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fashionlandscapeblog · 2 months

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For the past 2-3 years, the fashion industry doesn't 'proclaim' trends anymore, it proclaims whole 'aesthetics'. It's actually a genius and innovative marketing move, because instead of simply declaring faux fur a trend (as it always did), it declares a 'mob wife aesthetic', which is an own constellation of trends. So instead of just buying a faux fur coat, you have to buy the whole mob wife aesthetic starter kit (5-6 items? The more sales, the merrier). Same with 'clean girl' or 'old money' or 'quiet luxury'. The main thing is: Be everything but yourself.

Since the rise of social media and the now defunct democratization of fashion that came with it, the fashion industry has been struggling incessantly to control the narrative. These socalled 'aesthetics' have been things that have always existed, some of them even just last decade. The industry (read Vogue, Elle, etc) simply rebrands them as a marketing strategy.

This is all not just enabling even more unabashed consumerism, but it also makes people reject the idea of personal style and individuality. Anyone who follows these 'aesthetics' has a serious identity crisis.

Do we even know what a real person looks like anymore? Most of the beautiful people you see online or on magazines and media have been physically altered in one way or the other. If it isn't heavy photo editing, it is heavy plastic or cosmetic surgery, botox, eating disorders, breast augmentations, butliffts, microblading, all to fit the everchanging beauty standard or the trend of the day. Nowadays, it isn't even enough to be just skinny, because you need to spend hours in the gym working out those abs if you don't want to be labeled 'skinny fat'. (How abominable is this kind of thinking?)

The pressure is real. I think it is absolutely normal to have body or face dysmorphia nowadays or to feel depressed.

We are living in one of the most hostile times towards human beings in history, especially towards youth. Granted, before we used to have physical slavery, but the difference today is that the whole media, the whole culture, whole industries are dedicated to make us averse against our own selves on a daily or even minute-to-minute basis with social media. It is making us hate ourselves.

#fashion industry #beauty industry #food for thought #body dysmorphia #eating disorders #plastic surgery #mob wife aesthetic #clean girl aesthetic #old money aesthetic

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spockvarietyhour · 1 month

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Favourite Kitbash?

All these vessels started off as kitbashes from existing physical models sold commercially. Aside from the Constellation-class Stargazer, all the other TNG ones were barely glimpsed in the aftermath of the Battle of Wolf 359, including the 4-nacelle Melbourne-variant Neula class.

Also the shot I got from defunct Eaglemoss didn't show the baby nacelles so here they are:

The DS9 ones heavily featured the Centaur in one episode, while Curry does a flyby in A Time to Stand. Yeager was usually in stock shots around the station, barely visible.

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spinchip · 6 months

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braincell or techno… for da ficlet prompts.. mayb theyre gaming or stargazing or smth o_o

(A/n: blorbos of all time)

He’s talking about some constellation, voice soft and gentle in an attempt to keep her mind off things. Argo Navis she hears vaguely as she looks up at the black expanse above their heads, the great ship. Zane loves her, she knows, which is why he keeps redirecting her back to the stars, so that she wont keep sinking back beneath the waves. A ship constellation is fitting here, in this moment, when Nyas legs tremble and shake because sometimes her sea legs come back and she can’t quite remember how to get rid of them again.

They haven't talked about what they are, yet. Her breakup with Jay, her return from the sea- its all too fresh. She thinks about it sometimes, when they’re up here alone and the world feels like it’s rightside up again. About asking how he feels about her, pushing the pieces together to make a whole.

But sometimes, like her legs turn to jelly, his heart turns cold and reserved and his hands tremble with chill and she remembers it’s too fresh for him too, this newest trauma.

What a pair they’d make. The Ice Emperor and the Ocean. (Zane and Nya, a part of her whispers kindly, the part that believes she’ll heal one day, what a pair they’ll make.)

He’s moved on to talking about defunct constellations when she turns to face him. They’re sitting on the steps of the courtyard and there’s tea cups between them that she reaches down to move, settling them on her right instead of her left. She slides closer, reaches up to cup his jaw and doesn't flinch at the icy metal.

She tips his face towards her. There's small imperfections on his face that are only noticeable here and now, a patch job on his lower job that leads up to the corner of his mouth the most obvious. Maybe not to anyone else, but she had trained eyes and she knows his face. Shes never shied away from the scar. He's never looked put off by hers.

She leans in.

“Nya.” He says flatly, but not to rebuff her advance. His voice is just flat now, tone dead and even even when his eyes are glowing with want, “Is this wise?”

