#granted this is a vent blog but still-

[yanderes-galore]

First time asking sorry, but what do you think about platonic yan redson with orphan reader?

Hi! Welcome to my blog ^^ I'll try my best to see what I can do for this idea... I hope it's okay. Sorry it took so long to make, I kept returning to it for months but kept running out of ideas since the request was vague :( Hope you like it even it it's short!

Yandere! Platonic! Red Son with Orphan! Darling

Pairing: Platonic

Possible Trigger Warnings: Gender-Neutral Darling, Obsession, Overprotective behavior, Manipulation, Coerced adoption (?), Isolation, Implied kidnapping, Implied forced companionship.

I couldn't tell if you meant Red Son being aged up and caring for an orphan or not?

Either way, I can see Red Son being an overprotective sibling more than a parent.

Red Son would at first be unsure how to deal with you.

Even MK has a parental figure, so hearing you have no parents makes Red Son... unsure about you.

Although he's surprisingly sympathetic for a supposed villain.

Red Son probably didn't know you were an orphan until he got to know you better.

You often hang around MK's friend group so he originally never bothered to ask such a question.

It isn't until Red Son starts to get closer to you that you let it slip.

He was probably doing something like venting to you... talking about his parents and what they expect from him.

Only for you to say something that baffles him.

"At least you have parents... I'm sure they love you a lot if they ask for so much."

He pauses his sentence, staring at you in bewilderment.

You... huh???

This entire time he hasn't known you were an orphan!?

Granted, it's not like he was actively looking into it...

That and you never mentioned it.

He's stunned... but never says anything mean.

He's more just... surprised.

"You're telling me you have no parents...?"

Then you start explaining to Red Son that you see MK's friend group as your family.

He hadn't known they meant so much to you, either.

Red Son was quite oblivious to you until he actually got close.

Afterwards he feels oddly... sympathetic? Protective?

It's a strange feeling to him...

He doesn't know why he cares so much.

Nevertheless... He's still drawn to you.

Imagine over time Red Son actually tries to be your friend...

Although, friendship soon becomes something akin to an overprotective sibling.

Red Son has never had siblings.

But naturally he seems to stick around you like an older brother.

The others no doubt comment on it, MK and Mei especially.

He usually snaps at them, trying to deny that you're anything special to him.

It's all a lie of course... Part of Red Son actually likes the idea of being your older brother.

Red Son nearly dies inside when his parents catch wind of him being so close to you.

He tries desperately to explain himself, he isn't sure why.

Maybe part of him is scared they'll harm you if he doesn't defend you?

I can see his parents finding it... amusing that Red Son cares so much about you.

Human or demon he seems to defend you like you're actually related.

Red Son's parents no doubt want to meet you, which is unnerving for you.

When you meet DBK and Iron Fan, the two may even accept you into their family eventually.

Doesn't matter if you like it or not.

Red Son acts as your brother... and his parents act as your parents.

He takes the role VERY seriously, too.

Even when you don't want him to, Red Son is very protective and strict.

He considers you part of the Bull Family...

Which means you should act like it.

Red Son even drags you to learn tinkering and inventing with him.

He views it as bonding.

Pretty soon he even tries to isolate you from MK and the others.

His family is yours... It's the only family you need.

Actually, why stop there?

Why not just move you in?

You want a family, don't you?

You're lucky Red Son cares...

He can give you a family, a home, even brotherly love if you want! (Even if you don't....)

It's concerning how fast he becomes obsessed...

It's all a whirlwind before you're moved into his home and practically having a bunk bed with him.

By this point you're in too deep.

Red Son doesn't want you to feel alone.

He'll try out this brother thing for you.

No one's going to convince him otherwise.

Not unless they wish to be incinerated.

Long story short, Red Son becomes obsessed with being your big brother...

Which in the end makes you join his family... most likely against your will.

[communistkenobi]

I love finding new communists blogs because you immediately have to scroll through all the posts to see if you wanna follow them or block them lmao. Anyway from what I understand you work in western academia to some degree and as a student taking some classes in the social sciences it’s such a pain in the ass trying to even bring up a Marxist perspective. How do you deal with how much pushback socialism has in academia?

I’m doing a PhD in sociology ! And please feel free to block me, we are all annoying etc 

I would say that resistance to socialist ideas is a major source of frustration for me in academia - a learning curve for me has been gearing my writing & research to work around that type of institutional hostility. It depends on the discipline as well. Given that Marx is such a titanic figure in sociology I find it easier to engage with his work openly (although you will be mocked for it lol - it’s viewed as a dead-end project in the West since the USSR collapsed), whereas more history- or politics-based courses I’ve taken have been extremely hostile to even tepid Marxist analysis. I have friends to vent to and have found other people in my discipline who are like-minded, which has helped. You will need to do a lot of tactical retreats - I’ve found that tying your analysis to state policy helps a lot, it helps you get grants, and academics trade in policy-talk across disciplines so it will prepare you for that if you want to stay in academia.

I have also been making peace with the fact that academia is not really the place to “do” socialism - it is a deeply political job, and my ideological commitments motivate me to do work and research that I hope are beneficial to the world, but I think the authority and privileges afforded to academics, not academia itself, is the better avenue to conduct political activity - participating in student & left-wing actions, giving money and resources to activist groups, using your prestigious position to publicly speak on issues, sign important documents for vulnerable people (profs are counted as authorities to sign off on name change documents for trans people in Canada for example, as well as visa and citizenship proof I believe?), things like that. There was that Canadian doctor, Dr. Yipeng Ge, who was suspended from his university position for speaking out against Israel and went to Palestine on a medical mission, Engels used his family’s money to fund Marx & socialist actions, Lenin went to law school, etc (i am NOT remotely comparing myself to any of them to be clear lol, just demonstrating that there is historical precedent for this way of thinking). I’ve done a decent amount of union + community work and the reoccurring lesson I keep learning is that there are many little, vacant positions of power sprinkled throughout the world that will help you organize and agitate above and beyond your individual capabilities. And the right wing knows this! They take over local school board committees and town halls and run for office in their local neighbourhoods all the time, often unopposed, and use that to exert terrible political influence.

