#but its much much harder when I don't have support workers here

[factorialsfandoms]

Will go get a drink in a minute. Have eaten, and too late in night for snack.

Rusl was poking me, he wanted me to remind y’all to hydrate today and have a snack 👍🏻❤️

[salt-forum]

//OMNINET LINK ESTABLISHED\\

It is Anthrochauvistmas here on Cressidium. I don't know if other places celebrate but my friends from other union planets didnt know what it was so I'll explain the occasion here.

The holiday was formed back when seccomm first established the colony here and was a day when human workers would get bonuses to be spent on company products (they would be "encouraged" to spend more than thier bonus so the company could still make a profit) those products were usually things meant to help them work harder in the coming months...

Now, however, the holiday has become more mocking of its original intention it's a day where employees are encouraged by others to raid their bosses' homes and pawn off what they steal to buy actual gifts. Note that most bosses are in on this, and only the extremely wealthy actually have reason to fear on this day (even then, they usually have enough money to buy back whatever was stolen). It's meant now to be a celebration of the labor all people do to keep us safe supported and healthy.

I talk about this mostly to celebrate my favorite holiday but also to state that I DID NOT KNOW IT WASN'T COMMON FOR OTHER PLACES AND I DID NOT STEAL MY CAPTAINS DESK.

On the plus side, my office is looking much nicer with the new mahogany desk I found. It's very nice, very big too.

Merry anthrochauvistmas to you all and to all a good fight!

\\OMNINET LINK DISCONNECTED//

[catgirltoes]

fun fact: trans homicide rates are lower than the population average. men: 6.6 women: 1.8 transgender: 1.4.

Nonnie, why did you send me this? I'm not even any sort of popular feminist blogger or anything. I just had one post blow up on me. You're gesturing at the idea that trans people aren't oppressed because of an allegedly lower rate of being murdered, yes? You come into my inbox, cite sourceless statistics, and think that'll make me kowtow to this ridiculous talking point. Well it won't because that's fucking stupid.

The sillier answer is that trannies don't go out.

The more serious answer is that even if the statistic is real and reputable, it's only as accurate as its collection methods, whatever they may be. They're probably police homicide reports, let's be honest.

Here are a few things to keep in mind:

Bio families of trans people will often lie and claim they were cis. It's a common fear of many trans people that they'll be buried under the wrong name. Families will often deny any knowledge of any gender nonconformity.

A neutrally-dressed trans person who doesn't pass that well may not even register as trans to investigators, but instead as a cis person of their birth gender. Even when a trans person is more obviously trans to an oblivious cissexual, they will often be written off as crossdressers. Trans people are consistently recorded as their birth genders in official documents, especially dead trans people who can't speak up for themselves.

How often are the murders of trans people even recorded as murders of trans people specifically? Whether a murder victim is M or F is recorded universally in just about every jurisdiction, but neither Canada nor the States nor any other country I can think of consistently records whether every murder victim was trans or not. This, of course, makes collating data that much harder.

Are the murders of trans people even recorded as murders? Police regularly write off murders of trans people, sex workers, people who use drugs, and other "undesirables" as No Human Involved. Aside from the refusal to investigate, the deaths may be written off as accidents and illness, not murder.

All other questions and caveats that apply to any population-based statistic apply here, especially questions for truth claims in general. Who reported it? Who published it? For what purpose? Did the people who collected the data have an agenda? Biases? What populations were analyzed specifically, and how big were the sample sizes, and how were numbers calculated? Was there statistical fuckery? How applicable are the results to all populations? How large even is the trans population? Is it controlled for age, race, and class? You gotta answer all these questions before it can be considered in any sort of useful way.

People will often not investigate truth-claims that support their beliefs, and I think nonnie here is a prime example of that. The failure of not thinking about how often trans people are misgendered in death is the most egregious, though everything else I've listed here applies.

[underlockv]

No one really wants to talk about election stuff much I'm sure but I do think if you're going to claim voting for one candidate over another you do you diligence and actually look at what someone's done while in office. If you're serious about your political action, feel free to read further. Keep in mind I am not American, but unfortunately the entire world is affected by American politics.

I saw a post recently saying "hey I know everyone's saying theres no difference between parties at this point but its so important you vote for the lesser evil because of workers rights and environmentalism and gaza(because the other guy is worse!)" when if they had actually looked at what the person they insist is a champion of those things has done on those fronts I think they wouldn't be saying so (though for gaza they at least dont say he is doing well on that front, thank you for that at least , bad liberal politics post).

I don't like being a downer, and I don't like the idea of spreading nihilistic hopelessness, but if you shout from the rooftops a candidate or a party is doing wonders in these areas and they actually are not, that's misinformation. That helps no one.

Honestly the way certain people get complacent when they vote in the "good" party worries me greatly. "As long as I vote in these guys, everything will be done right! I can stop worrying and stop paying attention." And then those guys are doing the exact same stuff, but with polite language on top to hide the crime of it.

"I believe in workers' rights" as you quash a rail strike that is the difference between rail safety both for employees and communities near the tracks kind of thing.

Not like there was an environmental crisis over that recently? Oh but they paid a 15 million dollar fine (a company worth 48.87 billion, so a tiny fee to continue to criminally understaff trains overwork operators, and pay them nothing).

"Its a great tragedy what is happened in Gaza" as you bypass congress to send more weapons to Isreal. And to say Trump wants to nuke Gaza? He probably has said so, he won't because Isreal wants to keep the land habitable so they can have all of it. There is no "worse" here. The guy in power already signed carte blanche for Isreal to kill every Palestinian. If we can't reach Biden on this issue, it doesn't matter we can't reach Trump. In this instance specifically, there is no difference, If you're pretending Nukes are an actual option you clearly do not understand what is happening in this situation at all. This is fucking horrible and I feel like throwing myself out a window over the fact nearly every western superpower is supporting this genocide, but to state "oh, the other guy would do genocide HARDER" there isn't harder here. The most you can argue is "he will also do the same shit". Thanks, we know (also I will continue to do all I can to help Palestinians be it protest, mutual aid funds, donation drives, and vocal unerring support because I'm sure the people perpetuating this genocide would love if people against them did throw themselves out windows).

I wish people were more honest about their motivations here. And especially more honest about the fact they have zero idea on things the party they decided are the "good ones" are actually doing. It makes me feel like someone could tell you "I'm a good person" while spitting in your face and you'd look up wondering why it's raining.

Do I want Trump to win the election? Not at all. All he does is lie and self aggrandize and do whatever the fuck makes him the most money.

The thing is Biden and his party /also/ do all they can to protect the financial interests of their lobbyist backers, often backed by billion dollar corporate interests, this has been made even more legal by SCOTUS recently.

and of course whenever SCOTUS comes up people point to how trump elected these justices doing all this, while also ignoring: Obama had a supermajority while first in office and promised to codify Roe vs Wade into law to enshrine abortion rights and did not.

Why? Well. The only way that really seems to make sense seems to be 1) they didn't really want to enshrine abortion rights or 2) they wanted to keep dangling it just out of reach so you keep voting for them. after all, if they permanently protect women's rights, how can they send you fundraising emails about how women's rights are in question?

The Supreme Court should honestly have been reformed by now anyway, but neither of the parties that rule the United States will ever address it's issues. You basically have a council of sages who take gifts from billionaires running your ultimate law deciding station of government, and no matter what you do you can't fire them. And they are now making policy decisions that say specifically "you can't do anything about us being bribed" and "The president has total immunity while in office". Yet the party in power does nothing about it,

as for that second one you could argue not taking action on rulings they think are wrong proves they are better than the opposition, but saying something is wrong while doing nothing to rectify it says something else to me. It tells me they now have a great new way to fundraise and encourage you to vote.

"Vote for us, or Trump will literally assassinate you! Don't worry I won't though! But I'm not going to do a single thing to repeal it, my hands are tied haha. You wouldn't want the other guy to have this power though? Right? Again, no, I won't do anything to stop this."

>In before a liberal democrat tells me pointing this out is as bad as a vote for trump and asking for anything from a government is treason(I'm not American so good luck bud). Because we all need to sit around and nod politely as the world collapses, after all if people saw the corruption they might (gasp!) not vote! and then the same shit would happen faster.

Though, tbh, and I feel like shit saying this, at least if it was happening under the Republicans you would actually be paying attention and maybe the Democrats would actually be pushing back to at least look like they give a fuck (ineffectually, but it would be cool if you could point to a thing they've done in office effectually to contrast any of this other than say the right words. Actions actually matter).

I don't want things to come to that but as the public stands around doing nothing in the face of these abuses of power, war crimes, and dissolution of worker' rights and the party in power only campaigns off fear and does no positive things to gain votes... what other outcome will there be?

... and even if they did say they were going to do something good now... how could we believe it would actually happen?

[neptunetheplanet7]

𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐭𝐰𝐨 - 𝐢𝐜𝐞 𝐜𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐦

DM ME IF YOU WOULD LIKE TO BE PUT ON THE TAGLIST!!

;mikasa ackerman x fem!lesbian!reader

;modern au, band au

word count: 2.1k

warnings: swearing, floch’s bad flirting

bold italics is a text conversation

listen to the music masterlist

prev | next

disclaimer again!! i wrote this a long time ago. i know there are things that need to be fixed and things that don’t fit right. i plan to edit this story more in the future but today is not that day :)

You took a shaky breath in as you stopped midway of putting a clean sheet on the bed Mikasa would be sleeping in. The room still had some of her old stuff in it, it's just no one ever came in here after she left. You looked around at all the items she left behind. Smiling fondly at an old picture of you two, you noticed a small figure crossed out in the background. Glancing at the rest of the photos on the shelf, you noticed that every photo had something crossed out.

