#I'm mutuals with most but not all of them

[weekendviking]

I'm from Aotearoa/New Zealand. We, and Australia, have this sorta useful but problematic hangover from the British Empire when we used to all be (if white enough, there was awful racist fine print!) british citizens of a sort, a mutual agreement that citizens from either nation can live and work without too much paperwork in either country - I just hop on a plane, head over, find a job, find accommodation, and it's all good, right. But for years the Aussies would wind back the mutual entitlements to kiwis on their side, so that by the time I went to live and work in Australia in '94, while an australian living and working ing NZ could pay taxes, vote, and use the health and other welfare services those taxes paid for, I could no longer do that in Australia - I could live, work, pay taxes, but not use the social security, medical care and not vote -those rights got steadily restricted by Australia throughout the 80's and '90s, so that by the time I was living and working there again in the mid '00s after some time in South America and back in NZ, there was essentially no social welfare safety net for kiwis working and paying taxes in Australia, and it was very difficult to become citizens in order to access them, as for decades the Aussie right had used Kiwi's as 'Shrodinger's immigrant' - over here, taking our jobs but also bludging our dole at the same time, to gin up votes. It got to the point that for most of the past 10-15 years, most of the inmates of their offshore detention camps were Kiwi, not refugees from more war-torn states. (and don't ask about the '501's, that's a whole other fuckup). This has been wound back a bit in the past 3-5 years after a lot of protests from our govt, but it's still lop sided.

So by the time I ruptured my right eye doing silly medieval larp campsite building in '04, the emergency doctor's first words to me after the initial 'Oh, wtf did you do' basic injury care questions, were 'Oh, you're a Kiwi, sorry, this is going to cost you'. And I had a brief vision of the financial horror that I've seen in US citizens go through in getting uncovered care, as they mentally calculate the bill. But because, although the Aussies' reneging on the mutual access to social services thing is _annoying_ , because we do have functional public healthcare (albeit underfunded every time a neoliberal govt tries to run it down for piecemeal privatisation....), we don't yet have the massive price inflation of pure for profit insurance funded healthcare, so the bill for a week's hospital care for a ruptured right eye with haematoma, retinal detachment, corneal and iris tears, etc, was about $1200... With a couple followup opthalmologist visits at about $500 to stabilise.

The same injury in the US, probably would have cost me something around 3-4000 for the initial ER response, and probably around 10-15 or even 25,000 for the week in hospital getting the eye stabilised.

The complacency among our citizens in Oz/NZ when our govts keep trying to introduce more US style insurance funded healthcare just sends me rage. And the US absolutely needs to revolt about it's awful healthcare exploitation.

Blogging this tweet because this explains SO MUCH about the mindset of pretty much all the folks I’ve known who’re against single-payer, it’s not even funny…

[spiderb00]

IS IT NEW YEARS YET

Megan Skiendiel X Reader

"After your ex broke up with you a month before Christmas, you lost your holiday mojo. Maybe you just needed to meet new people, a specific redheaded girl” 

Genre – fluff   Warnings – none  fruitcake masterlist

Now playing – Is it new years yet, by Sabrina Carpenter 

The feeling of impostor settled in you, as soon as you passed through the door of Lara's house you felt uncomfortable, strange with the environment. Being without the company of your ex girlfriend at parties like this made you feel awkward and out of place. You were never a very sociable person, of course, you were never rude, you just didn't like to leave the house so much. Whether you wanted to or not, your ex had helped with your shyness, always dragging you everywhere, but now, without her, you felt a little lost in the midst of people.  

Lara was throwing a party, a small meeting. The commemorative dates were approaching and any excuse for a party was enough for Lara. You and the Indian girl knew each other for a long time, even before she went to Dream Academy, or bonded as Katseye's lead vocalist. Your friendship with Lara has always been strong, you have always supported the girl in everything, while she did the same with you.   

When Lara found out about your breakup, she comforted and supported you, as always. She let you have your sad moment, but after a month, the girl did everything to take your mind off the girl who broke your heart before Christmas. When Lara called you to the party, you quickly tried to refuse, making up any excuse not to leave the house. But, when you saw that the red-haired girl wasn't going to give up, you agreed to go.  

And now here you are, a plastic cup with energy drink in your right hand, as you sit in one of the chairs outside Lara's house. You knew most of the people at the party, all mutual friends of yours and Lara's, but after a while of talking and laughing, you decided it was time to be alone for a while, just you and your thoughts. Taking the lighter out of your back pocket, you were about to light a cigarette – one of the habits you picked up after the breakup – when someone approached you.   

"Hi, do you mind if I sit down? There's a lot of noise inside." Asked a girl, she had red hair and was tall, not as tall as you.  

"No, okay, go ahead." You said, putting away the cigarette and lighter before settling back into the chair.   

Looking at the girl better, you could finally tell why she looked so familiar. It was Megan, Lara's bandmate. You haven't met all the Kats yet, but you surely recognize them from promotional videos, music videos, and in general. You thought the Chinese girl was beautiful, and you didn't think she could be even more beautiful in person. 

"I'm Megan." The red-haired girl said, a faint smile on her face as she waited for you to introduce yourself.   

"I know, I mean, I recognized you. I am Yn." You said, fumbling a little with the words. 

"Oh, sure. You are Lara's best friend. She talks a lot about you." Megan says. "It's good to finally put a face to the name."   

Laughing lightly, you nod. The night was quiet and although you wanted to be alone, the redhead's company was not bad.   

"So why are you out here instead of enjoying the party inside?" The redhead asks, settling in the chair and looking directly at your face.  

"Well, I could ask you the same question..." You say, making the girl laugh lightly. "Well, but I'm just here to clear my mind, you know."  

"Oh, I get it, a lot of people also make me a little overstimulated." Megan says, nodding in understanding.   

"Really?" You ask, the conversation flowing naturally. "How do you work? Why, you know... You kind of have to deal with a lot of people. Sorry if this is invasive..." You say, genuinely interested in Megan's words.  

"It's not invasive." The girl says, laughing lightly at your concern. "I think I just got used to it, I love what I do, so it kind of becomes natural after a few years." She says, fiddling with the rings that were on her hand. "But I always have time for myself, and it's always nice to have someone who's always with you. The girls are my second family." Megan said. You noticed that the redhead's nose started to turn red, because of the cold. 

"You seem very passionate when you talk about all this-" Interrupting your speech, a couple walks past you and Megan, both of them making out. As the guy sat in the chair next to you and the redhead, the girl he was kissing climbed onto his lap, leaving you and Megan dumbfounded.   

"Is this serious?" Megan asked, as you stood up, holding out her hand to the shorter girl.  

"Come on, I don't think these idiots are going to leave anyway." Standing up, Megan took your hand in hers, letting you guide her to the back door of the house.  

"I think we'd better come in, Lara must be looking for us and you're shivering with cold." You said, taking off your jacket and putting it on the shoulders of the shorter girl. "Here, you can take that." 

As you adjusted the jacket to Megan's shoulders, the redhead admired your face. Megan already knew who you were, in fact, she always asked Lara to introduce you to her, but that never really happened. Now, with you here in front of her, she couldn't miss the chance to make the move.  

"Thank you, that's very sweet of you." Megan said, the jacket hanging loosely from her shoulders, extending to the middle of her thighs.   

You and Megan finally entered the house, people talked, drank and others kissed in the corners, it felt more like a fraternity party than a Christmas Eve party.   

"Megaann! I looked for you everywhere." A slightly drunk Daniela bumped into you, making you hold her by the waist.  

"My God Dani, how much did you drink?" Megan said, approaching the Latina and checking if everything was okay with her.   

"Yes, it's me-"   

"Shiiiu, don't tell Megan I said that, but she's very into you." The Latina spoke, after interrupting you by placing her index finger on your lips.   

"DANI!" Megan screamed, taking the girl from your arms and trying to walk her out of the house.  

"Bye, Yn. Thank you for keeping me company, we're going." Megan said, trying to save herself from the embarrassment Daniela had caused her.  

"Wait a minute, how are you going to take her like this." You said, holding the other side of Daniela as you walked with Megan.  

"It's okay, I'll order an Uber or something."  

"Let me take you." You said, making the girl hesitate. "Please, it's dangerous, let me help."   

When Megan finally agreed, you helped her put Dani in the back seat of your car, starting and then driving to the Kats' house. When you finally got there, you both started struggling to get Daniela to bed, since the Latina hadn't made the work of the two of you any easier.  

"Dani, you have to get out of the car." Megan said, pulling the blonde's arm as she held firmly in the passenger seat.   

"NO, I want to stay longer and talk to Yn." Daniela said, pouting and getting a laugh from you.  

Getting out of the car, you turned around and stood next to Megan, who was still clutching Daniela's right arm.   

"Dani, I'm here. You can get out of the car and talk to me." You said, as the blonde looked in your direction and gave you a drunken smile. 

"YN! My friend, Yn." The Latina jumped out of the car, leaning on you as she staggered towards the entrance of the house, causing Megan to roll her eyes and close the door of your car.  

 "Has Megan ever kissed you or what?" The Latina spoke directly to you.  

"DANI! Be quiet, please." Megan spoke, fumbling with the keys to the front of the house.  

When she finally managed to open the door, you helped the girl in. Daniela threw herself on the couch quickly, laughing lightly and closing her eyes soon after, not before singing a little to you and the redhead next to you.  

"Yn and Megan, under a tree, kissing, la la la la la la." 

Rolling her eyes, Megan watched the Latina fall asleep as fast as she had gotten drunk, and you thought that was your cue to go home, so you headed towards your car.   

"Thank you for everything." Megan said, crossing her arms and hugging your jacket, which was still wrapped around her.   

"It was nothing, if you need it, you know where to find me." You said, leaning against your car, and hesitating a few seconds before continuing. "So, is it true?"  

"What is truth?" Megan's face became slightly confused.  

"What Daniela said. You know what they say, drunks always say what they wanted to say sober." You said, getting a little closer to the redhead. 

Biting her lip nervously, Megan looks down at the floor, before turning her gaze back to you again.   

"What would you do if you were?" Megan asked, coming closer to you.  

Laughing lightly, you pulled a strand of Megan's hair from her face, tucking it behind her ear.  

"You can return my jacket tomorrow night when I come by and take you on a date." You say, a smile painting your lips.  

"yes, I think it can work." Megan said, returning your smile.  

"Of course. It's not New Year's yet, we have plenty of time." 

Hi guys, penultimate chapter of Fruitcake, I'm loving this series, but I really want it to end lol.

The truth is that I want to start finalizing and posting your requests, but things will work out

I haven't proofread it yet, so there may be some mistakes, I'm very tired bc my family is in my house.

xoxo, spider.