He closes the distance and kisses her.

#zane julien #nya ninjago #spinchip fic #braincellshipping #me resisting the urge to drop a really experimental angsty fic on you just because zane and nya talk in it a lot

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starfieldphotos · 7 months

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Sarah Morgan: Chair of Constellation; Commander, United Colonies Navy (retired); former head of defunct UC Navigator Corps; former drummer for disbanded Ironic Comet; astrodynamics expert; botany enthusiast, adventurer; explorer; wielder of laser weapons; my extraordinary wife, and favorite travelling companion, in 2330. Hopefully she'll remember us after Unity.

#starfield #sarah morgan

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tpeakphotos · 1 month

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This shot consists of the Amedee Lime Kiln in in rural Lassen County, California, USA and approximately 75 minutes of trailing stars overhead. The image was shot well in to “astro darkness” on a moonless night and composed to capture the north celestial pole, specifically the star Polaris, in the constellation Ursa Minor (Latin for “lesser bear”), more commonly known as The Little Dipper. The image was created by blending images using a combination of stationary low level lighting and “light painting” with a handheld flashlight.

This abandoned lime kiln is near the site of the long defunct town of Amedee between the community of Wendel and the Nevada state line. Deposits of lime, a key ingredient in the manufacture of concrete, were discovered in the area at the end of the 19th century, leading to this kiln’s construction in 1893. However, the enterprise was shortly abandoned due to unfavorable economic conditions. The idea was revisited in 1913 and the kiln was pressed back in service, only to be abandoned yet again. In 1920 one more local business man fired the kiln up and used the lime produced to make concrete for a Susanville California apartment complex that still exists today. After completion of the apartment complex the kiln was abandoned once and for all in 1927 due to the generally poor quality of the lime.

(Source; Tim Purdy, Lassen County Historian (tipurdy.org))

Prints and merch: https://buff.ly/3GR2A6e

#original photographers #photographers on tumblr #original photographic works #northern california #original photography on tumblr #lassen county #fine art photography #rural america #star trails

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ultimate-word-tournament · 11 months

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i think the difference between the cat words and the star words is that all the propaganda for star words was detailed love-letters to the word itself, while the cat word propaganda was just "this word cat word, vote cat word now!" occasionally accompanied with pictures of people's pets

that's fair. Though i will point out some of the propaganda for felis and māo that focuses on the specific word. People have pointed out that Felis is a defunct constellation, and māo sounds like a cat's meow, and kinda looks like a cat pushing something off a table (if you squint)

#asks #felis #māo #猫

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spontaneousglitterbees · 1 year

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Not sure how many of these count, but these are comics I haven’t seen mentioned in the Tumblr Lore Discussions yet that I’ve collected over the years. Some honestly just stuck in my memory more than anything, but here they are nontheless

Fairytale Vibes

Sweetrock by melgillman

CW: animal death// Something Nice by draconym

Different Stories Resonate with Different People (’eat shit & die 233′) by bpatrick via Akimbo Comics

Spring Comic by tomb-of-madeline

CW: referenced suicide// The Fish Wife by melgillman

CW: gore, death// Zombie Dog collaboration, original by sangcoon with addition by grimbarke [source link defunct]

Not from tumblr users but significant to the site’s lore: The Two-Headed Calf by Laura Gilpin [repost]

life after death by Justin McElroy

Monster/human Friendship by phantomqueen

Midnight Radio by elcomics

Scaredy Cat by Heather Franzen (rebloggable ver.) [tumblr link credits artists blog, work is frequently reposted without credit]

CW: body horror// Eleanor Rigby was About Zombies by ghostabletoastables [source link defunct]

How to Train Your Dragon by emmatheward

Mom Knight (Lady Tilda and the Dragon) by smgoetter

Parasite and Girl by saccharinescorpions

Goldilocks and the Constellations by earthsong9405

Frog and Scorpion by fluorescentnova

On the Importance of Space Travel (Princess of Pluto) by Svetlana Chmakova [link from original artist’s blog, work is often reposted without credit]