After looking at each picture, you came to the conclusion the figure was Jean. She must have only taken the photos without him and did this to the rest. You frowned and walked back to the bed. Carefully, you climbed onto it and propped a few pillows up to support you as you leaned back.

For the first time in two years, you got a good look around the room. On the side of the room with the door, there was a large glass window overlooking the balcony above the living room. You always found it strange that she chose a room like that when she usually kept those blinds shut. Her bed was in the middle of the room with a tv mounted on the wall across from it. On the other side of her bed, there were a couple of bean bags below the bay window that looked out on the driveway.

You sighed and took out your phone, pulling up old texts with Mikasa. The last time you texted her was three months ago when you got too drunk at one of Reiner's ragers.

mikasa

mikasas pleasdse

come home

i miss you

i miss you so much

we all miss you so much

come home to me.

She didn't respond to that and you wouldn't know if she even looked at it. She turned her read receipts off for everyone after the first week of trying to contact her. The only time she had ever contacted anyone was two weeks after she left the house.

Don't look for me. Don't contact me.

You got a lot of your friends asking if you got the same message. She sent the same thing to everyone who tried to get in contact with her. You still didn't know where she was or what she was doing. The only thing you knew was that she was coming home the next day. You sighed. Suddenly, you didn't feel like cleaning anything else. You briskly walked out of her room and dialed the number of your best friend.

"Hey, Y/n! What's going on?" Sasha's cheery voice rang through the line.

"Hey hey, Sasha. I'm doing great. At least, I think I am. Do you wanna go somewhere? You can pick me up? Or I can pick you up if you like."

"I'll come to pick you up, honey bunny, don't you worry." You heard her struggling with her keys on the other side of the line and snorted at the noise.

"Need some help, Sash?" You grinned while skipping steps.

"Fine, thanks." She grumbled. "I'll be there in fifteen! You stay put!" She briskly hung up.

Sasha had been your best friend ever since Eren's nineteenth birthday party. She caught you and Eren coming back inside just as she was about to leave, with half the pantry in her arms. She asked for your number to make plans to hang out and chat sometime. You happily obliged, which was probably the happiest thing you had done that night.

You tossed your phone onto your bed as you walked into your room. Your room was on the first floor. You got first pick since you were the one who inherited the house. The house was big and beautiful. It was also on a lake. Perfect for the parties Eren and Jean loved to host. Perfect escape from paparazzi.

Your room had big glass doors that opened to the balcony that wrapped around the back of the house. You had a great view of the lake. The room was painted white. There was a black marble fireplace in one wall with a small wardrobe you used for storing memorable items to the band. You didn't need to use it for clothes since you had a walk-in closet in the big bathroom you partly shared with your bandmates. Jean liked to use the large bathtub.

You collapsed onto the bed and stared into the vanity mirror next to it. It was then when you realized you were still in your pajamas. "Oh shit." Your eyes widened as you hurriedly stumbled over to the closet, falling over once.

You grabbed a pair of baggy sweats and a big t-shirt. With duck socks, of course. The outfit didn't look much different than your pajamas but Sasha would probably be wearing something similar.

You threw your hair into the easiest hairstyle you could muster. You grabbed your boots and hopped up and down while trying to put them on while also leaving the room. "Jesus." You muttered.

Your phone vibrated, signaling that Sasha was here. "I'm heading out with Sasha! You're on your lonesome!" You called out to wherever Armin was in the house.

"Okay! Don't be back too late!" He shouted back.

You laughed aloud as you realized how much he sounded like a dad. You opened the front door and ran to Sasha's car. "Let me in!" You knocked on the passenger window as she reached around to find the button that unlocks the door. Once it was unlocked, you swung open the door and hopped inside.

"Nice outfit," was the first thing she said to you. You glanced at her outfit and scoffed. Your predictions were correct, she was wearing something similar.

"Gee, thanks." You gave a lopsided smile and rolled your eyes.

"Where to, honey bunny?" Sasha said, giving a mock salute while her other hand rested firmly on the steering wheel. You giggled and thought about it. You called her on such a whim that you forgot to even plan anything.

"Uh how about Brain Freezes? I could really use a catch-up with Connie right about now." You suggested.

"That sounds like a great idea! Turns out you do have a brain up there." Sasha snickered.

"Oh good one, because you're the real genius here, clearly."

After a lot of lighthearted banter, you arrived at Connie's workplace. Sasha aggressively grabbed the door handle and slammed it open, causing the bell to fall off its perch and land on your face. "Oops." You grimaced and bent down to pick up the bell. You rang it in front of her face.

"Sasha! Y/n! My two favorite customers!" Connie jumped up and down on the other side of the counter. "How can I assist you ladies today?"

"I'll have the usual." You gave a half-hearted smile, head still impaired from the bell. Sasha had quite the habit of accidentally hurting you.

Sasha snatched the bell from your grasp and started ringing it. She announced her very long order that you could barely keep up with, but Connie was used to this kind of thing, especially with her.

You noticed one of his coworkers scowling at Sasha. You didn't like Floch, to say the least. He was always inviting himself to your parties but he was rude to all of your friends at the same time. He noticed your gaze and smirked.

He strutted over to where you stood, pretending to become very interested in toppings. "How are you, Y/n? It's been a while huh?" He leaned over your shoulder in a way that workers shouldn't with their customers. You made a hasty effort to slip away from his presence.

"It really hasn't. I came here last week. I come here every week and you say that every time." You usually tried to be nice to Floch, but today you didn't feel like being nice.

"Well, even a day without you feels like an eternity." He flirted horridly. You stared blankly at him until he awkwardly cleared his throat and traded spots with Connie at the register.

Connie took off his apron and handed you and Sasha your orders. "Sorry about him. That guy really can't take a hint even if it's right in front of his face." He shot Floch a venomous glare. "Luckily, you guys got here right as my shift ended! Wanna get out of here?" His previous anger seemed to dissipate in an instant.

"Yeah, I do! Where should we go?" Sasha beamed with her spoon still in her mouth.

"Can we just drive around? I've got something I wanna tell you guys." You played with your spoon in the ice cream, averting eye contact.

"Sure thing, Y/n. Let's go." Sasha and Connie said in unison.

Sasha let you drive her car since she was preoccupied with her mountain of ice cream. Connie didn't have a car, he failed his driver's test every time he took it. You'd think he'd learn most of the material by now. "Hey, Y/n?" He asked from the backseat.

"Yeah?" You nodded to him.

"Are you gonna finish that?" He said, referring to your cup of ice cream in the front cupholder. You sighed.

"Go ahead." He thanked you over and over as he leaned over and snatched it.

"So, Y/n? What was it you wanted to tell us?" Sasha wiped her hands on her pants and set the empty container in an extra cupholder.

You gripped the steering wheel harder then relaxed. You took a shaky breath in. "Mikasa is coming home tomorrow."

Connie started choking on your ice cream. "I know, I had the same reaction." You quipped.

"Mikasa..is...WHAT?" Connie managed between coughs.

"After all this time? It's been two years. Tomorrow? That's so sudden! Are you even ready to see her?" Sasha's mouth was gaping open. You leaned over and shut it for her.

"Yes, tomorrow. I still have to get the house ready. I couldn't even make it through her old room without calling you. Jean told us this morning. I don't think we should be worried about me being ready to see her. I think we should be more concerned about her and Jean." You informed. "But, then again, she told Jean about her return first. Plus he's picking her up tomorrow at the airport. So based on that, I think they're on better terms."

"You don't think they'll get back together, do you?" Connie said, his eyebrows furrowing.

You snorted. "Of course not. You know Jean is with Marco now, and he seems pretty happy with him. They've been together for two years now, probably longer if I'm being honest."

"Then what do you have to worry about?" Sasha asked, confused.

"Are you joking? I mean, what if she has found someone? What then? What if she quits the band forever? What if we argue? She dropped off the map two years ago. Completely. She stopped responding to me, to all of us. For two years I thought she lost her interest in everything and went to live a new life, with people better than me. And now she's coming back, out of the blue! It's too much." You stressed.

Connie and Sasha made quick eye contact. "Y/n, I think you're reading too far into it. I doubt anyone could lose interest in you. You're too cool! Let's look on the bright side, she's ready to come home and you finally get to see her again," Sasha said in an attempt to lift your spirits. You smiled graciously. You really were lucky to have a friend like her. "Right, Connie?" She gestured to Connie who looked very deep in thought.

"Didn't you and Mikasa go out in high school?" You almost crashed the car from the shock of the question.

"Briefly, yes. But we weren't 'going out' so to speak. We just, like, made out a couple of times." You could feel your face grow hot at the subject. You thought you were over your crush on Mikasa, but after hearing that she was coming home, the familiar feeling was coming back.

"You're going red, Y/n. I think it was more to you than just a make-out." Connie grinned while Sasha wiggled her eyebrows.

"You're totally in love with Mikasa!" Sasha sang.

"Shut up, you two. I don't wanna get into the details right now." You couldn't even try to hide your heated face since you were the one driving the vehicle.

"Not right now? So maybe somewhere down the line, you will?" Sasha raised her eyebrows and broke out into another infectious grin.

