#because there's No way i would risk *assuming* a term for any of my brain stuff and then having someone tell me I'm wrong

[ms-demeanor]

hello! sorry to bother w this but im sort of desperate at this point. given your post about school abuse: so like. i had a similar experience and i thought that i had sorted my brain out. BUT. big but. now im trans and every time i have to correct people w/ misgender or come out to people that i dont already know their opinion on the issue, i get an anxiety attack that makes me unable to do it. ive told many therapists and no one so far has understood why im terrified of making stuff that other people can perceive as me being difficult to work with. would you have *any* advice? thanks!

Okay so first of all it is totally valid to feel that way; that isn't an irrational response, that is your body and brain going "!!!! I have learned this lesson before!" But just because it's a sensible response doesn't mean it's functional in the long term, which is why it needs to be addressed (which I'm sure you already know, I'm just explaining for people in the back).

So now here is some meandering advice:

Spend time with people you already know you can trust. It's okay to take a break from new people and situations (as much as is possible) when you are processing traumatic events and learning to care for yourself. Spending time with people who you don't have to come out to, who don't misgender you, can help you normalize being out and correctly gendered to yourself.

Recognize that you don't have to be out to everyone and some assholes aren't worth it. This is going to depend some on the context, but you don't owe everybody an explanation for yourself and if people repeatedly misgender you after being corrected you may just be better off not spending time around those people.

Loop in trusted people in low-stakes ways. If you get the sense that someone who you think is pretty safe has misgendered you on accident, it might still feel too intimidating to correct them in person but it might be a good idea to follow up with text or a call or a message to say "hey, just FYI, I think I heard you use a/b pronouns for me earlier, I just wanted to let you know that I use c/d pronouns. Did you want to meet up again next week?" the breakdown on why I think this is effective is - Distance means you're safe - nonthreatening "FYI" means you aren't saying "I'm offended" and assumes good faith from the other person - feels less accusatory (not that you need to tone police yourself, but if you're trying to lower the stress level overall then assuming it was a mistake and letting them know you don't think it was on purpose should reduce the overall tension) - request to meet up again or topic switch to something lighter once again says "I'm not mad, that was just regular information, we can now return to our scheduled programming"

I think that, generally speaking, this is also a decent way to come out to people if you're nervous; physically remote and emotionally casual can be a good place to work from (even if you're actually panicking in your head but you can pull off casual in a written message)

Find (or create) a space where people are 100% going to support you. If you need to create a discord server, if you need to schedule a regular coffee date with trusted friends or family members, whatever it is, give yourself a space where you are unconditionally supported and can have people to bounce ideas and concerns off of. Even if it's just you and one other person, it's good to know you have *someone* who you can say "I think I want to tell this other person to use my pronouns but it's scary" to and know that you're not at risk in any way. I'd say try to make sure that you're still interacting with people outside of that space, but have a space to retreat to where you can just drop the worry.

Recognize that somebody else's problem is not a reflection of you. If you have, for instance, a coworker who is being a piece of shit and refusing to recognize your gender, that is not a reflection of your gender that is a reflection of them being a piece of shit. If there is a classmate or a sibling who uses the wrong pronouns after being corrected that doesn't mean you're not entitled to your pronouns that means they are being a piece of shit. Some people are just not going to accept you and that's on them. Try to minimize your time spent with them and if you have to spend time with them at work take steps to ensure your safety, but don't fight losing battles with assholes.

It really is legitimately scary. You have good reasons to be scared and you are doing a very frightening thing (and not to do the meme thing but you are legitimately being so brave about it; the fact that you are reaching out and asking anyone for help, including randos on the internet, means that you are taking steps to doing the scary thing and that is SO GOOD and I'm really proud of you for making the effort in spite of the fear).

Here is some less meandering advice:

Practice. Talk to yourself in the mirror, practice with friends, practice with your therapist. Practice coming out to yourself in a casual way. Practice correcting your pronouns. Practice an introduction for yourself that explains the information you want to give to new people you might meet. Get it down to a quick little patter, get it to be something that's easy to say to yourself in the mirror first, then try it with friends for practice, then try it around the safer people you might want to give the information to. It'll get easier as you go.

Look for a local support group (or an online support group). If there's a local LGBTQ+ center you should see if they've got events going on or a support group you can join or workshops or any manner of social thing where you can go interact with people who have been through similar stuff.

Journal. Each time you find yourself frightened of talking to someone about your gender, do what you need to to get through the day and then sit down and think about that interaction. Write down what happened, write down what you were thinking. Was there something in particular that made you anxious? Is it something you can practice addressing? Was there something you noticed about the person that made you uncomfortable? Is that a common thread in the times you have trouble talking about this? If you're able to narrow down specifically what is making it hard to speak to some people that might make it easier to explain to therapists but will also make it more actionable for you.

Here's some very optimistic advice:

If at all possible find a friend who will be rabid and unflinching in their support for you and hang out with them around new people. Get yourself an attack dog copilot who will cheerfully step up and make corrections for you. I know not everyone can do this and I know that if you can find someone like this they can't be around all the time, but it can be wonderfully reassuring to find that one person who you know is going to be ride or die about making sure that everyone in the room respects you. (Being that person for someone else can also teach you how to be that person for you)

[nymph-ette111]

Hello again! Its me the one who requested the proxies with a forest ranger S/o

I sawed your post and kinda went 😮 when I found out forest rangers and fire looksouts aren’t the same thing too ngl. I originally got the idea when I watched/played ‘Fears to fathom: Ironbark lookout’. I actually looked it up and I guess the correct term would be “Park ranger” (I still don’t know bro I could be wrong) but I originally got the idea from the fears to fathom so I guess you could kinda base it off that (minus the cult) but I just thought it would be a cool idea. Like for example on the fire watch aspect, Tim is chronic Smoker and Toby is canonically a pyromaniac (idk about brain in this situation) so like Tim could be smoking or toby could be setting something on fire and you would be side eyeing tf out of them. OR, You could just be trying to peacefully sleep in your watch tower (assuming there is one) and One of them would be knocking at your damn door/window in the dead ass of the night and your just there either terrified, confused, or annoyed (its up to your interpretation).

But anyway sorry for the ramble and confusion, As always I appreciate you and hope you have a wonderful day (remember to drink water) buh/bye now <3

(♡) Authors note; in my old author's note I literally said it was inspired byironbark lookout but then I hesitated bcs I thought it wasn't what you're looking for. good thing I didn't delete the previous work :3 SO SORRY FOR THE LONG WAIT I DIDN'T HAVE ANY MOTIVATION TO WRITE ANYTHING :(

HOODIE;

-before the relationship between you two, he knew about your job as a park ranger/ fire lookout.

-actually, he knew about everything. From the tasks you usually handle to your working schedule.

-the reason he didn't kill you off was because part of your job is keeping campers away from the unregistered camp grounds which was quite convenient on his part. (Perhaps convenient for all of them)

-that way he wouldn't risk getting caught on the way/back from a mission, even though he usually drives to his destinations with a beaten up old truck. He knows how nosey some people are and would definitely pull a curiosity move and possibly find his resort.

-but he also couldn't let you run around freely around the forest either, he just kept an eye on you for a while in case you were too close to finding out about his...'business'

-i can see him stalking you slowly seeping into his routine. could be out of curiosity or genuine interest.

-during your relationship, he'd drop by from time to time in the watch tower even though it's against the rules. He'll be careful, he says.

-he's still an asshole very much like his friends, would probably disregard his mudded hiking boots by the entrance and just throw himself on your bed. Not caring if whatever substance he was covered in (blood) stains your bedsheets or something.

-to make up for it he cooks you food with whatever ingredients you have to offer :3 I like to think he's a good cook, staying out in the forest for long periods of time gained him that skill.

-if he isn't too busy, you two would watch the scenery together :) a little nice bonding moment.

MASKY;

-sigh... This motherfucker would NOT be good company for you at all.

-you could be sleeping peacefully just to wake up and find him standing at the foot of your bed just...staring.

-he's making sure they don't get you lol

-who the fuck is "they" (...does anyone get the reference)

-steals any lighters he finds in the shack just to light up his cigarettes.

-yes, when he puts out his cigarettes he just throws them on the ground. not caring if it's against the rules to litter the forest. at this point they're all trying to get you in trouble whether it's intentionally or not.

-unlike Toby, he doesn't help around that much with your tasks.

-if you manage to convince him to bring up some firewood from the shack so you can light up the fire, just praise him. it's enough to boost his already humongous ego and he might consider helping every now and then just so you could call him your strong, manly boyfrie–

TOBY;

-This stupid fucker would send you disturbing messages on his old ass flip phone at night whenever you still have the planks up.

-some shit like 'i c yu :-)'

-... yeah he never likes typing his sentences properly because he still uses those number keyboards (I don't know what they're called)

-it gives you a heart attack everytime untill you look out the window and see that it's Toby being a weirdo again.

-like anon said, he always sets random stuff on fire which always gets him in trouble, you end up reminding him that you aren't the only fire lookout in the forest and that another worker will report it.

-he doesn't listen.

-he definitely scares off any campers in areas they aren't supposed to be. Hey, at least he isn't completely useless!

-the opposite of Brian/Hoodie, instead of cooking for you he absolutely ravishes anything you have in the fridge.

-no, he isn't sorry.

-other than the things that he does to piss you off he actually does help from time to time like helping you fill in the service reporting— using the anemometer, checking the thermometer...etc

-he thinks the devices look neat :)

[pileofsith]

Hello there (no pun intended),

I do not have any questions regarding the Grand Inquisitor/Nameless comic per se (which reminds me of the fact that I still need to leave a comment on Ao3), but I just wanted to say that you rewired my brain with the page on which Tion Medon talks about a young Grand Inquisitor being taken in by the Jedi without him knowing that the guy in front of him is actually the person in question (and the Grand Inquisitor looking kinda like a kicked puppy). I'm especially obsessed with the line "Very polite child, very sweet, but so very timid." due to the sharp contrast to who and what the Grand Inquisitor has become. 

On another note: I also love that one piece of yours that depicts the Grand Inquisitor scrambling on the floor, all bloodied up, after Darth Vader backhanded him as punishment for his failure on Lothal, because it just makes so much sense, especially after reading Charles Soule's Darth Vader series (2017). The way the Inquisitors are depicted as both abuser and abused in it is really fascinating, which makes me wonder whether Vader ever maimed the Grand Inquisitor like he did with the other Inquisitors. Do you have any thoughts on that? Also sorry if I'm assuming too much! You referenced the Grand Inquisitor's strained relationship with Jocasta Nu very early into the Grand Inquisitor/Nameless comic and since it was a bigger plot point in the Darth Vader series (2017), it felt like a natural conclusion. I'm currently trying to finish a little character study on the Grand Inquisitor, which is mainly based on that source, and your comic was a very big inspiration for me to even try writing down the first draft.