Nice Does Not Mean Good by tooquirkytolose

Erwin and the Method Demons by santapau

CW: animal death, sad but uplifting// p much all of jenny-jinya’s Loving Reaper comics, but this one sticks out to me

a decent exorcist by pocketss

Other (Mostly) Lighthearted Comics

Untitled. by that-house

Sphinx Couple by trackalaka

strange bog girl makes a friend by pocketss

Be Good to Eachother by Naterade

Crab’s Lost Love by Gunshow/K C Green

The Holiday Boar by guavajagular

Cyborg Date on the Waterfront by Adrian Ricker

take him back by charminglyantiquated

Hatching Pumpkins by iguanamouth

Cassandra by 16ruelaverrerie

CW: mentioned animal death// Wooly Bear’s Birthday collaboration thread [original urls appear defunct]

@hellsite-folklore

#comics #masterpost #hellsite-folklore #tumblr lore #stories #reclist

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autistickaitovocaloid · 1 year

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One of my biggest issues with DVDs becoming defunct is the lost of special features, specifically things in the "making of" genre. Like sure sometimes you'll still get a bonus by the creator that you can watch on a streaming service but it's not the same!!! Where are my blooper reals? Where's my trivia/which character are you quizzes? Where the hell is my interactive video of Barbie teaching me the name's of the constellations?

#art talks about stuff #i. fucking love special features man #i just remembered the cats vs dogs behind the scenes video which is what prompted this post #watching the making of spirited away video as a kid who wanted to get into the whole animation thing was so fucking fascinating #kung fu panda also had some great ones if i remember right #and need i even mention he barbie movies. holy shit

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torntruth · 8 months

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NAME: sarah morgan. AGE: late thirties to early fourties, i haven't decided yet. it's probably going to be 40.

CURRENT OCCUPATION: chairwoman of the space exploration organization known as CONSTELLATION . PREVIOUS OCCUPATION: commander in the navy navigator corps of the united colonies. it went defunct after a horrendous attack that left half of the corps dead and sarah resigned the military with so much trauma that she dropped all her medals and achievements on the major's desk and asked to never be spoken to again. her unit and troops suffered part of the attack and she feels, when she said not to retreat, that every single one of her unit's deaths was her fault. FAMILY: a practically adopted daughter after she asked 'dusty' (kristen) help her resolve her trauma. they found the girl living alone of a wilderness planet where the shuttle of former troops crashed landed. she never got a distress call or anything from them. two members survived and stayed together enough to have a child. kristen and sarah brought the girl back to the constellation headquarters, the lodge, where she stays.

#sarah morgan tag later.#starfield spoilers

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sweet-star-sketches · 10 months

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WIPs from June 27th and March 12th, 2023 I'm in one of those mind states where it takes me literal hours to make myself upload my WIPs, even though that's the entire point of this side blog :') Not that I dislike these, rather I received some bad (but unrelated) news today/yesterday and that always ramps up my insomnia. I'm up WAY too late again and my mood has been awful all day, so this was inevitable

It's been a while since I uploaded a completely new design for Starglass Zodiac (as in a completely new character rather than just a redesign of an already made one) and I'm not entirely sure why. Like the last one was over a year ago??? I still have way more to do so I'm not sure why I stopped for a while, even when I was still doing art for this project rather than switching to another. I have a massive folder of WIPs still so maybe I got decision paralysis or something, idk. These are far from done but I did come up with some cool new scenes with them so that's neat!

The less specific or more basic constellations are usually the most fun but also the most challenging to tackle, because it can be hard to make the concepts interesting if there's no pre-existing mythology associated with them, which is the case for both of these and many others. A lot of the constellations, even among the official 88 modern ones, boil down to an astronomer somewhere being like "put a [thing] in the sky" without anymore specificity or reason. Custos Messium is a defunct constellation to boot, but the idea of a "harvest keeper" gives me a lot of cool visuals to work with at least. I'm particularly proud of their sickle and scythe arms that form a C and M, respectively. Plus with the defunct constellations I get to design their symbols :D Not super happy with the bodies for either of these yet, but I like their heads so that's a good start. Horologium is inspired by those awesome looking astral clock towers with multiple faces, but with that in mind I want to make its body more tower-like. In the story, it's the constellation of the clock that was given artificial life after being lost and corrupted by void magic, so I want it to look like the pieces of the tower itself got transformed into this hulking beast over time. Overall I just want to have more non-sapient creatures inhabiting this world for variety's sake and to create bigger threats for the cast as stuff ramps up in later chapters. Defeating Horologium in particular is going to be quite the feat, but I am excited to finish writing/drawing that part of the comic at least!

