#//the amount of hoops i had to jump through to get this posted lmao

[jaydoesresearch]

I am delighted to share Dolphin #4164 “Katie Irvin” has been resighted after a seven year absence! I was blessed to be one of the researchers at IMMS documenting her return to Biloxi Marsh, and to our joy, she returned with a calf by her side! We suspect this calf is between six months to one year old. Despite some light lesions on them, both dolphins appeared in good health. IMMS allowed me to share these photos that were taken as part of their on-going photo identification study.

I named “Katie Irvin” back in December 2021 to honor my childhood friend after her passing. It’s absolutely incredible for me to witness her namesake thriving in her natural environment. Biloxi Marsh dolphins face many threats, from entanglement in crab traps to freshwater toxicity, but “Katie Irvin” has proven to be a strong and resilient dolphin. At the Institute for Marine Mammal Studies, it is our goal to study and protect these wonderful animals, and I am honored to play a role in that.

Photos are courtesy of IMMS.

[shinesurge]

I like complaining about America's fucked up medical system whenever I get the chance, so y'all might remember that I was hospitalized last year (2020(not covid-related)) and had to have emergency surgery. It was fine tho, it all went down okay and we have pretty good insurance through my partner's job at Cumberland University so we weren't hurting too much once the projectile vomiting stopped.

A bunch of shit happened between then and now and I decided I wanted to get top surgery, the reasoning split about 50/50 between gender reasons and the fact that my mother was diagnosed with triple negative breast cancer at 32, which eventually killed her. Every birthday's a little spookier for me, so I figured it was time to see about fixing that instead of waiting around for the bombs strapped to my chest to destroy me lmao. It turns out our insurance has a pretty extensive policy about trans health and I fit the criteria perfectly! So we went about getting this done as quickly as possible, which naturally turned into six months of waiting for a consult, then another month waiting for my therapist to write me a letter, then once we'd jumped through all the hoops there was another month and a half of waiting for that insurance to clear. 

Which it didn't! After some confusion about why the system was refusing to cover a perfectly valid case, we dug around enough to figure out Cumberland University has manually set up exclusions in its insurance for gender affirming surgery and procedures. We went around with them for another month, they asked me to prove that trans healthcare is medically necessary and I did so to the best of my ability (mostly with excellent resources other trans folks in similar situations had compiled). In the end they offered us thoughts and prayers and the assurance that "the denial remains - for now." So perhaps something will change their minds some day, but I am not that thing today.

Essentially, the cost of the surgery would have been our deductible and that would have been unpleasant but perfectly managable for us. Now, since we aren't being allowed to use the insurance we pay for, we have to pay over twice as much entirely out of pocket which is. Frustrating. 

I know we're luckier than most in this situation in that this doesn't take the surgery completely off the table, but to be honest the thought of having to pay this money while our insurance wants to cover the procedure is eating at me. We don't have the money or the resources to pursue legal action, and frankly I don't want to wait another number of legal-system-years for the surgery or sink mine and my partner's time into fighting with this institution, so as much as it sucks we're going to have to just let it go and pay the money and continue to pay for this insurance because it's functioning well for us otherwise. We would also like for my partner not to lose their job, which supports us both right now and allows me to keep making comics and us two queers to sleep safely at night. Causing a fuss and geting them fired over this would just give this university even more sway in our lives than it's already got. My therapist is proud of my radical acceptance skills but I'm not sure what amount of therapy I'd need to be cool with all of this lol

I hate that I was in a perfect position to advocate for myself and other trans people who might come through here after me and I wasn't convincing enough to get this fixed for any of us. I know it's not my job to fix everything, and I feel good about what positive queerness I manage with my comic most of the time but this seemed like some amount of tangible change I could help with in my own community. It's disappointing that wasn't the case. There's nothing else substantial for me to do, but I CAN complain on the internet and let people know this happened instead of this whole thing existing behind closed doors, and that's going to have to be enough. Aside from my jokey Read My Comic posts I try really hard not to ask people to share things because we're all tired of sharing things, but this one time I'd really appreciate it if you could.

