#DWP can't take up THAT much time

[mirandyficlists]

Fic Searches sometimes take Time.

Hey there my Mirandy Dandies hope you're all well.

After a number of particularly noxious Anonymous messages from someone, or possibly several someones, kvetching about oh so many shortcomings with my Tumblr site and my other actions in the fandom as a whole, I felt I needed to make this post to clarify a few things about:

What I do,

What I'm able to do.

What I'm willing to do

The way this platform works...something, bear in mind, that I can't change.

I am a diehard Mirandy Dandy and one of the things I love to do is to SHARE the goodness and to chat about fics whenever I can. Having been a victim of the loss of Angelfire and Geocities when so much amazing fic was lost to us in the Xenaverse and other of my earlier fandoms, when I became a Mirandy Dandy I was not going to see myself in the same limbo and made a point of fully harvesting all fics as they were posted and keeping external copies of my treasures, updated monthly whenever possible. I did this, by the way, from the beginning on LJ to the present and let me tell you, keeping track of and harvesting fics from LJ was not easy and took a hell of a lot of time copying and pasting but I did it to the best of my ability.

The Mirandyverse is now 18 years old (we should all buy us a drink…well in the UK anyway, lol.) and we have people finding the Dark Side every week. Now these newbies and youngsters have often never set foot on LJ, if they’ve even heard of it, some have never set foot on FFnet even not to mention places like Passion & Perfection and the Pink Rabbit Consortium, and therefor have missed out on some great gems and giants of the days when new fics came out thick and fast. Thus the difference between the 3732 fics recorded for DWP on AO3 and the 5422 fics I have listed on my spreadsheet. Added to this the number of fics that have since been deleted or lost in other ways and you end up with the Newbies truly missing out.  And so I try to spread the goodness as best I can and share my harvested treasures when asked, as well as letting the masses know about that on several different platforms.

Because I love the fandom as I do, a significant amount of my time is invested in it, but as with everyone, I have a real 3D life that demands my presence and attention regularly and sometimes exclusively when, well, when shit happens as they say. Add to this my personal disabilities and I sometimes struggle being able to do things and thus have to let some things, like fandoms, slide in order to cope with the day to day. But when I’m better I always come back. And my disabilities can bear good fruit too, in this case my fic Spreadsheets, necessitated for my enjoyment because of my medically induced memory problems but that have been used and enjoyed by the fandom as a whole. Silver linings and all that.

I am always willing to share the Mirandy goodness in anyway I can manage. I LOVE being able to send deleted fics to people who either haven’t read them or aren’t able to access their old favourites because they were deleted. Hence my spreadsheet which keeps track of the existence and whereabouts of about 97% of all Mirandy fics online. And also my Themed Rec lists, now numbering 157 different groupings. All of which assist me in helping out with fic searches which I always try to source whenever they are presented, and that sourcing includes seeking help of other Dandies on different platforms.  Now, just to clarify, none of these things are complete or exhaustive, but I do keep them up to date within the limitations stated above AND try to make sure to share them online at least every couple of years. I don’t mind doing it, it gives me pleasure, but to my nasty Nonnies from earlier and any other Trolls who might be lurking…I AM UNDER NO OBLIGATION TO DO ANY OF THE THINGS I DO FOR THE FANDOM. I do it out of love of the Mirandyverse and the vast, VAST majority of truly wonderful Mirandy Dandies.

Tumblr is, as we who tumble know, both glorious and hideous as far as social networking platforms go, and has always been meddled with by admin for the sake of selling it off and trying to monetize it into oblivion and not to actually improve the functionality for the users in anyway. And that is the arena in which I operate this Tumblr and adapt how I do so in order to accommodate my needs.

So just for your collective FYI specifically regarding Anonymous asked fic searches…

If you have sent an anonymous fic search and have not seen an answer posted for a very long while:        

I am NOT ignoring you.

                                I am NOT ‘being lazy.’   

                                I have NOT deleted your request.            

                                And believe it or not I have NOT forgotten about you.

I check my in box weekly to remind myself of the searches I am still tracking down, so

not getting a response to an Anonymous ask only means I have not yet found your fic, but I am still looking for the fic, when time permits me.

