#but since I'm not saying that maybe people shouldn't assume that I am?

[jeff-from-marketing]

For fuck sake, I'm this close to just blocking the asexual tag on Tumblr. Not because those people aren't valid, they're so fucking valid and deserve to be loved and respected! I love you all and you deserve to be represented in society

But apparently some people don't know how to not conflate aromanticism with asexuality. Say it with me people:

ROMANCE AND SEX ARE NOT ONE IN THE SAME

They're different things! Yes, for many they can be tied together, but that doesn't make them inherently interchangeable! You can love someone with all your heart and never want to fuck them, and conversely you can want to fuck someone you find hot without ever even knowing them.

The amount of fucking times I've seen a post only aimed at asexual people tagged with all the aromantic tags is absurd. I'm not ace, I do not identify with being on that spectrum. But I am fucking aromantic! Stop putting me in the same group when they're not the same thing! It's disingenuous to people who are only asexual and not aroace, and it's dangerously fucking close to just erasing aromantics.

I don't like trying to police how people use the site, even if it wasn't a pointless endeavour it would just be rude, and I don't want to be that person. But I'm also just tired of seeing every other post tagged with aromantic actually just being about asexuality. I don't want those posts to stop, I just want them to be tagged properly so that asexual people get proper representation without drowning out aromantics. Obviously if it's an aroace post then yeah tag both, that makes sense, I'm not going to fight that. But otherwise, please, I just want to be able to see stuff about aromanticism without it being drowned out by asexuality.

I want to be seen.

(side note: the reverse of all this is obviously true. Do not fucking tag a post that's just about aromanticism with asexual. We all deserve our own representation without drowning each other. We should be working to lift each other up, not use each other as stepping stones)

[hannahhook7744]

Why Franklin and Maryann Portman are the Worst™ (Part 1)!;

I want to preface this by saying that I know that by no means Franklin and Maryann Portman are the actual worst parents in fiction or in this series even. 

Of course they aren't. 

But that doesn't mean that I can't still refer to them as the worst™ for them being shitty. Even if I do believe that on some leave that they do care about/love their son. 

I also wanna point out that it's been awhile since I read the books so I'm going off my memory and the wiki for this. So I may forget some context of why this or that happens, and if I do that, feel free to comment it down below respectfully. And if I forget something that you find shitty that they did, also feel free to reblog or comment it down below because I would love to talk about these characters and fandom more.

Am I saying that Abe Portman is 100% perfect and did nothing wrong whatsoever? No, that would go against how his character is betrayed in the books—as a flawed traumatized man who did his best to be there for his family and keep them and himself (as well as others) safe and went about some things the wrong way. 

 Now that that's out of the way…

According to the wiki:

“Jacob was born on Halloween, and up until he was eight years old was convinced by his parents that trick-or-treating candy was birthday presents (something apparently revealed in Hollow City).” 

These people are rich. 

R-I-C-H. 

Rich enough that Jacob’s dad can study birds and volunteer and write mine books that he never publishes without the worry of them not having anything to eat. 

R-I-C-H enough that Jacob comments that “I did love her, of course, but mostly because loving your mom is mandatory, not because she was someone I think I'd like very much if I met her walking down the street. Which she wouldn't be, anyway; walking is for poor people.” And rich enough that they gave their kid their four year old sundan so that they could get a brand new car. 

And for eight years, they had their son believing that candy was a birthday present. 

1. Now, look. I get it. Birthday shopping is hard, especially for a little itty bitty kid but not actually having the money to buy your only kid gifts and choosing not to because people are handing out candy on that day anyway? That's not a very nice thing to do for that long. 

They let him go through three years of school thinking that and we never learned how he found out that was a lie. That's not even including the fact that the rest of their extended family let this lie continue (assuming they knew). 

Can you imagine if Jacob found out because he mentioned this to his classmates or a teacher? Maybe a teacher or family member could salvage the situation but little kids can be brutal, especially towards other little kids who they think are wrong and considering we know that in that same year, Jacob was pants-ed causing him to stop believing anything Abe said…. It's not entirely out of the realm of possibility tl believe that one of Jacob's classmates got in a fight with him over it and caused some kind of embarrassing, painful memory. 

Though I guess it's a good thing they didn't get Jacob birthday presents that early on considering my second point. 

2. The birthday scene. 

Look at his birthday scene. 

This scene? Shouldn't really exist. 

Not because I hate birthday scenes but because Jacob literally told his parents he didn't want a party which under normal circumstances is a reasonable ask within itself. But these? These aren't even normal circumstances. 

Jacob doesn't want a party because the one person he'd actually want there, in his own words, is his grandpa. His grandpa who died in his arms nine months before and who Jacob has been viciously mourning for said nine months. His grandpa whose death caused Jacob's ‘mental breakdown’. 

Whose house they had also cleaned out recently, doing shit all for the now sixteen year old’s mental health and grief. 

But what do his parents do? 

Throw him a surprise party.

A surprise party.

For their jumpy traumatized son who found his grandpa bleeding out in the dark after getting attacked by a monster (or ‘rabid dogs’) and who has been sleeping in the fucking laundry room. 

Why on earth would going against his wishes be good for him? He said he didn't want a party and under these circumstances, it's even more understandable. If you really want your son to socialize or to celebrate, then get him a cake or some food he likes and invite his friend over. Talk to him. 

Don't throw him a party he doesn't want and don't throw the kid who's been having non-stop nightmares about the monsters who killed his grandfather a fucking surprise party. 

To make matters, in this party:

One of his uncles he’s not close to tries to spring a summer trip to his house on him, listing shit that he likely knows Jacob doesn't like with no previous warning to the kid himself (his parents were just planning to ship him off, whether he wanted it or not). 

They're calling Jacob's apparent disorder ‘his thing’. 

And nobody is actually getting him anything he wants. Just shit they've been gifted and are trying to get rid of. 

Gifts like CD's of country Christmas music or subscriptions to Field and Stream (because his Uncle Les thinks he's outdoorsy, this one I can understand slightly since Jacob did want to be an adventurer but still). 

The only exceptions being:

 1. The key to the family four-year-old sedan, which Jacob is embarrassed to be receiving in front of Ricky (who Jacob hasn't talked to in a long while after a fight they had). 

And 

2. A camera Jacob had been wanting for ages (since last summer) from his parents….who likely only gifted it to him because of his dad's new book.

Which leads to his mom drunkeningly making front of her husband at her sixteen year old’s birthday party…. Real classy. 

Oh and 3. A book that belonged to Abe that Jacob's parental Aunt Susie snagged trom the house when they were cleaning it out. A book titled “The Selected Works of Ralph Waldo Emerson”. 

She gave this to him, saying it was from Abe because he'd written Jacob's name in it. 

Thoughtful right? 

Well everyone else doesn't think so because they go quiet. Jacob's mom, Maryann even while drunk, tries to say it was thoughtful and that she didn't know Abe was a reader.

Meanwhile Jacob's dad, Franklin, is barely hiding how pissed he is. 

Like dude. 

Dude. 

Do you really hate your own dad so much that you don't want your grieving son to have even just a book of poems that the only member of the family who he was close to left for him? Are you still, even after that disastrous day where you cleaned out the fucking house with him there and fought with him, refusing to let him have any ties left?

To be fair, you can say that this is because of his own history with Abe and that it's because Jacob is in a worrying state. But that doesn't really hold up considering that they let Abe babysit Jacob often and fill his head up with stories they thought he embellished  due to his own trauma and because they thought that Jacob was well enough to handle trashing and donating all of his dead grandpa’s stuff. 

Sure, they don't take the book from him but the fact Franklin can't even hide how pissed he is is shitty. 

That's not even considering this little tidbit here:

“My mother leaned toward me and in a tense whisper asked if I needed a drink of water, which was mom-speak for keep it together, people are staring.”

….

Do I even need to say anything?

The fact that Jacob thinks this probably means that his parents—or even just Maryann—have said this to him before. Frequently so, even. To the point where he's trying to escape the room, feeling like he might cry, and instead of thinking that his parents (or anyone in this family) might be able to potentially comfort him in this hard moment, this is what he's thinking. 

It's infuriating.

But not as infuriating as my last point for now!

3. Franklin sent his then fifteen year old son to deal with what he thought was his dementia ridden, war world 2 veteran father having a PTSD attack/episode. 

Franklin gets called when he's volunteering at a bird rescue in what is either early afternoon or night by his worried fifteen year old said who tells him that Abe called him ‘flipping out’. 

He asks if he's taken his pills today and Jacob tells him Abe wouldn't tell him. 

At this point, any reasonable adult would go and help their poor ailing father who may be having an episode or PTSD attack about the war, what happened to his family. The monsters. 

At this point, any reasonable adult would send their son home out of danger and call up a friend or sibling or in-law to go deal with the situation. 

What does Franklin do?

He sends his fifteen year old, who is at his job, to go check on Abe. Who again, Franklin thinks is having an episode. 

Now, even if there was a chance that Abe would still recognize Jacob and wouldn't be a danger to him, who would risk sending their son to check on an ailing relative by himself when there's every chance that when Jacob gets there he'll be having flashbacks to the horrors he witnessed. I mean, it's understandable if you or another adult is there and need help calming the man for you to maybe have your teenage son there. Especially if he may be caring for him one day out of choice.

But sending your fifteen year old there by himself to handle the situation when he probably won't know what to do and when he probably hasn't seen one before?

And doing that when you know that your dad was in a war and still has a sea of weapons hidden away behind lock and key (a key which you have) because you can't be half assed to tell the shelter your volunteering at that there's a family emergency?

Franklin literally sent Jacob into a traumatizing situation that could turn dangerous (for Abe or Jacob, if Abe didn't recognize his grandson) under the assumption that all of his paranoid dad's weapons are stored away. 

