbit hole at the start of the year, and you must understand i know nothing about music. can't play a single instrument. can't read sheet music. absolutely fuck all. but i am obsessed with this video. i can't recommend it enough. it's hilarious, it's an incredible show of skill, my multilingual heart enjoyed it immensely, and they clearly had a lot of fun with the subtitles and notes.

escape the greenroom - Gamechanger season 5 episode 9 [video, dropout exclusive]: if you are not watching Gamechanger yet i cannot emphasise how much you should because it is honestly fucking incredible, and every season has done more and more weird and fun things with the format, but season 5 really blew the previous ones outta the water. this episode was incredible. i won't spoil it, but here's the opening on YouTube shorts. if you have watched it, it's 100% worth a rewatch btw

plagiarism and you(tube) by hbomberguy [video essay]: you knew it was coming. it's the video of the year. this is the logical conclusion of roblox oof + who wrote caramelldansen + the author of homestuck contacted me just going to a like. whole other level. what a video. more twists than you could ever predict. iconic work. well worth the several hours.

to hurt is to heal - critical role campaign 3 episode 79 [actual play]: i've been so good. i have not put any cr on here so far. everything else on here you do not need to watch several hundred hours of media to understand. there had to be at least one though, because of who i am as a person. anyway this may be my... favourite cr episode ever? at least in my top 3. (no spoilers, promise.) it's got fey bullshit. it's got a fun twist thing i didn't see coming. it's got... asmr? it's got reveals stacked on reveals in a precarious jenga tower. great episode.

ok. there are several more things that could've ended up on this list (including more books and a lot of not-English music), but i will stop here. 2023 has been a wild, wild year with a lot of really incredible happenings and some fairly Intense Times, but hey, let's see what 2024 brings—probably more video essays and more podcasts and more critical role compilations, and (maybe?? if we're lucky???) alecto the ninth. happy new year, folks!

#text post #my post #2023 is an experience #i did want to put more music on here #but i was listening to a lot of stuff i discovered last year so #and then of course i did get fully obsessed with lilli furfaro but i said only one critical role thing so i didn't put tethering on my list #pls be so proud of my self control #but yes tethering could very easily be on here i'd like that stated for the record #anyway this is 100% self indulgent buuut i did have fun scouring my lists and refining and writing this #so i'm happy #i had a good time #happy new year

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mishkwaagegekwereads · 1 year

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The Wolf’s Trail Review

“Sometimes it takes bravery to respect, to be honest, to have humility, to be truthful. I think sometimes it takes bravery to love.”

- Youngest Nephew, Chapter 2: Zaagi-idiwin

I will be re-reading this book for years to come. Beautifully written, The Wolf's Trail shows the connection held between wolves and the Ojibwe people. Told from the perspective of an elder wolf, Zhi-shay, it stresses the importance of story telling and living a good life. This book manages to tackle hard hitting topics like boarding schools, colonization, alcoholism, and death by passing on traditional teachings. It leaves the reader with a sense of hope for the future and an ache for how things used to be for the Ojibwe people before the "New Humans" came over.

I loved that the author focused on the 7 Grandfather teachings, and made the story enjoyable for all ages. 5/5 Stars

CW: Colonisation, Genocide, Alcoholism, Death, Fire, Fire injury, Forced institutionalization, Grief, Gun violence, War, Child death, Animal death, Blood

#indiginous #ojibwe #wolves #7 grandfather teachings #the good life #story telling #book review #own voice #januarypageschallenge #storygraph

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aisakalegacy · 2 years

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[CW : Réflexions racistes “bienveillantes” et pro-colonisation, utilisation d’un vocabulaire inadapté aujourd’hui concernant les populations natives américaines]

Hiver 1886, Hylewood, Canada (1/6)

Chère Lucrèce,

Je suis très heureux de voir que vos affaires sont bonnes. Je serai très curieux de goûter l’un de vos vins un de ces jours, mais j’ignore si la bouteille survivrait le voyage…