Because you sent an Anonymous ask, if I try to answer it and let you know that I’m still looking for the fic, the ask is removed from my in box and I no longer have it in an easily accessible place to remind myself to continue the search.   So instead, I keep the asks in my in box until I find the fic requested, which lets be honest my Dandies, given some of the descriptions or key points you sometimes give could be one of several thousand fics and it takes some time to sift through, lolol.  If you want to be kept updated on the search progress, then it is much better if you PM me directly so that I can communicate with you.

To finish off I do want to say, ANY Mirandy Dandy is ALWAYS welcome to contact me with asks and questions in what ever way best suits their needs all I ask is that you appreciate any limitations attached to your preferred method and behave accordingly.

The Mirandyverse is generally a stress-free and positive place to be and always has been, and it is my dearest hope that it continues to be a space free from the toxicity that often invades other fandoms.  To that end I will always continue to offer my services to fellow Dandies in a spirit of helpfulness and sheer Joie de Vive.

Long live the Mirandyverse!

[bluegoblinfox]

Spoke to my daughter today. Mental health services are being their usual helpful selves. Promised an appointment that that has yet to materialised. During our conversation my daughter started talking about people who were there when things were very bad at the start of last year. Psychiatrists to be exact. I was doing all right psychologically and myself up until that point. It was when I was trying to remember and place who she was talking about and when the I started to dissociate. I started to shut down. The shutdowns are different to when I dissociate at other times. My head goes really really quiet, like silent. My head is is never normally silent. It's like all of my language is a long way away. Not just my ability to speak but my ability to form sentences to type to communicate in any way. It all goes. The more I fight that feeling the harder it gets and the longer it goes on for. Sometimes grounding myself in reality helps but not others. During the times when I'm most shut down, I just need to wait. Be quiet and still on my own some wait for it to pass. The DWP and Pip have contested my needs around this issue where's the facts that I went to uni and got a degree. Which is for the first class ableist bullshit but also that was 10 years ago. Literally a decade ago. What I could do 10 years ago I can't do that and that's the nature of my disability, of many disabilities. That's why I'm applying for PIP now and wasn't ten years ago. I don't know what so difficult to understand about that.

It's not that I didn't experience becoming nonverbal ten years ago it's that I didn't recognize it for what it was. I would take days off because I just felt like I couldn't. Couldn't people couldn't communicate couldn't organise couldn't drive, couldn't just couldn't.

Throughout my entire career from working in social care to health care and throughout all of my training my absence record was really bad. I'm now understand why and that I was shutting down or preventing meltdown and trying to stay off burn out.

I wonder if I had understood my own disabilities growing up and throughout my teenage years and early twenties, how much easier things would be for me.

[die-schwanenkoenigin]

20 questions for fic writers

I was tagged by @lilolilyr 🥰💕❤️ thank you so much!!

1. How many works do you have on AO3?

85!

2. What’s your total AO3 word count?

409,668, more than half of which I've posted this year---210,056 words, to be exact, which is absolutely insane!!

3. What fandoms do you write for?

Currently only Mirandy (Devil Wears Prada).

4. What are your top five fics by kudos?

Well, this is going to be embarrassing, lol:

bad things (487)

nightly encounter (469)

Too Soon, Not Soon Enough (434)

unexpected (410)

Stalling the Inevitable (377)

5. Do you respond to comments? Why or why not?

Absolutely! I respond to every single comment I receive. I love interacting with people, hearing their thoughts and ideas! Every time I get a comment, it reminds me of the fact that there are actual, real humans out there that read my writing??? And that's still so crazy to me, even after 6 years???? So I always feel the need to let them know how much I appreciate them!

6. What is the fic you wrote with the angstiest ending?

That would be two:

Thank you, baby (for loving me like you do)

unrequited

7. What’s the fic you wrote with the happiest ending?

Ohhhhh, I am SUCH a sucker for happy endings. You'll find that---taking away the two outliers from the previous question, obviously---all my works have happy endings!!

8. Do you get hate on fic?

I can't remember ever receiving any. That said, people do sometimes comment things like "hmmm this is weird" or whatever but, like, I pretty much just ignore that.