[kuroo-hitsuji]

I somehow only Just noticed how Lucifer's wings move when he laughs in Surprise Guest interactions and I'm. Kind of obsessed? Like that's inexplicably adorable what

I've been due for some wings brainrot for a while now, hoping this one sticks around for a while afhsfjsf the tails got more than their fair share of my attention i Need to be spinning the concept of wings around in my brain at all times for the next three months At Least--

(Bonus hc infodump in the tags bc I have minimal self restraint)

[girlofghosts]

⋆. 𐙚 ˚ the way i loved you | harry potter

₊ ⊹ summary: after the tri-wizard tournament, you really don't think your best friend, harry, could've possibly survived it. but he always amazes you—especially after your little reunion, when harry realizes he really doesn't waste any time anymore.

₊ ⊹ warnings: best friends to lovers, first times but not sex, kissing, dry humping, mutual pining, getting caught after but not during, readers not a gryffindor but it's not even a plot point so don't worry

₊ ⊹ a/n: first fic kinda nervy... not proofread it's 3:25 am sorry but i'm barely posting this i kinda hate it like a lot

"...Has anyone seen Harry?" You find yourself saying as you try and apologize your way through the crowds of people in the area, finally landing eyes on Ron and Hermione.

Surely they'd know. And know they did, as Hermione turns to you and says, "Harry's still in there. Haven't gotten eyes on them though."

God, you're sure your heart was nearly beating out of its chest, and it didn't help that you were heating up just from running around in the middle of June in the swarming heat.

Hermione's hand on your back is all you can focus on as you try to convince yourself Harry Potter is not dead. He couldn't be. Injured, at most—

"Y/N?" You hear your name, and by god you've never felt more relief in your life over your name.

The familiar sight of round glasses askew and messy brown hair grounds you as you rush past Hermione and Ron admittedly quickly before halting at the sight—Cedric Diggory unmoving beside him.

"By god, tell me that's your blood on your face." You breathe out, a bit frazzled at the situation, moving to kneel beside him, thumb moving to wipe the deeply wounded scratch on his jaw.

He nods, and at your relief, he snickers, "never took you to be relieved over me being wounded."

"You know what I mean, god, you're so stupid—" your first instinct is to scold, to tell him he shouldn't have gotten hurt. That he shouldn't have been so reckless.

That he shouldn't have given you such a scare.

"Shh, shh," he sighs, still a bit breathless from it all, "save that for later when I'm not so... Winded."

Letting out a defeated sigh in return, you apologize, "I'm sorry. You just really fucking scared us, y'know that? God, I thought you'd died—" you pull him into a tight, desperate hug.

He just takes the hug, the warm touches, greeting Hermione and Ron as they make their way up to the scene as well, particularly engrossed in the solemn sight of the boy unconscious feet away.

Dumbledore finally makes his way up, students naturally clearing a path as he treads up the steps to the scene as well, face unreadable.

"Harry, you best... Clean yourself up, visit the hospital wing. Madam Pomfrey can handle those for you, surely." Dumbledore proposes, more of an order than an offer, to which Harry complies with a subtle nod.

Leaning on you for support, he slowly but surely gets up, the other two allowing you to handle it. Hermione's soft nudge as you walk past them tells you all you need to know, really. She's in on it.

Hermione's always been the one to go to for anything, really. As much as she's enveloped in her studies, she seems to be a good multitasker in the sense she'll retain any information you give her as she's studying.

That's how your late night rambles began in your dorm, in the library, all of it. You talking about classes, family, boys, you name it—she knew.

As the Yule Ball approached that year, you'd began the talk of boys, and she was surprisingly interested. Talking about her own interests, particularly of Ron, though. How he treated her like some last choice...

And you, with your best friend, Harry. Though, you two went as friends, it felt particularly good having a multitude of people not know that. Thinking you two were one anothers dates. Especially during The Champions Waltz.

Either way, ever since then, Hermione knew when to leave you two to your endeavors, and to make Ron mind his business.

So when Ron seems to start to follow down the path after you and Harry, it's no surprise Hermione moves to grip his wrist gently to stop him.

"You're easily gonna need some kind of cast, unless you're trying to drink that god-awful bone growth potion again." Your arm is holding him up gently, and the touch has your stomach in knots.

"Don't even remind me, I'll never stop tasting that." He groans, leaning further into you, glancing over and up at you, "say, was Cedric... Was he alright?"

"I don't know." You admit, "I bet he'll be in the infirmary sooner or later. Surely."

Harry takes that as an answer, thankfully, and you two finally make your way into the hospital wing, Madam Pomfrey front and center as she ushers Harry in and to one of the many open beds.

It's a while that you two are sat waiting as Madam Pomfrey puts random disinfectant items and healing gels on his wounds before sighing and wrapping up her procedure by wrapping a piece of cloth around his neck to alleviate some stress on his arm, slouching it like a makeshift sling.

"Well, dearie, there's not much else I can do. Magic can't heal it any further. Keep this on as much as you can, alright? Now head up to your dorm, I bet you'll be seeing a visit from Dumbledore soon." She rambles, "now go on."

It's a lot of information, but Harry nods, adjusting to the feeling of it elevated before moving to get off the bed, walking fine now, thankfully.

"Can we go to the dorms now?" Harry asks, looking over at you as you two walk out of the hospital wing.

"The Gryffindor dorms? I can take you, yeah." You reply, not quite taking it as an invitation, but rather a request.

"No, no, with me." He shakes his head, "please?"

It's weird, hearing him nearly plead, but quite frankly you aren't against it one bit.

"Why? And, well, there's no way your roommates aren't in there too." Your eyebrows furrow, confused by the proposition despite wanting to agree without a worry in the world.

"They wouldn't tell, if they're even there." Harry shakes his head, "I just... Don't really wanna be alone after all that."

You can't say no to that. And it's true, Ron, Dean, Seamus, or Neville would never tell a single soul.

It's a long walk up the dizzyingly confusing, moving stairs you can never quite get an understanding for, and down corridors you swear weren't there before. Surely enough, you find yourselves in front of the portrait of The Fat Lady, who lights up at the sight of a new face.

"Oh, who in the world is this now, Harry Potter? A girl from another house?" She nearly scolds.

"Balderdash," Harry tries to ignore her words that'll without a doubt sprout into a lesson.

"Harry Potter!" The portrait attempts to scold him for a second time.

"I know. Balderdash." He repeats, prompting the portrait to swing open, as he hears her continue while he brings you inside until you're in the Gryffindor common room.

"It's awfully quiet." You hum, "and... Empty."

"Maybe they all went back to classes for today." Harry sighs, readjusting his sling, "I'll show you to our years dorm." He changes the subject.

You comply easily, trailing behind him across the room to find a staircase, many offshoots, but you don't get a chance to look too much before he's opening the room to reveal five beds, each with a respective end table and chest, appropriately decorated and left lived in by the others before he finds his own and lies down with a small groan.

Stood a bit hesitantly in the entrance, you take in the empty room, before glancing back at Harry to see him gesturing for you to come over.

You move to sit beside him on the bed, despite the tight fit. He finally speaks up.

"Y'know how you said you thought I died?" He sighs, reminding you of your earlier words.

You don't understand it's importance, but nod.

"Well, for what it's worth, I thought I did too." His messy brown hair splays against the pillow as he lies his head down finally to get comfortable, "and it was... Kind of terrifying. And I've fought a basilisk." He lightens the mood. Or, tries to.

"Yeah?" The low hum of your voice fills the room, nodding as you listen, wondering where this is going.

"I kinda just..." He shifts in the bed, ending up a little closer than before to you, "I didn't realize people were serious when they said your life flashes before your eyes."

That seems to have your heart growing heavy.

"It was that bad? What even happened?" You ask, before realizing... Maybe that's not the best question right now, "er... Just, it was that bad?"

"It was like... I realized how much stuff I regretted not doing. And like... I could die at any time. It was really weird." Harry rambles, "like, there's so many things I realized I should be doing and haven't."

"Like what?" You hum, glancing back over at him despite him looking right up at the top of the canopy of his bed.

"...I didn't get to tell Ron or Hermione I loved them, since I guess I've never been the type to say that stuff even if I mean it. I haven't stopped Voldemort. I haven't proven the Dursleys wrong, haven't avenged my parents..."

"Haven't told you a lot of things I should've by now." He trails off, adding, finally looking over to gauge your reaction. You blink a few times at the bluntness.

"Like what?" You ask all too quickly, shifting.

"...You know I like you, Y/N, don't you?" He murmurs, looking away and back up at the canopy, "and that... That I was gonna ask you to the Yule Ball but totally chickened out." He also admits, vulnerably.

It's kind of a lot to process since he only continues to add fact after fact, each more daunting than the last.

"And that one time I went to your dorm for the night, snuck in, hid under the blankets so your roommates didn't know, I really wanted to do that over and over again. I tried to come by again one day, but the entry was seriously impossible." He goes on, "I just really like being with you, y'know?"

"Shh," you shush him, gently, when you two finally get to make eye contact, trying to sit with the thoughts so you could get a word in.

The way he looks up at you as if you're his entire world has you weak, quite frankly, and you're debating whether to handle this with your brain or heart.

...You opt for heart.

In a few secomds time, your hand moves down to cup his jaw before leaning down to comfortably kiss him, praying he reciprocates.

Thankfully, a few seconds after, he complies, spare hand moving to find your waist gently, the other arm still against the sling as his lips press back to yours.

"I just really don't wanna regret never telling you. Or getting to do any of this stuff that I've always wanted to. Especially when it feels like we could die any day." He murmurs against your lips, forehead pressed to yours as he catches a breath.

"Yeah?" You murmur back, "we'll make sure it happens." The reassurance of your voice is enough to relax him in his position beside you.

You're a bit more aware of your position, halfway hovering over him as he lies down. Surely, if he weren't wounded, it'd be the other way around. Maybe. Probably. It wasn't everyday you got him in bed with you.

"...I don't wanna rush, but I also don't wanna wait anymore. Does that make sense?" Harry asks, hand finding your waist and gently ghosting it.

"I understand, I think." You agree and breathe out, "but we better make a decision quick because we're getting way too comfortable with the idea that they won't come back anytime soon."

He tries to move before soon remembering his sore arm, wincing before watching you opt to move for him, "where d'you want me?"

The sharp breath he sucks in at that doesn't go unnoticed before asking, "in my lap, please?"

Complying, you move to sit on his lap, looking down at him. His free hand finds your thigh.

"Are we seriously doing this?" You ask him.

"Don't have to. Just... Really want to." He says honestly, "you're really, really bloody pretty, y'know that?"

The way he acts and talks is almost cautious, as if you being on his lap was the signal to take initiative right now. Well damn.

"...Thanks," you hum, a bit out of it. You're about to have sex with your best friend, aren't you?

Eyes closing for a moment, he has to take in another sharp yet shaky inhale as he takes in the sight of you on top of him. At least you know you have an effect on him.

