#anyway I've been thinking about them a lot

[dukeofankh]

So folks, I've been seeing this take a LOT, and like...no! This is yet another one of the conspiracy theories that the left apparently does now. Fucking stop it. Read an actual news source even once. Even once. Please.

What happened was that Trump super fucking hates China. Has for decades. And at this point, the whole American government does basically, Republicans and Democrats, because they're not just a third world country they can outsource labour to anymore. They're actually on the verge of becoming the largest economy on the planet. And Amewica is having a tantwum because they don't want to stop being the very specialest boy.

Trump tried to ban Tiktok outright with an executive order back during his *first* presidency. It failed, because that's not actually within his legal powers as president. The bill to ban Tiktok was written and passed during Bidens Presidency, with broad bipartisan support. Like. This bill passed 352-65. 155 of those yes votes were Democrats. Do you think 155 Democrats are actually secret Donald Trump double agents? Or did you just do zero fucking research and reblog a conspiracy theory?

Why is it so unilaterally popular? Because American Imperialism is a bipartisan project. Which is also why neither party is interested in stopping the genocide in Gaza. And make no mistake, the fact that support for Palestine is largely coming from Tiktok is at least part of why it's getting banned. Mitt Romney said that outright. Yeah. I know, everyone here is reposting fundraisers and stuff, but in terms of users, Tumblr is a fucking postage stamp. Tiktok is gigantic. It is significantly more responsible for the shift in American citizens' response to Gaza. And when the United CEO got shot and they saw how the Internet responded...I mean. If anyone was on the fence in the halls of power, that made everyone double down hard.

The second factor is just who else was at the Trump inauguration. Zuckerberg. Musk. Pichai (the Google CEO). You know. The social media owners Tiktok is beating. They are bending the knee. Kissing the ring, and their businesses are all based in America, and not dirty stupid China, who shouldn't even be this good, they're not this good, America is the only good country, if they don't want to be American then what's their ulterior motive???

Whew. Sorry. I was temporarily possessed by the spirit of mommy's very special boy. Anyway. Most of them want to buy Tiktok so fucking hard.

Because the thing is... This has never actually been a straightforward ban. The law is that they have to sell the company to Americans. So they can keep being the specialest boys. There's good reason to believe that nobody passing the bill ever thought Tiktok would go dark. They figured the company would cave, everyone would still get to keep using it, they could say that since it's American companies stealing and selling your data, the problem is solved, and they could pressure whoever owns it now to tweak the algorithms a bit to show a bit more Tianmen Square and a bit less Gaza. But Bytedance called their bluff, and shut down the app. The US Government didn't block the IP or anything, they just banned the app stores from selling or updating it. It was going to slowly become broken and obsolete, an unusuable icon that gen Zers could show off on their phones as a badge that they were there, man. But Bytedance knew that would be a lot less visible and motivating than a hard stop, so they did that.

...but why the fuck did Trump undo it less than a day later? It was his fucking idea in the first place! It's pretty fucking simple actually. He got pretty good numbers with young people in November and he believes it's because clips of him kept going viral on Tiktok. Thats it. The man has the memory of a goldfish and only cares about himself.

So that's why he cancelled the ban? Here's the fun thing.

Tiktok is still banned.

You cannot download Tiktok in the States right now. Trumps executive order halting a law passed by Congress is generally agreed to be pretty much illegal, there are massive, MASSIVE fines for anyone offering Tiktok for download or update. All Trump did was say "I will not enforce this law for 75 days." Which to be clear, is also not within his legal powers as president. Bytedance thanked him personally in the "welcome back" message, both because they're kissing the ring like everyone else to get on the good side of this erratic dictator, and because the literal only thing keeping them going in the States right now is that erratic dictators personal goodwill, and his personal "the law doesn't apply to me" aura.

As it stands, Trump is trying to broker a deal where Bytedance would maintain partial ownership. Will that work? I dunno. But the ban is still on folks. It's not a stunt. It's a clusterfuck of Sinophobia, American Imperialism, Trump constantly breaking the law, the Democrats also being evil and terrible at their jobs...it's got it all. But it definitely isn't a conspiracy. That would require competence.

and the crowd isn't surprised. i hate it here.

[signanothername]

I– I need to ask.

HOW DO YOU DO THIS?? Like, share your thoughts with everyone. Because I've been working on my universe for about three years now, AND I STILL FEEL LIKE IT'S NOT READY. At the same time, I’m still afraid to share these things...

So. How do you do it?D:

Alright my answer will seem a bit harsh and/or cruel, but know that I mean it in the most kind, genuine, and gentle way possible, i just don’t know how to word it any other way

With that in mind

Anon, you’re never going to be ready to share it, and the fear will always linger, you will never be 100% confident of what you share

And that’s ok

Again, I know that i make it seem super easy, but I promise that I’m just as afraid to share my ideas as anyone else (I’m a perfectionist, and that also contributes to my fear to share things)

It’s just, I think of it this way

I have an idea, and I got two choices

Either

1- I keep overthinking it, and succumb to my worries and fears when it comes to my idea, and keep my ideas with me, never to see the light of day

Or

2- I acknowledge that I’m afraid, acknowledge that my idea might not be perfect or ready, acknowledge that there might be flaws that I will probably notice later and even feel stupid about it, and still share my ideas anyway regardless of the voice in my head telling me to “wait a little more”

I usually go for choice number 2

The art and writing process is complicated, it’s so not easy to write something and feel ready to share it, no matter how much time it takes, you will never ever feel truly and utterly ready to share it, you’ll have that worry in your mind that maybe it’s stupid, or incomplete, or inconsistent or whatever else

And guess what? Sometimes, the worried voice in your head is completely right

But what matters is how you tackle it

Even if you share an idea, remember that you can always change your mind about it, you can absolutely go back and say, I don’t like that idea anymore and so I’ll remove/ change/ replace it

Ideas are never set in stone, you change and grow as a person as so do your ideas, they grow and change with you as you learn more and more, and sometimes they don’t, they don’t change at all, and that’s ok too

You can’t keep worrying about whether the story or idea you’re working on is ready or complete, because all you’re going to do is just walk around in circles and end up never sharing anything at all

It’s ok to be worried, but you can’t let your worries control you, of course, it’s not easy to ignore your worries, but it’s better than feeling stuck with your ideas

I myself do deal with these worries a lot, most of the time i just tell my brain “shut up” and share my ideas anyway, other times my worries do get the best of me and i tend to keep some ideas to myself

But sharing your ideas is actually essential for you to actually be able to work on them and refine them, because people might start asking questions or giving really good feedback that you actually sit with yourself to think about

But what if they ask you a question and you don’t know the answer to it? That’s actually a good thing, it’ll make you sit down and think of how to connect the dots and answer it, not only does it mean you’re actually making progress on your story/ideas, but these kinda questions help you understand different perspectives and by that, you learn and grow in your writing

It’s ok to be worried and to keep ideas to yourself sometimes, but don’t let them fester, because believe me, eventually your passion is gonna burn out because you kept overthinking it to the point it became just a worry than something you enjoy doing

In fact, to give you a bit of motivation, imma actually share one of the ideas I never shared cause I was afraid it’ll be a bit stupid and out of character

And I’m very worried about sharing it, but fuck my worry I do what I want

Remember when I mentioned Dream received one gift from Nightmare, and never received anything after? My idea for that gift was an echo flower he gave Dream, and it echoes one thing “I love you”

There, I shared it ouuughh the stress of sharing it is killing me actually, but I mean I can keep worrying about it forever, or actually share it and refine it later if I wanted, I choose the latter

And your ideas are never going to be perfect anyway, but you can improve them with time, even after sharing them

That’s all I do really shzggz

So go out there and start sharing anon, fuck anxiety, you can do whatever you want, you’re unstoppable

[argumate]

Every single politician on planet earth except John McCain (he couldn’t raise his arms too high after Nam) has been photographed waving with their right arms such that it looks like a nazi salute, which is then used on every single negative article about them for all time

Literally google anyone + nazi salute and see what comes up

I've been around a long time and I've seen a lot of people raise their arms and I've never seen a more convincing impression of a nazi salute done on stage by a guy who supports a president who dislikes democracy and just pardoned a bunch of his militia henchmen who attempted to fuck with elections, just like someone else I could name.

Musk wasn't photographed out of context, he did it twice on video in front of everyone and I don't think anyone else has done it harder than he did (even Hitler's salutes were fairly desultory since he was the top dog and was typically acknowledging salutes of others).

anyway, none of this matters! because what matters is his actions and those actions are also bad, this man is a menace.

[genderqueerdykes]

This might be a reach since I'm a bit emotional about it but in response to one of your recent posts:

I've also noticed a lot of "trans friendly" cis people (who are usually not actually as progressive as they believe they are anyways, even regarding transfems) using "trans women are women" or equal shorthands to signal their support and in turn just... completely brush over the existence of enbies and mascs as a whole.

Like obviously the statement in itself is true. Trans women are women. But it's used as the end all be all of the trans community. Like that's the only thing that matters and that we're fighting to have recognized.

It sounds a little whiney, but I wouldn't be so bothered by it if those same people then didn't turn around and spew the most hateful shit about men either in complete disregard to trans men&mascs or, even worse, including them in their hatred.

