#humans and childrearing

[fluffer5]

Humans and childrearing

My 3rd entry to humans are space orcs and dang am I seeing our species as the odd one out with all our quirks.

Again, my basis for this would be the movies and stories I've watched or read. So, most information I've got on alien child rearing center on quirks that can be considered as the constant for their entire specie. Like, a new behavior exhibited by the parent towards their young that doesn't conform to the norm is absolutely rare to the point that other parents or those who are old enough to care for a child would immediately go to rescue the youngling who seems to be in danger or in pain. Some who couldn't afford to keep the child would at least have this decency to put the child in foster care where someone could raise and shelter them till they're strong enough to leave or go on an adventure on their own.

Humans though? We're absurdly complex creatures with a malfunctioning sense of familial love on our youngs. We love them one moment, and hate them next. We'd be filled with adoration for this new life in our arms, then feel disgusted and annoyed at them for making too much noise, taking up too much time, taking up so, so much of us until this supposed guardian spirals down into the neglectful, angry person some kids know.

Of course, not everyone reacts that way. But it happens often enough that we have medical interventions, guidelines, and even agencies or social groups that deals with that particular problem.

There are parents or guardians who would hate this unknowing baby for killing their wife, sister, daughter, or mother in the process of their birth. There are mothers who would neglect and feel resentful of the precious bundle they gave birth to for taking up the attention of HER husband, HER family, even though she knows that it's wrong to feel that way with her baby. There are siblings who feel the ugly crawl of jealousy up their stomach, heart, and lungs to the point that they work towards sabotaging the growth and milestones of this new child they see as competition. Heck! There are parents who would continue to give birth even though they KNOW that they're not financially secure and their children might suffer from starvation or a sickness that they can't afford to pay off medicine.

The children? We grow up carrying the scars of survival. Be it visible or not, we have it.

Hearing this information upon opening the topic on how each race care for their young (each one giving the usual rearing they have in a clan and how they always pull out younglings who are more sickly and fragile to be given thorough love and care but never one that is nagging or suffocating because instincts and talent needs to be given time to develop), the Unified Intergalactic Council, one made up of elders, warriors, healers, historians, builders, star-readers, and other reknowned professions would stare baffled at the human representative with horror and worry.

"You say that your kind treasures your young but punishes you for the smallest mistake?" a healer asked looking confused and displaying anger through the minute movement of his brightly colored frills. "Punishment for not finishing food when the hatchling has declared that they are full?! And they had the gall to be offended for this young one for wasting precious resources?!"

"I was too young to question it," the human representative, Kara, relayed the information, not seeing the practice as… punishment, but more of an experience that most kids her age shared. "When I got old enough… Well, I never thought to revisit the wrongness of such practice again since I moved out of our house."

"Well, I, for one, am far concerned when you said some of your wars were fought by children? Did your leaders lose a part of their heads to think that children could fight for their battles? And you said some of those children were trained with the bares of skill and would learn most of it on actual live-combat?!" a veteran General was left in confusing garble and grumbles that is most probably a jumble of curses and profanities if she reads right into the indignant face of said General's wife, a War Strategist.

"I'm concerned for you, child," an old star-reader (their version of a prophet) gently laid their hand on her arm, eyes swirling with the birth of new stars and the death of others, their voice fluctuating from masculine to feminine, pitch becoming a scramble of highs and lows. "You have told us of the joys in your planet. How happy it is to be a Terran. How you love this deathworld even with its harsh seasons and mighty predators and lurking sickness. Yet now that we are speaking of caring for your young, you've been growing more upset, distant."

"Children are considered as gifts to all species," Kara would bitterly remark to them star-reader. "That's what you told me… That's what I've been told by the adult Terrans."

"What do you think then, child?" the star-reader asked even though they already know the sad truth of this youngling's life. And she is a youngling. Kara is 20 cycles old. Still so young since Terrans do not stop their brain development between their 30th or 40th life cycle. They shouldn't have pushed their children to this. Terran young should've been learning new skills and not rushing at that age… and yet….

"I think… I'm tired of working so hard for others and not living for myself. I'm tired of being not enough. I'm tired of having to give a piece of myself to everyone who needed me. I'm tired of being the eldest sibling, Myrtzhg. I'm tired of giving up a lot of opportunities I want because my mother, my bearer, would tell me to give these opportunities to my younger siblings! It's never me, Myrtzhg! And I'm so tired of thinking it never will!"

That was the exact same day the UIC panicked, trying to sooth the Terran youngling from their pent up emotions. Even the strictest of the council members had a mild panic attack when Kara full out wailed and didn't seem to be consoled by their usual Terran sweets and treats. They later learned that Kara got a message from her own bearer to hurry up and give them money because Kara's siblings need it for a celebration, even reprimanding Kara how should stop being such a greedy, ungrateful child.

Earth was but one intergalactic missile away from destruction if not for the swift swat to the head by a fuming Matron saying they should kidnap all the children and good parents first before blowing up the planet… Kara, of course the sweetheart that she is, disagreed to the plan.

#humans and aliens #humans are crazy #humans are deathworlders #earth is space australia #humans are space oddities #humans are weird #humans are space australians #humans are space orcs #humans and childrearing #destructive way of growing up #pent up emotions says who #same people who deny the existence of mental illness #gentle parenting who? #trauma dump to the UIC #humans need their comfort food #we're too forgiving lol

[cuethediscoandthedrinks]

my loves!! i got that pussy tea for u ehhe (˃ᴗ⩹)

avatar reactions - oral sex ⋆｡ﾟ☁︎｡⋆｡ ﾟ☾ ｡⋆

jake ⋆｡ﾟ☁︎｡⋆｡ ﾟ☾ ｡⋆

• charmingly; being wheelchair-bound back when he was a human means jake's had to up his oral game. therefore he knows exactly how to have you quivering and gushing all over his pretty face. jake's pretty big on tongue especially, whether it be using the pink tip to leave little quick kitten licks across your swollen bud; or wider tongue-strokes across the length of your exposed pussy; or even eagerly thrust it as deep as he can past your clenching opening, deep inside your wet warmth

• likewise, this man loves to chuckle and smirk as he does it too--paired with heavy eye contact and some well-placed thigh spanks, nothing riles him up more than seeing you squirm and squeal as his chesty hums and laughs vibrate through your sweat-covered, hyper-aroused form above (or in front of) him.

quaritch ⋆｡ﾟ☁︎｡⋆｡ ﾟ☾ ｡⋆

• sloppily; quaritch loves some hot, juicy pussy to slurp up, 100%. being a sadistic lover, when he goes down on you he continues to maintain his dominance; there's no letting you take control with quaritch. being a marine, he'll utilise that discipline and patience to tease you, making you whine and buck up your hips as he tongues extra hard against your swollen, sensitive cunt

• he'll be unabashedly confident in his ability to please you, too. wide-toothed grins, crow's feet, hot breaths on your exposed flesh, he's going at it--"..mmphmm..unhhpm..you like-mphm-like that, darlin'?..goddamn..always so sweet for me mama.." he'll muffle out, as he continues the brutal onslaught of his rough, eager licks and slurps as he eats you out for all you're worth.

tonowari ⋆｡ﾟ☁︎｡⋆｡ ﾟ☾ ｡⋆

• earnestly; it's different for the metkayina clan, as they're all socialised to accept interest and enthusiasm wholeheartedly; be it for the sea, the all-mother, childrearing, but especially the fulfillment of their loved one's needs. therefore tonowari takes his job of pleasuring you seriously; perhaps not dominantly, but with the utmost respect and desire

• tonowari's favourite meal is your swollen, throbbing mound, gyrating desperately against his awaiting mouth. he's a big boy, and so'll make sure to eat up every drop of slick essence you can give. using his wide, thick pink tongue, he'll lay it flat along the length of your pussy--eyes softly closed, eyebrows raised slightly in unconscious earnest intrigue, tonowari's just here to make his um'ma happy. and if that takes some extra languid suckles and messy, wet smears of your aching cunt across his eager face, this papa bear's all game.

tsu'tey ⋆｡ﾟ☁︎｡⋆｡ ﾟ☾ ｡⋆

• religiously; tsu'tey's a mature omaticayan, born and raised in the higher ranks of the clan, and reared in a heavily esoteric and introspective community. when this man eats pussy, he eats it like he's eating the most sacred of offerings from the all-mother eywa herself. almost as though he sees it as a spiritual practice, tsu'tey finds much pleasure and satisfaction in seeing you get wetter and wetter; your outer pussy swelling from arousal, clit throbbing, opening clenching, all at the mere prospect of being pleasured by your mate

• tsu'tey takes it incredibly seriously too--not one for overt emotionalism, he'll be surprisingly deliberate and careful with his actions; making sure to remain skilled, focused and successful in pleasuring your body. he'll swiftly use the tip of his tongue to tease your slick entrance, and leave studied nips and open-mouthed kisses to your outer pussy. he'll use the pads of his fingers scoop up your excess arousal, taste it, feed it to you, or even smear it across his forehead, cheeks and chin whilst chanting a prayer to eywa, thanking her for blessing him with such a mate.

ronal ⋆｡ﾟ☁︎｡⋆｡ ﾟ☾ ｡⋆

• intentionally; this can go either way for ronal, as depending on her mood (and your good behaviour) she can either be soft, almost maternal in her movements, or calculated and unyielding as she punishes you for breaking one of her rules, or not fulfilling her expectations. some days she'll leave gentle kisses to your thighs, humming softly in satisfaction at your writhing hips and heaving chest. other days ronal'll take no issue with laying some firm, sharp spanks to your exposed pussy, hissing, snarling and baring her sharp piercing fangs as you squirm in anticipation

• she may decide to let up after some especially harsh punishment, using the long pads of her fingers to smooth soft traces in between your spread legs, massaging your outer lips. coaxing out your rich juices for her to wantonly lap up, all the while sporting a gentle smile. but if she's feeling a little more disciplinary, ronal won't hesitate to grope your soft thighs and tongue hard, thrusting deep into your oversensitive cunt as she coerces yet another white-hot release from your exhausted, fucked-out form.

neytiri ⋆｡ﾟ☁︎｡⋆｡ ﾟ☾ ｡⋆

• playfully; neytiri gets the most satisfaction from seeing you succumb to her ministrations; more than punishing, more than rewarding, perhaps even more than teasing. being able to coax out your needy whines, feel your shuddering hips, and the lewd clenching and throbbing of your warm, wet mound fills neytiri with an almost addicting sense of pride.