9. Do you write smut?

Oh, I am very much into writing smut, yes! In fact, I've currently got The Kink Series going on which... is exactly what it sounds like, lol. Smut, smut, and then some more smut; though, in this case, I'm actively trying to dive into things I haven't explored before.

Also, I've just noticed that out of the 16 works I've written/posted for the DWP fandom, 13 have been explicit. Whoops?

10. Do you write crossovers?

I haven't so far, no!

11. Have you ever had a fic stolen?

I had someone repost some of my works in a smut collection a few years back. They mentioned my username, but did not ask me beforehand---or even tag me properly. I ended up asking them to take it down, and they did. My finding it in the first place had been a complete fluke, though.

12. Have you ever had a fic translated?

No, though I've attempted to translate some of my own works. It didn't work. (I realized I suck at writing in German, lmao.)

13. Have you ever co-written a fic before?

Nope! But I've just recently talked about a potential collab with someone whose writing I really enjoy! So that's exciting!

And just in general, I'm very open to trying out new things---i.e. collaborating on fics.

14. What’s your all-time favourite ship?

Well, I'm going to have to say Mirandy here. This ship really has me in its grip. I love the dynamics, and I thoroughly enjoy playing with their characters. There are so many things to explore!

15. What’s a WIP you want to finish but probably won’t?

Okay, so, I do have this one idea. And I've written... a tiny little amount. Maybe around 3k. I realized, however, while I was writing, that it would most likely take 20k+ words to make it anywhere near enjoyable. It just wouldn't flow otherwise, I don't think; plus, I wouldn't be able to properly explain everything. Unfortunately, I'm just not really one to write multi chapter fics, and so I've come to the conclusion that it'll probably just sit in my docs forever and collect dust.

Sorry @ Assignment WIP.

16. What are your writing strengths?

As soon as I've got a good sentence to get me started, I can usually just keep going and get all my ideas out in one or two sittings. I'm also an exceptionally fast typer, which means I can write things down as quickly as soon as they pass through my head. Very good, considering my memory is absolutely crap.

17. What are your writing weaknesses?

I have no organizational skills. So if I realize a fic idea would have to be explored in multiple chapters, I usually retreat and abandon the idea.

That also means I just...do not plan fics. Ever. Not even my one shots. I'm 100% serious when I say I would not have the patience to plot out, say, a slow burn fic. They either get it on, or they don't. (And in my case, they pretty much always do. 😏)

18. Thoughts on writing dialogue in another language in fic?

I did this all the time when writing Mariana/Ana fanfic. Madre Solo Hay Dos was, like, my first fandom earlier this year; effectively letting me reconnect with fic writing; and it was right around the time when I was obsessed with learning Spanish. So I constantly included Spanish text conversations, as we all as---occasionally---dialogue. 10/10, would recommend and do again.

19. First fandom you wrote for?

Camren (Fifth Harmony). That's what got me into writing back in 2017, and it stuck with me for quite a while.

20. Favourite fic you’ve written?

Hmmm... that's really hard. I love soulmate AUs, and considering my obsession with Mirandy at the moment, I think I'd have to go for Too Soon, Not Soon Enough.

Though I did also very much enjoy writing Pretty, Dirty Girl as well as the other, kinkier fics, including, for example, Four Play. The latter was challenging at first, but ultimately a great exercise.

Thanks again, friend, for tagging me!!! ❤️

I'm going to go ahead and tag @harrytoad, @sporkmetender, @guardianrock, @awomanontheverge. None of you have to feel obligated to do this, though. 🥰

oh, and if any other writers see this post---you're welcome to do this as well!!

[scrapheapchallenge]

and here in the UK you don't even need to be MARRIED to have your benefits taken away - just spending more than 2 nights a month in the same home as someone else the DWP will take as meaning you are in a relationship, and the other person is expected to financially support you - completely.