#my rambling got a little long so i put it under the cut lol #art #artists on tumblr #sketch #oc #character design #creature design #wip #Custos Messium #Horologium #Starglass Zodiac #SGZ

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liquidstar · 2 years

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And I finally finished up this batch of OCs too!!! The members of the Gladiatoria guild! Again click the pics for a better view :p

Gladiatoria, also known as the warrior’s guild, is almost completely comprised of the flashiest glory-seeking types, so you can imagine they’re fairly competitive, making them another formidable rival guild for the main cast. In fact, Gladiatoria is currently ranked as the #1 guild, even though it’s relatively new. Most likely because of the incredibly strict (to put it lightly) regiment of the guildmaster, Mars. It really takes a certain type of person to not be chewed out in this rigorous process. How long is this system really sustainable though?

Anyway, just like with Pandemonium, I’ll put some individual character info and close-ups under the cut!

Name: Mars

Name Origin: The planet named after the Roman God of war

Pronouns: He/him

Age: 71

Guild rank: Guildmaster

Weapon: Spear

Ethos (Power): Goliath

Flaw power is based on: Straight up abusive

Notes: Literally the world’s worst grandpa. Still bitter about shit that happened like 40 years ago

Name: Antares

Name Origin: The star “antares“ which name literally means “like ares�� or, more aptly, “like mars”. It’s one of the most likely stars to go supernova

Pronouns: He/him

Age: 18

Guild rank: 4 star

Weapon: Three section staff

Ethos (Power): Charred azure

Flaw power is based on: Rage

Notes: Mar’s grandson. My brother said he looks like he’d be voiced by Bakugou unfortunately

Name: Alphard

Name Origin: The star alphard, literally meaning “the individual,“ it’s the brightest star in Hydra and sometimes called “lonely alphard.”

Pronouns: They/them

Age: 19

Guild rank: 3 star

Weapon: Hook swords

Ethos (Power): Personify

Flaw power is based on: People-pleasing

Notes: Are thousands of shallow relationships a replacement for one meaningful one?

Name: Suhail

Name Origin: From the star whose full name is technically “al Suhail al Wazn” which means “Smooth plain of the weight” referring to the sails of the argo navis

Pronouns: He/him

Age: 19

Guild rank: 3 star

Weapon: Throwing stars

Ethos (Power): Detonation

Flaw power is based on: Emotional

Notes: Probably the easiest person to talk to in the guild despite the blast-induced tinnitus

Name: Solarium/Sol

Name Origin: A defunct constellation whose name means “sun dial”

Pronouns: He/they

Age: 21

Guild rank: 3 star

Weapon: Jian sword

Ethos (Power): Solar blaze

Flaw power is based on: Ostentatious

Notes: Based his entire personality on being a prettyboy

Name: Hypatia

Name Origin: An exoplanet named after the ancient philosopher Hypatia

Pronouns: She/her

Age: 29

Guild rank: 4 star

Weapon: Whip

Ethos (Power): Abrasion

Flaw power is based on: Condescension

Notes: She couldn’t look uncool if she tried

Name: Dia

Name Origin: A moon of Jupiter whose name means “Divine” (Though derived from a different god, Zues/Jupiter in this case)

Pronouns: She/her

Age: 25

Guild rank: 5 star

Weapon: Wind-And-Fire wheels

Ethos (Power): Consequence

Flaw power is based on: Unyielding

Notes: Also Antares’s sister, and by extent Mar’s granddaughter.

Name: Tiaki

Name Origin: A star in Grus, the crane constellation

Pronouns: He/Him

Age: 27

Guild rank: 5 star

Weapon: Chigiriki

Ethos (Power): Calamity

Flaw power is based on: Callous

Notes: He’s really just here to have a blast, he straight up does not care about anything else

Name: Harriot

Name Origin: An exoplanet named for the person who first drew pictures of the moon through a telescope. More importantly it sounds like “hare”

Pronouns: They/she

Age: 18

Guild rank: 2 star

Weapon: Metal sole boots

Ethos (Power): Barge

Flaw power is based on: Impatient

Notes: They probably takes things just a bit too seriously, but she’s a noobie after all.

