#I'm scared to add relevant tags

[crazyboy3million]

Sound off about how you feel about this bc I truly have no problem with discussing it even if you disagree... Here is one of the main reasons why I can't get behind "transandrophobia" as a real term and can't really take posts using that term seriously even if I agree with the points made themselves.

I think it's a very vapid and misrepresentative term for the unique experiences with transphobia that transmascs experience. I think that it stems from transmascs reading about "trans misogyny," which represents the unique intersection of transphobia and misogyny that trans women face, and the thought process from there is "well, we should have a word for our version of that too, let's just change misogyny to a word that means anti-male."

My issue with this is that androphobia does not exist in the wild. The patriarchy has no room for "anti-masculinity" or "anti-maleness." These are baseless ideals reinforced by terfs alone that are typically just used as weapons against trans women.

My theory is that there is an extremely uncomfortable and unfair truth that the transphobic bias against transmasculinity is also a product of misogyny. "That's what we mean by transandrophobia" is not an explanation for the way people actually use that word. Transmascs who post about "transandrophobia" are not a monolith, but every single one of these posts that I've come across has at least undertones of trans infighting and trans misogyny, and an underlying or even overt agenda that mainstream society has a problem with men. I've seen a lot of very obviously fake or exaggerated stories about trans men being belittled by trans women and I believe that these stories are used to spread the bitter idea that trans women hate or envy or look down upon all trans men, when really it seems like the storyteller just met a tgirl who's kind of shitty in her own way. (Btw, I've seen plenty of posts from trans women that seem to have a weird bitterness against trans men, and those seem to also contain sweeping generalizations based on anecdotal evidence. It goes both ways and it's always bad).

Terfs hate us because they want us to be women. They see "deviance from womanhood" in trans men as a product of undiagnosed mental illness or the manipulation of vulnerable little girls. The way I see it, it's rooted in misogyny and anti-masculinity in women, and not anti-maleness. This is of course stupid bullshit that is incredibly dysphoria inducing, and my first instinct would be to come up with another explanation for it as well. Still, white men--it's a different story for black men, which can't be chalked up to "androphobia" either--are not belittled for being masculine in a society where the patriarchy dominates not only social rules but laws and politics. This is why I sort of get an early stage mens rights activist vibe from "transandrophobia."

So to conclude, I think this term indicates a lack of critical thinking about roots of the unique experiences that we, as men, have with transphobia. I think it's used too commonly among trans men who want to establish a hostile division between us and trans women. Solidarity is hard. Sometimes it's an uphill battle. I think if we all approached discourse with the desire to understand and appreciate everyone's point of view, it would just make us all feel a little more peaceful at the very least.

I understand where transandrophobia truthers are coming from. I've been there, I've regrettably touted transmedicalism in the past, I've resisted educating myself out of the fear of being wrong, I've started useless arguments with people online that just raised my heart rate, and now I've given up on being divisive within the trans community and all I want is for people to just hear me out on this stuff even if they still end up hating all of my points and disagreeing with me in the end. Idk if anyone will even see this, it's just something that's been on my mind lately. Pls if you disagree with me at least try to be nice about it 😭 ok bye I'm done

[froganni]

Maybe a little overly serious approach to the situation, but y'all have GOT to be more respectful towards the creators you watch and consume content for. fWhip's message about getting a lot of hate is honestly abysmal.

Like, don't get me wrong, I love lore-related series! I think they're a lot of fun and I love watching them.But give non-lore series a chance! They're also a lot of fun!

These creators are all responsible adults who are very capable of creating boundaries for themselves and deciding amongst themselves what rules they want to follow when joining a project.

Obviously, there are many viewers and community members who this isn't directed at. :D

Please don't send hate to anyone, it's not helpful. If you don't like something, don't engage with it. Just leave it at that. Show respect to the community you're apart of, and to the creators that head it.

(It's fine to be annoyed with something and talk about it, but don't force a creator to see that negativity. It's not benefiting anyone.) The more hate a creator gets, the less they engage with and organize fun things for the community. Please remember to be kind.

[katsy-kitty]

I high-key think tumblr asking this is super passive-aggressive

as if it's saying, "are you SURE you wanna post this? seriously? maybe think twice y'know just friendly advice"

I've had enough of this tumblr go kys i'll post what i want /lh

[boreal-sea]

New User Advice: Use Your Words

Welcome to new tumblr users! This post is going to explain why we don’t censor things on tumblr, why that’s important for safety, and why that will help your posts get MORE visibility, not less!

Now I know on some apps, particularly TikTok and Twitter, there’s the worry that saying certain words will cause the algorithm to ignore or suppress your post. Tumblr does not have an algorithm like that. There’s technically a “For You” page, but most people don’t use it and I don’t suggest it because that’s not really how tumblr works best.

Tumblr works best when you actively choose to FOLLOW people. This site is about connecting with individuals by CHOICE, not just passively consuming content that has been fed to you by math. Browsing tags and using the search function is your best bet to get started finding cool people. You follow them, and their posts will show up on your dashboard. Soon you’ll have collected a bunch of cool people and you’ll see great posts all day long!

If you WANT people to find your content, tag it with relevant tags. You WILL be reported as a spammer if you use tags that do not relate to your post. Do not tag your post about snakes with whatever tag is trending that day. Just tag it #snakes and #snakeblr. Just like TikTok has "booktok", combining the interest with the word "Tok", we do that on Tumblr too! We have #bookblr and #studyblr and all other kinds of tags to explore! You can also explore by using ship tags, like #spirk or #garashir or #stormpilot or any other ship name.

You can also choose what post content and which tags you want to block, and it works really well in this site! This function is built in, you just have to go to settings > "general settings" > "filtering in the app", and settings > "content you see".

But - all of the above ONLY works well if you USE REAL WORDS. There are no "le$bians" or "ledollarbeans" on Tumblr, they are lesbians. You can say lesbian here. You can say "kill". You will be mocked if you say "unalive". You NEED to tag warnings with the actual word, not a misspelled censored version, because otherwise you are actively hurting the people you are trying to help. If I need to avoid images of snakes, you're not helping me if you tag your post #sn4akes. I'm not scared of the word "snakes", I'm scared of images OF snakes, and you've now made it so my filter for "#snakes" isn't going to work.

ALSO - you can add read mores here. PLEASE do this.

[marzipanilla]

Re: your tags; I know very little about the Invincible comics and I'm curious about the differences between them and the show, and how you think they're handled?

(p.s. I'm the one who commented on your time loop Debbie fic recently and I just wanted to say once again how much I like it :D)

Hey there ! Thought I recognized your name. Thanks. : D

Sure. I can ramble insanely about this lol I'll stick with just comic stuff that has been covered by the show so far, with a few mentions to things that seem to currently be absent since the comics had already mentioned them by now, so they could show up, could not- might be mild spoilers.

If you're curious about other stuff check out this tag (which I'll also add to this post) where Stove and I just theory craft and world build and ramble about the show in general.