Je m’étonne toujours de la frilosité française à l’égard des populations d’Europe méridionale. À nos yeux, vous êtes tous Européens, et ce rejet nous paraît curieux. Voilà peut-être ce qui convaincrait Maximilien : la couronne d’Espagne porte son lot de splendeurs et sans elle, le Nouveau Monde serait encore une contrée sauvage et inhospitalière ; on doit par ailleurs à l’Italie une grande partie de la culture chrétienne et la civilisation européenne. Ses aïeux viennent peut-être du Midi, dont la langue et la culture ont abreuvé une large partie des belles lettres médiévales. Voilà l’héritage de votre Mademoiselle Horideau : que Maximilien lui montre plus de sollicitude, surtout si elle est travailleuse. On ne peut guère en dire autant de la nôtre : je prends souvent Mademoiselle Yancet à bailler aux corneilles, mais comme lui je n’y peux rien, c’est ma femme qui a autorité sur le personnel de maison et je ne souhaite pas déclencher une guerre en m’y opposant…

Depuis aussi longtemps que je me souvienne, j’ai toujours souffert d’insomnies que je comblais en lisant jusque tard dans la nuit. Ma vue a baissé avec l’âge et j’ai désormais du mal à lire à la lueur de la lampe ou de la chandelle. Pour palier à la perte de cette occupation, me suis découvert une nouvelle passion : la promenade nocturne. Quand j’ai acquis mon élevage, j’ai consacré tout mon temps au débourrage, à l’entretien et à la vente ; si bien que j’ai fini par perdre mon affection pour ces nobles animaux que je considérais de plus en plus sous l’angle exclusif de la charge. J’avais oublié ce qui m’avait séduit chez eux : la liberté qu’ils prodiguent. Maintenant que j’ai davantage de temps libre et que les affaires tournent seules, j’ai retrouvé cet attrait et je me suis offert une jument Appaloosa de dix ans que j’ai faite importer des Etats-Unis, et que j’ai nommée Comore. Il s’agit d’une rescapée d’un troupeau indien, peut-être l’une des dernières de sa race, puisque l’armée américaine travaille à la faire disparaître depuis une décennie. C’est un animal docile, volontaire et très réactif, dont j’apprécie particulièrement la robe tachetée. J’ai pour idée de me procurer un mâle, afin de continuer d’élever cette race pour mon propre usage.

#ts3 #simblr #legacy challenge #history challenge #decades challenge #lebris #lebrisgen2quater #Auguste Le Bris #Xavière Yancet #Jacqueline Rumédier

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astralbooks · 2 years

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Youngblood - Sasha Laurens

Read: 15/07/22 - 21/07/22

Rating: 2/5

Rep: lesbian main characters, f/f relationship, gay side character, biracial British Indian side character, Chinese side character, non-binary minor character

CW: racism, antisemitism, homophobia, bullying, violence, murder & attempted murder, death of a parent (in backstory), food insecurity, toxic relationship, depiction of a panic attack, underage alcohol consumption, emesis

Review:

I was supposed to be on a blog tour for this book, but the tour was cancelled due to problematic content. Having now finished reading this book for myself, I can see why.

This book is trying to be a look at how the capitalist upper class do not care about and actively exploit those who they see as being beneath them, and that even the rich people who aren’t actively involved in hurting others like this are still passively accepting this system and perpetuating that hurt in the process. That’s what it’s trying to do. Taylor and Galen just not getting it whenever Kat ran into a roadblock or couldn’t take a certain risk due to her precarious position because they’re used to things being easy for them because they’re rich vampires who’ve never had to worry about where their next meal would come from came close to being a decent allegory for class differences in reality. However, Kat always fell short of putting it into words that these two, especially Taylor as she got angry with Kat more than once over Kat’s unwillingness to throw everything she had away, could never fully understand what her life had been like and so why she felt like she had to act a certain way as a result. Also, the reveals near the end of the book undermined this whole message, so. Never mind, I guess.

Other reviewers have spoken about the antisemitism present in this book, so I’m not going to be saying anything new here. One of the people involved in the plot to secretly control the world using blood is literally compared to a lizard at one point. I’m sure that Laurens didn’t intend to incorporate antisemitic tropes, but it’s something that authors writing about vampires need to be careful of, and the lizard comparison makes it blatantly clear that Laurens wasn’t careful.

