#LET ME SWIM

[balkanradfem]

I've been talking about my new swimming spot and how I had to get away from my last one because it became contaminated, but now I have to talk about it in more detail because I am getting stressed, and too anxious to actually go swimming.

So the reason I left my last, super convenient swimming spot, is that it became a spot where a small group of m*n frequented; and the thing is they didn't harass me right away. There are little benches on top of the riverbank, under some trees, and sometimes when I went swimming, there would be people on the benches, just resting and talking, and I would politely greet them and go down the stairs, and we didn't bother each other at all. Until, at one point, whenever I would get into the water, a male from the group would suddenly also decide to get into the river, at which point I would swim to the other side of the river, where I would have peace.

That worked the first time, but the second time, a m*n followed me down into the river, with two big dogs (they're as big as me), and when I swam to the other side of the river, he also swam to the other side. I felt uncomfortable, but decided to linger there for a bit, and then swam back – and he followed me immediately. At this point I started to get away from the swimming spot, into the deeper water, and then one of his dogs followed me and started barking at me, so the m*n also followed the dog, and got uncomfortably close to me.

I want to stress at this point that I'm not wearing a swimsuit or a bikini, I am in big black swimming trunks that go all the way down to my knee, and a sleeveless shirt which I appropriated for swimming because the outfit makes me very comfortable, and un-self conscious. The outfit screams 'nothing to look at here'. And I'm struggling with low weight right now so there's truly nothing interesting, I am looking as unappealing to males as it is possible to be. Even my hair is tied up and wrapped in a bandana. He looks like he's in his late 50s or early 60s, he's three times my size, and his dogs are about as big as I am. There is no legitimate reason for him to linger anywhere close to me.

As I was in my deep water spot, and he wasn't leaving, I started to get terrified. I was looking for a way out of the situation, I was starting to contemplate that he might assault me, because he kept following and cornering me, and even though the place was kinda public, there was nobody nearby. I waited for a moment where he got distracted with one of his dogs, and escaped the scene.

I was too scared to ever go back to this spot, so I found a new one; the problem is my new spot is not exactly far away from the old spot, just much more inconvenient to get to. No stairs, you have to wade trough tall grass and get a bit prickled by the nettles and thorns. But I don't care, I'm feeling safe with the nettles. So yesterday I went swimming to my new spot, and as soon as I entered the water, I realize the same guy with his dogs, is at the old spot, and I ignore him, I'm far enough that he can't quickly or inconspicuously approach me. So I'm swimming to the other side of the river, swimming back, looking at ducks, letting all of the little fish snack on my dead skin cells, and a few times I just offhandedly glanced at his direction, just to make sure he was still there. And every single time, he's staring right at me. He was looking at me when I was entering the water, he was staring in my direction when I was swimming, and when I was just sitting in the water. He was staring after me when I was leaving as well.

That guy seems to just live at the river, he's in there almost every time I go swimming, and at this point I'm scared to go back. Why would you go to the river and then keep your eyes completely glued to another person also swimming there? From my point of view, I was being super cool, making sure us two strangers each have our own private swimming spot, so we can both relax and not be bothered by other people around us. But why is he staring at me?

At this point I can't rule out the possibility that he's planning to assault me and is monitoring my movements to figure out where and when it would be the easiest to do it. There's no way he could be staring at me for no reason whatsoever, even when it's making me obviously very uncomfortable, to the point where I will go to a different place to swim. Apparently me just moving to a different spot isn't enough. And this isn't the first time I've gotten attacked by a male in the river, I once got chased by someone to the point where I had to hide in a corn field to get away.

So now I am sad and wondering if I'll get to swim again this summer. All other access points are either crowded or far away from me, and I hate crowds. I need a no-m*n-summer. Just delete them. Female only summer. I can't deal with this shit anymore.

[aka-indulgence]

Me whenever I look at the ocean:

[darrellenjoyer]

this bit is so cute ❤️ this is one of the episodes i remember most from my childhood cos i wanted this to happen to my house so bad LOL

[hinamie]

green

[rebornofstars]

the classic 'hyrule meets legend and is immediately starstruck cause that's his predecessor!' scenario is very fun and good but when do we get 'hyrule meets legend and the first thing he says is i thought you'd be taller.' that boy has some sass and according to canon theyre in a very similar age range!!!!!!

give me hyrule mock-babying legend half because he's genuinely a bit concerned about legend experiencing all the myths and adventures he's heard and half to rile him up. give me legend going batshit insane because he's seen and dealt with things this feral dirt-covered guy has never even heard of and yet what does all that garner him? not respect, that's for sure. blatant disrespect. they both know that out of the two of them, hyrule is the one who's been completely winging it the whole time, but hyrule is also refusing to verbally acknowledge that fact for fun and profit. and legend is easier to tease than he should be - but only when it's hyrule, of course. twi tries to jokingly make light of legend's adventures and receives a three hour long lecture, while hyrule straight up lies to half the group that legend can't swim cause he's not coordinated enough and all legend does to regain his honour is chase hyrule around with a sword (which is not punishment for a link, it's enrichment.) legend is not sure how he became so fond of hyrule because on one hand - no, all hands - he's extremely annoying, but he's going to force this kid to learn some proper swordfighting techniques and first aid if it kills him, because that's his sucessor and he can't even properly climb a tree, goddammit.

[morganbritton132]

More Steve Has Older Siblings AU nonsense:

1. The first Christmas after he told his parents he was too old for babysitters, he spent alone. His parents were snowed in at some ski resort. His dad said over the phone that they’d call one of his siblings to pick him up so he can spend the holiday with them. He either forgot to call or they ignored the request, because Steve spent the day waiting for someone to come by but no one ever did. He opened his presents alone and lied about it when his mom called that night. Santa had died for him years before, but the spirit of Christmas never really returned after that year.