"Whatever, Sash. Enough about Mikasa and me. I really wanna hear about you and Niccolo." You gave her a similar grin while she slowly turned red.

"Nice one, Y/n!" Connie cheered.

"You idiots should just shut it!"

posted: 8/24/21

neptunetheplanet7© 2021

no reposts, edits, or modification to my work by anyone other than me.

[ironmandeficiency]

falcon, falcon, goose!

pairing: sam wilson / reader

word count: 3547

summary: there were reports of geese leading people to their soulmates spanning centuries, and it seemed like a cool concept, but why did it have to coincide with you coming out of your writing slump?

warnings: cursing, geese, dumbassery, implied happy au where the avengers get along, iw and endgame who?

a/n: this is an older piece i wrote a couple years ago, decided to brush it up and repost it. and the reader works for snl bc why the hell not? keep in mind that the original was written before everything went to shit w iw & endgame. posted from mobile yet again yall what is wrong w me

it was a sunny day outside, and deciding that you had been cooped up for far too long, you brought your laptop to the park a couple blocks from your studio apartment.

being a writer for saturday night live wasn't always so peachy, what with the lack of a social life outside of your co-workers and constantly explaining your job to confused relatives. you had been in a slump for the past couple weeks, the fact most of your sketch ideas not making the cut for the next episode continuing to throw you off your rhythm.

this week, you were going to change that. Your headphones were playing your concentration playlist full volume and you were hyped to the max. with your laptop on the picnic table in front of you and a warm cup of tea beside it, you were ready to blow the producers away with your next idea.

"honk! honk!"

you felt something nudge your leg, but you were too engrossed into what you were typing to care. after getting through a few more lines, it happened again.

"honk! honk! honk!"

you couldn't hear the sound but the feeling on your leg got a little bit rougher, more demanding. you moved your headphones to the side for a minute and took a moment to look around you. there was no kid running to get their ball back or any squirrels nearby that dropped a nut.

strange.

but you put your headphones back on, trying to keep your groove alive while hoping the interruptions are finished.

"HONK! HONK! HONK!" the goose honked louder, pecking at your leg harder than it had earlier.

you were getting frustrated and a little pissed. the creativity was flowing through your veins for the first time in what felt like ages and this — whatever it was — decided that today was the best day to annoy you.

you kicked your legs out with a strange flail and when you came into contact with something large and solid you nearly screamed.

"ow! motherf- oh my god!"

standing on the ground beside your table was a goose. it honked yet again with impatience (geese could do that?) and nipped lightly at your thigh closest to it. looking to the pond nearby, it was nearly an entire gaggle of the damned things.

so here was this goose honking at you and nipping at you like you were supposed to know what the hell it wanted from you.

"i don't have any bread, dumbass. go find someone else to bother." thinking it would leave if you ignored it, you turned away and continued your work.

"HONK! HONK!" it continued to honk and decided to peck you before flapping its wings, landing itself on the table next to your computer.

"get outta here, ya damn goose!" while you were trying to shop it away, it expertly evaded you. "go! shoo! leave me alone!"

it just stayed over on the bench, expertly dodging your attempts to get it to leave.

a few people nearby had heard your altercation with the infernal bird. one of them was an older gentleman that laughed as he sat across from you, the mirth in his eyes glinting as you give him a sarcastic side eye while trying to deal with the current issue.

"that bird won't leave you alone, you know." At his voice, the goose calmed down and waddled a few feet away from your arm's reach.

that was the first time the thing had been seemingly calm since he showed up at your little table.

"what do you mean he won't leave me alone?"

he pauses, part of him enjoying the irritation in your tone. he remembers someone talking to him like he was to you many years ago, and it made his heart smile at the idea of repaying the favor. "have you ever read about soulmate geese?"

"hey we're gonna go for a run, wanna join?" steve’s offer was given with a smirk. ever since reuniting with bucky, the two supersoldiers found so much humor in doing laps around sam every time they went out jogging.

it annoyed the shit out of him, the "on your left" comments from steve and the newer "on your right" jabs from bucky, but it also pushed Sam to work harder during his runs. ultimately he knew his non-enhanced body didn't stand much of a chance beating them, but he enjoyed when he was able to close the gap between their times just a little bit.

"sure, just gimme a few to eat breakfast and I'll join you guys." the blond nodded and turned back to the elevator, having woken up far earlier than sam and therefore already ate.

he hummed otis redding as he laid the bacon flat into the pan, shoulders moving along with his created rhythm while changing the grounds in the coffee filter. this was how he spent most of his mornings, barring the occasional hangovers and missions where he couldn't afford the distraction.

he ate, got dressed, and told FRIDAY to let bucky and steve know he was ready to go. h had his water bottle in hand, giving his body a pep talk in preparation for the run. they met in the common room and soon, the trio was off.

"on your left!"

"on your right!"

"oh, come on!"

he knew it was gonna happen, but for some reason it felt like it happened sooner than normal. either they were trying really hard to mess with him today, or he was off his game. but regardless, he pushed his body harder than he probably should have because when there was something obstructing his path, he didn't pause. no, he charged it straight on through and fell hard.

steve and bucky had seen this from a distance and immediately rushed to get to their friend.

sam rolled onto his back, exhausted and now in terrible pain from the fall. he closed his eyes and just let it all sink in. when he opened his eyes at the sudden foul smell flooding his nostrils, he could feel the palpitations, thinking he was about to have a heart attack.

"holy shit!" sam sat up like a rocket despite the way his body was throbbing from the fall.

the goose stared at him curiously and turned its head toward the pounding footsteps from the approaching brooklynites.

"sam! What happened?" steve was concerned, inspecting sam while bucky noticed the bird. The brunet bent down to meet the goose eye-level and was somewhat surprised that it didn't run away at the close proximity.

"did you trip the dumbass? was it your fault sam landed on his face? Huh, little guy?"

"honk! honk!"

"i thought so. good job, man." bucky pats the animal on the head gently before turning to help steve get sam off the ground.

"nothing’s broken but there's probably a sprain, can't really be sure until we get to cho." sam and bucky lift their friend from the pavement and they have no problem supporting his weight.

they began the walk back to the tower in silence. well, almost silence. there was a faint pitter-patter of tiny, webbed feet behind them that sam and bucky weren't paying attention to.

steve noticed the goose slowly waddling behind the trio and looked at sam with a smile. sam responded to steve’s happy face with a glare, not enjoying any of the situation he found himself in.

"look behind us, guys."

both men took turns looking behind them and see the goose waddling behind them patiently. sam wasn't particularly happy about the culprit from moments before trailing behind him, but bucky thought it was hilarious.

"do you know what this means?"

sam rolled his eyes because he thought the blond was about to make some sort of poetic comment about one thing for another.

bucky had paused to think about the implications of a random goose for a moment before gasping. "dude," bucky nudged sam softly, being conscious of his friend's injuries. "you’re gonna meet your soulmate, man!"

"a soulmate goose. man come on, are you out of your mind?"

"steve got his goose back during the war, i think we know enough about it."

sam had only heard vague reports of soulmate geese throughout his life, but now that he thought about it, it did make sense. the goose showed up randomly in the middle of his routine, completely throwing him off, and was now refusing to leave him alone.

"well if this is my soulmate goose, then somebody’s gotta tell tony about our newest avenger." they laughed at the implication, viciously eager to witness tony’s reaction to the newest resident of avengers hq.

it has been three days of dealing with your goose, and you were now teased at work as “bird brain”, walking into your office to see several loaves of bread covering the desk. your goose, that you had named piper once you got home, was excited at the prospect of more food, but you planned on donating most of the bread to local shelters, only keeping a couple loaves for the house.

the guest host that week was mick jagger, and he had emerged into the room “i dream of jeanie” style, startling both you and piper, who honked at him in irritation.

it was time for you to work on the song for your little sketch with him, and you had only two more days before performance night (it was thursday) to finish writing it. after settling down and getting into the right mindset, the writing process had begun.

"alright let's see," mick murmured. "let’s all go to the picnic, let's all have a drink. what rhymes with 'drink'?"

you thought for a moment and said quietly, "think?"

you weren't prepared for the absurd response you received from the man, his accent making him round mean as he barked out a loud "NO!" with an unnecessary hand gesture.

piper just about lost it. she was honking and flapping around your office in a tizzy (but staying away from mick because the man was seen as a stranger she wasn't comfortable with).

you racked your brain for another solution, something else to rhyme with 'drink' and you eventually found it: "sink?"

mick thought about it for a moment before replying with a much lighter "yes!" also paired with unwarranted pointing.

‘motherfucker, is this how you write songs?!'

thursday and friday came and went, and soon it was time for your piece to be performed by mick. du to an accidental ankle twist someone else suffered, you were forced to perform a skit live for the first time in your career. it would have been great, but there was one teensy problem: piper blatantly refused to leave your side when it was time to perform, and she would honk and bite anyone that tried to keep her from you onstage.

even poor bobby, who she had grown fond of, was taking the brunt of it. she was not allowing you to be more than a couple feet away from her, and it was almost endearing if you weren't being broadcast on national television.

apparently, piper would also be making her debut appearance on saturday night live tonight as well.

saturday had arrived, and it was sam’s day of rest. he spent the day doing the bare minimum, eating junk food and watching almost everything on netflix he could find.

he didn't stray too far from tradition, not really. it was just that now he had a goose accompanying him the entire time, honking at this and that and eating occasional pieces of popcorn that sam didn't want to share.

he didn't mind his feathered companion, he was actually quite fond of his goose at this point. whitewing (not to be confused with redwing) was the most calm goose any of them had seen, no biting or nipping and especially no honking at ungodly hours of the night.

steve was perplexed. "Are you sure whitewing hasn't done anything bad? no waking you up at night or bites when you don't feed him soon enough?"

sam would chuckle and shake his head, proud to have such a calm goose. "why are you so keen to see him misbehave? aren’t all soulmate geese like this?"

