#I know why birth certificates are necessary

[tlbodine]

So, Things Are Terrible and You Want to DO SOMETHING

The election is over and, ah...did not go well. While a lot of folks are doing a post mortem of the campaigns and trying to understand what happened with the vote and fighting over who shoulders the blame, we've gotta turn an eye toward the future and figure out, okay fam, where the fuck do we go from here.

I don't have all the answers on this, and I'm not an authority by any means, I'm just a horror author with a blog. But I've been thinking a lot about it and I wanted to share my thought process with others who might want to DO SOMETHING but feel they're spinning their wheels.

Buckle in. This will be a long one.

Step One: Understand the actual risks and stakes.

I think it is very easy to start panicking now about the worst possible case scenario -- jackbooted military busting into the door to disappear everyone who ever said something mean about Trump or bought a banned book or something -- and let fear turn into inaction.

I'm not saying things can't get that bad, and I'm not saying that it won't be absolutely terrifying right out the gate for some particularly at-risk groups -- but the distance between "now" and "V for Vendetta" is long and filled with a lot of intermediary steps. There will be so many opportunities to prevent the worst case scenario.

I say this because, if your mental image of "Bad Things Happening" is The Purge, it will be easy to wake up on inauguration day, look outside to see that the world is not on fire, think, hey, maybe things will be okay after all, and then completely disengage. Alternatively, you might feel so frozen with terror at the possibility of persecution that you do nothing. This is why people are saying: don't obey in advance.

It is essential for those of us with more privilege to use it to take care of those who are more vulnerable.

So. Who is most vulnerable? What does that vulnerability actually mean? What are the most likely risks of Trump's presidency? Here's a Guardian article that I think does a good job of summarizing some of the main issues. Go read that, then come back here.

Step Two: Take steps to protect yourself

You've gotta put your oxygen mask on first, right? So before you start getting involved in other causes, figure out what risks YOU are at, immediately, and do as much as you can to secure yourself. Some potential action steps depending on your circumstance may include:

Renewing your passport (helpful for leaving the country, but also for gender/name change purposes)

Getting vaccines / boosters

Securing birth control

Ensuring your necessary papers (birth certificates etc.) are where you have access to them.

Drawing up legal paperwork for spouses/partners (always a good idea, a helpful safety measure in case you lose marriage rights)

Bolstering your data privacy and online security. Here's a step-by-step guide I found that could help with that.

The specific steps you need to take here depend on what risks you, personally, face. You'll want to do some more research into this for your particular scenario.

No matter who you are, though, it's probably a good idea to start saving money and being a little more conservative with your spending and/or pay down debts to free up some cash. You don't know what kind of emergency may befall you, and having spare money for an emergency is never a bad idea.

There is a possibility that the cost of many things you rely on might go up, if Trump goes through with his tariffs plan. You will want to plan for that.

Food costs may also rise due to tariffs (we import a lot of food from Mexico and Latin America for example) as well as a loss of immigrant labor. There is also a possibility that food safety standards could fall due to overturning regulations. Now would be a good time to look into local food resources like farm share/CSA, community farms, etc., and to stock up on a few key staples like rice and beans.

Okay. Now that YOU are reasonably safe...what can you do to protect your community?

Step Three: Get Involved

Here is your mission: You need to stay engaged enough to know what's going on, without burning yourself out or exhausting yourself, and to take actual decisive actions instead of wasting your energy arguing on the internet.

Got that? Okay. Good. Here are some action steps:

Support independent journalism. Subscribe to local papers, donate to and watch public broadcast programming. I signed up for news from ProPublica, for example, as well as the news-roundup service What The Fuck Just Happened Today. The goal is to stay informed without falling down an endless rabbit hole of upsetting information.

Share news and resources with others in your circle. This can be a good use of social media. It's what I am doing right now!

If it is safe for you to do so, challenge and educate your friends/family members/neighbors/coworkers. Only if it is safe for you to do so. Do not put yourself at risk doing this. And do not waste your time arguing with people who are unlikely to change. But if you have well-meaning people in your life who you think could be won over, look for opportunities to do this - the right way. I've had some success with this, I will probably write a guide about it in the future. In the meantime, here's a good article that can help.

Join local grassroots activism groups. You'll have to do some work to decide what groups to join and which causes you want to support, because you cannot do everything. But there are tons of organizations taking direct action in all kinds of causes. Search "grassroots [cause] activists in [where you live]" to start finding things. Once you get involved in one group, you might meet people who can introduce you to other groups and causes. Yes, this means you will have to go outside and meet people. I'm sorry.

Join direct action groups. Same concept as above. You'll have to search in your area but once you know people it'll be easier to find more opportunities. Some of these groups may overlap. You might find direct action opportunities by engaging politically and vice versa. GO OUTSIDE AND TALK TO PEOPLE WHO ARE DOING THINGS TO HELP.

Get involved in local politics. Here are some quick tips. A lot of things are affected at the city level - stuff like book bans and bathroom bills are often battled first at local libraries and schools, and you can be part of those conversations! Sheriffs are elected and can have a big influence on local policing. Local elections affect how tax dollars are spent, how homeless populations are treated, and lots more. Don't snooze on local elections. Get involved and stay involved.

Look up your representatives. Get in the habit of calling, emailing, and writing letters. Figure out what legislature is being passed and then call your reps and harangue them about it - both to support bills you approve of and shoot down ones you don't. Sign petitions. Join email campaigns. Here's one you can go sign right now from the ACLU. See? Not that scary.

I think a lot of people figure that getting involved in politics doesn't matter or that it's all small potatoes but...man. The president is not god, no matter what he thinks. The sitting administration is not the sole power in the universe. There is an entire machine of government we can lean upon and act upon.

Finally, some general safety notes:

Some forms of direct action are not legal. Take steps to be safe if you choose to partake. Follow the lead of more seasoned activists for what forms of communication to use and so forth.

If you're not willing or able to put yourself at legal risk to act, you can help others by donating to bail funds and legal defense funds.

We've already seen this in some areas, and it will only get uglier - some bad actors are feeling emboldened by the change in regime and will misbehave. It's a good idea to learn some self-defense skills, in whatever way is comfortable to you, and brush up on some tenets of victimology that can help you stay safe. I'll write more about that in the future.

All right. That's all for now. It's by no means comprehensive...but should hopefully help you get started taking the next step. Stay safe out there.

[thelibrarian1895]

Bat bio donors

So Catherine Todd, unfortunately, wasn't Jason's bio mom, even if she was his mom in every other way that matters. Embezzler, child trafficker, and Joker associate Shelia Haywood was his biological mother...probably.

There was no DNA test so I remain unconvinced.

That being said, I see no acceptable evidence that Willis Todd was Jason's bio father. (And if there is, shhh, don't care)

Yes Bruce could be his bio dad but boring, be more creative!

For example, someone else who's based in Gotham, who might have a fling and not follow up on it for very whatever reason, and who might be the namesake of our favorite gun wielding bat: Jason Bood. Yes Shelia, if she is the mother, may have put Willis on the birth certificate, but there's nothing to say that she didn't have an evening with a man with a charming accent, considerable experience, and a rather two faced nature.

Or perhaps someone who is a tiny bit less volatile such as David Cain.

Or honestly there's enough weirdness in Gotham that Jason's other bio donor was Nocturna, the woman who would later want to adopt him while he was Robin and she was, in fact, though she didn't know it, trying to get her own bio child.

Furthermore, Bruce as Tim Drake's bio donor, yes, good, understandable, likely even.

However, there are other options, for example:

Janet spends a great deal of time going around the world and with various artifacts, some of these artifacts could be magical in nature. That magic may have various effects on the average person and one of the more popular things that people in ancient times sought revolved around fertility control, to improve or prevent. Janet might trip over more than a few artifacts designed to improve fertility, let's say even to the point that some who might not normally be able to sire children might in fact be capable of doing so with Janet while she's still under the influence of such magic, such as:

Lady Shiva who admires Janet's ability to handle both a growing business and her academic pursuits.

Ra's Al Ghul who came by for an artifact and had a fling with the lady who found it mostly because why not? Yes if Tim ever found out, or Ra's ever found out, it would result in considerable mental distress, but it could also be hilarious. Flip a coin to decide if this would make Talia want Tim dead more or less than she already does.

Some ancient god who's essentially mortal at this point and has been clinging to existence by the thinnest thread and really the only reason their name is known at this point is because it was in a letter about very bad copper. Tim receives no benefits from this parent except above average endurance and healing which is how he's survived. He's also as stubborn as the nameless god that's hung on for four thousand or so years.

Gotham itself is Tim's bio donor and this is why tiny baby stalker Tim didn't die a thousand times over while he was taking pictures, Gotham was looking out for their son.

Then there's Cassandra, "one who is all" who may or may not be Shiva's daughter.

Honestly for Shiva and for Talia, given the danger they put themselves in and the stress that pregnancy can do to a body, plus the necessary time to heal properly afterwards, the canon where Damian is grown in a tube makes sense and I wouldn't be surprised if Shiva took a page from Talia's book.

Shiva as the mother of "one who is all" can make sense. The other bio donor, well, let's look at other options.

Slade perhaps? He's had quite a few remarkable children, and can handle none of them, but that wouldn't stop him from being a candidate.

If you're a fan of wuxia or xianxia novels, look for or make up some ancient cultivator that Shiva sought out for training perhaps and on that strength Cassandra can pick up cultivation and become that much more awesome, maybe even teach it to her brothers.

Sect Leader Cass o((>ω< ))o

Or someone can be related to or connected to a Lamont Crantson and see if they can step out of his Shadow.

Dick's bio parents were freakin' awesome so jumping over him and also leaving Duke's parentage alone though more distant ancestors for either of them, such as great-great grandmothers or grandfathers might be interesting. Dick has a Talon in the family tree but who else might be hanging around in there?

For example, Santa is real in the dc universe. Tim and his team could have witnessed the death of Dick's maternal great-great-great-great grandpa.

As for Duke, if his family has been in Gotham for longer than a generation, there've got to be some serious weirdos in his bloodline, maybe a lesser known Talon or Queen Mab.

Damian not being the son of Bruce and Talia would be a serious blow to the kid and not worth it. Giving him blood siblings is more fun. He already has a problem learning to share his dad with his adopted siblings, sharing with blood siblings would be good for him.

Stephanie? An additional dad option would probably give her some sort of mental crisis since she originally based her vigilante career on defeating her deadbeat, second rate rogue father. It would be interesting and honestly a little hilarious though if her mother had a fling with Oliver Queen.

[sparrow-mask22]

Plot Idea for Red, White and Royal Blue movie sequel

(Not the real plot of the sequel, just for fun)

Starting off with the MANDATORY FirstPrince engagement because IF THEY DO NOT GET (at the least) ENGAGED IN PART TWO I WILL BE IRATE!!!

