"What do you mean you don't have them? You can't just not have them!"

"Well, we have them, we just send them away."

"SEND THEM AWAY? HOW? TO WHERE?"

"Settle down, it's very straightforward. When someone starts getting their period they go to the local witch or wizard or necromancer or whatever's nearby and get a spell placed on them. All the blood gets sent straight to the throne of the Blood King. Which is nice because he loves blood and isn't too picky about where it comes from. This way he's not running around starting wars for his blood. He gets it free and on a regular basis."

"But what about period cramps?"

"Oh, we send those away too. Off to the orcs of the Screaming Mountains."

"That seems like it could cause problems. Aren't you worried they'll retaliate?"

"Well, no. The orcs....kind of like it? They apparently like pain about as much as the Blood King likes blood. So as long as we keep sending the period cramps, they leave us be."

"huh, I wonder why more kingdoms haven't tried this."

Bc like. There are fics where Rumi is raised to see herself as less than human and more of a weapon, or perhaps something to be sacrificed, that otherwise tend very close to canon (or might reflect the author’s reading of canon)

I'm not far in, but so far it's been pretty interesting and insightful. This book is almost 100 years old but so far everything I've read seems to still hold up today.

I've had a few people message me asking about more resources on how to improve their social skills. There's always r/etiquette (I don't even have a reddit but I find myself lurking) but, if you're looking to read something to help brush up on your social skills, I can so far recommend "How To Wind Friends and Influence People"

Okay so basically: I keep imagining Ahsoka dance-fighting to 'How It's Done,' specifically the Zoey bits. These imaginings were general late-TCW/Rebellion era stuff, but then I was like 'what's a context for this?' and it shifted to a different period.

So it's! another time-travel Ahsoka concept.

She's tossed back to shortly before the war, so like 10-12 range. Mental travel, not physical, she is SMALL and everyone sees her as a child. She's keeping it a secret but not very well. Impulse control of a baby, etc.

There's a big lightsaber class! And she uhhhh zones out and starts moving on automatic and despite the changes to her body, she's clearly much more competent than recently.

Teacher asks, Ahsoka deflects, they press, and she tries to distract everyone (poorly) by suggesting they see how she can do against multiple opponents! They are not convinced, but the other kids can tell she's angling for something and volunteer to do it, because what if it's interesting? They like interesting. Everyone likes interesting.

"If I'm wrong, you can say you told me I'm too arrogant. And if I'm right… uh, I don't know. You can move me to a higher class? Yeah! I can, you know, skip a grade."

The teacher is not convinced, but the whole 'you can say I told you so' thing is enough for them to sign off on 'all the other kids attack Ahsoka for a turn.'

They do the spar.

Ahsoka tosses away her training saber as soon as they're told to start. IMMEDIATELY jumps into action, literally, doing various backflips and slides and other things to just redirect the kiddos into each other, tripping them and startling them into dropping their sabers and so on. Doesn't hurt anyone more than a bruised knee from falling, but is very, VERY clearly competent beyond her years. She is fighting off a dozen of her saber-wielding classmates with her bare hands.

The teacher is now concerned, for obvious reasons. Wondering if maybe Ahsoka's been possessed by a ghost or something. The other kids are all a bit sore emotionally, but mostly good sports.

Ahsoka is bouncing on her toes and clearly kinda wired. She lingers when the other kids leave the mat to get a drink, because the teacher looks suspicious of her.

AND THEN

A LASER

Well, a blaster shot. a weak one. from one of the flying training simulators. which is behind her. She isn't singed, because the subconscious reflex of 'summon saber and block' is SO ingrained from years of war and ecaping the Empire.

She looks up, belatedly registering what happened, and sees the teacher staring at her.

The teacher then looks behind her, suddenly angry, and Ahsoka hears a bunch of whirring, and she also turns.

"Padawan Skywalker! What are you doing? She is a CHILD."

And there's Anakin. Head tilted. Oddly calm. He smiles a little when he sees her. Obi-Wan is also there, but Ahsoka's eyes are fixed on her old master.

He has the remote control for another dozen droids, and an extra training saber, which he tosses to her.

"Fulcrum. Show me whatcha got."

And she does.

*As of the moment you first read this poll. Unless you already have specific winning lottery numbers memorized you aren’t going back with that knowledge. You can remember the majority of the information from your prior life, but it won’t cause traumatic/PTSD effects - it’ll feel like you’re remembering someone else’s story in great detail. Unless you do something to change it specifically, all world events will remain the same including major economic events, wars/famine/pandemics, etc.

1. I started reading/speaking/walking fairly early (at 2) so I wouldn’t be forced to pretend about any of that.

2. My mom is decently conspiracy-prone (though also smart/logical enough I can usually talk her out of them early) so I’m pretty sure I could use information she’s told me about her life to convince her that I’m actually a time traveling adult stuck in the body of my kid self. I was a non-religious unschooled homeschooler so I already had a lot of freedom as I grew up. I even asked her what she might do lol.

