#I mean most of this is about my wife so

[bloobluebloo]

❤️👻🎁??

❤️ What is your favorite line that you’ve written in a fic?

“Mankind cannot grow wings, so they fly kites instead, and tell themselves that they are soaring.” -Ganondorf being a broody bitch to his kid (I write a lot about kites it's...probably something I should unpack at some point) 👻 What is your wildest headcanon? My wildest headcanon? Probably that Ganondorf is really terrified of clowns. I just googled it and it's called Coulrophobia. It's partially why, when I write Ganondorf interacting with Ghirahim that he tries to dismiss him immediately from his presence because Ghirahim sort of reminds him of clowns. He will use him as needed but that doesn't mean he has to tolerate him. 🎁 Have a piece of a WIP you want to share?

I'm currently very interested in ways that Ganondorf can antagonize Rauru without really trying so hard because he knows that Rauru, just like him, does enjoy having power. Here is an excerpt:

Rauru had more control than this. He should have had more control than this.  However, it had become an addictive feeling. This ability to have this man, who he knew to be evil, who he knew had ulterior motives, under his control. He was not foolish enough to believe that Ganondorf felt any true sense of fealty towards him and his kingdom. In fact, he was well aware that the Gerudo chief had his eye on the secret stone. Too often did the man let his gaze linger over them for a moment too long, betraying his desire to acquire such power. Such were the desires of warmongering surface dwellers, Rauru had long surmised. So long as the power of the Zonai remained in his hands and out of the Gerudo chief’s reach, he would continue to remain under his control. Ganondorf, however, seemed to play just as dangerous a game as Rauru. He knew the man was coaxing him, goading him into exercising his power as king of Hyrule over him. It was as if the Gerudo chief was testing him, attempting to see how far he was willing to go with the power of a monarch in his hands. The king’s tent was set at the edge of Hyrule Field, where one of the larger chasms the Zonai had opened was located. The monsters that lived in the Depths had been crawling out, causing chaos across the land he had vowed to set right, to bring peace to. Naturally, having Ganondorf as his right hand man, he dispatched him to help the Hyrulean forces get rid of the menaces. In that moment, as Rauru observed their efforts from his vantage point, he knew deep in his heart that he was way in over his head keeping Ganondorf as close as he did. The man fought like a vicious whirlwind, cutting down as many enemies as several of his men did in one go. He could see the malicious grin on the Gerudo chief’s face, relishing battle and bloodshed as he mowed through monsters as if they were mere annoyances as opposed to being an actual threat. On the battlefield Ganondorf showed his true nature, that of a warmongering warlord that relished his own prowess and bloodshed. 

Rauru should have him imprisoned, he knows that. However, he could not justify imprisoning a man who had not outwardly done anything wrong, and had, for all intents and purposes, been agreeable to their treaty thus far. It would make him out to be a tyrant, someone who would not accept anyone who posed a threat to his throne. He was not that type of king. 

He just had to keep Ganondorf in line, was that not right? So long as he kept the Gerudo chief close, so long as his eye was always on him, Ganondorf could not do anything. 

And that was why he insisted that the Gerudo chief stay in his tent. After all, his right hand man deserved as much protection as the king himself, the Gerudo chief being a king in his own right. (Not that it seemed like he needed any, given the skill he put on display in battle). 

As Rauru poured over the map on his makeshift desk, marking the territories they had covered, he could not help the prickle he kept feeling at the back of his neck. Ganondorf’s presence was hard to ignore; he knew the man was watching him intently, most likely donning the infuriating smirk that seemed natural on his weathered face. It was unnerving how capable Ganondorf was of sitting still for hours on end, simply watching, obviously scheming, never uttering a word when Rauru was busy with the affairs of his kingdom. Could the man not look somewhere else for once?

Rauru looked up, meeting the Gerudo chief’s gaze with a frown.

“Is there something you wish to say, Ganondorf?”

#thaaaaanks for the aaaaaaask #bloothots #ganonthots #I mean most of this is about my wife so

[cannibalovers]

hannibal bagged such a good husband cuz WHAT DO U MEEAANN that Will regretted not running away with him and couldn't let him go yet so he built his own fucking boat, sailed to Florence KNOWING, SENSING he would be there, FORGAVE HIM and didn't meet him face to face UNTIL he learned more about Hannibal by literally going to Hannibal's home to understand him more??? all that after Hannibal stabbed him and killed his surrogate daughter after making Will believe she is dead and framed Will for her death????&!#)€(

#we are going to ignore how will literally tried to kill him again tho #for the sake of the post and cuz deep down will trying to find hannibal was genuine #he tries to kill him again for revenge and resentment but that doesn't mean he doesn't love him #he is just really struggling to accept that he is like hannibal cuz that would make him not normal when he tries so hard to be normal #anyway #if i was hannibal i would indeed cry too to my pretend wife about this. #all that cuz will loved hannibal and felt understood by him and didn't wanna lose that and actually regretted his actions. #i better not hear anyone say that hannigram doesn't love each other after this #yall weren't joking when yall said that season 3 is the gayest of the seasons #the most romantic at that #nbc hannibal #hannibal #will graham #hannibal lecter #hannigram #murder husbands #text post #my post

[twinstxrs]

there’s probably something deeply wrong with me because every time i see someone react to the pok gukgak interrogation scene it’s like “oh no oh my god is riz’s dad a bad guy?” when the first time i saw that scene my only thought was “oh my god is riz’s dad HOT??”

