#did you know if you get bad grades in an american school they literally are like

[iunctura-arch]

"I failed out of French." And lost her club privileges.

[teapartyprincess4two]

Weakness- M. Sturniolo

pairing: fem!reader x FWB!Matt

classification: slight angst, smut

inspiration: submission for @annamcdonalds67 ‘s writer’s challenge, American Jesus by Nessa Barrett

warnings: 18+, MDNI, literal sex, slight cursing, no use of Y/n, mention of smoking

summary: You fight your inner desires, but ultimately let your weakness consume you.

—

You pull your skirt up quickly, jumping to get the fabric past your thighs. Matt watches from his bed, his body slumped against the headboard as he lazily pulls a cigarette to his lips. His lips form a smirk as you fumble to get yourself together, his eyes trained on the way your ass jiggles against the fabric of your pleated uniform. Even though you two clearly just finished, an erection grows in his boxers at the mere sight in front of him. His hands flick a lighter over the cigarette, inhaling once it’s lit.

Everything about what you just did —what you've been doing— with Matt is wrong. He’s your best friend's brother; the second you admitted that you had a crush on him you should’ve distanced yourself. Instead, you let yourself cross an unforgivable boundary with him time and time again.

There are so many reasons why this relationship is wrong. First, you’re the cheer captain who’s never been caught with so much as a wrinkle on your uniform. Second, you’re at the top of your class and have never brought home a grade lower than an A. Third, you’re popular and if anyone were to find you with a bad boy like Matt, even if it was just your best friend Nick, your perfect reputation would surely be tainted forever.

“See you next week, sweetheart,” he murmurs, each word being followed by a puff of smoke. He catches your attention through the mirror, throwing a playful wink your way that has you rolling your eyes.

“No, you will not see me next week. This was the last time, Matt,” you retorted, trying to sound confident, but even you struggle to believe your own words. You tug your shirt over your head, fluffing your hair over your shoulders as you examine yourself in the mirror. The school’s logo stairs back at you, reminding you of the reality of your situation, of everything that was at stake.

He’s got lips like cherry wine and cigarette smoke on his breath. He’s got pretty long brown hair, blue eyes that look like sex.

You’re a mess.

Your lipstick is painted across your cheek, your hair remains tangled no matter how many times you run your fingers through it, mascara forms dark circles under your eyes, and hickeys litter every inch of your neck.

Not that he looks any better. His lips are equally as stained as yours and his long, brown hair falls past his eyes.

“You said that last week,” he smirks, the sultry undertone in his voice causing your knees to buckle. He knows that he has you, but he wants you to pledge your allegiance to him one last time before you go.

“I mean it this time,” you say, but your voice trembles; a clear sign of your resolve breaking, and this was no time to give in. There was still time for you to walk out with even a little bit of your dignity. All you had to do was walk out, get in your car, and leave. But some things are easier said than done.

Instead, you go on a nervous ramble. “You probably don’t care, but if anyone were to find out about this– If Nick were to find out about this, I’d be the worst friend ever. And I have so many cheer scholarships lined up too, Matt. I can’t let my grades slip, if I get anything below an A they could take those away. Do you know what my parents would do to me if I lost those scholarships? What they’d do to me if it was all over a boy?” your words are coming out a mile a minute, each insecurity and doubt going in one of Matt’s ears and coming out the other.

“Do you even care?”

It’s not that he didn’t care, he just preferred it when your mouth was occupied with other things instead. Matt takes a long drag from his cigarette, exhaling the smoke in your direction. It curls around your figure, lassoing you towards him slowly. He wasn’t good with words, so he’s glad that your body gravitates towards him like second nature.

“This is the last time….” your voice trails off as you fall into Matt’s trance.

Before you know it, you’re crawling over to him and your body has managed to fit perfectly against his. Eager hands fall onto his chest, earning a satisfied hum from him because he knows he won.

Matt takes one last drag of the cigarette, holding the smoke in his lungs as he dabs the bud onto the ashtray that sits on his nightstand. His hands instinctively pull your face in by the back of your neck, latching his lips onto yours and allowing the smoke to dissolve into the kiss. You used to hate the smell of cigarettes, but now even the taste is addicting.

“If you want me to stop, just say the word,” Matt instructs, his piercing blue eyes clouded with lust as he watches you intently. Your mind is telling you to stop, to grab your things and leave before anyone can notice you, but the aching feeling that grows under your skirt keeps you planted.

“That’s what I thought,” he chuckles, watching you internally battle with yourself. The comment makes you feel weak and small, but you’re chasing a euphoric feeling that helps you see past that.

Matt’s lips trail down your jawline, finding the sensitive spots on your neck that are already lined with bruises and bite marks. He sucks on a spot that always makes you whimper, simultaneously bunching your skirt up against your waist.

He delivers a swift slap to your ass cheek, painting your skin a bright shade of red. “Matt,” your voice is strained against the kiss, but he knows exactly what you want. Your hands travel from his chest down to his boxers, teasing fingers tracing the outline of his erection. He kisses his teeth at the sensation, pulling away from your neck briefly to watch your perfectly manicured hand cup his clothed penis.

It would be easy for Matt to submit to you, but where was the fun in that?

Knees down at your altar. Please don’t fail me now.

“On your knees, Princess.”

It’s a command that you’re used to, one that you follow without complaint. You wiggle into the carpet, your knees accustomed to the rough feeling that meets them. “Beautiful,” he hums. His body towers over yours, ready to watch you worship and praise the entirety of his shaft.

You look up at him through hooded eyes, asking for permission to proceed. He grants it to you with a lick of his lips, his fingers caressing your face as you pull his boxers down.

Matt’s penis springs out of its constraints. “You know how I like it,” he comments, watching you take his shaft into your hands. You pump it slowly, taking your time with it and making sure to properly service him.

You place a neat kiss on the tip, letting your lips travel down towards the base. From there you lick a stripe back towards the top that has Matt hissing because you wrap your lips around it, almost like you were drawing an exclamation mark on it.

Your tongue swirls around the tip teasingly, lips still hugging around him. Matt’s eyes stare down at you, eager for your every move.

A careful hand pulls your hair into a makeshift ponytail, pushing your head down slowly on the rest of his length. You gag when the tip hits the back of your throat, your hands moving from his member to his waist. That doesn’t stop him though, instead he bucks into you one more time just to hear you choke around his cock.

You got me red, white, and blue. Pledging my allegiance to you.

“You like that, don’t you?” His question is met with your bloodshot, tear brimmed eyes and a chin dribbling with saliva. Your blue hickeys and red eyes were about to pair perfectly with the white strings of cum he was going to paint your face with.

Ooh, seeing stars in your eyes. No, I’ve never felt so alive.

Matt’s fucking your face at a feverish pace, grunting every time your cheeks hollow around him or his dick presses against the back of your throat. He’s so unbelievably close that he has to shut his eyes because the way your saliva coats his penis and bubbles at your mouth has him seeing stars.

Momentarily, he pulls out of your mouth, giving you enough time to catch your breath before he’s tapping the tip on your lips. “Open,” he grits, shoving himself back into your dazed face. Three more pumps and the submissive sight in front of him is all it takes to push him over the edge.

Spurts of cum land on your tongue, some of it managing to hit your cheek. He collects it on the thumb that brushes your cheek, popping it in your mouth and groaning at how eagerly you lick it clean.

Won’t you take me to heaven tonight?

“Now let me make you feel good, yeah? To remind you how much you mean to me,” Matt whispers, pulling you up and guiding you to the edge of the bed. Now it’s his turn to kneel in front of you, his lips latching onto the skin of your ankles and slowly kissing their way up to your inner thighs.

