#I do think it was the case though that a lot of upper middle class people ended up at my school

[rowanhoney]

made the mistake of looking at recommended insta accounts. From people i went to school with

[herefortheships]

Why do you think he fell in love with Lydia? see, it's much stronger than it was for Dolores, I'm not going to ask when because it would be complicated Bj and Lydia have such opposite personalities

Love this question! And to be honest, ever since I watched BJBJ I've been wondering about this. Because, to me, at least when I first watched the movie, I got to the conclusion that he must have fallen in love with her over the years; that he never had any true romantic inclinations towards Lydia in the first movie. So I had to wonder, what changed?

This answer got long... So I'll put a little summary, Tl;Dr answer here: I think there's an in-canon reason he fell for her and a meta reason why Tim Burton and co decided to make Betelgeuse be in love with Lydia in canon. The in-canon reason: Opposites attract. She is exactly his type: a dark, mysterious beauty. Plus her calm demeanor suits his unhinged nature. Their energies play nicely off each other, completing and balancing each other in a way no one else could, whether Lydia realizes it now or not. Lydia also never seemed to mind ugly, scary, dark things, and Betelgeuse is kind of all of that. At some point he grew fond of her and started needing this sweet, dark beauty in his (after)life. The meta reason: Lydia and Betelgeuse are a favorite "Burton Couple", almost right there with Jack and Sally, at least to a LOT of people.

Now to the long answer, because I totally always write a lot (below the read more cut bc this one got pretty long):

I think to properly answer why he fell in love with her, I do need to get into the when. And this is where I might have to put a "trigger warning" just in case, since I will touch upon how he felt towards Lydia in the first movie, when she was a teenager. Anyone uncomfortable with that needs to click away now. We're going to analyze this with the context and nuance of Betelgeuse's backstory. Context and nuance tend to be overlooked a LOT when the purity factions of fandom want to impose moral superiority upon other members of the fandom, so maybe placing the "trigger warning" may not be enough, but, anyway, you've been warned about the topics of this post.

The context and nuance: Betelgeuse, when alive, lived in the time of the bubonic plague, this means he was alive during the 1300s, presumably in Italy. At that time, marrying a 15-16 year old was socially acceptable and normal. Heck, even younger than that (as unacceptable as that seems to us today in our modern times). So it wasn't that strange as it is today. The reason is that people often didn't get to live past 30. The average, oldest age of death around the time was 60 years old. It was also common for men of the time (and where Betelgeuse lived in Italy, and Europe, as I’m reading in these articles) to marry much later than women, as in it was common for men in their 30s and 40s to marry a 14 year old (which I believe is even younger than Lydia was in that movie, not sure). All of that is in that article. That depends entirely on social ranking though; if he was lower class often people married for convenience and I'm not sure but I think age wasn't a factor to consider when people were struggling. In Europe even in the 1800s you'd see age gaps in marriages. //Edit: and America! For some reason my brain when I wrote this at midnight thought Poe was European 💀.// Edgar Allan Poe married a 13 year old when he was 27, for example (which I totally find super weird, personally, but at their time it wasn't a super weird thing as it is today, as far as I've read; it was also normal to marry a cousin around that time in the upper class and upper middle class, or so I've seen). Was Tim Burton aware? Who knows. But at least I'm putting this out there as the context why it isn't weird for Betelgeuse the character to see a teenager as someone of marrying age. We also know he didn't want to marry her in the first movie because he was in love with her; she was a means to an end, more than anything, regardless of any interest he had in her due to her looks etc.

Ok, so now that that's out of the way we can keep talking. Even though I joined the Beetlebabes fandom only after the second movie, and shipping these two characters never once crossed my mind throughout the years of me watching the first movie, after some thought and after rewatching the movie with the knowledge of where the story goes after the events of that movie, I can definitely see that Betelgeuse became interested in Lydia ever since the first movie, and also why he's head over heels for her in the present.

Even though I still think he fell in love over the years after the events of the first movie, I think he became smitten with her since the first movie. Here's why he fell for her: For starters, she is a dark and mysterious beauty, and that seems to be his type (look at Delores, also a dark beauty). We can actually see the moment he first shows interest in her in the first movie, when he saw her while in his snake form. She was the only one he did not hurt. He only stared at her, almost like he was taken aback by her. When Barbara banishes him back to the model, we have that little moment when he mentions he feels the only one he can make a deal with in that house is "Edgar Allan Poe's daughter", meaning Lydia. And we have the little horny joke, so if you wanna throw that one in there as evidence he became interested in her here, then sure you can. As this happens directly after he's seen Lydia face to face... Rember the context above before you want to call him a pdfler or something... please. He is Not.

Then later when she meets him in his real form, she doesn't seem startled or scared that she's in the presence of a demon/ghost. In fact, she just simply asks him "are you a ghost, too?" and that's when he starts making some conversation. He realizes she can see him and communicate with him. You can tell at this point he is intrigued by her. She is the only one he's shown a sort of sensitivity to in the entire movie. He asks her "why?" when she says she wants to go in to the after life (essentially, that she wants to di e). He doesn't try anything naughty with her; instead, next time he sees her when she asks for his help, he proposes the marriage.

Now, at the time I don't think he loved her or even cared much about her; at this time he just wanted out and here was an eligible woman, who was not only beautiful and available, she could also see him and needed his help, which he used as his way to try to get out of the afterlife. I think once they got rid of him, and he realized he could still connect with her over the years, his interest in her grew and he started really growing fond of her until inevitably he fell in love.

Lydia is physically his type, but there's also a calmness to her that plays against his unpredictable, unhinged personality. She's someone who can balance him, and he's someone she could hold on to; there's an energy in him that she can use. Of course Lydia doesn't yet see how she'd be compatible with someone like him, but from an outsider's perspective, they really compliment each other's personalities. She's calm and quiet; he's crazy and loud. She's reserved; he's outgoing. She's a dark cloud; he's high-energy, like sunshine. Etc. Opposites attract. 💚

Now finally, the meta reason: Lydia and Betelgeuse seem to be a favorite "Burton couple" not only to Tim Burton himself (and the cast of the movie themselves!) but also to a great number of people. There's people who grew up watching the Beetlejuice cartoon series and didn't even watch the first movie, who for years had the idea that these two characters actually adore each other. There were people who were going in to watch this movie with that context only. And there were even people who were going to watch the sequel as their introduction to Beetlejuice (like my mom's best friend, for example! She loved the sequel but has NEVER watched the first movie nor the cartoon. She also wanted Betelgeuse and Lydia to end up together after watching this one, by the way). From a meta perspective, Lydia and Betelgeuse are just a fan favorite couple and an inseparable pair. So partly the choice to make it canon that at least he is absolutely in love with her comes from this expectation that many people had for these two characters. It just feels natural; they're just an iconic Burton pair.

[raven-at-the-writing-desk]

Hello hello! Long time follower!

I really like reading all your translations, theories and fanfics! It's really great to be able to read your thoughts about characters and cards because am a f2p so I have a very limited stash of gems to pull lol

So I was thinking about the rrcent jp update and I went back to read some of your work on Scarabia. I'll admit they weren't amongst my favorites before so I haven't paid too much attention to them. I was wondering then about the couple times you've said Jamil is well off? Maybe it's from one of his SSR cards of his home event, but I can't remember where he or maybe Kalim implies that?

That's it, just a silly question thanks so much for all that you do, I love so much all your theories and thoughts about the lore and the cast! Have a good day!

Hdsbskwhsk I’m glad that my blog brings you joy and makes your free to play experience more fun 🤩 Thanks for sticking with me all this time!

As for your question, I’m not actually sure if there's dialogue which explicitly states the Viper family's level of wealth. I couldn't find any when I combed through, so I had to go off of implications and my own interpretations of those. From what I’ve gathered, I see the Vipers as upper middle class, or at least middle class with a LOT of benefits (the benefits being present boost them to upper middle class due to the lifestyle the benefits afford them).

So firstly, I think there's a lot of debate surrounding Jamil's family income. Some fans seem to think that the Vipers must be destitute due to their position as servants and Jamil's disdain for how the Asims throw around their money and influence. However, perceived social status or class does NOT always equate to being low income. There are people irl who are technically "servants" and "hired help" that make a significant salary while working for much wealthier individuals. There is data for bodyguards, private chefs, executive assistants, and skilled nannies who earn six-figure incomes and/or excellent benefits working for celebrities, politicians, businessmen, etc. (Notably, guarding, cooking, scheduling/planning, and generally looking after Kalim are all a part of Jamil's duties.) Real world examples of this include employees of the White House and the British royal family.

Now, that all depends a lot on the type of people the employers are. There are many wealthy families who mistreat their staff and/or don't pay them well. From what I've seen of the Asims though, I definitely feel that this is not the case. To begin with, the Vipers don't just do one task for the Asims, they do a LOT. You're already aware of the constant work Jamil has to do around the clock to keep Kalim safe and satisfied, but his parents must do the same. They're described as experts in hospitality and are frequently hosting and entertaining guests from all over Twisted Wonderland. This is skilled labor, and that demands commiserate pay. Not only that, but Kalim describes his father as someone who is very generous (and the guy has plenty of money to spare). I don’t see why Mr. Asim would purposefully skimp on specifically paying the Vipers.

I would also imagine that the Vipers are afforded other benefits. Jamil has said many times that he has to look or act a certain way, as his behavior/appearance reflects on the family he serves. Therefore, the Asims may provide other things Jamil and the Vipers need to “look good” and to best represent and serve the Asims. This could mean food, clothes, transportation/travel expenses, education (like additional training, manners lessons, certification exams, etc.) all paid for on the Asim family’s coin. Jamil has mentioned that his parents gave him lessons in everything he’d need to know in order to serve Kalim, so this tells his parents are also well-educated and/or were at least able to pay for lessons for Jamil. And these lessons aren’t “normal” lessons either, it includes things like formal bodyguard training (you’d have to pay for this irl) and formal table manners (which most of us aren’t taught unless we seek it out).