2. Steve’s dad was on the swim team in high school. Swears he would’ve made it to the Olympics if he hadn’t torn his rotator cuff. He never went to a single one of Steve’s basketball games but went to every swim meet he had his freshman year. Steve thinks his dad stopped coming to his meets because he realized his son was a better swimmer than he ever was.

3. Steve had always been a little scared of the night when he was a kid and when the blue glow of the pool on his ceiling made too many moving shadows, he’d sit at the top of the stairs in the hallway. His mom, who has her own troubles sleeping, sometimes would sit with him. They don’t talk much and they never go downstairs even though Tommy’s mom would’ve gotten him warm milk by now.. The stairs creaked too much and they didn’t want to wake Dad, so they sit there together. Shoulder to shoulder, even on the nights Steve wishes more than anything that she’d hug him. They stop having this time together when she eventually gets a sleeping pill prescription.

4. Claire, being the only other girl in the house, was expected to take care of the new baby, so she did. Steve was bathed, changed, and fed when needed. She never hurt him. She didn’t abandon him. He was always at least in ear shot, but she wasn’t interested in him beyond the duty of childcare. She didn’t talk to him. She didn’t play with him. She didn’t hold him more than she had to. Steve gets it, kinda. He’s not her kid. She’s not his mom. It doesn’t make it hurt less when he sees how good she is with her own kids.

[javert]

Tomorrow Ye Will Get Your Pay

Dual Timeline Historical Fiction - 90k words

New Bedford, 1867 Amos Cudjoe, a harpooner on his second voyage, joins the crew of the bark Wampanoag, hoping to earn enough money to return home and marry. Before he can step on board, he meets Tobey, a greenhand freed by the Civil War, looking for something that he isn’t going to find. Amos loans Tobey his last name, and his friendship, and ties their fates together in their dangerous hunt for oil. New Bedford, 2057 Marcus Ashton, a historical interpreter on a reproduction whaling vessel, finds Amos's journal-- and loses himself. As his life falls apart in the hottest summer on record, visions of the past and future offer no consolation for the present.

[Read for free on AO3] [Print/Epub pay-what-you-want on itch.io]

Cover image: Landing the Shore End of the Atlantic Cable - Richard Dudley

[musubiki]

its been a while since my last summer mochi 🌺🏖️

[skadoodle-with-extra-ification]

Tango from @watcheraurora's fic: King's Tide!

HIGHLY recommend this fic!!! Honestly WatcherAurora is one of my favorite ranchers writers EVER!!!

Tango's showing off his amazing swimming skills for his pretty human lol wheeee backflips!

[kataraavatara]

i wish that nyx was a girl not just because i’m pedantic about nyx being a female goddess but also that having a son puts feysand in an incredibly sticky political situation. in eight years they’ll be expected to drop him off at an illyrian war camp, where kids are whipped and have their bones broken for infractions. if they don’t make him, the illyrians will never respect him or see him as one of their own, and will grow resentful of Rhysand. If they start trying to reform the child soldier training system now, it’s going to be blatantly obvious that they’re only doing it to spare their son, which will cause more resentment. So their options are let Nyx be abused, which Rhysand thinks is normal and Feyre is horrified by, so massive rift in the marriage and a traumatized kid. OR variations of losing any vestiges of respect the illyrians. now this is an sjm problem and fits better as a doylist critique but i will add this to my list of evidence that rhysand is fucking stupid anyways. not only did he not think through the potential physical dangers of having a child with feyre but never connected the dots to see just how badly it’s gonna blow up in his face in t-minus eight years. oh tumblr user kataraavatara, you say, you’re so cruel, why are you criticizing him for wanting to start a family. well when you’re the head of a hereditary monarchy your children and how you raise them are in fact political choices as well as personal ones. tough luck bat boy.

[winged-thinged]

I've been trying to make a point lately to sit down and read a bunch of the more popular books on atheism and skepticism because that has always been really discouraged by my religious community and I want to know what they actually have to say. And as someone who is extensively educated on religion and culture and the humanities, let me tell you, the amount of whiplash I've been getting from reading a bunch of scientists talk about religion—has been severe.

One minute, they'll be making a really beautiful, insightful, true and eye-opening point about the nature of reality and superstition and the scientific process and naturalism—and the next, they will turn around and unselfconsciously say the most staggeringly ignorant thing about religion and culture, like—there's no reason at all why Muslims in America post 9-11 might have been upset about a high-profile Christian preacher publicly burning a Quran, except that they're spoiled children throwing a fit because other people won't treat their holy objects with the same reverence that they do (real example from The Happy Atheist). Or they'll make a claim that's less about pointing out the harm that religion can cause and more about getting mad that everybody in the world doesn't share the same priorities that they do, and completely fail to notice the blatant hypocrisy of that.

Gritting my teeth like, you're allowed to criticize religion and to share your perspective on why your values are worthwhile, but also you're an ass and you're criticizing religion wrong

[unholyeldritch]

I could be here all day. Honestly, who doesn't love this kind of thing?

[ryllen]

i thought / m a n / these girls are quite heartless 🤣 when i accepted the quest at /clearly/ inconvenient time to swim & dive

[jay-wasstuff]

[aristotle0]

watching the Olympics truly puts my sport anime knowledge into use

[cinamun]

I feel accomplished so I'm documenting this now in case my game breaks into a billion pieces.

Game updated

Mods updated

DX11 batch fix complete (that bitch ran for 3 hours)

TS4 folder currently copying back to where it belongs

Story updates in the drafts for Tuesday & Thursday

Now we load the game and wait.