So Alex and Henry are engaged and everybody is going Gaga because International It Couple is engaged but then…

Philip and Martha DIE and Henry is now the heir (sorry if it sounds to violent but we need some Drama)

So all hell breaks lose and the homophobic Archbishop of Canterbury (also because of neccessary drama) refuses to accept the union falling it UNHOLY and inappropriate for a future monarch…and maybe Renee Rapp as a foreign princess trying to ruin the relationship

so something happened that requires Alex and Henry to search through Ellen’s attic for answers to the loophole (why they’re doing this in Ellen’s attic and not Catherine’s I have no idea but it’s necessary to the plot so please bare with me)

Henry finds an old baby box in the attic and assumes it’s Alex’s before seeing a few baby shower cards saying "It’s a Girl!" Alex sees the cards and the birth certificate with a birthdate dating back to when Ellen would’ve been 17-18 and sees the name that all of you probably all know but I’m gonna say anyway

Catalina June Claremont-Diaz (played by Emilia Attias)

So firstprince goes to confront Ellen and Oscar who reveal they gave June up when she was born because they were so young and couldn’t take care of her, and that she was adopted by a man named Leo Castalazzi (played by Joe Managliello)

Firstprince goes to find June who had NO IDEA that she was adopted and is DEVASTATED when she finds out (because it would be natural for someone who didn’t know they were adopted until they were almost 30 to react like that)

June eventually overcomes her angst and gets officially recognized as FDOTUS (and also it gets implied that she and Nora (and maybe also Pez) will get together)

the conflict is solved and everyone is okay (except for Pip and Martha hehe)

AND IT DEFINITELY HAS TO END WITH FIRSTPRINCE ROYAL WEDDING (with Cakegate 2.0 but this time on purpose)

also a few necessary things are, the above shown raspberries on neck scene, and just firstprince being cute all together

In the wise words of Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson: "Your Welcome!"

[ficretus]

*during Volume 7*

Ruby: General Ironwood, me and my team have some... concerns about your leadership.

Ironwood: *with his back turned* What's an issue?

Weiss: Well first you closed Kingdom's borders.

Ironwood: Necessary precaution. We must impede infiltration of Salem's agents with any means necessary. When Salem sends her people, she is sending her best.

Yang: Then you called Mistral "a shithole Kingdom."

Ironwood: That is not language I usually use, but I stand by my stance about Mistral. I assure you, nobody knows more about Mistral than me.

Blake: Then you claimed Robyn Hill is Vacuan agent sent to undermine Atlas. And you keep demanding to see her birth certificate.

Ironwood: And I am yet to receive those papers.

Ruby: But most concerning is... that cap you are wearing.

Ironwood: What is wrong with my cap, am I not allowed to make rash fashion decisions?

Weiss: You really shouldn't make rash fashion decisions.

Ruby: General Ironwood... turn around.

*Ironwood turns around revealing MAHA cap*

Ruby: Make Atlas High Again?! This was never about saving Remnant, you just want to launch Atlas into stratosphere and leave the rest to die!

Yang: I knew we couldn't trust you!

Ironwood: Wait what? That would be crazy and unsustainable plan. No, my plan is far more reaching. *reaches for his pocket*

Blake: He might be pulling a weapon!

*RWBY reach for their weapons*

Ironwood: This is the key to MAHA plan.

Yang: That's a... blunt.

Ironwood: You see, after I lost my limbs I was prescribed medicinal marijuana for my phantom pain. It seemed silly initially, but then it awakened my Semblance, Woodstock. Every time I smoke weed it clears my mind and I get brilliant ideas.

Ruby: I'm confused.

Weiss: So every time you had a secret meeting with your inner circle... you were... you were... smoking weed?!

Ironwood: Yes. Your sister is way more pleasant and honest conversationalist when she is high.

Yang: Wait, how? I tried it while I was in Branwen bandit camp and it only made me more cranky.

Ironwood: You didn't try the good stuff. And this just confirms my stance on Mistral.

Blake: Nothing beats good catnip.

Ruby: Look, I am gonna ignore this whole post has been hijacked by weed jokes. What exactly is your plan General Ironwood?

Ironwood: Before Atlas gets high, it needs to get low. We are gonna land Atlas before using Relic of Creation. With it, we are gonna create a massive eternal blunt. Using the Winter Maiden power, Specialist Schnee will spread its fumes across the Remnant.

Weiss: How will that fix... ANYTHING!?

Ironwood: It will work as a double protection. Salem and her agents will be neutralized by relaxing effect of the blunt. Grimm are immune to it, but they'll have nothing to latch onto since everyone will be spreading positive vibes. It's a foolproof plan.

Yang: Have you lost your mind? That will never work!

Blake: Subjugation through hedonism. That's a gross violation of free will!

Weiss: I said no to drugs long ago! I am not gonna be defeated by glorified second hand smoke!

Ruby: I'm afraid we have to stop your plan General.

*RWBY pull out their weapons*

Ironwood: Stop me? Did you really think I would parade around with this cap and tell you about my plan if there was a chance of you affecting its outcome? I did it... 35 minutes ago.

*smoke enters the building*

*5 minutes later*

Yang: *giggling* You know what, I loooooooove you Blake!

Blake: Really, just like that?

Yang: Why not, did you expect me to confess while hanging over chasm or something.

*Bees kiss*

Weiss: *giggling* Great, I took one whiff of it and I immediately find myself in indecent company. Mom was so right about drugs.

Yang: Oh, it's gonna get even more indecent. Where is Ruby?

Weiss: She is zooming around the building. Do you think this plan actually worked?

*elsewhere*

Cinder: Maiden powers are so lame, it's the exact same power repeated four times. Such a dumb thing to obsess over. Screw it, I'm getting laid.

Emerald: Me, me, me.

Cinder: Someone loyal, bold, responsible...

Emerald: Me, me, me, me, me.

Cinder: Blond...

Emerald: Sigh, not even with weed.

Salem: I feel like everything I have done just keeps spreading... negative vibes.

Tyrian: Whatever you say my Goddess.

Salem: I am cancelling this whole end of the world thing and getting back with Ozma.

Tyrian: Aw...

[ordinaryschmuck]

Full Family AU Part 15

Camila sat at her computer, rocking back and forth in her rickity, swirly chair that's probably older than her at this point. She had her hands over her eyes, letting out a long dragged out groan, frustrated to no end by the torment that is doing her own research.

"Daddy's home!" Manny announced as he stepped into the computer room. "I brought home pizza and, good news, Vee loves it. I gave her one slice and she gobbled it down in seconds. Bad news, her puppy dog eyes are as irresistible as Luz's, so she had to have three slices. Hopefully that's fine."

Camila said nothing. She just grunted, not changing her position in the chair. She barely even acknowledged Manny putting a plate with her slice of pizza next to the computer.

"Take a break," he told her. "Your brain is fried, so enjoy some pepperoni, my Pepperoni."

Camila removed her hands from her face and gave Manny a quizzical look. "Your Pepperoni? What does that even mean?"

"...It means I was trying something."

Camila groaned some more as she took her pizza. "I've hit a wall, Manny. I've hit a major wall..."

"What are you even researching?"

"Well, after that...heartbreakingly tragic backstory Vee told us, we agreed, we have to let her stay here. Because, I mean, where else would she go, right?"

"Right, I know. I was there."

"Well, I figured that if she stayed with us, people would ask her who she was. I can't say Luz's cousin because what if family visit? What do I tell them? So the only logical thing I could think of is daughter."

"Makes sense."

"But..." Camila paused to take a bite of her pizza. "Mm, that is good. But I would have to prove she's our daughter. Because then people will ask, 'Why isn't she in school?' And I can't send her to school without papers or stuff like that. And I'm not her birth mom, so I don't have her birth certificate or whatever. So I thought, 'Oh, maybe we could adopt her.'"

"I mean, I'm not opposed to that," Manny said. "We always talked about having a second kid and Vee...needs a home."

"Of course she needs a home, I want to give her a home, but unfortunately I can't give her a home!" Camila takes a bigger, frustrated bite of this pizza. "MAN, this is good! Did you go far from town to get this?"

"There's actually a place by--Actually, let's circle back to that," Manny said with a shake to his head. "What do you mean we can't give her a home?"

"Because to adopt a child you need adoption papers," Camila explained, sounding exasperated between her bites of pizza. "And to get those, you need to go to the county clerk's office, petition for adoption, get that in the system, go to the judge, and let the judge approve your adoption and--GAH!"

She leans further back in her chair, munching the rest of her pizza.

"Can you get me another slice?" Camila asked Manny. "Mami needs more stress food..."

"I think Mami needs a breather," Manny suggested. He then went behind Camila and started giving her his signature shoulder rub, Camila responding with a light hum because of how nice it felt. "You're overworking your brain, trying to figure things out as soon as possible. We don't need an immediate solution. Just gotta take things step by step."

"I know," Camila sighed. "But you heard what Vee said. All those horrible things that happened to her. She needs us, Manny. She needs to...be apart of something that shows her what love really is. And I want to give that to her. But...all those fictional stories that just show a child that had no home to begin with being adopted into a family tends to leave out all the paperwork necessary to make that process legitimate."

"Of course," Manny said. "All that stuff is boring."

"Manny..." Camila whined.

"But we'll get through it. Focus on stuff we can solve right now instead of things that we'll have to consider in the future."

"Of course we'll have to consider that future stuff. We can't just ignore the other steps."

"I'm not saying we ignore the rest. Just...look at what we have to do and focus on what we can do right now."

Camila hummed in thought. "I guess...I guess one thing we can do is make sure Vee can change into other outfits. That sundress is adorable, but she can't just wear the same thing everyday. This isn't a cartoon."

"And we can easily figure something out." Manny gave the top of Camila's head a kiss. "Until then, how about I get you that second slice of pizza."

"That'd be nice...Where'd you leave the rest?"

"On the kitchen table."

"You...didn't make it easy for the other kids to get to, did you? Especially the one kid who apparently loves pizza."

Manny was silent. Loudly silent. Next thing Camila knew he ran out of the room, quick as a flash.

"That's a no." She chuckled, shutting off the computer for now.

That's enough research for tonight.

[gabessquishytum]

Hob meets a pregnant Dream as he's delivering for his own local (but) fancy and low-staffed meal delivery service.

Dream needs help getting the proper nutrients and nutrition while pregnant, so he (was forced) along with his sisters to taste all food delivery services that delivered to his apartment and Hob's service was the only one with food he could stomach, let alone actively liked.

Hob doesn’t normally deliver his meals, but Matthew was sick and self-employed business owners do what's necessary. Dream answered the door, and Hob was smitten instantly by the beautiful grumpy pregnant person at the door. Then he turned around asking if Hob could maybe help him out by putting the food away in the kitchen. Hob may have been a little ass-matized --- staring (perving) on this gorgeous person's ass --- saying of course.

Thank goodness Dream's delivery was Hob's last one, because he doesn’t leave for a few hours. Not in a dirty way,,,, yet!

Hob is a reformed slut, and he might want to keep this man and baby, so he has to be chill...offering to cook for him in person-fresh (daily) a few times a week, is just being helpful. (Shut up!)

AHHH I love this concept!!!

Hob is reasonably good at catering to the needs of pregnant people - he had younger siblings, he's had pregnant friends. So it's pretty easy for him to get into Dream’s good books by offering essential services such as: 3am ice cream delivery, lower back massage, shaving Dream’s legs for him, talking to him during the night when he can't sleep, cuddles after hormonal outbursts. Dream is just wondering where this angel came from and why he's here in Dream’s apartment making salt caramel cookies and holding Dream’s bump for him for minutes at a time.