I try very much to resist the “one of the good ones” mindset re: my own career in academia and is one I struggle with pretty often. being pragmatic about what academic research actually does in the world is still something I’m grappling with. Academia has provided me with an incredibly prestigious education and a lot of social capital that I hope to use for some amount of good. I’m also betting on what is essentially a lottery ticket, given how rare tenure-track university positions are, so maybe all of this will be irrelevant anyway lol. I’m not sure if that’s helpful but it’s not a settled issue for me either, so if this reads as vague or wishy-washy that’s why!

[subsystems]

hope sending ask is ok rn, i have hard time looking resource. looking for book how to co-exist with independent dissociative parts (have system but not feel safe in saying DID yet). cannot do therapist addressing parts yet but want to cope in daily life. hope can help. or others comment/reblog and give. thank you 🍀

This ask was sent a while ago, I hope you're doing okay now anon. You say you can't talk to a therapist yet but I hope you have someone else in your life who is supportive and you can talk to about these things! You shouldn't have to face this alone.

Even though you don't have therapeutic support, it's still possible to build up communication and cooperation with your parts. I reblog a lot of tips and resources to my coping tag if you want to check that out. Here are some other resources that you might find helpful:

DID/OSDD Self-help Masterlist There are so many resources here, categorized by different topics. You'll find stuff here for both survivors and loved ones, and you don't need to have DID/OSDD to use them!

Beauty After Bruises Blog You'll find so many articles here on coping with daily life as a dissociative survivor. I love how they're written, they feel very approachable and almost calming to read.

Dissociative Living Admittedly, I haven't read many of these articles but the few I've seen have been good. I think their writing is very approachable for people who are new to all of this.

DIS-SOS Lots of advice and informative articles on living with DID here -- in both English and German! I've found some really interesting and unique coping tips here, I definitely recommend it. It's actually because of this blog that I discovered one of my favorite methods of system communication.

CTAD Clinic Youtube Channel A channel run by the director of this clinic which specializes in dissociation and trauma. I've watched probably all of his videos -- they're very good! Lots of the videos provide tools and self-help tips on coping with dissociation & dissociative parts!

Carolyn Spring's Blog You'll find amazing articles here about trauma and dissociation, but do be aware that the author is both a professional and a survivor with DID herself. She isn't afraid to talk about her lived experience, shining a light on the reality of trauma and dissociation which can be confronting but oh-so empowering to read.

System Speak Podcast A podcast run by a DID system. She talks about her own healing journey as well as interviews professionals and dives into the psychology behind trauma and dissociation. Personally, I think the website is a bit hard to navigate but every podcast I've listened to has been extremely informative and relatable!

Self-help books can also be extremely useful if you don't have access to a therapist. You can find a bunch of free downloads here! I would recommend starting with "Got Parts? An Insider's Guide to Managing Life Successfully with Dissociative Identity Disorder" by ATW. Personally, I think this is the best book to start with. It's a bit old and there are some outdated ideas in it, but I think it's a very gentle entry into learning system communication and coping with DID if you have never worked with a therapist.

Some other resources that might be useful:

Strategies for coping with distressing voices

FREE 100 page e-book for trauma survivors

Talk/vent to listeners on this non-crisis support chat line

Apply for a grant to receive financial help or a therapy box -> (Also learn about the Therapy Box Project! If anyone is able to donate, please do!)

- Sunflower

[lol-jackles]

Hi, how are you?

This post is more of a vent and some comparison between supernatural and Buffy the Vampire Slayer.

I was just listening to the "sacrifice" melody from the episode "The Gift" and I started to ramble a little.

If we put both series together I can see that Sam is the reflection of everything that Buffy is. That is to say, he would have basically become the character of Buffy if he did not have Dean in his life, if he were an only child, he would have a legacy to fulfill despite wanting the opposite but fulfilling exactly the destiny of the.

Now that I'm analyzing the series I see a lot of Buffy in the character of Sam, as if they were inspired by her to create him, which is great and maybe that's why he became my favorite character.

The entire journey that both characters take throughout their lives leads them to the same point, the sacrifice for their brother/sister. Both make the maximum expression of love they can, not for the world, but for the person they love, one has heaven as a reward and the other hell.

When you say that if the character was just Sam in the show, I firmly believe that the show would have been a success just the same.

Sorry for my English.

No worries your English is good. Like you I've always saw a strong parallel between Buffy Summers and Sam Winchester, and even though I've said that Supernatural with just Sam would work with some tweaking (X), it may not lasted 15 years without Dean. But nonetheless the show still could have been a success for five to seven seasons, like Buffy.

Even though Buffy has her Scooby gang, I’ve complained on my blog that they don’t actually listen to her when she needs emotional support.  The one who does give is her polarizing sister.  Buffy’s disgust and disappointment that her closest friends were unable to distinguish between her and Buffybot the sex robot was both hilarious and terribly sad. Fans have even called Buffy "whiny" for having opinions, occasionally being vulnerable, frightened and sad. It couldn’t possibly be because her friends repeatedly fuck her over, she was yanked out of heaven without her consent, she’s been burdened with huge responsibility, and she’s constantly taken for granted, right? She couldn’t possibly have any reason to be angry and to speak up about it.   Just like Sam.

After 22 years, Buffy the Vampire Slayer still holds up. Besides flipping the trope of a small blonde girl chasing after monsters instead of being chased by them, the show helped solidify the formula of season-long story arcs (X) along with stand-alone episodes.  Buffy was basically the precursor to the Golden Age of television; it was ahead of its time.

Buffy Summers and Sam Winchester...

After

[lapdogchase]

people joke about cyberstalking all the time, and like granted the jokes can be funny, ive made them too- i've doxxed transphobic politicians before i promise i have no moral highground on the issue- but it is so deeply fucking unsettling when someone's actually Watching You. and they know about 0-follower vent accounts you've never told them about, and dug through years of posts on abandoned accounts, saved old selfies from 4+ years ago, etc etc etc. and you have no way of knowing if they're still watching you, no matter how many new accounts you make or how many times you change your url. the only way i could be sure is if i completely nuked my entire internet presence and started over and i'm just. not willing to do that and give up the friends + mutuals + memories + mundane to do list posts + the people who know me by url and dislike me over discourse opinions (hi). but i've been very close to doing it, and i did delete my old blog with 6 years of my life documented on it bc of it. and this was years ago now but i still think about it basically every day because of how insanely violating it felt. idk what my point is or if i even have one i just am thinking about it again i guess

[howellatme-writes]

Tomb Buster

Steven Grant x gn!reader, hints of Marc Spector gn!reader

Summary:

You returned from a trip abroad and are trying to get the spare key back to the apartment from Steven. However, you are unable to catch either of the boys due to their busy schedule, and you start to wonder if they are ignoring you.