#i mean admittedly my instinct was that he was lying about what he was saying & he was a good guy (which i was right about) but #it truly was like pok: i don’t give a shit about my wife & kid i only care about this job / me: pok gukgak save me… save me pok gukgak #fantasy high #dimension 20 #pok gukgak #riz gukgak #in my defense ​i really love spies so watching someone convincingly act indifferent about the most important part of their life… CRAZYYY #but i still feel like i’m setting back feminism so many years but also. he got acid splashed on his face & didn’t even flinch… that’s hot #guy who would literally go through hell & back bc it’s for the greater good but would also if he had to do it for the people he loves #but like. the greater good always came before the people he loves. that was the job. he loved them so much but he also missed so much #how much WAS he willing to sacrifice for the sake of the job? work is a great form of love but it can’t be the only form #especially for a young kid. but yea idk i have complicated feelings #pok gukgak u r so fascinating to me #pok sklonda riz ​& work as a form of love or whatever #truly would not work as a campaign & would be better as a book but young pok young kalina young sklonda… i need to know EVERYTHINGGG #the shameful thirst post -> character rumination journey of these tags is truly Something but also par for the course w/ my brain

[frogoru]

i've had to indulge in christian scripture a lot for the past few months because personal life stuff and i need everyone to know that there's a book in the bible where king solomon goes on and on about how horny he is for his wife and it's SO SENSUAL and i didn't expect it at all (it's really beautifully written if anything but also sex funny. i put verses down below that invoked said feelings because its so wow)

"Your two breasts are like two fawns,     twins of a gazelle,     that graze among the lilies."

- 4:5

"...How much better is your love than wine,     and the fragrance of your oils than any spice! Your lips drip nectar, my bride;     honey and milk are under your tongue;"

- 4:10-11

"How beautiful are your feet in sandals,     O noble daughter! Your rounded thighs are like jewels,     the work of a master hand. Your navel is a rounded bowl     that never lacks mixed wine. Your belly is a heap of wheat,     encircled with lilies.  Your two breasts are like two fawns,     twins of a gazelle.  Your neck is like an ivory tower. Your eyes are pools in Heshbon,     by the gate of Bath-rabbim. Your nose is like a tower of Lebanon,     which looks toward Damascus. Your head crowns you like Carmel,     and your flowing locks are like purple;     a king is held captive in the tresses."

- 7:1-5

"Your stature is like a palm tree,     and your breasts are like its clusters.  I say I will climb the palm tree     and lay hold of its fruit. Oh may your breasts be like clusters of the vine,     and the scent of your breath like apples, and your mouth like the best wine.

She

It goes down smoothly for my beloved,     gliding over lips and teeth.

 I am my beloved's,     and his desire is for me."

- 7:7-10

In verse 8 of chapter 5 his wife says "I am sick with love." and that makes me feel really AHHHHHH oh my god?? it's so intimate

#cw christianity #need someone to love me like king solomon loves his wife #“I am sick with love.” what if i died right now #i love song of solomon #christianity is so loving and awesome when you're not stressing about being a sinner #i can't believe having such beautiful feelings like this for the same sex is supposed to be evil in most interpretations of biblical canon #my relationship with the religion is so conflicting because i'm surrounded by it a lot and want to embrace it fully like everyone else but #embracing it in the way they want me to would mean casting away a lot of things and indulgences that i love #marching to the own beat of my drum

[dannybobany]

Fnaf au where William figures out how to actually resurrect cc and then the aftons just have to live with that— not only is cc undead now but dad is freaking victor Frankenstein !! (like, literally, I imagine William discovered how to harvest remnant from recently deceased corpses rather then killing anyone himself, thus the mci doesn’t happen and Charlie doesn’t die either)

They just have to pretend this is normal and fine

#I imagine it’s especially awful for cc and Micheal I mean #think about how odd that is for cc #most of him are the original parts but many internal organs had to be replaced #the parts that become unusable quicker.. #he looks the same on the outside but he knows the difference. he knows something is very different #furthermore he wouldn’t age normally #if he ever wanted to look older he’d have to add new parts.. new bones and skin #and I imagine that’s a disturbing prospect for him so he’d avoid it at all cost #trapped in an unageing body for presumably eternity #and then theirs Micheal #while the whole family grieved Michael’s grief was in tandem with guilt #he killed his brother- it’s his fault this happened #but then he just.. came back.. as if it didn’t happen? how is Micheal supposed to be ok with that #how can you ever reverse the death of someone in your mind when you’ve already lived the grief? #I wonder how this would effect Williams relationship with his family #Clara I’m sure would be upset with him for not telling her #like he was digging up corpses and experimenting with forces beyond human comprehension #and he didn’t think for even a second “maybe I should tell my wife??” #she’s worried she’s not getting the full story- that’s it’s worse then he’s telling her #and I think Williams relationship with his kids would change too #Elizabeth could go either way but maybe she’d side with him #she in her naivety would believe that it’s a good thing #cc is alive! isn’t that what matters? didn’t you miss him? aren’t you happy he’s back? #I’m gonna cap this here #I’ve been going on too long

[isfjmel-phleg]

🫥

*it cut off my last tags which were: I don't know what I can do about this but in the meantime it's a struggle

#random personal stuff #back on my soapbox feel free to ignore #okay so I have been struggling a bit in the Sunday school class that I am being taken to #which is not surprising because I have been struggling socially in this church for the past year #it's a women's class taught by the pastor's wife but not all the women in the church are in it #most of them are middle-aged/elderly #what we're learning is perfectly fine #I appreciate that they're going through an epistle and not lecturing us on How To Be Good Wives and Mothers #but the other women will chime in with their thoughts in between discussions of doctrine #and it will be things like empty little slogans #(such as 'Choose joy!' or 'GodisgoodallthetimeandallthetimeGodisgood') #(not that there isn't any truth in those but they're used tritely) #or What The Lord Did For Me (or: My Life Is Perfectly Peachy) #or things that suggest their faith is all about never being upset by anything ever because you Have Peace #and I kind of wonder if this is a generational thing #because sometimes I'll call my mom with something that's troubling me #and she'll tell me things to the effect of 'just don't feel that way' #or 'ask the Lord to take it away' #which is kindly meant but ultimately ineffective in my experience #but anyway I'm sure these women mean what they say yet at the same time it just...feels insincere to me #as if as Christians we're just supposed to paste smiles on our faces and never have negative feelings #I'm not saying we should all come to class and dispense our personal dramas #but it feels like we're showing up and performing Niceness #and not allowing room for anything that isn't Easy Answers Positivity #and I sit there feeling like there's a huge invisible brick wall around me #and I'm sure that's a me problem #but...I don't know what I'm trying to articulate here sorry #I guess I don't know how to interact with these people because nothing seems real #and we can progress no further than the smallest of small talk because heaven forbid we let our real honest selves slosh over in public #and it's draining!