• no one can satisfy her mate like she can, and she'll be virtually unable to repress the grin, creased eyes, bared fangs and little sultry giggles she lets out as she watches you come undone in front of her, teasing with a "..now, look at my sweet, sweet girl, aah..so wet, so much..all for mama, yes?..ahhmm, yes, my girl.." as she continues milking your body-wracking orgasm. fingers jutting hard into your g-spot, neytiri's hums of an almost innocent contentment contrasting lewdly to your needy moans, and the wet, slick sounds of your opening sucking her fingers back into your needy pussy.

hope u enjoyed bbys<3

#gOD i wish i could be fucked by legit any of them #any. #idm who #idgaf #🫠 #jake sully x reader #jake sully smut #miles quaritch smut #colonel miles quaritch #miles quaritch x reader #tonowari x reader #tonowari smut #tsu'tey x reader #tsu'tey smut #ronal smut #ronal x reader #neytiri smut #neytiri x reader #avatar smut #na'vi smut #avatar x reader #na'vi x reader

[coralinnii]

❋ If you are a villain, then let me be your accomplice ❋

feat: Lilia genre: mild hurt/comfort, slow burn romance note: sequel to reincarnated into a new world as the bad guy AU Lilia ver, no pronouns used, Lilia is depicted as his older appearance with long hair, human!reader, mentions of minor injuries unintentionally inflicted on reader, 1.6k word count 

I liivvveee! For now, anyway. I still have my job projects and finals are upon me but I finally found some time to myself so I hope you enjoy another addition to the Villain/ess!series. I might end up failing a class but I know it’s not the end of the world for me and I really enjoyed the class so I wouldn’t mind retaking the class.

Yeaa...this did not end up as domestic fluff

WARNING: This part has kinda hard-to-read topics regarding children and childrearing. Sometimes parents, guardians, caretakers and/or other children accidentally get injured by a child and the child doesn’t know how to get over that. We never want to blame the child for these mistakes but we want to make sure they can learn to avoid such mistakes again. This is an odd case since these are fictional non-human characters and some people can view Lilia as too harsh or see MC/reader as too lenient. I’ve seen parents approach this concern differently and honestly to me, the next course of action is never easy to figure out without truly discussing with the child and those involved.  I'm not saying whose method is right or wrong, I just wrote what would be the best course of action in this scenario. You might have your own opinions or approaches. Read at your own risk

A lot has happened since your first visit to the Vanrouge household. Lilia surprised you by taking both of you into his home, protecting you while helping to raise the young Yung. He offered a room to the small dragon and one for yourself (though Yung still prefers to sleep in your bed with you). 

Speaking of Yung, he was still wary of Lilia and his servants, choosing to hide himself in your embrace or behind your legs. He refused to speak to anyone and if he needed something, he would whisper into your ears and being the pampering type, you would oblige. 

“Dear me, he seems to have really imprinted himself on you” Lilia chuckled casually but then he quickly hardened his gaze and the conversation turned more serious. “However, if he does not grow out from this phase, he may end up unable to control his dragon side and hurt himself or you” 

This worries you as you know due your knowledge from your previous life that Yung will grow to be very powerful but he fell victim to his own strength and destroyed himself with his power. 

Distressed, you begged Lilia to give his guidance as the former guardian of the Dragon King and with a playful smile, he gave an offer to you. 

“Very well, I will be his guide. But as a fair trade of service, why don’t you become my attendant? This would occupy your time and perhaps young Yung could use this to be a little more independent?” 

And thus began Yung’s days of torture as your new job constantly took precious time from him by Lilia. Yung can no longer ask for walks with you because you’re needed to look over some paperwork with the duke. Nights where you would lull him to sleep were getting less and less as Lilia requested your assistance in looking over some schedule details before the new day. And even when Yung gets to hang out with you, Lilia would almost always be there to monopolize your attention. 

At first, you decided to trust the young(?) duke and his tactics since you did come to him for his guidance anyway. Despite the rather playful demeanor he seems to have, Lilia seemed so confident to you and assured you time and time again that this is a rite of passage of sorts for fae like him and Yung since powerful beings like them must learn self-control before anything else. 

But self-control continues to elude Yung and it wasn’t long before the cute little dragon decided enough was enough.

“Wuv is mine! Mister duke go away!” 

To the best of his ability, Yung wrapped his short arms around your waist as he screamed at the duke. If Yung was any normal child, his growth would have been unprecedented as he was already walking (to chase after you and Lilia) and speaking fairly comprehensible sentences (to yell at Lilia). But as a fae, this was a typical growth spurt, quickly growing stronger and bigger than a typical human to ensure his survival. His physical strength was more obvious to you right now as the young child was unintentionally tightening his grip on you which started to hurt. 

“Yung, l-love” you tried to speak but it came out as a short gasp as the small fae ignored your call. His hands, while small, kept digging through your clothes and into your skin which made you wince slightly. You tried other means of grabbing the young one’s attention but all was moot as all of Yung’s focus zeroed in on Lilia alone, his eyes glowing a slightly menacing color and a glare reminiscent of a dragon ready to defend his territory.

“Sigh…you are still a foolish child” 

In an instant, the pain in your sides lessened as you found yourself in the arms of the duke instead of Yung’s hold. Both you and Yung were shocked by this sudden change of the situation. How did neither of you notice Lilia as he somehow managed to rip you out from the young dragon’s grip without his notice or harming you in the process? 

“Are these the skills of an experienced fae?” 

After looking over you for any major injuries, Lilia sighed again with slight disappointment, reminiscent of a father figure upset with a child that nearly broke something precious. “How can you protect your treasure when you can’t even protect them from yourself?” 

Following Lilia’s previous line of sight, Yung’s heart sank when he saw the torn fabric of your outfit. With his extraordinary senses, he caught glimpses of red lines across your skin through the ripped clothing. He instinctively reached out his small hand to you but saw his nails were longer and sharper, like talons of a dragon. 

He hurt you. He hurt you. He hurt you. 

Yung broke into tears as those words cycled in his head, haunting him for his crime. You were instinctively pushing yourself from Lilia by the sound of his cries, running to enclose your arms around the poor fae child, holding him while softly giving words of comfort. 

“Love, I’m alright. It was an accident, I know that” 

 But Yung continued to sob and he apologized profusely, his voice getting sore from his cries. "I'm sorry! I'm sorry! I'm sorry!"

Lilia stood still behind you, watching silently as you continued to console your child, wiping Yung’s tears and holding his small, shaking hands. 

Night came and Lilia visited you in your room once the family doctor was done tending to your scratches. The head of the manor immediately called for the doctor but you refused to show your injuries while Yung was still panicking over the incident. It was only when Yung calmed down and stayed with him until he fell asleep in his room. You kept your smile as you downplayed your wounds, not letting Yung blame himself.

When Lilia entered your room with your permission, he shocked you as he said something unexpected. 

“I’m sorry.” He even bowed his head to you, showing the sincerity of his words.

You replied with confusion in your voice. “Pardon? What for?” 

“I expected that Yung was getting possessive of you but I didn’t think that you would get this hurt in my attempt to distance you two. I should have intervened sooner” 

Lilia held this guilt throughout the day, ashamed that he roped you into his little test for the dragon fae. He knew raising a powerful fae will be a rough journey, taking his experience from caring for Malleus. But if Lilia were the one to get hurt, it would be but a scratch that would heal in an instant. Whatever Yung would do, Lilia can handle it with ease. 

But you weren’t fae. You were a human that bleed at the lightest touch from his kind, that break much too easily, and perish much too soon. 

“You should leave this manor” Lilia stated with an uncharacteristically serious tone. “I will find a comfortable inn for you to stay in and provide other essentials until you can find another living situation to your liking” 

“Wait a minute!” You jumped from your seat, your mind thrown for a loop. “I can’t just leave, what will happen to Yung? It'll break his heart! I didn’t mean to inconvenience your grace and your plans but I’ll be care-“ 

“Do you not understand the dangers of your situation?” Lilia’s tone was ice cold. “You nearly bled from what Yung thought was a childish hug. What if he were to get angry one day and suddenly knock you unconscious? He is not a mere human child but a fae, and a strong one as well. You are a human that may die by his own hands” 

Silence filled your room as the weight of Lilia's words sink in.

You won’t lie, Yung’s nails were painful and your wounds still sting even after treatment. In the story from your past memories, Yung’s power will be on par with the current Dragon King, with the power to move mountains and call upon flames that would leave nothing in its path. Yung will continue to grow stronger and nothing you, a powerless human, can do that will be able to stop him. 

But still… 

“I stayed silent because I didn't know what would be good for Yung. But damn it, I love that child! As long as he needs me, I’ll be there for him” you locked eyes with the long-haired fae with determination. “He’ll become stronger, but he wouldn't hurt others. He is a happy, kind child"

"And how will you ensure that?"

"I will be there to make sure he stays that way” you made a bold choice, but you're confident in this. You were confident in your little Yung that he will go against his ending in that story nonsense of your previous world.

Crossing your arms, you made another bold comment.

“Besides…you still agreed to guide him. So, this will be a team effort” You were testing your luck but you assumed that should anything like today happen again, then you could always hide behind the great general Vanrouge. That's a team, right? Being able to depend on them during tough patches?

