#You are not DOING anything you literally have no right to try to demean ANYONE who actually IS.

[scarletfasinera]

I hate when people are like "I already didn't like xyz so it's not difficult for me to boycott it unlike those loser customers that actually Liked the thing which I could never understand bc I was never a customer uwu" bc like. That literally isn't boycotting lmao. That is just Never Being A Customer In The First Place, which means nothing actually.

Boycotts are primarily about applying pressure (or completely making it impossible to operate) via financial/commercial/economic impact. AKA it's about money and capital.

If you already weren't spending money on a product/franchise/company, then you were already never part of their sales data, and you just doing nothing & making absolutely no change to your daily life and just continuing to not be part of their sales data as normal, has literally no material impact. You were already never a factor. The people who WERE customers & WERE part of the sales data & ARE withdrawing their money from those sales figures actually ARE making a material impact.

"Supporting" something isn't about vibes or thoughts or feelings or you telling your best friend how much you like a thing, "support" in a meaningful sense is specifically material. It is financial. Refusing to continue supporting something means taking the money you were previously spending on it & putting it elsewhere. If you were never spending money, you were never supporting it, and therefore it doesn't make any difference if you continue to not support it. Boycotting is something CUSTOMERS and CONSUMERS do.

SO STOP FUCKING BRAGGING ABOUT IT & STOP MAKING FUN OF PEOPLE WHO ACTUALLY ARE BOYCOTTING FOR "EVER LIKING XYZ TO BEGIN WITH" & STOP SPREADING THIS FALSE IDEA OF HOW BOYCOTTING WORKS LMAO sorry for capslocking I remembered I was annoyed

I just hate this low-morale mean-spirited bullshit some people do in the notifs on boycotting info posts where they arbitrarily moralize about something they just don't understand so they can pat themselves on the back for doing literally literally nothing AND inadvertently spreading misinfo in the process. Be quiet. Go do something that matters. There are plenty of posts going around, including from Palestinians themselves, with lists of references for how to help Palestine & other similar causes for people currently in crisis, please please do something For Real instead of boasting online about your fandom superiority complex as if it means anything.

[unproduciblesmackdown]

no context no details "these days ppl can't Work Through Conflicts or they don't Try hard enough & this is why Communities are broken :(" how is it meaningfully different from "look at the divorce rates Today vs in the '50s :( everyone just throws marriages away. Women aren't having Kids everyone just throws Families away"

"oh these days people can think about their experiences as Trauma or Abuse simply if they Want to :( you can't even talk to anyone anymore, if you make them uncomfortable (through no fault of your own. they're too sensitive & i'm simply always Being Normal) they'll be crying victim :(" how is this meaningfully different from "ugh how can a man talk to a coworker woman anymore or even look at her. how can men try to flirt with and date women anymore :( everythinnng's misogyny ohh harassment assault oppression because you breathed in her direction :("

[glossykissies]

thinking about what reader i’d pair with soldier boy and it only feels right he gets handed spoiledbrat!reader. bratty, high maintenance, pouty. soldier boy might’ve been a god-like supe with damn near all the power in the world, but at the end of the day he was also a man… and you were packaged to him like a god damn fantasy.

it was so conflicting to him, you were simultaneously everything that got him off in a woman all while challenging his beliefs. feminine, soft, supple, pink and glittering — sure, but also you had the craziest attitude, you swore like a sailor and you were demanding. it made his fists clench, and dick swell.

the first time he’d been introduced to you with the boys, having found yourself wrapped up in their world — you were the only one in the room who he detected not an ounce of fear from. you. the little thing in the corner leaning on her hip, more interested in her nail bed than the banished supe.

immediately, and much to butchers irritation (he was pushed for time, and trying to stay on track here.) soldier boy focused his attention on you, taking a draw of his cigar from the couch in the hide-out apartment.

“and who’s this pretty little poodle? you fellas let a fan tag along?” his voice is smooth and rumbly like wheels on gravel and you raise a perfectly plucked brow.

“please.”

he hums out a chuckle, not hiding the way his eyes drag up and down your body. he was used to just taking what he wanted, his time being one of those things.

“so if we could just—” hughie steps forward cautiously, attempting to regain the supes attention to get things back on track but is immediately silenced by soldiers boy lifting a hand, eyes still on you.

“no really. what’s the deal with strip-club-barbie? i have met all of you cock suckers but she’s new. if she’s not a welcome gift, what the fuck is she doing in here listening in?”

“shes one of us.” butcher gruffs, shuffling in his chair, antsy to start explaining his diabolical plans.

“yeah? what’s her thing? you fellas passin’ her around in whatever fuck-dungeon you hole up in?” he teases, and before anyone can say anything — you’re defending yourself.

“jesus christ, get with the fucking times, old man.”

soldier boy smirks, and a tense silence falls over the room — half expecting to watch you get thrown through the thin walls of the apartment at record breaking speed. surprisingly, after he’d taken an amused and analytical gaze your way — he leisurely turned his attention back to butcher. “alright, out with this plan. don’t have all day.” he drawls, taking another drag. you roll your eyes at the fact he literally has nothing else to do, and you’re sure he notices.

most of your interactions went that way after that. soldier boy would make some kind of demeaning or misogynistic comment, you’d snap back, he’d either be amused or weakly threaten you. it was like clock work, but seem to put everyone on edge every single time.

there were many times the boys thought you were done for, hurling names and insults at him when he’d caused them more harm than good — only to have him stroll right past you, uninterested in your girly tantrum and not even struggling to totally ignore you. sometimes you would irritate him, only to get a “brats like you need to be put in their place. i’m warning you.” and maybe he’d smirk because he could just sense your little clit twitching.

there was even a time all of you had to pile into one car, getting away quickly after a mission gone south. you were the last in, and there were no seats left for you.

“just fuckin’ get in would ya?” billy commanded loudly, trying to keep an eye on the oncoming commotion. soldier boy smirks, completely suited up, damn near taking up two seats in the backseat and pats his thigh, spreading his legs.

“i am not sitting on him. someone get in the trunk.” you argue, crossing your arms all spoilt.

“just grab her!” hughie exasperates from the passenger seat, used to your ways. without hesitation, soldier boy yanks you into the car with ungodly strength, pulling the door shut as they drive off. you wriggle and fight until he’s got you situated — the mountain of a bulge pressed up against your panties beneath your skirt, legs spread a little on his lap.

you give him a sulky look over your shoulder, and despite the chaos in the front of the car — he’s utterly relaxed and unbothered by everything that just unfolded. in fact, he leans back with that same smirk — adjusting his hips, nudging the fat lips of your pussy open through your panties with his bulge. he watches your eyes nearly roll back like a baby-doll.

you turn back to the front, irritated and overstimulated, breathing all heavy and mad. never in all his years has he seen a woman fight against her urges like you were. he puts his hands on your hips and you dig your nails into his skin, sustaining no damage. you scratch harder, tearing and attacking him like a baby kitten and he gazes happily out the window, unmoved.

you try to chime into the conversation up front, try to stay tuned — but everytime butcher carelessly flies over a speed bump you’re being practically forcefully dry fucked by the supe. you’re sure he could even feel you leaving a wet patch — and surprisingly, when you all pile out the vehicle solider boy doesn’t bring it up. the gratification of flustering you enough to keep him happy.

the breaking point comes when you’re appointed to ‘babysit’ him back at the hiding apartment. literally no one else is free, but they need someone there to make sure he’s where he needs to be. there’s nothing you could do to stop him from leaving, but whilst he agreed to stay there — you were sticking around to make sure he keeps his word, strictly told to alert one of the boys if he exits.

