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religion-is-a-mental-illness · 8 months ago

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By: Andy L.

Published: Apr 14, 2024

It has now been just little under a week since the publication of the long anticipated NHS independent review of gender identity services for children and young people, the Cass Review.

The review recommends sweeping changes to child services in the NHS, not least the abandonment of what is known as the “affirmation model” and the associated use of puberty blockers and, later, cross-sex hormones. The evidence base could not support the use of such drastic treatments, and this approach was failing to address the complexities of health problems in such children.

Many trans advocacy groups appear to be cautiously welcoming these recommendations. However, there are many who are not and have quickly tried to condemn the review. Within almost hours, “press releases“, tweets and commentaries tried to rubbish the report and included statements that were simply not true. An angry letter from many “academics”, including Andrew Wakefield, has been published. These myths have been subsequently spreading like wildfire.

Here I wish to tackle some of those myths and misrepresentations.

Myth 1: 98% of all studies in this area were ignored

Fact

A comprehensive search was performed for all studies addressing the clinical questions under investigation, and over 100 were discovered. All these studies were evaluated for their quality and risk of bias. Only 2% of the studies met the criteria for the highest quality rating, but all high and medium quality (50%+) studies were further analysed to synthesise overall conclusions.

Explanation

The Cass Review aimed to base its recommendations on the comprehensive body of evidence available. While individual studies may demonstrate positive outcomes for the use of puberty blockers and cross-sex hormones in children, the quality of these studies may vary. Therefore, the review sought to assess not only the findings of each study but also the reliability of those findings.

Studies exhibit variability in quality. Quality impacts the reliability of any conclusions that can be drawn. Some may have small sample sizes, while others may involve cohorts that differ from the target patient population. For instance, if a study primarily involves men in their 30s, their experiences may differ significantly from those of teenage girls, who constitute the a primary patient group of interest. Numerous factors can contribute to poor study quality.

Bias is also a big factor. Many people view claims of a biased study as meaning the researchers had ideological or predetermined goals and so might misrepresent their work. That may be true. But that is not what bias means when we evaluate medical trials.

In this case we are interested in statistical bias. This is where the numbers can mislead us in some way. For example, if your study started with lots of patients but many dropped out then statistical bias may creep in as your drop-outs might be the ones with the worst experiences. Your study patients are not on average like all the possible patients.

If then we want to look at a lot papers to find out if a treatment works, we want to be sure that we pay much more attention to those papers that look like they may have less risk of bias or quality issues. The poor quality papers may have positive results that are due to poor study design or execution and not because the treatment works.

The Cass Review team commissioned researchers at York University to search for all relevant papers on childhood use of puberty blockers and cross-sex hormones for treating “gender dysphoria”. The researchers then graded each paper by established methods to determine quality, and then disregarded all low quality papers to help ensure they did not mislead.

The Review states,

The systematic review on interventions to suppress puberty (Taylor et al: Puberty suppression) provides an update to the NICE review (2020a). It identified 50 studies looking at different aspects of gender-related, psychosocial, physiological and cognitive outcomes of puberty suppression. Quality was assessed on a standardised scale. There was one high quality study, 25 moderate quality studies and 24 low quality studies. The low quality studies were excluded from the synthesis of results.

As can be seen, the conclusions that were based on the synthesis of studies only rejected 24 out of 50 studies – less than half. The myth has arisen that the synthesis only included the one high quality study. That is simply untrue.

There were two such literature reviews: the other was for cross-sex hormones. This study found 19 out of 53 studies were low quality and so were not used in synthesis. Only one study was classed as high quality – the rest medium quality and so were used in the analysis.

12 cohort, 9 cross-sectional and 32 pre–post studies were included (n=53). One cohort study was high-quality. Other studies were moderate (n=33) and low-quality (n=19). Synthesis of high and moderate-quality studies showed consistent evidence demonstrating induction of puberty, although with varying feminising/masculinising effects. There was limited evidence regarding gender dysphoria, body satisfaction, psychosocial and cognitive outcomes, and fertility.

Again, it is myth that 98% of studies were discarded. The truth is that over a hundred studies were read and appraised. About half of them were graded to be of too poor quality to reliably include in a synthesis of all the evidence. if you include low quality evidence, your over-all conclusions can be at risk from results that are very unreliable. As they say – GIGO – Garbage In Garbage Out.

Nonetheless, despite analysing the higher quality studies, there was no clear evidence that emerged that puberty blockers and cross-sex hormones were safe and effective. The BMJ editorial summed this up perfectly,

One emerging criticism of the Cass review is that it set the methodological bar too high for research to be included in its analysis and discarded too many studies on the basis of quality. In fact, the reality is different: studies in gender medicine fall woefully short in terms of methodological rigour; the methodological bar for gender medicine studies was set too low, generating research findings that are therefore hard to interpret. The methodological quality of research matters because a drug efficacy study in humans with an inappropriate or no control group is a potential breach of research ethics. Offering treatments without an adequate understanding of benefits and harms is unethical. All of this matters even more when the treatments are not trivial; puberty blockers and hormone therapies are major, life altering interventions. Yet this inconclusive and unacceptable evidence base was used to inform influential clinical guidelines, such as those of the World Professional Association for Transgender Health (WPATH), which themselves were cascaded into the development of subsequent guidelines internationally.

Myth 2: Cass recommended no Trans Healthcare for Under 25s

Fact

The Cass Review does not contain any recommendation or suggestion advocating for the withholding of transgender healthcare until the age of 25, nor does it propose a prohibition on individuals transitioning.

Explanation

This myth appears to be a misreading of one of the recommendations.

The Cass Review expressed concerns regarding the necessity for children to transition to adult service provision at the age of 18, a critical phase in their development and potential treatment. Children were deemed particularly vulnerable during this period, facing potential discontinuity of care as they transitioned to other clinics and care providers. Furthermore, the transition made follow-up of patients more challenging.

Cass then says,

Taking account of all the above issues, a follow-through service continuing up to age 25 would remove the need for transition at this vulnerable time and benefit both this younger population and the adult population. This will have the added benefit in the longer-term of also increasing the capacity of adult provision across the country as more gender services are established.

Cass want to set up continuity of service provision by ensure they remain within the same clinical setting and with the same care providers until they are 25. This says nothing about withdrawing any form of treatment that may be appropriate in the adult care pathway. Cass is explicit in saying her report is making no recommendations as to what that care should look like for over 18s.

It looks the myth has arisen from a bizarre misreading of the phrase “remove the need for transition”. Activists appear to think this means that there should be no “gender transition” whereas it is obvious this is referring to “care transition”.

Myth 3: Cass is demanding only Double Blind Randomised Controlled Trials be used as evidence in “Trans Healthcare”

Fact

While it is acknowledged that conducting double-blind randomized controlled trials (DBRCT) for puberty blockers in children would present significant ethical and practical challenges, the Cass Review does not advocate solely for the use of DBRCT trials in making treatment recommendations, nor does it mandate that future trials adhere strictly to such protocols. Rather, the review extensively discusses the necessity for appropriate trial designs that are both ethical and practical, emphasizing the importance of maintaining high methodological quality.

Explanation

Cass goes into great detail explaining the nature of clinical evidence and how that can vary in quality depending on the trial design and how it is implemented and analysed. She sets out why Double Blind Randomised Controlled Trials are the ‘gold standard’ as they minimise the risks of confounding factors misleading you and helping to understand cause and effect, for example. (See Explanatory Box 1 in the Report).

Doctors rely on evidence to guide treatment decisions, which can be discussed with patients to facilitate informed choices considering the known benefits and risks of proposed treatments.

Evidence can range from a doctor’s personal experience to more formal sources. For instance, a doctor may draw on their own extensive experience treating patients, known as ‘Expert Opinion.’ While valuable, this method isn’t foolproof, as historical inaccuracies in medical beliefs have shown.

Consulting other doctors’ experiences, especially if documented in published case reports, can offer additional insight. However, these reports have limitations, such as their inability to establish causality between treatment and outcome. For example, if a patient with a bad back improves after swimming, it’s uncertain whether swimming directly caused the improvement or if the back would have healed naturally.

Further up the hierarchy of clinical evidence are papers that examine cohorts of patients, typically involving multiple case studies with statistical analysis. While offering better evidence, they still have potential biases and limitations.

This illustrates the ‘pyramid of clinical evidence,’ which categorises different types of evidence based on their quality and reliability in informing treatment decisions

The above diagram is published in the Cass Review as part of Explanatory Box 1.

We can see from the report and papers that Cass did not insist that only randomised controlled trials were used to assess the evidence. The York team that conducted the analyses chose a method to asses the quality of studies called the Newcastle Ottawa Scale. This is a method best suited for non RCT trials. Cass has selected an assessment method best suited for the nature of the available evidence rather than taken a dogmatic approach on the need for DBRCTs. The results of this method were discussed about countering Myth 1.

Explainer on the Newcastle Ottawa Scale

The Newcastle-Ottawa Scale (NOS) is a tool designed to assess the quality of non-randomized studies, particularly observational studies such as cohort and case-control studies. It provides a structured method for evaluating the risk of bias in these types of studies and has become widely used in systematic reviews and meta-analyses.

The NOS consists of a set of criteria grouped into three main categories: selection of study groups, comparability of groups, and ascertainment of either the exposure or outcome of interest. Each category contains several items, and each item is scored based on predefined criteria. The total score indicates the overall quality of the study, with higher scores indicating lower risk of bias.

This scale is best applied when conducting systematic reviews or meta-analyses that include non-randomized studies. By using the NOS, researchers can objectively assess the quality of each study included in their review, allowing them to weigh the evidence appropriately and draw more reliable conclusions.

One of the strengths of the NOS is its flexibility and simplicity. It provides a standardized framework for evaluating study quality, yet it can be adapted to different study designs and research questions. Additionally, the NOS emphasizes key methodological aspects that are crucial for reducing bias in observational studies, such as appropriate selection of study participants and controlling for confounding factors.

Another advantage of the NOS is its widespread use and acceptance in the research community. Many systematic reviews and meta-analyses rely on the NOS to assess the quality of included studies, making it easier for researchers to compare and interpret findings across different studies.

As for future studies, Cass makes no demand only DBRCTs are conducted. What is highlighted is at the very least that service providers build a research capacity to fill in the evidence gaps.

The national infrastructure should be put in place to manage data collection and audit and this should be used to drive continuous quality improvement and research in an active learning environment.

Myth 4: There were less than 10 detransitioners out of 3499 patients in the Cass study.

Fact

Cass was unable to determine the detransition rate. Although the GIDS audit study recorded fewer than 10 detransitioners, clinics declined to provide information to the review that would have enabled linking a child’s treatment to their adult outcome. The low recorded rates must be due in part to insufficient data availability.

Explanation

Cass says, “The percentage of people treated with hormones who subsequently detransition remains unknown due to the lack of long-term follow-up studies, although there is suggestion that numbers are increasing.”

The reported number are going to be low for a number of reasons, as Cass describes:

Estimates of the percentage of individuals who embark on a medical pathway and subsequently have regrets or detransition are hard to determine from GDC clinic data alone. There are several reasons for this:

Damningly, Cass describes the attempt by the review to establish “data linkage’ between records at the childhood gender clinics and adult services to look at longer term detransition and the clinics refused to cooperate with the Independent Review. The report notes the “…attempts to improve the evidence base have been thwarted by a lack of cooperation from the adult gender services”.

We know from other analyses of the data on detransitioning that the quality of data is exceptionally poor and the actual rates of detransition and regret are unknown. This is especially worrying when older data, such as reported in WPATH 7, suggest natural rates of decrease in dysphoria without treatment are very high.

Gender dysphoria during childhood does not inevitably continue into adulthood. Rather, in follow-up studies of prepubertal children (mainly boys) who were referred to clinics for assessment of gender dysphoria, the dysphoria persisted into adulthood for only 6–23% of children.

This suggests that active affirmative treatment may be locking in a trans identity into the majority of children who would otherwise desist with trans ideation and live unmedicated lives.

I shall add more myths as they become spread.

It's not so much "myths and misconceptions" as deliberate misinformation. Genderists are scrambling to prop up their faith-based beliefs the same way homeopaths do. Both are fraudulent.

