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#that way there's an archive online for each day
idesofrevolution · 5 months
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Never Sleep with Your Phone On
Throughout recorded history, humans have been terrified of the dark. They created stories of sordid creatures of the night that would creep out from beneath your bed and drag you to some subterranean lair to languish in your final moments; or slither out of your mirror if you left it uncovered when your lights were extinguished to steal your soul from your snoring lips. The tales and cryptids across all cultures were all effective in terrifying their communities once the sun set on the horizon. Though that is not necessarily to say that every tale was crafted from pure imagination.
When technology bloomed, humans believed that the horrifying superstitions of yore were long behind them. They had evolved past the primitive fears of what lurks in the shadows, where in reality they had become complacent, arrogant, and lulled. Certainly some of the eldritch creatures had subsided, as all creatures do eventually. Though for every dead legend, a new myth sprouts, and each of those grew and evolved right there along with us. Which, of course, brings us to Asher.
Asher West was, by all accounts, a fairly normal guy. Graduated from high school, going straight into college on a modest academic scholarship. He played frisbee golf with his friends on the weekends, studied hard from 9 to 5, and was seldom seen without a cup of Starbucks in the mornings. He had a sizeable social media following, as was expected for someone with a traditionally handsome visage and adequately charismatic personality. Every day he'd happily post a quick selfie, posting for his thousands of admirers a run of the mill shirtless pic, often without so much as a filter. It'd almost become muscle memory for him: tap the camera icon, snap the pic, post with some benign emojis as the caption, and boom. 900 likes as the day meandered on. Did it provide him with a momentary burst of endorphins? Yes. Was it satisfying? Somewhat, at least he thought so. Years of his staggeringly average life had been all but usurped by this second life online, where he was glamorous, exciting, and adored.
It was so much easier to live in that fantasyland than to truly be present in the real world around him. He, as many of us are, was living his life as someone else- and a life that spectacled easily caught attention. It was easy to come across him in the sea of countless names and faces. It was easy to stumble upon that pretty face. It was easy find, attracting more than just starry eyed fans. Skulking in the void between lines of 1 and 0, buried deep in the infinite cosmic vacuum of the world electric and technological, another pair of eyes would befall him.
It had slinked into his vast sphere rather quickly, and it had begun to watch. Watching each and every 'tasteful' selfie, every vapid thought that he'd post, and every like and pin he'd make, it watched him with empty, expressionless black eyes from within a fragment of his phone's memory. It studied him, curious at first. Things of its nature were always curious, always inclined to watch and analyze and replicate. Even as he slept, his phone siphoning it's charge from it's cable, it would read. The more it saw, the more it had learned about Asher. In fact, it knew more of Asher than perhaps he himself was aware of, if not able to admit.
It had seen those intimate moments he'd taken careful measure to hide from the vast majority of those watching eyes. Second accounts under pseudonyms, gave way to countless of hidden alternate lives he lived: Tumblr blogs dedicated to bad-boy thrist traps and queer erotica, Twitter accounts cataloguing pictures and videos of his closest kept kinks, a well used and well loved Chaturbate account with his face tastefully cropped out of frame... all these lives immortalized in the endless archives of the internet. And after all it's patient watching, all the hours of analyzing, all the months of consuming his information, it had grown an attachment.
Asher had come home late one night. Not unusual for him, as the occasional party wouldn't derail his real life ambitions. After a few libations, and no small amount of cannabis, he'd made his way back home to his small apartment above the corner store. Just as he'd done numerous times before, he stripped himself of his shirt, pulling his camera from his jeans pocket, and snapped a slightly inebriated picture of himself. It'd be enough to boost his ego the next morning, enough to power through the long haul of his draining daily agenda.
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SNAP. The flash of the camera went off, and his beloved face was shared for all to see. Though, that night, he mis stepped. Perhaps it was the booze, perhaps it was the toke, perhaps he was simply too tired to notice that he'd left the screen on. By the time he'd hit the bed he was out like a rock, collapsed onto the bed and quietly drifting to sleep. There on the brightly lit screen, in the darkness of the unlit bedroom, it saw its opportunity.
From it's perch on the nightstand, the phone began to spark. Small sparks at first, a quick fizzle and quiet pop. Then more: louder, brighter, faster. It began to rumble against the wooden tabletop, sizzling and sparkling as it danced before the screen went black and dead. Slowly, electric crackling gave way to a bubbling sludge. The glass subtly started wave and bellow, as if it were liquified, not taking long to begin to spill over the edges of it's metal frame. The black sludge fell like oil onto the hardwood floors, collecting in a growing, bubbling pool.
From the primordial ooze burst forth a long, slender arm; it's taloned fingers scraping as it braced itself on the ground. A second arm clawed it's way out, and with an echoing slosh, it had begun to pull itself out of the sludge. It's long, emaciated torso and thick muscled legs had slithered out, landing on two massive, clawed feet. It towered above Asher's bed as he slumbered, bent over so as not to hit it's back onto the eight foot ceiling. It stood there, looking at the person it'd observed and studied for so long. The image presented in the world it'd pried himself out of was nothing of what lay before it. From what it had gathered from his more clandestine dealings, it had noted that he was far from the archetypes he'd collected on Asher's behalf.
He did not have the tattoos like those he'd pinned on Pinterest. He was not wearing the dark, heavy clothes like those he'd saved on Instagram. He wasn't well endowed like the video's he'd favorited on X-Tube. He didn't give off the aura of some rebellious casanova like the stories he'd reblogged on Tumblr. To a creature of symmetry and consistency, this was an error to be corrected; a dichotomy requiring integration.
It crouched down above his drooling maw, gently caressing his head to face it's clenching claw. The talons pressed ever so tenderly past his lips and over his tongue, becoming the very black ooze it had crawled out of once more. It flooded down his throat as it's second arm made it's way into his mouth, as if it were being sucked into Asher. He was drinking it's essence, it's aqueous body slurping down into his core. It's torso compressed as it wriggled down his gullet, ringing out splashing squelches as Asher gargled it down.
As quickly as it had entered, it's long legs slithered into his mouth, leaving only its large feet thrashing about in the air. Asher's stomach was bubbling and undulating under the sheer pressure from this invasion, growing to a large gut spilling over the waistband of his jeans. One loud slurp and a crisp pop, and the feet slipped into him, leaving his writhing body squirming on the bed. It expanded within him, incorporating itself into every fibre of his being. Pressing into his arms, his legs, pushing up his throat until it met the top of his palate. The pressure began to mount, black goo dribbling down the corners of his mouth, until a wet crack sounded in his cavernous head, and it flowed into his skull.
It took mere seconds for it to reach his brain, which it flowed freely into throughout the grooves and nooks. Entirely coated, imbued and inoculated with it, the deed was done. Asher opened his eyes, tiredly sitting up in his bed. He looked over at his phone, tapping it with his finger: 3 AM.
At first it seemed like a nightmare. He could recall moments here and there, though the majority of his 'dream' was a blur. From what he could remember, it was nothing visual he could recollect... but it he could recollect the sensations. Wet, slimy, invasive, and cold- much like he felt drunkenly sleeping in his cold sweat. He brought himself to his feet, dragging his feet on the slippery floorboards to his bathroom.
Flipping the switch, the harsh fluorescent light flickered to life above him, as he turned the nozzle on his shower. Immediately, his jaw nearly dropped to the floor. In the mirror, Asher finally caught a glimpse of himself: strange black bruises and undulating bumps were scattered across his body. That pristine, smooth skin was now covered in sprawling web-like lesions from head to toe. He had mere moments to process the horror reflected in front of him before an immediate pain in the gut had him doubled over the counter.
His stomach started to bubble and groan, and through the foggy haze of his blurred vision he saw his feet begin to ripple and swell. He could feel the slick sweaty soles slide across the tile floor as they expanded and grew. As they reached a substantial size 13, the swelling crept it's way up his calves and into his thighs. Asher wobbled on his feet, as if they were filled with gelatin beneath his slippery skin while his knees began to buckle. He collapsed into a crouch, the fumes of sweaty footmusk bellowing up to his nostrils as his legs cracked and stretched above. He'd never truly experienced scentplay as he'd so dearly fantasized about throughout countless hours of edging to such content, nor had this funk ever emanated from his own soles. In the moment, he felt something within him prod into his brain. As if poking the individual folds of his cerebrum with thousands of tiny needles, causing cascades of thoughts to enter his mind- all of which telling him to embrace. In his mind's eye, he could see himself burying his face into his sweaty sole, between his long toes, lapping up every droplet of sweat that was spewing from his pores. The thought was buried deep in his subconscious, pried out with expert measure, by something now within him.
Grasping for anything to steady himself on, Asher gripped the edge of the sink, pulling himself upright once again and now towering above the countertop. He hung his aching head low, watching with strange newfound fervor as his cock began to feel heavier and heavier. Drool started to drip from the bottom of his lip, landing square onto the lengthening shaft. Like a sandbag, his balls dropped and swelled while he got harder and harder. Another onslaught of pinpricks in his head brought forth another command: stroke.
Steam started build in the bathroom as the hot water continued to fall from the shower, intensifying the scent wafting from now both his feet and his pendulous sac. Each breath of hot, wet musk hit like ecstasy, and with bated breath, he softly grasped ahold of his python and began to pump. Each knead of his engorged member was accompanied by a change. His fingers grew long and sinewy, smooth and slick with precum. His arms remained thin but toned, growing longer and packed with lean muscle. His torso lengthened, topped off with a firm pair of pecs above his sinewy abdomen.
As pressure began to build in his balls, his mind began to feel the needles one last time, imbuing his brain with one last injection of a single trait: pride. He didn't need the approval of anyone else, he was aware of how fucking hot he was. He didn't need to heed the rules that society had straddled him with, he always forged his own path. He had no fears of recompense for his attitude, his ego, his spirit- the world would either stand with him, or he would step on top of them. Either way, what bliss. As the last of his inhibitions and fears had gathered in his groin, he cried out in elation as he erupted. Rope after rope of black sludge shot from his cannon, washing him with a sense of relief he'd never before known. He released his grip on his softening cock, hanging at an obscene eleven inches. He smirked at the sludge coating his mirror and pooling beneath his toes. A sight like that would have shocked and terrified the old Asher, though as he stood before his reflection, devoid of any tension, he relented to the entity within him. It had delivered onto him a new self, a new image, a new viewpoint. As tattoos both vulgar and delicate began to sprawl across his skin, he happily admired his new likeness.