I wasn't going to crowdfund for this surgery because I thought insurance would cover it and others need it more but, well. I know if I don't do it myself people will ask, so if you feel so inclined, the GoFundMe is over here. I wrote this post out for tumblr first and basically edited it to look more friendly to real life folks who might look at the crowdfunding page so you're pretty much already caught up if you decide to go that route lol

Thank you very much for reading this. 

[rosalynbair]

Euphoria |  Part One

Kylo Ren x reader

Summary: You’re finally seeing the Knights of Ren live, the concert itself is everything that you could wish for, and more.  Warnings: alcohol, nipple piercings? 

A/N: Highkey I’ve been writing this for over two weeks and I told @kylo-renne that I would post this like, last Thursday yet here we are a week later finally posting the first half of this. Lmao, but thanks babe for putting up with my sporadic writing <3 |  Masterlist  |  Buy me a coffee |

The bass blared into your ears, the screams of the people around you piercing through your euphoric moment of enjoying one of your favorite songs. The sweat – yours mixed with others dripped down your skin, your clothes clinging to the liquid.

Your hand was holding a red cup, the dark red liquid inside sloshing against the sides of the cup as your body moved in sync with the people around you. Your hips swayed in tune to the beat coming from the speakers on the stage, your head tilted back as you closed your eyes, hair hitting your bare shoulders with each move you made.

You felt someone press against you from behind, and you kept your movements the same, not letting anyone disrupt your moment. You tilted your head to the side, glancing the blonde man that rested his head on your shoulder before taking his hand that rested on your hip into yours, lifting it up so his arm was arched above you as you spun under it, giving him a closed lip smile as you looked at him from hooded eyes.

You give him a slow wink before ducking under another person’s flailing arms to slide closer to the stage. Your open hand reached down to pull your shorts out of their position they had around your thighs after riding up with your dancing. Your fingers grab a hold of your shirt, pulling it away from your skin, a blast of cold air hitting your skin as you waved the shirt against your torso to allow it to dry slightly.

Your eyeline comes up from your shirt to the floor of the stage, following the mass amount of wires that have been taped down with black and grey electrical tapes in a neat manner. The chords were the only organized thing on the stage, the five beings that were walking back and forth were anything but.

The Knights Of Ren.

They were the most known band on the rock scene right now, not quite mainstream, but the moment anyone heard their name, they immediately had an opinion of the band. Whether it was a rant about how they had loved the band before they became popular, or it was how much they were overrated, or how they were the best band they’ve ever heard, or, in most cases as of recently, how attractive x band member is.

Phasma, her blonde hair pulled back into a sloppy little ponytail, her biceps straining with the pressure of each hit to the drums in front of her. There was black eyeliner streaming down her sweat slicked face, her lips tilted up in a grin as she mouthed the words to the song. Her body was covered in a black muscle shirt, and even in the faint lighting of the strobe lights, you could see the sweat stains that had formed under her tattoo-covered arms. You could barely glimpse the black jean cut offs and her tattered grey converse from behind the drum set, but even still, you could admire the tap of her left foot, the multi coloured tattoos shining under the lights.

To the left of the stage in front of you was Drew, his cropped purple hair shining and clumping with the gel he had put into it. His arms were covered in a black paint that was beginning to melt off of him. His body clad in a simple black knee length overalls set, one shoulder hanging down his chest undone, revealing his chest tattoo and a nipple piercing. You watched as he stepped closer to the edge of the stage, hopping onto a small platform that was set up beside a speaker. You caught his eye as he leaned down and gave you a wink while his fingers plucked at the four strings on the bass he held.

Beside him, was Alex – the twin of Drew. Much the same except for the black mullet he supported on top of his head. He had tattoos trailing up his neck and a piercing on his eyebrow. He was much larger than Drew, muscles bulging as he lifted his guitar above his head, tilting his head back and sticking his forked tongue out of his mouth. He had no shirt on, and his tight abs were accentuated by the sweat and water that dripped off of him.

The other two were on the other side of the stage, but you were near the middle and could see them perfectly as your head tilted back, finishing the last of your alcohol, letting the cup fall to the floor beside you the moment it was empty.