Themes and warnings: Neighbors, Neighbors to lovers, Angst, Hurt/Comfort, Hints of abuse, not beta-read, no use of y/n, gender-neutral reader (If I missed any warnings pls, let me know, and I'll add!)

Made for Moon Knight-cember Day 17/18: Rainy Day and/or VHS tape

Word Count: 3.4k

Author's Notes: First fic on my new writer's blog! I probably won't post very often, but I thought it would be nice to have a spot for my fics on Tumblr! Also, the first time I tried to specifically stay gender neutral with the reader, if I missed any pronouns, feel free to let me know!

It had been a few days since you returned from the trip abroad, and you still couldn’t catch Steven to get the spare key back to your apartment. His schedule was often the opposite of yours, and every time, you just continued to miss each other by mere minutes to and from the system’s various jobs. The responses to your texts to meet up the past few days were from Marc. They were short and avoidant, unlike the flirty, flowery texts Steven would send you featuring selfies with the plants he had watered for that day. 

One night, Steven initiated a late-night video chat, trying to cheer you up after a difficult night with your parents and co-workers. Then you realized the neighbor across the hall might have liked you more than you thought. His tired smile while he lay in bed at 2 in the morning, the freshly showered curls he brushed out of his face while he consoled you and let you vent about your issues made you realize you liked him back just as much. He told you about his boss, Donna, while you told him about your equally horrible boss while you’re stationed across the pond for work. Towards the end of your trip, you were starting to miss your home away from home more than you enjoyed being in your hometown, and it desperately showed in another Facetime call.

Marc started fronting the last few nights before you flew home, and the conversations were short. There were no selfies with your plants. He would just text, “Watering is done.” or “This cat’s shits are the worst thing I ever smelled.” Steven didn’t front as much, but his presence was still there. He even added googly eyes to the potted plants just to make you smile and laugh. Marc had sent you a phone with the caption, “I guess Steven snuck in when I thought I was asleep.” By the time you boarded your flight back to London, you were yearning to talk to Steven again, but it didn’t seem like you had that connection with Mark.

It was a rainy day, and you had just taken some of your propagated spider plants and potted them in some small terracotta pots when you checked your phone once again to see when you could meet up with Steven or Marc to get your spare key back. Nothing. You sat on the couch, placed the little spider plants on the coffee table, and leaned your elbows on your knees, your hand holding your chin as you huffed out a sigh, looking aimlessly around your apartment. If they weren’t interested, they would at least give you your key back, right? Hell, even just slide it under your door and never speak to you again. That was an option, too, right? Why are the boys stalling?

You reached to the sheet of googly eyes left by Steven and placed two eyes on each side of the plants’ pots. You couldn’t help but chuckle, and you decided to take it to the next level by reaching to grab a Sharpie to draw mouths to accompany each pair of eyes. On one side of the pot, a sad face with a tear, the other a smiley face. You did that with two of the pots, turning the sad faces towards you. You study them and pull out your phone, taking a picture of the tragic little spider plants, turn the pots, and repeat with the other side. Feeling mischievous and opening the texts, scrolling down to find their number, you attach the picture of the sad pots with the caption: “The plants miss you.” and hit send, waiting for his reaction.

After a few hours of sound sleep, you gradually become aware of a faint buzzing sound. As you start to stir and open your eyes, you realize your phone is on the table next to you, vibrating with incoming messages. You stretch your arms and legs, feeling your cat's weight on your chest and the warmth of its fur against your skin. Slowly, you sit up on the couch, blinking and yawning before picking up your phone. You squint at the screen, adjusting to the brightness, and see that two new texts are waiting for you. Your heart skips a beat as you realize they're from Steven, the person you've been waiting to hear back from. As you unlock your phone, your cat moves to the opposite end of the couch and curls up, seemingly undisturbed by your sudden movement.

“We should turn those plants' frowns upside down! -S” sent the text at 6:00 pm.

“???”- Was the last text sent at 9:00 pm.

The clock on the wall showed 9:52 PM, and you let out a deep sigh. You walked up to the window and glanced outside, only to see that it was pitch black and raining heavily. You couldn't help but feel a pang of disappointment, as you knew that you had probably missed meeting up with the boys again. You knew that Marc often picked up late-night shifts, but he never told you what he did.

With a tiny sliver of hope, you slide your phone into your pocket and pick up the two plants you had meant to give Steven. You stepped into some comfy slippers, went to his apartment across the hall, and knocked on the door, hoping he was home.

“Just a moment!” Steven calls, and you smile, feeling your heart start to race. After weeks of texting back and forth, you finally get to see him in person. After hearing several locks hurriedly being undone, Steven swings the door open to greet you, “Evenin’ Looking to get your spare key back?” breathing heavily, messy, damp curls in his face with an awkward smile and wrinkled brow. “Oh, you brought plants over?” he looked down at the two small plants with sad faces facing him.

“To be fair, they missed you. Look at them!” You try and smile. “I thought you might like them. A little extra thank you for caring for my cat and plants..”

“Oh. Oh! Thank you!” Steven said wide-eyed, “You can come on in if you like. I think Marc left your key by the fridge.” he gestured, letting you inside.

You step inside and kick your slippers off, looking around in awe at the sheer number of books. You could tell he had a lot of books from the video chats, but the amount of books covering the bookcases and every surface in his flat was beyond your imagination, “Wow… you have your books, I have my plants.” ​​

“I’m not bothering you boys or anything, am I?” you ask distantly. Despite the clutter, the flat just had this cozy feel, like you’d want to sit on a couch and curl up with Steven, blankets, tea, and a book.

“Ahhh yeah. Usually, I do a lot of reading when I can’t sleep.” Steven confessed sheepishly, rubbing his neck, “Would you like a cuppa or anything?” He asked from his tiny kitchen, already grabbing two cups from the cupboard.

“Yeah, sure,” you say, studying the makeshift furniture before you. A wooden top balancing upon half an end table and a sawhorse, with a small desk lamp on the left side, formed the kitchen table. Papers, maps, dirty dishes, and a magnifying glass lay on the table with other small tchotchkes. You walked past it to take in the rest of Marc and Steven’s flat, realizing it probably wasn’t the safest, sturdiest place for his first two plants.