I don't know. Am I reaching? It's just been frustrating me...

you're not whiny or reaching, that's definitely happening in real time. it's okay to feel fucked up by this, it's not okay.

generally speaking whenever someone runs some kind of account on social media where they want to look like they accept trans people, they will immediately default to saying "trans rights!" and then "Trans women are women!" and then that's literally where the conversation dies. i do not understand why people continue to do this. yes it's important to uphold trans women but why does the conversation literally fucking die right after that?

i don't get why transfemininity and trans womanhood are seen as the entirety of/end all be all of transness by a lot of people but it's frustrating because it's used to put a blanket over a lot of other people to silence them for no good reason. like you can type a few more words. "trans men are men!" the silence is genuinely deafening.

some people don't realize that it's not what they say, but what they leave out that says so much about how they feel.

take care of yourself. i don't think this behavior is right at all. people really do think the conversation about trans acceptance begins and dies at transfemininity and trans womanhood. it's just weird i literally don't understand it. if it's malicious, i just don't understand why. it's not helping anyone

[ms-demeanor]

I tend to bring out that example not to describe why chiropractic is bad (there's plenty of evidence that chiropractic is bad that doesn't need me involved) but to demonstrate that I understand the appeal of CAM and why people go for it and to show that I'm aware that people who get sucked in by these scammers aren't stupid, they're desperate - like I was. (In telling that story I've often made the point that I *knew* chiropractic was dangerous and ineffective but I went *anyway* because I literally could not stand up but I had to figure out how to work; being in that much pain made me vulnerable to an industry that I knew was predatory because I needed *any* kind of intervention I could get my hands on).

You see, I'm aware that I can come off a bit harsh on this subject and I want people who have been scammed by alt med practitioners to know that I don't think less of them for having been victimized by medical charlatans. It's an unfortunate fact that people who have been conned have a lot of trouble getting away from the con when they think they're going to be laughed at or made fun of for getting fooled. I don't think less of them, I think that they were targeted by a predatory industry and that makes me loathe the industry.

I am not laughing at those people. I know that a lot of them have been badly harmed by CAM, or love people who were badly harmed by CAM, and the real shitter of the situation is that a lot of them, like me, may have had no other option when they found themselves suddenly totally disabled by an injury and needing to work.

I bit my tongue about it when you claimed that you hadn't seen any studies about acupuncture that paid attention to meridians and how they made a difference in the results, which just tells me that you've never actually read anything about research in that field or you if you did, you didn't understand it; it is an oft-discussed problem of studying the effects of acupuncture that "real acupuncture" (done by trained acupuncturists who use meridians) and sham acupuncture (which sometimes penetrates the skin but not along meridians, sometimes penetrates the skin at meridians but only shallowly, and which sometimes does not use needles to penetrate the skin at all) produce the same patient outcomes in probably about half of the published literature in the field. You literally cannot do a single search on the subject without this coming up. This is catastrophic in the research because acupuncturists keep saying that sham isn't a valid control because sham acupuncture provides benefits beyond placebo. Literally the people arguing for the efficacy of the intervention say that faking it provides results so far above "nothing" that it throws off the research. It is ubiquitous in the field. The other problem that gets discussed all the time with this is that acupuncturists don't agree on where the acupuncture points are. So are the specific points important or are they not? Is the depth important or is it not? Are the meridians important or are they not? If acupuncturists are saying that shallow penetration on non-point, non-meridian locations can't be an effective placebo because it provides benefits similar to the intervention then it sounds like the meridians and points don't matter much.

And I mean hey, I did think about that.

Kind of like how i've thought about it several times over the years when you've called me short-sighted and hypocritical in the notes of my own posts.

I haven't brought it up quite this visibly because I know people can be assholes to someone when I'm being an asshole to them on tumblr (I am asking people: please don't go looking - I censored the name and deleted the comment for a reason, I am perfectly capable of doing my own yelling and when people get harassed because I want to argue with some stupid bullshit they said it makes me want to talk LESS about this kind of stuff, not more)

So feel free to unfollow because i'm being "my way or the highway" about SCAMMING SICK PEOPLE OUT OF THEIR MONEY, but if you choose to keep commenting things like this on my posts be aware that I'm tired of being quiet about how *you specifically* are wrong while you're calling me a hypocrite.

Also humans are bilaterally symmetrical with nerves and blood vessels running up and down our entire goddamned bodies; you could drop a water balloon full of paint on our heads and follow the streaks and several would be parallel with major blood vessels and nerves out of pure chance. Many of our blood vessels that are paralleled by meridians are *visible through the skin* of people with lighter skin tones.

*eta: also - you have never linked a single study when talking about these things so it's kind of rich that "IDK but my acupuncturist treated what my doctor couldn't" is a sound argument when "a chiropractor broke my spine because she didn't perform imaging and didn't identify the bone tumor that was weakening the area prior to adjusting it" isn't AND you also are saying that I say *your* studies are invalid because of a bad experience but you don't have studies you have "but have you ever looked at the lines?"

I mean, again, I guess I can't be surprised that you're not linking studies when you are not aware of the fundamental problem of acupuncture research that is acknowledged by acupuncturists and skeptics alike, but for fuck's sake it's so fucking frustrating that dipshits will glibly call you a hypocrite who believes in anecdata if you make an attempt to insert empathy into these discussions via shared experience and will call you an insensitive, unimaginative robot incapable of understanding the different experiences that different individuals have if you say "i'm glad that you're feeling better but there's not enough evidence that the intervention is worth the risks" - heads i win, tails you, lose you, disingenuous fucks.

Just say you don't care. Say it doesn't matter. Say you didn't read the research and it doesn't matter to you because you're happy with what helped you and you don't care about the people who end up with collapsed lungs or blood borne infections or untreated pain or arterial bleeds. You got yours, fuck everyone else if it didn't work for them, maybe they should try yoga.

When you say you're anti-CAM what does that mean? Like what does CAM mean in that context? I genuinely haven't seen that acronym before and I'm assuming you aren't anti-camming as in like the form of sex work

Complimentary and Alternative Medicine.

I am capable of turning off my inner annoying atheist, I am incapable of turning off my inner annoying quackwatcher.

I have had real life fights with people I genuinely love about this and I do not regret it. I will absolutely not regret shitting all over someone's $500 herbalist certification.

[brandinotbroke]

Linux distros - what is the difference, which one should I choose?

Caution, VERY long post.

With more and more simmers looking into linux lately, I've been seeing the same questions over and over again: Which distro should I choose? Is distro xyz newbie-friendly? Does this program work on that distro?

So I thought I'd explain the concept of "distros" and clear some of that up.

What are the key differences between distros?

Linux distros are NOT different operating systems (they're all still linux!) and the differences between them aren't actually as big as you think.

Update philosophy: Some distros, like Ubuntu, (supposedly) focus more on stability than being up-to-date. These distros will release one big update once every year or every other year and they are thoroughly tested. However, because the updates are so huge, they inevitably tend to break stuff anyway. On the other end of the spectrum are so-called "rolling release" distros like Arch. They don't do big annual updates, but instead release smaller updates very frequently. They are what's called "bleeding edge" - if there is something new out there, they will be the first ones to get it. This can of course impact stability, but on the other hand, stuff gets improved and fixed very fast. Third, there are also "middle of the road" distros like Fedora, which kind of do... both. Fedora gets big version updates like Ubuntu, but they happen more frequently and are comparably smaller, thus being both stable and reasonably up-to-date.

Package manager: Different distros come with different package managers (APT on ubuntu, DNF on Fedora, etc.). Package managers keep track of all the installed programs on your PC and allow you to update/install/remove programs. You'll often work with the package manager in the terminal: For example, if you want to install lutris on Fedora, you'd type in "sudo dnf install lutris" ("sudo" stands for "super user do", it's the equivalent of administrator rights on Windows). Different package managers come with different pros and cons.

Core utilities and programs: 99% of distros use the same stuff in the background (you don’t even directly interact with it, e.g. background process managing). The 1% that do NOT use the same stuff are obscure distros like VoidLinux, Artix, Alpine, Gentoo, Devuan. If you are not a Linux expert, AVOID THOSE AT ALL COST.

Installation process: Some distros are easier to install than others. Arch is infamous for being a bit difficult to install, but at the same time, its documentation is unparalleled. If you have patience and good reading comprehension, installing arch would literally teach you all you ever need to know about Linux. If you want to go an easier and safer route for now, anything with an installer like Mint or Fedora would suit you better.

Community: Pick a distro with an active community and lots of good documentation! You’ll need help. If you are looking at derivatives (e.g. ZorinOS, which is based on Ubuntu which is based on Debian), ask yourself: Does this derivative give you enough benefits to potentially give up community support of the larger distro it is based on? Usually, the answer is no.

Okay, but what EDITION of this distro should I choose?

"Editions" or “spins�� usually refer to variations of the same distro with different desktop environments. The three most common ones you should know are GNOME, KDE Plasma and Cinnamon.

GNOME's UI is more similar to MacOS,  but not exactly the same.

KDE Plasma looks and feels a lot like Windows' UI, but with more customization options.

Cinnamon is also pretty windows-y, but more restricted in terms of customization and generally deemed to be "stuck in 2010". 

Mint vs. Pop!_OS vs. Fedora

Currently, the most popular distros within the Sims community seem to be Mint and Fedora (and Pop!_OS to some extent). They are praised for being "beginner friendly". So what's the difference between them?

Both Mint and Pop!_OS are based on Ubuntu, whereas Fedora is a "standalone" upstream distro, meaning it is not based on another distro.

Personally, I recommend Fedora over Mint and Pop!_OS for several reasons. To name only a few:

I mentioned above that Ubuntu's update philosophy tends to break things once a big update rolls around every two years. Since both Mint and Pop!_OS are based on Ubuntu, they are also affected by this.