Dream entire family are also like how??? have you managed to get this reasonably normal man to be your slave??? They don't know that Hob is having the best time gently perving on Dream’s perfect figure. Plus who doesn't enjoy cuddles and midnight snacks? Hob is having a great time.

They don't even fuck until Dream is way over 6 months gone and just super uncomfortable yet vaguely horny 24/7. It makes perfect sense to ask Hob for help. Turns out he was a magic cock that makes Dream wish he hadn't waited so long to jump his bones - he should have bent over the counter that first day when Hob came with the food delivery, it would have made so much more sense!

...just like it makes perfect sense to put Hob’s name on the birth certificate when Dream eventually pops out the kid. He figures Hob has earned to right (especially since Dream broke his hand squeezing so hard during labour).

Hob didn't think that being helpful would make him a dad, but you won't hear him complaining. He can't wait to take care of Dream’s sexy little butt forever <3

[di-daynamic]

@fluffbruary Day 9

Harry was home.

Lightheaded relief filled her entirely, and even her son seemed to settle against her stomach. She laid a hand on it, trying to breathe through the sheer joy of having her husband back home safe. She knew he had to do it, she loved him for it, and she supported him through it, but it was still a nightmare every time he left for more than three days, especially when he couldn’t communicate.

Harry came to the couch, pale as a ghost, the lost expression he always had after a particularly bad mission fading away as he caught sight of her. Ginny beckoned him over imperiously.

“Dada!” Jamie cried, waving his fat little fists around. Harry picked him up and spun him around, his entire face softening.

“Hey, my baby,” Harry said, pressing a kiss to his hair. “Were you good for Mummy and Aunt Luna?”

“No, he wasn’t,” Teddy called from beside the fireplace, not taking his eyes off his book. The eight-year-old grinned anyway. “He screamed the roof off at bath time.”

“And I suppose you were a lot better?” Harry asked, sounding amused, an eyebrow raised skeptically.

“I was!” Teddy nodded enthusiastically.

“Uh huh. How about you tell me what you did?”

Jamie and Teddy gabbled on cheerfully, Harry nodding solemnly as though he could understand every single word. Ginny smiled at the sight, feeling tears sting at her eyes.

Oh no. She hated pregnancy hormones.

Harry set Jamie next to Teddy, who instantly abandoned his book in favour of entertaining his little brother. Jamie laughed gleefully when Ted tickled him.

Ginny raised her arms tiredly when Harry came over to her, and they kissed languidly, for once not being interrupted by children or her annoying brothers (though she often thought and said those were one and the same).

“And how is my amazing daughter?” Harry asked, hand coming up to caress her belly.

Ginny rolled her eyes. “I’ve told you, Potter, he’s a boy.”

“Yes!” Teddy called. “I want another godbrother!”

Harry had that exasperated, withering look which struck fear in the hearts of criminals and made his family laugh at the snark to follow. “What, so you have someone else to blame for stealing cookies from the jar when you do it?”

“He could just as easily blame Surtiyem for it even if they were a girl,” Ginny said amusedly as Teddy’s hair turned pink in confession.

Harry rolled his eyes. “Okay, whichever gender the baby is, we’re not going to name them Surtiyem.”

Ginny smirked. They both knew she had no intention of actually using that name. “And how are you going to stop me? I’ll have the name on the birth certificate before you know it.”

“As I recall, you were high on pain potions when Jamie was born.” He grinned. “No way you’d be able to write something legible.”

She huffed. “It’d be more legible than your chicken scratch—”

“Mama!” Jamie called, and both adults’ attention immediately went to the children. “Eddy!”

“He wants my book,” Teddy grumbled. “But what if he tears it? What if he—” He caught himself. “It’s mine.” He insisted fiercely.

Ginny caught Harry’s eye. The book had been found by Harry in Remus’ cottage, which had been left to him in the will. It was a children’s story book, and Teddy had been fascinated with it ever since learning whom it had belonged to. She certainly couldn’t fault him for it. But how was she to explain that to a barely three-year-old?

Harry went over and crouched in front of the boys. “Jamie, would you like it if Teddy suddenly just wanted one of your toys?”

Jamie shook his head stubbornly.

“Then can you understand why Ted doesn’t want you to touch his book?”

There was a pause, and the infant reluctantly nodded.

“Good boy.” Harry ruffled his hair. “But Teddy, you can hold it and still let Jamie see, yes? It’s yours, and so you don’t have to agree, but sharing things with your brother—”

“Is necessary,” Teddy completed resignedly. “’Kay, Harry.”

He reluctantly showed Jamie the pictures, and when he cooed over them excitedly, Teddy began to warm up to the idea of showing James the book. Harry stayed for a couple of minutes, watching carefully for any trouble, eyes full of affection, before pressing kisses to both of their heads and coming back to Ginny.

“Well well, Mr Potter,” She murmured. “You as a dad is hot.”

Harry grinned. “Thanks, Mrs Potter.” He frowned suddenly. “I heard something like that in the office. DIFF, or something?”

Ginny pressed her lips together in an attempt to stifle her laughter. “DILF, you mean?”

“Yeah!” He said proudly. “What does that mean?”

Leaning over, she whispered the full-form in his ear, careful to make sure the kids weren’t eavesdropping. Teddy had developed quite the vocabulary of swear words from the lot of them, and Jamie worshipped the ground he walked on and would definitely copy.

“What?!” He exclaimed. Ginny completely lost control, subsiding into giggles. “Who – I – in the office—” He looked flustered.

“You know, it’s sad that you still think you’re not the most desirable person alive—” she said conversationally. “You’d think after winning Witch Weekly’s Sexiest Wizard and Winner of ‘Wish He Wasn’t Married’ twice in a row you’d know that—”

“Hey, I had Undesirable Number One plastered across my face everywhere for a year, that takes its toll,” Harry said indignantly. “I found one of those old posters in Gawain’s office recently, hilariously enough. It brings up memories!”

She clicked her tongue. “Stop making excuses, Potter. You just keep making them one after the other—”

He laughed throatily, pressing his forehead to hers. “Well, I’ve always been a one-woman man, Weasley. Reason enough?”

“Just another excuse.” But she couldn’t help smiling, and she leaned up with difficulty to kiss him.

“Is this one of the things where Uncle Ron pretends to gag and vomit when he sees you?” Teddy asked interestedly.

They broke apart, smiling wryly. It was very hard to get a good romantic moment with kids needing attention every other minute.

“Something like that, Ted,” he said.

“Unca Ron?” Jamie asked, looking excitedly around for his godfather.

“Jamie,” Ginny said solemnly. “Promise me you’ll never listen to stuff Uncle Ron says and betray me like Teddy did.”

Jamie looked confused. Teddy crossed his arms and pouted. “Not a ‘trayal!” He insisted. “Harry said it was sorta right! The real betrayal would’ve been wearing Cannon orange instead of Holly green,” he said, pointing at his dark green hair, pleased.

“Oh yeah. You ever do that, you’re disowned, Teddy Bear.” Ginny said gravely.

Teddy looked supremely unconcerned. “You might, but Granma won’t.”

“Besides, that’s your hair colour, Gin,” Harry pointed out idly, his arm around her waist. “Would you say having ginger hair is a betrayal? Now,” his voice dropped very low. “What we did in your locker room last year on the other hand. . .”

“Harry James Potter!” Ginny shrieked, trying to hide her laughter. She remembered the locker room fiasco. Her teammates were a bunch of voyeurs.

James looked up inquiringly. “Not you, Jamie. Your dad’s just being an idiot.” Ginny told him.

“And you’re both being disgusting,” Teddy said, in an amazing reproduction of Percy’s loftiest tone.

Ginny could pick out in Teddy so many tiny bits of the people she loved: there was the way he laughed, tilted his head when he thought and sat, exactly the way Remus had; seeing the way he scrunched his nose up was like seeing Tonks again; his questioning eyebrow raise, the covering of a smile as though it weren’t allowed and scornful look were exact copies of Harry; and the way he furrowed his eyebrows together when he read was all Hermione.

Even in physical appearance. Whatever colour his hair might be, it was always the wild Potter hair. His eyes were perpetually the same shade as Harry’s. His nose was long and freckled like Ron’s. His aristocratic Black jawline was identical to Tonks’, Andromeda’s and Sirius’. His giant ears were ditto to George’s. The thing was that Ginny didn’t think any of those were on purpose. There wasn’t much study about metamorphmagi, but she thought they subconsciously based looks (other than eyes and hair which were obvious) on the people they looked up to. And Ginny found it both happy and indescribably sad that his looks were such an amalgamation of different people rather than majorly Tonks and Remus, the way it should have been.

Still. She had learned since the war to take the small joys where they came, even if it was with bittersweet sadness.

Harry checked the old grandfather clock across the hall. “Sure thing, big guy. Bedtime’s soon. Go get your overnight bag from Andromeda’s.”

“Bedtime?” Jamie asked in a whimper, sounding like all the horrors of the world were contained in that single word. “No! Wanna stay.”

Ginny kissed Harry’s cheek and went and scooped her son up in her arms. “Sorry, kiddos. When we say it’s bedtime, it’s bedtime.”

“We’re the bosses,” Harry added, throwing his legs up on the couch.

“TYRANNY!” Teddy howled like it was a deeply moving war cry.

“Are you and Hermione doing that advanced reading thing again?” Harry said, sounding exasperated. “Didn’t we decide to pause on that?”

“But the school story books are booooring,” Teddy whined.

“And I’ve told you, once you get your science grade up to the mark, we’ll reconsider the—”

“Harry,” Ginny interrupted, Jamie yawning in her arms. “Maybe tomorrow?” She nudged her head toward the calendar and saw realization flit across her husband’s face. It was the full moon. Effects on Teddy varied from moon to moon, but he always became easily irritable and incredibly tired. It wasn’t a good day for this confrontation, though she certainly agreed Teddy couldn’t be allowed to skip ahead in one subject while ignoring all the others.

“Good idea,” Harry let the topic go, instead jabbing his wand at the fireplace to make the flames go higher and crouching next to Teddy. “Hey, how about we cuddle on the couch and you read to me until you fall asleep? We can continue the discussion tomorrow.”

“I’m a big boy, I don’t cuddle,” Teddy insisted, though he clearly wanted to. Ginny watched, smiling.

“But I need it. Mission was hard, Ted,” he said, and though it was playful, she saw genuine exhaustion on his face. She made a note to coax a rant out of him later. That always made him feel better.

Teddy stared up at him with wide eyes. “Okay. You got the bad guys?”

“Every single one of them,” Harry promised, the words coming across a lot heavier to her than to Teddy. He looked up and smiled softly at her, breaking the solemnity. “Gin? Joining us?”

Ginny hesitated. She ought to put Jamie to bed and set up the monitoring charms.

“Pwease, mumma?” Jamie said beseechingly.