When protagonist Kat points out that this super expensive and selective school, only attended by those deemed ‘the best of the best’ by the headmaster, only has seven students who aren’t white, and asks why this is, she get the response, from the other protagonist who we’re supposed to also be rooting for, that poc probably wouldn’t want to come to a school this elitist anyway. Not that the way the system has been designed means that poc are excluded from the opportunities that rich white people have, but that they wouldn’t want to come in the first place. And then the matter is dropped and never brought up again. Huh?

There are two major characters of colour in this book. One is Galen, the super rich heir to a shady family business, whose mother is Indian. His dad was with the British East India Company, y’know, that colonised and committed atrocities in India, and he harassed Galen’s mother for years into accepting his proposal, and this is apparently supposed to be ‘not as messed up as it sounds.’ The screenshot has been floating around Twitter recently, and it would be one thing if it was shown that Galen is wrong about it not being messed up or that he’s trying to convince himself that it’s okay when it’s not, but that’s not what’s going on here. Kat drops the discussion, and doesn’t think about it any further, and it’s never addressed. I don’t believe that if a character says something in a book that automatically means the author believes it, but this revisionist history being left entirely unchallenged in a YA novel is at best irresponsible, especially when coming from a white author. Later on, Galen is asked why he’s not in the school’s society for students of colour, and he brushes it off saying that it’s not really for people like him. What’s that supposed to mean? He’s not white, but not so not white that he considers it to be an important part of him, and he seems to view himself as being above poc who do see it as important. Again, this comment is made without note and is left unchallenged, and while there could be room for a story exploring this disconnect in his identity, this story doesn’t get explored here, and shouldn’t really be tackled by a white author anyway.

The other major character of colour is a girl specifically described as being Chinese named Lucy. Lucy is a social media influencer and forms half of a mean girl duo with white girl Evangeline. Lucy’s role in the story is to introduce the concept of vampiric charisma to the reader, that’s how she got all her followers after all, and to cause a major incident in the book. Lucy throws a party at which she brings along some humans for the vampires in attendance to drink from, which is shown to be an unambiguously violent and horrific thing for her to do and for people to be participating in. The Chinese character is the most actively violent and has amassed a large following through mind control. Um???

The endings for both of these characters are also worth mentioning. Galen is left in a difficult position, with his future looking uncertain and unstable, and the main characters wonder if they could’ve done more to help him before ultimately shrugging it off. Lucy and Evangeline both tormented Kat and Taylor throughout the book, but at the end of everything Taylor is still in contact with Evangeline and they’re on kinda good terms, while Lucy is despised by them both and Kat’s going around telling her human friends that Lucy is ‘problematic’ and that they should unfollow her. First, I died a little inside at the Twitter-style phrasing, which Kat said out loud, because of the level of understatement there. Second, and more importantly, the white girl can be forgiven for everything she did, but the non-white characters can’t and either have to be left in a worse position than they started in or have to be completely villainised. Why is that? Why were these characters written in this way? I mean, we know why. It’s unacceptable, and frankly it’s gross.

There’s a minor running theme through this book that being apathetic and constantly judging everyone around you aren’t good things, and spending your life thinking you’re better than everyone else is only going to make you and the people around you miserable. Except this is first said by characters (Lucy and Evangeline) who don’t take their own advice, and Taylor never seems to learn it either, and right at the start Taylor was girl-hatey about people who hadn’t done anything to her except exist in her proximity, and in the end I could see what Laurens was trying to do but I think she seriously missed the mark.