Kissing was oddly the safest option in this situation, a thought you never thought you'd have. But here you were, leaning down to trap him in your arms as you lock your lips again, careful of his arm beside him before your chest are nearly against one anothers.

He doesn't speak, kissing you like you're a necessity for life, if not life itself.

Admittedly, you feel him harden against you, bur you can't blame him. You're fully pressed down in his lap, kissing him, shifting to get comfortable here and there.

That doesn't mean it's not surprising, though.

"You already hard?" You murmur against his lips, pulling away enough to talk with him, one hand brushing the hair from his eyes and fixing his glasses.

He nods back, looking up at you, a little breathless.

Well fuck. You're having sex with the guy you've been in love with since your first year. The guy where your puppy love for him turned one random day into admittedly raunchy thoughts you found yourself thinking of late at night.

That wasn't the point right now.

He lets out a soft groan out of seemingly nowhere, head falling back against the pillow as his eyes shut tight, mumbling repeatedly, "do that again..."

"Do what?" You ask, not torturously, but rather confusingly.

"Uhm—just... That." He sheepishly moves a hand to your rear to try and press you down against him once again. Oh. Okay.

So this seemed more realistic right now. Kissing and grinding. Clothes on, all that. You didn't feel as timid now, knowing what was going on.

"I can do that." You hum back, assessing your situation before moving your hands to rest on either side of his head on the bed, hovering over him.

"But bare with me. I've never..." You decide to let him finish that sentence for you, and he quickly picks up on it thankfully.

"Me neither. It's fine. Anything you do feels good, really." He decides to admit in hopes of assuring you.

You nod softly, the high expectations you originally had for yourself lowering thankfully as you seem to feel the pressure lift from your shoulders.

Hips grinding, you press back down into his lap, your own hips stuttering at the feeling as you let out a shaky exhale.

Admittedly, he was in his usual uniform pants, and you your skirt, where this basically had you grinding your panties against him given the position. Any sensatations were heightened and your immediate shudders had him groaning.

"...Keep doing that, please." He pleads a little weakly. You didn't know whether he was always such a taker or if the daunting event had him needing to get taken care of for once.

You weren't not going to, either, though.

"I won't stop, don't worry," you hum, hips gliding over his, feeling him press up against you as you let out your own caught off guard whimper.

"You're so pretty," he repeats, hand finding your waist like before, before moving to move your hair out of your way, "thank god you like me—fuck."

"Yeah? Thank god I like you?" You let out a breathy laugh, before faltering to let out a small gasp, hips stuttering at a particularly good movement that you find yourself repeating for a few moments.

He nods, repeatedly, neck arching against the pillow, "fuck, oh," he bucks his hips, hand steadying yours, "bloody hell..."

You decide not to let up, wondering if that was what he'd need to get off, trying to think of what you'd want in his situation, and he reels.

"Hah, ah, Y/N," his hips buck once more, "need you to cum, too." He pleads.

It's not that you didn't love this, because you loved every second of it, but you weren't close. Not as close as him, anyway.

"Can't, 's okay." You shake your head, "not about me today. Next time."

He snakes his open hand down to your thigh before trying to get your skirt up with one hand and find your panties with the same one. You give in and hold your skirt up for him, wondering where he was going with this.

"Show me where to touch," he looks up, letting you move your own hand to guide his, right to your clothed clit over your panties, hips twitching.

He runs repeated circles over that spot, trying to find the right pace.

"Little faster," you hum, hand now on his thighs behind you, the other letting the skirt fall as you secure yourself on his lap, leaned back, hips experimentally grinding forward again.

"Now do smaller circles," your nods spur him on, and he's seemingly keen on figuring this out right here, right now.

He finally gets it, thumb on your clit, circling at the perfect speed, as you rolled your hips against his clothed cock, watching him twitch at your touch.

Not only that, but he seems to be trying to get you to cum first. His thumb persistent, trying not to get too horny from the sight and feeling of a pretty girls hips rolling against his.

"Harry? Harry, I'm close," you hum, moving back to hover more closely over him, "think you can cum with me?" You hum. You doubt it, simply since he seems so pent up, so sensitive.

"Cum with you? Oh, fuck," he rolls his hips up desperately, making you whine, and him orgasm, totally moaning out as he relaxes against the bed. He bucks his hips repeatedly, long, thorough thrusts against you.

"Harry, *please*," you whine. You don't orgasm at the same time, but during his, as he comes down. He simply keens at your reaction.

"I'm, fuck, I'm..." You roll your hips down, struggling, feeling him shakily move your hips with his hand as he continues to sensitively grind up against you, pants admittedly wet.

Your panties were no better, and you knew that, so you weren't one to talk.

You come crashing down with his meticulous movements he'd learned only minutes ago, whimpering before whining softly as your hips stutter and he guides you through it.

"You got it." He murmurs, reassuringly, rubbing your hips gently as you come down.

Quite frankly, you didn't even feel present after that. Here you were, in Harry's bed, limp in his lap, legs shaky with your head pressed to his chest.

"...We're dating, right?" You breathe out.

"Just let me ask you properly, like you deserve." He sighs with a soft nod, "later. When I can actually... Think. And breathe. And... All of that."

You like the sound of that. And he doesn't seem as stressed as he was earlier about all that... Existential, the world is ending stuff.

"What in the—oh, god, you two—" a loud voice makes you both tense, and Harry grip your waist a little tighter. Ron.

"Get out—!" Harry instinctively calls back out, "10 more minutes, I swear!" He sighs.

"...Did you two—" Ron tries to ask again.

"10 minutes, Ron." Harry huffs. That seems to get Ron to comply, thankfully, and the door closes behind him as he rushed down the stairs.

"...He's gonna tell Hermione." Harry huffs, sheepishly.

"She won't be surprised." You admit. There was no way she didn't see this coming with the things you'd tell her about your crush on him.

"What?" Harry blinks a few times before sighing, "y'know what? I... I don't wanna know. Just lie back down."

He sighs, bringing your head back to his chest and running a hand through your hair, and really, all you were thinking about were his words:

"Let me ask you properly. Like you deserve."

[deslizada]

first thank you for all this info and explanation, it's super helpful!! I am a baby ML and I've recently been working with the local Revolutionary Communists of America chapter (used to be IMT), but I did have some concerns about them. It would be really good to hear from a non-trot about my experiences. This is focused on modern Trotskyism, not Trotsky as a person, who imo was kind of a bitch.

First some background, I live in [city redacted] and most of the leftists here are anarchists, so getting any of them together is like herding cats. The PSL (Party for Socialism and Liberation) and the RCA are really the only organized leftist groups here. I found the RCA through student strike for Palestine organizing at the local DSA meeting. They have done a lot of work with Palestine action groups and were at the university divestment encampment, which was a good sign for me. I decided to organize with the RCA because the PSL (or at least my local chapter) supports a two-state solution in Palestine and denies that the Uyghur ethnic cleansing is happening, among other things. Also, my local PSL chapter does a lot of agitating but not much in terms of education or long-term organizing. The RCA seems focused on building a vanguard party for the long term with a thorough theoretical education, which imo is the only viable strategy in the US at this point given the (almost) complete lack of revolutionary potential right now.

In terms of my personal experiences, I will say that the RCA does uphold democratic centralism and focuses on the works of Marx and Lenin much more than Trotsky. (I have yet to be recommended anything written by Trotsky, actually.) They fully support revolutions outside the imperialist core and critically support existing socialist projects. Also imo they have a good analysis of current events, i.e. the situation in Syria, China's economic imperialism, how to combat imperialism internally in the US, etc. Their interpretation of permanent revolution is not "all countries must revolt at the same time", but rather "countries do not have to adhere to Marx's stage theory and can progress straight to socialism regardless of their previous conditions". (Caveat that I have no idea if this is a correct interpretation.) They do emphasize international coalition-building very heavily though. All this to say that my experiences with my local chapter have been generally good and I haven't run into any big red flags re: theory yet.

My first concern is that they do ask for one day's wages for monthly dues, which is a lot of income for me. There is a lot of focus on donating in general, and it's not clear where the money goes beyond supporting the few people who work for the party full-time and printing newspapers. However, they also say that anything over $25 a month is fine for dues, so I'm not super worried about it and I don't feel pressured or anything, I would just appreciate more financial clarity.

My second, bigger concern is that I've tried to bring up getting involved in mutual aid a few times, and it hasn't been received very well. The chairs of the chapter basically said that it was useful for personal development, but wouldn't actually contribute to bringing down capitalism, so it wasn't worth the party's time to do. They also said that it would basically be entryism to work with apolitical mutual aid groups (???). They said that their goal was recruiting people who are already communists but aren't organized and we should be focused on that instead. I don't disagree that that's important, I just also think that doing mutual aid explicitly as a communist party would be a really good way to 1. support the community 2. get a good reputation going for the party.

Also, not a huge concern but definitely worth noting, the local chapter is almost entirely students. I'm the oldest person in the group at 29. This means that it's fairly disorganized and nobody can show up on time to anything. They are not beating the allegations.

Also also I find Alan Woods' writing kind of unbearable and wish they would find some different authors.

I would really appreciate some feedback about whether I'm wasting my time with the RCA and should just shut up and join the PSL instead, or if there's a secret third option I don't know about. Anyone is welcome to chime in on this. Thanks again for all the work you put into this explanation, I really appreciate it!!!

I think it's fair to say there is interest in an explanation of trotskyism from a marxist-leninist perspective. Information on what exactly Trotsky did and what trotskyism is nowadays is complicated to come by unless you know a trotskyist willing to be straightforward or someone involved in organizing with these types of communists. So instead of answering these asks without much prior research or preparation, I decided to wait until I was freer, without too many academic and political responsibilities. Full disclosure, the portion of this post on Trotsky himself is essentially (though not completely) a summary of Moissaye J. Olgin's Trotskysim: Counter-revolution in Disguise, which gets into the basics of trotskyism as well as Trotsky's actual position on his contemporary issues, such as the Chinese revolution, or the CPUSA which I don't get into here but I highly recommend reading. The second portion, about modern trotskyism and how it got to be present in the countries that it is, is shorter and more based on my own experiences organizing with trotskyists as well as reading what they have to say, and conversations with much more knowledgeable comrades of mine.

What is trotskyism?

Succinctly, it is the form of left opposition to marxism-leninism that has enjoyed the most spread, spearheaded by Leon Trotsky and his criticisms of the USSR.

Trotsky himself, despite what his self-aggrandizing History of the Russian Revolution leads one to believe, was never a bolshevik, much less a leninist. The second Congress of the Russian Social-Democratic Labor Party¹ (RSDLP) of 1903, which sought to establish the bases of what would become the bolshevik party and the CPSU, saw the start of the menshevik-bolshevik split, on the issue of what the party should become and how it should be organized.