Either way, have a nice rest of the day! Can't wait to see more from you!

Hello! Huge thanks for your awesome ask and your kind words, made my day! Thank you for reading the comic!

And please do share what you'll create for your character study, I'd love to read it! :)

So: I have only read a few snippets from the comic series, but have definitely used them as a basis to expand on the Inquisitor's character - I'd love to read the whole thing, however, I don't know where to find it!

"The way the Inquisitors are depicted as both abuser and abused is really fascinating" <- This is 100% my opinion, too! I have a lot of thoughts about them that I have a hard time putting into words, but this really sums it up, thank you!

For my comic, I admit I am definitely woobifying him a bit, but I can't really help that when I write stuff about villains, I just tend to make everything three shades nicer than in the source material. :-/

But I do try to keep his main personality intact, I just glaze it over with a more sympathetic view than I expect a canon explanation could offer.

This is the pic you referred to, if anyone's wondering (it's super old but still checks out, lol):

I do not think Vader ever maimed him like the others, but I think he would have opportunities to casually injure or torture him, if he ever feels like it the Grand Inquisitor goes out of line. Having said that, I do think the Pau'an seems to be perpetually aware of the risks in working with Vader, as he does carefully defy some of Vader's decisions with a verbal objection, but he never tries to contradict him further if his input is dismissed.

My pet theory is that neither Reva nor the Grand Inquisitor were ever maimed as a lesson in loss because they had both already survived loss events that filled them with enough rage: for Reva, it's the massacre of her Temple friends. For the Grand Inquisitor, it's the end (betrayal?) of the Jedi Temple Guards he was dedicated to.

I also find it interesting how Vader reframes his own greatest "weakness" in Jedi terms - dealing healthily with loss - into a template for how to teach others how to turn into darksiders.

I generally think Vader treats imperial inquisitors similar to imperial officers - useful if competent, but ultimately expendable, and free to use as a squeaky toy to vent frustrations. For the Grand Inquisitor, since the Pau'an is really arrogant and thinks so highly of his own intellect, the most efficient way to put him in his place would be for Vader to flaunt his own Sith powers against the Pau'an's humble dependence on him, to deny him some knowledge or to humiliate/humble him in some way...

About "Very polite child, very sweet, but so very timid":

When Jocasta and the Grand Inquisitor fight in that comic, he says something along the lines of how he never felt he belonged among the Jedi. I thought that was a really good starting point to imagine his life decisions. What brought him from being wholly dedicated to protecting Jedi, to becoming a hunter of the very group he vowed to protect? It's such a contrast! There has to be some nice, meaty psychology there to dig into and explore.

I imagined him as a subconsciously lonely sort of child, being from a much longer-lived species than anyone else (and in an Order that values detachment, perhaps one would diagnose that as a problem), so that when he grew into a detached, bookish individual, he sought to gain belonging in the Temple Guard as a permanent fixture around which to base his whole life. But then the Jedi Order starts shaking at its foundations, and he wants to escape, but his particular ~*°special-secret-Force-magic°*~ vows to the Temple do not make it possible to just walk away like Ahsoka or Dooku did. And that leads to inner tensions and a pull to the Dark Side, eventually.

[rainbow-demoness]

If you're intersex, you're intersex. This includes actual endocrine disorders and secondary sex characteristics that dont align with your assigned gender naturally. Its about your body naturally deciding to go against the assignment, not about having a wrong puberty. You can't say your wrong puberty made you FEEL intersex, therefore you are intersex. You might have an intersex body or condition, and that's valid and worth looking into bc we always need more intersex folks to know they're intersex, but please stop comparing wrong puberty in a trans sense to intersex wrong puberty as a 1:1 thing. There's overlap, but we don't have the same experiences, and you're risking erasing us by absorbing us. I am trans and intersex both, and the differences are vast. We will accept you with open arms if you figure out you are intersex, but not if the reason is your trans wrong puberty makes you feel like us when there are so many of us that are also trans. Feeling a similar struggle and empathizing is called solidarity, and we also need that without people erasing and absorbing us.

I feel like we're coming at this from very different angles. I don't think being intersex is a form of being trans, and intersex should definitely not be absorbed into being trans. And I don't think feeling intersex means being intersex. And it's not that "puberty made me relate therefore I think they're the same".

What I'm wondering is more... ok, so, skip the bit under the cut if you object to the notion that the mind is ultimately physical and subject to cause and effect. That's a basic philosophical point of contention which lots of people disagree on, and none of what I'm wondering is likely to make sense if you hold that there's more to a mind than the result of what happens in the brain and its immediate surroundings (incl. the body it's part of). It's also a disagreement incredibly likely to give offence in ways mostly unrelated to sex and gender. And I don't want to fight, I'm just stuck in a mostly philosophical "oh I wonder if that perspective makes sense". Quite apart from whether I would count as intersex, yes I do feel a lot of shared struggle, and yes I'm also aware that intersex people are mistreated in a way that I was spared. I'm vaguely aware that a lot of intersex conditions have medical unpleasantness associated with them even when handled perfectly and entirely in line with the intersex person's wishes and consent. I don't know whether that last unpleasantness is universal among intersex people, but would like to learn. I do think there are a lot of needs we have in common, and a lot that are specific to intersex people. I do very much want to fight for both those kinds of needs, both out of solidarity and common decency, and out of a "first they came for the intersex people" kind of feeling: the mistreatment and marginalisation of intersex people fosters harmful attitudes about sex and gender in general. And it's very important to keep visibility for all the various ways people can be, and in daily life I do, and will, keep the distinctions between "trans but not intersex", "intersex but not trans", and "both intersex and trans".

All that said, controversy-prone ponderings under the cut:

Assuming the mind is physical and its behaviour has causes, what I'm wondering is: we don't know what causes people to be trans, but if we knew, would we consider the cause(s) to be an intersex condition? i.e. Is my mind going against the assignment a form of my body naturally going against the assignment? Specifically, if we redefine a yucky term, "female brain", to only mean "brain that (will) prefer to be female", without implying any other characteristics: does that kind of "female brain" exist, is it born that way, and if so, is it born such as a result of sexual development? Is there some part of prenatal sexual development that makes maybe 95% of perisex people with ovaries want to be women when they grow up? Is transness fixed at birth? Because if (and only if) all of those are the case, one could argue that the brain is sex-differentiated, and in that case sex-differentiation has not happened in an unambiguously male or female way in trans people, even if the ambiguity is limited to "brain versus reproductive system" at first.

[education-over-demonization]

Hello again!

I'm the girl from the questions in the last post. I needed to thank you HUGELY for all the time and energy you have used to clarify my doubts. I find it hard to believe how many dots were connected in my mind. 😅

Maybe it's more obvious than it seemed to me, but you explain with stunning clarity (I suppose you've had to do it many times). The difference between minutes before reading you and now is abysmal.

You have not used any inappropriate language, unlike me, and know that I have read you with great humility and attention.

I was interested and even moved, above all, for the third answer. I first assumed that if the DID was caused by trauma, then part of recovery must strictly include "returning" to the previous state of mind. However, and I say this as someone dealing with the consequences of trauma who doesn't have DID, that's impossible, with or without DID.

I think I also approached the non-human alters incorrectly. From your explanation I seem to understand much more, but just to make sure: since there is not only one valid alter, the same person can be Linda or Tom. But it can't be a stone. Now, you can have an alter that is, because not all alters fulfill the same function and it is more complex than that (I'm going to be very happy if any of that is correct, oh Lord).

Something that, I don't think, but I definitely approached incorrectly was the last question. From the outside, when, for example, family members talk about people with DID as if they don't have it and the disorder is something separate, an appendage that can be removed, they tend to refer to terms like that because, I suppose, they still see Tom as just Tom and they also assume that his mind works like theirs. My question has to do with that error, of course: to learn about others from oneself instead of the other way around. I am very sorry and I am also very grateful that you have corrected me so accurately.

I think my hypothesis was that, since each case is different, if a person's alters were, mostly, rather rough outlines for specific situations and not so "fragmented", so that the person maintained certain sense of identity, or the predominance of an alter, then they would feel more "intervened" in their identity than "confused" before finding a diagnosis. I don't know if it's possible, I think that's what I was trying to say.

From your explanation I understand that the "Tom" prior to the trauma would be as if not more fragmented, and my idea seems now like something out of a rather bad and childish Hollywood movie. In addition, without taking into account the DID, I don't know what link a child would have with his family in the face of such an emotional blow, whatever its origin.

I don't know if it makes sense or not, but perhaps I was thinking this: knowing that oneself is Tom, Susan's brother and with x characteristics, but at the same time oneself is Julia, and Julia hasn't spent that much time fronting, so does not consider that she has sisters. Thanks to your explanation and rethinking all possible alters as indisputably part of the same person, it makes more sense.

Thanks again, and sorry for my ignorance. I hope I didn't use any offensive terms this time, and if that is the case, I apologize in advance.

A pleasure to learn from someone so generous. I really admire what you do.

Regards!

I’m glad I was able to make provide clarity, I’ve done a tremendous amount of research and combined that with my own experiences as well as those of fellow systems as I find you tend to get the same basic information through google searches.

And trauma is something that tends to have lifelong effects. Therapy can help a lot, but memories and habits can linger, and even those with our DID will have omitted memories, and the brain does not let those come to light easily. DID is tricky because even if a final fusion occurred that person is at risk for splitting again, as it’s what the brain is used to and brains love patterns.

I’m not entirely sure I understand what you meant in the part of human & nonhuman alters but I shall do my best! We can get blurry, where multiple alters melt together, as well as being cocon. And alters that are inanimate objects can exist, I’ve heard it’s more rare but considering how complex and vast trauma can be I wouldn’t be surprised by it.

As far as families, many simply deny it. The abuse can be orchestrated or allowed by family members, and they don’t want to admit it, and even if they did everything in their power to try to prevent it and it failed, no one wants to admit that their precious little angel has DID, because they feel that they’ve failed as a parent and will be judged. And since so little is commonly known it’s easy for them to dismiss it as make believe, and say they would have noticed, when it truth people usually don’t unless you point it out.

And the feeling of identity is interesting, most people don’t realize what is going on and simply assume it’s normal. I thought everyone had lots of voices in their head. I thought that I just had a bad memory, and for years actually thought I was schizophrenic. Often times the host believes that they are the only one. And even when it was blatantly obvious, I kept avoiding it, because getting a diagnosis means coming to terms that what happened was that bad and that you were traumatized and that the people who were supposed to keep you safe failed to protect you. Yes, knowing what is going on your head is great, but denial is very very strong, because acceptance means that the version of reality you know is wrong and much of your past could have been a lie.

