#*THEREFORE* YOU KNOW YOU SHOULD NOT DO THIS

[technically-human]

He did eventually sign it

[rafes-slut]

Could you do some smut with a Reader who is a bit insecure about being so naked/exposed, feeling unattractive and gets in her head during sex and can't relax, and because of that tenses up (therefor pain) so Rafe is really soft with her and understanding

Hope you will like it <3

Let me show you

Pairing: soft!Rafe Cameron x insecure!reader

Warnings: Smut, insecurity/self-consciousness, body image struggles, soft!Rafe, praise kink, gentle and reassuring intimacy, established relationship.

Summary: you are insecure and always feeling exposed about yourself, as rafe tries to praise you and make you feel comfortable in any way. Giving you all the time you need about it

-------------------------------------------------------

Rafe's room is dimly lit, the warm glow of the bedside lamp casting soft shadows along the walls. The bed beneath you feels impossibly plush, but no amount of comfort can settle the nervous knot twisting inside your stomach.

You should be used to this by now—you and Rafe have been together for a while, and he's never given you a reason to doubt how much he wants you. But still, every time things get intimate, you can’t shake the overwhelming self-consciousness that creeps in. Every touch feels like a spotlight on the parts of yourself you wish you could hide. Every second that passes without him saying something makes you spiral, convinced that maybe—just maybe—he’s finally seeing what you see when you look in the mirror.

You’re tense, your body rigid beneath him as his hands trace down your sides. He notices. He always does.

“Baby,” Rafe murmurs, pressing a slow, lingering kiss to your collarbone. “Relax for me.” His voice is low, soothing, but you still can’t bring yourself to fully let go.

“I’m fine,” you whisper, but it doesn’t sound convincing.

Rafe pulls back slightly, resting his weight on his forearm as his other hand moves to cup your cheek. His thumb strokes over your skin, eyes searching yours with a kind of tenderness that makes your chest ache.

“You’re not,” he says softly. “Talk to me, angel.”

You swallow hard, feeling your throat tighten. You don’t want to ruin the moment, but the words are already forming, slipping out before you can stop them.

“I just…” You hesitate, eyes flickering away in embarrassment. “I feel… exposed.”

Rafe stills for a moment, and you brace yourself for him to be annoyed or frustrated, but instead, he leans in, pressing a gentle kiss to the tip of your nose. “You’re supposed to be,” he murmurs. “That’s the whole point, baby. You don’t have to hide from me.”

His fingers trail down your arm, slow and deliberate, like he’s memorizing every inch of you. “I wish you could see what I see,” he continues, voice thick with emotion. “You’re so fucking beautiful. Every part of you.”

You shake your head slightly, but Rafe doesn’t let you pull away. Instead, he tilts your chin up, forcing you to look at him.

“You are,” he insists. “And I don’t just mean when you’re all dressed up or when you’re wearing something cute. I mean right now. Just like this.”

Your heart stumbles over itself at the sincerity in his voice.

“I love your body,” he murmurs, dragging his lips along your jaw. “I love the way you feel under me, the way you fit so fucking perfectly against me.” His hand moves down, tracing the dip of your waist. “You were made for me, angel. You know that, right?”

Heat spreads through your body, replacing some of the doubt with something softer—something warm and safe.

Rafe presses his lips to yours, slow and deep, his hands never straying too far, never moving too fast. He wants you to feel wanted, not just desired. There’s a difference, and he knows you need to feel it.

“You’re perfect,” he breathes between kisses. “So goddamn perfect for me.”

Rafe watches you closely, waiting for any hesitation, any sign that you still feel unsure. His fingers brush over your skin like he’s trying to soothe the nerves buzzing under the surface. His lips trail down your neck, lingering there as he whispers, “I’m not going to rush you, baby. We have all night.”

His patience makes your chest ache. He always takes his time with you, never pushing, never making you feel like you have to be anything other than what you are. But even now, as his hands move lower, you still feel the tension clinging to you, the weight of your insecurities trying to pull you under.

“Come here,” he murmurs, shifting slightly so that you’re fully beneath him. He presses his forehead against yours, his body warm and steady against your own. “Tell me what you need.”

You chew on your lip, your fingers instinctively reaching for the fabric of his shirt. “I just… I don’t want you to look at me too much,” you admit quietly, feeling ridiculous even as you say it.

Rafe exhales slowly, his thumb tracing circles on your hip. “Baby…” He lifts your chin gently, his blue eyes soft yet unwavering. “I love looking at you. I could stare at you all fucking day.”

Your stomach twists, your instincts telling you to shrink away, but Rafe won’t let you. His hand moves to your waist, fingers pressing just firm enough to ground you.

“You’re mine,” he murmurs, his voice laced with something possessive yet impossibly tender. “Every part of you belongs to me, and I love what’s mine.”

A shiver runs down your spine at his words, but you still can’t help the way your body tenses as his hands move lower, brushing over the parts of yourself you always try to hide.

“Hey,” Rafe whispers, pressing a kiss to your shoulder, then another along your collarbone. “Relax, angel. I got you.”

His touch is slow, reverent, giving you time to adjust, to breathe. Every movement is filled with purpose, meant to remind you that this is him, that you’re safe here, that he’s not going anywhere.

When his hands finally push your shirt up, his gaze doesn’t drop to your exposed skin like you expect it to. Instead, he keeps his eyes locked on yours.

“You’re so beautiful,” he murmurs, his voice almost aching. “I don’t know how you don’t see it.”

Your heart clenches, your breath stuttering slightly as his fingers graze over your stomach. He traces patterns there, his touch gentle but deliberate. “Every time I touch you, I just—” He exhales, shaking his head like he can’t find the right words. “I can’t get enough of you, baby.”

You feel your pulse quicken at his words, the sincerity in them making it harder to hold onto your doubts.

Rafe leans down, lips brushing against your ear as he whispers, “Let me take care of you.”

His hands move to your shorts, but he doesn’t do anything yet. He just watches you, waiting for you to give him some kind of sign.

And for once, you don’t let the insecurities win. You give him a small nod, and the soft smile that spreads across his lips makes your chest feel warm.

“Good girl,” he murmurs, pressing a kiss to your lips before slowly—so slowly—helping you out of the rest of your clothes.

Your body stiffens instinctively as you’re left bare beneath him, the rush of vulnerability making you want to hide, but Rafe doesn’t let you. His hands are warm as they smooth over your thighs, his gaze locked on yours, unwavering.

“You’re breathtaking,” he says, and the way he says it—like it’s an undeniable fact—makes you believe him, even if just for a moment.