He nips and sucks on your skin until he’s face to face with your crotch, your arousal evident through your soaked panties. Matt places a gentle kiss on your clothed bundle of nerves, relishing in the satisfied shudder than runs through your spine.

Strong arms wrap around your thighs, pulling you closer to the edge of the bed and forcing you to lay back against the mattress. “Ready?” he asks, but he knows the answer, it’s literally glistening in front of him.

“Yes, fuck yes,” you respond. Weren’t you just claiming to be done with him? And now he has you exasperated at his touch.

Matt uses his teeth to pull your panties down, letting them fall onto the floor before returning his attention to your throbbing core.

He starts off slow, licking your clit just to get a taste of you. Your squirming informs him that this isn’t enough, so he uses his fingers to part your folds. His tongue is flat against you, applying pressure where you need it most.

His right hand presses one leg against the bed while the left clasps under your knees to push your leg in the air, providing him with the perfect position to ravish you. He begins sucking on your nub, burying his face in your juices.

You know all my secrets.

Your hands find his hair, whimpering as you tug at the strands. You’re squirming under him, attempting to pull away at the overstimulation, but his grip on you is so firm that you can’t move.

His left arm slithers from under your knee to over your thigh, wrapping around you tightly enough to tug you even further past the edge of the bed. At this point, your ass is in the air as you chase his face, grinding against him for even more friction.

“Matt— fuck! I’m so close,” you exclaim, propping yourself up on one of your elbows to watch him work. His hair fell past his eyes and his arms were securely wrapped around you; he looked so beautiful.

Your pussy flutters around him, signifying your pending release. So, as to push you closer towards your climax, his right hand leaves your thigh to plunge two long fingers inside of you. The euphoric sensation causes you to throw your head back in pleasure, your elbows giving out until your entire body falls back onto the mattress.

“C’mon baby,” he murmurs, “cum for me.”

That’s all it takes for you to come undone, your body trembling as your orgasm completely washes over you. Matt watches in awe as your jaw falls slack, small moans rolling off your tongue and floating towards him like a melodic tune.

You’re still catching your breath when Matt places one last kiss on your pussy, crawling over you to capture your lips in a kiss.

“How about we make the last time count?” he taunts, dragging the tip of his cock against your still sensitive folds.

You know you’re my weakness.

You nod your head feverishly, wanting nothing more than to feel him inside of you. You’re desperate for his touch, your walls crashing down like an addict overcome with their weakness.

That doesn’t seem to satisfy him. “Words. I need to hear you say it,” he grunts, becoming desperate himself.

Tell me you believe in me too. I do.

“I need you, Matt. I’ll always need you,” there’s a pathetic desperation in your voice that makes his dick twitch, and it’s all he needs to hear before he’s plunging deep inside of you.

He sets a steady pace, rocking his body back and forth against yours like it’s the first and last time. His pelvis brushes against your clit with each stroke, causing your hips to lift off the mattress and meet him midway.

Matt pushes your hips back down, knowing that if you keep that up he won’t last. “Patience, baby. Patience.”

He’s got a cross around his neck.

You can’t be patient though, he’s already so deep inside of you and he still doesn’t feel close enough. Your fingers loop around the cross necklace that dangles from his neck, pulling him impossibly closer to you. Your lips find his in a hungry frenzy, both your mouths moulding into a needy kiss.

Moans and whimpers are exchanged, along with the breathy sound that follows when you look down to see where you two are joined. His cock is covered in your slick, your walls hugging him perfectly with each stroke.

Your hand moves from the necklace to the nape of his neck, caressing and massaging the skin there as he continues to thrust deep inside of you. His necklace sways back and forth, serving as a reminder of how sinful this is. Yet, you never want it to stop.

Matt can tell you’re becoming pensive, so he pushes your hips into the mattress, providing him with a new angle that allows his tip to kiss your cervix. “Matt!” you gasp, the new, delicious angle setting you closer towards the edge.

His animalistic grunts fill the room, he loves when you say his name. “Say it again,” he commands, pulling out of you completely only to snap his hips back in at an ungodly rate.

“Matt!” you exclaim, chanting his name like a prayer.

You’re the greatest love of my life.

“That’s it baby, let go for me,” his words help you reach your climax, your pussy fluttering around him as you come undone. He follows suit shortly after, his head falling into the space where your neck meets your shoulder.

He groans as he releases inside of you, hot breath fanning against your neck. His hips rolls lazily against you, and for a second he lets himself be taken by the immense pleasure that washes over him.

“Fuck, I love you,” he moans, placing sloppy kisses all over your body. He doesn’t realize that he said until he feels your body stiffen beneath him, and honestly he’s not sure what possessed him to admit it out loud.

“I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have said that,” he stutters, pulling out of you completely. He’s quick to find his boxers and throw them on, leaving you dazed on the bed.

“See you next week?” you ask, a hopeful tone in your voice. Quickly you find your panties on the floor and adjust your skirt. He coughs awkwardly, mostly because he doesn’t know where to go from here.

“This was the last time,” he replies, quoting your words from earlier, but there’s something almost venomous in the way he says it. The sentence breaks your heart and you’re almost tempted to get down on your knees again so he’ll take it back. But you don’t, instead you gather your things and take a fleeting look at yourself in the mirror.

“That’s what you wanted, right? Wouldn’t want your best friend to find out about us anyways.”

You nod your head slowly, a tight lipped smile forming on your face. “Right.”

You were red, white and blue and he never gave you the chance to admit that you loved him too.

—

a/n: 🇺🇸😵 so excited to read everyone’s stories for this challenge!! - L.A.M.B👼🏻💗

—

MASTERLIST

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[shaibonbon]

Well tell us about the graduation then

Sure! As the names implies, it's when Bonbon graduates from school, and she gets sad. See how sad she is in the drawing, what's the mystery? :0

Ok jokes aside, big lore dump warning bellow (if you haven't read the previous post, I highly recommend it):

Graduating school (or for Americans I guess it's highschool). It's the end of a chapter of your life and a beginning of a new one. It isn't any different for Bonbon, but considering I already said it's the final piece of how we got nowadays Bonbon...

There are a few things you need to keep in mind to understand Bonbon situation. First, you may recall Bonbon is almost friendless, having just 1 friend, Cinnamon. Bonbon literally maintained friendship with just 1 person all the way up graduation, she is logically heavily depended on that friendship. So much so the moment they got distant for a period, bonbon went into downhill spiral. Graduation means you stop seeing your classmates (by extension friends) daily, slowly and steady you start talking less too. You probably see where I'm going with this. It is a ticking time bomb before the course of life separates them..

The second thing you need to know, is related to how Bonbon graduated. Sure, she finished school and did the final exams, but didn't end up with the best grades, especially on that "easy year", where everyone else managed to get better grades than normal. See, the bomb now explodes. Bonbon ends up to failing to enter any university. Needless to say, this was emotionally devastating for her. And while she had a easier time coping by distracting herself, she was far from okay mentally.

What happens is, Bonbon would spend the next year in a special school to improve some of her grades, so she could try and enter university again. Yes, a new school even further away. The bonus, the classes were at night! Lovely arriving home at 23:30. Who needs a good sleep schedule when you can sleep all morning am right? More time to lazy around. Cinnamon on the other hand entered uni in another city, so far away she had to move there due to atrocious travel times. There was now a curious problem, both were super far apart and on different schedules of free time. Talking with one another suddenly became super hard, and they ended up talking only on weekends. Cinamon adapted the same way as before, by just talking with her other friends. Bonbon on the other hand, for what should be no surprise, made 0 attempts to make friends on the new school, never speaking to anybody unless she was spoken to. There was only 1 time someone tried to befriend her by introducing themselves, bonbon ended up forgetting their names and face 10 minutes later. Interpret that however you want.

