#but they also emphatically aren’t those people

[molinaskies]

I rewatched Sonic Twitter Takeover 7 recently and been thinking a lot about this question (this is only part of the answer given) because I had a little epiphany about it.

Obviously these aren’t really ”””canon”””. The lore revelations to be had in these takeovers aren’t supposed to prove any major theories, BUT I like to look at the takeovers as a general guide for how the characters are meant to be perceived at the time of their release.

I remember people reacting to both this takeover and takeover 6 (sonic frontiers) a bit poorly because of how Amy’s feelings for Sonic were downplayed. Given the recent stuff with the Gens remaster, too, this still feels particularly relevant.

Amy’s romantic feelings for Sonic have been downplayed—there’s no denying that—but I don’t think they’re being erased. With the exception of that one clip from takeover 6 (where Amy says she loves Sonic, Tails teases her about it, and Amy backpedals, saying she said “like,” not “love”—very Boom! Amy, btw), Amy’s feelings have still been on prominent display.

However, two things have changed:

1) Amy’s love has matured,

And, more importantly, in my book—

2) Sonic’s response has matured.

In the above clip, Amy states emphatically that Sonic is “her’s” and that she loves him and that he’s perfect, but kind of stumbles over herself once she realizes what she says. Important to note is that she doesn’t take it back at all, meaning that she meant what she said, but probably would have said it differently if she had given it foresight, given the setting they’re in.

This reads to me like Amy is still very confident in her feelings but is making a conscious effort to be less pushy about it—perhaps for Sonic’s sake. However, sometimes it just gets away from her because her love is just so plentiful. It’s cute!

And what makes it even cuter for me is that Sonic is, just, like, totally okay with this?

What does he do when she goofed up and gets flustered about it? He laughs! Short and sweet. He’s very aware of her affection, and he doesn’t mind it at ALL. He loves when he can get reactions out of her (directly or not). It’s in this same takeover that Sonic rags on strawberry shortcake (Amy’s favourite cake flavour) again—specifically to tease her—and he laughs the exact same way, there, too!

(It’s also implied, there, that Sonic gets Amy to chase him, so he seeks out the game just as much as she does.)

Sonic’s response can still read as distinctly neutral on a romantic level, for those who’d prefer that, but objectively it’s a lot more overtly positive. There is no denying that he enjoys her attention.

So, it’s a rebrand. For sure. But I actually find this to be a lot more wholesome? Zainey Amy™️ (when written well and not over-the-top for comedy like in certain games) absolutely has its appeal and deserves its place in canon, but the idea of Amy literally being unable to contain her love for Sonic and her compliments bubbling over is very cute to me. I also find it more powerful and significant because she’s finding her words to express her love instead of just reacting. It’s more thoughtful and reads as more genuine, as a result.

It’s different, but in my opinion, not bad! She’s not boring. She’s still giddy, passionate, loving, and more compassionate than she’s ever been. And Sonic is more accepting (enticed, even) as a result.

[amuseintime]

Shattering Realization (Pt 4/4)

Star Souls AU

Not the end of the AU, buuuut of this section of it :3c

Sif’s awake! This means everything is back to normal… right? Right? Of course, Odile doesn’t intend to just let it go that easily. Some things are answered, others are not.

Odile POV

<< PREV || FIRST

——————

Odile slept surprisingly well considering Boniface almost gave them a collective heart attack the evening before. The troublesome preteen apparently decided to sneak into Isabeau’s tent and snuggle up with Siffrin in such a way they could barely see them. If not for the fact that Mirabelle caught Siffrin moving slightly, they likely would’ve been out all night. While she would’ve appreciated their rogue at least attempting to signal them, it didn’t seem like he could very easily talk, and the sight of him stroking Boniface’s hair was admittedly enough to warm even her overly practical, often abrasive excuse for a heart.

Of course, even the best sleep and mostly finely crafted sleeping bag in the world would not prevent her back from hurting after another night of camping. A truly disconcerting number of clicks and pops filled the tent as she sat up, trying to ignore the twinge of pain. Nothing to be done for it except a stretch or two—battle-specialized healing craft only did so much for muscle aches and old bones.

Odile put on her day clothes and shuffled out of her tent with a container of tea leaves, the siren song of caffeine calling to her. Thankfully, it seemed all was more or less as normal in the little group. Mirabelle and Boniface were already up with a fire going, the preteen cooking some eggs. However, there was one thing both odd and relieving: Siffrin was also awake, helping feed twigs into the blaze.

“Good morning, young ones. Good to see you feeling better, Siffrin,” she said.

“Mm hmm. Same as ever!” Siffrin chirped. “Just needed a longer nap than usual, sorry about that.”

That was an understatement. “Siffrin. Being asleep for over a full day does not count as a long nap so much as a short coma.”

Mirabelle jolted in place. “Madame! Should- should we bring that up? I mean-“

“It’s fine?” Siffrin said. “I knew it was coming. So… what do you want to know?”

“Nothing that can’t wait until after we’ve all eaten and I’ve gotten caffeine in me.”

Boniface side-eyed Siffrin, scraping at the eggs with unnecessary aggression. “… ‘Cept Frin. You can’t actually eat, can you?”

Siffrin hid his face in the collar of his cloak, head tilted so his hat hid his eyes as well. “Not in the traditional sense, no…”

“…. So what? Have you just been throwing your portions out?”

“Of course not!” Siffrin said, shaking his head emphatically. “That’d be a waste! I’ve just been sneaking them onto other people’s plates.”

Mirabelle gasped. “So I’m NOT crazy! All those times I thought that the food wasn’t ending, that more just kept appearing, that was you?!”

“Um. Yes. Sorry?” Siffrin said.

Boniface sighed, “You don’t gotta humor me anymore. I guess I keep the same portions though, since everyone was eating your share anyways?”

“Oh. Yes, that’s fine,” Siffrin said.

Odile put on her tea, and Mirabelle went to wake up Isabeau as breakfast was done. Bonnie divided up scrambled eggs for everyone who could eat, but…

“Oh? Siffrin? Are you not hungry?” Isabeau said, earning a charged look from everyone. “Did I say something weird?”

“I don’t have a digestive system, don’t worry about it,” Siffrin said.

“Oh! Oh… right. I guess you wouldn’t,” Isabeau said.

Odile read a book for most of the rest of breakfast, but it didn’t sound old she was missing much of interest. It was abnormally quiet. Siffrin apparently decided to start cleaning up before everyone was even done, the mess mostly gone by the time Odile finished her plate. She sipped the last of her tea—strong and black, just as she liked it—and decided it was about time to address the elephant in the room.

“So, Siffrin, you aren’t human,” Odile said.

Mirabelle immediately started stammering, Boniface mumbling something with their arms crossed while Isabeau looked nervously at Siffrin. Siffrin, however, simply nodded. If she didn’t know that his face was crafted with naturally a neutral expression, she’d assume his current smile was literally painted on.

Of course, he didn’t say anything, and neither did anyone else, so seemed she’d have to take the lead here.

“So what are you then?”

Clearly he was some form of supernatural being, but that narrowed it down surprisingly little. Given how human he usually acted, it seemed most likely he was a ghost, but assumptions were dangerous. Besides, ghosts tended to haunt important areas of objects and usually had an agenda, a reason to linger, and to be blunt, Siffrin seemed fairly aimless. So presumably, he was a spirit of some sort, but that did virtually nothing to narrow it down. “A spirit” could encompass anything from the simplest Sadness to, arguably, gods. Of course, there was always a chance he was built into the doll that housed him, making him something artificial, and really it was going to be faster to ask.

“I don’t know,” Siffrin said.

Oh she could feel the migraine coming on. “… what.”

“I don’t remember really…?” Siffrin said. “I know I’ve been wandering around a while, but I don’t really remember why. I guess just because I don’t have anything better to do?”

Old suspicion flared up as she narrowed her eyes. Generally speaking, spirits didn’t just “forget” what they were, at least not any developed and/or human-like enough to have coherent thought.

“So… you aren’t a ghost?” Mirabelle said.

“Maybe…? But if I am, I’m kind of bad at this,” Siffrin said. His eyes slid between all of them as he pulled one leg into his chest. “Sorry, I’m sure this isn’t making me sound any less suspicious or weird, is it?”

“Not really, no,” Odile said. “But I suppose if you’re telling the truth, it’s not entirely unheard of…” She’d heard a few tales of amnesiac gods, of things great but either stupid or unfathomable, of spirits and beings who hid things for reasons. It was hard to tell what you were dealing with until it was too late. Pressing him too much was probably a bad idea. Better safe than sorry.

“You seem to know a lot about this, M’dame,” Isabeau said. “Is your field of research spiritology?”

“The word you’re looking for is Phasmology, and no, it’s not my field of research. Much of what I’m saying is more or less common knowledge in Ka Bue, though I’d argue that we’ve historically placed too much stock in the works of spirits and ghosts. Though I suppose it’s only natural. Much easier to blame something you don’t understand on an unknown spirit than try to find the science behind it. That said, I don’t think you know what a heated debate is until you bring up the Bright Death in a room full of Ka Buan historians. I got a rib cracked for that.”

