#but it's NOT FINE when you use those beliefs to deprive other people of their rights

[silentgravesdontexist]

I know damn well I'm gonna hate the subject when my art professor proudly proclaims that she agrees with Trump that there are only two genders; disregards the importance of understanding the mind and human behavior (imagine telling that to psychology students???); makes light of the topic of suicide; and will tell everyone to keep an open-mind but she's extremely close-minded when it comes to everything except her interpretation of the bible.

[natlovesls2]

Why Me?

Lando x Latina!Reader

*ੈ✩‧₊˚warnings: 18+, brief mentions of razors (in a hair removal way and self harm way), mentions of blood once or twice, bullying, swearing (maybe), angst to fluff, no use of y/n

*ੈ✩‧₊˚word count: 1.5k

*ੈ✩‧₊˚summary: You don't feel good enough or your past experiences haunt you

.・。.・゜✭・.・✫・゜・。.・。.・゜✭・.・✫・゜・。

You stood in front of the mirror, awkwardly rubbing at the brown skin of your arms, pinching at the hair that was beginning to grow back— the prickly feeling, a reminder of the extra steps you had to take to feel slightly attractive. Shaving every bit of body hair has been your dirty secret since your mom allowed you near a razor. The pink plastic always tucked away in some corner of your bathroom, ready to save you from humiliation. You refused to ever let another person see you like that— refused yourself from being bullied or ridiculed ever again.

The memories of those elementary and early middle school days haunted you, taunting you at every moment those memories slipped into your mind. The awful names the children your age had called you stuck like a piece of gum stuck to the bottom of your shoe in a busy street— the most pesky type of sticking. It clung and clung, refusing to leave the shoe and its place, leaving behind a tacky feeling that made walking uncomfortable. Those names left that same tacky feeling in your brain that made it impossible to feel comfortable in your skin.

You could still remember the day the boy you liked called you a man. The way he laughed and caused everyone at your table to laugh at you plagued you every day. It crawled into your brain on days when you least wanted it to, reminding you of the innocent childhood love you were denied. The constant whispers and laughter made around you reminded you that you weren’t loved or desired by the people you so desperately wanted to be approved by.

So, as you stood in front of your mirror looking at your sun-deprived, brown, and prickly skin-- you couldn’t help but hate yourself. You hated being the opposite of what everyone wanted. You hated that you were the Latina men wanted when they said they “love Latina women.” You despised the role in the media that women who looked like you had acquired— the maid. It tired you beyond belief to see other brown Latinas be portrayed as such as if you had no other value to society. It felt as if your skin was anything other than the protector it was meant to be. It felt more like a target— a target that yelled: berate me and make me feel like shit. And if your own ethnicity saw your skin as less than others, then what was there to expect from others? But of course, you hadn't always felt like that-- in fact, you had once loved the way you looked.

You sighed, turning the knobs of the shower on, letting it warm a bit before getting into it. You let the warm water hit your body, relaxing your thoughts for a while. The self-hatred and unpleasant memories wash away with the soap. The untouched razor in the corner of the shower finally caught your attention, bringing back everything that had just passed. And as you shakily picked up the razor, you wished you had been “blessed” with lighter skin that came with that hard-to-see body hair. You swiped the razor up and down your arms, cutting away your arm hair and, with it, washing away your shame.

The sudden knock at the door startles you back to reality, though you were sure you were out of it to begin with. “You okay in there? You’ve been in there for quite a while; I’m starting to worry,” your boyfriend yelled through the locked wooden door of the bathroom. The relationship had started two years ago and was everything your younger self had idolized and wished for. 

“I’m fine,” you yelled back, quickly finishing your shower, wrapping a towel around your body, and opening the door.

He smiled at you, wrapping his arms around your waist, swaying you around. “You look beautiful,” he leaned down to press a quick kiss to your lips, resting his forehead against yours. He was the beautiful one in the relationship that was everyone’s opinion— including your own. Everyone online made it clear that Lando was out of your league, and you believed every word. It didn’t matter how much he told you that he loved you and that he thought you were the most beautiful woman in the world.

“What’s wrong, love?” He whispers, rubbing his nose against your own, giving you another quick kiss before pulling away completely. He looked at you attentively, analyzing your facial and body expression.

“Why me?” You asked, voice cracking as you attempted to hold back the tears that had snuck up on you. “Why would you want to be with me?”

Lando reached out to gently caress your cheek, wiping away the tears that managed to escape you, “Why not? Why wouldn’t I choose you?”

“Look at me! I’m nothing like the ideal woman, at least not one that someone like you would want!”

“What’s that supposed to mean?” He scoffed, shaking his head and pulling you closer. 

“It means that you deserve someone who looks like they just walked off a runway show! Stop laughing, Lando, I’m being serious right now,” you push him away, smacking his shoulder out of frustration, stepping back as he outstretched his arms to, once again, wrap them around your body. 

“Come on, there’s no way you’re actually being serious. You know why I love you.”

“It’s hard to know when no one else understands it.”

“It’s not for them to understand! We’ve talked about this, and what did you tell me? You promised that you wouldn’t pay attention to what people say,” he ran a hand through his hair, frustration evident in his face. 

Of course, you remembered the promise and the million other similar promises. It was easy to make those promises but incredibly hard to keep them– especially when his fans constantly reminded you of your flaws and misfortunes. 

“Sorry, okay? I shouldn’t have raised my voice at you. Just get dressed; I’ll wait for you in the living room,” he leaned forward slightly to give you another kiss but hesitated and decided against it. 

"I love you," he said quietly, closing the bedroom door as he walked out, once again leaving you with your thoughts. 

A feeling of nausea settles in the twisting pit of your stomach as you dress into the outfit you had chosen before your shower: a green dress that stops a few inches above your knees with a thin white cardigan. Slowly, you walked out of your shared bedroom, watching as Lando's eyes lit up as soon as he saw you– giving you that toothy smile he always gave you when he was especially happy. The type of smile that always made you feel special and eased your worries, even if it was just temporary. You couldn't help but smile back at him, giving him the same wide smile. "Stop it, you're giving me butterflies," you laugh at the situation; it was strange that he could make you feel so loved with something as simple as a smile.

"Maybe that was the plan... you look beautiful– you always do." He always knew the right things to say and when to say them. You always liked that about him; Lando was confident, and that made him reliable. He knew what he wanted; sure, he didn't have his whole life figured out, but when things went wrong, his confidence made it seem as if plan B was always meant to be plan A. You suppose this is why you had fallen for him so quickly. His ability to fix things that were broken and had gone wrong.

"I love you," You quickly said, wrapping your arms around him– hugging him as tight and close as you possibly could. 

He pushed against you, holding your shoulders with his hands and smiling, "You love me?"

"Yes, so much. More than I could have ever imagined loving someone."

"I love you too. You're so perfect for me in every way– I mean it. You're so kind to people, even when they aren't kind to you. You care so much about everything, and you're so passionate about it. That's why, that's why I love you," he pulled you back into the hug, nuzzling into the crook of your neck.

You knew you would continue to feel uncomfortable in your own skin, and that feeling wouldn't go away for a long time. However, as long as you had Lando by your side, it would be a little less painful. "I'm going to remind you that you are beautiful and that what you see as flaws are the things I love most about you for as long as the universe lets me be by your side," he promised, and you knew he would stay true to that.

.・。.・゜✭・.・✫・゜・。.・。.・゜✭・.・✫・゜・。

Note: this is loosely based on my personal experience so if this isn’t your experience as a Latina, I understand. That being said, everyone deserves love regardless of their skin color, race, or ethnic background. I am extremely sorry if anyone has been told over wise or has been made to feel unloveable. -`♡´-

[mostlysignssomeportents]

Big Tech’s “attention rents”

Tomorrow (Nov 4), I'm keynoting the Hackaday Supercon in Pasadena, CA.

The thing is, any feed or search result is "algorithmic." "Just show me the things posted by people I follow in reverse-chronological order" is an algorithm. "Just show me products that have this SKU" is an algorithm. "Alphabetical sort" is an algorithm. "Random sort" is an algorithm.

Any process that involves more information than you can take in at a glance or digest in a moment needs some kind of sense-making. It needs to be put in some kind of order. There's always gonna be an algorithm.

But that's not what we mean by "the algorithm" (TM). When we talk about "the algorithm," we mean a system for ordering information that uses complex criteria that are not precisely known to us, and than can't be easily divined through an examination of the ordering.

There's an idea that a "good" algorithm is one that does not seek to deceive or harm us. When you search for a specific part number, you want exact matches for that search at the top of the results. It's fine if those results include third-party parts that are compatible with the part you're searching for, so long as they're clearly labeled. There's room for argument about how to order those results – do highly rated third-party parts go above the OEM part? How should the algorithm trade off price and quality?

It's hard to come up with an objective standard to resolve these fine-grained differences, but search technologists have tried. Think of Google: they have a patent on "long clicks." A "long click" is when you search for something and then don't search for it again for quite some time, the implication being that you've found what you were looking for. Google Search ads operate a "pay per click" model, and there's an argument that this aligns Google's ad division's interests with search quality: if the ad division only gets paid when you click a link, they will militate for placing ads that users want to click on.

Platforms are inextricably bound up in this algorithmic information sorting business. Platforms have emerged as the endemic form of internet-based business, which is ironic, because a platform is just an intermediary – a company that connects different groups to each other. The internet's great promise was "disintermediation" – getting rid of intermediaries. We did that, and then we got a whole bunch of new intermediaries.

Usually, those groups can be sorted into two buckets: "business customers" (drivers, merchants, advertisers, publishers, creative workers, etc) and "end users" (riders, shoppers, consumers, audiences, etc). Platforms also sometimes connect end users to each other: think of dating sites, or interest-based forums on Reddit. Either way, a platform's job is to make these connections, and that means platforms are always in the algorithm business.

Whether that's matching a driver and a rider, or an advertiser and a consumer, or a reader and a mix of content from social feeds they're subscribed to and other sources of information on the service, the platform has to make a call as to what you're going to see or do.

These choices are enormously consequential. In the theory of Surveillance Capitalism, these choices take on an almost supernatural quality, where "Big Data" can be used to guess your response to all the different ways of pitching an idea or product to you, in order to select the optimal pitch that bypasses your critical faculties and actually controls your actions, robbing you of "the right to a future tense."

I don't think much of this hypothesis. Every claim to mind control – from Rasputin to MK Ultra to neurolinguistic programming to pick-up artists – has turned out to be bullshit. Besides, you don't need to believe in mind control to explain the ways that algorithms shape our beliefs and actions. When a single company dominates the information landscape – say, when Google controls 90% of your searches – then Google's sorting can deprive you of access to information without you knowing it.

If every "locksmith" listed on Google Maps is a fake referral business, you might conclude that there are no more reputable storefront locksmiths in existence. What's more, this belief is a form of self-fulfilling prophecy: if Google Maps never shows anyone a real locksmith, all the real locksmiths will eventually go bust.

If you never see a social media update from a news source you follow, you might forget that the source exists, or assume they've gone under. If you see a flood of viral videos of smash-and-grab shoplifter gangs and never see a news story about wage theft, you might assume that the former is common and the latter is rare (in reality, shoplifting hasn't risen appreciably, while wage-theft is off the charts).

In the theory of Surveillance Capitalism, the algorithm was invented to make advertisers richer, and then went on to pervert the news (by incentivizing "clickbait") and finally destroyed our politics when its persuasive powers were hijacked by Steve Bannon, Cambridge Analytica, and QAnon grifters to turn millions of vulnerable people into swivel-eyed loons, racists and conspiratorialists.

As I've written, I think this theory gives the ad-tech sector both too much and too little credit, and draws an artificial line between ad-tech and other platform businesses that obscures the connection between all forms of platform decay, from Uber to HBO to Google Search to Twitter to Apple and beyond:

https://pluralistic.net/HowToDestroySurveillanceCapitalism

As a counter to Surveillance Capitalism, I've proposed a theory of platform decay called enshittification, which identifies how the market power of monopoly platforms, combined with the flexibility of digital tools, combined with regulatory capture, allows platforms to abuse both business-customers and end-users, by depriving them of alternatives, then "twiddling" the knobs that determine the rules of the platform without fearing sanction under privacy, labor or consumer protection law, and finally, blocking digital self-help measures like ad-blockers, alternative clients, scrapers, reverse engineering, jailbreaking, and other tech guerrilla warfare tactics:

https://pluralistic.net/2023/01/21/potemkin-ai/#hey-guys

One important distinction between Surveillance Capitalism and enshittification is that enshittification posits that the platform is bad for everyone. Surveillance Capitalism starts from the assumption that surveillance advertising is devastatingly effective (which explains how your racist Facebook uncles got turned into Jan 6 QAnons), and concludes that advertisers must be well-served by the surveillance system.

But advertisers – and other business customers – are very poorly served by platforms. Procter and Gamble reduced its annual surveillance advertising budget from $100m//year to $0/year and saw a 0% reduction in sales. The supposed laser-focused targeting and superhuman message refinement just don't work very well – first, because the tech companies are run by bullshitters whose marketing copy is nonsense, and second because these companies are monopolies who can abuse their customers without losing money.