We also recently learned in book 7 that the Vipers live on Asim property, which is very luxurious. Jamil states that his family would be on the streets should they lose their place serving the Asims—and this could be interpreted in a very literal sense if we think of as losing the roof over their heads. Yes, it's technically not land or housing that the Vipers own, but it is still free high-class lodging, nonetheless. It is a benefit that is afford to them (among others) because of their job(s), similar to those real life examples I mentioned before. One could make the argument that none of this wealth truly belongs to the Vipers. However, you could also argue that because these benefits come with the job, it technically is theirs as long as they keep their job (which is, in fact, how jobs irl work; if you stop working for an employer then naturally you’ll stop getting the benefits that come with that job eventually). It’s complicated. I suspect that, at the very least, part of the reason why the Vipers don’t want to depart from serving the Asims is because they don’t want to lose the pay and the perks that come with their work.

I want to add that the Vipers’ position also gives them the unique advantage of exposing them to tons of important individuals. They are able to meet and connect with these VIPs when most people could never even dream of meeting them, even if just from the viewpoint of a servant. It’s a similar to Lilia and Silver, who technically are not rich (money-wise) but still have ties with majorly influential people (members of the Draconia royal family).

Obviously, the Vipers still aren’t as rich as the Asims and probably will never be, but I believe they still enjoy a comfortable lifestyle. We never see Jamil worry about money or being short of it. He gives his VDC/SDC earnings away without batting an eye, unlike Deuce (from a single-parent income family) who keeps the money since it would really help out his mom. He doesn’t have to work a ton of odd jobs to make ends meet (unlike Ruggie). But Jamil does haggle and act frugal. I think that behavior comes from not a genuine need but Jamil being mindful and planning ahead to avoid being scammed. He’s shown to be a cautious individual who often is the one putting the breaks on Kalim’s extravagance, so I feel the skill also comes partly from having to be the one to curb his ridiculous spending and bring Kalim down to earth. Jamil is still the type of person who would tell Kalim when he’s buying too much or overdoing things, even when it’s not Jamil’s own money being spent and he knows Kalim can afford it. That’s what leads me to believe his frugalness isn’t necessarily the result of him being low income and “needing” to save. If that were the case, he shouldn’t care if Kalim throws his own money at buying diamond jewelry for all the dorm members as souvenirs.

I think the closest metric we have as a frame of reference for how wealthy Jamil is comes from the Tapis Rouge event. In it, Jamil forks out 500 thaumarks (or 50000 madol) to buy a jacket. He remarks that the price is fairly expensive but good quality so it’s worth it. Whether you consider this an indicator of his low or high wealth is really all relative to what your own perception is. Jamil had also previously remarked that what the Mostro Lounge charges is absurd. In Ruggie’s Ceremonial Robes vignettes, Azul quotes the price of one soft drink as 4 thaumarks/400 madol. Jamil responds with “Four? Talk about a markup.” It should be noted that the latter example doesn’t mean Jamil cannot afford a drink of that price; he’s complaining about how expensive Azul has made it to capitalize on the high demand. Do with this knowledge what you will.

Anyway, those are my thoughts! I hope I was able to explain myself well. If you have any thoughts, please feel free to express them ^^

[hollowed-theory-hall]

What are your thoughts on this class division in wizarding society?

What percentage of the population do you believe would be considered upper class? It seems that within the Sacred Twenty-Eight, only families like the Malfoys and Lestranges could truly be considered extremely wealthy. In contrast, the Black family seems more like an example of old money in decline — where their generational wealth was being spent on lavish lifestyle without replenishing their fortune, as suggested by the state of properties like 12 Grimmauld Place, and unlike the Malfoys, they don't seem to own other estates, such as Malfoy Manor.

It's hard to imagine that at least half of pureblood families still belong to the upper class. Most have likely fallen to the middle class, or at best, the upper middle class. This decline in status seems to be the root of their discontent, fueled by a perceived loss of wealth and influence compared to previous generations.

It's likely that purebloods were displaced by half-bloods, who increasingly rose into the upper ranks of society. This shift could explain why so many purebloods were drawn to Voldemort's promises of restoring their power over those of "lesser" blood. They failed to see how their own ambitions would ultimately lead to their downfall.

Hello 👋

I have a lot of thoughts about this and the short of them is:

I don't think blood status has much to do with class because almost everyone is essentially a pureblood and muggleborns and actual half-bloods (with a muggle parent) are in the minority.

I don't think there is a pureblood decline in their society and class isn't really the issue with blood purity, it's just plain ol' bigotry.

I think the Sacred 28 is bullshit and that many purebloods in-universe don't take it all that seriously.

The full essay is under the cut because it got kinda long:

Honestly, I don't think blood status is all that connected with class in the wizarding world, tbh. Like, I talked about this in the first post in this blog, but I think, like, 70% of their population would be considered "pureblood", as in four wizard grandparents. Like, muggleborns are only about 5% of their population, and the majority of the magical population in Britain are ones I won't consider half-blood since technically all their immediate family is magical. So, really, it depends on what you consider "pureblood" and that would depend on how bigoted you are.

The Sacred 28 doesn't include even a third of the families I would consider "pureblood". The Pureblood Dictionary was written by Cantankerous Nott in the 1930s, and this context should be taken into account. He wasn't an unbiased source, and he didn't necessarily even do proper research into the genealogy of families that didn't feel pureblood enough to him (like the name "Potter" sounding too muggle to him) so let's take his writing with a grain of salt. It's also pretty clear families like the Blacks don't see the Sacred 28 as the be all end all since they marry other families which are pureblood but not in the dictionary, like Gamp or Potter, so clearly, many blood purists also take Cantankerous' book with a grain of salt.

Now, I think, since the majority of the population is what I at least would consider purely magical, blood purity doesn't correspond to class. The Weasleys are pureblood, and they are clearly portrayed as poorer and the family seemed to have been lower class for a while. The Prewetts (Molly's family), probably used to be more wealthy but have declined in recent years (from Muriel's behavior, the heirloom tiara, and such, it always seemed to me she was used to a better lifestyle and treatment. Also, Molly's mother was Lucretia Black, giving more evidence to this idea). We saw the Gaunts who were also on the decline in their most recent generations living in a rundown shack.

In the case of the Black family though, I don't think they were in that bad of a state. They clearly had money, I mean, buying the super expensive Firebolt didn't make a dent in Sirius' inheritance that he kept living off of. And they clearly lived in luxury before all the family died out, so I don't think they were that much on the decline. They probably weren't at the peek of their wealth, but they were far from struggling.

I think the state of Grimmauld Place has more to do with Walburga's and Kreacher's mental health rather than money problems. Also, I wouldn't say they don't have any other houses, we don't actually know that. Personally, I always read it as Sirius and Regulus clearly not growing up in the same house as the Black sisters, so I assume there are other houses that at least belonged to the Black family. Let's not forget that until a generation ago, there were quite a few of them around.

And, yeah, sure, the Potters are new money rich (from Sleekezyes) and aren't sacred 28, but the Potters are an old enough pureblood family the Blacks didn't disown Dorea for marrying into. This suggests that they are seen, in universe, as very much an old and established pureblood family in the UK and that the reason they aren't in the sacred 28 is Cantankerous Nott bias. So, again, the Potters aren't an example of half-bloods becoming more relevant or purebloods being on the decline.

The Crouchs are part of the sacred 28 and are clearly wealthy since they have a house elf, which is expensive and a sign of prestige:

“Well, whoever owns him will be an old wizarding family, and they’ll be rich,” said Fred. “Yeah, Mum’s always wishing we had a house-elf to do the ironing,” said George.

(CoS)

Also, the fact Crouch had incredibly influential ministry positions before and after the scandal with his son (you need to be very rich and very well connected to remain a department head after that at all, even if it is a less prestigious department).

The Malfoys are sacred 28 and are clearly very rich. We know they made most of their money from land they got in the Norman conquest and later muggle dealings, so that money is old. But we don't see them in decline until Voldemort returns. Lucius is living his best life, throwing away money on brooms for the Slytherin team, sitting on the board of governors, and having the minister's ear. Clearly, purebloods who had influence didn't all lose it.

The Smith family descends from Helga Hufflepuff, they are clearly pureblood but they aren't sacred 28 (name is too muggle). We also know they are pretty rich, both from Zacharias' behavior and from the fact Hepzibah Smith owned a house elf.

Parkinson, Crabbe, and Goyle (only the Parkinsons are Sacred 28 but Crabbes and Goyles are clearly pureblood as well) are likely living very comfortably, but they're not as wealthy as the Malfoys or Blacks. As Pravati seems to know at least Pansy from before school:

“Shut up, Malfoy,” snapped Parvati Patil. “Ooh, sticking up for Longbottom?” said Pansy Parkinson, a hard-faced Slytherin girl. “Never thought you’d like fat little crybabies, Parvati.”

(PS)

I assume the Patils are seen as pureblood (even if they aren't on the sacred 28) and have about the same level of money as the Parkinsons do. I mean, I don't see Pansy’s parents being friendly with someone who isn't pure enough for their standards.