And considering the family of the body family is definitely correlated to how much time you spend fronting! I do consider them to be family while someone who fronts less may not.

And you didn’t use any offensive language this time! My goal is to be able to educate people, resources are difficult to come by but this blog gives me the opportunity to create a space where anyone can ask questions and get an answer and help destigmatized DID.

[the-madwomen]

Things I Learned Reanimating The Dead

By Dr. Luna Ludenburg

As far as anyone is concerned, this is a work of fiction, because it technically did not happen in this reality.

For the sake of transparency, I am not a medical doctor, nor am I particularly versed in biology. My doctorates are in theoretical physics (well, when it comes to lifestyles such as mine, it's only partially theoretical) and something called reality engineering (the ability to manipulate how others view reality, non-existent degree in our universe, nicknamed "the spin doctorate") which I got mostly to make any art I make to seem more immersive. In terms of areas of study outside of my titles I have been teaching myself neuroscience, which even then is not enough knowledge to bring back a whole body from the point of death and is only an interest I developed after the experience. So you may ask yourself why I would attempt something as radical as the title of this account suggests.

To tell you nothing but the truth, it was due to wanting to be accepted by my peers. Not in the scientific community at large, but that subset of mad doctors and professors akin to myself, testing the limits of both science and ethics. Fellow mad scientists, essentially. They often form these sorts of secret societies where they group together and share inventions, or at least concept art of such.

I, as a self-respecting agent of madness and progress, of course wanted in. But as it turns out, most have an initiation to see how far you're willing to go for the sake of knowledge. This is not a form of gate-keeping as I had assumed, or at least not the kind that fandom often has. Rather, it was a way to separate spies and other undercover agents from the rest, as most members would be enemies of countries due to their attempts to better the world... For them, anyways.

You can probably guess as to what this initiation entailed. Reanimating a corpse is off-putting to most, so it's a good way to separate those putting on an act from those with a passion. I won't say the thought didn't give me pause at first, but it didn't take me long to accept the offer. I knew there was a risk, and I was still mortal at the time so that risk was my own safety, but then again so was my dimension-hopping adventures normally.

The good news was one club would give me the basic supplies for the machinery used for the experiment, though I would need to assemble it myself. They also handed me the basic instructions on how to assemble a body together, and I do mean the most basic instructions. Some of the other groups, such as the one helmed by Dr. Isabella Saltine, gave me helpful advice not covered in these instructions. In case you ever feel the need to pull off what the forerunner of us mad scientists managed, here are just some of the things I was told.

- Make certain the blood types of every part you use match. If not, this can cause complications throughout the whole body, including the brain. The person who gave me this advice, Dr. Isaiah Fleaford, also gave a device to test blood type in a cadaver in case that information wasn't on record.

- Handle the brain with the upmost care. Not just not dropping it, but also in touching it whatsoever. Smudge the wrong part of the brain and the subject's sapience may suffer for it.

- Nerve endings will prove the most trouble. In the dimension I'm from, this one I'm assuming, there have been cases of head transplants being partially successful in monkeys. The problem was they would be paralyzed from the head-down. Thankfully, as part of the basic equipment, I was given special devices designed to make the nerves connect to the brain properly. I am glad I was given a few hundred, as this still proved to be the most difficult part of the process.

- One man, Professor Charles "Chills" Carlson, gave me a few cryo-chambers to work with. Keeping all the body parts preserved while I go look for other bits would prevent them from rotting and myself from having to look for new parts.

- The body used should be very large, at least 3 meters in height. Physical fitness is also good to look out for.

- Stay as low profile as possible. People don't take kindly to desecrating graves, even the ones of those they despise.

With all this information and then some in mind, I set out to begin my work.

Many had also told me to take the brain last, as this would attract the most attention since you would have to take one from a facility designed to keep brains preserved. However, I have the advantage of being an interdimensional traveler, which enables me to take body parts from worlds that haven't developed an equivalent. Therefore, I could get the brain first and not have to worry about suspicion. I decided this was best if I had the option, since I could design the body around the brain as opposed to putting a person into a body they wouldn't feel comfortable in. I had a choice between a professional Chess player with an ELO of 3200 and a beloved cooking show host. I chose the latter, as she was younger and the Chess player's mind was likely more useful to this world's scientists.

I also bothered to do research on each person whose body I used. In respect to their lives and so my research is not wasted, I'll tell what I know of them. Keep in mind that they are all from different universes and time periods, though all were freshly dead.

Jade Perkins was the American host of a popular cooking show that aired weekly on America's PBS. Her dimension was not too dissimilar from our own, though I will be going back there soon after I fix my interdimensional traveling device. Multiple reasons, one of which being that, in hindsight, Goncharov was a film that actually existed there, believe it or not, but the meme didn't come up in my dimension then so I thought nothing of it. Tangent aside, Miss Perkins was known as being incredibly generous and good natured all around. She was considerably overweight, and was proud to be able to combat fatphobia with her television program. She tragically died in 1993 at age 49, when a truck trying to dodge another pedestrian ended up hitting her instead. She was survived by two children. She is the source of the brain I used.

Uma "Übermench" Himmel was a German professional bodybuilder and three time winner of the Miss Galaxy beauty competition. She comes from a dimension wherein Trotsky became the leader of Soviet Russia, resulting in a much faster World War 2 and all of Germany becoming communist. She was known as a risk-taker and for being surprisingly intelligent with a degree in chemistry. She was rumored to be able to lift a baby hippo over her head. She sadly died young in 1972 at the age of 30 due to negligence from a janitor not putting up a "floor wet" sign whilst she was lifting weights, causing her to slip and the dumbbell to smash her face in. She was survived by her girlfriend of three years. Her head and arms were in a horrid state, so they were separated from the neck and shoulders, respectfully, and I took whatever was left.

Frances Benoit was a French serial killer with a personal kill count of 7 men and 6 women. He resided in a dimension where the French revolution had not taken place... Yet. He was known for killing French nobles, likely politically motivated. He killed most of his victims using Garrotte rope, using other methods for only five of them. His last kill would prove him unlucky, as he had to resort to a rather loud gun that made his presence known. I was unfortunate enough to be at his hanging, where he died in 1801 at age 46. He was survived by his wife, who last I checked was beginning to fan the flames for a revolution in his name. I ended up taking his arms, as I found no buff female cadavers with a matching blood type to Perkins' AB, and some pompous fool in all red chased me off with a rapier before I could continue searching.

Jesse Burrell was an Australian recluse who lived an isolated life. Her dimension was most similar to my own, from my recollections. I could not get a accurate account of her life due to her isolation and the bad blood she had with most people I found who knew her. She was a gun rights advocate and an alcoholic who spent most of her time outside of her home at the local bar. She died in 2000 at an unknown age, likely her mid-thirties, in a shootout at her estate, along with three others, with the potential survivors and reason for the showdown being unknown. She had no known family members, one genuine friend in the form of the barkeeper and far too many enemies to count. Her life was shrouded in mystery. Her corpse had been vandalized, with tattoos around her whole body having been removed via a knife, resulting in me removing skin from the stomach and stitching it to her face. She was the one I felt the most sorry for, for she was the easiest to take parts from.

Once I had all the supplies I required, I got to work. I won't bore you with the details, as it was all very repetitive truth be told. Building the equipment especially was almost as difficult as an English speaker trying to build IKEA furniture. But in my opinion it had all been worth it, and not just for the membership to any organization. That elation, that joy, when you're about to pull the trigger on a project, especially one as difficult as bringing life to what once was dead. I only managed to mess up one thing. The brain had been split in half. That sounds like a bigger deal than it actually was, but the human mind can survive being split in two. It does result in the two halves of your body being controlled independently from one another, but nothing so terrible.

I remember pulling the lever. The electricity flowing through my temporary laboratory, surrounding me. My hair turned white as snow, but that was fine by me. Looks good on me anyhow. Just the sheer mania I felt, knowing I was doing something as massive as this. My maniacal laughter echo through the world as I felt a pure sense of wonder and amazement at my own achievements... Or maybe it was the electricity, I don't know.

In any case, the results were a massive success. Obviously I couldn't have done it on my own, of course. The supplies given to me were the thing that made this possible, and I couldn't have done it if not for the ones whose corpses I used.

Mayhaps my proudest accomplishment in this is that, aside from the brain split and the consequences of that, Miss Perkins had all her mind intact, no memory loss whatsoever. I was overjoyed at this news, because it meant I could reintroduce her to her world after I showed my fellow scientists. She looked like her total physical opposite now, there were stitches on her face, her skin had a slight a green tint to it, and her arms grew slightly more hair than the rest of her body, but other than that she seemed like a normal human being.

It had worked out as perfect as it could have.

The best part of it all, in all honesty, was meeting Miss Perkins herself. Last I checked in on her she was still advocating for body positivity of all shapes and sizes. Just because she was fit now didn't mean she had lost her sympathy who are like what she used to look like. She would often joke that, technically, she weighed the exact same due to her height and muscle, which she managed to maintain. And all this in the 90s, no less! There were less fat jokes on TV overall in any case. Even trying to prove it was actually her was sweet, thanks to a song she made up for her kids convincing them. Feels good when mad science has a positive impact.

And of course, I was accepted into the various mad science societies since such a massive success was something to note. Glad that happened, though I would be lying if I said I didn't forget the reason I was doing it halfway through.

So what did I learn? Well, taking risks is sometimes beneficial for everyone involved, hard work is worth it if it's something you're passionate about, the joy others feel about your work is often better than what you get out of it, the saddest deaths have noone sad about it, and the part of the brain that processes the feet and the part that processes sexual attraction are right next to each and some are unfortunate enough to have those intersect.

... I forgot where I was going with this. Ah well.

[fruitsofhell]

Oooooh! Please, please expand on the “Amy is an Eggman robot AU”! Oh! What if she’s UNAWARE that she’s one of his robots?

Hm, the idea of her being unaware is weird cause I feel like Eggman is way too proud to not let one of his own creations know who their master is, same with the mission maybe not going right if he didn't instruct her before hand. It would be kinda funny in post though, of her very obviously being this cute pink murder machine and everyone but her seems to notice that but they're still nice and accepting anywaysfdshgj. Could also make some interesting angst of her having to coming to terms with that, she might even assume that's why Sonic doesn't want to be with her or something... very fun idea but just not what I was going for.

The idea was that Amy and Metal were designed as twin bots, just with Amy looking far more realistic in order to sell the con, I guess kinda like Breezie from AoSTH (my beloved) but less Like That. I'm not sure if Sonic was aware during the events of CD that she was a robot, it'd be cute if he saved her anyways but IDK if he would realistically want to take that risk of an Eggman robot walking around. So for now I like the gag that he didn't realize till later, and by then Amy had proven herself to be her own person he could trust. Maybe like in that ending cutscene of CD it's actually her that blows up Eggman trying to escape instead of Sonic lol.