Has Laurens ever met a teenager? The school doesn’t have a set of rules, instead it has an ‘Honor Code’ that students are expected to apply to every situation and magically know whether they are or aren’t allowed to do something according to it, with them potentially getting in a lot of trouble if they guess wrong. When I was in year 12, so when I was the same age as the characters here, my school had a dress code. The intention behind it was for us to dress smartly, but it was pretty specific in weird and unnecessary ways, especially for girls, disallowing some things that were perfectly workplace appropriate and allowing some things that were decidedly not. Of course, this led to many people making sure to wear things in the latter category. We ended up having an assembly telling us that we needed to dress ourselves according to ‘the spirit of the dress code’, a phrase which became an instant school-wide meme because of how ridiculous it was. If it wasn’t specifically written down in the rules, and sometimes even if it was specifically written down in the rules but we disagreed with it, then it wasn’t getting obeyed. Kat worrying about the Honor Code made sense, but any other student in that school citing it at any point absolutely did not. They wouldn’t care. Have you ever met a 16/17 year old who’s that pressed about not making their school look bad? Over ‘rules’ that aren’t even concretely written down anywhere? I certainly haven’t.

I’m aware that the Harry Potter reference in the arc is changed into a Star Wars reference in the final version of the book, however this reference shouldn’t have made it this far in the first place. Rowling showed her hand long enough ago that it’s baffling that Laurens included it at all. Plus, the reference is in the context of negatively describing how somebody looks, so either way it comes off as mean spirited and not strictly necessary.

I enjoyed the way that the scene detailing Kat’s queer crisis was written, with her spiralling thoughts being intercut with what she was physically doing at the time. I appreciated that it was highlighted that while some queer people always know that they’re queer, some queer people do not, and the belief that queer people always knew who they were from the moment they were capable of forming thought can do more harm than good to people who are questioning. I liked that Kat figured out that she liked girls, and thought that she probably didn’t like guys, but ultimately put the label question to the side as her actively liking girls, and specifically Taylor, was the more important thing. Taylor calls herself a lesbian many times, so this wasn’t a case of a weird aversion to the word lesbian, but for a lot of people it’s not that simple and it’s not that clear cut and all they’ll achieve by trying to pin themselves down immediately is extra stress. Kat is most likely a lesbian, but her figuring out that she’s definitely attracted to women, and deciding that figuring out for certain whether she’s attracted to men too or not is a problem for another day, was an approach that I did enjoy.

It doesn’t make up for any of the racism though. Not even a little. And the relationship between the girls didn’t quite hit for me, either. I would not recommend this book.

Thank you to Razorbill, TBR and Beyond Tours, and NetGalley for an e-arc of this book

#review #book review #youngblood #sasha laurens #books #booklr

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girlydinner · 2 days

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CW: heavy inspiration from historical events and Philippine mythology. Dead dove, do not eat.

“Have you seen a woman so ethereal, you would just want to know what's on their mind?”

It is one of the very questions Circe would receive on a daily basis. She knows that people pertain to her ever since she was a few days old wandering the Earth after her rebirth, but she cannot blame them—Circe was born to be enchanting.

Circe was born during the early 1200s from a deceased young woman who drowned when she was fishing late at night. She was given another chance by the deity of the ocean, Aman Sinaya, as an enchantress and devout follower of hers. The young woman has now been given a new name as Sinagtala, and she went back to her village with new enlightenment. The sorceress aided the ill and helped her community thrive, until the colonisers struck that picked her nayon apart bit by bit by the blazing fire that she failed to kill. The death of the Star was nigh, when it was least expected.

The first hundred years of colonisation, she has seen and tried to resist the Spaniards, even joining guerilla movements where Sinagtala was in the front lines, being a helping hand to resist them. After a few years, she was taken from her sleep and thrown into the City of Manila—knowing that her captors already knew how much of a big deal she would be once she hit the Red Light District, yet their plans crumbled the moment the abducted woke up as she puts them to sleep.

She was then taken as a maid by a certain rich young Señorita Pia Benilde after seeing the enchantress covered in blood, walking down the alley near her vacation home. The mistress renamed her as Circe, pertaining to the Goddess of Magic in Greek Mythology—as the Señorita loved Greece when she stayed there for her college studies. Despite Circe's tendency to slay her new mistress and have another taste of freedom, she cannot as Señorita Pia had a heart as warm as the life Aman Sinaya had given her—it makes her think that she is not just capable of justice, but also love.