Name: Vespa

Name Origin: A former name of Musca Borealis, “Vespa” means “Wasp”

Pronouns: She/her

Age: 23

Guild rank: 3 star

Weapon: Stingers

Ethos (Power): Ionize

Flaw power is based on: Vainglorious

Notes: She thinks she’s the main character of life just because she has cool flashy powers and heterochromia

#finn's ocs #finn's art #oc references #i did a few sort of new things w my style in this set so i hope it looks okay!#stuff like adding those motion lines or the way id color the sort of definition lines or drew some of the lips #sort of just experimenting a bit to make things more lively <3 #im sooo tired and im posting these at 3am so i hope ppl will still see them........ ive been working on this set for like #3 months? thats in between stuff obviously. esp artfight. but still #BUT this means i have a total of 69/136 characters done. THATS MORE THAN HALFWAY!!#AND its the funny sex number. as if things couldnt get any better!#but in all seriousness hi i llove ocposting and thank you to all those who indulge me lol

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lya-dustin · 1 year

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Someone will remember us

Chapter 66

Cw: mentions of sex and blood, internalized misogyny

Gif by @talesofoldandnew

Taglist: @stargaryenx @mercedesdecorazon

He receives the oddest missive he has ever received and from the last person he expected.

Meet me here when you march.

He turned the folded piece of parchment to reveal oddly placed constellations.

Aemma had a strange fascination with the stars, had been taught to chart her own course through them by Laenor and used her basic drawing capabilities to keep track of them all.

She kept a sketchbook detailing how they looked during their progress, all had their careful notations and during her escape, he had kept it just so he could have something else to remember her by.

All her things had been kept as they were before, his mother had been badgering him to burn them and accept the High Septon’s offer to annul the marriage, but he had refused.

Borros had offered Cassandra as a bride, and they needed his army.

But Aemond didn’t want anyone else, not Cassandra, not Lady Tyrell’s niece, no woman could ever come close to his wife.

It was telling him to make do with candle when he has the sun.

I said my vows before him, I bedded my wife and she gave me a son, she is my wife and I am her husband until the Stranger comes for me.

Aemond is as excited as a child on Seven’s Day when he takes the sketchbook from her desk and matched the drawing to the page.

There, a place they had happened by when they had been using their dragons to escape everyone in their progress.

An abandoned folly with white marble columns that had belonged to some defunct house and left to rot in the forest.

They had stayed there, for the night, watching stars through the dilapidated ceiling, making love on a faded seven-pointed star painted in the tiles and having seven broken statues stand witness as they recited their vows before coming in unison.

I am yours; you are mine, now and forever, they had vowed as he shut his eye to stop seeing the Stranger looming over Aemma’s shoulder.

Will she bring Aemon?

Does she still hate him?

Gods, he was more nervous now than he was on the eve of their wedding.

Cole marches ahead of him while Aemond guards the baggage train and their supplies, and he is glad that Daeron is in the Reach, so he does not have to deal with interference.

Aemond had never desired anyone, he had assumed that his experience at the brothel had broken something in him and he would be doomed to feeling shame and disgust every time it happened.

It did not help that he was deemed the ugly brother, with the famed features of his father and grandfather and the ugly scar.

But then Aemma had returned.

Aemma who desired him and made him come alive in a way he had long given up on.

There was an intimacy that came naturally with her, even silence was pleasant with her. She had been born him and he had been born for her.

He remembered that night in the empty library, where he had come close to taking her maidenhead even when he knew she was meant for another.

If Daemon had done it, then why did it matter if Aemond did? He had told Cole after he caught them together and reprimanded him for wanting to dishonor Aemma.

Cole had in turn told him how he was the one who dishonored Rhaenyra and counseled him against doing the same mistake he did.

But he and Aemma were not Criston and Rhaenyra, Aemond had no vows to break and Aemma was free to marry him.

And Aemond had wed his Valyrian Siren, showed his family he would not be the puppet they wanted.

In ten days, there were to take the capital after luring Cole and Aemond away.

In ten days, Aegon would be dead and Aemond would be in a position to negotiate his terms as he bends the knee to her mother.

In ten days, this nightmare finally comes to an end.

Gods, he cannot wait.

In about ten minutes, Aemond will meet her at the folly they had found and spent a magical night that makes her toes curl just thinking about it.

“Someone is in a good mood tonight,” Nettles notes as Aemma readied her saddle and wore unassuming hunting leathers.

They had come to Maidenpool to give their condolences to Lady Mooton after her husband was killed by a suddenly alive Sunfyre.

This was a ploy; they were to provide a cover for Caraxes and kill Sunfyre once and for all should he be found.

But Sunfyre had flown off to die elsewhere and Nettles wanted to wait for her father, which left Aemma with the opening she needed to see Aemond.

“Gods, I cannot wait for this to be over.” Aemma said, it wasn’t a lie, but not the entire truth either.

If she was in a good mood this morning, she will be better one tomorrow.