#Andy L.#Cass Review #Cass Report #Dr. Hilary Cass #Hilary Cass #misinformation #myths #misconceptions #detrans #detransition #gender affirming healthcare #gender affirming care #gender affirmation #affirmation model #medical corruption #medical malpractice #medical scandal #systematic review #religion is a mental illness

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muffinsin · 10 months ago

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Perchance-

How do you think the dimi sisters would navigate having an s/o date all of them? Like- a polycule not cheating obvi

Like- I feel like bela would come up with a rigorous schedule but cass and Dani would be jealous as fuck whenever it’s someone else’s day? They would never have sex with their s/o together obvi but I feel like they would try to make each other jealous by rubbing their scent off on the s/o right before they went to another sister? Idk I want them all so bad it kills me- fluff and maybe smut?

- 🪶

This is interesting! I’m surprised I’ve never had a dynamic like this in a request👀🙌

Let’s get into it! :)

Masterlists

It’s originally Daniela that discovers you along the staff. And, unsurprisingly, she takes an immediate interest towards you

Your relationship with her starts very soon and fast

Within the first day of seeing her, she asks you out and unintentionally lets on: the poor thing is desperately looking for romance

With this useful piece of information, you easily woo her during your first date in the opera hall

With her hand clasped in yours, both of you move to the light music. You tell her, she looks beautiful in the dress she has put on

To this day you often lay it out for her, but truly? You think your girlfriend looks good in anything you give her at all. Or nothing, for that matter

You bring her a bouquet of beautiful flowers from the gardens, and even dedicate a small poem to her

Daniela still swoons when she thinks of it all

You treat her like a princess, and she can’t get enough of it. Each day you remind her what she means to you, and each day you are reminded of what you mean to her multiple times a day

However, even with your quickly developing relationship, you catch another sister’s eye: Cassandra

You’re completely caught off guard when she corners you one day and flirts boldly

And while you are certainly not unaware of your growing attraction to Cassandra, you shoot her down in an instant

You’re with her sister! Shouldn’t that be enough?

You like Daniela. A lot. You just can’t help but feel so curious about Cassandra, and Bela for that matter, too

At first, it makes you feel incredibly embarrassed and ashamed. Could you really tell Daniela you fancy her sisters as well as her?

Could you ask of her to share you between them?

You yearn to do so

One day, it all seems to spill over and you confess your thoughts

Daniela is- hurt- at first. Isn’t she good enough? Why do you want her sisters too? Are you like the last lovers she’s had, who, despite being with her, truly only wanted one of her sisters?

No. She realizes, you want her too

You…want all three of them?

Truly, she has never been good at sharing

Still, as you reassure her you love her, and want to be with her too, she begins to develop an open mind as it comes to the idea of sharing you between her sisters

It’s certainly not uncommon for the three to share someone. Still, these are usually pets. Meaningless flings, little servants made to pleasure one of them whenever they felt like it. You’re different

She’s a little scared you will leave her behind for her sisters, or “realize they are better”, according to her

You spend every day showing her how much she means to you, even as Cassandra comes around

She is the first to add to the relationship

The three of you decide; you are to be shared between both. Sometimes you get time with one sister, at other times with the other sister

In the beginning, any type of marking is strictly forbidden. It only leads to whines and tears, growls and poutines when a sister finds you have been marked by the other

Alas, the three of you manage. While jealous, sharing often works out

As such, you’re all Daniela’s when Cassandra is busy hunting or “playing” with maidens

And you belong to Cassandra as Daniela is out hunting, reading, or napping throughout the day

You make sure to spend time with them both, reading, cuddling, kissing, staying in the bedroom, showing your love and appreciation, even hunting and watching Cassandra as she explains her weapons

And it all works. Not perfectly, yes, but certainly without all that much fuss

Then, however, the third sister very obviously catches your eye

From your relationship with both sisters, you have grown confident

You don’t even notice you’re practically ogling the eldest whenever she is near

Both sisters are incredibly jealous of this at first. How come Bela always gets a person’s attention?!

You remind them, they got it first, and it soothes them. You’re right. They were here first

Bela’s the last of the sisters that takes notice of you, yet wants to claim you immediately

As the eldest, she is all too used to getting things she wants. The first bite, namely

She is, however, not at all oblivious to Daniela’s scent all over you. She notices the subtle scent of Cassandra linger too, but shrugs it off for the moment. As far as she knows: you’re all Daniela’s lover, made known by the many public displays of affection

Now, Bela isn’t the type to steal partners from her sisters. Not intentionally anyway

In fact, when she notices your growing attraction to her while you’re with Daniela, she is furious!

How dare you treat her little sister this way!

At first she ignores your glances across the room, then returns them as glares. She knows, you’re with her sister. And she won’t stand for disloyalty!

However, then she is visited by both, you and Daniela, in her office

Her surprise only grows when Cassandra swarms in as well, standing on your right whereas Daniela is on your left. She growls quietly when you wrap your arm around Cassandra’s midsection

Aren’t you with Daniela? What have her younger sisters gotten themselves into?!

Her confusion is easily written all across her face, and as such, she only rolls her eyes when Daniela coos at her expression

It is explained, that you’re with both of them. Bela raises an eyebrow, and you’re quick to assure her: no, you aren’t taking advantage of her precious sisters

She doesn’t quite understand why you’re telling her this, though. Are the…three of you…worried she will kill you should she catch you with Cassandra without knowing you’re with her, too?

No, not quite

Bela’s face heats up nearly instantly when you boldly reach forwards and cup her cheeks gently

She hears her sisters scoff and whine, as though demanding your attention back. Alas, it is set on her

Your eyes find her bright golden ones, and Bela feels her face only burning hotter when you stroke your thumb along her soft cheeks gently

She shivers when you voice your thoughts and admit your adoration and attraction to her

She gulps when she is asked to join what relationship you seem to have

And with your beautiful eyes staring into hers, she can’t help but agree. She’s had her eyes for you for so long, she can’t help but moan when you lean forwards a little more and push your lips against her plump ones

“Don’t get your lipstick all over them!”, comes Daniela’s immediate whines, whereas Cassandra sticks to mocking gagging

As such, your relationship with all three sisters blooms

The beginning is, rocky, to say at the least

Neither sister wants to share when it’s the time, truly, despite their agreement to share you between them

They all want their turns with you, and are reluctant to let go of you

Aside from this, all want to spend the nights with you

This leads to large cuddle piles most days, where you are all in someone’s bed- usually Bela’s, as it’s the largest. With two sisters at your sides and the other on top of you, you’re content to sleep

However, the bickering already starts in the morning, when all three insist, they want to join you in your bath

Of course, this doesn’t work, space wise. You know you cannot fit four people in a bathtub, no matter its size

As such, bickering begins of who gets to join you

Often, it ends up being Bela for the simple reason that she pulls back to sneak into the bathroom with you while her sisters bicker back and forth about who gets to join you

Quite early into Bela adding to the relationship, rules are established

Such as no snatching you when you’re having time with another sister

There is, of course, poor time management. All want you. None want to share

It’s settled- in most mornings you belong to Bela until breakfast. The other sleep in anyway, and while both would rather wake up to you by your side, they agree with only minor annoyance lacing their words

You usually get to be with whoever of your girlfriends isn’t busy

Often, Bela is occupied by her work. Sometimes, you decide to distract her

You’re a big fan of teasing her when she is meant to finish up the paperwork sitting on her desk

Even more so as you find out very fast: Bela is the most sensitive out of your girlfriends

She trembles beautifully for you and gasps at the smallest of touches you inflict on her

She is also the most jealous underneath the mask of maturity and tidiness, and is often irritated when you show up in her office reeking of her sisters and their scents

You often make your precious blonde feel better. Or at the very least add her scent to the mix

She moans beautifully for you when you easily push her over her desk and shivers easily when she hears you take off your clothing

You always take your time with her, and love to slowly pull her dress up her smooth legs and stroke, squeeze and kiss her thick, soft thighs

With her pushed on her back on her desk, your favorite way of treating your girlfriend is by eating her out

Bela grows incredibly at this. Her clit is the most sensitive part of her, and you’re often able to make her cum even without penetration. This can be particularly embarrassing to her, though the moment you lower yourself between her legs, all words slur or die on her tongue

She moans and whimpers loudly for you, so much so you often see it only fit to gag her

The last thing you need is someone walking in on you because of the loud noises you draw from her, after all. Still, you know, and always note with a coo, your precious Bela just can’t keep quiet no matter how hard she tries

You simply make her lose her composure

You make her cum on top of her desk often, though often enjoy kinkier uses of her as she works, too

Namely to visit her with an innocent-looking bag, then demand she stands and place a long, slightly curved toy on her chair

The blonde blushes hotly, the gorgeous woman now struggling not to squirm as she slides down on the dildo and you tuck her closer to the desk with a reminder to finish up her work

Occasionally, you like to check whether she still straddles it, and you’re never disappointed

Bela is such a good girl for you when she wants to be, after all

With Cassandra, there are harsh contrasts

You often find yourself the one dominated by her, snatched as you work with the only justification being that she’s here now and craves you

How could you deny her?

Her personal favorite is to tie you up and inflict pain and pleasure upon you

With a vibrator want taped to your thigh and your arms and legs tied as you stand, she stalks you like prey

You feel fear, and pleasure given to you by the toy. It works against your privates perfectly, and she knows it

It feels so good, you almost forget the pain she yearns to inflict on you

Almost

“Now scream for Mommy”, is her personal favorite, you believe

Often, it serves as your only warning before the pain follows

Usually, in the form of bites and knives, whips bruising your skin, or cruel slaps hitting your backside and striking your ass relentlessly

She draws all kinds of noises from you, and prides herself on it

Another thing she secretly enjoys, is to mark you entirely in those times

Restrained and often even gagged, you’re helpless to her lips and teeth dragging against your skin and digging in lightly

You’re covered from head to toe in her marks and scent, and it makes her feel lightheaded as though the vibrator was against her clit, and the whip hit her creamy, pale skin

At other times, it’s you marking Cassandra

While you like to opt for sweet movements with Bela, you know this sister requires a firmer hand

Cassandra loves nothing more than to let you fuck her like a mere slut

You usually need to break her into this role, and neither of you mind

In fact, she’s ecstatic when you force her down on her knees and fuck her face until she begs for you to allow her up again

Cassandra is incredibly flustered as it comes to submitting as a whole. Any act of dominance of yours has her get wet already, much to her humiliation

You, of course, love to take advantage of this. Especially when you merely grab her face and pull her in for a kiss, yet notice her thighs push together already

You like all things that really get her going as a submissive. Most of all, this is pain and humiliation

Both is brought together, sometimes, when you have her in a sweet, by far too sweet for her, dress as you drag ice cubes across her thighs

The poor thing is crying and squirming non-stop, cumming fast and hard with no end in sight

Her cheeks always flush bright pink when you have her wear a cute looking dress, certainly too girly and innocent for her tastes

Matching this with stockings and a little bow to her head, Cassandra feels right on edge

You never get tired of seeing the gagged brunette watch pitifully as you adjust her stockings and lift her skirt

You are both capable of taking such good care of one another ;)

Then, of course, you have Daniela

The sweetest, yet perhaps kinkiest of the three, as you’ve come to find out

While only sometimes, she too enjoys to control you from time to time and bring you pleasure

Here, she especially likes to tie you up at a chair or so, with your thighs apart and your clothing torn off you

She struggles with sharing you with her sisters and becomes incredibly jealous at their scents sticking to you

She does, however, love to “cleanse” you of them

With her head moving between your legs, she first ensures their scents are covered by your own again

She could work her mouth on you for hours, and almost always does

You’re just too cute wiggling and whining for her when you’re so sensitive already and cant even grab onto her to steady yourself

She savors your tastes each time, and likes to place her marks on your thighs or so. A little bit of pettiness, perhaps. Something for her sisters to see and get jealous over

She loves the thought. You’re all hers, in her mind, after all. As such she loves seeing her older two sisters get jealous whenever they see she’s claimed you