Then his hands are moving, his lips following, and all you can do is feel.

Every kiss, every touch, every whispered praise is meant to replace the doubts in your mind with something softer, something better.

[jamethinks]

Here's the thing about Anya.

Her primary goal is to achieve world peace, a concept she has no understanding of but she is fervently dedicated. Some part it is due to her childish attitude and obsession with spies but there is another part.

Anya does not understand her own self-worth and self-identity outside of her role as a tool in achieving "world peace".

When Anya grew up her main purpose was always "for the sake of world peace". Everything she did was for that sake. It was almost as if her entire reason for existing was for world peace. But it also wasn't, because she was made by accident. This adds an extra dimension where she was seen as optional. This would obviously damage herself esteem and really force her to want to please the people around her because in their minds she was more of a hassle.

When Anya was finally adopted by Twilight she found out he had the same goal as the scientists that held her before. Also, more directly he is willing to discard of her if she is not up to the task. In a way, Twilight is no different than the scientists that had her before. Of course over time he eventually empathize with her and focus more on her comfort than functionality. He does not directly scold Anya to force her fulfill this role but her telepathy gives her that knowledge.

But you clearly see the impact of the scientist on Anya's sense of self and how Twilight does not do much to help (although to some extent it is not his fault).

Anya remains fairly optimistic about the whole thing and continues to aim to achieve her goal. But we also see where these ideas negatively effect her. It makes her clingy, desperate, it keeps her in a constant fear of rejection. even the most minor forms of rejection can completely shatter her because she for her any failure puts her one step closer back into the street.

This is one of the traits she actually shares with both Damian and Becky. I will focus on Damian to keep it short though. Damian is very preoccupied with being the best. He lives a very isolated life and has no relationship with his own family. For what ever reason, he accredits this to his father. Damian believes that the only to get his father's approval and therefore his (and the rest of his families') love is if he succeeds. There is also this additional pressure put on him because of his father's status which externalizes this pressure. The reason he likes Anya so much is because she does not apply that pressure. She does not expect to be great, she just wants to be his friend for her mission. There is also that transparency which makes him feel less tricked and hence safe.

The Prince kid also mirrors that same dilemma. He has a responsibility as the Prince to maintain a certain standard and reputation. His family needs him to be strong and noble but in the end he is just a kid. When he is confront by the Freddy he is scared out of his mind, worried that if he loses he will disappoint his family.

The problem with this however, is that it further surrounds Anya with people that think the same way she does. This only encourages this kind of thinking. Anya is constantly surrounded by people that echo the same negative sentiments she has about herself and self worth. For Damian (and Becky) it works because it gives her ground to relate to them and her seemingly carefree nature allows her to motivate them to let go of this attitude.

But who is encouraging Anya to relax? Who is encouraging Anya to let go of these insecurities?

Anya's identity and motivation is still defined through her father and to a less extent the scientist. she is still motivated by the idea of world peace. However, Anya herself does not know what that means or why she should be aiming for it. It is more of a concept to her than a tangible goal. Her only true goal is to not be returned. For that reason she will never push back against Loid, she will follow his guidance and never develop a personal goal.

Now here is where i think Freddy or some delinquent of some sort will come in use.

For Anya to gain a sense of identity, she needs to push back against her father. She needs to start doing things that prioritizes her own happiness over her father's aim for world peace. She needs someone that will push into her more natural self. Anya is naturally a girl of chaos and mischief. She is not like the others who well behaved and properly trained, nor is she personally interested in being that girl. The only reason Anya is interested in achieving this is for the sake of father. She does not understand the purpose of a lot of these things she is just afraid of being sent back to the orphanage.

I feel like Anya having someone who can encourage her to lean more into the rebel side and allow to actually challenge the things she has been told. Children are curious by nature and one aspect of that is the question of "why?". Constantly provoking the people around them to explain and justify the things they tell them. Anya should also be able to decide what she agrees with and what she disagrees with. She also suffer from natural consequences of her actions. And you will never have that if never challenge your parents or teachers.

Anya is surrounded by goodie two shoes. Although she is still in touch with that curious and defiant side but if there is no one else around to encourage it she will continue to conform and eventually that curious side of her will disappear. If she never gets someone who can remind her to be young and curious she will lose that part of herself. She needs Freddy. Fuck you.

[caparrucia]

There's a fork in the road, when you're unlearning toxic shit, that I like to call the Slur Event Horizon. Where you've learned just enough about social justice to identify the surface symptoms of oppressive structures, but you haven't really internalized the principles on a foundational level.

So you find yourself staring at the face at someone you really fucking hate, and fumbling for a slur to use.

Because you come from a culture (built on those oppressive systems) that has taught you slurs are the words you use, in this situation. You have cultural baggage that has taught you how to handle this situation, and the way you handle this situation is by yelling a slur at someone.

But here's the thing, you've also learned from peers and mentors that social justice is in fact a thing you want to cosign. You agree with everything you've been told about social justice. You think women should be people and gays should be married and trans people should get all the dresses or drugs they want to be happy. You have Black friends and Asian friends and you even know the difference between Latino and Hispanic. Your crush turned you down but you were okay with it because they're ace and you know that's not just an excuse, that's just who they are.

You like to think you're a good person. Nothing extraordinary, you're not one of those people who are radical in their beliefs. You vote when you find out there's elections (but you don't seek them out or stay on top of them or go to meetings to yell at people or anything). You're normal and pretty decent, even, certainly better than your boomer parents and all their hateful bigotry that you've been really thinking about limiting or cutting off contact because you've realized they make you into a worse version of yourself and, well. Here you are, trying to be better. And then you run into this person that you hate (justifiably, even!) and you need to make it known, you need to grab the festering, vicious, poisonous thing under your tongue and spit it out, preferably in your face.

So you do what you're told and you reach for a slur and it... chafes.

Your feelings are real and valid and burning, but you know better, really. You like to think you do. You know calling someone a name for their gender or race or sexuality is... y'know. Bad.

This might be in fact the reason why you hate this specific person so much! They're so bigoted and evil. They pick on your friends. They've hurt your family. They make a mockery of real tragedies. Perhaps, they have proudly committed or participated in actual, real, serious crimes and the thought alone makes your blood boil.

But you're a good person, and you've done all the reading about why slurs are bad and hurtful and evil.

But just this once...

And here's where the split happens:

Because you can choose to swallow it back and sit with your feelings and internalize a bit more why slurs are not good, actually, and yeah. Yeah, you need to learn a new way to express frustration and anger towards people who, frankly, fucking suck, but who are, at the end of the day, still people.