Aemma had hoped to bring Aemon, but Aunt Alarra and mother had ganged up on her and said it was madness.

He could be killed, you wear armor, he does not!

So she settled for the next best thing, a small portrait of her and her boy made on her seven and tenth birthday.

Aemon with his thick silver blonde hair nestled in her arms with his eyes more blue than purple like his father’s and her wearing a dress as dark as squid ink with Aemond’s sapphire in the place it belongs.

She feels as giddy as when she was a girl and they had a raven announcing the Seasnake coming with his ship laden with gifts.

“What are you up to?” Nettles is not stupid, no, she is worldy and quick and not going to rat her out if Aemma lies like this.

“To fuck a man, can’t do it here or else everyone will know.” Aemma half-lies. “Silver also needs to stretch her wings, so it will be a good excuse if anyone asks where I went.”

“Do you want me to go with you, I don’t mind sharing,” Nettles suggests with a smirk and Aemma turns her down with a flustered look.

“No, maybe next time, Nettie.” Aemma said before taking off.

“What should I say to our lovely hosts?” Nettie asked and Aemma answered the lie she used for nights when her insomnia got at its worst.

“Tell her I have gone to consult with the gods.”

The folly has not been touched by war, not yet anyways.

A gold cup, a dragon glass dagger, some wine she liked because it was sweet and rich like chocolate and a blanket.

He arrived first, set up a makeshift camp and brought out the things he had brought for the occasion.

As far as the men know, Vhagar needs to hunt.

They would be in Harrenhal in three days, if there are no mishaps like the ones they have faced along the way.

It is nearly winter, and war is no friend to anyone. People were already starving, and they had yet to burn their fields.

But enough of that, tonight is his one respite before he dies like a tree in autumn.

Silverwing gleams slightly in the moonlight, and he cannot help but smile when the Silver Queen and her rider land just where they did almost a year ago.

They run to each other like the lovers in the songs, gods, he had missed her.

There are no words, just unmanly tears as he looks at the face of his soulmate before she kissed him with all the fire only a dragon such as them could ever have.

“Gods, Aemma.” He cannot say anything else. “Gods, I love you.”

#aemma velaryon #someone will remember us fic #aemond targaryen x velaryon!oc #oc fanfiction #ocappreciationtag #asoiaf au #fyeahhotdocs

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seeingteacupsindragons · 1 year

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Random ask, is there any special meaning in your name, "seeingteacupsindragons"? Sorry for the silly ask....

There is, actually!

(And don't apologize for asks like this, omg)

It's based on a line from the first novel I finished back when I was 18, which later got published by a small indie press which I believe is now defunct and didn't know what they were doing. It's out of print, now, and that's for the best because it was terribly misguided and terribly written, which I didn't realize all those years ago. It is part of my Dark and Shameful past.

But there's a scene in it when the main characters, who are brothers, are stargazing together and pointing out constellations, and one of them insists that a constellation that's formally a dragon shape looks more like a teacup.

There's a little bit of back-and-forth after this about it and other constellations and one brother is like, oh, remember when we were kids and I made this one up and called it this? And his brother is like, "Yeah, it was the most uncreative thing ever," and this character says, "Well, not all of us can see teacups in dragons."

It's meant to be a line about creativity and seeing the world differently than the way everyone else does and insisting on your own view of it. I don't think it really comes across and it's probably very confusing contextually. But that's what I meant by it, so I used it as my URL here on Tumblr way back when.

And it's never taken, so.

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mariacallous · 1 year

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Lula Aims High

When former—and now incoming—Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva took to the podium in São Paulo on Sunday night following his razor-thin election victory over incumbent President Jair Bolsonaro, he first stressed that he would govern for all Brazilians. Then he proceeded to speak extensively about foreign policy.

In his recent international travels, Lula said, “What I hear the most is that the world misses Brazil. They miss that sovereign Brazil that talks to the richest and most powerful countries like an equal and at the same time contributes to the development of poorer ones.”

Lula alluded to his role in past efforts to integrate South America and Latin America by strengthening customs union Mercosur and the now-defunct regional organ Unasur; carry out technical cooperation with African countries; and create the BRICS grouping of Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa. Going forward, he pledged to work for fairer international trade, take an active role in fighting the climate crisis, and campaign for including more countries as permanent members of the U.N. Security Council. Brazil has for decades sought a permanent seat on the council.