So, I don't think class is inherently tied to blood status since, as I said, most of the population is essentially pureblood, and it won't make sense for all the population to be rich aristocrats, that's not how this works. I also don't think there is necessarily a pureblood "decline" that created the antagonism towards muggleborns, most rich and influential characters we see are pureblood or essentially pureblood since they were raised by wizard parents in the wizarding world. I also think the tension around blood status is way less justifiable. Like, I don't think it has a good reason like that — it's just bigotry, and it has existed for centuries. It ain't new.

We see blood purist purebloods, or half-bloods reach very high positions in the ministry. It's muggleborns who seem to be struggling to get offers for ministry positions since they don't know anyone who could pull them in (since the ministry runs on connections, which is where the Slug Club comes in for talented muggleborns). In both wars with Voldemort, the ministry was Death Eaters. Many Death Eaters or other blood purists already had high ministry positions, just waiting for Voldemort to take over and let them do what they wanted with them: Lucius, Umbridge, Yaxley, Rookwood (in the first war), Runcorn, and many more since we don't have all the names.

In the first war, Arthur said it was 20:1:

Oh, Molly, come on, it’s about time you got used to hearing it — look, I can’t promise no one’s going to get hurt, nobody can promise that, but we’re much better off than we were last time, you weren’t in the Order then, you don’t understand, last time we were outnumbered twenty to one by the Death Eaters and they were picking us off one by one...”

(OotP)

As the first Order had 22 members in the photo Moody showed Harry, that would place the estimated number of Death Eaters at 440 (or more), which is an insane number to their measly population size of max 7,000 and would explain why the Death Eaters range multiple classes of wealth considering the sheer amount of members and sympathizers.

The reason the Death Eaters could take over so easily twice was because they had their own people in key positions. Don't get me wrong, I don't think the Carrows or Macnairs are particularly wealthy or influential, but they aren't suffering either. It's not that muggleborns took their status and positions. They didn't. There are very few muggleborns in the ministry (and in their population as a whole). And actual half-bloods who have a muggle parent are a minority as well. I'd estimate up to 90% of wizards grew up in the wizarding world with wizard parents. (Tonks is considered a half-blood, but her father is a muggleborn; he's a wizard, and she grew up in the wizarding world, so she barely counts as a half-blood as she lived around magic all her life). So, I don't think the tension about blood status comes from any fear for their traditions or lifestyles or their status being taken away by half-bloods — because I don't think anything like that is happening. Not really.

We even see muggleborns like Hermione choose to assimilate, embrace everything the wizarding world is, and forsake their muggle upbringing, which is likely something Ted Tonks did as well. It's not purebloods who have their lifestyles change, it's muggleborns who assimilate into the new world they enter. It's why Hermione learns and reads as much as she does, it's why past the first year she quietly stops mentioning her muggle parents and spends less and less time in the muggle world.

I do want to note, regarding class, that all wizards do go to the same school, so wealth and class clearly don't register to them the same way they do to us. I think it's less cut and dry for them because of how small the population is.

Like, if you want to marry only wizards, you have like 6,200-7,000 max people in the population. Looking at only those around your age, it would bring you down to like 400, maybe 500 wizards/witches. Cut that in half since you're probably gonna be looking for a het match, so you have 200-250 candidates. Let's say you're a blood supremacist so we remove all muggleborns and half-bloods from the list, and we're down to about 140. Remove families of blood traitors or ones you can't be with because they're too closely related to you, and you're down to less than 100 probably. And then, if you cut this down more by class and wealth, purebloods would have an even smaller possible genetic pool. And most of them don't want to end up like the Gaunts, they know marrying too close is a bad thing. In the Black family tree, the only close marriage we see is between Orion and Walburga and they were second cousins, which isn't that genetically close. So I think there is quite a lot of movement between classes and that most families are way less concerned about class than about blood.

To summarise, I see class in the wizarding world as not super strict and there is quite a bit of movement. As most wizards are wizard-raised, blood status doesn't matter to wealth or class all that much and you see old money and newer money working together (Lucius and Fudge) along with poorer people of similar blood status working with them (Macnair and the Carrows).

(I always got the vibe from Macnair he is lower middle class at most: “Macnair . . . destroying dangerous beasts for the Ministry of Magic now, Wormtail tells me? You shall have better victims than that soon, Macnair. Lord Voldemort will provide. ...”, and the Carrows aren't giving aristocrat vibes either)

Like irl, there are a lot of variations. You have old families who were always well off but not extremely rich until recently (Potter) you have old money that's still living and kicking (Malfoy, Crouch), you have old money in decline (Prewett and Gaunt, to a more extreme degree), and you have rich families (although less than the Malfoys) with really shitty luck where the money is still there but there's no family to use it (Black). We also have poor families (like the Weasleys. Also Umbridge's family was quite poor, it was a half-blood family, btw, since her mother was a muggle).

The majority of wizards probably fall into the range in between — the middle class. With some on the upper end of this scale (Parkinson, Patil, Longbottom) and some on the lower end (Macnair, Carrows). Characters like Seamus and Lavender are also clearly somewhere comfortable in the middle class. Slughorn is another Sacred 28 name and the man seems used to spending and luxury, but he isn't extremely rich either, so I usually place him in the upper end of the middle class.

Additionally, the Pureblood Dictionary (where the sacred 28 are from) is bullshit and most pureblood families don't treat it as the end all be all, but more as a useful resource along with other resources. (my headcanon is that Cantankerous Nott wrote it to assure everyone of his own blood purity. JKR said in the past the Notts are as pureblood as the Malfoys, and we know the Malfoys have married muggles in the past... so...)

So, yeah... these are my thoughts, it's not all that organized, but I hope it makes sense.

[liquidorcard]

You know, while we're on this topic, to the people who dismiss the idea that media is important in a very tangible way that deeply effects people's lives, let me tell you about the song Saint Veronika by Billy Talent.

Tw again: Discussion of suicide and suicidal ideation.

I'm fully aware Billy Talent is considered one of those 3edgy5me bands to people today. Tbh, I think a lot of people who dismiss entire musicians' bodies of work/genres are often fucking wrong and just irony poisoned when you dig a little deeper but that's besides the point-- for the sake of this point I'll just say, I don't give a fuck.

If this isn't your taste in music, if you don't connect with this because of how aggressively 2010s it is, I got no bones to pick with you. This was the shit I grew up listening to though, and I still love it even if my music tastes have expanded.

Now, to the point:

Picture this, it's 2010. You are a 13 year old deeply closeted AFAB trans kid attracted to women. You're three years any of privately coming out as a lesbian, five years away from openly identifying as one, and a full 12ish years away from transitioning. You live in a conservative hick town and you have good reason to believe if your parents found out, you would be disowned so you do everything to suppress those feelings. You have had a very traumatizing childhood, you live in a very unstable home. You're beginning to develop a chronic illness that will go untreated for 10 years, which causes you a LOT of pain. You have been an insomniac since you can remember, and have had concerningly few good night sleeps your whole life. You have had limited medical and no mental health treatment, to the point where you know asking for any is already off the table. However, have been told all your life by your formerly poor parents because of your upper-middle-class upbringing, any negative feelings you have are invalid and a sign of your laziness, and how spoiled you are. You have been told so often you must be faking your chronic pain, your fatigue, vomiting and migraines you've begun to wonder if you're just a big baby. They haven't even clued in yet that the reason why you're struggling with the switch to English from French schooling is because you're dyslexic and need glasses. In about a year's time you're going to begin developing an eating disorder. You've been bullied at school by students AND teachers since you were in grade 1. It's a good week if you've only cried once. You are ALREADY a year and a half roughly into stealing your parent's booze as quite literally the only resource you have access to to cope-- no fear that you'll be caught since they have such an absurd amount of it.

Now like, I'm not trying to throw myself a pity party here. Honestly, people expressing sympathy when I talk about what my life is like makes me uncomfortable. I understand people mostly genuinely feel bad and don't know what else to say, but like, I'm not telling people about this so they feel bad, lol. No offense, but like, it happened to me not you, and I'm spent plenty of my own time feeling bad for me-- I'm kinda over it, mostly.

No, I'm saying all this to make a point: I feel wanting to die is a pretty reasonable response for a 13 year old to have in those circumstances. Like, what else am I going to do? I had be told all my life the issues I was having were me problems, I couldn't figure out how to overcome them. If I'm the problem, like. You know, that's the obvious solution, right? Obviously as an adult I recognize that's not the case, but. I was barely a teenager.

To give context to the time period, I went to Catholic school. They had JUST stopped teachers from casually saying that people who commit suicide go to hell-- to fucking children. Stay classy, Alberta Catholic School Board. Oh, while we're here by the way, not too long ago they forced all the teachers to take any pride or LGBTQ+ related iconography down and started implementing policies like teachers being forced to out kids to their parents or risk being fired. Policies that would have put MY well-being in danger if they were implemented when I was a kid.

Here's their publically available email and phone number. No reason, just, if you're looking for a place to express your feelings on adults using their positions of authority to endanger children, or for a place to spam your dankest memes. I'm sure they'd love that:

E: http://acsta.ab.ca

T: (780) 484-6209

But, anyway, the new """progressive""" approach was to basically say just, "killing yourself is never the answer. Think of everything you have to live for." Literally, "Aha, don't kill yourself, your so sexy," before it was cool. 10/10 counciling. We had two suicides when I was in high-school, and countless other attempts.

What we have now isn't even that much better. What the fuck IS a teenager supposed to do with, "mental health is important, let's talk about it" but find out a lot of people are just as miserable as them? Which, finally, brings us back to this song . . .

"She was sick and tired of being invisible, Hard to see in color when you’re miserable,"

What is this I see!? Actual validation of negative emotions, articulated shockingly efficiently in a fucking song lyric?