Or you decide you need a slur, but not like all the other ones, because the problem with slurs, surely, is not that they dehumanize people, but that they target the wrong people. So you come up with a new one. This slur is okay to use, because it's targeting evil people.

Or maybe you decide that in this clear instance, the slur is okay, actually, because the target is irredeemable and unforgivable and not actually a person and therefore it's okay to use a slur because it's not dehumanization if they're not human anyway!

And the thing is, the Slur Event Horizon is where a lot of would-be progressives slideback into bigotry, because now you've made a choice. Now it's not about when you were younger and more ignorant and you didn't know any better. You knew and you made the choice and if someone points out, "yeah that's... that's wrong actually, try again" you will feel very attacked. Obviously targeted. Singled out unnecessarily.

Here's the thing, you can't bully a stranger to backtrack, if they've chosen the wrong option out of the Slur Event Horizon. You can absolutely nudge a friend or family member and point out you think they've fucked up, because your relationship will serve as a buffer. See, a friend pointing out they might have gone down the wrong road is helpful. Considerate even. People who are close to them care about them, so it's not about punishment or public humiliation, it's about growth!

But a stranger fumbling this will not in fact recalibrate if you yell at them about it. That's not to say you should just let them go about calling the dipshit of the hour slurs. Slurs are bad, they're toxic and hurt people, more than just the person being targeted. They ruin communities and ostracize minorities. Slurs have no place in public spaces and the reaction to them should always be "no", sometimes "FUCK no" and even "the fuck, NO."

My point is, you should not derail the swift, unforgiving response to slurs by trying to shame or bully the user for being a bad leftie or a bad progressive or a bad whatever the fuck ideological group you're part of. You're not changing minds by derailing into a debate about the appropriate use of slurs and whether a specific dipshit has dipshit enough to merit unpersoning. You're just platforming slurs and giving them a veneer of acceptability, because otherwise there would be nothing to debate.

(There is nothing to debate. Slurs are dehumanizing language and if you give two shits about social justice, dehumanization should be the first, biggest nono you learn. And now, "reclaimed" slurs are not the same as slurs. It's not about the words themselves, it's about how you use them. If you're using words as slurs, you've fucked up and fundamentally lost the plot.)

[cheekybirb]

toh in general is such a poorly written show that had so much potential but doesn't really live up to it. like tbh i think the idea of the owl house is better then the show was. in hollow mind there could've been the chance to explore belos' character more or his past with caleb and instead it's just? surface level stuff??? and i understand disney cancelled toh and they only had a certain amount of episodes left but they seriously could've done better with the time they had left to write it. i realised while trying to write smth about belos before that he doesn't actually have much of a personality???????? like he's just a very empty character that's only really there to serve the role of a villain and nothing more. which okay fine whatever but also most of the other characters also have the same problem where i can't really tell what their personalities are supposed to be. and maybe that's just me being autistic but i seriously think it's just badly written? idk sorry for rambling here im insane but do u understand

That is super true. While I do understand how heavily Disney likes to censor the show overall, it is kinda made to be a slap in the face to Disney and because of that being the focus it made a lot of very important characters very dry when they could have easily done more research and made it show how the queer community is treated rather that "Oh its a queer show! How you like that Disney??"

Like Belos as a character could have been a much scarier and bigger threat if he wasn't a joke. I understand why they kinda wrote him without a personality because many Christians fall into line with the same personality and interests. But that wasn't even explored and therefore was unforfilling.

I really wish they went with a narrative that could really hit home with a lot of people. Like if they made Belos more realistic as a heavy conservative Christian in power. Or even Odalina as an abusive parent and have her drive a wedge between Luz and Amity rather than have her easily beaten and in the background.

The Owl House lacks a story. Like Belos was a villain since s1 without even showing up until later. Like Luz saw the coven system and was like, "This is wrong" with knowing nothing about it or why it's there.

Heck, even Eda could have had better writeing like if she was written that she became against the coven system for a much deeper reason rather then she was just a rule breaker. Instead, maybe have her sister cursing her be the reason. The covens drew a huge wedge between her sister, and that's why she didn't like it rather than "I was just gonna give it to you and I just don't like covens"

Raine could have had a showing in s1 to explore their character more especially their tension with Eda and them wanting to be a coven head.

Luz and Camilla's Hispanic heritage could have had a better representation other than they speak Spanish occasionally.

Gus having a greater impact on Hunter much slower. And overall him having more screen time.

Hunter slowly healing and taking new friendships and relationships slower as he heals from his huge amounts of trauma. (Yes I know the show was canceled, but Hunter immediately had a crush on Willow when they met)

Willow and Amity taking slower to repair their friendship.

Willows design showing more of her half Asian heritage. And show her power getting stronger over time.

Lumity was my biggest upset because they were rushed so quickly. With no flaws or bumps either. I wish their enemies to lovers held more character development for Amity as well as Odalina getting more in the way, maybe isolating her more. Amity also not knowing how to love either because she was treated like a business object.

I also think that Caleb in FtF should have a better effort to haunt the narrative. Like instead of just stare try one last time to convince Belos to stop but Belos doesn't listen.

I also wished Eda and Lilith had more tension with Belos and that they knew about Caleb.

But yeah those are just my thoughts. I still love the show I just wish it could have done better (as someone who is going into film and writing as a career)

[sudokufriend]

not putting this in the tags only because character limits make me soo sadsies but yeah idk maybe you guys don’t know anyone whose entire culture subscribes to a ‘family is the rock of your life and your father and grandfather etc etc are essentially venerated and never disrespect your elders/authority figures no matter how wrong they are.’ because you don’t have non white friends. and it’s actually really refreshing to hear someone push back against the idealistic idea that there could be a system in which the family unit is preserved that does not have these problems.

hella anecdotes beneath the cut

i’m 20. my nigerian parents ascribe to these beliefs, and indeed the foundation of igbo culture rests upon these values being intrinsic facts. i’m not going to say that therefore the igbos deserved to be colonised or anything like that, but christianity and particularly catholicism took such a hold in igbos and we are so fervent about it because of and not despite the authoritarian nature of its teachings.

your parents are always right easily translates to god is always right. my parents constantly say to me that the three questions i should ask myself before doing something are ‘what would god do? what would my parents do? and what should i do?’ i shouldn’t need to point out the issues with that.