As time passes, those weekends talks delude to just few monthly talks, as Cinnamon would extend the time with the friends on weekends too. For her it wasn't a matter of choosing, she just invites bonbon to the conversations with her group of friends. Sadly, it just made the bunny feel worse. Put yourself in her perspective, being in a group of people you don't get along, where everyone is in university talking about their successful life's are, while you are at the button, hits hard doesn't it? Well, it made her feel like a failure. I'm unsure if I made it obvious, but ever since Bonbon fails to enter university, she just gets slowly worse and worse across that year. An extremely bad sleep schedule for a year makes anyone way grumpier, add in a heavy dose of sarcasm for a bad mood to handle others into the mix, she feels constantly demotivated to study or try things, is extremely lazy, horrible low self-esteem... I could go on but the word 'depressed' probably describes it all symptoms well. Also, from this point forward, you will rarely see her smile. The result by the end up the year is nowadays Bonbon. She is technically at her worse during the year, she does improve a bit afterwards.

Welp, thats it! Graduation is probably the most WIP chapter, there are parts here that need more detailing or changes. But the general core idea is that Bonbon fails to enter university and she basically loses her best friend. I haven't mentioned, but they both never see each other again. (at least, for the part of the lore I have layed out)

[43501]

🍓 and 🧩

🍓 What made you start writing fanfiction

Reading The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time fanfiction on Geocities/FF.net around the year 2000. Discovered an author with the most well-crafted, evocative prose I'd ever seen in my life (to this day, can sincerely say this author was a master). Reached out to him, he was extremely patient with my barely-literate, nine-year-old self and responded to questions. We had a creative writing assignment at school and I tried my hand at doing a style emulation. Obviously it wasn't very good because I was in third grade, but it was good enough because my teachers were like "damn, what the hell, you should keep writing" so I did (on-and-off) for the rest of my life.

I've finally reached his level of technical mastery, but it took a long time. Perhaps I could've achieved this proficiency sooner if I read and wrote more studiously, but I cannot be single-minded.

🧩 What will make you quit out of a fanfic

Instant hard quits:

Author has no concept of when they're supposed to paragraph break, fic is badly formatted and difficult to follow.

Ridiculous Mary Sue OCs. I love original characters and I think I give them much more grace than the average reader, but they need to be appropriate to the setting and I need to feel like they're organic and they "belong there".

Egregious mischaracterization of one of the major characters. I don't mean tripping over a detail or two, I mean presenting a truly gross misunderstanding or flanderization of the character we see in the canon narrative.

Second-person fanfiction that is not reader-insert, but casts the reader as a canon character (i.e. "you are L"). Almost always these fics should be first-person from the character's perspective instead. Not going to mince words: this is a notoriously difficult gimmick to pull off, better writers than you have struggled with it. You, average fanfiction author who barely understands 2nd person perspective at the best of times, likely do not possess the level of craft required to do this well. Just write first-person.

Work created with AI or that I strongly suspect was created with AI.

Mpreg. I don't mean situations where a character is FTM or some nominally masculine non-human species. I mean straight up man ass pregnancy. Words cannot describe how much I hate this.

These things aren't instant quits and I've read good fanfics that included them, but they do lower my HP and if I get reduced to 0 I will quit:

Reader-insert with things like "e/c" (eye color) and "h/c" (hair color). Your reader already knows their hair is brown. You do not need to write the equivalent of "he ran his hand through your brown hair" when "he ran his hand through your hair" conveys the same action.

Author not striking balance between dialog and prose. If the work is literal pages worth of characters speaking back-and-forth with little to no dialog tags, no action happening in between, no pausing to allow characters to react or have some interiority… you are writing a script, not a story. One of my favorite novels (Kiss of the Spider Woman) is solely a conversation between two people in neighboring prison cells with only a dash to indicate a change of speaker. It can be done, but only if you set out with the explicit intention to do this and understand what you're doing.

Characters using cringeworthy therapy speak or lingo that isn't particularly common outside of ultra-lefty, ultra-queer online spaces. Example: I shouldn't be seeing a character born in the 18th century describing themselves as "genderfluid" - they would use some other description or turn of phrase to gesture at the same concept.

Egregious misunderstandings of country/culture when author is writing characters of a different nationality to their own. Common examples: stories taking place in a Japanese high school but using American high school tropes (especially if there's anything about a "prom" - becomes a hard quit for me if it's that bad).

Egregious anachronisms. If you're not writing some flavor of fantasy and your story takes place at a point in the past of our real world… please do some research about the relevant time and place, especially about what technology existed and how widespread it was. There were no smartphones in the early 2000s. Home internet usage didn't see wide adoption until 1999 or so. Dial-up era internet was text-and-image based, too slow to support things like video. They didn't have DVDs in the 80s. A VHS tape does not have menu/settings/chapter select, it's just a film that goes backwards and forwards. USB thumb drives weren't around in the 90s. Floppy discs can't hold much data.

[sirenalpha]

One thing I didn't expect getting into PJO fandom was how much camp mom!Percy content there was and especially how much genderbending for Percy there was as in my experience genderbending has gotten less popular everywhere over my time in fandom, but PJO has many long and very popular fem!Percy fics which I'm not sure I've seen before ever in any other fandom, and they're usually combined with fem!Percy also being portrayed as being camp mom or adopting or bearing children like other male characters who get babygirled or have fans say get this man a child aren't even on this level for being portrayed in fic with taking care of children and genderbending

I initially found it surprising because Percy is presented as very stereotypically masculine, PJO is a YA series and a very fast paced one, it acknowledges it's dealing in archetypes by focusing on Greek myths, there's not a lot of subtleties, like this is a series that outright has characters talk very literally about fatal flaws, and while Percy might be named after a famous Greek hero who would obviously be an idealized male figure to an ancient Greek audience and there was inspiration taken from that to create Percy, he is definitely far more grounded in modern American conceptions of heroism and masculinity

Percy never cries once in the series regardless of what pain and trauma he goes through, he is even contrasted with Grover and Tyson who are two male characters who do cry, but they're shown as being in need of Percy's protection from bullies including a female one in Grover's case, and whereas Greek heroes freely express strong emotions and frequently weep, Achilles threw himself on the ground and practically had a tantrum after Patroclus's death in the Illiad, Achilles' wrath includes his weeping

Percy excels in sword fighting which is a masculinized weapon even within physical combat already being masculine (see how Annabeth only gets a dagger) but its association with heroes comes from medieval knights, Greek soldiers did carry swords, but they were short swords not the more popular arming swords and rapiers in American media, and their main weapons were spears both thrusting and throwing, to use Achilles again he mostly uses a spear in the Iliad and he's commonly depicted on vases with two spears not holding a sword

I think you could even make an argument that Percy riding horses is a more modern masculine trope as well despite the horse girl trope because of knights association with horses as calvary troops or even with cowboys and outlaws from Westerns since Percy rides bareback, he's the character most commonly depicted on horseback including during combat and not depicted as winning over a horse's trust as is common in a horse girl narrative, Percy instead has Blackjack's loyalty for saving his life which he didn't even do himself and their initial meeting happens between books and just in comparison, Greek heroes in the Illiad use chariots rather than actually riding the horses, but this is a more minor point 

Percy is also presented as very masculine in his emotional dysregulation especially his anger as it is frequent and intense as well as his impulsiveness, yes this is in part due to his ADHD but just compare to Annabeth who also has ADHD, she does not present her symptoms in the same way (as is typical in real life between boys and girls), only Clarisse gets close to the same amount of anger and she's treated far more negatively about it by the narrative than Percy is, this sort of anger is expected and more typical from men and boys whether or not they have ADHD and it's reflected in Percy's depiction