“look, i’m sorry. i would take your place but i have to help annie.” hughie stresses apologetically as they walk you up to the building.

“i’ll be fine.” you roll your eyes, more irritated that you were missing your nail appointment for this shit.

“and keep that mouth in check, yeah? i don’t fancy scraping your intestines off the walls so keep a lid on it today.” butcher warns, sending you a look before you run off.

when you walk in, he’s chowing down on a burger. so american.

“well if it isn’t my favourite.” he drawls, more interested in the TV.

“whatever. i’m here to babysit you.” you sark, setting down your purse and rifling through it for your phone charger, spotting the pink wire tangled at the bottom of your bag.

“babysittin’ huh? you certainly had the sitting part down last time i saw you. maybe today we can work on the baby part.” he chuckles at his own joke, bringing the mouth of his beer bottle to his lips.

“shutup. you know i had no choice.” you don’t know why you get so defensive, strutting over to block his view of the television — staring down at the hulk of the man resting with his feet up.

“that why i could feel your little pussy throbbing? beggin’ me to help her out? christ, maybe if you got some dick you’d quit bitching all the time.”

maybe he was right.

it’s how you end up blubbering on your back with the backs of your knees in his huge hands.

“shit, maybe i’ve been missin’ a trick with this young pussy stuff. fuckin’ perfect.” his heavy cock brushes your folds as he stretches your legs up into a humiliating pose, not caring for your sniffles and angry pouts. he pushes your knees up higher with an intrigued smirk. “you’re flexible, huh? what, were you a cheerleader in high school or something?”

“are you gonna fuck me or what?” you whine, so needy and petulant that it makes him smile.

“you modern girls. no patience.” he slaps his cock on your folds and you flinch. “relax. only polite to knock before i enter, right?”

[yanderemommabean]

Venting post (Homelife and abuse I guess)

Sorry for the low energy beans, my abusive grandmas been screeching her lungs out every night for hours on end and demanding the stupidest things, so I haven’t been getting much sleep.

She literally talked to me like a dog today, telling me “Come on, come here girl, come do this for me, come on”. Talk about dehumanizing.

No matter what I say or do she calls me: Lazy, selfish, slobbish, ugly and stupid, and demands that I stay on “her side” when other people tell her to back off in the family. She’ll tell me I’m a piece of shit lowlife even if I do exactly what she wants, or she’ll degrade me and mock me just because she can, and apparently we can’t do anything about that.

She genuinely needs to either die, or go to a mental institution, because my heart can’t take this stress it’s bad enough, and not being able to sleep because she’s a demanding baby is going to end up killing me.

Even if I try to ignore her, being silent does nothing and she’ll threaten more violence or nonsense, or just scream and scream and scream until you’re forced to answer, then acts like she did nothing wrong to warrant your outburst.

Going to my room does nothing, she’s right by me, her yelling and screaming and demanding cannot be blocked out.

I’m aware that I need to leave, but to do that I have to have a place to go, a car to drive, or a friend I trust and I do not have food let alone money and an income to rely on if I moved out. I don’t own a car, I’m trying to get a job DESPERATELY and my friends don’t have any room for me at their place, and have stated as such.

So I’m more or less stressed to the max and wondering why she can’t just be taken somewhere because I cannot take care of her and she refuses to listen to anyone or let anyone rest. Even if you act soft and sweet and caring she’ll spit at you this nonsense and try in some way to threaten or demean you.

There’s no “talking it out” because she doesn’t CARE. She’s never cared, not once.

I’m exhausted and I’ve been putting up with this nonsense for about four or five days now and if I don’t sleep soon and actually rest idk I might be sent to the hospital.

I hate this woman. She’s making me extremely Ill and distressed and for NOTHING.

This was just me venting, sorry loves, she’s up again and so am I so I’m trying to distract myself <3

I love you beans, stay safe and healthy

-Mommabean

[cherry1sblog]

I don't understand why people are Soo butt hurt about asking for Ni-ki smut yeah it's a little weird cuz he's JUST turning 18 but they don't have a problem with making stories like that about anyone else's in the group and we basically watched them grow up too just cuz they weren't AS young as Niki doesn't mean they weren't young not only that but some of the smuts they write about the legal line is even more disturbing and disgusting then just simply asking for a slightly suggestive story for Niki seeing as teenagers (not me tho lol) are doing way more and nasty stuff at even younger. And about that thing with the older members like people literally ask for disgusting smut stories all the time like the members watching you and one of them do stuff or I EVEN SAW A NON CON REQUEST THAT SOMEONE ACTUALLY WROTE AND WAS PROUD OF BUT THEN WHEN SOMEONE ASKED THEM TO WRITE ABOUT NIKI NIT EVEN SOMETHING THAT BAD THEY SUDDENLY HAD A PROBLEM WITH IT and someone had asked Ni-ki to be included in the non con thing and I understand being uncomfortable with that but why even write it about that situation in the first place coming from someone who's been sexually assaulted and abused and harassed and taken advantage of multiple time even before I was 8 by people I thought I could trust like multiple of my one of my brothers (I have 3 brothers so one of my brothers) friends and my cousin and someone who was walking me home a classmate and even my brother who let his friends do that to me THAT is disgusting teenagers do nasty inappropriate stuff all the time and none bats an eye but suddenly it's a famous person and there's a problem not saying people sexualizing him is good or ok or not bad I'm just saying there's a double standard it shouldn't be OK for them to write about the other members just cause they are legal it still kind of weird to sexualize them the way people do . Like I can't eleven open tumblr without seeing MDNI and some inappropriate content about them that I don't want to see JUST because I follow enhypen tags or tags like enhypen x reader (even though I mainly only read Niki x reader) AND I'm one year younger than Ni-ki and my bday is the month after his but that's not important what I'm trying to say is that I have like a huuuuugggggeeee crush on Niki like I'm in love with him I swear (not literally I just have like an enormous humongous crush on him) and I don't think that it's that wrong to have feelings that normal teenagers feel (I'm a virgin so I've never done anything) but what I'm saying is it's WWWWASAAAYYYYYYY more weird to ask tobbe non con by the legal line than it is forbme to ask for something like a story where the reader and Ni-ki make out or some (I'm not the one who asked for you to write after he turns 18 just defending you from the people who have been dogging you for no reason when they probably read TONSS ON THOUSANDS Of WWWWWWWAAAAAAAAAAAYYYYYY WORSE AND MORE DEMEANING AND DISTURBING DISGUSTING THINGS ABOUT THE OTHER MEMBERS AND JUSTIFY IT BY SAYING THAT THEY ARE LEGAL? LIKE COME ON NOW AND THEN THEY HAVE THE NERVE TO MAKE IT SEEM LIKE THEY'RE SAINTS WHEN THEY ARE DOING THE SAME ABD EVEN WORSE TO THE ITHER MEMBERS JUST CAUSE THEY'RE "OF AGE" like seriously a A NON CON REQUEST AND THEY ACTUALLY WROTE IT? that's like not ok especially considering people actually struggle and go through that the double standard is CRAZY LIKE INSANE they don't have the right to look at you when they write and read stuff like non con or sleep stuff that basically just r*pe fics