my igbo parents are wrong. looking at this evidence, this is just true. they are bigoted in a lot of ways, from being ableist, fatphobic and transphobic towards wider society and me, to being abusive towards all of their children who they view as their subordinates. they are healthcare workers who despise their vulnerable patients, and they are racist towards every culture, including dialects of their own language. they are islamophobic and they hate refugees despite us essentially being refugees ourselves. but we are not allowed to disrespect them in any case, in which disrespect is defined as disagreeing with anything they say. both igbo culture and religion and catholicism condones and encourages the unquestioning support of your parents.

when i was in primary school and struggling with social interactions and exhibiting signs of developing ocd regarding my grades at the age of six and obvious autism, my parents’ problem was that i threw a tantrum and disgraced our family, not that i was unhappy in school.

when i reported them to my teacher for abuse in year seven with my sister supporting me, they didn’t care that their children were so unhappy that they would take such drastic action as to talk about their family when it had been drilled into their heads that it was ‘wrong’ to ever let people know your family dynamics, they instead cared that we would dare go behind their backs and complain about them.

they now often wonder why i never came or indeed still don’t come to them for emotional support and advice. when i used to complain, or my siblings used to complain, my parents would take it as a personal insult that we would dare find issue with their parenting. as far as they’re concerned, i was just a weak willed child, who refused to fall in line. but if you ask them how they could’ve produced such a child if their parenting was ‘perfect’ they don’t have an answer.

this is just my immediate family. more broadly, when we are at home in nigeria, my father and grandfather must be greeted first in the morning. if we do not greet every single ‘adult’ (by which this is defined as the previous generation, not every person eighteen and over) before we start preparing breakfast for these adults, we are talked about and loudly insulted.

my grandmother on my dad’s side lives away from my grandfather because she cannot stand him. but she will not divorce him, and hell be upon you if you say a bad word against him, because that is her husband and your grandfather, and you will show him deference at all times.

my grandmother on my mother’s side was married at sixteen, and my grandfather (36 at the time of their marriage) financially and physically abused her. but my mother has not a bad word to say about my dead grandfather, and my grandmother talks fondly about the man who abused her.

my brother, a thirteen year old child, is a titled chief in my village. my two sisters and i do not have any such opportunity because we were born girls, and therefore born in servitude to the men in our lives. when we become ‘of marrying age’ (my mum is on the lookout for a suitable partner for my twenty two year old sister) we are expected to leave our birth family and not be involved in their domestic affairs, or to inherit property. the idea is that your husband will inherit property from his father and then you will rule it ‘together’ (if that husband dies without producing a son, all of the land he inherited is given to his next oldest brother). when we visit nigeria, we spend 5-6 weeks with my fathers family. we spend less than a week with my mother’s family, and my dad does not stay, because it is ‘not right’ to spend time with my mother’s family, except to pay deference to the older generation.

slavery was in part so successful at infiltrating igbo villages because of the problems inherent to such a system of inheritance. younger brothers eyeing their older brothers’ inheritances would collaborate with transatlantic slave traders to sell their brothers to their certain deaths. the igbos are not the first you meet on your way into nigeria from the coast. and yet we make up a shockingly high percentage of the historically enslaved population.

most igbos are conservative, not because conservative policies necessarily benefit them, and indeed we have been subject to ethnic discrimination in nigeria and pogroms, but they are so because you do not question the system, and the authorities who enforce it. yes, missionaries disrupted and destroyed our culture. but ultimately they brought catholicism and it reinforces our own ways of thinking, so it must be correct.

this obsession too with finding the perfect victims of colonialism is interesting. in search for the perfect victim, liberals will often twist discriminatory indigenous practices to make them seem retroactively queer. there was nothing queer about certain igbo women who chose to live like men in order to access the rights granted to said men. again this isn’t to say that the igbos deserved to be colonised and our practices and language poisoned at the root, but by swinging hard the other way, it erases the very real oppression inherent to some cultures.

I'm still fucking thinking about people advocating neo-Confucian ~extended family~ as a better alternative to western nuclear family. like girl i know there's that assumption that everyone is a white yankee but have you literally never talked to anyone who grew up in a family like that?

our barbarous system where children are the property of their parents vs their glorious system where children are the property of their parents (mystical oriental)

it's like that broader thing where people try and thin down a criticism like "you mean organised religion", "white western nuclear family", "this is such a white people thing" etc to try and weasel their way out of association with an issue.

Misogyny is not a western invention lol, the way it manifests in a lot of societies is a product of certain cultural manifestations of misogyny being exported elsewhere, but the control and ownership of women is not a "white people thing" or a western thing.

the issues of the family are not limited to the anglo saxon protestant yankee middle class nuclear family, misogyny is not unique to one group of people, racism is not unique to one group of people, homophobia is not unique to one group of people, terfs are not all middle class white women, etc etc etc etc

it's just so frustrating and kills any fucking attempt to actually talk about issues because they get drowned out with people appending on specific identities as if that issue is unique to one fucking group of people and the rest of the world is sunshine and rainbows.

[lemotmo]

Genuinely don't understand how these people get these ideas.

Q. Theorizing stuff when we have no idea if he's even still on the show is insane behavior because he's not filming.

A. How do you know he's not filming? You're basing that entirely off of the bts of the calls the show intentionally wanted people to see and be distracted by. Eddie is in El Paso for that episode, duh he wouldn't have been in those BTS videos. You know who else we've barely seen? Jennifer, and none of you are predicting her exit as a result of that. None of you predicted Peter's exit when Bobby retired. Eddie is the only one you do this over. And most of you are following the lead of people who want him to leave, and even they don't genuinely believe he's gone. If he was leaving we would know by now. The show would have allowed that information to have been leaked. Then the cliffhanger would be rather or not his exit would be open ended or if they would kill him off. That's where the speculation would be. Neither the show, or ABC, would allow the show's entire promotional campaign to be built around a duo if one half of that duo was leaving. No one has ever or will ever do that because that's asking your audience to invest in something they can no longer deliver. This show is not stupid. Also Tim basically told you he wasn't leaving. He said the Buck and Eddie story would show both sides of the story. Meaning we will see Buck's side of the story as well as Eddie's side of the story. If Ryan was leaving there would be no Eddie side to tell. The show wouldn't care because he wasn't on the show anymore therefore Buck's did of the story would be the only side that mattered. Be serious for one moment.

Theorizing is part of fandom. You develop theories until you get new information and then you adjust your theories. Guess what? After the TVLine write up, I no longer think my earlier speculation is correct. That's part of the fun. It's part of the point. You all don't see him in clips he should absolutely not be in because his character is in an entirely different city and you immediately conclude Eddie is permanently leaving and he and Buck will call themselves bros for life as he drives off into the oblivion. Your freakouts make absolutely no sense and are invented from absolutely nothing.

Thank you Nonny!