After that she'd be like her usual self except people are probably slightly offput by her being a robot before realizing she's chill. Like I said it'd be funny if she acts like it's some big secret of her's but to most it's kinda obvious. Maybe in her voice, maybe in her mannerisms, maybe in the way her joints clearly 360 sometimes fhdsgjsd. Tails and Sonic are the only ones she shares this "secret" with and Tails is probably very happy to help her with upgrades, specifically with when she wanted to make sure she still didn't look like a kid as everyone grew up. Also kinda imagine her wanting to wear bigger frillier clothing to hide any possibly seems in her body, but that's me self-indulgently wanting to put little blorbos in cute outfits lol.

I guess this au would also make her obsession with Sonic both from inspiration and a funny mix of programming seeing as he still was once her target, but with Tails' help they could probably break that, and she can be obssessed with Sonic for purely her own reasons <3. This background also makes a lot of her interactions more interesting. Her sympathizing with Gamma, convincing Shadow to fight for what he really believes in, dealing with her funny evil brother's failed attempt at taking over the world... stuff like that. I think it also makes it cute that later she's seen as the heart and mediator of the group, probably from studying up on stuff about organic folk. Maybe I could bring back her tarot card stuff too as something she finds interesting because her robo brain knows its 1000% illogical, I love stuff like that with robot/non-human characters. There's also that flicky companion she has in Sonic Prime, maybe that could've been the flicky that was powering her that got set free and replaced with a less cruel power source.

Her interactions with Tails and Metal are something I'd wanna see, but I don't have big plans for this or anything myself so honestly feel free to steal my ideas, I'd read someone elses interpretation of it.

[twofacedtrickery]

Alright, for the sake of this argument, I humbly request that we all set aside our beliefs about Professor's feelings about me during the relevant time period. Just for this argument, we are going to assume that, at a bare minimum, he held genuine care for me and this care was to a degree that it could impact his mood and thoughts.

This argument also relies on you all having some understanding that you do not currently have. For various reasons, I cannot and will not go into detail, so you're going to have to take me at face value here, as hard as that may be.

There are three things you need to know: The Engineer is not omniscient and needs go be given information in order to be able to give relevant insight, the Engineer's insight is almost always incredibly vaguely worded and does not include specifics like dates and times, and if something is part of the Plan, then we are beholden to it, one way or another.

With that out of the way, I bring you the core thesis of my argument: I don't think Professor actually wanted to wait that long at all. I doubt he had a choice. I do have tangible evidence to support this. I do not expect it to be believed. I am not keen on finding more.

Now, I want you to imagine that for a moment, no matter when he got this information relative to any known actions, he had to expend efforts to gather enough pertinent intel, or drywall if you want to listen to the inexplicable screaming of my brain, for the Engineer to say anything. He had to then wait for not only everything that could be said at the time to be said, but all of those words to be run through the entire series of interpreters required to divine any usable information out of it. Then, after all of that, he's given some vague statement about needing to wait until some landmark event occurs. This landmark event most likely came with no meaningful description.

He knew he had to wait for something to happen with no indication of what that would look like, nor any idea when it would happen.

That 5 second clip I posted earlier this week was from the Engineer speaking on this matter. What is important, here, is that in those 5 seconds, there were mangled references to Paradise Lost and references to gazing into the abyss and the call of the void and despair. It's not hard to guess that the full statement that came from, other than the Engineer requesting water, was probably taken as an indication that he needed to wait until my faith in him was waning, to say the least.

Imagine being stuck in that position, watching someone you care for getting beaten down verbally, if not physically, from multiple angles. At best, you can give them a very vague promise to cling to in hopes that it'll be enough to carry them through and keep them from being lost, mentally. Maybe you can draw aggro for a little to give them a little reprieve, but you can't stop it. It has to happen. You have to let it happen.

You're stuck watching this as much as you can stomach as people start attacking you, saying things that simply are not true, but you can't defend yourself, because that would risk detailing the Plan, or prolonging your loved one's suffering.

Your loved one is visibly degrading by the day, sometimes clawing its way back, sometimes not. Some of the people hounding them are doing so in a way that is working against every single involved entity's interests. Still, you have to tread carefully. Because this is the Plan.

All the while, you know you have no idea how long you have to wait. How long they have to wait. All the while, you know it's inevitably going to have to get a lot worse before you can act. No one else knows, no one else can know. Your loved one isn't able to think about it in terms of "sometimes, things have to wait" anymore, let alone think about the existence of the Plan.

And you can't change it. It has been willed. All you can do is check in when you can, and hope you'll know it when you see it. And when it happens, hope your guess is right.

And then, after all of that, I stupidly started insisting it was his plan all along. Because I just wanted to lash out, to gloat, to rub it in the doubters' faces. I implied, however unknowingly and unthinkingly, that he did this of his own free will. I should have known better, but I didn't think, because I don't like thinking about the Engine or the Engineer very much. I didn't think because I just wanted to prove a point no one else has been keeping score of for a long time.

I can't begin to imagine how that must have felt.

[chargetheintruder]

The second biggest threat in 2024.

Short version: lots of Americans in general and lots of Democrats in particular are feeling poorer than we were, thanks to lapsed and betrayed benefits. Meaning: yes, having the corrupt and back-biting Supreme Court push people off of a cliff with regards to student loan relief didn't help, but it runs deeper than this.

It's that AND the engineered expiring of Trump's "tax breaks" for the middle class during Biden's term, and also this:

Meaning people feel like they're losing money hand over fist, regardless of how well people might be doing in the workplace.

And yes, it's the Second Biggest issue since it isn't about a) putting Trump behind bars and disqualifying him from further political office (remember the 14th Amendment) and also stuffing the Supreme Court until it gets back on the damned team again, OR b) doing whatever it takes to keep World War III, As Usual, from breaking out in the Middle East over Israeli business (and yes, it's complicated and a mess, but the short of it is (i) Israel has no business even remotely looking or sounding fascist at any given time, while (ii) Hamas and Palestinians really could learn how to be a civil society and NOT just constantly attack and kill people like the REST OF the Middle Fucking East).

What I'm saying is: I can wrap my tired brain around the Second Biggest Issue. I can imagine our doing something about it. Trump's not going to go to or stay in prison until or unless we stuff the Supreme Court and also throw the entire book at him, 14th Amendment and all. And we've all, as human beings, completely blown the last three good chances we had at peace between Israel and anyone else? Yeah.

So, here's the deal with the Second Biggest Issue. Congress in general and the Traitor Party in the House in particular just needs to get rolled the fuck over. It's that simple: everyone needs to be grabbed roughly as fuck by their shortest short hairs and brought back ON the team already, if only because the rest of the world is so fucked up that WE have to be a rational neighbor if not role model for them.

And in the medium-term this means finding ways (without engineering a new pandemic, mind you) to force the issues on a) Student Loan Debt Relief, wherever possible, since it was promised until Harlan Crow's sleeper muppets on that "Supreme Court" decided to be fucking traitors, and b) rreforming and funding the hell out of expanding Social Security until people on it are no longer in abject poverty. Yes, two high-risk and high-profile goals at once, I get it.

But to be candid, I can't think of much else that would give President Joe Is Still Biden some honest-to-God, "sit down and SHUT UP" Points to use against whatever Trump Muppet he faces in 2024. And as for having those points already, versus Congress? There's already plenty of blackmail material that can be coughed up against ANY Congressman, it's just a question of how willing you have to be to go IN on everyone as roughly as possible.

And there's the issue: is there the will and manpower to actually put a gun to everybody's head in Congress until actual good work and budgeting gets done? I doubt it. But to be candid? We had two solid years of control of the Congress and they STILL didn't deliver the goods. They still didn't act aggressively in the best interests of this Union and her people. Nope, not even post-January 6th.

What I'm saying is: it's not just corruption. It's not just the unfettered psychosis of the Reich Wingers in the House.

It's that the people who say they represent the actual majority of this nation literally refuse to act like it time and again even when they can. At this point I'm assuming your average Democratic Congressman has some form of Stockholm Syndrome and literally will not act in the best interest of the American People who voted for them, nope, not until or unless they can "get brownie points" by sucking Traitor Party off somehow. It's appalling and ridiculous.

It is. It's appalling and ridiculous that I have to cyberbully and threaten folks and demand a coup'd'etat, of all things, just to get anything to work properly? Yeah. But here we are now, and the Media's looking for excuses, any excuses, to betray the President and to let the Head Traitor out of the cage before he's even in it.

[7ban-sama]

What do you think about Aoi and Nene’s friendship?

If you could allow me to be a little crass, my Hanako brain leads me to regard the situation in a kind of indifferent manner. 'Good for them. They are friends (in that way girls can be)... *doesn't have more to add*' ... if that makes sense? Lol. I don't think it's nothing, because they get along well enough. Nene genuinely worries for Aoi when things go awry at the school, and I think Aoi herself worries about Nene when she's mysteriously running off or talking to herself. (I love whenever she's distressed and going 'Nene-chan...!? Q.Q' ww) So there's that... but I also am aware that there's a limit to how well they know one another. There's a barrier, keeping them from getting closer.

The crux of Aoi's issues that we end up tackling through Akane, is that she doesn't trust anyone with her 'real self'. She's not the picturesque, sweet model student she appears to be, but actually is prideful, resentful, and looks down on others. She feels like everyone is lying to her, so she has her own front, refusing to let anyone inside. This means that Nene is, effectively, being withheld more closeness from Aoi. Nene remains on the 'outside', along with other people. Aoi creates this separation in her mind.

When discussing their relationship with my wife, she's astutely pointed out that, one could almost assume that Nene is a 'safe' friend, since she's typically quite naive. You can keep Nene-chan in the dark... as much as Hanako gets away with lying to her repeatedly. So there's no risk in being friends with Nene. The fact that Nene doesn't have any other friends, and isn't popular, also probably makes her appealing to Aoi, who doesn't care for any of that. Perhaps Nene also seems so earnest, that Aoi cannot feel threatened by the idea of Nene learning about her nature... You just know Nene doesn't have ulterior motives; she's not trying to 'get' anything out of this. We can just be two girlies together.

I figure that's always just been 'enough' for both of them, though, and they don't ache or yearn for more out of the other especially? They can compliment each other, be in the gardening club together, give relationship advice, etc. It all feels like a humble amount of providing support/company for one another.

This is pretty mundane though… Friendships at this age are often only so 'deep'; what are your friends at age 15 aside from someone who is friendly that you share a hobby or two with?

According to the Nene's book in the bookstacks, she met Aoi in middle school. This would be their 3rd year of being friends, I believe. Which makes sense to me, given this level of closeness.