“… huh.” Was all that Siffrin had to say. Taciturn as always, it seemed.

Mirabelle cleared her throat, speaking with the slow deliberation of someone holding something back. “So… Even if you don’t remember what you are, you’re aren’t flesh and blood either, are you?”

“Nope,” Siffrin said. “I’ll admit, I don’t know the name for this material, but…” He was grinning. Was grinning that grin. The grin that came before a particularly bad pun. He was even rubbing his hands together. “If you want a closer look, I can give you a hand with that!” And then he tossed his hand to Mira.

As in the whole thing.

It just. Popped off.

“SIF?!”

“OH CHANGE OH CHANGE OH CHANGE-“ Mirabelle shouted, hands fumbling with the detached limb until instinctively flinging it away.

Odile felt vaguely nauseous, and Boniface’s eyebrows were furrowed together. They came to hide behind Odile.

And Siffrin was laughing. Though as they all kept staring, he seemed to wilt in front of them. “Uh… too much? Sorry, I-I thought it’d break the ice…” He got up, awkwardly shuffling to where his gloved hand had landed and putting it back on with a pop, wiggling his fingers demonstratively. “See? Good as new! No harm done!”

“Sif. Siffrin. Buddy. Are- are you okay? That doesn’t hurt, does it?” Isabeau said, hand hovering in the air.

“It doesn’t. I’m designed to come apart, when I need to,” Siffrin said. He hesitated only slightly before pulling his cloak and sleeve up, exposing his elbow joint. “I actually, um, have to take myself apart sometimes. For cleaning.”

Mirabelle’s eyes were a bit too wide, but she kept her composure surprisingly well for someone who was screaming moments ago. “Is that… scary? I mean, you have to take yourself apart.”

“I mean, not really? It’s probably like taking a bath to you guys.”

Isabeau was staring intently at the exposed “skin” of Siffrin’s arm, face flushed. Gems alive, that man was head over heels, wasn’t he? Getting flustered from the slightest showing of not-skin.

Odile rolled her eyes, unable to deny the fondness in her heart for these four. “Like taking a bath… vulnerable and personal, especially with the element of limited movement, but I’d imagine that any fear would wear off, if it ever existed.”

“O-Oh! Yeah! That makes sense!” Isabeau said. “If, uh…”

“If…?” Siffrin said.

“Nevermind!”

Gems, these two. Get a room. Actually, they all should, preferably at an inn. They needed to get moving.

“Well, I’d be interested in seeing how all of this works, but we did get held up a day or two. We should get moving as soon as we can,” Odile said.

“Yes ma’am,” Siffrin said. He started pitching in, helping others pack. After all, everything he owned was conveniently kept on that one body and its many hidden pockets and apparent crevices. One day, if they beat the curse, she’d find them all. Not today though.

————

I prefer tea, but buy me a Kofi?

[princessb4mbi]

MESSAGES I CAN’T SEND

꩜ tags black!reader, therapist!eren, college setting, age gap (reader in 20s, eren in 30s), power dynamic, not so protective sex? mentions of death [not proofread]

꩜ synopsis isn’t it obvious to hide your private life better? or was it not obvious when a video of you dry-humping a pillow was sent to your therapist.

@ word count 3.6k

story below the cut !!

ever since you’ve lost your mother to old age, your mental health has spiraled downwards a little bit. you’ve had the privilege of knowing when she WOULD die and at-least died in a proper place rather than somewhere shitty, so that’s cheered your spirits up a little bit. she was your best friend though, and losing your best friend is painful. you went to her whenever you could, talked on the phone for hours, and slept in her bed every night as if you were still five years old. 

you weren’t the only one suffering though, your childhood friend sasha couldn’t stand watching you wither away. even though she did everything she could, she knew she was capable of oh so much. 

you weren’t the only one suffering though, your childhood friend sasha couldn’t stand watching you wither away. even though she did everything she could, she knew she was capable of oh so much. 

“do you want me to hook you up with my therapist? he’ll seriously help you clear all cloudy thoughts away y/n,” sasha says caressing your cheeks

you move your face away from her hand, “they aren’t cloudy thoughts sas, im just grieving my mother..” 

“i know baby, i know.. but i don’t want to grieve YOU if you die of a heartbreak. i want you to get better, physically and mentally.” sasha looks at me emphatically.

she pulls out her phone and scrolls through her contacts until stopping at a card called “dr.jaeger”. “listen, give him a call please. his prices are cheap and his place is nice. it’s not like those dull white offices with an ugly long chair and a monotone person.” 

you sighed, reluctantly agreeing to her copying and pasting the number to your phone. “okey, i gotta go now babe, but PROMISE me you’ll give him a call, he’ll help you, and if he doesn’t i’ll play for any of your bills ok?” sasha says packing up her stuff. she kisses your cheek before leaving the quiet study area, leaving you alone to your own thoughts. 

you stare at the contact card, pulling dr. jaeger’s name up on your laptop and scrolling through his website. sasha was right about one thing, his prices WERE cheap. about $65 an hour and he also had packages where two weeks of therapy would be about $350 in total.   

the prices however, weren’t enough to convince you fully, as your scroll down to see the reviews.  

“dr. jaeger saved me. after the loss of my wife, i never felt like so lonely, but my daughter told me about him and he’s helped me heal properly and not turn to anything crazy. he’s an amazing person with amazing talents as such a young age. 5 stars” 

ok.. that was something. not that you were going to invalidate them, but that seemed just.. fake. you decided to read another one.

“oh my gosh. no one would believe how amazing someone is at listening and understanding a person’s thoughts. dr. jaeger was nothing like those terrible therapists who make you pay $100 for an shitty hour call. oh how i wished i can say more, but the character limit is fu” 

you giggled at that one. maybe i should give him a call. with a deep breath, you called the number. 

“hello? my name is y/n, i’d like to speak to dr. jaeger please.” 

— 

it’s been about a month since you’ve scheduled a session with dr. jaeger, only having to wait that long due to “heavy traffic”. sasha is currently driving you to the building. 

“you know, i’m really proud of you for calling. i was scared you were going to stay depressed forever.” sasha says over her 80s radio playing. 

“let’s not get too happy yet, he could still be shit at his job..” you say cutting down any happy thoughts. 

“you’re STILL doubting him y/n? i get that some people are money hungry, but i promise you he’s not. if he was, do you think ME of all people would be recommending you to him? i mean c’mon, have some faith please.” 

“i’m sorry, i just nervous ok. my stomach is doing backflips at the moment.” 

“hey man, if you feel like farting, ill park somewhere and you can walk the rest of the way.”

you two pull up to the parking lot, fancy with a modern style front. the office itself if very modern and 2 floored. 

“k, i’m gonna drop you off here, call me when you’re done ok?” 

you walk out of sasha’s car, waving her goodbye while she drives away. you walk into the sleek office, with painting from what you the assume were from the last two centuries. 

the receptionist greets you with a nice smile “welcome, how may i help you today?” you give her your name. “ah i see, you right on time then, ill have this guard guide you to dr. jaeger’s office.” just then, a semi tall man with a black uniform from comes in-front of me. “right this way.” 

he leads me into the elevator, where he then leads me into a hallway with lots of rooms. there’s multiple therapists in this building, all with different ways. as i look through the glass windows, i see pet therapy, group therapy and even massage therapy. the guard finally stops at a door, with a name tag having “DR. JAEGER” on it. “here’s your room, have a nice day.” he says as he’s walking away. you give him a quick thank you and knock on the door. 

a deep “come in.” follows shortly after, and you enter the room. first impression of when you enter the room was that sasha was right. the room was anything from boring, and didn’t have white walls but instead had a mix of brown and auburn. there was lots of old-style decor too. a record player, cd’s and even the tv was kinda old. 

however you were greeted with the most shocking thing of all, dr. jaeger himself. he looked away from his papers, to look at you and gave you a warm smile. his visuals was… something you didn’t expect. most therapist are middle-aged men and women, that are sort-of not the most attractive. but that was ok, because they wanted to help you, not seduce you. dr. jaeger on the other hand was extremely beautiful. he has dark brown hair, put up in a semi-messy bun, the most luscious green eyes, and very kissable pink lips. 

i guess you were admiring his facial features for too long to notice dr. jaeger looking at you weirdly. “maybe un-responsive.” he mutters to himself, typing down on his laptop. upon hearing his words, you apologize and scurried to the seat in-front of him. 

“or not. . . my name is dr. jaeger, if you’ve haven’t gotten a chance to see on the door.” 

“i did, sorry for not responding earlier.” 

“it’s ok, its common for most genders to be shocked at how i look.” dr. jaeger said in a non-concerned voice. you were took aback a little by his comment, most genders to be shocked at how he looked? you were wondering if he was just annoyed at the common occurrence or just knew that he was an attractive man. “pushing that aside,” he sighed “sasha has told me a lot about you.” he says looking up at you. 

“she did?” you question.

“mhm, she cares for you ms….” he looks at the paper look for your last name. 

“y/l/n.” 

“ah, thank you. sasha cares for you ms. y/l/n. she talks about your recovery, and wants you to best happy for her.” he says maintaining eye contact. you can’t respond to such kindness. all you can do is nod your head and smile. 