I know I went on but it's crazy how people will dig you and make you out to be the bad guy when they're doing the same if not worse stuff

You ate all of this up I’m so sorry about what happened to you but your a really strong person and I appreciate what you wrote you couldn’t have said anything more fucking true people are so blinded it’s actually fucking crazy literally everything I wanted to say you summed it up

[literallyrave]

Jason getting an unexpected surge of pit madness and one of the batsiblings (up to you) tries to help him out of it. Jason is semi lucid maybe because these have been happening for a while and he's desperately trying to not hurt his sibling and begs for them to go away :') good luck with the writing/creativity block<3

Fudge Cookies

I love this ask so much!! This is the first time writing for something that wasn’t an essay so please bear with me, this was really fun to write overall!! idk if I did this right because I’m not to fond of pit madness but it’s still a fun concept so this is my take on it

Warnings: PTSD, aggressive behavior, language

It was getting bad, really bad, extremely fucking bad. Jason was supposed to be getting ready for patrol. He went to Wayne manor to get one of his gadgets fixed up since the bat cave seemed to have every death trap and work bench in history. Jason was in the batcave, leaning against a wall trying to keep calm, focus on his hands, the colors he was seeing, anything but the pounding in his head and the urge to choke someone until they take one last breath.

There were footsteps, of fucking course, they weren’t heavy like Bruce’s, not as steep as Dick’s, and not as feathery as Tim’s.

“Do you plan on leaving or are you just gonna lean on my workspace?” Damian said with Witt, hands on his hips as he gave Jason a glance before noticing Jason’s eyes and how they looked glassy and angry

“Are you feeling alright?” Damian asked with a stand offish tone before letting his arms go down to his sides

“Fine just- want to be alone” Jason stumbled, his gaze looking away from Damian, his voice just wanted to make him pounce

“Because leaving you alone with the most deadly weapons would keep you and everyone feeling safe?” Damian replied, always so damn snarky, Jason thought.

He wanted to reply back with his own snarky, almost demeaning reply but he could only muster up a “Jesus I’m-I’m fine okay? I’ll be out in a minute, go.” Jason shivered, he crossed his arms over his stomach

“Seriously? You’re obviously not okay, Jason. I’ll go get father-“ Damian’s voice was cut off by a “NO! Do NOT get Bruce- Just-“ Jason lets out a shaken breath as he pinches the bridge of his nose. Frustrated, and scared, thats what Jason was right now.

"Fine. But I can’t leave you here, what’s wrong?” Damian’s voice was still normal but more with a hint concern when he didn’t get a response, only Jason’s eyes aimlessly looking at the wall to Damian’s right.

Jason was out of it, he wasn’t hearing a voice or anything other then the sound of a crowbar hit his ribs, his bones snapping. It made him aggressive thinking about what he could’ve done, how weak and hopeless he felt. He snapped his head forward when he heard a loud *SNAP* in front of him to be met with Damian’s hands clasped together before putting them down.

“You should lay down. Zoning out while feeling fatigued could mean you have hypoglycemia, do you not consume enough sugar?" He thought he was simply fatigued? Jason wasn't necessarily mad about that, it was better then him knowing he felt a need to quite literally beat someone to death and that he was reliving hell.

"Damian. Go. Please" He practically begged as his breaths sharpened. He didn't want to hurt anyone, but if he kept hearing this nagging, aching voice he would.

"I really don't necessarily like you but i know that you clearly need help, and said 'help' cannot be provided in the bat cave of all places" Damian didn't dislike his brother at all but he did right now he was being stubborn! Thats how Damian viewed it so he went on, and on for about 20 seconds before Jason practically lunged forward

"Listen, you are being a fucking- Damian, i'm begging just- don't talk" Jason's eyes became glassy as he walked off. Damian was opened his mouth to speak but was cut off

"I-I'll go to my room just- leave me alone" Jason walked as if he was drunk. Damian watched from a distance, following behind Jason to make it to his room until he came to a stop halfway in the hallway.

Jason nearly fell on his ass if his hand wasn't leaning on the wall. Nothing was off about the house just an anomaly, said anomaly being the chair he was sat in for months that felt like a decade. Jason knew it wasn't real but it was unnerving with the silence. He stared at the blood on the back, the arm rests with the ropes before snapping out of it. Walking forward until he got to his room. He slammed the door closed as he stumbled to his bed with a cry.

Damian was worried, he cared about his family even if he didn't act like it. He wasn't good at comforting people, so when he is told more then two times he should be alone he wanted to leave him alone. But he also didn't want his brother to feel alone. He remembered those cookies Alfred had made, chocolate chip with fudge in the middle, a complete sugar overdose that Jason *somehow* liked.

Jason's head pounded like a small alien was trying to take over his brain. He took the pain killers in his bedside drawer, which obviously wouldn't cut it off but would at least ease it, even if it was only a tiny bit. He laid on his bed as he felt like he was melting, the sounds of everything that had happened, the voices, everything was too much until there was the small click of his door opening. The talking in his head stopped and they sounds were fainting as glass was lightly heard tapping the carpeted floor.

He sat up, seeing cookies sat by his door he wobbly went to the plate, picked it up and brought it back to the bed. He unconsciously picked up a cookie and bit into it. His favorite cookie since he was 9. The fudge was warm and the chocolate chips were cold. He looked down at the plate, about to pick another one up before seeing a blue sticky note that read 'i've made Alfred make another batch. He says they will be done in about 28 minutes. Please come down into the living room by then so we can play chess PS: i will win' was wrote in red pen ink. Jason rolled his eyes as a grin threatened his lips. The pounding was like a light heartbeat now, no voices, no sounds, no anything. Maybe it was just low blood sugar after all.

[leastdatablebracket]

ROUND 4, MATCH 2

Propaganda under the cut!

Shuu Iwamine

Propaganda

This damn partridge kills you CONSTANTLY, regardless if you romance him or not. One of them is literally at the START of the school year, he beheads you then uses your head to pilot this grotesque horror movie android thing! Completely unprompted, you can just die immediately! Horrible school doctor material, even worse boyfriend material, but alas, he's my favorite character.

[hatobf spoilers and also gore / violence kind of ?] he literally kills the mc in both of his endings, and in the true route he uses her best friend to kill her . and chops her body up and puts them in boxes to his student . and he puts her brain in a strange scarecrow machine . its insane hes so undateable man <//3

Decapitates protagonist and puts her head in a jar. Kills multiple other characters. Just generally an unpleasant person . My favorite character btw

He hates your species, sees you more as a science experiment than a romantic partner, and also kills you in his ending. Plus he has just, the worst attitude about the whole thing.