"for lack of a better word, most geese are assholes. i don't know how whitewing is so well behaved," steve balked at the very idea of all geese being so mellow and decided it was story time.

steve’s goose from the century before was the most rambunctious animal anyone had ever seen. he recounted the first and several occasions following where his soulmate goose, jimmy, fended off the blond man's alleyway attackers.

sam was extremely grateful that whitewing had less feral and goose-like tendencies. whitewing was extremely well behaved and had an almost human way about him, the way he honked in reply to sam or the rest of the team when they talked to him.

it was late in the evening when clint decided to plop down onto the couch and flick the channel to nbc, where tonight's host was mick jagger.

"why are we watching this?" sam was enjoying his sitcoms before the other bird man had showed up.

"i haven't watched it in ages, plus mick jagger is on tonight."

"alright, whatever you want."

the intro played like usual, and whitewing was perfectly complacent. they laughed in the right places with the occasional honking from the bird, and everything was great.

"hey man, look!" clint interrupted, keeping sam from being able to hear the punchline. "i think that's a goose!"

"why is there a goose? The skit has nothing to with-"

sam and clint seemed to come to the same realization at the same time as whitewing, the goose beginning to honk incessantly. he was going absolutely berserk, flapping his wings and hopping off of sam’s lap and onto the coffee table, occasionally pecking at the tv where he saw the other goose.

he was going absolutely bonkers.

"whitewing! whitewing, no! calm down!" sam scrambled to calm down his goose, but he was having none of it. the whole entire skit, whitewing was honking and flapping and being a general nuisance.

he found his soulmate.

whitewing kept at it until the screen went to a commercial, his soulmate off of the screen.

"y’know," clint spoke around a slice of pizza. when did he get pizza? "if you hurry, you could go to the studio and meet your soulmate. the show is about halfway over."

before sam could think over the proposition, tony’s voice was heard from the corridor. "somebody shut that damned bird up before I pay ramsay to cook it!"

"i’m taking care of it!"

with that, sam heads to the armory with whitewing on his tail to get his wings. once he's equipped, sam heads to the window and jumps, immediately setting his course for studio 8h and his soulmate.

you’re released to go back to your office once you finish the skit alongside mick and piper, the show almost over. you’re gathering your things lazily, knowing that you have no other responsibilities for the night.

just as you lock your office and piper is waddling beside you without a care in the world, you see kyle running towards you with a look of fear in his eyes. that fear seems to only triple when his eyes land on piper beside you.

"kyle! what’s-"

"there’s another goose on the set! no one is safe!"

wait, was he bleeding?!

you were going to try and help your friend but one look at piper sent him off the rails, the lanky man nearly falling on his ass in an attempt to skid the corner. you hoped that someone would help calm your panicked friend, seeing as you were literally the worst person for the job at the moment.

without further incident, you are able to say goodbye to cecily and mikey before you're stopped in your tracks by michael, who gives piper a funny look.

"wait, so the goose that attacked kyle wasn't piper?" You shake your head in confusion. "dude, your soulmate must have come to the set!"

piper must have either understood what your co-worker had said or she could sense a change in the studio, but she began to honk erratically and run away from you. the last thing new york needed was two feral geese running around attacking people, so you did what anyone would do and ran after her.

"piper! piper, come back!" michael laughed as you chased after your goose. while you were running, you nearly died when you heard a honk that you knew wasn't from your piper. hers were carved into your brain, and you were positive that you could pick hers out of an entire gaggle of geese, so there was indeed a second goose in the studio.

to your dismay, piper did not stop and wait, she just kept on honking and flapping and scaring people in pursuit of the other goose, poor old you having to chase her.

there was another voice you assumed was yelling at his goose since you didn't know of anyone naming their kid whitewing. your eyes were not looking straight ahead when you suddenly bumped into someone, immediately stumbling a bit before regaining your balance.

piper had stopped her honking and that scared you. did someone hurt her? was she-

her and another goose were making muted honks to each other. they sounded like affectionate honks, which is one of the weirdest sentences you ever constructed in your head. but it was true! they were cuddling close to each other and making really quiet honking noises at each other, and if that wasn’t affectionate then you didn’t know what would be.

so if piper found her soulmate, that means yours was-

"i hope comin' to your job was okay. whitewing wasn't gonna give up until I left, so here we are." your eyes were dragged from the touching scene of piper and her special goose to a pair of dark brown irises that radiated warmth and a promise of happy days.

you were absolutely dumbstruck. your mouth was unable to form coherent words, so you decided to take in the appearance of your soulmate. he was wearing a soft grey tee and sweatpants, and socks without shoes. did he realize how unsanitary the streets of new york were?

but upon further investigation, you realize that he probably didn't walk to the studio. on his back was what you would normally call a jetpack, but when you recognize the face your mind completes the puzzle: your soulmate is sam wilson, otherwise known as the falcon. holy shit.

"uh yeah of course, i guess you flew here? no sane person in new york would walk around barefoot in the street." did you really just say that?!

sam nodded and then remembered that he was in his pajamas in front of his soulmate without any shoes. "yeah, he wasn't gonna stop attacking the tv once he saw uh…"

you realized he was asking for your goose’s name, and so you hastily gave it to him.

"yeah, once he saw piper, he went wild. caused more chaos in five minutes than he did in five days!"

you laugh, the nervousness falling away as you recount the story of you first meeting with piper.

people are staring at the pajama-clad avenger and his soulmate, their geese finally satisfied. after all, it wasn't every day so many people were able to watch soulmate geese (and their people) meet for the first time.

sam gently took your hand, his thumb smoothing the skin on the back of it, just listening to you talk. you asked him a question about whitewing and he was in the middle of telling you when he cut himself off. "i just realized i don't even know your name!"

in most scenarios you’d be slightly put off by this, but you didn't have an issue because of the specific circumstances. if he weren't an avenger you wouldn't have known his either, and plus, no one really pays attention to the little rat writers. you give him your name and smile when he introduces himself, his voice even helping show off the brightest smile you’ve ever seen.

with impeccable goose timing, piper and whitewing honk at you to hurry your introductions and leave the studio.

"do you want to fly back to your place , or can I drive you?" it was a risk to ask him such a question, but you were genuinely concerned. you hoped he wouldn't think you were trying to jump his bones only minutes after meeting him so you used (terrible) humor to show your intentions. "you shouldn't fly so late at night without headlights, no matter how high up you get."

sam’s laughter was infectious and soon you joined him, your geese about to get more irritated with their humans.

"yeah, I'd like that. lead the way, soulmate." piper and whitewing honk as the two of you head to the lobby hand in hand, the birds waddling behind you just as happy as soulmate geese could be.

[transcendentcacophony]

Thoughts on Worldbuilding: Storytelling with Geography: Lunar Lakes

So I've been thinking about worldbuilding for awhile, and one of the things that I like about certain worlds is that they tell a story with their geography. I think Lunar Lakes is one of these worlds.

Image: An overview of Lunar Lakes from Sims 3

All Lunar Lake images will be from here

This is going to draw from James C. Scott's The Art of Not Being Governed and the concept of Zomia

So one of the central concepts behind Zomia and The Art is the idea that not everybody wants to be a part of centralized governments or nation-states.

Traditionally, most academic fields have held that as societies centralize around agricultural centers that evolve into urban centers, they draw everybody to them through some kind of unexplained magnetism as they gradually expand. It's usually held that this is because the centralizing power of agriculture allows for population booms not supported by hunting-and-gathering. At least one philosopher <cough> Daniel Quinn <cough>1 this is a result of these populations controlling access to food. Not just surpluses of food, but access to food at all, forcing those within their borders to join the system or die.

This idea that agricultural societies are somehow fundamentally better. We see this reflected in different cultural evolution models (all of which are horribly racist but still manage to hang on in weird places, particularly developmental models). As such, the shift from hunting-and-gathering to sedentary agriculture tends to be heralded as a good thing in most history text books and is pretty much always seen as a step towards "modernization.2" But what if you don't want that? What if you have zero interest in joining the agricultural community and implied state control?3 What options do you have then?

You, then, may be interested in Zomia or one of the other extra-territorial spaces that function similarly.

Image: A village in the mountains

So what is Zomia? Zomia encompasses a large territory that ranges across Southeast Asia up into Tibet. Its primary defining feature is its rugged terrain and various populations that have no interest in different state-sponsored "civilizing" projects. While different agricultural centers expand outward to fill the lowland regions seeking to bully those they encounter along the way into joining, various people along the way say "f*ck it" and go up into the mountains. Why? Because the rugged terrain makes it harder for their valley-based neighbors to control them while providing plenty of hiding places push back against their expansion.

Image: A map of the Zomia area highlighting the Southeast Asian and Himalayan Massifs, areas encompassing the geography of Zomia itself.

Agriculture tends to lock people into place and makes them easier to control, therefore nation-states interested in keeping track of large populations have a vested interest in convincing people to farm. Buggering off into the mountains offsets this. Agriculture isn't necessarily harder in these mountainous areas4, but you do have different crops as a result of altitudinal zonation and a fair amount of people choose to engage in animal husbandry instead because the high altitudes impact calorie consumption as your body spends more energy keeping you warm.