It doesn't matter if the other person is your sibling, parent, housemate etc, if you live with them more than 2 nights a month, you are their dependent, and lose your means-tested benefits. It means when I moved in with my partner, I had to give up my ESA. No more housing benefit, no more council tax benefit, nothing except PIP - and that is not enough to live on. It's not even *meant* to be for living on - PIP is meant only to help towards the EXTRA costs above and beyond normal daily living costs that are incurred by disabled people. It's not enough to pay your rent, water, gas, electric, phone, car tax, petrol, or public transport, clothing, and food. I'm fortunate, in that my partner does have a job and supports me, puts a roof over our heads, covers the utilities and groceries, but it's a strain, especially when I can't contribute much, if at all. So not only do we not even have marriage equality for disabled people in the UK, we don't even have the right to have a relationship - to just have a partner, even if you're not living with them - just spending some time together - without being punished with destitution.

Source video

Please reblog and share.

[childofsolace-write-ups]

I posted 31 times in 2022

26 posts created (84%)

5 posts reblogged (16%)

Blogs I reblogged the most:

@slash-reblogged-content

@skyeknight-hyperfixations

@frustrated-writer-skyeknight

@skyeknight-hogwarts-adventure

I tagged 31 of my posts in 2022

#the witcher - 6 posts

#geraskier - 5 posts

#dwp - 4 posts

#jim hawkins - 3 posts

#natm - 3 posts

#draft reveal - 3 posts

#troy x ryan - 2 posts

#akhmenrah - 2 posts

#hiccup haddock - 2 posts

#encanto - 2 posts

Longest Tag: 131 characters

#being in a country with typhoons annually and hearing how devastated people are when they lose their homes because of said typhoons

My Top Posts in 2022:

#5

Random prompt

When they start travelling again, and Ciri is with Yen (once she's actually, completely, gained their trust again), Jaskier complains once that his legs are starting to cramp from all the walking and ask if they can find a camp quickly.

They can't because they saw some Nilfgaardians and Geralt wants to put as much distance as they can.

He does get off his new "Roach" though and sets Jaskier up before mounting once more as well and continuing on.

Jaskier.exe stopped working.

18 notes - Posted February 17, 2022

#4

Random prompt

When Geralt gifts Jaskier a new lute as further apology for the whole mountain thing, that's when a random patron comes in and drunkenly praises Jaskier for the last song he heard Jaskier sing from another town and asked if Geralt was the witcher from "Burn Butcher, Burn"

Geralt stares at Jaskier.

Jaskier hugs the lute. "No do overs! You can't take this back! It's a gift, you can't take back a gift!"

Geralt hums and goes "I won't." and then adds "It just made me realize I should get it extra strings for when you... Burn off the use from the current ones." And leaves to do just that; finding new strings.

Jaskier doesn't know how to react after that.

22 notes - Posted February 11, 2022

#3

Random prompt

Larry getting his job back eventually just because, and just in time for Jedidiah and Octavius wedding.

As a wedding gift, on the next sunrise after the wedding night, Larry and Nicky worked on making a even tinier figure in the form of a child that the two basically adopt as their kid.

Akh asks him later if he can make a bigger figure for their child.

Larry turns red.

24 notes - Posted February 4, 2022

#2

Random prompt

I have no logic for this prompt but

Larry Daley eventually getting his own statue because the guy he covered for had it done to appreciate him.

When they all come alive at night, the statue doesn't.

Which was odd because supposedly most things in the Museum did because of the tablet.

Larry sees the statue in his visit, it flattered him.

The others are happy when he visits.

They get sad as time go on when they see Larry getting notably older. Especially Akhmenrah.

Eventually, Larry dies as humans do.

And the night after his burial,

Well

The statue of him finally comes to life too.

When Akh finds out, he runs over and kisses him silly.

36 notes - Posted February 7, 2022

My #1 post of 2022

Draft reveal

HiJack - Brave AU

"C'mon Hic, it's not too late yet." Jack said, flinching a bit as Hiccup snatched the bucket of fishes he was carrying to dump it into Toothless's stall. "you just... Have to really talk to him; how you don't want your marriage partner chosen this way."

"Talk to him? Have you met the guy?"

"Yup," Jack nodded, popping the 'p.' "Gotta say, still the most terrifying moment of my life. Even compared to the first time you convinced me to ride Toothless with you."