“but as a therapist view-point, the death of a loved one is one of the hardest battle we have to overcome as a human being. no matter how emotionless a person may be, the death of anything else to them will always cause someone to break. that’s just how we are, we humans . . . after all.” he says empathically. 

“my job isn’t to make you forget your mother, or forget the pain you feel about her. you always feel pain lingering about her, and that’s ok. i’m just here to help you reduce that pain.” 

you were shocked. cheap prices, handsome therapist AND a good one at that? maybe it’s good to stay faithful after all. 

— 

it’s been about 3 weeks since you’ve had daily therapy sessions with mr. jaeger and he’s honestly been helping you a lot. you had different kinds of sessions, like walking around and even some pet therapy. today was for a usual one-on-one walk around the building beautiful outside landscape.

as you and dr. jaeger walk around, you wave to the other clients with their own therapists. “see how social you’ve gotten? when we first came here, you were begging to stay back inside due to all the people,” he jokes around. “now, you’re friendly with them. it’s good progress.” he smiles to himself. 

“it was only because of you, dr. jaeger. i don’t think i’d be the way i am without your help.” 

“ah. . . don’t flatter me too much. let’s sit right here yea?” he says pointing towards the swinging wood benches. “it’s beautiful outside, isn’t it ms. y/l/n?” he turns to look at you. 

“yea, it really is.” you turn back to stare at him. god, you can stare into his eyes for hours. it’s something that about that were so addicting, that you couldn’t look away if you wanted to. to break the silence, you decided to follow up with a cheeky comment. “say dr. jaeger, you really know how to keep a client.” he moves his head to the side, confused. “i like to believe that my clients stay with my due to how i help them and not my looks.” ah fuck. it was not received well at all, and you just profusely apologized to him. 

“but, if my looks did make people stay, that wouldn’t be all too bad huh,” he says giving a hearty laugh. “but tell me now, ms y/l/n. does my looks make you stay?” you were at a loss for words. one part of you wanted to say “fuck yes” while another part of you wanted to say “absolutely not”. and you of course went with the latter. 

“whatever your answer is, it doesn’t bother me either way. . . but it looks like our time is up ms. y/l/n.” you look down at your phone for the time. it was up after he exclaimed. the two of you head back to his office to pick you up your stuff. 

that night later, you were chilling in your bed, getting ready to dose off. you however, couldn’t sleep without thinking about a fantasy. it didn’t matter what type, other than it having to be something interesting. you close your eyes, your mind shifting to dr. jaeger, and the moments between you two that drove you insane. like that one time he wore a turtle neck, showing off his clothed six-pack abs. you imagined yourself touching them, feeling the rock-hardness of them. you open your eyes again, looking around the room. to be honest, you haven’t.. you know what, in a while and you thought it might be time to do it again. 

you move your bedsheets closer to the edge to give you more space. and moved all your pillows away except for one. you pulled your phone out and started to record. it might seem weird to other people, but you like to record yourself, in the time that you couldn’t find anything good on twitter or reddit. 

you start to rock your hips back n forth on the pillow, assuming it the body of a male. maybe it was dr. jaeger body you could’ve been assuming it off. either way, it turned you on, seeing how you started to move faster on your pillow. one of your hands grip the pillow, as the other hand massages your boob. you move faster, enjoying the friction your clit is getting between the pillow and your soaked panties. you close your eyes, imagining dr. jaeger guiding your body with his big, veiny hands. as you’re about to climax, you can’t help but subtly whimper his name. 

once you’ve finished, you end the video. while you’re cleaning up, sasha enters the room. “hey girlie, i was thinking of getting some drinks tomorrow night? wanna come?” she says exciting. “i would but i have a session with dr. jaeger tomorrow.” 

“boo, you’re boring.” 

“whatever, i’m going to the shower, so let me know if anything happens ok?” 

“yea yea boring y/n.” 

you go to the bathroom and take off your clothes, hopping inside the shower. you turn on the water, letting the lukewarm water hit your skin. you are alone with your thoughts until sasha comes inside the bathroom. 

“not to be nosey, but dr. jaeger texted you.” she says. 

“mhm really? what did he say?” 

“i didn’t look at it properly, but something about a daily wellness video?” you knew right away. dr. jaeger usual makes his clients make videos of themselves with positive affirmations, then with their consent, he’ll use it on his website for future clientele. 

“ahh ok! just send him the most recent video.” you photo gallery takes forever to update, so there’s a chance it’ll take forever to show the video of your “naughty time”. 

“ok, sending right now… and it’s sent. if he wants a further conversation, i’ll let you know.” 

“thanks sash.” 

as you walk out the steamy bathroom, and get ready for bed, you check your notifications for any new ones. you go into the chat between you and dr. jaeger, seeing if theres anything new. you took a look at the video of your affirmation, seeing the shirt you wore today as the thumbnail. you clicked on it, expecting your face to zoom out, as you were testing the camera quality always. to your shock, you camera didn’t zoom out. but instead was your body moving back and forth on something. your heart dropped. it couldn’t be. you’re praying it wasn’t. you skip some of the video to see if it was truly what you think it was, but the video suddenly changed to a more in-depth shot of you humping the pillow with your panties being in view. 

your heart start to beat faster than usual. you click off the video to delete it right away. dr. jaeger didn’t respond to it, and it said it was ‘delivered.’ you wanted to tell yourself that he hasn’t seen it, and probably watches those videos early in the morning. you weren’t going to stress yourself out though, you were just gonna go to his office per usual, and get counseling per usual.

— 

you take a deep breath and knock at his door, hoping it all ends well. you hear his “come in” but it sounds different from before. his voice went an octave lower. you walk into the room, seeing a more “messy” side of dr. jaeger. at-least he didn’t look at cleaned up as he usually does. his bun was a lot more frizzy from before and he had two buttons undone on his button up shirt. 

maybe he had a rough morning. you think to yourself. “good morning ms. y/l/n. how was your night?” you stopped for a second. such a simple question was something so dangerous to you. “it was fine, dr. jaeger. how about yours?” 

“oh. one of the best i’ve had in a while.” 

“ah. mine was the worst i’ve had in a while.” you mumbled. 

“really? i would’ve assumed you’ve had a very nice night ms. y/l/n.” 

you stare at him confused. what could he mean by that? yea, you fixed your hair a little better than usual, and your eye bags have gone away overtime, but you truly did have a sleepless night yesterday. dr. jaeger gets up from his chair, to lean on his desk, standing in-front of you. he stared down at you with his usually lighter colored eyes now displayed a dark-green. and his pupils were more extended. 

“i don’t know what gives you the impression that i’ve had a nice night dr. jaeger.” 

he bends to to match the height of the chair, and put both of his hands on the rest, restricting me from mounting off of it easily. “let’s cut the crap, y/n. i saw what you sent me.” at this moment, it felt like 100 daggers were suddenly lodged into your chest. 

“i wondered why you asked what you did yesterday. i thought to myself ‘maybe she thought i was attractive’, but i see it was more than that i see,” he says not breaking eye contact. “you see, as a human, we see something we like, and have many kinds of thoughts about it. and i see the thoughts you have towards me are stronger than what i expected.” 

“i’m truly sorry dr. jaeg-“ 

“call me eren, seeing as that is what you called me in the video.” 

“i’m sorry eren, truly. i don’t want to do anything to make you uncomfortable or hurt this relationship between us.” i say holding back my tears. 

“hurt? uncomfortable? those words are out of the park right now,” he says standing up. “to be honest, tell me why you came today y/n.” 

“to have a therapy session with you.” you meekly say.

“is my looks standing in the way of you healing with the death of your mother?” he says standing behind me. 

“not at all, dr. jae- eren.” 

“so then what provoked you to send me a five minute long video of you fucking yourself to a pillow in the imagination that it’s me?” you were at a loss for words. he was right. your heart sank as his word dug deeper into you. and you couldn’t hold back your tears anymore. you started to quietly sob, feeling large hands down your shoulders. you feel a hot breath near your eyes chill down your spine. “don’t cry, not in this manner at least,” he says in your ear. 

“cry because you can’t handle it, y/n.” 

you stopped and turned to look at him. he had a devilish grin on his face. “handle what?” you say, not catching his gist. 

“you’ll find out soon enough.”

eren lifts you up by the arm and spins you around to face him completely. you didn’t know what was going on, but you didn’t want to push away. your faces was a mere 4 inches away from each other. “can i? y/n. . . can i give you what you want?” 

you look at his eyes then his lips then his eyes again. fuck it, you nod your head and eren kisses you passionately. he stops kissing you for a moment to push the chairs aside. you look at his desk to see his usually messy papers cleaned up to the side. he planned this probably . . . eren picks you up and places you on his desk. 

he places a hand on your chin, rubbing it gently. “open it baby,” he says as his kisses you again, but placing his tongue all over the inside of your mouth. his hands tug on the bottom of your shirt, signaling for it to be removed. in between each kiss, you both take off a piece of clothing until you up to your undergarments. eren slips his large hand under your breast, fondling with it while he leaves wet hickeys on your neck. with the other hand he unclasps the bra, throwing it the ground. he kisses you again, muttering “nice tits”.

you pull at the band of his underwear, “want you in me ren’.” you whine. “patience baby.” eren says sliding your panties off to the floor. 