More recently, after all the events of Obon/the Severance, it seems that Aoi coming to terms with the distance between her and Nene. It must finally be so pervasive, it's hard to swallow. Unable to be ignored or skirted by.

This moment is quite sad to me. Aoi has to realize that Nene interpreted all that she saw as, NOT the real/normal Aoi. Because Aoi hasn't ever let her access that side of her.

Feels like it's painful for Aoi to process that... and she currently can't bring herself to unveil the truth to Nene, yet. It's the result of all her actions though, so we can't feel toooo too bad for her, but still. Interesting at the very least. Ultimately, this just leaves her closeness with Akane, exclusively. I think romances are just the highest echelon of closeness in this manga, so the most intimate things are reserved for our couples.

So yeah... I like Nene and Aoi both, and their friendship is a fine one, though I can't say it's very touching/moving either. I'm at most curious if Nene becoming steadily more perceptive as a person, will mean that she comes to understand Aoi's issues on her own, orrr... if that'll just be something they never quite bridge, I wonder? Who knows..

[pandemellia]

How do you feel about someone cheating who is trapped in an abusive relationship

You're probably not gonna like my answer lol

I don't expect people to understand, but I'll try to explain this the best way I can.

Short answer? I still don't think it's an excuse to cheat.

Okay, here's a ✨very✨long explanation for that ahead:

So, I don't even know why people believe in "tWo wRoNgS dOn'T mAkE a rIgHt" when someone rightfully feels vengeful when they get betrayed, but not for situations like these. Yea, their partner's abusive, so they're gonna be emotionally abusive right back?

If I was trapped in an abusive relationship, I'd honestly be too scared to even entertain the idea of cheating (not that I would regardless), especially if it's physically abusive. I'm pretty sure abusers are good at finding out if they're being cheated on since I assume they wanna comtrol their partner's every move. I'm trying so hard not to be a victim blamer, but I'd feel like I'd be putting my hypothetical "affair partner" person in danger too (not that I'd care for what happens to affair partners, but I don't wanna feel responsible for them). I think it'll just make the situation way more dangerous. At that point, I'd consider both sides to be toxic. Two different types of toxic, but toxic nonetheless.

I'm also trying not to judge abuse victims, but why is getting into an affair more important than getting out of the abusive relationship safely? I'd totally understand catching feelings for someone if their partner's abusive, but putting those feelings into actions also makes them toxic.

I know it's not easy or safe to just leave; and the victim probably wants to feel love and validation, but why don't they turn to their friends for emotional support? 

And if the abuser here makes the victim cut off their friends? I'd just question why would the victim be willing to risk their safety to cheat, but not go to their friends for help? I believe it's okay to lie in these situations if it helps them get to safety, but I can't see how cheating would get one to safety. This leads me to think the the victim is also covertly malicious.

Even if they rebounded to someone else after they've left their abusive partner, I still believe they should take a break from relationships instead of rushing into another one. I don't wann tell victims how to heal; but that's general advice for people who get out of long term relationships, and it'd especially make sense for abuse victims too since they've gone through psychological damage. And people who rebound usually just use the other person to fill a void in themselves because they can't stand to be alone. I can't stand people like that, period.

This is why I don't see being trapped in an abusive relationship as an excuse to cheat.

I don't know if my past experiences with being cheated on fucked up my brain in any way, but I automatically lose any empathy or sympathy I think I'm supposed to have for people who choose to cheat, no matter what has happened to them. And sometimes that concerns me.🧍🏾‍♀️I have no idea why I think extremely black and white when it comes to cheating or abandonment.

But because of these experiences, I make all types of assumptions on these situations. Like is their partner actually abusive, or did the victim cheat on them, and call them "abusive" when they rightfully wanted them to cut off their affair partner?

Are they controlling, or did they feel like the only way for them to trust the victim again was to go through their phone?

Are they manipulative, or do they rightfully resent them for being cheated on?

You know what I mean?

I'm trying not to be an abuser apologist here either. There's no excuse to abuse someone if their partner's innocent. I'd advise people that have been cheated on to just leave if they feel like they're gonna become abusive as a result of their partner's selfishness. For their sake only.

However, I have demanded my exes to cut off their affair partners; and see their messages in order to try to be able to trust them again, and those actions are usually considered "abusive". So when I think of hypothetical situations like the one you're asking about, I would feel some shreds of sympathy for the abuser (only if their abusive tendencies stem from betrayal cause by their current partner, and not for the sole purpose of hurting someone, fuck that) because I understand their train of thought.

Also, I often wonder if the "victim" drove them to be abusive in the first place. I feel like the times I've been cheated on corrupted my mind and turned my mindset into something I'm sometimes scared of.

All in all, these are reasons why I'm less likely to sympathize with abuse victims who cheat. It's also a theory of mine that cheaters create controlling abusive people. Therefore, I hate anyone who cheats on someone who's abusiveness stems from being cheated on. Fuck them for making it worse. I honestly wish people showed more sympathy towards these people. Not to condone their actions, but see them as human a little?

I don't know if I'm problematic for thinking this way, but this just makes sense to me. 🤷🏾‍♀️

I'm definitely projecting with these assumptions, or doing some mental gymnastics. Maybe I'd think differently if I've actually experienced being trapped in an abusive relationship. One of my parents was abusive to the other to the point where we had to leave when I was nine, so I've witnessed how horrible that situation can be. On the other hand, being cheated on fucked me up on another level I hadn't imagined was possible, so sometimes I do get conflicted with issues like this.

Anyways, thanks for asking! 🌸 I apologize if this answer is so long, but this is actually a question I ask myself sometimes. And I tend to ramble a lot too XP

[mntcoronet]

there are about 3 people online rn and I am having brain thoughts again. time zones. anyway there is a Lot in the tags, don't bother tbh unless u are incredibly interested in what is plaguing my personal thoughts and real life rn

[tempesttz]

look. i came into this respectfully disagreeing with you, but then i looked into it myself, and i do have to say: i agree, mostly. this is one of the few times i will talk about sexual topics on my page because this one's unavoidable it's inherently going to be brought back to sex sorry. i also mention sexual violence, csa and sexual assault in this, so be wary.

first off, i acknowledge that you have fair points, quite a few actually. first of all, the concept of incest is very much more heavily demonized than it really needs to be. i would like to assume this is not only due to the stigma around it being a paraphilia but also because of history showing the effects of long-term inbreeding, and how it caused intense health risks for individuals. i agree that there are likely many circumstances where the same family dynamic does not apply to individuals who would be blood relatives, such as for example cousins who see themselves more as friends like you said. i would also like to add the fact that some forms of incest are not directly genetically harmful, such as a pair of adopted siblings, something i cannot remember if you mentioned.

i do agree that it is definitely a strange double standard for incestuous relationships to be criminalized due to the reason of "a possibility child comes out disabled." i would like to add the fact that it also paves the way for someone with very bad-faith intentions to attempt to, as you alluded to, criminalize disabled people having children as well.

in doing my own reading on this, i found a quote by martin o'reilly, stating, "indeed, it’s worth noting that with respect to huntington’s disease — a distressing, impairing brain disorder — if one parent has it, there’s a 50 percent chance any child he/she has will also be born with the fatal disorder. But if we don’t punish those carrying defective genes from having children, why then should we punish incestuous partners? if we’re not prepared to prevent carriers of congenital disorders from having children —or, for that matter, having sex — then it seems quite arbitrary and discriminatory to only punish incestuous partners." i think it's a pretty well-stated commentary on this phenomenon and the double-standard enforced here. i'm not going to make commentary on the ethics of attempting to stop anyone from having children who are disabled or who may be disabled, simply because it is a highly complex issue that i am not one side on. i can recognize points on both sides that are well spoken, and i can see people on both sides having genuinely good-faith opinions on the matter.

however, i would not use the word eugenics here. i feel as if that may be too heavy a word to be using in this situation, as eugenics has been used as part of a collection of ideologies used to systemically discriminate against and even genocide individuals before, which i would not like to compare the act of incest to. i feel as if that waters down the suffering victims of eugenics have gone through.

my original arguments were for the unhealthy power dynamic between individuals who have grown up as family members, but... there is no evidence i can find of that power dynamic other than in fringe situations. i have only seen criticism of your reference of "destroying a family dynamic" or "emotional harm to the other family members," and commentary proving the exact opposite, or commentary on incestuous abuse, or incest not practiced by two consenting adults (see: child abuse). in fact, in the abstract of a book i found legitimately criticizing incest as it would harm the family dynamic, the author directly states "that being said, i argue that there is insufficient legal justification for all consensual, adult incest to be criminalised. i examine four potential arguments in favour of consensual, adult incest being illegal, and conclude that none of them succeeds in justifying a total legal prohibition against it."

turning back to martin, who puts it in a way that really puts it into perspective for me, specifically when he talks about an explanation by vera bergelson, detailing "the legal scholar vera bergelson points out this argument is both overbroad and redundant. it’s overbroad in the sense that it applies to cases where power dynamics, abuse, or exploitation do not exist. (speaking of which, we don’t prohibit nonincestuous adult relationships merely because one partner is older, richer, or has more social status than the other). the argument is also redundant as there are already statutes directed at child abuse and statutory rape, as well as sexual exploitation or violence (irrespective of the age of the victim). the sexual acts between relations here would be immoral not because they are incestuous, but because they would amount to rape, violence or exploitation; we already regard such behaviour as wrong, independent of whether or not incest occurred." honestly if i could quote his entire breakdown of it, i would. i'll try not to, though.

while i would love to treat this going into this with the passion of a thousand suns throwing out proof that it's actually really terrible and you are So Stupid To Believe That.... well, first of all, this was something written in complete good faith with cited scholarly sources and second of all i don't do that usually lol. and third of all... there really is no evidence! i would love if someone could pop into this and give some articles that disprove op and i's statements in defense of consensual incest, i've found that every article i've seen talking about it in a negative light have been

only speaking of incest between father and daughter, especially in cases of csa. paints all father-daughter relationships as the father directly asserting dominance over the daughter (which in most cases may be the case) and paints any other situations, like mother-son incest, as either the woman being the victim (denying the concept that women can be aggressors and/or rapists and that men can be victims of rape) or somehow the son is the problem.

treating sibling incest as somehow the fault of the father for not being "dominant enough" in the family, therefore causing the brother to be the source of power. repeat the earlier statements about father-daughter relationships.

ignoring the concept of incestuous relationships between, say, cousins, or aunt and nephew.

for these, i would check out this article which in the preview breaks down parts of weinberg's incest behavior. additionally, if you feel privy, feel free to do as i did and browse google scholar attempting to find one link to an abstract or synopsis that isn't in defense of consensual adult incest. seriously, it's more difficult than you would think.

i... have had every argument i had dismantled, honestly. i had one about the increased amount of inbreeding that would come from the decriminalization and normalization of incest, but guess what: good old martin coming back again. "this might be a fair objection if there was good reason to assume the decriminalisation of adult incest would lead to a significant rise of inbreeding. but as we know, there are already a small number of countries that currently don’t ban adult incest, and we’ve no reason to believe there are significant instances of inbreeding in those countries. there’s also evidence to suggest the practice will never become widespread: various studies have shown that people who live together in close proximity during early life become desensitised to future sexual attraction."