Rest under the cut bc I can talk a lot lol

In general if you're also just looking for broader stuff about the themes and ideas that really could be present in Invincible but aren't- if you aren't familiar, Overly Sarcastic Productions is a YouTube channel that does video essays and they have a great one about the Superman trope, and they also cover Homelander and Omni-Man in it- and what they talk about in there about the politics and symbol of what a 'Superman' character really represents is just great and definitely something I think the writers could have integrated more. Again, this is a 20 year old piece of media that has one of its original creators attached to it- and he has flat out said he hoped to fix/tweak some things in it! Where I think Invincible is really beginning to fall flat is trying to adhere too much to its source material rather than being willing to use it as a basis for telling a better story, which seemed like something they were willing to do initially but has since tapered off.

I read from someone else that 'Invincible' is called that bc it's about Mark's indomitable spirit and nothing to do with his sort of invulnerability, and while I agree with that sentiment I think the comic and the show sort of lose sight of that. Like, stumbling blocks learning curves yes, but it IS very funny to go from S2 ending 'I need to learn to control myself' Mark to S3 'lose my shit and blender everything that stresses me out/threatens me' right up top.

But to try and go more in order...

S1 is the largest deviation from comic canon in that it added a lot. Darkblood being relevant, Cecil (who isn't introduced until after Nolan reveals himself in the comic), the entire investigation into who killed the Guardians, Amber being a fleshed out character. Debbie is much more of an accessory than a character in the comics (none of her talks w Mark about being a hero exist, none of her talks w Nolan about teaching him about Earth are in it) so pretty much anything that happens with her in that season is brand new. As is the support group and her near suicide in S2. I fell in love with Debbie in S1, and like you, her dynamic w Nolan is pretty much my one major investment in the narrative. And then after I watched S1 I read the comics, and uh.. yeah. Was not particularly pleased with what I read.

In the show Nolan is clearly shown struggling with what he is doing and is also very much an alien who had to learn through his relationship with Debbie about Earth, intimacy, and empathy. Nolan in the comics is more or less the perfect image of a family man (who seems to have figured everything out about Earth on his own) who raised his son and brings home the bacon (Debbie is a housewife in the comics, getting into real estate only after Nolan leaves). He also doesn't have the 'save planets vs save people' mentality that he does in the show. Comic!Nolan genuinely helps everybody all the time, no complaints, and definitely was never shown dropping a guy to scare information out of him.

The reveal happens later in the narrative and is much more sudden and jarring. Nobody suspects him (he wasn't injured, he just kills them all in one page of the comic and then goes about his day) yet he is arguably MUCH more callous in the comic once the truth comes out. Though he doesn't put Mark's head through a train. I think the hesitancy and the difficulty and the very ridiculous attempt to try and keep Debbie with him in the show is better for the over all narrative, though on a micro level I don't really have a preference for one over the other- Nolan is just arguably a different guy in the comic (I would say Mark and Debbie are as well).

His time on Thraxa is where a pretty massive change between the two is present. In the comic, Nolan has ~two weeks to hold his breath in space before he'll suffocate (just the amount of time we're given adult viltrumites can hold their breath for) and there is no suicide attempt- he just lands on Thraxa bc he stumbled across it and they put him in charge bc he's old. He also planned to take over and give the planet to the Viltrumite Empire as a mea culpa for fucking up on Earth! He eventually elects not to do this and sends for Mark to help him with his brother et al.

I do prefer the change the show gave us, suicidally depressed guy falls into being a hero and maybe starts to get his shit together. It gives a much better weight to the fact Earth did affect him and he is still carrying it around. Mark also breaks down into tears and begs his father to come home so they can all be a family again, which thank god they changed that. Mark doesn't express much in the comic aside from one snarky comment about his dad moving on real quick (which Nolan tells him to shut down because 'I'm still your father' and Mark shuts up). When asked about Debbie, in the comic Nolan just says 'I don't want to talk about your mother' and Mark drops it, not even defending her like he does in the show. (Debbie just becomes a passed out on the floor alcoholic in the comic until Mark yells at her one day and then that makes her get her shit together, which like, very glad they changed that, though I could have stood to see her drinking getting a little closer to what happens in the comic just bc I'm a sucker for characters I like suffering)

The show also did everything in it's power to make Andressa a person with feelings, and honestly I applaud the attempt but unless literally anyone bothers to mention her again why. She is such a plot device. In the comic she says 'it's an honor to be mated to him' re: Nolan and definitely doesn't have any long speeches about falling in love so hard she was apparently willing to overlook the guy having beat his last kid near to death and demeaned and abandoned his last spouse- and look, I will always be on the fence about how much Andressa actually knew about what happened and how it was presented to her bc what the fuck. Whatever was going on in Nolan's head when he decided to get remarried and have another kid is something that is genuinely never addressed in the comic and the show currently has a chance to rectify this, but who knows if they will.

I do all I can to warn people that I am definitely not unbiased and Oliver bugs the fuck out of me. There is a 'common' most hated character in the series, and I am ambivalent about them, but I fucking hate Oliver.

So far, his integration into Debbie's life on Earth is the one thing that was handled with a lot better grace, while I still find his entire story line very obnoxious. In the comic, Mark drops Oliver off at her house so he can go talk to Amber and when he comes back Debbie is just like 'I'm adopting him bc clearly as a mother I cannot resist taking care of a baby!'. The show let's her have feelings about it at least, but I still am mad that it didn't just have Mark single-father his brother. Just. Just fucking do it. The comics practically never showed Debbie actually raising/interacting with Oliver anyway. I am pretty sure the GDA tutor and Oliver have more back and forth dialogue with each other... like.. they literally just dumped this kid off on Debbie then never showed her actually raising him. The show is having her be more active with him, but it is in such an coddling mentality that I'm still not sure how I feel about it.

I AM baffled by her very mild response to him killing the Maulers, and it makes me nervous about what they plan to do with her. Debbie basically doesn't have any storylines going farther into the comic (her getting a job is really the one thing she ever does that's about her) so unless they start making shit up like in S1 she is going to becoming very extraneous, very quickly. Which is very saddening to me because I loved her so much in S1. Her revealing Mark and Oliver's identities to Paul in the comic is much more of a screaming match between her and Mark so I am very glad of the show's change there. My biggest gripes about her relationship w Paul in the comics has yet to come, so, we'll see if the show fixes anything there or not. Mostly though I do wish they were willing to completely rewrite that and just let her be single and have friends for a bit.

I think the show is just drawing out some things with Oliver, as he was more upfront at this point in the comics about being alien on an alien world he had no stake in, but at the same time the comics only ever seemed to use it as a shallow excuse rather than deep dive into what that could mean for the character.