Circe's love for her mistress deepened that it went to the point of admitting how she's at least a hundred years old and how she's a practitioner of magic to Señorita Pia. The latter got scared yet she was comforted by her affection. They managed to elope together for only a short time before they were found by the prayle. Since the mistress is untouchable in terms of money and power, they forced her to be a nun whilst Circe is being prepared as dinner for their dogs. As what a powerful woman would do, she attempted another escape and tried to go back to her lover but it was too late as she has been sent back to Spain. She hoped for her to come back, but she never did.

As the country faced more wars and oppression, the sorceress is now infamously known as The Enchantress of the Sea of Lights by the colonisers. Circe had made a name for herself by seducing drunken soldiers before drowning them with her water magic. Word of the mouth went around, and it forced her to lie low especially after the Independence. No one has heard of her for years, especially those who have known her for long.

She moved back to her old barrio, which is now a developing city—much different than what she called home a few centuries ago. She settled in a cottage by the beach, the only part of her home where she belongs now. The part has remained untouched until Aman Sinaya showed her face once again, encouraging her to be with the people instead of isolating and leaving her following days to rot. As her devout follower for almost a millennia, she accepted that request.

Now, she is in pursuit of what it means to be human once again. Her mind is full of wisdom and knowledge, yet she only thinks of what it could have been when she has not been revived by the goddess.

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summitislands · 4 months

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The Islands

Welp. Those are islands alright

In other words,, this is the location that the first half of my story (I avoid the word novel) takes place. Very warm climate/seas, good people, weird animals and lots of underwater wreckages.

Here’s stuff pasted from my docs:

CW for colonisation and xenophobia

MIDLANDS (centre)

Owned land: one big-ass island called the “midland”, surrounded by the “middle isles” scattered around the border (two isles of note are Liemyr and the Strand). Lots of moorland, forests and sandy coasts, but also some rocky areas like in the later-mentioned Scande. Capital city is Matsvye, named after Mt. Matt that looms over it— literally “Matt’s view”. Mt. Matt’s etymology is Matt Bellamy, obviously he can reach very high notes. And Mt. Matt is a very high mountain.

Nation: the people are called midlanders, or mid -. Darkish skin, very light-hearted. They are without a doubt the strongest nation there. They found the Paramid empty and so populated there, then got a bit cocky and colonised the New East, but quickly learnt to become better people when they saw the damage rather than good it did (one of the reasons I label this story as a utopia— no nation would learn from their mistakes IRL lol). Names of the residents are very varied and don’t really have a theme.

More info: The midlanders expanded their empire a lot faster than the other islands did (basically reinvented imperialism), partly due to having so much land and their advantage from being a close distance to all the other islands. Also HQ of the high govern and the queensails (more on that later). Very tolerant of differences, sexualities, religious beliefs, all that stuff.

Ohmei-o-meter score (how religious are they?): 6/10. More on the religion later in another post.

NEW EAST (right)

Owned land: the new east has one big island with a warm and flourishing bay, also smaller isles hugging the east island bay. AKA the “NE”, or very occasionally called “the east”, by older people. The smaller east isles are scattered around the border but are mostly concentrated in the east island bay. Lots of marshland, bogs, coasts of all kind and thick forests.

Nation: Natives are called new-easterners, and long ago before the war they had with the midland, they were just called easterners. Pale skin, dark hair, and very formal. The race is very bitter due to the war and have got a chip on their shoulder since. They’re pretty xenophobic and are pasty AF. Names are kind of gothic or english, EG “Barrens”, “Blank”, “Nancy”, “Elizabeth” etc.

More info: Midlands colonised it (think I mentioned that). Culture is inspired by the brits, namely post-roman-christian colonialism/peak industrialism/victorian-english vibes. Probably invented capitalism. They were an undoubtedly powerful race before, and would very much seek revenge on the midlanders given the chance. Around 30 years before the story takes place there was a “War For The East”, which is relatively self-explanatory. It was Midlands and Paramids VS the East and the Scande. Bow stayed out of it. End result was the colonisation of the East and, to an extent, the Scande. The East’s xenophobia was one of the excuses the midlands made for invading them, despite doing very little about it post-war. Also I shaped the main island like a prawn bc their main export is fish/seafood.

