#but you should listen to it

[corviiids]

wben i finally get more than 0.2 microns of energy and make one of the multiple video essays i desperately want to make so i can yap out loud as god (never) intended

[shadesofmauve]

I want to step away from the art-vs-artist side of the Gaiman issue for a bit, and talk about, well, the rest of it. Because those emotions you're feeling would be the same without the art; the art just adds another layer.

Source: I worked with a guy who turned out to be heavily involved in an international, multi-state sex-slavery/trafficking ring.

He was really nice.

Yeah.

It hits like a dumptruck of shit. You don't feel stable in your world anymore. How could someone you interacted with, liked, also be a truly horrible person? How could your judgement be that bad? How can real people, not stylized cartoon bogeymen, be actually doing this shit?

You have to sit with the fact that you couldn't, or probably couldn't, have known. You should have no guilt as part of this horror — but guilt is almost certainly part of that mess you're feeling, because our brains do this associative thing, and somehow "I liked [the version of] the guy [that I knew]", or his creations, becomes "I made a horrible mistake and should feel guilty."

You didn't, loves, you didn't.

We're human, and we can only go by the information we have. And the information we have is only the smallest glimpse into someone else's life.

I didn't work closely with the guy I knew at work, but we chatted. He wasn't just nice; he was one of the only people outside my tiny department who seemed genuinely nice in a workplace that was rapidly becoming incredibly toxic. He loaned me a bike trainer. Occasionally he'd see me at the bus stop and give me a lift home.

Yup. I was a young woman in my twenties and rode in this guy's car. More than once.

When I tell this story that part usually makes people gasp. "You must feel so scared about what could have happened to you!" "You're so lucky nothing happened!"

No, that's not how it worked. I was never in danger. This guy targeted Korean women with little-to-no English who were coerced and powerless. A white, fluent, US citizen coworker wasn't a potential victim. I got to be a person, not prey.

Y'know that little warning bell that goes off, when you're around someone who might be a danger to you? That animal sense that says "Something is off here, watch out"?

Yeah, that doesn't ping if the preferred prey isn't around.

That's what rattled me the most about this. I liked to think of myself as willing to stand up for people with less power than me. I worked with Japanese exchange students in college and put myself bodily between them and creeps, and I sure as hell got that little alarm when some asian-schoolgirl fetishist schmoozed on them. But we were all there.

I had to learn that the alarm won't go off when the hunter isn't hunting. That it's not the solid indicator I might've thought it was. That sometimes this is what the privilege of not being prey does; it completely masks your ability to detect the horrors that are going on.

A lot of people point out that 'people like that' have amazing charisma and ability to lie and manipulate, and that's true. Anyone who's gotten away with this shit for decades is going to be way smoother than the pathetic little hangers-on I dealt with in university. But it's not just that. I seriously, deeply believe that he saw me as a person, and he did not extend personhood to his victims. We didn't have a fake coworker relationship. We had a real one. And just like I don't know the ins-and-outs of most of my coworkers lives, I had no idea that what he did on his down time was perpetrate horrors.

I know this is getting off the topic, but it's so very important. Especially as a message to cis guys: please understand that you won't recognize a creep the way you might think you will. If you're not the preferred prey, the hind-brain alarm won't go off. You have to listen to victims, not your gut feeling that the person seems perfectly nice and normal. It doesn't mean there's never a false accusation, but face the fact that it's usually real, and you don't have enough information to say otherwise.

So, yeah. It fucking sucks. Writing about this twists my insides into tense knots, and it was almost a decade ago. I was never in danger. No one I knew was hurt!

Just countless, powerless women, horrifically abused by someone who was nice to me.

You don't trust your own judgement quite the same way, after. And as utterly shitty as it is, as twisted up and unstead-in-the-world as I felt the day I found out — I don't actually think that's a bad thing.

I think we all need to question our own judgement. It makes us better people.

I don't see villains around every corner just because I knew one, once. But I do own the fact that I can't know, really know, about anyone except those closest to me. They have their own full lives. They'll go from the pinnacles of kindness to the depths of depravity — and I won't know.

It's not a failing. It's just being human. Something to remember before you slap labels on people, before you condemn them or idolize them. Think about how much you can't know, and how flawed our judgement always is.

Grieve for victims, and the feeling of betrayal. But maybe let yourself off the hook, and be a bit slower to skewer others on it.