And what did Abe die with in his hand?

A box cutter. 

Which just proves that Abe had things lying around that he could use as a weapon if needed. Things he could improvise with. 

Just think for a moment about what could have wrong if Abe wasn't actually in danger from a wight but something he was actually imagining—a memory from his past. Imagine what could have happened to Jacob if Abe had mistaken him for a burglar or a wight or what Franklin thought he was imagining.

Jacob can't fight. 

It's dark. 

Things could easily go wrong.

And what would happen if they did?

Jacob would be hurt and traumatized or dead and Abe would likely be in a horrible place if he wasn't, all because Franklin didn't care enough about his dad to go check on him himself. Hell you can he didn't even care about Jacob enough here, because he didn't care about what Jacob could possibly see if he sent him to deal with his grandfather.

Like, not only is he being incredibly shitty to his son but to his own ailing father who was at the very least convinced he was in danger and who was actually in danger (for all Franklin knew his dad could have actually heard someone breaking in but he didn't even take the time to think about it). 

That's all I have time to write for today but there's several other things that they do that are pretty crappy where their son is involved that I will happily discuss.

Hope this doesn't disappoint, @kallmeweirdhprroe .

[rwuffles]

okay, so, calico cove has gotten me mushy — because of people crying over my notes, me getting emotional over the notes i got, and the community as a whole. blame them for this heartfelt mushfest, i guess; this is an appreciation letter because i can't keep my big fat mouth shut ever!

to the mogai community as a whole: thank you. for, what? i don't think i could get into the specifics if i tried. we are, to be quite frank, a mess at times — discourse and drama and pettiness galore — but god i'd be lying to say i don't love it anyways. i found the community when i was stuck in a really toxic friend group, and when i was starting to hide parts of myself in order to fit in / not get bullied. it didn't really work. but, i found everyone here. people who ided similarly to me, people who also hoarded stuff, and god i fucking adored all of the coining and npt blogs. it's been a really long ride, and i'm still trying to figure myself out as we go along, but i wouldn't be, well, xuân if it weren't for everything that this community has shown me. coining and flag-making have been there for me when i didn't have words to describe how i felt, and when i needed people who'd accept me for being me; it's shown me that i shouldn't settle for anything less than that. everything i do on this blog, really, is a love letter to the community as a whole and me trying to give back everything its given me, and i hope that's clear with how much love goes into everything i create.

and, god, don't even get me started on how much i adore everyone i've met through the community!

some people i'm not quite as close with as i used to be, and some people i don't talk with at all anymore, but i have to be honest when i say that i adore and am grateful towards everyone in the community i've met during my time within it.

to @vampitsm: what sort of appreciation letter would this be if it didn't include you? you've been my friend since, what, one of my old old blogs? it's been one whole year since we've become friends; can you believe that? it was actually right around this time that we started gaia's — or rather, sweetshop. when we first met, i'll be honest and say that i didn't think we'd stay friends long. i'd always held a fairly pessimistic view of the people around me — assuming they'd leave or i'd drop them one way or another. but, you didn't. you'd stayed, you were my friend, you sided with me time and time again. at some point, i found myself wanting to be your friend — even though we already were friends! i'll be honest and say that a lot of the time, when i do things, i hope that i'll make you laugh. you and your opinion mean a lot to me, and i always look forward to the next time we talk.

to @fangpunk: there's so much i could say about you, you little faggot (silly). when i'd first joined mogaiblr, you were one of our inspirations — we looked up to you, wanted to be your mutual, and just generally thought y'all were one of the coolest guys out there. who woulda thought that we'd have the friendship we do today? you're an amazing friend, i think you're one of the funniest people we know and you've always got something to say — in a good way! i love your input on every situation, and especially when izuku isn't scared to put his foot down in our place; you make us less scared to be ourself and encourage us to be less of a pushover. so, thank you!

to @cloverpilled: you're a real dork. my dork, though. maybe i should've realized i didn't quite just see you as a friend when i was vying for your attention and calling you 'my favorite' all the time; but, it worked out in the end, didn't it? everything you make — flags, rentries, layouts, etc. — are always wonderful and i still get giddy seeing you put 'taken' in your rentries and knowing that's me. i've always loved our friendship, and i can't fathom a world without it, especially not now that we're boyfriends. i know you're not the best with words — comforting, being open, all that jazz — and i've never minded it. really, i think you're one of the sweetest people in the world and you always try your best even if it's not in the most forward or obvious manner.

to shua: you. you have been in the fucking psych ward for the past... 4-5 months? i miss you so much, dude; i'm so happy you're going to be out in 2 days. i can't wait to spend the rest of the holidays with you and everyone else in gaia's. you're an amazing person, to be entirely honest, and i miss spending time with you. you've been my friend since before i was here on rwuffles. do you know how fucking long that is? i've looked up to you since forever, and i'm so happy that we're friends. i cherish you and i cherish our friendship as a whole more than i think i could ever express, sometimes i can't believe that we've been friends for so long, but we have! to another year of you & i!

to hadiyah: i have no idea what your current (?) tumblr account is, to be entirely honest, so i hope this finds its way to you one way or another. you're such an amazing person, i think you're so funny and i love talking with you — it's always a treat. sure, you aren't quite as active in gaia's anymore; i don't mind. i still consider you a really good friend of ours. you've been our friend since... the beginning of gaia's as well, i believe? so, really, i couldn't be more grateful to have you in my life and to have had you as a friend for so long! thank you, so much.

to @sevvys: sev. you. you are so cool and awesome and i love talking to you. thank you for being our friend — we don’t even remember how long we’ve been friends for. but, thank you. to be entirely honest, you’re an older sibling figure in our lives and we love being able to hang out and make stupid jokes; i think you’re really funny and i’ve always looked up to you in a way if that doesn’t sound weird? i don’t talk to you as much as i wish i did, and i want that to change, but you’re always super level-headed in my opinion and really good at handling discussions i guess. i don’t know how to express how cool i think you are. you’re just a really reliable, caring person i think

to @rabidbatboy: i think i’ve looked up to you for… an absurdly long amount of time. when you first started coining, you were one of the only people coining less “cutesy” stuff; it was definitely a breath of fresh air and we found ourselves super excited to see any new terms you’d come up with. to be honest? we still love everything you coin, even if we aren’t quite in the fandoms you’re coining for — plus i just think you’re awesome as a person. i love talking to you, as i’ve said to lots of people, you’re super funny and i always look forward to talking to you next! you’re not quite as active in gaia’s anymore, and i know you’re not the best with words, so i don’t expect anything grand in response; i just want you to know that i really care about you and i’ve always appreciated your presence.

to eddie: that’s right, oldie! you get a section, too! because i consider you a really good friend of ours, even if i don’t talk to you very much and you aren’t (?) quite in the mogai community. i really like talking to you and i like our back and forth banter a lot — it feels like you’re an older sibling of ours a lot of the time. i like being the annoying little brother to you, and i really hope that we can keep being friends. it feels really weird being genuine and expressing how much you matter to me considering how often we tend to jokingly butt heads, but i just need you to know that i really love our friendship and i can’t imagine it being any other way. i hope your holidays are good, ya old fuck (affectionate).

and, this section isn't quite for people who are in the mogai community. rather, friends & loved ones i've known since before then that i love with all my heart and that have supported me throughout everything — discovering myself and realizing how much i adore these labels. there aren't enough words to explain how much i love you all and appreciate your staying by my side and not abandoning me.

to elipse, my dear boyfriend: thank you. you’ve supported me through everything — even when it felt like everyone else was against me and i was left on my own again. you are my dearest, my beloved, my forever and my eternity; i’m not scared to be mushy about that. it’s been a wonderful two years by your side, and i hope for it to be many more. you’ve loved me through my ups and downs, my wrongs and rights, my weirdest moments and all the cute stuff in-between. you’ve been my number one supporter — especially when i was first starting to become a mogai coiner — and you’ve remained my number one supporter since. you’re the most wonderful boyfriend i could ever ask for: supportive, sweet, considerate, and amazing. i love you. 

to caelan, my lovely girlfriend: you!! you’ve been my best friend for seven years. do you know how long that is? i’m 16! i was 9 when we met! i’ve almost known you and akemi for longer than i haven’t! that is both a terrifying and wonderful thought: to have someone by your side for so long that you can recall more of your life with them than without it. i adore everything about you, and i’m so sorry if it seems like i’m a bit awkward or not the best conversationalist sometimes; everything about you is amazing and i just feel like a little wet dog near you somedays. i miss you so much, and i hope your break from fronting is going well, and that you know i love you and am so excited to talk to you again when you’re back. 

to akemi, one of my bestest and oldest friends: a lot of what i said in caelan’s note is what i’d say to you. we’ve known eachother for so long, that it’s hard to imagine my life if you hadn’t been in it. actually, i think my entire life would’ve taken a different course if we hadn’t met on that fnaf minecraft roleplay on hypixel — can you believe it? how such little things manage to make such big impacts on our lives and who we are as people? i know we don’t talk as much anymore, but, as i’ve said before, i consider you one of my dearest friends and you mean the complete world to me. so, thank you for having stayed by my side for so long, akemi.

to ice, my amazing sister: you!!! the sister ever!!! you’ve always taken on an older sibling role in my life since we met, and i think you just tend to slot into that role perfectly; thank you for always being there for me and taking care of me. i don’t think i’d have made it this far without you being there and reassuring me every step of the way. we might not be super close, or talk as much as i’d like us to, but i really enjoy your company and love talking with you. i’m just a little bit of an awkward guy. when you send me stuff on pinterest, it always makes me happy and i love checking and seeing that i have a new message from you. i can’t believe we’ve been friends for — how long is it, at this point — six years? i think around that time. that’s unbelievable to me.