The point of enshittification is to lock end-users to the platform, then use those locked-in users as bait for business customers, who will also become locked to the platform. Once everyone is holding everyone else hostage, the platform uses the flexibility of digital services to play a variety of algorithmic games to shift value from everyone to the business's shareholders. This flexibility is supercharged by the failure of regulators to enforce privacy, labor and consumer protection standards against the companies, and by these companies' ability to insist that regulators punish end-users, competitors, tinkerers and other third parties to mod, reverse, hack or jailbreak their products and services to block their abuse.

Enshittification needs The Algorithm. When Uber wants to steal from its drivers, it can just do an old-fashioned wage theft, but eventually it will face the music for that kind of scam:

https://apnews.com/article/uber-lyft-new-york-city-wage-theft-9ae3f629cf32d3f2fb6c39b8ffcc6cc6

The best way to steal from drivers is with algorithmic wage discrimination. That's when Uber offers occassional, selective drivers higher rates than it gives to drivers who are fully locked to its platform and take every ride the app offers. The less selective a driver becomes, the lower the premium the app offers goes, but if a driver starts refusing rides, the wage offer climbs again. This isn't the mind-control of Surveillance Capitalism, it's just fraud, shaving fractional pennies off your paycheck in the hopes that you won't notice. The goal is to get drivers to abandon the other side-hustles that allow them to be so choosy about when they drive Uber, and then, once the driver is fully committed, to crank the wage-dial down to the lowest possible setting:

https://pluralistic.net/2023/04/12/algorithmic-wage-discrimination/#fishers-of-men

This is the same game that Facebook played with publishers on the way to its enshittification: when Facebook began aggressively courting publishers, any short snippet republished from the publisher's website to a Facebook feed was likely to be recommended to large numbers of readers. Facebook offered publishers a vast traffic funnel that drove millions of readers to their sites.

But as publishers became more dependent on that traffic, Facebook's algorithm started downranking short excerpts in favor of medium-length ones, building slowly to fulltext Facebook posts that were fully substitutive for the publisher's own web offerings. Like Uber's wage algorithm, Facebook's recommendation engine played its targets like fish on a line.

When publishers responded to declining reach for short excerpts by stepping back from Facebook, Facebook goosed the traffic for their existing posts, sending fresh floods of readers to the publisher's site. When the publisher returned to Facebook, the algorithm once again set to coaxing the publishers into posting ever-larger fractions of their work to Facebook, until, finally, the publisher was totally locked into Facebook. Facebook then started charging publishers for "boosting" – not just to be included in algorithmic recommendations, but to reach their own subscribers.

Enshittification is modern, high-tech enabled, monopolistic form of rent seeking. Rent-seeking is a subtle and important idea from economics, one that is increasingly relevant to our modern economy. For economists, a "rent" is income you get from owning a "factor of production" – something that someone else needs to make or do something.

Rents are not "profits." Profit is income you get from making or doing something. Rent is income you get from owning something needed to make a profit. People who earn their income from rents are called rentiers. If you make your income from profits, you're a "capitalist."

Capitalists and rentiers are in irreconcilable combat with each other. A capitalist wants access to their factors of production at the lowest possible price, whereas rentiers want those prices to be as high as possible. A phone manufacturer wants to be able to make phones as cheaply as possible, while a patent-troll wants to own a patent that the phone manufacturer needs to license in order to make phones. The manufacturer is a capitalism, the troll is a rentier.

The troll might even decide that the best strategy for maximizing their rents is to exclusively license their patents to a single manufacturer and try to eliminate all other phones from the market. This will allow the chosen manufacturer to charge more and also allow the troll to get higher rents. Every capitalist except the chosen manufacturer loses. So do people who want to buy phones. Eventually, even the chosen manufacturer will lose, because the rentier can demand an ever-greater share of their profits in rent.

Digital technology enables all kinds of rent extraction. The more digitized an industry is, the more rent-seeking it becomes. Think of cars, which harvest your data, block third-party repair and parts, and force you to buy everything from acceleration to seat-heaters as a monthly subscription:

https://pluralistic.net/2023/07/24/rent-to-pwn/#kitt-is-a-demon

The cloud is especially prone to rent-seeking, as Yanis Varoufakis writes in his new book, Technofeudalism, where he explains how "cloudalists" have found ways to lock all kinds of productive enterprise into using cloud-based resources from which ever-increasing rents can be extracted:

https://pluralistic.net/2023/09/28/cloudalists/#cloud-capital

The endless malleability of digitization makes for endless variety in rent-seeking, and cataloging all the different forms of digital rent-extraction is a major project in this Age of Enshittification. "Algorithmic Attention Rents: A theory of digital platform market power," a new UCL Institute for Innovation and Public Purpose paper by Tim O'Reilly, Ilan Strauss and Mariana Mazzucato, pins down one of these forms:

https://www.ucl.ac.uk/bartlett/public-purpose/publications/2023/nov/algorithmic-attention-rents-theory-digital-platform-market-power

The "attention rents" referenced in the paper's title are bait-and-switch scams in which a platform deliberately enshittifies its recommendations, search results or feeds to show you things that are not the thing you asked to see, expect to see, or want to see. They don't do this out of sadism! The point is to extract rent – from you (wasted time, suboptimal outcomes) and from business customers (extracting rents for "boosting," jumbling good results in among scammy or low-quality results).

The authors cite several examples of these attention rents. Much of the paper is given over to Amazon's so-called "advertising" product, a $31b/year program that charges sellers to have their products placed above the items that Amazon's own search engine predicts you will want to buy:

https://pluralistic.net/2022/11/28/enshittification/#relentless-payola

This is a form of gladiatorial combat that pits sellers against each other, forcing them to surrender an ever-larger share of their profits in rent to Amazon for pride of place. Amazon uses a variety of deceptive labels ("Highly Rated – Sponsored") to get you to click on these products, but most of all, they rely two factors. First, Amazon has a long history of surfacing good results in response to queries, which makes buying whatever's at the top of a list a good bet. Second, there's just so many possible results that it takes a lot of work to sift through the probably-adequate stuff at the top of the listings and get to the actually-good stuff down below.

Amazon spent decades subsidizing its sellers' goods – an illegal practice known as "predatory pricing" that enforcers have increasingly turned a blind eye to since the Reagan administration. This has left it with few competitors:

https://pluralistic.net/2023/05/19/fake-it-till-you-make-it/#millennial-lifestyle-subsidy

The lack of competing retail outlets lets Amazon impose other rent-seeking conditions on its sellers. For example, Amazon has a "most favored nation" requirement that forces companies that raise their prices on Amazon to raise their prices everywhere else, which makes everything you buy more expensive, whether that's a Walmart, Target, a mom-and-pop store, or direct from the manufacturer:

https://pluralistic.net/2023/04/25/greedflation/#commissar-bezos

But everyone loses in this "two-sided market." Amazon used "junk ads" to juice its ad-revenue: these are ads that are objectively bad matches for your search, like showing you a Seattle Seahawks jersey in response to a search for LA Lakers merch:

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2023-11-02/amazon-boosted-junk-ads-hid-messages-with-signal-ftc-says

The more of these junk ads Amazon showed, the more revenue it got from sellers – and the more the person selling a Lakers jersey had to pay to show up at the top of your search, and the more they had to charge you to cover those ad expenses, and the more they had to charge for it everywhere else, too.

The authors describe this process as a transformation between "attention rents" (misdirecting your attention) to "pecuniary rents" (making money). That's important: despite decades of rhetoric about the "attention economy," attention isn't money. As I wrote in my enshittification essay:

You can't use attention as a medium of exchange. You can't use it as a store of value. You can't use it as a unit of account. Attention is like cryptocurrency: a worthless token that is only valuable to the extent that you can trick or coerce someone into parting with "fiat" currency in exchange for it. You have to "monetize" it – that is, you have to exchange the fake money for real money.

The authors come up with some clever techniques for quantifying the ways that this scam harms users. For example, they count the number of places that an advertised product rises in search results, relative to where it would show up in an "organic" search. These quantifications are instructive, but they're also a kind of subtweet at the judiciary.

In 2018, SCOTUS's ruling in American Express v Ohio changed antitrust law for two-sided markets by insisting that so long as one side of a two-sided market was better off as the result of anticompetitive actions, there was no antitrust violation:

https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=3346776

For platforms, that means that it's OK to screw over sellers, advertisers, performers and other business customers, so long as the end-users are better off: "Go ahead, cheat the Uber drivers, so long as you split the booty with Uber riders."

But in the absence of competition, regulation or self-help measures, platforms cheat everyone – that's the point of enshittification. The attention rents that Amazon's payola scheme extract from shoppers translate into higher prices, worse goods, and lower profits for platform sellers. In other words, Amazon's conduct is so sleazy that it even threads the infinitesimal needle that the Supremes created in American Express.

Here's another algorithmic pecuniary rent: Amazon figured out which of its major rivals used an automated price-matching algorithm, and then cataloged which products they had in common with those sellers. Then, under a program called Project Nessie, Amazon jacked up the prices of those products, knowing that as soon as they raised the prices on Amazon, the prices would go up everywhere else, so Amazon wouldn't lose customers to cheaper alternatives. That scam made Amazon at least a billion dollars:

https://gizmodo.com/ftc-alleges-amazon-used-price-gouging-algorithm-1850986303

This is a great example of how enshittification – rent-seeking on digital platforms – is different from analog rent-seeking. The speed and flexibility with which Amazon and its rivals altered their prices requires digitization. Digitization also let Amazon crank the price-gouging dial to zero whenever they worried that regulators were investigating the program.

So what do we do about it? After years of being made to look like fumblers and clowns by Big Tech, regulators and enforcers – and even lawmakers – have decided to get serious.

The neoliberal narrative of government helplessness and incompetence would have you believe that this will go nowhere. Governments aren't as powerful as giant corporations, and regulators aren't as smart as the supergeniuses of Big Tech. They don't stand a chance.

But that's a counsel of despair and a cheap trick. Weaker US governments have taken on stronger oligarchies and won – think of the defeat of JD Rockefeller and the breakup of Standard Oil in 1911. The people who pulled that off weren't wizards. They were just determined public servants, with political will behind them. There is a growing, forceful public will to end the rein of Big Tech, and there are some determined public servants surfing that will.

In this paper, the authors try to give those enforcers ammo to bring to court and to the public. For example, Amazon claims that its algorithm surfaces the products that make the public happy, without the need for competitive pressure to keep it sharp. But as the paper points out, the only successful new rival ecommerce platform – Tiktok – has found an audience for an entirely new category of goods: dupes, "lower-cost products that have the same or better features than higher cost branded products."

The authors also identify "dark patterns" that platforms use to trick users into consuming feeds that have a higher volume of things that the company profits from, and a lower volume of things that users want to see. For example, platforms routinely switch users from a "following" feed – consisting of things posted by people the user asked to hear from – with an algorithmic "For You" feed, filled with the things the company's shareholders wish the users had asked to see.

Calling this a "dark pattern" reveals just how hollow and self-aggrandizing that term is. "Dark pattern" usually means "fraud." If I ask to see posts from people I like, and you show me posts from people who'll pay you for my attention instead, that's not a sophisticated sleight of hand – it's just a scam. It's the social media equivalent of the eBay seller who sends you an iPhone box with a bunch of gravel inside it instead of an iPhone. Tech bros came up with "dark pattern" as a way of flattering themselves by draping themselves in the mantle of dopamine-hacking wizards, rather than unimaginative con-artists who use a computer to rip people off.

These For You algorithmic feeds aren't just a way to increase the load of sponsored posts in a feed – they're also part of the multi-sided ripoff of enshittified platforms. A For You feed allows platforms to trick publishers and performers into thinking that they are "good at the platform," which both convinces to optimize their production for that platform, and also turns them into Judas Goats who conspicuously brag about how great the platform is for people like them, which brings their peers in, too.

In Veena Dubal's essential paper on algorithmic wage discrimination, she describes how Uber drivers whom the algorithm has favored with (temporary) high per-ride rates brag on driver forums about their skill with the app, bringing in other drivers who blame their lower wages on their failure to "use the app right":

https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=4331080

As I wrote in my enshittification essay:

If you go down to the midway at your county fair, you'll spot some poor sucker walking around all day with a giant teddy bear that they won by throwing three balls in a peach basket.

The peach-basket is a rigged game. The carny can use a hidden switch to force the balls to bounce out of the basket. No one wins a giant teddy bear unless the carny wants them to win it. Why did the carny let the sucker win the giant teddy bear? So that he'd carry it around all day, convincing other suckers to put down five bucks for their chance to win one:

https://boingboing.net/2006/08/27/rigged-carny-game.html

The carny allocated a giant teddy bear to that poor sucker the way that platforms allocate surpluses to key performers – as a convincer in a "Big Store" con, a way to rope in other suckers who'll make content for the platform, anchoring themselves and their audiences to it.

Platform can't run the giant teddy-bear con unless there's a For You feed. Some platforms – like Tiktok – tempt users into a For You feed by making it as useful as possible, then salting it with doses of enshittification:

https://www.forbes.com/sites/emilybaker-white/2023/01/20/tiktoks-secret-heating-button-can-make-anyone-go-viral/

Other platforms use the (ugh) "dark pattern" of simply flipping your preference from a "following" feed to a "For You" feed. Either way, the platform can't let anyone keep the giant teddy-bear. Once you've tempted, say, sports bros into piling into the platform with the promise of millions of free eyeballs, you need to withdraw the algorithm's favor for their content so you can give it to, say, astrologers. Of course, the more locked-in the users are, the more shit you can pile into that feed without worrying about them going elsewhere, and the more giant teddy-bears you can give away to more business users so you can lock them in and start extracting rent.