“are you on any pills by any chance?”, he says rubbing ur slick all over your cunt. “m-mhm ren.’”

“good. so i don’t have to hold back.” 

eren slips his underwear off, revealing his long, veiny and girthy dick. you want to guess it’s around 6-7 inches, but it was gonna tear you up regardless. he strokes his dick, ‘lubing’ it up with his pre-cum. he inches closer to you, having his dick and your hole just one insert away from each other. you open your legs wider and lay down on his desk, giving him more access to yourself. “didn’t even have to ask.” eren said.

he teases the tip of his dick on your clit. your whole body tingles in response, arching your back off the cold desk. “please ren’…” you beg, desperately wanting his dick buried into you. “please fuck me eren.” 

“as you wish.” with that, eren aligns himself with your entrance, slowly pushing himself in. the both of you moan simultaneously from the pleasure you both felt. eren starts to push his hips back and forth into you, keeping a firm grip on your waist. eren keeps a nice pace, making sure to satisfy both sides. suddenly, eren lifts your legs, wrapping them around his waist. you jolted from the tingle he gave you. you were trying to conceal your moans, but every time it was getting louder than usual, eren made sure put his hand over your mouth.

eren’s pace starts to unstable, moving fast at times and then slowing down to grind himself on you. you can tell he was close to his climax, seeing how desperate and shaky thrusts were. 

“‘m so close baby. . .” he grunts. 

“‘ren please! mhm.” you whine, begging him to release. 

“at the same time? what a good girl..” he barely breathes out. 

eren picks you up by the waist to pull you closer to him. there wasn’t enough space between you too, but he didn’t care. eren grinds his dick into you, feeling his dick throb in your walls. then, you feel a warm liquid pour inside of you, while at the same time cry out from your orgasm. 

[o0anapher0o]

Since we are between the years and everybody is recovering from the first celebration and gearing up for the next I thought I’d share some of the highlights (and low points) of this year’s tenure as a gift wrapping elf for your entertainment. (anyone who works in a bookshop year round might think ‘hey, this is just Tuesday’ but I only do this one month a year so I can still appreciate the insanity)

Someone asked to have a book about Lagerfeld wrapped in the gaudiest gold and red paper, decorated with a ribbon in a different shade of gold. (I just love how much he would have hated it, especially with a relatively elegant black and gold paper available)

“Asking for a friend (for Taylor Swift merch)” (someone irl used those actual words to me. I didn’t think people really did that)

The old lady that emphatically explained to me that British colonialism in India was bad actually. (actually she said it was worse than the Nazis which, no matter if I think she’s right or wrong, is certainly A Take. To have. For an old 68er.)

“What kind of wrapping paper would you recommend for someone you don’t like but society dictates you get them a gift?”

“Why do all the middle aged gay couples come to me?” My gnc co-worker with multicoloured hair, multiple visible piercings and tattoos, and an MCR t-shirt. No idea, mate.

The number of people who tell you to put everything in one parcel because it’s for kids, they don’t care (Right, no kid has ever cared about getting many, many, many gifts instead of one that looks like someone sat on it. None. Ever.)

“Do you have those pillows in a size for kids?” (ma'am, I still resent the fact that we have pillows at all.)

“I only come here for the ribbons.” (They are pretty neat tbf)

The guy who walked through the shop stroking a book like a kitten. Like a Bond villain strokes a kitten to be precise.

The couple who made it a competition who could find the smutty book they were giving to their mutual friend first. (They were an absolute delight and tipped well.)

“Is the date on the price tag the date on which the book was printed?” (I’m pretty sure it’s the date the price tag was printed, but also, why does it matter? It’s a book. It won’t go bad.)

“Do you have any device I could use to listen to your audio books in bed, that’s more convenient than my laptop?” Cue me trying to explain that all our audio books in the shop are on CD and we’re not exactly a tech store. That one’s half a block down the road.

Similarly the couple that came in, mug of steaming mulled whine in hand, and asked if we sell phone chargers.

“The registers are a bit unorganised today, aren’t they.” (Overrun. The word you’re looking for, Sir, is overrun. It’s Saturday two weeks before Christmas and people who have lived their entire lives in society do not understand the concept of queuing)

“Do you have any books by this author, name something like Agatha Christie?” (Jail. Jail for a thousand years.)

“Is this jigsaw [big puzzle and board game brand] quality?” (I don’t even know what that means? How do you measure the quality of a jigsaw puzzle? And why would you look for quality jigsaws in a book store instead of the game and toy store next door?)

The woman we had to politely convince that the book she got from the fantasy romance section is probably not suitable for her 12 year old daughter, yes even though she likes romance. (Cue internal yelling ‘It is smut, woman!’)

“I’m looking for a book for my son,” points at a ca 14 year old boy. “Do you have anything like Don Quixote?” (I know he was looking for slapstick adventure, but the lit major in me was still going ‘you’re looking for something that compares to a 16th century satire that we tend to consider the first European novel that is actually surprisingly poignant and modern in many ways?’)

The woman who told me to use the gold wrapping paper because the gift was for her mother who hates red. When I assumed she then also didn’t want the red ribbon I usually use with the gold paper she said “Oh, no, use it. We have to torture her a little bit.”

“Do you have any of these books?” produces a four page printed list, like it isn’t a week until Christmas and the store is bursting with customers.

“I’m looking for [specific braded game name]” I point them out to her. “No, but I’m looking for the ones by [name of game company that very much doesn’t produce that game or any like them]”

“Do you know a game called Jenga?” (I thought she might know it under a different name so I described it to her. She still had never heard of it.)

The teenage boy who walked through the store for about half an hour loudly dictating an entire research paper about Dürrenmatt into his phone.

‘Let’s have the Torah in the paper with Merry Christmas written on it and the Tolkien in the plain black and gold one.” (yes, there can be a million reasons to give someone a Torah for Christmas, but I maintain that A Choice was made here.)

[gingerbreadmonsters]

echo and... gavin??

ok so this is incredibly outlandish and doesn’t really have a huge amount of supporting evidence in canon that isn’t entirely circumstantial, but i think it’s cool and a fun idea to play with - plus, i have a wip based on this premise and i wanna lay the groundwork for that bc it’s a pretty mad concept if you’re not expecting it lol

so, i think about the imperium a lot - probably more than is normal or healthy - and i especially like to think about that one meme that erik posted on patreon just in the wake of cataclysm:

now, in all seriousness, it’s just a low quality meme that was probably made in about 5 minutes and just for fun, so i doubt it has any actual meaning - but i would like to propose a world where this meme is actually one of the most significant lore drops we’ve had yet!

in short, just go with me for a minute here - i would like to propose a world where gavin and echo are the same person.

we tend to treat a lot of these characters like real people with free will and agency, but they’re not - both on a meta level and inside the narrative itself. there’s a creator, and a larger narrative at play! even from echo’s very first introduction, he makes it clear that he exists as an independent, self-aware character - he’s emphatically NOT an impartial narrator, and while he certainly implies that he’s omnipotent and omniscient, it’s not clear whether he actually is, or where the real extent of his abilities and knowledge lies.

interestingly, he’s also both aware of AND separate from ‘Redacted’ (i.e. erik, canonising himself within his own universe) - he’s highly conscious that the events taking place aren’t real, and that he has some degree of control over the narrative. presumably, echo and ‘Redacted’ exist on the same level of reality in this universe - i.e. outside of it, but aware of what’s going on in there and able to change it.

ok, cool, but what does this have to do with gavin?

also, it’s a little bit weak, but go back and have a listen to echo’s playlist - don’t you think he speaks a lot like gavin (specifically early gavin, when he’s still all arrogant and whatever)? maybe this is just because they’re both being written by the same person, and their characters are just quite similar, but the resemblance is definitely there. circumstantial evidence, yes, but it’s worth mentioning.

to be honest, echo’s actually a little bit… strange?? when it comes to gavin?? he talks about him quite weirdly - the most obvious example for me is in ‘The Deal’, where he says:

it’s always struck me as a bit strange that echo SPECIFICALLY chooses gavin and fl to cross over with ivan and baby - and yes, i realise that there was probably an irl reason for this, but just go with it a bit longer! it’s likely that it was just pragmatism on erik’s part, of needing a storyline that could plausibly overlap with sadism’s hold, although maybe if the outcome of the poll had been different maybe this could have freed up fl to go out with damien as was the original plan… anyway, i digress.

hold onto that thought for a minute, and we’ll come back to the ‘why did echo choose gavin and fl?’ idea in a second.

it’s no secret that, if things continue as they are, freelancer is going to die - they are painfully, deeply human, and tbh they’ve survived some pretty long odds already! the confrontation with vega in their bedroom, the fight with vega in their living room, the inversion (and if you count the imperium, the takeover of - and escape from - the imperial academy)... all of these situations had the enormous potential to go horribly, horribly wrong, and freelancer could EASILY have died at any of those points!