[krikeymate]

Wednesday never feels that all encompassing love that her parents have. She loves, she does. She loves enough, in her own way. She even lets it into her heart. She lets Enid persue her, she lets herself be persued. The love she feels for her is incomparable, but she has no desire for gratuitious displays of public affection, no desire to scream it from the rampart and declare Enid as hers for the world to see. When Wednesday concludes that she is simply not built that way, Enid kisses her softly and declares “I love you the way you are built Wednesday Addams, and need you no other way but the way you are.”

Until the day she stands in the hospital, Enid beaming up at her with their daughter in her arms. That tiny Fragile thing, their daughter. Wednesday would kill for her, die for her, live for her. She wants to show her to the world and dare it to try and take her daughter from her.

#/mp #Wednesday Netflix #Wenclair #my writing tag #i love the whole gomezification of wednesday ok BUT #i feel like part of her issue is her parents seem to love each other more than their children. obviously they love them dont @ me. #so wednesday would just. she would never be her parents. #her love for enid is more private and her love for her children is more public. #and i think enid would be ok with that because it means she gets to keep that side of wednesday to herself. she never has to share that. #and it means that for all the world might say about her wife. they will never be able to say that she was a bad parents. #that she did not love her children #this wednesday is the most obnoxious pta mum you have ever seen #this feels incomplete and i feel like i should have more on enids take but the words arent flowing any more so

[majorshatterandhare]

Today I, an aromantic, was getting ready to attend a wedding… with Stranger on repeat.

#the mechanisms #stranger #ttbt2 #i knew what i was doing when i put it on but also i am working on an addtion to my brian-jonny foils post so i was thinking about brian #its always sad brian hours #i cant really read that song separate from him anymore. honestly not sure i ever could but. its just so unconnected from anything else.- #actaea and lyssa is pretty disconnected. but its still almost certainly on the city. alice is pretty disconnected but its a result of- #king cole’s war. the most disconnected songs are redeath. the ignominious demise of dr pilchard. drop dead. hereward the wake. and stranger- #(and frankenstein but i consider that its own thing). and redeath and drop dead are my least favorite mechs songs.dr pilchard i didnt- #really care for for quite a while. stranger has so few words in it. it’s my favorite song. but the story is minimal fron the song (ie w/o- #knowing the crane wife story) so making a story around it sort of makes sense? im having a hard time with the words here. like we expect a- #story. cause that’s what the mechs do. and stranger has a story. it just doesnt have context and so creatong that context for ourselves is- #understandable. to be expected even. hope that makes sense #side note: i think it would make sense for hereward to have been from the same place (system I guess) as the people that made- #fort galfridian. i mean hereward was more of a real person than arthur (since there was no one person arthur was based on. like thats a- #whole thing) and hereward was anglo-dutch. so it makes sense hed be related to that story somehow #its just a theory. obviously. theres nothing in the songs connecting the too as far as im aware. #OH also achilles pointed out to me the anti-amatonormative/aromantic reading of stranger and i liked that a lot #hereward was anglo-danish. not anglo-dutch. sorry danish and dutch people

[best-enemies]

I've reached season 5 on my CSI rewatch and I'm a few episodes past "Swap Meet", where a woman is murdered after attending a swing party with other couples from the neighbourhood. Near the end of the episode there's a moment that made me jump from my seat:

(Grissom walks up to Sara and takes the seat next to her. He's holding two cups. He hands her a cup of tea.)

[INT. POLICE DEPARTMENT - BRASS' OFFICE]

Erin Brady: Everybody fantasizes about other people. (She glances at Grissom.)

Even you, Mr. Grissom. A neighbor, a friend ... girl at the office.

[INT. POLICE DEPARTMENT - HALLWAY]

(The door opens. Paul Brady walks out of the hallway. Erin Brady walks out into the hallway. Sara is sitting in the hallway chair watching them. She watches as they meet and kiss.)

(Grissom walks up to Sara and takes the seat next to her. He's holding two culps. He hands her a cup of tea.)

LIKE!!!!!!!

Right after Erin ends her sentence with 'girl at the office', the first time Sara and Grissom meet again, he brings her tea. This might be an innocent interaction but to me it seemed like a nod to this relationship they have where both are into each other, know about the other's feelings, but can't/won't do anything about it (although Sara has kind of given Grissom an ultimatum). I don't know if it was intentional - I'm guessing it is, because I picked it up immediately. I might or might not have squealed in delight.

#csi #gsr #i'm very Normal about them btw i don't think about them 50 times per day or anything #need to talk more about these two here #because im obsessed about them in a Normal way #sara is like. my dream wife. i totally get grissom being in love with her for years and barely holding it together #i would not though #i'm 1000% sure she's bi. but the writers have been cowards so far #also she and i dress THE SAME. yes i love 2000s clothes so what #i could talk about her forever she's everything to me #and grissom. oh grissom. i also get why she's been in love with him forever #i mean what the FUCK went down in san francisco did they hook up and sex was so good it scared them #and now they have to live with that tension and they're scared of crossing that line #nah i'm guessing with these two they just REALLY clicked. like. they were an instant match and they knew it #but grissom didnt want to lose focus on work or whatever and they lived in separate states you know #but oh my god i totally get sara. grissom is such a silver fox. he's like one of the hottest old men i've ever seen in my life #you know what i 100% get tumblr sexualizing old men it's completely valid i'm in this now too #he has this LOOK. whenever he's angry at a suspect. and he looks angrily at them. i'm chewing on my keyboard just remembering it #and his smirks #AND THE WAY HE LOOKS AT SARA #im losing my mind #i love all of gil grissom but seasons 4-5 jesus fucking christ #ok enough with the sexualizing i love him as a character SO MUCH. he's absolutely fantastic #one of the things i love the most about him is that he doesn't judge people. whenever the team is confused about someone #or this persons' lifestyle #he's always trying to understand them and not judge them #like a true scientist he wants to understand the nature of things and people #and he's such a sweetheart i love him so much #like there are so many things i love about him i can't fit them all in the tags. same for sara #they're a perfect match for me