“Maybe just this once,” she conceded, and all three males cheered. She sat on the couch, putting her legs up. Jamie crawled from her lap to Harry’s, and Teddy snuggled against her shoulder. Harry wrapped an arm around her waist, and the two of them exchanged a happy look over their sons’ heads.

“Ever thought you’d get here?” She asked in a whisper, as Jamie and Teddy argued about the story choice.

He laughed. “Never,” he confessed. “But I couldn’t be happier.”

She blinked the happy tears from her eyes, resting a hand on her stomach. An amazing career. Her incredible infuriating and yet reliable family. Her many friends. Her three beloved boys, plus another child coming.

She remembered watching Luna play the piano once. Her friend had commented that the harmony of the way she played matched her mother’s – that there was no better peace than with the memory of someone you love.

Ginny felt that harmony every time she looked at Harry. And she couldn’t be gladder for it.

He put it pretty well.

“Neither could I,” she agreed, and they settled down for story time.

[cbk1000]

I'm also going to request a copy of my medical records from the clinic, both because I'll want to give them to my new doctor when I get in, but also because I think there's a slim to none chance he didn't put something in his clinical notes about how I was injured by the Covid shot. (I also need to get the exact dates of my appointments off my documentation, because I know approximately when they occurred, but I don't remember the exact dates because I've had many doctor's appointments over a period of three months.) At the very least, he DID put it on the medical certification I had to submit for my medical leave from work, so I'll be attaching that to my complaint, and I think I'm going to include my vaccine record as well so I can show that my last booster was in 2021. I kind of think he's too nuts to deny saying that because he's so doggedly certain that the Covid shots are the biggest evil on this planet, but in case he tries to do a he said/she said thing because he realises he might get in trouble, I can show that he did indeed blame it on the vaccine, and that my last documented Covid shot was in 2021. (I can't prove I told him that I had it so long ago, obviously, unless he noted it in my file, but if he really thought I had been injured by it, he should have asked when I had it anyway, so I think being able to show that I'm telling the truth about when I had it and that he really did say my condition progressed and worsened after the shot should be sufficient.)

I also think I should probably note that he suggested looking into a hysterectomy too while telling me that the low dose iron infusion I asked for was unnecessary. Women who are still of child-bearing age who have actual severe gynecological issues where a hysterectomy might be indicated struggle to get necessary surgeries, and he just casually suggested I, a woman in my 30s, look into having major surgery without even knowing my medical history, asking me anything about my periods to see if they were even heavy enough for that to be a reasonable suggestion, or recommending any other less invasive options to lessen the bleeding while I'm trying to improve my iron levels, like an IUD, birth control pills, tranexamic acid, etc. That might actually be the wildest part of this for me. "A 100mg iron infusion for iron deficiency? Are you crazy? Why haven't you just looked into having major surgery with a recovery time of six to eight weeks?"

[tofumarinado]

actually no, i'm not fucking happy

CW: VENT 5 months, that's all it took to legally change my name and gender here in Spain. A first visit, a ratification a month later and that's it. no visit to a psychiatrist, no nothing. it was as seamless as you can get to be, but it messed me up so much.

i'm probably a weak ass bitch, but if anyone comes at me saying that i'm a weak ass bitch, i will say to them in return: why is your threshold for the suffering we must endure as trans people so high? why is it a given that we must suffer unnecessarily in the hands of others just because we are trans? i'm fucking upset, and i have every right in the world to be, and i'll tell you why. on my second visit, the bureaucrats at the civil registry deemed necessary to question me further by inquiring what i was about to do moving forward with the rest of my transition. the questions were very intrusive, absurd and i would guess aimed at deterring people who change gender fraudulently. side note: there indeed are some police officers and soldiers who are unfortunately committing fraud by changing their genders when they have no internal desire to do so, only to access some "legal protections" aimed at helping enlisted women or women police officers. this is very disgusting, but what's equally disgusting is that i had to go through that demeaning treatment. fucking sucks. fraudulent gender changes can perfectly be tracked remotely, you don't fucking need to question me on that. anyhow, moving on. when i went to the government office against discrimination people to complain about plain and simple discrimination, the fucking guy there insinuated that i must not have passed well when going to the fucking office or something, which is like, holy shit thank you. i am actually trying very fucking hard to pass every day but you know, i went through a thing called a testosterone puberty and some things are just not gonna go away but yeah sure thank you cisgender man for justifying this degrading fucking treatment enacted on me by a public official, that's fucking great., especially coming from a service that in theory exists to protect lgbt people against discrimination. then i tell the guy, hey, i want to send a written complaint to the fucking civil registry because this people have been discriminating against me, and the guy says yeah sure no problem and then a month later a MONTH later, after a lot of pressure from my side, the fucking guy sends me a weak ass email addressed to the civil registry basically asking clarifications on some of the discriminatory questions asked to me and i was like,,, sure bro send it. i just want my name.

at this point i was feeling you know, that it was my fault and i was somehow not trying hard enough, and i was a failure and whatever and honestly i became depressed. i got anxious as to what the future was holding for me from now on and i kinda lost my will to do things and feel good about myself. fucking great.

after some months, they send me an email saying that they updated my name on my birth certificate. everything went well. at this point i somehow had already accepted that the whole thing was not going to happen, that somehow some bored bureaucrat was going to block my request because i looked too much like a dude or whatever, but no. everything was cool and nice. and you know what, i feel like shit. i was made to feel like shit, because this is fucking degrading. and i know i am extremely privileged to be able to go through this so much faster and with way less hoops to jump through, but i do not feel okay. i feel deeply hurt and very fucking sad and i do NOT want to celebrate this shit at all. i just want to change my name in everything, endure whatever additional transphobic nonsense i have to endure to do so (there will be some, i'm fucking sure), and live a little bit more comfortable from then on, until the next president is swore into office and destroys everything lgbt related this administration has done.

fuck all of this fucking shit.

the worst part of all of this is the feeling that i should be happy. everyone is expecting me to jump from happiness and celebrate that the governent has let me exercise a basic human right after dragging me through shit for 5 months. i am not happy, i feel violated, i feel subhuman and this fucking sucks. hope you guys have a good week, thanks for reading. happy pride.

[elftwink]

my gender has been legally changed for years all my paperwork done up I have a new birth certificate and everything and yet still every time I go into a new medical facility it says female on any of my paperwork. no it is never* medically necessary for them to know and yes it constantly causes confusion at the reception desk and literally every single time it's pointed out they cross it out and say oh no we'll get that fixed because it should match your legal gender. next time I get a printout and it says female. pleaseeeeeee I have a beard, all we're doing is confusing the staff at the lab when I get blood drawn

*never might be an exaggeration but certainly more often than not, its irrelevant. exactly why did my antibiotics prescription for an ear infection need to have my gender on it in the first place. and exactly why did the walk in clinic have me listed as female when supposedly my gender has been changed in the system as per my GP's assurance and also all the legal identification I gave them said M. I recognize that of transgender healthcare problems this one is pretty mild but like c'mon man...

[sehtoast]

Sunset in July (Depowered!Homelander x OC) All of You is Left to Love Chapter 5

18+

2.3k

Ch1 | Ch2 | Ch3 | Ch4 | Ch5

Warnings: Vaginal sex, brief mentions of torture, brief mentions of genital injuries, soft smut, angst if you squint

Ben and Homelander share a date night two months after depowerment.

OC: Benjamin Colyer (The Boys-verse Spider-Man)

So much had happened in the past two months.

Benny got caught up in a deal with Vought– one that would cease their pursuit to ‘reclaim’ their lost ‘property.’ In return for filling his seat in The Seven, the former Homelander would be left to live his life.

What little was left of it, anyway.

Benjamin spent hours upon hours, every night, going over that massive contract with highlighters and red pens. He made sure there wasn’t a speck of bullshit to be found– no tiny loopholes that would come back to haunt them, no fine print that dictated John’s mere existence was theirs to own and take back whenever they pleased.

All he could do was watch as his partner dueled the world’s most powerful corporate entity while his safety hung in the balance.

In the end, Ben won.

Not only that, but Benny secured a bargain for Vought to begin processing the necessary paperwork to get John proper documentation to prove that he existed. Forty fucking three years old, and he never had a birth certificate– no social security number, no ID… Nothing. Vought always covered for him, so why would he need any of those? Anything he needed to own was handled by them. His money, his properties– all of it was processed by Vought.

Which, of course, meant everything was theirs.

During this time, Ben balanced being Spider-Man, taking care of him, and warring with Vought. The web-head seemed like a dead man walking with how exhausted he was, but he never quit. He never threw his hands up and decided it’d be easier to have John be self-sufficient with his volatile emotions, never decided to just keep him locked away in their apartment for his safety, never abandoned those in need around the city to focus on the other issues at hand…

John’s injuries healed– bruises faded away, cuts vanished, scars formed…

If not for the shaved head and pink ridges traveling his right cheekbone and chest, John would be able to convince even himself that nothing had happened.

So, two months after his rescue, Ben took him for their first real date.

A celebration, he’d called it. The end of one thing, the start of another.

The former supe was petrified at the idea of going out in public, and Ben could tell. So, like any good wall-climbing boyfriend would, he set up a rooftop picnic and carried his Johnny to the top. Nothing extravagant, just drinks and food– a setting sun to bask in as they shared their moment, pillows and blankets to rest upon.

But, it was perfect.

It was nice to snuggle into his little spider without fear of pressure on his bruises, or the cut on his chest wrinkling and stinging. Curling a leg to entwine with Ben’s, losing himself in the rise and fall of his love’s chest, the gentle thrum of his heart…

The view of the early July sunset was beautiful, washing over the pair with a sense of serenity in waves of orange and pink.

“This is… nice.” Homelander murmured softly, his voice carrying a tinge of vulnerability. It had been a long time since he’d been content enough to bask in a moment so beautiful. The gravity of this… change always loomed over him, weighing down on his mind and body like a million pounds, but here, now… everything felt okay.

Like they were both able to simply take a breath.

“I’m glad,” Ben hummed, giving John’s hand a light squeeze. “We deserve something nice.”

“I don’t know what I did to deserve you…” John confessed in a whisper. “You’ve saved me in more ways than one, at this rate…”

Benny smiled and nuzzled into John’s neck, pressing a kiss to his flushed skin. “You’ve saved me too, y’know?”

As the last rays of sunshine drowned under the horizon, John tightened his grip around Ben’s hand, as though the light slinking away would cause the moment to fade into nothing more than a simple dream.

“I just… I dunno how to ever repay you for– well, for everything.” Homelander took a deep breath. With Benny by his side, perhaps he could learn to navigate this new world where he no longer knew himself. Maybe– just, maybe– he could figure this out.

Maybe it’d all turn out alright, just as his lover always promises.

He leaned in closer to Ben and brushed their lips together in a slow, tender kiss, savoring the taste of love and tranquility on his little spider's mouth.

"You'll never have to," Benny murmured against his lips, his hand coming up to stroke through John's brown locks. His hair had grown out to the length it once was, though it was shaggy and unkempt now. There was a certain charm to it, though.

He knew the reason his love refused haircuts was the fear of having his head buzzed against his will again. Ben vowed never to pressure him, especially knowing all that his Johnny had gone through.

