#Just in general on top of all that i want

[bloomshroomz]

I wish people would stop saying we are all female at conception. This is untrue! Sex cannot be discerned as either male or female at conception, because it has not yet developed as either.

We have our chromosomes, but we still haven't developed our genitalia, gonads, etc. It would be most accurate to say we're sex-neutral at conception, because our sex has the potential to develop in any direction.

We also produce neither the large reproductive cell (ova) nor the small reproductive cell (sperm) at conception. At conception, we simply don't have the organs necessary to produce our gametes; our gonads do not yet exist. Gonadal differentiation starts around 5 weeks after conception. If your body produces ova, this will happen in the womb, but not at conception. If your body produces sperm, this will not happen until puberty, well after being born. On top of all of this, it's entirely possible that you might not produce either of these.

The problem is, people like Trump think that chromosomes are the end-all-be-all of sex and gender, when this is untrue. Sex is made up of many different characteristics, and is neither binary nor immutable. Even if you have XY or XX chromosomes, you could still be trans, and/or be intersex (e.g. AIS, Swyer Syndrome, 5-ARD, 17-beta, LCH, etc). Chromosomes are also not inherently indicative of your ability to carry ova or produce sperm later in development.

Intersex people and trans people aren't going to be fully represented by our chromosomes. Our bodies might not necessarily align with our chromosomes in the way that would be "expected" societally, whether that is spontaneous or due to medical intervention.

In the case of intersex people specifically, they may not necessarily have XX or XY chromosomes to begin with. Though, in this case, they'd probably just say "If a Y is present, they're male, and if not, they're female" (e.g. XXY = male, XO = female, 46XX/46XY chimerism = male), because this form of intersexism already happens in medical literature. This is intersex erasure.

Trump would like you to believe that "has no Y chromosome = person belonging to the sex which carries eggs = female," and "has a Y chromosome = person belonging to the sex which produces sperm = male," when none of these statements are true. Or, I would say he'd like you to believe that, but that implies that I believe he knows anything about sex or biology in general. I don't think he has a clue.

All in all, Trump's EO is terrible, but not just because it's nonsensical. It's terrible because of what it aims to do to trans and intersex people. Not to mention that there is no good reason to deny people the right to self determination of their own gender, nor deny us the right to update our documents to affirm our genders, even if we don't choose to medically transition and are perisex. Each person should be entitled to decide which marker they want representing them on their own documents, whether that is M, F, or X.

We have mountains of evidence showing that gender affirming care, legal recognition, and inclusion saves lives. Trump's decision will kill people, and he has been told that we fear for our lives.

He does not care.

From Trump’s executive order — It basically declares everyone is now a woman.

All human embryos are female at conception…it takes around 6 weeks for fetal testes to produce androgen which counteracts the estrogen which produces male genitalia.

[starscreamingg]

Okay I'm so sleep deprived so pardon whatever this is but something that's got me FUCKED up about ai generated pictures songs writing is that it just fucking kills the ability to analyse for me because there's no fucking INTENTION behind it. Like why was this decision made why were these colours used what does that say about the work NOTHING because a bunch of programming took work that DID have intent and theme and purposeful choices and turned it into SLOP. Like I COULD analyse this but it doesn't MEAN anything it's EMPTY I want to EXPLODEEE

[genderqueerdykes]

I feel like the transandrophobia discourse, and, correct me if I'm wrong - is really dumb because it boils down to

"Trans men get mistreated in unique and notable ways" - general agreeance

"we came up with a term for it." Everyone foams at the mouth

Are people really that caught in the "men cannot be mistreated as a class" brainpoison?

yep, they are, thanks for taking the time to send this! you summed it up perfectly! i've been wanting to talk about this so thanks for giving me a great ask to follow up on for that!

it's really racist because idk how to tell people that being a black man, cis or trans, and being outside can get you killed in the USA if you're doing something cops find "suspicious" just because you're black and a man. black men are still viewed as violent and dangerous. black men still struggle to find community resources. black men still struggle in the work place due to systemic racism. black men are not valued anywhere near the same as much as white men are.

this goes for all men of color. being a man of color in the US is terrible. it's not a cake walk for men of color, even if they're mixed. they face constant oppression, every day of their lives, and it's not a good idea to dismiss that just because you think being queer is the only way to be oppressed in society. but it's very racist to ignore that cishet men of color suffer in the USA and other places white people have colonized.

disabled men are also oppressed. disabled men lose tons of privilege because man = workhorse to most people. we make men they think they have to do all the work forever for everyone around them and not complain. if they start experiencing chronic pain or fatigue, mental health symptoms, or anything that prevents them from working, they are treated like absolute garbage on top of being miserable from their illnesses. men can be neurodivergent. men can be disabled for life. men get sick, too, and it impacts how society views them greatly.

there's a lot of ways that men can be oppressed. ignoring it for the sake of a sassy snapback isn't cool. it's racist and ableist as hell and it's not worth throwing those people under the bus for. please care about men of color. please care about disabled and neurodivergent and chronically ill men. there are way more things that can hold a man back aside from just their assigned gender at birth. society is actually very cruel to a lot of men.

[marvelrivalsimagines]

Relationship Headcannons

Characters: Iron Fist, Luna Snow, Squirrel Girl

Prompt: One requester asked for Iron Fist and Squirrel Girl general relationship HCs and another asked for Luna Snow relationship HCs, so I put all three character headcannons into one post :)

Author’s note: When it comes to relationships HCs there’s so many things you can talk about! I know I didn’t cover every aspect of these relationships in the HCs but I also didn’t want this to get annoyingly long lol. I hope everyone enjoys this, especially the requesters!

Warnings: Brief mentions of chronic pain in Iron Fist’s section

While Lin has an outwardly laid-back attitude it would be a mistake to assume that this means he takes everything in his life casually. When Lin commits to something he dedicates his entire body and spirit to it and this includes your relationship. Any challenges your relationship might face, whether it’s an argument between the two of you or the time stream entanglement itself, Lin is ready to do whatever it takes to keep you in his life. 

Aside from his dedication to fighting for your relationship Lin is also dedicated to fighting for you. While there’s a lot to adjust to in his new role as the Iron Fist helping people and standing up for others is something Lin has always believed in. With him around you have the most supportive cheerleader who’s there for you in moments where you may be struggling. Whether you need someone to just listen to you vent for a moment or you’d like him to step into a situation to help you out Lin is more than willing to help. Real “they said no pickles on their burger” energy. 

When it comes to PDA Lin is comfortable with almost anything. While other people might shy away from PDA due to embarrassment, Lin is just too caught up with you to ever turn down a kiss or a hug in public. While he might get a bit red in the face if you really go over the top with your affections, Lin appreciates every moment of your attention that he gets. 

Lin’s main love language is physical touch. As mentioned before, Lin has no problem with PDA so when the two of you are alone you both can really indulge in each other's touch. It’s just something that comes so naturally to him; placing a hand around your waist as you both stand in the kitchen or wrapping the both of you up in the same blanket before starting up a movie. 

Lin was living a normal life before becoming the Sword Master and then Iron Fist. While he is up to these new challenges life has suddenly thrown at him, it can sometimes be a lot to take in and can cause Lin to be overwhelmed or stuck in his own head for a bit. So aside from the affection he gets from your physical touch, it can also be extremely grounding for him to be hugged or held by you. It pulls him out of his worries and back into the present with you. 

Lin also deals with chronic pain from the fragments of his sword that are embedded in his hands. He’s come up with his own routines to try to alleviate that pain, and methods of coping with the pain when it is particularly bad. It may take some time for Lin to feel comfortable with being vulnerable enough to show you just how much this affects him. But, if you offer to help him whenever you notice he’s experiencing more pain than usual, and especially if you take the time to learn how he manages his pain and help him in those routines, Lin swears he’s never felt more seen or loved. 

While it’s impossible to completely alleviate his pain, for Lin it’s more about knowing that someone truly cares for him, and that while he puts his body on the line to save others you’re thinking about how to help him. The fact that you’re willing to put aside this time in your day and put all of your focus into this moment just to try to temporarily help with some of his pain makes his love for you grow even stronger. 

When it comes to date night and spending time together Lin has a preference for more relaxed activities and places. As the protector of K’un-Lun he spends his day, figuratively and literally, running around the city and fighting crime. For as much energy as Lin has, even he comes home tired most days after his duties as Iron Fist are finished. And there’s nothing better for sore muscles than cuddling with you on the couch and putting on some cheesy comfort movie. 

After an especially rough or tiresome day Lin would, figuratively, cry tears of happiness if he came home to a home cooked meal made by you. It doesn’t have to be anything complex or worthy of a michelin star, just knowing that you were thinking of him like this while he was gone touches his heart. As a hero spends his days protecting others, it means a lot to be cared for in return. 

In terms of a date night out, I can see Lin being the kind of person who’s more adventurous with his food tastes. He’d enjoy going to a restaurant with you that’s advertising some new food that’s either really spicy, is a type of food you don’t get often where you live, or has some unusual ingredients. He’s going to be joking around the entire time hyping up his excitement to try this new food. And when it finally gets to the table he’s going to play up his reaction to try and make you laugh. 

Lowkey I also think that Lin is the kind of person who eats his food really fast. Like you go out to dinner with him and while you’re just three bites into your food he’s already done. Then he’s looking at your side of fries like “Are you gonna finish that? 😳”

Having his significant other also be a hero would be fun and exciting, but it also might cause some worries for Lin. Lin would really enjoy training with you, learning about your skills and powers, and potentially thinking of ways he can learn from you by incorporating some of your tips into his own fighting style. He would also really enjoy being able to open up to you about some of the struggles of being a hero, like the pressure you put on yourself or how to cope when things don’t always go right. He’d really appreciate that his partner can truly understand these struggles. I can also definitely see Lin starting a relationship with someone he first met as a hero, probably a hero he’s looked up to simped for for some time. 

But at the same time, Lin has some insecurities about his title as the Iron Fist. Lin knows he’s earned this title and that he's just as much of an Iron Fist as those who have come before him, but there are still so many heroes who question him and compare him to Danny Rand (cough cough that Moon Knight voice line). This causes some worries to creep in; did you ever interact with Danny as a hero? Do you ever think about how Lin compares to the previous Iron Fists? 

If you’re fighting alongside each other in a fight, Lin is of course concerned for you but trusts you to be careful. His fighting style is highly mobile so he takes a ‘best defense is a good offense’ approach with the goal of taking out enemies before they become a problem for you. And even with that, he would still do his best to check in on you during the fight to make sure you’re doing okay. 

As much as Lin hates to see you hurt in any way, it’s comforting for him to get to patch up any cuts or bruises post fight. He cringes at the sight of your injuries, but the physical contact really assures him that you’re still alive and well.