....so, yeah. op, you're right on this one! seriously, i invite anyone to try and disprove this in a way that a. cites evidence that is either as reputable as or more reputable than ours (hey, i'd take anything above a blog post lol), b. doesn't use "it's gross" as a reason, and c. doesn't inherently dismiss the concept that women can be aggressors or perpetuates the concept that all family dynamics have to be the Nuclear Family, Actually. hell, i'm lenient on that last one, that's an opinion you can have, even if i personally don't agree with it.

also, just to recap op's first commentary: this is not on the topic of sexual abuse. this is not attempting to erase the effect on incest on sexual abuse, or how victims of incest especially as children may experience large amounts of trauma relative to that. abuse is fucked up and bad, that isn't a hot take or anything. i recognize that abuse, especially sexual violence, especially sexual violence against a family member is really fucking bad. that being said, this is specifically referring to cases of consensual incestuous relationships between adults.

i have a couple more points (effect of incest on abusive relationships and how that may make it harder to escape them but how that is the fault of the abuse and not an inherent fault of incest and how there's tons of societal complications in all different power dynamics that also make it harder to escape but those aren't criminalized yadda yadda my thoughts are all over the place here bear with me) but i'm gonna leave it there. don't worry no-more-rqs i'm getting sent to superhell for my terrible incest defending right here with you. lol

this is absolutely going to cause me to lose every single follower i have but i Do Not Care so anyways, i have something id like to say.

incest is not inherently damaging whatsoever as long as its consensual. there is zero scientific evidence that consensual incest is damaging. NONE. of course, incestuous abuse absolutely exists and is extremely damaging to the victims of it, but what i am talking about is consensual relationships between adults.

before you call me insane, here:

in an article by clare kasemset from stanford university, she states that one of the main (and only) scientific reasons that incest is illegal is that "the offspring of partners with a high level of consanguinity are more likely to have birth defects". however, this is eugenics: disabled people's children are also very likely to have children with birth defects, and anyone really could potentially have children with birth defects. this argument is simply that incestuous relationships should be illegal so that birth defects cease to exist. keep in mind, the definition of eugenics is "to arrange reproduction within a human population to increase the occurrence of heritable characteristics regarded as desirable"; in essence, make sure that the only people born are "desirable", which would include being able-bodied. kasemset goes on to explain that "the act of incestuous sexual intercourse does not cause harm". incest does not inherently cause harm. the only reasons people give for the illegalization of incestuous relationships are eugenics and the potentially offensiveness of it due to the fact that "the vast majority of people in this country have deep-seated beliefs that incest is immoral".

article source: https://ojs.stanford.edu/ojs/index.php/intersect/article/download/137/35/615

in an article by maria campo redondo and gabriel andrade, they state that "incest represents a risk, but this is not reason enough to illegalize incest". this is because "other circumstances of sexual intercourse may lead to similar risks, and yet, such practices are not illegal". think of how AIDs is used to say that homosexuality should be illegal, how the possibility of miscarriage is used to say that people should only be getting pregnant at young ages, how the possibility of disabled children is used to say that disabled people shouldnt be having children: all of these are arguments that rely on nothing but "disability should be eradicated". ableism is so extremely ingrained in our society that people constantly search for the cure to every disability so that they wont have to deal with disabled people existing. i have had friends who have been told "your children will be disabled though!!!!! 😥" for being disabled just like those who are in incestuous relationships have. you should be allowed to have a child as long as you or someone else is capable of taking care of them, no matter if that child is disabled or not - a child potentially being disabled is not a morally wrong thing. as the authors of this article say, the reasons why incest is illegal "do not relate to public health and genetic risks".

article source: https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/phil.12332

in a paper by jeff sebo, he states that "incest increases the incidence of inherited genetic diseases by about three percent". three percent. that is only three out of every hundred children born out of incestuous relationships. the argument of incest increasing disabilities is not only founded on eugenics, but founded on a very small statistic - especially compared to the fact that the probability of an autistic person have an autistic child is, on average, 3.45%. it is no different from any genetically disabled person having a child. advocating for incest to be illegal based on the possibility of disabled children is no different from advocating for disabled people to be sterilized.

he also explains that family is not dramatically different from any other relationship, and that there "are numerous important relationships in our lives—some of which are based on blood, others of which are not—and it is ridiculous to assume that our family members, whoever they may be, are necessarily our emotional centers". for many, many people, friends can even more important than family, or family can seem much more similar to friendly dynamics than typical family dynamics. the argument of families is also very often used against queer people by saying that it ruins the inherent family dynamics that are supposedly present, when in reality, families all function very differently and many people see their siblings or cousins as more like friends than how families are typically portrayed. as the author says: "no relevant moral distinction neatly separates our family relations from the other relationships in our lives".

he also explains that many people claim that incest "turn[s] out badly frequently enough to warrant a categorical ban". incestuous relationships are often abusive ones, this is very evident. however, "the outcome of our test will depend largely on how we run it". if we only ask abuse victims what their experience was (as many, many articles do), we will come to the conclusion that it is all abusive. only looking at people who were children abused by adult family members is not looking at the effects of incest, but looking at the effects of child abuse. yes, there may be a lack of scientific evidence for incest being good - but absence of evidence is not evidence of absence, and there are many, many person experiences from people. on top of that, "those who breach the taboo are branded as outsiders, they suffer the effects of social ostracism, and since others misinterpret this suffering as caused by the act and not the label, they are used as evidence in support of the taboo". if someone is in an incestuous relationship, they will be hated by everyone, which will lead to them being depressed and possibly suicidal - not because of the incest itself, but because of how its treated.

source (PLEASE go read this its very well-done): https://jeffsebo.net/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/the-ethics-of-incest1.pdf

[biggest-gaudiest-patronuses]

I suspect quite a few people on this site don’t realize they are struggling with the effects of chronic trauma. In particular I think more people need to learn about the symptoms of C-PTSD.

Distinct from general PTSD, Complex PTSD is caused by prolonged, recurring stress and trauma, often occurring in childhood & adolescence over an extended period of time. There are many risk factors, including: abusive/negligent caregivers, dysfunctional family life, untreated mental/chronic illness, and being the target of bullying/social alienation.

I’m not a mental health professional and I’m not qualified to diagnose anyone, I just remember a million watt light bulb going off in my head when I first learned about C-PTSD. It was a huge OH MY FUCKING WORD eureka moment for me—it explained all these problems I was confused and angry at myself for having. The symptoms that really stood out to me were:

Negative self-perception: deep-seated feelings of shame, guilt, worthlessness, helplessness, and stigma. Feeling like you are different from everyone else, like something is fundamentally ‘bad’ or ‘wrong’ with you.

Emotional avoidance of topics, people, relationships, activities, places, things etc that might cause uncomfortable emotions such as shame, fear, or sadness. Can lead to self-isolation.

Learned helplessness: a pervasive sense of powerlessness, often combined with feelings of desensitization, wherein you gradually stop trying to escape or prevent your own suffering, even when opportunities exist. May manifest as self-neglect or self-sabotage. (I remember watching myself make bad choices and neglect my responsibilities, and having no idea why I was doing it, or how to stop myself. Eventually I just stopped caring, which led to more self-neglect.)

Hyper-vigilance: always feeling “on edge,” alert, unable to relax even in spaces that should feel safe. May be combined with an elevated “flight” response, or feelings of always being prepared to flee. (I used to hide important documents and possessions in a sort of emergency go bag, even when I was living alone and there was no logical reason other than it made me feel “prepared.”)

Difficulty regulating emotions: may include mood swings, persistent numbness, sadness, suicidal idealization, explosive anger (or inability to feel anger and other strong emotions), inability to control your emotions, confusion about why you react the way you do.

Sense of foreshortened future: assuming or feeling that you will die young. Recurring thoughts that "I'll be dead before the age of 30/40/18/21 etc." As a teenager I used to joke darkly that I didn't plan to live past 30—not because I planned to end my life, but because I simply couldn't imagine myself alive and happy in the long-term. I couldn't imagine a meaningful future where I wasn't suffering.

Emotional flashbacks: finding yourself suddenly re-experiencing feelings of helplessness, panic, despair, or anger etc, often without understanding what has triggered these feelings. Often these flashbacks don’t clearly relate to the memory of a single event (since C-PTSD is caused by repetitive events, which can blur together), making them harder to identify as flashbacks—especially if you’ve never heard the phrase “emotional flashback” and don’t know what to look for. For years I just filed it under “sometimes I overreact/freak out randomly for no reason, probably bc I am just a terrible human being.” (It turns out there was very much a reason, it was just hidden in the past. I have since learned to be kinder and less judgemental towards myself.)

There are other symptoms too, here are more links with good info.

I’ve been meaning to write this post for awhile, because I’ve noticed that a lot of the people I interact with online have risk factors and experiences similar to mine. These include:

growing up in a dysfunctional household

having caregivers who do not fulfill basic emotional needs (do not provide consistent positive attention, encouragement, support, acceptance, communication, a sense of safety and security)

on a very related note, experiencing neglect or abuse at the hand of caregivers or other adults. I also want to emphasize the significance of emotional abuse, since it is hard to recognize, easy to ignore, and utterly rampant in so many communities. In general, family dysfunction, abuse & neglect are quite difficult to identify when you are a child/teen and that is the only “normal” you have known.

(For example, in my family it manifested as an emotionally absent father I was vaguely frightened of, constant nagging from a hypercritical mother, and a house full of people who yelled and screamed at each other. It took me years to realize I grew up in an abusive environment, because there was no physical violence, because I participated in the fighting, and because my behavioral problems made me the family scapegoat. And I internalized that guilt: I thought I was the problem. But no—I was a child, and I deserved not to grow up in a household full of anger and fear and negativity. You deserved that too. You deserved to grow up safe and loved and treated with kindness.) 

anyway back to more risk factors:

being neurodivergent or chronically ill (especially without receiving proper treatment/support/accommodation)

being queer (especially in a conservative or undiverse community, or without the support and acceptance of family & friends)

being the target of bullying or harassment (from peers, teachers, authority figures, irl, online, etc)

being isolated or alienated from peers, from family, from your wider community.

growing up with chronic anxiety, discomfort, pain, fear, or distress caused by any of the above and more.