“No. No!” Steven said quickly, “Not sure what Marc was doing before, but judging from the wet hair, probably a shower or somethin’.” Steven suggested offhandly as he put the kettle on.

Steven comes after you and grabs the plants from you, not noticing the hat or gloves. “Sorry about the mess. I’d blame Marc, but he’s always nagging at me to clean. Just never thought we’d have company.” He scurries around as if trying to find a spot to put them. Eventually, he settles, puts the plants on a small coffee table, and rushes to clear the couch of cardboard boxes before gesturing for you to sit down.

You walk further into the flat to see his desk against the skylight. It was still just as cluttered as the makeshift table, but at least the desk didn’t look like it would break with adding a plant or two, but space would have to be made for them. You shuffled around, and your foot bumped into something wet, a newsboy hat and leather gloves tucked under the desk, presumably damp from the rain.

You sit down on the worn leather couch and smile at him, moving one of the open boxes into your lap, just happy he was shifting all this stuff around to make space for you in the apartment, “It’s no problem, really. I was the one that just knocked on your door, no warning.”

“To be fair, Marc should’ve spent the last little bit sorting the place out instead of doing whatever he was doin'. Taking a shower, maybe; everything feels a little damp’,” Steven murmured as he sat on the couch. “ I-I was hoping you would come over, though,” he said, interlocking his own fingers together, not sure what to do with them, before just setting them down on his thighs.

“It’s fine. Really.” you try to reassure Steven, scooting closer to him on the couch, holding the box to your chest. “My apartment was totally deep-cleaned before I left. It’s usually not that clean, a little more cluttered.”

“Oh, yeah? Feel a bit better ‘bout this then.” Steven gestured to his organized chaos of the hastily moved boxes around the both of you.

You move a bit closer to him again under the guise of setting the box by your feet, “How was the flight? Still got any jet lag?” he quietly asks as you set the box down, and a well-worn VHS cover catches your eye, not even recognizing he was trying to make small talk.

You lean forward and pick the VHS up, “What's this relic of the past doing here?” I flip it over and read the title out loud, trying to tease him light-heartedly. “Tomb Buster? Huh. What sort of Off-brand Indiana Jones, B- movie, is this?” you chuckle, holding it up to Steven to show him without looking at the cover.

Steven froze like you had just found something extremely private and personal. “Well…uh-um-” his mouth open and shut, repeatedly struggling to find the words to say. Your brow furrows in confusion, wondering why the movie created such a reaction. He looks at his reflection on the TV in shock.

You turn the VHS tape around and look at the cover more closely. Moving your thumb, you  quietly read the wording at the bottom of the VHS tape, “When danger is near, Steven Grant has no fear?”

Steven darted nervously from the TV fearfully back to you, and he gulped audibly, speaking in a bit of a shaky voice “It’s one of Marc’s all-time favorite movies as a kid. It’s important to him, and he says he’s offended you called it ‘off-brand Indiana Jones.’”

“Oh.” You look back at the TV but don’t see what Steven sees. You spy the VHS player next to the Blu-ray, both covered in a thin layer of dust. “Have you ever seen it?” you ponder curiously.

Steven heaves a heavy sigh and takes the VHS tape from your hands, his warm fingers lingering on top of your own before placing the tape aside, “No. I haven’t.” he confessed quietly, looking up at you with sorrowful eyes. “Don’t think I’ll live up to my namesake.”

“Steven?” your hands reach out to grasp his again, feeling them tremble slightly. You rub the back of his hands with your thumbs, hoping to ease his anxiety.

“I’m not- I’m just something that Marc made up,” he whispered, ashamed, looking down at the VHS tape, “I found out when I saw- the movie poster one day. In his childhood bedroom.” He seemed to zone out for a moment, but when the kettle started whistling, it was like he had jumped out of his skin. He got up without a word, walking quickly to the stove as if thankful for the out in the conversation.

Steven sniffed as he grabbed a tin of tea bags from the cupboard trying to change the subject, “English Breakfast? Chamomile? I have lots. Take your pic.”

You felt awful as you stared down at the VHS tape. Dr. Steven Grant looked back at you as if judging you harshly. The plants' faces that felt comical mimicked the sadness of the heavy topic in the air. It never crossed your mind to ask who was the original and who was the alter. Part of you assumed it was Steven because you saw him the most between the two boys.

You slowly get up from the couch, follow him into the kitchen, and boldly wrap your arms around his waist, hugging him from behind. Steven freezes again, avoiding your gaze, “Chai. I don’t care which one of you is original.” you murmur, resting your head against his shoulder as he slowly prepares his tea. You sighed, your breath on his neck making his hair stand on end, your lips almost brushing against his neck. “Our texts, the late-night Facetime, they were real, right? I always looked forward to your texts. There was something real between us, right?”

Steven nodded as he reached out to pick up the chai tea packet and tore it open. He then dunked the tea bag into the water for you. You tried to catch his gaze as you leaned against the counter to gauge his reaction. He seemed lost in thought, rocking against the countertop and staring straight into space. Finally, he looked at you and began pouring out his emotions. "But I'm not real!" he exclaimed, his voice cracking. "How could you be happy with us? Marc said you'd be daft to care about someone as bonkers as us. He doesn't know why I told you about us in the first place. He thinks we should keep our distance..."

“Steven! Marc!” you exclaim, trying to break his downward spiral, physically turning him into you, your hands grabbing his arms, almost wanting to shake some sense into him “I don’t care! I do care! I mean-”

His lips crash on yours, and before you know it, your hands find his curls, still a little wet from earlier, and he’s leaning against you, his hands on either side of you on the counter. As your cheeks touch, you can feel the tears that spilled down his, dampening your own. As you feel him suck your lower lip, he moves his hands to your hips. After a second, he pulls back, his face tinted with blush, apologizing profusely, “Sorry-I-shouldn’t have- I never- Not like this-”

“It’s okay. It’s more than okay.” I smile, caressing his cheek before kissing him again softly, trying to convey how much you care while your lips move against his.