Hiccup snorted, returning to stand directly in front of his best friend. Well, best human friend. "Then you understand that listening isn't his strong suit."

"Well, runs in the family." Jack quipped, earning a glare from the brunette. The servant boy cleared his throat, "But I've also seen him with you and your mother; if he realizes how upset this would really make you he would have second thoughts in forcing you into this. Just... Do something to make him really listen. Make a stand, or something."

Hiccup looked thoughtful. 

"My name is Hiccup Horrendous Haddock, the Third!" The brunette intoned, looking over at everyone present at the field. Jack's mouth popped open, pretty certain he didn't have this in mind when advising him the other day. Green eyes stayed a moment longer at his father's, but when it reaches Jack, it was maintained. Even he looked as shell-shocked as everyone else did, "And since Jack can't participate since he's 'not a chief's son' I'm his stand in proxy. If I win, I'm marrying him because I love him!"

Jack turned bright red. In any other situation, he would be elated that Hiccup's liked him all this time. But the utter shock and bubbling up rage Stoick was sporting put a damper to the moment. "Oh Hic... We gotta talk about timing..." Those around him looked towards him. he shrunk back sheepishly. "Yeah, okay... I mean, I consent and reciprocate but for the record, let it be known, I did not tell him to do that."

"HICCUP!" Stoick bellowed with Valka sighing and trying to calm him down. "Get off that dragon and out of that race!" A horn flared as response, and the racers flew off...  including his son. He glared at the man who flared the horn, "GOBBER!"

"... Sorry." The blond responded, looking chagrined. "It was very moving."

See the full post

44 notes - Posted November 11, 2022

Get your Tumblr 2022 Year in Review →

[thenihilistofthevoid]

Listen here, you little shit!!!! How dare you be so sweet to me?!! Like...who the fuck gave you the right?! Don't make me come over there & hug you, I will do it! I will need a ladder but I will fucking do it! You cheeky bastard! I can't even deal with you. I love you so fucking much, you're seriously 1 of my best goddamn friends & I don't want to know what my life would be like without you & your precious, perfect little edgelords.

Thank you so fucking much for always being there whether I'm screaming, losing my shit & about to break apart or sending you absolutely unhinged plot bunnies. Everyone who enjoys my harringrove fics have You to thank because without you & another friend, they wouldn't have been written or posted. You always give amazing (& often illegal) advice when I need it. You also know when to just listen & let me vent. & you know when I need a kick in the ass, to be an adult & take care of shit or when i just need to sit down & breathe. You always manage to help calm my panic attacks & I can't thank you enough.

I will always be there to listen whether it's you needing to vent, needing encouragement or just wanting to scream about Dr. Who & all of our other beloved gay dumpster fires. Winter wouldn't be half as amazing without you, hell he'd probably still be straight if it wasn't for you. I love you so much & am so thankful to have you in my life.

Nobody gave me the right to be that sweet to you, I just did it anyway because I'm a chaos gremlin muhahahaha. In all seriousness I'm glad I can help you and without Winter I think my MCU page would have closed down a while ago because you give me a chance when a good chunk of the community wants nothing to do with my OC. And that's what friends are for, right? You put up with my blathering about my family crap, the latest bullshit my grandmother has pulled, the DWP being that bitch. And I love your unhinged plot bunnies and harringrove fics. I'm glad you're in my life, I'm not sure what the hell I'd do without you half the time. I'm glad my idiot edgelord unlocked Winter's gay side.

[uunicorns-n-shit]

Police, crime sentencing, and courts bill

So I've posted a bit about this recently, but for people who don't know, today the UK government is voting on this bill. There are a lot of posts around explaining the bill, but the most important (ie messed up) sections involve:

Greatly reducing our ability to peaceful protests, basically by making it very easy to arrest protesters. Peaceful protest is a human right, and if we can't disagree with our government without risking arrest, that doesn't leave us in a good position.

Pretty much criminalizing the entire way of life of Gypsy, Roma, and Traveller communities. These groups have had enough taken from them already, this move is abhorrent.