[lazylittledragon]

can't believe we're all adults being forced into the club penguin level of censorship in 2024

[fox-guardian]

"maybe if i dress more boring i'll get gendered correctly by strangers" that's the devil talking

[keferon]

Don’t mind me I just like to see him go bananas about cartoonish Autobot rules

Maaan…..if Prowl was in tfp he would spontaneously combust at least once a day

[demaparbat-hp]

Damage.

Quote by @desertbcrnnobody

[bacchuschucklefuck]

no more fan-ta-sizing about it! everything's already changed~

[finemeal]

DP x DC Prompt #3

Danny was sent to the DC universe to save him from the GIW and the Fenton's by Clockwork

Doesn't know what to do here, but as an Experienced Vigilante:tm: he takes note of all the INexperienced vigilante's causing more danger than they realize.

Danny takes it upon himself to act as a low level villain so he can secretly train these vigilante's to be stronger. One day, a Bigger Villain decides to Fuck Around and Find Out.

All his "enemies" realize Danny could've folded them anytime he wanted when he effortlessly defeats the Big Bad.

[glassrooibos]

Everything stays right where you left it huh guys

[notherpuppet]

Love to love ya baby~ 🎀🌈🍦💞💖

[classichorrorblog]

Bride Of Chucky (1998)

[churchofthemimic]

darkness before the dawn

[adm-starblitzsteel-4305]

I swear if you hurt my cute kaiju baby girl, I'm gonna kill everybody in this room, and then myself.

[twinliches]

i absolutely love teenagers. i told a group of them about my work and asked them what their demands for the united nations would be and they debated among themselves and told me to "tell them to make doner kebab three euros again". yeah man i'll ask

[crrtite]

Thinking once again.. gosh this is so fun

cw: he’s weird AGAIN, rude Simon, masturbation mention (Simon), reader is nice and gets no love back (that they know of, heh) 18+!!

Simon who’s so standoffish around you, seemingly irritated by small things you do, almost like your mere existence is a nuisance.

You have a question to ask that you maybe were given an half-assed answer to a few months ago? “Y’already know the answer. Listening will do you good.” Paired along with his intimidating gaze, his eyes laced with irritation.

Or maybe you try to make some small talk with him. You’ve known each other for months and he barely holds a conversation with you unless it’s necessary, and even then it’s the bare minimum. Nothing really cordial or friendly about him.

You find him in a common area, doing your best to be charismatic in a way you think he’d like based on how he gets along with Johnny, since they seem to be close even though they’re basically opposites.

Your attempt ends with him walking away while you’re speaking, your mouth slightly gaped and face a bit hot from embarrassment.

A few weeks pass, and you find yourself at your wits end. Why does he seem to tolerate everyone but you?

You decide to pull back, opting to scoop up what little dignity you have left and leaving him alone because it’s clearly what he wants..

Little do you know, Simon is always watching you. Especially now that you’ve started to avoid him, he has to find a way to get his fill of you.

He’s a bit annoyed with you, honestly. You got him addicted to your sweet voice and your awkward attempts to be nice and how your eyes would dart around for an exit when he wouldn’t respond… and now you’re just… gone? Irritating one, you are. He loved watching you squirm. He’s always liked sweet things that get nervous around him.

No worries, he’ll just have to make you come back to him. Treat you better this time, let out a huff at your dumb jokes, maybe let you sit on the same couch as him.

After all, fisting his cock to old interactions between the two of you and the thought of your perfume isn’t working anymore. Simon knows how to make it better, knows what you need. You just need him to give you a bit of attention, and he’ll have you in his grasp once again.

follow up here!

[dollypopup]

unpopular opinion. . .but I do NOT want Anthony to walk Penelope down the aisle. Not only because they don't really have much of a relationship, the two of them really haven't interacted at all, but also because Anthony has really been. . .pretty damn hard on Colin. Like of all the siblings, Anthony has been the most stern and displeased with Colin. There's just something about the idea of him walking Pen down the aisle to Colin that doesn't sit right with me when Anthony was also the one of the linchpins who encouraged and pushed Colin to put on his mask. S1 he made fun of him for being a virgin, S2 he yelled at him in full view of the entire family for investing money in Pen's family to the point where Benedict and Eloise called him out for it, and S3, the only praise he gave him was for the attention he got from others after putting on a persona

No, I want someone else to walk Penelope down the aisle. A man who is also a wife guy, completely besotted, and would completely get Colin's feelings toward Pen. A man who already has a good relationship with Penelope, to the point where he was absolutely delighted to see her looking beautiful in a new dress. A man who has taken up the mantle as the OG Featherington Husband and would be nothing but excited for the honor of walking his Sister in Law down the aisle

and the man for this job?

None other than

Albion Finch