The bolsheviks, already lead by Lenin, defended the principles of organization that were later systematized into democratic-centralism. These principles were the freedom of discussion until the party decided by a majority vote during a Congress, Conference or other organ for discussion, a position on any issue. After this, unity of action should follow, and the comrades who held the minority opinion, even if they still disagree, should submit to the collectively agreed-upon position, and act on that line an all party matters. This is to ensure that the party of the proletariat, representing the interests of one class, is not divided, and is able to express that single will. Otherwise, its action is crippled by unending debates kept alive by a minority. Consequently, these principles also lead to the intolerance towards fractions within the party.

Trotsky, who aligned himself with the mensheviks, opposed these principles, instead advocating for a complete liberty of individual action of comrades in the party. He called Lenin "the great disorganizer of the party" over this. This is the first great pillar of trotskyism, a rejection of democratic-centralism in favor of the creation of endless cliques and fractions within the party, which he did multiple times within the CPSU until his expulsion.

The second great pillar of the trotskyist opposition that arose before the October Revolution was of defeatism regarding the peasantry. Especially after the defeat of the 1905 revolution, Trotsky was convinced that a successful revolution in a country such as the Russian Empire, where the peasantry was a majority and usually held reactionary positions due to various economic determinations², was impossible because these reactionary elements would inevitably overthrow a worker's dictatorship. While already an excessively defeatist position among other communists, and certainly not a bolshevik position, this belief did not change whether it was 1905, 1915, or 1935. Up to the end, even once the USSR had beaten the armed intervention of 14 armies and had transformed the peasantry by eliminating the class of kulaks and collectivizing agriculture, Trotsky's opposition to socialism in one country relied on the perception of an insurmountable reactionary class constantly on the edge of an overthrow. This is what the "permanent revolution", a term that when used by trotsky has nothing to do with the same term used by Marx and Engels, actually means. A defeatism so deep, that only the practically simultaneous and global victory of the proletariat is possible, all without party unity!

This also negates other leninist positions such as the weakest chain theory, crucial to understanding imperialism, or the necessity of a communist party altogether. Since socialism in one country will inevitably fail, Trotsky told workers that an armed insurrection once the conditions was right was pointless, and that they should instead work for a "worldwide revolution", something that's in practice impossible because it would necessitate a synchronization of the conditions necessary for a revolution in every single imperialist country at once. Unequal development is an unbreakable rule of the imperialist stage of capitalism, and the notion of a worldwide revolution or even a revolution among a significant portion of imperialist countries was already refuted by Lenin in 1915.

So how did Trotsky reconcile his defeatist dogmatism with a living and thriving proof against it in the form of the USSR? As the third great pillar of trotskyism, he insisted by every possible avenue that the USSR wasn't actually socialist, the reasons for which changed constantly. Some issues were already recognized by the CPSU and worked against, and Trotsky exaggerated them. He expressed concern about the Central Committee replacing the party itself, he expressed concern about bureaucratization, the NEP and its lack of collectivization, the excessive speed of collectivization in the 30s, and other criticisms which, when taken together, show only contradiction and a single consistent position: that any attack against the USSR was legitimate.

And it's not like he was being ignored in the USSR, he simply always chose the most incendiary and anti-leninist methods for criticism. In the 13th Congress of the RCP(b) of 1924, among other things, the resolution that was approved recognized many flaws in the party coming out of the NEP, but that these issues weren't actively dangerous and could be solved: bureaucratization in some areas, excessive departmentalization, some influence of bourgeois elements. This resolution was passed unanimously, which included Trotsky. Immediately after the Congress, he published a pamphlet called The New Course, in which he lambasts this Congress and the entire party as having degenerated. In this pamphlet he also places students as the "barometer of the revolution", instead of workers themselves. His only proposal to that Congress was one to allow "freedom of groupings", meaning the freedom to form fractions. Once again he pulled the same stunt in the 15th Congress of 1926; he publicly subscribed to a resolution that explicitly banned such fractions, and directly afterwards published more pamphlets that directly opposed the resolution that he subscribed to! This is not a man who levied fair criticisms and was shut down, he was someone who held minority positions, anti-leninist ones, and refused to admit it, to the point of plotting against the USSR.

But how come Trotsky, during his better known times in exile, claimed he was the true Leninist and that he opposed the Stalinist degeneration? This is the greatest example of a tactic he used constantly. To always seem like the rational critic, and to pass his opposition as one coming from another bolshevik, he always shifted the perspective of his criticisms. In the times of Lenin, Lenin was the "great disorganizer", and the "leader of the reactionary wing of the party"³. But once Lenin died, he became the most loyal foot-soldier of Leninism, crusading against the Stalinist corruption. Then it was Stalin who became Trotsky's devil, effortlessly transposing his criticisms of Lenin to Stalin, and shifting his perspective from that of a menshevik, to that of a true "bolshevik-leninist".

This tactic was used constantly. For instance. when he was still within the ranks of the party, he completely opposed the principles of democratic-centralism, but once he was in exile and had to criticize the Communist International, his issue suddenly became only that the bolshevik form of organization was being hastily applied to different contexts. Then, he really had no issue with democratic-centralism. When he talked of the possibility of a revolution in the US, then all his worries of an insurmountable reaction dissolved, instead becoming an optimist who believed that, actually, there would be no real significant class who would oppose a revolution in the US, and that therefore the USamerican workers should carry out a revolution "without compulsion". The very same person who over the course of decades insisted on the dangers of a counter-revolution apparently believed the workers of the USA had no opposition to fear. This was, rather, simply an opposition to the Communist International's analysis of imperialism, as Trotsky placed the most revolutionary potential in the countries where capitalism was most developed, the imperial core, the very same mistake Marx and Engels committed, except only 70 years prior and with no good framework with which to analyze imperialism. If Trotsky was truly a leninist, then he utterly failed at even beginning to understand anything about the theory regarding imperialism.

I think this is a good enough place to leave Trotsky be, and talk now about trotskyism beyond Trotsky.

Trotskyism, especially in its analysis of imperialism, is very attractive to the imperial core communist. It appeals to multiple sensibilities like individualism, an aversion to revolutionary discipline and work, and impatience. By putting the emphasis away from the party of our class and onto the group of individual ideologues, each with their own cliques and mini-parties, by completely disregarding the possibility of a revolution outside the top of the imperialist pyramid, and by also disregarding the possibility of a revolution until the instance of a total global victory, it is no wonder most trotskyists nowadays are found in the imperial core. This is, with the exception of a portion of Latin-American countries, which I think deserves its own explanation.

Latin America in the 20s and 30s was a continent⁴ of very differing levels of development of capitalism and the proletariat. When many European trotskyists left to Latin America for various reasons, it's no coincidence that they ended up mostly in the urban centers of the most developed countries, such as Argentina and México, where Trotsky himself ended his emigrations after exile. It was exported to places that had a significantly developed proletariat, places which up to that point lacked a culture of multiple communist parties, like Europe had, and places with a strong unionist movement. Other countries like Colombia, Ecuador or Perú, whose worker movements were more significantly indigenist and/or decolonial, along with not meeting the other conditions like Argentina and México, were less ripe for trotskyism.

The condition for a lack of a multi-party environment was important because the trotskyist opposition to the USSR collected all the "orphaned" communists who opposed the sections of the Communist International in each of their countries, especially after the Moscow trials of the late 30s which expanded the opposition to marxism-leninism internationally, as well as with other events like the Hungarian intervention after WW2. But besides this very specific phenomenon, product of a set of very specific conditions which, outside of the imperial core, were only met in these specific countries, the basis of trotskyism as an imperial core opposition to marxism-leninism remains.

So nowadays, trotskyists are mostly located in the imperial core, with those exceptions I've explained. And this leads me to the last part of this post, which is about organizing with trotskyists as a marxist-leninist. In short, it's not impossible but also not an extraordinary situation. Organizing in the imperial core varies from country to country, that much is clear, but the fragmentation into countless groups and sects, as well as the competition with social-democrats, is broadly consistent. These conditions, again generally, mean marxist-leninist parties in the imperial core have to collaborate with a myriad of communist offshoots, anarchists, and ill-defined "leftists" to achieve a broader reach. This includes trotskyists. What makes them in particular uniquely annoying to organize with is that they continue to pretend to be leninists despite all the discrepancies, so they tend to constitute competitors in agitation and rhetoric, while their internal organization usually resembles that of an anarchist group more than anything else. From this, other symptoms like a reliance on assemblyism (especially in the students' movement) and extreme levels of voluntarism naturally follow.

The IMT (International Marxist Tendency), or whichever acronym it is that they're using now, has a relevant presence in just the US and UK with a nominal one in most other imperial core countries. In all cases they're not much more than newspaper vendors who sometimes gives talks at best, and mere reading clubs or financially-extorting sects at worst. There is another international grouping of trotskyist parties that I've come across led by the PTA (Partido del Trabajo Argentino, Argentinian Labor Party), mostly linked via their news broadcast Izquierda Diario, although from what I've heard, the PTA finances their international "children" parties too. Of course, these groups all have different names in each country which in turn tend to change every few years.

Before the split of the Second International during WWI, communists called themselves social-democrats

The mode of production of the peasantry was very individualized, since each peasant or group of peasants lived partly from the fruits of their own labor, they didn't sell it in its entirety. This stands in contrast with the proletariat's completely socialized mode of production; every worker sells the entirety of their labor-power and sustains themself by purchasing commodities with their salary. The pre-existing socialization of production in capitalism was identified by Marx and Engels already in the Manifesto as one of the reasons for the proletariat being the revolutionary class by excellence. The reactionary tendencies of the peasantry wasn't wholly determined by this, it also depended on various historical and contextual reasons, but this should be better expanded on a dedicated post to social alliances.

These are all real insults thrown at Lenin by Trotsky when he disagreed about party discipline. The "true leninist", ladies and gentlemen

Using "continent" in a very loose way here. It's not like the common definitions of continent are very determined either. But you get what I mean

[plurapony]

I'll admit I've spent a lot of time in syscourse arguing about mundane things that... don't really matter in the real world..

But yesterday interacting with some older family members the realization slapped me in the face of how niche these debates are. How most people aren't part of the "endo" vs "traumagenic" and instead just lump all plurality as schizophrenic and as something that needs to be fixed. I had a family member ask me over and over why I wasn't able to make it go away with medicine.

To put it plainly, the normalization of disordered and non-disordered plurality alike would be beneficial to everyone! I have trauma and my experiences result from trauma, but those experiences are incredibly personal and are not something I want to be sharing with every person I meet. I just want me and my parts to be respected and yet I'm always stuck in the cycle of justifying my plurality by my trauma.

I want to live the reality where my system's plurality is accepted and respected without questions. Stories about what I went through as a child, how my recovery is going, all the negative parts about my plurality - these are things I want kept private amongst trusted people in my life and they shouldn't be necessary for me to disclose in order for my plurality to be respected.