But that is hardly all

Aside from this, she greatly enjoys to tease you while she’s on top of you

You see stars when your seemingly innocent girlfriend easily ties you to the bedposts and straddles your naked body with hers

Soft skin drags along you as she moves, and you feel lightheaded when her lips and tongue returns to your overly sensitive privates

And Daniela? She’s absolutely soaked, just as she likes it

She doesn’t intend on taking care of it just yet, however. She’s very possessive and shameless. She wants her scent all over you

As such, she does just that

Only afterwards and judged by Bela and Cassandra’s disgusted grimaces and urges you please get a bath, do you realize what your not-so-innocent Daniela is doing

She’s grinding on you as she pleasures you, her wet pussy and warm body dragging along your front as she rolls her hips

You only feel the wetness, yet Daniela feels more and more aroused the more of her scent is rubbed off on you

As a submissive, things aren’t all that different

However, Daniela allows for some kinkier plays. Especially as she is the sister capable of being the quietest as you pleasure her

Often you draw little, quiet whimpers and mewls from her, which allow you to take her just about wherever you want

And Daniela loves it

She only giggles when you push her up against walls and reach underneath her lace panties already, her arms over your shoulders as you begin with her clit and two fingers

It doesn’t take a lot to have this one submit, yet you know Daniela can be a little bit of a brat sometimes

Namely, when she keeps snatching you from her sisters on purpose, or keeps putting obstacles in the way to ensure you have less time with them

You realize often: the poor thing is so lonely and pent up when you aren’t there to take care of her

With her arms and legs tied and a vibrating dildo buried inside her velvet core, you often ensure she is prevented from snatching you again

Instead, you shoot her a dirty grin and smirk when you return hours later, your precious brat squirming on the bed and begging for forgiveness after being forced through orgasm after orgasm

You know, even tied up Daniela can swarm out of her restraints at any time. The tears of overstimulation and her bright pink pussy tell you she stayed in place like a good girl

You trace your fingers alongside her trembling form, her perky breasts and little nipples on display for you

She groans and whimpers as you tug and spank them, the toy in her mercilessly bringing her pleasure

She’s utterly soaked for you, and you’re mildly surprised the thing hasn’t slipped out of her yet

Just when she believes you fill free her of this sweet torture, though, you merely lower yourself between her soft legs and lick broadly across her warm pussy

She’s trembling and moaning, her own arousal clinging to her and the sheets between her legs

Her eyes practically sparkle, despite her exhaustion, you reveal the strap/cock between your legs, and with a simple tug, the toy slips out of her with a wet sound

She is only granted a moment of peace before you thrust between her southern lips already until she’s lubricated you enough

With no issue at all, she takes you in and squirms beautifully when you begin thrusting right away

Her skin is flushed and warm, her thighs tremble and her pussy is soaked for you

With hard thrusts, you push her up on the bed, before your hands at the rope adorning her hips pull her downwards again

It seems, this is a perfect way to make your little songbird sing for you

“Will you take more hours, or have we learned our lesson, Daniela?”

She always assures you, yes! She has! She will behave! She will be good!

For a time being, the brat in her is fucked out, and you’re all too happy to reward the good girl squirming and clenching around you

#cassandra dimitrescu #daniela dimitrescu #bela dimitrescu #🪶 anon #cassandra dimitrescu x reader #bela dimitrescu x reader #daniela dimitrescu x reader

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beardedmrbean · 4 months ago

Text

A paedophile who admitted sharing thousands of disturbing images of children, including newborn babies, co-authored a “coming out guide” championed by Scottish schools.

Andrew Easton, 39, was snared by cybercrime officers over internet chat logs with someone he believed to be a vulnerable 13-year-old he called “baby boy”. Easton, who was convicted at Aberdeen Sheriff Court last week, co-wrote the guide for charity LGBT Youth Scotland, which receives millions of pounds from the Scottish Government and local authorities.

LGBT Youth Scotland boast they have “trained” thousands of teachers over LGBT inclusivity. Schools, local authorities, the Care Inspectorate and government-run health and social care authorities made the guide available to children from the age of 13.

LGBT Youth Scotland attempted to distance themselves from Easton, who demanded to be called “daddy” and used secure messaging to send messages to his schoolboy victim, and photographs of his private parts.

Dr Mhairi Crawford, chief executive of LGBT Youth Scotland, said: “We were deeply troubled to learn of Mr Easton’s criminal actions. We condemn anyone that exploits or harms young people. He was a member of one of our youth groups until 2009, and during that time he, alongside other members of the group, contributed to a ‘coming out guide’, published in 2010.”

In one chat, Easton was reminded his “victim” was just 13 years old, but he continued exchanging photographs, urging “send more, baby boy!”.

Cybercrime officers discovered 32 video files, many of which were of the most serious category A and featuring children aged between four and eight years old, had been distributed to other paedophiles by Easton.

Despite the sexual images Easton was sharing with others being of the highest category, Sheriff Morag McLaughlin failed to jail him.

Easton, of Kennethmont, Huntly, is subject to a community payback order with supervision for three years and was ordered to carry out 200 hours of unpaid work. He will remain on the sex offenders register for three years.

Scottish Conservative MSP Meghan Gallacher said: “This is a deeply disturbing situation. It is long overdue that we audit just how much public money this organisation receives and seek assurances over what safeguarding assessments are in place.”.

The coming out guide which Easton contributed to states: “Transgender people are people whose gender identity – who they are internally or their ‘innate’ gender – is different to their physical body or the gender they were assigned at birth.”

The ideology has been dismissed by one of the UK’s most respected paediatricians, Dr Hilary Cass, whose recent report led to England and Scotland reversing decisions to prescribe gender-changing drugs to children.

Alba MSP Ash Regan said: “Serious questions must be asked about why Scottish children’s educational guidance is being shaped by unqualified lobby groups that not only overreach their published remit but operate without any apparent oversight.”

The Scottish Government said education authorities are responsible for ensuring visitors undergo disclosure checks and LGBT Youth Scotland’s safeguarding policy is an operational matter for the organisation. It said: “The Coming Out Guide, published in 2010, is not a Scottish Government publication. The Scottish Government cannot comment on individual criminal cases.”

#nunyas news #of course he only gets community service #and 3 years on the registry #it's not like he did something awful like share a meme

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brucewaynehater101 · 6 months ago

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Grandpa Janet's maiden name, father of David Cain, Mary Grayson, and Janet I honestly hc that Drake is actually her maiden name and Jack took her name instead of the other way around because Janet's family had more of a history and let Jack somewhat avoid the nouveau riche label, was indeed a supporter of trans rights and he got into many bar fights as a younger man when he stepped between a lady and a dude who wouldn't take no for an answer. Grandpa Drake was of the belief that "no" was a full and complete sentence and one of his pet peeves was people trying to badger others into changing the "no" to a "yes". Grandpa Drake studied pharmaceutical chemistry and took Drake Industries into the medical field.

He met the future Grandma Drake in one of the bar fights. She was a ballerina and had the skill and strength to break a man's neck with a kick if she wanted. Normally she just broke legs or noses instead. She was her ballet troupe's mom friend and designated driver. She was also the sort of person who learned things just for the sake of learning them and after marriage her occupation was essentially professional student.

Shortly after Janet and Jack married, Grandma and Grandpa were abducted by an alien, a past lover of Grandma who had also fallen for Grandpa and this was the alien's way of trying to rekindle their relationship with Grandma while also trying to start a relationship with Grandpa. Maybe they're still alive somewhere in space. Possibly Tim will run into them if he and YJ have more space shenanigans.

The Respectful Womanizer Grandpa Drake AU!

That post was a bit ago, so I don't feel like scowering my page to look for it.

I hc Jack took Janet's name as well, regardless if that's factually accurate.

What I remember for the AU and important parts:

Tim's grandfather, Janet's father, was a womanizer. He loved woman. He thus fathered David Cain and Mary Grayson (which makes Tim, Dick, and Cass biological cousins).

Despite loving women, he did not badger them. In fact, that's one of the easiest and instant ways to get on his shit list (trying to force, coerce, or wear someone down for sex). He also loves all women and has had many relations with any consenting individual who identified as such near his age range.

He did face some social backlash and shit cause of the time period, but he was a rich, white man. He also didn't give a fuck what the others said and loved getting into fights (he got smarter about how he picked fights and how he aired out his grievances [more manipulative and subtle if he could]).

Grandma Drake met Grandpa Drake during a bar fight. Obviously, gramps had to ask the gorgeous lady (who could beat the shit out of many grown men in a row) out to at least dinner. Grandma, who saw gramps beating the shit out of disgusting guys and calling out their behavior, agrees.

Grandma and Grandpa Drake have an open relationship, and they are happy with it. They discussed healthy boundaries and how it affected their marriage (which they both agreed to for the legal and social benefits. They loved each other, but they didn't need to get married for their own personal relationship). For plot's sake, let's say Mary and David were born before the grandparents got married. Grandma Drake knew of this and supported Gramps being whatever role of parent both bio parents agreed to.

Janet was born shortly after they got married and was raised on their cunning nature to fight for what they believe in. She saw her father use Drake Industries for good and wanted to discover more about the beauty of humans (including how different cultures treat social statuses/roles [like gender, romance, relationships, attraction, etc.] and how people are free to be themselves).

The part where the grandparents get kidnapped by an alien who's interested in both of them and thus they are alive when Tim runs into them in space? Pure crack and I love it

#tim drake #dc universe #thank you for the ask!!!!#dc au #janet drake

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itsawritblr · 8 months ago

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Breaking Down Cass Review Myths and Misconceptions: What You Need to Know.

An answer when some tranny or handmaiden disputes the review. (long post with lots of facts!)

Via The Quakometer:

It has now been just little under a week since the publication of the long anticipated NHS independent review of gender identity services for children and young people, the Cass Review.

Here I wish to tackle some of those myths and misrepresentations.

Myth 1: 98% of all studies in this area were ignored.

Fact

Explanation.

The Review states,

Myth 2: Cass recommended no Trans Healthcare for Under 25s.

Fact

Explanation

This myth appears to be a misreading of one of the recommendations.

Cass then says,

Myth 3: Cass is demanding only Double Blind Randomised Controlled Trials be used as evidence in “Trans Healthcare”.

Fact

Explanation

Doctors rely on evidence to guide treatment decisions, which can be discussed with patients to facilitate informed choices considering the known benefits and risks of proposed treatments.

This illustrates the ‘pyramid of clinical evidence,’ which categorises different types of evidence based on their quality and reliability in informing treatment decisions

The above diagram is published in the Cass Review as part of Explanatory Box 1.

As for future studies, Cass makes no demand only DBRCTs are conducted. What is highlighted is at the very least that service providers build a research capacity to fill in the evidence gaps.

Myth 4: There were less than 10 detransitioners out of 3499 patients in the Cass study.

Fact

Explanation

The reported number are going to be low for a number of reasons, as Cass describes:

This suggests that active affirmative treatment may be locking in a trans identity into the majority of children who would otherwise desist with trans ideation and live unmedicated lives.

I shall add more myths as they become spread.

#Cass report #the cass report #cass review #the cass review #trans lies #gender critical #tras #medical malpractice #the tide is turning

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deancasbigbang · 3 months ago

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Title: Searching for a Rainbow

Author: thefastestqueeralive

Artist: morla

Rating: Mature

Pairings: Castiel/Dean Winchester, Sam Winchester/Eileen Leahy, Claire Novak/Kaia Niaves, Jody Mills/Donna Hanscum

Length: 20000

Warnings: No warnings applicable

Tags: Bar AU, Bartender Dean, Depressed Castiel, Dad Castiel, Hurt/comfort, Office sex

Posting Date: October 23, 2024

Summary: Dean Winchester runs a cosy pub in Lebanon, Kansas that welcomes any and every sort of patron. He’s good at his job, he knows he is, and Dean prides himself on how he’s built this bar from the ground up, turning it into the successful business it is. One that can support not only himself but enables him to send money back home to his father to aide in paying the bills. Castiel Novak, looking for a new place to drown his recent sorrows, stumbles in one night and catches the eye of the handsome and charming bartender. When the blonde barkeep won’t take no for an answer, Cass has no choice but to accept the offer of a shoulder to cry on, an audience of one to listen to his pity party. Dean discovers he never needed to fear how his family would react to news that could alter one’s perception of his character. He is presented with opportunities to grow and occasions to celebrate, but before he can fully enjoy himself, he has to accept his truth. He leans on friends before family while he struggles to come to terms with who he truly is, but after he succeeds, Dean is rewarded richly with happy days on the horizon. Castiel learns how to grieve, how to accept loss, how to open himself up to new possibilities and learn to share his life and his love. He is thrust into a life changing situation, one where he is suddenly a parental figure with no prior experience in the field, and worst of all he has to deal with teenage mood swings right off the bat—no cute gurgling and baby babble to soften the coming blows. Set in the perspective of the homely tavern, Rocky’s Bar, witness two grown men and their vast (and complicated) families support one another through good and bad, thick and thin.