Even his poor results in school is arguably masculine, Percy's bad grades are kind of treated as a joke and not taken very seriously despite as far as we can tell from the small bits of his schooling we do see he's not getting appropriate accommodations for his disability and we don't know the other demigods grades, but his mother, Sally Jackson, prioritized her schooling and did well enough grades wise to finish out her high school education after dropping out and then be accepted at university

It's also in his relationships with women and girls, Percy is adverse to female leadership, he butts heads with both Thalia and Zoe in ttc even if he comes around on them, and while he tries to be more supportive with Annabeth in botl but he ends up taking over as leader anyways and I get he's a protagonist so he needs autonomy for the story to function, but it's as much about how it happens and that this is repeat behavior for him and about the fact he's violently angry in his internal narration at Artemis's hunters over just giving Annabeth a pamphlet as he's in the middle of beefing with Thalia and Zoe, like that is some serious misogynistic possessiveness that is not addressed and it all pushes Percy into a very stereotypically masculine role regarding leadership and not accepting women as leaders

he also has multiple girls romantically interested in him, Annabeth, Rachel, and Calypso even if Rachel is foisted off later with the Oracle and Calypso left on her island to make his get together with Annabeth as easy as possible, and yes female protagonists also get put into love triangles with two men, but it's the addition of Calypso that pushes this out of thematically relevant love triangle territory into something a little closer to male fantasy of a lot of women being attracted to the male protagonist

He also idolizes and is protective of his mother, Sally Jackson isn't really a real human being with flaws in his eyes, but his perfect saintly mother placed on an untouchable pedestal and he's perfectly willing to kill her husband, their abuser, just as the Perseus in myth was even if he does ultimately allow her to do it herself and she gets involved herself in the TLO battle, but it's still pretty typical of male heroes to violently protect their mothers (see OG Perseus)

and just for the camp mom/maternal side, Percy isn't really depicted being around younger kids, Riordan is allergic to filling out the camp, but nearly all the named characters are older than Percy, the only exceptions are iirc Tyson, Nico, Bianca, and Will. 

Bianca is fridged very early on with Zoe acting more as her mentor than Percy, Will literally only exists to heal Annabeth when she takes a stab for Percy in TLO, and then with Tyson, Percy is explicitly an older brother but it's not like he's maternal towards him, he physically protects Tyson from bullying and stands guard over him and looks out for him on the quest all more stereotypically masculine behaviors, but that's about it and Tyson drops out significantly after SoM, Nico is similar, he's a reoccurring character but he's not actually with Percy for significant chunks of the 3 books he's in so it's not like Percy gets a lot of mentoring or caretaking time with him, he's mostly concerned about Nico's physical safety and getting him somewhere safe same as with Tyson and Grover and I do think it's notable that when Percy thinks Nico betrayed him after going to the Styx he's furious enough that he wants to outright kill Nico and the only reason he doesn't is because he's been kidnapped, not exactly the world's most maternal behavior

Percy is definitely in a masculine protector role and not a mom friend role, he's not shown doing things like healing or wound care or helping younger characters through sickness, he doesn't do domestic labor like cooking, cleaning, or grocery shopping, he's there to fight bullies or get you to camp safely

So if Percy's so masculine, why does he get made into camp mom or genderbended so frequently?

There are two extremely significant reasons for this

the first I believe might actually be accidental, Percy has gone through a lot of shit in his home life regarding Gabe's abuse and Poseidon's absence and he is very clear about how negatively this has impacted him

in his internal narration

Percy never talks to anyone else about his issues with his family, he doesn't even talk about his mother whom he loves deeply even after he sees her strangled by the Minotaur and is in extreme distress over it and I believe this is due not for some masculine he can't cry reason (or at least not solely) but because Riordan wants to keep up a fast pace in the story, the audience got the information in his narration so Percy doesn't need to repeat that information by telling it to someone else

But we don't get other character's internal narration, the only way to learn about their emotional issues is for them to talk to Percy about it, and Percy is actually fairly attuned to others emotions (common for someone who has suffered abuse but also he's the narrator so he has to be observant) he clocks Luke's anger and Annabeth's crush on Luke, he notices Thalia's discomfort driving the sun chariot etc etc so he tends to ask people about what's going on with them though they also sometimes bring it up on their own

and Percy can't say nothing to them as that's rude and weird so when Grover talks about being guilty over Sally's 'death' or is afraid he's too cowardly and useless or Annabeth talks about her dad and step family or Thalia talks about her mother, and so on, Percy is there to be sympathetic and offer assurances and suggestions

this makes these relationships all uneven, Percy provides this emotional support to the rest of the cast and receives none in return as he never talks about his issues, so instead of Percy falling into brooding or man pain as would be more typical of a male character with these sorts of heavy issues, he's internalizing all of them while providing emotional support to others which is more typical of a female character, especially a mom friend even if Percy isn't portrayed performing other caretaking duties and if he's acting like a mom friend by providing emotional support, it's not much of a leap to a camp mom role, it is in character for him to be curious and sympathetic if he notices something going on with the people he knows

but the second reason is even more significant

The themes of Percy Jackson are built around the Greek pantheon as a dysfunctional family and trying to resolve them into something healthier and in the climax of the series, Percy rejects immortality to demand that Zeus, the father and patriarch of the entire Greek pantheon, care about his children and make all the other gods do so as well

it doesn't matter how masculine Percy is, the stereotypically masculine role of the father, the literal patriarch in a family, is to have control over his children and provide for and protect them, not to care for and raise them, and so when Percy demands that Zeus, the ultimate patriarch in all of Greek myth, take care of his kids after five books of being critical of the gods' parenting, he assumes a role akin to a stereotypical nagging wife and mother begging her husband to engage emotionally with his children

This is the crux of Percy's characterization and the thematic core of the entire series, everything else Percy does is like set dressing in comparison to the importance of this scene in understanding Percy and his positioning within the text and his family 

the logical extension of this on Percy's behavior is ultimately stereotypically maternal not paternal, it can safely be assumed that should Percy have a child of his own, his concern will not be to merely have custody of them or protect them from harm and meet their physical needs, he will want to be emotionally engaged with them and ensure they feel loved and cared for since he didn't get that from his father or step father as a child 

Caring for the emotional well being of children, any children even the rich stuck up ones at Yancy, and offering emotional support for his friends and loved ones is who Percy is

Camp mom and genderbending him, essentially making his sex conform to the most significant and stereotypically feminine aspect of his characterization, is not that far of a stretch for fanfic writers, fandom thrives in the holes left by canon and Riordan neglecting to create many characters younger than Percy and separating him from the few that do exist and choosing to focus heavily the action/adventure part of the series over home life and the mundane make this a very enticing way to explore other aspects of Percy's character especially given the context of the series overall being an exploration of dysfunctional families and breaking the cycle of neglect and abuse

so in the end, it's not that surprising given this canonical basis for it

[weywookitswestwood]

HEYYO I FINISHED MY VIV CHARACTER ANALYSIS/BIO/HCS!! +18

(UPDATE: I added a few more hcs cuz I forgot to add them. I might remember more so expect the list to get a little longer)

Just putting a few content warnings out there before you go on scrollin’, there are some nsfw hcs down below so if you’re under 18, you’re in the wrong place. Also there is some mentions of family em*tional *buse and trauma so please skip if you don’t wanna read. Anyways, please enjoy~

Full name: Viviano Westwood (wasn’t born with a middle name)

Nicknames: Westwood, V, Viv, Vivi(don’t ever call him this, he’ll get mad), Vivikins(Or this), Big Guy/Fella/Lug, Vivano, Vibiano, Fabiano, Steve, Eastwood, Winwood, Jarhead(on second thought, only refer to him as either Westwood, V, or Viv)