[taibhsearachd]

So, Fantasy High update... I'm a few episodes past this by now, but I fucking scream-laughed when Coach Daybreak responded to Kristen's desperate plea for guidance about someone who had doubts about their faith with "you should cut her off, because she's going straight to hell." Literally what my wife's parents said about me.(I was still going to church at the time, just not THEIR church, I was questioning my faith but had literally never talked about it to Mags or ANYONE. I was only not still in AWANAS at the time because I think there wasn't one within a reasonable driving distance of where I lived.) Just... setting the magical shit aside, an incredible portrayal of actual religious cults that are too accepted within society to be recognized as cults.

#fantasy high #dimension 20 #fantasy high spoilers #just in case #literally it's not even that far off evangelical christianity because they are legitimately trying to bring about the apocalypse #they just don't have the magical means to do it #but boy it's no wonder I fell in love with Kristen the moment she was introduced #that was my wife my guys #that sweet sincere 'made for camp' little cutie who just wanted to reach out and help people #and rejected her parents' bigotry #and had learned morals from their religious upbringing that were stronger than doctrine #adaine is the character identify most with in this show #but I adore kristen #I was sold on the show when Kristen was introduced #because that's my wife #and it feels so real and genuine and built from a place of experience and understanding that I just... #thank you Ally #thank you Brennan #you did great

[wonder-worker]

"...Walsingham, the monastic author of the St. Albans Chronicle, was by far [Alice Perrers'] harshest contemporary critic, who in his venom has (somewhat ironically) left us with the longest and most detailed account of her background and personality, her influence as Edward’s mistress, and her subsequent trial. He describes Alice as a shameless lowborn meretrix (a word variously translated as mistress, whore, or harlot), who “brought almost universal dishonour upon the king’s reputation […] and defiled virtually the whole kingdom of England with her disgraceful insolence.” Although Walsingham was not always accurate and, specifically in this case, clearly heavily biased against Alice, he nevertheless provides a truly contemporary account, and his importance as a source should not be underestimated. Likewise, the anonymous monk of St. Mary’s York recorded that in the Good Parliament the Commons (represented by their speaker, Sir Peter de la Mare) stated that it “would be of great gain to the kingdom to remove the said dame [Alice] from the presence of the king both as a matter of conscious and of the ill prosecution of the war.” During the same assembly, the bishop of Rochester, Thomas Brinton, preached from St. Paul’s Cross that “it is not fitting nor safe for all the keys of the kingdom to hang from the belt of one wife.” Although the word wife (uxoris) is used, it is widely accepted that this is a reference to Alice.”

-Laura Tompkins, '"Edward III's Gold-Digging Mistress": Alice Perrers, Gender, and Financial Power at the English Royal Court, 1360-1377", "Women and Economic Power in Premodern Courts" (edited by Cathleen Sarti). Italics by me.

#alice perrers #historicwomendaily #my post #edward iii #@ anon who asked me how much faith should we put in Walsingham's account of Alice #Walsingham is undoubtedly vicious and prejudiced (and thus not always accurate - perhaps deliberately so) where Alice is concerned #But he is also a direct contemporary eyewitness and is thus invaluable as a source. His importance can never be emphasized enough. #More importantly however - the image of Alice as a transgressive woman with improper influence who 'hijacked' the kingdom #is not merely painted by Walsingham or limited to his account #It's how these other sources - the monk at St. Mary's and the Bishop of Rochester - depicted her as well #('it is not fitting nor safe for all the keys of the kingdom to hang from the belt of one wife' is pretty telling in more ways than one) #as did contemporary literature of the time like Chaucer's 'Wife of Bath' and William Langland's Lady Meed in 'Piers Plowman' #the whole point of the Good Parliament & the Parliament after Edward III's death was to simultaneously restrict her influence & punish her #So...I'd say Walsingham's image of Alice (unfortunately) tracks with how she was widely perceived at the time #Of course that doesn't mean that this image shouldn't be reassessed and recontextualized #Misogyny and classism very demonstrably played a huge role in how Alice was regarded by contemporaries #Ormrod has also pointed out that no matter the extent of Alice's influence she would ultimately always be limited by the practical #reality of being a woman and a commoner #'Her sex and status simply did not allow her the regular and acknowledged access to power enjoyed by politically ambitious male favourites' #It is not impossible that she was 'a symbol rather than a cause' of the crisis in Edward III's late reign #And of course it's true that WERE people who defended her publicly and privately even after Edward's death as Walsingham himself admits #She can't have been as universally detested as most people think #(we should also consider Walsingham's deriding comment about her 'seductiveness' ie: she was probably very witty and charismatic) #But ofc none of this change the fact that Walsingham's image of Alice's 'impropriety' transgressiveness was a widespread one #Nor does it change the fact that this image was fundamentally rooted in the very real and impressive power she had #Alice WAS proactive and acquisitive and wildly influential (Edward III listened to her over several of his own children ffs) #She DID have more power and visibility than any other royal mistress in medieval England #She DOES seem to have acted in ways that would have been perceived as 'inverting queenship' #*That's okay*. Alice's actions & image should absolutely be recontextualized and given more sympathy than they are #but I have absolutely no intention of diminishing or downplaying them either. That's why I love her so much.