to smg, my one & only brother: the stupidest most dorkiest most infuriating brother i could ever have the pleasure of knowing and being able to call my brother. that’s what you are. you and your stupid brainrot and stupid jokes and stupid everything — i could never imagine a world where you aren’t my brother. even if you act like you don’t care a lot of the time, you make sure we know that you do care (even if it’s in your own, stupid little way). i love being your friend and i’m so grateful i’ve had you in my life for so long. you are the first and currently the only online friend who i’ve been able to meet irl, and i hope to be able to see you again sometime soon. even if you never quite got the labels that i’d talk about or ramble about, and even if you might get on my nerves sometimes, you’re still my brother at the end of the day and i wouldn’t want it any other way.

next up, we have people who i don’t quite talk to as much anymore who’s presences in my life i really appreciate. of course, i’m not sure if all of them still have tumblr blogs — most being deactivated — or if they even really want to hear how i care about them. so, really, i’ll leave this brief and say that this part is addressed to: ghost, mimsy, and woodbyne. thank you guys for having played such a large role in our lives at one point or another, and i wish you all the best even if we don’t talk as much nowadays. 

i don’t think that i can dedicate a paragraph to everyone, even if i really wish i could, as i don’t think most people are going to be willing to read through this whole post with the length that it’s getting to. so, i’m just gonna tag a bunch of people? just to let you guys know that you’re loved in every which way even if i have a shitty time showing it to all of you? 

the sillies ever who are so kind and sweet and i enjoy everytime they send me asks, reblog, leave a reply, or just interact with me in general: @ainoshonen @smilepilled @angeltism @zoeynovie

coiners that are actually a lot smaller than i thought they were that i think are so cool and need more recognition: @acronym-chaos @nostalgiagender

OTHER coiners that i think deserve recognition for the things they do and the stuff they create even if i didn’t think they were big at first: @sylviestial @pupcoins @love-letterworm @jiiamp @boingogender @kitsflagz

other BIG coiners that i look up to and have looked up to for a long time — whether we’re currently actually friends (which i still can’t get over), we don’t talk a lot if we do know eachother, or that i haven’t met personally: @idwl @kiruliom @webby-mogai @gender-mailman @puriette-archived @lunentity @the-astropaws @lepus-fangs

everyone who participated in mogai team-up, which, i can’t get over the fact we’ve managed to hit 1k followers because holy SHIT that’s a lot of fucking people, but thank you guys for coming together to help me celebrate it and let this fucking monster of an event (very positive) happen in the first place: @daybreakthing @floraeth @kylertism @robofox-mogai @dragonpuff17 @novaurora @flutteringwings-coining @xyrthemost @catboy-autism @cannibalisticcoinz

if i didn't tag you... uh. our memory is shit, sorry! i tried to remember everyone and i'm literally going to cry if i forgot someone

finally, to everyone in calico cove: thank you. for all of you coming together to help me create a community that’s so loving, so sweet and accepting that it has managed to become a safe space for a plethora of people that i’d have never imagined it to. you’re all lovely, and i’m so glad to be able to share a space with everyone and anyone that’s there. calico cove as a whole just makes me super emotional — cheesy, i know — but it’s essentially one of my dreams come true. it’s been an aspiration of mine to be able to create safe spaces with people wherever i go, and to foster an environment where people feel safe to be themselves without ridicule or fear of judgement. i’m so glad that i’ve been able to create that in calico cove. to hear you guys say or admit that it’s a safe space for you makes me emotional everytime, even if i’m not fully able to convey that to you all. 

thank you to everyone in the mogai community; have a happy holidays!

[allfattenedup]

Hey! I love your content so much!! I'm a skinny guy but I've always had the desire to be fat since I was little. Right now, I'm dating a feeder who wants to make me as fat as possible when I'm ready for it. Are you happier now that you're a fat guy? Don't you look at other fit guys on the street and feel regret for ruining your skinny body? For example, if I were fat and passed by a group of attractive, fit guys, I think I would get horny for not being like that anymore and would eat a lot of food after...maybe if I became fat and sloppy, I could be happier.

This is honestly a complex question for me to answer, and I've made an attempt a few times before to answer similar questions but I'll try again. It's important to me that I don't just blast out a blanket stance of 'yes you should get fat like I did!'. Spend enough time in the gaining community and intentionally putting on hundreds of pounds of fat starts to feel real normalized. And I'm not saying you shouldn't do that, but here's a few things I would say: My own personal kink revolves around fat and embarrassment. The worse I continue to look, the more mortified I am by my changing body, the more desperately I need it. So a lot of the time, yes I do regret doing this to myself, but that's where so much of the pleasure comes from. So it's hard for me to answer if I'm happier now or if I regret it. Every answer is both yes and no. And if your kink doesn't have the same component of shame then I'd say definitely don't take advice from me lol.

I'd also say never get fat for a feeder. I'm glad to hear you say they're waiting until you're ready, but don't let any pressure influence your decision of if/when that is. Make sure you know you'd want to get fat with them or without them. Again, we get a little blind to it in the gaining community but getting really fat, especially if you start off skinny, is a big deal. It changes a lot about the way you live your life, and it very well may be permanent. Yeah, you might go into it thinking 'if I don't like it I can just lose the weight', but don't assume that's true. It probably won't be. If you have a fat kink, gaining weight for the first time can be like a shark getting a taste of blood. It can unlock something which means you can never go back (speaking from experience). If you decide to gain weight, go into it knowing that you may never be able to lose it, and that you'd be alright if that happens. Also know that putting on weight can be incredibly addictive and you may go into it planning to gain ten pounds and wind up gaining a hundred or more. This kink is all-encompassing. You can't take it off when you're done, it affects every part of your lifestyle, people see it, and for all those reasons it can so easily become a rabbit hole. I actually love that about it, but you need to be real with yourself about whether that's something you're comfortable with. Everyone's experiences are gonna be different but what I'd boil it down to is this: If you're looking for an intense 24/7 experience that may get out of control and have no exit, then consider starting to put on weight. If you want to carefully explore a kink in a measured way and have certainty over the outcomes, then gaining isn't going to be a good idea.

[ceoofhelaegon]

What do you think of season 2? And what do you think of Helaena supporting Daemon? And Aegon who escaped without Jaehaera and Helaena...

One word? Shit.

God, the writing was atrocious and I am baffled that people got paid for this pile of shit.

The most horrific thing that happened in the history of Westeros, save for the sacking of Kingslanding with Elia Martell and the children was glossed over like it was nothing.

No one says Jaehaerys' name and in the show canon, we STILL haven't heard Jaehaera's name which is INSANE.

Alicent is a psychopath and a dumbass, can't believe they proved the patriarchy right by showing us that Alicent shouldn't have been Aegon's Regent, and that's saying something, considering that the current Regent tried to commit regicide.

And you can tell the writers don't know anything about medieval society because why the fuck was Alicent yapping about being "free" and "unnoticed" girl, you're the wife of a former King and the mother to another, these kind of words shouldn't even be allowed in her vocabulary.

And also, as @notbloodraven mentioned in her post, Alicent is condemning Helaena and Jaehaera into a life of poverty because they don't have any money nor lands to survive.

"We're leaving Kingslanding" TO WHERE?! Certainly not Oldtown after you sold out everyone, including the son that you were worried about not being kind.

I'm assuming Aegon leaving without Helaena and Jaehaera will be retconned, Larys will say something like: "She's safe in Storms End"

I don't think Helaena was supporting Daemon, more egging him on, kind of accelerationist on her part, you know? She was gloating about Aegon seeing victory so don't think that was her supporting him at all.

But who knows? Maybe she was, since the writing is so shit.

#freetheactorsofthisshit

[grapeyedmania]

♉︎ ♌︎ ♏︎ | ♉︎ ♌︎ ♏︎ | ♉︎ ♌︎ ♏︎ | ♉︎ ♌︎ ♏︎ | ♉︎ ♌︎ ♏︎ | ♉︎ ♌︎ ♏︎ | ♉︎ ♌︎ ♏︎ | ♉︎ ♌︎ ♏︎

Hello. This is a new account, created; I've had previous, but none were pursued to be fledged into Tumblr walls. Hence why I care little for people's assumptions on my authenticity.

Despite saying this, however, I am not an expert. I'm aware on how to reach people - through the use of reposts, tags, and pinned posts - but I' m not actively social. I skulk behind my screen and like what I favour, and ignore what doesn't appeal to me.

Anyway, onto the reason as to why this post has been published.

Yes, I shift realities. I have shifted, and will continue to.

I am a Law Of Assumption (L.O.A) user, and expectant Permashifter, who has been involved in the spiritual aspect of life since I was a child - though, I disconnected for a while and have recently found my way back onto the correct path.

But, why have I mentioned this?

Well, first and foremost, I would like to have mutuals. TikTok is up in the air at the moment, with the expected ban due in any day now, and ShiftTok was never really a.. comfortable place, shall we say. Don't even get me started on the bullshit 'shifting genetics' circulating right now. Nonetheless, this is an opportunity for myself, and others, to reach out.

Secondly, I would like to start building a platform. I see lots of people, shifters and non, on Tumblr and the communities they create through their posts. That's something of envy, for me; a connection to strive for through appreciation. If I had the opportunity for such experience (s) - which I do - then I will be embracing it.

Third, and final. Because I have been a member of the shifting community for now around five years (is it weird I feel old?..), I find it difficult to ignore the fact that reality shifting is still treated like an enemy, rather than something to befriend. This shouldn't be the case when shifting is a part of you; you are the missing piece to its puzzle. Have fun and thrive on that and, once it's done, you can stand up and see the full picture.