For regulators, the possibility of a "good" algorithmic feed presents a serious challenge: when a feed is bad, how can a regulator tell if its low quality is due to the platform's incompetence at blocking spammers or guessing what users want, or whether it's because the platform is extracting rents?

The paper includes a suite of recommendations, including one that I really liked:

Regulators, working with cooperative industry players, would define reportable metrics based on those that are actually used by the platforms themselves to manage search, social media, e-commerce, and other algorithmic relevancy and recommendation engines.

In other words: find out how the companies themselves measure their performance. Find out what KPIs executives have to hit in order to earn their annual bonuses and use those to figure out what the company's performance is – ad load, ratio of organic clicks to ad clicks, average click-through on the first organic result, etc.

They also recommend some hard rules, like reserving a portion of the top of the screen for "organic" search results, and requiring exact matches to show up as the top result.

I've proposed something similar, applicable across multiple kinds of digital businesses: an end-to-end principle for online services. The end-to-end principle is as old as the internet, and it decrees that the role of an intermediary should be to deliver data from willing senders to willing receivers as quickly and reliably as possible. When we apply this principle to your ISP, we call it Net Neutrality. For services, E2E would mean that if I subscribed to your feed, the service would have a duty to deliver it to me. If I hoisted your email out of my spam folder, none of your future emails should land there. If I search for your product and there's an exact match, that should be the top result:

https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2023/04/platforms-decay-lets-put-users-first

One interesting wrinkle to framing platform degradation as a failure to connect willing senders and receivers is that it places a whole host of conduct within the regulatory remit of the FTC. Section 5 of the FTC Act contains a broad prohibition against "unfair and deceptive" practices:

https://pluralistic.net/2023/01/10/the-courage-to-govern/#whos-in-charge

That means that the FTC doesn't need any further authorization from Congress to enforce an end to end rule: they can simply propose and pass that rule, on the grounds that telling someone that you'll show them the feeds that they ask for and then not doing so is "unfair and deceptive."

Some of the other proposals in the paper also fit neatly into Section 5 powers, like a "sticky" feed preference. If I tell a service to show me a feed of the people I follow and they switch it to a For You feed, that's plainly unfair and deceptive.

All of this raises the question of what a post-Big-Tech feed would look like. In "How To Break Up Amazon" for The Sling, Peter Carstensen and Darren Bush sketch out some visions for this:

https://www.thesling.org/how-to-break-up-amazon/

They imagine a "condo" model for Amazon, where the sellers collectively own the Amazon storefront, a model similar to capacity rights on natural gas pipelines, or to patent pools. They see two different ways that search-result order could be determined in such a system:

"specific premium placement could go to those vendors that value the placement the most [with revenue] shared among the owners of the condo"

or

"leave it to owners themselves to create joint ventures to promote products"

Note that both of these proposals are compatible with an end-to-end rule and the other regulatory proposals in the paper. Indeed, all these policies are easier to enforce against weaker companies that can't afford to maintain the pretense that they are headquartered in some distant regulatory haven, or pay massive salaries to ex-regulators to work the refs on their behalf:

https://www.thesling.org/in-public-discourse-and-congress-revolvers-defend-amazons-monopoly/

The re-emergence of intermediaries on the internet after its initial rush of disintermediation tells us something important about how we relate to one another. Some authors might be up for directly selling books to their audiences, and some drivers might be up for creating their own taxi service, and some merchants might want to run their own storefronts, but there's plenty of people with something they want to offer us who don't have the will or skill to do it all. Not everyone wants to be a sysadmin, a security auditor, a payment processor, a software engineer, a CFO, a tax-preparer and everything else that goes into running a business. Some people just want to sell you a book. Or find a date. Or teach an online class.

Intermediation isn't intrinsically wicked. Intermediaries fall into pits of enshitffication and other forms of rent-seeking when they aren't disciplined by competitors, by regulators, or by their own users' ability to block their bad conduct (with ad-blockers, say, or other self-help measures). We need intermediaries, and intermediaries don't have to turn into rent-seeking feudal warlords. That only happens if we let it happen.

If you'd like an essay-formatted version of this post to read or share, here's a link to it on pluralistic.net, my surveillance-free, ad-free, tracker-free blog:

https://pluralistic.net/2023/11/03/subprime-attention-rent-crisis/#euthanize-rentiers

Image: Cryteria (modified) https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:HAL9000.svg

CC BY 3.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/deed.en

[our-queer-experience]

Not the anon who sent the ask about queerplatonic breakups, but I felt it deeply, so I'm going to send a very long… Confession? Or maybe a vent?

This was years back. I'm not even sure the concept of QPRs existed at the time; if it did, I certainly didn't know about it, and neither did the other person, even though both of us would talk about how "friend" wasn't enough to describe us.

After an abusive relationship with a man whom I allowed to do whatever he wanted with me and more, I met this straight guy through a shared hobby. I will call him my, for the sake of simplicity and anonymity, "friend" Theo.

Theo and I quickly became close, realizing how much we had in common outside the hobby. We'd have deep personal conversations until the sun arose through chats and calls, and we did everything together and went together everywhere: If one was somewhere, the other was never too far behind. When we weren't together, we sent to each other things we knew the other would like to see, or related to the hobbies we shared together, and of course sometimes the gayest "bro" memes we could find as an in-joke. People sometimes assumed we were a couple (which didn't come without its good dosage of homophobia—Contrary to popular belief here on Tumblr, homophobes are just seeing two faggots when two men are too close. They don't make you questions.) and, no matter how much we denied that anything physical/sexual/romantic was going on, it seemed very few people were convinced we didn't actually have the hots for each other at the very least.

(Note: He knew I was aromantic and asexual: I learned about what those words were shortly after meeting him, identifying as bisexual before it, and having thrown myself into relationships I shouldn't have to fix myself in a "fake it until you make it" kind of way. He was an openly loud 'ally' very comfortable and safe with his sexuality, which is why he was fine doing all kinds of stuff.)

It was amazing to love someone and be loved in return so much, but it was actually very scary at first. No, not just scary, it was fucking terrifying. I had (have) never been this loved and in this way, never had been able to be this open and vulnerable with another person, talking about things I'd never told a soul—which also meant I reacted embarrassingly about it at first. I actually panicked about developing a crush on a straight friend like all my gay friends had suffered so much about. Fortunately, I quickly realized before doing something stupid that I was just extremely emotionally deprived, and Theo happened to be the first person who gave an actual shit about me in ages. Even though things didn't end well, I feel that my "friendship" with Theo healed a wound I had carried for years I didn't even know I had.

Years went by, and we pulled a lot of antics that would be interpreted as romantic but weren't for us, we just liked doing things as dramatically and extra as possible. It was an in-joke, and we made it clear since the start, but we also genuinely loved each other, so why not use Valentine's Day to gift your not-boyfriend the one game he wanted so much, but maybe present it first with a bouquet of flowers and a card with the corniest, worst pet name you could think of? We always got some good laughs about that kind of thing.

Theo was always very adamant about how moving together meant we'd have to be three: him, his girlfriend, and me, and that if the girlfriend didn't accept the arrangement then we'd be two because he'd break things up. Our "friendship" was that important. And, in the case of him never finding someone, we could get married if we hit 40 and were single (like Ted and Robin's pact), for the benefits and without our relationship changing.

Unfortunately, a few years in, shit hit the fan: I went through a chaotic time, and several personal tragedies that are not relevant to this ask. At that moment, I needed my best "friend" that was always there for me to carry myself through the worst time of my life… but I ended up being on my own.

To be fair, he had been acting strange and distant for a while. I tried to bring it up and meld things, whatever was it that I had done wrong, but it was always somehow me "overthinking things", and he was just "too busy" now that he had had to move and adapt elsewhere for work related reasons. He would cancel plans on me more often than not (including the ones he started), leave me on read, didn't message me unless I did first, never asked how was I doing, seemed uninterested when I talked about myself, and never seemed to have time for me. The only times he seemed to remember me was so he could vent about something in a completely one-sided conversation. It made me feel used: suddenly he treated me like all of those girls that learned I wasn't straight. I was the emotional support gay, the therapist, a pet.

He denied it, but I went from a priority to a secondary character in his life, proven by the times he'd cancel on me because he "was busy" just so I saw pictures of that same day in social media later, either partying at a famous place or meeting with friends I didn't know. And I know some people are going to think now "He totally fell for you and panicked!", but I highly doubt it. I mean, I knew him for years. He actually had two girlfriends through the time I knew him: I even encouraged him to try his luck with one of his crushes, and it went well. It didn't last much though, that's true.

I choked on all the bitterness and resentment I gulped down as I kept trying to accommodate to plans that more often than not didn't come to fruition, as I tried to talk about this and this other thing for Theo to not pay attention and prove so minutes after. I started to pull away. I'm not sure if he even noticed until a lot of time later.

At one point, as I was struggling with my never-ending misery and bad luck, Theo, who actually knew what had happened recently, started spamming me with calls so I picked it up: he wanted to vent again about some nonsense. I couldn't take it anymore. I cut him off, told him everything I had been keeping to myself about his "busy status", told him to go fuck himself and find someone else to be his therapist.

Among all the excuses he put, not even once did he apologize. And so, I did the only thing I could have done: I told him I didn't want anything to do with him anymore.

Blocking him gutted me.

Through the years, mutual friends would tell me sometimes that "Theo sent his regards and wished you a Happy New Year" and the like, but I never responded to the sentiment or tried to unblock him. I couldn't forget it. I couldn't forgive it. I still can't: even if he appeared at my door today and apologized, asked to be "friends" again, I just can't do it. I can't place my trust again on him like I used to.

And then, a few weeks ago, I opened Facebook. I actually don't even use it anymore, but I couldn't help myself: yes, I checked on Theo… who has a girlfriend now.

Theo, with a girlfriend. Heterosexual. The expected outcome. Me, single, alone. Aromantic asexual. The expected outcome.

I still don't know why it hit me so hard. It's difficult sometimes, with the way I was raised, though I have gotten better at it.

Maybe it's because I realized why is it that he stopped trying to "communicate". Maybe it's because being replaced by a woman, for him to get a "normal" relationship and forget I existed, was always my greatest fear deep down. Maybe it's because I realized this relationship is not only gone for good, but the dream had always an expiration date. Maybe it's because there's no space in that picture for me, even if I wanted to. Maybe it's because he looked perfectly happy without me, a defective something who can't even be called a man, unable to feel any kind of romantic and sexual feelings and unable to do anything beyond a peck without recoiling in disgust. Maybe it's because I've watched all my friends following the expected script for the past years: finding someone, getting married, some having kids,… One that I can't do.

I don't know anyone IRL who is asexual or aromantic. My queer friends won't understand, because he wasn't my boyfriend, or will misinterpret it, talking about how I was and am still so obviously in love, whatever that is supposed to be; My straight friends, I'm not even out to them, so why bother.

Besides, I have no right to complain, right? Because I was the one who broke things off so, according to the rules, I would be "the dumper", right?

I couldn't and still can't talk about what I lost, about how it feels to long in not-love for the memory of a person that doesn't exist anymore.

- 🐆 (Is the leopard emoji already taken? I've seen people doing that but this is the first time I send an ask)

🫂

[lifeofresulullah]

The Life of The Prophet Muhammad(pbuh): The Treaty of Hudaybiyah and Calling the Great States of the World to Islam

Muqawqis is Invited to Islam

(7th year of the Migration, the month of Muharram / AD 628)

Hatib b. Abi Baltaa, one of the Companions, set off to Egypt with the letter of the Prophet addressing Muqawqis. Hatib, who went on travelling day and night, gave the letter of the Prophet to Muqawqis in Alexandria. The following was written in the letter which Muqawqis had somebody read it:

“Bismillahirrahmanirrahim!

“From Muhammad, the slave and Messenger of God to Muqawqis, the leader of Copts!

“Peace be upon those who follow the right path!

“After this prayer, I invite you to Islam. Embrace Islam so that you will attain salvation. Embrace Islam so that God will reward you twice. If you refuse my invitation, may you be responsible for the sins of Copts!”

“Say: ‘O people of the Book! come to common terms as between us and you: that we worship none but God; that we associate no partners with Him; that we erect not from among ourselves Lords and patrons other than God.’ If then they turn back, say: ye! ‘Bear witness that we (at least) are Muslims (bowing to God’s will).’” (Aal-i Imran, 64)

When the letter was read, Muqawqis said, “May it be good for all!” and entertained Hatib, the envoy of the Prophet. Then, he put the blessed letter of the Messenger of God into an ivory box and sealed the box.

Muqawqis Accepts

One night Muqawqis summoned Hatib b. Abi Baltaa. There was only a translator with them. After talking for a long time, Muqawqis accepted the prophethood of Hazrat Muhammad (pbuh) though he did not become a Muslim. He said,

“I knew that a prophet would come but I thought he was going to appear in Damascus. For most of the previous prophets appeared in Damascus. In fact, I also saw in the books that the last prophet would emerge in Arabia, the land of hardness, scarcity and poverty.

This time is just the time of the prophet whose characteristics are written in the book of God.

However, Copts will not obey me if I become a Muslim. I cannot leave my sovereignty.

This prophet will be sovereign in many countries; after him, his Companions will come and settle in our land; then, they will defeat those people over there.”