There are many other experiences that can cause chronic trauma, but these are some particularly common ones I see people in my own community struggling with. And I want more people to be aware of this, because we’ve been taught to ignore and second-guess the significance of our traumatic experiences. We’ve been taught to feel guilty for our own pain, because “other people aren’t struggling, so I shouldn’t either” or (contradictorily) “other people have it worse, so I shouldn’t complain.” But that’s not how it works—you are not other people, and you deserve to have it better. We all deserve better. We deserve to be happy. We deserve not to be in pain.

I used to think I couldn’t have a trauma disorder because (I argued in my head) the things that happened to me weren’t that bad. And then I spent five years in therapy learning to accept the full extent of my issues. I’ve since learned that trauma comes in many forms, and can happen quietly, invisibly, silently, chronically, and usually without the survivor being aware of the long-term repercussions of what they are surviving. That revelation comes later, after you have survived and must instead learn to live.

Finally, no single type of trauma is more real or harmful than any other. Severity is measured by the way the individual is affected, and the same situations affect different people in different ways. Because no one gets to choose how their brain reacts to trauma. No one gets to choose their hurt—otherwise there would be a hell of a lot less hurting in the world.

We can, however, choose to seek help. We can learn to recognize when something is wrong, we can learn when to reach out to professionals, and we can learn to educate ourselves on our injuries.

And gradually, we can learn to heal.

(posts like this brought to you by ko-fi supporters)

[shxtodxroki]

𝙷𝚎𝚊𝚍𝚌𝚊𝚗𝚘𝚗𝚜: 𝙲𝚘𝚗𝚏𝚎𝚜𝚜𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝚝𝚘 𝙼𝙷𝙰 𝙶𝚒𝚛𝚕𝚜

Summary: How will the girls of class 1-A react to their crush confessing their feelings for them?

Warnings: Mentions of food

Characters: Ochaco Uraraka, Momo Yaoyorozu, Mina Ashido

Word Count: 1.9k

I just want to let you guys know that since I tend to prefer writing mainly based on requests, please don’t be scared to send in requests! Anon is now on so you can send requests anonymously if you’d like, and because I tend to base my writing mostly off of requests I receive here on Tumblr, I encourage you guys to send in your requests! Just be sure you’ve checked my request guidelines, and as long as it does you can send in as many requests as you’d like and I promise they will get written! I already have a few requests that I’m really excited to write, I just wanted to let you know that you are of course not required to send requests, but if you have any I’d really appreciate them!

♡ Ochaco Uraraka ♡

- Uraraka literally felt like she was floating on air (no pun intended lol) when you told her you had feelings for her, she got.really red and kind of stumbled over her words but it was very obvious that she was ecstatic to finally be able to call you her partner <3

- Uraraka catches feelings pretty quickly but it takes a while for her to actually admit that she likes you to herself, meaning she was kind of endearingly awkward around you a lot of the time for the first few months that you two knew each other

- Once she was finally willing to admit to herself that she liked you, though, she had a hard time keeping it to herself, and wound up telling Iida and Izuku in hopes that they would be able to help her figure out what she should do now that she knew she liked you

- Unfortunately neither one of them were much help, they’ve never been in relationships or had serious crushes before so as much as they were willing to listen to her vent about her feelings, neither of them could offer much in terms of actual assistance on how to figure out if you felt the same/how to confess to you

- They both tried to figure out if you returned her feelings, as they were friends with you as well, but they ended up being way too obvious with the way they constantly questioned you about Uraraka and how you felt towards her (it’s literally a miracle that you didn’t connect the dots and realize she liked you) and she eventually had to ask them to give it up before they accidentally revealed her feelings iwuefierqbf

- You, however, didn’t notice how obvious they were being because you were so swept up in keeping your own feelings for Ochaco hidden

- You had liked her for months at that point, and when her two closest friends began questioning you constantly about her of course your brain immediately assumed that they knew something about your feelings for her, causing you to panic and avoid answering their questions with visible anxiety across your face. You refused to admit your feelings in front of them, as you were worried they would tease you (even though you knew neither of them are that cruel) or that they’d rush to tell her, and you couldn't let that happen

- Both of you were absolute awkward messes, making it difficult for either of you to even consider confessing and risk ruining the friendship you’ve built up over time for a long while

- Luckily for both of you, though, you were eventually able to convince yourself to confess to Uraraka after receiving some encouragement from Izuku. He approached you late one night and straight-up asked you if you had feelings for Uraraka, practically begging you to confess once you tiredly admitted your crush to the green-haired boy. He promised you that she wouldn't be upset and that she returned your feelings, and while there was still an inkling of doubt in you, you knew that Izuku would never be cruel enough to purposefully lie to you about this and you trusted her best friend to know her feelings better than anyone else

- With Izuku’s encouragement you finally began to develop a quick plan to confess, rushing over to Sato’s dorm across the hall from your own as soon as you woke up the next morning and begging him to help you bake a sweet treat for your hopefully soon-to-be girlfriend

- Sato was more than willing to help you out once you explained your plan, and a few hours later you ended up with a small collection of adorably decorated cupcakes in a box with thr words "I like U" written across them in bright red frosting. You quickly placed a piece of paper with a heart drawn on it atop the tasty treats as you thanked your classmate for the help and rushed over to Ochaco’s dorm, determined to confess before you lost your confidence

- When she opened the door you did find yourself growing more nervous almost immediately, anxious that Izuku had been wrong and you were about to permanently destroy your friendship, but you forced yourself to push the box of cupcakes into her hands as delicately as you could as your eyes darted to the floor instantly in fear of her reaction

- It took her a few moments to process the fact that you were standing in front of her, a blush immediately lighting up her face as she delicately opened the box and grinned at the delectable sweet smell that wafted to her nose, before completely losing her breath as she read the words carefully written across the cupcakes.

- After she managed to re-gain her composure Uraraka placed the cupcakes carefully inside her dorm before returning to hug you and whisper "I like you too" softly into your ear with a shy grin, which you happily returned as the anxiety dissipated from your body. Later both of you would have to thank Deku for finally getting the two of you together, but for now you were content with holding Ochaco’s hand in your own as you shared the delicious cupcakes you had made and began planning your very first date

♡ Momo Yaoyorozu ♡

- I feel like Momo would get really shy if her crush confessed to her, like she’d just get bright red and hide her face behind her hair as she quietly whispered that she’d love to go out with you, omg how precious ^.^

- I think she’d prefer a soft, heartfelt and private confession, she wants to be wooed (she’s used to a lot of things in her life being very extravagant, and while she doesn’t expect a huge confession she would like something meaningful) so that’s what you plan when you finally decide to confess to her

- You had felt a spark between the two of you from the first time you talked on your first day at UA, and as time had gone on all the one-on-one study sessions you had together as you grew closer had only made you more sure of your feelings

- You’d never mentioned them to anyone, though, as you knew some of the other members of your class must have their eye on her. She was beautiful, amazing at her hero work even as a student and incredibly intelligent, all in all she was the perfect package and anyone would be a fool not to love her.

- You worried that if you mentioned to anyone that you liked her, they would simply laugh in your face for thinking you ever had a chance with her, even though you knew in your heart your friends would never be that cruel to you, so you’d kept your feelings hidden deep within you

- However, as time went on and your feelings grew stronger it became more and more difficult to hold them in, and eventually you decided that even if you didn’t think you had a chance with Momo, you may as well confess to her anyway. It was killing you keeping this inside and you needed to tell her so that you could move on, you knew she’d never be cruel when rejecting you and on the off-chance that she returned your feelings you had a chance to be happier than you had been in a long, long time by finally confessing

- It took a while to come up with a confession that you felt was suitable for a girl as amazing as Momo, but in time you eventually settled on ordering an assortment of sweets and fruit for her and giving her the assortment when you showed up at her dorm to confess

- When the arrangement actually arrived and was in your hands, however, suddenly you wished you could sink into the floor like Mirio for eternity rather than having to finally face your feelings for Momo head-on. You could feel your palms growing sweaty, shaking the slightest bit with nerves, and you had to force your legs to take each step out of your dorm and towards hers at the other end of the hallway

- When Momo opened the door and saw you standing there with the beautiful fruit and candy arrangement held delicately in your hands and a fearful look across your face, she immediately knew why you were there, smiling softly as she stepped aside to let you in

- You had shown up fairly early in the morning on a beautiful weekend day, deciding to ask her if she’d like to go on a date with you right then as you screwed your eyes tightly shut and thrust the basket into her hands, face twisting in anxiety when you heard a soft giggle fall from Momo’s mouth

- When she quietly whispered how she’d be more than honored to go on a date with you, however, you finally allowed your eyes to peek open, heart melting as you took in the soft blush on her face, the way she was using her hair to cover her blush and the lovestruck look in her eyes as she smiled back at you

♡ Mina Ashido ♡

- Mina genuinely gets so giddy when you confess to her, she gets very loud and cuddly (even though she had a feeling you liked her back, it’s still nice to be sure, you know?) and she’ll leave you even more flustered than you had been before from how she reacts to your confession

- As I mentioned, she had been suspicious that you returned her feelings for a while leading up to your confession

- The two of you had been friends since you first came to UA, and over time as both of your feelings began to grow into something much more than platonic friendship she began noticing how you seemed more shy, nervous and flustered around her than you did with your other friends. At first she simply brushed it off, as she didn’t want to get her hopes up only to find out that you didn’t have romantic feelings for her after all, but as time went on she became more and more sure that you truly did return her feelings

- She had actually been planning to confess to you on the very day that you ended up confessing to her completely on a whim, wiping out her plans entirely (though of course she wasn’t complaining, she’d take any chance she could to finally be with you and know for certain that you returned her feelings)

- It was a particularly nice day outside and she had decided to go on a walk, attempting to find some peace and silence so that she could plan how she was going to confess to you. She was sick of constantly feeling unsure and nervous around you, and was determined to confess that day no matter the consequences of her confession

- Luckily for her, she ended up quite literally running into you the moment she stepped out of the UA dorm building, both of you giggling as you each apologized to one another for not looking at where you had been going. It was clear that you both had a lot on your mind, and little did you know at the time that your minds were filled with the exact same thoughts at that moment

- She could clearly see how flustered you were in the moment, finding herself growing worried as you refused to meet her eyes and began fidgeting with your hands

- After a moment of silence from you following the two of you bumping into each other she grew worried enough to reach her hand gently over to your cheek, feeling your skin burning underneath her hand as she asked if you were okay

- Unfortunately for you, her hand on your face made your mind go entirely blank, causing you to blurt out “I have a crush on you!” very loudly, directly in Mina’s face, your eyes immediately widening in shame once you has finished with your shameful outburst

- Before you had a chance to hide your face or apologize for your embarrassing outburst, however, Mina placed her other hand on the other side of your face, moving your faces close together as she grinned brightly at you. “I had a feeling you liked me back, but it feels so nice to actually hear you say it.”