Stand: Planet Waves (DISC)

Birthday: July 31st, 1983

Zodiac: Boar

Age: 28

Height: 6’1 (186 cm)

Nationality: American (Mostly of English and a bit of Italian descent)

Occupation: G. D. St. Prison guard

Personality: Large and in charge… sort of. Values brawn over brains. Not meaning he’s stupid, he’s just a simple man. Lacks in direction, both figuratively and literally. Because of his physical strength and his simple nature, he gets treated like an ox, whether it be from his parents or his job. Due to his upbringing, he has difficulty opening up or being sentimental. Instead, he copes through anger such as punching walls or snapping at people. He sees crying or being vulnerable as signs of weakness, another result from his upbringing. Likes to antagonize weak targets or criminals to make himself feel better. He claims he turned to the justice system because he wanted to keep evil people locked up for good from the public. That could be true, BUT others around him know there’s more to it than the reason he gives. Behind this mask, he’s an insecure and lonely man. Doesn’t have a spouse or kids or pets. He can be sociable, but doesn’t have any close friends. His love life is zero to none. He relishes in the heat of the moment, but once the discussion of marriage or starting a family is brought up, he’s out the door. Despite his flaws, he’s strong, resilient and yearns for excitement in his life. Perhaps being with the right people, he can find himself underneath that cold exterior and be a nicer, happier guy.

Favorite musician: Earth, Wind, & Fire, The Marshall Tucker Band(he’s a closeted country fan), and not a fan of the singer but he likes Fantasy by Mariah Carey

Favorite book: Playboy magazine

Favorite food: Anything SPICY

Background: Viviano was born in 1983 in Texas to a military veteran father and a hairdresser mother. From the time he was in diapers to 12 years of age, he lived a strict military lifestyle. No, his father wasn’t physical towards Viviano, but their relationship was better described as a “drill sergeant and cadet” dynamic than a “father and son” one. Basically this meant raising Viv how to be a “man” like teaching him how to use a gun at 4 years old and berating him if he began to cry. If there was one thing Viviano feared the most… it was his father. He had a close relationship to his mother, even being labeled a “momma’s boy” by his dad.

By 12, his parents divorced and he chose to go with his mother to Florida, not before his father called him a “disappointment”. For seven years, Viviano lived with his mom in Port Orange, Florida, being enrolled in junior high. While not as bad as his father and at times would be overly affectionate, his mom did boss him around. He was a growing boy after all, he was able to reach and physically do things that she couldn’t. At school, teachers looked down at him as a strong, yet intellectually incompetent boy, who could care less about his grades. Not only that, he needed to boss someone like how his parents bossed him, so he made a name for himself as a bully. He would continue to pick on classmates all through high school until his grades were so abysmal he had to be held back in his senior year and didn’t graduate until the year 2002 when he was about 19. Both of his parents were ashamed of this news.

After graduating high school, he tried to join the military but after three months of boot camp, he left. His father called him a “lost cause”. It was the most humiliating moment of his life. He got a job at a Miami customs house and was there for years until he was let go. He wouldn’t tell anyone why but supposedly it was due to his temper. At 25, he got a job as a prison guard at the Green Dolphin State Prison.

Random headcanons: (Warning: some are sfw/nsfw)

SFW:

-Has a bit of a gambling addiction

-Only child

-Not the best driver, gets worked up if he misses his turn

-Mf doesn’t wear socks (I know I bring this up constantly as a joke but this is canon)

-His mom cuts his hair

-Overheats easily, he’s always warm to the touch not even an ice bath will cool him down

-Big sports fan, especially football and baseball, his favorite teams are the Dallas Cowboys and the Miami Marlins, respectively

-Has a really bad habit of cracking his knuckles

-Has naturally long eyelashes

-Doesn’t really have any talents besides bench pressing and being strong

-He can be self conscious about trivial things like being insecure about the size of his hands (he’s afraid of having small hands)

-Accidentally punched his grandma in the chest after tickling him too hard (she was okay just had to go to the hospital for a small fracture in her ribcage)

-Misses living in Texas

-He had a bit of a Texan accent growing up, it’s mostly gone but it’ll randomly come up when his voice cracks

-Sucks at flirting

-Doesn’t have a filter

NSFW:

-Not a virgin

-If you ask him who he’s into, he would say women but secretly, he’s a bit curious if ya catch my drift

-Doesn’t really have a type as long as the woman is of age, consenting, and isn’t a bitchy hag

-Likes being the dominant one when it comes to… ahem, the bed

-He likes to make anything into a “battle”; sex, play wrestling, tickle fights, etc. he’ll do whatever it takes to make his partner submit (psst hey you, yeah you, there’s a way to beat him, he’s super ticklish on his belly, ribs, and feet, get him in one of his death spots, he’ll be sobbing for mercy)

-Frequently gets hard ons, even in the most inconvenient of times (at work)

-Likes to be on top, but is nice enough to be a service top too

-Loves a partner who’s either a switch or just as domineering as he is

-One of his kinks is bondage, loves the idea of cuffing up his partner and letting his hands roam all over their body

-Can see him being a foot guy (dunno why, just cuz I guess); prefers to give than to receive because he’s ticklish but will be okay receiving it if his partner really wants to; but he loves foot jobs

-His favorite thing (I’m sorry everyone)… is CBT; any chance his partner is grabbing or crushing him down there, he’s on cloud nine (this part was honestly painful to write)

-Loves oral, receiving that is (but he likes to give as well)

[afantasyoffiction]

Hi Caitlin! Nice chatting with you again.

Would love to know 21, 27 and 28 for the soft asks!

hi max!!! tysm xxxx

21. tea, coffee or hot cocoa?

- i just made a post abt this so ill just rank: hot mochas win, then hot cocoa (i call them hot chocolates im assuming? hot cocoa is the american name?), then hot coffee (i normally have it iced), then tea (i only drink herbal, except for when my old history teacher used to give us english breakfast in fancy teacups while we watched documentaries in class)

27. do you like to garden? have you ever grown something?

i actually love this question! i haven't done gardening properly since i was a little kid. my mum went on gardening leave (in between jobs but we called it that haha) a few times and we redid this massive garden in my childhood house. my mum literally built planter boxes, and my sister had a corner to grow tomatoes and i had a corner to grow strawberries. every year the birds fed on strawberries and they didn't do so well, and every year i tried again because stawberries are delicious and also im super competitive and wanted to beat my sister. a few years later i found wild strawberrries growing just fine without my help, so maybe i do have a black thumb!

since we moved countries i haven't grown anything much, although i did have a houseplant for a few years...maybe i should get a few more :)

28. what are you proudest of?

this is. oof. i know this is a wholesome question but its also a really difficult one for me! i am quite Bad at this, honestly

long story short im a perfectionist and also a bit susceptible to the whole tall poppy syndrome thing we get over here, so i kinda??? don't know? im going to say creating things, specifically writing. most things i create are never quite perfect, but i am proud that i create them. my wip draft 1 led straight into draft 2, but i do try and feel proud that i finished the first draft! i think i feel pride in certain projects from school as well, and honestly its easier to feel that without/before getting a grade on them haha.

that, and choosing things that i know make my life better when nobody else told me to do them. getting into running, reading classics, gradually building up a social life even tho im a bit dire at that!

anyways idk if that really answered the question. its a hard question! maybe it shouldn't be lol but it is ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

[colorisbyshe]

'Maybe the shaming will work' gets told the shaming will not work *turns off reblogs*

Like yeah it should be embarrassing to ask some of those quetions americans have been asking but so is that post you made

Also many of those people are not actually 25 yet many of them are in high school and actively unlearning the shit their racist uncle told them, as you put it

As someone who has been shamed for being ignorant or not empathetic enough, even as like… a child who theoretically had an excuse for not knowing better, can I just say what I did: I went, “Oh fuck, my bad, you’re right. I was shitty. Today and tomorrow, I’ll take this regrettable moment and work o be less shitty.”