Because of these points, and some of the other bill inclusions, we HAVE to show our disagreement, we can't let this go through without a fight. There are a number of protests going on across the UK tonight. I want to stress that no one should feel forced into going to a protest, especially not given the pandemic. I'm probably not going because I'm disabled, I have to weigh up the amount of good I can do there vs the chances of me injuring myself. So for now I'm spreading information, it's how I can best (and safest) make an impact.

But if you are interested, this post has a few tips. A couple of points relate specifically to Manchester, but the majority are universal. Obligatory I am not a lawyer, but these are mostly taken from Green & Black Cross, a group who provide legal support for protesters

Your rights

Here's a short list of your basic rights during protests, most for if you get arrested. If you need help, the Green & Black Cross protest support line is 07946 541 511.

You do not have to answer any questions. In fact, you shouldn't. Don't engage in friendly chats before or after arrest, don't answer any questions in an interview without speaking to a solicitor. The best way to do this is to reply to any questions with NO COMMENT

You don't have to give personal details if stopped and searched or arrested. You can if you want to speed up your release, but other than that the only thing you have to give them if asked is your nationality.

If you get stopped for questioning or a search, ask what power you are being held under. A lot of the time police will bank on you not knowing that you have the right to walk away in a lot of situations. So double check, and if they can't give you an answer, leave.

If arrested, don't accept a duty solicitor. You want someone specialising in protest law. NETPOL have a list of solicitors they recommend. It only covers certain areas of the country, so if you can't find one on there you might have to do some Googling. It could be an idea to write the number on your hand/arm so you can't lose it.

Don't accept a caution without speaking to a solicitor. It's a quick and easy way for the police to get you in the system when a lot of the time they won't have enough to actually charge you with anything.

General tips

Try not to go alone, take family or friends. Keep together as much as possible, and have plans for when and where you'll meet if you get split up, what you'll do if someone is arrested, etc

Wear masks and social distance as much as possible. You need to be careful, even though this is something important, look after your own health. On this note, police should not demand you remove your mask except for under very specific circumstances. G&BC have more info on this here

Wear layers, take a backpack with food, water, and if possible a small first aid kit. Take only what you need with you, ID and bank cards should probably stay at home. Don't black bloc, it won't help here.

Don't antagonize the police. It won't help.

Manchester protest

The information can be found on the image below, most of what I've found about today has been organised/released on Twitter so you can keep tabs over there.

The solicitor information for Manchester is: Robert Lizar - 24/7 number 07900 998 999

I'll update as I find out any more information.

Important information for anyone with a disability or on benefits: Manchester Police have admitted to sharing information on protesters with the DWP. If this could cost you your benefits, seriously consider if it is safe for you to attend.

I've run out of steam for a well written outro to this post, but everyone look after yourselves, no matter what your involvement is. Take breaks, look at photos of puppies, don't let the gravity of this stress you out too much.

[loominggaia]

(Just mentioning this so no one gets the wrong idea: DWP's fanfics take place years down the timeline, so characters like Cyana and Skylie are adults in these scenarios!)

These are such fun ideas! I love them so much, I'm going to make a few of them canon! I'll work out the details later, but definitely stealing the apple thing and the minotaur fighting. I think they're so cute.

Probably the thing with Skylie's ears as well. Her family's castle can be a noisy place, especially when there are a lot of guests. Skylie can't always escape the noise, so she's developed little coping mechanisms like this to deal. I'm sure her autism comes with some sensory issues, and of course her parents are too ignorant to take them seriously.

Flora definitely eats seashells (and little bones) like potato chips! She's so happy when the FGG takes contracts on the coast because she knows they'll be bringing back shells for her. They've got that salty sea flavor!

(Potential spoilers and NSFW content under the cut)

Your AU Cyana is quite a bit more confident than mine (probably because she has Angeline there to support her). I think canon Cyana would surely be interested in the harem ladies, but she'd be so shy it would take her a while to work up the courage to even ask one on a date.

She'd get to the bedroom, but she's definitely not making the first move. I imagine the harem lady just running out of patience and pouncing on her at some point lol. But they'd have a great time together! And maybe after a while, yeah, Cyana would find the courage to invite more of the harem ladies to the party.