But Lilia stayed quiet and chose to simply match your stare with his. It was intimidating to have such an attractive man look at you with such intensity but you held your ground. You puffed out your chest and refused to look away from Lilia’s admittedly beautiful ruby-coloured eyes. 

Then…Lilia giggled. 

“Lilia, the renowned general…giggled….and it was so cute?!” 

You were taken aback when you saw a soft smile crept onto Lilia’s lips, so different from his mischievous grin whenever he scares you from behind during work or the confident smirk when he wins a round of a card game that you introduced to him from your original world. You were upset, offended even that he would giggle at your proud proclamation to care for Yung. But wow, he was really attractive doing so.

Not noticing your conflicted expression (or choosing to ignore it), Lilia placed a hand on your head, closer to your forehead, then moved slowly to caress your head. His touch was so gentle, careful not to scratch you or add unnecessary pressure. 

“He’s good at holding back his strength” you thought, only having heard the stories of the unbeatable general. Lilia is a playful man but his power is impressive even among other fae so this gentle side of him was a pleasant surprise to you.

“Goodness gracious, I wonder if this is where Yung gets his audaciousness from?” Lilia had a shine in his eyes as he kept his gaze on you, almost as though he was captivated by what he saw. “I look forward to your cooperation then, teammate”

#twst x reader #twst #twisted wonderland #twisted wonderland x reader #twst imagines #disney twisted wonderland #villainess au #twisted wonderland imagines #twst scenarios #lilia vanrouge #lilia x yuu

[081314]

Book 7: The Ruler of the Abyss – Chapter 5 (Part 4)

Following is part 4 of my translation of Chapter 5 of Book 7: The Ruler of the Abyss. This part contains episodes 7-83 to 7-87. This concludes Chapter 5.

Main storyline spoilers after the cut!!

Episode 7-83

The Darkness: ……..

Sebek: Away with you! We’ve no time for this!

(Something begins to glow in the distance)

Sebek: Hmm? What’s that light yonder…

Grim: What the? Where are we?

Yuu: What a cute little house.

Sebek: That’s… ‘Tis Sir Lilia’s domicile! I gather this must be another part of his dream, then…?

???: You want me to teach your grandkid martial arts?

???: Yes, sir.

Sebek: !! Those voices… Are Sir Lilia and My Grandfather here!?

Baul: My daughter and her husband's other two kids never showed much interest in it, but… They had another child not too long ago, and he’s been saying how much he wants to become a Guardsman like me one day. He was asking me if I could train him.

Lilia: I see. But why’re you asking me to do it? I think you’d be the better choice, considering you’re an advisor to the Guard now.

Baul: Erm, it’s just… When it’s family you’re working with, it’s hard to… How should I put this…

Lilia: Ha ha ha! You’d go easy on him, wouldn’t you? Typical Baul. Alright then, I’ll do it.

Baul: Many thanks, General!

Lilia: Oi, Baul. I retired centuries ago, you know that.

Baul: My apologies, old habits die hard…

Lilia: Sure sounds like it! Considering you were the one who served as the General of the Right after I did. And now you’re retired, too. In any case, how old’s this grandchild of yours?

Baul: He’ll be seven this year.

Lilia: Seven, huh… So he’s about the same age as the boy I’m looking after. I’m sure they’ll be great practice buddies. And what’s his name?

Baul: Sebek.

Lilia: My, that sounds so gallant! But just so we're clear, I’m not going to go easy on him just because he’s your grandson. I’m going to work him to the bone.

Baul: Yes, sir. Please train him well.

Lilia: To be honest, I was a bit concerned when your daughter announced she’d be marrying that human, but… Sounds like you’ve mellowed out a bit.

Baul: Ack- I have not accepted that little weakling of a man as my son-in-law. It’s just… My grandkids don’t have anything to do with any of the issues I have with him, you know?

Sebek: …Grandfather…. You were the one who instilled within me my passion for reading, the one who instructed me in fae language, and the one who paved the way for me to become Sir Lilia’s apprentice… I am who I am thanks to his and my family’s support. Surely… Surely, the same goes for him, as well… Where are you, Silver…!

Sebek: It doesn’t appear we’ll find Silver here. The Darkness sprang upon him as soon as he caught sight of the Knight of Dawn’s face, but… I must admit, they did resemble each other severely. Perchance the Knight is some long bygone ancestor of his? Or perhaps he’s… No, ruminating on it isn’t going to do us any good. Silver and Sir Lilia are teacher and student, and they are family. And that is all I need to know.

Grim: No matter where we go, the Darkness just keeps poppin’ up again!

Sebek: And all this wandering about has gotten me ravenous. Silver, you damn-…  Can you believe one of Briar Valley’s most esteemed heroes was once reduced to changing that little twit’s diapers!? I’ve heard how he’d oft enquire by my father for advice on rearing human children. I understand there was a period when Silver kept waking up frequently throughout the night, mewling and fussing over every little thing. And Sir Lilia was positively perplexed.

Yuu: Maybe he had colic…

Sebek: He was unrivaled and unerring as leader of the Guard, and then he was suddenly thrust into the absolute hell that is childrearing… Yet despite everything, he always remained by Silver’s side. And he did so FOR SEVENTEEN WHOLE YEARS!! And now Silver goes and does this…! I just don’t understand…! Grrr!!! I shan’t be satisfied until I give him a piece of my mind!! SILVER! WHERE ARE YOU, YOU FOOL!? SHOW YOURSELF!

Grim: Oi, keep it down! The Darkness is gonna-

(The Darkness appears)

Grim: Look, I told ya so!!!

Sebek: Begone with you!!

(The Darkness retreats)

Grim: Haaah, haaaah… I’m all worn out. Come on, Silver. Where the heck are you?

(A light shines in the distance, and they see another one of Lilia’s memories)

Lilia: Here, why don’t you boys try pulling these spoons across the table using magic? You just gotta go like… You know, like this! And then throw in some of that!

Young Silver: Some of… what now?

Young Sebek:  Grrrr…. Move, you stupid spoon!

Young Silver /Young Sebek: Arrrrgggh!!!!

Lilia: Relax, straining yourselves won’t help one bit. First you need to loosen up, and then just go like, swoosh! And presto!

Young Silver/Young Sebek: ??????

Malleus: ….Heh heh.

Lilia: What’s so funny, Malleus?

Malleus: Oh, nothing. Your teaching methods haven’t changed in the slightest, Lilia. I remember struggling to understand you when I was younger, it was all much too abstract for me. Silver, Sebek, watch me and then give it another try. First, steady your breathing and hold your hand out. Imagine your magic as a line of thread connecting your hand to the spoon. Once that visualization has solidified in your mind’s eye.. Pull back your hand - quickly, as though reeling in a fish on a line.

Young Silver: So I just gotta hold out my hand… Imagine connecting a line of thread to the spoon… And then it’s just like reeling in a fish… Come here!! …I did it! I pulled over the spoon using my magic!

Young Sebek: What!?

Young Silver: Thank you so much, Lord Malleus!

Malleus: You’ve nothing to thank me for.

Young Sebek: Grrrr…. Please watch, Lord Malleus! I promise I’ll pull it off, too!

Lilia: Oi, Sebek. I told you, don’t strain yourself so much.

Malleus / Lilia: Heh heh heh/Kufufu

Sebek: In the end, it wasn’t until nearly a year and a half later that I finally gained control over my magic. But despite that, Sir Lilia continued to train me with upmost patience. And when Lord Malleus would call upon Sir Lilia on occasion, he’d watch over the both of us…. *sniffle* We cannot let things end like this… We absolutely cannot!!

Young Sebek: This is it! Hiyaa!!

Lilia: The match is over! One point for Silver!

Young Silver: Thank you. …You okay, Sebek?

Young Sebek: Shut up! I want a rematch! Just you wait, I’m gonna be able to beat you before you know it!

Lilia: Kufufu. That’s the spirit, Sebek. Even though you just recently started your training, it’s amazing how well you’re able to move around. You’ve got real talent, just like your grandfather did.

Young Sebek: R-Really!?

Young Silver: …Hmph... Sebek, let’s go another round. Bet you I’m gonna win again.

Young Sebek: Bring it on! Let’s go!

Sebek: …To this day, I can count on my hands the number of times I’ve bested Silver in battle. And I shan’t ever be able to rectify our score if we don’t find him. We must hurry!

Grim: Man… It’s like Silver just vanished into thin air. I don’t get it, I know the knight looked just like ‘im and all, but why was he so shocked? ‘Cause I mean, back at school people keep mistakin’ me for a tanuki or a cat an’ stuff. It ain’t really somethin’ worth gettin’ that upset about.

Sebek: ‘Tis certainly a possibility their resemblance is but a mere coincidence… However, the Knight was in possession of the same ring that Silver has. He said prior it was something he’d had on his person when Lilia found him… Thus, it’s likely they must be connected in some way.

Grim: Yeah but still, the Knight of Dawn lived, like, hundreds of years ago. He’s long gone now, ain’t any use fussin' over him anymore.

Sebek: For Sir Lilia and my grandfather - and for Lord Malleus, as well – the Knight of Dawn isn’t someone they can simply forget and move on from… You might say.

Yuu: I can totally understand why it was so shocking for him.

Sebek: Something’s been on my mind ever since we entered Sir Lilia’s dream. Just as with Silver, my father’s ancient ancestors were most likely the fae’s… You know. And so I cannot say I do not completely understand his despondency. However…. That said, there’s no reason he must give himself the blame, especially considering how Sir Lilia feels. We’ve no time for his dilly-dallying. We must find him and knock some sense into him – quickly!

(The Darkness appears)

Grim: Ha! I ain’t afraid of you no more!

(Sebek rushes over and puts his hand over Grim’s mouth)

Sebek: ……..Quiet!

Grim: Hmpfh!?

Sebek: I hear something.

Grim: Mmph? Hmmph?

Sebek: It’s a faint sound, off in the distance. Some sort of animal… No, it’s a baby’s cry?