Dating Luna Snow, or as you get to know her, Seol Hee, is surprisingly chill. No pun intended While it might be easy to think that the life of a K-Pop superstar would be all mansions and fast cars, it’s important to Hee that she never loses touch with the people around her. After all, the entire reason she wants to be both an artist and a hero is to help people. So when she comes back home to you from a sold out show, all she really wants to do at the end of the day is enjoy some time as a ‘normal person’. 

That’s not to say that there aren't certain benefits to dating a world famous super star, if you want to embrace that. As much as Hee enjoys the stage and the limelight she’s also experienced some of its drawbacks such as drama obsessed reporters and the ruthlessness of public opinion online. Going public about your relationship together would potentially pull you into all of that and Hee would never force you into that kind of life if it wasn’t something you were ready for. 

Whether you choose to embrace the attention or would like to keep the relationship private, Hee supports the decision and respects you no matter what. Either way, you’re getting a love song written about you. The only difference is if the rest of the world knows that the famous Luna Snow only has you in mind as she sings the lyrics. 

Levels of PDA would also depend on if your relationship is public, since kissing the pop star out in public would expose your relationship pretty quickly if you’re trying to keep things private. But even if your relationship is known to the public, Hee is pretty reserved when it comes to PDA. She’s comfortable with hand holding or a quick kiss to the cheek, but anything beyond that she’d like to keep in private. 

It’s not that she doesn’t enjoy your touch, she just enjoys keeping the physical intimacy between the two of you completely private. She would rather enjoy your touch at home where neither of you have to worry about how others may be watching or perceiving you and you can both be carefree about your love. 

Hee’s main love language is quality time. As both an international superstar and a super hero her schedule is filled to the brim. She rarely gets time to herself and sometimes when she does get a break from her pop stardom, she can be suddenly called into action as a superhero for an emergency. Hee has really learned the value of time, and her free time is especially precious to her. So it’s really a testament to how much she loves you when she chooses to spend that free time with you!

For as long as Hee has to wait to see you sometimes, she’s surprisingly open to do anything with you. For her, as long as she gets to be by your side it is definitely time well spent. Even if you just want to relax at home and do separate things, Hee is happy as long as she gets to enjoy your presence next to her. 

Again, with her down to earth nature, even the small, mundane things are special to Hee. Washing the dishes becomes a cherished memory as the two of you work together, teasing each other as Hee playfully splashes water on you or carefully places some of the bubbly soap suds on the tip of your nose. It’s your turn to tease Hee as the radio you turned on for some background noise starts to play one of her own hits, and you’re treated to a silly and lighthearted lip sync performance by the artist herself. 

Aside from the domestic nights at home, Hee does really enjoy the date nights the two of you plan where you both leave the home. She has a preference for beautiful, intimate date spots like dinner in a private booth at a restaurant or an evening of clothing shopping at local boutiques. 

Restaurants are one of the few places where Hee will flaunt her wealth a bit. What good is all the pop star money if she can’t use it to spoil you a bit? She ensures that both of you get to enjoy a private and gorgeous setting so you can simply focus on eachother, and maybe the picturesque skyline in front of you. She also might not say it out loud but Hee loves taking any excuse to see you dressed up in tailored formal wear. 

Speaking of, if the two of you go on a shopping date Hee absolutely loves taking you into the dressing room and making you try on endless outfits she’s picked out for you as you both have been walking through the store. As a pop star her sense of fashion is fine tuned to perfection, no matter what your personal style may be. Even if you have sensory issues with clothing, she tracks down the perfect piece that both accommodates your needs and compliments your figure. 

During the course of all of these dates Hee takes so many pictures of you so she can keep reminders of you while you may be away from each other. Her favorite photos of you are the candid ones where you look the most like yourself, though she also likes to occasionally ask others to take posed photos of the two of you together. She especially likes to do a lot of these ‘photo shoots’ right before she knows she’ll be especially far away, like if she is going to perform a concert in another country or if she knows her super hero duties will keep her away for an extended time. 

If you are also a superhero Hee is determined to make everyone realize what a power couple you two are. Hee works as both a pop star and a superhero because she wants to instill hope in people, so that people have something to keep them going in dark times. She would love to work alongside her partner to show the world that with both the strength of your powers and the strength of your relationship the two of you can conquer any threat and protect the hope that keeps humanity going. 

Hee would especially get a kick out of your superhero dynamic if you are the masked, quiet, and mysterious type of hero. Despite knowing the real you and that you’re much more complex than those three adjectives, the slightly mischievous side of Hee can’t help but play up the dynamic of the bubbly pop star and the brooding hero that others have placed you two into. The fans just love it!

If the two of you are fighting side by side, Hee is of course worried for your safety but she also has a lot of confidence in both of your skills. I mean, this is the woman who sassed Namor to his face while they were both standing right next to the ocean. She’s very confident in her own skills, and she knows that you’re great at your job as well. 

You’ve most likely fought side by side multiple times together, so it’s natural for the two of you to try and stick together during the fight. But if the two of you get separated for whatever reason, Hee makes sure to keep her eye on you in case you need any sort of help or healing. In a situation where multiple people on her team need healing, you’ll always get it first and she doesn’t really hide her bias. 

Doreen approaches your relationship like she does with everything in her life - with lots of excitement and optimism. With her there’s never going to be a time where you’ll doubt if this relationship is something Doreen truly wants. Even when she comes home from a long day of beating up super villains she still finds the energy to dedicate to you and your relationship.  

The relationship also tends to center around enjoying the now. Doreen is always in the moment, finding interest and excitement in what’s happening around her that day. With her optimistic outlook she doesn’t spend much time thinking about what might happen in the future. While it’s great to be with someone who reminds you to enjoy every day it also might be up to you to bring up important long-term topics, like if you two want to move in together. She’s not avoiding commitment or trying to duck out of tough conversations, she just finds it hard to worry about what you guys might be doing tomorrow when she has you in her arms right now!

Doreen is perfectly comfortable with PDA and if you’re comfortable with physical contact in public then Doreen will be initiating it a lot. She wouldn’t do anything crazy like make out with you in public though. Doreen enjoys the sweet honeymoon phase types of physical contact with you out in public, like resting her head on your shoulder or placing an arm around you while talking to other people. She especially loves to hold your hand out in public; on the crowded streets of New York City she’s gotta make sure you’re always right by her (and tippy’s) side! 

Doreen would also be the kind of person who enjoys giving you a quick, chaste kiss on the cheek or lips if you’re both enjoying some down time in public, like if you’re at a restaurant or just standing and waiting at a crosswalk together. But if you give her a kiss in public, you’ll get to see a flustered and blushing Doreen. No matter how long you two have been together, a quick, unexpected kiss in public has the power to completely derail her train of thought which is quite a feat. 

Doreen’s main way of showing love would be through her words. She loves to talk and that translates to a near infinite amount of compliments. Doreen’s compliments may not be poetry, but you can always tell that her words are genuine and come straight from her heart. Her lack of a filter can be a problem sometimes but when it comes to her sweet words for you it’s cute. 

Aside from getting lots of compliments you’ll also get every thought that comes to her brain. You’ll be doing some activity that doesn’t require 100% of your attention, like cleaning your room or cooking some dinner for the two of you, and Doreen will spend the entire time talking to you about the most random things. From what she spent her day doing, any hero activities she got up to, and the drama amongst the local wild squirrels; you’ll suddenly be an expert in it all with how much detail Doreen goes into while she’s talking to you.

And Doreen isn’t 100% aware that she does this. She’s not purposefully trying to distract you from what you’re doing or talk over you. If you have anything to add onto her stories she’ll be more than happy to hear your comments and jokes. In fact, knowing that you’re paying attention to what she’s saying and showing that you care about her thoughts just makes her fall even more in love with you

But back to why she talks so much. It’s just that Doreen loves you so much and she feels so comfortable around you that she can finally let all those hyperactive thoughts stored up in her brain out! She loves you, feels comfortable with you, and has a lot of thoughts about a lot of things so of course she’s just gotta let it all out around you. 

Doreen admittedly might struggle a bit if you sometimes need some silence, like if you’re overstimulated from the day or have a migraine. But she’s genuinely trying her best and is sincerely sorry if she’s too loud. As long as you communicate to her that you need some quiet Doreen will try to keep herself busy by either helping you out with whatever might be causing your need for silence or just doing her own thing until you’re ready to hear about what totally weird thing Tippy found in Central Park 

Because of Doreen’s seemingly endless energy she has a preference for dates where you two get to actively do something together, like maybe a trivia night at a restaurant/bar where she gets to show off her smarts or a quirky local business like an axe throwing place. 

There are lots of weird, interesting spots in New York and as a superhero who keeps her eyes peeled at all times Doreen knows about a lot of these places. So when it comes to date night Doreen is always full of suggestions. It’s honestly kind of impressive how she can almost always come up with some new place or activity that you two haven't done together yet. 

Out of all the places you two frequent together Doreen’s favorite recurring date spot is Central Park. There’s nothing Doreen loves more than to pack a homemade lunch with you and walk over to the massive and beautiful park to enjoy each other’s company and some nice weather. Some warm sunshine, squirrels chasing each other through the trees, and the comforting feeling of you resting up against her. What more could she ask for? 

That’s not to say that Doreen wouldn’t enjoy a quiet night in as well though. Squirrels get tired too, and sometimes a movie on the couch with some takeout is just what you need after a long day of beating up bad guys. 

If you’re a hero like Doreen she sees this as an opportunity to spend even more time together. She would love to go out on patrol together with you and it would honestly be a lot like hanging out with Doreen regularly. Her cheerful attitude really helps keep things light when you're fighting the insane villains of New York. 

If you’re in a major fight side by side, Doreen won’t baby you or try to tell you what to do but she’ll be trying her best to stick by your side. Just in case something starts to go wrong she wants to be by your side to make sure the two of you make it out okay. Doreen wouldn’t be able to forgive herself  if something happens to you while she could have intervened. 

Reassuring Doreen that you won’t be reckless and that you’ll always be looking out for each other will make her feel a lot better. While neither of you can guarantee the outcome, she just wants to know that no matter what happens during the fight you promise to come back home with her and Tippy.

[hobo-rg]

I want to add that even if you do all the statistics right it is a big stretch from what a "functional MRI" scan is legitimately telling you to what people tend to read into it.

Functional MRI measures which parts of someone's brain are pulling more oxygen out of their bloodstream than other parts. The "parts" are cubes about half a centimeter on a side, and it can detect changes over time with a resolution of about two seconds. There are at least several million cells (not just neurons) in every cube, the boundaries of the cubes do not line up with actual structural boundaries in the brain, and there are at least a couple dozen documented reasons for why one chunk of your brain might need more oxygen right now than some other chunk, only some of which have anything to do with thinking!

Point being, about the only scientifically justifiable conclusion that can be drawn from one of these experiments is "this general region of the brain is probably involved somehow in responding to a particular kind of stimulus."

(When limited to that, results from functional MRI do tend to line up pretty well with results from other techniques for investigating that same question, so it's not complete nonsense.)

On top of all that: I've actually been a subject for one of these experiments, and the way it goes is, you lie on a hospital gurney which will be stuffed into a long narrow tube that takes you into the middle of the MRI machine. You have to wear industrial grade earplugs, because the machine is so loud that it will damage your hearing if you don't. They put your head in a restraint, because if you move your head while the machine is taking a scan, the scan will be ruined. You can't move the rest of your body much at all either, because there just isn't any space inside the tube for that.

The only things you can do while you're inside the machine are talk to the experimenters, look at pictures that the experimenters show you, and push one or the other of a couple of buttons in response to the pictures. Running the machine is expensive and getting someone prepped to go in there is a pain in the ass, so once they've got you in there they want to collect as much data as possible, so you're gonna be there for a while. Three or four hours maybe.

(Yes, this is an awful place to be for anyone even mildly claustrophobic. They are very careful about screening for that, and just in case, they give you a "get me out of this contraption NOW" panic button.)

Point being, the environment of a functional MRI experiment is so abnormal that we can't be sure we're getting anything about the normal operation of the human brain from it, and so restrictive that we can't test more than a tiny fraction of possible stimuli and responses with it anyway.

(footnote: this was all a long time ago for me as well, I would expect the space and time resolution has gotten somewhat better by now, but the claustrophobic tunnel is dictated by the basic physics of magnetic resonance imaging so that's not likely to have changed much)

one of the best academic paper titles

[babyleostuff]

⸻ first date with performance unit

[ 🍵 ] how they would spoil their partner, what they would be like taking them out for the first time & what they would plan to make them feel special

jun

place: cat/dog cafe

what they would do to make you feel special: he’d have your coffee/tea order + favourite baked goods memorised (to the point where if they didn’t have what you’d usually order, jun would know what you’d take instead)

what they would be like taking you out: jun would be the epitome of sweet and precious, because mans wouldn't be able to stop smiling. seriously, the grin he'd have on his face would be low-key concerning because how can someone smile for that long, but at the same time, he'd make you feel so at peace and comfy with his gentle persona

“they are so us,” jun giggled and pointed at two cats trying to claw each other's eyes out. 

you shook your head and took a sip from your cup. if it was anyone else you’d start wondering if they even liked you, because comparing you to a rather aggressive cat was not on your top 10 compliments list, nor was it something you’d like to hear on a first date.  

but the boy in front of you was far from “anyone else”.

“you’re feisty,” jun pointed at the black cat, “just like her.” 

before you could think through what you were about to say next, you blurted out, “well, at least now we know who’ll wear the pants in our relationship.” 

it was safe to say that jun looked like an angry tomato for the rest of the date.

hoshi

place: laser tag

what they would do to make you feel special:  if you’d end up on opposite teams, soonyoung would do anything to let your team win (he’d be so proud in thinking he was being sooo sneaky about it) because seeing you happy is so much better than winning (you’re the only exception though, anyone else - the fight is on)

what they would be like taking you out:  this man is too unpredictable to know for sure how he’d act, but generally speaking it could go either two ways: 1 - soonyoung would be filled with so much energy, beaming with happiness and just so much affection for you that you’d have a hard time knowing what he’d even be on about (lovingly), 2 - he’d turn into a stressed little guy that just wouldn’t be able to believe that he’s on a date with you??? you gorgeous creature said yes to go out with him??? no one pinch him, because if it’s still a dream he doesn’t want to wake up. this version of him would be quite quiet, but in a soonyoung way quiet

“stop!” you laughed, quickly looking back to see if hoshi was still running after you. 

and running he was. more like charging at you at full speed, to be honest, with a fake gun in his hand and devilish grin on his face. 

“you’re not going to get away this time!” he yelled back, getting closer to you with each step. and there was no way you’d outrun him, na-ah. 

“it’s not how you play this game,” you said and bursted out in a fit of laughter, as soonyoung wrapped his strong arms around your frame, engulfing you in a sweaty hug. 

“i don’t care,” he giggled, pulling you closer. “the game is over for me anyway, now that i’ve got you”. 

mingaho

place: painting class

what they would do to make you feel special: he’d be the best listener. i know that is the bare minimum, but at the same time the bare minimum is in hell so… yeah. you’ll never meet a better listener than hao, who could sit on the uncomfortable wooden chair, covered in paint and listen to you for ages

what they would be like taking you out: such a gentleman, to the point where you start wondering if it’s not a dream. gentle, funny, kind, understanding, charming - you could go on for forever trying to describe minghao. all of that said, though, hao would honestly be so so nervous, because come one… so many things could go wrong… and he seriously liked you. like really really liked you.

“how the hell did you manage to get your paints to look like that?” you pointed at hao’s palette that was full of pretty colours, unlike yours. unfortunately. 

“hm?” he mumbled and looked over at your station. you could see the smile forming on his gorgeous face, but since he was the textbook definition of a green flag, whatever you want to call it, he quickly composed himself and pointed at the paints in front of him. “just mix this and this.” 

“uh, yeah,” you huffed, “i did the same and mine looks like shit. literally.” 

this time he couldn’t help but laugh. “let me help, yeah?”

dino

place: a board game cafe

what they would do to make you feel special: he’d try his best to play all of your favorite board games, because one thing about chan - he sucks at understanding game rules (seriously, all of his brain cells would be sweating to understand the game). so it’d truly be heartwarming how this precious boy would try so hard to understand what would be going in front of him. 

what they would be like taking you out: stressed. and. nervous. as. fuck. he just doesn’t want to mess it up, okay? chan knows he’s handsome and pretty and funny and charming, BUT IT DOESN’T MATTER!!! all of his rational thinking flies out of the window whenever he’s around you, and “what were you saying, i was too busy staring at your beautiful eyes”. shakes like a leaf the whole time. 

you could clearly see a question mark forming above chan’s head, as you tried explaining the rules for the third time. usually, you’d be quite annoyed at the person for still not getting what you were saying, but he looked so adorable, with his big puppy eyes and all, that you had to stop yourself from cooing out loud. 

“i’m sorry,” chan said, looking down. “i’m just not the best at understanding games.” 

you leaned over the table and put your hand over his. his head whipped up so quickly you wondered whether he didn’t pull a muscle doing that. 

“it’s okay, channie,” you smiled at him. “we can play something else, y’know?” 

he shook his head, and scooted his chair to sit closer to you. “no, no. let’s try again. i promise i’ll get it this time”.

[venusbyline]

5 HOTD characters who definitely like period sex?

HEADCANON: 5 HOTD characters most likely to enjoy period sex

— tags/warnings: female!reader, period sex, blood kink, blood licking, oral sex (female receiving), fingerfucking, fingering, rough sex (but kinda fluff too), scissoring/tribadism, lesbian sex, menstrual cramps, overstimulation, creampie, safeword use mentioned, implied underage sex, established relationship, canon divergence. no use of y/n. english is not my first language.

1- CREGAN STARK

He's a Northman, he certainly wouldn't mind a little blood during sex. Actually... Cregan finds it so hot and it's one of his biggest kinks. Whether he's eating you out and getting his face all messed up with your lunar blood or just fucking your tight, velvety cunt and seeing the mess of his seed and your reddish liquid running down afterwards, staining the bedsheets.

Cregan always opens your legs to fuck you missionary style, then he can watch how your blood looks so delightful coloring both of your thighs as he moves in and out. His big, thick cock hitting so close to your cervix might make your menstrual cramps kinda worse, but Cregan will make it up to you later, warming you in his embrace, his large, sweaty body snuggling you and caressing your hair until you fall asleep.

2- DAEMON TARGARYEN

Guys... This man also loves giving oral sex when you're having your lunar blood. It's morally disgusting in some people's eyes, but for him it's one of the best tastes there is, better than any wine. I think Daemon is more a oral receiver than a giver, but if you're on your period he'll get addicted to your cunt.

As much as Daemon's focus is on using his mouth on you, he'll fingerfucking you for a few minutes, just so he can stick them down your throat then, forcing you to swallow the small but more solid red remains that came out of your own body. He'll definitely wanna make you cum (and bleed) in his mouth for hours, until you're so overstimulated that you'll actually have to beg him to stop.

3- ALYS RIVERS

Where are the readers who are in love with that "sweet" witch? Alys is definitely in the TOP 3 and also is the HOTD female character most likely to enjoy period sex (and blood kink in general). If you're on your period, she'll lick you, putting her fingers inside you until your lunar blood is all over her arm. She might even use your blood for some of her freaky potions.

If Alys is on her period, you can fuck her out as much as you want if you're into it, the feeling of your mouth around her sensitive clit will leave her moaning loudly and grabbing your hair tightly, pressing you even more against the pubic dark hairs and now also with red drops. If you're both menstruating at the same time, the mess will be even better, because Alys will definitely wanna fit her legs between yours to share each other's blood when the two of you are rubbing your cunts against each other.

4- JACAERYS VELARYON

Considering the canon and not my HCs about dark!Jacaerys (for the happiness of the harassing anon hahahah), I think Jace would be a fancier of period sex, but for softer and more romantic reasons. If you're his wife, he'll definitely try to help you ease your menstrual cramps by using sex to your own good (thanks to my dear @thesongoficeandfir3 and her Jace's fic "Mine to take care of", now I got the vision hahaha).

In my opinion, he focus more on using his tongue, so you can cum in his face while he eats you out gently and trying not to make your period pains worse.

5- RHAENYRA TARGARYEN

Princess and Young!Rhaenyra prefers you to focus entirely on her when she's on her period. She's totally spoiled and acting like a brat until you satisfy her sexual desires, as the Targaryen Princess definitely is the type of girl who gets even more horny when she's bleeding. Rhaenyra lays you down on the bed and sit on your face to being able to take control of the entire situation and use your mouth and even your nose, making your pretty face all bloody.

Queen or Adult!Rhaenyra in general is more a giver, but with dominant manners too. She gives you pleasure when you're on period, but putting you on all fours, your ass sticks up in the air as she fucks her fingers inside your cunt, the drops of blood splattering onto the bedsheets. After you cum so many times, Rhaenyra puts her dirty long fingers inside your own mouth to make you feel the metallic taste and kisses you soon after, saying praises and caressing your body with an almost worship way.

[jonquilyst]

Day 0 - Introduction

🎵 Dear Mom and Dad, I’m doin’ fine. You guys are on my mind… 🎵

Welcome to the premiere of the 3rd season of Total Drama Sims: the hottest, freshest reality TV show on simblr! I’m your host jonquilyst, though I'm sure by now you already know that 😜

18 ambitious teenagers have gathered to put their wits, guts, and strength to the test to seek out the ✨ grand prize. ✨ Like the previous two seasons, they will compete in crazy challenges, deal with less-than-perfect living arrangements, and face the judgement of each other!

🎵 You asked me what I wanted to be, and I think the answer is plain to see… 🎵

🎵 I wanna live close to the sun. Pack your bags ‘cause I’ve already won… 🎵

Allow me to give you the grand tour of our portable "camp" for this season: an airplane that totally isn't run-down and hasn't been sitting unused in a hangar for years! We will be using this airplane in our journey across the sims world, and it will be here that our contestants will spend their time between challenges!