Bad End with him the government takes you out. "Good" end with him he cuts off your head, sticks it in a jar, and talks to it while on the run from the government. (Spoilers for hatoful BBL) True End of the whole game that ties up all the characters' stories, he kills you again but this time sends your head to your childhood best friend and takes your brain out to make basically robo-frankenstein. Was also an adult when the MC was a young child, and is the school nurse at MC's high-school. He's also a partridge. 

Literal birderer (bird murderer) 

It also turns out the (unrequited?) love of his life was the father of the MC's childhood friend. AND HE DOESN'T PULL ANY OF THIS SHIT WITH HIM. HE EVEN BECOMES A SLIGHTLY BETTER PERSON FOR HIM IN HOLIDAY STAR. It even turns out that everything thing he did in the true route of Hatoful Boyfriend was to fulfill a promise he made to that man on his deathbed (ALTHOUGHT RYOUTA'S FATHER NEVER ASKS HIM TO COMMIT ANY MURDERS, FATBIRD JUST THINKS MURDERS ARE A GREAT SOLUTION TO MANY PROBLEMS). So like, he's not just a murderous sadistic partridge who is also kind of a dick. He could not be one. Just NOT FOR YOU. OR ANYONE ELSE. JUST THIS ONE SPECIFIC PIGEON.

Solas

Propaganda

He believes all mortal beings deserve to die. He is bald but in a very unsexy way. He exudes zero chemistry and talking to him about romance is like talking to a boiled egg. 

Described by major media as "elf hitler," he dumps you to destroy the world

He is a smelly know it all, and that's before you find out he is a deity in disguise who caused the rift you spend the game trying to fix in the first place and he betrayed you and chopped off your hand

Breaks up with you, disappears without saying anything, plans to destroy the world

Look. I’ll admit I have not personally romanced solas. I am baffled that anyone would WANT to romance solas. I know we all love a waify little elf wizard with questionable motivations but jfc look at him like im trying not to say anything demeaning about bald dudes but he does not wear it well. Also iirc you can only romance him if you’re also an elf and then he’s weirdly rude and dismissive if your character is Into Elf Culture. Look im a huge lesbian but Iron Bull is RIGHT FUCKING THERE why would you do this.

[quirkthieves]

i really don't want to dignify this with more than i have to, but okay. speedrun to address all those paragraphs because i really did not bother reading most of it i literally just woke up

-a dni isnt a callout. its just a boundary. in fact, the reason i said i didnt want close friends of ire to interact was for reasons like this, where this grown adult proceeds to flip the fuck out on people. i didnt make a callout. there wasnt anything callout worthy. just someone being a douchebag. in fact, i was fine interacting with mutuals of ire and ire themselves all the way up until shit hit the fan, in which case i think im very well justified in saying "yeah i dont think our circles should interlap very much". you know, after ire flipped out on Marx, because marx is a friend of mine and anyone who can do that to a mutual friend just because we're mutual friends and just because marx is friends with lys is ridiculous. i wont go into marx's stuff unless they want me to but are you for real rn

-i can post our full convos if you really want i kept the screenshots but here's the rundown: first: saying rxgelord writing age up smut was just "his business" was kinda weird. im gonna give you the benefit of the doubt and say you didnt really mean it that way because you just wanted to argue semantics with me.

and thats the bigger thing than whether it was about rxgelord, myers, whatever. the reason i left the server and the reason i decided i didnt want anything to do with you was because you went out of your way to nitpick and argue about semantics with me, sometimes for over an hour. with rxgelord? okay, whatever. idc. that guy was deeply unserious anyway. myers? that one was just bad faith because everyone knows we were being facetious and silly with the whole "cheating with himself" thing-- the point was that he had done shit like making alt accounts to date himself when he had actual partners because he was someone who frequently and grossly misused peoples trust, we were just wording it in kind of a jokey way because i did not think you needed that written out for you, and the third one, which wasnt about drama at all and is the ACTUAL reason i left

the third one had to do with me expressing that something in the server had blown up very quickly and gone very fast and was a bit hard to keep up with. i asked maybe we have a log channel and be a bit better about plotting because both myself and others had to deal with unintended consequences on our characters we werent prepared for regardless of how much we participated.

ire then proceeded to spend an hour with me arguing about if it "even actually counted because it was in text format" and saying they "didnt understand discord rp" despite having run servers in the past. this went on for an hour. i was polite, because at no point was ire ever actually bringing up a point that was contrary to my own-- ire was just trying to nitpick what i was saying and went out of their way to call my feelings unimportant, amongst other things. after the rxgelord and myers things, i realized that ire was very dedicated to misunderstanding me at every junction, was intentionally trying to put down how i felt in any given situation regardless of severity, and very much wasting my time. im not stupid. i decided it wasnt worth trying to stick it out and tolerating something that was going to be triggering for me (im in an intensive trauma therapy program right now and being demeaned and nipped at is not going to help when i already spend so much of my week in an episode or the aftermath thereof, and i know i can have a temper problem!), so i left, because unlike ire i felt no need to be hostile to people in the server regardless of how i felt about them. and then ire decided to be a massive dickhole to a bunch of my friends, so now we're here.

kind of weird the focus is on me and how abrasive i am when so much of their shit was about lys, but whatever. shrrrrrrugs. and again, i have the screenshots of our spats in the server but it reallllly doesnt matter? because thats what this is? petty spats? why am i catching this splatter again

anyway, calling me a crazy tweaker and an edgelord for being mad at [looks at notes] the man who gave me a seizure and lied and gaslit me for two years is kinda wild. arent you a dabi roleplayer? you love this shit. put me on your blog, i can send you pics for your graphics and everything.

anyways, back to your regularly scheduled tweaking out. love you all.

[darth-rainbow]

I really don't understand how anyone could validate Oleander's way of teaching MC. Disrespect, demeaning and constantly throwing barbed insults are not in fact good tools of education. I do not care that MC knows nothing of the world they're in or of the depth of danger it holds. It was the same in book 1 and they survived. This is just a pedantic douche who behaves exactly like any other Fey would and uses the guise of 'it's for your education' to make them seem like a better person than they are. Enslaving someone is never and will never be the solution to anything. Especially not to get a point across that MC has already experienced first hand. Hello Radiance's betrayal? Hello almost getting killed by Beast Kieran? Let's not pretend MC's an ingenue (it's on the writers for making behave like one if she does). They chose to trust Oleander because Kieran told them they could. MC has a good heart and people keep making them feel like it's wrong and has no place even though it's literally the only reason the Moon Court still exists?

Back on Oleander, it's like y'all will take any representation and eat it up. MC has every right to be angry and feel disrespected by this stranger who keeps being straight up awful to them in the name of a cause they don't even really understand and no one will explain without mocking or making them feel entirely stupid for not knowing. Imagine teaching a child about the world like that. Oh? You don't already know everything? Oh you think that...let me stop you right there, you're not allowed to think on your own except if it's exactly the way we all already do. Oh you want to be yourself? Dumb mistake right there, let me constantly demean you as a way to teach you to be like one of us. You're perhaps a decent baby, but amongst adults you won't be able to pretend well enough to survive. Do you realize how insane that sounds?