Like, are you telling that 1) - he is just genetically predisposed to being a killer, which- WILD ass take to have in a narrative that so heavily features Nolan, a guy whose ENTIRE arc is about getting away from the edicts he was raised in and being able to change (not to mention the utter lack of this type of behavior in any Thraxan) or

2) he just picked that mind set up somewhere. To which the question begs, where? Supposedly he was raised by the (at the time) most emotionally available and non-homicidal version of Nolan there was, and Andressa, who very much was not presented with such a mindset. Mark and Debbie clearly didn't impart this to him! And the show fumbled here! Because they could have focused on the Levy attack. (Debbie does not get into a brawl w him in the comics, he just breaks her arm) They could have had him talk about that and how it shaped how he views 'bad guys' and what they're capable of! (in the comics Oliver remembers everything from when he was a baby) but no.

He's just special so he should get to kill people??

He could have been a fascinating way for Mark and him to explore what being children of an invader left on worlds that were invaded and given the legacy of the people who were conquered/near conquered from their mothers while struggling with being viewed as the invader their father was by everyone. but no. He's just an obnoxious child.

The show thus far has not brought up/has potentially written out the 'viltrumites are predisposed towards RAGE' thing that the comic had already brought up a few times by now. Which, they could be holding on to as a ~reveal for Oliver and Mark's smashy smash behavior, but dear god, we don't need biological determinism in a story about people changing. And they are aggressively screaming about reform and redemption these three episodes, so again, I would be very disappointed if the show did decide to include this.

While the reforms in the episode were weirdly presented as quasi-brainwashing, there were several times in the comic in which things like prison reform and changing how prisoners were handled were actually discussed in an interesting way so I'm hoping the show actually manages to keep that. Though at the end of the day, I never found Invincible's attempts at presenting multiple sides to a moral argument all that well done. But this IS a kick-punch universe and pretty much all problems are solved by kick-punching, and there is a point where I am just like 'yup. this is that kind of media and finding the line of where they could improve why they're kick-punching vs why are you kick punching this problem to begin with' can be wobbly.

Cecil's backstory wasn't altered in any way, and I get why a character like him is the way he is- but yeah, overall, there are basically not a lot of times where any other stances on hero'ing are really discussed. The narrative does ride real close to protagonist centered morality at times. Which is frustrating, because, no Mark, you just have no experience with this situation and no counter argument to what people are telling you!

When Eve quits heroing in the comics she goes to Africa, because this was the early 2000s and 'help people in Africa' was just what people said when they were going to do humanitarian work. What was she doing in Africa? Who knows. She was there. Very glad the show changed this. She also never went to college, so it'll be interesting to see where that story goes. Her entire kerfuffle in Chicago with the sink hole was also totally new to the show.

Of course, unless you were Mark, Allen, or Nolan, there was very little for you to do in the comics- so again, they're going to have to start adding stuff or things are going to get boring for a LOT of side characters fast.

God okay this got very long, if there was anything you were curious about that I missed let me know xD

[just-a-hazbin-writer]

Hello!

I saw in your tags to that Lucifer post and they are great! You said Alastor is insecure; I'm just curious, in what ways is he insecure? Is he insecure about his power? Relevance ? Usefulness ?

Best,

Anon

Hi! Sorry for the wait, anon. Got sick with the flu and mostly slept through these past few days. Thanks for sending me an ask about Hazbin yall have no idea how much I like talking about these depressed, gay demons.

So, when I said Alastor was insecure, what I had in mind was his dick-measuring constest he had with Lucifer when showing up at the hotel in episode 5. My guy was clearly very pissed off about having someone more powerful than him in the same room, in HIS HOTEL. So much so that he quickly figured out what Lucifer's sore spots were (his relationship with his daughter) and exploited that to the max.

He clearly has an obsession of being in control. He crafted a perfect mask around his image, his very person to assure that what everyone will ever see when they look at him is POWER. He can't show any weaknesses because otherwise he would crumble, like we saw in the Finale. He was absolutely devastated about losing the upper hand, losing control, about LOSING period. Doesn't matter what. Alastor. Doesn't. Lose. Alastor. Is. Always. In. Control. The strongest, most powerful and terryfing creature you ever saw and if someone doesn't see him that way then he MAKES THEM and if they are more powerful than him so he can't do anything, he gets all pissy or even crumbles.

He also craves recognition and validation. Pissing of the King of Hell makes him feel powerful. He considers being called 'a mystery' by Zestial, whom he respects, 'quite the compliment!'. Carmilla not showing any interest in where he's been all this time ticks him off. Lucifer not knowing who he is only adds to his contempt for the man. Losing to Adam makes him crawl away in humiliation and defeat. My man is practically BEGGING in very subtle ways to have his ego stroked. People who are secure in that sense don't need that kind of validation and certainly not to that extent.

He's very similar to Vox in this aspect (a power-hungry, control freak who wants to always have the biggest dick in Hell -- even if metaphorically speaking -- while also being super scared of losing that power and people seeing him as weak).

Now, what is the exact ROOT of this insecurity, I don't know enough about him to answer. I personally suspect that it's because of the abuse and humiliation he went through when he was alive (he was a biracial, asexual man living in the FREAKING TWENTIES who somehow got his own radio show aaaand it's quite possible that his father wasn't the best). People who are being put throught that sort of trauma over and over again can develop a fear of vulnerability or a desire to always be in in control so that they can ensure it doesn't happen again. Sometimes, they can also treat others the way they were treated because it can feel as though they are in a way regaining the control they didn't have when they themselves were in that position. Recreating that scenario from the opressor's perspective can feel comforting in a way or help them release pent-uo rage (NOT JUSTIFYING ABUSIVE BEHAVUOR, JUST EXPLAINING HOW ABUSERS CAN BECOME ABUSERS. ALSO, NOT SAYING ALL VICTIMS BECOME ABUSERS, BUT THAT A GREAT PART OF ABUSERS WERE VICTIMS THEMSELVES ONCE. OKAY? OKAY! STAY SAFE Y'ALL).

So, yeah. This is my take on Alastor and his control/trust issues aka the reasons he's insecure aka the shit he went through (again, as an EXPLANATION not a JUSTIFYCATION).

[salt-is-a-terrible-currency]

You're my port in a storm, chapter 11

Fandom: Dune

Pairing: Gurney Halleck x f!reader

Rating: Explicit (18+)

Warnings*: graphic depictions of violence, past slavery, heavy angst, comfort, politics, eventual smut, religion

*this is the general warnings for the fic as a whole, I'll add any chapter specific warnings to the beginning notes of the relevant chapters over on AO3

Tag list: @ohsnapitzmarvel @captainpoopweinersoldier @nightonblogmountain @futurewife @peterfrauchen

I've had a very big and emotionally + physically difficult 6 months. I'm glad to be posting again.

Excerpt

It’s impressive, how someone as large as Gurney manages to sneak up on someone as skittish as you.

“I didn’t mean to scare you,” he gruffs. You jump, almost dropping your stack of fresh bed linen. He watches you closely, brow furrowed and seemingly unaware of the fact that he’s just scared you again with his sneaking around in the corridors of Castle Caladan.