Regardless of what your syscourse stance is, we can all agree that we want respect and we wanted to be treated with kindness. And whilst we may be educated on the issues we face, the older generations live in an entirely different world and that education we see on a daily basis will basically never reach them. Sometimes there's a mutual benefit in alliances!

[starvu]

Crosswords and Cuddles || s. reid

where you and spencer spend some quiet and peaceful time together after he comes home from work

pairing: spencer reid x gn!reader (if something doesn't seem right to gn, please let me know)

genre: pure fluff

content warnings: none

word count: 1,8k

a/n: my second fanfiction, we're on the right track!! still sorry for my not so good english, i'm struggling not to repeat myself too much and use different adjectives, but i'm having a bit of trouble with that for now. anyway, i hope it won't bother you too much, have fun :))

You and Spencer loved spending time together and tried to spend as much time together as possible. Even though he spent most of his time working for the BAU on new cases and your job was demanding. That's why after two years of being together, you moved in together so you could share as many small, mundane moments together as possible.

Spending time together, you didn't even have to exchange much conversation. Your mutual presence was enough in most cases. The awareness of each other's warmth and care, a feeling that was clearly felt in the air, even if it was unspoken. You simply loved to accompany him in everything, and he loved having you around.

This evening was no different. Spencer didn't have any demanding cases this time. He could work with the team at Quantico. They didn't have to fly anywhere far, so he could come back to you every evening. You never knew when he would fly out again, so you were always happy when he could be home. Your peace was never certain. They could always have a new, demanding, brutal case that would cause him to disappear to the other side of the country, neglect sleep, drink more coffee than usual, and give no signs of life.

You were lying on the couch in your dark apartment. The apartment smelled of old books and coffee. This was the smell of your home now, it reminded you of the place you returned to and lived in. Your coats hung next to each other on the hangers in the hallway, your shoes were lined up neatly on the shelf, and your mugs were waiting in the kitchen cabinet. Your cup of coffee, which had way too much milk in it, stood on the dark brown, oak coffee table, accompanied by crosswords books, pens and scientific books from many fields from the library.

You two had brought those books by the kilos in canvas bags a few days ago. You couldn't even carry that many books from the library and you just made gooey eyes and a slightly bribing smile at the old lady librarian. This poor old woman, after so many of your visits, was already giving in to you. Spencer even tried to go above and beyond for you and just put some books away, but you fought for them. You were absolutely happy to have them in your bags, sitting on the subway, and riding home. Okay, actually you both were really excited to read all of these books.

You were wrapped in blankets, slightly sleepy the couch, even if the living room was lit with warm, not too bright light from a lamp. You had probably done everything, you had cooked dinner, you had read, you had done crosswords and looked up nonsense on your phone, you had even rearranged the books on the shelf, but not enough to disturb Spencer. You simply couldn't wait for him to finally come home, You yourself came back from work earlier than usual, so you waited a while, and the afternoon without him seemed so long.

As you were slowly dozing off with one eye, you heard the sound of a key turning in the lock of the door. You got up from the couch, still a little sleepy, but your expression brightened when you saw Spencer walking in front of the door. After he quickly hung his brown leather bag and navy coat on the rack and took off his sneakers, he wrapped his arms around your waist and hugged you tightly, resting his chin on the top of your head, feeling at peace after the whole day. He finally breathed a sigh of relief as he felt your closeness and your familiar, calming scent.

"It's good to see you." He mumbled, adding nothing more. That was enough for you to understand how his day had gone. It had gone hard.

You smiled as you rested your head on his chest, you were glad he was finally around. You didn't ask about his day right away, you didn't want him to have to deal with it even at home, in his quiet place.

"It's good to see you too." You said quietly in a sleepy voice.

He recognized your sleepy, tired voice immediately, and he pulled away slightly but still held you close, running his fingers through your hair. “Did you sleep, sleepyhead?” He smiled warmly.

"Uh no, no. I was just waiting for you. Tired after a whole week of work, you know how it is." 

He just nodded slightly in understanding, leaned down slightly and kissed your forehead. “Don’t overwork yourself, please.”

His concern always warmed your heart, you appreciated the care like nothing else, but it also worried you a little. It worried you that he always worried about you more than himself.

"You really shouldn't worry so much, I'm fine, Spence." You always repeated the same words, trying to reassure him and make him not worry so much, focus on something else, something less worrying.

He just sighed quietly in disapproval of your words. He knew perfectly well how you felt about his concern. He also knew that you were strong and could handle yourself perfectly well, and yet he wanted to make sure that everything was okay.

You quickly disappeared into the depths of the apartment, accessible, undemanding conversation, occasional laughter and the sound of forks clinking against plates filled the silence that had previously reigned throughout the apartment, only broken by the ticking of the clock in the living room.

Empty plates sat on the edge of the coffee table, even if it irritated Spencer in some way. Your coffee had long since gone cold, and you fidgeted a bit as you lay together on your completely too-small couch. That was the way you spent your time together without words. You were lying on opposite ends of the couch, buried under blankets, each of you with your own crossword puzzle and pen in hand, although sometimes you just preferred to glance up and watch Spencer concentrate, maybe stare a little. But that wasn't a bad thing, was it? Especially when he seemed oblivious to your actions. Sometimes you would nudge him in the ribs a little with your foot.

You really enjoyed these moments, sometimes when you relied on Spencer's intelligence and wanted to get a hint for your crossword, you had to pay a price for it, in the form of a quick kiss or a peck. You weren't even sure which of you preferred this way of rewarding for a hint more. In truth, Spencer always believed that if you put in the effort, you would find the answers to your questions yourself and that you were capable of more, but he didn't argue with you much. Instead, he would often start blabbing about the topics you asked about, telling you more about them, and you listened devotedly.

This time, however, Spencer noticed that you weren't very active on your crossword puzzle and paused his own for a moment. Well, you were just tired and your brain wasn't working at a very high level anymore.

"Hey, is something wrong, are you okay?" He asked with genuine concern and warmth in his voice. "You seem off."

You shook your head. "No, everything is still fine." But instead of staying on your end of the couch, you put the crosswords and pen on the table and, fidgeting a bit again, turned completely the other way. It's very possible that you'd crushed Spencer's side a bit with your leg in the meantime. Now your head was right on his shoulder, you were lying on the same side. He smiled slightly.

"Oh, you’re really clingy."

You just looked up, giving him a slightly exaggerated, scowl, even if you weren't mad at him for saying it. He raised his hand, letting you rest your head on his chest. He still held the crossword puzzle in one hand, the pen in the other, but he kept making sure you were comfortable. You felt at peace when you felt the warmth of his chest and the familiar rhythm of his heartbeat. He felt the same way when it came to your closeness. He slowed down his pace of solving the puzzle, letting you answer the words you already knew the answer to. 

He usually solved crosswords as fast as he could, beating his previous results, but this time it was about your peace. Even when both of his hands were occupied, he held you close and tight, kissing the top of your head with every clue you knew the answer to. And sometimes with a clue he knew the answer to. You suspected that he was just looking for an excuse to some extent, because he actually kissed the top of your head when you were thinking about the answer, or for no reason at all.

After solving a few more sheets, he put what he was holding on the table. He wrapped his arms around you and you didn't protest in any way, you let him. You knew that sleeping on this couch wasn't good for either of you, your backs and well-being, but everything indicated that this was where you would be sleeping. After a moment, he snuggled up to you even tighter, shifted slightly and put his head in the crook of your neck, placed a few lazy kisses there, drawing patterns on your back with his fingers. At that moment he was more laying on top of you with his whole body, but careful enough not to crush you and put his whole weight on you. With each situation like this you felt like you loved this man even more.

That didn't stop you from teasing him a little, referring to his previous comment. "Who's the clingy one now?" You smirked.

He raised his head slightly, staring at your face, even secretly admiring it, although he remembered every detail it hid, every mole, eyelash and freckle. He wanted to defend himself somehow from your words, but in the end he lowered his head and went back to holding it in the crook of your neck. "Okay, maybe I'm guilty." He admitted, but he didn't loosen his grip around you one bit.

"Yeah, you are."

"Is it bad?"

"No." You even replied a little quieter than usual.

It wasn't a bad thing, you loved his clingy moments. You slowly raised your hand to run your fingers through his messy, slightly overgrown hair. He didn't have to ask for it, you knew it would ease his tiredness after the whole day and he would fall asleep faster without the agony he often had before going to sleep. Somehow you felt his growing calmness and sense of security as you made all these little gestures.

[deciduouswaves]

I think it's also important to note what it means that this is so prevalent in online venues where it's impossible to verify who people are and almost disappears completely in meat space:

This is almost certainly the result of sockpuppet campaigns by TERFs and other strains of fascists trying to insert wedges and split the queer community against itself.

It's the same thing they tried to do against the asexual spectrum folks (of which I am one, demi to be specific). It's the same thing they tried to do against bisexuals and other multispectrum folks (of which I am one). It's the same thing they tried to do against transgender folks (of which I am one) from the rest of the queer community.

And it's what they are doing now by trying to split intersex and trans from each other as well as trans masc and trans femme from each other, trans women from nonbinary from trans men.

They are trying to split the larger queer community which is strong and large and can get real progress made... Into a bunch of warring factions which can't effectively defend themselves. That's also why they are trying to inspire queer people to reject the umbrella term of queer, the most effective collective activist label we've ever had, the term we matched with on banners as a proud community to fight for lives stricken by AIDs and apathy, which we marched with on banners to protest our lack of rights and the criminalization of our love and the criminalization of every kind of sex which isn't that of straight cis perisex people.

Please don't believe there is any kind of widespread rejection within the queer community of any of the categories I mention above. In physical queer communities there may be pockets of such among the terminally online who are reacting to things said online about their groups, but... It is not widespread.

My in-person queer communities are the most life-giving parts of my existence. They are where I see love and solidarity and activism and mutual aid on a scale I see nowhere else.

Don't cut yourself of from all of that because of what you see in online spaces where TERFs have proudly bragged about how effective their sockpuppet campaigns are. Don't help them isolate you. Please.

My own immediate friend group includes half a dozen nonbinary folks at this point: I helped two of them move house recently and one other move some months back. One of my transmasc friends (they/them) who is the strongest person I've ever met comes over and opens jars for me and my wife when we are unable to open them, and I help them with trimming the trees in their backyard because I'm taller than they are. I have a weekly craft night which includes three non binary folks, three transfemmes, two transmascs, a sapphic bisexual cis woman, and a bisexual cis man (and a partridge in a pear tree, sorry, couldn't resist). Several of us are somewhere on the ace spectrum. We arrange labour trading, body doubling, transportation, one time I drove a bicycle an hour from one of my queer friends to another because the former is no longer in a situation where they can commute by bike and was happy to donate their old bike and the other needed a bike to commute (not that transporting the bike was a hardship for me, I was meeting up with both of them anyway, the only difficult thing was figuring out how to put the bike rack on my car).

