Ocean at the End

hello! Here you may find art, biology, software dev, hopepunk and/or navel-gazing. use tag 'ink on bone' to filter for my own commentary. Some adult and sex-positive topics discussed here. late-thirties, she/her, occasionally posting my own art over at @kiln-art

[pesti-devota-futurae]

lacuna mutata

[... ] a wonderful phrase

lacuna mutata

aint no [... ] craze

it means textual emendations

for the rest of your days

it's a source [...] free

ambiguity

lac[... ]

[collapsedsquid]

[tomhoppusdelonge]

i love following people with kinks I don’t have because somtimes I’m like

[calcichel]

I did another re-read of Hench in advance of reading the sequel, which just came out this month. I like this book more every time I read it. The story structure is so well crafted, with a continuous narrative rhythm of tension and release that is deeply satisfying. I love the genre blending between workplace-drama and superhero-story. The characters seem effortlessly distinct from each other, and they all feel like real people. The dialogue too all feels grounded and real, even when it's at its snappiest. And the inner experience of the protagonist is described so clearly and is so compelling to accompany throughout her triumphs and suffering.

(spoilers below)

On previous reads, I have gotten completely absorbed in the fantasy of having a job that you're good at and a workplace that values you. Finding that kind of deep-level satisfaction in one's work is a fantasy as compelling as a world in which superheroes exist, so it fits right in. Anna's relationship with Leviathan, too, is something I have spent time yearning after. (Unfortunately, trying to find a similar power dynamic in real life doesn't work, because people are just flawed humans, and people in positions of power even more so. A power-exchange relationship will get you closest, but you can only playact for so long before finally burning out on the fact that it is just playacting; your partner is not actually smarter, or stronger, or better than you, and no matter how long you search, no one ever will be, so your desire to serve someone or something more powerful than yourself will remain a lifelong unmet desire, alongside every other passion in your heart that can find no real outlet in the world, and so your personality is trapped and cramped within a shell of circumstance that keeps you small and boring and inexpressive, forever. ...Anyway…)

On previous reads, I don't think I caught the subtle intimacy that grew between Anna and Quantum Entanglement there at the end. It seems a clear callback to Keller's earlier statement "everyone who's left are the people who get it," and the book had already used Melinda to establish Anna's bisexuality. It's such a brief relationship but clearly makes a big impact on Anna, since she's so hurt by Quantum's "betrayal" later. (Honestly she should be grateful: it's a relief that they have both now lied and betrayed each other, since it puts them on an equal footing that wouldn't be in place if Quantum's role had been only to be victimized and then exploited by Anna.)

Reading through Leviathan's emotional retreat from Anna is just as painful, if not more so, when you know it's coming. All that mutual trust and affection being slowly built over the course of the narrative, and then its sudden rejection, is so sharp and hurtful. But it's also such a natural consequence of the kind of person that Leviathan is - his obsessed hyperfocus was always about Supercollider. Whatever he feels for Anna is likely just a shadow in comparison to the fire of determination that has driven him for most of his life. I know they make peace, of sorts, at the very end, but there is an enormous wedge driven between them now. I'm eager and apprehensive to see how that relationship will play out in the sequel.

I suppose it's time for me to find out whether the crafting of this book was a fluke or whether the author can effectively wield all these elements again in its sequel. I'm a bit apprehensive in case of bad news on that front, but I have been waiting a long time to see what becomes of Anna and her colleagues (and employer), so see you on the other side.

[wiratomkinder]

(in a “you all need to get into RSS” type of guy voice) You all need to get into RSS

[mornington-the-crescent]

June 1st

[breelandwalker]

Listen, marketing-as-exploitation discussions aside, Rainbow Capitalism is, has been, and continues to be the canary in the coal mine of social acceptance for the queer community.

If you’ll all pardon my Americentrism for a moment, the amount, visibility, and flamboyance of Pride merch available in clothing, home goods, and comestibles stores is a DIRECT reflection of how safe it is to be queer in public in the United States.

How? Simple. Out groups aren’t profitable. If you’re not “acceptable” in the current social climate, big franchise businesses will not market to you. (Prime example - Look how quickly Target dropped all their Pride merch after having been wall-to-wall rainbows every June for almost a decade prior.)

Sure, capitalism sucks and being viewed as an exploitable marketing demographic isn’t a fun concept.

HOWEVER.

The grim truth is that being normalized enough to be considered profitable by corporations IS A GOOD THING in terms of the barometer of social acceptance.

Same thing goes for smaller businesses that throw kitschy Pride events or even just put a token rainbow flag in the window or somewhere inside the shop. That’s a level of acceptance that DID NOT EXIST thirty years ago, and I can tell you because I was there.