Finish on AO3

[eccentricgrace]

TBIs, with a brief history of Bastille || IronDad + Spideychelle

summary: mj 'accidentally' gets caught in the crossfire of battle and ends up with a concussion - tony babysits, peter stresses

tags: protective peter parker, babysitter tony stark, fluff, humour, mj infodumps on history, mj tolerates tony for peter's sake, they both love that nerd

wc: 1,736

cross-posted on wattpad under the same name!

By all means, and in every definition, Tony doesn't like it when kids get injured— kids, meaning, anybody under eighteen, and more recently, anybody under twenty-five. Jesus, he's getting old— which is a pretty fair rule. Nobody likes when kids get hurt. If you do, you're probably a sick and twisted individual that Tony would love to spit on in a jail cell, or you're Rhodey binging old reruns of AFV instead of doing government paperwork.

Anyways, Tony tries very hard to keep any young ones, chickadees, rascals, scallywags, munchkins, younglings, whippersnappers, juveniles, the youth, scamps, rapscallions, whatever you want to call them, away from Avengers battlefields; whether they be space, a street, or some secret third thing.

So he's not exactly sure how this one slipped through his fingers. Curly-haired Michelle Jones, who he'd had the short pleasure of meeting at the last Parker extended family dinner. She had given him quite the scare.

("Shit! What are you doing here?" Tony tossed a chunk of building off into the street and swung back to meet her. "You should not be here. It's dangerous, kid. You're smart, you should know that."

Michelle heaved, a crowbar held in a white-clawed grip. She had blood dripping from her nose, which she wiped off with her torn sleeve.

"I followed Spider-Man," she said, weightily. "He escaped from gym class. I got worried."

Tony decided he would wisely think about the parameters of all that entailed later. He refocused on the way Michelle was holding a hand to the back of her head. "You're bleeding, did you get hit?"

She nodded, taking another deep breath. The blood is dripping down her arm, soaking her shirt. "Well, yeah, genius. And, also, I think I have a concussion."

Then Tony saw a look in her eyes that was wildly familiar— and he lunged to catch her right before she pitched forward.)

"So, run it by me again, if you don't mind," Tony runs a hand over his face.

"Peter snuck out of gym," Michelle repeats blankly, the tone of someone who has indeed been forced to rehash the same story again and again. "I followed him. Last time he did that, it was because he was hiding sepsis and nearly died in the bathrooms."

"Jesus." Tony sighs. "And when did you know he was Spider-Man? Does he know that you know?"

"He knows, he told me," Michelle says casually. Then adds, "after I figured it out, though. It was easy."

"Right. Well, funny. He didn't think to mention that to me. Almost like he forgot that it was a relevant detail for me to know about his extracurricular activities or something." Tony sits back in the vinyl chair and crosses his arms.

"Weird. Sounds like a personal problem."

They stare at each other. Silence meets both of them.

Tony hums in consideration as he studies the odd kid in his med bay. One of Peter's closest friends, the one he's sweetest on. She's got spark. Tony likes her.

His eyes flick up to the IV she's been set on. "Pain meds working?"

"Good enough," she acquiesces. She's blinking slow, but her words are clear. "I can't feel the staples in my head, so, I can't complain."

"Guess not."

"Peter's going to think this is his fault," Michelle says suddenly, her mouth twisting in an uncomfortable expression. "Isn't he?"

"Probably." Tony drums his fingers across his thigh. A thought crosses his mind, and he lets it start to turn. "What do you think?"

Michelle spots a game for what it is immediately. She narrows her eyes in suspicion. "What do I think about what?"

"Do you think it's Peter's fault?"

"Well, he's not the one who dropped a building on me, is he?" Michelle says dryly. "I'm the one who tailed him, and I knew I didn't have spider powers when I did it. I knew the risks."

"That's very mature," Tony comments. "Why'd you follow him, if you knew the risks?"

Michelle looks at him like he's the epitome of something deeply unimpressive. Her mask was slipping by the second— the drugs were definitely kicking in about now. Tony gives her a practiced, serene smile.

"You don't need some crazy suit, or money, or superpowers to worry about Peter Parker," she says sagely, as if she's reciting words from an ancient text. "He's very worry-able. It's worth the risks."

"We can sure agree on that."

"Mhm," Michelle squints at him. "You know, I didn't like you at first."

Tony studies her for a moment. He doesn't feel offended, because— it's hard to be offended. He's not exactly his biggest fan, either, and there's a long, long list for potential reasons as to why.

"Join the club," he says instead, remaining neutral. "Any particular gripe, kid? Or maybe you just don't like my face."

"Other than the war profiteering?" Michelle says, and yikes, that's a kick to the gut. "Maybe it's your contributions to the patriarchy and consumerism. Maybe it's your very tight and generational connections to a government that's notoriously corrupt. Or it could be the needless destruction of service buildings because you and your team can't just talk to each other like adults."

Tony is quiet for a long moment. He feels vaguely as though he's just been ran over by a train ten consecutive times, only to be trussed up like a pig after and shot out back. He feels mildly sick. He feels itchy.

He clears his throat. "...I suppose that would do it, yeah."

Michelle makes a soft, agreeing noise, looking distracted momentarily by her own hands. She's scraping dried blood out from under her fingernails.

"What changed?" Tony ask.

"Mgh," Michelle deflates, holding the exhaustion of someone far older than her. It's almost comedic, the sigh she lets out. "Peter did, I guess."

She looks up and continues:

"He trusts you," she explains slowly. "And usually that doesn't mean shit to me. He trusts too much, in my opinion. He's... soft. But I've seen how you take care of him, and... no matter how much it was hard for me to believe, you do actually... care about him. You keep him... safe."

"...I appreciate that," Tony says carefully, his heart thrumming fast under his ribs. "And I'm— all the other stuff you mentioned, I don't forget any of it. I'll be fixing those mistakes til I'm five feet under, I swear it."

"I know," Michelle says cryptically. "I pay very close attention to everything you do. If you ever hurt Peter, I'd recommend you to do the same."

Tony pauses. "Looks back at the IV bag, which is getting low, now that he thinks about it. "Those pain meds starting to hit you pretty hard all the sudden, huh?"

"Little bit," Michelle sinks back into a cot, looking younger as she buries under the cotton sheets. "You called my parents, right?"

"Yeah. Takes a while to drive upstate, but they're on the way," Tony says. He smiles. "Peter is too. He'll probably show up first."

"And why are you here?" She implores suspiciously. "Don't you have Avengers things to do?"

"Yep," Tony says, and doesn't offer anything more to his answer. Michelle narrows her eyes at him, and doesn't offer further questioning. It was funny, the way they worked together; the way she was so different from Peter.

A few minutes later, and the meds have really kicked in.

"The Bastille was originally built in Paris to protect it from invaders," she spoke at a rapid pace. "But leading up to the French Revolution, it was used more as a prison— at the end of the revolution, The Bastille was torn down by hand as a public display of denouncing the Revolution for its toll on the city. Brick by brick, they—"

Michelle is so loopy that Tony has to make a valiant effort to contain his chuckles— and he has to wonder if this is who Peter knows, how often this side of her is seen.