The point being: we have historically had each other's backs and we still do when it comes to in-person queer communities. Just please, go offline and beyond the bars and the clubs and form friend groups, find or form activist groups, find queer coffee shops and books stores, find your queer elders in your communities.

Please, don't let yourself be isolated and cut off from the lovely support and community which is yours to contribute to and benefit from as queer people. And also, there will be people who tell you that only people with your label will understand you and will stick by you. It's not true. If I had cut myself off from everybody who isn't a trans woman, everyone who isn't demisexual or bisexual or or or... I would be so much the poorer for it in my friends and my community.

Take care out there my queer family:

We may not know each other, but I wish the best for you 💜

I’ve been feeling really sad lately bc after this latest rise in anti transmasc sentiment I’ve had to unfollow some trans women I’ve been following for literal years bc they started reblogging and posting really nasty and very uncharitable things abt transmascs on my feed. And like. These are women whose voices I very much respected and listened to, and to hear them basically say they consider me an enemy who can’t be trusted bc I want to talk about my experiences, but all of our issues are really just splash damage from bigotry directed at them and talking abt my own experiences without acknowlefing that it’s not really meant for me is wrong. It’s like. So hurtful. And it makes me feel really hopeless about the future of the trans community.

How do I fight back against that hopelessness?

it really sucks and i'm sorry you're also being affected by this. i hear people talk about this every single day and i really don't like that this is just becoming a default in the trans community in general. it seems like the default mode of most online queers is hating transmascs and trans men as if that will somehow make cishet society accept them more. it's selfish behavior.

i'm an intersex trans woman and it's hard for me to interact with the online transfem and trans woman communities, because we're seeing a new experience in the form of transradfeminism, where trans women proudly adopt the anti-man ideals from rad feminism and spread it like it's the truth. it's a sad and painful thing to say, but these trans women are doing this because they believe rad fems and women who hate men are the only "Real" women and desperately want to be seen as "real" women. it stems from their personal dysphoria rooted in manhood, how they take out their own dysphoria in being seen as men on men and mascs. it comes from a place of pain, and it is misguided. instead of directing their hatred toward transmisogyny, they keep it inside the community. it's vile.

it's really sad but trans women and transfems are not immune to being indoctrinated by rad fems and terfs. applying those ideals to being trans isn't progressive. dictating who is and isn't trans is an act of policing. feeling as though one has the right to sit there and claim to know every trans experience, claiming to be the authority on transness... it's fascism.

i'm just plain tired of hearing people make fun of afab trans people and trans men and to talk about them like they're a blight on the community. im tired of people saying things like "do we really need more men?" i'm really sick and tired of chronically online people saying that trans men "aren't real trans people". this one really pisses me off. implying that trans womanhood and transfemininity are the only "real" ways to be trans is also identity policing. what is "unreal" about trans men? i'm tired of trans men being treated like they're unreliable. i'm tired of people wearing their misogyny on their sleeve to constantly treat trans men like they are not reliable narrators. i'm tired of people thinking somehow the instant you begin identifying as a man, you benefit from patriarchy.

i'm tired that people seriously think trans men and mascs can't coin terms for their own experiences. why the hell not? they happen, just because you don't see them personally doesn't mean they don't happen. i have met and lived with so many transmascs over the years, and we've all shared very similar stories about the discrimination we face. it's not spitting in the face of anyone to coin terms like transandrophobia and antimasculism. they happen just as often as transmisogyny does, and happily participating in it only increases trans violence

these talking points are old and it sucks to see more and more trans women get indoctrinated into literal rad feminism. hating trans men will not make dysphoria around being seen as a man go away. hating trans men does not dismantle the patriarchy. hating afab people isn't progressive, it's misogynistic. hating intersex trans men isn't progressive, it's transphobic -and- intersexist. trans men deserve so much better than this. trans men are trans. trans men are people. trans men are not evil by virtue of existing

i say try to do your best to connect with and appreciate the other trans men and mascs in your life. we have to stick together. if you have transfem friends who are on your side, make sure to be there for them, too. not every trans woman is like this fortunately, most trans women are very chill about trans manhood. this is a vocal minority of people who want to be fascists and want to control and police other trans people. transradfeminism isn't progressive, it's just as bad as regular rad feminism, if not worse, because now there's an even bigger focus on hating trans people.

hating other trans people will never get you ahead in cisheteronormative society. try to take care of yourself as best as you can. really relish trans joy when you experience it. take time to affirm your gender. know that manhood is a blessing. manhood is beautiful. it is varied, nuanced, and complex. it is a wonderful thing to experience. men are not evil. men are not bad. we should never remove the accountability from individuals.

hating trans men makes you transphobic. there's just no other way to it. whether or not you accept that it's called transandrophobia, it is still transphobia, and you really should care. the trans community isn't here for just 1 type of trans person. it's here for all of us. good luck, stay safe out there. be good to yourself

[sungbeam]

NOTE FROM THE AUTHOR: thank you to @petrichor-han for tagging me in her lovely wrapped post!! i had so much fun putting this together, and my spreadsheet tracker can finally be used for something bahaha 💀 i'll be talking more about my experiences this year later in the post!

some no pressure tags: @gluion @winterchimez @winwintea @polarisjisung @thepixelelf @sorryimananti-romantic @diamonddaze01 @jinkoh @blizzardfluffykpop @sohnric @from-izzy

first fic of 2024: daybreak ☆ ju haknyeon

posted january 5th

i remember writing this in bed while being in an awful spot, mentally. in an effort to save myself from disaster, i wrote this very short fic to focus on describing something comforting.

last fic of 2024: what we make of it ☆ wen junhui

posted december 1st

i also wrote this one in bed (i've written a lot of these in bed...)!! and it was after much mental simpery over wen junhui and the pics from his new drama that i gave into the idea of general!jun (i've also been dying to write something historically adjacent).

longest fic: incantations ☆ ji changmin

i remember conjuring about four ideas for the dbn halloween event before ultimately settling on yet another demon au TT like there was a cultish monster hunter au, a fallen angel reincarnation au, and a zombie apocalypse au... i honestly didn't know if i would make it or not lol and i had @justalildumpling proofing while i wrote the ending haha i can't say if i'm completely satisfied with it, but i can say that i think my world building and plot building skills have def improved, and you can see it in that fic

most popular fic: leave the window open ☆ choi san

tbh i thought this fic was gonna be a flop at first bc it wasn't until maybe a day after i posted it that it started to get traction? i also had the idea for it haunting my brain for MONTHS and i was so glad to finally get it out into words haha suffice to say, i am still so surprised by how well it did, but pleasantly so!

personal pick: creature ☆ ji changmin

i could talk about this fic, this series, this CHARACTER for DAYS. at this point, nt!changmin is a completely different entity to the changmin you think you know LOL creature is my self-indulgent character study of a demonic being who loves a person so much that he doesn't know what to do with himself

pretty self-explanatory — i honestly have no idea how i wrote over 300k last year, but i'm still pretty happy with how much i was able to write this year! i took a lot more breaks, and more time to write, and this def doesn't encompass just how many words i've written that are still in drafting stages and not published :')

i bet at least one of these surprises you >< (it's changmin right? jkjk)

ji changmin: ~51,900

— find him in: casino royale, subtle poetry, creature, and incantations

txt choi line: ~21,600

— find them in: bird hunt

jeong yunho: ~12,600

— find him in: bedfellows and something to give each other

to my friends, mutuals, and readers, thank you so much for being by my side this year! it's been brutal out here, not gonna lie, and i wish i had been able to post and write more this year. alas, life happens. i also find that writing longer fics that are more fleshed out just satisfy my creative needs a lot better—meaning that i will likely not produce as many fics, quantity-wise, as i used to.

on that note, i hope to at least give you some idea of what you can look forward to in the new year! i have several ideas for my superhero collab, including (but not limited to): mutant angel!jeonghan, scarlet witch!minghao, and venom!changmin. i'm also actively plotting out ventures with our sebongs, particularly a dokyeom knight fic and a fake dating dino fic! as for my current ongoing wips, i am hoping to get more finished for terra nova (high sci-fi/fantasy ateez fic), birds of prey (mafia hongjoong), and other secret projects 😌

that's all from me, friends. happy holidays and see you in the new year 💖🥂✨

[bloodboilswithoutwater]

I'm super excited about this, I love vampire stuff! I'm curious about how hunger will be handled. Can the MC choose how they get their fill, whether they take from humans or not?

The perfect excuse to give a rundown of how vampires work in (BW)^2! I'm so glad you're excited :D

The answer to your question will be addressed in this post, but some other things will need to be established. If you want to know straight up, there will be a direct answer at the bottom of the post!

What are Vampires?:

In this universe, vampires are undead. When they're turned, their bodies die, and no life processes can be (naturally) undertaken for this reason. Vampires cannot have biological children since their bodies are basically corpses. Their hair will not grow back if cut. They can't die of old age or disease.

Then how do they live, you may ask? The answer is simple...

Blood.

Feeding and Blood:

For vampires, fresh blood is not optional. The living cells and nutrients of their prey are used to fuel their corpselike bodies, making their hearts beat and keeping the minimum of bodily processes running. If you want to heal an injury, grow back hair, or simulate a more non-essential function you'll need a lot more blood to pull it off.

Human blood is the only thing that's actually good for vampires, as the blood of animals doesn't have the right nutrients or cells for their humanoid needs. (I mean, you could drink cow blood if you really wanted. But you'd end up VERY ill after a while). When vampires drink, they release both an aphrodisiac-adjacent substance and a mild painkilling agent into their prey to reduce the chances of them reacting poorly, or even entice them into returning of their own volition. Feeding can be a mutually beneficial relationship in this way, but there are risks that will be discussed later (see Reproduction).

Vampires can also drink from other vampires, but since all this does is shuffle around the limited nutrients, it's used either as an act of desperation, a pseudo-sexual encounter, or a practical ceremony (see Reproduction).

Reproduction:

I mentioned earlier that vampires cannot have biological children. But they can have thralls, or people that have been turned by their bite. When drinking from humans, there is always a small chance that they will be turned. The patron (vampire who turned them) is expected by society to take responsibility for their thralls. There's good and bad practice for avoiding unwanted turnings, but it's never 100% safe.

Thralls (assuming they aren't related to their patron) can have weaker mutations of the patron's abilities or just the basic abilities that all vampires have. If a patron turns a relative, their powers will take better with each increasing degree of relation. Parent-child and sibling bonds are the strongest, meaning that the noble houses (massive family units) have the strongest and most unique characteristic abilities. It's customary for them not to turn their children until they've had children of their own, ensuring the bloodline, and their huge collections of thralls form subordinate houses.

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

If there are any other questions, feel free to ask! But as for @ashber123-blog 's question:

TLDR: MC won't get much choice in their blood source, but they can treat the people they drink from in whatever way they think is best.