MY JOURNEY:

I discovered reality shifting in 2020, like most, during COVID-19; something which saved but simultaneously ruined my life. It was on TikTok, as expected, I came across a video of a girl claiming to have returned from 8 months at Hogwarts. Now naturally, I was confused and - albeit embarrassingly - assumed she'd stayed at the Universal Orlando Resort.. because, how else could she have been there? And despite me being spiritually inclined, I refused the idea of transcending the boundaries of reality. Now, this is where it gets a bit fuzzy.. I'm sure my brain has blocked out the process which occurred thereafter, as I cannot seem to remember anything beyond confirming that reality shifting was, in-fact, real. But, eventually, I seemed to accept that which didn't seem possible, and began my journey. I was fortunate to have friends - only a couple but they were friends all the same - involved along with me, and so together we helped, cried, and scripted our way through 2020 / 21.

Additionally, on my first try, I ended up partially shifting.

The last shift I experienced was around six months ago, when I shifted accidently to a parallel reality of my intended one. I haven't attempted since, but am now focusing on starting anew. I would really like to share my journey with y'all.

MY BLOG:

It has no direction. Of course, like I'd previously stated, there is maybe a little - reality shifting is a big part of my life. But I'd also like to engage in other areas ( w/ fandoms, moodboards, and writing). This isn't an N.S.F.W blog, but I'd prefer this to be aimed at 18+ as I am an adult.

D.N.I if you are an arsehole (anti-shifter, sexist, homophobic etc.).

❝ If you weren't ready you wouldn't have the opportunity; if you weren't capable, you wouldn't have the desire. ❞

Thank you for taking the time to read this post; even more thanks if any of y'all have interacted. Please feel free to comment, repost, or talk via my ask box.

I will be posting more content.

-- ᏖᏗᏝᏝᎥᏋ x

♉︎ ♌︎ ♏︎ | ♉︎ ♌︎ ♏︎ | ♉︎ ♌︎ ♏︎ | ♉︎ ♌︎ ♏︎ | ♉︎ ♌︎ ♏︎ | ♉︎ ♌︎ ♏︎ | ♉︎ ♌︎ ♏︎ | ♉︎ ♌︎ ♏︎

[rainofaugustsith]

Feeling feels about the SWTOR "If you didn't log in, you're losing your name" bullshit. One thing, giving this only about a year's grace period is pretty sus IMHO especially when one considers the amount of disasters happening, longterm illness, deployments, wars, etc. happening. I feel like they should have given this a grace period of a bit longer.

Am I going to play SWTOR again? Not incredibly likely given that the way the story has gone since 6.0 - the Alliance Commander being reverted to a faction lackey with all progress completely lost - does not sit well with me. One of the reasons I have mostly fallen out of love with Star Wars is that unlike the first three OG films, it seems like a fucking hamster wheel nobody ever escapes. For millennia after millennia, the same exact bullshit, or variations thereof, with a very stark, narrow and dogmatic worldview and "this side evil! This side good" simplistic perspective that is entirely grating. They never learn. They never move on. Any of them. One of the reasons I loved SWTOR up through KOTET is that it seemed like they escaped that hamster wheel, that there were broadened perspectives and "gee, it looks like there are good and evil people everywhere in the galaxy, and maybe we shouldn't write off entire planets and spiritual expressions as evil, and how can we build bridges to go beyond what we have now?" sentiments and stories. And then they did the traitor arc and oops, here we are again on the same treadmill. Having said that I poured so many hours into Viri, and so many into my other alts there, and built up such a world for them, and spent so many hundreds of dollars on years of subscription, that their names mean something to me. I also worry that since I have the Rain Plays SWTOR page, which still does get read and referenced, that if someone sees a character running around with one of my names that does awful shit it will reverb back on me by name association. ...which is why I'm downloading a 51GB game so I can log in for two minutes to save Viri's names. I haven't even played since 7.0 drops so I assume I'm going to find her abilities bar gutted and also have to pick fighting styles for her (I don't give a damn; all my Jedi are getting the Sith equivalents and all my Sith are just getting whatever is the other DPS in their own home class). Ah well. Just dropping in to say hi, putting Viri and Lana back in their house if needed (the Alderaan stronghold has a tendency to not leave people where you put them) and dropping out again. But I feel like it might be nice to say hi to these two for a few minutes. This is where I left them.

[normalestenstars]

hello everyone! happy (late) new year!! i'm wishing you all a happy and prosperous 2025 

as for me, i would like to talk about the state of this blog, and enstars by extension. last year, i made this blog specifically because i was inspired by a different fandom poll. it was meant to be a silly one-off bit, but i didn't expect for people to actually feel invested in this account. i hope that for the few months this account was active, that these random polls were fun to participate in!

however, addressing the actual topic… during my absence, i have lost all interest in enstars. at first i thought to myself well, once my real life becomes less hectic i can still provide something fun for the community even if i have no interest. you don't need to know recent lore to ask questions like "which nui do you think is the cutest?". i thought i could still do this, but… after the new akatsuki event i don't know if i want to engage in a series that does not respect its fans, even if passively. reading stella maris and ibuki's introduction made me extremely antsy as to how enstars (or i guess specifically, maybe akira?) would handle another indigenous character. it both saddens and angers me that once again, enstars is irresponsible with the messages it pushes (intentionally or unconsciously).

this is a feeling that has been festering for me ever since enstars had the audacity to hype up matrix FOR MONTHS. i am not one to have high expectations for gacha games in the first place, and yet this event felt like a blow i've never experienced before with media. i was extremely angry for the lack of sensitivity enstars showed considering its past history, and seemingly didn't care to correct because all companies care for is profit. why bother putting in effort in cultural sensitivity if you can still acquire thousands in revenue without doing so? such (assumed) beliefs make me beyond angry, and so, my interest dwindled over time. it did not help that i did not care for many new stories either.

as 2024 went on, i've come to realize that i've become extremely unsatisfied with the quality of… everything enstars publishes. which in my personal opinion, is unacceptable for the highest grossing joseimuke. gacha games highly depend on the goodwill (or generosity) of its consumers, and yet, enstars seems to expect its audience to accept any and all content. and i ask the question: why? why must we accept offensive portrayals of indigenous people or their cultures, why must we accept ableist writing, etc., why must we accept slop that is simply a cash-grab ? do we not deserve better as fans of a joseimuke that can earn one billion yen in a month? if this was merely a disagreement of the creative direction, i could accept the fact that enstars developed into something that doesn't suit my tastes or expectations. but it's not—it's the continuous disrespect.

i loved crazy:b.

to be honest, i still do love crazy:b. i love their dynamic, i love the bonds they've formed together, i love the characters within this unit, i love their overarching story. and as embarrassing it is to admit this, rinne is still one of my favorite characters despite not liking enstars anymore. but just because i love something doesn't mean i'm willing to overlook flaws or serious issues within the writing/narrative. after all, one of the selling points of enstars is its writing. so therefore, why shouldn't i analyze + critique it? why shouldn't i form opinions around a media that depends on you, the consumer, to form emotional attachment to (for profit)? this is normal and healthy within the scope of media literacy.

as of late (more like a year or so), it feels like being a fan of this series is nothing but a cruel punishment for having the audacity to be invested in these characters. the hatred enstars seemingly has for its fanbase is very… odd, to say the least. i do not understand what compels them to conduct themselves like this as a business. they continue to publish offensive content with no sign of improvement, continue to disregard the feelings of fans, continue to create half-hearted content, and expect to be not held liable for it. and personally, i find that both laughable and ridiculous how greedy this company is. they want our money, yet do not respect us as consumers.

i don't really know how to end this post. i did not mean for it to be so long either. i suppose with all of this rambling, i think it would only be appropriate to direct people to enstars contact form (https://ensemble-stars-music.zendesk.com/hc/ja/requests/new -> select the last option on the dropdown to send feedback). 

additionally, if you've seen the enstars account post a live stream announcement with the akatsuki + ibuki seiyuu, please do not harass them. they have no control over the decisions of management.

anyway, this is a long winded way of saying i probably will not post on this blog anymore. i will not delete it as people seem to derive enjoyment from old posts still, but there will no longer be any future polls. i'm genuinely sorry for leaving this blog if you liked participating in these polls. i had plans on coming back, and i wanted to provide something fun for fans, but i just cannot bring myself to post about enstars anymore for many reasons. which sounds really dramatic, maybe some of you even think i am overreacting. but (most importantly) i'm just tired of a company disrespecting everyone. whether it be through the writing or business decisions, it's just not fair, nor normal. we deserve better. do not lower your standards for a gacha just because you love it—they depend on your willingness to splurge. and that is a powerful position to have as a consumer, even if it doesn't feel like it.

i wish everyone the best, especially if you continue to keep up with the series.

or TL;DR: i hope everyone had fun participating in enstars polls! i appreciate all the cooperation and support everyone has given me through the months i have posted polls. so for that, i sincerely thank everyone =) ! unfortunately, i have no interest in running this blog anymore because of the way this franchise conducts itself. i've liked my fair share of bad media, but this one... is a winner, in the most perplexing way ever haha... orz

[pacificwaternymph]

Aaaaand everyone give it up for WASTED POTENTIAL

Season finale spoilers under the cut

Okay. I'll be honest. The finale was... not what I was hoping for.

I tried so hard to remain optimistic. I truly believed they could pull it all together and everything was going to have a satisfying conclusion. But I guess that's my fault. I set my expectations too high.

Is this about Tech? Primarily, yes. Yes it was. I am so disappointed. And you can make fun of me all you want but I genuinely believed, with all my heart, that CX-2 was Tech.