Because of our tight quarters, everyone will be sleeping and eating all in one place! No more team separation here! That also means we no longer have a designated place for confessionals; they'll be done in the bathrooms, just like the good ol' outhouse from season one!

However, we were able to designate a room for our elimination ceremonies, of course! The door you see here is where our losing contestants will take the drop-of-shame, out of the airplane and onto wherever we're flying over! (Don't worry, TDS will make sure they'll land safely and have accommodations... maybe...)

Now, here's the real kicker of this plane: first class.

I did say that everyone would be sleeping together, but that isn't technically true.

Unique to this season, the team that wins a challenge will win a reward along with invincibility. That reward is first class. Complete with quality beds and all the entertainment to satisfy even the most brainrotted teenager, first class is the place to be!

The beds in economy class? Let's just say we assembled the bedframes ourselves and got the bedding from a dump... 🤭 There's also no room for games and such, so all the fun stuff is in first class!

So! If contestants want nice beds and all the entertainment they want, they will need to work for it. All they need to do is be on the winning team.

🎵 Everything to prove nothing’s in my way. I’ll get there one day! 🎵

Now, allow me to formally introduce you to our 18 new contestants!

(from left to right; top to bottom)

ALANNA CASTILLO (she/her) by @lyratea - A writer who wants an unforgettable adventure

AVERY BENNETT (she/her) by @hellogreta - An athletic girl who wants a break from her chaotic family and home life

BRENDAN TOWNSEND (he/him) by @sanitysims - A skilled cook who is nervous to compete on the show

CARSON FOSTER (he/him) by @changingplumbob - A Llamacorn Scout that was convinced to sign up for the show by his new girlfriend

ELIO ALVORETTER (they/he) by @paracosmic-sims - A generous and outgoing person who is representing themselves and their partners in the competition

ESPRESSO BEAN (she/her) by @riverofjazzsims - The twin sister of Season 2 contestant Coffee Bean; competing to get the Total Drama experience for herself

ESTRELLO PYRE (he/him) by @invisiblequeen - A long-time fan of Total Drama Sims who wants to win the show with kindness and friendship

JOSUE SUAREZ (he/him) by @simsinfinitylt - An outdoorsy guy who was unexpectedly signed up for the show by his abuela

LUCIAN BRIGHT (he/him) by @simstagramsomeone - A gaming streamer who is competing on the show to promote viewership on his channel

MAEVE BARGEN (she/her) by @aniraklova - A mischievous party girl who wants to build relationships with others, both friendships and rivalries

MARILYN MOORE (she/her) by @aliengirl - A spoiled popular girl who signed up for the show because she thought it was acting-related

MATTEO PERALTA (he/him) by @matchalovertrait - A musician who wants to make some new friends and get exposure for his band

MINATO MATSUDA (he/him) by @ravingsockmonkey - A loyal party guy who wants to meet new people

NITE CROWE (she/her) by @kissalopa - A nature and animal-loving half-alien who wants to test herself and try new things

RAYLAN K. RODRIGUEZ (he/him) by @bloomingkyras - A highly competitive boy who likes challenging himself; was inspired to sign up for the show by Season 2 winner Liana Morris

TOMIKO MORIYAMA (she/they) by @kari-sims - A staunch bug-lover who wants to travel the world; signed up for the show without her parent's permission

TOUMA REID BEASLEY (he/him) by @nakasumi-sims - A bubbly shrine caretaker who has an array of survival and outdoorsy skills

ZIGGY SKINT (he/him) by @ethicaltreatmentofcowplants - An outdoorsy boy who is relatively shy but has a strong moral compass

🎵 I WANNA BE, I WANNA BE, I WANNA BE FAMOUS! 🎵

So... We're Waiting on Teams Again?

Yep! Like last season, our contestants will remain teamless until the first challenge, but the unique part about this season is that the first challenge itself will be determining which teams contestants are placed on. And remember, there will be 3 TEAMS this season!

[atthebell]

one last thing before i mute notifs on this post forever: these issues are obviously just as present when it comes to depictions of trans women in fandom. constantly pigeonholing every trans woman, canonical or fanonical, as a domme or a top, making every trans woman extremely sexually aggressive, and vice versa (making every dommy or aggro character a trans woman 'because it just fits so well'), insisting that transfemme characters must be some stereotype rather than dynamic and varied people; all of these are part of this gender essentialist plague in fandom and in online spaces generally.

and even aside from that, it's very clear to me that a lot of people on this website use transfemme headcanons as a way to deflect criticism or to pretend like their engagement with a story is unimpeachable or just in bizarre attempts at actually giving a shit about female characters but in point of fact all they do is treat women, and specifically trans women in this instance, like personality-less dolls they can insert into scenarios. rarely do i see people actually examining what about a character makes them connect with ideas of transness, let alone specifically transfemininity. having a half-baked headcanon about some canonically male character being a trans woman does not make you immune to perpetuating misogyny, and i want to direct that especially towards other transmascs. you are just as capable as anyone at being sexist morons. please knock it off with this transmisogynistic bullshit.

i'm focusing here on sexual stereotypes because that's where i see some of the worst perpetrators of this stuff and what i was talking about in the original post in large part, but by no means does that mean it's absent elsewhere nor that horny spaces are evil by nature in some way. anyone is capable of this stupid shit, it's just very obvious that you don't actually care about trans women when all you do is objectify them.

and like always the issue is not this happening one time or with one character. the issue is that this is a pattern, both with people on an individual level but more importantly across fandom spaces. it comes up over and over again and makes it very clear that no matter how progressive fandom spaces make themselves out to be, there is a lot of work to be done on these fronts.

there is nothing inherently wrong with trans headcanons, obviously. but increasingly in the last several years ive seen them used to uphold hegemonic ideas about gender and race and sexuality and im extremely tired of it. recognize the diverse and broad experiences of other people and stop poisoning your own brains with repackaged conservatism.

i'm so tired of the yaoi-ification of mlm ships where people feel the need to make one of them (usually the fandom-assigned bottom) into a teeny tiny waifish twink and the other into a huge musclebound super aggro guy (usually the fandom-assigned top) i know this is like a thing many people have been saying for years but i just feel like it has never actually gotten better in fandom spaces. the fatphobia of it, the gender essentialism, the homophobia, it's all so fucking annoying it makes me want to scream

[priceoftheduchess]

bite at the hand that feeds

john price x southern dentist!reader

cw) intimate, fluff, john price being a charming bastard, op is not a dentist! :P, this is not proofread!!, smut adjacent!

inspired by @rosegolden13’s dentist!reader fic!

Walking into your waiting room after doing a children’s cleaning to find a large, rugged man sitting in a chair reading a magazine was not really on today’s bingo card. Reading your chart, you see his name — or what must be his name — among others.

“John Price?”

He stands. Bingo! He stands, and Jesus Christ, why is he so large?

He’s dwarfing you as he follows you to the little room you work in, and you’re not even really sure he can fit in it. He’s casual but sophisticated all the same. A navy button down, unbuttoned at the top to accommodate him and the sleeves rolled up. Some jeans and a simple pair of worn work boots. His hair is all around peppered with grey hairs and he honestly looks delicious.

You smile at him as you slip into some new gloves and grab yourself a fresh surgical mask.

“Go ahead and sit down, and get comfortable for me,” You instruct him. You have the sweetest little Southern belle accent and he’s positively all over it.

“Yes ma’am,” his voice is gruff and British? Why is he here?

“You ain’t from here, is you?” You ask him softly, and he shakes his head with a lazy smile.

“No, ma’am. Herefordshire, originally. Meeting with some associates down here in Texas, and realized this mornin’ I’d chipped a tooth somewhere down the line.” He explains, and now you actually see it. One of his teeth behind his canines, chipped at the point.

“Poor baby,” you joke softly at him. “Open up and let me check that out for you. I’ll also offer you a free cleaning, if that’s something you’re interested in.” He nods, giving you another smile that melts your heart.

He opens his mouth after you clip a piece of thin fabric over his shirt. You gently poke around his mouth with your fingers and inspect the chipped tooth.

“I’m goin’ to wiggle it, sugar. I need you to tell me if it hurts or not.” You explain and he nods. You gently move the tooth back and forth and he shakes his head.

“Good, that means there’s very minor damage.” You smile softly and sterilize some tools to begin filling in the tooth. “You ain’t got no clue on how you done this?” You ask, even though you’re actively in his mouth, and he shrugs.

You finish the tooth quite quickly. “All good. You want me to clean your teeth while you’re here? Free of charge.” He smiles and nods.

“Yes ma’am.” You smile and continue working, gently drilling away at some plaque and checking the general health of the rest of his teeth.

“I’m goin’ to floss your teeth now. This can get kinda invasive, especially with the back teeth, so fair warning.”

He chuckles gruffly. “Ain’t nothin’ invasive when you’re as gorgeous as you are.” He remarks, almost nonchalantly, and you feel your face heat up, thankful for your mask.

“You hush. I done told you I ain’t goin’ to charge you for the cleanin’,” you shake your head, preparing a strand of floss. “No need to butter me up, sweet pea.” And he chuckles again, a hearty, gruff sound that warms your entire body.

You finish the cleaning, catching yourself smiling at his earlier comment and when you’re done, he sits up slowly and rolls his shoulders back while you remove the bib.

“Thanks, dove.” He says and he runs his tongue over his teeth, way too sensual for your professionalism. You trash your gloves and your used mask.

“Feel good?” You ask and he nods with a wink.

“Yes ma’am. Now, why don’t I get you some dinner while I’m still in town?”

Anti-fraternization rules and alarms go off everywhere. Don’t sleep with your patient! echoes softly in your mind. But his smile is just so charming and he’s adjusting his clothes that have shifted and oh, God, that color looks great on him.

“Why not?” You shrug, trying not to smile like an idiot. He ends up making you both dinner at his temporary, quaint little apartment that he’s renting — because you refuse to call it his flat — and it’s just as delicious as he is. You chide him softly for drinking wine when you cleaned his teeth just yesterday and he smiles at you, figuring he’ll have to visit America more often. Free healthcare be damned.

You help him wash dishes, and he’s flashing you that stupid grin that he’s got and somehow, when you’re on your back, bare as the day you were born, listening to John as he praises you gruffly six ways to Sunday… you’re not sure that you care about anti-fraternization.

He finishes with his head in the crook of your neck, and collapses beside you. “Too beyond my age to be doing all that, dove,” he chuckles gruffly and cleans you softly with a wet rag before turning off the lights and rolling into bed.

“Bless your heart,” you scratch lightly at his arm, flashing him a lazy grin.

“See you in the morning?” He asks as he rolls over.

“Absolutely, sugar.” And you fall asleep to his soft snoring.

[1moreff-creator]

You've done this before so this is exclusively self indulgent but can you give your thoughts on DRDT foil theory again haha... I'm enamored by it and think about it daily.