His mind flashed back briefly to the scene he found in the cell…

"They'll never take you…" Ben affirmed as he looked into Homelander's worried blue eyes that always seemed to seek reassurance now. "You’ll always be safe."

He'd fight like hell to make sure John had a shot at this new life. He'd do anything to give his lover this chance- to help him work through the strife and trauma and come out of the rubble of change far stronger than he’d ever been before.

A lump formed in John’s throat, thick with emotions he dare not breathe to life.

Ben’s thumb brushed against the pink scar running along his cheekbone, and suddenly he felt the haunting memories of captivity pervading into the forefront of his mind. Yet, with Benny at his side, he felt safe, grounded, collected.

He would not unravel at the seams.

Not now.

”We’ll be safe…” He whispered hoarsely, his voice wavering just slightly. He nuzzled into Ben’s touch, warmed to the core from the comfort of his lover.

In this new, raw vulnerability that they shared, there was strength- an unbreakable bond forged through an unspeakably dark time. At least, that’s what Ben had told him. John leaned in once more, pressing another kiss against Benny’s lips, pouring every ounce of love and appreciation he could muster into the gesture.

A thank you for his rescue, for his mended wounds, for handling his breakdowns, for the borrowed clothes, for the sleepless nights where he needed so desperately to be held…

For fighting Vought, tooth and nail, to secure his freedom.

For simply being beside him…

By the time they decided to return to their apartment, Ben found himself riled up from all of John’s little touches and warm kisses.

It felt like a lifetime since he and John were intimate on account of the fact Homelander suffered injuries to his genitals while imprisoned. By now, however, they were most certainly healed.

The thought bounced around his head until he couldn’t contain the urge.

“Close your eyes, babe…” Benjamin whispered from behind John, his arms wrapped around his lover’s waist, lips at his neck. “I wanna…” He trailed off as his hand dipped down to run over the curve of John’s cock in his shorts. “Only if you’re okay…”

John’s breath hitched as shocks of excitement tingled through his body. Anticipation and longing spanning months, finally within reach. He closed his eyes obediently, shivering at the thought of what was to come as he leaned his head to the side to give his little spider better access.

“I’m ready…” he replied, his voice gravelly. “God, I’m so fucking ready!”

His heart pounded in his chest– such a uniquely human feeling– as he felt the warmth and strength of Ben pressed against him from behind. The raging hunger for intimacy coursed through him like a fire– burning away everything else.

“Fuck…” Homelander rasped, surrendering himself completely to the touch of the man he loved.

Ben inhaled deeply, nuzzling his nose behind the shell of John's ear. “God…” he groaned. “I fucking missed touching you like this…”

Benny turned John around, leaning in immediately to engulf him in a needy kiss, one eye open to navigate his grip until he’d lifted the former supe from the ground, his love’s legs wrapping around his waist.

“I love you.” Ben gazed up at him, grinning against the hands that cupped his face. “My Johnny…” Homelander's legs tightened around Benny's waist as their lips locked in a passionate embrace.

Their kisses began to deepen, growing more urgent with every passing moment. Hungry moans escaped from Homelander's lips as Benny's hands roamed over his body, caressing every inch of him, leaving goosebumps in the wake of every tender touch.

Benny lowered John onto the bed– never breaking away as he straddled him. Their bodies slotted together as clothes were discarded piece by piece, hands exploring with a familiarity only two bound souls could possess.

Homelander shuddered as he felt the warmth and wetness of Benny’s core grind against him, pleasure surging through him like pure electricity as they moved together in a rhythm all their own.

Tender, yet fervent, each touch carried an unspoken adoration for each other. John surrendered himself, suddenly less inclined to lead in this dance of theirs, content instead to be cradled and loved by his little spider. A bout of insecurity rose in him at the fact he couldn’t perform the same way he could once.

When he had his powers.

But any attempts to apologize for fatigue and resting breaths were shushed away, and lips pressed to him instead to silence him.

“I don’t care about that,” Ben gasped into his mouth as he slid his slick core over the length of John’s shaft. “None of that matters… Just you. Just you…”

He engulfed John in another passionate kiss, grinding down on him as their tongues mingled and moans reverberated against each other.

“I want you to take me however you want me…” Ben cooed. “Soft, hard… anything you want. Just take…”

John's breath caught as he listened to Benny's words, his cock twitching with need. He nodded fervently, a soft hunger burning in his eyes.

“Like this… I want you like this."

Benny pressed a kiss to his forehead and a hand to his chest, easing him back slowly. Their eyes locked.

John reached down to guide himself into position, keening weakly as his lover sank down on him with no hesitation.

“Hnngh,” he whimpered, the familiar heat gripping his senses. His hands grasped Ben’s thighs, holding tight as he tried to stave off his release.

So much time untouched left them both so sensitive.

“F-Fuck!” Ben hissed as his core worked to adjust to his lover’s girth. “So t-thick…”

Benny rose up, sighing softly before sinking back down, working into a pleasurable rhythm until he was rutting and riding his lover just the way they both liked.

Homelander’s hips started to work into a pace of their own, thrusting up to meet his little spider, their combined efforts working to build their respective peaks higher and higher.

“T-That’s it–” Ben groaned, moving John’s hands to position them at his hips. “Take me…” He threw his head back in a weak moan when Homelander’s biting grip finally registered.

Claps of skin, desperate breaths– praise and love all filled the room as they moved together in a desperate symphony of desire and passion.

“C-Close!” John called out, feeling the coil of heat building tighter and tighter in his core, his balls tensing up in preparation to mark his love from the inside out. “I’m– I’m not–”

Ben came down hard, grinding in circular motions against Homelander’s cock. “I want you to f-feel so– fuck– so good!” He leaned forward, taking John into a searing kiss, swallowing his whines. “C-Cum when you’re ready, baby. Don’t fight it…”

With that, he resumed bouncing on John’s cock, the rolls of his hips growing more languid as he coaxed his lover closer to edge of completion.

“Fuck! I–I’m sorry! I’m– Hah!” John groaned loudly, his hips rising to fuck hard into Ben through the waves of his orgasm, painting his lover’s walls with his cum. He felt it all the way into his limbs as the tingles of release coursed through him. Words spilled from his lips– incoherent at best as he moaned and babbled through his orgasm, his nails biting into Ben’s hips as though letting go would leave him castaway in a sea of bliss.

He trembled through the aftershocks, jolts like electricity dashing through him as Ben rode him to completion, his little spider's voice caught somewhere between a sigh and a groan as his cunt spasmed and pulsed with release.

“Ah– oh, fuck! Fuuuuck….” Ben panted, content to follow the arms that pulled him down. Lips met his, guiding him into a kiss he was too far from his own mind to reciprocate quite yet.

A sense of contentment washed over John– a rarity, these days. He’d dearly missed how quiet the world became after moments like this. His protector simmered down, the bad thoughts were kept at bay, and the worries he held for the future silenced.

After all, his future rested in his arms.

Moments like these… Ones where he could revel in the vulnerability of their afterglow, hold his lover, be held in return…

It meant the world.

“Love you…” Ben murmured weakly against his flesh, a kiss pressed to him to seal the promise.

The pair laid there for a while, basking in the afterglow, content to just exist side by side. Ben's hand crept up to John's hair, scratching lightly against his scalp to further comfort and relax his Johnny.

Just as they were both on the cusp of sleep, several loud booms echoed outside. From their position on the bed, they could make out the sight of reds, whites, and blues shimmering outside of the window.

"Huh,” Benny hummed cheerfully. “Would you look at that?”

John watched quietly as another blast of fireworks painted the sky, a small smile tugging at the corner of his mouth.

"Happy birthday, Johnny!"

edit: desktop view seems to be missing a whole chunk of this story, whereas mobile displays it fine. editor shows it's still there, so i'm sort of hands-tied as far as fixing it goes.

[corruptedplaylist]

act iii: final notes

edit: 4/9/2024: added some more stuff!!! i'll put this emoji 🫧 next to the new things so u know where to scroll.

AHHHHHHHHHHHH I FINISHED MY FIRST FULL LENGTH FIC HOLD ON LEMME JUST THROW UP IN THE CORNER REAL QUICK

i am sooooooo normal rn anyways let's get into it thank u for having me on the show, mr. kimmel. i've had a raging headache all day so the content underneath each sections will be kinda short. i'll go through and add more to it once i recover but i wanted to get this up before the week got too busy!

krolia

guys…. im so sorry for the angst….. it was necessary for the plot…….

maybe it’s just me projecting but in the actual show, i kind of wish we had seen more of the emotional fallout that occurred after krolia revealed that she was keith’s mom. because let’s be real here, there’s no way that keith’s traumatized ass would just willingly accept her back into his life. he’d have questions. he’d be in disbelief. it’s hard for him to open up to others and he carries a lot of hurt from being abandoned.

it was crucial in the course of this fic to have that confrontation between krolia and keith. it's not always going to be rainbows and sunshine, and even though they both missed each other deeply, you don't just automatically connect and forget everything that's happened. even if keith hadn't gone into the foster system, he definitely would have carried a lot of anger and hurt towards krolia when she shows back up. i'm sure that things won't just be smooth sailing and they'll need to hash things out multiple times as they rebuild their relationship but that first fight was a big hurdle to get over.

if you’re curious, i have a whooollleeee backstory for what happened with krolia and why she couldn’t get back to her kid. i couldn’t really fit it into the fic but i’ll put it right here for those who are interested:

2000: krolia in the US on student visa, first year of of PhD program

krolia meets heath and they fall in love

2003: krolia gives birth to keith

2008: krolia finishes grad school/PhD program/doctoral degree and applies for a work visa 

2009: she and heath and baby keith are living their life but krolia’s parents find out and are like girl you need to come home NOW or we will disown you 

krolia’s family are really wealthy and powerful 

krolia: i’ll come back for you guys idk how but i will 

krolia goes back to the states

2009-2011: she and heath write letters but then the letters start getting intercepted by the family and eventually peters out

krolia in arranged marriage and thinks her partner forgot about her or didn’t care

meanwhile heath doesn’t know what happened to krolia but can’t do anything about it bc she’s in a diff country and he doesn’t speak korean

2011: heath and keith move to texas for job or whatever

heath tells keith all about krolia and how she loves him but can’t be there and obvi that fucks keith up bc he misses his mom but where tf is she? how does he know she loves him if she’s not even there? he's a little kid

2013: heath dies and keith is put into the system

heath has no other family members

krolia put her english name on the birth certificate and so ofc she doesn’t exist in the US

texas social services try to reach out to krolia along with some friends but letters are intercepted

2016: someone reaches out to krolia after she finally gets facebook 

friend: thinking of you. miss you. so sorry about heath

krolia: …. what the fuck about heath?

friend: uhhhhhhhh

krolia goes on rampage to her family like wtf u mean u didn’t tell me that the father of my child is dead

cousin shows up with the intercepted letters (official notice from social services, heath’s letters and pictures, keith’s little notes and drawings)

krolia starts the process of legally and financially emancipating herself from her family (she basically was Britney’d)

2017/2018: finally is free and able to get a job in the states

starts tracking down heath (they only had a forwarding address for krolia so they’re like wtf who is this bih)

at this point, keith has already met the shiroganes and changed his name

krolia is in a different state and can only do so much 

spends the next few years trying to find him, hires P.I., again keep running into blocks bc social workers and case managers are NOT going to budge on giving up keith's personal information

2023, winter break: krolia reaches out to keith through facebook but it goes into his spam since they’re not facebook friends

allura

what better allegory for sacrificing yourself to save the universe is there than graduating college? in all fairness, i felt like sticking to the notion of allura saying goodbye and leaving the group had its merit, just y’know, i wanted to take a step down from the whole dying thing. i tried to pay homage to the canon material as much as possible while also providing my own spin on things.

one thing that’s been important to me is depicting allura as a college student. sure, while i think most iterations of allura as a kind and a great leader and intelligent are great, even in modern au fics, i just wish there had been a bit more... silliness? outside of her being like the girlboss, the hell yeah supporting character or love interest or bone-tired leader, i always wonder what she would have been like if she hadn't had to save the universe and was just trying to heal on her own terms. yeah, i nerfed her parents in this universe but i tried to showcase her doing normal college things as well, like presenting at research conferences, getting a bit messy drunk, having pizza nights and group hang outs. the funny thing about grief is that life does not stop for it, so you have to just figure things out along the way.

i also didn't want to elaborate too much on her relationship with lotor. she didn't magically heal from that one conversation with lance in chapter 8 but i wanted the readers to get a taste of what was going on in her head through their dialogue. plus, it was a little moment to show how she was allowing herself to open up to other people like lance. no one woman is an island, no matter how much of a bad b!tch you are.