Shame did work.

I didn’t cry and piss my pants about being a victim of shaming culture. I grew. You should know at age fucking five that peopel in other countries are human beings just like you. Barnie covers this. Dora. Ms Rachel. Fucking cocomelon probably covers it

Also, hey, what questions and comments do you even think I’m “shaming” by saying “hey, as a teenager, as an adult, you should already know this?” Cause I didn’t name anything. You literally MADE UP a type of ignorance and then got mad that you think I am shaming it. I literally didn’t give a single example.

I just said Chinese people are people and Sinophobia at any age isn’t okay. And you started hollering. You didn’t even get hit, it could’ve breezed past you. Yet you’re hollering and shitting and crying “Don’t call me racist or I’ll double down on it.”

You didn’t have to imagine I was calling you out—if you are not dehumanizing Chinese people, it wasn’t about you.

Seems like you were though.

Now go fucking be ashamed of your “uwu you can’t call out racism if the racists are MINORS” as if your grade 9 math teacher probably didn’t have to call you out for being a pathetic little creep

Fucking weirdo

Yeah, shame on you

[cyncerity]

I feel your disbelief at being done with highschool……

except for I’m just starting highschool in a couple months.

(i meant to answer this earlier i’m so sorry)

but anyway dude take it in it’ll go so much faster than you realize

also, speaking from my experiences and all of my friend’s experiences (we’re american so this may be different in some places), high school is such a load off. ITS SO MUCH EASIER.

honest to god middle school (7-8th grade) was the worst time of my life. too much homework, everyone was mean, i was having my own crises trying to figure myself out (spoiler alert im gay) without knowing everyone else was going through the same crises, and i met the most toxic and awful people in my life.

high school is so much better cause everyone stops caring so much about every little thing. teachers stop caring in high school. everyone chills out. pda is only bad for like the first year then it dies down. people mind there own business and teachers are easier to talk to. if anyone has ever said “oh just you wait till you get to highschool. they expect all your work on time and make you do six essays a week and blah blah blah” they were lying to you. highschool is chill. as long as youre nice to your teachers and don’t skip classes and whatnot they’ll let you do whatever. i was nice to my english teacher and he let me turn in like three tests literal months late. from home. cause he trusted me not to cheat.

so yeah it’s cool. join clubs and make friends. don’t take any actual classes (i only did art and music like all day so i have no mathematical or historical knowledge). have fun 👍

[funtomb]

vanny notes.

first gen american ( greek ), first gen weeb ( early 2000s ).

early / mid-20s during hw / sb.

american mc/gee's alice coded.

religious, greek orthodox, has been talking about the rabbit with her priest.

personality: low self-esteem hidden behind braggadocio and needless aggression. compulsive liar. will turn anything into a fight and will start from the outside in. like you could be like 'vanny your hair looks meh' and she's immediately hit back with 'YOU'VE NEVER HAD A GOOD HAIR DAY IN YOUR LIFE AND YOUR PARENTS HATE YOU' and then scuttle into the girl's bathroom to scream. did warrior cats roleplay on early message boards and got into insane drama. so afraid of being bullied for her weeb tendencies that she just became a bully herself. improvise adapt post about a classmate on yikyak.

not a true crime girlie, not into murder. lisa frank enjoyer. watches pastel doll customisation videos. she is a gamer, though! she likes jrpgs and took the job as a video game tester to make some extra money, and because she thought it might get her foot in the door in the industry, hopefully as a graphic designer ( her qualifications are really, really bad anime art from 'how to draw anime', but she's thriving ). her 100% completionist tendencies got her into this mess. she thought the rabbit was an. easter egg.

was a wolf girl in middle school. roxy would have been her favorite and it's a crime that she was forced to get into that rabbit suit. woke up one day and the program was like hiiiii <3 i went into your paypal and then opened your joann fabrics app and ordered you eeeeverything you need for your new suit! i hope you like youtube tutorials because if it comes out bad i will feed one of your loved ones to a shark. sent it to your workplace btw so now the entire office will know you're a furry.

he thinks this is a bonnie and clyde situation while vanny is slamming her head into the wall. she doesn't want to get a job she's not qualified for as a security guard she wants to go to comiccon. william is so up his own ass he can't 'give her the spotlight', but a sidekick would make him look so cool and official wouldn't it? lazytown logic.

meanwhile she is fucking terrified of gt and leaning into the sidekick schtick in order to hopefully get a good grade in murder and survive without getting killed herself. she stares at herself in the mirror and tells her reflection that it's okay. she's doing what she needs to do to get out of this. she's putting herself first because she's a survivor and a winner. she is justified. those kids needed to die so that she could win. this was one of god's tests to see how bad she wanted to grow old. she is justified.

lying out the ass to her family. she's telling them she got into college. harvard, in fact. for marine biology! she's going to be a fish vet! at an aquarium! it will be so cool! see how she's thriving? and she's always been a compulsive liar, it's just part of who she is, but it kicks into high gear when she actually has something to hide.

does literally swap places with william from time to time, hence princess quest; when he's in her, she's in the arcade machine. however, william is not solely responsible for all the crimes she commits.

he is however responsible for coercing her into them with threat of torture / death. i.e. responding to her googling 'how to include self-compliance' and 'help' to trigger a red flag by forcing her to look up gory information -- 'how far can a human being be cut in half before losing consciousness'. he also orders things for her as threats -- 'ordering thumbscrews and having them delivered to the office' 'flowers for your grave' etc.

post-sb like i refuse to go back to therapy i'm too smart for it. i therapise myself constantly. i know the answers but i refuse to apply them. i know exactly what i have to do but i won't do it.

[userse31]

Macaroni and Cheese

Both Bud Light and Kraft Mac and Cheese have two things in common:

-They are popular here in the United States.

-The people who like them are MASOCHISTS!

If I wasn't autistic I'd probably eat literally anything. I mean, for fuck sake, my mom forgot she had a massive tub of vanilla greek yogurt in the fridge and it sat there for a year.

But it passed the smell, taste, and small bite test, so I ended up eating the whole thing. If I had to guess yogurt being made via <i>spoilage</i> bacteria meant <i>pathogenic</i> bacteria couldn't establish a beachhead, so it stayed safe. Don't.... Don't do what I did there please.

Baloney, raw "SPAM" meat, and hotdogs are disgusting. The textures are just BAD! But I heard fried "SPAM" kicks ass, so I cooked some up and sure enough, it kicked ass! Also got rid of that nasty texture! Corn dogs are delicious too.

Stringy cheese is also unpleasant. It gets all stretchy and weird in your mouth, and then it touched the back of your throat and it <i>makes you want to gag.</i>

None stringy melted cheese? Perfectly fine! Grilled cheese is also pretty good. (When hot, not cold.)

Oh, and then you have the microwave. It's really only good for leftovers and canned/frozen meals.

The microwave wrecks havoc on the textures of foods, especially anything bread related (Microwaved pizza is NASTY). For the love of Stanley the Cat do your cooking with ANYTHING ELSE in other cases. If you want to cook some frozen fries but only have either a microwave or a magnifying glass on a cold cloudy winter's day, choose the magnifying glass. The microwave is THAT bad.

And to think when microwaves where new the manufacturers where all like "iT's JuSt LiKe A rEgUlAr OvEn! YoU cAn CoOk/BaKe AnYtHiNg!" ugh.

Oh, and there where microwavable cake mixes from "Betty Crocker". My only guess is that the people there where on LSD, just like everyone else in the 1970's....