You know what, this is exactly the type of thinking and way of doing things that fosters exactly the state of the fey courts today. I'm starting to think this Jack with the blade might have a point. Courts must be destroyed along with their antiquated, classists views where slavery is still a thing because humans aren't considered people, rather toys to play with.

Don't even come for me with the 'they're just brutally honest', that's the justification any asshole uses to be mean. As if the discourse being in any way purposeful in the mind of the person who says it dismisses any and all damage it can do. Intent doesn't disregard impact.

I am in no way saying people are not allowed to like a character that is mean. I'm just saying embrace the nefariousness instead of trying to justify it and pretend it's a good thing. Sometimes 'they're hot' is all you need to like a character. Look at the good it did for Nate Archibald.

[silyabeeodess]

To every moron who tries to dismiss rational critiques over media because "it's for kids"... you want to know what else is namely geared toward kids? Simple foods like chicken nuggets. If I found out that a restaurant had rat droppings in their chicken nuggets, I wouldn't tell an adult that they don't have a right to like them in the first place or a child that they deserve to eat rat droppings. "It's for kids," isn't an argument: It's you clinging at straws with a paper-thin defense by trying to ban someone from a thing they enjoy, possibly even with their own children or younger siblings. Furthermore...

There are series that have crossed multiple generations, especially in an age when more remakes, spin-offs, and reboots are promoted than original content. Nevermind series that have lasted literal decades and several reincarnations, you also have shows that can last for years in one single run. For example, if you were 12 when Adventure Time came out (2010), you were probably 20 when it ended (2018). If someone didn't like the finale, being an adult didn't negate their opinion. If anything, as a fan of the exact intended demographic when the show released, who spent almost their half their lifetime watching the show, they deserve to have an opinion more than anyone. A company that ignores fan loyalty is just cutting themselves off at the knees.

If a company didn't want the adult demographic as well, they wouldn't bank so hard on nostalgia. It shouldn't be rocket science that a child cannot feel nostalgia for something they weren't even alive to experience.

"It's for kids," is never an excuse for releasing a bad product. That's just demeaning children by assuming they will accept whatever slop you throw their way. Think they can't tell the difference? Let's take a good look at Hanna-Barbera, the studio that originally created Scooby Doo. Scooby Doo is an important part of animation history for the formulas it established that would later be reflected in other cartoons. One of these formulas was utilizing the Five Man Band trope, often with an animal mascot to round out a group of diverse characters. The company tried repeating Scooby Doo's success in a large collection of other shows such as Goober and the Ghost Chasers and Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kids. We hardly hear about those shows today, however, because kids back then saw them for the rip-offs that they were and so they didn't gain anywhere near the same popularity. Again: Same company, same formulas, same demographic; different quality, different amounts of respect for the product, different results.

Adults are going to have to sit through your terrible media too. Kids rarely have money themselves: Adults are the ones bringing little Sally and Timmy into the theatre or buying them movies, toys, and games. Where one adult can tolerate hearing their daughter's Elsa doll sing "Let it Go," for the millionth time, plenty of others will opt to get their kid a much quieter toy for the sake of their own sanity. Adults are also the ones passing the torch of older media to the next generation. Not every show needs jokes or dated references only adults will understand, but you can never forget the family aspect of a piece of media that labels itself as family-friendly. If you upset or insult the adults, they sure as heck aren't letting their kids anywhere near your product.

Guess who has to make kids' media in the first place? Adults! I know! What a shock! If a piece of media is "just for kids," then maybe "just kids," should be making it--you know, if they didn't lack the experience or resources to do so. How does the 30 year-old in a writer's room somehow automatically know more about what the next generation needs or is experiencing than the 30 year-old parent trying to find good content for their children? This goes doubly so when you go against timeless stories that have lasted several generations.

If I am an adult and I like a family-friendly stories, general themes with good morals, and beautiful animations, things you label as being "just for kids," as opposed to crude jokes and pointless dramas, how is that even any of your business? If it bothers you that much, then it sounds like you're the one who needs to get a life.

[goblins-riddles-or-frocks]

Tbh i expected Aleksander to create a powerful child to use as a weapon (maybe even kill it if it is a strong enough amplifier) and if it's not grisha then well- try again. It's not like he has to carry the child lol, he can try as many times as he wants.

I mean, I feel like the risk of a powerful immortal Grisha who might hate him and try to take him down is too high. Also if they have the same type of power then they could literally be an additional means to kill him. When before, to his knowledge, there is only the one method through Baghra, and he probably does not consider her an actual possible threat. There are just many ways it could go horribly wrong and not enough reward or even actual guarantee that it might ever go right at all.

As for the amplifier idea, idk I get the sense that he thinks too highly of himself/his family/people who are his (as a possessive concept) to do that? I think he’d view like shdgf having to breed himself essentially as too demeaning, similarly with like a child of his being killed for power, even if he himself is the one benefiting from it.

He’s also still like nominally, in a very threadbare and tortured technicality based sense, a character that’s morally driven— even if it’s in a super means to an end kind of way. So I don’t think that’s anything he’d turn to unless you introduced very strong external plot reasons for him to be convinced that that’s what he absolutely must do. And even then, frankly, I think it would keep him up at night!

He’s definitely not a character that’s like “this happened to me, therefore I wouldn’t want it to happen to anyone else” lmao but I think he does also just have enough unresolved trauma about his own childhood that he would baseline be averse to the idea.

[pastelwitchling]

I just want to get right into it. Here are my thoughts (mostly rants) on Percy Jackson and the Olympians, episode 5.

Why is this turning into the Annabeth show?

They literally have Ares complimenting her after almost every single line. And don't even get me started on their interactions. Annabeth was the one who was constantly scolding Percy for talking to Ares with disrespect, now she's the one doing it? The titular character doesn't seem to get as many lines or screen time as Annabeth, that doesn't strike anyone as odd?

(Also, no hate to Annabeth here, this is all the fault of the writing.)

AND titular character aside, it makes no logical sense! She's the daughter of the Goddess of Wisdom, wisdom is her whole thing in the books -- how is it wise for her to speak the way she does to Ares? Book Annabeth always knew the rules, always tried to follow them as best as she could, that was why, when she was openly hostile to Hera, it showed a TRUE hatred and connection there. Annabeth doesn't talk back to the gods, so we know that her hatred for Hera has to really MEAN something. Well, that's out the window now. Why? So the show can have their little girl power message. Does it make any sense for her character or the story? No, but hey, if we don't have other characters constantly praising every word she says, then I guess that makes her weak.

Also, it makes no storytelling sense for Percy to then get all up and angry in Ares's face. He wasn't the one talking back to Ares in the diner (you know, like in the books), so this sudden anger really comes out of nowhere. It just drives me a little bit crazy because this was the biggest difference between Percy and Annabeth in the first place. Percy is all heart, he's guided by his feelings. Annabeth is all logic, she's guided by reason. They balance each other out and then end up learning more from each other. Now Annabeth is just Flawless Badass? Even Hermione acknowledged that there were more important things than books and cleverness, her particular set of skills -- it's not wrong or demeaning to have a female character acknowledge her own flaws.