This impacts cultures in these regions as well. People may choose to define themselves in opposition to the lowland culture they are avoiding. They may hybridize with cultures already in the mountains, create new languages, or define themselves by the fact they are there for political or semi-political reasons and expressly avoiding the control of an outside party, even if that outside party is the nation-state they are legally considered a part of. There is also a tendency of these cultures to discard literacy for orality, in part because orality is easier to carry around and in part because it marks them as Other compared to their lowland counterparts. It also gives you a since of control over your culture itself, as orality can't be shared unless you want it to whereas almost anyone can learn a writing system and open a book.

So what's this got to do with Lunar Lakes? Let's look at LL more closely, shall we?

Image: The downtown region from Lunar Lakes

The most densely developed part of Lunar Lakes is easily this "downtown" district in the lowlands region. This area contains most of the community lots for the world, and, most tellingly, City Hall and the Perigee, which we're told in the original blurb brought the (human) sims to Lunar Lakes to begin with.

Image: The Rim

There is a little bleed over of rabbitholes from the city center onto the Rim, a slightly elevated area just above it, but these are no where near as "mountainous" as the craters we'll get to in a minute.

Image: The Canals

Another defining feature of the lowland central area are these canals. As these canals do not extend to a beach or other waterway, they can't be for trade, thereby lending themselves to the idea that they are intended for agricultural uses. They could, of course, predate the colony, but that doesn't change the intent.

Image: The Crystal Mine, the Outpost, and the Depot

On the backside of the craters, we have the Crystal Mine, the Outpost, and the Depot. We're told in the original backstory blurb for the world on the Store page that the residents had to harness the crystals to to make their colony sustainable, but it feels abandoned now. Given the importance of the mine in the early days of the colony, it makes sense they'd have a transport depot here for the workers and an outpost, possibly for the military, to protect it, especially if the world was inhabited and the indigenous people wanted nothing to do with them or actively apposed them.

Image: The Craters from Lunar Lakes

Which brings us finally to the craters themselves. Here's where Zomia comes in. If Lunar Lakes was inhabited and if the native population had no interest in joining the colonists or being exploited by them, where would they go? The craters, of course! This would also hold true for anyone who didn't want to fall in line with the colonial leadership among the human sims themselves. We know the Louie family, for example, had to move to the craters after they were exiled by Patricia Cross, the current colonial leader. It therefore stands to reason that, even if the people who live here are colonists, this is where they are expected to go if they are exiled or want to get away from the political milieu of the central powers in the downtown district.

Image: Suburban Subspace lot from Lunar Lakes

And, of course, architecturally, this is where we got those distinctive mushroom houses, which again, suggests an alternative development of this region compared to the lowlands even if the people here are exiled colonists, deviants, etc.

Regardless, we end up with a setting that is rife for internal worldbuilding and storytelling based on its geography. If you add an alien population seeking to escape SimEarth colonization by fleeing to the craters, it establishes a political backdrop for stories, making the world feel more lived in and providing a ready-made backstory. This is one of the things I think is drastically missing in the Sims 4 with their itty-bitty neighborhoods and lack of connecting spaces.

Anyways, these are the things I think about when worldbuilding myself. What story does my world tell geographically? Does it have a built in backstory represented by its geography? Are the different regions/neighborhoods connected in a way that makes cohesive sense? Are their other worlds you think do a good job of storytelling with their designs?

If you build worlds, do you take into account the storytelling potential of your geography? Why or why not? If you play in worlds like Lunar Lakes, does the geography inform your storytelling? Does it help build a metadiscourse around your game? Are there other worlds that inspire your gameplay with their layouts?

Edited in response to @nornities excellent feedback.

1) This is not meant as an endorsement of all of Quinn's arguments; he's got a weird overpopulation theory built into his writing that's a little too close to Malthusian for my liking, but I'm not one to throw out the baby with the bathwater, as it were.

2) Ever notice how "modernization" and "development" are always fundamentally anchored in how Europe moved from feudalism to imperialism to democracy etc.? Yeah, that's the remnants of that "cultural evolution" model I'm talking about. "You're not successful until you look like us!" "Take these developmental loans from the World Bank or the IMF! We promise the strings attached are for your benefit too!" "What do you mean you want to skip industrialization and natural resource extraction and invest in your environment, happiness, and long-term sustainability? You'll never be like us that way! You're a failed state! Ignore the coup in the background we swear we had nothing to do with!"

3) This is the section that was edited after @nornities pointed out that it could be read to imply that non-agricultural societies don't have taxes, class warfare, epidemics, subjugation, slavery, conscription, etc. That was not the intention, although it is clearly stated in Scott's original work that he considers these and other negative societal effects to be the direct result of such "civilizing projects." It was not my intent to perpetuate that idea as these things do happen in non-agricultural societies, so I have changed the original wording. Thank you, @nornities

4) I also forgot to mention the clear exception to this: the Incan Empire. Unlike most empire models, the Inca engaged in a top-down society (literally) that was based in the mountains and expanded downward and outward over time. They were predated by two earlier Andean civilizations.

[twinkluffy]

Hero society analysis (for the future)

Hi, after reading the chapter 300 of my hero academia manga I thought it was interesting to make a revision of what we know about how the hero society was built and its apparent downfall. So we are going to review 1) Vigilantes era, 2) quirk’s regulation and pro heroes, 3) the construction of the symbol of peace, 4) the destruction of the symbol of peace and 5) the future of hero society + me rambling about said future.

This is of course my reading of the events transpiring so far in the manga. I will try to keep spoilers at minimum, but there would be a few if you don’t read the manga.

1) Vigilantes era

With the manifestation of quirks, criminals with these newfound superpowers made use of it for evil-doing. Ordinary civilians with their own powers gathered to stop those criminals and bring order to society, that is how Vigilantes were born. All for one became a symbol of society unity in this period of time, making use of his own quirk he removed the quirk from those who didn’t want it and gave it to those who wanted to have superpowers. Obviously this wasn’t a selfless act on his part, he was gathering loyal followers for his goal and ruled Japan from the shadows.

At some point, one for all opposed to what all for one was doing, he saw through those “selfless action”, fought and passed his quirk to the second torchbearer.

The police force moved to prioritize leadership and to maintain the status quo, and decided to no use quirks as weapons.

2) Quirk’s regulation and pro heroes

The pro hero system started on Rhode Island in America under the "Rhode Island New State Statute". 189 Vigilantes were affected by this statute, with only 7 being accepted as official Heroes. Quirk usage has been restricted by the law, that is why groups as the meta liberation army were formed, they believed that the free use of their superhuman abilities should be a basic human right and not only a privilege for heroes.

Depending on their performance, pro heroes have the potential to receive government pay, along with fame and glory. This govt. pay, fame and glory is important, a lot of heroes aren’t into the heroic world because they think it is the best for the world, but mostly because it pays good.

3) The construction of the symbol of peace

At some point, quirkless Toshinori Yagi met the 7th OFA torchbearer: Nana Shimura, when the world was still in chaos with criminals rampaging through the streets and citizens had no one to believe.

Toshi wanted to create a new age of harmony, where this chaotic age of crime was left behind and everyone can have a future to laugh and live together. Toshinori wanted to be that pillar, this symbol of peace for everyone, for the civilians, for other heroes and even for the criminals, for them to see what is waiting if they make a wrong move.

Nana chose Toshinori as his successor, making him the 8th torchbearer of one for all. His body was already strong so he could use this power at it 100% and his training was to learn how to fight properly. Nana died in his fight against afo to make sure that Toshinori and Gran torino escaped safely. This caused a big impact on Toshinori, who thought about Nana as his own mother. Torino recommended him to travel to the united states and continue with his training there, while at the same time being safe of the threat that afo was for him as the eight torchbearer.

From here on onwards I don't think it is necessary to make a list of the heroic things Yagi did to be recognized as the symbol of peace, but we need to talk about what he almost unconsciously constructed as the symbol of peace in the civilians and his fellow heroes eyes. A hero that is always with a smile on his face, charismatic, devoted to the point that he didn’t have any personal time, selfless, indestructible, unwavering, always the winner no matter who he fought, no matter what happened all might’s would always be there to protect everyone. He took all the burden of Japan's safety on his shoulders, reducing the criminal activity to around the 5%.

(I don’t want to sound like Izuku Midoriya is ghost-writing this post, but damn if i don’t tear up thinking about Toshinori carrying that weight on his shoulders alone for so many years)

And this is the central problem of what is going on now in the bnhaverse, the archetype of the symbol of peace that all might create, those are such big shoes to fill and at this point no one can. He became an unreachable pillar, even other heroes acknowledge the pressure of being the #1 that they let all might carry alone, this pressure that he didn’t waver to carry even when he was badly injured.

Toshi in his effort to make a better world unconsciously make everyone dependable of him or what he constructed as the symbol of peace. His fight against AFO marks the beginning of the end of the hero society as we know, the slow collapse of the unreacheable pillar of the symbol of peace.

4) The destruction of the symbol of peace

This “destruction” of the symbol of peace isn’t something new, small blow after small blow villains has been working towards this one goal. As readers we could be expectators of this fall, villain after villain, of small actions becoming bolder. Small fries, solo workers and leagues, villains have been gathering, seeing the cracks on the pillar of Japan's best hero and trying their shot.