Excerpt: “Got this great IPA from Austin—Cosmic Cowboy. You’re gonna love it.” Castiel hears the bartender say when he steps inside. The man listens to the conversation between barkeep and patron as he drips his way over to the bar, footsteps heavy. When he sits himself on the endmost red stained leather stool, the sodden length of his trench coat slaps wetly against the wooden legs of the seating. Castiel grimaces at the noise, heard only by himself beneath the hum of chatter in the public house. The bartender, who’d introduced himself as Dean a few nights back, focuses his attention on Castiel now. “Hey again! What can I getcha?” The man’s chirpy demeanour grates somewhat on Castiel, who silently nods toward the tap in front of him. He’s been coming to this same bar for the past week straight now, ordering the same on tap lager; coincidentally the very one Dean was just selling to his previous patron. Alcohol isn’t a healthy coping mechanism, Castiel knows. It’s just… He’s having a hard time as of late, and this seemed the least destructive way to deal with his problems—at least in the short run. It’s merely something he’s using to help him through some recent issues and then he’ll go back to being a very casual drinker. In his defence, it’s not like he’s getting completely and utterly shitfaced every night—just enough to feel lighter, to feel the weight leave his shoulders and allow him a deep enough sleep that he won’t have nightmares. Castiel doesn’t know how to deal with loss, how to cope with the newly gaping hole in his chest. A few beers a night seemed the easiest and cheapest solution to forgetting his sadness; he worries if Social Services found out he was attending therapy or counselling that they wouldn’t see him fit for the role of parental figure/guardian. A glass slides its way in front of the rain soaked man, snapping him from his musings. “Penny for your thoughts?” comes Dean’s perky voice once more.

DCBB 2024 Posting Schedule

#dcbb 2024 #fic preview #2024 promo #deancas #destiel

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oldmannapping · 1 year ago

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HC Batfam sexualities. NSFW.

Note: I’m aging everyone up for this. Damian’s 17. Not gonna put a label on a 9 year old.

Bruce: Considers himself straight.

Considers any non-straight feelings or experiences he’s ever had as “interesting” and adds them to his personal file on himself.

Ardent believer in the Kinsey scale as a literal measurement tool and takes the test every 18 months to monitor any sexuality fluctuations so they aren’t an unknown variable that might impact his Batmanning.

Dick: Apologetically straight.

Aware of his huge LGBTQIA+ following as Nightwing (and to a lesser extent, as socialite Dick Grayson). Passionate supporter of LGBT+ rights and vocal patron of many charities and organisations.

Experimented thoroughly during his teen years and regrets some unfortunate paparazzi pictures taken during that time, as he worries that he was inadvertently queer-baiting with his public persona.

Loves love, loves to see it, accepts everyone. Oldest-child guilt for not being queer because he doesn’t want to disappoint anyone.

Told Bruce to stop making them all do the Kinsey scale because it’s creepy and invasive.

Jason: Doesn’t think about it.

Is pretty sure he’s straight, but has definitely had at least mild crushes on a few male figures in his life and in the media over the years. Has jerked off thinking about guys but never analysed it.

Sex isn’t his priority but he meets his needs when he has to, same as eating and sleeping.

Feels anger more than lust. Sees people as threats or targets more than sexual beings. Gets in his own head about the injustices of the world and doesn’t realise he has an unrelated boner.

Duke: Identifies as straight.

Has dated a trans girl, would be open to dating non-binary people, considers himself straight because he’s not into labels and considers trans women real women with no asterisks.

Romantic to his own detriment. Can come on too hard and fall too easily.

Can’t jerk off to someone he has a crush on in real life because he thinks it’s creepy.

Tim: Memorised every single sexuality definition and read seven books before settling on bisexual.

Thinks the Kinsey scale is outdated and irrelevant. Drafting a 350-question sexuality spectrum test for Bruce to use instead. Will recommend its implementation twice a year.

Forgets to think about sex until something minor triggers it and then he can’t focus on anything else. Obsessive.

Overthinks sexual encounters and is highly likely to read - and take the advice of - Cosmo sex tips. Bernard got him listening to Savage Love which was much more helpful for their relationship.

Steph: Has privately identified as queer for years but never bothered coming out.

Had some revelatory experiences with other women. Generally prefers men but her best orgasm was with a woman.

Owns an impressive and practical range of vibrators. Always packs one in her go-bag for missions, next to mace and her spare lockpick.

Is deeply glad she never slept with Tim because she thinks he’d overthink it and it would have been awkward, and made their friendship weird.

Damian: Thinks of himself as “currently straight”.

Likes to stand out for his skills and superior bloodline, not for his position outside mainstream social norms.

Doesn’t care about fitting in but doesn’t want to announce his sexuality in a crass way like Drake.

Is giving himself until he’s 21 to discover if he’s not straight. Refuses to engage with Dick or Bruce on “birds and the bees” talks. Put a sword through his tablet when Bruce sent him the Kinsey scale when he turned 16.

Cass: Lesbiconic. Steph coined the term and Cass loves it.

Lesbian. Never questioned it. It never mattered because her body was a weapon, not designed for pleasure.

Has three vibrators, two from Steph and one from Harper, that she hasn’t used yet but has inspected thoroughly.

Not interested in dating but will hook up with people so discretely that you won’t even realise she’s left the room.

Efficient at sex. Learning to not be overwhelmed by body language cues. Meditation is helping.

Alfred: Goes buck wild on cruises twice a year. Usually tells Bruce he’s visiting family in England.

Has seduced many married women away from their husbands, and charmed the husbands into shaking his hand afterwards.

Too powerful.

The world is lucky he prefers to remain in the shadows.

Considers labels a curious thing. Has primarily slept with women but would do what he had to for the mission.

Thinks Bruce and his Kinsey scale are adorably naive.

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bright-side20 · 1 year ago

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True Mates 🌸🗡️

"It means that he’s going ballistic in the way that only mates can when the other is threatened. It’s what happened then, and what’s happening now. You’re true mates—the way Fae are mates, in your bodies and souls. That’s what was different about your scent the other day. Your scents have merged. As they do between Fae mates."

The fact that Ruhn confirmed that Bryce and Hunt are true mates is based on how Hunt acts protective when Bryce is in danger!

_The Acting protective is one of the major hints of the mating bond, and that's how Sarah wrote the rescuing scene for Elain:

Azriel was the one who noticed Elain's absence.

He raged upon discovering she was lured by the Cauldron.

He didn't care that he might die while saving her.

He cradled her, even though he was severely injured.

He didn't care about his own injuries; instead, he wanted the chains off her.

In Silver flame the scene was mentioned many times which means it is important.

And because being protective is a major mate behavior, if Sarah wanted to hint at Az being Gwyn's mate, he would've reacted to Gwyn , just like Cass did when Nesta was taken to the blood rite. No, it doesn't matter that she's trained; being protective is a mate instinct, something he can't control, especially if she's in danger. Instead, Sarah wrote him trying to suppress his anger when he knew Elain and Nesta had a fight. His shadows wanted to attack Nesta when she hurt Elain. He didn't want her to be exposed to the danger of the dread troves, he made sure she's safe and wouldn't be kidnapped again.

As for the scent, the mating bond doesn't have a specific smell. It's just that after accepting the bond or choosing each other, as in the case of Bryce and Hunt, and then having sex, their scents merge, as Ruhn said, and as explained by Feyre when she returned to the Spring Court. They could smell Rhys's scent on her, they thought it would fade over time, it did not because it's the mating bond. So, Az being able to smell the mating bond in Lucien's presence is actually odd.

_Till now all mate like behaviors were shown between Az and Elain:

Being into each other, wanting to spend time with each other.

Discovering that she's a seer, described as a bridge between souls (which was supposed to be done by her mate).

Acting protective.

Having a high sexual attraction.

Az is an old Fae. He won't question the Cauldron, in which 'the world was born,' just because of 'lust.' I think he is aware that he has been experiencing mate-like behaviors towards Elain. After all the bond rejection mess, choosing each other, and the triumph of love, they might discover that they are ✨true mates✨.

People who compare them to Tamlin and Feyre, please, there are no similarities. Az won't keep Elain from helping the Night Court, from using her powers if she wants to. He gave her access to her seer power, he gave her his sacred dagger...

#pro elain #elriel #elain archeron #pro elriel #sarahjmaas #azriel acotar #acotar thoughts #elriel supremacy #sjm #That they antis will discover that they have been calling mate behaviors lust and entitlement

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casshasfangs · 3 months ago

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Exclusively for Cantis Magazine, we spoke with The Band Cthulhu ahead of their new winter release album, Dog Days.

The newest member of the band, Dani Royce, hails from Liverpool. But she didn't grow up with the Hogwarts education of her band mates, explaining, "You could say I was homeschooled, but even that doesn't fit. I learned by living... I got to pick what my passions are and my family encouraged me to grow them."

Indeed, Dani's passion for music had her lending her talent as a bassist to gigs across Liverpool, where The Band Cthulhu discovered her. "We first heard Dani play at an indie venue, and we absolutely knew we wanted to play with her, then and there." When we remarked that joining the band was a lucky break for the Liverpool witch, guitarist and singer Cass replied, "Honestly, we're the lucky ones that she's joined us."

We haven't been given any demos of the new album. In fact, the band are proud to share that they too, will hear the first play through of the entire album with their closest fans, at an invite-only birthday soiree for Shosh Edelman, the band's keyboard and synth player.

"The tracks are all original," Shosh answered when asked about the album's unique sound, "No covers, it's all our own work. We've been able to work with some artists that we all really admire. But it's definitely a step up from our last album."

We can't let mention of Cthulhu's debut album go by without asking about the sudden announcement of the band's 'break' earlier this year. Rumours have swirled online for months about the cause of the end of the fledgling band- but the resounding argument from fans is that sex, drugs and rock and roll was the band's downfall.

"Obviously we wish that things didn't end the way they did last time. We were all really hurt, and nothing good was coming of it by the end. But we're coming back better, and more prepared. I think the fans are going to be really impressed." Said drummer Rhett Andersen.

In preparation of the album's release, The Band Cthulhu dropped a surprise music video, hitting 1.2 million views in the first hour. For a wix band, Cthulhu's online presence has been a defining factor of their rise to fame. Band members share 'vlogs' and 'tiktoks' of their day to day, inviting fans to have personal relationships with both the band, and each member of it. Indeed, Cthulhu's utilisation of technology, unabashed advocacy for Being rights, and mobilisation of fringe outsiders as a fanbase, marks a seismic shift in the wix music industry.

-Melinda Hopsworth

#the band cthulhu #i pledge allegiance to the band

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iambic-stan · 7 months ago

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last book read + last stethoscope used, part 28

The scope is a Littmann Master Cardiology in plum and the book is Being Ace: An Anthology of Queer, Trans, Femme, and Disabled Stories of Asexual Love and Connection edited by Madeline Dyer. Yes, that's a mouthful but what a joy it was to read an entire collection of short stories that I could relate to in some way or another! They were all noteworthy in some way but I'm going to highlight the ones I really enjoyed.

Across the Stars by Dawn Bowman: In this futuristic story set on a space colony, Freya has been reluctant to leave the safety of her home since her parents passed away. Most of her social interactions are with AI, until one day one of her robots malfunctions, forcing her out into the world to find a way to repair it, where she meets what seems to be a very personable AI named Zoey.