I'll point out as well that there's been a trend regarding which characters are relevant to the chapter's case based on the order of the foils so far.

In chapter 1 it was [Xander, Min, Teruo & Charles] while in chapter 2 it was [Eden, Arei, Nico, Ace] - following this train of logic next chapter's main players would be [Hu, Veronika, Rose, J].

Hu's arc has just started (her beliefs are being challenged), Veronika became worst + Arturo is going to be centered at the start of chapter 3, Rose's arc just started + a money motive would be relevant to her & J's conflict with Arturo is going to be centered at the start of chapter 3.

Feel free to ignore this if you feel it's too repetitive, I just like it when I see people talking about my theory lol.

Well, if the creator of the recap foil theory asks me to talk about it, who am I to deny? It's probably, like, in my top three theories about DRDT, so I'm gonna enjoy talking about it! :D

(Btw I totally get you about enjoying when people talk about your theory. Whenever I see someone mention one of my posts I always go ":O that's me :D" it's great lol)

CW: Murder, electrocution, execution, suicide, self-harm, eating disorders, discrimination against a non-binary person, manipulation, poverty, harmful environments during childhood.

As a quick recap (heh): at the end of the CH1 recap video, the characters are paired up in a certain way. The theory states that they're paired up in a way that represents some of the most important foils in the cast. And... well, it seems to hold up quite well! I'll talk about them here in the order they show up in the recap video.

1) Xander & Min

And what a start! These two are basically eternal foils, with everything about their characters being contrasted with each other in some way or another. From the very first moment they're seen together, in Min's introduction, they immediately start beefing simply due to their respective talents.

The biggest point of contrast comes from their past with education. From Visiting Graves, we know Xander used to be a diligent student like Min, but he stopped when his family died while he was away studying. He's come to the conclusion that the things taught in school are oftentimes kind of useless for most people's lives, and his rejection of the education system kickstarted his rebellion against systemic issues in general.

Min, for her part, actually has a lot of the same views. Her Bonus Episode makes that pretty clear; she doesn't think things like Hope's Peak's history are really all that useful, and feels insecure because she doesn't see the same value in her talent as she does in others. However, Min still wants to maintain her talent, at least in title, seen as her first instinct when the killing game started was to grab an anatomy textbook and start studying it. Meanwhile, Xander dislikes his talent title greatly, as he believes calling him a "Rebel" undermines the stuff he does.

All of this is literally baked into their first interaction, as mentioned before. Xander seems to project heavily on Min upon first meeting her, assuming that she probably has no hobbies or friends if she's the Ultimate Student and judging her for it quickly. Min isn't particularly thrilled over that, given he knows nothing about her life.

Speaking of backstories, there's other points in those where they contrast. Particularly, the involvement of large companies and rich people in said backstories. Duke Spurling did a thing that killed Xander's entire family, which was the inciting incident for Xander officially leaving behind his studious nature. Meanwhile, XF-Ture Tech helped Min's family out of property, but pushed Min into studiousness for the Ultimate Student title; more or less the opposite of what Spurling did for Xander.

The same can be said of their relationship with Hope's Peak, which is elaborated on in the Bonus Episodes. Xander went to Hope's Peak for some kind of ulterior motive-

Unnamed Classmate [BE2]: I think your ability to get back from adversity is really admirable. That determination of yours is admirable. If you set out to do something, then never give up on that, no matter what obstacles may stand in your way. Even if it's risky or against the rules, as long as it's for a good cause... I'll trust that you know to do the right thing. Xander: Yeah, of course. That's why I've come to Hope's Peak, isn't it?

-which we can somewhat confidently assume to be bad for the school given Xander's... Everything. For Min's side, just getting to Hope's Peak was Min's entire goal for the entirety of her childhood, playing right into the hands of the Ultimate Contest for Eminent Students, and thus into the school's hands.

By the way, if you go back and look at what Absolutely-Not-Mai says to Xander, the idea of "bouncing back from adversity" could be connected to Min's whole "mistakes are to be corrected" thing. This one's an insane stretch, though.

For another point, though I don't know much about this particular topic, I find even their designs are opposites in some ways. Although arguably that's more a result of them being foils in general and DRDT having good character design but y'know.

Both of them seem to wear some kind of school uniform, but in totally different ways. Xander does everything he can to stylize his, be it wearing his coat as a cape, or getting a tongue piercing specifically because they weren't allowed and he could hide it, as stated in a Q&A, doing everything he can to fight against this institution. On the other hand, Min wears hers normally, and several Q&A answers clarify that she finds comfort in the colors and style of her uniform. One fights against institutions, the other works withing their systems (Min even wants to be a teacher which is an extension of that idea), you get the point.

Also this plays into the theme of fate because of course it does. Just replace "institutions" with "fate" and you kinda get the point. Xander fights against it, Min accepts it. Or, she accepts the fate of being the Ultimate Student, at least.

Their relationships with other characters, Teruko and David in particular, is another point of foiling. I've brought this up before, but as a recap: Xander betrayed Teruko so she openly hates him even though her real feelings are much more complicated than that, while Min tried to save her only to then panic and try to win the class trial, which causes Teruko to openly hate her even though her real feelings are much more complicated than that. But Teruko takes on Min's philosophy of fixing mistakes in the second trial, which is notable because in the same trial, David calls Min pathetic before his magical girl transformation, only to reveal that he's following Xander's ideals a while later. And while Teruko and David may not be recap foils, they sure are foils in general, so the foiling Xanvid and Terumin duos are formed. Cool!

As a minor point also connected to relationships, I could see the angle that Xander's friendship with David might parallel Min's thoughts on Mai. This one's iffier because anything about Mai is iffy, but I think it's worth mentioning.

The starting point of the Xanvid thing is the fact that they both used to idolize each other, but eventually decide that they should just be friends like any other friends. Cue the whole "foxes and children" quote from The Little Prince that shows up in LGI in the "I hate the things I love..." scene- I don't know how many people can follow what I just said, but I hope the main idea got across, at least.

Xander [1-5]: Enough with these idols or role models, okay? Let's just be friends.

In the same way, everyone loves Mai, but Min's Mai quote is:

Min: An average girl with nothing special at all about her.

Which can kinda be said about Min too, but the whole point of the end of the Bonus Episode is how Min is special to Mai.

Think of David as Mai and Xander as Min. David and Mai are idolized by everyone who knows them (pre 2-11 anyways), but Xander and Min see them as regular people (post 1-5 for Xander), while Xander and Min aren't idolized (by most of the cast at least) but are special to David and Mai respectively. I don't really know if it works perfectly, but it's close enough for me to mention.

You can even try to fit in some kind of point about the theme of cooperation vs competition, though I'll admit it's a bit of a stretch.

Competition is greatly important for Min's character, but she doesn't often go out of her way to help others. She helps when asked, sure, as she does when Surely-Not-Mai asks her to help her study in BE1, or when Eden asks for help baking and the subsequent clean-up. However, there's several scenes where she avoids conflict by reading that anatomy textbook of hers, such as in her introduction and when Arei's yelling at the Baking Squad.

Meanwhile, Xander doesn't really compete on anything with anyone aside the arm wrestling contest (which isn't much of a competition anyways), but he constantly tries to butt into other people's issues. It happens in Min's introduction, in his chat with Nico in 1-5, right before stabbing Teruko, you get the idea. So, he constantly tries to cooperate even without the consent of the person they're trying to cooperate with. Again, a stretch, but kinda works.

All of these foils culminate in Xander's death and Min's murder. Xander, like always, is proactive and acts even with incomplete information:

Xander [1-5]: Then, why did I do this? I don't even know... Why? Just why did you ask me to kill Teruko?

Trying his best to cooperate with an unknown ally to, presumably, hinder the mastermind's plans; fighting against the killing game like he fights against any other system.

But then Min barges in. She was just trying to fix the mistakes of the past, aka cleaning up the remnants of the baking thing. But just like her being randomly sponsored by XF-Ture Tech was in some ways both a blessing and a curse, she once again finds herself in a situation where, depending on how you look at it, she's either in the right place at the right time (to save Teruko) or at the wrong place at the wrong time (because she'll end up dying from this).

Xander attacks, and there's a bit of brain vs brawn thing that happens. I hadn't mentioned that theme before because Xander is intelligent and Min is arguably not the smartest in the cast, but it's true that Xander's physical prowess and Min's intelligence are some of their most notable strengths. This is brought to the forefront when Xander tries to kill Min by overpowering her only for her to outsmart him with the light switch trick.

However, again similarly to how she was pushed into a corner by the XF-Ture Tech contract, Min now finds herself in a position where she must compete with others for her own survival. And not just any form of competition, but a class trial. Once again, Min has to compete under the rules established by an institution, as she did in the UCES. She ultimately gets executed, but kept trying to survive until the very end, fighting for her life the same way she'd been fighting for her future her entire childhood; by trying to give the right answers in a test.

Look, there's probably more foils (because each time I look at these two I find more of them), but I need to stop at some point. These are characters who foil even in their fucking custom weapons for God's sake. Xander's "gun" looks extremely dangerous, when in reality it's nothing but a piece of plastic; and Min's pen looks totally safe, while actually hiding a knife. If I keep looking, I'll keep finding, and I have to talk about 7 other foiling pairs, so I'll keep it at that for this post :v

2) Teruko & Charles

There's plenty to talk about with these two as well! The main point of foiling is their respective character arcs so far.

Charles started out as a prickly and judgemental guy, pushing the others away as he felt superior due to his talent. However, after the events of the first trial, he started opening up a bit more, and hanging out with the others, mainly Whit.

Teruko, for her part, started out friendlier. She made a quick connection with Xander, and we saw her socializing with the elevator scene with Ace and Levi, and the baking squad scene. However, she went the other way after the first trial, pushing the others away to avoid getting attached and trusting no one. She's swinging back to trusting now, but the point stands.

Basically, Teruko and Charles went in opposite character arcs in the first two chapters. In that sense, Charles exists as an early warning to Teruko about the dangers of pushing others away, as the only reason Charles managed to get through the first trial is because Whit trusted him and his hemophobia. So, trust, relying on others, important themes their stories share.

And it's not just the in-killing game arcs, as their backstories also vaguely foil. Charles had a pretty privileged upbringing, while Teruko obviously had a lot more issues with her luck and all. Funnily enough, this includes them having scars they don't properly remember getting. Charles believes the dog bite wound on his arm is a birthmark, while Teruko doesn't know where the scar on her back came from.

Which is what gets us to the theme of memory we got going on. Both of them have memory issues, albeit different ones: Charles has childhood amnesia, Teruko has prosopagnosia. They even both have a brother of indeterminate fate, what with us not really knowing what happened to either "Kyo" or Elliot. Well we know Elliot's dead at least but you get the idea.

Speaking of the Elliot situation, one can tie this pair to a theme I can best define as "challenged preconceptions." Basically the idea that there's preconceptions these two carried into the killing game which are challenged by the events within it. That can technically be said about a lot of characters, sure, but Charles and Teruko have a fair amount of very specific notions which are only begin doubting in the killing game.