[pucks-goals-penalties]

Delusional enough to think I could actually pull an nhl-er but not so delulu as to actually attempt it 🤪

#nhl #hockey #I just know in my soul that I was born to be a hockey wife #also I lied #I did once drunk dm an nhler and it continues to be the most embarrassing social media experience I’ve ever had #but like gotta shoot your shot #it was sadly unsuccessful but I’ll remain hopeful #try to believe in the power of manifesting #I mean manifesting does work because one night I read a fic about a nhler volunteer fire frighter #and the next morning I had a fire in my house and the first responders were super hot so I guess 🤷‍♀️ #me on my bullshit #at 4am #on cold meds

[kirby-the-gorb]

#kirby #daily kirby #my art #digital #hal laboratory #nintendo #it seems our gas furnace was contributing to my flare up so my wife went out and bought a space heater. #(mcas is an illness that can react to literally anything regardless of how safe a thing probably is for most people) #(and yes I am vaguely aware twitter was arguing about natural gas but I've never liked it personally) #(it smells bad which usually means that it's bad for me) #(which like convenient that that one single safety system works! glad things I find unpleasant turn out to be things I should avoid) #(cuz I know that's not the case for everyone) #(and like growing up undiagnosed autistic I was really pushed to just put up with unpleasant sensations) #(so it's good to have double justification for not forcing myself to eat foods I know I don't like and so on) #(but I'd turned it off yesterday cuz I had a hunch) #(and I turned it back on this morning cuz I didn't want the cat to be cold) #(and I hadn't had a flare last night) #(but I started feeling worse whenever it kicked on.) #(so.) #(pretty straightforward answer there.) #(whoops left half of the thought shared with twitter in the post body -n-)

[oozeandgoo-art]

everyone is sooo in love with vakori on account of le is so cool and smart and deeply pragmatic and is also completely batshit insane

#oc #monochrome #sketch #velan #vakori #rocaim #rocaim and vakori are rex and taz and adder and silas's parents #adder and silas get their looks from vakori; rex and taz to a slightly lesser degree get it from rocaim #rex specifically is like a sharper clone of him. fucks velan up all the time because their personalities are completely totally different #rocaim was very like. gentle and understanding. good with kids and well-liked by basically everyone. a very effective mediator #rex is obviously none of those things lmao. every time he says something particularly insensitive it surprises her for like six years runni #anyway rocaim is in love wtih vakori. velan is in love with vakori. vakori is aro as they come but insanely pragmatic #like. ok le's based loosely off my ex. like. so le's SCARY pragmatic. so fucking cool about it everyone with a brain is specifically like #'woag oh my god le's so pragmatic im in love with her'. anyway eventually le's like 'hi rocaim. here are the objective reasons that i think #that if we got married it would mean i had better standing and more power in the organization we're both committed to. would you be #opposed to possibly getting married with me on the grounds that it would get me respect and power' and rocaim. who is already head over #heels for ler specifically because le makes these kinds of decisions and sees with this kind of logic is like. Absolutely. 100% #then for the next four years of their formal engagement people keep taking rocaim aside and being like hey... i have bad news... #...that leya you're engaged to... le's not romantically interested in you the same way you're romantically interested in ler... le only #wants you because you're an Ath and le wants a voice in the interclan meetsings... and then when Rocaim is like yeah i know #thats why i want to marry ler isnt that like the sexiest fucking reasoning you've EVER heard. no one gets it but velan #who is also in love with ler for the same reasons but has no such claims to power #and who also is not equipped for a polycule nor willing to try to go behind rocaim's back because unfortunately for her. she is also in lov #with rocaim. me when im in love with my friend and my friend's wife and also i'm pretty sure they both reciprocate but they're both #married and i dont really know what to do about it and also all three of us are very Traditional and that is not the Tradition: #and then they both die and she never quite deals with that. #but she DOES get to raise their (surviving) kids :) most of whom are fucking nightmares #life is so difficult for velan. like actually #closerverse #cv

[fictionadventurer]

The Shocking Redemption Arc of Chester Arthur

To my great pleasure, I get to tell you about Chester A. Arthur. If you don’t know his story, that’s a surprising statement, because most people don’t even recognize his name as one of the presidents. That’s a crying shame, because this guy has the most fascinating character arc of any president I’ve come across so far. He entered the presidency as a despicable, corrupt, conniving political lackey, and left it as--

Well, I’d best get on with the story.

Chester Arthur started out as an idealist. He was the son of an abolitionist Baptist minister, and though he dropped the religion in adulthood, he remained devoted to abolishing slavery. He became a lawyer with a New York firm that argued several civil rights case, and he rose to fame in 1854 when he served as the defense attorney for Elizabeth Jennings, the Northern version of Rosa Parks. Arthur’s victory in her case led to the desegregation of New York City’s public transportation.

During the Civil War, Arthur got an appointment as New York’s quartermaster general. After the war, Arthur returned to civilian life and became a Republican “party man” who worked behind the scenes to draw in voters, funding, and supporters. He and his wife Ellen (called Nell) both loved the finer things in life, which drove Arthur to do whatever he could to gain fame, wealth, and social status.

This is where I need to explain the spoils system. For the first hundred-plus years of American politics, all federal positions were filled by appointment. When a new president came into office, he could award government positions to his supporters--"to the victor go the spoils". Federal employees were required to donate money to the ruling party. There were no requirements for education or relevant experience. Any job could be filled by anyone with the right connections. If you think that sounds like a breeding ground for corruption and cronyism, you’d be absolutely right. By the 1870s, the system was getting extremely corrupt, and there was a growing push for reform.

But not by Chester Arthur. He owed his career to the spoils system. Through his work in the party, he became the right-hand man of Roscoe Conkling, New York’s senior senator and the state’s “political boss”. Conkling was a flamboyant showman, a magnetic politician, and a ruthless man. He had been a major supporter of Ulysses S. Grant’s presidential campaign, so Grant gave Conkling control over all the federal appointments in New York. Conkling used his power to fill positions with his friends and supporters, and he was brutal in attacking anyone who got in his way.

Because Chester Arthur was Conkling’s most loyal supporter, he got the best federal job in the country—Controller of the Port of New York. Before income tax, around 60-70% of federal funds came from the tariffs at this one port. The controller got a salary similar to the president’s, plus he was able to take a percentage of all the fines they levied. At the height of his power, Chester Arthur made $50,000 a year, which is a lot when the average skilled worker at the time made $500. (A rough estimate puts his salary at $1.3 million in today’s dollars.)