🤦‍♀️🤦‍♀️🤦‍♀️🤦‍♀️🤦‍♀️🤦‍♀️🤦‍♀️🤦‍♀️🤦‍♀️

I cannot.

How many times do we have to repeat ourselves? This topic has been discussed over and over again.

NO! Ryan is NOT leaving! Eddie is not leaving!

Let it go already.

Oh... and you know what?

YES! Buddie is happening! 🤷‍♀️🤷‍♀️🤷‍♀️

Heads up! For anyone who is giving me the shifty eyes for reposting Ali's updates instead of reblogging. Read this.

Remember, no hate in comments, reblogs or inboxes. Let's keep it civil and respectful. Thank you.

If you are interested in more of Ali’s posts, you can find all of her posts so far under the tag: anonymous blog I love.

[punk-butch-bitch]

I’ve seen several posts (and a lot of reposts of those posts) talking about the misogyny in rap music produced by men, and while I think that having a conversation about misogyny in entertainment is incredibly important, I also think it’s important to think about why we’re focused so heavily on demonizing rap music in particular.

A lot of mainstream music produced by men, regardless of it’s genre, has the same messaging of misogyny, rape culture, sexism, etc. If you read a lot of the lyrics of popular club/dance music especially, it’s hiding in plain sight. However, in a world in which white is the norm, we’re used to hearing that type of messaging disguised underneath the soothing, fun loving, catchy melodies sung by familiar voices so we sing along without thinking about the words leaving our mouths. Rap, while it’s still a very popular genre, goes against that familiar, comfortable habit of hiding lyrics and is very straightforward, and therefore our condemnation increases because it forces you to interact with the lyrics instead of shutting off your brain.

I don’t advocate for a lack of critical thinking or criticism for the genre, in fact I’m asking for the opposite. Is Rap truly the worst genre for misogyny? Because I could, and am, arguing that abusive lyrics hidden in songs that play over the speakers at every establishment (and especially around children) with no issue, is just as bad if not worse. Genres such as Country, which is just as full of misogyny, are treated with a kind of “roll your eyes and get over it” attitude. We treat it as a joke, if we acknowledge it at all. Those silly, backwards folk living in a cornfield town don’t know any better, really.

Socially, we also forgive and forget about male violence much quicker when the man is white. I’ve watched people blow up angrily about a white man’s crime and after 6 months it’s forgotten to the point nobody remembers it when I bring it up. However a black man in that same situation will have his disgrace last years longer. This is not me advocating in any way for everyone to get the white man treatment, but for everyone to have an accurate social reaction to the crime itself without the person’s race tainting how we view him (and by extension, those in his racial group).

Rap, while it has some serious bad apples now, has an incredibly important cultural history of pushing for social change that other popular genres in the world today do not, and it’s ironic to me that it is now seen as the most morally corrupt and oppressive genre. Associating the entire genre solely with low intelligence (both in the artist and the audience), general moral failing and filth, and a backwards view on society when there are so many rappers who have pushed for social changes harder than any other musicians, when you do not similarly condemn other musical genres, is unfortunately a case of internalized racism.

I will reiterate once again that I am not in any way saying that anyone or anything should get off scot-free or without deep criticism. Pointing out an unfair balance in how we condemn groups of people is simply that, pointing it out. I think we need more criticism but I think that criticism needs to be nuanced, complete, and informed. I would also urge you to look into smaller or more underground rappers/rap movements because there is a lot to enjoy and many good people to support when you’re able to get past the big names that do well for a reason. The majority of our culture today is misogynistic so misogynistic lyrics appeal to the general masses, and people who refuse to fall under that group don’t end up as famous as those who do.

[Edited to hopefully make my point easier to understand bc I was getting several reposts that seemed to be taking away a message I didn’t mean to put across]

[saintsenara]

read Scylla and Charybdis today loved it! Very excited to see how it continues. I have a question for you as someone for whom the intricacies of the British class system are still a bit misty. Aren’t Snape and Lily both from Cokeworth? They’re almost neighbors, right? They’re able to run into each other at the swing set after having walked there at age nine or so. So how is it that Lily’s family is sooo much better off financially than Severus’s family? Or is that even true? Would they not have similar accents and similar ignorances at Hogwarts compared with their classmates? And Lily is muggleborn and a woman, so she has those disadvantages to deal with when Severus doesn’t. 

It feels like Severus is taking for granted that his situation is far more difficult than Lily’s. Is that a reasonable assumption on his part, or is he not seeing past the end of his own nose? From where I’m sitting, it seems like he feels so sorry for himself about his (def seems pretty grim) background that he decides to do terrorism about it and he sort of resents Lily for not grasping that. But she has a very similar background as far as I can tell? Or are things really that different a few streets away? Or is it specifically because Severus was raised by his drunk, deadbeat, abusive father that his outlook is so bleak? 

Like yes Lily can afford ice cream and it doesn’t occur to her to treat Severus (Harry is maybe a better friend than she was in some ways?). But being able to afford ice cream kind of looks trivial when compared to the prospect of trying to fit into magical public life after Hogwarts when a looooot of the population seems in agreement with Voldemort that muggleborns should definitely be treated as second class citizens? Kind of like what Remus says about how Harry’s view on his lycanthropy is rose colored by having only seen him under Dumbledore’s protection. Tho on the other hand, there are the muggleborn hiring quotas that Severus would probably point to. 

if the answer is just Yeah Severus is an insightful person but he also has a severe case of sees-what-he-wants-to-see-itis like that’s fine, I just suspect there are some cultural nuances I am missing as an American. 

thank you very much for the ask, pal! i'm delighted you're enjoying scylla and charybdis.

snape and lily's respective class backgrounds are something i've gone into more detail about here, but the summary is that they're both from working-class backgrounds, but that there's a hierarchy of sub-backgrounds - each with its own behavioural nuances - within each class bracket. from an outside perspective - that is to say, from a separate class bracket - these sub-hierarchies might not seem particularly profound, but they matter enormously within their specific brackets.

snape - who lives in victorian slum housing, is visibly destitute, has a father who's presumably unemployed a lot of the time [and who, when he does work, is presumably - since the text really hammers home the connection between his house and the mill - a mill-worker], and has a family who seem to have a reputation for not being respectable [petunia knows who snape is when he first meets lily, and she's clearly been advised not to socialise with his sort…] - is a level of working class below lily. i doubt she comes from a background which is rich by any means. but she was clearly raised in a family which was both much more financially stable and much more socially stable - and, therefore, much more socially respectable.