You held the liquid in your mouth for a moment before swallowing, no longer phased by the sting of it trailing down your throat. Your eyes trailed over to the last two members of the band. Zandra, an ethereal beauty with dark skin and long hair. Her lips painted a shiny gold to match her combat boots and designs she painted on her hands. Her hips swayed as she sang into the microphone in front of her, the skirt she wore twirling around her thick thighs.

Her high voice blended with Kylo’s baritone rasp. Kylo – the reason the band had gained so much traction recently. His dark eyes captivated anyone who looked at him, pulled them in until he had them under his control. His plush lips that curled up into a smirk as he sang. He stood on a platform, his height of six foot five inches accentuated with his wide, muscular frame.

As a solo came from Zandra’s guitar, he stuck his tongue ring between his teeth as he grinned, reaching up to adjust the black septum hoop in his nose before trailing a finger through the dripping eyeliner, dragging it down his face to extend the black line.

He jumped down from the platform, releasing a long, low octave growl into his microphone. He knelt down, reaching out to the audience with his gloved hand. You watched in awe as his damp hair fell into his brooding eyes. Your eyes trailed down his shirtless body, his tight jeans falling low on his hips in his position. There was a glint of metal around his waist, and it wasn’t until he stood up once more that you saw a long chain wrapped around in his belt loops, two handcuffs hitting each of his thighs as he leaned forward.

He pulled the microphone away from his lips, curling his arms against his chest as Phasma began to hit the bass drum harder than before, the trail of the guitars fading as the crowd released a loud unanimous scream.

Kylo stomped his right foot hard onto the stage, bringing the microphone back up for a few moments to let out a loud, raspy scream before dropping the object onto the floor. Phasma’s hits became louder and louder, and Kylo began to nod his head along perfectly to each hit she gave, his hair following his movements drastically in long swishes. Falling in front of his face to obscure it each time before he moved his body back once more, his back arching as his hair fell behind him once more.

You couldn’t help but sway your hips once more, your movements timed to the beat you knew so well. Your hair hit your shoulders each time you nodded your head, the balls of your feet supporting your weight as you bounced onto them.

From beside you, you heard someone scream that they loved Kylo. The high pitched announcement reached his ears and he looked down into the crowd, seeing your dance, your hair bouncing and swaying around your face. He releases a sly grin, and you don’t catch the look he gives you as his eyes find the swell of your breasts that was showing off more as your shirt fell off one of your shoulders. The sweat soaked fabric clinging to your skin, and he sees the soft outline of two nipple piercings.

The final sound of drums fades from your ears, and you release a laugh and a yell with the rest of the crowd. Kylo bends down, grabbing the microphone he had dropped. He brings it close to his lips.

“Now.” He purrs into the mic, his voice echoing out of the speakers and monitors. “We can’t play for you much longer.”

A loud protest comes from the people around you.

“I’d love to stay here forever with you.” He chuckles “But we’d get arrested for trespassing and reckless behaviour – and our manager says we can’t get arrested again.”

You let out a laugh, smiling up at the man who stood above you. You vaguely remembered Kylo and Alex getting arrested a few months ago for damaging a venue when they tried to kick the band out before their set was over.

“Now this last song-“ He laughs at the cries of protest that he’s drowned in. “This, is one you all know. You know I wrote this with my girlfriend for the new album.”

You nod, hearing the small beginnings of Alex’s bass, Drew and Zandra joining in with a low pitched string of notes. Phasma begins a quiet thud of the bass, her stick hitting the snares gently in a rolling pace.

“Lysandra is off singing a duet with someone else.” Kylo says into the mic that he places into the stand. “So I’m going to need you to sing her parts for me.”

The crowd releases it’s excitement, the groupies knowing immediately that Kylo was once more on the market. Zandra’s acoustic guitar faded and Drew picked up on the notes that followed as she set the guitar down and grabbed the double necked electric that she cherished.

Kylo nods his head, holding the microphone between both of his large hands. “Come with me to the other side – leave the pain of this world behind.”