But after AFO imprisonment and all might’s career end, they have become even bolder. The hero society is weaker than ever, because All might was the biggest threat to the villains

The symbol of peace that all might carefully constructed can’t be imitated. Endeavor and the rest of the heroes couldn’t even start to fill the spot of All might legacy.

I’m not saying that heroes aren’t doing their best to prevent the fall of the status quo of society till this moment, i’m saying that civilians and even the press don’t let the heroes do their work. There is so much fear in the population and the villains know this, every villainous act helps them and makes the civilians lose their faith in the heroes.

We see this shortly after Endeavor takes the spot of the #1 and fight against that high gamma nomu:

a)The collective trauma of what happened to all might. The fight was recorded by the press, everyone saw the horrible face of the world's biggest criminal and the hero everyone loved ending his career to ensure their safety. Even when this was about Endeavor risking his life to save everyone, as the #1 should, they only can think about All might.

b) This second panel is the same as the previous one, we can see again the lost faith in the symbol of peace. Endeavor is risking his life to protect the city, probably in a way different from what all might approach to fighting villains was, but this also says a lot about this fourth point: there isn’t a sense of safety in the population. They saw their symbol of peace fall, why would be this former #2 any different?, this man who never could take the #1 spot from all might at his best.

And the last blow to the title of the symbol of peace took was Dabi exposing everything Endeavor did to his family in his desire to be the #1. Dude, the timing of all this was beautifully executed, it exposed and proved the reasons of the failing hero system that the league of villains preach about. This speech made everyone think about the dichotomy of “heroes and villains”, after this there isn’t just black and white, good and bad, there are grey areas mingling, there are heroes that in their personal life act as villains and the population is starting to see the flaws in the system.

5)The future of hero society (spoilers of chapter 300)

This fight against the league and MLA marks the end of hero society as we know it, first because it make clear to civilians that heroes aren’t invincible and that their safety isn’t guaranteed anymore and second it make other heroes that were safe behind the shadow of the symbol of peace, know that dark times are approaching and they jobs are riskier than ever.

We have to remember that being a hero is a job option for anyone with a quirk useful enough to combat, not everyone is doing this job because they have a hero heart. In this moment, with shit hitting the fan in the hero society, the good pay, fame and glory isn’t worth to being killed. Hence a lot of pro heros quitting the job, and also a lot of heroes died in the fight against the league; that’s causing a big impact in the structure of japan’s hero society.

The police can’t fight against quirks as well as heroes can (they don’t use quirks as weapons) and they are already busy trying to arrest the people who escaped from the different prisons, civilians are buying (hero) support items to protect themselves because a lot of hero agencies have closed.

Endeavor, who is supposed to be the #1 hero, is broken to the core after having a physical proof in the form of dabi of what his ambition caused. We have seen other characters showing a kind of support to Endeavor, seeing a change in him, but this isn’t going to be enough to gain the civilians approval.

On another topic, I think Vigilantes are going to appear again, of course they never disappeared, but in this moment the public image of them wouldn’t be that bad in civilians eyes. Of course the hero association is going to be against it.

The UA kids have gone through lots of things in their short time being students and having their provisional hero license, but we have also seen their hearts, every one of them being ready to put their life on the line if that is what it takes to save lives. This last fight was the hardest they had to face, they suffered the loss of a dear teacher (Kayama), watched their friends hurting/destroying their bodies fighting and having a first line seat to see the collapse of this hero society that they were so eager to partake in.

This can a) boost them to train harder to be a good hero or b) make them retire early and discard their dream. I personally think that of what we have seen of them, the first is the most logical option, but also they are kids and their parents make the legal decisions for them and after seeing how heroes are handling things, they couldn’t entrust their kids to UA anymore.

Talking about kids, the craziest one of the bunch, Izuku, said something in chapters prior that amazed me and made me love him even more. He said that Shigaraki's face looked like he needed to be saved. We don’t know if afo used someone else before in the way he is using shigaraki to gain power and become a “demon lord”, but if that was the case, you think that any of the previous torchbearers even thought about saving their destined rival?. This is what makes Izuku so different that even the first one for all user, all for one little brother, acknowledges his worth.

So at this point the question we can make ourselves is, what is gonna happen now? Personally and this absolutely my reading of the possible turns of events: i think the hero system is going to be re-constructed, which isn’t going to be easy, but those UA kids would make sure of it somehow. There isn’t going to be a next symbol of peace.

I know you guys are thinking that the next symbol of peace should be izuku, because he is the only one who can fight against shigaraki, has the same vision of heroics that all might and in chapter one we learn that he is narrating the history of how he became a great hero / the greatest hero(i know there are a lot of different translation to this), but looking at what i have writing so long, putting the pressure of japan’s safety in the shoulders of only one person is what dragged the hero society to this point and izuku is smart enough to know that too.

Sorry for this long ramble tho and any typos, when i get excited it's gets harder to translate the words to english my mind hahaha

PS: I feel like we are going to have a time skip after Izuku wakes up.

[xmilenavsch]

the only exception: a pat murray x fem!reader one shot

gif credit: @hollyjollyriphunter

pairing: pat murray x reader

word count: about 2,3k

warnings: none! maybe a little angst if you may see it like that & a lot of fluff!

a/n: my first fanfiction on here and my first one after literal years, haha! (bare with me for that matter) also, keep in mind that english isn't my first language, so i'm really sorry for any mistakes!

this is mainly written for & because of one of my best friends leila - leave her some love on her insta @ angelmazzello! <3

summary: y/n is a worker at the d-back's agency, as the woman for basically everything – mostly bringing the boys snacks or drinks or just for their entertainment, considering that all of them are mad obsessed with her & never fail to show her that. but for her, there's only one: the world's most angry but soft boy, patrick murray.

enjoy this fan fiction for now & don’t forget to request me stuff in the comments or via dm!

It was a sunny and hot Saturday in August, when you, Y/N, got ready for work. The Californian sun shone into your bedroom as you were getting ready, excited for the game, and excited to see your favourite team in the world in action once again. They didn't always gain as much as they may have wanted to, but you knew that they gave their best every time and how much they lived for the game.

Leaving your appartment with fast steps, getting into your car and driving to the field, the only thing you could think about though was this one specific man, who you couldn't keep out of your mind since the minute you saw him for the first time. You never really knew if he was feeling equally, but the only thing you really always knew was that the things with him were different. For better understanding: The D-Backs team is a dysfuntional team of college allumni baseball players, who never manage to close their months and who can't go a day without insulting one another so much you might think they'd hold it against each other until the end of time. But when you see them on the next day, everything's back to normal and everyhing happens all over again. You love watching them being by themselves and also their dynamic on the field. They had some kind of magic within their group that amazed you every time. Well, maybe it was just the magic that your best friend, John „Mazz“ Mazzello always tried to point out, but you really didn't care. You loved these boys. And they loved you too.

About that: They didn't just love you, they were quite literally obsessed with you. There was never a time when they saw you where they didn't whistle after you, told you how good you looked with your tied up hair and in your jumpsuit and how well you smelled when you hugged every one of them. It didn't really bother you, you in fact found it extremely funny and always told them that – even when Vinnie sort of revealed to you that all of them had a list and a bet on the go who would get you in bed first – but you still didn't care, you also had a share on that one after all. But there was still just one of them who never really was into that whole thing – it could've been no other but Pat Murray. Mazz's childhood friend, the most enthusiastic screamer on the field, who deep down just was somebody who needed and wanted a lot of love. Which you never told him of course, because those were just thoughts in your head, and you would never dare letting those out. It was too risky for you. Because you definitely didn't want to lose him. Even though you weren't the closest friends, there was always something about your bond that was different to the ones you had with the other boys. But you never knew how you were supposed to tell him that. You just couldn't. Even though you felt his stares, his gazes, his secret attention he gave to you. The little smile he made when he heard you laugh. But he also couldn't admit to himself that there could be more between you guys. He just couldn't wrap his mind around the fact that someone so pure, beautiful, kindhearted, amazing, supportive and angelic like YOU would actually want him. HIM. The messiest person to exist. So you were stuck in your denial of wanting the other and living with it for as good as years now. And so far, this life has been really good. You were just too tired from it, which didn't make it any better. „But it is what it is! Y'know!“, something Zapata would say from time to time when they lost another game.

( OH RIGHT, Y/N is literally on her way to their next game! Back to that topic I guess. )

As you arrive on the parking lot next to the baseball field, you start your normal routine – getting out of your car and locking it, checking yourself in so you at least gain a little money from all of this, getting into the building of the D-Backs home place with their lockers and all, getting into its kitchen and getting everything they needed for the day. They had a home match, meaning they must all have been pretty nervous and maybe even scared to fail. Which is always a matter of the atmosphere within the team, which was different every time, which amazed you always. So you get their snacks and drinks, say Hi with a bright smile to everyone you cross paths with and head to your boys.

As they see you from afar, you can already just smell Palacco's grin towards you and Dells' whistles. „Well well well, look who it is! Our entertainment during our misery!“, the raven haired yelled at you. You scoff a little. „I'm also really happy to see you boys, Johnathan. And just for your reassurance: Go fuck yourself loser.“ All of them laugh at you, which just makes you roll your eyes. As you hand them their snacks, Mazz walks up to you last to get his own, giving you a kiss on your cheek. „Thanks for doing this every time Y/N, you know you're an angel“, he winks at you. You just nodd your head slightly, while looking over to the boys. After some time you just look confused at them, because one special one is missing. „Hey, has anyone seen Murray? He normally is the first one to get this snacks every time. Stress eating and all.“ Arthur just nodds at the field. „He's right there, just checking out the grass' new cut. Y'know, he likes to play specified.“ Another laugh leaves the boys' mouths. You just shake your head and walk up to him, his snacks in your one hand, the other one stuffed into the bag of your jumpsuit.