I never considered this dynamic with Lily and Zov, but now that you mention it, it makes total sense to me! For a while I was actually considering giving them an asexual relationship due to their traumas, then I realized that those traumas are probably something they'd want to work on rather than avoid. They would learn to get through it together and have a healthy sex life, even if it takes a while. Dairy Ho and Dorzlaf don't get to take sexuality away from these two forever. I want Lily and Zov to reclaim it for themselves, I think it makes for more satisfying character growth.

Lily gets to feel like she's more in control and Zov doesn't feel like he's attacking someone. Plus, after years of pit fighting I bet homeboy's spine looks like a war zone. His chronic pain has to be terrible, so Lily on top is easier on him anyway.

Most people have dildos and porno in their bedside tables. These two have therapy books and Ibuprofen lol.

*

Questions/Comments?

Lore Masterpost

Read the Series

Small @loominggaia Headcanons

None of these are only for my AU or the canon, they work for both!

Skylie, when she hears too much noise, will press her tragus (The lil flap of skin in front of your ears) onto her ear canal and rapidly open and close it, making a stuttering cacophony she finds manageable (I do this too)

Cyana has paid at least one prostitute to bang her, and got away with it like a fucking champion

Once she goes to Uekoro in both canon and my AU, when she finds out she can bang the harem ladies she immediately has an orgy with like 12. In my AU specifically, she brings Angeline too

Skylie regularly purchases porn while disguised to use as anatomy practice for drawing and to make sense of sexual encounters if she adds them to her fics.

Cyana often hands Skylie some of the illicit porn she buys disguised if it's not lesbians (She's pulling for yuri porn, but just as often gets fucked up shit, hetero porn, and male gay porn)

Lily is a top, while Zov is a bottom. Sorta a coping mechanism from their shared traumas? At least for Lily it makes sense, Zov is prolly just impressed by Lily's aggression in bed, although it's mostly because her only two sources of how sex works is Diarrhea Musk raping her and her perspective, so if she tops, she tops

Sirene and many humanoid, monsters totally lack periods, and mermaids often have fucked up menstrual cycles if they have them at all

Flora fucking loves to eat seashells, and prefers bivalve shells over all other sources of calcium

Salina and Marina invented Go Fish as a game

Giving someone an apple in Evangeline is a declaration of love

It's similar to the Uekoran version, where they use an ekumela

Some people partake in minotaur fighting, a nonlethal duel similar to IRL bullfighting, except the bull is replaced by a minotaur. The matador wins when they get the minotaur to faceplant without the minotaur slipping or being tripped, they have to manually push the minotaur's head down and hope they fall over

[drtanner]

I'm going to be 36 years old in *checks calendar* twelve days, and between the fucked economy and my long-term untreated mental illness, I have done nothing since the age of about 11 or 12 but strive and struggle to obtain the lifestyle that I was promised back then, the nice comfortable one with all the hallmarks of successful adulthood that I was made to believe I'd be owed if I "worked hard" and "got a good job" and did everything right. A lot of kids like me were sold the same story, but a hell of a lot of us stumbled out of school or college or uni and found that those things weren't there for us to achieve.

There were no good jobs, so we had to take whatever we could get at the time and keep looking while we worked, except that everybody else was doing the same thing at the same time - to this day, I still remember when the fucking Morrisons opened up in my hometown and received somewhere upwards of 50,000 applications for the 150 job openings they posted. We were told that for any job we tried to apply for, we could expect to be competing with 90 other people, at least, and that it was down to luck more than anything else as to whether anyone would see our applications or not. I myself sent out something like 300 applications a month back then and I knew many others who were doing similarly. It didn't get any of us anywhere.

How are you supposed to buy a home if you can't get a job? How are you supposed to get married or have kids if you can't buy a home? It arrested our development; so many of us left education and then just had to stop progressing as human beings because we were too busy trying to stay alive. Are you disabled? Neurodivergent? Too bad, you don't have time to deal with that. You need a job now. Sort that out and then you can worry about your health, which will be so much worse for having been neglected for years while you work yourself half to death by the time you actually get one of those fabled "good jobs", you'll crash and burn and lose it all within a year. There goes your successful adulthood! Better luck next time.