BECAUSE WHY THE FUCK ELSE WAS THERE SO MUCH EMPHASIS ON HIM

There was so much to suggest that CX-2 was somebody we knew. We spent so much time on him, suffered through so many completely unnecessary, in hindsight, close up shots and random pieces of episodes that focus on him, only for him to get javelined through the middle in the span of half a second.

It feels like the writers were just making fun of the viewers, at this point. Haha, can you believe they actually thought?

Yes, we did think! Did you?

Tech's death was so... unconvincing. They didn't even try. Not only was his life "cut short" in the midst of his character development, said death was caused by falling, without any other kind of injury, while we watch him disappear into the clouds. And then we see no body and only have his broken goggles as "evidence" of his death. What the hell else were we supposed to assume?

That's not even bringing up that Tech gets maybe three mentions all throughout the entire season. The show never touches on how the death of one of their squadmates, people they have known since birth, affects the batch. Not once do they ever say out loud that Tech is dead until the fucking finale.

This isn't just me reading too closely between the lines. This is genuinely bad writing. It's loading chekhov's gun and then refusing to shoot it.

Even if CX-2 wasn't Tech, or even somebody we knew, the way he is treated suggests that he was supposed to be important. He was supposed to be be relevant. And now, he's neither!

Furthermore, where fuck was everybody? Where was Rex with the reinforcements to storm the base? Where was Wolffe deciding he didn't want anything to do with the Empire anymore? Where was Cody? Where was Phee in all of this?

Where was Cid? So we're just... not going to get any kind of closure for that? We spend two entire seasons with her, then she just betrays them and we never see her again? Even if they didn't redeem her, that feels like pretty damn bold move.

The Zillo beast does... barely anything. Really? It just breaks out and moves away from the biggest source of energy it will ever find after causing the slightest amount of property damage to two rooms, and storms off into the woods, and that's all we get? Seriously?

And then once we get to the time jump... Echo's gone. Again. Either still off with Rex, if he hasn't gone into hiding yet, or died off screen. Neither is a good nor satisfying ending for his character. But I guess shouldn't be surprised by that. When have the writers ever cared about Echo?

The biggest problem with the whole thing is that it didn't feel like a finale. It felt like a normal episode, just slightly longer. The Bad Batch returned to Pabu, because I guess there are no consequences from the Batch being discovered there before and the empire decided that they were just going to... leave it alone, and everything returns to the status quo. That's not what a finale does, Dave.

Maybe I'm being too harsh. There were parts that I enjoyed. I'm glad Hunter, Wrecker, and Crosshair got their happy endings. Seeing Omega all grown up really did something to my heart. But overall I am just so frustrated.

[am-i-the-asshole-official]

AITA for crying and not bringing it up to my friends?

This may seem a little weird, but I honestly can't tell if I'm the asshole.

Background: I (23X) am very emotional. Sometimes I cry for no reason. I hate when people bring it up without me saying anything, because yeah, I know I'm crying and I'm trying to ignore it. I was over at my friend's place, D (22M) with our friend A (22X). Maybe important: A and I dated for almost 5 years and broke up this summer but stayed friends.

A was talking about gender and sexuality stuff, which I don't mind, and I started crying over nothing. It wasn't because of anything A said or did, it was late at night and I had been up for a while and was tired, and had to work early the next day. A noticed though, and said "you're crying". I yelled at them to not mention it (which I apologized for right afterwards, as i shouldn't have yelled. A accepted the apology.) But A kept bringing up how I was obviously crying for a reason, and we should talk about it. I said I didn't want to talk about it, because it was nothing, and if I did want to talk I would've brought attention to my tears. A left shortly after.

A day or so later, A messaged me on Discord. It was 2 and a half phone screens long. I just copied it into a document to see the word count and it was 661 words, all saying how it's not respectful of me to cry and not bring it up, and how A is upset that I think it's okay to cry and not have anyone mention it or expect that everyone will ignore a friend in distress. Note how A is not upset about me yelling.

I responded that I cry easily, and wasn't upset about anything, and if A really needs to feel better about when this happens, they can bring me a tissue and wait to see if I mention why I'm crying. If I say nothing, I would prefer it be ignored.

A responded a day later with another 805 words (almost 3 full phone screens) saying that they are uncomfortable just ignoring me when I'm crying, because it reminds them of childhood trauma, and requests I talk about what I'm feeling. They feel like they're being punished for asking if I'm okay. They keep projecting their own trauma onto me, and think I'm ignoring how I feel because of childhood neglect. They also said some stuff about how I'm disrespecting their boundaries by not discussing my needs with them. A also asked I apologize to D for making him feel uncomfortable, something D never told me about

I would like to remind you that I was crying because I was tired. There is nothing more to it than that. I told A that, but they think it's something they said and want to talk about it. I dont want to talk because there is nothing to talk about.

I sent back that they aren't respecting my boundaries when I ask them to ignore my crying unless I mention it. I again apologized for yelling, since that was really not fair. I finished with saying I have communicated my needs to them many times before, because this is not the first time we've had this discussion in the over 5 years we've known each other. I said A should work on their own problems instead of projecting them onto me, and to stop assuming I'm trying to hurt them by not talking about my feelings.

I did apologize to D, who said it's okay and was just upset he didn't notice me crying earlier (which is find because I was trying not to let either of them see).

It's been a day and A still hadn't responded

So AITA for not mentioning when I'm crying?

What are these acronyms?

[sprinkleonthatcriticism]

(UPDATE 13/12/24) I just want to let people know that I do not support Jack or condone his actions at all, I use to be a fan and then when all the "Jack groomed Yippee" allegations came out, I originally wanted to wait to hear his side and was netural, that changed when it was revealed that Jack victim blamed someone who was a victim of him cocsaing them and that he did some other heinous shit, I drop all my support for him however, I will still stand my ground and say that Jack NEVER groomed Yippee in that post but he should've told xem that isn't okay to draw. ____________ Seeing the twitter dorks calling Jack out for "grooming" a minor is really annoying considering that I'm a grooming victim myself and I know for hell it ISN'T grooming Yippee-boi CW// Mentions of child grooming

It all started when Yippee shared a piece of fanart of Lucifer's oc, Idot-boy (who is a hypersexual sona like is meant to represent Jack's traumas just as his hypersexuality due to it's past experiences with SA and incest) so Yippee drew xe's hypersexual sona with it's sona.

I look at the image and yeah I can see where people got their "It's suggestive" from because Yippee's sona does look pretty suggestive but at the end of the day, it's just a sona that is use to cope with mental health just as hypersexuality.

And people are trying to use this comment as a catch 20 with Jack. Which, I don't see how that is grooming??? It's just

And then there's this (context: the person is Hyuuuuk who by judging from their profile, they happily call theirselves a huge Birdie hater which is pretty pathetic, oh and in the comment, they simply tell Jack to not talk to the minor and this was under this art which was posted before the hypersexual one).

People on twitter been using that comment as a "gotcha" but they don't actually do research and realize that "Hey, this comment is actually from the minor's different art piece NOT the other one" and maybe if they did, they would realize that Jack isn't being weird.

Like, maybe if Koish explain what the problem is Jack would understand because this isn't the first time where it didn't know he did something controversial until someone told him the problem.

But anyways, back on topic, the first screenshot is where Lucifer is simply complimenting the art featuring the two hypersexual sonas which yeah, like I said I can GET where you guys are coming from but again, Jack isn't being a groomer here or predatory. Is the comment weird? Yes, if people read it wrong and assume it's a suggestive comment somehow where to me, it's literally Jack saying that the art is "yummy" and then proceeding to type 'nom nom nom' jokingly eating it..

Now, this does not mean I won't call Jack out on one thing which is it shouldn't of spoken to a minor since the kid is like 15 and on Jack's tumblr's bio, it says 16+.

But I'm gonna give him the benefit of a doubt and assume that it thought it was fine since the minor was almost 16 which doesn't excuse it and I think that Lucifer should address it and that people need to stop calling it "grooming" or going on twitter comparing Jack's sexual assaulter to him which is....disgusting??? I myself am a victim of child grooming in the past and like I said, I know what is or isn't grooming and that wasn't child grooming because as Jack mentioned and the minor mentioned is that they both never dm'd or pm'd each other. Granted, they could both be LYING about that but at the end of the day you have to just take their words for it unless someone comes out with evidence that yes, they were both in fact in dms and were both in fact being weird.

(Link to 15 yr old's response)

[lbibliophile-sw]

Proof of ID

Also on AO3 [710w] @ailesswhumptober - day 20: accidental de-aging, "I'm not qualified for this shit" @corrieweek - day 3: "you shouldn't be here"

Fox lets himself slump as he climbs into the covered Guard speeder, finally escaping the top-priority meeting on… whatever it was. Thorn and Thire were also there – a waste, of resources, honestly, thankfully Stone was able to escape – so they can catch him up on anything actually important. It’s not like the natborns listen to their advice half the time anyway.

“Hey Fox, are you ok? Only, you were quieter than usual in there.”

“’m fine, Thire. Just tired.”

And he is, down to his bones. The sort of tired that comes from a multi-day blackout mission that has him ‘waking up’ only to face the entirety of his usual gruelling double shift ahead of him. He wants nothing more than to collapse on his bunk for a solid six hours, but instead, he has meetings, and datawork backlog, and whatever else comes up… Just the mere thought is enough for him to remove his helmet and rub at his aching eyes.

“Trooper!” Fox stiffens reflexively at Thorn’s Command voice, despite having spent the past two years as the highest-ranked clone on-planet. “Why are you wearing Commander Fox’s armour?”

Fox blinks at him, struggling to push his sluggish brain into gear. Why… is he wearing… his armour? Because it’s his? And he’s on duty?