Grim: Hmph…(Grim knocks off Sebek’s hand) You’re right! I hear it, too! But there’s no way a baby’d be here.

Yuu: Maybe it’s a ghost…?

Sebek: Regardless of what it may be, it might provide us a clue in locating Silver. The sound appears be to be originating from over yonder. Let’s go!

Sebek: It’s growing ever louder… But where is it? Where is it coming from?

Grim: Wait, I see somethin’ glowin’ over there!

Sebek: What!? …Ah! That auroral light, it’s-!

Sebek: Silver!!! Oi, snap out of it! Can you not hear me!?

Grim: Shit, the Darkness is all over ‘im!!

Yuu: At this rate it’s just gonna pull him into an even deeper sleep now…

Grim: Yikes! And now it’s got us surrounded, too!

Sebek: We don’t have time for these wretched abominations! We’ll need to force our way through! OUT OF THE WAAAAAY!!

Episode 7-84

Sebek: Uoooooo!

Darkness: Gububububu….

Grim: Aww, geez! The Darkness is swallowin’ up Silver! Only the tip of his head’s peekin’ out!

Sebek: Silver! Silver, open your eyes! Damnit! My magic won’t be able to reach him from this distance!

Darkness: Gububu…

Yuu: More Darkness keeps popping up!

Sebek: Argh… It seems I’ve no choice but to utilize that technique! Stand back, the both of you! I shall shock him awake!

Grim: Wha- you’re gonna shock ‘im!? Yuu, run awaaay!

Sebek: I call upon thee, Lightning – Pierce through the clouds above! *Living Bolt!!!

Silver: …..I don’t wanna think about anything anymore… If I just let the Darkness drag me down, then I’ll….

Sebek: SILVEEEEER!!!! ENOUGH OF THIS NONSENSE, WAKE UP ALREADY! YOU DAMN SLUGGAAARD!!!

(Silver gets struck by lightning (?))

Silver: Guwaaaaa!?

Sebek: Haaah, haaah… I finally found you! You IDIOT!

Silver: That voice… Is that you, Sebek!?

(*this is what he says out loud, in the text he says “Clap of Thunder”)

Episode 7-85

Sebek: Haaah, haaah… I finally found you! You IDIOT!

Silver: That voice… Is that you, Sebek!?

Sebek: Ugh…. Seems I’ve not fully mastered my Unique Magic quite yet. My body is still thrumming with electricity… Yowch!!

Silver: Why are you here…. Is this just another part of the dream?

Sebek: A dream!? What nonsense! Standing before you is the one and only Sebek Zigvolt – in the flesh! I’ve come to fetch you, you wretched coward! Remember what you said earlier, Silver? You said we shall thwart the Young Lord’s machinations, and we shall liberate Sir Lilia, our foolish classmates… and the Young Lord himself from the confines of this dream! DO YOU REALLY INTEND TO GO BACK ON YOUR WORDS, SILVER!?

Silver: But I… But father and Lord Malleus, they… they must hate me.

Sebek: What did you just say?

Silver: …I found out the truth while I was wandering through father’s dreams. I… The Knight of Dawn is my birth father, and Henrik’s sister Leah is my birth mother…. I’m the son of father and Lord Malleus’s enemy!

Sebek: …!!

Silver: How am I supposed to ever face them again… I can’t imagine how father must feel whenever he sees me, I look just like that man……!

Sebek: ……

Silver: There’s no way he could love his enemy’s son! He must hate me! You know I’m right!

Sebek: YOU MOROOOON!!!!!

(Sebek punches Silver)

Silver: Augh-!!!

Sebek: I’ve long thought you a fool, but ne’er could I have envisioned just how much of a blathering idiot you truly are.

Silver: What…?

Sebek: Judging by the state you’re in right now, I can already tell my words will be of no use here. Take up your weapon, Silver.

Silver: Please stop, Sebek… I don’t want to hurt anyone else…!

Sebek: You're absolutely pathetic, you know that? To think, you’re supposed to be the senior pupil… You’ve disappointed me. Doubtless Sir Lilia would be heartbroken were he to see you now.

Silver: ………..

Sebek: You may consider this my mercy: I shall knock some sense into you before you’ve the chance to disgrace yourself any further!

Silver: …Fine… If it’ll make you happy…

Sebek: Let the match commence! Haaaaaah!

Episode 7-86

Sebek: Uuooooo!!

Silver: Damnit… Seyaaaaah!

Grim: Haaah, haaah… We finally found ‘im! Soon as Sebek started glowin’ earlier he just blasted off without us!

Yuu: …Wait, why are they fighting?!

Sebek: This ends here! Take this!!

Silver: !! Haaaaaa!!

Grim: Ah-…!

Silver / Sebek: Haaa, haaaah, haaah……!

Sebek: That’s the end of that… Silver… I… lost….

Silver: A- Aah… Wha- What have I done?! Sebek, did you take that last hit on purpose!?

Sebek: On purpose…? You little-… You dumbass!!!

(Sebek bops Silver on the head)

Sebek: I hadn’t the slightest intention of losing to you!!

(Sebek keeps bopping Silver on the head)

Sebek: This time... This time I was finally going to wrench victory from you… I put my everything into it! BUT I STILL COULDN’T BEAT YOU! DAMNIT!!

Silver: I’m sorry, Sebek…. My body just moved on its own…

Sebek: Though you possess such awesome strength, you claim you weren’t loved!? You claim Sir Lilia and Lord Malleus hate you!? Would you stop making a mockery of me- STOP MAKING A MOCKERY OF SIR LILIA!!

Silver: Huh…?

Sebek: If he’d truly thought of you as nothing more than his enemy’s child, I don’t see why he wouldn’t have taught you nothing, given you nothing – he should’ve raised you as his bumbling servant boy and left you to rot in your imbecility. And yet what have you been doing this whole time, eh? No matter how many times you’ve been knocked to the ground, you still got back up, you still clung to hope – you had the courage to oppose our King in his madness. Even in your darkest hour you still fought on, didn't you!? And who was it that raised you to be such a strong young man? ‘TWAS SIR LILIA, WAS IT NOT….!?

Silver: …Ah….

Sebek: Why can’t you understand? Why must you doubt him? You should’ve realized it long ago. That strength of yours, what is it if not your father's love for you? Don’t you dare ridicule my – nay, our teacher ever again, Silver! *sob*!!

Silver: ….You’re right. The whole time I was in the darkness, I could hear father’s voice calling out to me. He kept urging me to get up, to keep fighting, to live… I thought it was just my mind playing tricks on me, but now I finally understand. Each and every one of my father’s teachings, they’re testaments of his love for me. And that’s no illusion, no dream… It’s just the truth, plain and simple.

Sebek: …Hmph! So you finally got it. Now then… What do you intend to do?

Silver: I’m….

Episode 7-87

Silver: Ever since I was little, I've dreamed of becoming a knight and protecting father and Lord Malleus. I’m going to make my dream come true. I’m going to end this nightmare…. and bring both their smiles back! I won’t lose my way again. I want you to remember that, Sebek.

Sebek: You best not go back on those words!

Grim: …Hm? Hey, Silver. Somethin’s glowin’ inside your clothes again!

Silver: !! This light, it’s…

Silver: Y-You’re…!

(The Knight slowly fades away, and the boys are transported back to the bridge in front of Briar Castle)

Everyone: …aaaAAAAAAH!!!!

Grim / Silver / Sebek: Waaah! / Oof! / Augh!

Silver: I-Is everybody okay…?

Yuu: Yeah, somehow…

Grim: Ugh… Where are we?

Sebek: This is… I recognize this place. This is where the Darkness engulfed us earlier! We’ve returned!

Silver: Where’s father and Sir Baul?

Sebek: They set off for the Moonless Forest, but…

Silver: !! You guys, look at the ground over there! Looks like some soldiers have been this way!

Sebek: Appears to be the Silver Owl’s men…!

Silver: Father and Sir Baul are in danger. We need to hurry and find them!

Part 1

Part 2

Part 3

#twst silver #sebek zigolt #lilia vanrouge #malleus draconia #twst spoilers #twst jp #twst book 7 #baul zigvolt

[prettyboysdontlookatexplosions]

one thing that's been percolating in my mind about mina and her relationship to women's history this time through is that like... it can be tempting (for me too!) from a contemporary perspective to kind of think as "traditional" and "progressive" as opposite sides of a spectrum upon which women can be linearly placed in terms of their beliefs. but it's a little more complicated than that, obviously. mina i think can be a little jarring to the modern reader because she is as a person obviously so independent, bright, curious, and hard-working, but her vocational ambitions as expressed in the text are limited to supporting her future husband, and i think there can be a tendency to sort of slot her as like, "ok, well, she's a little bit progressive, but not that far along," or whatever, and there's, again, a lot we can do to unpack that, but for me there are two things that have been coming up for me revisiting the topic on my second time through (disclaimer: i'm an idiot with a blog who doesn't know anything about anything & if any actual experts want to weigh in please do! also if anyone has any accessible readings on the new woman please do @ me because that phrase is it turns out fucking ungoogleable):

(1) i think it's important to remember that for all human beings on earth ever, there's not a simple unidirectional relationship between internal beliefs and external action/reality, nor do beliefs come out of nowhere or out of some ether from which we pluck ideas out of pure abstraction. a lot of looking at women's history is looking at how women chose to navigate the options available to them, which both inform ideology and also make it frankly sometimes just not that important. a book that really powerfully shaped the way i think about this stuff is kathy peiss's cheap amusements: working women and leisure in turn of the century new york. the way she explores her source material for that space and time really brought home to me that it's very difficult as a woman who came of age (for example) in the US after second wave feminism to really understand just how beside the point the question of "what do i as an individual believe about women's role in society" was for (as just one example) many women in that location, class, and period. it just doesn't matter compared to things like being able to pay your rent, or being able to afford a night out once in a while - which might mean letting a guy pay your way not because you think it's "the man's job" but because you don't make enough to go out with your own money ever - so maybe you do think it's the man's job but it's not because of some like disembodied attachment to traditional gender roles, it's because the men are the ones with the fucking money!

anyway. different place, different class position, slightly later period, but the general principles from that book have really stayed with me and have been echoing thinking about mina. like: how much does an assistant schoolmistress in 1890s london make? i'm not an expert but willing to bet it's not a lot? she's an orphan, actively aware that she and jonathan have only what they can cobble together. if she remains in the professional world after her marriage, who does the labor of running a two-person household - something we here on tumblr complain in 2023 is difficult if everyone has a full-time job, and which was much more difficult with more than a century's progress in domestic technology still to go (and this isn't getting into childrearing). would their combined incomes be enough to afford a domestic servant? idk shit about the economic position of late victorian women so these are not questions i am presenting as having ostensibly "obvious" answers - i really don't know. but i think these are things that are worth considering when we think about mina, her ambitions, & her relationship to shifting cultural currents (which were really shifting quite quickly - the "new woman" was such a recent coinage at the book's publication that if you assume, for example, that the epilogue is meant to take place in its publication year, the events of the novel precede its first appearance in print), and i think it's just never really quite as simple as "well this is what she Believed." our world makes our beliefs at least as much as the other way around.