“We should have a sit-down, yeah?” Steven asked quietly after a minute. You grabbed your mugs and moved back to the couch to sit. Steven takes a bit sip of his tea before setting it down on the coffee table. “I didn’t realize I was created to help Marc until very recently-” he began, and you reached out and rested your hand over his. “The way I found out wasn’t ideal. It was actually pretty traumatic.” He looked over at his reflection on the TV, pausing the conversation as your heart raced.

“Is Marc saying something?” you question

“It’s like we can see and hear each other in reflections sometimes. I don’t know how it works, but it does.” Steven comments, still looking at the black TV screen, before turning to meet your gaze again, “You know we have D.I.D, but I never told you why-”

“Oh Steven, it’s okay, I don’t need to…,” you try to say, squeezing his hand as you set my mug of tea down by the VHS tape. Steven’s guard came down with a small sigh of relief. “Steven, you or Marc can tell me when you’re ready. It doesn’t need to be tonight. We can just hang out or something.”

“Thank you.” Steven smiled earnestly. He looked back down at Tomb Busters and grabbed the tape, “Marc says we need to watch this ‘cinematic masterpiece’ before we trash talk it.” 

He looked at the back of the VHS, reading the synopsis. “Here, you’ll find archaeologist Grant up to his neck in danger and -spiders- up to his kneecaps in crawling arachnids. Steven hates spiders!!” he hums and nods in agreement. “He hates Nazis, too, and he’ll stop at nothing to keep those goose-stepping goons from obtaining the mystical statue of Coyolxauhqui.”

“Sounds like Indiana, but he hates snakes.”

It takes a minute to set it up, but Tomb Buster is playing on the TV as you snuggle into Steven under a blanket. It was almost like Marc and Steven were watching the movie with you. Steven repeated Marc’s commentary as the film went on, and much to your enjoyment, Marc even confessed that the movie was indeed a lot cheesier now that he was watching it as an adult. You were surprised Marc didn’t front to watch it himself, but it seemed like he wanted Steven to have some sort of positive experience with his namesake on the tv.

It was easy to pick up on some of the mannerisms that belonged to both the Steven on screen, and the Steven that gradually shifted to holding you as the movie continued. You would give his hand a slight squeeze or kiss his cheek when something was recognized, hoping it wasn’t too much of a challenging experience to see Marc’s muse for Steven on screen, but if it was, he never lot on. The movie concluded with a hint of a sequel, but after a quick internet search, you find the sequel never made it past the writer’s room.

“Float like a butterfly, sting like a Bee. My name is Steven with a V.” Steven sighed, disappointed when the movie finished. “I thought I came up with that.”

“When did you say that?” you ask, looking up at him.

“A while ago.” he spoke, gazing at you tenderly, “Watching Dr. Grant was odd, but it wasn’t as weird as I thought it would be. Thank you for watching it with us.”

You smile at him and sit up, glancing at the clock on your phone. It was nearly midnight. “Do you have work in the morning?” I asked quietly

Steven shrugs it off, “Yeah, but I don’t sleep much, remember? I’d Facetime you until 2 am at least.”

“I remember. Seeing you lay in bed, I couldn’t help but think your chest would make a good pillow.” you admit, feeling your cheeks heat up at the confession, “and I was right.”

Steven's face flushed with a tinge of pink as he leaned forward and whispered in your ear, his lips brushing against your skin. "Can I kiss you again?" he asked, his voice barely above a whisper. You couldn't help but feel a flutter of excitement in your chest. You nodded, leaning towards him, but he suddenly shifted his position, reaching for the spider plants nearby and hiding their googly-eyed expressions. "Don't need the spider plants watching us, do we?" he quipped, a mischievous glint in his eyes.

You couldn't help but laugh at his comment, burying your head in his neck before your lips met again in another slow, passionate kiss. Steven seemed a little unsure of what to do with his hands, but he eventually rested them on your hips, his fingers trailing up and down your sides in a soft caress.

As you leaned your head against Steven's, you whispered breathlessly, "Maybe I don't need that spare key back after all."

You could feel his chest rumble with a soft chuckle as he responded, "Nah." He wrapped his arms around you, pulling you close as your lips met once more, the world around you fading away as Steven held you in a sweet embrace.

[sophieinwonderland]

i hope it's okay to come here, and i'm sorry in advance if this gets a little long. i'm not sure if this is a vent or not, but i'm on anon because i'm very shy (and still struggling to leave as i'll explain in a bit).

i used to be anti-endo and i just want to know i'm not going to be all alone when i finally make the leap away from it, and your blog has some of the largest plural reach i know of. if anyone reading this has the time to hear me out or offer advice, i'd appreciate it. no obligation, of course.

i wasn't acting in bad faith. i was acting in genuine concern for people who i was led to believe were damaging themselves by "not confronting their trauma" or damaging others by spreading misinfo about my disorder.

granted, all of that behavior was absolutely not okay and a massive overstep, but i was a kid who felt like the weight of the world was on my shoulders. autistic strong sense of justice, yanno?

i know now that endos were never even claiming to have DID in the first place, and i also know that endos are plural - just in a different way than i am.

the anti-endo community i was in was an echo chamber of misinformation and disinformation. they made me feel like there was no way out and that i would lose my support network (what little i had), and as a cult survivor who was being stalked and threatened at that point of my life, that scared me enough into staying.

i was anti-endo for nearly four years if memory serves correctly. i couldn't find any other info than what they fed to me, so of course i believed them. of course i thought i was helping. i spent hours upon hours every day just telling people endos were wrong because i wanted to save them from manipulation that didn't even exist and i wanted to save others with DID from being fed misinformation that also didn't exist. i also was in such an environment that if i didn't partake, then i'd be next on their fakeclaiming/harassment list.

anti-endos as a whole are a community built on hating a problem that isn't even real. the problems that they pitched to me were baseless false accusations. endos don't make the claims that antis say they do. endos are just existing and trying to survive just like me. communities shouldn't be built on hate. they should be built on community and kindness.

and that's apparently a hot enough take to lose almost every friend i've ever made. i'm worried that i won't be able to find other systems who'd want to associate with me (which is entirely fair - i've been a harmful person and i'd never force them to be around me if they didn't want to), but i can't do this hatred and vitriol thing anymore. i just want to be kind. i just want to care about people and accept them for who they are. i don't want to be mean anymore.

- thunderstorm anon

Thanks for being open-minded and willing to change. Admitting that you're wrong and being open to change is incredibly brave!