"Veronika, Saint Veronika, You can't leave this world behind, So be strong enough to hold onto us, We're still right here by your side,

I know people kind of reflexively cringe when people say this or that piece of media saved their life. And, if it must be said, it's kind of fucked up that ANYONE has to get therapy from something like an emo-agacent rock band-- that's not supposed to be their fucking job. However, I can't articulate how much this meant to me when this song came out. "This IS as shit as it feels, but find the strength to hold on," managed to be just enough for me to survive until adulthood and get real mental health help. For me to tell my parents and be taken to the hospital after my first attempt at 16. Reframing it from "your life is precious" even though all perceived evidence was to the contrary for me and many other kids especially, to "find the resolve to keep going, you aren't as alone as you think."

"Always said her life was never meant to be, Stuck here living someone else's dream, Well beyond your window there is so much more, Even every prison has a open door,"

Though I'm a little jaded to some extent to the "it gets better" narrative, that was a more fresh idea at the time, and it is good to try and inspire hope in people going through suicidal ideation. It just can't be the be all, end all of the discussion.

Regardless, this verse articulates the emotional displacement of suicidal ideation really well. Especially for a kid stuck in a bad environment like I was.

"And while the angels sleep, All of the devils are awake, Waiting to steal your love, Right outside of Heaven's gate, And all the sacred hearts, Can't numb the feeling from the pain, Cause when the drugs don't work, You're gonna curse his holy name,"

To this day, nothing has captured my personal experience with suffering with suicidal ideation more than this bridge. Especially as someone raised Catholic. The metaphor of devils stealing your fundamental ability to love and be loved, to have meaningful bonds, just agapnizingly out of reach of safety and comfort. Because the systems supposedly there to protect your very "soul" aren't paying attention.

The Sacred Heart is the concept of God's divine love for humanity in the Catholic faith. The thing that is supposed to make you feel whole, complete and fulfilled. But, it's nothing. It's a sugar pill. It's symbolic of all the non-solutions presented to you to hand-wave away the problem without dealing with it. So you curse life itself, you reject the divinity of your own existence.

The music video is notably, pretty impressively tasteful too. Especially for the time. Yes it's visuals are also a little 2010s, but compared to trash fires like 13 Reasons Why that came out five or six years later. It threads the needle of using visual metaphor to communicate the pain, validate it, without glorifying suicide-- in my opinion.

Simple but effective: Doll girl unravels the more isolated she becomes, until it takes her life. It accurately depicts the act of suicide as a desperate attempt at ESCAPING from agony, not the solution. It manages to get the idea across while not showing any real life method itself. Genuinely, an extremely thoughtful exploration of the topic.

I don't know for sure if I'd be here today to write this post without this song but . . . There's 100% a chance. Real, accessible mental health care is what we really need, but in the mean time this is all some of us have. Especially minors.

Media matters.

[estellamiraiauthor]

Not sure why I felt like writing this now, but just in case anyone isn’t clear on how “tariffs” are (not) going to help you, the average person:

Why you don’t see American cars in Japan

All imported cars in Japan are subject to an import tax that is… quite hefty. This is, understandably, to encourage people to buy Japanese cars and to bring in some extra tax money… win/win for the government and big corporations? It also means you see a comparatively lower percentage of Mercedes, BMWs etc. than in the US, but rich people are still gonna rich. Those cars, that have “luxury” name value and that are also of a higher quality than your average Corolla, still sell to a certain demographic.

But the most interesting side effect of this is possibly that… you just don’t see American cars here. I mean, you OCCASIONALLY do. But it’s NOTHING like the number of Toyotas and Nissans you see in the US, because in the US, a similar-sized Ford and Toyota are both good cars, of similar quality and similar price. In Japan, they’re still similar quality, but the Ford costs a LOT more. (There are other reasons as well, namely that Toyota makes cars with the steering wheel on the left for the American market and US makers don’t do the opposite for Japan… that’s an issue with the manufacturer though)

Note that the US government is not paying the difference in cost between a Ford and a Toyota sold in Japan. The Japanese government leverages the tax, the importer (Ford’s Japanese subsidiary or a licensed vendor, I guess?) pays the tax, and the importer PASSES THE COST DIFFERENCE ON TO THE CONSUMER.

So what would happen if the reverse applied in the US? The exact same thing would happen (except that Toyota would still make left-hand drive cars)… Toyotas would still be in the same general quality class as Fords, but would cost twice as much. Great for Ford, I suppose, but for the average consumer? It just means you have fewer options for a vehicle within your price range. And people who work at the US branches of non-luxury foreign car companies (because again, rich people are still gonna rich) are going to suffer. There’s really no upside for the average person. Even if you work for Ford, remember that “trickle-down” is not a thing. You’re not going to see a cent of any extra income the CEO brings in.

As a random aside, the other interesting side effect of the high import tax on cars in Japan is that Volkswagens, as they’re now slightly more expensive than Toyotas but still not as unattainable as a BMW or something, are seen as kinda “entry-level” luxury cars by a certain breed of upper middle class “not really Rich-rich but want people to think they are” people, who basically act like BMW owners in the States… do NOT park next to a Volkswagen in Japan.

TL/DR, tariffs only help the government and maybe CEOs. For you as the consumer, it just means fewer buying options.

[y-rhywbeth2]

Reading about 'tallhouses' and renting in the Realms, and casting a critical eye over the depiction of the city in the game again, with a focus on the amount of houses everywhere: If you live in Baldur's Gate (bar the fancier buildings in Bloomridge and the houses and estates in the Upper City - i.e. outside of being wealthy upper class, or upper-middle class and there's a house available) you do not live in a house and you are almost certainly not a homeowner: you are renting a room in a block of flats/apartment building which, statistically, is owned by a temple or shrine (the temples of Tymora, Gond, and Umberlee are going to dominate) or nobility. Or maybe a building owned by somebody who owes rent to the church/noble who owns the land its stood on. I think there's also been mention of halfling families often becoming landlords in human cities, but I'd have to dig that out again.

I'll leave off the research binge for my thoughts on daily life in the Gate for roleplaying/backstory purposes 'til the current project is done, but I still want to ramble:

The buildings are narrow, and extensions go upwards, and the streets are often overarched with supports so that we can build over that too. I'm pretty sure the structures are classified as tallhouses.

Welcome to the overcrowded city where space is at such a premium we can't have animals bigger than a cat (no room on the streets), street vending is illegal (there is no room on the streets), you can't really gather or cause a fuss outside of the home or pubs (ditto) all graveyards have to be outside the walls, and the only open space of note is the Wide.

Wyll's father is high ranking enough to have a house, unless Ulder really wanted to stick to his roots as the son of a blacksmith. Astarion was an upper city boy before that part of the city officially existed, but his family probably had a house. Lae'zel doesn't live here. Gale doesn't live here either, but he's got his own mage tower so he's not renting. Dunno about his childhood, Waterdeep is also a very populated city where people rent. Durge and likely Shadowheart would've grown up in rented rooms/suites (and Durge was canonically poor growing up, so likely not a very high quality or spacious one). As adults: Durge and Orin were temple priests and Bhaalists, so they'd be living in the temple/compound with the other faithful. Technically, the Sharrans don't have a temple, but she at least spent a lot of time down there and might've lived there; I don't remember seeing a dorm, only Viconia's room, but maybe I forgot something. Though all of these characters may have had public lives to draw attention away from their cult activity. Bhaalist 'daytime identities' and the Sharran love of secrecy, so they might've been renting a room in the city. Maybe a fancier more spacious one in Bloomridge. (Or owned a house, depending on how much one makes and wants to spend. Torilian priests are encouraged to get rich and own property.) Noble or well-off Tavs might've had a house, but other than that: you're renting, and possibly in the Outer City which exists specifically because the city proper had a housing crisis fitting the exploding population in.

Karlach grew up in the Outer City, specifically Tumbledown around the old Szarr cemetary, going off of her surname 'Cliffgate', referring to the geographic location. Considering the poverty of the outer city though, it's probably a case of still being packed into rented rooms and not very good quality ones. Which is, for the established character parallel purposes, probably the same or similar conditions Gortash grew up in.

[am-i-the-asshole-official]

AITA for accepting money/gifts from my mom?

(🦭🐟 to help find later)

Ok bear with me here because this is a serious question w/ some context even though the question doesn't seem bad.

My (19NB) mom (54F) is not a very good parent. Things were not great when I was a kid, to say the least. It's complicated to get into so I'm gonna glaze over most of it and say I plan to go low/no contact when I'm older and can afford to support myself on my own. For now I'm amicable since I need help while getting through college. This has been my plan for a WHILE but I've started to feel a little guilty?

My biggest issue with my mom is the way that she treats/treated my siblings. Sometimes she gets on my nerves but I know I have the privilege of being the youngest (and the favorite) therefore my parents don't pull the same kind of bullshit with me. For example one of my siblings had family therapy with her, and she would frequently not show up and leave them to do the exercises with the other families in the group session that they didn't know. She also complained about their suicide attempt. She talks down to my oldest sister because she couldn't pursue the medical career my parents wanted because she couldn't deal with the cadavers, and since she spent her whole education trying to reach their standards she's been lost trying to figure out what she wants for herself, and my parents keep harping on her for not having a career plan and being "useless". This is only the tip of the iceberg, and it's plenty enough for me to feel justified in my decision to eventually go no contact. I am not asking if AITA for cutting her off, that is not where the guilt is.