Arthur was living the high life. He racked up huge tailor bills. He had a gorgeously furnished house. His job allowed him to force his employees to donate a percentage of their salary to the Republican Party, which gave him even more power within the political machine. He bought huge amounts of wine and cigars that he handed out to people he was wining and dining for the good of the party. His wife resented that he was rarely home because of his political work, but Arthur loved the machine too much to stop.

After his 1876 election, President Rutherford B. Hayes desperately tried to reform the spoils system, but was blocked every step of the way by Roscoe Conkling. Finally, in 1878, Hayes managed to remove Arthur from his position as port controller, under suspicion of corruption, which allowed Arthur to spend more time working for New York’s political machine.

In January of 1880, Arthur was in Albany working for a political campaign when his wife caught pneumonia. By the time Arthur got home, Nell had fallen into a coma, and he wasn’t able to speak with her before she died. He felt guilty over her death, and especially the lack of closure caused by his devotion to politics. But instead of changing his ways, Arthur moved in with Conkling and became more devoted to politics than ever.

Which brings us to the 1880 Republican Convention. The Republican Party was split between two warring factions—the Stalwarts like Conkling who wanted to keep things the way they were, and the Half-Breeds who wanted civil service reform. President Hayes refused to seek re-election (partly because Conkling had made his life miserable) so these two factions somehow had to agree on a new candidate. Conkling supported a third term for Ulysses S. Grant. The Half-Breeds supported James G. Blaine of Maine—who happened to be Conkling’s mortal enemy.

James Garfield was there to nominate John Sherman—the Secretary of the Treasury and the younger brother of the famous Civil War general—and I can’t go any further in this story before I tell you a little bit about him. James Garfield is one of the most ridiculous overachievers in the realm of American politics. He was born into a dirt-poor farming family (he’s the last president ever to have been born in a log cabin). At sixteen, he left home to work on a canal boat, but quit after he nearly drowned, and his mother and brother scraped up enough money for him to go to school. His first year, he paid for his tuition by working as a school janitor. His second year, the school hired him to teach six classes (while he was still a student!) and then added two more because of how popular he was. By the time he was twenty-six, he was president of that same school. He became a lawyer and was elected to Ohio’s state legislature. During the Civil War, he became the youngest person to earn the rank of general. While fighting in the Civil War, his friends put his name in as a candidate for the US House of Representatives, and Garfield won even though he refused to campaign. He then served several terms in the House, where he became popular, but he refused to seek the presidency, because he’d watched several friends become warped by their presidential ambitions.

At the 1880 Republican Convention, Garfield was the more popular Ohio candidate, but insisted he was there only to nominate Sherman. At one point in his nominating speech, Garfield asked the audience, “Now, gentleman, what do we want?” To Garfield’s horror, one man shouted, “We want Garfield!”

Garfield remained loyal in nominating Sherman, but the spark had been lit. The voting went round after round after round for two days, with the votes being split between Grant, Blaine, and Sherman, with no one getting enough to win the nomination. Garfield got one vote in the third round. In the thirty-fourth round, Garfield suddenly got seventeen votes. Garfield stood to protest, saying no one had a right to vote for him since he hadn't consented, but the president of the convention--who was secretly thrilled because he liked Garfield more than any of the other candidates--told Garfield to sit down.

By the thirty-sixth vote, Garfield had won the nomination.

Now they had to choose a vice president. Several of the delegates got the idea to throw a bone to Roscoe Conkling. He was furious that Grant had lost the nomination, and he was vindictive. Conkling controlled New York’s political machine, so without him, the Republicans would lose New York, and without New York, they’d lose the election. He had to be placated. So the delegates nominated Chester Arthur, his right-hand man, as vice president.

Conkling told Arthur to refuse the nomination, but Arthur accepted, saying it was a greater honor than he had ever hoped to achieve. That's putting it mildly. The only position he’d ever held was port controller, and he’d been removed from that. Plenty of people thought nominating him was a horrible idea—a man like Chester Arthur only one step away from the presidency? But other people thought it was a shrewd political move—it would placate Conkling’s faction of the party, and Garfield was young and healthy and would rule in a time of peace. It wasn’t like there was any chance he’d die in office.

After Garfield was elected, Arthur immediately started causing problems. He all but openly boasted of buying votes in the election—which was not a great look when it had been a close race. He was completely on Conkling’s side in his war against Garfield. After Garfield appointed Levi Morton, a Stalwart, as Secretary of the Navy, Conkling sent Arthur and another lackey to drag Morton out of his sickbed--forcing him to drink a bracing mixture of quinine and brandy--and bring him to Conkling’s house to get chewed out, which caused Morton to resign. Conkling forced another Stalwart Cabinet nominee to resign on inauguration day.

Then Conkling went to war over the federal appointments. At first, Garfield placated him, appointing several of Conkling’s candidates. But then Garfield nominated Judge Robertson as Port Controller of New York Harbor. Conkling was livid. That was the prime federal position, a major source of Conkling’s power in the party, and Robertson was one of Conkling’s political enemies. In Conkling’s mind, Garfield had stabbed him in the back. Arthur agreed, and openly bad-mouthed the president to the press.

Conkling and the other New York senator resigned their Senate seats in protest—a dramatic political move. In those days, state legislatures voted for senators, and Conkling believed that since he controlled so many New York politicians, they’d easily get re-elected to their old seats. Unfortunately, the legislature was sick of being under Conkling’s thumb. The election became a drawn-out battle, and Chester Arthur went to Albany to help Conkling in his campaign.

While he was there, the unthinkable happened. On July 2, 1881, James Garfield was shot at a train station by Charles Guiteau, an insane office-seeker. Guiteau had come to the White House every day for months seeking an appointment under the spoils system. When that failed, he decided God wanted him to get Garfield out of the way so the spoils system could continue. After he shot the president, Giteau shouted, “I am a Stalwart, and Arthur will be president!”