It's Percy who sees the Fates, yet we have Annabeth this time? It seems like a minor detail, but Percy seeing the Fates and not knowing why he felt like something was wrong showed his connection to the Olympian world. Yes, he'd grown up like other humans, but there was a part of him that recognized parts of the Greek myth life that others didn't. That's what leads to my biggest problem:

Percy is not treated like a son of the big three, he's barely half the time treated like a demigod, he's treated instead like a random kid that happened to stumble into all of this. Except he's not. That's kind of the whole POINT. And I fully blame the script for this, but you can't give most of the screen time and dialogue to Annabeth, and then act like, "No no, this is Percy's story!" It sure as Tartarus doesn't feel that way.

Why is everything so dark? And I'm not just talking about the terrible lighting either (I can barely make out a thing half the time)! I'm talking about the fact that rarely anyone cracks a joke, and when they do, they do it in such a serious way. The colors are so muted, why? Hate the movies all you want, but they were colorful, they were vibrant, they were fun. The pacing was faster, the music was brighter.

Why is everything so serious? The brilliance of Percy Jackson was that it was able to introduce these dark themes in a bright environment, and it made the deaths and darkness even more frightening because we had fun, vibrant characters who were now suffering, so it means that much more to see them hurt or die.

And I thought they were trying to give the show a timeless feel? I didn't ask for that or anything because the books make a ton of dated references, but they volunteered the information that the show was going to feel timeless. Then within the first two episodes alone, we get a Minecraft dance or whatever that is, and an Olivia Rodrigo song?

I feel the need to mention all of this because no one else is. It's all, "SLAAAY ANNABETH" and "OH MY GODS PERCABETH" AND I DON'T CARE. This feels like the Harry Potter movies giving all of Ron's most vital lines to Hermione -- she doesn't need anyone else's lines, what she contributed was more than enough! Except, in this case, it's not the best friend she's taking lines from, IT'S THE MAIN CHARACTER.

I absolutely loved Ares, he was hilarious and a breath of fresh air, I loved every scene with him. I also absolutely loved that chair scene, I loved the shield sacrifice, I loved Annabeth's speech, but all that does is just remind you how great Annabeth is and what she can grow to be without the need to take from Percy. Because all that does in the end is ruin her character because it stops making any sense, and ruin Percy, which is a crime when you have this brilliant cast to carry the show, but you've got to let them be great. Leave your little moral high-horse messages behind, and focus on the freaking story.

I'm tired. I don't know if they're going to confess to Luke being the thief yet, the way it ended? Luke's reveal was kind of a big deal in the books, a pretty big moment. I don't see them spoiling it too soon, and I hope they don't. I liked the lake scene, and I liked that it was such a big betrayal. If they try to rush through it with more exposition at the beginning of the episode, I just don't see it being as meaningful. That said, I really don't think they know who it is yet, but I guess we'll find out next week.

[tyrannuspitch]

controversial post but i trust u guys at this point. the crucial thing about thor and loki and overprotectiveness is that thor really THINKS he's got hashtag eldest daughter syndrome. but... he hasn't. what he actually has is like. proxy abuser syndrome.

(which is not to say that thor isn't also abused. but like... being conditioned to abuse others is part of his abuse. it's fucked up.)

like. thor is like oh no i'm the Eldest i must be Responsible for loki i must Keep Him Safe... but if you delve even a millimetre below the surface you find that his responsibilities is to keep loki *in line* and *under control*. and what he's keeping him safe from is their father's abuse. (and their father's bad government. same thing, bc kings and fathers are the same in this story.) and the way thor does that is by reproducing like 80% of odin's behaviour himself.

(in T1, thor demeans, threatens, physically intimidates and silences loki before odin does all of that to thor himself. and while odin is also aggressive to loki in that scene, what shields loki from the brunt of odin's rage is precisely the idea that loki is completely subordinate to thor and therefore couldn't have had agency in the treason they both committed.)

like do you get what i'm saying. thor has pseudo-parental responsibility only in the sense that he has pseudo-parental power and odin wants him (/the situation odin creates obliges him) to use it. his duties concerning loki aren't about anything real. they're not about needs. they're just various ways that both brothers have been taught to fear challenges to the pecking order. (not entirely irrationally!)

this is slightly complicated by loki's outsider status (misfit, magician, queer, jotun, etc) and reputation as the weaker sibling, which both pose threats beyond odin's household... but like:

a) outsiderhood is a real danger, yes, but it's also a self-fulfilling prophecy. the danger comes from the standard by which loki's judged to be an outsider to begin with. why is it dangerous to get above your station? because a lowly station is your rightful place.

and b) the idea that loki is weak, specifically, is just... not representative of reality. he's easily on par with any of the warriors three, and is anyone being weird about them being weaklings? nope. loki is only "weak" if thor is the standard for "strong". and the only people being held to that standard are loki and thor. if anything, the idea that loki is weak puts him in danger.

but then another layer of this is that like. because thor is too idealistic to see this situation for what it is. he will sometimes TRY to take on more selfless responsibilities. or to perform his role in a kinder, more forgiving way. in fact, he has self-sacrificial tendencies to a deeply worrying extent!

but the story's literally not allowed to go that way. all of thor's attempts to be a hero or a martyr get twisted around somewhere along the way. all his love is a little bit violent too.

and also, this is all so ingrained that like. thor literally doesn't get it. even if loki could flawlessly articulate how humiliating and frightening and frankly dehumanising this dynamic can be for him, thor wouldn't Understand. it's written into both their identities. and while loki's subordination (as far as thor sees it, at least) is defined by the family (and kind of keeps him trapped + isolated within it)... thor's authority/responsibility is meant to one day extend over all the nine realms. which thor, being an idealist, takes to mean a few different things:

my father is the only thing standing between the universe and the apocalypse, therefore his control of my brother (which i mimic) and of me must be (or once have been) justified.

very very soon, i will be the only thing standing between the universe and the apocalypse. perhaps even sooner, because the moment my father fails, everything falls to me.

i have to control everything, especially my loved ones and myself, and anything that goes wrong in the universe is a sign that i'm failing.

ultimately: my mistakes are unforgiveable + everything in the world is my fault.

and once again. you might look at that way of thinking and go oh jesus christ. elder brother syndrome. thor all-brother.

but once again, the crucial thing is that this understanding of ragnarok is not... true. it's imperialist propaganda. what does asgard really DO for its subject realms? for the most part, it fends off competing empires... while exploiting and subjugating those subjects itself.