Give up the Ghost by Linsey Miller: Cass has an unusual and isolating job for a young person: she escorts grievers through an enchanted cemetery that allows them to communicate with their lost loved ones. What the survivors don't realize is that the boy she loved, Athy, is buried there as well, and her motivation for taking this post was to discover the identity of his murderer. But the real mystery is whether she can be satisfied to learn the truth and move on with her own life.

Smells Like Teen Virgin by S.E. Anderson: I didn't want to like this one--I don't like vampire stories and the title even made me cringe a bit, but it was so cleverly-written. Artemis comes from a long line of vampire slayers, and tradition dictates that she lose her virginity by age 18 or she becomes a danger to herself and her community by attracting an inordinate amount of monsters with her pungent "virgin blood." But Artemis is proudly asexual and doesn't wish to have sex even once, and sets out to prove that virginity is merely a social construct and her community's ideals outdated and inaccurate.

The Third Star by Roanna Sylver: Brenna, Leo, and Orion are the only survivors after their spaceship was attacked by Fenrir, a monstrous wolf thought to exist only in Norse mythology. They left behind family members when they boarded their escape pod--which is running dangerously low on oxygen. They're also involved in a queerplatonic relationship with each other that has become horribly strained because they are exhausted, scared, and struggling not to blame one another for their near-hopeless situation.

The Mermaid's Sister by Moniza Hossain: In this re-imagining of "The Little Mermaid," Phoebe discovers her idealistic sister Ariel made a Faustian deal with a sea witch and embarks on a journey to save her from humanity. A merman prince from another kingdom to whom she is betrothed insists on accompanying her, but she hasn't confessed to him or the rest of her family that she doesn't desire romance or marriage with anyone.

The Witch of Festa Falls by S. J. Taylor: In 18th century Norway, Birga is an outcast in her town because she has no romantic interest in anyone, but when young girls start wandering into the woods and go missing, it's Birga who's able to uncover the truth about their disappearances. She's also the only person who has a chance of avenging their deaths and preventing more without meeting the same fate.

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mzminola · 2 years ago

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Was telling @alexmaybe the other day about my delightful realization that while Cass & Jason’s several month age gap means they can’t both be Shiva’s kid, there is enough of an age gap between Cass and Tim that they could be siblings. And that we have no idea when Willis Todd got Shiva’s contact info, so you can just daisy-chain the half-sibs of Cass & Tim sharing a bio-mom and Tim & Jason sharing a bio dad.

This resulted in us brainstorming lots of other “So-and-so’s bio parents is actually...” AU’s. Enjoy.

1. Shiva had a second kid after she had Cass, adopting the baby out to a “normal” family to compare how the two turn out. You know, for science. That kid is Tim. The bio dad is:

A. Willis Todd, so Tim is half-sibs to the two Bats on the most polar opposite sides of the “is killing okay” spectrum.

B. Ra’s, making Tim Talia’s half-brother and Damian’s uncle.

2. Dick time traveled and is the bio dad of:

A. Tim: Dick never met Janet before, why would he recognize her?

B. One of the Kents: there’s a grainy photo of Dick in Clark’s glasses, because he had them in his pocket when the time travel happened, and that photo later inspired Clark to try glasses as a disguise,

C. Talia: Ra’s is still her other bio dad, Dick had some clone machine blueprints in his pocket too, which Ra’s promptly stole along with his blood,

D. Bruce: Martha and Thomas were friends, not dating or engaged, when Martha found herself in a family way, and Thomas was game to help his friend legitimize her baby,

E. All of the above.

3. Ra’s is Dick’s biological father because John & Mary Grayson had a very adventurous summer. Ra’s has known the whole time, and is frankly a bit disappointed in Dick for not killing Tony Zucco (Ra’s refrained from killing the murderer of his lovers himself because sons have first dibs on vengeance).

Dick is unhappy about being related to Ra’s and Talia (and learning that both his parents had sex with Ra’s, ew ew ew), Talia isn’t too happy either, but Damian is thrilled to have a blood connection to Dick.

4. Talia is Dick’s biological mother via time travel. He is both her second born and eldest son.

5. Bruce is Tim’s biological father, also via time travel. Look, he did a routine gene test on Tim and discovered their degree of relation, but knew for a fact he had never slept with Janet Drake. Kept an eye out for time travel shenanigans, and when they struck, made sure to seek Janet out and father Tim. Tim is happy to exist but feels very weird about this.

6. Talia is Tim’s second mom (maybe via time travel, I’m unsure of her age). Maybe Talia is transgender, maybe she’s cis but the Lazarus Pits just do a swapsies sometimes. It happens!

7. Damian is Tim’s bio father via time travel. Tim gives him so much shit for trying to kill him while spouting ‘true blood son’ bullshit. Bruce bluescreens at the realization he has technically been a grandfather longer than he’s been a father.

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religion-is-a-mental-illness · 8 months ago

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By: Helen Dale

Published: Apr 29, 2024

A new book raises tough questions about the history of gay liberation

Trans activism has caused bitter divisions within the gay rights movement

Medical professionals responding incorrectly to gender nonconformity has dire consequences

When scriptwriter Gareth Roberts was 14, he called a helpline promoted by a new organisation, one dedicated to helping gay and lesbian youth. The operator tried to set him up on a date with a 19-year-old. Fortunately, the young Roberts had the wit to realise this ‘was a very bad idea’.

A related organisation opened the first – and, at the time, only gay youth club in the country. Roberts joined, only to discover meeting rooms and communal areas littered with literature from PIE. That, for readers who aren’t gay or lesbian and of a certain vintage, stands for ‘Paedophile Information Exchange’.

What you need to understand – as Roberts argues in his first book, Gay Shame: The Rise of Gender Ideology and the New Homophobia – is ‘that there was a prominent streak of gay activism that was absolutely insane’. And, despite major successes borne of both a mature response to the AIDS crisis and opposition to Section 28, the bonkers quality never went away. That said, he admits he didn’t expect ‘the gay rights movement transmogrifying into a cross between the Church of Scientology, Heathers: the Musical and Act 4 of The Crucible’.

In Gay Shame, Roberts does two things. First, he explains how and why trans activism has become the ‘official’ gay rights movement that now (bitterly) divides gays and lesbians. It’s impossible not to notice the extent to which fights over trans issues often involve two opposed teams of homosexuals: Stonewall vs LGB Alliance. Roberts is a gay man and directs ordnance (for the most part) at gay men while also contextualising this division in an intelligent way. However, when feminist and lesbian adherents of the religion he calls ‘genderism’ cross his radar, they cop a similarly witty serve.

Secondly – and in a way that tracks the careful evidence-gathering of the Cass Review – he conveys the extent to which transgenderism represents ‘transing the gay away’. Most of the children who went through the Tavistock – 9,000 of them in all according to Cass – were same-sex attracted or simply gender nonconforming. Rising numbers, year-on-year, of glittery, swishy little boys and even more sporty but quirky little girls.

‘This is an ideology,’ Roberts points out in a coruscating passage, ‘that says there is something wrong with camp little boys and butch little girls and that they need to be fixed’.

This is impressive despite its grimness. Gay Shame only came out last Thursday, and – due to typical lead-times in publishing – was written in 2023. Despite a stint as a writer for Dr Who, Roberts didn’t nick the Tardis and get early access to the Cass report. This care and foresight has the effect of forcing readers – both heterosexual and homosexual – to think about how we respond to gender nonconforming behaviour.

Most people do not understand what it’s like to be gender nonconforming or appreciate the extent to which gender nonconforming people stick out like sore thumbs. Gays, lesbians and bisexuals won social acceptance before everyone else properly ‘got’ us. Roberts’ hands must be a mess, because he grasps every bloody nettle on the gay male side of the equation: from the extent to which gay male sexuality is utterly unlike straight male sexuality (because it does not involve women) to taking aim at a string of overpraised, low-quality gay male contributions to popular culture.

Does that mean every gay man on the planet sleeps around and adores Eurovision? No, of course not, but there are also no lesbian chemsex parties and heterosexuals really don’t have to pretend Eurovision is bloody marvellous. Meanwhile, if a straight man wanted some sort of chemsex equivalent, it would involve handing over a lot of cash to a group of women he doesn’t know in icky bits of London he would prefer not to frequent.

This absence of theory of mind – common but not universal when dealing with people unlike oneself – has implications. In a discussion of what he concedes is ‘a small minority of gay men,’ Roberts observes how ‘the Metropolitan Police’s shockingly inept handling of the case of the serial rapist and murderer Stephen Port in London in 2014/15 was partly down to their assumptions about the chemsex deaths of gay men’.

Of value is Roberts’ account of what he calls ‘the fall of Stonewall’, which was, in retrospect, astonishingly swift. ‘You can literally narrow it down to about three weeks in late 2014,’ he told me last week. He documents the extent to which Stonewall’s pivot to trans activism arose in part because it fell for queer theory (‘peer review is the process by which academics mark each other’s homework,’ he observes, tartly) and partly because it had won. ‘What was Stonewall for?’ Roberts asks. ‘It had no active political campaigns left to fight in the UK. But it had a huge staff, and a massive engine room of fundraising and campaigning machinery. A tender full of coal and no track’.

One effect of Stonewall’s pivot – and later persecution, along with Mermaids, of the LGB Alliance – was that the latter organisation spent years fighting off attacks on its charitable status, unable to do much else. Only recently has it been able to work normally, ‘doing,’ as Roberts says, ‘exactly the same work as Stonewall did before its fall to genderism’.

Gay Shame raises all sorts of difficult questions. It’s really striking, for example, what a recurrent feature the sexualising of children is within allegedly ‘liberatory’ streams of thought. This manifests in something Roberts calls ‘The Leap’. The Leap consists of the belief that ‘people (including, incredibly, children) are always what they claim to be, rather than what they are’.

Roberts’ discussion of gay men and gay male sexuality – and of male and female gender nonconformity more widely – also serves to remind the rest of us that we know very little about homosexuality. I know loads of ‘right-on’ straight parents who bought their son girl toys or their daughter boy toys. The kids simply blew them off. This, I’m afraid, is because most children are gender conforming. Gender has biological roots: the stereotyped behaviours it produces mean that deviations are really going to show. The thing is, gender nonconforming behaviour and the homosexuality and bisexuality that often accompany it also have biological roots, but we don’t know why.

In biology, a spandrel is a phenotypic trait that’s a by-product of some other evolved characteristic, rather than a direct product of adaptive selection. It’s a term borrowed from cathedral architecture, where it refers to something decorative, but which provides no structural support. Maybe some homosexuals don’t mind the idea that we’re just the fancy bit at the corner of an arch, but we’re too common to be an evolutionary spandrel. We exist for a reason. Why would evolution throw up a group of people of both sexes who are attracted to their own sex? Not exactly going to contribute to reproducing the species, are we?

Gareth Roberts isn’t sure that ‘genderism’ will collapse. At the end of Gay Shame, he presents two plausible scenarios. One depicts a world where queer theory and all its works and all its ways has gone down the long slide and all seems well. The other shows what things look like in the event of a genderist win. And in that world, the grim joke that emerged among staff at the Tavistock has come true. There are no gay people left.

#Helen Dale #Gareth Roberts #homosexuality #bisexuality #gay conversion therapy #gay conversion #gay rights #genderism #gender ideology #gender identity ideology #gay not queer #queer theory #intersectional feminism #gender nonconforming #gender non conforming #trans the gay away #medical scandal #medical corruption #religion is a mental illness

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bat-besties · 2 years ago

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Mia Dearden and Steph Brown Headcanons!

I’d love for them to meet supporting the Birds of Prey! They would both be about 18 when this happens, so Steph’s new to Batgirl but has been Spoiler, and Mia has been Speedy for a year.

They both want to have fun and prove themselves, and I think there might be a little competition between them and their mentors over their use to the team.

Mia is better at long-range combat and undercover work; Steph is better at short-range combat and detective work.

They both talk. A Lot.