For Charles, this would be the existence of Elliot; that's the point I was trying to make with that segue back there. Charles thought he was an only child, but turns out he had a brother at some point.

Charles [2-7]: From birth all the way to the present, there are probably many things that you had taken for granted to be true. Things you never thought to question before, like those frivolous lies about "Santa Claus" or the "Tooth Fairy." Or perhaps less frivolous lies, like the idea that your parents know what's best for you. Once you're given some hitherto unknown information, you may begin piecing together a bigger picture of your past. Things you had accepted as truth your whole life begin to reveal themselves as lies. And once all the pieces are in place, you realize you were blind for never seeing the whole story before.

It's what Charles' numeral in LGI references: "if you doubt, brittle things are broken."

For Teruko, there's a few preconceptions that get challenged over the course of the killing game, but probably the most notable one is the idea that she's doomed to live a horrible life due to her luck.

Teruko [2-16]: I have always said that my misfortune, my personality, the choices I make, everything was all a product of a bad luck that I can't control. That I grew up in such horrible circumstances, so I was destined to grow up to be a terrible person. That everyone else abandoned me, so it's not my fault that I'm alone. I want to say that it's fate's fault, and that I had no choice in the matter. But, even so... Even so... Everyone. Xander, Min, Arei, Ace. Maybe even Levi. Is it my fault that they died? [...] Whether it was the fault of fate, or my fault... I already knew the answer. I had known what the answer was since a long, long time ago.

I think you can kinda see the point.

Their aptitude in class trials can also be mentioned. Although Charles was sorta out of it during the first one, he was definitely pretty good in the second one. And Teruko is far and away the most influential character in trial discussion overall. The fact they're equally matched intellectually speaking helps them play off each other pretty nicely.

Like with Xander and Min, there's probably more to talk about, but that's enough for me in this case.

3) Eden & Arei

The girlies! Arei's playground breakdown very neatly captures a lot of the themes these two foil on. Mainly, the theme of kindness and being a "good person." Arei used to try and be kind, but she was hurt because of it and thus decided to fight back against her sisters through becoming mean. Eden, meanwhile, remains kind and compassionate even through the despair of the killing game. This also plays into the idea of strength; while Arei is physically stronger and more forceful when it comes to getting what she wants, Eden is stronger in her resilience, her ability to remain Silly despite the horrors. Both have their merits, as we see for example when Arei defends Eden from Arturo and when Eden manages to move Teruko in the 2-3 kitchen scene, respectively.

Meanwhile, when we speak of being a "good person", Arei's breakdown of what that means in 2-13 is really all we need to talk about. Eden's seemingly unending patience and kindness is not what's truly needed to be a "good person", as even she must have made mistakes and hurt people in the past (cue fork CG). Rather, being a "good person" just means trying to change for the better whenever you mess up, represented by Arei. Not to say Eden's not a good person; she is, but you don't need to be like her to be "good"- you get the point.

In the same ballpark, we have the theme of friendship, what it means to be friends. In fact, Arei's little 2-10 reconciliation speech connects both this theme and the last.

Arei [2-10]: Being a good person means doing nice things. So if there's anything you need from me... Whether it's defending you from scary jerks like Arturo or baking some stupid fucking cake... I'll do it. I promise. I'll do anything for you. Okay? Eden: I... Arei: Because... because... Because that's what friends do.

Arei believes friendship to be all about doing things for the other person, protecting each other. This is pretty central to her character, seeing as "Because that's what friends do" is her secret quote. Eden brings up the same thing when acused of murder.

Eden [2-14]: I just wanted to help Arei.... I didn't kill her... Teruko: You know I can't just take your words at face value, Eden. Eden: Please, Teruko... You're my friend, aren't you? Friends help each other.... So please, help me...

So. That.

One could also connect Eden's theming around new beginnings (birthday right before New Year's, favorite color is daffodil yellow and daffodils represent new beginnings, her name references the Garden of Eden which comes from a story about the beginning of the world) to Arei's redemption arc, as Arei gets a "new beginning" in the kindness she once showed. This even ties into Arei's death thematically, as Arei not only dies trying to be a good friend to Eden (tying into the theme of friendship), but she specifically dies in the playground, a place connected to childhood. So we once again get "new beginnings" by connecting her place of death to her origin point and the time when she was kind, if you get the idea.

Again, probably more here, and for this one in particular I'm not even sure I really scratched the surface, but I'll call this good enough for now.

4) Nico & Ace

So these two have a ridiculous amount of beef and that's not really new. Even their very talents have foils; both work with animals, but Nico loves all animals, while Ace hates them, especially horses. 

Ace [1-5]: Animals are fucking lame, anyways. Seriously, they suck hard. If someone told me their cat was acting up or something, I’d give it a good punt.

But the main point of contrast is the theme of agency and taking control of their situation.

Ace’s thoughts on this are expressed quite clearly in his secret quote, “I don’t know what to do with myself anymore.” He feels he lacks control over his talent (forced into it despite being deathly afraid of horses), over his feelings (obvious), over his relationships with the cast, etc. And so he tries to feel in control by bullying Nico, especially when he gets their secret so he can try to blackmail them. Not that Ace doesn’t bother Nico before that, but it does get worse in CH2. He repeatedly does self-destructive things just so he can feel in control of something, be it killing Arei because he feels everyone hates him and he has no way of fixing that before he dies, or trying to find reasons to get mad at Levi so he can try to control his feelings towards him when they become inconvenient for the whole murder thing.

Nico, for their side, keeps having their agency undermined by people around them. They get pushed by both David and Ace into revealing their secret before they were ready, Hu keeps defending them even after they ask her not to, they keep getting spoken over during the trial, etc. You can even extend that to stuff like feeling like they have to present as a man at the start of the series because the people from their backstory don’t respect their identity, or more minor events in the killing game like Ace reproaching them for just… wandering around.

Nico [1-8]: The motive was on my mind. So I was nervous. I tend to pace around when I’m nervous. That’s not a problem, right?  Ace: Seriously? You were ‘wandering around’ all alone? You’re definitely the killer!

Basically, Nico struggles to assert themselves a lot of the time, which means they end up going from 0 to 100 pretty fast on the whole “murder Ace” plan. 

That’s how we get to the theme of victims/perpetrators, or rather, how sometimes things are more complicated than that dichotomy. The theme is explored throughout their relationship, with Nico originally being a victim of Ace's bullying, then Ace being a victim of Nico's attempted murder, then Ace being a perpetrator of actual murder, you get the idea. Pretty straightforward there. 

Going further, this also connects to the theme of forgiveness and apologizing, which comes up a few times in the trial. Nico doesn’t apologize to Ace after explaining their plan because they still hate him and know Ace isn’t going to forgive them, so they see no point in doing it. This parallels how Ace doesn’t expect anyone to forgive him for killing Arei, though with Nico, the question of forgiveness is currently open-ended, as there’s several characters who either have shown a willingness to ignore their crimes (Hu) or don’t know what to think of them (Rose). Basically, Nico has a chance to move past their mistake, which Ace isn’t getting.

And as usual, Ace’s death is the culmination of the themes his character embodies. He kills Arei, who is connected to him via the theme of bullying. He does it out of fear of death, because he feels he doesn't have enough control over his life to avoid getting killed by the enemies he made by insulting them all. Arei was on the path of forgiveness with Eden, which Ace cut short. Ace replicates what Nico did to him because Ace’s murder is the conclusion to everything that’s happened to him in the killing game, with everyone hating him and all that. You get the point. Hopefully.

For a relatively smaller theme, we can bring up dissatisfaction with their body. Nico is non-binary, meaning they’re presumably not very happy with the sex they were born with. Meanwhile, Ace has an eating disorder, not to mention that he always wears gloves for some reason (hiding his hands), and he wears heels to be taller because he’s shorter than he’d like, even though he’s also tall for a jockey. Can’t win, this guy. 

Again, probably more to talk about, but I’d like to get this post out at some point this year :v

5) Hu & Veronika

You mention in this ask that, since the first two recap foil pairs were important for CH1 and the third and fourth were important for CH2, it's possible that Hu-Vero and Rose-J could be important for CH3. That's certainly an interesting observation! We could also extend that to CH4, I guess, but that's a bit too far for me to talk about... so I won't! I will talk about CH3, though.

I'll get to Rose-J in their section, but I could definitely believe that Hu-Vero could be important for CH3. There's a fair bit of setup for both of them going through some kind of arc in the chapter, which you kinda mentioned in the ask (Hu has to deal with the fallout of the Nico situation, while Vero's reactions to Levi's near death and Ace's execution imply she's getting worse), and there's already a narrative connection between them through their pact about the secrets in the second trial. Not to mention that Vero's always given people CH3 death vibes, which I get even if I'm hesitant to say that myself.

But that's just speculation. What about the foils we already have? Well, the main point of contrast is their reaction to conflict, especially when it comes to a specific person they're particularly interested in. Hu always tries to mediate conflict and defend the people she considers good, mostly seen in her white knighting of Nico all throughout CH2. Veronika's the opposite. She enjoys watching conflict, stirring the pot with her psychoanalysis, and particularly enjoys whenever Arturo does some bullshit. Basically, Hu goes "I can fix them" while Vero goes "I can make him worse." Classic dichotomy there.

Then there's the matter of change, metamorphosis even. Hu’s character is designed around it, with her butterfly hairpin and the fact her name means “still lake”, as water is often connected to rebirth. And we know she has changed, from the hopeless child who attempted suicide three times into someone who seems quite attached to her life, if her secret quote is anything to go by.

Hu [Profile Source Code]: I want to pay for what I’ve done. But even then, I still want to live.

Much in the same way, we know Veronika in present is not the same person she used to be years ago. She mentions having been quite outdoors-y back in the day, some of that bleeding into her excitement about the playground, and of course her motive secret is that she used to self-harm, but no longer does.

And yes, the theme of self-harm/suicide is another one where these two foil, which has even come up with their motive secret pact in CH2. We don’t have many details on that yet, though.

That said, the reasons for why they harmed themselves seem to be quite different, which is noteworthy. Although we don’t know what exactly led Hu to attempt suicide, we do know that nowadays she desperately wants to be relied on so she feels useful, meaning it’s very likely her suicidal tendencies came from a feeling that her life had no meaning, or something equally depressing. Meanwhile, provided her secret is to be believed, Veronika just hurt herself when she was bored. Definitely very different reasons for self-harm there.

Looking over your original post on this (have I mentioned I’ve been cross-checking my own thoughts with your own? ‘Cuz I’m doing that), you also bring up maturity, which is indeed an aspect in which they foil. Hu’s character profile states she acts motherly, and the highlighted word in her subtitle quote (“Can you please try and act with a little more maturity?”) is, in fact, maturity. Meanwhile, Vero has childish tendencies, most evidently seen in the scene where the playground gets introduced.