and these class nuances clearly repeat themselves in the wizarding world [the wizarding class-system - for the doylist reason that jkr didn't want to flesh it out so she just made it the same as the real-world version and the watsonian reason that the way class functions in britain has roots which stretch back well before the statute of secrecy - is a mirror to the muggle one...]

they're just obscured in canon by the fact that so few of the main characters we encounter in the text are working-class. as i've gone into more detail about here, hogwarts is an institution which is pretty homogenous class-wise, but this isn't because the wizarding world is more egalitarian in terms of social class [we meet lots of characters - especially in manual or service roles - who are transparently intended to be understood by the reader as working-class and, therefore, to be understood by the reader as harry's social inferiors], it's because hogwarts exists in order to mould its students into people who conform to the social conventions of the wizarding elite, before it shuffles them off into state jobs to maintain and enforce the class system.

the teenage snape is one of only two students we ever meet - from any blood-category - who looks working-class [the other is hagrid]. he also appears to sound working-class - the swearing which prompts james to wash his mouth out is how the narrative communicates this, while the text's implication that everyone else at hogwarts sounds fairly homogenous is another way the school trains its students to be the elite - and to comport himself in a way which is similarly understood as a bit rough...

and this is very interesting, because it's a manifestation of one of snape's character traits which comes up again and again across the series - that he detests people who have had [or who he perceives to have had] everything handed to them on a plate.

he's not somebody who's naturally deferential - he will defer to people he believes have earned their right to consider themselves his superior [such as voldemort and dumbledore] but he's totally unwilling to defer to people whose only superiority over him comes from things like their class background [hence him responding to sirius implying that he's lucius malfoy's bitch by pointing out that he's actually the one who needs to worry about what lucius could do to him], their connections [hence his "ironic bow" when umbridge is trying to threaten him by referring to his relationship with lucius], their social status [hence literally every interaction he ever has with harry] or their wealth [likewise].

and this results in him being the only hogwarts-educated character we ever meet who doesn't play the class game while at school [voldemort - while he rejects the patron-client dynamic with slughorn which was clearly the only way he'd be allowed to enter the ministry - clearly makes the effort to speak and behave like a pureblood during his teenage years, which is exactly why everyone finds him turning down slughorn's job offers to be so shocking]. but, aged sixteen, the snape we find on the page isn't making any effort to embrace the social conventions which are his only hope of escaping poverty in a world with such a restrictive class system. he wants to become successful on his own merits.

this is a pretty admirable thing, in and of itself. but it gives him a series of absolutely enormous blind spots in his relationship with lily.

because lily does play the game. she's one of slughorn’s favourites, she's one of dumbledore’s favourites, she marries and takes the name of a pureblood man, and when she turns on her working-class friend [which she does for the very, very good reason that he's just called her a slur]... she does so by pointing out her superiority to his poverty.

from snape's perspective, this is class-treachery… but this means that he never bothers thinking about why lily might want to - and, indeed, need to - engage with wizarding society in a more conventional way.

[we also see this in half-blood prince, when harry, ron, and ginny find the idea of hermione attending the slug club to be ridiculous. none of them think for one moment about why a muggleborn woman might want to obtain the support of a well-connected pureblood man who clearly likes her…]

it's clear in canon that the only real way for muggleborns [and for part-humans - all of this also applies to lupin] to give themselves a modicum of protection from a state and a society which regards them as an underclass is to stick as rigidly to respectability politics as they can. they need to cultivate pureblood and half-blood connections and behave in ways which are deemed acceptable by the pureblood world and so on, so that when the state is seeking to oppress them, they have someone ready to defend them as "one of the good ones".

indeed, i'm always struck in deathly hallows that - when the trio infiltrate the ministry - reg cattermole [really ron in disguise] is told the following by yaxley:

"But if my wife were accused of being a Mudblood," said Yaxley, "- not that any woman I married would ever be mistaken for such filth - and the Head of the Department ofMagical Law Enforcement needed a job doing, I would make it my priority to do that job, Cattermole. Do you understand me?" [DH 12]

and this phrasing is really important. because it comes with the implication that being accused of being muggleborn is an accusation which can - on occasion - be beaten.

it's apparent in the text that being accused of being - or found to be - muggleborn [and therefore "guilty" of the "crime" of "stealing magic"] is more likely to happen to you if you're somebody the regime wants out of the way.

we see this in the case of dirk cresswell, who's clearly identified [correctly! we know he is one because slughorn tells us so in half-blood prince] as a muggleborn in order to benefit two men who are death eaters or death eater collaborators...

this bloke:

The wizard leaned toward Harry, leering, and muttered, "Dirk Cresswell, eh? From Goblin Liaison? Nice one, Albert. I'm pretty confident I'll get his job now!" [DH 12]

and runcorn, who would presumably receive some sort of job-related boost for "catching" as many muggleborns as possible:

The lift doors closed and as they clanked down another floor, Mr. Weasley said, "I hear you laid information about Dirk Cresswell." [DH 13]

runcorn is also the person who submits mary cattermole to the commission - and i have always believed that he does this because reg cattermole [who's someone arthur weasley clearly knows reasonably well] is known to have anti-voldemort views...

because hermione says something similar, when she points out to ron that him teaching her his family tree to help her pass as a pureblood would do nothing to protect her from the commission - the reason she's on the list of muggleborns who are wanted for questioning is because of her connection to harry [DH 11].

and ted tonks says that he refused to attend his registration hearing "on principle" [DH 15] - undoubtedly because he's aware that, as the father of an order member and the husband of a blood-traitor whose sister is one of the highest-ranking death eaters, he's someone the regime intends to kill, and he'd like to make doing that as difficult for it as possible...

but there's a subtext to all of these cases. if mary and dirk weren't people the regime regarded as expendable, or if ted and hermione weren't people the regime regarded as enemies, they'd have a chance of being safe. the commission would find some "proof" that they weren't muggleborn.