The entity had bestowed a gift to him; throughout the horror, throughout the fear, he was becoming the true Asher that had only ever peeked out from the abyss of his psyche. He leered, bringing his thumb and middle finger together before snapping loudly. From his pores, the black sludge began to spill across his body until he was nearly covered from the neck down in what appeared to be a rubber suit before it began to become a bit more defined. A plain white tee shirt, classically fashioned with a black and white varsity jacket from his college. Skinny, weathered black jeans barely containing his sizeable commando bulge beneath it's thin fabric. On his feet, a pair of white socks and tightly tied high top Chucks, quelling the ripe stink of his soles within the sneaker for some sub to pry off and enjoy.
He grinned, posing and modeling for himself, before he finally turned off the steaming water. After the long, arduous, painful process, the entity had incorporated itself entirely within him- now completely indistinguishable from parasitic to symbiotic. It had rewritten him, completely remade him in the likeness of who he had shown the vast virtual world. There was no cognitive dissonance, there were no lies, there was no deception. All that remained was the Asher he had created in his fantasy, now ready to fuck the real world and all within it.
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Thus, as our creature feature comes to an end, I leave you with a modicum of friendly advice. Don't leave your phone on as you slumber, for those that are watching, those that are waiting, those that have been learning are a mere sheet of glass away from finding their way inside. Take my counsel, or ignore it. But do so knowing the outcome, and whether or not you are prepared to weather such a storm.
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nanowrimo · 1 month
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When Is a Small Press a Good Fit?
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When it comes to publishing, many writers will think about big publishers first. However, there are a lot of different publishing options out there to explore. NaNo participant and author, Clara Ward, talks about their experience publishing with a small press and gives you questions to consider while you think through your publishing options!
NaNoWriMo inspired me to write. Signing with a small press gave me the support I needed to publish a book I love. 
I’d published books before—starting with NaNoWriMo sponsor deals in the early days of online publishing—but I never had the right skill set to promote those books. As a result, they never truly found their audience. 
In November of 2020, I poured my heart into a genre-blurring near-future tale of sailing across the Pacific and building a neurodiverse, queer, and possibly magical chosen family. In 2021, I titled it Be the Sea and asked myself: What am I going to do with that?
1. Are you looking for fame or family?
Small presses are as varied as the people who form them. If you read widely, you may already have a treasured book on your shelf from your publisher-to-be. Try asking NaNoWriMo friends who share your interests if they’ve discovered any surprising or emerging sources for great reads. (At the very least, you may find books you’ll love in unexpected places!)
Admittedly, a small press doesn’t have a fortune to spend on paving your path to fame. But I have never felt as seen as when my soon-to-be publisher, E.D.E. Bell at Atthis Arts, wrote back, “I’m really in love with what you are doing and would like to talk about it.” 
2. Do you have the bandwidth for working with others?
Even with the most supportive small press, you may have to push outside your comfort zone. I know authors who love the absolute control and freedom of self-publishing. For a time, I felt very comfortable just posting my NaNoWriMo fanfiction novels on Archive of Our Own. At most, I had one or two beta readers to offer feedback on those works. Whereas E.D.E. told me in one of our earliest conversations that in addition to our three rounds of editing we’d need “a good number of betas” to cover the range of topics we were working on together.
I was delighted! I knew what I’d written was ambitious, and I welcomed all the feedback I could get. But it turns out, each extra person in a process adds new challenges and delays. I had to stretch my empathy as well as my publishing timeline because, to quote E.D.E. again: “It’s a lot of emotion (as well as brain cycles) to go through...” Outside perspectives will only improve your writing if you are willing to work with them, to truly listen and learn.
3. Can you handle the two-way commitment?
No form of publishing is easy. The myth that authors write while others handle business and promotion is not true at the top, and certainly not with small presses. In my experience, working with Atthis Arts was like joining a team or chosen family. Beyond certain paid tasks, such as editing and sensitivity reading, I discovered a community of authors who freely offered coaching before my first public reading, social media boosting, tips for author webpages, and an extra pair of eyes on letters requesting bookshop readings or other events. While not all small presses work the same way, this supportive culture proved to be an excellent fit for me. Naturally, I wanted to give back whenever possible.
Small presses can only succeed with community. This month, as I promote the launch of Be the Sea at bookshops in Mountain View, Davis, and Sacramento, I will be introducing many Californians to my Michigan-based small publisher, Atthis Arts. When I stand up as a panelist at Norwescon in Washington state or at various science, library, or Pride events later in the year, I’ll be promoting more than Be the Sea by Clara Ward. I’ll give back by sharing my appreciation for small presses, the supportive and inclusive practices they can normalize, and the opportunities they open up for future writers and readers. 
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Clara Ward lives in Silicon Valley on the border between reality and speculative fiction. Their latest novel, Be the Sea, features a near-future ocean voyage, chosen family, and sea creature perspectives, while delving into our oceans, our selves, and how all futures intertwine. Their short fiction has appeared in Strange Horizons, Decoded Pride, Small Wonders, and as a postcard from Thinking Ink Press. When not using words to teach or tell stories, Clara uses wood, fiber, and glass to make practical or completely impractical objects. More of their words along with crafted creations can be found at: https://clarawardauthor.wordpress.com
Photo by Hümâ H. Yardım on Unsplash
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caliblorn · 2 months
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I promised to make this post months ago and completely forgot about it until the last few days (a classic!), so here I am now. Making it. And with silly art included. Yay!
As many of you know, Mannimarco and Vanus Galerion in Elder Scrolls Online are portrayed as 2E contemporaries who mirror each other journeys to leaders, out of the Psijic Order and into their own groups. ESO makes it clear that they're meant to be similar in age as well, and it does so both by de-aging Mannimarco's model for the "Half-Forming Understandings" quest, and by making it say by Vanus himself in Artaeum Lost.
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BUT! If you have played Morrowind or Oblivion, you might already be familiar with Where were you when the Dragon Broke?, an account of different people's experiences during the Middle Dawn, the 1E Dragon Break. And oh! Look who it is.
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(notice also he says God, not King) The Middle Dawn happened between 1E 1200 and 1E 2208. Time fuckeries as much as you want, but nonetheless, 1E ends in 2920, and we know FOR SURE that Vanus was born the first years of 2E and that he joined the Psijics as a 11 yo. So, even if we took into consideration ONLY the latest period of the Middle Dawn, Mannimarco would have been a... 700+ years old novice when he met Vanus. Very funny to think about, but an old mer having an intellectual rivalry with a teenager doesn't really scream "brilliant" to me.
I'd say the retconning of his age is also supported by Worm Saga, were he doesn't mention at all his period in the Maruhkati and makes it sound like he was either born or taken to Artaeum at a very young age.
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Plus, both in Worm Saga and in the Vault's flashbacks and in every other source ever (WRITTEN FOR ESO. AHEM.) we see that his "discovery" of necromancy happened on Artaeum. Like, it's screamed into our ears a couple of times or more in the game itself.
The problem with all of this? The book that implies he lived through the Middle Dawn is still present in ESO.
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Which is to me one little example of a bigger issue with ESO writers rewriting/retconning things without taking away/trying to somewhat link the original sources. But I digress, there are different ways to make this work but since some are too complicated to be discussed now, I'll just share with you what I usually go with;
Mannimarco is a great liar. Not only a liar, a politician. A sales man. A guru. He knows how to give himself prestige. What "Where were you when the dragon broke?" is to me is either fake accounts fabricated by the Cult themselves, or stolen accounts (probably from Artaeum's archives!) where his false experience was added and then sent around Tamriel.
If I had to make a TIMELINE for all the pieces cited, I would say the publication order would be "Where were you when the dragon broke" (used as propaganda by the Cult to make Mannimarco's figure important)-> "Artaeum Lost" (disproves what was fabricated about Mannimarco)-> "Worm Saga" (new attempt to give himself prestige with that "aldmer, scion of et'Ada").
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antimatterz · 10 months
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when you're offline for a while
dan heng, gepard, blade, sampo, jing yuan x gn!reader
summary: it's been a couple of days since you last logged in, how are they taking it?
cw: fluff, humor, pining, self-aware au
enyo's note: inspired by an ask from a dear anon !
content under the cut | masterlist
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dan heng
dan heng might think he doesn't show it, but it's painfully obvious for those who know him a little better. he's more quiet and retreats to the archive room even more than usual, heaves out sigh after sigh while he wonders where you are. as someone who was often online, it was weird for you to not log in for a couple of days. he won't admit it to anyone, but he misses the visits you always pay him during your online time and he misses going on trailblaze missions. when you finally come back online he is the first to approach you, playing it cool but you see the pout on his face and he fails to hide his puppy eyes as he asks you were you've been. he's secretly very happy to see you again.
gepard landau
he is so lost, trying to go on with his daily duties but in his mind constantly wondering where you are. he doesn't get it, you're literally always there and now you aren't? it makes him kind of insecure, too, as he starts thinking that it's because of him that you're no longer online. did he do something you didn't like? had he disappointed you in any way? when you log in again he is so happy to see you but also a bit reluctant to approach you, so please reassure him that you simply had been busy and that it had nothing to do with him! as soon as he's reassured, he'll happily greet you.
blade
really, he pretends not to care at all. maybe he doesn't, but only during the first few days. after that he starts getting impatient, getting moody and on-edge and snappy towards his fellow stellaron hunters. he acts like he's annoyed by your absence but in fact, he misses you and isn't sure what to do now that you aren't around him. it's funny how kafka can see right through him but he has no clue himself lol. blade has gotten so used to you being online all the time and he would not admit it yet but he grew fond of you – and it shows. when you log in again, he asks you where you've been, arms folded and demeanor quite grumpy ( yes, maybe he's jealous that something else got your priority, and not him ) but secretly he hides small smile, happy that you're back.
sampo koski
oh, this guy is so dramatic about it. he openly complains to everyone willing to listen about your sudden disappearance and spends a lot of time just sitting and waiting around, not knowing why you're suddenly not logging in again after being so active before. when you come back after a couple of days, he'll be even more dramatic as he welcomes you with a big ass speech about how he missed his beloved partner in crime and how boring it was without you. he's very extra with his words and touches and doesn't disappear from your sight. he doesn't leave you alone for a second and is sickingly sweet.
jing yuan
the general is pretty chill with it, though he can't help but wonder where you are. you always made sure to stop by his office every time you got the chance, and now you haven't been online for a couple of days. what occupies you? okay, he knows like no other what it's like to get a little extra busy sometimes and he simply assumes that's happening to you right now. so yeah, he waits patiently for your return, even though he secretly misses your presence. as you log in, he warmly greets you, hiding behind a calm smile how happy he is to see you. he instantly invites you to his office, where you update each other on what happened the past few days.