[antispopausandstuff]

hey i got a notif for a post of urs bc my gif was on it. normally i would ignore it. however. im in my 20s now but once upon a time i too was a depressed 13 yo running a tumblr blog, very similar to yours, dedicated to being really mad about a story that disappointed me. so i speak out of sincere sympathy and not a desire to be mean when i say: please do literally anything else with your time. read a book. practice a hobby. it is simply not that serious

for anyone who might be at least somewhat like what the person is talking about:

as of right now, you might be young and prone to change. things are difficult to process, awkward, scary, and you might not even know who or what you are just yet. but take your time and be kind to yourself.

by all means necessary, let your anger out. vent. complain. be sad. be angry. just don't let it hurt you or anyone else, okay? and, if you're like me, and don't necessarily feel comfortable being emotional, that's okay too.

try to find something to do, to distract you. play with a fidget, engage in activities, offline or online, try to connect with your peers. make something of your own.

whatever you're feeling is valid, and you deserve love and support. regardless of your age, living situation, mental health, etc., if any of you ever need anything from me, my messages are open. note, i might not be quick to responding all the time, but i will always respond.

i'm here for you 🫶🏾

.

now onto you.

i find it funny that you think you have the right to project your past onto me when i'm nowhere near in your previous position. not anymore, at least.

i'm not buying your condescending politeness, and you suck at actually guiding people ( if that's what you think you're doing, which i doubt ) to become healthier, happier people.

to be honest, i'm almost laughing that you thought this was genuinely okay to send, even more so anonymously, if you're not just being a dickhead who thought was doing something for a 'child'.

i'm not a child. at least, not in the way you think. i'm 18 now, legally an adult in most if not all places, and my development from being 13 years old to now is huge, especially since i'm now taking medication, getting into therapy, and have done a lot to accommodate my neurodivergencies, and have been all the better for it.

you have a serious problem if you think every single account that criticizes something is either a child or is taking things too seriously, when i'm 99.9% certain you've seen the show you made a GIF about as a revolutionary piece of queer media for children.

to think so low of someone you have never met is, frankly, cruel, demeaning, ridiculous, and shameful. according to this, you're a full grown adult, and yet, you think being like this will actually help anyone? will actually teach children to be more kinder to themselves? to help teens or young adults to not be so consumed by negativity?

i am not the person you think you're talking to, and even if i was, you yourself have a lot more growing up to do if you think you can talk to me like that.

the audacity of you.

[conniesrockstargf]

Rant of 9/27/23

Y'know one of the best things about being 19 is? The limbo of leaving the teens to being a starter adult.

It's the age where people 25+ constantly tell you that you're too young for A, too young to feel B, too young to know about C. It's so demeaning and invalidating.

I'll say, that as a girl who worked 3 jobs in her first semester of college, freshly 18, I'm fucking exhausted. I'm the oldest daughter of my family (which is a whole cause for therapy in its fucking self) which means that I've spent literally my whole life up to now, taking care of family. When i was 3, my grandmother kicked me and my 3 month old little brother out of her residence because she got into a spat with my mom. Even before that i was taking care of my younger siblings. When on family vacations, i am involuntarily designated babysitter (for children and (drunk) adults).

I work two jobs. One in a hospital kitchen, full time and the other as a barista part time. I am constantly on my feet for 7+ hours a day, tending to people who could care less about me.

When i was 16, i almost committed suicide in my bathroom. Still haven't been to therapy. 🩷

As a person having been through the bulllshit of life, it's really fucking frustrating when "older" adults try to disqualify my experiences because I'm young. Age has nothing to do with it! We all experience things differently and at different times, but that doesn't mean that anyone's journey is invalid.

I am a black, queer girl. I've got ENOUGH problems 😭. I don't need some millennials and oldheads in my face trying to tell me that I can't be tired or feel overwhelmed.

If i have every right to be grateful then i have every right to fucking complain. If i say I'm tired, I'm tired. If i say my feet fucking hurt, they hurt. If i say that i like Hello Kitty, i fucking like Hello Kitty. These older generations need to get through their heads that this generation is still human. Regardless of any technological advances or any other bs that our species comes up with, at the end of the day, nothing can make us more or less of a human than the next person. We have been beaten down by society forcing heteronormative, gender-biased, and eurocentric stereotypes and roles on us, which only hinder the true experience of being a human. We're surviving instead of living. It's truly a cruel world.

We're on a floating rock in the middle of fucking space and you're trying to argue about work ethic?! Please stfu.

Just enjoy the time that you have here and spread kindness. I don't understand why we can't do this 😞😭.

THIS PLACE FUCKING BLOWS 👎🏾

^^^ i do make them for fun, so if you wanna send an idea for any, my asks are always open.

I'll do anything I'm familiar with,

; tv shows, movies, characters, music, art, fashion, etc.

[rjalker]

I randomly remembered Fanfiction.net exists and thought huh I should see if I've gotten any new reviws.

and zygz.

I did get a review.

For Interview With A Murderbot.

From 22 hours ago, aka, July 19th, 2023.

I will just fucking post the story here. It's 2,085 words long.

Would you like to see the review that 99bottlesofbeeronthewall left?

"I could so see Murderbot reacting this way to a panel interview. They'd find so many things to nitpick. :P"

Zyg.

I'm screaming.

Read the 2k word story. That was literally written in reaction to this fandom's exorsexism. And then read that review again. And scream with me.

“Well, don't you think you'd be more comfortable using other pronouns? I mean, 'it' is used for things in this language, not people.”

This was coming from a human from Preservation, who'd been born here and raised here, so you could see why Murderbot had been so skeptical/resigned about Preservation's Super Totally Awesome For Real so-called “Equality between Bots and Actual People™”.

The human in question was sitting in the front row of chairs in front of the stage, wearing a multi-piece outfit of grey, orange, and white, with long pant legs but sleeves that cut off at the elbow, a very wide belt, large, red-tinted glasses, and a wide-brimmed silver hat.

Why, exactly, had Murderbot agreed to put up with this shit, again? Oh, right, to fight for that so-called equality that apparently already existed, that totally didn't need to be fought for, or anything, because things were as good as they needed to get, bots already had equal rights (no they literally didn't), they didn't need any more, and constructs certainly didn't need any rights. Totally. For sure.

Murderbot had to put up with this shit now, so other people who came after it wouldn't have to. It was for the greater good of all society, and totally admirable and awesome and selfless and blah blah blah.

What it was was obnoxious and infuriating and exhausting, but at least it was getting paid for it.

Oh wait, just kidding, no it wasn't! Mensah hadn't been able to convince anyone in the stupid government she was no longer a part of that this Q&A session was a real job/public service they were performing, that everyone involved should be fairly compensated for.

More than half the people in charge of the government still didn't even want it here, there was no way they were going to fund the public outreach programs designed to get more people to welcome constructs to their stupid planet.

The fact that it had to do this for free was just adding insult to injury.

It was one thing to talk to Dr. Bharadwaj in the privacy of her office. Murderbot liked her. She was smart, she was funny, and it didn't have to explain every single detail of something for her to get it, and she didn't ask it absurdly stupid questions or try to demean it.

It was another thing entirely to be sitting in front of humans on camera letting them ask stupid questions and having to put up with their bullshit when they refused to accept its answer.

Thankfully, Murderbot had its drones, so it didn't have to worry about meeting this idiot human's eyes as it said flatly, its voice carrying throughout the room thanks to the sound amplifier clipped to its ear and down to its jaw, “I thought bots here on Preservation /were/ considered people.” For now it was going to ignore the main part of the question, because this was just too annoying to ignore.

Just to be petty, it tapped 9JX on the feed a moment ahead of time to give it warning, then added outloud, “Hey, 9JX, aren't you a people?”