With this talk, Muqawqis accepted the prophethood of Hazrat Muhammad (pbuh) but he did not mention it to his people lest he should lose his sovereignty; he did not become a Muslim, either. Love of sovereignty and kingdom deprived him of the happiness of belief.

The Letter and Presents of Muqawqis to the Prophet

Muqawqis did not become a Muslim because the love of worldly sovereignty outweighed in his heart; however, he sent a letter, some presents and two women slaves to the Prophet.

After that, he saw Hatib b. Abi Baltaa off in Alexandria and said to him, “Do not let Copts hear anything from you.”

The two female slaves that Muqawqis sent to the Messenger of God were Ma­riya and her sister Sirin. Hatib b. Abi Baltaa explained Islam to them on the way and offered them to embrace Islam; thus, they became Muslims.

Later, the Prophet married Mariya and he married Sirin off to Hassan b. Thabit, the poet. 

The other presents sent by Muqawqis were:

* A white mule and a donkey,

* One thousand mithqal (4,5 kg) of gold,

* Twenty suits made of fine Egyptian fabric,

* A crystal glass,

* Aromatic honey, very nice perfumes, etc.

The mule was given the name “Duldul” and the donkey “Ufayr”.

Hatib b. Abi Baltaa is in Madinah

After staying in the country of Muqawqis for five days, Hatib b. Abi Baltaa went to Madinah and told the Prophet what had happened; he also gave the Prophet the letter and the presents sent by the Prophet.

Muqawqis stated the following in his letter:

“From Muqawqis, the leader of Copts to Muhammad b. Abdullah!

Peace be upon you!

After greeting, I want to say this:

I received your letter and read it. I understood what you mentioned in your letter and what you invited me to do.

I knew that a prophet would come but I thought he was going to appear in Damascus!

I entertained your envoy. I sent you two female slaves respected by Copts and clothes; I also sent a mule for you to ride.

Peace be upon you!”

When the letter was read, the Prophet said, “Miserable man! He could not risk his sovereignty but the sovereignty he loved so much will not remain!”

The Original Letter that the Prophet Sent to Muqawqis

The blessed letter of the Messenger of God he sent to Muqawqis is kept in Istanbul Topkapi Palace Museum, in the Department of Holy Relics.

The letter was found in an old monastery among Coptic books in the town of Ahmim in Egypt in H 1267; thereupon, Ottoman Sultan Abdulmajid bought it and made it sent to Istanbul.

The blessed letter, whose dimensions are 16x19 cm, was written on brown leather with black ink and have twelve lines.  

The seal of the Messenger of God is present at the bottom of the letter.

There are some holes made by moths in the letter.

[geezerwench]

This stormy morning at the Crone's Nest, I find myself having heavy thoughts. I'm thinking about reading, books, their inherent magic. I think about the joy they bring with the turn of each page. The feelings, the knowledge, the experiences, the curiosity, they inspire.

And then my heart sinks.

That joy is being stolen, strong armed away, from people. Mostly it is children who will be the victims of this mind theft. Yes, I call it theft. Childhood is a magical time. Childhood is when the love of reading is formed. Childhood is when the ability to foster reading is important. Now...reading will be a mind numbing chore to be endured, not encouraged. UNLESS it is the right kind of book. Pablum basically. No thought, or developing skills of discernment, required. Milquetoast fare that doesn't challenge, or comfort, or open doors, or encourage thought. How very sad for children to have all those doors slammed shut.

I've listened to people, too many people, that want to "protect the children." Honestly, I really do not give two damns, or a wink and nod, if they want to deprive THEIR children. Let their children fall behind, be lost in the sauce when they are grown, or oblivious to everything not just like themselves. Let their children be shocked by the world outside their 'very safe and sheltered' enclave. But, and this is where my anger is raised, How...Dare... These... Pablum.. Pushing...People decide for everyone what is acceptable reading. Are they skilled in education, or literacy, or child (and Adolescent) development? 99 44/100% of the time the answer to that is NO. They just..."think, feel, believe" that children need to be allowed to be children, and that THEY AND ONLY THEY can say what ALL children read, see, hear. No facts...just think, feel, believe. And if I hear God invoked one more time I think I'll vomit. Well...IF there is a God, then he/she gave us brains, that should be developed, nurtured, grown, inspired...not wrapped in cotton and swaddled into non-functioning oblivion, only to be rudely shaken when adulthood is nigh.

Why do I have such disdain? Mainly because this is an incredibly stupid time in history. A time when ignorance is a virtue, and knowledge is to be crushed. The majority of the ones shouting to "protect the children" don't read. They don't like being challenged. and I honestly I don't think they like their children very much either...or else they would be prepared to challenge their children's minds, they would not be threatened by ideas, or differences, or history, or other beliefs. They don't have the knowledge or interest themselves, and must not trust their own beliefs either.

"Protect the Children." My aunt fanny. Protect themselves is closer to the mark. Simple...if YOU don't want YOUR spawn to read something, or learn something, or hear something...Keep Them Home, safely tied to the apron strings. Keep them OUT of the general population. Only allow them to learn what YOU are comfortable with, so keep them out of the public libraries, public school libraries, and public schools. The rest of us will be just fine not having to cater to your fear, bigotry, open hate, and ignorance. The "Children" need to be allowed to be "Children." Hmmm let's dissect that. I...yes, personal anecdote...was not only allowed to read, I was encouraged to read whatever I wanted to. If it was out of my "age range" oh well. I could struggle through it, ask questions, look up threads to figure it out, or put it down for another time. Was I still a child? Yes. I played, on my own, or with others. I ran, and rode bikes, and would go swimming, or crabbing or fishing, or play with toys. I played some sports here and there as my interest allowed. I had friends. I was encouraged to understand that my little sphere was not the entire world. My sons...were encouraged to read, anything and everything. I didn't care what. A book, magazine, comic, cereal box, newspaper, magic card, video game script. I did not care. They were reading. If they had questions, they asked. If they asked, I answered. If I didn't have the answer, WE looked it up together. Were they children? Yep, they played, and had friends, and toys, and video games, and watched cartoons. But they also knew there was a world outside our front door and they had to live in it one day.

How dare some small uninformed, unread, narrow group of people try to censor what ALL children, and adults read. They are reaching into college reading, and school libraries at all levels, and public libraries, and book stores, and even publishing houses with their crap. Yes ...CRAP.

Yes, heavy, and somewhat dark, thoughts at the Crone's Nest this morning. The storms only augmenting my mood. The love I have for books, and the written word is hard to describe. This MOVEMENT TO CENSOR, and steal that experience from the many, is soul crushing.

Lead by people that have zero concept of much of anything. Yes, public school curriculum has always been available for any parent asking about it. (even in the 'old days' when teachers wrote their own individual lesson plans. Those plans HAD to be available on request.) Yes, parents could always request that THIER CHILD (spawn/urchin) NOT READ a certain book. and an alternative was offered. Same with program or class assignment. Parents could opt out. Odd, when you inform parents, and others, of this FACT today, they seem surprised, and "didn't know that." But these are the ones shouting from the roof tops to 'ban the book' from everyone. Only they don't say BAN...they say challenge and review. Which effectively BANS the books as it is removed from ALL shelves, and if the review board is overwhelmed the process can take months, if not longer. And it only takes ONE MORE-ON to pull a book. Only they come with a list of books.

School districts closing school libraries to become discipline centers, firing librarians. Town councils looking to close all city, or county libraries over A book. Firing teachers. Firing principals. Suing librarians. UNFUNDING ALL STATE LIBRARIES. allowing only bits of Shakespeare and other classics. Moms for Liberty, concerned parents, concerned 'families' and communities. No just uniformed, scared, bigots using a new name.

I find myself with swamp hag, bog witch thoughts. May they receive everything they richly have earned. May they find themselves in "interesting times." May they be truly recognized for all of their efforts. May they, and their offspring, reap from only the fields they have sown.

Tempie Markham

[applecorething]

back on my stigma bullshit

I am witness to and party to a lot of anti-stigma campaigns and presentations and conference talks and panels etc but i don't think there's a route to reducing stigma with the landscape in scotland as it is. the route that people seem to be going is to promote that it's not shameful to be in recovery. but the corollary to that is that it IS shameful to be in active addiction or to be using drugs that often cause chaos in people's lives.

that fuckin blows! if you want to target stigma you have to remove the inherent belief that to do drugs is bad! you have to view drugs as a value neutral thing. this ofc comes w decrim and safe supply, and curiosity about why people do drugs, and loads of mental health and trauma support, and get everyone out of prisons. feels like boiling the ocean but i'm trying to change perspective one room at a time. drugs are fine, drug harms don't come from drugs alone - look at middle class people doing drugs and they're grand. they're "high functioning"

drug harms are not equally spread across society, they affect those most marginalised and deprived. using drugs isn't the problem, it's having a stable life that is the problem. if you give people who use drugs a permanent home and more money than they need, at first maybe they'll spend lots on drugs sure, but part of spending lots when you get a windfall is that you don't expect the money to continue. if the money does continue then it gives you space and time to decide what you really do want to do. and if the amount of drugs you're doing doesn't suit you, and you'd ideally be doing less drugs and doing something else, then you've got a chance to do that. but if your options are limited more and more then it becomes less attractive to try do anything else. people need much more support, rather than extremely limited support because they "can't be trusted".

the way the non drug-using population views this as unfair always feels like crabs in a bucket to me. i think everyone should be receiving more support than they are, and be incentivised to support each other in a big way. it doesn't need to be communism as much as it needs to be stronger state support and loads of support for community solutions to social problems. idk. implementation is hard. but the core of the idea is that using drugs can be a thing that is bad for a person, or it can be a thing that is good for a person and keeps them alive, and we gotta trust that if a person is well supported and feels safe and has any trust is anyone around them that they'll be supported to do their best for themself. they're trying to keep themselves safe, they're trying to survive, they're doing their best. ask what they need and if what they need isn't stopping drugs, that's ok.

[delimeful]

Snapshot: Cleanse

snapshots: a new compilation of mini-fics taking place in the WIBAR universe! this one takes place a few days after Making Adjustments!

warnings: none! Whoops, All Fluff!

-

It was a few days after the Breakfast Ceasefire that Virgil decided enough was enough.

He needed a shower. Badly.

It didn’t matter that he was on an alien ship full of alien stuff, or that showering meant temporarily ditching the comfort of his hoodie, or even that two out of three aliens would probably happily see him dead at any opportunity.

He had picked up what felt like an entire football field’s worth of dirt, mud, and other muck while him and Patton were planet-hopping, and impromptu washcloth (read: a patch torn from the back of his shirt) cleaning sessions had only done so much. They only came across clean water every so often, anyhow. Most of it couldn’t be wasted on washing.

Patton had picked up on his discomfort back then— that or the smell— but the Ampen’s idea of ‘cleaning up’ was very similar to that of chinchillas’ back home on Earth: dust baths. That’s right. More dirt.

(Yes, he’d rolled around in the dirt with his friend. Contrary to popular interstellar belief, he wasn’t a monster.)

Still, it was time to come clean. Literally and metaphorically.

Patton had spent last night cuddled up to him, which meant that he had actually gotten a full eight hours of sleep (good!) and that Roman was probably sulking around (ungood!). The sense of clarity that came with not being quite so horrendously sleep deprived only made him more aware of how dirty he was. It felt like heresy to even touch any of the numerous well-sanitized surfaces in the ship.

“Patton,” he called, once the Ampen had started doing those little antennae twitches that meant he was half-awake. “Can you show me the wash room?”

The response was a little delayed, but eventually Patton startled into full wakefulness with a little chirp-peep that reminded him of a computer startup noise.

From there, he was led down the circular halls to a square room that sort of resembled a locker room shower area, complete with drainage grates in the floor. There was a ledge along one side of the room that led up to a windowbox-like protrusion, and Virgil could see from here that it was full of soft, beige dirt.

Patton paused, visibly turning his head from Virgil to the washbox, as though measuring things out in his mind.

“That’s probably too small for you, huh?”

Virgil stopped him before he could start making plans for a human-sized sandbox. “Uh, actually, Pat, I need water to wash.”

“Oh!” Patton exclaimed, more surprised than disconcerted. “Well, water we doing over here then?”

Virgil couldn’t hide a smile, and Patton crinkle-smiled back at him before waving him over to the opposite end of the room. He pointed up, where there were little circular discs with a grid of tiny holes set into the wall. “Here you go! Roman uses these to help with his slough, or when he gets particularly rough and tumble down on planetside!”

… Great. Odds were borrowing his shower was probably going to make Roman even more homicidal towards him. Virgil decided to worry about that later. For now, he was faced with the biggest challenge of them all: figuring out how a friend’s shower knobs worked.

Surprisingly, it seemed like the panel set into the wall below each disc worked similarly to the other touchscreens he’d seen set into the control room of the ship. Unsurprisingly, they were all labeled with the written form of Common, which meant he had about zero chance of figuring it out on his own.

Patton noticed his blank stare and patted at his knee, and Virgil squatted down easily so the undersized alien could clamber onto his shoulder. He rose up, and Patton’s little claws scrambled for purchase for a moment before he caught his balance, Virgil tense with preparation to twist and catch him if he fell.

“This little icon has the symbol for on, and this is how you get it hot or cold,” he chirped, leaning forwards to point at the screen for emphasis. Virgil obligingly shifted closer, trying to commit the guidance to memory. “You’re a little squisher than Roman, so you should probably change the pressure, too.”