Celso Amorim, Lula’s foreign minister during his 2003 to 2010 presidency, has often described Lula’s foreign policy of that period as “tall and active”: Brazil opened 35 new embassies and launched new cooperation initiatives with countries including the United States, Iran, and Russia. Amorim remains Lula’s top foreign-policy advisor and stood near him on stage on Sunday; he is expected to continue to advise Lula on foreign policy in the new administration.

But the world has changed dramatically since the two were last in office: Sharp geopolitical tensions between Washington and both China and Russia make Brazil’s previous constellation of alliances more difficult to maintain, and Brasília’s global standing has also diminished dramatically under Bolsonaro. Still, Lula appears set to try to resurrect his wide-ranging foreign policy.

In an early sign of goodwill, Lula received a stream of congratulations from the leaders of countries including the United States, France, and Australia in the minutes after his election victory was confirmed. In at least the U.S. case, Reuters reported that the quick recognition was an effort to stave off any potential attempt by Bolsonaro to contest the election result. Bolsonaro’s chief of staff said Tuesday that the administration had agreed to a transfer of power, but some of the president’s supporters have continued to demonstrate against the election results.

In his calls with foreign leaders such as U.S. President Joe Biden, Lula has emphasized climate cooperation. He pledged in his victory speech to reach zero deforestation and, according to Reuters, has been in talks with authorities in Indonesia and the Democratic Republic of the Congo about creating a global alliance for forest protection since before his victory. Norway and Germany have already signaled they plan to unblock environmental aid that they froze over Bolsonaro’s poor climate record. The president of Lula’s Workers’ Party also said Lula will attend next week’s U.N. climate conference in Egypt; Bolsonaro, who presided over soaring deforestation in the Amazon, had not announced plans to attend by Thursday.

In an interview in the September/October issue of Nueva Sociedad, Amorim waded into today’s thornier foreign-policy topics, offering clues as to how Lula may navigate them in office. He expressed a nonaligned position on U.S.-China tensions. On trade—with both China and the European Union—Amorim said Latin American countries should push for guarantees that help local industry. He also emphasized the threat of nuclear weapons use in Russia’s war in Ukraine; in a separate interview, Amorim supported negotiations to end the conflict and said BRICS members could back them.

Latin American countries should especially work to strengthen their ties with Europe, Amorim said, calling the continent “very important in the multipolar game.” As a starting point, it now appears far more likely that a long-stalled trade agreement between the EU and Mercosur—paused in part over concerns about Bolsonaro’s environmental record—will be approved.

Amorim has stressed that Latin American integration is crucial to Lula’s foreign-policy doctrine. True to form, Lula’s first in-person meeting with a head of state as president-elect was with Argentine President Alberto Fernández on Monday. “I want to give him the hug he deserves,” Fernández said, calling Lula a “leader in the region.”

Upcoming Events

Sunday, Nov. 6, to Friday, Nov. 18: Lula and the presidents of Latin American countries such as Colombia are due to participate in the COP27 climate conference in Egypt. Former Grenadian environment minister Simon Stiell is the United Nations’ lead climate negotiator.

Sunday, Nov. 20: The FIFA World Cup begins in Qatar. We’ll be covering Latin American soccer teams’ trials and tribulations in this newsletter.

What We’re Following

Ecuador’s security crisis. Ecuadorian President Guillermo Lasso was supposed to travel to the United States this week on the heels of the announcement on Tuesday of a new fair trade working group between Quito and Washington. Although it’s short of the full-blown trade deal that Ecuador sought, both sides say that agreeing to new trade regulations could increase business between the two countries. The countries have not publicly spoken about the specifics of the working group.

Lasso canceled his trip to Washington, however, following a dramatic string of car bombings and killings of police officers in Ecuador early this week that prompted him to declare a national emergency. Lasso attributed the bombings to the growing presence of drug trafficking groups in the country. On Tuesday, he declared nighttime curfews in two provinces and said he was “prepared to act harshly” in response to the violence.

Overture on U.S.-Cuba policy. This week, for the 30th consecutive year, the U.N. General Assembly passed a resolution condemning the 60-year-old U.S. economic embargo on Cuba by a vote of 185 in favor to 2 against. The United States and Israel opposed the resolution, while Brazil and Ukraine abstained.

Ahead of the vote, The Associated Press reported, 18 former Latin American and Caribbean leaders sent a letter to Biden calling for an end to the policy in light of the destruction that Hurricane Ian wrought on the island in September. The sweeping economic embargo made it difficult for Cuba to rebuild after the hurricane, they wrote.