In my experience, the pro-endo community has proven to be fairly forgiving. @SysmedsAreSexist was probably one of the most prolific anti-endos on the site for years. They had similar fears to you that when switching sides, they wouldn't be accepted, and wrote about it here:

But since then, I think they've been welcomed into the community by most pro-endos.

I think that when you make the leap, you won't find yourself as alone as you fear.

Best of luck to you! Sending my love best wishes your way! 💖💖💖

[eddo-tensei]

I spent years trying to stop a nightmare from manifesting and in the end, I failed. (VENT)

This post contains a lot of emotional vomit, so apologies if this comes off an intense.

If you're wondering why I've been inactive on this blog and this fic for so long, it's because I've made the mistake of getting myself involved in politics. For those who are new, I am someone who's always been concerned over people's right to free expression, especially online. Doesn't matter if it's being threatened by Republicans or Democrats. I was doing all that I could to try and stop it. Unfortunately, it felt impossible to stop the government at large from slowly but surely stripping away these rights. The latest chance I had to try and protect these rights was through this year's election.

Simply put, I couldn't trust the GOP to uphold these rights no matter what the "free speech warriors" said. More likely, they would censor it if they felt like it. The only way I could see it is to try and get the Democratic candidate elected. It felt like we had a chance especially when the old one dropped out for a relatively younger candidate. We thought we were onto something here, but we weren't.

Not only did we lose, but we lost badly either because people got too confident like in 2016 or there were too many people who felt more like spiting us than making things better for everyone. No amount of reassurance, whether it came from my friends or my family, was able to calm me down about what could happen in the future. Not only did I have to deal with terminally online assclowns dehumanizing and mocking people like me for the next four years, but we could lose so many of the rights that a lot of us, even these terminally online folks, take for granted.

There are people out there who would rather allow tyrants to rule over them than to get along with people they don't agree with and that's incredibly depressing to me. Honestly, the only thing I could think of is how much people will end up regretting their decision as the years go on. I assumed that after it became clear that these people would try to cheat or even unleash a riot onto government grounds, nobody would be willing to let them have power again. I suppose I was wrong to believe in that.

Honestly, it's hard to find any hope in this. That said, I'm gonna try and find it anyways. It feels like all anyone could do at this point is give up, but I've learned that it's never our only option. We have to do what we can to try and make things better even if it seems impossible. Maybe down the line, some of these people will grow to regret their decisions and join us in our cause, but I'm not gonna hold my breath over it. All I know right now is that this is just utterly demoralizing and I'm not looking forward to what may happen in the future. People on the left mocking us for not being committed enough to their desires and people on the right mocking us for daring not to think like they do. I know it's ridiculous to invoke "Bothsidesbad", but I've never felt this way more than I have now.

Still, there's still tomorrow and tomorrow will be another day to go forward. We've been through four years of this before, eight if you want to be technical about it. We can hopefully get through four more.

[vampziry]

i havent manifested as much with the void, it’d be much for some but for me it isnt, but just what i wanted, anime merch, money, a job, friends and food. i am honestly about to be manifesting for other aspects of my life, im a minor still and i cant do a lot of moves because im studying all day and my parents are super strict, mega strict i’d say. i sometimes feel trapped at home, my pets died and i dont have time for anything at all. i barely go out and im always manifesting money mostly because i had to stop working and my parents arent filling their provisions role here, istg. i wanna take care of myself by myself alone and i’d like to move out or revise my whole family, i have a lot of problems and this is just a little vent because i think that some of you are getting too comfy with me thinking i have everything for granted just because i can tap into the void easily, you can do it too, not my fault u dont apply what u learn.. i did upload a success story months ago, before my break. its there somewhere, i might tap into the void before next month to fix some stuff going on, manifest a better life for me and help my mental health cause i’ve been feeling horrible and unworthy of everything, i’d like to start the year feeling amazing and being the best version of myself. ofc i guide you all with what i’ve learned and i appreciate that y’all are always tuned to my content but some of you press me too much in dms, i offer you help and then when i give u the help u dont even say thanks or disappear completely, or ask me to do everything for you. i cant, its your journey so please… be respectful i’ve worked very hard on my blog, i even tell y’all to check my most liked posts because those r the ones that have what youre looking for, i’ll make a masterlist soon.

[hells-greatestdad]

Rules

Please leave a like if you've read these.

Basic need-to-knows:

The mun of this blog tends to make a lot of OOC posts. Frankly, they don't know how to stop - so if excessive OOC is an issue for you, consider not following. Some OOC posts may include mental health vents and will be tagged accordingly. (#vent cw or #negative cw)

Please reblog from source for ask memes. Please also send one in before reblogging if you can, especially if it's something like a munday meme.

Asks intended to be thread starters (usually ploted or simply via ooc discussion) will be answered on an original post to make thread trimming easier.

Ask memes turned into threads will be replied to on a separate post. A preference I've come to. (Not all attempts to make an ask meme a thread will result in continuation on my end. Please speak to me OOC if you really want me to continue it.)

Open threads are open to all and either tagged as #open or #muse status, but I reserve the right to be selective in which replies I interact with. Muse status posts involve high selectivity as I'm not fishing for replies so much with those.

OC-friendly, but please talk to mun ooc first

Default verse, at present, is defined as canon setting immediately post s1 of Hazbin Hotel. Click the red text for more info. (Portrayals and threads/interactions do not need to fall under default verse.)

Shipping & related:

This blog will primarily ship Lucifer x Lillith (also called LuciLith or sometimes fallenmelody). I by default view the LuciLith ship as overall one that contains mutual love and respect, even if there may be significant challenges. So.... please talk to me if you have something else in mind. More toxic interpretations would need to be discussed before we play. More guidelines and stuff on shipping below.

If you have a Lilith muse, you are granted autoship and may interact with my Lucifer as if they're married. But as everyone has different portrayals, I will check your pinned and rules before assuming the same.