So I think I’d try to pretend to the rest of the world I was just a very talented child while working together with my mom to do as much to my benefit with future knowledge as possible.

As for why I’d do it, personally? I don’t think I could fully save the world or anything with the things I know now alone, but I could dramatically change my life and that of a lot of people around me/I grew up with, *maybe* that of more.

1.

I wouldn’t be disabled except for my adhd anymore, and my adhd got significantly worse after my back injury (yes it’s linked, complicated) so even that would be less disabling. This would mean that not only would I be able to retrain my body as a dancer once more (for those who didn’t know, I used to be a professional dancer) but with significantly more dedication and enough knowledge to seem like a prodigy taking to it like a fish to water.

I’d also be able to start seeking apprenticeships outside of montana sooner and know how to go about it properly, so instead of just being professional inside of my home state, I might be able to become part of a larger dance company and make a better name for myself.

2.

I’d be able to avoid or combat so much of the racism and white supremacy I dealt with as a child but didn’t have the words or knowledge to fight yet. I could help protect the few other kids of color I knew growing up and just. Make a lot of shit better. I’d also be able to avoid a lot of people that hid their racism or abuse - I would never have been enslaved, I would have avoided so much community abuse, I wouldn’t have suffered if I knew who to keep at a distance and who to keep close.

3.

I could’ve transitioned younger and gotten access to meds earlier. This one is kinda obvious lol. My enslaver forcibly delayed my transition for three years but if I know from a young age I’d have so much more leeway. I’d also have avoided a three year stint doing youth group at a southern baptist church that fucked up my shit and I had to unpack until I was 18.

4.

Lotta my longest friends (like @skelejor) are just weird enough that if I came to them and told them the situation they’d likely just roll with it from the jump. I have minimal concern about re-finding the people I love or who serve a specific role in my life and reclaiming them.

5.

Set up a Google digest for a bunch of terms like Bitcoin to get in at the rock bottom of things I know will become successful the moment they get publicly mentioned. I could also stop a lot of shit that massively affected my life growing up, such as a company illegally draining the bank accounts of my entire family (including that of like 3 year old me who was trying to save up for my first computer :c ) that sent us from being middle class to “juggling what bills we can pay this month” poor. My mom was very good with money and was able to give the outward illusion things were still fine after that, but they weren’t lol

6.

Bc of the whole “unschooled homeschooled” and the “coming back with all my knowledge” thing I could use the “young brain plasticity” thing to actually learn languages, learn more complex topics young, etc. I had a voracious desire for knowledge when I was a kid but didn’t direct it well.

7.

I fully believe that I could get some 4ch chud or three to [REDACTED] people like M*sk and Mold Queen who actively funded and caused significant negative world shit if I made a persona “predicting” real life events consistently and used that to feed them conspiracy theories and future knowledge.

i decided to try a romcom i somehow missed i the 2000s 'head over heels' and i got 3 and a half minutes in and we're introduced to the lonely MC with bad taste in men as evidenced by her extremely short list of ex boyfriends, including her first boyfriend when she was 11 or something because i guess that's still relevant in her adult life.

so she's resigned herself to never finding love and prefers to ignore men to focus all her energy into her career.

this job is immediately presented as though it's for spinsters with no hope of ever finding a man.

the mc's lesbian bestie (whose first line involves her being scolded for being too sexual in the workplace, but moving on) points out their colleagues as evidence that they're doomed to a romance-less, sexless life if they don't switch up their shared career path. the colleagues are three old women, so-dubbed "the menopause triplets":

these women are presented as if they have no idea what's going on at any given moment. this is 2001, and presumably this is an entry level job requiring low effort and no experience.

then their boss bursts into the room, unceremoniously bumping a large painting into the door jam and walls, announcing that it's a new project for our MC.

our MC is thrilled to see the painting. apparently it's a light in the daily slog at her dreary job for loser women with nothing going on in their lives.

And that job is? Conservator of paintings (specializing in Renaissance) at the New York City Metropolitan Museum of Art.

The painting being handled like an old couch on its way to the curb?

The Bacchanal of the Andrians by Titian.

Her lesbian colleague who is presumably also a a highly trained & skilled curator finds it depressing that the MC is so excited about the painting.

tabitha scarlet from hit horror visual novel scarlet hollow, who lives here with her wife stella (scarlet hollow)

oguri cap from umamusume, who lives here with her sweetheart izumo (blue exorcist)

kaneeka scarlet hollow, who is not currently in a relationship but has botched a confession to oguri and had a failed crush on tabitha. she also has 3 other miis in love with her currently

specifically,

Mira, holding both Rumi and Zoey on her lap: What are you talking about?

Rumi, digging her claws into the back of Zoey and Mira’s shirts: We’re totally normal about each other.

Zoey, gripping the back of Mira and Rumi’s necks: Completely, totally normal.

Celine: Okay. Get off each other for 5 minutes then.

Polytrix: