#and i asked you about law problems...

[greenerteacups]

thoughts on Ginny and Harry as a couple?

There are a lot of people who find their romance in HBP forced. I don't think it's forced so much as underwritten, and the books don't get the chemistry quite right (though the movies certainly don't, either). There's potential, but they just don't get enough actual scenes of substance (besides Harry thinking she's pretty or feeling jealous of Dean) for a lot of readers to buy that they're not only in love, but deeply enough in love to break up, get back together, and wind up married.

That's not to say I don't see the appeal. There's a very cool scene in Book 5 where Harry's doing a woe-is-me-Chosen-One act, and Ginny effortlessly puts him in his place about it by reminding him that she was possessed by Voldemort at eleven, which is a rare glimpse into her character and also a great synecdoche for their relationship — Ginny is a grounding presence who, like Ron and Hermione, isn't going to be awed by his past adventures because she knew him before they happened. In that respect, Ginny's probably one of the few women Harry could feasibly wind up with, because he only ever seems comfortable around people (let alone girls) who can see past the Chosen-One schtick and treat him like a normo (see: Ron, Hermione, the Weasleys, Luna, Hagrid). True to type, he doesn't get interested in Ginny at all until she's ditched her celebrity crush and ceased to view him as an idol, because in his heart of hearts, Harry wants to be a normal boy, and it's stressed over and over that part of what he likes about his relationship with Ginny is how normal it feels. He kind of has a horribly supercharged version the celebrity dating problem: after the Battle of Hogwarts, anyone he meets is going to know him first as Harry Potter, Chosen One, Boy Who Lived, and Actually Fucking Resurrected Messiah of the Wizarding World, which is... I mean, it's possible that there are witches out there who could get over that, but Harry's not an extroverted guy, and I'm not sure how he'd go about finding them. Ginny's the one who's been there since the beginning, doesn't need anything about him or his past explained to her, and actually likes him for who he is.

When you look at it that way, it's not surprising he married his high school girlfriend. She's one of the few people still alive who doesn't see him as a demigod.

[hyperbolicgrinch]

✨ weekend wip exposure club ✨

rules: post 7 sentences/a snippet of an unfinished work

@theotherwhybietoldmeso & @killerandhealerqueen

I'm late, I'm late, I'm late. Forgive me. I was fighting demons (imposter syndrome, crippling self doubt, fatigue, and a wild pack of mental illnesses). (⁠◕⁠દ⁠◕⁠) But! I'm finally back after like three ass weeks. <⁠(⁠￣⁠︶⁠￣⁠)⁠> So, here! A v unserious snippy from my we have to stay silly modern kidlaw au (yeah, shocker, it's them bastards again) that I've been doing sometimes on the side just for shits n giggles. 〜⁠(⁠꒪⁠꒳⁠꒪⁠)⁠〜

The call connected and Killer's accent crackled out of the speaker. “Law? What's up?”

“Nothing urgent. I just need to know if Eustass h—”

“Yeah, his phone’s dead again. He's in the shed. You want him?”

“What?”

“Hang on. I'll get him.”

Law pinched the bridge of his nose. Squeezed his eyes shut till he saw pinpricks. “No, I just need to know if—”

"Oi, Kid! Your boyfriend wants to speak ta ya!"

Law snapped his eyes back open and nearly crushed his phone as his hand clenched in a useless attempt to smother the speaker.

Ahead of him in the aisle, hands in his pockets, Cora stopped. His leg held out in front of him as he froze mid-stride.

Dammit.

After a beat, as if he'd been waiting for what he'd heard to start making a little more sense, Cora slowly turned on his heel. His other leg still stuck out in front of him and the hem of his heart-covered button-up twirling with him.

He stared wide-eyed at Law. The embodiment of flabbergasted. His raised boot absently clicking down on the supermarkets’ bland tiling like an accompanying exclamation point.

Dammit!

"He's not my damn boyfriend!" Eustass yelled, taking the words out of Law's mouth.

The heavy rock blasting from the shed’s stereo lowered enough in volume to not blow out Law's phone speaker and Eustass' voice dropped several octaves as he brought Killer's phone up to his ear.

“Miss me, did ya, sweetheart?”

His eyes bulging, Cora took several steps back in bewilderment and tripped over one of the restocking boxes stacked in the aisle.

"Shut up, Eustass!" Law snapped. His face igniting alongside his fury. "You're on speaker!"

There was a pause so pregnant it had reached its third trimester. Then Eustass chuckled. It had a grotesque amount of facetious glee in it.

"Am I now?"

So. That had been a mistake. But Law could only double down now.

"Behave," he said through clenched teeth. "Or I'll—"

"You'll what? Don't go making promises you can't keep, princess."

Cora toppled back over the box trying to get up and landed on his back with his legs sticking straight up.

"I'm going to—!" Catching Cora's eye from down on the floor, Law sighed. "Doesn't matter. I'll deal with you later. Cora-san wants to know if you have any dietary restrictions.”

He scrunched down into his jacket. Tense. Gritting his teeth. Law still wasn't sure how Cora had talked him into letting him come over and cook dinner. But if it had been a bad idea before, it was a horrendous one now.

Eustass Kid was an arsehole. Always had been. Always would be. Always was. There wasn't a chance in hell he could be trusted not to—

"Hold up. Cora's there?"

"Yesss," Law hissed, ready to brain him.

“Put him on then.”

“Don't tell me what to do!”

Cora looked from Law to the phone and then accepted it when Law clicked his tongue on his teeth in irration and offered it down to him.

Tagging @schwazombie (no pressure. You keep working on those kidlawgust prompts if you're still on a roll 😊) and anyone else that wants to give it a whirl ✨✨

[timeisacephalopod]

The type of Christian who asks atheists how they don't like, murder people on the reg are so funny to me because they seem to think their religion makes them the Peak of Morality when statements like "if you don't believe in God how comes you don't do X thing" all but outright state they have no idea why shit like murder and rape is bad except that God doesn't like it lmao. Like way to admit you have no intrinsic sense of morality and need to be afraid of a higher power to be a decent person, but I promise if you're not a piece of shit it's actually very natural not to want to do heinous evil shit all the time potential punishment from a higher power or not 🤷🏻‍♀️🤷🏻‍♀️

[peridots-pixiwolf]

[Start ID. A drawing of @mieczmaszyna 's character Izzy. In the words of its creator, Izzy is a humanoid robot with a white chassis, oval head, black headset, square green glasses, claws, and a tail resembling a cable plug. Ai wears a cowboy hat, vest decorated by a star and bottle cap, pants with tassels, spurred boots, and a red bandanna. He's viewed from the side, kicking up one leg and holding both arms out in front of itself to shoot finger guns, looking excited and rather jaunty. The background is a dull yellow-green, muddied by the warm reddish tone of the drawing, and in paler green are the words "BANG BANG!!" by ais arms. End ID]

robot cowboy!!!

[schlawa]

It’s a (translated) quote from my favourite bands live banter, where the drummer asked if anyone still needs a guitarist and I just thought the vibe fits them so well

[the-busy-ghost]

Alright uninformed rant time. It kind of bugs me that, when studying the Middle Ages, specifically in western Europe, it doesn’t seem to be a pre-requisite that you have to take some kind of “Basics of Mediaeval Catholic Doctrine in Everyday Practise” class. 

Obviously you can’t cover everything- we don’t necessarily need to understand the ins and outs of obscure theological arguments (just as your average mediaeval churchgoer probably didn’t need to), or the inner workings of the Great Schism(s), nor how apparently simple theological disputes could be influenced by political and social factors, and of course the Official Line From The Vatican has changed over the centuries (which is why I’ve seen even modern Catholics getting mixed up about something that happened eight centuries ago). And naturally there are going to be misconceptions no matter how much you try to clarify things for people, and regional/class/temporal variations on how people’s actual everyday beliefs were influenced by the church’s rules. 

But it would help if historians studying the Middle Ages, especially western Christendom, were all given a broadly similar training in a) what the official doctrine was at various points on certain important issues and b) how this might translate to what the average layman believed. Because it feels like you’re supposed to pick that up as you go along and even where there are books on the subject they’re not always entirely reliable either (for example, people citing books about how things worked specifically in England to apply to the whole of Europe) and you can’t ask a book a question if you’re confused about any particular point. 

I mean I don’t expect to be spoonfed but somehow I don’t think that I’m supposed to accumulate a half-assed religious education from, say, a 15th century nobleman who was probably more interested in translating chivalric romances and rebelling against the Crown than religion; an angry 16th century Protestant; a 12th century nun from some forgotten valley in the Alps; some footnotes spread out over half a dozen modern political histories of Scotland; and an episode of ‘In Our Time’ from 2009. 

But equally if you’re not a specialist in church history or theology, I’m not sure that it’s necessary to probe the murky depths of every minor theological point ever, and once you’ve started where does it end? 

Anyway this entirely uninformed rant brought to you by my encounter with a sixteenth century bishop who was supposedly writing a completely orthodox book to re-evangelise his flock and tempt them away from Protestantism, but who described the baptismal rite in a way that sounds decidedly sketchy, if not heretical. And rather than being able to engage with the text properly and get what I needed from it, I was instead left sitting there like:

And frankly I didn’t have the time to go down the rabbit hole that would inevitably open up if I tried to find out

[gothamcityneedsme]

This game drives me so fucking INSANE. atom = adam ofc and just. Equating opening to the expanse to THAT choice.