----

But both Mac and Cheese and Beer doesn't have any real texture. Beer, well, is a drink, and it's impossible to ruin pasta (except via food poisoning).

But the flavor.... Oh god the flavor.

Bud light is this horrible nasty bitter piss water.

"Oh, you just don't like beer then."

No, I've had some Miller Light and some petit-bourgeois brewery canned stuff. I wouldn't say beer rivals some off brand Dr. Pepper, but I like it! Beer has a nice soft bitterness to it and the ethanol compliments it very nicely! It's a complex, albeit somewhat acquired taste.

Now onto the Mac and Cheese.

Alright, so when growing up my family only, and I mean ONLY, got "Kraft Mac and Cheese". And I didn't like it.

Thought it was the cheese! You know the thing where I don't like stringy melted cheese? Yeah I thought I didn't like cheese in general because of that and I got flack because of it.

So here comes my senior year of high school and for lunch one of the options is that generic mac and cheese. For us Americans school food is LITERALLY the F-Grade output of our agricultural and food processing industries. The capitalists would <i>rather feed our children slop instead of anything actually good.</i> That's how bad the situation over here is: Not only do you have to <i>pay for your school lunch</i> but it's also overpriced industrial waste and rejects.

There was also that incident where I got food poisoning from the """"Mexican Pizza"""" back in 1st or 2nd grade and ended up having to leave school early due to vomiting. School Mexican Pizza "PTSD"! Fun...

Needless to say, I did not have high hopes.

But it was actually good. Just like that "Cat in the Hat" game on the PS2 I went "IT'S ACTUALLY GOOD!?"

Slight existential crisis later and I realize it wasn't Mac and Cheese I hated, but instead <i>Kraft Mac and Cheese</i> that I hated.

It's this horrible partially bland flavor that has a hint of artificial cheese taste to it. It's deeply unpleasant, but edible if you try <i>really</i> hard to ignore the flavor. Adding extra ingredients merely makes it tolerable, you're essentially polishing a turd.

So fuck you Kraft for making me think I hated Mac and Cheese in general!

At the very least, it seems like even my older sibling has finally wisened up because I've been noticing he's mostly been getting stuff like Velvetta instead of Kraft.

[profoundtrashwizard]

I often wonder why me (35monster) and my oldest brother (33m) are so different. We're only 20 months apart which ended up with me being one of the oldest in my grade and him one of the youngest. We both lived overseas so we got a year away from the propaganda of the American school system. He also thinks he's autistic (but won't test as that could impact his job...same reason I asked not to make my own diagnosis official). The main differences in my opinion is just:

1) he wasn't a Cry It Out baby. Of course my parents tried, but they put a crying baby in the room of a sensorily sensitive little girl who wanted A) silence and B) to be mom's favorite. All the stories of us as babies are how I'd sneak into his crib to cuddle and how, when he was bigger, we'd team up to prison break from his crib and then comfort each other. (Incidentally, if you ever accidentally hear me call him my eldest son...oh my God please don't tell anyone eek!!!)

2) he's so so so cis. It's kinda funny sometimes. He hasn't fully examined it and he very quickly can drop into absolutely fucked up patriarchal shit like it's nothing. Because he doesn't experience the same hardships, he doesn't think it's really that bad. It kinda reminds me of Rodney King when Black people kept claiming they were under attack but white people never saw it and therefore couldn't believe it until they did see it, on camera. My brother literally does not believe I am treated much differently.

And I think that combo is the big part of our differences. He has way more independence than me (he learned young that if he needs help, he can get it, I learned I can scream until I can't and I still won't get help...Cry It Out is neglect I think) and he hasn't directly seen the evidence of bigotry so my loved experience directly contradicts his...so he assumes he's still right, of course.

I wanna write some stories for people like him (mostly for me and 3 weirdos, of course, but this can be a secondary audience) to make him see but I don't think art or media or content or whatever is gonna be enough. I don't know what will be enough to make people wake up. But gosh, it's hard. Like, normative people only had Good Faith for other normative people...and if you have an issue then you are not normal anymore and immediately forfeit any benefit of the doubt/Good Faith.

Ex: Fucking the richest man on the planet thinks homeless people are faking it for attention. How the fucking hell does anyone break through that?

(Cry It Out was something I thought was just in the 90's but it's still happening? It's the asinine idea that a baby is just being dramatic and you should let them learn how to self-soothe. ~Because that's something anyone under 10 can easily manage 🙄~...I know very few adults who can manage that!)

Thank you for listening to my rant, powered by Ritalin and burnout! Ask your doctor if Ritalin and burnout is right for you! :)

[theclockwitch]

Yes but no. We THROW money at K-12 and I regularly teach high school graduates, many who tell me they were A students, who cannot read above the third grade level. These are not my 'special services' students, these are the neurotypical normie kids.

It's not money we need as much as accountability.

Example: I tell students up front that there are two ways to fail my class, and basically only 2. Cheat or don't hand in the major assignments.

We're two major assignments in and this one kid has handed in nothing. I go up to him in class this week and I'm like...so...you still have time to withdraw from the class if you've got stuff going on and can't do your best work (you know, the whole spiel) and he looks me in the eyes and says 'you'll pass me' and I'm like...no?

And then he said that this was how he did high school and he always passed and if I didn't pass him I was a bad teacher.

I can't fight that. I can't win against that.

He's going to fail, he's going to go to the dean and complain that I was mean or whatever, and he will lose, of course, because I can prove he handed in NOTHING but still. He is typical of the normies.

Y'all on tumblr forget one thing: YOU"RE NOT NORMIES. You read and write and think at a higher level than the average American. I'm not saying this to blow smoke up your asses or anything, but to say that your instinct to say 'oh no that wouldn't happen that isn't happening if it is it's an outlier'--YOU CANNOT DO THAT because you do not know. When we're young and in school we think everyone is like us--everyone's trying their hardest at school and wants to excel. We were all wrong.

There was a scandal in Maryland a few years ago where like literally 2 kids in the entire school were doing grade level appropriate math by state test scores. And mind you, these state tests have been modified to be easier after COVID for political reasons (CC insists that if you don't pass a certain percentage of students, you lose your federal funding so there's a huge incentive to boost scores and grad rates, which is how I get illiterate college sophomores). TWO. TONS of money thrown at the schools, but where the fuck is it going?

I haven't even touched on how unsafe schools are these days and no I'm not talking school shootings. I mean we have violent kids mainstreamed in classes. I had a student last semester who would throw pencils every time he got frustrated, and he got frustrated by...basic questions. Every student in that classroom learned essentially NOTHING because we were all on edge for when Volcano Joe was going to blow again.

Cut 50% of administration, pull all mandatory curriculum out and let teachers teach, kick out the disruptive kids and let schools be safe places IN ALL ASPECTS for learning and growing. Money is almost NEVER the fucking answer. Not when you've created a system that can be gamed by administrators and students alike.

obsessed with how fixable society is, on a structural level.

obsessed with how all you need to do is throw money at public education and eliminate most standardized testing and you will start getting smarter, more engaged, kinder adults. obsessed with how giving people safe housing, reliable access to good food, and decent wages dramatically reduces drug overdoses and gun violence. obsessed with how much people actually want to get together and fix infrastructure, invent new ways of helping each other, and create global ways of living sustainably once you give them livable pay to do so. obsessed with how tracking diseases, developing medicines, and improving public health becomes so much easier when you just make healthcare free at point of use.

obsessed with how easy it all becomes, if we can just figure out how to wrench the wealth out of the hands of the hoarders.

[uniquecellest]

Get to know your mutuals: tag game

thanks to @alien--cookie

What's the origin of you blog title? I made this blog back when I was around 15 give or take. I believe that everyone is unique and I did cello back in 5th grade soooo yeah.