It's always been the case that instead of directly saying she was wrong my mom would spend a lot of money on us and buy gifts (usually stuff she likes and not what we like, but I figured out I could leverage her guilt to buy specific things bc free stuff ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ even if I don't forgive her). I think this is because she didn't have much money growing up so now she's a shopaholic now that she has the money to do so (both my parents are in the medical field so they are far from poor. abt upper middle class). She also keeps defending our uncle despite us bringing up how he's creepy and pervy and makes us uncomfortable, and she has some... interesting political takes (like defending the price of insulin being so high???)

My mom I think has been trying to be better but she still never apologizes for any of her actions and is guilt trippy by saying stuff abt how we all think shes a bad mom that caused all her kids to be depressed and suicidal. So its not enough of an improvement for me to forgive her, but I do notice that she walks away from situations sometimes rather than blow her fuse, and she's more tolerant of my ADHD and queerness than she used to be. And she's been trying to be more supportive of me and my decision to pursue an art career. I do believe that people can get better and change themselves, I just think in the case of my mom it's too little too late (and she hasn't improved her relationship with my siblings as much). I've also been polite and friendly since I'm still living with her.

So like, this combined with me accepting her gifts makes me think I'm leading her on? Like she thinks that she's salvaging a relationship with one of her kids and that I'll stay. And I feel a little bad about that. Like if it was JUST the gifts I would feel no guilt bc if she thinks she can bribe her way into our good graces without changing her behavior than shes gonna be down money and still have no kids. But shes trying to improve, albeit slowly and not when we needed her, but better nonetheless. So it feels less "this is the least she could do given the trauma" and more "i feel like i'm taking advantage of her".

One of my siblings refuses to accept her money on principle (they've already moved out) and it makes me think I should probably do the same, but also i dont know if I can since I don't have a job yet and I'm still in school, so maybe just refuse the gifts thing? But neither of my siblings seem to have an issue with my relationship with her, so maybe I shouldn't feel bad? She's treating me better so I feel I have less justification for using her wealth for my own benefit, even if I still don't forgive her for how she treated my siblings.

Basically, AITA for still accepting guilt money/gifts from my shitty mom despite planning on cutting her off later on?

What are these acronyms?

[camp-counselor-life]

Ok, so I'm gathering my thoughts about the dues (45 next year & 65 in 2 years for girls, 30 for adults) and this whole thing, and I'm just gonna do bullet points, because it won't be coherent until I'm done:

I am grateful it didn't increase more, because GSUSA was pushing for $85+ for girls and $45 for adults.

I think that GSUSA could have done this differently and more equitably, as well as presented a lot of their facts earlier or in a better way. For example, shortly before the vote for girl, GSUSA's CEO revealed that they would pass significant and required costs down to councils if they didn't get the dues increase (they might still do this bc they didn't get as much as they want).

They also presented the financial assistance to councils as this huge boon of income, but failed to note that 3 million spread over 110 councils isn't a lot, but also that the need for FA is going to increase, not stay the same.

In that vein, I think a lot of councils didn't accurately represent what GSUSA does for councils and girls directly (though a lot of the FB chatter I saw did) to their delegates. Which isn't the delegate's fault at all.

Because of all of this, I like, I don't entirely fault the delegates for voting how they did. I think it was part incompetence & a lil manipulative, but the way everything has gone down with this whole shenanigans has been rushed & messy, and I think that the volunteer delegates did the best that they could. Especially while being livestreamed not only to the 1000 delegates, board members, and staff on the zoom call, but another 1000+ on the YouTube livestream AND they knew they'd probably be disparaged online too. Beyond the next two bullet points, I thought the kids and volunteers did a decent job with what they had.

The most common reason I heard for why we should increase the dues was to show the value of GS. So, in doing this, a lot of delegates outright said, if you don't vote to increase dues, you are saying GS isn't valued like "other organizations."

Saying that we "don't value" Girl Scouts if we don't agree with the increase is a lot of things, and I understand the moment was heated, but like it's kinda rude. And a lot of people said that.

I actually missed the part where GSUSA made their case, but like, I've heard the spiel two other times at work. A lot of what's being offered at the higher levels of funding is stuff that they have been promising for a while, or stuff that's really not super optional. Why it costs as much as it does is another question.

They told us they expect a 12% decrease in membership (this is probs not public knowledge) but none of us really believe that.

Not to stereotype areas of the country, because girls of all levels of affluence/SES live everywhere, but a lot of councils speaking in favor of the increase were larger, more suburban & affluent areas, whereas councils being like, wtf, why would you do that, were much more rural, small, and less affluent areas. One delegate was even like, this is a slap in the face after we just had multiple hurricanes devastate our area.

I saw someone online be like, expenses can be worked around. Ok, maybe in the middle and upper classes, but if your choice is you and your kid joining GS or eating for 2 weeks, what do you think the right choice is there???

GSUSA isn't offering financial assistance to councils for this increase until we hit $65, and they originally said for 5 years, but now it's 4, because it was actually "once we hit $65 and then only until 2030." Gonna be real, we get 0 from GSUSA right now anyway. Because, as I have said, councils pay GSUSA for their members who get scholarships.

Lastly, I saw someone say that GS pays too much if this is the financial situation and like.... I don't know if that was only national or everyone, but I'm gonna say it again: I 100% guarantee that your direct service staff are not being paid too much.

So, overall, am I happy? No, not really. Do I recognize, as a lifetime member with no plans to have children, that this doesn't effect me directly as much as many members? Yes. Will it still effect me as a staff member? Yeah, it will.

But. I do think that Girl Scouts will survive this, in some way. Will it survive in a way that makes me want to participate in 5, 10, 25 year? I'm not sure. Will Girl Scouts always be in my life though?

Yes, I imagine it will.

[sappy-detective]

so i’m obsessed with when fics make shuichi a working detective. and i have a small detective/runaway saiouma AU. warning i talk a LOT

so ouma and saihara are childhood best friends. i’m talking like knowing each other since like kindergarten age.

they’re both attached at the hip. shuichi being a shy introvert and ouma being very obnoxious and outgoing. one thing they have in common is that- well they don’t have any friends. no one wants to talk to shuichi because they think he’s weird and no one likes ouma because they think he’s loud and obnoxious. but they mesh so well and become the best of friends.

and their home lives are very polar opposite.

oumas pretty poor, his dad is an abusive dick and his mom is .. well she try’s to be good but in the end she stands by and doesn’t say or do anything to stop his dad. but he’s a mamas boy through and trough.

shuichis mom and dad pretty much abandoned him with his aunt and uncle. they’re upper middle class and they’re very very supportive and loving to him. they’re his mother and father figure but it’s not the same as having your mom and dad. especially sucks when he sees them in movies and tv shows.

they share everything with each other and are very comfortable with each other. they came out to each other and support each other. they’re just very incredibly close.

then one day, ouma just, disappears?

they’re in about high school when he disappears. about 15-16? at this point, shuichis made friends with kaede, maki, and kaito, along with others in his class. he’s still shy and has social anxiety but it wasn’t as bad as it used to be.

he didn’t notice at first, but found it odd that ouma didn’t text him in the morning, or walk with shuichi to his bus stop.

he and ouma go to different schools so he can’t talk to him direct, so he tries calling ouma during his lunch hour but the call didn’t go through at all.

he was bubbling with anxiety the whole day, kaede and his friends tried calming him down but this is WAy out of character. this goes on for days and shuichis just about to freak because.. we’ll he can’t really do anything.

ouma never invited shuichi over or even told shuichi where he lives. he isn’t embarrassed about being poor or anything but he doesn’t want shuichi meeting his dad.

they always hang out at shuichis house, ouma always walks home and refuses any offers of a ride home from shuichis uncle so shuichi has no idea whats going on.

now with shuichis uncle being a detective i imagine that he tries snooping and he figured out it looks like ouma either ran away from home or was kidnapped.

now this is part you can take out but,

the night before, ouma visited saiharas window. not extremely weird. on school night when ouma isn’t allowed past 9, so he visits saiharas windows to talk to him.

what was odd about this time was that ouma seemed to be in a rush. his face was flushed and he was panting like he just ran a marathon. he was at saiharas window just talking, then periodically popping in cool he thought shuichi was. in a kind of ouma way.

“pst! ouma! come on, we have to go!” shuichi jumped a bit, looking past ouma to see a feminine figure jogging up to his back fence.

“who’s that?”

“just… one of my friends” ouma sighed, letting go of the  windowsill.

that night ends with ouma giving shuichi a kiss, a semi love confession and a smile before leaving with his friend.

then he disappears. you can take that part out though. but i think it adds a kind of lead to what happened.

shuichis uncle isn’t allowed to investigate or interfere because he knows ouma so it’s all up to the detective that’s put on his missing persons case. maybe they think he ran away so it’s not being taken seriously?

shuichi just wants to get to the bottom of what happened to his best friend (and let’s be honest, almost lover.)

then it’s teen boy detective saihara snooping around, going to his school just- being a detective.

this is just a funny idea i MIGHT write a one shot about or might not who knows. OBVIOUSLY the people he left with was DICE but shuichi doesn’t know that. i like to think that they’re close this makes shuichi realize that, in reality, he knows nothing about ouma.

sure he knows his favorite food, how he likes his fruit cut and what his favorite flavor of candy is but he doesn’t even know what his parents names are or where he lives.

in reality oumas been planning on running away for a long time, planning with his friends/found family and just has been putting it off because… well shuichi would be alone without him but now that shuichis finally has more friends to help him out he feels comfortable leaving his shitty home life.

definitely wasn’t easy tho!!! you should add more mystery if you want- make it fun

[tachimichishrine]

"high school"

⫭◦⨝◦⫬

doa + hunting dogs {high school AU! hcs}

warnings: none!! just keep in mind this isn't an xreader!!

decay of angels

nikolai is, without question, the class clown, and head of the drama club

the teachers HATE him

he asks waaaaaay too many questions, and all the time, too

and they're so random???

they'll be in the middle of a test and he'll ask the teacher "how's your marriage doing right now? how's your partner, are they doing well?"

lowkey gets kicked out of the class daily

now spends most of his time playing cards with the secretary in the office

bram sometimes gets sent there as well, just because he's in the mood to take a nap

however, he doesn't really say that, he'll make up some kind of excuse like "oh it's my medical condition, I have limited energy" because he's paraplegic, even if it's bs

he's also that one edgy kid who sits in the back of the class discussing the end of the world

he??speak??so??oddly??