Ubuntu, Mint and Pop!_OS like to modify their stuff regularly for theming/branding purposes, but this ALSO tends to break things. It is apparently so bad that there is an initiative to stop this.

Pop!_OS uses the GNOME desktop environment, which I would not recommend if you are switching from Windows. Mint offers Cinnamon, which is visually and technically outdated (they use the x11 windowing system standard from 1984), but still beloved by a lot of people. Fedora offers the more modern KDE Plasma.

Personal observation: Most simmers I've encountered who had severe issues with setting up Linux went with an Ubuntu-based distro. There's just something about it that's fucked up, man.

And this doesn't even get into the whole Snaps vs. Flatpak controvery, but I will skip this for brevity.

Does SimPE (or any other program) work on this distro?

If it works on Fedora, then it works on Mint/Ubuntu/Arch/etc., and vice versa. This is all just a question of having the necessary dependencies installed and installing the program itself properly. Some distros may have certain prerequisites pre-installed, while others don't, but you can always just install those yourself. Like I said, different distros are NOT different operating systems. It's all still Linux and you can ultimately customize it however you want.

In short: Yeah, all Sims 2-related programs work. Yes, ReShade too. It ultimately doesn't really matter what distro you use as long as it is not part of the obscure 1% I mentioned above.

A little piece of advice

Whatever distro you end up choosing: get used to googling stuff and practice reading comprehension! There are numerous forums, discord servers and subreddits where you can ask people for help. Generally speaking, the linux community is very open to helping newbies. HOWEVER, they are not as tolerant to nagging and laziness as the Sims community tends to be. Show initiative, use google search & common sense, try things out before screaming for help and be detailed and respectful when explaining your problems. They appreciate that. Also, use the arch wiki even if you do not use Arch Linux – most of it is applicable to other distros as well.

[lsunstreakerl]

I have the slight impression that if it weren't in a fic, Charles' little ✨️possessive✨️ and ✨️kind of obsessive✨️ thing wouldn't be very healthy.

That said, I'm looking forward to seeing more of this side of Charles, because for Max this is normal (he's an unreliable narrator), and the only times we can see how possessive he is is when we see someone else's POV, like Daniel.

Eu realmente quero ver mais da perspectiva de Charles para que eu possa ver como ele pensa, a maneira como ele é obcecado por Max desde a infância e o fato de que Max provavelmente nem sabe disso, e em Appendicitis temos uma citação de Max na qual ele diz que é leal a Charles há muito tempo, mas que ele acha que Charles é leal a ele há muito mais tempo. Este pode ser o momento exato em que Max percebe isso.

looking forward to seeing their relationship from Charles' perspective

this got kind of long sorry!

thank you for picking up what I've been subtly putting down! yeaaaaah they've both got problems, it's just that charles' tend to manifest in attachment issues- attachment to ferrari, attachment to his ghosts, attachment to max. (yes, max is an unreliable narrator. so is charles.)

if either max or charles were more well-adjusted, it wouldn't be a healthy relationship by any means, but they kind of balance each other out from what would be toxic otherwise. max with the unrelenting need to not be left behind- he almost demands that charles stay with him in search history. charles with the possessiveness that max is only his, no one else can have him.

they fit together- charles provides the obsessive dedication that max needs, and max provides almost complete devotion to charles. (you see it a bit in chapter 18 of SH, where max thinks about how he'll be whatever charles needs, without regard for himself.) (you also see it throughout SH- charles is always there. He's either there, or he's flying out, or he's following after max. if you take a step back, you'll realize sometimes charles is on his way before max even needs him- he was going to show up anyways.)

the only time you see a shift in that dynamic is when daniel is involved. this has to do pretty completely with what daniel has done for max, and the way he was there when charles wasn't. charles isn't a fan of anyone else meaning that much to max by any means- but he can see where daniel has helped support and teach max, and he can see that they have a special relationship.

he does have his own fair share of issues with it (walking in on them at the party) but he grapples with those a bit in 1+1+1, where the three of them actually navigate a dynamic together.

I believe the "Appendicishit" quote you're talking about is this one:

"He's starting to think Charles has been loyal even longer."

max has finally realized in that quote that he and charles have been intertwined in their relationship for longer than he initially assumed- max only starts thinking about charles in an admittedly romantic way when he gets his tonsils taken out in "Dad- I mean, GP-", and even then it's begrudging, not something he's willing to admit. (not sober, anyways.)

sober max vs drunk max!

you'll notice in the charles POV I posted that max kisses charles when they're younger, and that's pretty much the moment charles locks in and decides that yes, it's max, it's always going to be max.

this is obviously a couple years before max figures that out, because max doesn't remember kissing charles, so he's a little bit behind in that sense. charles also struggles while in F1 about not wanting to love max, because bad things happen to people he loves.

max only allows himself to think about charles when he's intoxicated or otherwise under the influence (daniel and carlos have heard a lot about charles).

I may write an outsider POV of someone else where they're a liiiittle bit concerned about just how intertwined max and charles are. debating on who would be best to showcase that at the moment.

[more-than-one-us]

Thanks so much for asking!

Switching for me is interesting, because many times, I don't even really expect it. So far, since I've learned and started to officially call myself a system, I've always been fronting at least a little. Everyone else who comes to front has only co-fronted on different levels. There have been times where I've been barely fronting, but I've still at least been there. With the exception of maybe one time that I can recall.

I'm getting off-track. Anyways! Most of the time, it's random. I'll be doing something, and all of a sudden, I feel this presence and go "oh hey I guess you're here now."

I've come to learn some triggers that bring certain headmates to front, but even when I'm expecting a headmate to show up, it catches me off-guard a little. So uh...

Tldr; I guess, for me, it just feels like... I'm me, and then there's suddenly somebody else that joins the party? If that makes any sense

Also, do I have a headspace? In a way, I guess I do!

It's interesting because I never really thought about that question too hard until my partner and I were talking about it in the car yesterday. My headspace is like this... giant house? Maybe a mansion of sorts? But I can often see many of my headmates roaming about the place.

I can't say I didn't wish it was a little more interesting, but I suppose this is still pretty cool! The doors (at least some of them) are like those ones you see in a restaurant that lead to the kitchen, the ones that swing open and closed? But they're wood and give like a natural feel to the surrounding area. The living room area is what I picture the most, and it's ironically a lot like my own living room. Mettaton will often lounge on the secrional couch and watch the tv screen that I'm convinced sometimes shows what's going on in real life, but I dunno.

So yeah! That's that for you! I really appreciate the ask - it's fun to inform people on how our system personally works! And it gets us thinking about ourselves a little more, too!

- 🌸

Plural Ask Game

We figured we’d try making an ask game! This is for anyone who’s a system–regardless of origin–to use. Remember that you’re not obligated to answer any of these if any are too personal!

How many members are in your system, and does this number change frequently?

What are your collective pronouns, if you have any?

What’s your system name if you have one, and how did you choose it?

Are there any activities your system members like to do together? Collective hobbies? Talk about those!

What sort of music do people in your system like?

What’s the average age of your systemmates?

If you have a singletsona, what is it? Explain a bit about them!

Does anyone in your system have roles? If so, what roles?

How long have you been a system and/or known of your system?

How did you discover your system? What was the process?

What does switching feel like to you, if you switch at all? 

Are your switches voluntary, involuntary or a mix? How often do you do it, if at all?

What’s your favourite part of being a system?

What’s your least favourite part of being a system, if you’re comfortable sharing?

Are your headmates generally different from the physical body? How do they differ from it?

Do you have any fictives/factives/etc? Tell us a little about them!

Does your system have a headspace? Are there multiple of them? What are they like?

Are there differences between systemmates surrounding sensory things? (For example, one person likes the taste of one food and another doesn’t.)

Does anyone have any different accents, or speak any different languages?

How would you describe your system in 3 words or less?

Do you have any LGBT+ headmates? What do they identify as?

Does anyone outside of the internet know you’re a system?

Do you have any cool/funny stories from inside the headspace that you’d like to share?

What’s some advice you’d give to yourself when you were first discovering your system?

What is something you wish singlets knew about plurality?

[two-entire-bits]

Deaf Outsiders Headcanons

I'd like to preface this by saying I'm hearing, and I've only been studying sign language, deaf history, and Deaf culture from a Deaf professor for the past couple months, and I do not know everything. I've researched the medical backgrounds for the genetic conditions and injuries mentioned, but some information might be incorrect and/or I might've misunderstood some things. If it is or I have, please tell me! I don't mean any misinformation or disrespect and I apologize if I cause any offense.

These also include some other disabilities!

Some world-related stuff:

There's no deaf schools in Tulsa, but the Oklahoma School for the Deaf was founded in 1908 so the time periods would hypothetically work out

In this alternative story there would be a deaf school in Tulsa and the Curtis brothers would all attend/have attended said school

I know it's Gallaudet University, but before 1986 it was a college

For the Curtis family: all of them are deaf. I think they'd have Autosomal Dominant Non-Syndromic (DFNA) deafness, maybe a variant in the MYH14 gene, which causes those with the variant to progressively lose their hearing within the first 3 decades of their lives. The Curtis parents taught their boys how to sign ASL, which they'd use at home, speak English, which they'd only use for hearing people, and lip read, also for hearing people, to an extent when they were young. The Curtis parents encouraged their boys to talk in sign as much as possible, but also were very upfront about ableism and how the world is built for hearing people.