🫧 also, i wanted to include it somewhere but basically, keith knew allura and romelle were hooking up since chapter 14! keith caught romelle sneaking out of allura's room early one morning and he just kept it to himself because snitches get stitches.

pidge

they are so precious to me. they're an amalgamation of 2 of my closest friends, and well, me.

i always knew that pidge was going to be a super important piece in klance development. while lance and keith are great friends, i think pidge played a crucial role in bridging them together in the beginning, before the two of them had cleared up their misunderstandings and made that truce. sure, allura asked them to be on the paintball team but pidge really forced the two of them into close quarters. lance might have extended the offer to keith to hand out without pidge or he might not have. honestly, i'm not really sure. but pidge inviting keith to hang out in chapter 4 was a quiet but big moment because both keith and lance are friends with pidge and will set aside their differences long enough to tolerate each other's presence in a shared space. pidge just has #babyofthefriendgroup privileges.

🫧 i honestly think that after the main two, pidge has undergone the most growth (physically and emotionally) throughout the fic, even though they're a supporting character. we can all benefit from community and friendship but i think pidge needed it a little bit more.

🫧 i partially wrote pidge to represent my younger self, especially when i first attended college. i was scared and alone and i had never been away from home and it was a struggle to form new relationships (and figure out my gender identity. mannnnnn fuck that). it was nice to see pidge find their place and niche among the greater social fabric of college, kind of like comforting my younger self for all the loneliness and uncertainty i endured.

hunk

i love hunk so dearly. ngl, i wanted him to have a bigger arc than he did but hopefully i did a decent job at making feel more well-rounded as a supporting character. i decided to actually kind of lean into this distance in the later chapters as well, esp from lance's pov, as they both got busier. at the end of the day, though, i knew that those two would come back together. hunk is a kind and sympathetic friend and his and lance's friendship will persevere because they're good communicators. their little talk in chapter 17 was me talking to myself and to anyone else who has went through a similar thing where they find themselves drifting a little farther from a friend.

people get busy and that's okay! there will be ebbs and flows in every relationship. even though shared history is a crucial part of a friendship but it can't be the only thing that will keep it going. you need to nurture it and tend to it in order for it to keep it alive and flourishing. hunk understands this and he and lance will be just fine after their talk. hunk is probably the most emotionally intelligent person after adam in the group, and i'm glad he was there to help both lance and keith out when they needed it.

adam

this man!!!!! got i have gotten so fucking attached to adam throughout this fic. he is so dear to me. i know in chapter 10 i wrote from adam's pov and he's a goofy guy in his twenties who's just trying to be a good dad friend but somehow he ended up being a voice of reason and comfort for klance in this fic. lance misses his family a lot and i think adam can not only relate to lance with the homesickness but also lance has started to rely on him a bit like he would with his siblings.

i wanted to try my own spin on adam and keith's relationship. i've seen fics where adam and keith hate each other, don't interact much, or adam takes on a parenting role towards keith as a kid. i wanted to look at keith and adam in the context of two people who both love shiro and then grow to be good friends/surrogate brother-in-law? idk. long story short, adam is very emotionally intelligent and i think he genuinely wanted to get to know keith outside of his connection with shiro and was patient enough to coax keith out of his shell. i tried to write in small ways adam takes care of keith like giving him LactoJoys because Keith likes the taste better than Lactaids, being there for him for his panic attack, adding food to his plate. things that won't draw too much attention, because we all know how keith is about receiving acts of kindness.

i mentioned this in a comment under one of the chapters but all of the advice adam gives keith is either advice i personally received myself or something i wish i could tell my younger self. i hope those words bring you comfort as well!

shiro

i had a lot more planned for shiro but goddammit i had no fucking time or space at this panned out. it's more so klance's story than shiro's.

look, there's a small moment in chapter 18 where shiro is very pleased (and a little surprised) that keith has talked about him with krolia. it has less to do with his faith in keith and more with how he sees himself. shiro has already acknowledged that he has heavy imposter syndrome and deals with his own struggles with self image. it's just always a jolt to your system when someone (could be your own family or your partner of years) validates your relationship.

shiro loves keith very much and just wants to be the best big brother. he has such eldest child syndrome, where he tries to pretend that everything is fine even though things are actually crumbling around him. the thing is, though, you can't build intimacy— real, lasting intimacy and depth in a relationship— without being vulnerable. shiro understands that even though he wants keith to work on opening up, he has to do the same and reciprocate the actions, or else neither of them will really get anywhere and be stuck in that loop of "are you mad at me/i feel like you're hiding something from me/i don't really know who you are."

i tried writing a bit from shiro's pov but i quickly realized that that would drastically change the tone of the fic so i had to scrap it. i might post a little oneshot in the distant future with adashi, though.

keith

🫧 i've talked about this before but although i think keith grew the most as a character in the canon show, that shit was WAY too fast and off-screen. also, i know that the whole found family trope is what drew a lot of fans to voltron in the first place (like me) but is the found family in the room with us rn? i felt like they all started to fall apart or at least weren't as close as the show wanted us to believe. it felt a lot like telling with no showing. other than some occasional moments in the show, the whole #teamasfamily felt hollow.

🫧 i wanted to build on this potential found family for keith's character. he's never had a support system before and he's used to pushing people away but now he has a whole ass friend group that's ready to fight for him if he gives the word.

🫧 initially, when i was writing keith's pov and trying to get a feel for his voice and tone, i struggled a bit. keith is one of those characters that i liked and sympathized with, but getting into his head was a whole different story. i'm more of a lance kinnie but once i got the hand of keith's voice, it was a lot easier. some of my best pieces of writing are from keith's pov! i tried to be as cognizant of keith's development as much as possible as i wrote (think me having various checkpoints for his journey whereas with lance i could just coast on vibes), and i'm pleased with how far he's come.

🫧 although both keith and lance's progress can showcased through their consciousness and thoughts (like duh ur reading from their povs), i leaned into keith's behavior as a way to portray his progress a bit more than lance. things like him being more open to physical affection, not sitting on the outskirts of group dynamics and sticking to shiro, and allowing himself to collect things, which by the way:

🫧 i like the idea of keith's room, once being so empty and ghost-like, is now full of stuff, mementos of his relationships that he's built. i tried to sprinkle in some relics from past chapters (paintball flag, polaroids, ticket stubs), as well add some new tidbits, like shiro giving him a cacti and that korean cookbook!

proud of u, keith bby <3

lance and marco

no i did not just torture lance for the sake of torturing him i would never do that to my boy.

i know this is a fanfiction, but from the start, i wanted to ground this fic in reality and breathe some life into it. lance's little arc with his brother having a substance abuse problem was loosely inspired by events in my personal life.

🫧 i'm not saying that everyone goes through something as drastic as a loved one going to rehab, but as young adults, when we leave home for uni, jobs, other opportunities, etc, there's this worry that something bad will happen while we're away. and often times it does. someone gets sick, a beloved pet passes away, it's all bound to happen. your childhood becomes a thing of the past, and things that you thought would stay the same just won't.

i projected a lot of my feelings onto lance ngl, and writing him work through his own grief and guilt over not being able to be with his family when they're going through a crisis helped me process a little bit more.

although lance had a happier ending than a lot of families might get in reality, i still wanted to show lance having a support system at college and realizing that he has a second family to lean on, and people who love and support him. he doesn't have to pretend to be okay for anyone and that's okay.

black paladin lance or as close to it as i could get

it was so important for me to make lance the new captain of their paintball team, as a stand-in for the black paladin arc he could have had in the show. he’s always been a selfless guy who puts others first and really pulls up when he needs to. he deserves to be recognized for that. not only did every single one of his friends validate him, but the person he looks up to the most literally endorsed him. lance struggles with his inferiority complex and the election scene was a little feel good moment for me, personally, so that he could receive the acknowledgement he deserves, especially with his growth. he's gonna be an awesome team captain (he'll be shuffling down to shiro's room at 2am covered in hickeys and talking about paintball strategies).

wrapping up loose ends

i tried to wrap up as many loose ends as possible and give all the characters a proper send-off. originally i wanted lance and hunk to also move into the house in castle street, like repurpose the basement or something but i realized that that just wasn’t possible because most college basements don’t even have heating or like,,,, a livable arrangement.

ultimately, i think it makes sense for pidge to be the one to take up allura’s room at the house. pidge has lived a single during the academic year but they also had lance and hunk right fifty feet away so it’s not like they REALLY lived alone that year. there was also the logistics of the house having a vacant room, and as much as i would have loved to have all of voltron under the same roof (hunk and pidge sharing a room, keith and lance sharing a room), i think they would kill each other. pidge filling in the gap felt like the right move. and lance and hunk are gonna be over a lot anyways, so it’s not like much has changed in the trio's group dynamic.