“Oh! Is Fox alright? I mean, obviously not, since he sent you in his place. But I’m assuming he’s with Zontal? Or wait, is he not all back yet after the blackout? It has been longer than usual so I guess that might be a struggle.”

What?

“I have to say, you did a pretty good job of copying his body language. Until you took the helmet off, I really did think that it was just Fox having an off day; most people wouldn’t have noticed anything at all! How would you feel about being on call for a repeat performance? Anything to get Fox to rest occasionally.”

“Thire!” Thorn finally forces his way through the babbling. “Just, shut up. And you’re going straight to bunk when we get back, your triple-shift is showing. Now, Trooper, sitrep. And your name.”

“Uh, Fox?” It shouldn’t sound like a question – his name is the one answer he does have right now – but shouldn’t they know it too?

“It’s ok, you don’t have to keep pretending here. We sweep the speeders for bugs, and we already know you’re covering for him, besides –”

“Thire, enough. Let the shiny speak.”

“I’m not a shiny.” Thorn snorts.

“Maybe not a shiny, then. But you still can’t be more than, what, eight? Nine at a stretch?”

“I’m thirteen. I’m Fox. And you’re being mean. If this is revenge for saving your shebs when you tried to block that Senator’s access because you thought she was her own daughter…”

“What did you just say? No, seriously, I made Fox swear to never tell anyone about that.”

“I keep telling you I am Fox. Why won’t you believe me?”

“Ok. Ok. So, not body doubles, but Force osik. Maybe.” Thorn rummages in his belt pouches as he mutters to himself, finally pulling out some sort of case with a bright metal finish. “Here. I’m having a hard time believing you, because this is what you look like right now.”

Fox takes the case, holding it up so the smooth surface shows his reflection. He twists it back and forwards just to make sure. He raises his free hand to trace the smooth skin of his forehead, his eyes, his cheeks, watching the movement in the improvised mirror.

“Thorn. Thorn, someone stole my face.”

Thire reaches back to awkwardly pat him on the knee.

“Look on the bright side, at least you still have your helmet. You keep it on most of the time anyway.”

“But it was my face!”

“Alrighty,” Thorn interrupts the impeding meltdown. He is in a speeder with three-quarters of Coruscant Guard Command, he should not be having flashbacks to Kamino and cadet-duty. “I’m driving us back to base. Then you two are going to go to sleep, while I have an adult conversation with Zontal to try and figure this out. Any further discussion can wait until after those steps are completed. Got it?”

“Yes sir.”

“Yes Thorn.”

[wisheslost]

A most delightful first day.

Wherein you, a new nurse for the Fortress of Meropide, have quite the interesting meeting with the flirtatious Duke and Prison Warden, Wriothesley, only you find out much later he's the duke, and the interesting meeting unravels quickly into much more.

cws : fastburn? like the opposite of slowburn basically bc im impatient. violence, not described in detail but wriothesley gets injured pretty bad . if you find i should add more warnings please tell me

a/n : not beta read im sorry i abandoned this in the middle of writing then had the urge to come back. please tell me if theres any mistakes

wc : 3.2k

Now that all the trivial paperwork was out of the way and you were finally recognized as a nurse affiliated with the Fortress of Meropide, it was just the meeting with the Duke that was left. roaming around searching for him wasn't the best option— hell, it was probably the worst out of all of them. but what else were you supposed to do? ask someone? ...surely the Duke would send for you if you lingered here long enough no? but then again, you don't know what the duke was like, maybe he'd reprimand you for arriving late instead, so you thought to not take any risks, and simply ask the next person you see. it's your first day of work anyway, so it wouldn't be too bad to engage with people you'll be seeing on the daily now either.

Not soon after spotting a young man who seemed to have quite the height, a somewhat tan skin tone and seemed to be in possession of woah? a vision? in a place like this, was kind of a surprise to you. Nevertheless, you approached that man to ask of the duke's office, only for him to be the one to start conversation.

"Hey, you must be the new nurse, right? It's a pleasure to have you, I'm Wriothesley, D-"

"Could you please take me to the Duke 's office, wriothesley?" you didn't realise until it was too late that he was going to say something after,but since he didn't seem to mention it either, how about just move on?

A little chuckle managed to escape his lips, followed by a "Sure I can." to your question. On the way there to his office, he asked you an array of questions, like why you were here, what made you work here, yada yada, but most importantly, he said, "The Duke's honestly a menace. I wouldn't get too close to him if I were you." now, you won't lie to yourself, that did make you much more interested in that duke than you previously were.

And in no time did you reach the Duke's office. Wriothesley lead the way up the stairs of what seemed to be the most grand part of the fortress, asking if you want to have tea with him later after you're done talking to the duke, which you politely declined, not because you didn't like the man—he was quite fun, yes, but tea? that awfully bitter liquid isn't entering your body anytime soon. not with wriothesley, not even with the duke.

now here we are, up the stairs and finally near the, what you assumed to be, the Duke's desk. But the duke isn't there. on the desk nor anywhere near. up until Wriothesley sits down on his chair and speaks,

"Here is the Duke of the Fortress of Meropide,Wriothesley. Though i prefer if you called me 'Your Grace' instead, people here usually refer to me as such. Please, feel free to ask any questions you have, I have already asked mine."

Oh, OH—

"Oh sir i- Your Grace i am so very sorry!! Really i- That time.. I shouldn't have cut you off.. Again, im really sorry!"

While you're worried sick, Mister Wriothesley here, or rather His Grace, is laughing his ass off. Does he find joy seeing you like this? well, whatever. When his laughing fit finally ends, and he sighs "Oh dear", and hes now looking at you, waiting earnestly for you to speak and break the silence. Unfortunately for him.. you're far too indulged staring at that pretty face of his, not remembering you were just asked if you had any inquiries by him. and so his voice beams once more,

"So....? Any questions?"

"Oh. Sorry, I got distracted, wri- Your grace, I don't." you knew it was best to call him by what everyone else calls him by, but 'Wriothesley', though you spoke for very little time, just came out easier.

"Really? well, okay" his answer was quite non chalant, because obviously, why would he want to be asked questions anyway, but it didn't seem like him— "I'm honestly surprised you have nothing to ask about." and there it is.

"No really, I don't want to bother you anymore. I shall take my leave, Please, Have a good day your grace." you excused yourself out that awkward situation somehow, and soon after heard a faint "You're not a bother y'know!~" from his side.

Cut to 2 a.m. in the morning next day, and you're in the infirmary cleaning glass jars, while the Head Nurse is probably sleeping her time away in the overworld. Not that you were jealous, but really, no soul here gets injured that seriously *ever*,yet this one garde told you you still need to stay awake the whole night. However odd that was, it was definitely not odder than— you stopped thinking the instant you felt a pair of hands creeping up to your waist, scaring you into dropping that poor glass jar and shrieking for your life, only for the owner of those hands to shut you up with one of the very hands that was on your waist just a moment ago.

"Oh c'mon.. You're in a prison of all places. Should you not be the least bit aware of your surroundings? who knows what might happen any moment... I wouldn't like to lose my new nurse so quick." and detaching his hand from your mouth, not that that could garner a response from you... what did he mean by "his nurse" anyway ? was this an attempt at flirting ? whatever it was, it was not much of your concern right now, it was the fact his voice wasn't like the one you heard before on your way to the Duke's office, or even in there, instead now it had a fatigued intonation to it, a voice that practically screamed "i want to sleep.", almost... sultry in a way.

And so he sat down on one of the beds, taking you by the waist to sit down as well on the same while he made himself more comfortable and laid almost completely down, and spoke, "First day on the job and you're already breaking things and screaming in the middle of the night.. are you really fit for a prison?"

Obviously, you were not fully capable, definitely not as capable as Sigewinne, but still,having someone say something like that directly is quite discouraging. and so you retorted, "Your Grace, it is actually my 2nd day on the job. And also, i feel anyone, prison premise or not, would be scared to be suddenly caressed by cold hands at 2 in the night. Though mayhaps that's just my opinion."

"Ahh dear, you're so smart .. it's a shame i was merely joking, I know the fortress is not such a prison-ly place anyway, and most if not everyone is just trying to get by and make it to the end of their sentence peacefully. I was merely testing you." to which you only nodded, and spoke "Sure. Well.. why are you in here at such a late time anyway? From the looks of it you're not sick, and i dont see any injuries..."

"You want me sick and injured? aw c'mooon, dear, im not even that bad of a duke, am i?"

"Your grace, please don't be silly. Are you here because you feel sick or just to bother me?"

"Ha! after i said you weren't a bother! how disheartening... I was just curious why you were awake this time of the night, though. What's keeping you up so late? or should i say Who?"

"Am i not supposed to be?"

"Of course not dear, did someone tell you you do?"

"Ah.. uhm. Not really, just a mistake on my part.."

"Hm? One of the gardes didn't tell you your duty requires you to stay up all night?"

How he came to know about that was none of your concern right now, what he'd do about it mattered more. You didn't want some helpless garde to be scolded off by The Duke because you were stupid enough to believe him. Surely that's not going to make the people of meropide have a good impression of you? Amidst your train of thought, his voice interrupted—

"What? Don't want a garde scolded off because you believe it'll harm that reputation of yours? awh dear, how cute. just like your face." this nuisance of a man and his attempt at flirting was somehow worse than his constant teasing, and the fact he accurately guessed what you were thinking was completely overshadowed by that "dear" and "cute" he threw in in his sentence.

"Too flattered?" was his response to your speechlessness. Being honest, you were too flattered. I doubt even archons know why this man was so coyly talking to you, did he do this to everyone?