Ponyboy:

Completely loses his hearing around 7-10

He's good at talking but doesn't like to, and very good at lip reading so he can watch movies

He still likes to write and caught onto English spelling and grammar quick

He often carries a notebook around to write in but mostly writes quick in ASL's grammar

He also uses it to write things to hearing people when he doesn't want to speak

He signs REALLY fast, he has a lot of things to say and good motor skills and sometimes even his parents have to ask him to repeat himself

Lexicalizes words all the time on accident

Signs to himself all the time, especially when he's alone

Likes to try and figure out what the actors are saying in movies and figure out the plot without the dialogue and sign along with the lines he can follow

VERY visual storyteller

Darrel:

Completely loses his hearing around 12-15

He can talk and lip-read very well, which he doesn't prefer but it's useful at work

Always kind of dreamed of playing football at Gallaudet, but always knew it wasn't really possible

Also signs to himself, but only when he's alone

Soda:

Completely loses his hearing closer to 3-5 and struggles with speaking compared to Darry and Ponyboy.

He always had hard time understanding English, and that plus being deaf and dyslexia contributed to him feeling stupid and dropping out of school (especially compared to Ponyboy)

He and Ponyboy talk in tactile sign at night before bed when everything's dark

His parents told him "Darry" rhymes with "Dairy" in English when he was really young and half the time he just signs "milk" instead of Darry's sign name to tease him. He got Pony in on it too

Johnny:

Hearing, but has apraxia of speech and selective mutism

His parents hate him for it and sent him to public mainstream school anyways

The Curtis parents taught him ASL after they met him

His apraxia and mutism contribute to why his teachers "give up on him" and to him having to repeat a grade in addition to other learning problems he was having and struggling to get the material quick enough for the curriculum

One reason why he was so scared in the hospital was because his hands were so burned he couldn't sign

Steve:

born with x-linked recessive deafness to hearing parents. His mother carried the gene and passed it to him

An especially good driver because of this

He goes to the same deaf school as the Curtis brothers and met Soda when they were in grade school, same as the book

Doesn't know how to speak English and doesn't want/care to learn it

When he was younger, he almost got caught stealing a car's hubcaps because he didn't realize how loud it was until he was telling the gang later about how the owners came outside and spotted him and Two-Bit told him that they probably heard the clattering of the metal hubcaps on the tarmac

Two-Bit:

Hearing, but his mom and sister (Tammy) are both deaf, he just didn't get the gene

Speaks English and ASL fluently but still stutters while signing because of motor skill issues

Purposefully messes up his grammar or signs sometimes just to annoy Tammy

Dallas:

Born hearing, but has Ménière's disease because he was jumped or in a car accident (something that wasn't his fault) when he was around 13-15 and the head trauma caused bleeding in the inner ear and his hearing is fluctuating at the time of the book

He's scared and angry because it'll get better and then worse and he never knows how or when it's going to change

He gets annoyed by the tinnitus and dizzy spells, and will often hole up somewhere when he feels a vertigo episode coming on and won't leave until it's over

The Curtis parents start teaching him basic sign and things to expect and things to know if he ends up permanently loosing his hearing, but he stopped trying to learn anything after they died

On one particularly shitty day when he didn't realize how loud he was being and Two told him he was yelling and he got so pissed at everything and that he didn't even realize he was being loud that he punched Two in the face

He's angry that it was something he could've stopped, that it happened when he wasn't actively looking for a fight or driving recklessly, or that it wasn't genetic because then he'd have someone/something to actively hate and blame. He never found out who jumped/crashed into him

Bonus: Socs!

Marcia:

Acquired hearing loss due to a recent head injury while barrel racing

It's not too bad at the time of the book, but they don't know if it'll get worse or not yet

She's not too worried about it, but every once in a while when she thinks about it a lot she gets really scared about what will happen if she loses her hearing permanently

She's scared she'll have to quit dance

Her mom kept her in high school and got her hearing aids eventually when it got worse

When she starts dating Two-Bit, it's another reason why she gets along with his mom and Tammy so well

They help teach her some basic sign and about Deaf culture, and kind of quench any fears she had about not being able to be happy/live if you're deaf because she didn't know anything about being deaf

Once she's learned enough sign to have conversations, she starts taking her hearing aids off at their house

Cherry:

Hearing

She was there when Marcia crashed and comforts her when she gets really worried about her future, but she doesn't really get it or know much about it

She wasn't rude about the way Pony pronounced things or later that night, when she was waiting for Ponyboy to write out what he wanted to say at the Drive-In and he got tired enough he didn't want to have to speak, which really surprised him

Bob:

Hearing

Knows nothing and could not care less about d/Deaf and generally disabled people

Thinks he can make Johnny talk if he beats him hard enough (partial motivation behind him and the Socs jumping Johnny before the book)

He knows Marcia's losing her hearing and is kind about it

Rolls his eyes sometimes when Marcia asks Cherry to repeat herself

Randy:

Hearing

Has no clue how to deal with Marcia's crash or her losing her hearing

Just tries (key word) to comfort her but doesn't do much else, just kind of goes on as normal

Similar to Bob, he'll get annoyed if she asks him to repeat himself too many times but feels a little bad about it

Paul:

Hearing

Learned some signs when he was friends with Darry

He didn't care to remember them when they stopped seeing each other

Felt "betrayed" when Darry said he dreamed of going to Gallaudet to play football because Paul just always assumed they'd go play together at some hearing mainstream college and he doesn't want to "learn all that shit" or "be around those kinds of people that much" just to play football at the same college as Darry

Bev:

Hearing

Knows about Marcia and says she doesn't care, but every once in a while she'll say something or make a joke that's just rude and shitty

Like Bob and Randy, she also doesn't cut Marcia a lot of slack if she doesn't hear something one of them says (Cherry is pretty much the only one that does)

She purposefully tries not to think about Marcia's future because she knows she'll get really upset about it, cos she thinks (and pretty much all the Soc's and hearing population, including Marcia) being deaf means you can't live or be happy

[ghostgirl-22]

I haven't been active in the tumblr fanfic scene since I was writing hard kink kpop x reader at 18, but by golly. Challengers Fandom...hats off from an old, tired queer (22)

Anyway, I've been an onlooker for some time and I love your account; it gives me a lot to think about on the commute to work. Love your characterization of all of our beloved trio and then some.

But now I propose a more lived in kinky bunch. I've worked a few BDSM raves in my time, and I saw this trio of guys once with the pup in his mask.

He was so sweet and nuzzly. (Loved giving messy head and being called a dumb boy) Just reminded me so much of Art. He was a large man in general, but he made himself so small for play.

Wait… i just woke up and wrote this long ass story and then realized after all that…that sadly…I don’t think I can really write bdsm. Oh well… sorry anon this is as good as it gets. Here’s Tashi kinda being in charge of everything and Art as a bratty messy sub with Patrick switching in the middle. I got bored rereading (glowing recommendation I know) so if you see typos/issues lemme know and I’ll fix them 😭

CW: 18+ NSFW EXPLICIT, sex club, public sex, exhibitionism, group sex, blindfolds, safe sex

____

They don’t have to go out but since Lily is at grandma and grandpa Donaldson’s all week and sometimes they like to play with other people. Or let Art play with other people. They decide to go to the club. It was Tashi’s idea. They’re so grown up now, they go to sex clubs. They have a safe word and everything. Cinnamon. Patrick’s amused by how quickly it all happened. It still doesn’t actually feel real. Just a year ago he was in an on again off again relationship with less than 100 dollars in his account on his best days. And he was bumming it on his sisters sofa when he wasn’t on the road. And look at him now. He has a boyfriend, a girlfriend and a safe word.

He looks around, it’s loud and hot and sweaty despite the below zero temperatures outside. The coldest day of the year. The first floor is all dancing, drinks, and house music. No sex. It’s so upscale you wouldn’t know what went on downstairs if you were an outsider. It’s pricey, extremely private and so exclusive there’s a waitlist to get in. A medical check, a background check, even. Patrick almost didn’t get in because of his credit score. But being the Donaldson’s pet which is what the manager called him, made all the difference. Even after all of that, they have to check everything, even their phones. It’s a shame, because sometimes Patrick does want to film it… not to sell to the highest bidder but just to watch when he’s home alone and horny.

Tashi wraps her arms around his waist. She feels so warm, the fabric of her dress so slippery, Patrick can’t help but let his hands slide down her back to rest on her ass. “Are you looking at other girls?” She asks in his ear.

”Are you kidding?” Patrick smirks. “I’m just looking at your husband.” She follows his gaze to Art. Art, who said ten minutes ago that if they were gonna do this again he needed a drink. He’s standing by the bar, in this mesh shirt Tashi no doubt bought for him and fitted pants. Already there’s a tall guy leaning in next to him, reaching up to touch mess up his hair. Another guy walks up behind him touching his waist.

“God. He’s so...” Tashi sighs.

It was Tashi’s idea, all of it. “He just never got his time to be out before. To be boy crazy. He’s a late bloomer. I mean…You’re his first time… ” Tashi had explained. “Imagine how you would act.”

She said it after Art finally let Patrick do more than just kiss him. They finally fucked and it was this long drawn out messy process on a rainy afternoon. Art figuring out what he liked, topping and being topped, giving and getting head all of it so fucking hot. And then a week later Art went and slept with his old hitting partner. Apparently the guy had been so flirtatious when he worked for them that Art was having dreams about him so in the most Art Donaldson way he hid behind Tashi and begged her to make up an excuse to fire him.