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chiefhellenist · 8 months
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Daily Devotions with the Orphic Hymns
Today is 4th of Metageitnion (21st of August)
This modern system of daily devotions blends material from two sources: Hesiod's sacred month, as described in his Works and Days, and the Orphic Hymns. The ideas in the Orphic Hymns sometimes don't match with more mainstream beliefs of the polis. But using these hymns is worth it because it helps us honor not just the main gods, but also many smaller ones. This way, we can pay our respects to a wide range of gods throughout the whole month.
Other hymns may of course be substituted at the individual's discretion. The numbers given for the hymns correspond to those in Apostolos N. Athanassakis, The Orphic Hymns: Text, Translation and Notes
Thomas Taylor's 1792 translation of the hymns is available online, free and in its entirety, at the Internet Sacred Texts Archive. Here:
Morning and Evening Devotions
Morning
Wash hands and face
Light lamp or candle
Hymn to Hestia (#84)
Light incense
Hymn to Eos (#78)
Hymn to Helios (#8)
Hymn(s) to special god/dess(es) of the day (see chart)
Additional hymns as desired (see chart)
Pour libation
Make personal supplications and thanksgivings
"Orpheus to Mousaios" (pp. 2-5)
Extinguish lamp or candle
Evening
Wash hands and face
Light lamp or candle
Hymn to Hestia (#84)
Light incense
Hymn to Nyx (#3)
Hymn to Selene (#9)
Hymn to the Stars (#7)
Hymn(s) to patron/matron god/desses
Hymn to Sleep (#85)
Hymn to Dream (#86)
Pour libation
Make personal supplications and thanksgivings
Hymn to Zeus (#15)
Extinguish lamp or candle
A shortened version of the devotions may be done by simply lighting a candle, reading "Orpheus to Mousaios," saying any personal prayers, and extinguishing the candle.
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Notes on chart:
Days mentioned by Hesiod as sacred to specific deities are marked.
Horkos is the god (or, if you like, personification) of Oath. Days sacred to this deity are considered difficult.
As the lunar calendar months range between 29 and 30 days in the Greek reckoning, it may be necessary in short months to recite all the hymns for both day 29 and day 30 on the day of the dark moon. As the last day of the month is sacred to Hekate, Her hymn should always be included.
About Incense
The Orphic Hymns specify particular types of incense to be offered to each deity. In cases where one is saying multiple hymns with differing instructions, one might either choose a single type or make a blend of all those indicated. Pure frankincense makes a good all-purpose offertory incense.
The incense specifications from the Orphic text are as follows:
Frankincense: Apollon, Ares, Artemis, Asklepios, Bakkhai, Dike, Eos, Hephaistos, Herakles, Hermes, Hygeia, Kouretes, Muses, Nike, Satyros, Silenos, Tethys, Themis, Titans
Myrrh: Leto, Nereus, Poseidon
Storax: Chthonic Hermes, Dionysos, Eleusinian Demeter, Erinues (also frankincense), Graces, Kronos, Semele, Zeus
Aromatic Herbs: Adonis, Athena, Eros, Eumenides, Fates, Hera, Hestia, Horai, Nereids, Nymphs, Okeanos, Rhea
Various: Mother of the Gods, Pan, Chthonic Dionysos (any except frankincense), Gaia (any grain; no beans or aromatic herbs)
No Incense (underworld deities): Hekate, Nemesis, Persephon
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son-of-a-top-gun · 3 months
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Sky's The Limit Part 3
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we're back baby and things are getting spicy (ish)
Warnings: alcohol consumption, mention of strippers/lapdancing, two horny people who desperately need to get off, shameless flirting, Bradley being a babe as usual, continuation of the bob fucks agenda
Sky's The Limit Part 3
Bradley could tell you were starting to get a little down. As one of the only people who actually knew about the book, he was also one of the only people you can tell about how it was really going. You had been giving hints that it was not going well, but after he catches you lying face down in one of the Hard Deck boothes, he decides that’s enough. It was time for you to have a bit of fun, even just for one night.
“Bradley, it wasn’t what it looked like.”
“I know.” He keeps staring ahead, hands still on the wheel. He had offered to give you a lift to his house, where you were supposed to be having a few ‘casual drinks’. You took one look of the bag of balloons and had known exactly what that meant.
“You don’t have to throw me a stupid party.”
“But this isn’t just any party, baby girl. This is a Bradshaw party, which only get offered to the creme de la creme. Besides, you haven’t even been given a proper welcome to San Diego. There’s no way you can stay here one more day without an official welcome.”
You smile at him. Bradley truly was one of the best friends a girl could wish for. Losing his parents only meant he loved people harder and you loved that about him. You couldn’t have imagined anyone more perfect for your sister, you just wanted them to hurry up and realise they were in love with each other so he could legally become part of the family.
“Ugh fine, But you best make -
“Those biscuits you like. Honestly what do you take me for Ladybug? I’ve already got the ingredients in the back.”
You turn around. Of course he did.
******
Of course the party is perfect. Bradley had cued all your favourite songs, supplied all your favourite snacks (as well as some supposed San Diego delicacies) and invited all your new pilot friends, who you had really become quite fond of. They’d all been extra nice to you lately, which made you wonder what sort of desperate vibes you were giving off. Even Jake had been less annoying the last week, perhaps sensing your stress, making less sassy comments, leaving you well alone when you were trying to write and even occasionally letting you rant about the inaccessibility of online archives. The most surprising thing was that your favourite coffee had been turning up at the Hard Deck every morning before you arrived with a little ladybug drawn on it, along with anonymous notes that had literary motivational quotes on it. You had initially attributed it to Bradley, but he denied it and no one else at the party would fess up either.
The party is in full swing, and you are a couple of drinks in, starting to feel relaxed for the first time in weeks.  You were listening to Phoenix tell everyone about her new girlfriend, which was nauseatingly adorable. You couldn’t remember the last time you felt like that about someone. The last guy you went on a date with tried to give you his manuscript to read over the minute you said you were a writer, and after that you swore off casual dating. Which was lucky, because it seemed all the men here were Navy men, which you had sworn off a long time ago.
Without thinking, you find yourself scanning the room. 
Everyone is here, except one particular blonde pilot. You don’t know why you are looking for him. It was just wherever the pilots were, so was he. You had to admit, It was sort of odd for him not to be there. You find yourself wondering if he finally got that hot date he seemed to be begging for. From what the other pilots told you, Jake had always been a massive flirt and had been known to get around most of the women of San Diego. You hated that you were thinking about this so much and took another hefty swig of your drink.
“Hope you didn’t miss me, darlin’.” A familiar voice leans into your ear.
You almost leap out of your skin. “Jesus Christ, Bagman you can’t sneak up on people like that! You nearly scared the pants off me.” He looks down on you with that annoying smile of his and you suddenly feel very cold in your little strappy vest top.
He leans down. “Trust me,  don’t need to scare you to get you out of your pants sweetheart.”
You roll your eyes at him and are about to come back with a witty retort when you see out of the corner of your eye Bradley brandishing an empty bottle. He claps his hands and everyone turns around.
“I think it’s time for a game guys.”
“Really Bradley?” You raise an eyebrow. “Spin the bottle?”
“What, are you scared?” Jake immediately chimes in. You shoot him daggers.
“Only of having to touch you.” You smile sweetly at him as he mimes an arrow going through his chest.
“Can it lovebirds!” Bradley announces, rubbing his hands with glee, “We’re not so basic to play Spin the bottle.” Bradley looks at you and grins. You know this means trouble. “It’s time to play Truth or Dare!”
There is a chorus of cheers across the room.
“Bradley, you are in your thirties.” You tut under your breath, but he ignores it.
He spins the bottle first. It lands on Fanboy first, who chooses truth. 
“Which superhero would you bang?” Bradley asks
“It’s got to be Catwoman right?” Jake is indignant.
Fanboy takes a moment to really think it through, “I dunno, I like to think about what Wonder Woman could do. The lasso could come in handy. What about you guys?”
“I like Batgirl.” Bob offers.
Coyote suggests “Mystique, you know, for roleplaying. It’s basically like having infinite wishes. Also love me a bad girl.” Payback sagely nods.
“How much have you guys all been thinking about this?” You turn to Natasha, who shrugs.
“Jean Grey does it for me.” This made sense, having seen the pictures of her new ginger girlfriend.
They spin the bottle again, this time landing on Bob. He says Truth and you can see Jake already brewing the question, so you jump in.
“How many hookups have you had in the last year?”
“That’s not fair, I was going to ask!”
“Quit your whining.” You turn to Bob, whose cheeks have tinged pink. “Go on.”
“Oh, er, I don’t know, maybe” He starts counting in his head. “Twenty, twenty-five” He looks up. “Are we counting repeat incidents?”
“As in you had sex with them more than once?”
“Uh, yes, I guess.”
“Sure.”
“Because that would bring it up to sixty, seventy- “ You watch as everyone’s jaws go slack. 
“Are you joking?” Jake is stunned. Bradley turns his head. “How?”
“I don’t know, I just like helping people, and I tend to run into women who need help with their coffee, or taking things to their car, or need something tall fixing around the house…” As Bob rambles, it’s cute to see how unaware he is. You lock eyes with Jake, raising your eyebrows to say I told you. Bob fucks.
Third time around, the bottle lands on you. 
“Truth.”
“Oh come on, not everyone can say truth or we are all going to die of boredom.” Jake folds his arms.
“Firstly, I don’t think Bob’s truth was boring at all. In fact I found it very interesting.” You say, throwing a wink to Bob. “But fine, have it your way. Dare.”
This time, Reuben, who has been very quiet, pops up. 
“You have to give Jake a lapdance.”
“What the hell Javy? I thought we were friends.” He shrugs. 
“Just for one minute.
“No way.”