Once he’d shuffled around so he was sure neither of them were about to get slammed by a jet of water, he tapped the power button.

A three-note chime played as a sort of countdown, and water shot out of the disc, at what was probably the appropriate pressure to powerwash muck from under tightly-packed scales. Virgil pushed the slider down until he could put his hand under without feeling any sting from the water’s impact. Then, he cranked the temperature up until it was just short of scalding.

Patton eyed the steam curling up into the air with a concerned fluff to his feathers, but didn’t protest after seeing the small, delighted grin that Virgil made as he held his hand under.

No, this wasn’t dunking his head in cold streams, or dipping his arm in a lukewarm puddle, or the humiliating icy hose downs in captivity. This was warm water. He’d never take it for granted again.

He shrugged out of his hoodie as he walked over to the entrance. “Does this… lock?”

“Any door on the ship can be sealed,” Patton replied, and bonked his head to Virgil’s sympathetically at the shudder that information sent through him. “Nobody’s going to lock anything without your permission, though, okay?”

“Yeah,” Virgil said, knowing he sounded less than convinced. “Can you guard the door, still? Just in case,” he added in English, one of the phrases he’d used a lot while they were on the run.

Patton gave him a sad look, more than aware how unsafe he still felt, but nodded firmly and dropped carefully down to the floor, taking up position just outside the door like a tiny sentry. Virgil draped his hoodie over him, and then-- checking that the others weren’t nearby to witness and freak out about it-- he gave him the world’s smallest noogie, ruffling the feathers atop his head with a knuckle.

Having preemptively twitched his antennae out of the way, Patton made one of those bird-like laughs at him, batting his hand away. “Go clean! And make sure you wash out for slippery floors!”

Virgil snorted, and carefully sealed the door behind him, trying not to think about the feeling of being stuck in a tiny square room again. He shook his head, dragging his thoughts back on track.

He had access to a warm shower, his first in literal months (...years?). He was going to stay under that spout until every bit of dirt washed down the drain.

---

Roman was midway through a session of storywriting when he heard Patton’s bright voice coming down the hall, passing by his room and chattering all the while.

His ears flicked back automatically to check in, and he frowned when he realized that he couldn’t hear Logan’s arms clicking alongside the Ampen. No, apart from Patton’s tiny tapping footsteps, there was nothing. Patton had to be talking to the Human, then, since he was the only one who ghosted around the ship silently enough to make Roman feel stalked at every corner.

Well. He’d grown tired of watching his characters make a rather vexing detour from his carefully-plotted main storyline anyhow, and he was loath to leave his smallest friend alone with a Human, regardless of how docile that Human pretended to be.

After a brief cleanup of his writing instruments, he was sweeping down the corridor to the commons after them.

Logan was already in the room when he arrived, which was surprising; even Roman had picked up on the ludicrous lengths the Human went to avoid the Ulgorian, as though Logan of all people was someone to be scared of. The nerd’s poison blood was the most “threatening” thing about him, and the Human had already shown how easily he could shake that off.

Patton was leading the Human by one hand, their size disparity as jarring and terrifying as ever. And the Human…

Roman turned his head to the side to study the scene more intently, and that in itself was strange.

Normally, Virgil was almost preternaturally aware of when he was being watched, according to Logan. It was obvious when he knew: the Human went tense and rigid, practically poised to pounce at any moment.

But now, he was trailing after Patton with a relaxed slope to his shoulders, his steps almost languid. He all but collapsed on the fluffy cushion Patton gestured to, eyes gliding shut as the Ampen climbed up after him.

Roman took a few steps into the room, and the Human cracked one eye open-- not entirely out of it, then. The mild suspicion he was regarded with was almost reassuring.

Upon closer inspection, there were physical changes, too. The human had gone from pale, almost grey-toned to having a pinkish tint to his skin. The grey-brown still clung to the hooded garment he’d draped himself in, creating an even more jarring contrast. Dirt, then? It would certainly explain the smudges he left everywhere he touched much better than some strange Human Residue.

… He wasn’t crossing Human Residue off the list of possibilities, though.

Most striking of all was his head. He had originally stalked around with a matted mess of fur, glinting oily in the light where it wasn’t dull with dirt. Now, the fur was clean and stuck out in little fluffy tufts, creating a much less menacing look overall.

Patton apparently agreed, because he’d scampered up to one shoulder and immediately buried his tiny hands into that fluff. Roman and Logan both startled, exchanging an alarmed-exasperated-fearful look, one that had become exceedingly more common after Patton came home with his new Human cellmate.

Surprisingly, all Virgil did was go even more boneless on the cushion, turning his head to better meet Patton’s touch. Patton closed his eyes happily, apparently completely fine with petting one of the most feared creatures in the galaxy.

That wasn’t surprising at all, actually.

What was surprising was the Human’s apparent tolerance for it.

“I wasn’t aware Humans enjoyed tactile ministrations,” Logan said, tapping his wristplates curiously. “Is Virgil alright?”

The Human in question turned slightly to glance at them, eyes still half-lidded. It was probably the least threatening body language Roman had seen from him since… well, ever. “Mm?”

“You’re just relaxing, aren’t you kiddo?” Patton combed through that mess of fluff some more and Virgil lost what little tension he’d regained. “Virgil spent a lot of time on guard while we were on the run planetside. He deserves all the time in the world to recuperate… and all the head scritches!”

Roman’s tail swished exasperatedly, but even he really couldn’t come up with a reason to begrudge the Human for this, not when Patton was so clearly enjoying having someone else onboard to preen. Even if that someone was a Deathworlder.

He moved to settle onto his own cushion under the guise of supervising, though for once he thought the Human might actually fall asleep in front of him.

And if he was perhaps just slightly curious about what exactly a fluffy Human felt like? Well, that was nobody’s business but his own.

[troquantary]

Edward Cullen: That Boy Ain’t Right

So I was doing a reread of @therealvinelle 's collection of Twilight metas, as one does, and in "Edward, Denial, and a Human Girlfriend" she mentions that she doesn't believe Edward is sane. I thought, "ha, yeah, he's definitely not," and also, "but wait, what does that mean exactly, please say more about that." But since she's already inundated with asks, I've decided to use my own head-muscle and explore this idea. (TL;DR: I start out more or less organized, synthesize some points Vinelle has made across several posts (and have hopefully linked to them all where relevant but please tell me if not), touch a little on narcissism, then take a hard left into the negative effects of being a telepath.)

Just a couple things to note at the outset, though. Theses have been written already (probably) about Edward as an abuser. Edward being insane doesn't negate that at all; he's definitely an asshole and just...a disaster of a human being. (I find it more funny than anything, but YMMV.) I'm also going to try to avoid talking specifically about mental illness and how it relates (or doesn't relate) to abusive behavior -- that's territory I'm not really equipped to discuss, like at all. My starting point is "Edward has a deeply warped perception of reality," not "Edward has X disorder."

So: deeply warped perception of reality. The evidence? Goes behind a cut, because my one character trait is Verbose.

Vinelle provides a great example of it in the post linked above, which I'll just quote because she does words good: "[Edward] keeps acting like his romance with Bella is a romantic tragedy, and all the cast of Twilight are actors on a stage making it as sublime as possible." Edward's the one to pursue Bella, but he does so with the full belief, from the very beginning, that it will never last; Bella will "outgrow" him, go on her human way, and he can spend the rest of eternity brooding magnificently over his too-short romantic bliss. [Insert premature ejaculation joke.] Turning her is never an option, even though Alice, Noted Psychic, says that romancing Bella will either end with her dead (exsanguinated) or dead (vampire).

This framing, where he's a dark anti-hero in love with -- but never tainting! -- the pure maiden and eventually leaving her in a grand, tragic sacrifice to preserve her soul? It's fucking bonkers. Bella isn't a person to him in this scenario. As Vinelle points out, Bella's never really a person to him at all; he falls in love with his own mental construct, cherry-picking from what he observes of her behavior and her responses to his 20 (thousand) Questions to convince himself that she is the ideal woman.

Bella's not the only one who gets the projection/cardboard-cutout treatment. Edward sees everything and everyone through a highly particular, personalized lens. He filters his entire reality, which we all do to an extent, but the thing with Edward is that he starts with his conclusions and then only pays attention to the evidence that supports those conclusions. Often that evidence consists of what he admits in New Moon are only "surface" thoughts -- but recognizing that limitation doesn't keep him from taking those thoughts as representative of what people are. Edward then becomes absolutely convinced by his own "reasoning" and won't be swayed from what he has decided is Objectively True. It's obvious with Bella; it's also painfully obvious with Rosalie. (Vinelle explains this and brings up Edward's raging Madonna/Whore complex in the same post, so refer to that again -- she's right.)

He also catastrophizes. Everything. Bella's just vibing in her room, rereading Wuthering Heights for the 87th time? She's gonna be hit by a meteor, better sneak into her room while she sleeps. Bella's going to the beach with the filthy mundanes their human classmates? She's gonna fall in the ocean. Jasper's cannibal pals are stopping by for a visit, but know not to hunt in the area? DISASTER, DEFCON 1, ALSO FUCK YOU JASPER FOR EVEN EXISTING IN MY AND BELLA'S SPHERE YOU UNSPEAKABLE BURDEN. Edward must believe that Bella is vulnerable and in near-constant peril, to support the reality he has created in which he is the villain turned protector and maybe?? hero??? (!!!) for his beloved. So when the actual, James-shaped danger arrives, he goes berserk, snarling and flipping his shit and generally not helping the situation. His fantasy demands that Bella remain human, so instead of doing the very thing Alice, Noted Psychic, assures him will neutralize the threat (and not just a threat to Bella, either, but to Bella's family and any other human James might decide to include in the "game"), he vetoes it immediately, no discussion. Bella Must Not Turn, and he sticks to those guns despite James nearly reducing her to ground beef, despite leaving Bella catatonic with depression (but human! success!) in New Moon, despite Aro's order and his family's vote and, let's not forget, Bella's clearly and repeatedly stated desire to be a vampire. It's going to happen. But he doesn't accept it until Renesmee busts out of Bella like the Kool-Aid man and the poor girl's heart finally, unequivocally stops.

Sane people don't behave this way. I don't want to slap labels on Edward, but I can't help but note that he comes across as highly narcissistic. He's the only real person in his universe, the lone player among us NPCs. That probably has a lot to do with him being frozen in the mindset and maturity of a seventeen-year-old boy, but I think it's also just...him, on some fundamental level. His failure to connect with others and recognize them as full, independent beings with their own wants and priorities isn't like Bella's failure -- she's badly depressed. Edward is...something else, and I get the sense that his sanity has been steadily deteriorating over time. And a cursory google of narcissistic traits turns up some familiar-looking stuff. He's self-loathing, yes, but also grandiose; he hates himself for the monster he is (and hates most vampires besides Esme and Carlisle for their monstrosity, too) but still feels superior to humans, to the extent that he felt entitled to human blood and resented Carlisle for depriving him of his "proper" diet. He eventually returns to Carlisle, but he's far from content -- the beginning of Midnight Sun finds him in a state of ennui, bored and dismissive of (if not outright disgusted by) everyone around him, that has apparently persisted for years and years. He doesn't play the piano, he doesn't compose, he doesn't enjoy anything...at least until Bella comes along and then he becomes obsessed to a disturbing degree with her and his new, romantic tragedy spin on reality.

[Next-day edit: I’m not sure where else to fit this in, but the way Edward casually contemplates violence against people who have, at best, mildly annoyed him is...chilling. I have a hard time writing off his strategizing how to murder the entire Biology class as a result of bloodlust -- it’s so calculated, nothing like the blackout state of thirst Emmett describes when he encountered his own “singer,” and that is probably the default for when a vampire is extremely thirsty. But even ignoring the Biology class incident, Edward still does things like consider, with disturbing frequency, how he might grievously injure or kill Mike Newton, all because...Edward considers him his romantic rival (despite Bella barely giving the kid the time of day). He thinks about slapping Mike through a wall, which might be an amusing slapstick image, except as a vampire Edward’s actually capable of turning this boy’s skeleton to a fine powder. So it’s, y’know, kind of sick when you think about it.

But even worse than that, when Bella tells Edward about how she flirted with Jacob to get at that sweet, sweet vampire lore, Edward chuckles and then, after dropping Bella home, flippantly observes that now that the treaty’s broken, why not genocide? I’m not even kidding, it’s right there in Midnight Sun; he seriously thinks about the fact that he’d be technically justified now in wiping out the entire tribe because a teenager tried to impress a girl with a spooky story. That is fucked. Remember, Edward was there with Carlisle when the treaty was first established. He knows how remarkable it is that they even came to a truce in the first place, that it was only ever possible because Carlisle is...well, Carlisle, and that it marks a pretty significant moment in supernatural history. He doesn’t care; he doesn’t respect it, or he’d never think something like “Ha ha, if I went and killed them all, I wouldn’t even be wrong. I mean, I won’t do it, but I’m just saying, I wouldn’t be wrong.”

Again: not the thought process or behavior of a sane person. (Or a person that respects life in general -- sorry Carlisle, big L.)]