In a weird coincidence, the moment this particular thought crosses his mind, is when the door bursts open.

Peter rushes in, suit still donned, mask crumpled in his hands and haphazardly tossed to the floor. He's got scorch marks singed randomly on the suit, soot on his face, and looks to be in physical pain. Alarm bells immediately go off in Tony's head.

"Em," Peter breathes, stuttering to the side of the bed. He takes her face into his hands so gently, looking all over for her injuries, inspecting the bandaging around her head with utmost scrutiny and guilt.

"Oh," he crumbles, his hands hovering just over the bandage, like he wants so badly to soothe it with his touch but knows better than to try. It's a feeling Tony is all too familiar with. "Shit, Em, I'm so sorry. Are you okay?"

Michelle hums, her face pitching into his hands. Her pupils are blown out like crazy. "They put me on so many drugs. Jesse, we need to cook."

Peterlaughs shakily and tucks some of her hair behind her ear. He's blinking rapidly, tears coming unbidden to his eyes. "Right, yeah. They got you on some good stuff, huh?"

His head pulls up to scan the IV drip, finding the label effortlessly, reading it with a firm set of his jaw, and dropping his head back down. His eyes soften again. His thumb strokes against her cheek. "I'm so sorry, MJ, you shouldn't have gotten hurt. That's all my fault."

Michelle grumbles a bit, incoherent. She seeks for Tony, her head moving lazily she moves. She points an accusing finger at him. "I told you."

Tony feels kind of shellshocked, so he throws his hands up in surrender. Peter relaxes slightly, but only slightly, and pulls away from Michelle just enough to look at Tony properly.

"Thank you," he says fervently, and Tony notes that the pain in his face has faded. One of his hands has dropped and is now linked to Michelle's— although he's not sure that either of them are aware of this particular fact. "Thank you for sitting with her until I got here."

"Of course," Tony says with a shrug. "What can I say? I like the kid."

Peter's shoulders drop, and his smile say something like relief, his eyes say something like, me too. 

Michelle tugs at his hand, and goes, "Peter, did you know the Storming of Bastille is celebrated as a national holiday in France?"

Peter drags a chair over, squeezing her hand lightly, and gives her a smile. "Not yet. Tell me about it, that sounds interesting."

That boy was the very definition of smitten.

Tony left the room.

[profsilverleaf]

Pokeblogging Archive: Area Zero Survey Corps

figured it would be worthwhile to compile the story

relevant tags (other than usual pokeblogging tags): #area zero survey corps, #the mystery of area zero, #paldea road trip!

I'll do my best to include everything and have it all in a proper timeline. They/Them pronouns will be used unless I'm absolutely sure what they use.

Also keep in mind that some of the links start the same. That is because they are different threads that spawned from the same post.

The Start

Grace (@trainergraceneedstherapy) put the group together in this post

Siren (@moonrazemalestorm) (who is stationed in another region) got a drone in this post. They fly the drone into Area Zero. They see a Flutter Mane. But Something destroyed the drone. They plan to go to Area Zero their self with Lunala

Grace is surprised at how many of the group are from Unova

Professor Amo (@fucktherulesletsseetheruins) joins the AZ research corps. She is friends with Grace and is also one of her mentors.

Paldea Road Trip Arc

Lori (@legendofzacian) wants to crash on Grace's couch for awhile. They take the train to Paldea. Grace picks them up from the train station. A Zorua gives them some trouble.

Lori and Grace hang out, they plan to visit the crater, they talk about inviting Amo to their excursion. They also share their worry about Team Nightmare as well as Amo asking too many questions about Hisui.

Devi (@professor-devious) joins the mission. Devi, Lori and Grace joke around about going to the crater.

Will (@challengedbywiley) joins the crew

Silverleaf (me) joins the party

Silverleaf arrives at Grace's house. Devi arrives at Paldea and Miku (@champion-class-hatsune-miku) asks about what everybody is up too. Lori appreciates Paldea's love of the occult.

Siren arrives at Paldea, also planning to search the crater with the rest of the team.

Post about the history of Area Zero and what is known about it and the Paradox Mons along with theories regarding it. Lori also adds her own comments. As well as another person's theories and writing about the crater and paradox mons.

A post about "ballin in the crater"

Siren has set up base in Research Station 3, they have run into a Flutter Mane, and are getting along. Flutter mane Info Siren wrote.

[name unkown] (@blueflare7) jumps into the crater (or at least I think this is them).

Vanilla (@humming-pokemon-helpers) asks Grace about the AZ Survey Corps plans. Someone is concerned about the legality of the team's mission.

blueflare7 is in trouble, they are getting chased by a Paradox Pokemon.

Siren visits the crater and discovers a new Paradox mon.

"The dreamer of truth and ideals" (aka N) (aka @bittersweetformula) is concerned about the Area Zero trip.

Something goes wrong, connection with blueflare is lost, they need help. Amo calls for the group to get together for a rescue mission! N tells everybody to be careful. N decided to head in himself.

Siren wonders if keeping Paradox Mons is illegal. Siren finds the knocked down drone and checks the last thing it recorded. Siren wonders about the Ultra Wormholes opening up in Paldea.

Blueflare Rescue Mission!

Grace, Lori, Devi, and Amo head into the crater. They land.

Quill (@quillpokebiology) has been wanting to join the mission and has ventured in Area Zero before. Sean (@trainer-sean) tries to dissuade them from sneaking in again but they still have plans to get in.

N talks to Team Nightmare about what Grace and her friends are doing. N asks them to send their grunts to scare the team off from the creator.

Devi's Zorua fights an Iron Jugulis, it gets defeated and captured by Devi. But then Sean shows up with a group of Professors and League Officials to stop the group. Everyone gets scattered running away.

Blueflare has contacted Amo again. Blueflare is surprised that so many people are trying to rescue them. Blueflare gets into more trouble and Amo runs off to help them. Blueflare gets injured. Amo finds blueflare and protects them. Blueflare's Charizard helps.

Lori laments that their camera isn't working so they are drawing the Paradox mons they see instead. Amo makes a comment about one of them. Will catches wind of what's going on and heads over to join the crew. Amo and blueflare talk about they are going to do now.

Meanwhile... Devi decides to hang in front of a cave to wait for the others. Lori joins her. But about that time they find out from a message from Amo that Grace is acting weird. Sean tries to help snap Grace out of it but it doesn't work.

Blueflare indicates they have an idea but dismisses it, Amo wants to know what it was. Turns out blueflare has minimal teleporting powers. But they can't put it to much use with the storm. If they can find blueflare's Flygon though... it could help.

Some other people catch wind of the chaos going on. Including Siren who was sleeping in.

From Sean's reasoning, they and Amo figure out that Grace is the Hero of Hisui. Sean decides to try to call Rayquaza for help. Sean warns to be on the lookout for Rayquaza to Will.