(2) the other thing that's been in my head is that in a more contemporary framework of how gender operates, it is easy to assume the dichotomy of technology/science/jobs/boy stuff vs. domesticity/home/housewife/girl stuff extends backwards throughout time forever. but, first off, domestic labor is labor and mina is still very much looking ahead at a life of working full time - just not at getting paid. but secondly, homemaking was one of many things getting brought under the umbrella of "science" in the late 19th century (along with, to name examples from the book, psychology and criminology). like a lot of things in my brain the "scientific housewife" is something i vaguely remember hearing about in some college class or book but don't have any ready cites for, but while googling last night i found this very cool recent article [linked below because the app will not fucking let me make a text link] that looks at the evolution of instruction in science, housework, and domestic science at two english day schools for girls in the late victorian/early edwardian (the kind of school i think mina may have attended and taught at, as i don't believe we're ever given much detail about her place of work), and which provides some background info on the idea of the "scientific housewife":

Scholars have since recognised that the middle-class home was “the locus of back-breaking toil” Domestic servants were not as prevalent as once thought, and in some cases it was common for mistresses to work alongside them. The average middle-class woman would likely have been at least partially a housewife, or, in other words, she would have undertaken some domestic labour herself. In contemporary culture, a link was also being forged between housework and science; historians have charted the ideology of “scientific housewifery” or “scientific motherhood”, which encouraged women to embrace science, medicine, and technology in the nineteenth century, to enhance domestic life and make it more efficient, more enjoyable, easier, and healthier for the family. Work by Judy Giles and Joanne Hollows has suggested that ideals of a modern, scientific housewife emerged in the first half of the twentieth century with the decline of domestic service. Given that many middle-class women would have been undertaking housework themselves in the nineteenth century, this article asserts that the cultural construction of the scientific housewife existed before the decline of domestic service. This article builds on the work of Nakagomi by considering the place of domestic subjects and science in schools as a window into a broader societal conceptualisation of housework and the housewife.

one interesting thing in this article is that the two schools profiled actually had strong differences in how they conceptualized and approached their domestic programming, which reminds us that big-picture ideals are always being navigated, redefined, and contested in practice. it also emphasizes that for at least some teachers and schools for girls, the teaching of science was considered an important part of the intellectual development of the students - a position, fascinatingly, NOT taken by comparable boys' schools of the period, which tended to marginalized science education in favor of the classics, which was a wonderful little reminder for me about just how incredibly fake gender is. but also i think this article (which identifies some shifts happenings in the 1890s, like really this novel came out at The fulcrum point of the culture) helps us consider that the seriousness with which mina takes her future home-making as a vocation can be read as part and parcel of the novel's fascination with modernity, technology, science, and progress - and indeed given the moral panic about lazy mothering the article mentions as arising in the press a few years later it even lets us consider that mina's status as a female victorian ideal and her temperament of someone deeply pro-science may not have appeared to be in as much tension as we might assume.

#dracula daily #it's good to have hobbies. i guess. i guess this is good.

[queering-ecology]

Eluding Capture: The Science, Culture, and Pleasure of “Queer” Animals by Stacy Alaimo

The chapter begins with three separate quotes—the one that speaks to me the most is by Bruce Bagemihl and his theory of Biological Exuberance where he defines it as, “above all, an affirmation of life’s vitality and infinite possibilities: a world that is at once primordial and futuristic, in which gender is kaleidoscopic, sexualities are multiple, and the categories of male and female are fluid and transmutable. A world, in short, exactly like the one we inhabit” (51).

Alaimo’s opening sentence is a powerful one, “’Nature’ and the ‘natural’ have long been waged against homosexuals, as well as women, people of color, and indigenous peoples”(51). Queer theory is guilty of trying to fully separate nature/natural from queer desire, attempting to make queer sexuality a uniquely social, human phenomenon. When the reality is that nature is awash with examples of gender and sexual diversity. The question and larger discourse ask; is nature queer? Can nonhuman nature be queer? and if so, what might that mean for other discourses?(What are the implications?) Alaimo states that we need better, ‘more robust and complex’ ways of engaging with materiality, that account for the diversity and ‘exuberance’ of a “multitude of naturecultures” (52).

Books such as Bruce Bagemihl’s Biological Exuberance: Animal Homosexuality and Natural Diversity (1999) (among many other examples) present possibilities for “radically rethinking nature as queer, by documenting the vast range of same-sex acts, same-sex childrearing pairs, intersex animals, multiple ‘genders’, ‘transvestism’ and transsexuality existing throughout the more-than-human world. Bagemihl restricts himself to mammals and birds but still manages to discuss nearly three hundred species and over 200 years of scientific research. “Bagemihl’s exhaustively researched volume renders any sense of normative heterosexuality within nature an absurd impossibility” (52).

Alaimo provides several other examples of challenges to heteronormativity in nature in recent years, including an exhibition at the Natural History Museum at the University of Oslo in Norway called, ���Against Nature?” (2007). According to the website for the exhibit, “Homosexuality has been observed in most vertebrate groups, and also from insects, spiders, crustaceans, octopi and parasitic worms. The phenomenon has been reported from more than 1,500 animal species, and is well documented for 500 of them, but the real extent is probably much higher” (Against Nature 2007)(54).

The author argues that recognizing the sexual diversity of animals has several significant benefits; heteronormativity has damaged and diminished scientific knowledge (the author uses biology, anthropology as examples but I’d say this is an issue that science in general must contend with). The ‘scientific silence on homosexuality in animals amounts to a cover-up, deliberate or not’ (54) and thus scientists have a duty to correct this.

Researchers have documented how the ‘majority of scientists have ignored, refused to acknowledge, closeted, or explained away their observations of same-sex behavior in animals, for fear of risking their reputations, scholarly credibility, academic positions , or heterosexual identity” (54). Alaimo then gives examples of cases where this was the case in varying levels. As we’ve learned, the assumption of heterosexuality as the ‘only natural form’ is not an ‘appropriate benchmark for ecological research’ (54) and heteronormative bias might render already difficult work even more so.

“Endocrine disruptors alone demand an extraordinarily complex and nuanced understanding of the ‘mangling’ of environmental science, health, and politics, with misogyny, homophobia, and other cultural forces’ (55). The author recognizes that rather than simply tossing ‘queer animals into the ring of public opinion to battle the still pervasive sense that homosexuality is unnatural, we need to embrace the possibilities for the sexuality diversity of animal behavior to help us continue to transform our most basic sense of what nature and culture mean’ (55).

Alaimo’s continues by saying that biological exuberance, vast diversity ‘deviance’, and astonishing difference make nonsense of biological reductionism and the idea that animals are ‘genetically driven machines’ but creatures who exist fully within their own ‘naturecultures’ (56).

#queer ecologies: sex nature politics desire #heteronormativity #queer animals #animals #nature #biological exuberance #animal sexuality #queer ecology #ecofeminism #queer theory #critical ecology #naturecultures #reductionism #sociology

[cookinguptales]

nandorisms said: I don't think it was ever going to work in the first place. Freddie was a bandaid. A last-ditch effort at trying to have a normal life outside of Nandor and his clusterfuck of a found family. But he isn't normal and hasn't been for years. Freddie was Guillermo trying to convince himself that he could move on, and Marwa was Nandor's effort to convince Guillermo to stay.

----------

tbh, I agree.

I think that Freddie very much was an "I don't need them, I don't need any of them" solution for Guillermo while he was in London.

Like... Guillermo was at his most loyal in s3. Like distressingly loyal sometimes. And what did that get him? At his absolute highest moment of happiness, he's shoved in a fucking box and mailed across the ocean. No one comes to save him, no one is there to comfort him. He has a moment in that box where he truly fears death, and he is despondent. He realizes that he has dedicated his entire life to people who (he believes) would not do the same for him, and he has in the process alienated his family and all the other humans who might have loved him.

Then he does live but he is utterly alone. He's away from the house and the very meager support system he'd created for himself, Nandor does not come for him, and Nadja seems to have largely abandoned him to his own devices while she did Council stuff.

So he's alone for the first time in his life, both physically and emotionally, and he meets this guy. And this guy talks to him and says nice things to him and doesn't actively abuse him, which puts him miles above most people he knows. So Freddie becomes really, really easy for Guillermo to romanticize. He's another option to the insanity his life has become, and one that is at that moment very attractive.

I think at that point, Freddie really comes to symbolize all the things Guillermo can have if he chooses to be human. This is a human man who thinks that Guillermo is normal and likes the "normal" version of Guillermo. Guillermo can go on daytime dates with this guy. He doesn't have to worry about being killed when he goes out with him. Freddie treats him like a normal human would -- which doesn't quite have the highs that Guillermo has come to expect, but not the lows, either.