Finally, whether he's a narcissist or not, I think the fact that Edward has constant, unavoidable access to everyone's thoughts is a powerful contributing factor to his instability. He can tune out the mental noise to an extent, but he can't stop it -- so he comes to rely on it like another sense. This causes issues with disconnect and lack of empathy, of course, but there's another facet to this shit diamond: he's basically experiencing a ceaseless flow of intrusive thoughts. His narration in Midnight Sun suggests that he "hears" the words people think, can "see" what they visualize in their mind's eye, and can sense the emotional "tone" and intensity of their thoughts. Therefore, perceiving Jasper's thirst through his thoughts makes Edward more aware of his own, "doubling" the discomfort. This would be a lot to deal with even from just his immediate coven members, but Edward gets all of this pouring into his head like a firehose on a day-to-day basis because the Cullens live right alongside humans. I know Meyerpires have galaxy brains or whatever, but that's a ton to process.

Besides the compounding effect on his own thirst when he "feels" the thirst of others, Meyer never suggests that Edward has difficulty separating his own thoughts from other people's; even when he was newly turned, he recognized Carlisle's "voice" in his head as Carlisle's. That would create a whole different host of issues around identity, but it looks like Edward's escaped that particular torment. However, I can easily imagine that what he does experience is just shy of unbearable nonetheless, with an eroding effect on his sanity over decades. He can't sleep to escape it; he's on a dishwater diet and probably (like the rest of his family) experiencing a perpetual, low-grade physical discomfort due to his thirst never being fully satisfied; and he's around far more people than is the norm for vampires -- even discounting all the humans, his own coven is unusually large -- meaning more noise.

Honestly, it would be weirder if he were all there, considering.

And even though I feel like I lost a sense of structure around where I started ranting about telepathy, I've written like 1.5k words about Edward fucking Cullen and I think that's enough for one post.

[jamiedc-they-them]

I got you (Platonic)

Requested by @emcon-imagines

“Jemma --” Daisy said, as much as she loved her friend, she knew that she still wasn’t at the top of her lying game. To be honest, she hoped that Jemma never made it there, as if that would signal some sort of end to the Jemma Simmons she knew.

Still, back on point, “Daisy...I promised Y/N…” She said. And, that did get her attention, she had promised you something.

“I just wanna help her, Simmons. I mean, you’ve seen her...Tired, not herself. Not the bubbly person we all know. Something’s going on…” She knew how this would seem to anyone else; someone interrogating someone, almost gaslighting in some way to get some information.

But, the two women knew better; it was two friends trying to help another.

Besides, the three had formed their own group; the term “power puffs” being thrown around a lot. Still, not the point --

“I didn’t just swear and drop my concern, Daisy. I wanted to help too…” She trailed off, and Daisy nodded for her to continue, “I did to her that she would probably get yelled at...but, she brushed it off at the time. I don’t think Fitz’s sarcasm helped it either.”

“What’d he say?”

“‘What’s the worst thing that could happen? I mean, yeah, you’ll probably get yelled at, but it’s not like she’s going to kill you.’ And I said, ‘Not helping’ and...Oh, sorry.” She said, catching herself.

Daisy smiled, “It’s alright, Jem. Just, tell me, please. I’ll stop after that.”

Jemma could never say now the puppy dog expression Daisy Johnson could pull off, “...That’s the problem, she isn’t stopping.But, she told me to not bother you about it. She knows how you can be with this and...she doesn’t want to worry anyone else. She says she can handle it.” The Brit said, almost in one entire breath.

“Famous last words, sadly in some cases.” Daisy said, looking out the window before back to Jemma, “Where is she now?”

As Jemma went to answer, her gaze changed; she looked alert, “Well...there.” She said, nodding her head behind Daisy.

The woman turned, seeing you walk in, bag over your shoulder from yet another assignment...yet another few months undercover.

If you were good at hiding the strain of the work before, this was not one of those times; with the heaviness in your eyes, worn down expression and posture of your body.

It was getting to you.

Daisy then looked to Jemma, giving her friend a pat on the arm, “I got this.” She promised, before taking her leave.

She wasn’t one to break them.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

You had put the weapons away, and was getting ready for the ebrie. Just ready to get that ticked off, then wait until the next job comes your way. You had to keep going, SHIELD was always cut throat, but especially now; you were on the back foot and what not. You had to prove yourself to Coulson, he brought you and Daisy in and kept you in despite what you had done to them.

That had to be worth something.

You went with your bag, a bag mixed with your own things and the contents of the sting. Smart? No, not really. But, you were working with limited time. So, you know.

Besides, Coulson had cleared it and said it was fine.

So, you went into the kitchen, gonna go upstairs to get it all done with, when you paused…

There, on her laptop, was your sister, just typing away.

Given the fact of the bottle of water she had was only just opened, you had to guess that she had only just set up.

“Hey.” She said, looking up at you from the table, smiling as if you hadn’t caught her in the act.

“Hey.” You said back, dropping the bag to the floor. You both held each others stare for a moment too long; you had been in each others lives for forever, so you could read each other like a book.

“Been there long?” You asked, hands going in your pocket. You knew the answer, but still…

“Nah, just waiting for you.” She said, moving to sitting on the table, legs dangling off of it, “Just wanted to see if you were ok.”

You held your arms out to your side for a moment, a kind of “here I am” gesture, before letting them slap against your body as you let them drop, “I’m ok...Just want to get up there.” You said, pinching your nose as you closed your eyes for a moment; a rare moment of letting this toll be known to the world in a way that was intentional.

Daisy saw a way in there, “You tired? I mean, sleep deprivation and mental health issues don’t really go hand in hand...You’re gonna snap.”

You nodded, same posture as before, “Sure. Just wanna get up there and do this, D.”

“Coulson doesn’t need it right now.”

“He does.” You argued.

She sighed, the Johnson gene of stubbornness surely rubbing off on you, “Look, Y/N/N, I get it. But, AC -- Well, DC, is more than ok with this. Trust me.”

“Yeah, well, I’ll do shit like that when you do.” Ok, fair; did it hit? Yeah, but she wasn’t a sunken battleship yet...that phrase was weird.

Anyways, “Y/N,” She started, getting up and grabbing your hands in her own, looking you right in the eyes, “You’re tired, ok? Actually tired….I mean, look, you can barely stand right now. What you need, is rest. Ok?”

Out of the siblings, you weren’t as open as she was. But, as said before, she knew you better than anyone else. And, because of that, you could be yourself with her. You let yourself nod, eyes dropping to the ground. She squeezed your hands, smile coming onto her face.

It was like that Skye part of her, the inner child of her’s that needed healing was alway there; the optimist that refused to see the dark.

Still, she grabbed your bag, putting an arm around your shoulder, and leading you to your room.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Your room was a fucking mess. Jesus, was it a mess. Now, Jemma had told Daisy that she had no one touch it; no one go in or even put their hand on the door knob.

But...it was messy, to say the least.

The two of you stood, silently looking at the state of your room; clothes everywhere, doors left open, bed sheets unorganised.

She heard your breath shudder a bit. It seemed you had forgotten that the room was left like this. Then again, she was sure you were almost leading two - well, now really more than two - lives at once; SHIELD, your own, and the many undercover personas you had to adapt to.

Hunter’s lecture about SHIELD not being a lifestyle but a job was true; granted, it was a belief in the world and the good that laid in it, but he still had a point.

It seemed for you, those two had fully blurred into on destructive, stress filled life. And it was slowly killing you.

You entered first, grabbing some clothes from the floor and going into your bathroom, locking the door.

She, meanwhile, went to your bed, smelling them and groaning at the stink that came from them.

She put the bag down, picking up some of your other clothes - less yours, more SHIELD’s clothes that they gave to operatives.

There was no style, only a branded shirt (some actually were, but that’s not the point) to say “Shoot at me, I’m with the people you guys at HYDRA hate!”

She put them away, the clothes coloured black. She remembered when you used to have a more colourful attire, an expression to who you were.

No, it was just SHIELD.

After the clothes had been sorted, she then sat on the floor, opening the bag. She looked up at the sound from your bathroom, a shower being turned on.

She looked back to the bag, seeing bags of cocaine, some files...and your clothes. One of the bags had a hole in, and some of the contents had gone from the bag and onto your own clothes. These ones were yours...now stained with coke.

With work…

The shower was still going. And she knew that you were devoted to these people...but what had you lost in the process?

She went further into the bag, digging deep into it. It took a few moments, but she found something, her fingers brushed against something…

Removing her hand from the bag, she found a necklace; she smiled, this one more nostalgic. It was a necklace that you had both gotten together with some money you had both saved. Inside there was a photo of the pair of you…

You’d kept it, you were still there.

She looked to the door, the shower was still going. She looked to the clothes...she could make a quick trip…

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

She came back, clothes in her possession, but no bag. The bag was with Coulson, but the clothes and necklace she kept.

She came back in, putting the clothes on the bed. The door opened, and you emerged, now in sleep gear.

“Hey.” You said.

She smiled, “Hey.” She said back.

“Can - can you uh, can you stay for the night? Just...after all that, and what you said...I think I could use a break…?”

Her smile softened, “Of course.” She said.

You were still you...you still had your own life.

SHIELD wasn’t your lifestyle, just a belief in the world and a job.

[lifeofresulullah]

The Life of The Prophet Muhammad(pbuh): The Treaty of Hudaybiyah and Calling the Great States of the World to Islam

Muqawqis is Invited to Islam

(7th year of the Migration, the month of Muharram / AD 628)

Hatib b. Abi Baltaa, one of the Companions, set off to Egypt with the letter of the Prophet addressing Muqawqis. Hatib, who went on travelling day and night, gave the letter of the Prophet to Muqawqis in Alexandria. The following was written in the letter which Muqawqis had somebody read it:

“Bismillahirrahmanirrahim!

“From Muhammad, the slave and Messenger of God to Muqawqis, the leader of Copts!

“Peace be upon those who follow the right path!

“After this prayer, I invite you to Islam. Embrace Islam so that you will attain salvation. Embrace Islam so that God will reward you twice. If you refuse my invitation, may you be responsible for the sins of Copts!”

“Say: ‘O people of the Book! come to common terms as between us and you: that we worship none but God; that we associate no partners with Him; that we erect not from among ourselves Lords and patrons other than God.’ If then they turn back, say: ye! ‘Bear witness that we (at least) are Muslims (bowing to God’s will).’” (Aal-i Imran, 64)

When the letter was read, Muqawqis said, “May it be good for all!” and entertained Hatib, the envoy of the Prophet. Then, he put the blessed letter of the Messenger of God into an ivory box and sealed the box.

Muqawqis Accepts

One night Muqawqis summoned Hatib b. Abi Baltaa. There was only a translator with them. After talking for a long time, Muqawqis accepted the prophethood of Hazrat Muhammad (pbuh) though he did not become a Muslim. He said,

“I knew that a prophet would come but I thought he was going to appear in Damascus. For most of the previous prophets appeared in Damascus. In fact, I also saw in the books that the last prophet would emerge in Arabia, the land of hardness, scarcity and poverty.

This time is just the time of the prophet whose characteristics are written in the book of God.

However, Copts will not obey me if I become a Muslim. I cannot leave my sovereignty.

This prophet will be sovereign in many countries; after him, his Companions will come and settle in our land; then, they will defeat those people over there.”

With this talk, Muqawqis accepted the prophethood of Hazrat Muhammad (pbuh) but he did not mention it to his people lest he should lose his sovereignty; he did not become a Muslim, either. Love of sovereignty and kingdom deprived him of the happiness of belief.

The Letter and Presents of Muqawqis to the Prophet

Muqawqis did not become a Muslim because the love of worldly sovereignty outweighed in his heart; however, he sent a letter, some presents and two women slaves to the Prophet.

After that, he saw Hatib b. Abi Baltaa off in Alexandria and said to him, “Do not let Copts hear anything from you.”

The two female slaves that Muqawqis sent to the Messenger of God were Ma­riya and her sister Sirin. Hatib b. Abi Baltaa explained Islam to them on the way and offered them to embrace Islam; thus, they became Muslims.

Later, the Prophet married Mariya and he married Sirin off to Hassan b. Thabit, the poet. 

The other presents sent by Muqawqis were:

* A white mule and a donkey,

* One thousand mithqal (4,5 kg) of gold,

* Twenty suits made of fine Egyptian fabric,

* A crystal glass,

* Aromatic honey, very nice perfumes, etc.

The mule was given the name “Duldul” and the donkey “Ufayr”.

Hatib b. Abi Baltaa is in Madinah

After staying in the country of Muqawqis for five days, Hatib b. Abi Baltaa went to Madinah and told the Prophet what had happened; he also gave the Prophet the letter and the presents sent by the Prophet.

Muqawqis stated the following in his letter:

“From Muqawqis, the leader of Copts to Muhammad b. Abdullah!

Peace be upon you!

After greeting, I want to say this:

I received your letter and read it. I understood what you mentioned in your letter and what you invited me to do.

I knew that a prophet would come but I thought he was going to appear in Damascus!

I entertained your envoy. I sent you two female slaves respected by Copts and clothes; I also sent a mule for you to ride.

Peace be upon you!”

When the letter was read, the Prophet said, “Miserable man! He could not risk his sovereignty but the sovereignty he loved so much will not remain!”

The Original Letter that the Prophet Sent to Muqawqis

The blessed letter of the Messenger of God he sent to Muqawqis is kept in Istanbul Topkapi Palace Museum, in the Department of Holy Relics.