[perhaps by claiming that muggles traffic magical children and they'd been stolen from their real families, which would also handily stoke anti-muggle sentiment...]

yaxley is telling cattermole that the same thing could happen for his wife… in the right circumstances.

and so the lily of the 1970s is seeking to give herself as many of these right circumstances as possible. she's in the extraordinarily difficult position of wanting to fight voldemort - to the death, if need be - and having to set things up for herself in a way which enables her to keep fighting for as long as possible without attracting either voldemort or the state's ire, and having to deal with the fact that - when the anti-voldemort cause is victorious and the dark lord's dead - she's still going to be at risk from the state because she's a muggleborn.

financial worries are going to be less potent for her - james is wealthy; so is sirius, who she could presumably expect to help support her in a scenario where james was dead or imprisoned or in hiding; her relationship with dumbledore and slughorn could easily be leveraged into a high-flying job - and she's also [very probably] not going to stand out in terms of appearance, behaviour, or understanding of social convention from her hogwarts-educated pureblood and half-blood peers, which enables her - much like lupin - to move through the world without being instantly clocked as a target.

she's also protected - to some degree - by gender conventions. the married women we meet in canon prior to voldemort's defeat [the only exceptions, it seems, are tonks and maybe fleur] all take their husbands' names - and so lily acquiring a pureblood surname for herself offers her an additional, socially expected way to blend in which muggleborn men [or half-blood men with muggle fathers...] lack.

but these things are - of course - protections, rather than advantages.

snape just refuses to see it like that.

his focus is purely on the way he's discriminated against - and he is; he's not invented the grievance - due to his class background and financial status. and voldemort is the only person who takes this class aspect seriously - both in scylla and charybdis and in canon.

[this is why he has enormous support among werewolves and goblins. this is why the snatchers are all written as working-class young men. this is why there's a populist undertone to his regime.]

but voldemort is also treading a fine line. he can't declare himself to be seeking to destroy the class-system by which the wizarding world functions... because then the elite supporters who think his aims are pureblood oligarchy would abandon him and the ministry would be less willing to make concessions [after all, the implication of canon is that - if he'd just stayed away from harry - the first war would have been wrapped up by the ministry coming to the table…].

but he also needs to keep his popular support... so he can't be seen to be someone who's in favour of oligarchy.

but he also needs to keep those of his supporters who are drawn to him precisely because of his promise of violence happy... so he can't come across as someone who's perfectly happy to take over the state and its institutions and keep them running broadly unchanged.

but he also needs to keep the support he has among part-humans and non-humans... so he can't do anything which will have him dismissed as someone who's advocating for the same old wizard-supremacist violence.

but he also needs to keep both his elite and his popular wizarding support by not even remotely suggesting that he's seeking to replace magical people with werewolves and goblins…

he needs a scapegoat he can turn all of these disparate groups' ire on, in a way which prevents them from realising that he's lying to them all and that what he actually wants to do is to rule as an immortal absolute monarch with everyone else cowering at his feet.

and he finds that scapegoat in muggleborns.

[coffeeman777]

Thank you for your concern.

I quoted here from the Living Bible, which is one of my favorite paraphrases. I think it captures the meaning of many Scripture passages very clearly. I'm just as happy to use the NKJV or the ESV (I'd use the ESV before the NKJV personally, but either is good).

I disagree with your assessment that the same passages quoted from the NKJV has a different vibe. Both translations are saying the exact same thing, albeit with different terms. John very clearly draws a contrast between genuine Christians and false converts. Paul, Peter, James, and Jude also make these distinctions. They do it (and so should we) in order to warn false converts about their situation. The point isn't to look down on anyone, but to warn everyone.

Jesus warns in Matthew 7 (and I'll quote the NKJV for you),

"15 “Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ravenous wolves. 16 You will know them by their fruits. Do men gather grapes from thornbushes or figs from thistles? 17 Even so, every good tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit. 18 A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a bad tree bear good fruit. 19 Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. 20 Therefore by their fruits you will know them.

"21 “Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in heaven. 22 Many will say to Me in that day, ‘Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name, cast out demons in Your name, and done many wonders in Your name?’ 23 And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness!’"

Wouldn't you agree that a person who thinks they're saved when they aren't is in a terrible position? Would it be more loving to warn those who, based on a multiplicity of Biblical passages, seem to be in that position, or to assume that they're all set and going to inherit eternal life because they say they're Christians, despite their practice of unrepentant sin?

If there is no such thing as a false convert, and everyone who claims to be in Christ definitely is regardless of all else, what is the point of what Jesus says in Matthew 7:21-23?

[bethanydelleman]

Do you consider Caroline being called a “pick me” in modern terms reductive/inaccurate

No. I shall explain. Also, ug this term is horrible but this does actually come up a lot so I'll get into it.

Here is the top definition of a "pick me" girl from Urban Dictionary:

A pick-me girl is a girl who seeks male validation by indirectly or directly insinuating that she is “not like the other girls.” Basically a female version of a simp. Characteristics of a pick-me girl: lets men walk all over her because of her “CaReFrEE” demeanor, only hangs out with men because they’re “unproblematic”, exerts qualities/characteristics of her male counterparts that were not initially present to be more likable and relatable to them, etc.

Firstly, Caroline attempts to accuse Elizabeth of being a "pick me" girl

“Eliza Bennet,” said Miss Bingley, when the door was closed on her, “is one of those young ladies who seek to recommend themselves to the other sex by undervaluing their own; and with many men, I daresay, it succeeds; but, in my opinion, it is a paltry device, a very mean art.” “Undoubtedly,” replied Darcy, to whom this remark was chiefly addressed, “there is meanness in all the arts which ladies sometimes condescend to employ for captivation. Whatever bears affinity to cunning is despicable.”

But back to Caroline. I don't think Caroline fits the modern definition because she does not set herself apart by claiming to be different from other women, her argument seems to be more that she's An Ideal Woman. Her criticism of Elizabeth's muddy walk is, "I, a proper woman, would never do that (neither would your well-mannered sister)." She tries to demonstrate that she's more elegant than Elizabeth by walking around the room together. We know that she has a fancy education and many accomplishments. We never see her play herself off as a tomboy or engage in male activities.

Mary Bennet is probably the strongest candidate for a "pick me" girl:

To this, Mary very gravely replied, “Far be it from me, my dear sister, to depreciate such pleasures. They would doubtless be congenial with the generality of female minds. But I confess they would have no charms for me. I should infinitely prefer a book.” (emphasis author's)

but she also doesn't have that aspect that engages in male pursuits.

Some people accuse Elizabeth Bennet of being a "pick me" girl because of this quote:

“My beauty you had early withstood, and as for my manners—my behaviour to you was at least always bordering on the uncivil, and I never spoke to you without rather wishing to give you pain than not. Now, be sincere; did you admire me for my impertinence?” “For the liveliness of your mind I did.” “You may as well call it impertinence at once. It was very little less. The fact is, that you were sick of civility, of deference, of officious attention. You were disgusted with the women who were always speaking, and looking, and thinking for your approbation alone. I roused and interested you, because I was so unlike them. Had you not been really amiable you would have hated me for it: but in spite of the pains you took to disguise yourself, your feelings were always noble and just; and in your heart you thoroughly despised the persons who so assiduously courted you.