if we exclude vega and fl’s first meeting (bc all things considered, vega was being cruel but not actually all that hostile in that interaction), gavin is almost always the one to save them - to step in and protect fl from whatever threats arose.

combine that with our idea from before - i’m suggesting that a world exists where freelancer dies at one of those points, or maybe even for an entirely unrelated reason that we don’t know about. maybe’s it’s vega in their living room, or the shade that killed xavier killing them too (i’ll come back to this later), or maybe it’s just that their natural lifespan comes peacefully to an end. they die, and that’s that.

except it’s not just that - because gavin’s not having it. it’s no secret, how much he loves freelancer, and i think he has the potential to do absolutely ANYTHING to stop them dying.

that anything, i suggest, is becoming echo.

this establishes the world that we’re hearing now - the universe that we’re familiar with is actually the second attempt. perhaps what we’re hearing are the delusions of a grieving demon, DESPERATE for a world where freelancer doesn’t have to die. or perhaps he finds a way to genuinely create a world where he makes the rules - maybe he finds his way to a world - ‘Redacted’’s (i.e. erik’s) world - where he can finally change things for good. maybe it’s time travel, or some sort of reset point, but whatever the case may be, he’s outside of it all now.

he couldn’t save his freelancer then, so he’ll do whatever he can to save them now - he’s walking them and this version of himself (whatever that might mean) through the life he had with his freelancer, just with a few… changes.

is he fully in control? no, that’s erik. but echo DOES control the imperium - and of everyone, it’s arguably vindemiator and freelancer who escape the horrors of that world the most successfully. they both survive RIDICULOUS odds, when you consider just how dangerous both of their situations are!

or, if you like, maybe echo’s not really in control of anything in the prime universe - maybe it’s erik steering the narrative but echo’s just able to hit the handbrake and make a few hasty edits whenever things look like they’re taking a turn for the worse. nothing earth-shattering, just changing a few minor details that keep freelancer safe (or even just alive).

in that vein, let’s come back to that point about xavier. this hc goes really well with the idea that fl is killed during the inversion, more specifically at the point just before gavin creates his ward. perhaps gavin can’t make that ward in time, and freelancer’s killed by the shade - so all that energy and power and hurt that OUR gavin pours into his ward from seeing xavier die? it’s that, but times a million if it’s freelancer who dies there - maybe that’s the moment where gavin manages to change things and step out of the bounds of the narrative. now, when we get to see it (i.e. in the versions of the audios that we know, which i’m calling here a ‘second attempt’), we’re given the character of xavier, who - apologies to the xavier nation - is essentially ballast, a human shield to stop the shade killing fl or gavin. for all intents and purposes, he’s a filler character with very little actually going for him - other than the fact that he dies during the inversion (and you can argue that even that is just to develop the characters of the DAMN crew a bit further). if we accept this hc, xavier is basically placed there by echo-gavin as one final, hail-mary barrier between freelancer and the shade who killed them the first time, to give gavin just enough time to put that ward together.

to take this a bit further, let’s return to the point about fl’s mortality for a bit. are we ever going to know their fate, or will this be left unresolved and up to our interpretation? will they settle for their human lifespan, or be turned into a vampire (willingly or otherwise)? will they die prematurely, or live out their natural lifespan, or find a way to artificially extend their life via some hitherto-unknown method?

placing this problem squarely in the context of the echo-is-gavin hc, i would love to see a world where echo finds some way - any way - to bend the rules of this universe, and to change freelancer or gavin in some way that they might be able to be together for the rest of both of their natural lives, however long or short that may be.

it strikes me as very interesting that when a’xerahn accidentally makes vampires, he’s searching for a way to create ‘a more manageable form of Concubus’ - of which incubi are a subset. is this just a choice that erik’s made either at random or because of the historical and cultural associations between sex and vampires and blood and all that? probably, yeah. but it’s especially interesting because it might imply that concubi are the easiest type of demon to convert humans to/from - which would then come with a whole HOST of implications for gavin and fl!

to be entirely honest, this is a completely off-the-wall hc that will almost certainly not come true - but it’s certainly fun to think about! basically i just want gavin and fl to be happy and in love and together forever, and i’ll come up with whatever hcs i like to make that happen lol

[min3nc]

Do you have more about either autistic head cannons for the whole team or more about Weiss or whatever. Cause I really enjoyed the last one

OHHH BOY YES I DO. putting them under a cut because i’m rambling and i don’t like long posts augh. also sorry this took so long to be answered—

They all think they are so good at masking. a game of “they dont know im autistic” but they all are dhsjfnsnf. And in a way- they are! They perform well, until it’s all too much, and they need to take a step back and wonder, why am i feeling so bad?

Blake's the kind of girl who you just think she's mean doesn't want to talk to you- but truth is she's absolutely nervous when she talks to people. Unless it's the Right People, the kind of people that you just sort of Connect to just by looking at them and hearing them say a word that just flips a switch in your brain. she gets overstimulated so easily thanks to her ears. For her, so many noises are the kind of noises that make you grit your teeth and are physically painful.

yang’s the definition of “but you don’t look autistic!” because she figured it out. it’s all about performing. they think you look like a bimbo? they’ll get a bimbo. it’s easier that way. socialization is all about having templates of situations. She’s a pro at that. Situation A asks for Response C, that way we’ll move towards Continuation B and it all goes as expected. Performing, performing… until one day she gets overwhelmed and she doesn’t understand why everything is too much and that’s where they get her. woe, ‘tism be upon ye.

ruby has a strong sense of justice, “these rules are DUMB why are we enforcing them if they aren’t fair? that makes no sense” “because that’s the way things are.” “that’s dumb. we’re doing things my way.” <- ruby the whole atlas arc btw. she learned a lot about socialization through yang but her personality makes it difficult for her to perform. she takes her role as leader very literally, and it took an obvious toll out of her. also, her whole thing with her cape. there are some capes that are very heavy, and I know that ruby’s cape is like that. pressure helps some calm overstimulation. she’s also hyper emphatic, to the point it gets too much. nora is sad, weiss is sad, ren is upset, blake is upset— i’m too, but let’s get to them first, okay? WRONG. meltdown be upon ye.

weiss schnee my beloved. this girl. she masks so much, but she doesn’t realize because it’s chalked up as etiquette training, and on a sadder note, given that she was an heiress and was trained for years to be the perfect heiress, i’d say behavioral training. we all blame jackass schnee for that one. i also think she once saw one of those Violence stimboards (im not really into them. but jesus i spent like an hour looking at them) related to fire and she Cannot Understand Why She Cant Look Away And Why She Feels So Comfy. I also imagine her as those kind of girls who know Way Too Much but don’t know how to explain it in an easy way, so she gets frustrated because she WANTS to talk about the intricacies of Dust Usage but does Blake know how Kinetic Energy Redistribution through Dust works? will she be able to explain it? because she wants to converse about this! not just have someone hear her, she wants opinions goddamnit!!!! (yes she probably does)

[luveline]

hi jade! i’m not desi, i’m SEA but i love that you describe james as desi in your fics. fandom (particularly fandoms like hp lol) is such a white dominated space. and white characters are way more popular!! it drives me crazy. brown characters get absolutely no love from anyone, it’s miserable. like in criminal minds, hotch and reid are objectively the two most popular characters to write fic about when morgan is right there. he’s right there guys!!!

i’m not saying that people can’t write what they want to write or read what they want to read but maybe we should all examine the reasons why we don’t write/read for characters like morgan.

i would argue that this isn’t “race bending” (which is a stupid term tbh). like that other anon said james and harry have no canon race, it’s never described in the book. harry is white in the cover art because, let’s be honest, JKR is a dirtbag and super racist. she and the publishers made harry white because to them white is the default.

i really hope that you keep writing james as desi. i totally understand why you might not, but you genuinely weren’t doing anything wrong. lots of characters have their races changed in adaptations, or stories are reinterpreted for other cultural audiences. by writing james as desi your creating representation for a group of people who don’t have the same kind of representation white people do. and it makes no impact on the stories you write! other than describing him or making little nods within the characters internal dialogue to his culture, it doesn’t impact the overall story. it’s just there because it’s part of who he is, like how remus has his scars or how the sky is blue.

i’m really sorry if this came across as preachy or something!!! i just wanted to tell you that i think you’re doing a good thing and that one persons opinion doesn’t change that. you aren’t being offensive because you chose to portray him as something other than what people assume is the default.

It’s not preachy at all! Because I’m white I don’t want to decide how my first anon should feel about it and I never would. I really don’t want to do something that’s hurtful and I understood it as that they don’t like it/ would prefer not to read it and that’s totally up to them, and contributing to that feeling for them isn’t something I would like to do. I also appreciate knowing how you feel about it and knowing that you love it, I love writing him as desi and having those details, but I’m very scared to do something that affects others in a bad way, does that make sense? I especially wouldn’t want to act insensitively! honestly, I’m not sure what the course of action I should take. I really appreciate the need for representation in media as well as moving away from the default assumption as you said, and simultaneously I don’t want to go about it in a way that’s hurtful to the first anon and any other readers who feel the same . Sorry if this doesn’t make sense but basically what I’m trying to say is that it’s so important to me to be considerate and respectful of everyone reading which emphatically includes both you and the first anon. Thank you very much !!