Freddie is a guy that Guillermo could bring home to his family, which is another thing that Guillermo is strongly prioritizing in s4 after his experience in London. Which is one reason why it's so fascinating that even after he successfully came out to his family, it doesn't appear that he ever told them about Freddie. Was he just waiting for the right time? Or was there something subconsciously holding him back...

Because the thing is... when Guillermo finally makes it back to Staten Island, he realizes he was wrong. Nandor never meant to abandon him; if anything, Nandor believes that Guillermo abandoned him. Nandor immediately offers him this place of honor at his side, and it's something new. It's not professional and it's not romantic and Guillermo allows himself to throw himself into it because it doesn't upset the very delicate balancing act he currently has in his head.

And then... the others follow suit. Baby Colin comes to love his caretakers, and Guillermo clearly cares about him back. His sniping with Laszlo eventually calms down to a place of mutual respect, as far as childrearing goes. Nadja finally comes to trust him enough to help her manage the club (a bad choice, considering they are very similar in all the worst ways) and they have that really lovely bonding moment over family.

Guillermo, in other words, is being presented with a third option. Not the dismissive vampires from before and not the allure of normalcy, but a vampiric world in which he is ultimately respected, if not completely accepted as one of their own.

But Guillermo is loyal to a fault and he couldn't give up this fantasy of what Freddie could be to him -- someone who loved him, someone who he could be normal with, someone he wouldn't have to sacrifice his family for, someone who would finally, finally put him first. Until it becomes painfully obvious that Freddie would never be that person and Guillermo was only ever romanticizing a relationship just as toxic as all the ones he'd had previously.

And I think that that point Guillermo really had to come to terms with what he wanted and what he was capable of. I do really wish that the show had followed that character arc a little closer (Guillermo realizing that his human parts and his supernatural parts were at odds with each other and he was going to have to make some hard choices) but I think you can see that in his final choice.

Guillermo, to put a long story short, chooses a fourth option. He's given up on Freddie handing him his happiness and he's given up on Nandor handing him his happiness. He's finally chosen to throw himself bodily into the world of vampirism, giving up on his human potential and demanding full vampiric acceptance, and he's going to make that life himself.

¯\_(ツ)_/¯ We'll see if it works.

And god, Marwa is a whole different post. I have a lot of thoughts about the way that Nandor thinks of his wives (and Guillermo, to a lesser extent) as extensions of himself, his to control, possess, and manipulate -- but how the thing that he's really most attracted to is rebellion and the ability to think for oneself. And how that also tied in with how he saw Freddie as an extension of Guillermo and therefore something that he needed to possess as well.

lmao they're both so bad at this.

#nandermo #replies #wwdits #I'll write the nandor meta later maybe #wwdits meta

[csuitebitches]

Reading List: Spirituality, Globalisation, Parenting and the 0.99 Cent Pricing Bias

What I’ve read (🖤) and planning to read (🤍)

Books

• Fall of human intellect - A Parvasarthy (genre: spirituality, humanness) 🖤

Academic Papers

The backlash against globalisation - Stefanie Walter (from annual review) 🤍

In recent years, the world has seen a rising backlash against globalization. This article reviews the nature, causes, and consequences of the globalization backlash. It shows that, contrary to a popular narrative, the backlash is not associated with a large swing in public opinion against globalization but is rather a result of its politicization. The increasing influence of globalization- skeptic actors has resulted in more protectionist, isolationist, and nationalist policies, some of which fundamentally threaten pillars of the contemporary international order. Both material and nonmaterial causes drive the glob- alization backlash, and these causes interact and mediate each other. The consequences are shaped by the responses of societal actors, national gov- ernments, and international policy makers. These responses can either yield to and reinforce the global backlash or push back against it. Understanding these dynamics will be an important task for future research.

The causes and consequences of urban riot and unrest - Tim Newburn (from annual review) 🤍

This review explores those varied bodies of work that have sought to un- derstand crowd behavior and violent crowd conduct in particular. Although the study of such collective conduct was once considered central to social science, this has long ceased to be the case and in many respects the study of protest and riot now receives relatively little attention, especially within criminology. In addition to offering a critical overview of work in this field, this review argues in favor of an expanded conception of its subject matter. In recent times, scholarly concern has increasingly been focused on ques- tions of etiology, i.e., asking how and why events such as riots occur, with the consequence that less attention is paid to other, arguably equally impor- tant questions, including how riots spread, how they end, and, critically, what happens in their aftermath. Accordingly, as a corrective, the review proposes a life cycle model of riots.

Parenting and it’s effects on children : reading and misreading behaviour genetics (from annual review) 🖤

There is clear evidence that parents can and do influence children. There is equally clear evidence that children’s genetic makeup affects their own behavioral characteristics, and also influences the way they are treated by their parents. Twin and adoption studies provide a sound basis for estimating the strength of genetic effects, although heritability estimates for a given trait vary widely across samples, and no one estimate can be considered definitive. This chapter argues that knowing only the strength of genetic factors, however, is not a sufficient basis for estimating environmental ones and indeed, that attempts to do so can systematically underestimate parenting effects. Children’s genetic predispositions and their parents’ childrearing regimes are seen to be closely interwoven, and the ways in which they function jointly to affect children’s development are explored.

More than a penny’s worth: left-digit bias and firm pricing- Avner Strulov-Shlain (from MorningBrew) 🤍

A penny saved. What’s the difference between $2.99 and $3.00? Basic math says one cent, but you probably perceive the difference to be about 22 cents, a new paper by a University of Chicago business school professor estimated. The research explores left digit bias—the phenomenon where consumers’ perceptions are overly influenced by the leftmost number in the price—and it brought receipts, analyzing retail scanner data on 3,500 products sold by 25 US chains. And while it might seem like every price you see ends in .99, the paper argues that retailers are leaving money on the table by underestimating this bias when setting prices.

#c suite #powerful woman #strong women #ceo aesthetic #personal growth #c suite aesthetic #working woman #beauty #empire #that girl #books #academic papers #parenting #globalisation #99 cents #0.99 marketing #marketing strategy #riots #spirituality #spiritual books

[lilac-den]

Imagine an IF where MC is a terrifying dragon, wise beyond their years and legendary in their reputation...

then there's this little human baby and somehow, MC ends up adopting them without realizing they're of royal blood.

So there's a party (all of them ROs) who fought their way to the dragon's domain/lair and just when they're about to challenge MC, the baby starts crying. The almighty dragon, foretold to have no love for humans, had to excuse themselves and go soothe the little tyke and display a massive contrast to what the reputation precedes you as.

This could lead to the party staying for a few days and helping out with the childrearing, maybe lead to one of the ROs bonding with MC and the child until when the party leaves, the RO volunteers to stay and help raise the child with MC.

#random thoughts #author rambles #IF idea #not even sure if I'll ever write this one #I already have a Cthulhu raising a kid with a constantly sighing 'butler' IF idea 🤣

[heraldofcrow]

10, 18, 23, 44, 49 forrr Sephiroth!

(Me and you share some love for white-haired main villain who has a very special circumstance of birth and is trying to stand up against his destiny, take control over the planet and end up fighting blonde protagonist who is their completely opposite but they are so similar… But mine is from FF9 xD)

FAREEHA YOU INDULGE ME TOO MUCH, THANK YOU!! You know I am holding back so much from writing essays on my beloved, loll. I need to stay CALMMM <3

Also, are you talking about Kuja?? Omg, I actually kinda know him! They did a FF9 crossover on the FF7 Ever Crisis game recently and they made a reference to him via Sephiroth actually. A very toned down reference though, haha. Sephiroth is still good and just a kid in Ever Crisis.

Anyway, if you want some of these asks on YOUR blorbo, just say the word!

Now for my incoherent ramblings!

~

10: Best moment on screen (or in the book)

This is so hard to say because he has so many. He can just show up and everybody gets awe-struck, but I suppose I would have to choose Nibelheim because it’s just the most iconic and establishes his villain role in the story going forward.

I mean, it’s THE scene…the scene where we see this famous war hero that everyone looked up to and loved completely lose his mind and set everything on fire lol.

I love it because I just get the ultimate “Fuck humanity” vibe from his downfall. It’s pure rage exploding from one person and the one person that really should NOT have snapped because of how dangerous he is. It’s terrifying and sad and perfect. I love this moment. I love villains that turn against mankind in general because of a horrific experience with humans. It’s very…human…hmmm…

This could only maybe be topped if the full remake version of him ascending into a seraphim-like, Biblically accurate angel looks as cool as I imagine it will. Can’t wait to see him wipe out the solar system in 4k <3

18: What they’d go to see a therapist about

EVERYTHING LMAO.

Ok, let’s just say somehow Seph didn’t snap in Nibelheim and lose his mind, instead being strangely calm and reasonable, thus deciding to go to fucking therapy. 💀

He’d have to go for his entire existence for one. His problems started from the moment he was conceived and even before, because um…his birth was an extremely twisted and violating experiment even as a concept. He’d have to come to terms with the fact that his own parents injected him with the cells of some fucking eldritch alien abomination while he was still in the womb so that he could serve some higher purpose after his birth. So yeah. He’d probably want to talk about that.

Then he’d have to deal with everything else like: serious mommy issues, Hojo, his mom, Hojo, Shinra in general, Jenova, Hojo, being raised as a child soldier, not knowing what it was like to have a hometown or normal life, not knowing what having fun was or how to socialize at all until he was like…14, Hojo’s A+ parenting, Shinra’s A+ childrearing, fucked up brainwashing and conditioning, war PTSD from when he was like…literally still a kid, Hojo being his dad, whatever happened with Gast, lifelong dehumanization via propaganda and military rearing, lifelong lack of autonomy, whatever terrible thing that is definitely going to happen in The First Solider, being sent to commit genocide as a kid, possible bloodguilt, severe psychological trauma, his only two friends bailing on him, Angeal’s death, his entire relationship with Genesis and what happened with them (I love my bois but their communication skills need some serious work xD), Hojo, human experimentation, the fact that he was the weaponized pawn of a cold, industrial, genocidal, tyrannical, warmongering organization his entire life without fully realizing it because they were really good at lying and manipulation, and finally….mommy issues and Hojo.