Your body sways once more, watching as Kylo leaned forward, cupping a hand around his ear.

“For whatever you decide – you’re wrong – I’ll be your bonfire.” The crowd sang back to him, and you see his lips tilt up into a rare, genuine smile.

Kylo lets out a growl, grabbing the mic from the stand and jumps onto the platform, jumping in a circle as the beat suddenly picked up. Zandra and Alex banging their heads along with the drums behind them as their fingers slid up and down the necks of their guitars, fingers plucking at the strings.

The words are repeated once more, Kylo singing with the mic pointed towards the crowd. You gladly sang along, your voice melding with those around you. Even without the mic, you could hear Kylo’s voice clearly above the rest.

You let out a yelp as Kylo jumped from the platform, clearing the rest of the stage and landing between the stage and barrier – right in front of you. His eyes rake down your body, your thighs bare to his gaze. He gives you a smirk before turning left, his hand grabbing some of those that reached for him, leaning into some of the girls as he gave them false hope of wanting them.

He walked back and forth twice, his voice loud in your ears each time he passed you. “I can see my grin in the reflection of the blade and feel confidence -And joy 'cause the decision now is made” When he tilted the mic to the crowd, he stopped in front of you, his arm reaching past the barrier to snake around your waist, pinning you to the cold metal of the fence.  “The steel is cold and brings a stream over my skin, open up this Empty shell and free the icebound soul within” he sings hoarsely to you, staring down at your small frame in his arm. “Why don't you” you say back to him, voice no longer in tune as you spoke the following words of the bridge to him.

“Come with me to the other side.” He sings back. “Leave the pain of this world behind.”

Your body is frozen as he leans towards you, saying the last few words of the chorus before the band took over for their solos, his body hunched awkwardly to place his face at the same level as yours. “I’m going to kiss you now.” He mummers, seeing your shocked nod before he leans in – his nose hits your cheek as he tilts his head.

His lips are soft, although a bit chapped against yours. Kylo’s lips move against yours, opening your mouth to slide his tongue against your teeth. You can taste the lemon flavoured lozenge he had sucked on throughout the show, and the sweat that had gathered around his mouth was salty against your taste buds.

Your soft moan is music to his ears, and he’d be grateful if that were the only sound he would ever be able to hear again. You hear his chuckle as he pulls your lip between his teeth, he releases it as he stands to his full height, a small mewl leaving your throat from the loss of contact.

It’s only a moment later that a blush takes over your cheeks at the realization of what had occurred. The people around you were screaming, begging for a chance to kiss Kylo Ren. He gives you a wink before setting the mic on the stage, bracing his hands against the platform before hopping back on with an easy adjustment of his weight.

His voice fills your ears once more, finishing the last few verses of the song as you continue to dance in the small space you had claimed for yourself.

When the final notes of the song played their course and faded into the speakers, you closed your eyes for a moment, basking once more in the atmosphere of the concert high.

Your eyes open once more, and the swell of people around you began to dwindle as Kylo said thank you to the crowd. You smile, bending to pick up the cup you had dropped to the floor. You turn away from the stage once the cup was in your hand, and you move with the crowd towards the only exit.

The cold air of the late spring night hits your skin, causing you to shiver when there was no one left around you. Everyone who was leaving the venue was dispersing in different directions, though most were heading towards the train station a few blocks away.

You head into the small alley beside the venue, finding the dumpster and tossing your cup into it.

“Model citizen, aren’t you?” A voice comes from behind you.

You turn, brows furrowed as you catch the bright orange tip of a cigarette. “I don’t want to just leave my trash around.” You reply, following the pale fingers up the man’s arm to his bare neck and face.

“Shouldn’t you be heading home?” He asks, and you hear him take a long drag of the cigarette.

“I’m about to.” You say, beginning to turn back to the street.

“Why don’t you stay?” He asks.

“I have things to do.” You mutter, beginning to walk back to the well lit street.

“Stay.” He insists. “I can let you in to see the band.”

“I don’t want to see the band.” You snap, your shoes echoing loudly off the brick walls.