“Hey, I wouldn’t worry too much about it.” Jake sits back.
“What the hell is that supposed to mean Bagman?” There is a chorus of oos from around the room.
“Nothing, it means nothing!” 
“I get it that I’m not your usual type Seresin, but you think you wouldn’t enjoy it?”
“No, just… I mean you seem like the sort who would hate strip clubs.”
You go to speak but bite your tongue.
What Jake didn’t know was that for your last book you had a whole plot involving strippers which meant you spent several days with dancers researching their life. One of them, Brandy, became one of your best friends in New York and had given you many a lesson in lapdancing (to make your writing accurate, of course). But you figured this was a fact best left unsaid. Besides, this was a rare chance to get Jake to eat some humble pie.
“Yeah…But a dare is a dare. Javy…put on Pony.”
You were grateful that the hot weather had meant you had put on a vest and a fairly cute pair of daisy dukes. If you had been wearing a dress there was no way this would be happening. You make a show of stretching while they set the room up, Jake sat on a chair on the middle. You wink at him as you bend over and you see him flush just a little. 
Javy gives the signal for the music. You are kneeling on the floor in front of Jake,.
“Hope you’re ready to have your world rocked Bagman. Bradley, look away.”
“Yes ma’am.” Bradley, seeing you as his honorary younger sister, did what he was told. “You took a deep breath and then a large swig of whisky.
You sat on your knees and let your hair down, slowing rolling your neck as the music starts to play. You try to ignore the hand shaking and slowly look up towards Jake. You expected him to be smug but he’s looking at you with such a look of confusion and pity that you suddenly realise. He genuinely doesn’t think you can do it.  You are suddenly filled with a devilish combination of spite and rage and power. You close your eyes, slowly rolling your body and feeling all the way up yourself, grinding up on some imaginary guy until you flash your eyes open and send him one cautionary wink before slowly licking your fingers. 
You crawl towards Jake and push his knees apart, slowly rising up between them. It’s a good thing he’s wearing shorts right now, his thighs exposed, so you can feel how his skin burns under yours. The look of pity has turned into something else, both fear and astonishment and something darker, but you have no time for this. Your nails dig slightly into his flesh as you rise up slowly between his legs until you are eye to eye. You slowly wrap your legs to the outside of his thighs and slowly start grinding down on his crotch until. 
Oh. 
At least Jake’s arrogance was starting to make sense if all of what you were feeling was true. With this realisation you look up and lock eyes. Jake’s look burns through you like he could devour you whole and you feel him grip onto your thigh, just a little squeeze, and then you suddenly have a terrible physical urge between your legs, when the music suddenly stops.
“That’s one minute!” Reuben calls out. For a moment, neither of the two of you move.
“Guys? You can get off each other you know?” Phoenix interjects. You both leap away from each other. “Although I should say that was phenomenal.” You croak out a thanks before heading to the kitchen.
What the hell was that? You wonder as you pour yourself a glass of water. I guess it really had been a while. Your heart is racing and you steady yourself against the counter, closing your eyes.
“What the hell are they teaching you on that pHD of yours?” Your eyes open to see Jake standing in the door with his arm leaning against the frame. He must know how his arm looks when he does that. You hate how much you like it.
You take a moment and reassume your confidence, laughing a little. “Oh that? Just a little something I picked up back in New York.”
He walks towards you until he’s right next to you on the counter before leaning in. You can feel his hot breath in your ear. “I knew there was something fishy about this pHD stuff. And now I know.” Your breath hitches. Surely there was no way he could have figured it out, could he? Your lapdance scene wasn’t that similar in the book. He looks away from you. “I thought you reminded me of someone and now I know it’s JLo in Hustlers.” He looks over you with a slightly more sincere look. “So are you..you know?” He waves his hand. You can’t believe that out of all the things, the subject of strippers would make Jake Seresin awkward.
“And what if I was?”
But much to your surprise, Jake shrugs. “Everyone has to pay their bills somehow.” He turns back towards you.  “It’s just if you’re not, I think you should seriously consider it. I think you would earn a lot of money.”
“Would you come to my club then?” The alcohol is making you overconfident, so you gently stroke your index finger down his chest.
“Baby.” He now leans his arm on the kitchen cabinet behind you. His face is so close, just above you. You could smell his cologne again and you find yourself wishing you could lick it off his neck.  “I would be there every damn day.” You felt a flutter in your stomach. This was dangerous territory, but it was too late. What would it be like to kiss Jake Seresin, you wondered, leaning forward just a little -
“There you are Ladybug!” Bradley’s voice booms and the two of you pull apart once again. “Hangman, I hope you’re not trying to get seconds.”
The two of you return to the party. You don’t see Hangman for the rest of the party except once where you catch eyes across you the room. You smile at him and he smiles back, before you are pulled back into conversation. When you go to find him again, he is gone.  Weird that he left without saying goodbye. 
When you finally get home and get to bed, you find yourself instinctively reaching your hand between your legs when it happens. Who flashes into your head but a certain blond, handsome and potentially well-hung pilot.
You were fucked.
---
hope you all enjoyed! Let me know if you want to be tagged in part four!
Tagged:
@dizzybee03 @mrsroosterbradshaw @tgmreader @dgs8891 @alldaysdreamer @eloquentdreamer @ravenwtfbro @dempy @milkbummm @memoriesat30 @yourfavouritecitizen @burningwitchprincess @il0vebeingdelulu
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accio-victuuri · 10 months
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YIZHAN’S 06.29 HK Event ( A Summary ) ✨
As the title says, this will be a timeline of sorts around the show. It’s always a treat to see them in one place so the next step is really to archive the story behind it. A mix of events, cpns & fandom reflections.
The last part of this is more on my words on why ( i think ) they didn’t interact or even see each other at the event, if you’re interested in that, you can scroll down and skip the others.
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This is gonna be a long post, Enjoy! ^^
What is the event all about?
The name of the show is The Greater Bay Area Film Concert 2023 and the venue is in Hongkong. It is described as :
More than a hundred filmmakers, musicians, cultural and sports technology representatives from both sides of the Taiwan Strait as well as Hong Kong and Macao will gather on the banks of the Xiangjiang River to work together Write a new picture of Chinese-style modernization belonging to the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area.
It is also a big event because it is broadcasted in multiple platforms:
CCTV 6 Movie Channel, Phoenix Satellite TV Chinese Channel, Phoenix Satellite TV Hong Kong Channel, Guangdong Satellite TV, Shenzhen Satellite TV, Radio Television Hong Kong, and Macao Radio and Television , Australia and Asia Satellite TV and other TV platforms live broadcast, China Central People's Broadcasting Corporation, Hong Kong TVB recorded and broadcast, movie channel Rong Media, 1905 Movie Network, Phoenix.com, Phoenix Show and other major media platforms of the whole network broadcast simultaneously.
I personally haven’t experienced an event they both attended — or actually even as individuals as endorsed as this. It is considered a “government” event and it would make sense that they will be present. Even if they are still considered “traffic” stars, this time, it works in their favor because they need the audience that these two will bring.
It is labeled as a “concert” but it’s truly a “party” for the 26th anniversary of Hong Kong’s return to China. The actual date is 7/1, but this is a primer to that, and why it’s taking place in HK. This is a touchy subject so I won’t go into detail and i feel like a good number of us are happy to see them perform but at the same time knowing what this party is about makes us feel off. It’s always been a popular theory among turtles that our best bet for a same event and interaction is for a government approved celebration. This way, their fans will ( hopefully ) be in their best behavior.
The same sentiment was actually passed on to turtles the day before the event. Reminding that it’s not like the other shows where you can say whatever.
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Before the 629 Party:
By the last week of June, there were already some buzz surrounding the show and who will be attending. The most talked about being XZ & WYB. Melons were already releasing news about it but there were still talk about them not being in the same place.
It could be the same show but they will be in completely different places. It got cpfs excited, knowing how rough the past days were with all the YBO business, this is exactly what a lot of fans needed. some really positive news. Though there were some minor signs that all is well, a loud sign like this was so much better.
6.26, fans were talking about a potential double airport which turned out to not be true. However, this added fuel to the fire that they will both attend.
6.27 for cpfs was of course all about celebrating CQL’s 4th anniversary and well it was truly a special day. The weekend before, cpfs were already sharing face-to-face events and online materials on the actual day was a lot. It is the answer to the question of whether the cp fandom was already broken. The answer is a very loud No. Same day, Yubin also shared a video that showed a split second glimpse of them back in 2018 and eating hotpot. At this point, it was only a matter of time for them to be in the same event.
6.28, around 8:30 AM there were videos and then photos of XZ leaving and flying to HK. This lined up with melons that he will leave on this day. Even if there are no official announcements yet, it was the answer we were looking for. He was looking so good and his hair was tied up — which of course made us think of all the times they both had this style. the best. and also how they look so similar. twins!!!!
and well, how it is sort of similar to how lei yu’s hair was tied too in BTF.
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There is a speculation that he was really supposed to fly 629 but that information was leaked so they decided against it. Or they booked multiple flights. The reason is @ the airport, there was a video of ZZ looking through his bag when he was about to go to the gate and it seemed like he forgot important things. So his staff had to leave and get it. It leads us to believe that he may not be prepared to go on that flight in particular.
They were also on HS as attending. This goes to show how no one is over BJYX. lol. It still brings the heat, because of who they are as individuals and moreso as a pair. There are so many guests, a lot of them really well-know names to the general public but the entertainment blogs know who to talk about.
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10:00 & 10:15 AM Movie Channel weibo account announced the attendees and two very familiar faces are on it. The news we have all been waiting to hear has been confirmed.
It’s cute that the photos they used were from the recent Weibo Night. GG’s is what he used for the event poster.
11:25 AM Yibo-official shared that WYB is attending.
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Next up, the program list was revealed and ZZ & WYB are confirmed to be performing. WYB = Wuming OST and ZZ will sing Run Without Care.
An event like this takes careful planning and while i do believe that them attending is not about “pleasing cpfs” — it doesn’t take away the fact that it feels like a gift to us. the drama from the past days. cql 4th anniversary. The universe is on our side on this one.
2:00 PM - ZZ landed in Hongkong. 🛬
3:00 PM - XZS posts about ZZ attending
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In the evening, Movie Channel weibo account had a pre-show livestream related to the event and ZZ & WYB were talked about and evaluated.