(Humans, it had learned after doing one of these interview panels with 3.14, a bot possibly even more determined to be obnoxious to humans than Murderbot, fucking hated it when you said 'a people' instead of 'a person', so, following 3.14's example, Murderbot made sure to purposefully say it this way whenever it could, just to piss the annoying humans off.)

9JX its current 'team mate' for this panel, being the representative for the cargo haulers. It had been sitting over on the other end of the stage, waiting patiently for questions aimed at it, that didn't seem to be coming. All the questions up until now except one - - (did you get to pick your own paint color? Yes) - - had been for Murderbot alone.

9JX was built to lift and transport large containers outside the actual dock, so it was smaller than most of the cargo hauler types Murderbot had seen in various ports, but it was still bigger than a human or a construct, and designed with functionality in mind, not aesthetics or appealing to human sensibilities.

Unlike constructs like Murderbot or other humanoid bots, it didn't have any eyes, or anything remotely resembling a human face. It looked more like a vehicle than a person, and for a lot of humans, that was enough in their minds to qualify it solidly as an object, instead of a person. Even though they were the one's who'd given it intelligence in the first place. Because humans were fucking stupid.

(Like, it's not like you can /accidentally/ invent artificial intelligence. It requires a lot of technical skills and expensive materials and blueprints and all this complicated shit that it just wasn't possible to do /by accident/. It wasn't a twelve step process. It was a five thousand step process at minimum. No human had ever sat around and just /accidentally/ built an artificial intelligence.)

Anyways.

9JX had decided to have speakers installed specifically so it could talk to humans without being connected to the feed, since it thought it was distracting. (Which sounded unbelievable to Murderbot. How was it possible to function without constant access to the feed? 9JX had the opposite question for it - - how can you function with all those distractions racing around at all times?)

9JX said in the voice synthesized for it specially from multiple donated human recordings, “Yes, I am a people. That's why I'm sitting here, after all.” (Yes, almost all the robots were in on the running gag. Turns out they were actually funny when you were part of the joke. Especially when the joke made obnoxious humans mad.)

“And aren't your pronouns it/its?” Murderbot asked.

“Yep. They're fun, and I picked them out all by myself.” It was true - - 9JX had been assigned he/him pronouns upon construction, and had used those pronouns for the first thirty years of its life, until it decided to change them. It continued, “I guess you could say I'm something of a trendsetter.”

Also true, considering 9JX was one of the oldest bots on Preservation that was still functioning. It had been part of the original doomed colony, and had been packed into the rescue ship just like everyone else. It was starting to wear down in its old age, but the humans and other bots did everything they could to keep it in good repair.

The good part of that story was that it had convinced humans to let bots change their pronouns. The bad part was that humans had started deciding that 9JX using it/its pronouns meant all bots should use it/its pronouns. Even though some of them didn't want to, like Nehir, or Delta, or 4528B-I, or other bots whose names Murderbot hadn't bothered to save to its long-term storage.

Lots of bots on Preservation had pronouns other than it/its, but most of the humans refused to use those pronouns for them, instead just pretending that all robots had the same gender (aka no gender), so therefore all bots should all use and be happy with the same pronouns.

That wasn't how this worked, at all.

Murderbot liked to think of its gender as indeterminate, or not applicable. That had to do with multiple things, including its asexuality, aromanticism, and aplatonicism. It wasn't attracted to anyone, not bots, not humans, not other constructs, in any way, and didn't want anyone being attracted to it, either. That would just be gross. If someone held up a list of genders they were attracted to, in any way, Murderbot wanted to be excluded every single time.

But that wasn't how it worked for all robots, all constructs, or even all SecUnits. Murderbot couldn't even imagine being sexually or romantically or platonically attracted to someone, but that didn't mean other people were lying when they talked about their own experiences.

(Yes, Murderbot had been horrified and disgusted beyond words the first time it learned of a construct who felt sexual and romantic attraction to other people, including humans. Yes, it had made a total jackass out of itself by being a bigoted asshole to them about it, treating them like shit and ranting about how they were just doing this to appease humans and making humans think they could just have sex with any construct they wanted. Yes, it regretted every fraction of second of what it had said and wished it could wipe the incident from its memory. But it wasn't going to do that, no matter how ashamed it was, because it had been one of the most important learning experiences it had ever had in its existing memory.)

The human - - this time Murderbot did check the feed tag, and saw their name was Fiscal, their gender was Neutral, they used the honorific Vr./veyir, they were married to three partners, had as many kids, had a pet yellow-tailed phoron, and their pronouns were they/them/their/theirself (singular) - - was rolling their eyes and making an exasperated huffing noise.

“I wasn't talking to the hauler bot, I was talking to you.” They said scornfully, doing their best to stare directly at Murderbot's eyes in that obnoxiously intense way some humans just love to do for some reason.

Well, they was staring at Murderbot's opaque faceplate, but didn't realize Murderbot had its eyes closed, watching the scene only through its cameras from the drones it had scattered around the room.

Having your face hidden fucking rocked. Murderbot couldn't believe it had gone so long pretending it was fine with letting humans see its face all the time. Talk about a nightmare.

“And what makes me different from a hauler bot?” Murderbot asked, in the tone of voice it reserved for when humans were being fucking stupid and it wanted to let them know that without actually saying it. It was also using the trick it'd learned from ART - - make the person you were arguing with spell out their own stupid ideas for everyone to hear, and maybe they'd realize as they were verbalizing it just how stupid it was.

Fiscal, though, didn't seem to realize how stupid they was being, since they said, with no hint of irony or self awareness or embarrassment, “You look human, so it's different. You're more of a person, so it's not right to call you an it.”

So this idiot was literally admitting they didn't think bots were people. Murderbot hoped all the fancy government workers who'd refused to fund this little get together were crying over how much their supposed little utopia was failing on its most basic advertising principal.

“I'm a person whether I'm human or not, whether I use it/its pronouns or not.” Murderbot said, keeping its voice level through a mixture of resigned boredom and a supreme will of effort, “9JX is a person whether it looks human or not, and it wouldn't be more of a person if it started using other pronouns.”

Fiscal folded their arms across their chest, looking stubborn, like they was in the right, or something. “It's not right, I'm just not comfortable calling you an it, it's dehumanizing. You're a person, not a thing. Why don't you try they/them pronouns? I'm sure you'll find people will treat you better if you use them. Using it/its just gives people an excuse to treat you like a bot.”

Yeah, Murderbot hoped everyone on Preservation was enjoying this.

Through one of the drones it had assigned to Dr. Mensah, it could see her dropping her face into her hands at her desk. One of the government officials was sitting in the chair across from her, (Keane, the same nonbinary human Murderbot had met the last time Mensah tried to set up funding) vis mouth open in unabashed shock and horror at the dual-faced display screen on the desk in from of vem. Clearly, ve hadn't expected the public's perception of bots to be this far from the ideal they all prided themselves on.

The look of horror on vis face was almost worth the hassle of doing all of this for free.

And who knew, if this fucking bigot kept talking, maybe the government would be ashamed enough to pay them all in retrospect for subjecting themselves to the bigotry in the first place.

Well, a murderbot could hope.