There’s definitely a lot of things about these characters which we currently don’t know about, so I’m sure this section could get significantly larger in the future. But for now, this feels decent enough for me.

6) Rose & J

According to the extension of the original theory stated in this ask, J-Rose might be an important pair for CH3. And I can definitely see that! Rose's mental state has deteriorated a lot, so CH3 is primed to be a turning point for her character. Your point about Arturo being important at the start due to Levi's condition, and that possibly leading to attention being drawn to J, is also very reasonable. Not to mention that, as you seem to be aware of given what you said in the ask, DRDT's motives have so far aligned pretty well with the THH motives, with the first one being videos of their family and the second being secrets. This is important because, if that pattern continues, the third motive might be related to money. And one of the themes in which these two foil is wealth and poverty, which we'll get to in a moment, so it's entirely possible this pair could be quite relevant as a result of that. Not a bad idea in the slightest.

In any case, this is another set that mainly foils through backstory, at least for now. Rose was born into poverty, J was born into wealth. Rose tried to do everything she could for her family, J tries to distance herself from her mother as much as she can. Some parallels can be drawn between the influence the Spurling Foundation has on Rose’s life and the things Mariabella tries to force J to do. I can’t recall if this actually got mentioned in the series itself yet, but based on the childhood drawings post, we can tell J was probably forced to wear dresses despite disliking “girly” things per her profile, and from there infer that she was likely forced into doing a lot of things she didn't want to do.

These backstories can additionally connect to the ever prevalent theme of fate. Rose has accepted her fate, in a sense, believing that she’ll never escape her contract with the Spurling Foundation (see: her secret quote, “In the end, the only thing I can do is watch my wretched life go on”). On the other hand, J constantly rejects her fate by going against her birthright and hiding that she’s a Rosales (see: her secret quote, “Please don’t call me your daughter ever again”).

This is literally baked into their designs btw. Rose’s apron is stained all over, as if to signal she’s stained by the mistakes of her past, while J wears a hoodie as if to hide her identity as much as possible. Notably, J’s shirt actually has a paint splatter design, so she literally is hiding the stains (which in her case would be her last name) that Rose doesn’t bother covering up. 

(Btw while I was looking at their designs for this I noticed J’s hoodie has two zippers, which threw me off a lot lmao. Apparently those are a real thing, but it still caught me off guard and I wanted to mention it lol)

On the topic of design, why do they wear the same shoes?

(Rose's on the left, J's on the right)

Like, Rose’s are a bit less saturated and maybe a bit more green than blue, but that’s the only difference I can see. I don’t think there’s any other pair of pairs of shoes that look this similar in the cast. Whit and Arei’s are similar to these, but they have a few different details. I don’t even think this is a foil thing I think Rose and J just have very similar taste in shoes. I find this amusing. 

Anyways. Their talents are artistic.

…Yep, that’s the parallel! Admittedly, it does come up a bit, with J saying the decor looks new during the prologue, and Rose saying she could figure out a few things about the building if she could analyze the paint on the wall. They be detective-ing and stuff.

Arguably, the theme of betrayal can also be brought up, though it’s very minor. Rose got betrayed by Nico, who used her turpentine for their attempt on Ace. And something like that kinda happened to J around the same time, as she dragged Teruko into a dressing room to avoid Arturo and got a knife to her throat for the troubles. It barely counts, but given Teruko is one of the only people J seemed to genuinely like before that point, I’d say the situations are similar enough to mention, if nothing else. 

Leaving it off there!

7) Arturo & Levi

Let’s get the obvious one out of the way. Their talents are aesthetic related, be it related to people’s physical appearance or the clothes they wear. These talents connect to some of the other themes of their characters, such as Arturo’s obsession with beauty and Levi “styling himself” as a good person by doing things good people do, if that makes sense.

Then there’s the other big one; their family situation. Arturo’s home life was likely pretty bad, which we can infer from how desperate he seemed to get the hell outta dodge; and his sister committed suicide because Arturo left. Levi also left his family behind, although in his case he says everyone was a “bad influence” on everyone. Plus, he directly killed his father for one reason or another. We did get to see how Arturo felt about Levi’s nonchalance about the death of his father in the second trial, and that furthers their foiling. 

Arturo [2-13]: How could you simply *forget* that you murdered your own family member?

Yeah that.

Going back to the talents, there’s some contrast between how they got them. Arturo studied from a very young age and for years to become a Plastic Surgeon just as he entered adulthood, while Levi admits to being relatively new to fashion. They both kinda use their talents to escape their past in some way (it was part of Arturo’s plan to get the hell away from his home and Hope’s Peak is the reason Levi was never convicted for his murders), just that one had a little more planning behind it. 

Then there’s the matter of protection. Arturo repeatedly resents the idea that because he has some medical training, he has to be the cast’s doctor every time someone gets injured, and panics when he’s asked to do something as serious as saving Levi’s life.

Arturo [2-16]: I–! I’m not that kind of surgeon! I’ve told you, over and over, I have no experience with saving lives!

Levi, conversely, actively wishes to protect the others, seen for example when he attacked MonoTV in the Prologue and when he jumped in front of Teruko right before she got shot at. It’s even clarified in the subtitle quote of his profile (“I will do my utmost best to make sure that you all are safe”). Levi likes to protect others so they see him as a “good person”, which segues nicely into a more vague theme of categorizing important people in some way. Levi wishes to be seen as a good person and thus is quite interested in those he considers good (eg Eden), while Arturo is only interested in talking to beautiful people. It’s very vague and I don’t have much to say about it, especially since we don’t know exactly where Arturo’s obsession with beauty comes from, but it’s there.

Speaking of that, another point of comparison is the way both of them seek the approval of one specific person in the cast. For Arturo, it’s J because of her mother. For Levi, it’s Ace because of what happened in the first trial. They do it in quite different ways, but it is a thing that happens, and the differences help highlight the main narrative points these plot points bring to the table.

I’m calling that good enough!

8) Whit & David

We sure left a pretty interesting one for last. This is probably one of the ones I’m the least clear on, mostly because both Whit and David are sorta unclear characters. However, there are still a few interesting things I can bring up.

Let’s start with the theme of idolization of the dead, because it’s quite literally what Whit’s secret quote references.

Whit [Profile Source Code]: We tend to idolize the dead. 

Whit idolizes his mother, and thus tries to be like her in any way he can. He dyes his hair blond, he completely ignores the fact she’s dead, you know the drill. Meanwhile, David idolizes Xander. Take a pick from any of his 2-12 lines or any of the Xander related LGI bullshit to see what I mean by that. 

Though, speaking of family members, Diana Chiem. Given we have no idea what the deal with her is yet, I won’t speak too much on it. But if you’ve watched my Vivisection of the David MV, you might know that there’s a theory brought up there that Diana may have died during Hope’s Peak time and that David’s started saying she never existed when that happened. The link sends you to that section of the video. It’s kinda insane, but there’s some basis for it, and it would create a pretty clear connection between Diana and Elizabeth (Whit’s mom) so I’m bringing it up. 

Then there’s the theme of hiding/avoiding sad topics and the like. David is obviously not as happy with his life as he presents himself as, at least for most of the story, while Whit has a history of horrendously avoidant behavior when it comes to anything that’s even remotely negative.

David does occasionally talk about heavier topics, but always behind some kind of persona. Either as the inspirational speaker who takes on a leadership role in CH2 (see: revealing his family history of depression (which I think is true, even if he probably never thought that was actually his secret), comforting Arei in the playground) or as the cartoonishly evil person he pretends to be immediately after his magical girl transformation (see: “Arei was a weather spell” line). He’s seemingly a bit more candid when it comes to Xander in 2-12 for a bit, but then he mostly reverts back to just being an asshole most of the time, other than a few outbursts of genuine emotion (funnily enough, one of them being David shouting at Whit to take things seriously). Meanwhile, Whit (in my opinion) doesn’t seem to have a persona, per say; he’s just kind of an unserious person who repeatedly uses humor and other tactics to distract from the Horrors. He’s a deeply strange person, but that’s kinda just who he is.

Then there’s- say it with me everyone- the theme of fate. David believes people can’t change, that they’re fated to remain the same no matter what happens during their life. He’s made that stance relatively clear. Whit, for his part, has a much more optimistic view on humanity and the like, as he tells Teruko.

Whit [2-3]: Charles… No, everyone here… we might act callously, but we’re all only human. We're all real people with our strengths and weaknesses.  You included, Teruko. Just like Charles, even if you’re acting cold, there’s still a part of you that’s good–

(And yes, “we’re all only human” can be contrasted with the whole “David doesn’t really feel human” thing from LGI and Tally 5)

Thus, his connection to fate is actually something that hasn’t been talked about in the main series yet, but rather comes from his character profile. All it takes is noticing the repeated references to luck and thing that are “guaranteed” (aka fated) to happen, and you can kinda piece it together from there. 

Whit [Profile]: It’s said that if you get the Ultimate Matchmaker to find you a romantic partner, you’re guaranteed to have a happy and stable relationship for life. Unfortunately for Whit Young, he seems to lack all luck when it comes to finding a relationship himself.

And since that profile talks about his talent, I'll use it as a segue to look at similarities between Matchmaker and Inspirational Speaker. Both are talents based around influencing and advising people on how to achieve happiness, either in their love life or their… life life. Thus, both require some level of understanding on how people think and act, which manifests in Whit’s self-proclaimed intuitive nature and David’s confidence in his beliefs when it comes to people not changing and all that. 

And… yeah I’m gonna say I’m okay with that for now.

-

Wow, that was quite a bit, now wasn’t it! And it still feels like I could find more if I thought about it long enough, but I hope this was enough for you. Thanks for the ask! The DRDT cast is really fun to talk about, though, so the excuse to do so is always welcome :D

[thatdiabolicalfeminist]

He's not a "sociopath" who "doesn't understand [the] harm" he's a capitalist who is focused only on attaining what benefits his own class. It has nothing to do with mental illness or lack of understanding.

When the only problems you identify with the ruling class are this personal and individual, you'll miss why the ruling class acts as it does and you also won't be able to effectively address the problem.

He is not a mentally ill person who needs to be taught to understand differently.

He is your enemy. The harder things are for us, the better they are for him, and he understands that and is prioritizing his own interests in this situation, not out of mental illness or because he is unaware he's hurting people, but out of pure self-interest.

If he were "nice" and said sympathetic things it wouldn't change that he has the power to enforce his interests at the expense of your own. And since he has that power, he will use it.

So will every member of his class who wants to stay in that class. Even the ones who bother to sound like they care.

There are more of us than there are of them, so we have a chance to take away that power. But that chance doesn't matter unless enough people actually organize to take it. Which no one will do if they believe the problem lies in how individuals at the top comport themselves, rather than in the system of hierarchy itself.

The system of hierarchy is capitalism. That's the problem, not the individual mean words said by specific people at the top. The problem isn't individual or personal, and the solutions can't be either.