[dearweirdme]

Jkkrs are plenty hatefull to Tae today. I've seen some really bad takes.

Hi anon!

Yeah, I took a peek earlier on and left that side of fandom rather quickly.

What amazes me is that some actually think Tae uses Jk (the name dropping, latching on apparently) dor attention. It’s such a weird take, because what would that say about Jk, and if Jikook actually were a thing.. what would that say about Vmin. Do those people actually think Jk would let Tae (or anyone) use him (for attention or to hide his heterosexual relationship🙄) and not only not say anything about it, but also keep meeting up with Tae being all happy. And would Jimin let Tae do those things with his boyfriend and still look like this, when Tae pops up in his live:

It’s nonsense. All members love Tae and think kindly and highly of him. They respect him and have often talked about what kind of person Tae is. Tae is helpful to others, Tae is emphatic, Tae is so very kind and he loves his friends and members. Jimin and Jk aren’t bothered by Tae mentioning Jk.. so why would anyone else be.

[usermischief]

I go wild over 3B because Stiles was a missing person not once but twice that season, and both times, this is followed by death and chaos. What the hell did Coach and the teams think of Stiles reappearing just moments before Coach got shot? This is the very first time the teams have seen Stiles since he was declared a missing person, they had no idea he had been found, yet not one of them has time to ask questions. Were there any students who had a late night in Riddled and heard their phone go off with an Amber Alert for Stiles because a kid going missing at the same time as an attack should probably be grounds for sending one out? Imagine waking up and learning your classmate went missing, was found in a coyote den, went to the hospital, there was some kind of an attack on the hospital that killed/injured who knows how many people including your other classmate and the police aren’t revealing who did the attack or even how the wire ended up on the ground, and the other classmate went missing again. I’d transfer out so fast. Also, let’s not forget, the first classmate turns back up just in time for the coach to get shot and for there to be a bomb at his father’s workplace, and the bomb threat on your school bus contained his father’s name plate. Also, you’ve seen this kid around a few times after this and you’re pretty sure there’s corpses with more color in their skin than him, he was briefly unable to read for a bit there and kept zoning out like he didn’t know where he was and this happened right before he went missing so maybe that had something to do with it, and his friends are all acting super weird about him, they keep talking like he’s responsible for the recent deaths but they also act like he’s not responsible so it’s freaking Schrödinger’s responsibility up in here. In addition, the kid injured at the hospital briefly turned up and as you walked to the doors after making up a test you missed last week, you saw him trying to murder those twins he hates for some reason (you once overheard those two asking McCall if they could join him in his probable/hopeful-cult that he calls a pack, only for Stilinski to laugh and shut them down and Lahey to jump in and say they helped murder Boyd a bit ago so they can get fucked. You’ve never forgotten Lahey threatening to murder them and Stilinski nodding emphatically like he thought this was a fantastic idea; you make a note to avoid ever touching those that the “eye for an eye” twins love because evidently they believe in revenge homicide. You ducked your head down and refused to think about anything they said and prayed the bit about claws was a metaphor, you’re drawing your line at werewolves existing), and you really hope that was just makeup on his face. McCall’s ex-girlfriend and the new girl are both there, trying to stop this, and why does she have a sword?! You pretend you see nothing and ask your parents about how they feel about moving across the country, you want to get as far away from this as possible. 3B is such a wild ride from the perspective of the students because they have to be noticing some things, there had to be some sort of notification sent out that the sheriff’s son had gone missing and this occurred when the hospital was attacked (and the students would know the timing because Coach brings up Stiles and Isaac at the same time to the team), and the very next time they see Stiles, the Coach gets shot. Also, Danny was right there when Ethan and Aiden had their fight that Isaac stopped, other students were probably around as well. The fact that there are any students left after 3B is perhaps the biggest mystery of all, how are parents letting their kids attend this school? It’s like Hogwarts in terms of danger really

And it's not getting better in the next three seasons.

[justatiredcookiemonster]

Autism representation in "The curious Incident of the dog in the night-time" by Mark Haddon

The book talks about Christopher, a 15 years old boy diagnosed with Asperger’s Syndrome. He is a mathematical genius and has a remarkable memory. He is not as skilled in social relations.

If he reminds you of someone let me help you: Rain Man, Sheldon Cooper and Shaun Murphy to name a few.

Christopher is the umpteenth character wrote by an allistic person that ended their research on autism at the first line of Wikipedia.

Let me argument how Christopher is a stereotyped representation of autism and how the book gives away some dangerous messages.

1. Christopher is a boy. For years it has been thought that girls could not be autistic and even today they are diagnosed rarely and in their adulthood while boys get theirs in the first few years of their lives. This happens because for years the studies has been done only on boys and the diagnostic criteria where set on those results. However, autism comes off in different ways on girls that boys resulting in a missed or delayed diagnosis. Autistic girls deserve more representation.

2. ASPERGER. Since the introduction of DSM-5 in 2012 Asperger’s syndrome is no longer recognized. It foment the WRONG stereotype that hings like “mild autism” exist. Autism is a spectrum, every autistic person is 100% autistic. I am autistic not Asperger.

3. Christopher is a genius. Just like Sheldon Cooper, Rain Man and Shaun Murphy Christopher has a special talent. The fact that EVERY autistic person represented has some kind of “special talent” gives off two wrong messages.

All autistic people are genius.

Lots of autistic people are struggling and have struggled in school, many do not recall that period as a joyous one and many did not complete their studies.

All autistic people are good in math/STEM subjects.

In this way it looks like the only suitable career path for autistic people are in these fields. We are perfectly capable of pursuing any career path we want, just like neurotypical people. We can be dancers, writers, psychologist, teachers etc.

4. Christopher is not emphatic. An extremely diffused commonplace is that autistic people are not emphatic. This characteristic differs from person to person. Some are emphatic, some aren’t. We aren’t robots.

5. Christopher is not able to socialize/doesn’t want to socialize. Society sees us as friendless people and incapable of having romantic relationships. They portray us as real social outcasts. Both things are wrong. We can have friends and we can have a partner, we just encounter more difficulties in the process.

Another commonplace is that we don’t want to socialize. Generally, we enjoy being by ourselves, but that means nothing. Some people are better on their own others seek the company of other people without denying time for themselves. Sometimes it can be lonely in a society that is not built to include us.

6. Christopher’s genius, his lacking social skills and his needs that come off as irrational foment another stereotype that is true also for the characters mentioned above: loving us for who we are is difficult (if not impossible) because we are a burden for the people around us. Christopher’s mother, whom he thought was dead, left because she couldn't cope with his needs anymore.

We are tolerated just for our “special talent” that allows us to claim a little space in a neurotypical world. I recommend the first episode of “The Good Doctor” as an example. Shaun is hired just for his “special abilities” DESPISE him being autistic. Autism is portrayed has a flaw that could’ve costed him his career, but thanks to his genius he still gets hired.

[ajunicetryagain]

I remember 9/11. I remember devastation, the horrific crimes that followed, the people whose lives were ruined by blind hatred and bigotry. I also remember that Donald Trump has repeatedly, emphatically stoked Islamophobic violence with his rhetoric:

"I think Islam hates us. There's something there that — there's a tremendous hatred there. There's a tremendous hatred. We have to get to the bottom of it. There's an unbelievable hatred of us." [CNN]

And with his policies. Trump once again invoked the supposed 'hatred' of Islam as the reason for his ban on Muslims:

"[It] is obvious to anybody the hatred is beyond comprehension. Where this hatred comes from and why we will have to determine. Until we are able to determine and understand this problem and the dangerous threat it poses, our country cannot be the victims of horrendous attacks by people that believe only in Jihad, and have no sense of reason or respect for human life." [NPR]

Now he wants to reinstate that Muslim ban and expand it to include Palestinian refugees.

“We aren’t bringing in anyone from Gaza, Syria, Somalia, Yemen or Libya or anywhere else that threatens our security. I banned refugees from Syria, I banned refugees from Somalia—very dangerous places—and from all of the most dangerous places all over the world, I banned them. In my second term, we’re going to expand each and every one of those bans." [NBC News]

He's also promised to target pro-Palestine protesters and the movement as a whole:

When one of the donors complained that many of the students and professors protesting on campuses could one day hold positions of power in the United States, Trump called the demonstrators part of a “radical revolution” that he vowed to defeat. He praised the New York Police Department for clearing the campus at Columbia University and said other cities needed to follow suit, saying “it has to be stopped now.” “Well, if you get me elected, and you should really be doing this, if you get me reelected, we’re going to set that movement back 25 or 30 years." [Washington Post]

The truth is, he is the one driven by hatred and if re-elected, he will once again use the presidency to punish people for their faith—and to encourage his most extreme followers to do the same.

Never Forget the Reign of Terror waged against Muslims (and by extension, Sikhs profiled as being Muslim) in the nearly two decades following 9/11.