Steph is very talkative because she’s very extroverted and friendly; Mia is talkative but it’s more of a defence mechanism at first, she’s actually a bit shy. I think that at first Steph can’t work out why Mia gets more quiet as time goes on and worries she’s mad at her, before realising this is a Cass/Tim situation. That’s cool - Steph can manage her introverts. Mia then goes up to being very talkative again, but with quiet stretches between. She appreciates that Steph can match her energy whether it’s a long ramble, a rapid conversation, or just chilling in silence together.

Steph gives Mia tips on using her hooded cape for Maximum Dramatics and Mia shows Steph how to hang upside down (“You’re a bat, right?”)

Mia met Babs at the wedding and is intimidated by her. She was too shy to tell her she’s started hacking herself, but Steph would slip it into conversation and Babs would be excited! Meanwhile Steph is like “you need to STOP me talking to Dinah before I tell her something embarrassing” (and Mia does)

They both idolise Huntress the most out of the Birds of Prey. Come on, she rocks purple, stands up to Batman and defied her criminal origins? She’s also a badass with a bow? They gush over her together. She is also the only person who can get them to shut up over the comms.

They love the same teen music and commiserate over Harper and Ollie making fun of it when it is actually really fun and catchy! Mia and Steph fight scene where they take down Riddler to the tune of One Direction’s Best Song Ever. The Birds of Prey record the security footage for them.

Steph prefers reading classics and Mia prefers YA, so they swap recommendations (Steph recommends Dracula and Mia We were Liars)

However they do discover they’re both Hunger Games fans.

Mia is a straight-A student and Steph struggles more with academics, but Mia knows more than anyone that intelligence comes in a lot of forms and it’s hard to catch up after a difficult childhood/adolescence. Equally, just how impressive Mia’s academics are (SHE SKIPPED ALL OF MIDDLE SCHOOL) is something Steph can fully appreciate and hype the fuck up.

Honestly being with someone else from a working class background is nice amongst all the billionaires. Oliver keeps telling Mia to read Marx when she talks about her childhood. Bruce once gave Steph $50 to buy a box of tampons. Yes she kept it.

They do realise that neither man really understands the crucial gap between Steph growing up on the poverty line [under US census definition] with parental neglect and Mia staving off homelessness through survival sex work. The girls are acutely aware that Mia came from a background like Steph’s but had to leave due to abuse, and that their situations could easily be reversed. They could have really nuanced conversations about gender and class.

Steph makes a joke about being pressured to sexualise herself at 15 and Mia’s like SAME and tells a much more concerning joke and Steph completely cracks up.

Mia: I’m glad you found that funny because it did make Connor almost cry.

Steph: Oh yeah, you should meet Cass. Her sense of humour is so dark Signal couldn’t light it.

They’d bond over friendship with Tim! When Steph hears about how chill and accepting he was of Mia’s HIV diagnosis she’s not at all surprised because that’s Tim all over. She tells Mia how when she first met Tim he thought he got Steph pregnant with a kiss and was still reading feminist theory for the first time. That’s her boy! He listened.

Mia worries that reaching out to Tim or the other Teen Titans would be weird since they haven’t reached out to her and maybe they won’t even really remember her-

Steph tells her if she rocks up to the tower for a reason other than the world ending and with some snacks, they’ll talk about it for months after. (She knows because she did it).

Steph offers to introduce Mia to Cass, Kara, Damian, and other heroes she’s teamed up with over the years.

In turn, Mia realises Steph struggles to make friends at community college despite her friendliness and with Mia actually having friends at high school, she gives Steph tips for “getting close to people authentically when you can’t tell them about the vigilante thing”. We see in the comics how Mia has to work on making friends, so I feel like she could pass on advice to Steph who is more used to hanging around people enough that they become close and being super open.

Mia tends to get more quiet and passive aggressive, Steph tends to yell and confront rather than letting things simmer. They would struggle to deal with this at first. For Mia, Steph yelling would remind her of Richard and make her feel Steph is trying to intimidate her. For Steph, Mia making mean comments would remind her of Bruce and make her feel that Mia thinks she’s better than Steph.

However, I think they could communicate to work this out and deal with conflict without yelling and with direct communication.

Mia makes Steph watch Powerpuff Girls and Steph makes Mia watch Gravity Falls.

They also have a sleepover involving a ton of snacks and Project Runway

It’s nice to talk about casual things - like how Mia’s boyfriend cheated on her with Emma Watson, Steph and Tim tried to date in costume but not out of it, and how Mia has killed someone and Steph has tried multiple times. Normal teen stuff.

They end up having some deep chats on stakeout: So how was the realising not all men are evil being deeply painful because it meant your father chose to be like that?

Mia: Even though he proved he’d never hurt me, Ollie kind of set back my progress in trusting men when he cheated on Dinah. It just felt like even good men would betray women for sex. But he’s grown from that and they’re married now.

Steph: Yeah, Bruce set me back when he had a mafia alter ego and didn’t tell me, leading to my brutal death which he still blames me for to this day.

Mia: GIRL

Look the two of them have to look after a young girl together and get her to a safe place and use her testimony/skill to take down whoever was hurting her so she's part of her own rescue. They just have to.

One of them is a natural blonde and one dyes her hair. They know which is which but they’ll never tell.

#mia dearden #Stephanie Brown #steph brown #batgirl #speedy #i was thinking about how they seem similar on the surface but are quite different #and also how i love them #mia is a Loud Introvert #the headcanon is about their interaction #their personalities are canon (mia can be passive aggressive and steph is not the best close-combat bat but she is better than some other #titans)#or i guess my interpretation of canon #i just found this fun #i hate that mia was in a BOP comic and never talked to the others!!

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msfcatlover · 2 years ago

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I am never not thinking about my personal AUs. Which will probably never see the light of day, unless you ask me about them or I boil over into a handful of concept/rant posts to huck into the void like so many frisbees.

Please, ask me about my AUs.

Current AU brainworms (almost all batfam):

The Reverse!Robins AU, featuring Duke as the eldest, Nightwing!Damian, Oracle!Tim, Steph as the Red Hood figure, Jason getting the Red Robin arc, and Dick as Batman!Cass’s sidekick.

The Magnus Archives universe fusion, where almost the entire family are Avatars. Focuses more on the fun slice-of-life silliness of being a bunch of eldritch fear-eating monsters than the Horrors(TM), but also body horror & nightmare fuel are fun.

Low-fantasy Urban Fantasy AU. Supernatural entities are exceptionally rare, and that is why almost nobody in the family is one. Gotham itself is semi-sentient, the Wayne bloodline has a Fisher King style cursed-bond to the city, Dick is highly magic-sensitive, Jason comes back as a Revenant, Tim is a changeling.

Monster Batkids AU, aka “Every monster can’t be your son.” Dick is a living doll, Jason’s a gargoyle grotesque, Tim is a ghost echo, Steph is a dullahan (zombie edition), Cass is a homunculus. Bruce, Alfred, & Babs are still exceptionally talented humans. Damian’s a genetically-tweaked clone, which means he’s kinda straddling the line between the two groups.

Changeling!Jason. Catherine Todd had a little boy with eyes that sparkled like sapphires. Bruce Wayne took in a homeless boy with eyes like soft grey river-stones. They have the same Name, but they are not the same child.

De-aged RH. Jason made it all the way back to Gotham, but never kicked off his big comeback plan. Dick Grayson opens his door to find a very irritable 13yr old version of his dead little brother telling Dick that he’s been cursed & doesn’t remember anything.

De-aged Robins. Dick, Tim, Steph, & Cass went to bust a villain operation a few days ago before going completely dark. Jason kicks the door down, clears out the place, and finds four very fighty 10yr olds in need of rescue.

“If Worst Comes to Worst,” aka the time-travel AU. Robin lived long enough to see the entire family fall. Robin lived long enough to see the world, for all intents & purposes, end. Robin held the line for as long as possible, and when that line reached its end, Robin faced it on their own terms. Robin woke up again on the day Jason Todd was supposed to meet Bruce Wayne, and swore to fix everything that went wrong. The problem? There are 5 different Robins, from 5 very different apocalypses, with 5 very different sets of trauma responses, and 5 very different plans to save the world.

“Perchance to Dream (2, Batbros Boogaloo),” aka “Hey, what if that one episode, but Jason’s the one in the machine & Dick gets halfway stuck in there too while trying to rescue him, basically ending up an intangible, invisible specter in Jason’s dream?”

Talon!Jason. Shiela Haywood did not sell her son out to the Joker. The Court wasn’t happy to find themselves with the wrong Robin, but they made do. Five years later…

Talon!Dick. In which I say, “Hey, you know what there’s not enough of? Fics where Talon!Dick meets Street-kid!Jason, and they both go, ‘Oh, this loser definitely won’t survive on his own! Guess I have to adopt him now.’”

Platonic!ABO. Which is to say, a setting with the usual social & biological rules expected of A/B/O stories, but without any sex or romance. Because I have discovered that the found family hits extra hard, the sick fics are basically therapeutic for me, and I wanted to play with the family dynamics I kept seeing in other Platonic!ABO Batfam fics.

NTT coping. Please, ask me about all the brotherly bonding Dick & Jason could’ve had back in the 80s. I have many thoughts.

_______________________________________________________________

The Magnus Archives:

Archivist!Tim. Yes, seriously. Sick of this only showing up in crackfics, give Tim the respect (trauma) he deserves (desperately doesn’t)! (please, I have like 4 seasons outlined, please)

De-aged Archivist. Late s3, Jon gets turned back to his childhood self in both body & mind. It seems like it’ll likely wear off on its own, but in the meantime there is a child in the archives and nobody really knows what to do about that.

______________________________________________________________ Slay the Princess:

Slay the Monster. Death isn’t change, Death is stillness & stagnation. The construct is not frozen, it’s alive & ever-shifting. There’s a monster in the basement, and on a path in the woods there is a princess. She’s here to slay him.

Original Routes: The Dancer & The Dream (art)

#my life #mine #my writing #//#Fuck it #I’ve decided to give this whole ‘’pinning a post’’ thing a go because I need this to be an open invitation.#Even when I’ve working on other things my AUs are right there with me.#Validate me #and maybe someday I’ll actually FINISH something (no promises)

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theladyofdeath · 2 years ago

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The Holiday {10}

Ships: Nesta x Cassian / Aelin x Rowan

Written alongside @snelbz

Trope(s): Christmas, fluff, love at first sight, enemies to lovers, New Year's

Summary: Nesta has just been dumped. Aelin hates her job. Both women need an escape from reality and with Christmas quickly approaching, it's the perfect time for a getaway. After discovering a trend where people can swap houses for a non-traditional vacation experience, these two women decide to spend the holidays in each other's homes. With their houses comes a series of unique experiences and a couple of handsome suitors. It's time to see just how much a change of scenery and two weeks of Christmas solitude and romance can change a person.

A/N: We've reached the end! Shelby and I have another story in the works that we hope to share soon. Thank you for reading and we hope you enjoyed! x

Rating: M for mature - language, smut, substance use, etc. 18+.

Inspired by The Holiday (2006).

Aelin hadn’t been home for more than an hour when there was a knock on her front door. Lysandra and Aedion were supposed to be stopping by later this evening, Christmas presents in tow, so she was fairly sure it wouldn’t be either of them. Bumping her thermostat up a degree, silently promising herself she’d never take advantage of central heat and air again, she headed for the front door.

She found Cassian on the other side, a stack of envelopes under his arm. He smiled warmly. “Wanted to give you time to settle in, but didn’t want to forget to bring you your mail.”

The breeze was blowing hard, but it wasn’t nearly as cold as the wind that ripped through Orynth. She was surprised that she almost missed the brisk chill that had settled into her bones.

She knew it wasn’t the wind or weather she missed. Knew it wasn’t the city or the mountains.

“Thank you so much,” she replied, stepping back and letting him in. She took the bundle of envelopes from him and shut the door.

“First of all, I hope you had a great trip,” he said, putting his hands in his back pockets. He looked at her, hazel eyes wary before he added, “Secondly, I’d like to apologize for having sex in your bed.”

Aelin came to a halt, her brain malfunctioning until his words settled. “You had sex in my bed?”

He rocked back on his heels. “The sheets were washed.”

Aelin stared at him for another minute before saying, “Yeah, I’m going to need the whole story. Come in. Drink.”