The leaders also called for Washington to end its classification of Cuba as a state sponsor of terrorism. Former U.S. President Donald Trump applied the label to Cuba in January 2021 just before he left office, citing Cuba’s sheltering of leaders of a Colombian militant group, the National Liberation Army (ELN). The ELN, Colombia’s largest remaining guerrilla group, is now entering into peace talks with the Colombian government.

Trump also sharply intensified U.S. economic restrictions on Cuba during his term. Biden on the campaign trail promised to reverse “the failed Trump policies that inflicted harm on Cubans and their families” and has since dialed back some—but not all—of them.

The U.S. midterm elections next Tuesday could further empower several Cuba hard-liners in the United States. They include Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, who is expected to handily win reelection and is seen as a possible 2024 Republican presidential candidate. DeSantis has also pushed for more hard-line U.S. immigration policies, Amelia Cheatham wrote in Foreign Policy last week.

Unconventional protest-busters. Although Brazilian soccer star Neymar made headlines for endorsing Bolsonaro ahead of Brazil’s election, his position did not speak for the whole Brazilian soccer world. This week, organized fan squads of local Brazilian soccer clubs in the states of São Paulo and Minas Gerais went to the streets to remove highway barricades set up by Bolsonaro supporters in the wake of his defeat.

In some locations, soccer fan squads carried out this task before Brazil’s federal highway police, which had been ordered by the Supreme Court to do so. Pro-Bolsonaro sentiment is prevalent among parts of the police force.

Some participants at ongoing protests across the country called for a military intervention to overturn the results of the presidential election. Bolsonaro’s vice president, Hamilton Mourão, a retired general, tweeted Wednesday that a military coup would “put the country in a difficult situation among the international community.”

Bolsonaro posted a video message calling the protests “welcome” but also asked demonstrators to unblock highways. Millions of dollars in fines have been issued since Sunday to drivers of vehicles blocking traffic.

In Focus: Petro and Maduro Meet

On Tuesday, the presidents of Colombia and Venezuela met in person for the first time in six years. The countries severed diplomatic relations in 2019 and closed their land border to commerce amid a Colombia-and-U.S.-backed effort to oust Venezuelan leader Nicolás Maduro. Current Colombian President Gustavo Petro has made reestablishing relations one of his foreign-policy priorities.

Petro has stressed the need to reestablish ties for business purposes, to fight organized crime in the border area, and to better negotiate a potential peace deal with the ELN guerrilla group, which is partially based in Venezuela. Petro once again emphasized these goals in a joint communique with Maduro released after the meeting.

The two leaders also voiced support for a return to the stalled Mexico City talks between Maduro and the Venezuelan opposition. And in a press conference, Maduro said he had agreed to “reconciliation” between Venezuela and the Inter-American Court of Human Rights, a body of the Organization of American States. Caracas withdrew from the court in 2013 when it denounced human rights violations in the country.

Many analysts interpreted Maduro’s comments to mean he will fully rejoin the court—though there is skepticism as to whether he will accept its rulings. If he does, it would be a significant concession on Maduro’s part, as the court has a history of trying cases against his government. Petro had pressed for the commitment before agreeing to his trip, El País reported, in part as a response to criticism from Colombian hard-liners who opposed his reengagement with Venezuela.

Caracas’s commitment comes as Venezuela’s opposition and parties that back the Mexico City talks—such as the United States—look for evidence that Maduro is open to making concessions related to democratic accountability. If those talks restart, they could compel Maduro to issue guarantees around the conditions for fair 2024 Venezuelan elections in exchange for the United States issuing Venezuela humanitarian aid and lifting sanctions that block the country from profiting from some of its oil reserves.

Maduro’s regime has survived economically with the U.S. sanctions in place until now. But the Wilson Center and Institute of Advanced Studies in Administration’s Michal Penfold pointed out in an interview with Efecto Cocuyo this week that Russia’s war in Ukraine is hurting its profit margins on the oil that Venezuela does manage to sell. Before the war, Venezuela would sell its oil at a heavily discounted rate to help clients compensate for the risk of buying a sanctioned product. But now that heavily sanctioned Russia is discounting its own oil exports for the same reasons, Venezuela has been pushed to slash oil prices even further, up to 40 percent, Penfold said.

If U.S. sanctions on Venezuela are lifted, the country could sell its oil legally and reap higher government tax revenue. Maduro’s government would probably like to be able to offer more benefits to voters before standing in elections in 2024, Penfold suggested. “If you’re going to run in an election, you need to be able to spend.”

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