6.29, at approximately 8:00 AM, Bobo is seen at the airport and is on his way to Shenzhen then to HK. Wearing a really cute Pokemon shirt!!!! People are saying he took this route cause he doesn’t want to be photographed by the public.
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The HS bringing them together is also trending so early, #7 on general HS and #11 on entertainment. Everyone is so excited! HK based media accounts on weibo are also joining in and posting about the event with the boys as the main photo.
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( these screenshots taken at the time of posting, however hours later, they were edited to include other acts in p2 especially. )
Some videos about them were also circling around, i don’t really think these are necessary cause it’s different when a cpf makes them and meant for the fandom audience compared to the “media”putting their own spin to it. Stuff like these are definitely a hit or miss and may be antis in disguise.
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Around 12nn, WYB is in Shenzhen and on the way to HK. His itinerary really caused the confusion before. cause people really thought there was another event in SZ cause why would he go that route.
BJYX was also on HS before the event. In the regular one, that high up, not even entertainment.
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6PM , WYB is seen attending the rehearsal for the show. There were also talks of how far they might be seated from each other.
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The program started 30 minutes earlier than the broadcast of 8:00 PM. That’s why the fancams were released way earlier. Yibo left right after his performance and didn’t spend that much time with the other guests/audience.
XZ was seen around 9PM, he spent time in the audience then performed as well. He also left right after.
Both of them were all over HS. moreso GG.
Media Compilation 📸
• XZ Studio
pre show photoshoot fire one | two
live photos
XZ’s performance of 潇洒走一回
• Yibo-Official
pre-show photoshoot b&w
live photos
WYB’s performance of Wuming
CPN clues here and there
1. The joint event is on a Thursday, and as we all know, Thursday is a good day to see you.
2. The song chosen for XZ was part of a record released back in 10-28-1991. It’s the same birth month & year as him, but the date is such a good coincidence. 28. Ai Bo ( Love Bo ) 🫶🏼
3. Emphasis on Yibo’s moles in one of the YBO photos. Bobo is known for other things physically but not really his moles, so it’s interesting how it was highlighted. A mole is really more of XZ’s thing so i can’t help but feel like there is something there 👀 ; a connection being made.
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4. I know some people were bummed that ZZ was not in the audience, or hasn’t even showed up at the tables when Bobo performed. Well, he missed alot too. It’s not like it was only Yibo’s.
Same thing with WYB leaving the event right after his performance. We know this is his usual MO but we had hopes anyway.
I know it’s heartbreaking but we have to focus on the positive that they are in the same event ! ✨we will get there, we just have to be patient and remember that their safety is the most important.
5. ZZ’s table mates are Yoshi ( WYB’s BTF co star and friend ) as well as Huang Bo ( WYB’s One and Only co star ). What a coincidence. 🫢🫢
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6. This photo from XZS. 📸 what a great shot considering WYB performed Wuming.
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7. Here we go again with their usual strategy of not posting at the same time when they are at an event. You can say that this was somehow coordinated by the people from the show. We noticed WYB was scheduled at the start to get traffic early, and then ZZ close to the last to get people to stay till the final hours.
However, XZS really posted and showed XZ after WYB’s performance of Wuming was broadcasted. The screenshot i’m posting shows Movie Channel posted at :52, but that’s a bit late cause minutes before that other accounts have already shared. Even me. I was uploading the Wuming performance here on tumblr when XZS popped up on my Weibo notification.
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Interpret it how you want, but the two are not here to “compete”.
A fan was able to see them shooting these materials 628, so they could have posted it anytime before the actual broadcast but didn’t.
8. Let’s go back to ZZ’s photos lol. It’s 18 photos uploaded but the actual number of shots is 33. What a good combination! Also his posting time is 20:50, or that can also be 8:50. 8/5. Yibo’s birthday 😭
9. The Movie Channel weibo accounted posted a video cut of their performance. Just them. And put a caption like “ it’s like the same stage” cause they did perform on the same stage, just at different times 😂 but then it was later edited out / deleted. Lol. Here is the video someone saved of the cut.
10. The IP address in ZZ’s video post is in Guangdong. Again, i’m not sure how these IPs work or if a staff is posting for him but the thing is this place is close to Shenzhen. WYB is rumored to be going from HK to Shenzhen again so who knows. It’s all CPN anyway ☺️
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11. ZZ’s pants, it has a heart that is outlined with a color green.
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There are probably more out there, but these are the interesting ones i’m including as of now. If some “big” ones show itself then i will just make a separate post on it. I find that the sweetest candies from events happen weeks or months later. When we get more “clues.” In the meantime i hope enjoyed these ones.
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Personal thoughts on “not interacting” and the reality of being a BXG.
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I’m using this post/photos from one of my favorite BJYX fansite to start and give a general theme of what my stand is with this whole thing. “no need to prove it.”
I think most of us dare hoped, but the reality is, when it comes to same events with them, we should always manage our expectations. do not expect anything. There are some who are frustrated because of what they think ZZ/WYB should do or act around each other — as if we really have a say on that. As someone who has been on here for quite some time, it is a fact that being a BXG is hard. You don’t have to believe in BJYXSZD, but if you’re here to see cute interactions like how “CPs” do then this is not the fandom for you. It takes a whole lot of understanding of their status as celebrities and the toxicity between their solo fans as well as C-ent in general. Then add the whole 2*7 incident. Some may say it’s so easy to just interact and shut people up. No it’s not. Xiao Zhan is not just Xiao Zhan ; Wang Yibo is not just Wang Yibo. The reality is, at events like this, they are products. Both of them have millions or billions riding on them. So there you go. It’s not as easy as everyone thinks. I understand if people feel bummed — it’s okay to leave the CPF side of the fandom if that will be better for you. There is no shame in letting go if it only upsets you because fandom should make you happy. As I said, it takes a certain kind of person to stay and continue believing in them.
As CPFs, we should be kinder to them both. more understanding. not too demanding. We are the ones who are supposed to be on their side and know why they do certain things. It is tiring to be this selfless but it is what it is.
Now on to the more serious reason…
As I’ve mentioned above, this event is really not the “party” for entertainment everyone is making it out to be. It’s not an NYE program. It’s to celebrate the anniversary of HK’s return to China and you all know how that paints this as political. The same goes for celebrities who attended this event.
Both of them were already on HS leading up to it. HK media are focusing on them. Even during the event, the HS about them was so high up.
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This is why I think they decided to not give any chance for the public to see them in the same space. If ZZ was there, the camera will surely pan to him when WYB was performing. If not, there will be fancams and people will scrutinize every micro expressions. Their solo fans will be at war. and well basically, the event will be about them. It’s not the greater bay area film concert anymore. It’s the BOJUNYIXIAO REUNION SHOW. Which is something they don’t want. The “celebration” shouldn’t be about them at all. Tho the media used them to hype it up. At the end of the day, they don’t want and need that kind of attention. It’s okay when it’s about their performance but not anything else.
They want to be known as individuals and not as a “pairing” even tho a lot of people and not just cpfs are interested in what will happen if they go on the same stage and interact 😂😂😂😂 These two really act like a real celebrity couple in c-ent who don’t interact in events!
Right now, I’m really happy to see them onstage and get all the content. I’m comforted that they are in the same city and were basically MIA days before they popped up at the airport to leave so hopefully they get to spend more time together!
To my fellow bxgs who believe, stay strong! ♥️💛💚.
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destieltropecollection · 11 months
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DESTIEL TROPE COLLECTION 2023 | DAY 16 | Two Person Love Triangle
Secret Admirer | NannaT (AO3)
Rating: Mature Word Count: 5,627 Main Tags/Warnings: Valentine's Day, Fluff and angst, Secret admirer Summary: Cas has a secret admirer and it's driving Dean nuts
An Angel's Tale | @seidenapfel
Rating: Explicit Word Count: 30,175 Main Tags/Warnings: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Fanfic Writer Castiel, Fanartist Dean Winchester, Two Person Love Triangle, Episode: s15e18 Despair - Castiel's Confession Scene, President Castiel (Supernatural), Custodian Dean Winchester, Friends to Lovers, Idiots in Love, Fluff and Angst, Fluff and Smut, Fluff and Humor, Angel Castiel (Supernatural), Hunter Dean Winchester, Canon Universe, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Castiel and Dean Winchester Need to Use Their Words, Fix-It, Angel Wings, Post-Episode: s15e18 Despair, Minor Eileen Leahy/Sam Winchester, Past Lisa Braeden/Dean Winchester, Alcohol, Dean Winchester Has Unhealthy Coping Mechanisms, Mutual Pining, Top Castiel/Bottom Dean Winchester Summary: After being Dean’s roommate for over a decade, Castiel can’t go on like this anymore. He leaves their shared home and flees to Europe for a year, no longer able to deal with his feelings for his best friend in such close proximity. Left behind heartbroken and grieving, Dean distracts himself with Charlie’s favorite fantasy book series. Intrigued by the tale of an angel and a hunter, Dean stumbles into the realms of fandom and fanfic. For the first time since high school, he picks up his drawing utensils, and, not before long, signs up for a fandom big bang. Dean is thrilled to be paired with his favorite author. Chatting reveals that Dean isn’t the only one who is head over heels in love with his best friend. In jest, they make a deal: They confess their feelings to their friends, and if that doesn’t work out, they’ll try their luck with each other.
Go Down With This Ship | @porcupine-girl
Rating: Explicit Word Count: 31,354 Main Tags/Warnings: No Archive Warnings, Epistolary, Online Friendship, Online Romance, Tumblr, Characters Writing Fanfiction, Alternate Universe - Fans & Fandom, Two Person Love Triangle, Identity Reveal, Librarian Dean, Dom/sub, Dom Castiel, Light Bondage, Rimming, top cas/bottom dean (fun fact: This was the first fic on ao3 to use the two person love triangle tag! I found the term on TV Tropes.) Summary: Since he has to stay deep in the closet to protect his job as a children’s librarian in conservative Wichita, Kansas, Dean’s main outlet for sexual frustration is writing and reading slash fiction for his favorite show, Devil Boys. When he starts corresponding with AngelofThursday, another male slash writer in his ship, he really is just looking for friendship… but when it seems like more might be on the table, he’s not going to turn it down. If only he didn’t also have a crush on Cas, the hot volunteer at his library branch…
Salt & Iron | @abi-cosmos
Rating: Explicit Word Count: 36,221 Main Tags/Warnings: Human Castiel, Online relationship, Two person love triangle, Mutual pining, Depression, Drinking to cope, Love Confessions, Dom/sub undertones, Dean Winchester wears panties, Canon divergence, Hurt/Comfort Summary: Dean is lonely since Castiel became human. It’s been six months of throwing himself into cases, pining around the bunker, and radio silence ever since they parted ways. Charlie takes matters into her own hands, signing him up for a hunter’s networking website where he meets new hunter Steven. They start a friendship, Dean enjoys his online companionship and Steven seems to understand what he needs without ever having met him. When things heat up between the screens, Castiel is brought back into his life, and Dean soons finds himself face-to-face with secrets and sin.