From afar you can already see his auburn hair glowing in the sun, how it matches with his red team uniform and how his light skin just looks purer than anything else you've seen in your life so far. This sight makes your heart jump into your stomach and you need some time to catch a breath, before you raise your voice a little. „Murray!“, you yell towards the man in front of you. He quickly turns around to see you and you could've sworn that there was a slight smile on his lips as he faced you. „Oh, Y/N, good afternoon. What's the matter?“ You just walk closer to him and hand him his food. „Here, you weren't with the others when I handed it out, so I just thought I'd bring it to you like this.“ He nodds his head and takes it on. „Yeah, I just wanted to check if all the lines are still on track after the grass was cut a couple of days ago. So we don't fail completely. But thanks.“ You scoff, following his eyes as they're sampling the ground. He then sighs, a sound he makes very frequently and which you were already used to hearing from him. „What's wrong Patty? You worried you guys are gonna lose today?“ He laughs a little at the nickname, but then faces you again. „Well, you know Y/N/N, I'm always worried we will. But with home matches-“ - „-it just hits different, I know“, you cut him off. „But y'know, I will be there cheering you guys on from the fence, right next to you. You guys will rock this“, you reassure him, patting his right arm a little bit with your left hand. You wouldn't be lying if you admitted that the both of you felt some type of electricity from that embrace.

He just nodds his head about what you said and actually smiles a little. „Yeah, I know that: It's always you cheering us up the most. And it's the sweetest thing ever.“ You smile hard at his words, probably harder than you should, and do you even blush a little from them or is that just the summer sun shining straight in your face? You don't really know, and maybe you don't even care. What you do care about though is when Mazz yells over to you guys so Pat comes back to the rest of the team to get ready for their game.

You know he does this every time you and Murray have a moment like this, because he doesn't want you to get hurt. Pat didn't have the best experiences when it comes to love so far in his life and because of his broken soul he sometimes makes decisions that don't only hurt him, but also his partner-at-the-time. His last relationship ended pretty bad, you were the one comforting him, already being head over heels crushing on him. But you didn't want to let your feelings in the way of him being hurt, because he was your friend and you wanted to be there for him. Now things are way different and he kind of got over the heartbreak he experienced, but you still couldn't find the guts to tell him. You just couldn't. And Mazz knew that. So every time you guys talked about it, he accepted your decision, even though he was basically the only one believing this thing between you and Murray could work. But he accepted your decision, and whatever decision Patrick would make, because you guys were his best friends and he didn't want anything bad happen to you, nor to lose either of you. So he was just there. Being the secret admirer of secret admirers.

-

As Murray and you get back to the rest of the team, you hug every single of them, wishing them the best of luck. Mazz comes last. You embrace each other the tightest, because you knew that'd give him strength. The only one you didn't hug was Pat, but you just never did that. It sort of never „fitted the vibe of your bond“, as David would say. So you just walk over behind the fence, watching the game elope.

-

From the beginning the match was an intense competition, not only between the two teams, but also between the teammembers within one. But with the D-Backs, that was normal. You were used to listen to them insulting one another in the worst ways possible, with words you didn't even think were a part of the English dictionary. But you just watched and enjoyed the whole thing.

-

After a lot of time has passed and a tie has been declared, somebody had to be chosen for the last pitch to win the whole thing – this time for the D-Backs. You nervously stand on your tip toes, waiting for a decision to be made. The referee had decided to select the performer at random. So they try to find someone, everybody in the crowd is extremely tense, just like you and the rest of your boys are, when they make a decision. „Patrick Murray, 7th, centerfield!“. You gasp loudly and a shiver runs down your spine. Oh god, this can't end well. But Pat walks up to his supposed spot with a kind of confidence you've never seen before on him, with his bat, his baby, his basical everything, standing there and waiting to hit it off. As he's waiting, he turns around a little to face the crowd, finding your face and looking you straight in the eye. You just nood at him, fingers intertwined next to your mouth, and somehow, this gives him all the strength he needs.

As the ball flies up to him, he stands on his position, waiting for the right moment.

Then he hits it.

And then he gets it.

-

The crowd and the rest of the team are cheering more than ever. They really did win! The disappointment on the faces of the opposite team were probably able to be seen in a country 10,000 miles away, but you didn't care. You just were so incredibly proud of your team and especially of your man, Murray, who practically wasn't your man yet officially, but that didn't stop him from owning your heart to the fullest. You push yourself through the cheery people, ignoring the rest of the D-Backs being all over each other, walking fastly towards Patrick. As he sees you, he drops his bat and also walks up to you, hugging you tighter then ever, which gives you more and more shivers and just lets all the adrenaline overflow you that you could ever be able to. Out of the sudden, he picks you up, making you squeak a little, spinning you around for a moment. He let's you down again, looking you straight in the eyes, you just smiling at him the brightest way possible. God, he freaking loved your smile. And from all the previous events, all the strength you had given him, he finally says the one thing you've desired to hear from him for such a long time now: „Go out with me Y/N. I mean it. As a Thank you for helping me today.“ You gasp a little, holding your breath, still having your arms around his waist. „Are you sure? You know that was only you being the talent you are just a few minutes ago.“ He scoffs. „Yeah, I know, but I'm also sure. And dead serious. Just go out with me, sweetie. You won't regret it.“

You just shake your head in agreement. You would most definitely finally go out with the man who owns your heart. And then you'll see what will happen from then on.

[rockabelle]

Every so often a customer will as, "How much does this cost?" and when I tell them they'll come back with, "It's $X on Amazon." and every time. EVERY. TIME. I have to fight the urge to tell them to go buy it Amazon in that case. (the response I've settled on is asking if that price accounts for shipping and so far everyone replies that they don't know)

How frustrating! I used to work retail, and I vividly remember how awful it could be. Some customers are assholes. Some are idiots. Some are just blindly inconsiderate.

And some try to bargain when neither you nor anyone at the store has bargaining power, and it doesn’t matter how often you explain that, they just keep coming. Sometimes they even get aggressive about that. And yeah, I have often been tempted to say things like “then leave” or “buy it elsewhere” or “please don’t come back,” if they’re horrible enough.

I’m sorry you have to deal with that nonsense. All I can say is that while it might not help with the frustration, it sometimes helped me in interactions to keep in mind that bargaining is built into certain cultures. I have Egyptian relatives, so I’m very aware of their aggressive bargaining tendencies, and I’ve heard that folks from India are the same.

In American culture, bargaining is less prevalent because most people know that you can’t bargain in most stores here, but some sellers do advertise that if you show them a lower price from somewhere else, they’ll match it. I think that sometimes Amazon itself does this. But Amazon tends to have sellers with such rock-bottom prices that few brick & mortar stores could match them. I wonder if your boss would allow you to put up a sign that says something like “We do not match prices from elsewhere?” I’ve seen those at a few department stores. It might not stop people from stopping you in the aisles and trying their luck, but it could cut down on the bulk of the attempts, at least. And it would be easier if you could just point at the sign.

You could also mention that it usually costs more to buy local than online, but that it’s important to support the community. Even big box stores employ locals. Buying online comes at a price- there are scams and unethical practices in the Amazon marketplace that consumers are protected from at your store. There is less quality assurance. It’s harder to get help. There is a certain cost to maintaining a store which Amazon doesn’t pay, but which offers certain benefits, like being able to try things on or examine products in person or even test them or see them operating. It can also be easier to return larger items. There are usually more sales events at stores than at Amazon.

Amazon also treats its sellers (and I hear, employees) terribly, whereas customers of your store can be assured that there is better oversight in how workers and suppliers are treated (sometimes not much, but still. Amazon has an awful record that’s tough to beat).

Maybe none of this has been helpful, but at least know that I feel your pain. Good luck, my dude!

[slaveresistance]

Among so many other things, the pandemic has made archival and in-person research that much harder to accomplish. I was finally able to complete a research trip to visit repositories and libraries in New York and Connecticut after its being deferred for a year and a half. I returned with the intention of doing a series of posts here to help me sort through all of my notes, pictures and discoveries, only to find that it had been so long since I posted that I could no longer remember my password to this website. Those posts will be forthcoming, but this only affirms for me the necessity of my project today. I'm taking a moment here straight off to thank all of the librarians, archivists, and workers at the various institutions who were so incredibly helpful to me. I don't want to forget their names by the time the book I am working on goes to print, whenever that may be.

These are in no particular order, and there are so many other personnel whose names I wish I would have had the presence of mind to collect.

My deep gratitude is due to Lena Newman, special collections librarian at Columbia University and to Rebecca Maguire, Genevieve Coyle, and Dika Goloweiko-Nussberg at Yale. Even though their repositories are not open to outside researchers at this point, they were extremely generous with their time and resources, providing me with digital copies and access and making helpful suggestions. I am very grateful to Yale undergraduate Nat Artz for sharing her photographs with me.