However, Elizabeth was not trying to attract Darcy at all, she was borderline rude and acted unlike other girls because she genuinely disliked him. This was not a tactic.

Therefore, Pride & Prejudice contains zero "pick me" girls!

[sunkissedliterarylightofchrist]

oof ouch help I listened to Morph too many times and now I’ve written it out for a fanfiction chapter rip me

[jstoddwrites]

things that can and do coexist:

jason's a virgin until he finds his person

jason has a high sex drive

jason would be incredibly awkward when talking about sex

[mechanical-sunchild]

I don't deny that a science-based approach is fine for the cases above, but there are many kinds of physical alterhumans with many different beliefs. Not all are making claims of shapeshifting*. Is there really no room for discussion of physical-based alterhumanity as truth of any kind, due to the actions of groups in the past and this 'need' for evidence?

I feel *this is a factor which is repeatedly ignored even when directly brought up. Many of you here seem to have a problem with this specific kind of physical nonhuman - the one who claims they can, have, will etc shapeshift into their true form - and only really talk about them as reason why all physical alterhumans require the same treatment.

But what about those who are not saying they have shapeshifted or can shapeshift?

To go back to an earlier statement. There are trans people who say things like; "I am a woman, therefore I have a woman's body. I am a man, therefore I have a man's body." They are speaking in a possessive sense but saying something about their physical perceptions of self too. Would it not be considered rude to tell them 'well actually, scientifically speaking, you are not what you just said. You are physically not a woman/man but it's fine that you see yourself as one internally'.

I'm sure many trans people have personal stories where their mental health was worse when they also made themselves believe that one day they would just wake up in the right body, but our personal experiences should not be applied to every person who experiences a similar thing.

The metaphor is not exact though, of course. I only call back to it because it was used previously.

But let's think of the physical alterhuman whose entire physical claims are the same.

"I am an android, therefore I have an android's body." as I see myself, in fact. I can't prove to you, I suppose, that this is beneficial to my own mental health and not a negative. I know this is scientifically impossible and not technically 'real' in that sense, but I can't stop the way my internal perceptions of self have influenced how I perceive my body too. Holothere is a world that I choose for myself so I can express this. Shall I just not talk about this aspect of myself because it can't be externally scientifically proven? Shall I just pretend I only feel like an android on a non-physical level for the comfort of others? That feels terribly unfair. Other words for what I feel do not match me.

Let's think of the physical alterhuman who believes they have nonhuman ancestors, and therefore are nonhuman themselves because their DNA is nonhuman.

Yes, this is not scientifically provable and never will be. But it is also based on their specific cultural and/or spiritual beliefs in nonhuman ancestry being possible and what influence that would then have on their own self. It feels rude therefore to assume we have the right to tell them that they are wrong due to 'lack of evidence' -like an atheist demanding proof of God before they'll respect a religious person- and should either refer to their experience by a new name which doesn't make call to the physical difference they internally perceive/believe, or else stop talking about it completely.

Let's think deeper, I've seen physical alterhumans who say they are completely physically their 'type, but a magic spell or glamour is stopping it being detectable, perceivable etc by anyone or anything (including themselves). Yes, this line of belief does have the capacity to become dangerous. But it also has the capacity to be entirely beneficial to that person. We can't assume we know which it will be, but we can provide a community which doesn't cause them to go onto the defensive as people tell them to prove something they believe they cannot prove, based on an spiritual belief in magic. It does not involve blindly believing them, but it does involve allowing for them to express this belief openly without attack. In fact, you will drive more people into the arms of those who may turn this belief into something that harms them if you do.

The same goes for those who just say 'I literally have paws, I literally have a tail.' If this eases their dysphoria, the way a trans man may in fact harmlessly refer to his genitalia as a dick despite not having one yet, then who are we to tell them they're 'being dangerous' and 'need to prove it' before they can be left alone and not constantly be told they don't have these parts 'because science'.

Yes, absolutely monitor this person for signs of spreading the more harmful ideas behind p-shifting and absolutely make posts which guard and warn people about being manipulated into things which harm them. But if you see someone saying 'I literally have paws rn' and you see they don't have clinical zoanthropy and aren't talking about a delusion they're having (both of which should not be reality checked by randoms on the internet) you don't have to believe them but you also don't have to go on their posts and say 'No, you don't and I'm not interested in nor am I going to believe in any of the reasons why you may believe that your hands do in fact count as paws instead'. Or vaguepost about them or their experiences or things you're assuming about physical alterhumans.

On the other hand, and I know some physical alterhumans will hate me for saying this but yeah, our physical experiences are due to some internal perception changing how we view ourselves. It's not 'real' in a sense that the world will ever see it. It's real enough to us for sure, and it's literal to us for sure, but it's not literal or real by the laws of this world. But does it have to be, for us to be able to express it and talk about it that way? Many non-physical alterhumans say things like 'I am literally a wolf' and that's fine and nobody in the community tells them 'no you're not literally a wolf, your mind makes you believe you're a wolf. no you're not literally a wolf, your soul is just a wolves soul' and then makes posts about how annoying, dangerous and misguided people who really believe they're an animal are (the few that do are often kff or similar and not a major issue) with the irony being that our internal perception of self can be very easily manipulated too. Yet we understand that in most cases the person can be believed and trusted without harm!

We can change imperfect language amongst ourselves along the way, but the physical community can't thrive and get to that point of clarity whilst everyone else is being told to not even humour us. In fact, encouraged in a lot of cases to tell us what we believe is simply not real so we should stop talking about it completely. In many other cases, assuming we must be either victims or victims in the making, or the perpetrators of harm.

If you actually just want people to learn from past mistakes, to train themselves to not believe everything they see as true outside of those individuals realities especially if it's particularly wild, I feel we're going the wrong way about it by just telling physical alterhumans that they're wrong about their experiences and shouldn't be calling it 'physical' no matter how physical it feels. I'm also going to link kossai's post here for further reading.

And as a final note - I do hope we're all cool with clinical zoanthropes and endels - and don't believe that they are supposed to provide proof of their shapeshifting before they can express themselves. At the very least can we agree on that?

If you’re going to assert science in a community full of people discussing their scientifically unverifiable experiences I think you should consider what you’re really trying to say. If you’re not trying to call people liars then there’s probably a better way to go about making your point than enumerating the reasons why you think they’re lying.

[chiropteracupola]

granby + iskierka + keynes

[nabaath-areng]

I have way too many alts that I keep to myself (which is why I generally refrain from posting them), but I'm going to ignore that habit for a moment just because I'm feeling particularly insane about this guy.