I encourage you to seek out actual communist criticisms of capitalism. Liberal criticisms are frankly useless because they take as a given that we should preserve capitalism and just try to make the ruling class rule us more nicely.

It won't work, because the root of their power is the system of capitalism which liberalism seeks to protect at all costs. Capitalists know that liberals will protect their power and never threaten it, so there's no reason to listen when liberals ask them to be more niceys.

Threatening that power (which liberals generally refuse to do, bc liberalism requires capitalism) will sometimes get them to compromise a little, but taking it away entirely and leaving that power with the masses is a much more effective solution.

Jamie Dimon does not understand how political policies harm individuals. He is a sociopath.

A sociopath in charge of the most influential bank. That is capitalism.

[straightouttherosebush]

Genshin Men in a Relationship III

CHARACTERS: Itto, Gorou, Kazuha, Albedo

CONTENT WARNING: AFAB/Female! Reader (though it's generally kind of gender neutral? this is just my intended audience ig,) other than that everything should be pretty fluffy! :D

ARATAKI ITTO

Love Language: Quality Time

He/Him, Bisexual (male lean)

Will always try to find opportunities to annoy spend time with you! He will "accidentally" run into you and play it off as a coincidence.

Also makes a habit of sneaking up on and scare his partner.

Will annoy the ever loving fuck out of you when you don't show him attention or will try to distract you when you're focused.

He either needs to be with someone super serious or someone who matches his freak on catastrophic levels. Bonus if either one is shorter than him.

Favorite ways to spend time with you are... him sitting around while watching you do things (and being bored and/or enamored with you the whole time,) beetle fights, hunting for said beetles, and committing petty crimes and running away.

With a short s/o, he would LOVE carrying them on his shoulders.

GENERAL GOROU

Love Language: Physical Touch

He/Him, Questioning (female lean, if not straight)

He is such a cutie patootie, but people speak down to him in a patronizing way or tease him pretty often. That said, having someone finally treat him like an equal is something he attaches himself.

He is a soldier (technically general, but hear me out,) and he needs someone who is a leader. Someone sure of themselves and someone that he can easily collaborate with.

Tall, dominant (bonus if muscular) people are his type.

His literal job is to develop strategic plans and give orders, so not only does the strategizing transfer into him planning outings and household happenings, but he also likes to sometimes not have to plan things. That said, he's a rather submissive partner.

At first, he's really scared to let you touch his ears/tail, but as soon as he's comfortable? Having his head pet is one of his favorite things ever.

He can also be really cuddly and would attempt to big spoon his partner with his short ass

KAEDEHARA KAZUHA

Love Language: Quality Time

He/Him, Pansexual (no real lean, if he vibes with someone he vibes with someone.)

It's giving... "let's sit under a tree and admire the swaying and floating of the leaves, while the brisk autumn air brushes against our faces and our worries float off into the horizon."

Would also love travelling with his partner, "going where the wind takes [you both]," so to speak.

He is everyone whose love language is "words of affirmations"'s dream man, because the poems he would both write and make up on the spot for you.

He is and always has been a hopeless romantic.

He especially cherishes quality time because he learned to value peoples' presences and be grateful for what time he does have. He wants to make the most of every second. Not in a rambunctious, over-the-top way like our Oni friend, but in a calm way with meaning in every action.

Has the potential to be a househusband. Idk just a thought.

ALBEDO

Love Language: Acts of Service

He/They/It, Asexual

Generally really receptive to being taken care of, even if he insists it isn't necessary.

Especially loves when his partner makes their way all the way out to Dragonspine to bring him supplies he needs or long-lasting foods/ingredients to use during his long stays.

He also appreciates his partner keeping things organized around his alchemical lab and any help they give in his research.

He will give back to you too by giving you little trinkets or harmless samples from his escapades in the mountains and elsewhere.

Rarely comes home, but feels unspeakable joy when he is able to. Seeing you, late at night, bundled up and asleep, makes him feel warm and fuzzy, in contrast to his usual environment. You do so much for everyone around you, you deserve rest.

Alright, everyone. Soooo here's the thing with this series. I started it years ago (literally finished the first part while waiting for work to start one day,) and I'm giving all of it a rewrite, new look, and hopefully completion! I hope you guys liked this because I know I enjoyed writing fluff for a change.

So long Windblumes, ROSEY ♡

♡MASTERLIST HERE♡

Ⓒ Written by Rosey, please do not copy/repost/translate.♡

[cripplecharacters]

hello! i am currently trying to write a backstory for a character and im unsure about how to handle his disabilities in conjunction with it. the character is autistic, hard of hearing, and has been nonverbal since childhood (speaks using ASL and writing). i'm worried that the way i depict his experience in school accidentally plays into the "inspirational disabled person" trope.

i want his backstory to be realistic for the time period he was born in (late 1970's), and so i've written his disabilities to cause his teachers (and the school system in general) to look down on him and treat him as "inevitably stupid" and extremely high effort compared to other children. however, his response to being treated that way was to focus very heavily on school and studying in order to "prove them wrong," and he eventually came to be top of his class and achieved a lot of success as a result of it. a lot of his character is based on the emotional and mental fallout of that (burnout, low self-worth, overwork, etc.), but his efforts still got him into a good college and job, and i'm worried that it makes it seem like all you need to do to defeat adversity is "just try harder."

i have another disabled character in the same universe as him (also HoH/nonverbal/autistic) who went through similar struggles, but she ended up in the opposite situation as a result of being looked down upon (losing motivation to do anything in school, acting out, constantly getting awful grades, and eventually dropping out). both characters are painted in a sympathetic light by the narrative, and neither of their responses are intended to be viewed as better than the other (they're both meant to serve as criticisms of the many ways the school system fails children, which is a very important topic to me), but i'm worried that's not enough. thank you for your response!

Hi!

I think this is okay. By virtue of having two similar characters with different viewpoints of their experiences, you've helped avoid tokenization.

As long as you show the first character's struggles, I think you avoid inspiration porn. If his attitude is that he hates being treated as incapable so he has to work twice as hard to even get on the same level as his able peers, that's a reality many disabled people face.

Mod Rock

[pearlofthewoods]

Oh OKAY JANE ESPENSON with After Life!

So the beautiful scene that begun this whole thread… was written by a woman?

Sounds about right. ↕️🙂

(Thank you thank you Jane Espenson for all you gave to us Spuffy girlies 🥰, we are forever in your debt.)

But honestly, I never even considered that there would be such a gendered split between the healthier Spuffy writing and the more toxic-ish Spuffy writing. I just thought it might be a change in writers in general that created some of the more inconsistent-with-previous-episodes characterisation.

But now I realise it that was that, but it was also probably something to do with the men.

So I now feel very vindicated in questioning it in my earlier post.

Thanks so much for doing the research @aphony-cree. 🙏 This was a very enlightening read.

p.s. And in honour of Jane Espenson, I’m including the two scenes that first made me truly fall in love with Spuffy, all those years ago.

(snippet from the gorgeous Buffyverse Wiki ‘After Life’ transcript since Tumblr won’t let me add 2 videos at once 🥲)

DAWN: Spike? Are *you* okay?

SPIKE: I'm ... what did you do?

DAWN: Me? Nothing.

Buffy clutches the top of her shirt closed, looks up at Spike a little fearfully.

SPIKE: Her hands.

Buffy lowers her hands, puts them behind her back, looks uncomfortable.

DAWN: Um, I was gonna fix 'em. I don't know how they got like that.

SPIKE: I do. Clawed her way out of a coffin, that's how. (to Buffy) Isn't that right?

BUFFY: (quietly) Yeah. That's ... what I had to do.

SPIKE: Done it myself.

Throughout this, Spike continues staring at her as if he thinks he's dreaming. Now he snaps out of it.

SPIKE: Um ... We'll take care of you. Come here.

He puts out his arm and guides Buffy into the living room.

SPIKE: (to Dawn) Get some stuff, uh, mercurochrome, bandages.

DAWN: Okay.

Dawn goes off. Spike follows Buffy into the living room. She sits on the sofa and he sits on the coffee-table facing her. He takes her hands in his and looks at them. Then he looks up at her face and their eyes meet.

BUFFY: How long was I gone?

SPIKE: Hundred forty-seven days yesterday. Uh ... hundred forty-eight today. (smiles a little) 'Cept today doesn't count, does it?

And secondly;

“But I want you to know I did save you. Not when it counted, of course, but ... after that. Every night after that. I'd see it all again ... do something different. Faster or more clever, you know? Dozens of times, lots of different ways ... (softly) Every night I save you.”

So thank you Jane Espenson, for giving me the version of Spuffy and of Spike that I’ll always carry in my heart.

The gentler, kinder version that I always hoped they’d find their way back to. This was the goal. This was the aim. And by the end of Season 7, I think they were finally getting there again. They just took the long way round.

Buffy wanting some time alone then telling Spike "That's okay. I can be alone with you here" is one of the most romantic lines ever, but then they followed it up with Spike telling her "Buffy, if you're in … if you're in pain … or if you need anything… or if I can do anything for you.." and they really expected us to think they were bad together and shouldn't be a couple

[genderqueerdykes]

Why are people so hostile about transmasc musicians? Like who gives a fuck if that 16 year old who just came out has a ukulele. You want edgy transmasc music, make it yourself instead of defaulting to like. Default level transandrophobia

(not about you obviously, I just saw some posts that made me rather angry. Trans men and boys are judged to fucking hell and back if they ever attempt music)

no it pisses me the hell off too. it's partially that, but mostly the reason people are so shitty to transmasc musicians is because of very specific transfems who are passionate about music, who are musicians themselves, and have very, very low self esteem about what they create, so they default to saying "transfems are inherently better at music and transmascs suck at it they can never be good at it"

i lived w/ a bunch of trans punks for a while and most of them were transfem & musicians and they felt like that as well. it made me angry because. some of the transfem musicians who showed up were awesome, had so much creativity and cool concepts for unique music. some of the transfem musicians who showed up just flat out fucking sucked, too. it's not like transfems are all gifted musicians.

one of the transfems would show up with a bass and incorrectly play the lines for top 40s rock songs. she wouldn't practice or learn from other musicians. and she was trying to force a local gay bar to let her perform alongside the DJ, which they were not comfortable with because she didn't have a specific kind of permit or license, and she just kept showing up with her bass anyway. it was really upsetting to watch because there was no respect for the bar owners, she was very hostile towards them despite the fact that 1 person plucking away at a bass guitar who isn't hosting a concert is usually not the kind of music a gay bar generally plays

i also met some transfems who made absolutely awful electronic music. i met tons who were awesome with electronic music. a lot of songs i genuinely enjoyed because when i do listen to music, i like progressive, creative music. and there were tons of transfems there who were amazingly talented, and gifted. but that doesn't mean all transfems are better at making music and all transmascs suck at making music. it's really rude to keep doing this "girls rule, boys drool" stuff because it affects those musicians. it's not okay to be rude just because the music isn't to your taste.