As you can imagine, that made things really bad for Arthur. He’d just spent months fighting the president tooth and nail, and the assassin had mentioned his name. Plenty of people thought Arthur had something to do with the shooting. He and Conkling both needed police details to protect them from lynch mobs.

Arthur didn’t want to be president; in his mind, vice president was the perfect job—a position with a lot of political leverage, but no responsibility. He went to the White House hoping to convince Garfield that he had nothing to do with the shooting, but the doctors wouldn’t let him in the room. He managed to speak to the First Lady, where he got choked up with emotion and was observed to be in tears. A reporter later found him in the house where he was staying in Washington, and noted he'd obviously been weeping.

To Arthur’s relief, Garfield seemed to get better. The bullet had missed his spinal cord and all his major organs. If he’d been left alone, Garfield would have made a complete recovery. Unfortunately, his doctors repeatedly prodded the bullet wound with unsterilized instruments, and Garfield fell victim to a massive infection. He lingered for months, slowly starving and rotting to death.

Through all this, Arthur stayed in New York and refused to take up presidential duties; with so many people accusing him of the assassination, he didn’t want to make it look like he was preparing to usurp the throne.

It eventually became clear that the assassin had acted alone, which laid the rumors to rest, but no one wanted Arthur to be president. James Garfield had been a man of the people. The working class considered him one of their own, proof that anyone could rise from poverty and become president. He was an idealist, a champion of civil rights, a family man who lived modestly. For the first time since the Civil War, a president had been supported by both the north and the south, and the country had come together in grief. Chester Arthur was Garfield’s exact opposite—a conniving political lackey who’d become a millionaire through corruption.

James Garfield died on September 19th. To the American people, it looked like their worst nightmare had come true. Conkling’s lackey was in the White House, and now Conkling would rule the nation the same way he’d ruled New York.

Yet, to everyone’s surprise, President Chester Arthur became a completely different man. In one of his first speeches, he listed civil service reform as one of his top priorities—a shocking move for a man who’d become president through the spoils system. Soon after Arthur’s inauguration, Conkling demanded he name a new Controller of the Port of New York. Arthur angrily refused and called Conkling’s demand outrageous. Conkling stormed out in fury and never forgave Arthur. (Arthur did later risk his reputation to nominate Conkling for the Supreme Court, but Conkling, ever petty, refused the position.)

Arthur didn’t have a complete personality transplant. He still lived lavishly, hosting lots of state dinners. He still preferred the social duties of the presidency to actual government work, and he was a hopeless procrastinator. Always fastidious, Arthur refused to move in to the rotting, rat-infested White House until they fixed up the dump, and he ran up extravagant bills during the remodel.

Yet, as a president, he was...respectable. He worked for African-American civil rights. He started a major process of rebuilding and reforming the outdated and corrupt navy. He did sign the Chinese Exclusion Act, but he had vetoed an earlier, harsher version and only signed a much-reduced one (that probably would have been voted in anyway if he’d vetoed it). That remodel of the White House, even if it ran over-budget, was long overdue.

Most shocking of all was his unswerving devotion to civil service reform. He continued an investigation into a government postal scandal, even though everyone assumed he’d drop it. He voiced his continuing support for reform efforts. In 1883, Arthur signed the Pendleton Civil Service Reform Act. As written, the act required only 10% of federal jobs to be assigned based on merit, and even that required the president to take action to enforce it. People assumed that Arthur would sit back and do nothing, so the spoils system would remain in place. Yet Arthur immediately formed a commission to enact the reform, even appointing some of his old enemies. The man who’d benefited most from the spoils system became the one to finally destroy it.

How do we explain such a complete and sudden change? Part of it’s a matter of personality. If I can indulge in a bit of meta, Chester Arthur seems to be a textbook example of the sanguine-phlegmatic temperament—someone who wants to fit in with the crowd, to go with the flow. As a political lackey, this made him self-serving and amoral, but as president, the crowd he had to impress was the American people. After months of getting crucified in the press, with tons of articles saying what they didn’t want him to be, he’d have plenty of motivation to become what they did want him to be.

A more important motivation, though, was death. His wife’s death was likely the first shock that would make him step back and take stock of his political career. Garfield’s death had an even more profound influence on him. The spoils system had led a madman to murder a president in Arthur’s name; if anything could motivate a man to change the system, that would be it. Even more profound than that was his own death. Not long after entering the White House, Arthur was diagnosed with a fatal kidney disease. He hid the diagnosis during his term, but his actions in office were the actions of a man doomed to die, with a mind toward the legacy he’d leave behind.

Yet there’s another stranger, more mysterious influence that I’ve left to last because of how cool the story is. The day before his death, Chester Arthur—who’d become ashamed of his old life—asked a friend to burn the vast majority of his papers. Years later, among the papers that had been spared, his grandson uncovered a packet of twenty-three letters from a 31-year-old invalid named Julia Sand. Julia came from a family very interested in politics, and her illness meant that she spent a lot of time reading the newspapers, so she was familiar with Chester Arthur’s political career. In August of 1881, she sent Chester Arthur a letter that began, “The hours of Garfield's life are numbered—before this meets your eye, you may be President. The people are bowed in grief; but—do you realize it?--not so much because he is dying, as because you are his successor.” Over seven pages, Julia scolded Arthur for his corrupt ways, but assured him of her faith in his better nature, and urged him to reform. She sent letters over the next two years, full of encouragement and scolding and political advice. She called herself his “little dwarf”, because her lack of ties to him meant she could be completely honest with him.

There’s no evidence he ever answered her. But she did offer some rather specific political advice that he seems to have followed. And he did visit her once. In 1882, he stopped by her house in the presidential carriage, surprising her and her family (who had no idea she’d been writing to the president) with an hour-long visit. She seemed to grow more frustrated with his lack of answers after that, and no letter exists after 1883.

There’s no way to say what kind of effect the letters had on him. But amid all the turmoil after the assassination, it must have meant something to have one voice saying she believed in him. She was a voice from outside the Washington political machine, who could serve as a sort of conscience. The fact that those letters survived when so much else burned suggests he considered them worth saving.