🫧 what was your favorite chapter to write?

i think i have different chapters in mind for different reasons, even if it's a copout answer. here are the chapters that are dearest to me:

chapter 4: recalibration this is the chapter where i really got to play around with character interactions. keith and lance's worlds were beginning to integrate in chapter 3 but in this chapter, i got to explore different friendships, like keith & pidge and lance & hunk, and the dynamics they entailed. you can see how important these friendships are to both lance and keith, and how their connection with others eventually helps them to reflect on their previous feelings toward each other, like "hmm maybe i've been too harsh with the other."

chapter 10: let's go to the beach the group dynamics were so solidified to this point, and it was so fun to write. i loved writing from adam's pov and being able to zoom out and showcase klance's relationship progression.

the winter break interludes i waxed poetic about these in a previous faq but to reiterate: i'm really pleased with the way each individual chapter turned out. i love a good character study, and it was a great challenge to my writing and characterization to dig deeper into their home lives and see how the past confronted the present, where their respective childhoods were brought into the light, and how long-held notions of belonging, home, and identity were challenged and remolded.

chapter 17: warm and light my beta reader drunkenguac said that this was some of my best writing and i've been coasting off of that validation for the past 4 months. keith's reunion with his mother was especially cathartic for me. as an adoptee, writing this chapter honestly helped me work through some of my feelings about my adoption as i pictured what it would look like if i was ever reunited with my birth mother. i'm very fortunate that i didn't have to go through the same experiences keith did, but i tried to imbue as much humanness as possible into his section.

chapter 18: moving on it just felt like a proper send-off, the one that we never got from s8 of voltron. i wanted the last chapter to basically have this vibe of "hey, things won't be the same but it's going to be okay because we have each other." when shiro tells matt in the end, "we'll still be here," that's me as the author, telling you, the reader, that this fic will still be here whenever you want to revisit it. it was a comfort to write and i've heard that it's a comfort to read, which is so so so gratifying. when i set out to write this fic in august of 2023, i didn't have any plans of grandeur or even expect like more than 100 people read it— it was just a passion project that i decided to share, and i'm glad that others have sought safety in it. outside of fandom, this fic is a love letter to my own college experience. i remember reading a college au fic when i was still in high school and lonely and closeted and repressed and wondering if i would ever be able to get out of my hometown and find a community as tightly-knit as the fic portrayed it. in a way, i got to reflect on my college experience by writing looking out for you. i find solace in this fic when i read back over it, and i can see aspects of my adventures throughout my freshman and sophomore and junior and senior years, waving from behind a thinly veiled curtain. this fic is dedicated to all the people who made my college experience.

anyways that's me rambling for now! thank you again to everyone who has tuned into looking out for you. this is the first piece of creative writing i've done in a long time, and i never expected to actually finish it. i'm so happy with the way it turned out and the love it's received. until next time!

[ace-malarky]

⭐ 🌀

(Am: @literarynecromancy )

Hey Grim! thanks for the ask :)

We're gonna do these for Syn and Halliel bc skies know I haven't given Halliel enough attention lmao

⭐ What is your OC afraid of? Any crippling phobias or some such? How do they act when scared and what helps them calm down? Does anyone ever find your OC scary? Why?

Halliel is Not Great with enclosed spaces but conversely being in pitch black is absolutely fine because if she can't see shit, nothing can see her, right? She pulls out bravado like a pro when she's scared in very much a "fake it 'til you make it" facsimile which to be fair has been known to work for her! If there are others with her (Syn) that helps because then she is Not Alone and that gives her something else to focus on because they will Need Help and she can do that.

Syn is maybe a little scared of her the first time they meet as Val (and maybe a little turned on) bc like. consider Dame Aylin. That's the vibe we're going for when Halliel is pissed. She holds herself real still and bristles in a way she doesn't when she's scared herself, and she's got a sword and you get the feeling she will use it when necessary.

Syn does a lot of pretending never to be afraid ever, which is fair enough when you can shapeshift into something with more teeth than whatever's facing you but they're not great at being alone with themself. If you want them real scared, threaten the people they love, just uh. be careful because that's when they stop being careful and a Syn not being careful lets a hell of a lot more humanity slip.

They tend to get more flippant as they get more scared like they're pretending they're not, but you know it's bad when they can't even muster that.

N fuck listen. people are definitely scared of Syn by the end of the book! They do some shit! the aforementioned throat ripping! it's definitely in a monster-under-your-bed kinda way, a little That Thing From The Wilds

🌀 Where is your OC from? Where were they born? Do they still live there, if not why did they move? If they still live in the area how has it changed since their childhood? How many places has your OC lived in and where has been their favourite?

Halliel has lived in Shutora - the capital of Verial - her whole life but thinks about moving every so often to somewhere out by the coast, perhaps. She'd say the city itself hasn't changed that much but in that way where the shops have changed over and a wider panoply of people have moved in, but it happened so gradually that you don't notice until it's happened and then it's the way it's always been.

There are a few more disused buildings that she remembers being the scene of many a birthday party when she was younger, but now they make for good abandoned haunts and community gardening.

The theme park on the edge of the city is new, too, and that's one hell of a novelty.

Syn uh. well. They settled in Shutora just long enough ago that they seem like they've been there forever, and they certainly know the city like they're a native, but dig too much and you realise that no record of them exists for any education/birth certificate/clubs before they started work.

If asked, they say they come from a little village out in the sticks that barely anyone knows about. Intentionally rural. They came looking for excitement and better prospects and seem content to stay for now, but they always talk about travelling to see more of the world with a kind of longing that makes it seem like they're reminiscing on faded childhood memories

[ohwynne]

TIMING: Pre-18 july PARTIES: Beau @mayihaveyournameplease & Wynne @ohwynne LOCATION: The BMV SUMMARY: Wynne wants to apply for a driver's license. Beau wants their name. Neither get what they want. CONTENT WARNINGS: N/A ACCOMPANIED SONG: drivers license, Olivia Rodrigo

Between their experience with driving on the estate, the lessons with Sully and the few moments where Ariadne had let them drive her car, Wynne felt that they might be ready to apply for whatever was necessary to get a license. In this world outside of the confines of the commune, cars seemed to be quite crucial for getting around. And though they didn’t have the money saved up for a car just yet, it would be nice to at least legally drive.

The bureaucratic ways of the world befuddled them though. They’d walked up to the first clerk they’d seen, then been told they needed to draw a number. After doing that and waiting for a short amount of time that seemed endlessly long, Wynne walked up to a different clerk. “Hi, good afternoon, I hope you’re having a good day,” they said, trying not to fiddle with the fabric of their skirt. “I’d like to … well, get a license. I read that I need to do some tests? I don’t know exactly. But I am ready!” Hopefully exuding confidence during this part wasn’t part of the tests. Wynne smiled and suppressed the urge to give a thumbs up to punctuate their statement.

It was another day at the BMV. The office, as usual, was an appealing scent of stale air from an air conditioner that needed its filter clean, mixed with the b.o. of multiple people who never learned how to take care of themselves, mingling with the strong perfumes of those who did their best to cover up every appalling scent. It was the scent of devastation at the BMV. It was the scent Beau had grown to love and become so fond of. The man who he’d been helping, shrouded in a veil of confusion, had to be escorted away by security when he got angry about forgetting his name. It was truly odd how those things only seemed to happen to Beau.

A pretty, young thing, with large innocent eyes was the next to walk up to his station. Beau looked down at her, his tightly pulled smile barely concealing the contempt behind his eyes. “It’s always a gouda day at the BMV, darling.” Beau stared down the child as they explained what they were here for, and what they needed. “You’re getting ahead of yourself. Have you filled out the prerequisite forms?” Beau asked, he ducked under his death, a task easy to do when he stepped off his stepping stool. After a minute of collecting material, Beau dropped three clipboards in front of the kid. “This one is an identity confirmation, this one is your application for a license, I assume you brought your birth certificate and social security number with you right? And this last one is a waiver for all the tests. How old are you? Sixteen? Where is your parent?”

They had driven a car on the commune, though not often and not much. There was little use for it, most of the time, but it was still something they’d been taught. First the tractor, for the fields, and then the old cars that hummed as the motor rotated. There had been no paperwork for it, though — the community was small enough to know who was okay to drive and who wasn’t, and the government was distrusted anyway. But there had been some paperwork, and the bits that had been there Wynne had stolen along with the paper money. A piece of paper that proved they existed outside the commune as well. Sometimes they wondered if their mother had ensured its existence, because of her own history in the larger world, but that seemed like wistful thinking.

“That’s good to hear,” they said, smiling a little at the silly pun. Their cheeks flushed as the employee pretty much told them to slow down, eyes growing wide at the clipboards dropped in front of them. Wynne just wanted to drive a car without getting in trouble, why was it so much work? “I’ve not. I didn’t know I had to. Can I do it now?” At his question they nodded, patting their tote bag. “I have the certificate right here. And my parents, they’re all the way back home. I’m twenty one, though, so I don’t need a parent present, right?” That would be very unfortunate. Wynne picked up one of the clipboards, then glanced up. “Where do I start?”

Half of working at the BMV was putting on a production. The clients needed to see a show. Beau lowered half-moon spectacles over his eyes. He reached for the paperwork splayed in front of him and made a show of picking it up and reading it over. He wasn’t actually reading any of it. If Beau had his way, this little thing would be sent away without a name. Hopefully confused about everything that had happened here. “Alright.” Beau chewed the word, drawing it out into a line longer than the one at the BMV. “Everything here looks like it’s in order.” Beau placed the paperwork down at his desk and started furiously typing at his computer. Clickity clickity clack.

“Ahem. Yes, a few things before we continue. I need to make sure you are who you say you are. So, I’m going to need you to confirm some of the details while you’re not looking. Can you give me your name please?” Beau quirked an eyebrow, his knees practically quivering in anticipation. His mouth went dry with the wait. This was his favorite moment at his job. The wait. Then hopefully the reward. Inside his mind was a constant single monologue. Give me the name. Give me the name. Give me the name. 

The sheer amount of paperwork was dizzying to Wynne, who dwelled from a place where there was hardly any. Maybe it was good that these things were put in ink, though — black on white, rather than kept safe in the head of a man with all the power. When the employee said all was in order, they smiled a little. “So I just have to do a test? Or?” It was still hard to grasp, even if he’d tried his best to explain.

And then there was that question, slipped in so innocuously. Maybe it was nothing but innocent, but Wynne had been hyper-aware of their language and that of others since losing their name and then something else. “Um, my name is on that piece of paper I gave you, right?” They tried to smile politely, the same way they did when customers got mad at them for reasons beyond their control. Keeping composure was something they had learned as a child destined for death. You can’t show your fear Wynne, because everyone is looking at you for reassurance. “I don’t want to give it.” It was theirs. It was one of the few things that was theirs. 

“You still have to answer your security questions. To confirm its you. Before you take the test.” Beau moved the papers even closer, staring down at them. Wynne. That name seemed familiar. Hadn’t he stolen the name Wynne from some kid online? The kid had traded what was possibly the worst secret he’d ever heard for it. He should have honestly just kept the name. That made Beau want the name more. But then the kid was telling him that he couldn’t have the name. Like the kid knew the game. Beau glared down at them, shuffling the papers in his hand to make sure they stayed out of reach.

“That isn’t how this works. I read the paperwork. I ask you questions. You answer the questions. I confirm its you. This is where it starts. Give me your name so we can start this process.” Beau was sure to use his adult voice, the voice that was sharp edges and harsh tones. The voice he used when he wasn’t a silly little guy. Inside him he could feel the familiar anger toiling inside. It told him that this little know it all, this little nothing, would lose. And he would be so happy about it. 

That did seem fair. That there was some level of security. Maybe not just everyone should be able to drive. Wynne looked at the man working the desk with a very serious look on their face. “I get that,” they said, not wanting to fight him on the procedure he probably had to follow. They also didn’t want to give him their name. And maybe it was nothing, maybe this was just an employee who picked his words a certain way but they could never be too sure.