He was so sorry when Patrick caught him. “It was an accident. It won’t happen again.” He promised. And then he did it again just two days later. Boy crazy.

“I’m gonna pick tonight. Do you care?” Tashi asks.

”No, go ahead,” Patrick says. “Better hurry though.”

She’s half distracted by some pretty girl with long braids giving her heart eyes.

“Maybe you’re a late bloomer too?” Patrick teases, curling a lose strand of hair behind her ear.

“Shush,” Tashi says, shoving him playfully. “Bring him downstairs. Room 8. I’ll meet you guys there.”

“Wait a minute,” He grabs her arm firmly before she can disappear and pulls her close so he can kiss her mouth. It’s the only public place he can do this and he’s taking full advantage.

He watches her walk away and then looks back at the bar. Art’s holding a drink now, both of the guys monopolizing his attention. Gentle touches, talking to him up close. Patrick starts making his way through the crowd. It’s not like Art will just do whatever he wants but sometimes he gets a little too high off of the attention. Like he finally understands how easy it is to get male attention and how much he loves it. Even though he tries to pretend he doesn’t care. He got so horny for it last time they caught him on his knees in the back room, giving head without permission. They had to punish him after. Well, Tashi punished him actually. Patrick’s not good at it. Art will play like Patrick has control but with that face and that body he can walk all over Patrick easily when he feels like it.

Patrick is stopped on his way by a pretty blond. She seems a little past the point of tipsy.

“Hey aren’t you that Rangers player?” She asks, she’s giggly. Touchy.

“Yeah,” He says, steadying her. He doesn’t play hockey but he thinks he knows what she means.

“I think you’re so hot,” she says, and she giggles again as he smirks and brushes past her.

“I can’t tonight sweetheart.” He says gently and she pouts. She’s exactly the kind of girl who wouldn’t have given him the time of day just a few months ago. Now that he’s not looking it’s hilarious how much he has to turn down.

Speaking of slutty blonds, he approaches Art in the nick of time. He’s started making out with one boy, while the other is holding his drink.

“This his?” Patrick asks the guy with the drink and he nods, looking Patrick over. Patrick takes the glass from him and swallows the rest of it, all while Art’s pressing his tongue down the other man’s throat. He slams the glass down on the bar and grabs Art by the arm. Art stumbles back, lips wet, eyes glassy. Confused to see Patrick there. “Hey. Um…sorry I had to wait forever for a drink,” he hiccups, sheepishly.

“I bet,” Patrick says, fixing his hair and pulling his shirt back down so his mid drift his covered. Tashi put him in eyeliner and it’s all smudged now. Silly boy. Hes so fucking handsome. No way around it. He grew up pretty. And now he’s a tennis superstar. Not that he even needs that to get this type of attention.

“Who’s he?” Art’s kissing partner asks.

“My um…this is… I don’t know… my boyfriend?” Art says, looking at Patrick, his eyes all sparkly.

“Hey boyfriend, I’m Jack and that’s my boyfriend. Kissing partner gestures to the guy who was holding Arts drink. “You all wanna go downstairs and have some fun?”

“Yeah,” Art says and Patrick wraps his arm around his waist to keep him from going back for another kiss.

“Sorry Jack, maybe next time,” Patrick says.

Jack looks irritated, he glares at Patrick and then turns his gaze back to Art. “Is that what you want?”

“Yeah,” Art says, obediently.

“Fine, hope you enjoyed the drink,” Jack frowns, walking off with his boyfriend in tow.

“I swear I didn’t ask him to buy it,” Art says, looking at Patrick.

“Oh I know,” Patrick says. “You want another?”

Art nods, and Patrick waves at the bartender. Art’s anxiously chewing his gum, one hand gripping Patrick’s t-shirt like he needs him. Patrick imagines him in a collar. On his knees like a giddy little puppy dog. Eager to do whatever he and Tashi ask and he has to reach into his pocket to adjust himself. The bartender approaches and smiles at Art, clearly she knows who he is. She looks too young to be a bartender but she leans in when Patrick asks for two more whiskey sours. He knows Tashi will just drink whatever he brings so he doesn’t bother with another drink.

“I love you guys,” the bartender comes back around and pushes the drinks forward. “It’s on the house.”

Patrick raises his glass to her and she smiles but it’s clear she’s got eyes for Art who’s busy saying “Thank you so much!”

Patrick tugs at him and guides him downstairs. He’s getting attention as they walk through the crowd, eyes follow him, people reaching for him, touching him. Boys, girls, younger, older, same age, it doesn’t seem to matter. The funniest part is that he’s hardly the most famous person there. But it’s all so hush hush. And absolutely fucking anything goes.

Downstairs the lights are down so low, your eyes have to adjust to realize what’s happening. There’s a general area where there are people in the various stages of intercourse. People who like to watch, self-pleasuring. People in different positions, gay, straight, threesomes, foursomes, swingers. On chairs and sofas, on the floor, Patrick can only compare it to a bath house or the backroom at a really popular gay club, so much moaning and groaning writhing. Art lingers, watching as he sips his drink and Patrick lets him for a moment, before pulling him towards room number 8. He presses his wristband against the scanner and it unlocks for them.

When the door closes Art is suddenly giddy, he leans against the door gazing at Patrick.

”You remember the safeword?” Patrick says softly.

”Cinnamon,” Art says and he leans in, kissing him.

“Stop,” Patrick says, taking a breath and pushing him back against the door. Patrick feels a little dizzy but he manages to pull Art towards the leather sofa. The private room is fully stocked with snacks, water and champagne. There’s tons of condoms organized by size and six different flavors of packet sized lube. There are mints and chewing gum. There’s even wet wipes and hand sanitizer. Art puts his glass down on the table.

“Can you fuck me first?” Art whispers, sitting too close, grabbing at Patrick’s zipper.

“You want to get in trouble?” Patrick says, softly.

“Why? Are you gonna tell on me?” Art smirks.

Patrick is so fucking weak for shit like this, especially when he’s been at least half hard since they walked in the club. Since Tashi brought up going to the club in the first place, actually. “Fucking behave,” Patrick groans, pushing Art’s hands away. He needs Tashi to show up now or he knows he’s gonna end up doing whatever Art asks him to. He swallows down what’s left of his whiskey and puts his glass down. Art is so antsy he’s running his mouth talking about last time, how he’d been between two boys, getting fucked while he was fucking someone else. He really liked that. Tashi liked it too. She made them replay it at home, she pegged him while he fucked Patrick. And then Patrick laid down between her legs and kissed her until she cried.

The memories along with soft sound of Art’s voice as he rambles incessantly is setting Patrick’s teeth on edge, he’s this close to making Art cock warm him if only just to shut him up.

Thankfully Tashi doesn’t make them wait too much longer. The electronic whir of the lock sounds and she walks in with two guys, one tall and thin with longer dark hair and the other one her height when she’s in heels, he’s stocky and muscular. “Did you miss me?” She asks.

“Yeah,” Art sits up eagerly.

“Fuck. He looks even better in person,” long dark hair says.

“Doesn’t he?” Tashi approaches them. She climbs on the sofa, straddling Art’s lap and settles there. He looks up at her like she’s a real life angel and he needs to pray. “Hi baby.” He whispers. Hands sliding up her thighs, making her dress ride up. Patrick shifts in his seat. One of the guys nudges the other and they both smile.

“Hi,” Tashi says, fingers on the back of his head. “We’re gonna play a little game okay?”

Art bites his lip and nods.

“I need you to say it out loud,” Tashi says, firmly. Like she’s talking to one of the many people she works with to manage Art’s career.

“Okay,” Art says. She glances at Patrick, a little smirk on her lips and then looks back at Art.

“Okay,” she says, gentle again. “That’s Zach,” she points to the tall long haired one. And that’s Kevin. You guys know of Art and Patrick.”

”Oh yes,” Kevin says and Zach echoes, “Mmhm.”

“Good,” she says. She pulls down her hair, most of it was tied off with a silk scarf, now her curls fall onto her shoulders. She takes the scarf and uses it as a blindfold, covering Art’s eyes.

“Tash— um—“ Art stammers.

“Relax, it’s part of the game.” She says lightly. “Can you see me?”

“No, um…”

She waves her hands in front of him quite close and when he doesn’t react she smiles. “Good. Since you like it so much, you’re gonna give each of them a blow job. Zach, Kevin and Patrick.”

“Mm,” Art licks his lips.

“If you can get them all off in less than 8 minutes, you get to come tonight. If you can guess which one is Patrick, I’ll let him get you off before we leave this room. You can’t use your hands but everything else is fair game. They’re each gonna be as quiet as possible,” she says looking around. “But if you can figure it out by their breathing or something else that’s fine.”

“Okay,” Art says, hitching his hips up into her.

“Last thing… obviously your mouth will be too busy for the safe word. I’m keeping my arm right here. She rests it on his upper thigh. If you need to stop pinch me. I’ll stop it no matter how light or hard you squeeze so don’t pinch unless that’s what you mean.”

“Okay,” Art hums.

She climbs off his lap and he’s already hard. She smiles and holds her finger to her lips looking around the room. Then she holds up two fingers and points at Patrick. Three fingers and she points at Zach. She holds up one finger and points at Kevin beckoning him over and he comes eagerly. She gestures for Patrick to get off the sofa. He takes a breath and stands up. Kevin smirks at him rubbing his cock as he walks forward. Art’s rubbing the leather sofa eagerly. Tashi settles next to him and rests her hand on his lap, he wraps his hand around her to keep her there.