OTP(s) + Shipname:

Steve Rogers/Natalia Romanoff (Romogers), Charles Xavier/Erik Lehnsherr (Cherik), Wylan Hyndriks (ne Van Eck)/Jasper Fahey (Wesper), and many more

Favorite Color:

Dark Pink and the colors of the night sky

Favorite Game:

KIngdom Hearts: Birth by Sleep, Mario, Pokemon Blue (Pokemon Go on switch)

Song stuck in your head:

Would You Fall in Love with Me Again - Epic, Tir na nog - Celtic Woman, Teir Abhaile Riu - Celtic Woman, My Kink is Karma - Chappell Roan, Pink Pony Club - Chappell Roan

Weirdest Habbit/Trait:

I often speak with my hands, especially if I'm thinking. I also tend to get lost in my head at times that my lips move (I don't speak it's like lip syncing without using voice idk).

Hobbies:

Reading, writing, baking, cooking, doodling/drawing, looking at houses on realtor.com

If you work, what's your profession:

Shift Lead at a Dunkin Donuts and a Cookie place

Something You're Good At:

Baking. It's a hobby and something I'm good at

Something You're Bad At:

Drawing. I'm still a novice so bases and stuff really help a lot. Also maths. Fuck that subject.

Something You Love:

My 11 yr old German Sheperd. She's still a baby and will always be a baby.

Something you could talk about for hours off the cuff: Leo Acaba and how he is literally the worst in all of Yu-Gi-Oh. I hate that character with a passion and he gets a bad redemption arc too.

Something you hate: math. Also the current economy of the United States.

Something you collect: Idk. I really don't collect things. I'm also trying very hard to save money right now so that puts a damper on things.

What's Your Love Language: Gift Giving heavily, but also quality time and acts of service

Favorite Movie/Show: How I Met Your Mother, Family Guy, American Dad, Star Trek: The Next Generation, X-Men films, Austin Powers trilogy, ATLA/LOK, Winx Club, Strawberry Shortcak, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (2003), Teen Titans, Young Justice, etc.

Favorite Food:

Strawberries, brownies, cookies, pasta, salmon, potatoes,

Favorite Animal:

Lions, Horses, Dolphins

What Were You Like as a Child:

Very shy and introverted, lost in my head.

Favorite Subject at School:

English, Gym, art, chorus, science

Least Favorite Subject:

Math. Unless I'm a major or it's directly related to a field of study why do I need to know the pythagrium therum? (idk how it's spelt), the way to find the center of a slope?

What's Your Best Character Trait:

Sweet, Loyal

What's Your Worst Character Trait:

I can be stubborn

If you could change any detail of your life right now, what would it be:

The state I live in. It's heavy red and my town is a mix between red and blue. My AG is also attempting to sue someone/something for a stupid ass reason.

If You Could Travel in Time, Who Would You Like to Meet:

my grandparents when they were younger, or maybe a younger version of my parents? Or my ancestors that left countries (Ireland and Germany) and came to the United States. Seriously, whyyyyyy

tagging @vvividlyy @wishchip106 @cherikyaoii @bisexualmultifandommess

[sebastian-stardewturnedmegay]

ohh okay thank god thats what i thought because again if you only got a 5/100 id krill myself because theres no way that fair

i mean it still isnt considering points taken out for eye contact is stupid but at least you didnt fail <:]

ooo thats actually interesting!! i did something similar for my advanced placement language class and like... wrote an argumentative essay on manners and etiquette, i also wrote essays about andrew jackson LOL the only reason why i dont like doing them is literally because the school hates the way i write them??? ugh i get flashbacks from my finals (i didnt fail but those grades were NOT good for me T_T)

but i definitely enjoyed writing them i like analysis too :3 oh yeah but dude presidents like them are the reason why i wonder why america has survived this long ...

but fun fact im not actually american!! im south east asian :3 but i did like move around from american school to the next rn im in a japanese one ✌️🫦

also dw about errors!! i definitely know i made some < dyslexia moment BUT hope you slept well and good luck on your shift!! :3

I think the 8 and a half hour long sunday shifts are gonna kill me eventually lol. either that or just speed up my inevitable scoliosis diagnosis. why did everyone decide the sunday was grocery shopping day. Customers are nice at least

also FUCK midterms n finals. it's crazy how teachers will spend most of the year trying to get us to study more times over a long period of time and to avoid all nighters, but then decide to have 8 different tests in one week and only tell you the chapters covered a week beforehand.

I haven't noticed any errors in your answers which really puts in perspective how little of an excuse I have, cause I frequently skip entire words while typing and manage not to notice.

It's insane how bad Ronald Reagan was because he was easily one of the most popular presidents in U.S history at the time

look at his electoral map! Literally every state except for D.C(which isn't a state for stupid and confusing reasons) and Minnesota. Mondale only won Minnesota because he was born there.

honestly i could ramble about how the U.S election system is awful but its really obvious considering how the recent election went. hoping for another Luigi Mangione to get it right on the third attempt

[before-it-felt-like-a-sin]

The despising the not understanding things is something I relate to on a deep level. I love Doctor Who, but it is a shit show timeline and lore wise, there are several other ones I love, but that's the biggest mainstream reference one I can think of. The Three-Body Problem by Liu Cixin was confusing for a whole set of reasons, but it was something I couldn't put down. Confusing medias tend to be amongst some of my favorites as well, 'tis a curse. Why are they so good yet frustrating to no end?

Damn, I'm never good at timing so I'm taking in the win. I have no idea if they are translated well in English, I would need to check it out, I'm going to assume they did well.

YES to the being angered by the ending, I had to 1. Talk to some folks to see how we all interpreted it 2. Digest my anger to try to comprehend things on a deeper level. I tend to like solid endings much more, or open endings if and that's a big if the build-up and plot allows for it to be done in a cohesive manner. I respect you for being able to listen to a book. I lose focus so quickly if I am not doing something.

I definitely get the not reading something in another language despite knowing it somewhat, for me it is Finnish and Gaelic. I can sort of read Portuguese and Italian if it is not at, for example, Shakespearean-level. No this is not bragging, my friend has warned me my tones don't travel well online. I am just a linguistics nerd with linguistic nerd friends.

I have yet to read Wilder Girls. How was it? Spoilers don't matter to me mind you, my friend spoiled it for me a long time ago.

Haven't watched Doctor Who or read the novel you're talking about but I totally get what you're saying. Like I love books and movies and tv shows that require people to think critically, but at the same time I'd love for it to just be spelled out for me.

As for listening to Jawbone believe me, I was cleaning or playing block blast (I hate that sm btw) whenever it was playing because I'd lose focus so fast. I need to be doing something mindless with my hands to be able to listen to anything other than music.

That's the thing about the ending, that it was too loose of an end. I don't know if you've seen heretic, but the ending is very much up to interpretation and I think A24 did that well. While I don't think Mónica Ojeda is a bad author by any stretch of the imagination, I personally would have preferred something a little more concrete.

Don't worry about it haha, I don't take that as bragging. Honestly good for you. I was in Spanish classes for 11 years straight and still don't know anything really. Italian I'm somehow better at despite having only taken it for a semester? Honestly I'm horrendous at languages other than English (I am the dumb American stereotype 💔) but I'm obsessed with people that can speak or comprehend more than one language. I however am choosing to stick to English as I'm literally majoring in it.

Wilder girls was so good and honestly really similar to Jawbone, so I think you'll like it. Same energy as Yellowjackets as well. I don't remember much of it because I read it last when I was like a sophomore in high school (grade 10 for non Americans). I just remember really liking the premise and being mad that the ending wasn't concrete.