"death cometh for thou," like dude okay no need to talk like that???

the only person who actually understands what he says is fyodor, the reigning chess champ in the school

he's also very tired all the time, but he doesn't sleep, he'll just answer a few questions here and there if he's forced to, just to shut up the teacher

does the absolute bare minimum effort to pass class because he thinks it's all useless

"you have great potential, and I'm sure you understand all the material, fyodor, so with just a bit of effort-"

"thank you for the advice."

gets up and leaves 💀

fukuchi is the gym teacher that yells all the time and tells students to do pushups just because he feels like their face is mocking him

everyone either loves his class or dreads it

nikolai is fine, he's not all that athletic but he can run pretty decently and, worst case scenario, he just needs to bug the teacher and get sent to the office again to complete his game of poker with the secretary

fyodor hates gym class

with a burning passion

I CAN'T EVEN ENVISION HIS STICK-LEGS RUNNING PROPERLY SKJGKSJFG

hides under any large object and waits it out

bram is in a wheelchair so he just smugly looks at coach like "haha sucker!", only to be given dumbbells and told to do upper body workouts

now, fyodor and bram are hide-from-gym-class buddies

sigma is in preschool

yk since he's like 3 years old-

CHUBBY CHEEKS

he's so precious unlike all the other toddlers, but he does cry a lot

A LOT

LIKE WAY TOO MUCH

"sigma, you have to share your blocks with our friends, okay?"

"WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA"

the caretakers still love him tho

BABY SIGMA BABY SIGMA BABY SIGMA BABY SIGMA

hunting dogs

jouno and tecchou are the upperclassmen, which is surprising given how many braincells they share between them

jouno is hands down the pretty popular jock on campus and all the girls FALL TO THEIR KNEES

he does get in trouble every once in a while for bullying people or threatening them, but he has practically seduced the principal at this point, so it's no biggie

tecchou is that one kid who raises their hand in class and gets everything wrong

he's great in gym class, though, seeing as he likes to work out in his spare time

some girls try to approach him while he's doing his own thing and staring at the ground but he's like "wait."

"...wait? for what?"

"the ants"

"...the ants???"

"you were about to step on them."

girls have now stopped trying to approach him

tachihara is the Bad Boy™ with Family Issues™ and Inferiority Complex™

he gets in trouble A LOT

unlike Nikolai, it isn't for harmless questions or disturbing the class, it's for beating up someone else and egging someone's locker and placing a pin on the teacher's chair and-

needless to say, the teachers hate him with a burning passion

he's taking teruko as his apprentice in chaos, given she'd be around two year younger than him

she doesn't get in trouble bc (assuming this is a different school and everything) the gym coach fukuchi defends her in front of the school staff ALL THE TIME since she's his favorite student

she's surprisingly good at most subjects, except...

m a t h 

she screams and throws a full-on tantrum by tossing her math book outside the window then setting it on fire because this girl CANNOT survive variables and constants and graphs and parabolas

fly high, math notebook 😞✊🕊

[cleromancy]

Something has been bugging me recently. Do you ever notice how people (particularly Jason stans) go on about how Tim victim blame's Jason for his own death, but fail to mention how Alfred and Bruce are guilty of doing the same thing in the past? Why do these two (especially Alfred) get a pass?

LMAO LIKE... EVERYONES DONE IT. BRUCE ALFRED DICK BABS *SELINA* OF ALL PEOPLE ONE TIME... actually id have to double check that one idr exactly what she said about jason it might have just been that hes unhinged (<- also a thing everyones said at some point) but like. everyones freakin done it. or at least *implied* it.

tim is a special case for a reason though--and ill come back to bruce and alfred later--and its not just bc fandom wants a scapegoat to pin All The Victim-Blaming on. on a meta level tim was specifically created to be jasons opposite, and to ~rehabilitate the robin role and make robin palatable again to modern readers. (and to be clear this wasnt bc readers didn't like jason specifically--it was the idea of robin at all, and to a lesser extent just replacing the orig. jason just took on the mantle at a really unfortunate period in comics culture.) so the comparisons to jason are baked in right off the bat. and tim has to be "better". tim had to prove that a robin was necessary so that dc could keep having one, he had to justify it so that the blame didnt fall on bruce for getting a child killed (or yk even just out there fighting crime at all). theres also an element of class dynamics thats. i mean. jason was a homeless street kid and tims this fancy little distinctly upper middle class kid who replaces him, without derailing to get too deep into that the optics already arent fucking great.

but tims creation aside, just as far as how often it comes up... tim also takes the role of robin really seriously, and its everything to him, so he spends a lot of time thinking about it, what it means to wear the uniform & fulfil the role. so hes the one whos most frequently in the position to be thinking about jason, after bruce. so tim winds up being the one pushing the bulk of the bad/angry/impulsive robin narrative retcon dc wanted to push bc... its the most directly relevant to him. bruce doesnt have much narrative need to think about jason "failing" or not being good enough until under the red hood... except to be like "i dont have to worry about tim bc hes not like jason." lmao. and then you have tim who does not want to get killed, like jason did, so he spends time thinking about how to not end up like jason. which is a fundamental misunderstanding of how being a victim of murder works but i think understandable thing for a child replacement of another dead child to latch onto (particularly one as prone to arrogance & god-complex-itude as Our Timmy, lol). and both on a meta level and in-universe this is about shifting the blame off of bruce and onto the victim because tim needs to keep filling the role hes filling without it being bruces fault that jason died in the first place, bc reckoning with batman and child endangerment is not smth the comics had ever really planned on doing in a serious way.

but as for why singling tim out over bruce and alfred-- the kind of ppl who do this already generally think bruce sucks past the point of being interested in ~holding him accountable~ for absolutely anything... like "bruce sucks, everyone knows he sucks, enough said." i think the logic is generally like "if tims not a total shithead like bruce, then why is he doing shithead stuff like bruce does :/" and then pinning it all on tim as opposed to considering like "hey uhhh do you think maybe hearing stories about jason from bruce influences how tim thinks of jason over the years." if that makes sense

as for alfred. people do not want alfred to have any interiority or to ever have been mean or wrong bc then theyd have to actually think about the fact that bruce has a 24/7 domestic servant in his employ, which is just the. tip of the iceberg when you start thinking about alfred as a full character and not a convenient cardboard cutout to prop up whoever the narrative needs him to. also alfreds role in almost every batman narrative is strictly as support, almost no agency within the story to have a meaningful impact, and people generally respond to the character in kind.

finally i think tim mmmmight be the only character at least as of the reboot who ever talked *to jason* outloud style about certain things relating to jasons death... this answer is already getting too long so i dont want to get into depth about titans tower. but tt 2003 #29 is a great example of the comics pitting tim and jason against each other to make Jason look worse by comparison--for all that tim doesn't actually *say* anything victim blaming jason for his death, *and* for all that jason totally kicks tims ass in the fight and its not even close, on a meta level the story is 100% presenting jason as the bad robin, the robin who failed, Unlike Tim Drake, A *Good* Robin. (i accidentally reread the issue ... im going to make a post about it later probably. god i wish this fucking issue had been good)

but yeah i could probably go on and on even further but yeah, i think thats where people are coming from when they single timmy out. tim only exists at all bc of jason n would be fundamentally unrecognizable without having been crafted to be the anti-jason. and on top of that he has repeatedly been used by dc to make jason look worse (or rather jason was used to make tim look better), and a lot of my fellow jason stans understandably resent tim for it. i however am built different, and want them to kiss.

[fatass-adam]

Personal thoughts so far because I can't focus on shit else lol

Adam is a Gryffindor because he's too brave for his own fuckin good with all the shit talking he does and how powerful he considers himself (even being able to back it up against Alastor in their epic fight). Otherwise I'd go with Hufflepuff because he seems pretty loyal, even to a fault; he will stick with his side even if in the wrong

Probably comes from a pure wizard family that's upper middle class?? Pure wizard family because it gives him hot shit bragging rights regardless of his company, plus it kinda reflects his angelic status. I don't think he's full upper class though just because I'm taking his "struggling and surviving after being thrown out of Eden" period of his original life into consideration, but will also say that he doesn't have to go without much either given the other side of the story where he got to experience TWO different kinds of paradise (Eden before and Heaven afterwards)

He's great on a broom to reflect his long-ass afterlife of having wings (if he doesn't already have them depending on which verse we go with anyway...in which case I'll probably still just have him be lazy and have his broom do his flying for him BECAUSE YOU KNOW HE WOULD lol)

Also? Total Quidditch jock (maybe even on the way to becoming professional??) He totes has jock-bully vibes first and foremost regardless of age/setting we go with, not to mention he would do it because he easily gets bored anyway and needs something to do. And don't get me started on that Quidditch fan favorite status he'd try to achieve!