“Okay number one,” Tashi says as Kevin approaches. She hands him a condom and he frowns but pulls it on anyway.

“Do I open?” Art asks.

”One second,” Tashi says quietly. Kevin lets out an irritated breath and then presses himself up against Art’s lips. Art opens up right away.

“Time starts now,” Tashi says, looking at the digital clock on the wall. He’s licking all over, like he’s trying to figure out how big he is. How thick. Playing his tongue along the length and diameter. He’s not much smaller than Patrick. It’s a good healthy sized, circumcised dick. Art licks his way down the shaft and back up again. He’s orally fixated in the worst way so he doesn’t waste too much time before taking it properly into his mouth. Kevin bites his lip and runs his fingers into Art’s hair. Tashi hits his arm.

“No touching,” she says.

Art hums, lips stretched around his dick, Patrick adjusts himself and lets out a sigh. Tashi smirks at him. Grabs at the loops of his pants and brings him closer. Which is so tempting because Patrick is also eager to run his fingers through Art’s hair, call him a good boy for taking it so well. Art is breathing heavy, getting sloppy and wet with it. Tongue moving, head bobbing. Filthy sucking sounds as he works on getting him to come. All while Kevin has his fingers balled into fists and he’s all seized up.

Behind him, Patrick catches Zach touching himself idly.

Art is humming pretty consistently now, he’s so hard from this, to the point where Patrick can see the damp spot where precum is starting to stain his pants a darker shade.

Tashi is taking deep breaths. “Oh baby. Oh it hasn’t even been two minutes. Fuck.” She whispers. As Kevin makes a strangled sound and starts pumping his hips. He’s breathing heavy when he’s done, Art still sucking on him like he can’t stop. But Kevin pulls out, condom wet and shiny with saliva and full of semen. Tashi’s gripping Art’s thigh.

“Tashi I’m—“ Art sighs breathless. “I can’t touch myself?”

“No baby,” Tashi says gently. “Okay number two,” she whispers.

Patrick unzips and takes himself in hand. He’s about to wet Art’s lips with precum but Tashi hands him a condom too. Which makes perfect sense. He bites it open and eases it on. It’s a fun little game. Cute idea. But Patrick really wants to fuck him so already he’s made up his mind to give himself away somehow. Art’s lips are all swollen and pink. He starts by licking again. Such a smart boy. Up and down the length and all over to gage the width. It feels so good, especially when he gets to the tip.

Patrick makes a soft sound and Tashi kicks him so he bites his lip.

“Mm,” Art takes him in, breathing deep. Mouth so deliciously hot and wet. And he’s racing his tongue back and forth. Sucking hard. Moaning as he does it. Patrick can’t help himself, he’s pushing back on him. Feeding every inch that he can into that perfect heated mouth. He likes to test his gag reflex when they do this. See how much Art can take. Face going pink, lips swollen red. Coughing up while come drips obscenely from his lips. He starts coughing and Tashi kicks him again. That doesn’t stop Art for long. He’s taking as much as he can, filling his mouth again. Trying so hard not to gag for it and Patrick can’t believe he’s already this near to the edge. There’s something so hot about being this fucking desperate and holding it all in. This erotic silence. Just the constant rhythmic beat of the club's music and Tashi bouncing her knee. Art humming, moaning.

Kevin sighs and that’s the moment Patrick remembers he’s still in the room. Art’s teasing his tongue on the underside of his cock head which feels incredible even through the thin layer of latex. Art flitting it back and forth in this spectacular dance that with every movement brings Patrick closer. He thrusts in and out and in and out and— “Fuck,” Patrick says helplessly and then he’s filling the condom.

Patrick fixates on the wetness of it as he pulls out. The condom soaked in saliva. More of it dripping from Art’s lips. Art is breathless. “What if I come by— by accident?” Art says, gasping.

“You won’t, baby,” Tashi says softly. “Come on number three.”

Zach picks up a condom.

“How much time?” Art asks.

“You’re doing so good,” Tashi says. “About 3 minutes left.”

Art licks his lips. He doesn’t really test Zach out. Just takes it into his mouth. Zach is bigger than Patrick in girth, a little shorter in length. Circumcised of course. Patrick watches Art stretch his lips around him easy. Zach doesn’t really stand a fucking chance. He’d been so worked up watching Art blow Kevin and himself, Art manages to finish him off in 90 seconds. The whole time Patrick can feel the distant hint of arousal coming back and settling low in his stomach. Art’s still blindfolded, he’s sitting there rubbing his thighs eagerly as Zach pinches the condom off and throws it away.

“Did I do it?” Art asks.

“Yes. Good job, baby,” Tashi sighs. “I’ll let you come tonight. Now take your best guess. Which one was Patrick? One, two or three?”

“Mm two,” Art says, little to no hesitation.

”Hmm,” Tashi says, glaring briefly at Patrick. She then looks to the other two. “Thanks for playing boys.”

“Any fucking time,” Zach says. “That was fun.”

“I’m clean by the way, in case you want to do it without a condom next time,” Kevin says.

“If you want a next time you’ll have to wear one. No exceptions. Sorry,” Tashi says lightly.

“Yeah, okay… just feels so much better without it. What’s the point of the constant tests if we always have to wear condoms right?” Kevin says condescendingly like Tashi is a silly girl who just doesn’t get it.

“Well you’re fucking welcome to play with someone else next time then,” Patrick says coldly. “Goodnight.”

Kevin glares at him and then follows Zach out of the private room.

“You’re a fucking cheater, Pat,” Tashi turns on him when the door shuts. She pulls off the blindfold.

“I didn’t cheat.” Patrick says. ”I followed all of your instructions, to the letter.”

Art is flushed, eyes glassy, lips red and swollen. Patrick can’t help doing what he couldn’t before and teasing his fingers into Art’s hair. He keens into the touch. So hard, he’s almost tenting in the tough fabric of his jeans.

“How’d you know it was him?” Tashi asks Art, her tone gentle with him.

“I—I know how he feels.” Art says. “The other two felt… different. Plus I could smell him. It made me want to touch.”

”Mm fine, I guess I tried to get as close as I could.” Tashi says. “Next time I’m giving you fucking five minutes to finish it all.” She smirks.

Art grins and she leans in and kisses him.

He’s seeking her body immediately grabbing at her dress, she pushes him off.

“Behave. Get on the floor like a good boy,” Tashi tells him and Art slides off the sofa to get on his knees. Patrick can tell she’s barely hanging by a thread. Her body is trembling for it.

She scoots forward, legs spread and Art barely wastes a second before he’s on his hands and knees, head buried between her thighs. Tashi is gazing up at Patrick, smiling before she lets out another sigh. Patrick feels himself getting hard again, arousal back in full force.

“Show Patrick how needy you are,” Tashi groans. Art is bent over, ass sticking out, mesh shirt riding up, moaning almost as much as she is and he reaches to undo his jeans.

Patrick sinks to his knees behind him and tugs the jeans down to expose his ass, all while reaching for a packet of lubricant from the table. It takes him no time at all to sink himself into the heat of Art’s body. And then they’re all moaning. It feels like nirvana. Patrick can’t focus on anything but this. Obsessed with the idea that he can have this all the fucking time. The therapist says they can’t fuck away their problems but Patrick would argue this makes him work so much harder at therapy… just so they can keep doing this shit. Tashi comes first, Patrick knows her tells. He reaches for Art’s cock, knows he can’t really come without stimulation. And all it takes is two strokes and he’s clenching around Patrick. Heated liquid spurting all over the place, spilling onto Patrick’s hand. Patrick fucks him into overstimulation before he’s coming inside. And then they’re all breathless, giddy and so satisfied.

They lay in the room for a little bit longer after redressing and cleaning up a bit. Art chews gum and rests his head on Tashi’s lap while Tashi and Patrick are share one of the snacks. They talk about what just happened. Art back to his normal more centered self and Patrick admits to his fantasy about putting a collar on Art next time. And the way they both suddenly go silent, both of them fidgety, lets Patrick know they’re into it.

They head upstairs so the space can be used by someone else and pick up their coats and phones from the check in. They wait for an uber. People passing by in a rush to get out of the cold. Kids hurrying in and out of other less exclusive clubs nearby. No one but other people exiting the club aware of what really goes on in there, or of what they’ve just been up to. Patrick smiles to himself, he already can’t wait to go back.

Not to superwholock on main but if anyone likes Sherlock I encourage you to read the much better fic a cure for boredom on AO3 from which I blatantly stole the cinnamon safeword and got influenced by the sex club. That and someone said Mike Faist smells like cinnamon… 🤤

[the-banks-of-lethe]

Relationship with Lord Hypnos !

This is something I've been thinking about lately and I too am struggling with describing it.

I think the best way I could describe it would be in the terms of a QPR (queer platonic relationship). It's not romantic, definitely not. Especially given that, though close, I am not an adult yet - I don't think I'd be comfortable with that just yet. But it does feel more than just a friendship kind of way, its more deeper than that I think.

It feels familial, but not in the way it would be with a parent, more in a way that when you are really close with someone / married / in a relationship, you consider them family. It's not particularly just friendship either, it feels much deeper than that.

"A queerplatonic relationship is a relationship that is not romantic but involves a close emotional connection (platonic) beyond what most people consider friendship." "An extremely close, passionate attachment between two friends that has a strong emotional connection that may extend beyond the boundary of a 'normal' friendship."

However, it is also devotion. I devote a lot of my time to him (when I can), and I'm happy to give him half my life through sleep, I get exicted and sometimes count down the hours until I go to bed so I can feel His energy and domain again. I find it difficult to see my future without seeing Him in it.