Grace is hallucinating, she sees Volo. Her ghost friend that haunts her phone takes over her phone. There's talk about Grace losing a friend the last time she was in the crater. Vinnie (the phone ghost) finds out about Sean's Rayquaza. Rayquaza then appears and is pissed. Luckily Sean has a masterball.

Lori and N talk, N heads over to get Lori and Devi from where they are.

Devi has caught an Iron Bundle with plans to give it to a friend. Devi potentially asks Quill if they had any Iron Bundle info (but I don't know if it's them who asked this or not)

Zekrom flies right past Amo and blueflare. Amo thinks they should chase after it. Blueflare agrees.

N arrives to pick up Lori and Devi and Sean as well. They all take off to try to find Grace. Blueflare and Amo catch up on the Zekrom situation. Lori and Sean feel awkward, Devi is doing barrel rolls. Lori is questioning why N didn't do anything sooner.

Vinnie is worried about Grace.

[randoimago]

I have a question for you, what's some advice you can think to give to other fanfic writers?

Oh jeez am I qualified to give advice 😖 I'll write some things down that have helped me or things I've noticed. Note that you don't have to do any of this, this is just some advice.

I mean, the number one thing is write what makes you happy. It took me a while to figure this out, but don't force yourself to write something that you just don't have inspiration for or something that isn't your thing just to make your readers happy. Write what you like.

This one is for tumblr specifically I think, but I have found a few fanfics that I really liked but had like no likes or anything on them which confused me. When I tried to find out why, I realized the tags. Tumblr is a sight where you need to tag everything. Seriously, go crazy with tags (but keep them relevant, I forever get annoyed when I look in one character tag and see a completely different fandom because someone just threw all the popular tags on it).

Don't be scared of the block button. When I first started, I didn't like blocking anyone even if I got some mean messages. It's so much easier to just block an anon in your ask box than reply to it (or if you want to be petty then you can screenshot and put that in a new post while blocking the original message). It's just not worth your emotional/mental health to respond to all the annoying anons.

This is something that I'm still learning to do, but reblog/share other writer's works. They worked hard on their stuff and it deserves love too, especially if you really enjoy it. I know you might be shy about the idea of the author seeing any comments you leave, but it's worth it! (I have never seen a writer say, "How dare you reblog my thing" it's almost always "Thank you so much!" or something along those lines).

These are a few main things I can think of. If I come up with anything else then I'll make sure to add them!! Thanks for the question, anon!!

[cainsign]

i was tagged by finch @technofinch to talk about my ocs which i love doing!! anyone who wants to do this, rb and add on with your ocs! the only thing i love more than talking about my ocs is hearing about other people's ocs 😁

under a readmore bc i will get rambly about river

general:

name: River Samuel Chase (< Samuel is his father's name)

alias: Piper (for when she finally gets her head out of her ass and decides to transition)

age: 22 in 2003, which is when the majority of his story takes place (i.e. born in 1981)

spoken language: English

sexual orientation: Gay (but once she transitions she'll realize her attraction to butch ladies)

occupation: Dock worker in the great lakes region (was previously a gas station cashier in WV)

favorite:

color: Probably green... I never think about my favorite color so I don't spend a lot of time thinking about my ocs' either sorry ☹️

entertainment: River likes a lot of stuff... live music, mostly country or bluegrass, arthouse films, getting crazy drunk at house parties...

pastime: Reading probably.

food: I think River's a biscuits and gravy kinda guy. Ironically it's kind of a "safe" food for him when it comes to ED stuff (which he does have i just haven't mentioned it yet because it's not relevant to his journey). Probably not a lot of good biscuits and gravy in michigan though :(

drink: I don't drink alcohol but insert some alcoholic drink that tastes good but gets you drunk quickly

have they…

passed university: No! He will end up going to college later in life and becoming a teacher but that's not happened yet.

had sex: Yes

had sex in public: Yeah his parents weren't super approving of his sexuality so I'm sure there were semi-public hookups in like. public parks or whatever

got tattoos: Matching one with his brother (his bio brother) that is a bird in flight on his right shoulder

got piercings: No

got scars: No

are they…

a cuddler: He really wants to be but is ashamed of his desires so doesn't actually cuddle often.

scared easily: Nah

jealous easily: Definitely not, River doesn't gaf. He has very little issue with cheating, being cheated on, or being the other party someone cheats with. This is not necessarily a good thing.

trustworthy: Um if you ignore the cheating stuff yeah he's pretty trustworthy. Just don't leave your man alone with him.

family:

siblings: IT'S COMPLICATED*

parents: I mean, everyone has parents, right?

children: No. He got a trans guy pregnant once but they aborted that thang.

*(river sibling rant. INCEST TW) so river has one biological half brother, bluejay, who he grew up with. river is in love with bluejay. part of the reason he left WV with adam is because he is in love with his little brother and is terrified of hurting bluejay. he misses bluejay a lot but has tried to replace their relationship with the one he has with adam.

adam and river are pretending (but it's so serious) to be brothers to everyone they know, while engaging in a secret relationship. there isn't really any point they quote-unquote "break kayfabe" about not being bio related. river likes having an older brother figure who feels protective of him and adam anjoys imparting his own form of wisdom onto river.

[heyiwrotesomethings]

I'm wanting to write some fics myself after reading yours so much but I find myself not doing so and I think it's because I'm scared or something because I want it to be good. You got any tips for getting over that? or just writing tips in general?

I’ll try my best!

I don’t know if you’re planning to post what you write or not, but that can lead to cold feet sometimes. It might help to treat what you’re writing as something that you’re just making for yourself at first. Keep it to yourself for awhile, maybe even after you finish it. Take a break and go back to look it over, maybe add more or change some things to your liking.

It doesn’t have to be perfect! Once you get it to a point that makes you feel kind of happy or excited, decide where to go from there. If you post it, I’d recommend adding relevant tags before posting to better reach the audience you’re looking for.

Here are some other general miscellaneous tips I gave one time. If you have any more specific questions you would like assistance with, let me know and I’ll do my best to help out. Good luck!

[beesinspades]

if all goes according to plan I should be able to post my new v*shwood fic soon! monday at most. I'm very excited to share it!

debating whether I should title it “scar-crossed lovers” or “for a sinner like me” 🤔

[captainhysunstuff]

Would you please tag your posts about current events? It's okay if not.

I'm really trying to. I'll try harder. I've been trying to tag them with all the relevant tags that were accompanying those posts, and I thought they'd be enough. I also generally tried to add stuff like "politics" or "serious issues" and the like. "Current events" seemed too general, but I'll tag them that, too. My system isn't perfect.

I'm very sorry. I'm in a very strange and scared state of mind, and I'm very sorry for spreading it to my followers. I usually try to avoid reblogging sensitive content like that. That isn't what my blog is about. However, I felt that they were important enough for others who might be freaking out (like me). I'll endeavor to tag them more thoroughly. Such posts will continue to be rare. Today was... special.