“I’ll gladly help you along to confirm it’s me, I just don’t want to give my name.” There was a small tremor to their voice, as Wynne was still not that good at standing up to adults. Especially those that were capable of speaking with authority. They fiddled with their own fingers, rocked back and forth on their feet. “So maybe we can go about it another way? Would that be okay?”

A challenge. Beau was tired of challenges in this town. Beau wasn’t as young as he used to be. The world was full of many names, and many people to trick, and he was tired of them starting to get wise. Sure, this was probably the Wynne he’d stolen from before. This was probably the Wynne who had wised up thanks to his own efforts, but they could still be considerate. They could still hand it over. Beau coughed, rolling his shoulders back and bracing himself for an argument. 

“Listen, kid, this is a basic question. You need to confirm who you are. You can’t just refuse to say your name.” Beau dropped the papers on his desk, making sure they were all straightened. “You have to give me your name, or you have to leave. There is no inbetween. You give me your name, I confirm it's you, we move on. You get your licenses. You don’t give me your name, you walk away and we’re done here. Any questions? That’s just procedure. That’s basic. You have a job right? Didn’t they make you give them your name?” Beau peered over his glasses again. “What is your choice?”  

They felt their breath hitch in their throat, a pathetic response that was hardwired in their pathetic system. Wynne had always been so obedient, hadn't they? And every moment where they had questioned authority had been met with something like this. Condescension. A question of their intelligence, a reminder that they knew nothing than those older and wiser than them. But someone older and wiser than them had told them to not give their name, and they opted to listen to Emilio instead.

"I wouldn't mind saying my name," they said slowly and hesitantly, "I just don't want to give it. You could ask the question differently. Most people do." They doubted themself, wondered if they were acting on fear rather than rationality. His insistence only confused them — was he insistent because Wynne was being ridiculous? Or because he was going to take their name, like that person online? "Can't you ask me differently? Like… What's your name? What are you called? Then we could follow procedure." 

Beau gave out a long and laborious sigh. With the slowness of a tortoise who’d lived longer than the humans around him, he slipped the glasses onto his head. His hands rubbed against his face, as if this was the most tedious and difficult conversation he had ever had in his life. Finally, after about three minutes of making the disrespectful youth in front of him, watch him make a production of being so tired of their shit, he let the glasses fall back to his nose. “Look around you.” Beau swept a hand like he was Mufasa and Wynne was Simba. But instead of telling them everything the light touches was theirs, he said “Do you see how many people there are in here? They are all waiting their turn. The longer you hold up this line, the longer they have to wait for you inconveniencing them.” 

“If you don’t stop whatever little fit this is,” Beau splayed a hand out, circling it around their direction, “And let me get my job done, those fine people are going to have to keep waiting. They are watching you know.” It didn’t help that Beau’s large and over exaggerated hand movements were an attention getter. “So here’s how it's going to go. I’m going to say name, you’re going to give me your name, then we’re going to move on. Okay? I am asking normally. I don’t ask my questions weirdly.” It was obvious this kid had been versed in keeping things from fae. Probably because of their last encounter. “Name?”

It was hard to remain steadfast and stand by what they said now. Wynne was looking at the other with wide eyes, wondering what methods he’d move onto if they refused to listen. There were rules here, in this world, that were supposed to keep people from acting the way some of the elders had back at home — but sometimes they forgot that when faced with people with authority. All they could do was become very still and quiet, watching every inch of movement on the other, taking in every word. Before they knew it, there were tears burning in their eyes and an apology on their tongue.

But this wasn’t home. This wasn’t Padrig, towering over them when they’d been fourteen and asked too many questions. They blinked and some of those stupid tears leaked out. Padrig called them ugly words in the back of their mind. “I think I’ll just go and come back another day,” they said. “And let you help the other people.” They could say more. They could be brave and tell this person that they were being mean, but Wynne wasn’t sure if that was the case or if they were overreacting. It sure felt like the latter right now. “Good day to you.” With that, they turned around, beelining towards the exit without looking over their shoulder.

Beau watched as tears began to leak from their eyes and they turned their back on him and walked away. Beau let himself sit there in pleased silence until he saw the door shut behind him. Then he let out a chorus of pleased laughter. God! How funny was that! They fucking cried. Hilarious. They had truly learned their lessons when it came to giving away their name, but they were still a weak willed loser. They would never amount to anything. Beau knew that because they couldn’t even come up with an interesting secret to share. Three thousand dollars? Like that was even a substantial sum to brag about. Good riddance. Beau pressed a button on his computer, and the number changed. Time to do it all again.

[boreal-sea]

I hope you don't mind me asking you a question, are you even aware of what the word genocide means? If you don't, let me enlighten you my dear Muppet who's left in the dark. Genocide refers to the deliberate killing of a large group of people belonging to a particular nation or ethnicity. What sort of genocide has EVER taken place regarding the killing of trans people, in large numbers? You can do whatever you want with your life, dress up in women clothes and put on makeup but that doesn't make you a female, you're still a male who just doesn't know what gender actually means. The reason why the trans community is losing rights and respect these days is because you treat being a woman as something like wearing a costume

Let's tackle the second part of your ask first because it's easy to deal with:

First, I am female. I was born with a uterus and a vagina. It says F on my birth certificate. I grew tiddies during puberty. I can menstruate. You're just so fucking stupid you don't know what "transmasc" means. Dipshit.

I don't need you to grasp the elementary school-level metaphor I use to describe my gender. I suppose you also get mad when Shakespeare says "Juliet is the Sun", don'tcha? Comparing humans to nature?? We've definitely not been doing that for thousands of years!

Moving on.

----

"Genocide refers to the deliberate killing of a large group of people belonging to a particular nation or ethnicity" - Anon

Hi! It looks like you're using a paraphrased and half-remembered definition of genocide from 1948 because it is convenient for your transphobic narrative, not because it is based on 21st century developments in human rights.

"Genocide is the intentional destruction of a people[a] in whole or in part."

"The Genocide Convention establishes five prohibited acts that, when committed with the requisite intent, amount to genocide."

Killing members of the group

Causing serious bodily or mental harm to members of the group

Deliberately inflicting on the group conditions of life calculated to bring about its physical destruction

Imposing measures intended to prevent births within the group

Forcibly transferring children of the group to another group

---

#1:

"While mass killing is not necessary for genocide to have been committed, it has been present in almost all recognized genocides."

Let's start with #1. Just putting the above quote out there in case the first one trips you up: actively killing members of the group is not necessary for something to be considered genocide.

But just for the record, people very much do kill trans people simply for being trans. It is very much a thing that happens. Secondly, many of the things happening in the next few steps lead to the deaths of trans people too. Sure, they're not lining us up against the wall - yet - but that step doesn't come first, and it doesn't always look like that.

#2:

Causing serious bodily/mental harm: This is happening systemically to trans people in a multitude of ways. Forcing a trans person to detransition causes mental and physical harm. Taking away a trans person's HRT causes mental and physical harm. Refusing to let a trans child transition causes mental and physical harm. Forcing a trans person through conversion therapy causes mental and physical harm. The mental and physical harm can be so great that members of this group commit suicide to escape the pain inflicted upon them - and this is a desired effect by the way.

This abuse is systemic. It is being written into law in state after state here in America. At least 10 states in the USA have passed laws outlawing childhood transition. Several of those states are going a step further and banning health insurances from covering transition care for legal adults. There are states banning "drag performance" worded so vaguely that it could outlaw a trans person just walking down the street - and that's what it's meant to do by the way.

To claim there is not a system of law being brought down on trans people to stop us from existing as trans people is to be purposely blind and ignorant. And that's just America.

#3:

Inflicting conditions of life calculated to bring about destruction: There are several ways this is happening right now. Conversion therapy is, in and of itself, a life condition imposed on a trans person in order to force them to cease existing as a trans person and to erase their transness. Forcing life outside of the home to be so unsafe and hostile that a trans person doesn't feel safe walking around as their true self is the same thing.

I want to make one thing clear. Forcing a trans person to detransition, forcing them into the closet, or otherwise forcing them to present as cis for their own safety - that is destruction. That is erasure of trans people from the face of the earth. To claim it is not, is to claim that it's not the destruction of someone's culture to force them to assimilate to Christianity if they are not Christian. It doesn't matter if the person is still technically alive: you have destroyed who they are.

#4:

Forced sterilization: Sterilization was and still is in some places mandatory for a person to legally identify as trans. To deny this is to deny literal reality. I am sure people like you do not want the disgusting transgenders to pass on their gross dysfunctional genes to their children. Which brings us to the last section.

#5:

Removing children from the group: This is happening. This happens all the time. In America, it often happens through the courts: one parent comes out as trans, the spouse freaks out, and goes to court to divorce their spouse and take full custody of the children.

But it's becoming outright law, too. In Florida, there is a bill on the floor to make it legal to take children away from transgender parents, because having to live with a trans person is "abuse". Texas last year wanted to make it so trans children could be taken away from their parents because letting their child transition was "child abuse".

---

"For the good of society … transgenderism must be eradicated from public life entirely"

- Daily Wire's Michael Knowles

"Genocide is the intentional destruction of a people in whole or in part."

---

This. Is. Genocide.

Just because we're still in the "early" stages doesn't mean genocide is not what this is. Just because there aren't death squads going door to door to kidnap trans people out of their homes doesn't mean this isn't where it could head.

Source link for facts about genocide

Source link for Fl trans parent bill

Source for Michael Knowles quote

[wonderful-prompts]

Hey, I'm writing a story- and i was wondering if you could lend me some angsty prompts.

So basically, there is this teen, and then his parental figure who was no idea where this child found her and what to do with him. At some point in time she did legal adopt him, but he doesn't know. And they're fighting and he goes, "You're not in change of me!"

And then she's like, "Actually I am!"

And my problem is I can't figure out what they should be fighting about. Anything I think of is too frivolers.

If you can help, it would be really helpful.

There’s some other information that may interest you about adoption itself below the cut. Your prompts will be tagged “unexpected guardian”.

Anyways here’s your first prompt:

He hadn’t spoken a single word in four days. No communication besides nods and eyes shifting toward whatever interested him in that moment. She could tell exactly when he would stop listening to her.

But the worst part was not knowing why he’d stopped speaking.

As for the plot itself, I don’t know where you’re from (beyond the United States) or where your story takes place, but both of these factor into the adoption plot itself.

Children being adopted are supposed to be at the court mandated adoption hearing.

In different states (and territories) in the United States, children 10 years old or older (or 12 or older, or 14 or older) must consent to the adoption. The (living and not proven abusive or proven to have abandoned their children) parents or whoever’s on the birth certificate must also consent to the adoption.

Depending on the age of your teenaged character, he would have to consent to this entire process taking place.

That is, unless your parental figure kept this from him, forged documentation, and lied to the court for a reason he wasn’t there. (And that seems to be a lot of work for an adoption, especially when one can be jailed for lying to the court.)

Additionally, frivolous arguments can be a symptom of a greater problem that’s not being properly addressed between the two, so counting them out is not necessary. It can still be frivolous or seem like it doesn’t matter as much as something else. Personality clashes happen even with blood family.