This may sound obsessive or weird to some, trust me I can see it, but it's how I feel, and it's how Hypnos has regarded our bond before. I wouldn't have it any other way. My life has changed for the better since I first started worshipping Him and I'm not afraid to say that I love Him, and He knows that. And even if our relationship changes down the track; what won't change is the respect I have for Him, becasue at the end of the day He is a god, and He has helped me throughs so much, it would be disgraeful of me to not respect him for that.

I think it's beautiful how different everyone's relationships with their gods / deities are; even if they differ from mine or are the exact same. It's wonderful how many people have fallen in love (not neccesarily romantically, but it can be) and found comfort in Lord Hypnos- or any god for that matter.

Anyway, I think that's enough rambling from me for now;

Khaire, and sweet dreams 💙

Fellow Hellenic polytheists, how would you describe your relationship/feelings toward your deity/deities.

Purely a god/worshiper dynamic? Parental? Sibling like? Mentor/student? Romantic? Queer platonic? Friends? Boss/employee? Purely just fascination?

I honestly have no idea how I’d describe mine, it’s partly fascination and devotion, partly autism brain needing to consume everything about him and maybe a little crush but oh my gods he’s a DEITY Astro control your fucking self.

I can describe it in a picture though

[colourfultears]

frank iero guitar yap post

hello...i am still trying to figure out what the hell i am doing with this blog because i truthfully am so super new to tumblr and don't really get what i'm doing.. BUT i know a lot about guitar so i will scream into the void i guess!

i'm gonna put a cut because i think this will be long and its mostly just for me anyways LOL :D

so i've been playing guitar for around like 8-ish years because my parents put me in lessons really young, but i started off playing classical (nylon strings, tchaikovsky arrangements, the whole shebang), but i really didn't improve at all because i simply didn't give a fuck about the instrument until i became an epic teenager

but i moved music academies, moving to electric guitar and starting piano around 2 years ago. so fun!

anyways, all of this prologue to say that essentially guitar, piano, music, as a whole has become my entire life and the only thing i really spend my spare time fixated on.

a few months ago, my teacher suggested that i get a new guitar because i had grown out of the shitty $200 (AUD hahahah) strat i was playing on, so i looked towards some higher quality options and after playing almost every guitar in the shop, i eventually ended up buying an epiphone les paul custom in the ebony colourway.

HERE IS WHERE IT GETS RELEVANT LOL: ray and frank are huge proponents of the epiphone LP lines (in that, they play them live and in recording) which i always found so fascinating because, why not the better...higher-end...gibson...original??

for anyone that might not know but might care :P, gibson (a guitar manufacturer) were the original producers of les paul style guitars. epiphone (another guitar manufacturer) produces REPLICAS of gibson guitars. the biggest difference?, the price (some would argue quality, but that price tag is pretttyyy crazy to me..). gibson guitars are handcrafted in america, and are therefore much more expensive, selling in australia, typically, for upwards of 5-6k, but reaching bounds of like 9000 dollars :O WHEREAS,,, epiphone LP's are mass produced in china, retailing for a USUAL max of 2-3k, but very possibly lower than that.

but yeah, frank's famous 'pansy' guitar is an epiphone les paul custom in the alpine white cw. it's important to note that there are literally only two colours available for this particular guitar.

i know that frank owns both colourways of the lp custom, obviously the pansy guitar, and i'll link some pics of the ebony one he owns too!!:

i looooove the sweet sweet joyous whimsical beautiful pansy, but i am such a sucker for this colourway, and i accept my ultra bias because i own it LOL.

when it comes to ray, he owns epiphone LP's but he seems to lean towards the standard line instead of the custom line, for a more classic kinda feel. you can definitely tell his personal taste in guitars especially through the finishes he chooses like hahaha i wouldn't be caught dead playing a cherry burst, but he absolutely fucking rocks it. it reminds me a lot of him in that one interview talking about how his roots in playing guitar are in metallica, pantera, and whatnot and. maaaaaann you can feel it in how he plays but also in the guitars he picks.

in my personal taste, i would literally kill to have frank's collection but also i HAAAATE the SG body shape and he owns a couple (i think..) like...stop...before i get violently ill. i find them so incredibly ugly, sorry patrick stump! abysmal collection, i still love u tho king xx

ANYWAYS THERE WAS NO POINT TO THIS IDK I DON'T UNDERSTAND TUMBLR OK THANKS BYE

[imaginespazzi]

Are you watching UCLA vs Maryland rn??

Also, give me your postgame thoughts from yesterday Nivi 😩 I wanna talk hoops LMAO

I did watch UCLA and Maryland and it looks like Maryland used my "playbook" as in I've been saying that for most teams, the way to beat UCLA might be to let Lauren Betts beat them while trying to contain everyone else and boy oh boy did Lauren Betts beat them. Like 33 pts? 14/15 shooting? LIKE SHE'S INSANE YOUR HONOR.

Oh boy Creighton thoughts...

Thank god for Sarah Strong

LIKE THANK GOD FOR SARAH STRONG

Also thank god for Paige Bueckers remembering who the fuck she is

Probably would've remembered earlier if she was GIVEN THE FUCKING BALL

Anyways in all honesty, I was sort of expecting a wonky performance last night because, it's been a hot sec since were on the road and it's been a hot minute since we've played anyone decent and Creighton is absolutely a decent team. Like do not let anyone fool y'all, that a tournament team that I think definitely has the potential to pull off an upset to get to the second weekend.

That's not to say I wasn't disappointed, especially at Geno fucking Auriemma who apparently watched us use his "slashed offensive playbook" and play the best we have all season and decided "hmm ackshually I don't think I will do this again" until that plan backfired and we had to wait till the 2nd half to go back to what works: PG PAIGE

Azzi had a terrible offensive night. I've seen a lot of discourse and ultimately it comes down to both the fact that she, herself was not doing enough AND of course the team also didn't do enough. She started off the game aggressive enough but then I think, partly due to fouls, partly due to her shots just not falling and also partly due to her teammates making some insane choices instead of passing to her, she pretty much stopped moving on offense and then ended up passing some shots (hand offs, maybe a middy or two) that she should take and in most instances probably would make.

But for what it's worth, I'm not worried about Azzi. I am getting a little worried about the team not doing enough though because we're at back-to-back games of her not having a single three-point attempt in the first half and that's simply not gonna fly.

KC had an abysmal shooting night. And quite frankly it's unacceptable because she was missing wide open things. The Creighton coach even said postgame that they were purposely letting her get those easy shots and her barely making any of them is not good. Coaches will look at this game and do the same thing and she needs to make them pay. Her not making those shots is also a part of why Azzi had such a hard time getting open because Creighton took the gamble to put a lot more attention on Azzi and their defense deserved credit for that because it definitely paid off and a part of that is on KC.

Which (I fear this is turning into a rant despite my use of bullet points) is why I don't think this KC-Paige-Azzi backcourt is tha answer. Forcing all three of them to play in a way that doesn't suit their respective playstyle is a recipe for disaster and we keep seeing it. A lot of these Paige and Azzi clashing takes on twitter stem from the fact that they're both forced to play SG sometimes and they move so similar on offense (which is what makes them lethal when they play as a PG-SG duo) that it ultimately limits one of them.

Jana....layups babe please. Listen I am a big proponent of Geno needs to be giving Jana more minutes but at the same time, if you're blowing fucking bunnies every game, there is only so much I can say. Then again, the answer to that, to increase her development is that she needs time on the floor.

Lowkey thought Ice gave some really nice minutes? More of that please?

KK brining the energey as per usual but babygirl HOW MANY MORE TIMES ARE WE GOING TO SEE THAT SAME DRIVING INTO THE PAINT MOVE AND THEN GETTING BLOCKED/STUCK MOVE? It doesn't work. You are not 6'+. PLEASE STOP. I do not need a Sania Feagin/Chloe Kitts blocking you highlight on the SC page of February 16th thank you.

Ash great hustle on rebounds and it's why she should be starting at the 3!

So if Aubrey not playing yesterday was her decision, then I'm more than okay with that. However, we only have 10 games left and if it was a Geno decision then I definitely do question. I'm very confused with how he's managing her minutes. Not the amount, but the fact that she's playing in garbage time and not with starters. If we wants her to be useful in March, she needs to be playing in lineups that will actually be used in March/April.

CAROLINE PRACTICING!! Love to see it. Refusing to get my hopes too high but I just love seeing her out there <3

[the-sun-and-the-sea]

if Suzanne Collins wrote a Finnick book

Everyone's always asking me "mia how would you feel if there was a new Finnick book" so I thought I'd share my thoughts on that (just kidding the only person asking me that is myself)

Anyway I have seen people express interest for a book about Finnick's Games, although it's usually on other platforms and not on Tumblr. I can see where this interest comes from, but personally I would rather not have that book. First of all, a lot of us are drawn to Finnick and Annie's story because it's so open, and we can do so much with it. It's fun to explore the possibilities, because there's so little we actually know about them.

If there was a new Finnick book coming out, I would read it. I would definitely feel apprehensive though. Here's what I think the main question running through my head would be: what if the book comes out and I learn that I've been doing everything wrong for the past five years? Wouldn't that be terrible?

And, honestly, the answer is...not really? Say the book comes out and it's great. Okay, awesome, we have compelling new material to work with. Say the book comes out and we all think it desecrates Finnick's character. Does that mean all the work we've done until that point is ruined? No. We've been working with limited material for 15+ years and creating rich, vibrant backstories, missing moments, OCs, and more. There's no reason any of that has to stop.