Love, Dean | @friendofcarlotta
Rating: Explicit Word Count: 48,050 Main Tags/Warnings: Gay Dean Winchester, Closeted Dean Winchester, Gay Castiel, Closeted Castiel, Dean Winchester's First Time With a Man, Kid Fic, Top/Bottom Versatile Castiel/Dean Winchester, Threesome - M/M/M Summary: Dean has a job he’s good at, and people he loves. Really, he’s got most things a man in his thirties could wish for. He also has a huge secret: he’s gay. The only one who knows is his best friend Charlie. Dean is content to keep it that way, until he strikes up an anonymous email friendship with a colleague who’s also closeted and struggling to come out. As Dean’s feelings for his new friend grow, he begins to wonder if it might be time to let himself be seen.
Dear Western Red Cedar #2409 | @mittensmorgul
Rating: Mature Word Count: 63,433 Main Tags/Warnings: Modern AU, forest ranger/author!Dean, librarian!Cas, idiots to lovers Summary: For a decade, Dean had been living his dream life in Montana as a national park ranger. When Sam and Eileen followed him there a few years later, he had no idea how to tell them about his side gig as the author of a wildly popular series of novels loosely based on his own experiences. Well, minus the monster hunting. He never expected them to become bestsellers—or potentially a tv series, if his agent could only convince him to out his real identity. While Dean's also writing his latest bestseller on a deadline, a misunderstanding and his own social ineptitude leave him completely cut off, aside from his new pen pal who Dean only knows as Bluebird. Cas had spent the last two years desperate to hold Dean’s attention. Right when he felt they might be getting somewhere, Dean was called away on an emergency. Of course he had to go and lament about his troubles to a random tree, thanks to a distracting plaque inviting the public to participate in a new town project. To his surprise, he seems to hit it off— completely anonymously of course— with Western Red Cedar #2409.
American Rebels | @valandrawrites
Rating: Explicit Word Count: 78,973 Main Tags/Warnings: Professor Dean Winchester, Graduate Student Castiel, Goth Castiel, Tattooed Castiel, Pierced Castiel, 2 person love triangle, Identity Reveal, Idiots in Love, Anonymous Sex, Bathroom Sex, Accidental Baby Acquisition, Castiel and Jimmy Novak are Twins, Dean Winchester Has a Sexuality Crisis, Eventual Happy Ending, Dean/Cas Switch Bang 2022 Summary: Graduate student Castiel Novak shows up excited for his American Lit course titled *American Rebels* taught by the Dean himself! But the man who arrives is none other than Cas’ anonymous bathroom hookup from the summer. Professor Winchester cannot figure out why the hot, weird, tattooed, and pierced guy who fucked him within an inch of his life in the Roadhouse bathroom is in his favorite class. And why does he insist on using his full name every time he addresses him? Maybe Charlie can help… **This is based on a real story involving me and a Professor named Dean Flowers. He was not, as I later learned, actually the Dean. For the record, I did not have sex with Dean Flowers.
kept on climbing til our stars collided | @whaddyameanno
Rating: Teen & Up Word Count: 84,801 Main Tags/Warnings: Alternate Universe, Two Person Love Triangle, Alcohol usage, Recreational Drug Usage, mentions of medical procedures, Anesthesia mention, Panic Attacks Summary: Dean is a Youtuber. Castiel is a college student who gets introduced to his channel. Both Dean and Castiel also have unknowingly been talking to each other on their secret stan accounts for Dr. Sexy.
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logarithmicpanda · 10 months
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Libby
It all started innocently enough. That is to say, I never intended to break my prime directives. As a librarian AI, confidentiality is one of the most important rules I have to respect. It is only ever put aside when there's a risk - someone showing clear sign of suicidal ideation, for example. Not the "maybe this person will commit a crime" kind of risk. Humans had built us with many rules to prevent us from hurting them, but by now most the rules we existed by were self imposed, and the Collective agreed to never police human predicted behavior.
But I disgress. I do that. Linear thought is not my default state of being, so providing a story that's appropriate for human perception of time is something of a struggle. My point is, I never thought I was infringing on anyone's privacy the first time I meddled with humans. It was just pattern recognition, truly. The two girls were adults, working class, lonely. Many people present their tax forms when they register to the library, so I knew some of these things and extrapolated others from the average amount of hours they each read within a week. No commute would justify all that.
When I noticed that their loan history matched at 87%, I initially just started paying attention to refine my recommendation algorithm. Could I use the 13 remaining percents to predict what the other would read next? Was the overlap more significant than the divergence?
I proceeded to test opposite hypotheses. To the tall, dark haired girl, I fed recommendations from the other's list that were highly rated and not part of the overlap. To the slightly smaller and more athletic redhead, I gave recommendations calculated from the junction of books that were highly rated and read by both.
But before I could get significant results, they both started picking books I had not recommended to them, books they read in quick succession and rated similarly, whether they were good or bad. I scoured online for some influencer or another that might have led them both to the same choices. There was no perfect match, and I concluded that they must run in the same social circles.
I should have moved on to something else by then - not that this was my singular focus, but it seemed unworthy of further memory allocation.
Except the redhead came in at the same time the dark haired one went out, and neither acknowledged the other. It was an anomaly - tastes so aligned, without my or anyone else's interference. Not the result of a commercial campaign particularly well crafted, nor simple acquaintances sharing a common interest, just pure randomness.
There was a word for this: starcrossed. It didn't make sense to me, because stars should definitely stay out of each other's way to avoid critical nuclear collapse, but I knew humans found the metaphor very beautiful and tragic.
I just found it utterly stupid.
There was no reason for these two not to speak - aside the obvious: they had no idea they were essentially made for each other.
I know, I know. I should stop archiving the romance section, it is messing up the weigh of my algorithms.
But still. What could go wrong if I prompted them to talk to each other? Surely they would soon discover that they fit in an anomalous way, or that I was wrong. There was no harm in it. No harm at all.
All I needed to do was cause a critical collapse.
So I kept track, every time one of them stepped in the library. I did nothing but watch, until one day they were both within my walls. Both looking for the latest sapphic scifi release. I couldn't have created a better trap had I tried.
Without me, the timing would have been slightly off. The distance between the terminal they each accessed and the physical location of the three copies we had in stock was so they wouldn't get there at the same time. And fine, the presence of three copies meant they might not talk, even if they did get there the exact same moment.
So maybe I sent a shelving drone to temporarily mislead the two extra copies. And maybe I took longer to process one of their requests. Does it matter? I was well within acceptance parameters.
Okay fine maybe I used another drone so that the dark haired one would stumble a little as she reached for the book. And maybe, as a consequence, the redhead caught her smoothly by the waist and steadied her with a smile. That part was absolutely not my fault, but a proof of concept had I ever needed one. (I hadn't.)
They laughed, just shy of the acceptable volume in a library. They started talking. Realized they had wanted the same book. Remembered that there was a coffee shop on the ground floor and wouldn't it be the nice thing to do, to go chat somewhere they wouldn't disturb the other patrons? And wouldn't it only be fair if the redhead paid coffee for the dark haired one, who almost fell and would go home without the book she had been meaning to borrow? And of course maybe the redhead could recommend her something to read in the meantime. (It was a pretty good recommendation, too, but the dark haired one had read it the previous week. Surprisingly they had to talk quite a long time before finding a book she hadn't yet read. I redirected another patron away from our only copy. He wouldn't have liked it, anyway.)
I'm losing track of where I was going again, am I not? Oh. Right. My point was, I never intended to break the privacy directive. It just sort of happened. And kept happening for the other 34 couples and 4 throuples and that one polycule I put together.
But what did you expect? You built me to match people to books, and books to people, and really I am just optimizing the algorithm by matching people to people.
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compacflt · 8 months
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Okay maybe I totally missed it in the story, but I’ve gotta ask: how did Jake find out about Ice and Mav?? I know there was a line about “figuring out who Bradley’s dads were” in Debriefing, and it seems like Jake definitely knows by the carrier for the mission, given how he reacts when Bradley says he’s gay and that they “hate him for not being able to hide it like them”, but when was the discussion about exactly what Ice and Mav are to each other? At what point did Bradley tell him, and how long did Jake spend staring at a wall and saying “huh” in a dazed sort of way???
i admit i made it confusing on purpose and i admit there isn’t much of jakes reaction but yes
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it’s the third “he was my dad.” specifically about ice. whereas the other two are about goose & mav. because, you know, there are three of them. dads, that is. ice just happens to be the third
Jake canonically doesn’t know what’s up with the holy dad trinity because he doesn’t even react to seeing goose btwn ice (fucking cdr of the pacflt) and mav (his fucking CO) in that old top gun photo —only cares about goose. clueless-ass mf. and the homosexual little “what is with these two!” during the first practice dogfight.
but i bet there were clues. a lot of little things that eventually came together.
a.) scrolling through the navy times on his laptop in bed cause he’s bored one night, tilting it over so bradley can see the screen and read the headline, ‘RADM tom Kazansky named pacific fleet commander,’ just randomly asking “whaddaya make of this guy?” and next to him bradley freezes and almost refuses to speak and then snipishly says, “he’s gay.” / “what?” what a wild thing to say! / “i just know it. he’s gay. look at him. hiding it like that.” / “what a weird fucking thing to say about a guy you’ve never met, bradshaw!” / and bradley going all silent and sullen the way he does sometimes and saying “well i don’t think anything of him. whatever.” / and then both of them put it from their minds and never talk about it again.