In a way, I feel almost lucky to be too disabled to work now, because even though my benefits are a pittance and I live under the constant threat of having my life pulled out from under me by some box-ticker who has never met me sitting in a DWP office miles away, at least I only have to grapple with them for six months out of every two years instead of every fucking day of my life like it was back when I was still trying to work. I don't get to be an adult any more than anyone who's trapped in the system that I seem to have escaped, but at least I can rest now. At least I can stop pretending that successful adulthood is in any way achievable and nobody will say anything about it.

In a way, millennial adulthood resembles childhood so much because of a lack of freedom. You don't get to decide much for yourself when you're a child. Your parents decide everything for you, you don't get any really big freedoms and you only get to have what your parents can give you, so your toys and TV shows and other little treats are the full extent of your ability to enjoy life. The way we live now, we still don't have any freedoms, except now it's due to having no time or money for ourselves. We're no better off than we were as kids; what else are we supposed to do but continue to enjoy our toys and TV shows and whatever small treats we can afford to give ourselves?

Also I'm going grey as well and I'm doing my best to make peace with it. It's assuredly due to stress, but there's nothing I can do to change that. Once your hair is out of toner, it's out of toner! It's a done deal! It doesn't make sense to get upset about it. It is what it is. v( ._.)v

[stormclouds-chainmail]

I'm currently unemployable due to disability. I still make various crafty things when I can but I can't sell them without risking losing some or all of my benefits. And I can't guarantee I'll be well enough to make stuff at any given point in time. The current system is really bad for me. If I no longer had to worry every second of every day that I might lose my unemployment/disability benefits because of a change in policy or someone nasty falsely reporting me or some DWP employee having to meet ridiculous targets and me getting caught up in that . . . If all of that was gone I wouldn't be wasting so much time, energy and health worrying about it. I'd have more energy to make stuff and sell it. And then I'd be able to contribute more to society. Although my neighbours do like having someone around to take in parcels. :)

"Socialism done right means-" It means that it has never been done right, but HEY, we should keep trying! What's a couple of famines or dictatorships on the way to the perfect utopia that can never, ever fail, right?

Socialism and communism are not the same thing. Unfortunately, there’s a tendency for Americans to conflate the two, which dates back to the McCarthy years, the Red Scare, and the overall conflict with Russia (which continues to this day in various forms).

Communism = Treat everyone as equally as possible. It inevitably creates a power vacuum that is filled by dictatorship. It’s hard to run a nation without a hierarchy (as my dad used to say “Comrade General” is a contradiction in terms). It means running society by “From each according to his ability, to each according to his needs.” As you point out, it has never worked. Communism works only for small intentional communities - kibbutzes, communes, some monasteries. It fails spectacularly on the nation scale and they end up building walls, literal or metaphorical, to keep their people in.

Socialism = Ensuring everyone has their basic needs met, including food, clothing, shelter, medical care and, in the modern world, communications (it’s impossible to even start looking for work without the internet), but then allowing people to form their natural hierarchy.

Communism seeks to eliminate relative poverty, which will never happen.

Socialism only seeks to eliminate ABSOLUTE poverty.

Things in America that are socialist: SNAP, WIC, disability, Social Security, Medicare/Medicaid, free/reduced price school lunches, public education in general, subsidized public transportation for students and elders, minimum wage, housing assistance for low income families, unemployment benefits, financial aid for attending college, etc.

If you’ve benefitted from any of those things, including you know, your older relatives getting Social Security so YOU don’t have to take on all the burden of supporting them, then you have benefitted from socialism.

Communism is incompatible with democracy. Communism says that the state knows best and will tell you what you need.

Socialism is interwoven with it. Done right, socialism asks the people what they need and then works towards ways to provide it. This requires democracy to work.

Again, it’s very common for Americans to confuse the two (Europeans less so because European countries have socialist parties, which America doesn’t because of the very past I mentioned) and it’s not really their fault, it’s a failure of education.

(Also, the Communist Manifesto is a very interesting read if you want to understand exactly how communism always fails).