- It took a moment for you to get over your embarrassment at your sudden, accidental confession, but the way Mina clung on to you and pressed gentle kisses all across the expanse of your face made the confession more than worth it as you realized you finally got to take her on a date, no longer having to bear the burden of keeping your feelings in as you tightly wrapped your arms around her shoulders

A/N: And here’s the girls version! Now that I’ve finished both of these sets of headcanons I’m gonna be focusing on the requests you guys have sent in, so if you sent a request be sure to check the WIP list to see if I received your ask and be on the lookout for your request! Requests are also still open, so if you have a request feel free to send it my way! Thank you for reading this and let me know if you liked it! :D

Taglist: @pasteldaze

If you’d like to be added to any of my taglists, you can fill out this form here! Thank you for your support <3

[lemonlushff-iy]

Do you want to play a game?

You do? Good.

You know how these games work if you’ve ever seen one of Clearwillow’s...but game rules are HERE since it’s slightly different! I hope this is fun for people...that was my goal! And I hope you catch the “Easter Eggs” in it. I’m curious how many people will find them all. 

I’ll post everything once it’s done on FFN and AO3, and you can catch what I’m doing for @clearwillow‘s game early on my Patreon HERE! (It might be more smut...It might be fluff. WHO KNOWS! It will be OLR related...and it will go up as soon as it’s finished!)

Special thanks to @underwater0phelia​ for kink help and @clearwillow​ for additional edits...and the IYFF BC for brainstorming! Art by @clearwillow​ for @eringobroke​ - used and edited with permission. 

And now without further ado... The first treat (aka, the “freebie”).

Starting Fires

Disclaimer: I don't own any of the characters from the Inuyasha universe.

"Inuyasha, stop," Kagome giggled, trying to wriggle out of his hold as he pressed wet kisses up her neck. "I don't want to burn your bacon…"

"It's just bacon," he reasoned, his hands sliding up under her shirt. Or should he say his shirt? Fuck...there wasn't a better sight in the world than his best friend...his best girl...Kagome...Wearing his shirt in their kitchen in their house. Now that he had her again, he weren't never letting go of her. "I don't mind eating something else for breakfast."

"You will when your stomach is rumbling later," she blushed, grabbing his hands and pulling them down, his fingers grazing over the lace fabric of her panties. "Behave yourself and go grab a cup of coffee."

"I'd rather grab your—"

"—Coffee!"

She reprimanded, flipping the bacon in the pan. He placed a gentle nip to the side of her neck before moving away from her, a disappointed pout on his lips.

"Fine. But let it be known that I'm doing it under protest," he grumbled, moving to his cabinet to pull out a mug.

"Your protest has been duly noted, Sir," she teased, turning away from the stove to pick up her own cup of coffee. She brought it to her lips, sipping from it as she watched Inuyasha pour himself some. Their life together felt so surreal still. It felt strange to wake up in their house and cook them breakfast.

But it was a good kind of surreal.

The kind where she found herself pinching her arm to make sure it wasn't all some crazy dream. This was their life. And...she loved it.

"Mmm," he moaned, taking a sip from his cup. "As good as ever, Kags," he grinned toothily, and she risked entering his personal space to press another kiss to his lips.

"Glad you like it," she replied, running away from him again when he moved to squeeze her ass. She removed their bacon and eggs from the pan as a text message chimed on both of their phones, and Inuyasha raised a brow in curiosity. She watched him slide his thumb across the screen, before muttering out a low "Huh" as he read the text.

"What is it?" she asked, picking up their plates and placing them onto the island.

"See for yourself," he shrugged, placing the phone down next to her plate. "It's from Sango."

That already piqued her curiosity. Kagome picked up the phone, leaning over the countertop as she read it.

"Hey Guys!" She began aloud. "Miroku and I decided to throw a Halloween party this year. We know it's a bit last minute, but we were hoping you guys could come since you aren't heading back out to California like you thought. Let us know if you can make it! Trying to plan in terms of food. Love you!"

"Love you too," he grinned, and she couldn't stop the shy smile even if she wanted to. She didn't think she would ever get tired of hearing that again from him. The words were like a balm to her soul.

"What do you think?" Kagome asked, handing him his phone back as he began digging his fork into his eggs.

"Up to you," he shrugged. He really didn't care either way. He was just glad he didn't have to go out to California with her. Though, to tell the truth, he wouldn't have minded. They could have had a night in...just the two of them...And he was always a fan of nights in with her. But..."We can go. I know you wanna…"

It was true too. He had seen the way her eyes lit up when she was reading that message. The way she was practically bouncing on the balls of her feet. Kagome didn't want to spend the night in. She wanted to spend her first Halloween back in Montana at a party with old friends.

"But...You...Don't?"

He shrugged.

"Don't matter either way. I'm fine going. I'm fine staying home and fucking ya seven ways from Sunday."

"Yash!"

"What! It's tha truth," he replied with a smirk. "And you can't tell me ya don't like the sound of it," he continued, running his tongue over his fangs. The cute little blush he pulled from her was worth it.

"Well...How about a compromise?"

He paused, lifting his brow in curiosity.

"Go on…"

"What if we went to the party...Just for an hour or two...and then afterward we can come home and have sex? Oh! We can even wear couple's costumes again!"

The phrase couples costume made his butt clench so tight he could probably twist off a beer cap with his cheeks.

"I'll agree to go to the party...but not the couple's costume."

"But Yash," she whined, coming around the island to take his hands. "That's part of the fun…"

"No."

"Please?"

"No."

"I'll wear something slutty?"

"N—" He began, ready to tell her no again when his brain processed her offer. "Keep talking."

"I'll wear something slutty and sexy?"

"...Uh-huh...And what else?"

"...And you get to take it off of me?"

He almost said yes...but he was a greedy fucker. He was probably gonna take it off of her even if she hadn't offered that.

"Do I get to do more than that?"

"You mean other than wear a matching outfit?"

"I do."

"Well," she began, tilting her head to the side and pursing her lips in thought. "I'm assuming that sex is a given…"

"But you can say it anyway, and make it interesting," he shrugged. If he was going to get roped into this...because he was going to say yes, because he loved her...then he wanted to squeeze as much as he could out of this.

"Ok...If you do it, sex is on the table...and I'll also add you picking the place and position," she decided, causing his eyes to light up.

Place and position huh?

"Well...In that case Darling, you've got yourself a deal!"

Her childlike squeal and the way she giddily clapped her hands, bouncing up and down on the balls of her feet, made him feel like he made the right decision.

"Now let's talk costumes…"

He groaned, shaking his head and digging his fork into the eggs on his plate.

Then again...Maybe not…

He let her prattle on for a while, running different ideas past him...But he knew that it ultimately wouldn't matter. He was going to give in to whatever she wanted. If she wanted him to go as a hot dog, and she was going to be a bottle of mustard? That was what was going to happen. Wasn't sure how she could make it sexy...but sure. Her call. Prince and Princess? No fighting it. Batman and Catwoman…

It had piqued his interest, but she almost instantly changed her mind. The cowl would be uncomfortable for his ears.

So, she decided on a fireman and a dalmatian. He looked over at her phone when she held up a picture of the costume she had found for him and sighed.

"That's what you want?"

It didn't look too bad. And it looked like he could maybe get away with just wearing the pants. He was going to have to be sneaky about it though...He could do just a t-shirt and those pants.

"Please?" she beseeched, batting her long lashes at him. "It will be so cute! And you'll look so good!"

He tilted his head to the side, and she chewed the inside of his lip as she watched him roll her suggestion around in his head. She really liked the fireman outfit. She thought it would be fun! And he would look good in it too...She could already picture him slowly taking off the jacket to reveal his bare torso...the suspenders holding up his pants hanging limply at the sides as he slowly peeled himself out of—

"—What are you thinking about Kagome?"

She looked up at his face and saw him looking at her, a smirk stretching his lips as he limply held the phone, leaning down across the island.

"N-nothing," she blushed, swiping out to grab the phone from him, but he pulled it away from her at the last second.

"Nu-uh. I can smell it when you're lying…and I can smell it when you're—"

"—NOTHING!"

She insisted, grabbing the phone from him this time, and his grin turned predatory.

"Ain't nothing, or you wouldn't be smelling like that," he countered cheekily before his gaze began to darken. "Ya know...You don't have to keep that bottled up…"

"Inuyasha," she warned as he straightened, running his carefully filed and declawed fingers along the island countertop as he slowly came around to her side.

He was ignoring her, however.

"Kagome," he replied, closing in on her in just a few short strides. "Were you thinking about me in that fireman outfit?"

Sometimes she swore he could read her mind.

"N-no…"

"Liar," he purred, placing his hands onto the granite top on either side of her hips. He had effectively trapped her...and he was looking at her like prey.

It made her swallow because her mouth was suddenly dry. And made her lower abdomen heat. The intensity and desire in his gaze...the slight glint of fang in the morning light…

Fucking hell...She wanted to be his prey. Wanted to be captured and eaten and...eaten…

He inhaled deeply, his eyes rolling to the back of his head as he lowly moaned, "Fuck Kags…"

"W-what," she swallowed, and his smirk widened into a fangy grin before his lips crashed into hers.

AN:

I WILL ONLY DO THIS WALL OF TAGS ONCE! All future treats will be completely hidden under cuts so I don’t spam everyone’s timeline with in your face kink!

@clearwillow, @keichanz, @dangerouspompadour, @nartista, @kaze-ranna, @superpixie42, @sticky-llama-perfection, @pinkpigeonstudio, @mcornilliac, @itzatakahashi, @zelink-inukag, @juliatheanimelover7, @i-dream-of-soup, @smmahamazing, @the-lucky-ones311, @cyncyn981, @animemomma96, @ayari17, @underwater0phelia, @sailorbabydoll92, @l-taisho29, @animelove1313, @littlemissinukag​, @gofoulpuppycollector, @umacaking, @chanin29​,  @willowandfog​, @lebiishoujo​, @theinuyashareader​, @bluejay785​, @irrationalandimpossible​, @cstorm86​, @ruddcatha​, @desiree239​, @littledaisy91​, @liz8080​, @cannibalsforbreakfast​, @horriblehowl​, @arcprz​, @daisy-st-pati3nce​, @senneth-pendra​, @nsr0716​, @eringobroke​, @kagometaishostory​, @thisshipisbananahs​, @sunsetskys​, @ajoy3fanfics​, @sangoslays​, @v0dka-cat​, @cloudsz04​, @lavendertwilight89​, @yurawiththegoodhair​, @saturnsilence​, @lavaffair​, @blairex​, @fawn-eyed-girl​, @fandomobsessions016​, @neutronstarchild​, @preciouslyours​, @kalsies​, @shnuggletea​, @ladyphoenix0711​, @littlestuffstohide​

See you at 500 notes!!