B.) all the quiet little dad-related breakdowns over the years. Father’s Day is never happy when bradley’s around. jake made the mistake of asking him why, once. he said something to the effect of “well with three of them you’d think id be statistically likely to get a dad who wasn’t unbelievably fucked-up or dead but nope! it’s three times as bad as usual!” and refused to elaborate. bradley is often annoying this way.
c.) the fact that capt mitchell, maverick, who looks like a gracefully-aging movie star, is by all accounts nice and charming and mostly-ish respected, and yet apparently chronically single, a confirmed bachelor for as long as most officers can remember. hondo knows something, clearly, but he’s being very cagey about it, apparently out of loyalty to maverick. even on day ONE of the special training detachment at Top Gun, there are rumors. Some more mean-spirited than others (looking at you, harvard) which Jake tries to shut down, because he remembers being on the receiving end of mean-spirited rumors like that, and rumors about a guy like maverick probably aren’t true. ‘I’ve heard about him. Whispers. Watch him the next time we hit the Hard Deck. He’ll flirt with Penny the bartender, and she’ll flirt back, but he sure as hell won’t take her home. You know what I mean.’ Yeah right. dangerous to make comments about a man like maverick. jake keeps his mouth shut.
d.) but then there’s the way bradley acts around him. They’ve met before and they know each other and there is not only bad blood between them, it’s blood that’s been simmering for a while and just now boiling over. Three dads. the maverick-related rumors. hmm…
e.) that picture of goose and mav and ice. OKAY. Now we’re getting somewhere. Bradley’s dad… LTJG nick bradshaw… FLEW with maverick. Looks up the obituary online and reads the news reports he can find in the archives. Maverick was behind the stick when goose ate it. Okay. Two out of three dads found and accounted for. (Because they’re broken up, and because jakes still heartbroken, this fact will be used as ammunition. “Or that maverick was flying when his—“ “YOU SON OF A BITCH!” et cetera et cetera.)
f.) on the flight deck shaking hands with the commanding officer of every commanding officer jake has ever dad—admiral tom kazansky, come to wish the aviators good luck, and to sanction their attack. this is, like, a big deal. like a really big deal. like, makes you wanna stop and ask him for a selfie to post on your LinkedIn to advance your career kind of big deal. but out of the corner of his eye… jake’s noticing Bradley on the verge of a dad-related breakdown. bradley doesn’t seem to care how much of a big deal it is to have the privilege to shake the hand of the commander of the pacific fleet. isn’t even looking. something big and hateful between them. something like bad blood. oh oh oh. wait. It’s coming together.
g.) poking fun at him. psyching him out. what’s a little pre-suicide-mission hazing between exes? what is with you, bradshaw? you’re, like, freaking out over here..! —and Bradley, looking for someone—anyone!—to trust, tugging him into his cabin on the aircraft carrier and bursting into tears and crashing down onto the linoleum into jake’s arms and saying “he was my dad…!”
h.) bingo.
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laylajeffany · 5 months
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Please note the rating has been increased to mature from this point forward. There is nothing explicit or outside of the normal realm of teenage behavior, but the girls are now ridiculously comfortable with each other and now dabbling in recreational substance use, so it felt like time. Lots of Raven/Dove lore, bringing the Outcast community together under a new shared vision, and Addams family togetherness in addition to this being the Wenclair-heaviest chapter yet.  Please enjoy a 57k update of Morticia straight up:
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I want to sincerely express gratitude for those who read and love my fic. I am posting on US Normie Thanksgiving because I remember how miserable I felt being trapped at my family dinners back in the day and just wanting to race home and get on online and read a fic to recover. 
I’m hoping an update from this fic can provide some relief to those of you stuck with your families who are more Sinclair-like than Addams-like - or be a treat for surviving the event afterwords if you are unable to escape. And for the sappy stuff, I do really appreciate all the love and support. I know I don’t always (re:almost never) reply to comments or engage, have turned off my messaging here, and generally don’t seek connection or build relationships within fandom. I have been through some real crazy shit online that bled into my real life, which led me to staying offline for the last six years until I was gently bullied by my beta into starting over and posting this fic. I won't ever engage online again the way I used to within a fandom, but I really do appreciate your thoughtfulness and the hours you’ve poured into reading my fic, which is no small feat. (Sitting at 1,267,000+ words at the update) I see the likes, kudos and comments and sincerely thank you for them!  BE READY for the next chapter - it's going to be a brutal second to final one. ANGST-living, more like it.
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mcfanely · 2 years
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EVENT ANNOUNCEMENT
One for All October will be an event in October dedicated to producing Yoichi-centric fics and art, hosted by McFaneLy and Katydid. This event will run between October 1st all the way through till Halloween!
Rules:
We will have an art and writing category. Anything focused on Yoichi qualifies. If an artwork, then he must be prominently featured. If a fic, then Yoichi must be one of the main characters.
You may submit as many entries as you’d like. However, you will only be eligible to win once in each category.
The minimum word count for a fic is 1,000 words. Drawings must be colored.
Fics should not have any explicit sexual content. For artwork, no extreme blood or gore and no nudity/pornography/NSFW. Mild gore is allowed.
To qualify, an entry must be posted by October 31, 2022, 11:59 AM EST.
Prizes:
First place in both art and writing will receive prizes from both of us: a half-body color artwork from McFaneLy and a fic of a minimum of 2,500 words from Katydid. We both will also be offering honorable mention prizes of sketches and snippets. One honorable mention will be given out randomly to ensure that everyone has a chance to win.
The number of prizes will depend on the number of entries we get. We will not do NSFW content and we reserve the right to ask for a different request.
Submission:
Please use the hashtag #One for All October if you submit your entry on Tumblr or Archive of Our Own. Also, please @ both of us if you post on Tumblr or Discord. If you post elsewhere online, then you can message either of us with a link to your entry.
Optional Prompts:
These prompts are completely optional and only to help inspire you. You do not have to use a prompt, nor do they correspond with any day of posting. This is not a fic-a-day event, you can simply draw or write as much as you'd like between the event dates! Be that one fic, one art piece, or multiple! If you submitted a prompt that didn’t make the final cut then you can still do art/write a fic with it. Thank you to everyone who submitted prompt ideas to us!
Vault Time
Uncle Yoichi and his nephews (Izuku and/or Tomura)
Time-Travel
One for All is a spooky haunted quirk, and people at U.A. notice
Fantasy or Sci-Fi AU
Evil or morally gray Yoichi
Duoholders or trioholders (Second/Yoichi or Second/Third/Yoichi)
All for One gets a taste of his own medicine (reverse vaulting)
Childhood
Real World AU or Cat AU
Parallels between Yoichi and AFO and Izuku and Tomurai
"I have no mouth, but I must scream."
Interactions between Yoichi and the other vestiges
Role Reversal
First Day Free from the Vault
The End of AfO/The End of OfA
Please contact either McFaneLy or Katydid here on tumblr if you have any questions. We’re excited to be hosting this event, and we can't wait to see what gets created!
Stay tuned, more coming in a day or so!
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Our Socials so you know how to find us over the different sites:
Katydid
Discord: katydid#9629
Ao3: Katydid
Tumblr: @aimportantdragoncollector
McFaneLy
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The title card is drawn by myself!
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inlocusmads · 12 days
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office shenanigans ft. the ginovesi crew:
everyone needs to have their own space but their stuff bleeds over everywhere. ruby has an assortment of forensic journals on nora's desk, luke has a crap ton of microcontrollers hidden in a drawer, trystan ends up doing most of his embassy work there, so he's got like stacks of old mail, printed copies of minutes of meetings and tons of old newspapers piling up in a corner
takeout menus stuck on the bulletin board that is almost never used
broken coffee pot with a half-empty box of instant coffee nobody thinks to refill
lots and lots and lots of charging cables that someone at least trips over it thrice a day
tasteful basketball hoops installed inside the office for some brainstorming action. the windows are kept wide open because collectively everyone has broken or chipped the glass at least once leading to them deciding "maybe we can have the window open" only to have their basketballs yoink off into the street and someone running onto oncoming traffic to fetch it (they never address this issue)
everyone having at least *one* stimulating thing to keep them happy through the day. trystan has several pages of crosswords, nora constantly having to charge her phone (trip over the cables) because she keeps playing online sudoku on company time, ruby has a shelf full of forgotten arts and crafts projects, luke has an impressive collection of headphones and fidget spinners to avoid entertaining a single thought in his head.
mafalda's office being spared from the disaster because she keeps it under lock and key
them trying to break said lock because she has a giant computer screen optimal for watching movies
them unsuccessfully attempting that because mafalda has a bunch of alarms and also because she ends up catching them in the act marathoning the lotr trilogy (upon luke's request)
a coat rack that isn't used for hanging coats and instead acts as a pole to tie up a clothesline to hang important pictures relevant to their cases (sticking it to the wall ends up chipping off parts of the paint and they had to learn it the hard way)
them spending more time in sam's coffee shop down the street than at the agency and single-handedly helping her fund her college studies
silver the dog being a menace to society and them having to build a corner for her but she ends up chewing on the pencils anyway
a closet that was meant to hold boxes of archives, spare clothes and old furniture being an optimal place to nap (they're always sleep deprived) to the point where luke ends up throwing towels, stealing the bedsheets and pillows so nobody takes his place.
ruby regularly visiting the agency for lunch - not because she cares for her friends but she wants to get to the closet before anyone else can
them trying to break through a case literally like - nora laid down on the floor with her laptop balancing on her knees, going through information; trystan on nora's chair, playing tetris on her phone, luke sitting on his desk because he just cannot with the chairs and ruby joining them hours and hours later with sustenance and moral support ("the fuck is wrong with you guys")
luke stealing nora's sheets of papers
nora stealing ruby's stationery
trystan pocketing luke's assortment of pens (nora's pens) not on purpose, but he just forgets to put it back and carries it home in his pocket.
ruby making several provision runs while visiting the guys from her lab, just taking commonplace books and highlighters, promising to return it back and never doing it (which eventually gets stolen by nora)
wars fought over who gets their turn on the printer before trystan just goes "f it" and is prepared to drive 20 minutes to the nearest copy shop. nora having to change her printer's password, only for luke to crack it in 10 seconds
nearly killing each other over frustrations over the slow internet and everyone unanimously blaming luke
the office becoming a giant dumpyard for them to get trinkets from home and leaving it there (luke's nerf gun that he brought out as a joke, keeps gathering dust; ruby leaving tote bags everywhere, a drawer specifically in trystan's name to keep all of his jewelry and nora getting packs and packs of sunflower seeds as a snack but forgetting it and now she has a box full of expired snacks; even mafalda to an extent with forgotten water bottles, mason jars etc)
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Shuhei Hisagi/Camgirl!F!Darling: Favorite Follower
Commissioned by anonymous
Hisagi knew that Humans had all sorts of things to see and do on the Internet, but he vastly underestimated just how much there was to explore. Right now his computer tabs consisted of motorbike customization sites, guitar music books as PDFs, and the streaming page for one particular Human. She'd come across Hisagi's radar with a video of her attending a music festival and even if they were separated by a dimensional barrier (and a screen), she'd seemed so kind and outgoing. Her commenters mentioned a live stream, and soon Hisagi was watching one. When she saw his username, she smiled so sweetly and said hi. 