The letter was found in an old monastery among Coptic books in the town of Ahmim in Egypt in H 1267; thereupon, Ottoman Sultan Abdulmajid bought it and made it sent to Istanbul.

The blessed letter, whose dimensions are 16x19 cm, was written on brown leather with black ink and have twelve lines.  

The seal of the Messenger of God is present at the bottom of the letter.

There are some holes made by moths in the letter

[neverendingdream111]

GENSHIN IMPACT AS IDOLS

- one of the groups consists of: Zhongli, Childe, Venti, Xiao, Diluc, Kaeya and Albedo

- Zhongli is the leader and the oldest obvsly and his smooth deep voice is to die for

- He's also the visual along with Albedo (tho everyone here is gorgeous, ngl)

- Childe constantly switches between rap and vocal, but he's mostly recognized for his amazing dancing (he's the main dancer for a reason)

- Venti is the main vocal and possibly writes most of their songs (sometimes Albedo helps him)

- Funnily enough, Venti is often confused for being the maknae while in reality he's the second oldest in the group

- Xiao is the main rapper

- He refuses to sing but would do it if asked (rarely)

- and he's the real maknae - even tho he hates it he can't do anything about it (and everyone, especially Venti and Childe, loves teasing him for it)

- Diluc and Kaeya are the other rappers along with Xiao and they are related in some way tho both refuse to reveal anything to the public (but everyone is convinced they're brothers)

- they don't get along most of the time and argue constantly, but it only amuses the rest of the members and the fans absolutely love their arguments bc it more often than not turns into a rap battle

- and let me tell you, they completely kill it

- then, we have Albedo. He and Zhongli are the most peaceful ones and most likely keep the team together bc if not those idiots would've caused absolute chaos eons ago

- His voice is angelic, everyone adores it

- Childe and Kaeya are the most chaotic duo especially together

- they have the stupidest ideas and like to mess around

- and they are perfectly aware of their god-like looks and also have the audacity to use it "against" their fans (not that anyone complains)

- they are partners in crime when it comes to teasing Diluc

- Kaeya does it on a daily basis and Childe found it funny and decided to join him on causing inconvenience to others, lol

- Xiao, even though he's an idol, hates interacting with humans but makes an exception for fanmeetings, concerts, interviews and such because Zhongli raised him right--

- he has a soft spot for cats and would have one at the dorm if it wasn't for Venti being allergic to them (although he doesn't see any problem with it)

- speaking of the dorm, it's the pure definition of destruction

- Childe and Kaeya being the little shits they are room together and they are that kind of roommates that would blast music on full volume in the middle of the night just because they felt like it (but obvsly they do it to summon a demon in the form of sleep deprived Diluc because they know he's a light sleeper)

- Venti at some point moved in with them bc he felt like it and it's totally not because Xiao kicked him out--

- Zhongli and Diluc share a room because they both know how to appreciate a moment of peace and they just like each other's company; their perfect afternoon on their day off is sitting there with a cup of tea each and exchanging stories they've heard and/or experienced

- Albedo is probably the only person Xiao would room with excluding Zhongli (and maybe Diluc but it's debatable) because he's calm and collected, doesn't talk too much unlike the other three and when he does talk it's nice to listen to him

- also, the sound of sketching calms him down

- Venti somehow lives in all of the rooms in the dorm. First he roomed with Xiao and Albedo, but he got kicked out by the maknae. Then he gravitated towards Zhongli and Diluc but after a few days the redhead got so annoyed with him he ended up with Childe and Kaeya. The three of them share a braincell, that's why they get along so well, but even though he lives with them he sometimes ends up in the other rooms but that's just him

- he likes a change of scenery, ehe

- Zhongli's the dad of the group

- whenever someone has a problem they automatically go to him

- also, even though they are a really chaotic group, they are equally capable of working together (main reason why they are so goddamn awesome on stage)

- Xiao might act like he doesn't care but he does. A lot

- every time one of his hyungs is having a bad day he subtly tries to cheer them up. He feels awkward with words in these moments and physical contact isn't really his forte but instead he does things like buying them their favorite snack, or opting to watch their favorite film with them (even if he absolutely hates it he still would watch it)

- everyone obvsly knows what he's doing and they appreciate it

- Childe and Kaeya actually aren't as easy-going as they like to appear on stage. They are really emotional human beings and are probably most affected by hate comments and such

- Diluc, as much as he despises their attitude and teasing he has to endure bc of them, cares about them a lot and usually he's the one to knock some sense in them when they believe the haters or just have a bad day. He may not like their behavior but he's not heartless and deems them as family (even tho he wouldn't admit it)

- Albedo isn't a lot older than Xiao, maybe something around a few months, so everyone thinks of him like a second maknae and just because he gives off the vibe, y'know

- He loves drawing and sometimes does a sketch of one of the members or recreates a fanart of them he saw on Pinterest (cue to the fans going wild)

- He, alongside with Diluc, often cooks for them. They both are amazing cooks and I refuse to believe otherwise

- Venti has a playlist prepared for every occasion and uses them accordingly

- he also has playlists dedicated to every member of the group and it's his way of cheering them up or being there for them when they are separated

- as for the run episodes, well.... It can be described in one word

- chaos

- they're even capable of riling Zhongli up!

- tho he mostly opts to watch the chaos from the sidelines, snickering under his breath, he ends up in the crossfire from time to time

- contrary to popular belief, the most competitive ones are Diluc and Xiao

- they are so set on winning they sometimes forget that it's all a game

- Childe once got an elbow to the face in one episode but still no one knows who did it (it was Kaeya--)

- Albedo is just... There, tho he does enjoy it. More than he would admit

- Childe and Kaeya are dying of laughter most of the time and do stupid things that probably only they understand which makes the other laugh harder

- and Venti absolutely loves being the host: it gives him a perfect view of his friends who half the time have no idea what the hell is going on and, of course, power

- the fanmeetings are just the other excuse for them to make fun of each other and fool around

- fans don't mind it one bit because it is honestly hilarious to watch the utter chaos unfold

- even when they are signing albums and merch they throw comments here and there to provoke the other

- especially Xiao bc he's a softie when it comes to their fans and as long as the girls don't do anything... Weird, he doesn't mind interacting with them and sometimes finds himself actually enjoying the contact

- while we're on the fanmeetings--

- Zhongli is absolutely wonderful. He's the kind to delicately hold your hand, look into you eyes and smile softly while focusing entirely on you and what you have to say, indulging into conversation as well

- if it wasn't for the staff members reminding him that the time's up, he would spend at least an hour with every fan

- Childe is so excited he grins so much his cheeks hurt, and would look at you like you just made his day. You can be stuttering, super nervous and anxious and he'd just say it's completely fine and that you should take your time, even if the staff says that you should move to the next member

- Venti is the one that talks a lot, but would shut up and listen to you. He especially likes playing with your hands or just some games like rock-paper-scissors

- he also loves it when some fans show him their singing and he encourages them to go on, synchronizing with them and making an amazing duet

- Xiao is, like I've said before, a big softie. He really appreciates the fact that people find their music nice and genuinely like to listen to it. Would probably ask you questions like "what's your favorite song?", "What do you think of this album *gestures to the one he just signed*" etc

- he DID wear cat ears once because a fan gave them to him and they looked kind of cute

- he didn't hear the end of it for two weeks minimum and Childe and Kaeya probably have the pic as their wallpapers

- Diluc is the most... normal one? I mean, he enjoys the meetings a lot, but he doesn't show his excitement as much as the others. Conversations with him are like talking to an old friend that understands you and it's just so... wholesome

- he's honestly surprised when he gets gifts from the fans. He does appreciate it of course, but he just doesn't really understand why you would go as far as to give him something for no particular reason please give him lots of love he needs it-

- Kaeya is the one with the audacity to flirt with you. Loves seeing the blush on your cheeks and just enjoys annoying people. Though he sometimes stops it out of mercy and opts to talk with you like a normal human being--

- most protective of their fans. Sees one in distress or being picked on, immediatly steps in or tells a staff member to handle the situation

- Albedo is somewhere between Zhongli and Diluc's behaviour tbh. He's really sweet, loves talking to the fans and gets super excited whenever one of them shows him a fanart - especially if it's an original idea

- now let's get to the best part

- as lovely and peaceful as they are on a daily basis, they turn into freakin devils on stage

- kind grandpa with a calming voice? Who's that? A goddamn satan entered the chat

- ooooh, the cat lover? Sorry, we only have a mf demon available

- don't even get me started on the Childe-Kaeya-Diluc trio--

- all in all, they may be annoying each other night and day but they still love one another like family and their bond only strengthens when they stand in the spotlight

I had this idea today and, well, it turned out like this, hope you enjoyed! I also may be doing some sort of continuation to this with Xingqiu, Chongyun, Razor and Bennett as a trainee idol group so let me know if you'd like something like this and if you have any ideas for other groups!

02.05.21

~Nana

[salmonthestoryteller]

Just Gonna Nope on Wyatt Long’s Arc in RNM S3

Alright. Well, you knew it wasn’t going to all be squeeing and plot spec from me, so…  I’m going to talk about Wyatt Long’s arc, and why I’m against it, one more time.  With tags this time since I don’t think it’s that controversial an opinion.  But still tagging for discourse just in case.  And, hopefully, I can explain what I have against this plot - especially as it is currently being written - well enough.

And where I’m going to start is with the words of our own Max Evans, “Context Matters.”

There is a reason Max begins the story of what happened to Rosa in season one not with the night she died, but the night Isobel was attacked by the Drifter.  With the murder he committed and the trauma it inflicted on the Pod Squad.  With the fact that, his belief at the time, was that his sister had an undiagnosed psychological condition that had lead to the murders. Because Isobel’s crime, even if she had committed it, was not a premeditated act as far as the evidence showed. It was something she’d done while “checked out”.  When she wasn’t truly in control of her actions.

I have posted before that I believe Noah when he says he didn’t used to be who they knew him as.  Why?  Because Noah endured 60+ years of solitary confinement and sensory deprivation.  Look those terms up if you are unfamiliar with them. Extended periods of either can have severe negative effects in much shorter time than 60 years.  So if you tell me Noah was a nice guy before he got stuck in that pod?  Yeah, that I’ll believe.

Wyatt is a far different story.

Wyatt is not someone who is simply angry, or hateful - both of which - yes - is possible for a person to become over time due to experiences.

Wyatt’s acts of violence do not occur during moments of desperation, recent trauma, or even in retaliation for another person’s attack. Wyatt took a gun, drove to the Crashdown Cafe, and carried through with shooting up the building.  Wyatt then bragged about this act afterwards.

Yes, he was encouraged and assisted in grabbing and beating up Arturo. But when those with him grew squeamish it was Wyatt who insisted on continuing. It was Wyatt who was clearly shown enjoying hurting Arturo.  And clearly had no regrets when fighting with Max in the alley afterwards.

Due to things both Jenna Cameron and Max Evans say, we can only assume Liz and Arturo were not Wyatt’s only victims:

Jenna (01x02):  I’d recognize those naked cowgirl flaps anywhere.  Wyatt Long.  Hate him. Jenna (01x02): Which Long probably knew.  He’ll spend the night in jail and his daddy will pay the fine. Max (01x11):  But you are a racist sack of stupid with years of your daddy bailing you out of violent crimes.

In the most recent episodes, Wyatt again took a gun, drove to the Crashdown Cafe, and attacked Rosa.

In short, Wyatt is someone who is capable of premeditated acts of violence against multiple victims, who finds enjoyment in hurting others, and shows no signs of regretting these actions.

The type of person a statement like that can be applied to is not “a sweet kid who turned out this way because he lost his sister.”  Wyatt would most likely have already been showing signs of this sort of behavior in his late teens if not sooner.

If they had erased all of Wyatt’s memories then we could possibly talk about nature vs. nurture and how a different set of influences might change who he turned out to be. They didn’t. They only erased ten years.  His major influence in this regard would be the family that had already been a part of his life for 17(?) years prior to the ten years missing.   The same family Forrest specifically mentioned being the black sheep of. The same family that raised Kate - who wrote racist messages on Rosa’s car.  The same family who is stated to have bailed Wyatt out of jail for violent crimes multiple times.  You can’t nature vs nurture when Wyatt’s nurture would have been the same in both instances.

Even if you are retconning Wyatt’s previous on screen behavior, the way they are writing Wyatt is still wrong.  Wyatt would still have the mind of a teenage boy not only raised by a racist family, but living heavily under their thumb still.  Even if he was attempting to “break out” of his family’s mindset, he would not be acting or responding as written.

To Kyle’s comment about his friend’s, it should have been “You mean my father’s friends.” or something similar.  Because he would still know the type of people Kyle is talking about whether he liked it or not.

And if he has the mind of his 17 year old self, do you honestly think he would have publicly gotten in the face of Jordan to get him to back down from a fight when his family is heavily connected to the man in question?

It’s too nice.  It’s too “perfect.”

And honestly, even if they’d bothered to write either of those two scenarios instead, I would still be against it.  Wasting screen time on a magical reform for Wyatt Long that could be applied to multiple other characters?  No thanks.

tl;dr:

Whether Wyatt is responsible for the crimes he committed despite not remembering them isn’t truly relevant.

The fact that Wyatt is not just capable of premeditated acts of violence but enjoying them without regret is. Ten years wouldn’t change that.

There are plenty of characters this screen time could have been given to instead of wasting it on a magical reform for a racist antagonist.