If I enjoyed certain aspects of this hypothetical book, I would probably explore those aspects in more depth. And anything I didn't like I would just not use to build my characterization of Finnick. It's hard to be canon divergent with Odesta because canon leaves it up to us, but I'm fine with ignoring canon if I don't like it.

I guess my main point is that I'd rather we didn't get a Finnick book, but if we did, I'd read it. And if my interpretation of Finnick, Annie, or district 4 was challenged through the new book, I wouldn't let that shake me too much. Fandom is supposed to be fun. I'm having a great time fleshing out these characters and their world in a way that compels me and feels organic. I'm not going to stop doing that even if it eventually contradicts canon.

[iron-mage]

I return now with a blocked bank card, whoever you were trying to send a 8.99 transaction to some business called LovelyVoice I wish you well & also curse you for inconveniencing me i was going to order a fancy ereader & now I can't until my new card arrives there's only one left in stock hopefully it doesn't sell before i can get it

Anyway back to the misery of a seeker & his mates

Shockwave is stumped this is definitely Starscream's frame he's had it strapped to his laboratory table enough to know, but it's not reanimating they way it usually does, such a shame he was planning on trying to get him to spread a biological contaminant with a much weaker bomb in the next raid so that anyone who comes to rescue bots trapped in the wreckage would become vectors for a new plague to spread throughout the autobot cels it would have been a very interesting experiment taking advantage of his new labtech's expertise in xenobiology

Meanwhile with the autobots Starscream is starting to wake up, which autobots? I've no clue open to suggestions, but what i do know is they're angry, at Starscream & at Megatron for using one of his own like nothing, maybe they're religious & think that there's something unholy or too holy about the seeker,

They relish in telling him about the planted corpse, it wasn't that hard he's a pretty standard model afterall, & now no ones coming to look for him, those trine mates of his have been spotted without their matching trinkets obviously not very devoted to him if they've taken off his colours already, they're surprised when upon learning this Starscream reacts by begging to be melted down into slag

It's the only thing that'll stop him coming back or so Shockwave hypothesized, the autobots— are happy to test that hypothesis

Meanwhile, back with the cons Skywarp and Thundercracker are free of the collars, no use wasting good explosives especially not when you're going to have to pivot your strategy since you're now down one immortal soldier, Skyfire still has his though even as Shockwave's lab technician he's still not trusted enough to have it off, afterall he only got the position because Starscream was more compliant when Skyfire was around administering the tests & there's no good reason to leave a perfectly good resource like a scientist languishing in the brig

Megatron meanwhile has gotten a little rusty in the area of detecting coup attempts, afterall Starscream didn't have time to plan anything between piecing himself back together from missions, piecing himself back together from being Shockwave's labrat, & sitting in medbay making energon donations until his lines ran dry, tho he does still keep an eye on the seekers both the broken trine & the others in case they get any ideas, which is why he doesn't see Soundwave coming, just, as, planned,

afterall Shockwave spends most of his time secluded in the labs, and Megatron is either on the battlefield, in the command centre, & he's certainly not spending his leisure time amongst the rank & file troops, so if the Communications & Intelligence Officer doesn't bring the rising discontent to their attention how were they to know, Starscream's death was the breaking point that caused them to accelerate their carefully layed plans, what happens to Megatron exactly? Im not entirely sure but i know that Skyfire relishes making use of that biological contaminant he's been working on, Shockwave did so want to see how it would affect a living mech & now he gets to experience it firsthand

The cons are still in shambles months later they've never exactly actually had a change of leadership in this way & bringing everyone to heel is taking all of Soundwave's attention, a lot of them simply deserted the moment they knew Megatron was unable to come after them anymore

So the Autobots take advantage of the situation & gain a lot of ground, & they keep coming across groups of con deserters who fill in the blanks about why Decepticon command seemingly imploded the moment Starscream wasn't there

They paint a picture of a brewing storm, of bots waking up in medbay watching their SIC give his life over & over again so that they could heal a little faster & get back to the battlefield while their Leader never even bothered to get to know them, knowing that their fate would be the same if they happened to share an exploitable ability like that

The Autobots are understandably horrified, & they consolidate into a unified force again, some of the former cons even join their ranks rather than going to any of the numerous new neutral settlements popping up, so they reach out to Soundwave with the hope that the former communications officer would be willing to well– communicate

He is, & so the war ends

& that's how we set our scene

The remaining members of the trine retreat to their old apartments in what remains of Vos, & Skyfire goes with them, they're trauma bonded no one else understands the weight round their necks that stays even after the collars are gone, now they actually have to get to know eachother

It's awkward, there's a great deal of guilt, they all blame themselves for being too compliant, too complicit, too late, & now all they're left with is his worldly affairs left to rot in this apartment

As far as they're aware that is

I got nothing else at this point feel free to take this and run or comment your own ideas i would love to see them

Thinking about a post war situation where Skyfire has to crash at the elite trine's place for a while and it's interesting

[martyryo]

Okay

I don't do..anons. so yes, just gonna ask this as me‼️ Hello‼️‼️

When

Right okay, I saw your art like the yellow red one right and I saw you talking about your tulpa in that and it took me a second cause at first I thought you were doing a Collab with someone and I was looking for a tagged account or something 😭😭 and then I was like hang on it's not been tagged so it can't be that. And then I saw the hashtag about the tulpa thing and my brain was like, I've heard that term before. And I had, but it was cause of Supernatural. Think the episode was Hell House, either way in that course some kids draw a sigil and don't know what they're doing, spread a rumour and enough people see the sigil and believe the made up story for it to become real. I'm gonna hazard a guess that this isn't what's happening here. Cause 1. No axe murderers are present and 2...idk. suppose it wasn't on accident lol

But basically, what I'm asking is, what's gone on? Like please could you define what a tulpa is cause I'm a tad bit confuseled. I've got a grasp. A jist if you will. But yeh, that, and how it works for you and how long all this has been about for because yeh, the original post confused me a lot and I had no context to understand what was going on lol

Hiii!!!!!

Ok so, never watched supernatural cause I lack media culture, but I looked at the fandom wiki and I assure you it's NOTHING like that 😭

Ik the practice of creating a tulpa comes from buddhism and is related to religion and stuff, but like I found out about it through an online friend back in 2017ish cause they developed one. Needles to say, in these cases we're talking about the western interpretation of the phenomenon that is mainly psychological and not spiritual.

With a tulpa you bascially create a sentient being on a subconscious level that shares the body with you. Please note that this is not in any way related to conditions such as DID, as you do not have the splitting of a subconscious, you actually add more of them into a body. And an important aspect that separates tulpae from alters is that with a tulpa you're fully aware and consensual with having a second person inside the body, you will never accidentally develop a tulpa out of the blue.

To make an example also, imagine there's a wheel with a hamster inside, they represent respectively the body and the subconscious mind that inhabits it. Now imagine there are more hamsters but they're in the same wheel. That's a body with more subconsciouses (I might be butchering this word I'm so sorry).

Needless to say, doing this requires a long trail of meditation, as one needs to focus on everything they perceive out of a person normally (the way they look, talk, move, smell. you get it, everything) and obviously their personality. These things do change with time once the tulpa settles as a stable part of the host's (the one who creates them) life, but at least sketching down the idea of the person that you're creating helps in the overall process.

Ok so. The most important part. A tulpa is NOT evil, and cannot be evil. That's something I found out in the guides I followed at the start of my journey with my first tulpa. They have no reason to turn over their creator cause they are meant to be companions. I'm not super informed on the theory thing now cause I got into it two years ago and since then we've just been living, but there articles online who talk about this so feiughirgh

Now, in my experience Jack came to be part of my life around two years ago, on july 9th. I was going through a weird depressive period where I would not talk to anybody and felt like shit over nothing. During that time I also used to watch fight club a lot, like three times a week, and grew obsessively attached to the characters to the point all I thought about was fc (this feels so weird to remember omg). Anyways, remembered about my friend with the tulpa, and decided to do the same thing. So I got informed on the procedure and gradually managed to develop Jack over time :3

On the 27th of Trevor also started developing, in his case it was Jack that went throughout the major part of the creation process cause I was busy with school, but yeah since then it's been the three of us living life yk.

Also, I obviously got better since that summer, them being with me helped me out a lot and obviously I didn't create them with the intent of getting. Free experimental therapy or some shit. They are part of me and I love them ver very much, knowing that they're always with me brings a sense of sheer comfort in my life. I just love my bros man. Then again, I suck at communication so there are days when we talk less. nonetheless we still interact via concepts or through the headspace (mental landscape where they pretty much live when not fronting).

Oh, also lately we've been aware of the fact that Jack is kinda always fronting (fronting is having control of the body btw kewnkfkgb) during the day when we are in silence at a school or on the bus, while I am the one that keeps the conversations with people (ironic ik). Trevor instead has no interest in the outside world, he just stays in the headspace and works as a mechanic apparently (he doesn't tell me where his workplace is also??? like for no reason at all also, I can't find that fucking place no matter how much I roam around).

Ough ok I know I sound a bit insane saying those things, but that's how it is 💨

With tulpamacy there are so many aspects one can discuss, but again, there are guides online where everything you need to know is explained, and they are explained better than whatever ramble I'm putting down here. I'm not an expert of the field, I just happen to be living it yk.

Sorry for the long and I guess confusing post, there is much more stuff I could tell you about but like. I think this manages to get the overall idea of how we work out 😸