Cassian didn’t need to be told twice. After slipping off his boots, he followed Aelin into the kitchen and sat at her kitchen table.

“So,” he began, when Aelin went to retrieve their drinks. “Tell me about your trip.”

Aelin couldn’t help but smile to herself as she grabbed two glasses and a bottle of wine and whiskey out of the cabinet. She poured one of each before walking back to the table. “No, no. First you explain.”

Cassian went into his tale about all the events that led up to him bedding Nesta, and as Aelin watched, she couldn’t help but notice that he’d never talked this way about another woman before. His eyes lit up and his smile softened every time he said her name.

Thinking back to her conversation with Lysandra, Aelin crossed one leg over her knee and asked, “Are you smitten, Cass?”

Scoffing, he took a large drink from his glass. “Men don’t do smitten,” he explained, his eyes falling on Aelin’s Christmas tree. “Doesn’t mean I don’t miss her and her fire like hell though.”

Aelin completely understood, more than Cassian could guess. Swirling the wine in her glass, she admitted, “I can’t very well give you and Nesta shit for having sex in my bed when we didn’t even make it off the couch.” At his confused expression, Aelin pointed to herself and then at him. “Pot, meet kettle.”

A slow grin spread across Cassian’s lips. “Good for you, Ace. It’s about time you got boned by someone who isn’t a complete ass. At least, I hope he’s not an ass.”

“Not an ass,” Aelin agreed. “A complete gentleman. I haven’t stopped thinking about him once since I left his house this morning.”

Cassian lifted a brow.

“That’s right, I spent the night,” she said, with a wink as she took a drink. Cassian chuckled and they fell into a comfortable silence. “Was it just a fling? With Nesta?”

Cassian gave his glass a thoughtful stare. “No,” he said, at last. “It wasn’t. Yours?”

“I love him,” Aelin said, simply, and once the words were out, she thought that Cassian would call her ridiculous, but he never did.

Instead, he asked, “What now, then? Are you going to stay in touch? See him again?”

“I’d like to see him again. It’s not like he can just hop on a plane and fly across the world though. He’s got a seven-year-old daughter from a previous marriage.”

He nodded, as if he understood. “Mom’s not around?”

Aelin shook her head. “Car accident.”

“Damn, that’s horrible.” It got quiet for a minute. “What’s his name? And his daughter?”

“Rowan,” she replied, hoping she didn’t sound like the lovesick girl she felt like. “And Sutton.”

“Sutton. That’s a nice name.” His words sounded sincere, but Aelin could tell his mind was elsewhere. “You love him? This soon?”

She could tell it wasn’t doubt behind his question, but something else… Something that sounded suspiciously like hope.

She smiled, thinking of his laugh, the surety she felt when her hand was enveloped in his. “I do. There’s just something about him, something I can’t get enough of.” Watching him, she could see the wheels turning in his head. “Do you…love Nesta?”

“Cauldron, no,” he laughed and his eyes softened. “But I could see myself loving her. Easily.”

“She’s kind?”

“Not at all,” Cassian said, and then laughed at Aelin’s bewildered expression. “She’s something else entirely. Indescribable.”

Aelin chuckled as she shook her head. “Fair enough. Must’ve been someone pretty great to catch your eye. I know how you are.”

“Handsome as hell?”

“Picky as hell.”

“Same thing.”

Aelin huffed a laugh as they each took another drink, settling back into their comfortable silence. When Aelin had met Cassian, she swore she had found her male counterpart. They’d gotten along since their first conversation and had plenty of memories to prove just how good of friends they were meant to be.

“When do you have to go back to work?” Cassian asked.

Aelin sighed. She had been trying not to think about that. “Tomorrow.”

Cassian’s head fell to the side as he watched her. “Do I sense that your time away has persuaded you to finally get out of that hellhole?”

Aelin frowned, staring at her glass. “Honestly? I’d love nothing more than to never step foot in that place again, but I’m good at what I do. I thrive there. And I get paid well.”

Cassian nodded, and his eyes went soft in that way that told Aelin he was about to say something she didn’t want to hear, but needed to. “You’re an amazing lawyer, Ace. You can work wherever you want — or, hell, open your own small practice — and still thrive and get paid well. Life is too short to be working somewhere that makes you miserable and where people don’t appreciate you.”

He was right. She knew he was right. “Easier said than done.”

“The hard things are the things that are worth doing,” Cassian said, taking a sip of his whiskey. “I dropped out of college to pursue music and now I play for scraps while waiting tables every time I don’t have a gig. And you know what? I’m happy. Take that step. You won’t regret it.”

When Aelin met Cassian all those years ago, she never thought he’d be the voice of reason in her life. She held up her wine glass and, with a grin, Cassian clinked his glass against hers.

“We’ll see,” Aelin said as she downed the rest of her drink.

<.>.<.>.<.>

Rowan had showed up at Nesta’s with a new heap of firewood only to knock on the door and find Nesta’s eyes lit with humor.

She held up a very familiar black beanie and asked, without so much as a hello beforehand, “Does this look familiar to you?”

Rowan, standing on the front porch dumbfounded, hesitated. He thought he’d lost that in his truck somewhere, or figured Sutton had worn it outside and lost it.

Nesta quirked a brow. “Now, tell me how your hat ended up buried in my couch.”

“I…” Rowan began, but nothing had come out after that.

Nesta grinned. “Shit, you’re blushing, Whitethorn.”

“I’m not blushing,” he mumbled, snatching the hat from Nesta’s hand, very much feeling like his face was on fire.

She huffed a laugh and stepped aside. “Come on. A drink for the pile of wood, unless you actually want to let me pay you this time.”

“I’ve known you since college,” Rowan said, stepping inside and kicking off his boots. “Friends don’t pay.”

“But friends do get with the guest staying in my house?” Nesta crooned, walking into the kitchen.

Rowan groaned. “Suddenly I feel like you’re never going to let me forget this. And I didn’t…get with her.”

Nesta looked over her shoulder, brows raised. Rowan was pretty sure his face was on fire again.

“So,” Nesta began, pouring coffee into two cups and setting one in front of Rowan, who stood across the counter from her. “Tell me about her.”

“You know her,” he said, spooning sugar into his coffee, purposefully not meeting her eyes.

“I don’t, actually,” she said, trying to hide the smile growing with her coffee cup. “I texted with her to set this up, that’s all. You, it seems, know her far more intimately.”

It was quiet for a moment before Rowan admitted, “I’m in love with her.”

Nesta nearly choked on her coffee. “You love her?”

“No,” Rowan corrected. “I’m in love with her.”

Nesta had been Rowan’s friend for a long time. They’d met in college and had become neighbors by complete chance. She was one of the first people outside of their families to meet Sutton when she was born. She’d been around for his happiest days.

And his saddest.

“What about Lyria?” She asked, carefully.

“What about her?” Rowan said, a sad smile on his face. “She’s dead, Nes, and I’ll miss her every day for the rest of my life. But that doesn’t mean I can’t love someone else. She would want that for me. She’d want Sutton to have someone, a woman she can look up to, in her life. No one will ever take Lyria’s place, but that doesn’t mean I can’t love Aelin.”

Nesta smiled softly as she nodded. “I agree. Lyria was an incredible woman. She would want your happiness. Sutton’s, too.”

Rowan nodded, lost in thought. Nesta could tell his entire world had been turned inside out and he was trying to adjust. “Anyway. Enough about me. How was your trip?” Nesta hesitated, and that was all Rowan needed to ask, “What?”

“I also met someone,” she said, quietly. “I don’t love him by any means…but, I don’t know. He was…interesting.”

“Interesting?”

“Kind.”

“Kind? That’s new for you.”

Nesta narrowed her eyes. “Don’t be rude.”

“It’s not rude if it’s honest,” Rowan murmured, taking a sip from his mug. “Tell me about him.”

Nesta did. She told Rowan about Cassian, about how they met and the night they had spent together. She held nothing back. With Rowan, she didn’t have to. “I didn’t think I would find anyone after Tomas, at least not for a long time. Cassian was a pleasant surprise.”

“I never liked him,” Rowan admitted, leaning on the counter and crossing his arms. “He was a prick.”

“So you’ve told me,” Nesta said, rolling her eyes.

“But this guy isn’t?”

Laughing into her mug, Nesta nearly covered her kitchen in coffee. “Cassian? Oh, he certainly is, in the most aggravating, infuriating way.”

Rowan was looking at her with an eyebrow raised, amusement on his face. “It’s like one of your books, isn’t it?”

“As a matter of fact, it is similar to something I’d write, yes,” she sighed, laughing at herself.

Rowan smiled, a warm smile that was full of affection, yet vastly different than a smile he’d give Aelin. “You know, Aelin was reading one of your books while she was here.”

She glanced at the shelves along one wall. It was full, top to bottom, of her favorite books. Books from every genre, special editions, and merch she loved, but there was one shelf in particular that housed her own stories. It felt like bragging, putting her books up there, but she was proud of herself and all she’d done.

“And did she like it?” Nesta asked, curiously.

Rowan chuckled. “Don’t know. I, uh, didn’t ask.”

“Wasn’t a lot of time for talking?”

Rowan gave her a look.

Nesta just smiled. “I’m glad you found someone, Ro. Especially someone that has such good taste in literature.”

“I’m glad you found someone, too,” Rowan said, quietly. “Even if he’s a prick.”

Nesta snorted, bringing her mug to her mouth. “So what now? Long distance?”

Rowan nodded thoughtfully. “We thought we’d try it. See how it plays out, where it goes. You?”

Nesta nibbled on her bottom lip. “No. We parted on good terms, but I think it was just a nice holiday fling with a good guy, you know? We’ll leave it at that.”

“And you’re good with that?”

Nesta wasn’t sure how she felt about never seeing Cassian again. He had been on her mind since he had left the night before along with a steady ache in her chest. She nodded anyway. “Not much I can do about it, right?” Rowan opened his mouth, surely to protest, but Nesta quickly asked, “How’s Sutton? I miss that kid.”

Rowan, getting the hint, dropped the subject. He knew better than to argue with Nesta, although it was something he enjoyed doing from time to time just to push her buttons. He knew this was not the time, though, or the subject, so he told her all about Sutton’s Christmas break instead.

Nesta didn’t bring up Cassian again.

<.>.<.>.<.>

“It’ll be fun.”

“But do we have to go at eight? That’s so…late.”

Rowan’s deep laugh came through the phone. “It’s not that late. I recall you staying out until sunrise more times that I can count.”

Nesta snorted. “Yeah, well, I’m not twenty-one anymore and I prefer to be in bed at nine.”

“Too bad,” Rowan said, and Nesta could hear his truck engine rev. “Aelin is excited to meet you, so you’ll be there.”

“Yeah, yeah, yeah,” Nesta said, shutting her laptop and stretching out her legs. Truth was, she was excited to meet Aelin, too. In the last month and a half, since Rowan began his long distance relationship with the woman that stayed in Nesta’s house over Christmas, she was all he could talk about. Any woman that could win over Rowan must be a force, and Nesta was intrigued.

“Are you sure you want me there, though? I mean…it’s Valentine’s Day. It’s kind of weird.” Nesta started chewing on her lip. “Why don’t I just chill with Sutton? I know she’s going to her grandma’s , but—”

“You’re going.”

“You two should have a romantic—”

“You’re going.”

“I don’t want to be in the way—”

“You’re going.”

“Ro—”

“You’re not going to sit at home and be alone on Valentine’s Day. Me and Aelin will have our alone time. She wants to meet you. It’s a nice restaurant. When was the last time you went to the city and had a nice meal?”

She knew he wasn’t going to let this go. He was stubborn — nearly more stubborn than herself, which was saying something.

Nesta typically spent Valentine’s Day with Rowan and Sutton, watching movies and eating junk food, but this was different. She was basically going on a date as a third wheel.

“I don’t know, Ro.”

“Meet us there at eight,” he said, voice final. “Don’t be late.”

“I—”

“See you there!” He hung up, leaving Nesta staring at the wall with her mouth set in a straight line. Fine, she’d go for a little bit, have a couple of drinks, meet Aelin, then go home early and be in bed at nine thirty at the latest. Rowan was right. It would be good for her to get out. Since getting home from her holiday in Velaris, she had kept herself holed up in her cottage, working on her next novel.