[spiritsoulandbody]

#DailyDevotion Don't Despise The Election Of Your God

#DailyDevotion Don't Despise The Election Of Your God Amos 9 5When the Lord GOD of armies touches the earth, it quakes, and all who live there mourn. All of it rises like the Nile and goes down again like Egypt’s river. 6He Who built stairs into heaven and set His sky over the earth, Who calls the water of the sea and pours it on the ground — He is called the LORD. I don't know why they always translate Adonai with Lord. Sure it means lord but when it runs up next to YHWH (Yahweh, Jehovah), then they run into trouble since they substitute LORD for YHWH so they then translate YHWH as GOD (all caps is to designate YHWH). Why not just treat Adonai as a proper name as it only refers to God in the Old Testament? In any case, the LORD is pulling out His big names again in Amos here to demonstrate His omnipotence. He is all powerful. When He touches the earth big things happen. There are earthquakes and people mourn. The earth goes up and down like the Nile river. We can't totally control nature but He can and does. It is the LORD who created the heavens and the earth and everything in them. The sky, the seas, the land, it is all His to do with as He pleases. Normally, it is for our benefit. At other times it can be for judgment and calling us to repentance. He brings this up to tell us that His threats aren't merely threats. He isn't all bark and no bite. What He warns will happen, He will bring it to pass at the right time. 7“Aren’t you Israelites like the people of Ethiopia to Me?” asks the LORD. “Didn’t I bring Israel up out of Egypt, the Philistines from Crete, and the Syrians from Kir? 8You see, the Lord GOD is looking at the sinful kingdom, and I will wipe it off the face of the earth but not totally destroy the people of Jacob,” says the LORD. 9You see, I'm ready to give the order and will sift Israel among all the nations as something is sifted in a sieve, but not a kernel will fall to the ground. 10The sword will kill all the sinners of My people who are thinking, ‘Destruction will not catch up with us or get at us.’ What is the LORD saying here? He is telling the Israelites not to depend upon their partriarchs' relationship to the LORD nor their forefathers' relationship to Him. While the LORD chose them, He also chose them to be holy as He is holy. Since they have broken fellowship with Him, He has broken fellowship with them. As sinful, unrepentant people, they cannot rely on the LORD's protection. The reverse is true. Since they act like the nations, the LORD will treat them like the nations. While the LORD took the Israelites out of Egypt, He also moved the Philistines from Crete and the Syrians from Kir. (Sidenote to the archaeologist out there, this could make a good dissertation for a Phd., proving the Syrian people in the eighth century were originally from Kir). Verses eight and nine are really emphatic. They start off with, “You see!” In Hebrew it is “hinneh.” Sometimes it is translated as “behold.” They should pay attention. Judgment is at the door. Destruction is coming their way. Those who think will escape having been warned by the prophet, the LORD will make sure gets killed. The LORD will sift the people of Israel among the nations, but if there are any good ones, they would be preserved. As God's holy people then, let us not despise our election but make it sure by daily repentance and using the means of grace on a regular basis to be made holy and righteous by Him. Read the full article

[mariacallous]

Every two years, political campaigns, organizations, and pundits all ask the same question: Will young people turn out to vote? In recent cycles, that answer has been an emphatic yes: Youth ages 18-29, long considered unreliable voters, have turned out at historically high rates. Between the 2014 and 2018 midterms, and between the 2016 and 2020 presidential elections, youth voter turnout increased by double digits. In 2022, the first election when they made up the entire 18-24 age group, Gen Z voted at a higher rate than any previous generation in its first turn at the ballot.

That’s the good news. The bad news: Young people still vote at much lower rates than older Americans. Moreover, even among youth there are major inequities in turnout by race, education, rurality, and other factors that prevent us from having a truly representative electorate. In 2022, for example, the estimated voter turnout of Black (15%) and Latino (14%) youth was nearly 10 percentage points lower than that of youth overall. There was also a nearly 30-point gap between the voter turnout of youth with a Bachelor’s degree and those with a high school diploma but no college experience.

These systemic deficiencies in our democracy require equally structural shifts in how we prepare young people to participate in democracy. At the Center for Information & Research on Civic Learning and Engagement (CIRCLE) at Tufts University, we’ve spent two decades studying various approaches to expanding the electorate and promoting inclusive civic participation.

CIRCLE research points to a major role for K-12 schools at the intersection of civic education and civic participation—a vision of the nonpartisan civic role of schools that can be met through well-implemented, evidenced-based policies and practices.

When implemented, state statutes can support students’ voter registration and engagement

Policies like automatic voter registration (AVR) and pre-registration have proven somewhat effective at improving youth registration rates. However, without thoughtful and inclusive implementation, they aren’t enough to substantially increase participation. There remains major untapped potential, especially with pre-registration. Schools are positioned to play a key (and nonpartisan) role in this pre-registration work before and after students turn 18.

All states have policies in the books that outline what K-12 schools can, should, and, in some cases, must do related to voter registration and education. These include statutes that mandate the provision of voter registration forms and activities in schools. A handful of states go even further, providing opportunities for young people to take a leadership role in their school or community’s voter registration efforts. Michigan, for example—which we estimate had the highest youth voter turnout in 2022—allows 16- and 17-year-olds to be appointed to the Board of Elections.

The vast majority of states also allow youth under 18 to serve as poll workers. This is an impactful but severely underutilized opportunity to engage young people in the electoral process while also serving their communities. Teachers and school leaders have an essential role to play here, too, by promoting and supporting this work with their students.

Nonpartisan teaching about elections can promote participation

Schools can also support nonpartisan voter education much more directly. Participation in democratic processes requires working knowledge, skills, and dispositions that must be learned—which means they must also be taught. CIRCLE research shows that nonpartisan instruction about elections, especially about the voting process itself, is effective but often sorely lacking.

Before the most recent presidential election, we asked young people whether they had been encouraged and/or taught how to vote while in high school. Those who said they remembered those educational experiences were more interested in the 2020 election, more knowledgeable about the voting process, and more likely to engage in other civic activities (though it’s unclear if this was a causal effect of their high school instruction).

But a third of youth said they had not been encouraged to vote in school, and half said they had not been taught how. More recent data also underscores that a lack of information about the voting process is still a major problem.

In CIRCLE’s 2022 survey, among youth who didn’t vote, more than one in five said they did not have enough information. Among youth who didn’t register to vote, 13% said it was because they didn’t know how to do it or had a problem with the forms. Young, unregistered Latinos were even more likely (25%) to cite those reasons for not registering—underscoring how disparities in information access might lead to lower participation.

Educators need resources and support to teach equitably about elections. Some of that help can come from coalitions like the Teaching for Democracy Alliance that provide materials and learning opportunities for teachers to engage in this work. The backing of administrators and district leaders is also key, especially as educators continue to face pushback about history and social studies content in schools.

State policymakers can play a role by passing civic education laws that mandate nonpartisan teaching about elections as a normal, expected part of the curriculum, and by ensuring adequate resources for implementation across all schools. That includes allocating funding for teachers’ professional development and for civic learning activities required by standards and legislation. For example, Massachusetts established and funded a Civics Project Trust Fund to assist with training, implementation, and evaluation of its civic education law, especially in school districts with a high rate of disadvantaged students.

Civic education must help youth develop their voice and see their role in democracy

While information is key to supporting youth participation, it’s often not enough to spur voting and broader engagement. This is especially the case among youth from historically marginalized communities and those who, sadly, may not see a role for themselves in our democracy. According to our 2022 survey, only 40% of youth (ages 18-29) said they feel well-qualified to participate in politics. Youth of color, youth ages 18-21, and those without college experience are even less likely to feel qualified.

Schools have a central role in ensuring that all students can develop their voices, build skills like collaborative decision-making, understand how institutions work, and explore different ways they can effect change. Well-implemented civic education policies and standards can advance these aims by mandating the use of evidence-based pedagogies like inquiry-based learning, discussion of current societal issues, and service learning.

Each of these instructional practices create opportunities for young people to speak and act together about the issues facing their communities and to make decisions that impact their experiences in and out of the classroom. CIRCLE’s recent research in Illinois, where middle schools are implementing this type of civic learning, finds these learning experiences are associated with a variety of positive civic outcomes. Notably, it also finds that while this type of civic education is often derided as partisan, it does not politicize students; it is teaching them how to think, not what to think.

Our Illinois research also highlighted the importance of opportunities to build youth voice and confidence outside the classroom. Students who are engaged in extracurriculars, who perceive a positive school climate, and who feel they have a say in their school communities also score better on civic outcomes. Policymakers and practitioners can support educators by improving support for opportunities like extracurricular activities and launching or expanding programs like participatory budgeting in schools that directly involve youth leadership.

A role for policy, practice, and partnership

CIRCLE’s research at the intersection of civic education and engagement highlights the importance of policies that can help grow voters. More so, it underscores the importance of thoughtful and equitable implementation of policies and opportunities so that all youth have access to them and feel supported in enjoying them.

That requires much more than simply having a law in the books—whether it’s a civic education standard or a voter registration statute. It calls for meaningful and supportive partnerships between educators, policymakers, practitioners, and other stakeholders in communities who have a role to play in ensuring all youth are ready to vote in 2024 and to lead in the decades to come.