[nexus-nebulae]

man i hate that one teacher ruined the whole concept of math for me bc i love physics and string theory and chemistry and all that stuff but every time I'm watching a video about it i hear like. specific algebraic concepts and i immediately lose all interest

[shopwitchvamp]

hi! do u ship to eu?

I currently everywhere except the UK (but UK can order through Etsy, or use a mail forwarding service).

Next year however, I will no longer accept international orders & everyone from outside of the US will need to use a mail forwarding service to order (I've looked into it and in almost all cases they are cheaper and faster than the international shipping I can offer directly!)

[katierosefun]

[stumbles out of my room, bloodied and gasping for air] halfway done with my fuckign memo

[edelgards]

look away

[isostatic-uplift]

.

[prettyboysmlm]

ughhh mistakes have been made :(((((

[overbearingstruggles]

-

[the-rollerchloster]

gentle reminder that if a story is presented in a way that expects an immediate emotional response, it's okay to ask (and you probably should be asking) for more information.

that emotional response is more than likely hiding some nuance that the people telling the story don't want you to consider.

[ylkcheeeks]

No, that isn’t factual and is based on a really pessimistic reading of the rest of humanity. Look, I know things are bad in the world and everyone is a bit jaded after the past few years.

And I understand how, for someone who is already disgusted by something like abortion or gender nonconformity or being trans or gay or whatever else is Them in their Us versus Them culture war- people for whom those are not things which impact people they know, but something alien so they picture the Chick Tract version of why would a person xyz- it makes a sort of sense to figure “well anyone who would otherwise perform abortion care would let a pregnant person bleed out to make a political point” because liberals are already conveniently demonized by the talking heads on TV (or, lets be honest, YT). Like, I know a lot of folks who have a conservative political compass but consider themselves compassionate people can see how barring a two-spirit author from giving a talk or denying care to someone with an ectopic pregnancy which could never be viable will think (have thought) "surely there will be an exception or consideration in those cases! surely that isn't what they meant- they are just trying to protect kids!"

I’m sorry to put this so bluntly but the politicians and commentators alike have lied to you. These were foreseeable consequences to the language of the respective bills as written.

If the plain text of a piece of legislation says “no drag shows where there are kids” but doesn’t define “drag” then people who don’t want to be pulled into the middle of crossfire, who are moderate mild-mannered folk who read the Terms of Service before they click okay, will understand that, as written, it could mean a burlesque show with numbers that could headline in Vegas or it could mean a fashionable author who happens to not conform to cis expectations having a little book signing. It is so broadly written and there are so many people who are eager to get test cases to push the most extreme reading- the folks who really do think that the solution to Us versus Them is to hone society to exclude Them- that folks will self-censor and self-police.

There doesn’t need to be a cop helping you into the stirrups for your GYN to listen to the hospital’s legal department that says, due to the way the law is written, that they can’t do anything until your life is in danger. The legislation wasn’t written by doctors, it was written by politicians who went to law school in the 60s or 70s, and, to be blunt, the people behind these bills don’t actually care about the cruelty inflicted on the cases you have empathy for. It is, at best, acceptable collateral damage. Some of them are on the very conservative end of things where they will either dog whistle or straight out say they are fine with the cruelties hitting people well beyond who they spread fear about to get support and donations on the basis of that bill or the platform it’s part of.

They are already happy enough to hide behind “think of the children!” when they mean “think of my super PAC funds!” or, for the talking heads, “think of my advertising revenue!”, why would the foreseeable consequences for other people bother them? Especially if it’s just liberals, just gender freaks, just loose women, you know… Them. Not Us.

Individuals obeying these deliberately vague and far-sweeping laws aren’t the ones to side-eye if you have an issue with treating fellow travelers like trash to make a political point. Just this week the Supreme Court ruling about the wedding website “vendor” who wanted to be free to refuse service to couples whose marriages she thinks shouldn’t happen? Based on a hypothetical- hasn’t made any wedding websites and nobody asked for one either. It was a case brought specifically to establish precedent, not in response to a specific incident where her freedom of speech and someone else’s freedom from discrimination actually came into conflict. So folks who read a law with broad language and err on the side of caution aren’t all going to be mustache twirling Them (whether you infer they are a degenerate liberal willing to let someone suffer to make a point or a callous conservative willing to let someone suffer to make a point); most of them are just folks who just want to do their job and go home to dinner, so whether they think the law is bad or fine or doesn’t go far enough, they’re obeying it for the same reason people obey stop signs or say “unalive” on tiktok.

Anyhow! Have a 4th!

I know y'all should all know by now, but here is a current example of how drag bans actually ban trans people from existing in public spaces

This was the email that was sent to Adria Jawort, a two spirit author scheduled to speak at a Montana library, on the first day of pride month.