"I... am not sure how to respond to that." was all you could manage to put together in your flustered, confused, but flustered state.

"I can stop it, y'know. If you're not feeling comfortable, just tell me. Whether that be with my way of talking, or someone else's."

"No it's fine.. really- I don't have any problems."

"Oh? So you're enjoying this? Haha, didn't know i had such charm." saying this, he rose up he was laying on, to come face to face with you, still sitting on the bed, but now, his face a bit too close to yours.

"I'll stop bothering you now. Go to sleep, you're gonna need to stay awake tomorrow."

You didn't make much of that statement, and you simply bid him sweet dreams as he went off to, what you presume, to be his office. That is, until, tomorrow actually came by, and near evening, you were greeted by none other than The Duke himself leaning on the doorframe of the infirmary, who, instead of his usual state, was now in a much more... uh, ragged? state. His vest not even present, and half his shirt ripped away, with his fresh wounds on display along with his old scars. Ah.... and you thought the Pankration Ring didn't allow such incidents to take place. So that's why he told you you need to stay awake.

"Dear, I'm here again to bother you." came in his voice from the door, and you stood up in concern. As far as you were aware of, Pankration ring fights were not supposed to get this serious. So it was either outside of the ring, or maybe the duke was allowed to get more serious in the Pankration ring? That became less of your concern as you saw a drop of blood drip down his cheek from a fresh wound. Gods, he was in such a pathetic state, blood everywhere, vest barely intact.. "Hey, its not appropriate to stare at someone in this state, is it?" he said, making you suddenly aware to what you should be doing. You're a nurse here, you should be patching him up, not staring into his soul while he's standing there in pain. "Your grace- I- Please, come with me to the bed. Do you want help walking? Oh lord why am i asking- Forgive me, I'm so sorry-" and a chain of sorries followed as you wrapped your arm around his waist in your best attempt to provide support to his frame, as you walked over to the nearest bed in the infirmary with Wriothesley's arm on your shoulder, grabbing it for support, though maybe a bit too hard, you were sure, this would at the least leave a bruise.

Arriving to the bed, you sat him down and knelt down to take a few things out from a nearby drawer, bandage, antiseptic disinfectant and a pair of scissors. And Wriothesley had his eyes set on your figure the entire time, not that you had noticed.

When you came back to him, you had to get him to undress in order for you to wash away his wounds, and before you could think to form an appropriate sentence regarding that- your tongue had already mumbled out "Please undress." to that poor duke. Oh lord, this was going to be a long, looong day.

A smirk crept up Wriothesley's face as he looked up at you, "Dear, I'm not sure I can... 'tleast not in this state. Would you help me?" and so his sly little smile shifted to a more puppy eyed face, glancing at you oh so sweetly. "Yes, Your grace." and you started by first taking his tie off, "I'm being honest here, I'm not sure why i said that earlier. I apologise. It was definitely very.. stupid of me." were the words you spoke as you were unbuttoning his shirt— the last piece of clothing left. His vest was mostly torn apart, so you didn't need to unbutton it or even put much effort in taking it off. Wriothesley didn't respond to that. You knew, it was because you were right, he didn't say anything because it would make you feel worse, but silently, surely, he agreed. Or atleast that's what you thought. Now here he sat, his upper body completely rid of any clothing, the cold air hitting his wounds.

"I'll wash your wounds now." as you went back and forth between the infirmary's bathroom to get water, the process was a bit slower than should be.

"Shouldn't you take me to the bathroom? Would be faster, no?"

"It would, yes. But it would mean you would have to go there, you wouldn't like sitting on that tiny ass- I mean, very small stool in the bathroom, trust me. Would just be uncomfortable."

"Awh. Didn't know my nurse was so, so nice. Thank you dear."

You finally washed what seemed to be the last wound, and god was it big. On your way back to him from the bathroom, you thought you would finally ask, "By the way, Your grace... I've been meaning to ask— What's with the 'my nurse' ? I'm not only your nurse, you know. I am to tend to any person in this fortress." was the best you could express your curiosity as you applied antiseptic on his wounds, recieving a little wince from him along with the answer to your question, "Well- I said that only because you were taking care of me at that moment, so you'd be my nurse then, no?"

"That is true, yes, but then what about before that? Last night? And also, the use of 'dear', to my knowledge, you don't seem to use that language or rather i should say- that word for anyone around here. Unless of course I'd be wrong and would stand corrected."

"Oh you... I'll stop, if you wish. You could have told me before‐"

"No, no. I don't mind it at all. Just want to know. Do those words hold any weight to you or are you simply throwing them around?" you said as you took the bandage out it's paper packaging, rolling it around his wound, making him wince once more, this time squeezing your right thigh out of the urge to hold on to something.

"Fuck, Sorry. I'm so sorry. I didn't mean to-" was all he could manage to put together, and when you took his hand in yours to put it back on your right thigh, Lord, his expression was something to see. The way he looked at you so surprised yet so... lovingly? surely, not loving. But whatever it was, it was nice, to see him so in awe. You continued dressing his wounds as he stared at your face the whole time, and, from time to time, squeezed your thigh a bit. Not sure if it was from the pain, or just because he wanted to and could.

Done with dressing the last wound on his cheek, you got up and headed to a cabinet on the opposite side of the room. "That's all. I'll get you some pain relief medication for the internal bruising, just wait a bit. it's.. it's in here somewhere.." as you searched around the cabinet. "Ah! Here!"

You took the medication to Wriothesley, who was currently sitting upright on the bed, carrying along a glass of water. As you had poured the water in the glass, you heard him say something along the lines of "Don't break it again." with a light chuckle.

As you gave him his medicine and he swallowed it down, that was the last of your duties for now. "Anything else you want me to do?"

"Sit. Here" he said, patting on the space near him as he laid down on the bed. And so you sat, who were you to deny such a simple request?

It was pin drop silence for a while after that. Just you and him looking at each other. Well, up until he averted his gaze to your thigh, where you noticed his hand hovering over it. "May i .....?" and so you took his hand in yours, and it rested on your thigh.

Then you realized, he was on his side to face you, though he shouldn't be, one of his injuries was there, quite the big one at that, and it probably hurt like hell. "I don't think you should lie on your side. Your wound.. is it not paining?" He got up then, sitting upright, though now, your faces were a bit too close, and your noses touching slightly."Then, dear, do you want me to sit like this?" You were too flustered to manage a response for that. Both of your faces were so close– too close, actually that you could feel his warm breath, that, by the way, smelled of Earl Grey Tea, and that scent seemed to mix with the antiseptic's.

"What? Cat got your tongue?" You somehow couldn't reply to that either, and only stared into his eyes, and occasionally catch a glance at his lips.

"Can't speak already huh? I haven't even kissed you yet."

"K-kiss me??"

"Sure." and so he leans in, planting in a peck on your lips and caressing your chin with, what was currently, his good hand, as in it had way less injuries than the other.

"Satisfactory?" was all he asked, that smirk back on his face, and "Not.. really" in a low voice was all you could manage after that.

"Then show me what would be more satisfactory."

"This." and what followed was by far the boldest you had ever been in your life, and good lord, it was infront of- not even infront of, to your new, and well, the only boss you've had.

But damn did his lips on yours feel so good, and his slight biting, his hand tugging at your nape made you feel like you were dreaming. Unfortunately though, even dreams come to end.

When your lips separated, he was a exhilarated but exhausted mess, his chest heaving as his fought to breathe, and so were you, and all you both could do was stare at each other, until he leaned in once again to kiss you. This time, in a satisfactory way.

Unfortunately, or fortunately, for you two, this was about to escalate much further than just that satisfaction.

[happiest-hotch]

3 AM

part one

Summary: Aaron shows up somewhere he shouldn't be with some words for you

Pairing: Aaron Hotchner x Fem!Reader (Angst/Fluff)

Word Count: 1.4k

Content Warning: mutual cheating

You go home to a house that doesn't feel like home, which isn't anything new, but today, it upsets you. Maybe it's too late, and the case drained you too much. Your self-preservation instincts refuse you to consider an outside factor.

Thankfully, your need for sleep trumps any chance of facing an existential crisis, so instead of staring at the ceiling wondering how your life got to this point, you're asleep almost as soon as your head hits the pillow.

It doesn't last long. Too soon, a knock on your door wakes you, and you reach for your phone to check the time. 2:52- great. If it were BAU-related, Penelope would have called and left messages before pounding on your door in the early morning. You run through who it could be. Maybe your pathetic excuse of a husband lost his keys, but nothing would inspire him to come home unless he learned of your affair and was hypocritically mad. Or it could be much more mundane; police, firefighters, a neighbor. 

Speculation gets too exhausting, so you get up and walk to the front door, checking your gun is sitting on the side table before opening the door.

It's one of the last people you expect. You wrap your robe tighter around yourself, defensive and hyper-aware that he's in jeans and a shirt, and you're in a tank and sleeping shorts. 

"Hotch." You greet him coldly, colder than the chilly DC night air. 

He didn't expect a more positive reaction. "Don't call me that." He says slightly too pathetically. 

"What can I do for you?" You ask, unsure what's compelling you to continue the conversation and not just slam the door in his face.

He shouldn't be here.

He knows it, you know he knows it, and you know it.

"Let me in." The Unit Chief tone, commanding authority, is nowhere to be heard, no matter how hard he tries to muster it up.

You sigh, momentarily weighing the pros and cons before stepping aside. Aaron follows you in carefully. Houses, thus far, have been off limits, like there was some unwritten rule neither of you would show up at the other places, knowing the consequences, but he's here, and you're still not sure why.

As you lead him down the hallway, Aaron keeps his head down, obviously trying to avoid being nosey. It's amusing since the personal pieces he assumes you have and refuses to look at don't exist. You wonder if he's drawing similarities between you and where you live, both beautiful on the outside and empty on the inside.