This is just all the canon stuff I can think of. If any more of the fan speculation gets proven right, it’s gonna get worse lmao.

23: If they were a scented candle, what would they smell like?

and also probably

sdfghjuikfghsj sorry lmao.

That would probably be post-insanity Sephiroth. Sane Sephiroth is just a melancholy sweetheart, so probably something like sage and vanilla because errrr…something-something sweet + slightly bitter + herbal symbolism my beloved + green and silver-white.

(CRIME BRULÈE LMAOOO I NEED THAT CANDLE)

44: Their happiest memory

Aww ;-;

I am trying to answer these all according to canon or at least what seems implied within canon, so I think it’s technically being with Angeal and Genesis.

This playful spar scene is very important, and it’s one of the only times Seph seems genuinely really happy pre-insanity. Later, when he and Zack are on a mission, he literally just stops randomly to talk about it all cheerfully. I mean, having fun with friends was a pretty foreign concept to him, it seems—so actually having the opportunity with his buddies looked like it meant a lot.

49: Favorite toy as a child

I’m sorry to say, but I remember seeing in one of the game guides that Sephiroth was in battle or at least training for it from before he was ten years old, and considering that he was raised to be a soldier, I don’t think he had any other toys besides weapons, hehe. I mean, in Ever Crisis, he is a young teen and has a scene where he experiences “having fun” for the first time. It’s a big moment for him, so I don’t think playing or toys were concepts he knew or understood as a kid. Maybe he had a few favorite swords though!

Had he been a normal kid….hmmm….well he is part alien and has a black wing…maybe he’d like a stuffed birb toy…ONE WITH BLACK WINGS. HA!

No, that’s just my crow propaganda smh, I’ll shush—

Ok, wow I really need to shut up dghsjk—THANK YOU FOR SPOILING ME FAREEHA! <3

#i fuckin rambled #XD #guys if you ask me about my favs i go overboard sorry fdghbsj #asks #mutuals #ask game #sephiroth #genesis rhapsodos #angeal hewley #ff7 #ever crisis

[creature-wizard]

The problem is, she says that across all cultures misogyny is part of the unconscious collective, I tried to tell her that the 15 cultures she knows aren't the majority, but she didn't listen. Also she says that the unconscious collective is shared by all human beings, like just one big clump of consciousness. I'm not too familiar with Jung's work but that sounds very far fetched

Okay so I'm gonna preface this with a "transphobes fuck off" because I know one of them is gonna find this post sooner or later.

So, I'd say that whatever form of collective unconscious exists is shared by social networks, in which memetic drift is a very real factor. The only thing you can really count on to be universal is stuff that's informed by universal human experience (for example, "water is wet").

Misogyny unfortunately exists in many places for many reasons, one of which being being the universal human capacity of devaluing, caricaturing, and objectifying people whose existences and experiences we don't fully understand. This is one of those problems that can be exacerbated by certain labor expectations, and it's easy to pigeonhole the people who are theoretically capable of bearing children (most of whom are women) into roles associated with childbearing and childrearing. Add in the fact that what's intrinsic nature vs. social construct is often far from intuitive, and you get people thinking that if somebody can theoretically bear children, then doing so is their "natural" role in society, and deviating from it is weird and wrong.

This of course is very very basic and there's zillions of other factors in play, too. Which brings us to another thing - misogyny exists in many places, but it doesn't always take the same form, because it's building off of different experiences and different worldviews. For example, within modern western capitalism, where people are explicitly or implicitly taught that life is all about maximizing those profits, misogyny can take the form of assuming that people theoretically capable of bearing children all subconsciously want to maximize the amount of children they can have. From here, people who are critically out of touch with actual human minds and hearts begin interpreting all kinds of behaviors as existing to maximize the amount of children born, and suddenly it's "oh my god, she's showing her ankles, she must want to fuck me and bear my spawn... but she will leave me as soon as she sees a Better Mate who can provide her with More Money To Optimally Raise Her Spawn and also Better Spawn In The Future."

(Now just to be clear, capitalism gives people mindworms in the other direction, too, with assumptions that anyone who can theoretically impregnate other people wants to cause as many pregnancies as possible. "Trans women are actually men trying to sneak into women's spaces to sexually assault them!" is ultimately an extension of this thinking. If you want to see a real example of a movement started by men who legitimately want to cause as many pregnancies as possible, go look at the Quiverfull movement.)

So yeah, misogyny is a very real problem in many different places, but to act like it's all a monolith is both incorrect and unhelpful. Misogyny has to be understood in the context of each culture it appears in, not just lumped together as if it's all some singular mass. Jung's collective unconscious is really just a terrible framework for this.

#answered #misogyny #collective unconscious #carl jung

[luckynightdinosaur]

Yautja HCs: Relationships, Courting, Mating, Pregnancy and Children

Bit of a long one, these kinda got away from me. I tried to keep these in the right sections but if they seem disorganized I apologize 😭

Mature themes, kiddies dni

HCs under the cut 👇

•••••

Relationship

•I think that yautja are not monogamous, as their society is very focused on breeding/producing offspring. However, I do feel that pair bonding/developing affections for one particular partner isn't uncommon, and two yautja will settle down, especially as they get older.

•Because their society is so focused on breeding, I feel same-sex relationships can get quite a variety of reactions. Especially taking into account clan traditions, some being more lenient, and others not so much. I feel that most yautja in same-sex relationships will try to keep it quiet, because depending on the reactions (not caring as long as offspring are made/ if you're a high enough rank and have lots of kids already, to having it be outright looked down upon and risking being ostracized/exiled).

Courting

•Males will do a lot of posturing. Flexing, displays of strength, fighting other males to prove themselves to females.

•I also like the idea of them being somewhat like peacocks and dressing up to catch a potential mates' attention.

•While I feel like males are more active in trying to win mates, as there are more of them in the male:female ratio... I feel like females will also participate as well. Particularly young females pursuing a higher ranked male that's sired strong pups in the past. They will also do the same type of things that males do to gain attention.

•Offering not only trophies, but also small trinkets as courting gifts. The latter for cases where the yautja are closer, such as friends or trying to be life mates.

Mating/Breeding

•Males interested in the same female will fight for the right to her. They then have to fight the female in question, in order to prove themselves. I don't think females interested in the same male will fight one another for him. While I'm sure it can happen, particularly for the younger ones, there are too many males to pick from. And anyway I just think that most yautja women are the embodiment of "girls' girls" and therefore won't be caught dead fighting another woman over a man of all things.

•Mostly in the case of two females interested in the same male, the older more experienced one gets him by default.

•Females are definitely more aggressive and assertive during sex, especially during breeding season. Males go into it expecting to get banged up - and they do.

•"Submissive" males are looked down as a whole, but behind closed doors I absolutely believe that there are males that enjoy being dominated by big females- and that there are females that enjoy it just as much.

•Sex is a very casual thing in yautja society. It definitely happens outside breeding season, depending on an individual's preferences. Some don't see it as necessary outside mating season, others enjoy it too much not to do it.

Pregnancy

•My personal bc is that yautja females are pregnant around the same amount of time as humans. So roughly nine months. Breastfeeding period is also the same, at roughly 6 months. (credits to @partofmycharm for helping me with this part!)

•Most of the women don't let their pregnancy get in the way of their day to day life. Though as their due date approaches, they are definitely more mindful of their activities. No fist fights in the kehrite for sure.

•One of the most dangerous yautja females is a pregnant one. Their mood swings are very extreme, especially as the delivery date gets closer.

•When the time comes, yautja women give birth in a nest they've already had arranged, and are assisted by other females. Males aren't involved at all.

Children

•Females are the primary caretaker of children. Usually a group of them will all raise their offspring together in a community type deal.

•Males aren't involved in childrearing, and unless they are higher ranked yautja (who make more effort to have an impact on how their offspring develop) usually only active in their kids lives once they've reached their late teens, if not later than that.

•Females are very protective of their young, to the point of maiming/killing anything they perceive as a threat to their offspring. This includes the males of their species.

•Females handle the discipline of children. Anyone who disciplines their kids without express permission (even the father) is in for a world of hurt.

Misc

•While all yautja are able to breed after reaching the appropriate age, it's not as simple as that. While they're old enough to be considered, it's just that: considered. Usually the ones most involved in breeding are higher ranked warriors - ie, those who've already produced strong offspring and are therefore most sought after.

•Most clans view mating with anything other than their own as dishonorable. While half-bloods with other species are possible (if unlikely) they are usually viewed as abominations, and the ones who aren't killed and are allowed into the clan usually don't have a very good time of it.

•I feel like there's no way yautja don't know what BDSM is, even if they don't have a name for it. They're freaks, period. 💅

#yautja #alien vs predator #predator franchise #lore #headcanons

[ruthlesslistener]

I used to have a breeding kink until it turned into baby fever which then sparked the thoughts of "oh I need to go back to school to get an education to give my baby a good life"

I think that most (not all) people who have a breeding kink don't take into consideration the following 9 months and 18+ years of looking after another human.