And adding to that, he's gotta be a beater. On top of the general enjoyment of getting to club a mindlessly violent ball senseless itself, it even funner when you get to club that mindlessly violent ball hurling into some other poor sap's direction with the intention of knocking them off and/or just downright injuring them

Socially speaking I'm gonna say that he's not above mingling with lower class, "mudbloods", muggles, etc. but will try to act like he is. In all reality I think he'd socialize with anyone who'd give him the time of day, but he's also just an asshole and gonna really play up his high ranking social status

That being said, if we have Death Eaters?? He's totally a Death Eater/Death Eater in training (if the age in the setting we go with allows it...and I'm gonna say yeah because they're all probably gonna be 8th years at least anyway). It only makes sense with his canon Exorcist shit lol

I am gonna go out on a limb though and say he's mostly a Death Eater (or Death Eater type) due to necessity (I mean ya gotta go with a winning team, am I right??). While I DO think Adam is naturally mean and an overall bad person, I also think he's been pretty misguided by how others have treated him (or his upbringing in this case) and has never really got to experience things from someone else's perspective to be able to judge things correctly. Like I said, he's pretty social and probably gets along with most people who treat him cool enough, he's just mostly been taught bad things that fed into his already naturally shitty personality and that has amplified it

Is probably still some kind of "dark wizard" anyway regardless because he wants that power and isn't afraid to go after it, even if it ends in regrets...SPEAKING OF WHICH-

Might face regrets/have a redemption arch out of it all?? Not that one just QUITS being a Death Eater...which is gonna be a lot of fun to explore on its own XD

He's also pretty good at dueling. He held his own in that epic battle with Alastor and only really got tripped up once he got too cocky and started getting sloppy on him. Even then he landed the winning blow that made Alastor retreat. Meanwhile I'm gonna say his magic mostly favors light/lightning spells because SUCK MY HOLY LIGHT FUCKERS!!" lol

His patronus is totally a dog and not a cool vicious dog but something cute and/or stupid like a golden retriever (and yes it's embarrassing when people find out what kind of dog it is because he'll admit to having a dog...but never specifies). This is because overall he is a big, dumb, loyal puppy lmao (he just fucking BITES sometimes)

That's about all I got for now! I'm now gonna start fucking around on wand specifics and get back to this later XD

[loderlied]

tell us more about Shana!! what's your favourite fun fact about him (+ any more info you wanna share 👀)

the problem is. that any “fun” fact about him will most likely not actually be That Fun lol. well to anyone except himself but still. i’ll try. i don’t have a favourite but i will pick some out that i think aren’t too bad?

i think it’s extremely !!! how it’s almost impossible to insult him? like. if it’s funny (regardless of if he’s meant to laugh with you or not) he will find it funny and laugh, if not he’ll just tell you to be more creative or something. and if you’re seriously trying to insult him out of hatred, disgust, terror and the rest of those ‘oh my god that guy’s a monster’ emotions, well. then he just enjoys those immensely and uh. wants more as shana the hedonist freakazoid does. so enjoyment is probably not what you want out of him lol.

also. i think like. his first “unusual” behaviour as a very very young kid was just excessive stealing of his sibling's toys when each of them had enough and roughly the same amount. and it was not just because he liked them better because he showed no interest when you'd get a separate same one for him. one day he accidentally broke his sibling's favourite action figurine thingy, got upset over it and actually attempted (and succeeded) to fix it, and while to his parents that was confirmation that he didn't have bad intentions (they never assumed this in the first place but they did note this "quirk" as a bit odd) and that it was just a weird form of play to him when in actuality he got upset over the idea that he obviously can't take it away anymore if it's broken, and that/the reaction from his siblings is what he was really doing it for lol.

if we’re talking about his family. 3 siblings he’s the second oldest. his parents loved all of them even if he wasn’t as good at hiding his uhh. fun times as a kid/teen. a lot more. impulsive? not the right word but close. and while always generally and comparatively very self-aware, still less understanding of himself and the world and its people. and the law. didn’t think of consequences as much. and hormonal. (graph attached below about that).

the only thing his parents maybe did wrong was believe shana when he lied about the extent of his bullying/abuse of other kids when they eventually learned about a few cases. but y’know it’s hard to come to terms with the fact that your son would do some fucked up shit, so they. just didn’t, decided to take his word over others’ and shana got better at hiding it, so it never came up again. they do know that he is. different. though. (they think that he’s) not bad just different. they accept that even if they don’t necessarily understand it. but they don’t pretend to either. one of his younger sisters thinks like that too (if a lot more cynical/distant/while she doesn’t like having him around she doesn’t believe he’s the monster he is) the other siblings and family members have no idea that there’s anything “up” with him at all.

he visits for anniversaries and christmas and such. on chronic get absolutely everyone gifts duty because he’s decidedly the richest person in the entire bunch by a wide margin (his family is mostly middle class while he is upper class) and it’d look incredibly bad if he didn’t lol. and he really just does not want any negative eyes from them on him because should any investigations regarding his crimes start they’d be the one of the first places to ask around. would be best if they’d just be able to say he is nice but busy with his work and such. so he’s around but only just enough with most of em. besides the gift shopping he doesn’t mind too much. unless people start asking about when he’s going to get married or have kids, though that starts to lessen significantly after he gets like. older than 35 and it still continues to. not happen every year.

cherry does not celebrate christmas but does ask him once if his family is christian after he tells her he’ll be gone for the holidays (and stops grinning about her relieved expression at that), to which he says that yes, technically, but the type that only goes to church on christmas. she asks if he ever started burning up when they went when he was a kid. and also occasionally when he says stuff like ‘good lord’ she tells him that he should stop because she feels like god is about to smite him for that. to both of those things he just answers that they’re both staunch agnostics. asks if she has taken her pills yet and she leaves the room. insufferable people having insufferable conversations ladeeda

anyways i hope. that wasn’t too? bad? lol? hope these facts were fun yay yippee 👍

the graph. when the slice of life characters lives get so detailed you make graphs amirite

[elacular-kink]

Hicvember 18: 2(+) cases at once

Not especially happy with this one. My brain wasn't really braining today. Which is a shame, because the idea of multiple simultaneous cases of the hiccups is just...yes. Very yes. Luckily, I'll get a do-over on day 27.

For now though, have Kiran and Olivia annihilating Susanna from space.

Content: Hiccups, embarrassment, arousal

With Olivia regularly sitting next to me in the lecture we shared, I'd started noticing just how frequently she would catch the hiccups. I'd also noticed just how good she was at hiding them. If I hadn't learned about how important they were to Susanna, I think that most of the time I wouldn't even realize she had them. Even with cases that she later told me were in the upper half of her numbered scale, she was able to swallow them down to near silence, though that always made her body jolt violently.

...I was also lucky that Olivia was apparently used to being stared at while hiccuping, because knowing about Susanna's fetish had me doing a lot of examination, watching how her belly popped out, how her chest jolted back, and how her whole body would lurch sometimes.

Even though she'd told me it was alright for me to look, I still felt a shock of anxiety when her pencil tapped my fingers, and she showed me some writing in the margin of her notes: "You're more distracted than usual. You actually stopped writing."

Ah. That was...that wasn't good practice. I started taking notes again, hoping that Olivia might let me borrow hers to fill in what I'd missed. Once I felt like I'd gotten a good base to write about what the professor was saying now, I wrote in my margins back to her. "Thank you, Olivia."

She shrugged her shoulders, which then bounced again with a hiccup. "Why were you distracted though? You don't have to worry about me right now, this is, like, a three."

Once I'd finished another sentence I wrote back. "It's" I stopped after just one word, feeling my face redden, but I knew that Olivia would prefer that I be honest with her in just about all matters. "I have some thoughts concerning your hiccups and Susanna that we can get into after class."

"Sex thoughts?"

I just barely avoided squealing as I scribbled out the word "sex" on her notes. She shook with a few chuckles in between her hiccups. "YES, BUT DETAILS TO FOLLOW LATER!" That apparently worked for her, because she flashed me a thumbs up and went back to focusing on the lecture, which I did my best to do as well.

After class, Olivia took my hand and led me to a rather unremarkable patch of grass in the middle of the campus. "Oka–*uck*–ay, nobody's around. *hmk* What are your tho–*ok*–oughts?"

"Well, I..." It was strange how embarrassing it still was to talk about this, even with someone I knew would both understand and be understanding. "I woke up this morning feeling...um, multiple things. And one of those things was, um...hiccupy? A-as if I'm likely to catch a case. And I know that I can fairly reliably, um, induce hiccups in myself and—"

"Oh, you wan–*hnk*–wanna annihilate Su---sanna from space, huh?" I looked down at her and she shrugged. "That's one of th–*uck* the ways she ta–*hulk* talks about being turned on. *hmk*. I don't g---get it." I didn't get it either, but I understood enough to nod. Olivia hummed through a few hiccups before she nodded. "Yeah. I've got t---time. And anni---hillating her from space i–*ic*–is fun. You'll like it. *hmk*. Want me to te–*ulk* tell you how to do it r---really well?" I nodded rapidly again, and when I looked at her face, I saw what I'd learned to recognize as her genuine smile. "Awesome. *hmk* You'll learn quick."

I did learn quickly from Olivia's explanations, and a little planning and a few scary youtube videos later, I was in my own house, hiccuping away, a hand resting on my chest and Olivia sending me a secret phone call. "Susann–*uck*," I couldn't tell from the noises of skin and fabric exactly what was happening, but if I had to guess from their usual interactions, Olivia had likely just draped herself over Susanna's shoulders, resting her chin on her head.

"Olivia." Now that I'd learned to recognize it, even now that she'd been around it for so long, whenever Olivia (or anyone else) was hiccuping, I could hear the very slight tension in Susanna's voice. There were some more noises of movement. "Okay, we're, uh, going this way now I guess."

"Kiran se---seemed tired in the le–*ic* lecture today. You always che–*HEEK*–mmf, cheer her up."