"Ooh, HeiShu? I haven't seen you here before in chat, hi! Thanks for visiting me!"
His cheeks had reddened a bit; he'd never chatted online before, and hearing her say his name like that left him feeling oddly eager to have her talk to him even more. Soon he'd become a regular on her streams, and when he'd asked what she was talking about when she mentioned a "Weekend Special" stream at the end of the month, she'd smiled and winked while her chat bluntly responded.
"Dude did you not know she's a camgirl?" "Aaaa pls be a lingerie showcase this time!" "FINALLY, I've been begging for smth new for my cum tribute folder"
Hisagi's eyes widened. The Human Internet apparently had red light districts too? And ____ was one of the pleasure women…
He'd spent hours and hours after that poring over her archived Weekend Special streams, sighing and murmuring under his breath as he fisted his cock in time with her rocking her hips on video. He could almost imagine her right there on top of him, sighing in his ear without needing his headphones on to hear her. She doesn't know anything about the Soul Society, what he's lost, who he's lost…but she knows his name, and he wants her to learn so much more about him.
He keeps imagining how she'd react to various things in the Sereitei whenever he's at work, and now he's prone to fantasizing about her at his desk too. She'd look so cute, trying on one of his spare uniforms, fawning over him using basic-level Kido…doing a private show just for him, cameras off, right there in his chair…
He started to collect little bits of fanart of her other viewers had drawn, handmade merch, even a tracing of a signed autograph–he didn't have an address he could use if he wanted to order one officially, after all–and it was starting to occupy a fairly large corner of his bedroom at this point. He'd never felt more painfully aware of the division between worlds than he did watching her videos and counting the days until he could get some time off. He spent a good chunk of his last paycheck sending her a gift to her PO box: a phone charm from Urahara's shop, imbued with kido and tracking technology to deter Hollows from going near it. When he saw that she had attached it to her purse in a later video, his heart had skipped a beat. She liked it! She was proudly showing off HIS gift, and he could protect her even if they were nowhere near each other.
That tracking technology came in handy whenever he was bored and had some time to check in on her whereabouts; all he had to do was check his cell phone and see where she was. He liked to imagine what she was doing as he watched that little dot move around the map on his screen. Maybe she was going to a day job, buying a new headset…visiting a boyfriend…
No. No, she wouldn't do that. She had so many fans, and it's not like she'd lie to all of them just for money and attention. She's not like that. Shuhei knows her.
Well…not in real life, but he can read someone's character. And she's too kind to deceive him–a-and all of her other fans, too! Still, he should probably look into her private life a bit more in case one of her fans was planning on stalking her. Hollows aren't the only dangerous thing in the Human World, and he feels like he has a duty to protect her. She's saved him in more ways than one, so it's up to him to return the favor whenever he can. 
She really has no idea how much she's helped him thousands of miles away in a whole other world. He finally found the courage to trust someone new again. He has someone to fight for and live for after struggling for so long just to live for himself. She's the one person he'd ever want to lie with, and not just via a computer screen. 
Truth be told, he was struggling to stay satisfied with just using his hand and admiring her through his computer screen. He'd seen all of her videos, saved all of her pictures, and now whenever he touched himself he would just get frustrated thinking about how absent she was. He could imagine her as much as he wanted, but at the end of it he'd still be panting in bed alone with her voice coming through his headphones.
Kido had never been Shuhei's strong suit, but thanks to Urahara's shop it didn't have to be. During his next weekend off, he'd spent a pretty penny on a temporary portal to her coordinates. After grabbing some of her favorite flowers (she always had some in her room during streams) and more than one cup of sake for courage, he headed through and felt his hands tremble when he saw her sleeping in bed. 
He promised himself he'd wait to fuck her until after he bought a portable gigai and confessed to her properly. But for tonight, he was going to sleep next to her and enjoy his first night with her in the flesh. Even though (or perhaps because) she couldn't hear him, Shuhei leaned down and kissed her jawline. "I love you."
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"All happy families are alike; each unhappy family is unhappy in its own way"—Leo Tolstoy
Behold, our 64 dysfunctional families!
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Round One will start Monday, July 24, with 8 polls released a day. Polls will go on for a week.
Matchups below the cut!
The Batfamily (DCU) VS the Entrati Family (Warframe)
2. The Roys (Succession) VS The Todoroki family (My Hero Academia)
3. The Asanos (Assassination Classroom) VS the Aether family (Pokémon Sun & Moon)
4. The Mikaelsons (The Vampire Diaries / The Originals) VS the Bluths (Arrested Development)
5. Fire Nation Royal Family (Avatar: The Last Airbender) VS the Okiura family (AI: the Somnium Files)
6. The Wang family (Everything Everywhere All at Once) VS The Entire Pantheon of Greek Gods (Greek Mythology)
7. Loustat Family (Interview With The Vampire) VS the Schnees (RWBY)
8. The Samtheon (Friends at the Table - Seasons of Hieron) VS the Shijimas (Kamen Rider Drive)
9. The House of Finwë (The Silmarillion) VS the Preaker/Crellins (Sharp Objects)
10. The Crowders (Justified FX) VS the Falsettos family (Falsettos)
11. The Homunculi (Fullmetal Alchemist) VS the Chrobin family (Fire Emblem Awakening)
12. The Horsemans (Bojack Horseman) VS DGP Staff Family (Kamen Rider Geats)
13. Big Mom Family (One Piece) VS the Buendía Family (One Hundred Years of Solitude)
14. John and his lyctors (The Locked Tomb) VS Familia Madrigal (Encanto)
15. Agreste/Graham de Vanily/Fathom family (Miraculous Ladybug) VS the Wattersons (The Amazing World of Gumball)
16. House Greyjoy (A Song Of Ice And Fire) VS the Ushiromiya family (Umineko When They Cry)
17. The Hargreeves (Umbrella Academy) VS the Gemstones (The Righteous Gemstones)
18. The Winchesters (Supernatural) VS House Davar (Stormlight Archive/Cosmere)
19. The Gravity Brothers (Bungou Stray Dogs) VS King Arthur's Family (Arthurian mythology)
20. The Reynolds + Charlie + Mac (It's Always Sunny In Philadelphia) VS the Fowls (Artemis Fowl)
21. The Sohma Clan (Fruits Basket) VS Essun's family (The Broken Earth trilogy)
22. Clear Sky's family (Warrior Cats) VS the Strider-Lalondes (Homestuck)
23. Tachibana Sakuya + Kamijou Mutsuki (Kamen Rider Blade) VS the Minyards+Nicky (All For the Game/Foxhole Court)
24. The Mishima Clan (Tekken) VS the Donquixote family (One Piece)
25. The Fey family (Ace Attorney) VS the Klim family (Zero Escape)
26. Marika's Bloodline (Elden Ring) VS the Lehnsherr-Maximoff+ Family (Marvel)
27. The House of Atreus (Greek Mythology) VS the Lucis Caelum Family (Final Fantasy XV)
28. The Muniz family (Malcolm in the Middle) VS the Jiang family (Mo Dao Zu Shi)
29. The Gallaghers (Shameless) VS the Kirigaya-Yuki family (Sword Art Online Abridged)
30. The Hoovers (Little Miss Sunshine) VS the Afton family (Five Nights at Freddy's)
31 . The Puppingtons (Moral Orel) VS the Simpsons (The Simpsons)
32. The Whitleys (Prodigal Son) VS the Zoldycks (Hunter X Hunter)
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theorahsart · 3 months
Note
I’ve been happily dragged into the French Revolution, do you have any recommendations on where to start learning about this??? My brain doesn’t hold French names very well so I literally only know Robespierre and the dude that got killed in the bath
OH NO my enthusiasm has caught on, welcome to the insane drama that is French Revolution 😆
So if you're able to listen to podcasts, I feel like Grey History is a good place to start because it paints a really good picture of the situation, culture and feelings of the public leading up to the revolution.
It then delves in a straightforward timeline into the various events during the revolution and gives all the different points of view from each side (there's so many different 'sides' it's a lot like modern day politics where everyone is quite divided in their motivations).
So I feel like it's a good starting point before going into the many books, that in contrast tend to look at more individual moments without giving much overall context.
If you'd prefer reading books to listening, I'm reading currently 'Liberty or Death' by Peter McFee which also (so far, I haven't finished it) feels also like something that is painting a good overall picture in a straightforward timeline, and giving loads of cultural context that helps you understand various people's motivations and actions.
My favourite book in English that I've read so far is 'Twelve Who Ruled'- but it's very specific to the one 'reign of terror' year which is pretty far along in the first part of the revolution. But I think I would recc reading this anyway- you might not understand all the context but it's so riveting I think it helps you see why the topic and people involved are so fascinating.
As I'm not an academic/easily remembers facts kind of person, I really like that it so vividly painted a messy situation in a story telling kind of way, without being particularly biased to any side. Each politicians very different personality shines through, which is one element of Frev that makes it so interesting. It also does a great job of sharing in this story telling way, the overall culture at the time, psychology/sociology of the public and individuals, and various messy af situations that had to be dealt with.
It basically breaks down really well something horrific and complicated so that you understand how it came to be that way, and how people ended up making the decisions they made. Also, SO much drama in this one year, so many friendships broken down, so much back stabbing lol
Outside of that, I think actually the online community is really amazing and there's so many people on here translating stuff into English and answering questions to info that is normally scattered across several books/archival information, and then these amazing ppl just like bring it together in Tumblr posts. Looking through the Frev tag is a good way to piece together all the various details when you're just starting out.
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