The fact that we can scoff and bitch about being an exploitable marketing demographic nowadays means we have made GIGANTIC strides since the 1990s. It also speaks to the fact that the drive and the conversation surrounding LGBTQ+ rights and acceptance are continuing. And getting louder.

You can be cynical about it if you want. But I will take a store that puts out lip-service rainbow merch over a world that pretends we don’t exist any day of the week. Because that will always mean something.

Sincerely, An Elder Queer

[impostoradult]

Agreed, and also, it has always struck me as a little bit of a double-standard in queer politics when people used to point out the exclusion of queerness from mainstream capitalist products as evidence of their marginalization (e.g., there are no m/m or f/f wedding cards)

Yet, when they start being included, they are like “well, that’s just capitalism taking advantage of us, so it doesn’t count.” Like, you can’t use your EXCLUSION from something as evidence of general societal marginalization and then claim that once you’ve started to be included, it is politically meaningless. You don’t really get to have it both ways. That’s moving the political goal posts.

I get that we shouldn’t consider Target pride merchandise as like the pinnacle of queer politics or even the pinnacle of queer inclusion. I get that inclusion in capitalist intuitions is a very ambivalent form of social progress. But the truth is, capitalism is a big part of what creates our social reality right now (unfortunately).

Capitalism makes TV shows, and movies, and books, and ads, and greeting cards, and toys, and clothing, and, and…

When every single aspect of commercial social reality excludes queerness, that DOES create a real sense of social alienation. I don’t love that capitalism is responsible for creating so much of our collective social reality. But granting that it does, I think we’re forced to accept that our inclusion in it IS politically and socially important.

And yes we should still be trying to resist capitalism as the primary means of meeting human needs. But we can resist treating capitalism as an inevitability or an inherent good, AND ALSO acknowledge that our inclusion within it remains politically important while it still holds so much power and responsibility for creating our shared reality.

[quantummindclassicalheart]

See also a recent article from NPR (published May 30, 2026) discussing how pride celebrations have struggled financially with the loss of corporate sponsorships. Organizing big visible events (and fairly compensating the labor of those who make them possible) is expensive.

Pride celebrations struggle as corporate sponsorships dry up

Public support for the LGBTQ+ community by corporations has become politically risky, public relations expert says.

[princesssokphanny]

A once-in-a-lifetime shot — the moon perfectly framed by a rainbow. Caught at just the right time. 🌈 🌕

[kedreeva]

Sourcing the photos as taken by Mark Ham on Instagram, according to one of the replies.

[leebrontide]

Happy Pride month to the moon

[jenny-holzer]

[contemptible-scoundrel]

"The two most important days in your life are the day you are born and the day you are split in half."

- Mark "Cleftin" Twain

[dorywhynot]

"Goddess of Rot" Watercolor, 2026. For @everydayoriginal

Malenia, Blade of Miquella, Goddess of Rot.

The original piece has sold but I put some prints in the shop!

-

portfolio | shop | patreon

I don't think I've ever been more miserable playing a video game than I did with Eldin Ring last year because my god I am *terrible* at it - but it was so effing gorgeous and the lore was too delicious, I muscled through it anyway. It was my first Souls game, I intend to play more, but I need a break first. I think Malenia was the most failed attempts that I've ever had in a boss fight, to the point that I'm still proud of myself for finally beating her 😂

[basicallyedd]

allan’s driving for our date-uh

[basicallyedd]

“mm look aT the Time. iT is our anniversary”

[jay-wasstuff]

Cool to find out that they have an app for their company

[calcichel]

[jay-wasstuff]

Cool to find out that they have an app for their company

[calcichel]

[rythyme]

i was seeing all these little blue flowers everywhere and kept thinking "dang what are these bitches, i can't remember..." well guess what. they were fuckin forget-me-nots. can't believe i failed step fucking 1, the hot girls on iNaturalist are going to laugh at me and i'm gonna flunk out of hobby botany school.

[rythyme]

!!! Learn From My Humiliation!!! THESE ARE THE BITCHES!!!! DO NOT FORGET THEM !!!!

[deramin2]

[miscellaneous-reblog-blog]

ID: same image with the text "I forgor." End ID

[fred-the-dinosaur]

[ruckuscauser]

“Forget-Me-Nots” - Patrice Rushen

[summerheidtwrites]

My painting of Lulu as her alter ego Farm Girl Gigi from Operation Bounce House by Matt Dinniman. This took a minute. At least, this is my interpretation Golly Gosh Mr.! I was doing a master study of Earl Moran's work from around 1947 and thought we could have some fun with this! - Summer in Philly

[sennamaticart]

FRACTURE