Speaking of shipping: for romantically-themed asks or spicy themed asks, please understand you will need to either be shipping with me (as in, we've talked ooc and agreed we're a ship or at least agreed try to develop a ship), or you can DM me ooc and ask about sending one in

Tags to potentially blacklist:

While in some verses I write for, Lucifer did have sexual relations with Eve, I will never write him as cheating on Lilith. I simply don't think he would. (I will never impose this headcanon on anyone. Any and all interactions will assume that Lucifer never slept with Eve at all, unless you want to interact with that headcanon.) Interactions with Eve that reference this will be tagged as #eve hc cw for blacklist purposes

In the same vein, I have some verses connected to the above where Cain is Lucifer's biological son. This is something I will never force on any RP partners, but it is still something that will sometimes be played on this blog. Tagged as #cain au for blacklisting purposes.

[sillypers0n]

sooo hii sorry if this is really awkward or. idk uncomfortable im not trying to start shit just. concerned.

so me and fizzy have been following each other for a few months, not really friends just fellow dca artists being mutuals but recently ive just been a little. uncomfortable with them. they sent me what sounded like a very, sui-baiting-ish ask a few days ago. a lot of their vents seem to claim being a victim a lot and im just unsure which side of the story to believe in. im aware there is a situation that i believe you, them, and one other person all got caught in but i dont know any of the details. im just unsure if i should still be interacting with fizzy but i dont want to make assumptions against them without like. basis or evidence? granted fizzy hasnt provided evidence against you either, just highly emotional messy vents so i am a. neutral party ig you could say

im not asking for a full story of all the details but i think you seem to know them a lot better fhan i do just based on a couple posts ive seen and if you have any. idk. advice? or your viewpoint on it? would love to know. feel free to block if you dont like being pried like this,, i dont want to get involved but i dont want to be friends with the wrong people

and if you have plenty of evidence or sources of evidence against fizzy feel free to provide it in dms

hope youre doing okay ^^

ill dm you, but be aware that its going to be a lot.

oh also — i cant dm ya, it says you can only be dmed by blogs you follow.

[mrabubu]

what happened between you and Dork? (WS) I don’t want to pry at all, but iv just been genuinely curious and also confused as to why the art all got removed and seemingly for "hateful comments?" If you don’t feel comfortable enough answering that’s totally fine, but man some context would be super helpful.

Uuuuh, okay this part is just me venting a bit...

Yeah, I get that people would like some context,

I'm just still nervous/scared? For how people interpret words.

And I've already been told (because they blocked me so I can't see for myself) dork promised that if people start to "slander" them, they will "drop receipts", despite our dialogue being kinda personal thing, I guess. So I'm just trying not to trigger/provoke them, and just trying to distance my thoughts from all this, but at the same time it's hard considering that WS had a big inspiration/mental help/influence on me and it became kinda my routine for almost half a year to read new chapters, follow other updates and do stuff, and now I can't, not only because I'm tossed out of their blog, but also because

Well

It hurts? After all that situation.

The situation:

We had a dialogue during which expressed different opinions on a certain topic. For them it was enough to wanting to stop associating and communicate with me. So I decided if they don't want to associate with me, then, please, take down my art. At least, it's logical. If you don't want to have anything to do with a person then you'd like to clean your work space from any reminders of them. And just in case, so no one would thought I forced dork to remove drawings they payed for, I drew those for free. Just because I wanted. It wasn't about the money.

Plus with their reaction and the "hateful comments" notes (though I don't know what was hateful about asking to take down my art. I don't believe I was rude or anything), I wanted my fanart to be gone too, because I don't want them to be taken for granted and promote work of someone who wants nothing to do with me.

I'm not encouraging any more association, just leave it be. Right now I'm just trying to distract myself.

Thanks for understanding.

[am-i-the-asshole-official]

AITA for blocking my ex after he broke up with me?

I already tried to break up with him a week into the relationship because I didn’t feel like I was ready for one, but he insisted he wanted to make it work, so we stayed together for a while longer. I liked being friends with him because I have AvPD and he always made sure I didn’t feel pressured to instantly respond to him ever because that stresses me the fuck out and sends me into prey animal mode, but he always said he was trying to be accommodating and patient.

However, I kinda disappeared off the face of the internet for about a month while I was stuck deep in animation crunch working on a project for school, I didn’t talk to ANYBODY, him included, and at this point I had also decided I would break up with my ex using the old “it’s not you it’s me” card after I finished and submitted that project, because not only did the “not feeling ready for the relationship” feeling never go away, but he would also corner me into REALLY explicit sexual discussions in public discord servers, which granted I should have asserted boundaries about but I was worried I was overreacting. After my initial failed breakup attempt, most of the time we talked was in group chats because it greatly eased the pressure of me having to be involved in a one-on-one conversation and it made me worry slightly less about him taking shit as far as he had in our DMs that scared me into trying to break up in the first place because maybe if there was an audience he wouldn’t go That Far. If he had a problem with talking in group chats more than DMs, he NEVER brought it up to me, he just assured me he wanted me to be comfortable.

But, before I got a chance to break up with him, he suddenly messaged me talking about how we needed to talk about how I was being selfish and ghosting him. I was currently still busy working on animating, so while panicking and feeling extremely guilty about it I tried to think up an apology and response to send him when I was done for the night and even available to talk, but again, before I got the chance to, like ten minutes later, he sent another message breaking up with me and kinda-sorta berating me for my AvPD, saying the only reasons the relationship didn’t work was entirely my fault, not accepting blame for Anything he might’ve done wrong, not even acknowledging that I had already attempted to break up with him before.

At least my plan to break up with him would’ve just been shouldering all the blame onto myself, but this at least took the pressure away and ended it on a sour enough note that I was scared to ever talk to him again, so I blocked him on all socials and like any sad gay tumblr boy would I vented about feeling bad about the whole thing on my blog.

AND THEN, I suddenly receive two consecutive anons that didn’t explicitly reveal an identity but were clearly written by him because they mentioned shit only he (or someone he talked about me behind my back with, I guess) would know, despite the fact I never told him my tumblr AND he repeatedly insistently said he never used tumblr, leading me to the conclusion that he had been stalking me on tumblr the whole time without me knowing, which freaked me the fuck out even more because I already have cyberstalking-related trauma. Anyway the anons AGAIN berated me for everything, painting my ex as an innocent angel who didn’t do anything wrong, I was the one ignoring him (and everyone, I didn’t talk to ANYONE while in crunch), “thriving on instagram” (not true, I also was barely fucking at all active on insta during this time??), “forgot our sixth month anniversary” (I didn’t even know that was a thing people celebrated and if it was no one told me that was something I should be concerned about and I wasn’t keeping track of the date, only the one year anniversary), “too childish and immature for a relationship” (again, I’d already tried to break up with him before because I said I wasn’t ready), among other things that I forget. It was a numbered list of either seven or eleven things, I forget because this happened back in February, but those are the ones that stuck in my mind the most. Since I was already in a state of panic I answered both asks publicly (had no other choice, they were on anon), and all my mutuals frantically came to my defense and tore my ex’s shit to shreds.