"Ah. Not sure why. I'm not exactly a ray of sunsh—OW! What the fuck, no biting!" There was the brief sounds of a scuffle, and I couldn't help but laugh. Happily, that seemed to make my hiccups even worse.

For the brief rest of the call, Olivia and Susanna discussed banal topics, and it seemed like the latter didn't have any suspicions. I couldn't help bouncing on my toes when I knew they were nearing my house, and when they knocked on the door, I probably opened it suspiciously quickly, but at this point, I didn't care. "Hello Su–*HOOP!*" My face was so red, but hers was far redder, and I could see Olivia grinning from where she rested her chin on Susanna's head. "S-Susanna. Exc–*HIUK* Excuse me. I, um...*HMK*" I realized that I was smiling, but what else could I do as I looked back down at her? "Y-you've cau–*UCK*–aught me with a bi–*HIP* bit of a case o–*HUP* of the hiccups. *HIC-ULP!* Mmf!"

Susanna looked like she intended to say something, her jaw opening and closing, but before she could, I yelped when Olivia shoved her into me before wrapping her arms around us both and pushing us back into the house, shutting the door afterward. She didn't let go when she was done, so Susanna was squished between us tightly enough that I worried a bit about her ability to breathe. But even with the medium of an adorable woman between us, I could still feel every jolt of Olivia's stomach, and I was sure she could feel how every one of my hiccups wobbled me. "Oh look, *hmk*, Kiran's got th---the hiccups too. *hmk* How about that?"

Susanna wrestled herself free enough of us to at least have her head fully unblocked, though Olivia kept her hold on both of us, and I wasn't particularly helpful in letting her escape. "Yoooouuuu are so fucking evil." I couldn't help but giggle at how her voice buzzed with tension as she said that.

"Careful, you're ma–*uck* making Kiran laugh. I thi–*hnk* think that might ma–*hup* make her hiccups wo–*urk*–orse."

"Sh–*HIUK* she's not *HIP* wrong," I felt how flushed my face was and finally started actually helping, wrapping my arms around Susanna too to keep her even more trapped. "Whenever I *HEEK*–nnf! St-start to hi–*IC-CUP* l-like this *IC!*" I couldn't stop myself from giggling at having hiccuped through the word itself. "L-laughing se–*HEEK* seems like it ma–*IC* makes them wo–*HIURK*–orse."

"I swear you di–*ic* didn't have these wh---when we left the le–*hic* lecture hall *hmk*." Olivia tilted her head, her voice taking on a faux tone of confusion. "But he–*URK* here you are now, *hmk* all bouncy and *hmk* hiccupy like me."

Olivia opened an opportunity for one of the teases she'd shared with me, and I couldn't stop smiling as I took it. "M-mayb–*EEK* Maybe some of *HMK* your hiccups spi–*HIC*–spilled out of *HIUP* you and int–*HOOP* into me!" I felt more than heard Susanna moan against us, and my heart beat faster as I wondered what exactly she could feel pressed so close against my body like this.

"Oh shit," Olivia leaned down and rested her head on Susanna's again. "Better *hmk* be careful, Susanna. *hmk-lp* or both our c---cases might end u–*hup* spilling into you."

The sound that came out of Susanna at that made my whole body light on fire, and I loved feeling how that fire enveloped Susanna with each of either of our spasms. Olivia's hiccups might not have spilled over into me, but some of Susanna's fetish had, and getting to turn her on like this...

I never thought I'd be so happy about my crush liking other people. But "annihilating her from space" as a team was just perfect.

[radical-aurin-care]

How would you describe the middle class and how would you identify someone belonging to that demographic liek what are some tell tale signs besides being pretty and white with nice teeth and patagonia jackets and $7 chai lattes?

I might not be the best at defining the middle class, but for the purposes of this blog, this is roughly what I mean:

middle class is a loose group of people who don't necessarily think of themselves as having much in common with each other, plus they like to either deny their privilege and/or aspire to higher status, depending on what benefits them most in each situation.

they are of course first and foremost an economic class, but that doesn't mean that they all have a specific amount of money, possessions (like houses or cars (and definitely not superficial stuff like brands and coffees)) or income. there is some sandwich discourse here where the more factors are met, the more likely someone is considered to be middle class and act like it and be treated like it and function like it in the broader systems of power, hierarchies and oppression. Just like two slices of white bread with pb and j are more likely to be considered a sandwich than a burrito.

middle class, as the name implies, is somewhere between lower/working class and upper/ruling class. often they see themselves as "the backbone of society", as the norm/normal, as the "everyday person". they also derive quite a lot of entitlement from this view.

typical "ingredients" of the middle class sandwich are: being an employee, middle management, small/medium business owner, doing desk/office jobs that still make enough money to not have to worry where food and shelter will come from. being suitably educated and knowing how to talk, dress, behave "politely", expecting it from others.

you can see, there are lots of exceptions and edge cases already. middle class is also a very wide range, from people who do struggle financially or are actually poor for a while, to people who are rich and go to elite schools but still aren't ruling class.

and of course there are other axes of marginalisation or privilege. so, no, not all middle class people are white and the assumption that BIPOC can't be middle class is racist. that's why I often specify "white middle class" when talking about that particular (racist) mindest that we white middle class (or ex middle class) ppl have as part of our background noise. being marginalised in some way or in several ways does not mean someone's middle class privilege is irrelevant.

having a particular political opinion, like being anticapitalist or anarchist, also doesn't erase middle class privilege.

I do want to talk about middle class culture though. I feel like that's often overlooked while at the same time being at the root of a lot of problems. it starts with a mindset that puts following rules and often unspoken rules, especially rules about social hierarchies, above pretty much everything. to a truly ridiculous and illogical degree.

it's a particular set of values, that comes through in how they talk and act and in pretty much everything they do, especially in how normalised and entrenched discrimination is. discrimination really is a core part of it.

middle class culture is berating a two or three year old for asking for food when they're hungry because they didn't say "please and thank you".

it is dismissing a Black person's right to live in peace and free from attacks, because they got angry or were using "bad" (ie Black) language when under attack.

it is getting offended at people wanting to be seen as and connect to you as a living human being instead of as the subservient kind of being their lower status marks them as.

it is holding form over substance. like when it is acceptable to say the most vile racist or otherwise inhumane shit in polite language and a calm tone but absolutely scandalous to argue back against that in "improper" ways.

it is denying someone basic human decency, looking down on them and mistreating them (usually in superficially nonviolent ways or by having someone else do the physical violence like cops) and subconsciously seeing them as less than human, or not seeing them at all, acting like they don't exist, for being lower on the social hierarchy.

this is very context dependent. it hits other middle class people in some contexts, often hits working class people and lumps entire groups of people together as below the threshold of consideration. those outside of society or below working class, sometimes called the lumpen proletariat (including sans papiers, beggars, sex workers, homeless ppl, drug dealers and certain users, thieves and others doing illegalised work or coping strategies or activism (unless it's white collar crime)).

it is having immense double standards without a shred of self awareness.

it is practically worshipping hypocrisy and insincerity. that's what all the double standards and respectability bullshit boils down to. you can't mean what you say and can't say what you mean, that would be rude and uncultured, childish, threatening, embarrassing, confusing, stupid, uncivilised etc etc etc.

honesty is, in effect, a hindrance to being heard, accepted, supported our even allowed to exist in that culture.

just imagine going up to your middle manager and showing them what you really think and feel. or teacher. or your bigoted or just plain annoying relatives. or anyone middle class when you are trying to be accepted by them or are even dependent on them.

and by showing how you think and feel, I don't just mean talk calmly. that can already be dangerous. but expressing feelings includes things like crying, shouting, having trouble speaking up, being choked up, struggling for words, rambling, laughing shrilly or raucously, stimming, putting on a hood and earphones, running and jumping and fidgeting, sitting down on the pavement, dissociating, refusing to talk, refusing to listen, refusing to shut up, demanding answers, refusing to apologise when you don't think you should have to, demanding action.

demanding action, or just acting for yourself, is I guess the main thing that all this hypocrisy is meant to stop.

you're not meant to change the status quo. you're not meant to just do what's right and reasonable and just and necessary. because that would dismantle class. it would dismantle injustice and inequality. it would mean actually redistributing wealth and things and houses and land back to those it belongs to (actually belongs to, NOT legally!) or who actually need it. it would mean holding white collar monsters accountable.

it would mean protecting Black and all BIPOC people and disabled and crazy and queer people and women and children and fat people and all other oppressed people from harm, including economic exploitation, being unhoused, displaced, locked up, starved and denied their needs. or being molded, pressured, manipulated, forced into narrow acceptable boxes of how to be and how to look and act.

I could go on, but this is already long. I think one thing that I almost forgot as a now lumpen person who was never close to the upper class is the relation middle class has to the upper classes. there is envy but also mockery and disgust. the essence of middle class is to be subservient to the upper classes and being simultaneously drawn to them, wanting to be them or like them, but also knowing one's place and rejecting the idea of being like them.

we're not decadent and frivolous like them rich people! we hate billionaires! but we also love celebrities and in some places literal nobles and monarchs.

to your last point, no, I would not try to identify someone as belonging to the middle class or look for tell tale signs. what would be the point of that?

it's a CLASS. which means it's not about individuals having or buying certan things.

I don't judge people based on stuff they have little control over or on irrelevant things. I judge people based on the impact their actions and words have in context. and yeah sometimes I get super frustrated with middle class bullshit!!!

not because of white teeth or expensive beverages, but because of patterns of harm, discrimination and oppression that middle class people are part of and further and do and support to exist into the future (perpetuate).