“That hurts.” A second voice laughs, the deep voice surrounding you like a warm blanket. You glance over, seeing a metal door being held open by Kylo Ren himself.

Tag List: @kylo-renne @kylokiwi @supremeleaderdaddy @velourpunk @casshmerekitty @buckyslittlekitten @ben-solo @lumifuer @secretlygrantaire @sdavid09 @imagine-this-motherfucker 

[lambergeier]

HECK YES i love this meme: “No,” she says. “I can’t recommend you return to professional play.” Tooru blinks, once, rapidly, a stutter of darkness.

omg okay getting right to the good stuff here aren’t we.

SO: LMAO: obviously this was always going to happen. i kept it ambiguous in thirty years because thirty years ends on a romantic high note, but it was always my intention that that be the end for oikawa, as far as volleyball goes. it actually took some kind of creative medical science in order for that to be the end of his career because like……. okay this is going to be long but what else is this meme for tbh:

i did a sickening amount of research for this shit, and as best i can tell, a) volleyball players don’t really get knee injuries and b) knee injuries hardly ever end careers anymore. in canon, oikawa almost certainly just has a repetitive strain injury, like tennis elbow for lunatics who jump all the time, and did not in any way pop his patella out of socket in high school, like i wrote. dislocation normally happens after you smash it into something (or a car smashes into you), or, like with acl tears, when you’re playing a sport that requires a lot of sudden changes in direction. so tennis or skiing, mostly. volleyball players fuck up their ankles, not their knees. but someone already CANONICALLY has  KNEE INJURY, so i was kinda stuck. i left his bad landing in thirty years as ambiguous as i could and hoped no one would call me out tbh, bc there’s no fucking way landing from a long jump could do what i needed it to do.

because my OTHER problem was that, like, you have to fuck yourself up GOOD to end a sports career these days. ACL tears are (relatively) easily repaired, meniscal tears are easily repaired, orthopedic surgeons are just really good at what they do, as it turns out. i kept googling “acl repair fail how” “acl not healing” etc., and every site i looked at, they were all pretty cheerily like “do your PT and you’ll be fine! it’s not the fucking 80s anymore!” terrible. so i had to make him land OUTRAGEOUSLY bad, plus have a dislocation already on his record (including the cartilage damage that comes with that) to really put him out of commission. which was of course necessary, because i love oikawa, but if he actually got what he wanted from life, would i really even love him at all.

also, side note: this reddit thread was hilariously helpful in learning what an acl tear actually feels like

so yeah, jumping through hoops to make his career end. if this had been a longer fic, and i more of a slut for angst, i may have included something me and nords discussed a few times, which was the possibility that he had actually dislocated his patella multiple times during high school (scraping off a bit of cartilage each time) and just never told one after the first, because after the first, it’s totally possible to just pop it back in yourself. the ultimate goal would have been oikawa forcing himself to a) acknowledge his younger self’s mistakes and b) forgive his younger self for them (bc what else can you do tbh), but honestly i couldn’t come up with enough actual plot action carry all that, or, alternatively, i wanted to write something under 15k, so that didn’t happen. i still kinda consider it canon to the fic, if only to help explain, again, how one jump ended his career.

otherwise, let’s see. like i said in the author’s note, this was originally conceived as just a h/c porn coda. oikawa’s in a lot of pain post-surgery, iwaizumi gently pats his forehead, and then (carefully) rides his boyfriend into the sunset. this survived as the second scene ofc, but then norway started talking about fucked-up dream sequences and there was a whole entire conversation that i never wrote into thirty years about oikawa’s post-retirement career plans, and things just Spiraled from there. because, as previously mentioned, oikawa is most interesting to me as an extremely successful and driven character who just doesn’t get what he wants.

anyways, to conclude, the most important knowledge i can impart about this fic verse is that although oikawa does take that commentator job, and does turn it into a permanent position with NHK, he does not stop there.

no, he jumps to the financial side of the media industry, and becomes an acquisitions and mergers specialist so feared that salarymen refuse to speak his name lest he hear them and buy them out, for pennies on the dollar. he turns himself on every day. and he totally gets that sick old man cane. poor iwaizumi.