*Fun fact: This is actually the third time I've written out this response or something similar, but my phone refused to post it. I had to do it on my laptop (assuming it even posts it).  I'm very stressed out now~. To be clear, I'm not upset with you, Anonymous! Not in the slightest! Just the situation and everything that's lead up to it. I don't like unpleasant surprises/deviances from a blog intended for fun, either. I should probably invest in blocking certain tags, too (as much good as that would do me; my life is more than happy to remind me in other ways).

[kukuandkookie]

So, I'm making a story which may or may not be a remake of a old story I made, but with a new setting, new characters, a different tone, and a new storyline. Any writing tips?

Ahhh first off, I just wanted to say how honoured I am that you’d feel like asking me for writing tips! And I must also apologize if this is at all late, since Tumblr has this bad habit of not really notifying me when someone sends me an ask. PS: This might get long ahaha. I tend to ramble a lot. 😅

My first piece of advice is to read and study what you read! I often get inspired by a good book after I’ve finished reading and begin itching to write, but I actually learned how to write stories by imitating the Warriors series when I was a kid. 

I’d also highly recommend studying grammar. Not so much so that it becomes boring and no fun, but enough that it doesn’t hinder your story. Bad grammar or spelling doesn’t usually ruin a story unless it’s really bad, but it can pull someone out of your story. When reading over my classmates’ works, I usually found they worked quite well when read out loud, but reading it over myself caused me to spot those sort of grammatical errors and it would draw me out of the atmosphere they were creating for their story.

And on the topic of atmosphere, it is important to set the scene and also describe things, but definitely don’t go overboard. It often comes off as pretentious or cumbersome, breaking the flow of writing. I do describe certain things while writing, but I usually focus more on dialogue.

When it comes to dialogue, every character has their own voice, so they won’t all sound the same! Make sure to tag their dialogue with variety as well (like, don’t constantly use “he said, she said”). Try looking at other novels. Sometimes authors use “cried, scolded, screeched, begged,” etc). Sometimes they don’t use any dialogue tags at all so as not to break the flow of dialogue.

For example, this is a piece from the chapter I’m currently writing:

Or for something more casual:

The second one had four voices going on, but hopefully the voices flowed naturally enough and it wasn’t too confusing who’s who. If flow is hard to tell, you can try reading it out loud; it’ll also help you pick up on repetition.

Repeating something can be really good for dramatic effect, but too much repetition can also be bad. This is something I’ve had drilled into me by my English teachers since high school. Seeing the same few words a thousand times isn’t very interesting, so try to vary your vocabulary! There’s a whole internet out there to help you find the right words (for example, instead of always writing “angry,” you can look up “angry synonyms”).

Fictional writing, or creative nonfiction, is also where you can break a few rules of English for more dramatic flair. For example, there’s no need to always have full sentences. An incomplete sentence will stand out. 

Definitely be sure to vary sentence length so not everything looks the same. And every time a new action/piece of dialogue happens, it’s a general rule to start a new line.

I like keeping certain things about my characters and world vague and versatile so that I can play around with it more, although I know worldbuilding and detailed characters are important to many writers. It’s okay if your characters start off a little flat—the more you write for them, the more their personality will come alive and have proper depth. 

Sometimes I make a character because I feel like it and I give them a name I just feel like fits. I once made a character with curly brown hair and green eyes and randomly named him Ross, but I eventually incorporated the meaning of his name into his backstory (promontory or headland). He evolved while writing from a more cocky character to someone who is kind and quiet, but stubborn, distant, and has trouble getting over the past.

Of course writing characters also depends on your style. I have a friend who enjoys picking meaningful names for their characters, and there are authors who like to write down all the personality traits, flaws, and strengths right away. I prefer going with the flow, which I find isn’t a bad place to start, but the other way isn’t bad at all!

I usually like fleshing out the backstories for all of my characters, probably more than things like height or birthday. And that’s mostly because every person has their own story and their own scars, so it can affect them in different ways. Even flat characters I first develop just to be a villain often end up becoming more sympathetic later because I decided to focus on their backstories.

And of course we know everyone says “don’t write a Mary Sue!” but characters that seem pretty perfect can still come off as flawed and likeable. Not writing a Mary Sue doesn’t mean writing someone who is boring or terrible at everything or horrible to everyone—there is often a reason the hero is the one with some form of hidden skill or talent.

I’m going to pull on the character of my current obsessions as an example: Wei Wuxian from the novel Mo Dao Zu Shi. He’s intelligent, heroic, kind, and powerful, but such good things can also be translated into bad ones. Flaws are often exaggerations of positives. So for example, even though Wei Wuxian is intelligent, he’s still brash and reckless. He’s heroic, but this translates into a hero complex with impulsiveness, a lack of foresight, and can drive other people away. His kindness can turn into rage or self-sacrifice, and his power makes him arrogant.

Like with the thing on Mary Sues, try not to always worry about avoiding clichés or tropes. It’s good to avoid them, but they’re also staples of writing for a reason, and people do like what’s familiar (in my Film Studies classes, we describe movie tastes as “people want to see what they’re familiar with, but with something unfamiliar sprinkled in”). So it’s okay to use clichés/tropes sometimes, but don’t rely too much on them or your story will feel generic. Add your own twist!

But speaking of twists, don’t try and shock your readers with plot twists out of nowhere. Don’t panic if a reader picks up on your clues and then change the twist to something that doesn’t make sense just to shock the reader. This often cheats people of their experience. If they guess your plot twist, it can mean you laid down the right clues! But if you really want to shock them, try to drop enough hints for the new twist so it makes sense. For example, I find Coco’s plot twist much more sensible than Frozen’s.

Oh, and try not to worry too much about things like Chekhov’s gun. I had a Writing prof ask us to keep it in mind, but I find it more applicable to short stories, and that’s because it started as a rule for theatre. If you show a gun in your play, it should be used later by a character as a sort of payoff. In a longer story, this is less relevant as not every prop has to be important. Still, if you focus a lot on a particular thing, you should probably go back and explain it later. 

I have a bad habit of sometimes mentioning things that seem important to characters at the time and totally forgetting it later until I reread old chapters. For example, I had one character who doesn’t have his mom with him anymore be interested in a ring box in one chapter, but I forgot about it for awhile. I later explained that it was his mom’s wedding ring, which is why he cared about it so much.

I do often get lucky, as my two long-term stories (one that’s close to being wrapped up and one that’s already finished) have both filled most plot points sometimes by chance. I usually just start writing without a real idea of where I’m going—sometimes the stuff I write just establishes characters or their backstories—but they usually start forming into a proper plot later on when I’ve established more characters and backstories and figure out where I want the climax to go.

I’m not saying that my way is the right or only way though! It helps a lot of authors to map everything out from the very beginning. I just find certain plot points change as my writing improves, so I start off with less plan but usually end up coming up with a proper story bible for me to follow as I write. Research and planning, at the end of the day, are still really helpful!