The plot line was suspiciously familiar. Where most of her stories were far fetched, outlandish stories, situations and circumstances full of excitement and intrigue, this one was…more understated. She’d never borrowed so much from her own life and for a moment, she felt bad about putting details about what had happened between her and Cassian onto page, no matter that she’d tweaked them enough to not be obvious to anyone that knew them.

She hadn’t asked his permission either. There hadn’t been a chance. She knew she was just as capable as reaching out as he was, but he hadn’t. So she hadn’t either.

Maybe that made her stubborn — actually she knew that made her stubborn — but if Rowan and Aelin could carry on an entire relationship from another country, was it so hard to send a single text?

Shaking her head, she decided that she wouldn’t spend her Valentine’s Day thinking about Cassian, even if he’s all she thought about most days. It’s why she chose the plot of her new book to begin with. She hoped getting it out on paper would help take him off her mind, but it hadn’t. She only thought about him more and more.

After a long, hot shower, Nesta straightened her hair and did her makeup. Considering it was a nice restaurant they were going to, Nesta really took the time to pick out something nice to wear. On the daily, she wore leggings and oversized sweaters, but today…she chose a dark blue dress that hugged her curves perfectly. She may not be going out on a date for Valentine’s Day, but she could still look hot as hell.

The mountains were still covered in snow, but Nesta still slipped on her heels and trudged through the snow covered ground to her car. The drive to the city was peaceful, but as soon as she was down the mountain, she wanted to climb right back into her comfy clothes and her bed.

She had never been so excited and not excited for something at the same time.

She pulled up at the restaurant, the valet opening her door and taking her keys, and then she was entering the front doors, looking around the dim interior. Live music was playing somewhere within. The lights were low, candles flickering on each table.

Most of which were set for two.

It was far easier to find the table seated for three than Nesta liked to admit. Rowan’s shock of silver hair helped, but the larger table off to the side did stand out just a bit.

But the sight of the woman sitting to his left had Nesta’s feet moving.

Aelin noticed her before Rowan did, her eyes meeting Nesta’s over his shoulder. The smile that bloomed over Aelin’s features was gorgeous and she stood.

Rowan was the first to greet her, smiling brighter than she often saw him smile. He gave her a hug before saying, “Nesta, this is Aelin.”

“It’s nice to officially meet you,” she winked, as Nesta took a seat.

“You too,” Nesta agreed, unable to look away from the woman. She could see why Rowan had been so quickly captivated by this woman. She was stunning, her demeanor bright and welcoming with a hint of mischief. “Rowan hasn’t been able to shut up about you.”

Rowan shot her a look, but Aelin laughed. “Hasn’t he? Aw. I think he likes me.”

Nesta already liked her.

They fell into a comfortable conversation of small talk. Nesta asked how Aelin’s job was going, and she told Nesta that she had quit and was trying to open a small practice of her own. They talked about Sutton for a while, too, and Nesta shared her favorite stories of the kid that she loved so dearly, which made Aelin giggle and Rowan proud.

With every conversation, it took everything in Nesta not to ask about Cassian.

But she couldn’t. Wouldn’t. It was not her place to ask.

“How’s the book going, Nes?”

Rowan was the one who asked, one arm draped over Aelin’s chair.

“Good.” She didn’t want to admit that from idea to drafting to publishing, this would likely be her quickest yet. “My editor isn’t even done with the last one and I’ve already called her about the new one.”

Rowan just laughed, shaking his head as Nesta flushed, but Aelin’s interest was piqued. “You’re a writer?”

That blush deepened. “I am.”

“That’s amazing,” Aelin gushed, eyes bright. “What sort of books do you write?”

“Romance.” Nesta was being awkward. She knew she was, but she couldn’t help it. It was why people often didn’t learn she was a romance author. Publishing under a pseudonym was the only way she was able to look her father in the eye after her first book deal. He’s asked what it was about and she’d told him he didn’t want to know.

If all the people she saw on a daily basis had an idea of just how she could use the English language to describe sex and cocks and the like, she’d never show her face in town again.

“I love romance novels!” Aelin was sitting on the edge of her seat. “I want to read one of yours.”

Rowan coughed, clearing his throat, locking eyes with Nesta, who narrowed hers at him.

Aelin caught the subtle shift. “What?”

“Nothing,” he said, taking a drink. “Something stuck in my throat. What’s the name of your best seller, Nes?”

With a small sigh, she said, “Better or Worse.”

Aelin’s eyebrows furrowed slightly. “Oh, wow. That’s the same title as one of my favorites.”

“By Clare Beddor?” Nesta asked, unable to stop the small smile forming.

Aelin hesitated, then cocked her head. She looked from Nesta, to Rowan, then back again. “I’m sorry…are you saying that…you’re…”

“Clare Beddor,” Nesta confirmed, pointing to herself. “Made the name in my freshman year of college. It stuck.”

Aelin’s mouth fell open as she gaped at Nesta. “You’re…you’re Clare Beddor? The author? You write books? That’s you? The author?”

Nesta laughed quietly as she took a sip of her wine. “That’s me. I kind of lay low under that name…but yeah, that’s me.”

Aelin just stared, completely baffled. “Holy shit. Not to be a total fangirl, but you’re my favorite author. Like, I’ve read everything by you.”

This started a long conversation about every single one of Nesta’s books. Rowan politely sat through it all, although he had only read a couple of Nesta’s books — completely out of friendly politeness. Aelin had clearly read them all, though. She and Nesta discussed every book in detail. She brought up points that Nesta wouldn’t have even thought about.

“I just, I can’t believe that’s you,” Aelin said, once about a half hour had gone by. She turned and nudged Rowan in the arm. “How could you have not told me!?”

Rowan huffed a laugh, putting his arm around the back of her chair. “I had to see the look on your face when you figured it out for yourself.”

Nesta grinned as she sipped the last few drops from her wine glass. As Rowan leaned over to kiss her cheek, Nesta’s eyes drifted toward the stage, where a young woman was beautifully playing the piano. The face of another musician drifted into her mind, the man of a voice she longed to hear again.

Trying not to think about Cassian only made her think about him more.

As she turned back to Rowan and Aelin, the pianist finished her song. Soft applause was scattered throughout the room, most people too focused on their partner sitting across from them to notice a change in the music. Nesta took a drink of her wine, listening as some began playing an acoustic guitar. She recognized the song, its title lost in her memory, but the melody was familiar. Unable to remember where she’d heard it, Nesta hummed along to the opening notes as fingers strummed along the strings.

And then she noticed Aelin and Rowan had gone quiet. Even if she hadn’t been speaking throughout dinner, the two of them had. But now, their focus wasn’t on each other.

It was on the stage behind her.

Nesta hesitated, about to ask what was wrong, but then she heard it.

Heard him.

His voice filled the space around her, captured her and enthralled her. Her body froze as her heart beat a little bit faster, and all at once, her mind went blank and filled with thoughts. For a split second, she thought she was losing her mind, thought she had finally thought of him far too many times and was now going mad, but there was no mistaking that voice. That voice could not be replicated, and this was no dream.

Nesta looked over her shoulder at the stage and met his eyes.

Cassian was already watching her as he sang, as the lyrics tumbled effortlessly from his lips while he plucked the strings. Nesta was so shocked that she didn’t react, couldn’t react, could hardly convince her heart not to beat out of her chest.

Cassian was here.

He shouldn’t have been, considering he lived halfway across the world and they hadn’t spoken a word since Nesta left Velaris, but there he was…serenading her in front of a room full of strangers.

She wanted to turn back around, wanted to snap at Rowan and hiss at Aelin, wanted to demand what was going on, but she couldn’t take her eyes off of his. Nesta often reacted to shocking news with hostility, it was one of her many defense mechanisms, but she couldn’t this time. This time, she was simply in awe.

The song came to a close, one of his originals he’d sung at the Illyrian, but he played on. A cover was next, You and Me by Lifehouse. It was one of her favorites, though she hadn’t told him of her love for the song, and her eyes burned as she watched him play. If anyone else in the restaurant was paying him attention, there was no way he would know it. His eyes had been on her since the moment she turned around and she couldn’t tear her gaze from him.

It was only the two of them, despite all of the people around, and when the song ended, she was relieved to see him stand and set his guitar in the case as his feet.

Before she knew what she was doing, Nesta was on her feet, heading for the stage.

Her feet moved of their own accord, her heart overtaking her racing thoughts. Cassian had just risen to his feet when Nesta stepped up on the platform, and when he opened his mouth to say whatever the hell it was he was going to say, Nesta captured his lips with hers before a word could be uttered.

Cassian’s hands went around her waist, instantly reacting to her grand gesture, sinking into the kiss. Nesta clung to him, still unsure that he was real, that he was truly there, that she wasn’t imagining things.

He had flown halfway across the world to see her.

To sing to her.

To hold her in his arms, when she should have been nothing more than a fling. At Christmas, he had told her that it had been much more than that. She wanted to believe him then, and even though they left on good terms, doubt had still lingered.

Now, as their kiss softened then broke, that doubt vanished. She looked up into his eyes, searching his face as he smiled. “Hi.”

“Hi,” she breathed, and laughed quietly. “What the hell are you doing here?”

“I was bored,” he said, shrugging. Nesta gave him a nudge and his grin widened. “Aelin said she was coming here for Valentine’s Day, and I tagged along.”

Nesta looked at him for a moment before asking, “Why?”

“I missed you,” he said, without a second of hesitation. “A lot. I had to see you.”

Nesta looked around, remembering that they were in front of a room full of people. No one was paying them any mind. No one but Rowan and Aelin, who watched in triumph as their plan unfolded.

Taking his hand, Nesta pulled Cassian off the stage and through the restaurant until they were standing outside in the cool, February night air. Although spring would come soon, winter was still in full effect. Light snow fell from the darkened sky but Nesta hardly registered the cold as she looked to Cassian, who was watching her with eyes that had her knees feeling weak.

Still, she said, “You haven’t called. Haven’t texted.”

“Neither have you,” he said, simply, hands in his pockets. “Phones work both ways.”

“I’ve been busy.”

“Liar.”

Nesta chuckled and shook her head. “I missed you too, for what it’s worth. I’ve wanted to call, I just…”

“Am stubborn?” Cassian offered.

Nesta nudged him again, but Cassian caught her hand and pulled her closer to him. “I’m not any more stubborn than you,” she said, melting into him.

“I’m not stubborn,” he said, voice low in her ear. “I just prefer to fly across the world to sing to you instead of sending a text.”

Nesta couldn’t stop her laughter and didn't want to as she felt Cassian’s lips form a smile as he pressed a kiss to the top of her head. She was going to question the warm sensation growing in her chest, taking the place of the hollow ache she’d been doing her best to ignore since she returned to Orynth.

The door of the restaurant opened behind them, the murmurs of quiet conversation and laughter carrying out, before closing again.

“Well, I think that was a pretty good surprise, don’t you?”

Without releasing her hold on Cassian, Nesta turned, locking eyes with Aelin. Her fingers were laced with Rowan’s and she looked as inclined to let him go as Nesta did with Cassian.

But Nesta stepped away from him and looped her arm through Aelin’s. “Do you want to go dancing?”

The sparkle in Aelin’s turquoise and gold eyes confirmed that they were going to be fast friends.

As they walked down the sidewalk, snow catching in their hair, Aelin and Nesta began to talk. She could hear Rowan and Cassian doing the same a few steps behind them and she smiled to herself.

Yes, this had been a pretty good surprise, but it wasn’t just Cassian and the dinner itself. This whole situation had been a surprise. Nesta never could have imagined that when she decided to swap houses and get away for the holiday that she'd find herself here.

It was supposed to be a getaway. A break from real life.

She never could have imagined that it would become so much more.

As she looked around her, at the pure joy and happiness on her friend’s faces, Nesta knew she wasn’t the only one who’d been taken by surprise and got a holiday she would never forget.

#nessian #rowaelin #collab #snacmc collabs #snacmc collab #fanfic #fanfiction #crossover #acotar #tog #the end #sjm

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