[runephoenix6769]

“What is with the Blake / Yang hate this week? Folks seem particularly fired up.” I asked this question on a forum because of something I’ve noticed the last few days on discussions about Blake and Yang/Bumbleby/shipping in general. I keep seeing the same answers.  “It ruins the team’s dynamic.”

Welp, I’m pretty certain none of those people would say that Raven/Tai and Tai/Summer ruined the team’s dynamic. Or that Ren and Nora are currently  ruining the team’s dynamic.  What is this holy than thou crusading to protect the sanctity of the team dynamic? Rwby has always been first and foremost about interpersonal relationships. It’s what drives the actual plot. Character growth, failing relationships/friendships. How they change over time, either to grow or crumble. 

“It’s being shoehorned in, for fanwank.” How? How is it being shoehorned in? Give me a narrative breakdown as to where/how/when this occurs? Compare it to the Sun/Blake narrative and show me the glaring differences between the Yang/Blake narrative to prove that bumbleby was never planned yet blacksun was?  (Sidenote. Anyone that has been asked to do this on the forum has yet to do it.)

“Yang showed interest in boys.”“ Yes, yes she passed comment once. In vol 1 episode 1. 8 VOLUMES AGO. She has shown not a lick of interest in guys since. Its almost as if she’s like any normal 17 year old girl who is growing into adulthood and figuring herself out, who might be realising her interest in Blake isn’t strictly platonic and is trying to navigate that whilst also grappling with what that means with regards to their friendship. And dealing with an over arching situation that is, ya know, potentially the end of the world as they know it.  It’s about two years in universe, right? Which is about right of an amount of time for what its happening between them to play out. It only feels like longer to the audience because, well, its taken 8/9 years to tell the story up until that point. 

“The Fans are too loud/vocal/come on too strong.” Ok, this one I agree with, we are loud and vocal and that might come across as coming on strong  (here’s a huge) BUT, there is actually a genuine explanation for why it seems that way.   If you really think about it, objectively. 

Hear me out.  Fans are excited about the potential representation we don't otherwise usually get in media. I mean, if you have 10,000 pieces of media and only ONE of them represents lgbtq people, of course we’re gonna be excited and talk about the ONE quite a bit with others who are like us. This might also be the first time we’ve seen anything like this, or seen ourselves represented in a somewhat positive light. It stands to reason that the other 9999 pieces aren't going to hold our attention as much, esp if its the same hetero romance played out a bajillion times before, right? I mean, if you have a group of people who are constantly represented in the 9999 other shows, their voices are going to spread thinner, right? They aren’t going to be gathered all on one place, talking about the same thing because there are 9999 other choices to connect them to other people. They aren’t going to care as much if their straight ship happens/doesnt happen 

“Hey, I can move onto another piece of media that is churned out by the status quo. No big deal.”

Hetero romances are ten a penny. Flick through netflix, hulu, crunchy roll etc.  Where as if you have a group of people who are only represented in ONE show out of the 10,000 those people are going to gather in one place to connect with others and its only going to seem like they are louder due to the densely packed space.  These same people have been majority silent about the other 9999 pieces of media as their voice isn't usually represented in a positive light - being queer characters are usually brutally murdered or sidelined. (Thankyou Hays Code.)- or not even represented at all. (Bury Your Gays is a trope for a reason, folks.) And we are NEVER the titular characters. We’ve been living on crumbs and subtext for decades! Not to mention showrunners who actively queerbait the hell out of us for ratings and viewership. The almighty Pink Pound as its often referred to in business. “But why do they have to make them gay?” You’re not made gay, you’re born gay. It just takes longer for some people to realise than others. It can be a gradual realisation. And this is quite possibly the case with Yang/Blake, slowly coming to realise their own burgeoning sexualities and attraction to each other.

”Why do they have to be gay?” They don't need a reason to be queer! They just are! Queerness is only a part of a person, not their everything. It’s actually quite refreshing to see Yang/Blake being portrayed as much more than their potential sexuality.  Ask yourself, ‘Why does a character have to be straight? And why doesn’t a straight character have to constantly reaffirm their sexuality? Why is ‘straightness’ assumed by default?’ Heteronormativity, is something that has been perpetuated by decades of media. (helped by the Hays Code with its out of date moral code. To be other is to be punished within the narrative.) That straight is the default setting. It’s not! We exist! Everywhere! We always have and we are going to talk to each other about it when we see a glimpse of ourselves represented in what has been a relative Sahara Desert when it comes to queer content were we are not villainised.   “The romance is detracting from the plot.” Two seconds ago, people were claiming that the romance was none existent. Which is it? But Nora and Ren’s romance that is being held up as a mirror to bumbleby is fine? That Jaune relentlessly pursuing Weiss was perfectly ok. Neptune openly hitting on female characters is fine. 

“I don’t have a problem with LGBT. I just don’t want it forced down my throat.” Again, out of 10,000 pieces of media, this is just ONE show. Nobody is forcing anyone to watch it or participate.  Queer people have had to stomach literal 100′s of years of straight media forced upon them. Since the very conception of the written word and narrative storytelling. In plays, theatre, art, music, tv, film, on billboards, advertising, in places of education and learning etc etc. Queer people are bombarded with it whilst also being surrounded by negativity towards queerness. 

“They are shoving it down my throat!” part two Is hand holding, compassion and expressing concern for another person and comforting them somehow offensive? Renora kissed, not a problem. Arkos kissed, not a problem. Show me in the sand where the line is drawn. What is the difference? Please explain this to me? Why is the expression of queerness somehow offensive? Is this because decades of media have perpetuated the false idea that all queer people are sex crazed perverts? That you’ve been groomed into thinking that queer sexuality is only based in the act of sex itself? That queer sexuality couldn’t possibly be similar to heterosexuality in its expression?

That it couldn’t possibly be about attraction, emotional, mental and maybe one day blossom into physical between two consenting adults, a pure expression of love the exact same as heterosexuality. 

That some how queer love stems from some sort of deviancy or mental health issue. That queer people are some how bad or evil, and therefore their expression of affection is wrong? Oh, I wonder where those beliefs have possibly stemmed from?  “Why are they in my face?” part three.  50% of of the titular cast are potentially queer. Blake and Yang. But if you look at the overall cast ensemble that runs at minimum 16 any given volume, that’s a measly 12.5% (prolly a lot smaller if you actually counted the whole cast that appears in rotation each volume) Also, someone did the math. Blake - a titular character- actually has less spoken lines that Jaune. ffs. B&Y spent neatly a whole two volumes of 8 apart. 25% of the narrative as it stands on entirely different continents. 

I fail to see how it being in someone’s face could be the case.

  “I just don't see it!”

That’s ok and perfectly valid But listen when people who have lived this experience are telling you that their experience is being portrayed on the screen. That they see themselves being represented.  OK, This completely got away from me. In conclusion. They are more straight people than queer people and media often reflects that.   We are usually the silent minority, we are sick of it but we are used to it and we are very excited that things seem to be finally changing.

It’s two characters in an large cast in ONE show out of 10,000. Its a piece of media that, for a change, hasn’t been 100% curated for straight people.  We are often not allowed to play in the sand box and if we are, we’re told to play with the broken toys, be grateful and quiet. So when we are given a sandbox to play in with new unbroken toys, we are gonna dog pile in there and make a ruckas, calling our friends over. What I’m trying to say is, it’s gonna get rowdy.  and here’s something to think about.  “When you are used to privilege, equality feels like deprivation.”  

[basicsofislam]

PROPHET MUHAMMAD (PBUH)’s BIOGRAPHY : Muqawqis is Invited to Islam

(7th year of the Migration, the month of Muharram / AD 628)

Hatib b. Abi Baltaa, one of the Companions, set off to Egypt with the letter of the Prophet addressing Muqawqis. Hatib, who went on travelling day and night, gave the letter of the Prophet to Muqawqis in Alexandria. The following was written in the letter which Muqawqis had somebody read it:

“Bismillahirrahmanirrahim!

“From Muhammad, the slave and Messenger of God to Muqawqis, the leader of Copts!

“Peace be upon those who follow the right path!

“After this prayer, I invite you to Islam. Embrace Islam so that you will attain salvation. Embrace Islam so that God will reward you twice. If you refuse my invitation, may you be responsible for the sins of Copts!”

“Say: ‘O people of the Book! come to common terms as between us and you: that we worship none but God; that we associate no partners with Him; that we erect not from among ourselves Lords and patrons other than God.’ If then they turn back, say: ye! ‘Bear witness that we (at least) are Muslims (bowing to God’s will).’” (Aal-i Imran, 64)[ Ibn Qayyim, Zadu’l-Maad, Vol. 3, p. 72; Halabi, Insanu’l-Uyun, Vol. 3, p. 295-296. ]

When the letter was read, Muqawqis said, “May it be good for all!” and entertained Hatib, the envoy of the Prophet. Then, he put the blessed letter of the Messenger of God into an ivory box and sealed the box.[ Ibn Sa’d, Tabaqat, Vol. 1, p. 260; Ibn Sayyid, Uyun al-Athar, Vol. 2, p. 266. ]

Muqawqis Accepts

One night Muqawqis summoned Hatib b. Abi Baltaa. There was only a translator with them. After talking for a long time, Muqawqis accepted the prophethood of Hazrat Muhammad (pbuh) though he did not become a Muslim. He said,

“I knew that a prophet would come but I thought he was going to appear in Damascus. For most of the previous prophets appeared in Damascus. In fact, I also saw in the books that the last prophet would emerge in Arabia, the land of hardness, scarcity and poverty.

This time is just the time of the prophet whose characteristics are written in the book of God.

However, Copts will not obey me if I become a Muslim. I cannot leave my sovereignty.

This prophet will be sovereign in many countries; after him, his Companions will come and settle in our land; then, they will defeat those people over there.”[ Ibn Sa’d, ibid, Vol. 1, p. 260; Ibn Sayyid, ibid, Vol. 2, p. 266. ]

With this talk, Muqawqis accepted the prophethood of Hazrat Muhammad (pbuh) but he did not mention it to his people lest he should lose his sovereignty; he did not become a Muslim, either.[ Ibn Sa’d, ibid, Vol. 1, p. 260; Ibn Sayyid, ibid, Vol. 2, p. 266. Halabi, ibid, Vol. 3, p. 296-297. ]Love of sovereignty and kingdom deprived him of the happiness of belief.

The Letter and Presents of Muqawqis to the Prophet

Muqawqis did not become a Muslim because the love of worldly sovereignty outweighed in his heart; however, he sent a letter, some presents and two women slaves to the Prophet.[ Ibn Sayyid, ibid, Vol. 2, p. 266. ]

After that, he saw Hatib b. Abi Baltaa off in Alexandria and said to him, “Do not let Copts hear anything from you.”[ Ibn Sayyid, ibid, Vol. 2, p. 266. ]

The two female slaves that Muqawqis sent to the Messenger of God were Ma­riya and her sister Sirin. Hatib b. Abi Baltaa explained Islam to them on the way and offered them to embrace Islam; thus, they became Muslims.

Later, the Prophet married Mariya and he married Sirin off to Hassan b. Thabit, the poet. [ Ibn Sayyid, ibid, Vol. 2, p. 266. ]

The other presents sent by Muqawqis were:

* A white mule and a donkey,

* One thousand mithqal (4,5 kg) of gold,

* Twenty suits made of fine Egyptian fabric,

* A crystal glass,

* Aromatic honey, very nice perfumes, etc.[ Ibn Sa’d, ibid, Vol. 1, p. 485; Halabi, ibid, Vol. 3, p. 297. ]

The mule was given the name “Duldul” and the donkey “Ufayr”.

Hatib b. Abi Baltaa is in Madinah

After staying in the country of Muqawqis for five days, Hatib b. Abi Baltaa went to Madinah and told the Prophet what had happened; he also gave the Prophet the letter and the presents sent by the Prophet.

Muqawqis stated the following in his letter:

“From Muqawqis, the leader of Copts to Muhammad b. Abdullah!

Peace be upon you!

After greeting, I want to say this:

I received your letter and read it. I understood what you mentioned in your letter and what you invited me to do.

I knew that a prophet would come but I thought he was going to appear in Damascus!

I entertained your envoy. I sent you two female slaves respected by Copts and clothes; I also sent a mule for you to ride.

Peace be upon you!”[ Ibn Sa’d, ibid, Vol. 1, p. 260; Ibn Qayyim, Zadu’l-Maad, Vol. 2, p. 72; Ibn Sayyid, Uyun al-Athar, Vol. 3, p. 266. ]

When the letter was read, the Prophet said, “Miserable man! He could not risk his sovereignty but the sovereignty he loved so much will not remain!”[ Ibn Sa’d, ibid, Vol. 1, p. 261; Halabi, ibid, Vol. 3, p. 266. ]

The Original Letter that the Prophet Sent to Muqawqis

The blessed letter of the Messenger of God he sent to Muqawqis is kept in Istanbul Topkapi Palace Museum, in the Department of Holy Relics.

The letter was found in an old monastery among Coptic books in the town of Ahmim in Egypt in H 1267; thereupon, Ottoman Sultan Abdulmajid bought it and made it sent to Istanbul.

The blessed letter, whose dimensions are 16x19 cm, was written on brown leather with black ink and have twelve lines.  

The seal of the Messenger of God is present at the bottom of the letter.

There are some holes made by moths in the letter.