The hardest problem with writing is that we need our readers to care. If they don’t care, then the thing you work painstakingly on won’t feel as rewarding. And it’s easier to have people care when your characters/plot/world are interesting, feel real, and are likeable (or at least have a “love to hate” thing going on for them). Not every character needs to be tragic and edgy—most people recommend against this—but they can still be sympathetic. Sometimes though, characters are just villains or just background characters, and that’s fine too! 

Plus everyone has different tastes, so it’s never guaranteed everyone will like your story—but then again, it’s no guarantee everyone won’t like it either!

I hope all of that helps, and that I haven’t scared you off with my ranting! Writing is a world of infinite possibilities, and I find it easier to test more of those possibilities than with drawing. At the end of the day, don’t forget to write for yourself and write what you also like. Improvement comes with practice, after all!

[josseshiro]

So I need to vent

First of, I've never rely posted before. I'm very much a lurker and I've only recently started geting the curage to activly engage in the online comunities I'm part of. Second, whilst I would consider myself fluent in english. My speling sucks whithout a proper spell check and I am curently running on ADHD meds, caffene and maybe a total of 5 hours of sleep in the last 48 so if none of this makes sense just tell me and I'll try and eleborate, explain and or fix the gramar when I can think in more than rambles or when my hands stop shaking.

Last warning, this is going to get political so if that is something you don't have the mental energy to process or engege with right now, I don't blame you. Also if I need to tag something or I need to add a content warning I ask that you tell me and I will do my best. This might get long.

I recently wached a video that in combination with a coment on it reminded me of the spiral I nearly fel down a few years ago and how I personaly got out of it. You see dear reader from the age of about 13 through to 17 I was very much on the downwards spiral know as anti-sjw. Yes, the crowd of people mascerading as progressive and liberal all the whils creating the perfect opening for a spiral leading to homophobia, transphobia, rasism and so many other forms of supression. Now, as this post will most most likely touch mostly on the raisism I feel it might be relevant to say that I am white. As souch there is a very real possibility that I might say something that hurts someone else, even in a minor way. Once again, feel free to call me out and I will try to fix it. I am allways working on my own world view after all. And that is actualy going to be mostly what this is going to be about. How I remember my world view changing from 13 to 17 and to my curent age: 20, soon to be 21. I cant remember what got me down the rabit hole. But I can remember what the issues I heard about most were. Fighting back. Riots, violent protests. "why are we talking about white on black crime/police brutality against poc comunities/systemic opression when we could/ should ba talking about black on black crime". And that last one came up A LOT. "Why should we talk about the pain that those we see as part of our comunity when we could be talking about the pain this comunity is casing to it self". I remember this as being one of the biggest talking points in large part becouse they were the same once coming from the "All Lives Matter" croud during the start and hight of the BLM movment. And I remember how much it scared me. Becouse I had once thought like them. There was a not so insignificant part of me that WANTED TO LISTEN to what they were saying. And I was terrified of that part of me. After all, I thought I was past that. But you never truly get past it, do you. Becouse the thing about mindset is that it frees you from guilt. It frees you from blame, and giult and it frees you from consicense and the need for action. It's a cold confort though. And it is one born from blood and death and ignorance. It took me to long to realise that. But at the same time, I was the ideal target. Was I not. Young, naiev and ignorant to the way the world works. Most of all though. I was very much alone and unexposed. At the time during wich I started to spital down that path I truly belived the things I was hearing. After all, It made sence to me. And It freed me from blame. The mindset of "the pain aplied by other groups are not nearly as important as the pain the group inflicts on itself". I think this mindset ignores a large part of the issue. It ignores something. A saying we aply in many other cases of abuse. And as far as I know, supression is abuse. We say that "Hurt people, hurt people". They conviniently forget this frace don't they. I could be wrong. This is after all an outside perspective from someone who has never and probably will never be able to get anywhere near the knowlage that comes from being a part of it. I mean, I live half way across the world to the US. Wich is the most vocal about these isues. I don't even know what signs to look for in my own home. I don't even know if it's becouse of people ignoring it, quieting it, or if were just so used to seeing the shit storm that is going on in the US that when we look in our own back yard we just say "well at least it's not as bad as over there" and then just ceep ignoring the problem. Couse I can see the result of the isues here at home but no matter where I turn I cant hear the voices of those who are hurting for it to be that way. I don't know if that is becouse sociaty puched them so far away that they can no longer be heard or if they got so tired trying to voice their concerns over the loud voices coming from elswere and geting the responce of "but at least it's not as bad as over there" and so they stopped trying as hard to get others to listen though words. Maybe that's

why we've seen the rise violent and gang related crime over the last few years. Anyways, I think I got of topic. The confort in the idea that a problem is not my problem so I should not need to solve it and you should in no way try and bring me into this. And don't you dare get violent or raise your voice in a way that makes it so that I can no longer tune you out. I got out of that mindset. Slowly. It's not a fast process. And if you go to fast you risk tireing yourself out and going back to the percived comfort of the spiral. But something I realised latly. When I remembered those years of falling and listening to the voices telling me to tune out the screams of pain. I realised that it got easier. Or maybe I became stronger. Either way dosen't matter. What dose matter is that it became easier to ignore the lure of the cold confort that would only hurt others. What maters is that there are still people who are stuck in or are falling in to these types of spirals. What maters is that whils they can tune out their voices they have a harder time blocking ours. Mind you. We sould NEVER speak over or for someone who has lived through that opression. But what we can do is lend them our voices. So that their words and their scream may break throu and so that more poeple can join us outside of the litle holes that we and they burried. And wo knows. Maybe some day those holes can be filled with dirt and covered with grass and we can all stand together under the sun as proper equals. I doubt it will hapen during my lifetime. But I hope that the next generation can do so. But for that to happen we need to get people out of their holes so that they can hear and let their voice join the roar. And as much as it pains me to say it. Some people will refuse to leve the cold hole of ignorance and hate that they dug for them selves. But those holes need to be filled. Or else others will keep falling into them.

So try and listen to the voices. And lend them your's so that their words may carry further. And maybe one day we can all stand togehter as one. And If you ever find yourslef wondering why they figt I wand you to remeber something I once heard: "You can never truly understand why some feel the need to fight back until you too find yourself on the ground bleeding". And though I don't know were or from who I heard this I do know that it is one of the most important things I ever heard. It is in large part how I realised the spiral was even there. How I realised I was stood building my own little hole to fall into. And though I will never promote violance I do whant you to think about whether lending only your voice is enough. Or if you will need to lend your fists as wel. So that they no longer have to find themselvs bleeding on the ground. For I we are enough I know we can cover the holes. But we need to stand by eachother and we need to realise that not everyone can or want to be save. That sometimes we may need to cover one where the person is still inside. Lastly I want to leve you with a reminder to always be watchfull for the spiral. Both your own and others. And to remember to listen to the voices who message your's might be able to aid and to never listen to those who want you to turn your back on them and grab that shovel once again. Thank you for reading this far. And I hope I've made at least some sence.