[hawkins-batman]

hey dude um so i saw the post you made replying to someone else's post about noah and, while i do agree with you, i don't think that you or any of the anons should be specifically finding noah antis. that just kind of starts discourse and people are allowed to express their opinions, even if they differ from yours.

i know this happened to one of my good friends recently (noihavenosanitythanksforasking) and they were kind of shook up from what happened. i'm glad that you try to educate people, and it also comes across as a bit more personal and rude than someone who just wants to help.

i'm very sorry if any of this has come across as rude, i promise that is not my intention and i'm just trying to show that those people are also just people and its not their fault that they don't have all the information. i dont know if "kindness is the key" sounds cheesy, but it is very true.

blocking them and not interacting is probably the best thing to do instead of finding them just to disagree and having anons find posts and send them to you. if you or anyone else doesn't like what someone else posts, it's best just to scroll (and even block! that is definitely an option and i see you're doing that already so good job 👍)

sorry about this ramble and when you reply to this, if you do, i just want you to know that this was sent with the best intentions and also this is not about noah, anything that happened with him, or other people's views on it. this is just about how you could deal with people with differing views from you a bit better than what you have done in the past.

kisses kisses and byler endgame, love, anon

You weren’t rude — so don’t worry! However, I am going to push back (kindly - since you were kind).

First, I suppose I should say that I don’t seek these people out. Most of them I find during my daily scrolls of socials. Other times, mutuals will link me to them, and sometimes people will send them via Ask. But I don’t go looking for “Noah antis.”

Second, and more importantly, I want you to do a hypothetical with me. You saw someone getting viciously bullied. Not a friend, but nevertheless, other people were threatening them, calling them slurs, and harassing their family. They were also spreading lies to continue to inflame others to bully them.

With me so far? You’d want to stick up for them, right? Because there’s really no pretext before which any of that behavior is okay, right?

Now imagine, a year in to this relentless bullying campaign, you STILL see people spreading the lies, getting others inflamed, reigniting the bullying again and again. Imagine you KNOW that this endless bombardment has sent them to therapy and driven them from any place that gives them joy.

Would you just ignore that? Would you turn a blind eye? Would you chalk that up to just a “different opinion”?

I hope not. Because I won’t.

I’m sorry your friend was shaken up. But I’m one person. Noah gets the treatment I just described to you from HUNDREDS OF THOUSANDS of people. There are hate accounts with 40K+ followers solely dedicated to posting things like this bit of homophobia:

Look at the likes on that.

And that’s one post. That doesn’t even show the ones wanting to kill him. Or do viler things.

Or how about these cheering for his suicide (EDIT —> see the bottom of the post)

He can’t just log off and ignore them or block theee people either because they send it to his home. His family. They track him in public and send his location to big accounts that will tweet it out hoping someone will hurt him.

So, I mean this with sincerity: Good. I’m glad your friend was shaken up. I hope to shake up more people before I’m done. Maybe they’ll think twice before spreading lies that inflame people to post shit like that 👆🏻

That’s not a difference of opinion. I don’t mind if people simply don’t like Noah. But be honest. Do you post about people you don’t like? No. This is not simply disliking Noah. It’s contributing to homophobia and antisemitism and it’s wrong.

And until people get their senses back, I carry on.

[cherrysurf]

hihi can i rq a cute oneshot where u surprise shoyo by visiting him in brazil after doing long distance!!! hehe it can be in whatever format u want! thank u <3

OFF TO BRAZIL!!

fluff, crack,establish relationship, maybe ooc?

You and your lovely boyfriend Shoyo have been together since highschool. After he left for brazil to go train and play beach volleyball you two had been doing long distance which wasn’t bad but wasn’t super amazing either, due to the time zones making it hard to face time or keep in touch but you two tried and did the best you could even if it meant someone sacrificing their sleep for the other it was what love was about, especially yours and his. Even though you would’ve gone with him if it was possible, you both respected each other's decision to do your own things and pursue your own goals and dreams. It wasn’t the most conventional relationship but you and hinata had more than just love, it was trust and faith that you two would always be end game. Over the past couple of days on facetime with hinata you can tell he had been feeling a bit lonely missing everyone from japan, you tried your best to comfort him when one night after you told him goodbye as he went off to go play volleyball you decided to book a flight to brazil, you were on break for college so it was a now or never situation you booked it and started packing, The flight was leaving tomorrow after rushing for packing and preparing everything it was very late in the night for you you decided to shower and get some sleep before the flight—

After 12+ hours and two stops in random cities you made it, You didn’t tell him you were coming but you did tell his roommate whom you were thankfully mutuals with on instagram (because of shoyo) and he was more than happy to help if it was going to stop shoyo from moping around the place about missing his girlfriend and friends in japan. He picked you up from the airport and had told you hinata already left for the beach, you soon arrived to the shared flat the two had and set your stuff down in his room and throwing on a bathing suit and some shorts to go surprise him on the beach you packed a bag of his favorite goodies in japan unfortunately you weren’t able to bring meat buns but you did try. So with a few directions from Shoyo's flatmate and the help of google maps you got there you parked the bicycle and walked to the beach to look for the volleyball nets and there you saw your ginger haired boyfriend playing with a group of men. You giggle and were amazed to see him play, yes it was still volleyball but in a different way thankfully he’s oblivious self still hadn’t noticed you as soon as you got close enough to the them you said “can i play” which made him stop recognizing the voice he knew too well. he turned his head quickly too see you he froze as if his feet were buried in the sand almost getting hit in the head with a volleyball because of it. “You're here? What are you doing here?!” He said getting closer to you, grabbing your face and moving it around to make sure it was actually you and he wasn’t just dreaming “surprise?” you say unsure which in response you get basically tackled onto by him which causes you both to come crashing down on the sand. Which makes you burst out in a fit of laughter and makes me smile brighter than the sun. “you just ruined all your snacks i brought you shoyo” you say still laughing “whatever i’ll still eat them im just happy you're here i really needed it.” he says smiling “i know. It was hard keeping it a secret ya know” you say propping yourself up on your hands “you should’ve told me i would’ve gotten you flowers or anything” he said rubbing the back of his neck “it’s not about me shoyo it’s about you. I just wanted to come here and support you” you say looking into his eyes. “Well I'm glad you did WE CAN GO OUT ON A DATE TONIGHT” he says in excitement grabbing your hand to pick you both off the sand “I'd like that, so how about we eat these snacks and i watch you play for now?” you say “okay cool because i was starving and missing japanese snacks to be honest it’s crazy how you know everything yn” he says happily “After being together for so long it’s like second nature” you say “well thank you. I love you” he says hugging you tight as if to savor the moment “i love you more.” you respond not wanting to let go either.

a/n- ugh i could’ve wrote this better i feel like? im sorry disappoint you mak 😞

[pathologicalreid]

omgggg hey it’s me the odyssey anon i hacked your super awesome mutuals account ahhahahahahahaha moving on

ok so people are saying knowing what the odyssey is is a privilege because they’re under the impression that it’s strictly an english novel and not everybody knows english?? and THIS is coming from the people who are on classics twitter??😭😭 do they know google is free

i’m not really on twitter so i don’t entirely get it but going off of what you’ve said for the sake of an interesting conversation here (which you can choose to engage in or not! i am by no means trying to harass my fav spencer reid writer and i understand not everybody likes to debate for fun and it can come off as aggressive but im actually just a loser and a nerd😁), i still think whether or not you have even heard of the odyssey is inextricably a matter of cultural context informed by your socioeconomic status and location, whether that be in america or abroad. i ALSO acknowledge media literacy and literacy in general are at an appalling all time low. it is generational and socially reinforced so kids just aren’t socialized to pay attention in school or be interested in what they learn which sucks and is so hard to watch like these kids are gonna be impossible to have a conversation with one day because the culture and the system are failinggggg them soooo hard

also though a lot of people just don’t engage in media to the level that they’d realize it’s a retelling of or incorporates themes from classic literature, but beyond that, it would require a familiarity with classic literature that is just not ubiquitous!! lots of people who’ve read the book don’t realize that a court of thorns and roses is a retelling of beauty and the beast, and even fewer people know that beauty and the beast is a retelling of eros and psyche. it all depends on how much quality education is available to you. so i guess in that sense it sort of is a privilege, because culturally pervasive or not, even the most bare bones knowledge of classic literature requires an education and the ability to actually engage with your education. but also like i said these kids are just NAWT locked into their schooling at all i dont know what it is in the zeitgeist that encourages the active dismissal of education among students. maybe they’re all just pessimists and disillusioned by the world they’ve been born into so nothing matters to them or maybe im projecting

n e wayzzzzz promise this is NOT mean spirited at all i literally just like talking and think this is super interesting and nobody ever wants to talk with me about this stuff so i am seizing my opportunity but i also know my intense desire to debate is actually a deeply unappealing trait so if you hated this and you want me to deactivate my blog let me know i will show myself out🎀 also jesus i am yapper of the century omfg and watch none of this even be relevant IM SO SORRYYY FOR PUTTING AN ESSAY IN YOUR INBOX

sam odyssey anon nereidprinc3ss this is like a marriage proposal to me i'm not necessarily interested in debating the reach that the odyssey does or does not have i do want to share this because it raises an interesting point surrounding media literacy and literacy in general which is unfortunately one of my favorite topics ever. school-aged kids these days are victims of their environment where they are not only being encouraged to develop critical thinking skills but they are also going online and developing an attention span catered to seven second tiktok videos and depending on having information fed to them as opposed to contributing to their own edification. i elected to entertain this topic as a whole on tumblr as opposed to twitter because i believe twitter is a more vicious platform BUT im digressing!!! from what i've seen thus far it's much less of a socioeconomic issue and more of a location issue but i'm basing that conclusion on my irl social circle and tumblr following/mutuals. i will have to come to terms with the fact that i will likely never have a true answer to this conundrum but c'est la vie.

[gametriprant]

2024 Tumblr Mutuals Who's Who

If you receive this in your asks: please fill out by tagging your mutuals

If you are tagged: please repost and fill answers out by tagging your mutuals

1. Best Selfies:

2. Best Style:

3. Best Smile:

4. Prettiest Eyes:

5. Most Kissable Lips:

6. Sweetest Mutual:

7. Funniest Mutual/tags:

8. Best NSFW blog:

9. Creepiest blog;

10. Best Aesthetic blog:

11. Nerdiest blog:

12. Best Music Taste:

13. Coolest vibes:

14. Sweetest Couple:

15. Honorable mentions:

Ohh thanks Anon!

I can see this is gonna be...quite tough 😅😅

1. Best selfies: as I said, very hard, lots of people take amazing pics of themselves....but to say one, I will say @miisd , her pics are amazing

2. Best Style: again very hard, but to say one, let's say @nearsighted-calliope and the selfies and outfits she uses...

3.Best smile: checking people with pics where they smile... @mmoonsilver

4. Prettiest eyes: I'm noticing a pattern here of mutuals that post selfies or pics only.... @thewildheartsclub eyes are really pretty.