"Is he-" His question quickly gets reframed. "Are you alone?"

"I was." You answer. "He's in Pierre, South Dakota."

"Our case was in Pierre, Sou- Oh." Unsurprisingly, he put it together quickly. Pierre, South Dakota, is not a big enough place for you not to have run into your husband.

You laugh humorlessly. "I know. It's smart to have an infallible lie, but maybe not that specific." You remark. "He's actually in Miami. I checked the credit card and told him our case was there, so he always has to look over his shoulder."

Aaron doesn't smirk at what you consider a wonderfully devious plan. Instead, he looks concerned. "You still have joint credit cards? Are you keeping any money he can't touch?"

"Surely you didn't come here to discuss my financials." You shoot back, but he raises his eyebrows, and you know you can't progress the conversation without answering his question. "Yes. I've been to a lawyer and an accountant. He's only running himself into massive amounts of debt." You assure him. "Although, I'm not sure when this became your business."

His answer doesn't come quickly, and when he speaks, it's inadequate. "It's not."

"Okay, so what are you doing here?" You prompt. "Because you look like hell, Aaron, and you could really do with some sleep."

"I went home and sat there for an hour just thinking." He tells you. So, he didn't get lucky enough to fall asleep and avoid dreadful spiraling thoughts.

"You want to talk about your feelings?" You ask incredulously, unsure how he conjured the audacity to come here. His lack of answer is an answer. "No." You shake your head firmly. "You don't get to do this. Whatever we are, we don't discuss feelings."

"We could," Aaron begs desperately. It's not hard to profile that he keeps his emotions bottled up until he's bursting, so you know Aaron's here for a different type of release, for you to drain yourself listening to his problems and leave before he can consider that you have feelings.

You could hit him hard enough that he stops talking, and it's tempting.

"I'm okay with running to you when you want to have sex, but I can't be who you run to when you want to talk to someone about your day." You explain it as simple as you possibly can. 

"I don't think of you like that," Aaron assures you, his eyes softening as his words fall short of being stern.

Frustrated, you huff. You're tired and wound up, easily upset, and Aaron shouldn't be here. "Well, I have to think of you like that... or I can't sleep with you and not feel anything."

"You're not hearing me." He argues, a tiny flicker of the fire you saw before appearing in his eyes. "I want you to feel things."

You bit down on your bottom lip to avoid crying. You've become so callous to everything around you, bottled so much of it up that it's difficult to let any emotion show without breaking the floodgate. 

"You don't." You fight back, although it comes off far weaker than you expected. "I'm messy, my whole life is just one disaster after another, and I'll never excite you if we're not sneaking around."

Aaron's hands come to cup your cheeks, surprising you completely. It's a soft touch that has your lips closed in a second. "Don't say that." He instructs, speaking firmly but gently. "You're not a mess, not at all."

"Look at where we are, Aaron!" You remind him, throwing your arm at your side. For a detail-orientated person, he's only focusing on the big picture. "I'm married, you're married, and this is so damn messy."

"I know, I know." He nods. "It's... less than ideal, but we can get through it." He promises, holding you tighter now, like he's worried you'll slip away. "I want to be there for you. I don't care about any mistakes from your past. And please, please don't say that you won't excite me because I will always be excited every time I see you." It's enough to have you in gentle tears, not angry, heavy sobs, and he does his best to wipe them up delicately. "But if you don't feel the same way..." 

Aaron's waiting for your decision, and he isn't about to add more pressure, but he will stand there for as long as you need to decide. 

"I do." You affirm. "God, Aaron, I want to be with you more than anything, but I'm not sure I know how to." Being married is just a technicality now, and a divorce is something you're fiscally ready to do now. 

"Tea." He decides, his permanently furrowed brows relaxing. 

"Tea?" You repeat. 

He moves slightly away from you. "Where's the kitchen?" You're still confused about why now is the right time for tea, so you wait for him to explain. "I'm going to make you tea, and we're going to drink it while you tell me how you're feeling, and then whatever you want- a drive, breakfast, you name it, it's yours."

You pull away from him, offering your hand to take him to the kitchen. "Sleep is what we're doing after this." You tell him. "I don't say it to be mean, but you do look like hell."

"Wait." He stops you before you're in the kitchen, turning to hold your hands in his. "You need to know that I don't care about anything in your distant or soon-to-be past, but it's always going to be my privilege to be part of your future."

Aaron isn't meant to be here, and you aren't either, but wherever you're meant to be, it's with him.

[coolwhipdinosaur]

i am pretty big in profic spaces but i cant go into the tags now without heavy filtering because of all this pro para things.

i understand that simply being a pedophile isnt harmful in itself, its being a predator that is harmful,

yet i come to proship for fiction and propara is not that.

Its talking about real life attraction, often to beings that cannot consent. I hope you understand that arguements like that.

Ive also seen far too many pro-c, and blogs where its apparently real minors solicting real adults (Reporting them gets them taken down thankfully), that it needs to be talked about besides "not everyone is like that."

Even with anti-c, you shouldn't even need to SAY that you are anti c because it should be ASSUMED yet I guess because the amount of pro c, it cant be.

I hope you can see how antic can be used as a lie for predators to gain trust also. Its like 101 not to trust people on the internet yknow

I hope this is understandable and reasonable, not looking for a fight just a chat

This is probably gonna be a bit jumbled but I'm gonna try and respond as coherently as I can. Also I say this at the end but anyone who has been in the proship space on Tumblr for a while please do give your own answers if possible too. I've only had this account for a few months so I haven't seen too much drama go down. There is a kind of tldr at the end of this

So 1. Your first point about not being able to go to these tags without filtering. You do have to curate your own experience at the end of the day. It's how the internet works. People will post things in places and you just have to learn to block and move on. I've been triggered a few times scrolling and have had to quickly block. But that's just how it is. It sucks sometimes but people will post what they want where they want

2. Profiction + proship are inherently discourse tags. You will find discourse everywhere as that is their main purpose anymore. And since a lot of paras use fiction to cope with their disorders, it's bound to come up in a discourse-centric tag. And thoughtcrimes aren't real. What someone says they think about doesn't matter as long as they don't act on it. As long as posts are tagged properly for discussion, at that point you just need to block the appropriate tags. Shame on anyone you find not tagging things right, but most tend to as far as I've seen at least

3. I've personally not seen many pro-c in the proship tag. Maybe one or two I've seen. Either way, I have seen many callouts about people who call themselves proship who then have become predators more than I've ever seen anyone say they're pro-c in the tags. So if those callouts aren't enough, then please say what more there is to do to expose these people. And of course we say we're not all like that because antis love to use one bad person as a gotcha moment, it's not about just putting it there performatively.

And also I do want to know what tag you are finding these on mostly since I've never seen much. I mean, I only browse the proship tag so I may be missing some in other tags. To anyone seeing this do comment/reblog the places you've seen pro-c accounts in tags because I am curious where they're at. I know those accs exist but where? Am I just really blind? I do miss tags sometimes

4. I think most uses of anti-contact boil down to most people assuming para = predator more than pro-c accounts being everywhere. That's just how I've mostly seen it. That's why I put it there anyway.

If i missed any point I apologize. I think I gor most of them?

[TLDR-esc section]

So a summary, it's normal if these discussions are uncomfortable, but you can't censor people from talking about it in spaces where they are put into a tough place most times. Afterall, proship = anti-censorship. Blocking tags for your own mental wellbeing is very good and I highly recommend it.

If you think the callouts people make when they do find predators in these places aren't enough or don't happen as much as they should, then what can be changed?

I hope this is coherent and as unargumentive as I could get it (just got off a 10 hr shift). Anyone else feel free to respond as well. I'm not that old in this community so I don't have as much experience as some of yall do for some of these things so insight is appreciated

[not-terezi-pyrope]

Honestly when those terfs were jumping on me and misgendering me and accusing me of being a sexual predator, the thing that actually most upset me was when one of them called me a "pompous pseudointellectual" for using the phrase "analogous maxim".

I could poke fun like "oh you use a word longer than six letters online and silly people think that you're an incomprehensible try hard because they can't read", but I think it gets at something that annoys me about how people treat language use online. There's a lot of good discussion pointing out that casual/non-formal styles of English are just as valid and can be used to communicate good ideas, and that people shouldn't be shunned for using them in their own space.

But I feel like a lot of people have missed the point in that discourse, which is that any manner of speaking is equally valid and okay and should not be dismissed as "cringe". I do sometimes speak in a slightly, I don't know, unusual(?) way, and that is because these are my own darned posts, and I sometimes like having fun with language that feels nice in my brain, or else I'll use a specific uncommon phrasing because I genuinely think it most accurately encapsulates what I'm trying to say. Does that mean I'm self important and think I'm somehow smarter than other people, and am using language to signal that? Like, no. It's just how I like to speak, and the same goes for other people who have far more exaggerated speaking styles than I've ever used.

People should be allowed to talk however the heck they like without being jumped on for it because people are projecting their own assumptions or insecurities. This goes for people speaking in more verbose styles as well as less verbose ones. Somehow people have managed to misinterpret "don't judge people for how they speak" to mean "speaking casually good, speaking formally Bad and Stuck-up and Obnoxious Male Coded" (yes, really, that last one is bizarrely common). And that sucks, especially since speaking in an "unusual" manner can be a neurodivergent trait, in a manner that some people can't so easily suppress, and so by stigmatizing it people enable a form of ableism.

Maybe assume good faith instead of assuming that someone is being condescending to you because of the way they speak. Wait until they actually condescend, until then that's just your own insecurity you're taking out on them.