O-meter: 3/10. Would totally pick a fight with Ohmei lol

BOW ISLANDS (south)

Owned land: one big bow island, AKA “bow/boe”, with smaller isles known as “the forests” to the north-east and north-west. Lots of jungle.

Nation: An introverted nation, wants little to do with the others. Fair hair and dark skin. They’re modernised but not by force, so a lot of old rituals are still practiced, a lot of old rules are still in place, and a lot of old food is still eaten. Overall, absolutely vibing! Names are quite vowel-packed, EG “Teouna”, “Islae”, “Solomon Moore”, etc.

More info: A while ago a huuuuuge chunk of them left to travel on the water, spending so long that they were named “South Island drifters” and developed their own culture. All the summit islanders have always been somewhat close, and although the South Island drifters sort of attempted to bully people out of communicating with the bow, they were largely unsuccessful and chose to never do any damage. But now, the drifters are completely wiped out (nice one queensails(!) not), and so cultures are mixing now more than ever.

O-meter: 9/10

PARAMIDS (west)

Owned land: one big island called the paramidland, AKA “the meadow” and the scattered isles are called “the fields.” This is where the old western tribes lived long before any of the other nations really developed. Lots of meadows, forests and fields.

Nation: the old western tribes are long gone, leaving behind only desecrated cities, too derelict to live in. They were very advanced and wee already inventing concrete whilst all the other islanders were still throwing rocks at each other. Although the old human race inhabited all islands, their structures are the most intact on this one. Some skyscrapers were left standing to pay homage to the long-forgotten ancestors, and also in the hope that their purpose will be revealed once the new humans uncovered more information about the forgotten race. See The Midlands for more information on race. Because the residents are basically midlanders the names are quite varied.

More info: The midlanders found the paramids as barren island to the west that was completely desolate and filled with crumbling concrete structures absolutely everywhere that were so old, they couldn’t even be recognised. So they decided to completely stuff it with “flowers innit” (as written on Blank’s map lol). Luckily for them it was uninhabited, but to this day they have no idea what became of the old inhabitants.... However an organisation that has a keen interest in the paramids is the LRI (lost race initiative), funded by the queen and lead by Prof. Abigail Collen (a character introduced later).

O-meter: 6/10

SCANDE (north)

Owned land: One big island called Scande, AKA the “rocky desert” by others, with two southern isles called “the two rocks.” a desolate area that is deemed inhabitable and so is mostly left alone by the others despite . It’s mostly used by the queensails as a testing ground for god only knows what. Full of rocks, but also has pine forests, mountains, marshes and other cool stuff.

Nation: natives go by many names, but simply call themselves “rock people.” In the War For East they allied with the East, however unfortunately as a result of this the East imposed their xenophobic and overall intolerant laws onto the normally unbothered Scande, hence why many people defected to the Midlands in the war. There aren’t that many Scande natives, and they live in two ways: the first, rather normal little villages, relatively normal lives... But there are also some little tribes of natives who do cool shit like eat seal-blubber and travel by sleigh. They’re skeptical of outsiders, but tolerate the occasional polite NE or Queensails soldiers who pass through their territory.

Other info: they treat the Rock-dogs that pull their sleighs with the upmost respect, and whipping, kicking or starving them is seen as a serious offence punishable by death. They have these other neat not-so-little things called Rock-bears. The clue’s in the name. *in thick Russian accent* “We call them the Rock-bear. Thick like rock... Strong like bear.” Also featuring Rock-seals. The Scande natives aren’t the most creative when it comes to naming things. In fact, a good 75% of their wildlife is called “Rock-*general species name*. And so, their own names also reflect this.

O-meter: 0/10 “who is this oh-my rock thing.”

Some more posts I’ll be doing soon are: info on the characters that’ll be in the story, a synopsis, info on the religious system/explain who the fuck Ohmei is, and also some anatomical diagrams of the local plant and animal life, which gets pretty funky.

If you read all that then THANK YOU!!! Any questions please do let me know :3

#worldbuilding #my writing #Map #lore #geography #artwork #young writer

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