Yeah I agree, I def. know for me the thought of actually following through with the kid is a turn-off; that's when it just turns from satisfying a primal urge to an 'oh god that's so much work'. I can count on one hand the amount of times that it ever rolled into me thinking 'huh that might be nice' and even then it was more me considering how siring offspring is much more appealing than the alternative. The thought of being a husband who can dote on his pregnant partner is a really cute idea but its impractical in the long run and doesn't actually involve me having kids, it's most likely just a hormonal carryover

The reason why I think breeding is a very common yet shallow kink is the case is because, well...reproduction is very literally the whole point of sex. Our ancestors co-opted it as a social tool, but that didn't really change its function. Having our hormones hardwire the desire to knock someone up or get knocked up is a pretty effective way of getting an organism to reproduce than just smacking it with horny, esp. when the consequences of reproduction are so extreme of an investment for so long. You have to amp up the desire and short-term rewards (mating with the intent to reproduce being highly satisfying) enough to overrule the long-term costs (giving birth and then childrearing) down the line

#anon #reply #this isnt to say that everyone has to have a breeding kink but i def. think its super common to trick us into actually breeding lol #esp. since pregnancy kinks dont seem NEARLY as common #and also because milfs/dilfs (aka individuals that successfully bred) seem to be viewed as highly sexy

[bloggedanon]

what is a parental apologist??? sorry not trying to be rude

OH I DIDN'T EVEN SEE THIS ASK FJAKS HELLO YES MY APOLOGIES

Basically, I've got a whole hangup about youth rights, and have the mindset that everything about the way the relationship between a parent and their child works, and by extension the way adults view and treat minors in general, is kinda inherently fucked six ways from Sunday. ¯⁠\⁠_😅_⁠/⁠¯ A parental apologist is someone who thinks the parent-child dynamic as it stands is fundamentally good, or anyone advocating for "parental rights," which I kinda see as the antithesis of human rights tbh

Explanation below the cut, but like most things I say on the internet, it's long-winded and hard to read JFLASLSL

(and yeah, don't worry anon! you're fine lmao I made the thing in bio sound kinda vague in hindsight BFKWJZ)

Just looking at the parent-child relationship (or at least the standardized nuclear family model), I'm just gonna list some qualities a normal, healthy relationship between two adult human beings typically is supposed to have:

- Mutual communication

- Mutual trust

- Equality

- Mutual respect

- Freedom to make one's own decisions independent of the other partner

In the typical (nuclear) parent-child dynamic:

- Parents generally manipulate their children using lies (e.g. Santa Claus, the Easter Bunny, etc.), informational manipulation (like the kind we're seeing being called for by parental roghts groups to promote the censorship of schools and their books), refusing to give reasoning for their behaviour but demanding that their children do, etc.

- If a parent violates a child's trust, the child has exactly zero recourse, and no choice but to continue putting their lives and all their needs into the hands of the parent. The parent can't really rely on the child for everything either, since there's just so much someone in a kid's position is able to do for an adult. The adult's the one that's supposed to be providing, after all. In the nuclear family, parents are left to both care for themselves, their careers, their household, each other, and their kids all on their own, with no real support to be found outsode each other. In that way, the parent-child relationship is unfair to both the child and the adult.

- Equality... yeah, there's nothing about the parent-child relationship based in it. Skipping this one JDKAJD

- If the child doesn't respect the parent (as an authority), then the parent doesn't respect the child (as a human being). And then the parent may not respect the child as a human being anyway. Either way, this difference in what "respect" means for each party constitutes a lack of mutual respect for sure 💀

- The parent makes all the decisions. Children aren't allowed to make any. Any that the child is allowed to make is more the parent's choice than the kid's.

So the parent-kid relationship is built on literally the opposite of anything that would be a healthy (or even non-abusive) relationship between anyone else, and yet people still argue and believe that this isn't an inherently abusive relationship the same second one of the relevant parties is a minor. I'm highkey bitter about it HFKWHDJSJ

Disclaimer: I have yet to witness communal childrearing among other cultures, so I can't really offer any other point of comparison for nuclear family dynamics v.s. communal family dynamics 🤡👍

#asks #Log says dumb shit on the internet #youth rights

[queering-ecology]

Eluding Capture: The Science, Culture, and Pleasure of “Queer” Animals by Stacy Alaimo (final)

Eluding Capture

“A universe of differing naturecultures, propelled by the pursuit of pleasure as well as other forces, can hardly serve as a foundation for biological reductionism, gender essentialism, heteronormativity, or models of human exceptionalism” (64).

Researchers (Vasey et al) in their investigation of female-female mounting behavior concluded that this behavior is ‘female typical’ and not some attempt at executing ‘male mounting behavior’. “The macaques may remind us of Judith Butler’s argument that homosexuality is not an imitation of heterosexuality” (65).

Most feminist theory distinguishes between sex and gender, positing ‘gender’ as cultural, and thus solely a human construct  (65). But Roughgarden, on the other hand, sees gender in nonhuman animals, defining it as “the appearance, behavior, and lived history of a sexed body” (2004, 27) (65). Many species have more than three genders.

The white throated sparrow apparently has “four genders, two male, two female”—these genders are distinguished by either a white stripe or a tan tripe and correspond to aggressive an territorial versus accommodating behaviors. 90% of the breeding involves a tan stripe bird (of either sex) with a white stripe bird (of either sex) (9) (65).

The call by researchers like Haraway to see animals as ‘other worlds, replete with significant otherness’ (2003, 25) is useful when trying to make sense of the sheer multitude and complexity of animal cultures that don’t fit within human—even feminist, even queer, models. These ‘queer species’ are queer in a multitude of ways but rarely do any of them correspond to modern categories of gay or lesbian.

Queer ecologists such as Roughgarden and Bagemihl argue that “many non-Western cultures have a greater knowledge of and appreciation for the sexual diversity of the nonhuman world” and that “contemporary theoretical accounts of sexual diversity pale next to both the scientific account of animal sexuality and knowledge systems of particular indigenous groups, who recognize sexual diversity” (66).

“The animal world—right now, here on earth—is brimming with countless gender variations and shimmering sexual possibilities: entire lizard species that consist only of females who reproduce by virgin birth and also have sex with each other; or some multigendered society of the Ruff, with four distinct categories of male birds, some of whom court and mate with one another; or female Spotted Hyenas and Bears who copulate and give birth through their ‘penile’ clitorides, and male Great Rheas who possess ‘vaginal’ phalluses (like the females of their species) and raise young in two-father families; or the vibrant transsexualities of coral reef fish, and the dazzling intersexualities of gynandromorphs and chimeras. In their quest for ‘postmodern’ patterns of gender and sexuality, human beings are simply catching up with the species that have preceded us in evolving sexual and gender diversity—and aboriginal culture have long recognized this” (1999, 260-61)( 66).

Despite our endless attempts at rationalization and categorization and trying to make sense of the world, the sheer diversity and multiplicity among animal sexuality and gender, sex, reproduction and childrearing still makes our minds boggle. These moments of wonder ignite the sense that suddenly the world is not only “more queer than one could have imagined, more surprisingly itself, meaning that it confounds our categories and systems of understanding”….queer animals elude perfect modes of capture. By doing so, “queer animals dramatize emergent worlds of desire, action, agency and interactivity that can never be reduced to a background or resource against which the human defines himself” (67).

“Is the diversity of sexual behavior that we can observe in nature anything other than mindbogglingly beautiful?” (Homosexual Behavior in Animals: An Evolutionary Perspective by Volker Sommer, 2006 370).

“Nature’s inventiveness far outruns our meager ability to categorize her productions,” and “the sheer inventiveness—exuberance—of nature overwhelms” (68).

“World is crazier and more of it than we think” (Louis MacNeice) “The most beautiful thing we can experience is the mysterious. It is the source of all true art and science. He whom this emotion is a stranger, who can no longer pause to wonder and stand rapt in awe, is as good as dead: his eyes are closed” (Albert Einstein)

Sexual diversity in nature, is not only interesting from a scientific standpoint but these phenomena are also ‘capable of inspiring our deepest feelings of wonder and our most profound sense of awe’ (1999, 6) (68). Which the writer hopes will inspire greener politics and greater interest in the topic of 'significant otherness' in nonhuman animals.

This brings to mind for me, the concept of Wakan Tanka; The Great Mystery. Wakan Tanka is a Lakota concept of all that is still a mystery, that cannot be understood, and the great beyond—the cosmos and all that is not known yet here on Earth. I connect this to the previous text because to me, the indigenous people have always had this sense of appreciation, wonder and love for the mysterious and the diversity of our world.

#queer ecologies: sex nature politics desire #queer ecofeminism #critical ecology #animal sexuality #sexuality #queer animals #queer ecology #ecofeminism #queer theory #ecology #wakan tanka #biodiversity #indigenous peoples #indigenous cultures #traditional ecological knowledge #environmental politics #environmentalism #heteronormativity

[f1ghtsoftly]

Women will freak out all the live long day about how the agricultural revolution destroyed women and then also somehow deny that feminist motherhood/childrearing is possible but bestie-if human beings existed before the agricultural rev (and reproduced) and agriculture was the impetus to the creation of patriarchy….then our foremothers already did a version of feminist motherhood that deserves looking into. You can also just look at the various matriarchal and matrilineal (although only matrilineal is less helpful) societies that have existed historically for social patterns/structures that are liberating to women because they exist. Patriarchy is temporally and structurally bounded aka. not inevitable.

I really really hate the idea that the human race deserves to die off. Human beings are not defined by the selfish and horrific actions of the few, please keep in mind all the women and girls you condemn when you condemn “the human race”. Should they pay for the crimes of men? I think they shouldn’t. I think humanity has value beyond the destructive capacity patriarchal social relations and I know that these relations have a context and a history-which means there is a time before….it is not inevitable.

Historically humans have lived in harmony with nature and against it, we have lived in societies were women were free and societies were they were not-there is absolutely no reason we can’t learn from our successes and our failures to craft something that isn’t harmful-that is entirely within our collective power to do-that is when we decide to believe it is a possible and useful project to undertake (and if you feel this is impossible, I sincerely urge you to look into political and economic revolutions of the past where people did accomplish things previously thought wildly impossible).

#I’m not tagging this bc while I want this idea out there I’m too emotional to really debate it like idk #so many women before us faught to live freely #there is no reason for anyone to think the only solution is to destroy the human race at this stage of the game #when our generation outside of small pockets haven’t really engaged in revolutionary political actiob #it’s like? #not to be a jerk but it does feel female socialized #to accept death before ever really fighting.