5. Most kissable lips: hm 😳. Exposing myself like that but well, have to say @amarantoo

6.Sweetest mutual: all of them are! But I'll say @amarantoo again^^.

7. Funniest mutual: @being-john-malkobitch , everything she posts is gold and the funny posts are the funniest.

8. Best NSFW blog: @stillsuperchillandmentallyill / @underrthemilkyway

9. Creepiest blog: none! I wouldn't follow if they were creepy.

10. Best aesthetic blog: the dark aesthetic plus nice animals of @doomwhathouwilt is perfect.

11. Neediest blog: all of us are nerdy, but to say one because he's needy about planes and it's cool, @peter-nautico

12. Best music taste: From my own music taste, probably @louwitcher

13. Coolest vibes: @duckland

14. Sweetest couple: I don't have any couples blogs, I think I have some mutuals that are dating but without being 100% sure I won't mention.

15. Honourable mentions: @duckland, @peter-nautico , @spicytchai90 , @riveroflonging , @aguacatepodrido and basically everyone but I cannot write all are tied for sweetest, @aguacatepodrido for best NSFW, @nearsighted-calliope for best music and selfies (and kissable 😳), @elnoide for cool vibes....I don't know, this focused a lot on people who posted pics or had specialised blogs, but all my mutuals are great and nice and beautiful/handsome ^^.

Don't expect people doing the same, but this was fun! Thanks again anon ^^.

[orangedodge]

I like what Eve Ewing and Gail Simone have going on between their books. Having the two more earnest, more extroverted, friends try to fix things for their more transactional, introverted, friend, and accidentally blow up her entire life along the way, makes for a much more interesting, more authentic, inter-cast conflict than just having yet another misunderstanding superhero fight. It works because it's completely understandable and within Rogue's existing character that she would take this approach, that it would not occur to her that sending Bobby to Chicago would read, to Kate, as an invasive attack against her privacy and peace of mind.

When Rogue was in a similar place, years ago, having Ororo and Bishop just crash back into her life, bulldoze over all of her half-hearted protests, and drag her back onto the team anyway, was actually exactly what she wanted, but was unable to admit. The heavy handed approach worked for her. It's working for her again right now as well--dragged back into the X-Men by Scott, and bringing Kurt, Remy, Logan, and Jubilee along for the ride, and everyone already feels much better than they did before. It makes sense that in her mind, what helped her, and helped her other friends, will help yet again, and that Kate will feel better once she lets them in.

Rogue's really just being a good friend, in the best way she can. Her only error is in not realizing that not everyone processes grief in the exact same way that she does, or in ways she finds personally palatable (which is a lapse you don't see from an Ororo Munroe or a Dani Moonstar, who have more experience with personalities that really do want to be alone to sort their own misery).

You have to feel for Bobby, who plainly thought he was appearing in a completely different story than where he actually was. From his perspective, he's just returned from the dead amidst a harrowing time for mutants, discovered their home destroyed, and most of their people exiled, and that one of his closest friends has abruptly abandoned him, cut off all contact with everyone, and is being distant and abrasive when he only tries to make sure she's okay.

(It goes unsaid that Bobby has stood a suicide watch for her in the past, but that's a history I'm sure Ewing is familiar with. I don't think his sense of urgency and worry should be read as anything but honest).

Judging by how his reactions are drawn, in both the dinner scene and the closing pages, I don't think Bobby had any idea what the actual underlying issue was. I expect he thought he would just show up, shame Kitty a bit over her lack of friendliness, share some embaressing stories with her girlfriend, and they'd both laugh it off and bond over their shared trauma. He doesn't realize yet that the source of her grief is completely at odds with his own, or with Rogue's. Bobby is mourning the loss of home, and of safety, while Kate's grief is the fear that all of her most toxic beliefs about herself were right.

I don't think anyone has told him, for example, that Synch and Talon had her off murdering people in the hundreds, while Rogue's team was doing the resistance stuff. I don't think he has any way to put it all together until the end, when he realizes he's triggered a flashback.

Issue #4 would read very differently from Bobby's perspective, framed as being duplicitous and manipulative while he is, in actuality, doing nothing wrong. He's arguably being a little too pushy, but Kate hadn't actually articulated a sense of boundaries to him until days after his arrival, and he does seem to dial it back and give her space once that happens

The real issue is that Kitty doesn't believe that anyone would ever visit her out of a place of genuine care, without wanting something from her in return. It's why she's more tolerant of Emma's intrusion, despite the tension between them. That relationship is one founded on mutual use with clearly defined terms and no possibility for surprise or disappointment. Bobby is a friend that she fears being disappointed by. And so she assumes nefarious intent when he isn't overtly after anything: either that Bobby is trying to acquire her for some undetermined x-plot, or that he's actually a dangerous villain in disguise and a threat to the kids.

I think it works overall, successfully misleading the reader into thinking there really is something going on, while not having Bobby do anything to actually earn the distrust he's being shown. It's natural that Trista would pick up on Kitty's hostility and not know any better, and that Emma--who has the same people issues as Kitty--would echo the paranoia.

[slay00ryu]

From Shadows to Limelight. - Angel x Fem!reader.

Angel x reader, fake dating, reader is a popular actress who needs that fake relationship to keep people interested in her.

You were once a great actress, known all over the states, the most profound directors fighting for you to play in their projects. You loved it, the attention, fame, money, love. Your fans' devotion was something that kept you going.

Unfortunately popularity isn't something that will stay in one position, no, it will flow like water. So now, you're sitting in your apartament with your manager, the Maria de la Rosa and her manager. A stack of papers in front of you, a contract. Contract making you two a couple. A fake couple for your own benefits, media attention on both sides, additional new content for Maria's channel with you as the main character of said content. There were some additional points like attending events together, Maria coming to the movies premieres with you and stuff like these.

You weren't really content with this agreement, especially with how much you would have to spend with her, dates, public meetings, and so on. You would lie if you said that you liked Maria, you didn't enjoy her company or content, she always seemed extremely fake to you, mainly because you weren't the realest person while in work. Her pink and sweet theme always looked like it was a perfectly polished play to you, and she was the main character in that play.

Well, you couldn't be picky here, your career was depending on the blonde sitting in front of you. You signed the papers, handing them to your manager who silently slid them into a file.

"That'll be all mr Finian and ms Rosa, we will contact you for the next planned meeting." He said, getting up to shale hands with the other manager.

You just nodded at de la Rosa and watched as she left your house, accompanied by her manager.

"So, I'm supposed to date her now?" You said, looking at your manager with narrowed eyes.

"Yes Y/N, and you have to act the part, just treat it like a movie, okay? You want popularity, you have to get in controversial relationships." You groaned at his words. "Oh yeah, and don't tell it to anyone, not even your family. One spilled word and we're all ruined."

With that you were left alone, left to prepare for another movie to take part in as the leading role.

Amongst that chaos, there was one place that kept you save. The Slaughter House. A server full of serial killers, yeah a weird place for an actress, but you somehow got in after you were doing some... research for your new role as a murderer, it had to be perfect to ensure people's eyes being kept on you, and you alone.

That strange friend-group of yours gave you comfort, especially Angelic. That woman is the closest friend you made amongst all the killers, she was similar to you, a perfectionist with a really heavy work schedule. You found comfort and mutual understanding in each other, exchanging messages with anyone never felt as good as it feel with her. Angel is a wonderful person, and you trust her even if she could be the reason for your death.

>N/N: Ugh, I can't believe it. They really pushed me into that fake relationship.

You sent a message to Angel after you were done with all of your work for the evening.

>Angelic: Oh :( >Angelic: I'm sorry to hear that... My work place threw a burden at me too...

>N/N: Honestly, I'm so glad we can understand each other.

>Angelic: I know! Finally someone who I can share my work issues with <3 >Angelic: I love our friends, but they'll never understand me as well as you do ^^;

You chuckled at that. Yeah, most of the server didn't understand the field, that's what made your friendship with Angel so special. You could relate, be it the work load or people.

You admired her, her sweetness that had some dangerous undertones in it, it was mesmerising, she was the inspiration for your role. The killer you played was sickly sweet, kind and dangerous. You enjoyed the character you created in your mind, the way you wore that character's skin, it felt like your own, it made you feel like you were closer to Angel that way.

Today was the day of your first official encounter with Maria de la Rosa as her girlfriend, after much thought you reached the conclusion that it wasn't so bad, maybe her sweetness will make this better for the two of you? She will be all smiles and pink, it should be doable.

You stood in front of the filming plan, waiting for the model to arrive, she was supposed to watch your acting and then praise you with a small kiss at the end... Wow you really did imagine it as a movie script.

"Hey Y/N, I hope I'm not to late!" You heard that voice you knew so well behind you, you turned around to see Maria herself, this time without her manager.

'No, you're actually perfectly on time." You said with your mastered up sweet smile, you outstretched your hand toward her,, hoping that she would get the sign.

"Oh thank god, wouldn't want to miss you in action, love." She replied in the most natural and warm tone possible.

Damn, she's quick with her acting.

Angel was sitting next to the producers, ignoring the stares coming from all the actors and staff. Her eyes locked only on you, her fake girlfriend who was the master of acting. She was in awe of your portrayal of the femme fatale you were playing, but something unsettled her in your act.

It felt like she was looking at a mirror image of herself as The Heartsick Angel, the perfectionism put in between the insanity and vengeance of the murderer, it was somewhat close to home for Angel.

Seeing you, someone who was so far from knowing about her murderous side, wear the role of her alias so well, it made her want to explore you more.

Angel was observing you closely at your every meeting, playing the role of a loving and caring girlfriend while she watched over you. She started to notice some similarities between you and N/N, you had the same writing style, talked a lot about your acting work, it all made Angel crazy.

What if her fake girlfriend was also the same member of the serial killer she likes so much? It wouldn't be so hard to believe, N/N did say that they took The Heartsick Angel as an inspiration for their new role.

Finally, Angel caught you red handed one day.

You were getting ready for a Christmas Event Angel was invited, media was loud about you, so of course you were invited as her plus one. While you were finishing your make up in the bathroom, Angel was walking around your room. Your computer was on, she wanted to turn it off for you, but in front of her was the server she knew so well, and the same chat she was participating in on her way to your house.

So it was you. You were the person Angel adored so much. You were the person who stole her heart and make her smile to her phone.

That knowledge felt oddly good. Angel felt glad that you were the one who took her heart.

After all, you were already dating, what would be so hard in turning the fake into real?

THIS WILL HAVE TWO PARTS

DON'T KNOW WHEN THE SECOND PART WILL BE OUT

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I hope you enjoyed this <3