Makoroba Sow, librarian at the Millstein Division of NYPL, and Jay Vissers at the Miriam and Ira D. Wallach Picture Collection, both housed in the Schwarzman building, were so kind and their helpful suggestions and problem-solving skills were much-appreciated. At the Billy Rose Performing Arts library, I was so lucky to find Jeremy Megraw, who loves a mystery and enthusiastically jumped into my quest to track down a mysterious playbill from 1843. At the Schomburg Rare Books collection Bridgett Pride, Serena Torres and Cheryl Beredo were incredibly accommodating to me, under the difficult circumstances of coordinating a reading room with limited capacity due to Covid protocols.

At the Jean Blackwell Hutson library in Schomburg, I owe a debt of gratitude to the entire staff, who paged countless books on my behalf every day for the week I kept turning up there. I am very grateful to Auburn Nelso, Troy Belle, Rhonda Evans and the whole staff, including the personnel at the front desk who had to check me in and out, over and over again.

I am very much in the debt of Ed Surato at the Whitney library of the New Haven historical society for his generous help, and to a security guard I'm not going to name, who bent the rules for me, at the New Haven City Hall.

I'm grateful to many others for sharing not just access but also their thoughts, like Bruce Trammell, "translator" at the Discovering Amistad monument that I got to see, finally, in Hartford; artist Dread Scott for his supportive comments on my work and for the helpful introduction to Nina Felshin, with whom I am glad to be connected. I am grateful for the time I spent chatting with the owners of Revolution Books in Harlem, and to artist Steven Montinar, my future collaborator (and I hope, friend) for sharing his worldview with me as we poured over a crumbling document together in NYPL's rare book collection.

My time spent at these various archives was funded by a RISE grant from the University of Tampa, and I'm thankful to the sponsored programs committee for funding it, and to their leadership for being flexible about timelines under Covid. Without the generosity of my home institution for that grant, and the sabbatical period during which I am conducting this research, this couldn't have been accomplished. I am keenly aware of my incredible privilege, and I feel badly that I'm only stating a few names here when there were so many other people without whom I couldn't have navigated these challenges.

[dxmedstudent]

interesting I was wondering what you thought of this; my moms is a huge advocate for women getting their education and not entirely depending on a man. however she is worried with the rise of female doctors, because where I'm from even though it's sort of sexist but pople send their daughter into medical fields (doctors, pharmacist, dentist or nurse) because it is known that job has the most job security and people don't trust men to have their daughter financially depended on ->

-> so if women do actually go into medical school or pharmacy or dentistry, they still graduate fairly young 23/25 and get married (hopefully to another doctor they met in college), majority of them never specialize even (or even work) and the ones who do specialize in family medicine because it’s short and easy. so you see even though people want a job thats good for their daughter, they don’t want them to go the whole mile in order to take care of the kids.That’s an interesting discussion, so I’d like to thank you for bringing it up. It’s a hard question, with no easy or definite answer. On a wider level, medicine is a vocational degree. And whilst there are no rules or laws in place about who should study medicine, we could argue that people have an ethical duty to at least consider if they want to do it. Because if too many people who don’t want to actually be doctors take up all the places, you’ll end up with no actual doctors, and lots of people disappearing off with their state-funded education. Now, in reality, people have all sorts of different reasons for studying medicine then not staying in it. Some were kind of forced into it by their parents, or pressured into it by their school, and it took them a while to realise that clinical medicine is just not for them. Sometimes even people who went into it with their eyes open, genuinely feeling they want to do medicine can realise halfway through that it’s just not for them. And a small number do the degree because they can, and they know it’s a good qualification, and they hope to go into banking afterwards or earn their Mrs degree or something else entirely. Now, I personally believe it’s ethically better if you only start studying medicine if you actually have some interest in it. You may not guarantee that you will stay in medicine, but there’s absolutely no point in going in knowing it’s not what you want to do. Because medicine is stressful, and hard, and you’ll get so much more out of university if you pick something you really want to do. And if you want to go into banking or consulting etc, you can do just as well going to a prestigious university and studying a subject you actually like, as if you did medicine. The reason why things are complicated, is because in my experience, many people who genuinely passionately wanted to do medicine also drop out. And from the outside, you’d never be able to tell. And going back to the people who are pressured by their parents; I don’t think it’s fair to be harsh on them, either, given how big an impact your parent’s views and approval can have on your life when you are 17. I can completely understand why some of my peers  went that way. I’m happy to report that when hese people get a bit older, they have more independence and a chance to work out what works for them. And when they find themselves a stable, decent job in the field they actually love it’s much easier for their parents to accept they don’t want to be doctors. Because I think that a lot of the traditional parents are coming from a place of love when they advise their children about their future. Most want their children to have more stable lives, and less hardships than they did. Most parents hope their children will find stable, well paying work which will allow them financial security and independence (and protect them against hardship), and medicine being a job with that reputation, (and a decent amount of social cachet) is desirable to many people for that reason. Unfortunately, medicine is also stressful, involves moving around, way too many exams, being sued, and generally has lots of bad points that the public don’t really consider enough, because they focus on the ‘good side’.I can see why your mum is concerned; although there are more women (which is good), there’s also a culture surrounding female education that means that it’s important, but only until you can get married and have kids, after which you’re expected to focus only on this. And your mum (and others) worry that there may be lots of women in med school, but if most of them end up leaving medicine, then what’s the point? And what do you do if you end up with fewer doctors because they all leave? And I can see that concern, and I think it mirrors some of the concerns people have here (though here the concern is usually about women doctors working part-time, or all genders leaving).You cleverly mention what the parents want for the girls who study medicine. But the exciting thing is, those girls will have opinions of their own about what they want to do. And with each generation, they will get bolder, more determined, and have more opportunities and choice, because of the efforts of those that went before them. I remember one of my female lecturers talking about her mother, who was a female consultant in a time when that was more unusual, and some of the difficulties she faced. She shared this in an ancient lecture theatre, which now contains more women than men; something its founders would likely never have imagined! Progress happens, it just works differently in different places.Even of those girls whose parents advise leaving medicine, some of them will still stay in medicine. And if they are supported, that number will be higher. Some need more support; from their partner, from their community, and from their family. It’s tough, because what that situation needs is much slower and harder to achieve: a cultural shift that goes beyond valuing women’s education because it grants them the opportunity to get a husband, but recognising that it grants her even more: independence, satisfaction in her life, the chance to make a difference. And when that follows, society can work on the next step, which is understanding that women and men, everyone needs a manageable work-life balance. And that by allowing workers to be more flexible we will lose less of them to child-rearing or illness etc. Now, I think most countries still have far to go on this front; even those countries that are good at giving lip-service to women working in respected or traditionally male fields, often don’t take enough steps to make sure women coming back after maternity leave, looking after kids, or looking after a sick relative are supported enough. And many sysyems don’t do enough to support people who need to go part time, whether for their health, or family reasons. On the other hand, I can see why people want to spend time with their kids; that’s something that happens here, too. And it’s not just women, either. Our male peers also want to be more involved in their childrens’ lives. Our generation is more likely to take advantage of shared parental leave so that dads can spend time with their babies, too. Some of my male colleagues have also complained that they feel they spend more time with other people’s kids than their own. I’ve seen plenty of my male peers stress over work-life balance and seeing enough of their children. Medicine is time consuming,  and many of us wonder if we are getting the balance right. So I can see why the parents you describe would want their kids to take the easy route; nobody wants to see their kid go through more difficulty than they have to. Even though it’s rather presumptive of parents to decide what’s best for their grown-up children, it can still be hard for parents to realise where the boundaries are, particularly if you’re in a culture where the older generation is meant to be consulted as an authority. My culture is similar, and my relatives give their opinions so freely, I imagine it would horrify my English friends! Nevertheless, the younger generation have to choose what is best for them, as much as they can.Even here in the UK, we are getting more doctors working part time (both male and female, but often female), in order to spend more time with their kids. It was always expected (according to my middle aged medical family friends) that if doctors got married, one of them would go part time or go into GP so that the other could focus on their career whilst the first partner was more stable in their children’s lives. And you’ll find it easy to guess which gender that role usually fell to! Women. Because even until recently (and arguably even now), it’s still seen as wrong for a woman to be quite as committed to her career as a man is expected to be. And if the family unit have to sacrifice career progression for the sake of family, it’s still expected for the woman to be the one doing it. Part of it is direct pressure from family, friends and work, but much of it is cultural; if we’re surrounded by these ideas then as we grow up, we teach boys that their career is paramount, whilst we teach girls that family should be the only thing that matters. But things are changing; many of my male colleagues spend almost as much time as my female colleagues talking about their plans for family, and how they plan to balance things. And many of my female colleagues have set themselves high career goals regardless of where they stand on having kids. But, even if we get to the point where men and women are equally likely to stay home with the kids or go part time, we will still have to adapt our workforce around the fact that people will want a better work-life balance; we can’t just pretend we are still in the ‘good old days’ when women stayed home, and men worked silly shifts at work, and could afford to because their wives basically did everything else for them. People rarely live like this now; both men and women (and everyone in between) have a lot more on their plate than they used to. And you know what? The ‘good old days’ were never that good; many of our peers are the kids of medics who worked under unforgiving rotas. Ask a doctor’s kid from those days how much they saw their dads or mums, and many will tell you hat they hope to do parenting very differently. If I had to summarise it, It’d be this: I don’t think girls should be pressured into going to med school for a Mrs degree, (or that boys should be pressured into being doctors, either), but the factors surrounding why parents value educaiton but value their daughters looking after the children far more, are complex and rooted in culture. Cultures can and do change, but it takes time, and it takes people trying new things for others to see that it’s not so bad after all.