[nicoandindy]

I can’t say this enough, this thread is so correct. Teens are told shit that ruins them, then to escape the place they are ridiculed to distract themselves from the dumb crap parents and adults tell them. Kids are going to become the least emphatic people because they were taught that their feelings don’t matter, only their grades, or their instrument lessons, and spending time with family that they don’t like. Children are learning how to people from scratch, they aren’t going to know everything right off the bat, they aren’t going to understand algebra at age 7 just because some kid on a tv show did. And also, they get compared to like a crap ton. ‘That kid who wrote their own song, you should’ve done that !’ And ‘Those children love their parents, wonder what happened to our kids.’ teens are being shit on all the time just because they are alive. Teens know a lot of things, but like adults there are things they also don’t know. Children are human, they have feelings, thoughts and opinions too. Those opinions aren’t only valid once their an adult.

It’s crazy that these people are guilt tripped, compared to, yelled at, abused, and so much other crappy stuff just because the parents don’t think their children deserve happiness. It’s fucking messed up how kids and teens are treated.

consider: teenagers aren’t apathetic about everything they’re just used to you shitting all over whatever they show excitement about

[websitesdepotla]

Law Firm Seo Marketing Tips For 2024 And Beyond

Have you been looking for law firm SEO marketing advice that goes beyond the “same old same old?” If you’ve been searching for ways to improve your law firm’s SEO, our guess is that you’ve seen literally thousands of blogs about “fundamentals” and “how to start.” That’s not what this is. You can find that anyway. Sure, we can and have handled all of that for our clients. That said, we also like to highlight the advice that maybe you haven’t encountered as much.

Of course, we always stress starting with the fundamentals. The thing about law firm SEO (and really all digital marketing) is that there’s always something you can do right now. Maybe you can do some more keyword research to find which keywords you should rank for. Perhaps you should be brainstorming more content or even more ways to produce content. Regardless, you should have a responsive website, be optimized on-site and off, have your social media going strong, and more. If you’re not up to speed with all of that yet, we can help.

Voice Search: Only Getting More Popular It’s entirely possible that you found this article through a voice search. As people get busier and busier, voice search becomes more and more popular. This can be an opportunity but you have to meet it in a certain way. Writing the same content for the same keywords as before may not necessarily be as effective when it comes to voice search. Why? Because people don’t speak in abbreviations. When they speak, they, well, speak. They tend to talk more conversationally, just as they would if they were talking to a human being. So, when you’re doing your keyword research for your content, consider going after a few keywords just for voice search. These tend to be a bit longer, a bit more spelled out. The trick then, is fitting them organically into your content. These keywords often have a location involved somewhere: “in Los Angeles,” “in Orange County,” and so forth. You probably aren’t going to want to divert your entire content strategy towards voice search keywords. But, it’s one more thing you can do to connect to more potential clients.

The Hidden Goals of Content We find that, when we do an initial audit of our law firm clients, they tend to look at content operationally. That’s fine. That’s perfectly understandable. You’re creating this content for a reason, you want something from it. However, being so focused on the technical aspects of the content can, perhaps paradoxically, keep you from creating great content.

Yes, you want your content to use the keyword organically in the first paragraph, sporadically throughout, and mentioned in at least one heading, all of that. But, remember, your content has more goals than just that, too. Your content has to show your authority. It must emphatically demonstrate that you can provide solutions for those who consume it.

What helps tremendously with that? Accessibility. If you’re reading this, you know to make your website ADA-compliant. You know that you have to do that for a multitude of valid reasons. However, there’s more to accessibility than just ADA compliance. How is your content written? Do you use a lot of legal jargon? Are your paragraphs dense and long? How does it read?

For the most part (as you’ve probably guessed at this point) some of the best-performing content conveys important points in an easy to read format. We try to keep our paragraphs short (rarely over four lines) and the sentences short as well. That way, (and through the use of transitions) it makes for a better reading experience.

Prospective clients think (rightly) that an attorney who makes everything simple and easy to understand will be able to sway a jury, the other side, and so forth. Most folks in America read at a 7th to 8th-grade level. You remember those years. Making your content as accessible as possible is something that far too many law firms overlook.

Perhaps The Most Important Virtue at the Beginning You know not to sign with an SEO for attorneys agency who says they can promise results “overnight.” Those are the people just looking to take your money and offer nothing in the way of results. That said, you also don’t want to just keep giving an agency money without seeing any results whatsoever, either. Perhaps the best virtue you can have, at least at the beginning, is patience. Every law firm and situation is different. For example, with our company, depending on where our lawyer clients are starting from, we tend to get them results in just a few months’ time. You’ll note that we used the vague “a few” because, frankly, the results are all over the place. Some see results quickly whereas others do have to wait some months. But, organic SEO, when done right, leads to lasting results.

When conducted in conjunction with a paid ads campaign, you can see lead generation results that build on themselves.  

Law Firm SEO Marketing Experts

The above are just some of the tactics that we can help our clients with. No matter where you are with your SEO, whether you’re just starting out or you’re looking to build on what you’ve got, we can help. Our team has helped so many law firms who practice many different kinds of law to go to the next level.

Indeed, we have packages for all different kinds of law firms: bankruptcy law firms, personal injury, immigration, and more. We can put together a package for you, too. For a free consultation with our law firm SEO marketing experts, you can call us at (888) 477-9540.

[existentialmagazine]

Review: Alice Pisano’s newest catchy pop release ‘Part-Time Girlfriend’ embodies fierce vocals, addictive instrumentals and a liberating message of knowing your worth

Italian born, London based rising star Alice Pisano has been taking the London pop scene by storm since her 2018 beginnings, naturally writing releases that both entwine high-spirited releases with messages that carry an emotional value too. Following the release of Pisano’s ��Shattered but Still Cool’ EP earlier this year, Alice is now sharing her newest single ‘Part Time Girlfriend’ that’s the perfect summer bop to be playing loud and dancing along to at every opportunity you find.

Emphatic right from its beginnings, ‘Part Time Girlfriend’ immediately from pressing play embodies all of the addictive spice you could hope for, upbeat and steaming along at full force. A storming, quick-paced beat brings the momentum instantly into the first verse, accompanied by intermittent claps, pops of synth and a vibrant electric guitar riff, a simple but catchy concoction of sounds. Singing atop it with a more downbeat, casual delivery, Alice rather charismatically tells her striking narrative front and centre of it all, capturing lines with an airy, feel-good approach easy to sing along and get in the groove of. Picking up with added bright, drawn-out beats for the pre-chorus, ‘Part Time Girlfriend’ only continues to grow and keep you completely mesmerised before the chorus finally explodes into a fiery outburst you’ll be utterly hooked on. Crashing into thundering electronic beats, synth fizzles and of course Alice’s staple vocal performance that comes completely unleashed as she cathartically soars through dominant vocal highs and a cascading range, ‘Part Time Girlfriend’ hits every single peak of an exceptionally gripping edgy pop release you could want. While clean and catchy, Alice has also nailed a slight rock-based undertone reminiscent of Avril Lavigne’s witty character and spirited sound, an all around top-notch single that leaves us wondering how long it’ll be before Alice Pisano is a name we’re hearing everywhere.

In an era of “situationships” and half-baked relationships tailed off into nothingness, Alice has penned an all-too relatable lyrical message of letting go of all those people who just aren’t ready to commit after stringing you along for as long as possible. Turning their backs on you when things got too serious, ‘Part Time Girlfriend’ is a liberating anthem for burning all those bridges and knowing your worth, all the while angstily releasing the frustrations of being led on and visualising a future together just to be continually left heartbroken time and time again. As lines like ‘I let my guard down because it felt so natural, I really thought that we were compatible’ share how Alice allowed herself to open up, there’s a definite aching buried inside of ‘Part Time Girlfriend’ that yearns for a connection without the let down, but Alice’s confidence has a natural way of burying it into high energy, sing-along lines. Detailing the way she began to allow their lives to combine, Alice sings ‘you picked me up at the airport… we talk about our families’, small and simple details that began to make their connection feel all the more real and as though it were headed into serious territory. But it’s not long before the chorus hook slams back into reality, declaring ‘Oh, what a waste of my time, I’m not gonna be a part-time girlfriend’ after yet another request to ‘keep it casual’, as Alice knows she’s worth more than just being someone’s piece on the side destined to be discarded when they’re done with her. While it’s constantly delivered with a wit and self-assured conviction, if you really listen to the narrative of ‘Part Time Girlfriend’ it truly carries a deep message of preaching self-love, not allowing anyone to hold you back and finding the love you really deserve, with a sprinkling of pain and heartbreak muddled in too.

Speaking on the track Alice says: “I wrote Part-Time Girlfriend after dating a guy who didn’t want to commit… It’s a kiss-off to someone who made you believe they wanted to be in a relationship with you, but backed out when things got too serious. It was so liberating writing it!”

Check out ‘Part Time Girlfriend’ here to enjoy Alice’s blazing sound and lyricism you’ll be screaming along with and feeling all at the same time.

Written by: Tatiana Whybrow

Photo Credits: Unknown

// This coverage was created via Musosoup, #SustainableCurator.