No matter the reason, the truth remains that Arthur entered the presidency as an example of all that was dirty and loathsome in the political system, and he left it as a respectable man. In giving up his old ways, he sacrificed connections he’d spent years building. His old friends never forgave him, and his old opponents never quite trusted his reform, yet he did what he thought was right even if it meant he stood alone. In summing up his presidency, I don’t think I can do better than contemporary journalist Alexander McClure: “No man ever entered the Presidency so profoundly and widely distrusted as Chester Alan Arthur, and no one ever retired... more generally respected, alike by political friend and foe.” I think that deserves to be remembered.

#history is awesome #presidential talk #i apologize but i really can't see any way to cut this down #i like the detour into garfield's nomination #i can't cut conkling out any more than i have #i can't leave out his wife #i didn't even mention that he was washington's most eligible bachelor during his term but he remained faithful to her memory #or that his sister served as hostess at the white house and helped raise his daughter (who he protected from the press as best he could) #or that he did make a half-hearted attempt to seek re-election so people wouldn't think he was slinking off in disgrace #and there was some support for him #but he didn't mind at all when someone else was nominated because he was dealing with his kidney disease #and he died in 1886 #which means he had the shortest post-presidency life of anyone except james k. polk who died three months after leaving office #i did not come into last week thinking that by the end of it i'd have developed a minor specialization #in the presidency of a guy i knew only for his facial hair and his half-verse in the animaniacs song #i didn't even mention the facial hair! #go to wikipedia and see his glorious muttonchops! #say what you will about the victorians but they had wild facial hair game #but anyway here is the life story of my impeccably dressed trash panda son #who is put together on the outside and a mess on the inside #and still manages to maintain a certain dignity despite how pathetic he is #he's a mess of a human being but i love him your honor

[nonuggetshere]

GOD I HAD AN IDEA AS I WAS FALLING ASLEEP TODAY

About FaaF naturally

A sad one, TW fir near child death and harm

Involves Xero's attempt at an assassination, or it could be literally just any guard controlled by the Radiance

PK and WL need to talk about something private, and WL looks at the tiny vessel tagging along by her wyrm's side

"Should it be here?"

"It wouldn't understand anything anyway."

"Still, it's...a little..."

He sighs lightly, "Yeah, I get where you're coming from... Vessel, come here."

He kneels down and orders them to sit by the door and wait for them while they talk, says he'll come pick them up once they're done and not to move, then the two go to talk on the balcony and close the door behind them

At some point, Xero/the guard bursts in and attacks PK in the middle of the conversation, managing to take them by surprise and so gets one good swing in before PK darts away and retaliates, pinning them down with soul blades, though he has to keep his wife from killing them on the spot - he doesn't want to be so hasty, knowing they're infected and not themself. He pulls out the sword from his chest and that's when they realise, it's covered in void...

Child harm/near death TW beyond this point

After a moment of shock White Lady, who's closest to the doors, runs out and all her husband can hear is a horrified, heartbroken scream. He feels nauseous, his stomach twisting into knots and feeling like his heart is in his throat as he runs out after her. He sees her in tears, cradling a tiny bundle soaked in void. There's- there's so much void. It covers the floor where he left their child vessel and soaks through his lady's shawl and clothes as she cradles them in her arms.

For a moment he's paralysed, before he just snaps. He flies back onto the balcony, screaming at the possessed guard that he'll kill her, he'll make her pay for this, and he slays them in his rage (something he'll regret and feel ashamed of later), still hitting and screaming at Her well after the possessed person is dead and she can't hear him anymore.

He collapses, panting, near tears, and just gets himself up and stumbles out the door and towards the two, he wants to see how bad it is for himself.

Flower survives, but just barely. They had multiple stab wounds and lost their left arm, if not for their parents immediately healing them they'd be dead. They're barely older than 5, still so very little and defenceless, PK is horrified at how could anyone hurt a baby this young and helpless (hypocrite), even if they're not alive.

They're still on bed rest because that was so much damage and their mother doesn't leave their side and their father only leaves when necessary. They still don't realise Flower's alive and they know they shouldn't be so attached but it still feels like their baby and they can't just leave them. WL spends the entire day by their side, gently stroking their hair and horns with her now permanently void stained hands and softly coos and sings to them

Of course, they quickly realise they ARE alive because no way in hell a toddler is getting this hurt and NOT crying and screaming the second they wake up <3

Which just makes this situation so much worse

#thylacines can talk #faaf au #mentions of child harm and near death in tags too btw #so dont read further if its something youre sensitive to or cant handle rn #i like to write him as more sympathetic in faaf but i cant state enough what a gigantic hypocrite he is #pk: How can you hurt a child?! they're FIVE! #child harm cw #radi: ...dude. #dont make your kid a child soldier but also you cant 'all fair's in war' your way out of stabbing a toddler radi #unrelated tangent but they both suck and god i need to focus some more on FaaF Radi. Ik this AU at times feels like sympathetic PK and evil #villain Radi AU but it's really not. They're both morally grey and while Radi is a bit more. questionable and less sympathetic imo. doesnt #mean shes completely evil. they're both meant to be morally grey and both did equally horrible irredeemable shit that they come to regret #and wish to fix. ik it doesnt come off this way at times because i have my things i prefer to write at times and this AU was always a #relationship dynamic exploration between Flower and all different characters. but neither PK nor WL are by no means forgiven. Most of their #kids range from ''i literally dont care about you you are not my parents dont contact me again'' to ''i hate your guts'' #with sometimes an added flavour of ''And I WILL murder your ass if I see you again'' for some of them #(Razor my beutiful wife with unchecked anger issues <3) #sorry if the tags are incomprehensible it is 5 am and i instantly forget anything i write the second i cant read it fully #once i finish writing a tag and it collapses the contents of it instantly leave my short term memory. im not being dramatic btw the amount #of times i have to back out from editing tags to read them back bc i forgot what i wrote is annoying