That’s the last I ever heard from him, and considering the anon jumpscare fiasco I’m glad I blocked him because I’d prefer not to be with the type of person that does something like that, but considering it wouldn’t have happened at all if I hadn’t blocked him, I can’t help but wonder….AITA?

What are these acronyms?

[derangedfujoshi]

A bit of a vent but also a post to make things very clear (thus why I'll post it in the main tags).

I don't care nor mind if people disagree with me about my shota spectrum or how I define shotas. I think my reasoning is solid for I base my judgement on the og shotas and the other existing categories (femboy/bishounen etc). To me the difference is as clear as day and I do not agree with the statement that categories are subjective; you wouldn't call Kagamine Len a bara, would you now.

So, I don't mind, I stay in my lane and don't go out of my way to tell people I disagree with them under their own posts or in their inboxes but, probably because I'm one of the few blogs openly posting about them, I'm not granted the same grace and I've had a few annoying altercations either in the comments of my posts or in my inbox (example and reason why I've decided to talk about this a bit).

So you don't agree with me, that's completely fine, I'm not going to change my opinions, but I want to ask what is a shota TO YOU, exactly? Because honestly some of you seem to confuse "cute kinda short boy" with shota which is a bit silly to me because a character can be cute and short and NOT be a shota which is fine, it's totally fine and I sincerely do not understand the urge of shoving them in the shota category and the offense people take when being told those are not really shotas. Like, why are you mad about it? There's nothing to be mad about, I simply don't get it... Is it because that would make it less "problematic and hot"? That's the only reason I can think of and again, kinda silly, you can still shota-ify them so what's all this fuss about?

I don't know and honestly, I don't really care, I just wanted to let off some accumulated steam because I'm trying to enjoy my silly little time on the internet talking about my special interests and having annoying comments thrown at me or even being vague posted about for something so trivial is really starting to leave a bad taste in my mouth.

If you dislike my takes block me, block my tags, whatever I truly do not care and would prefer this over getting asks telling me -anonymously- how much you disagree with me on something so SILLY but that I hold dear.

I don't want to start disliking posting about shotas so please, by all means, block me if you feel like I'm annoying with the way I think and do not let me know. I don't have to know nor do I want to. I just want to do my thing in peace for me and for those who agree with me and enjoy what I do, simple as that.

[insurrection-if]

TW / Content Warning: death, loss, euthanasia

Apologies for oversharing after such a long period of silence, but tonight has cemented my thoughts towards this blog and its future status.

My eldest dog, Charlie, has passed away at the near age of thirteen. After his health scare in February, he had seemingly recovered and pepped back up to his usual goofy mama’s boy self. I am so thankful for these last several weeks I was able to enjoy with him, and feel so blessed to have seen him hold the strength that he did up until last night.

His condition plummeted rapidly and suddenly last afternoon. The veterinarians at the emergency clinic suspected a brain tumor yesterday, alongside (a) stroke(s), and confirmed this diagnosis just before he finally passed. We didn’t even have the time or money to undergo further testing to affirm what was then a theorized, tenuous diagnosis before it was clear that his time had come. It is confirmed to us now that cancer, not an infection, has likely been the main instigator of his health scare back in February. It’s a blessing that he didn’t suffer or dampen in his joy these past several weeks, up until yesterday, while afflicted with this illness.

Charlie used to be my great-grandfather’s dog. We took him into our home after my great-grandfather passed and his home was lost to our family. Charlie came to us in such poor health, and amazed us all with his recovery and clumsy energy these past two years. At that time, those most optimistic were projecting he only had a few months or so, and to see him having lived so long a full a life in the time he’s been under our roof (for far longer than anyone had foreseen) has been a wonder beyond comprehension. For the gift of his companionship, I cannot express enough of my gratitude.

I truly believe he’s in a better place. Goodness, I cried and prayed my heart out last night when I just absolutely felt in my soul what was around the corner - even when the clinic had then cleared him to come home and told us he would be fine. And even with all this time to be with him and give my goodbyes, it still doesn’t feel right to not have him walking into my room and insisting he be carried up to the bed all with a little wiggle of excitement in his hips.

These past few years were a good life for him. Even yesterday, when he began to show signs of and fall deep into weakness, confusion, and fatigue he still wagged his tail when I laid my hand on him and tried his best to follow the sound of my voice.

For those of you less interested in my personal matters and more so in just whatever content I can produce, this event has finalized some thoughts I’d been having a week or so before this in regard to this blog.

This is not a hiatus. Rather, this blog will be silent until I have a form of demo (‘short’ still in length) that I’m satisfied enough with to share. It’s been stressful balancing this guilt of not responding enough and the guilt of responding too much on this blog. And, with this great loss in my life, I don’t think I will regain the right headspace to manage this blog and my responses on it anytime soon.

Apologies for the silence and, now, the suddenness of this change in matters.

For all those with pets, whether they be full of health or struggling a little more with their once daily routine, please take the time to really show them all the love and care you hold for them each day. Please cherish your time with them, be kind to them, and form as many close memories as you can with them. It’s so easy to take time we have with them for granted. I’m so glad to have provided the home I did for Charlie, and hope he knows just I much I loved him and will keep loving him even now that he’s gone ahead of me to our next destination.

Again, apologies for becoming too personal with all this. The emotional wound is still so fresh and I simply hoped to vent as I clarified my current stance around this narrative. So many of you have been the absolute embodiment of gracious patience and abundant kindness with me and my nonsense here on this blog, and I thank you all deeply for it.

Here’s to hoping I return sooner rather than later with something good, or at least decent, to share.

See you soon.

[sol-consort]

Omg don't worry I'm a hermit too and I don't even have the writing talent to boot and all my years of living I have only accumulated 3 friends my mom (when she's not riding my butt about my gayness), my dog, and my best friend (who I met on tumblr lol). Also, not to get parasocial or whatever but if you ever need someone to talk to let me know trust me I know how hard it is to be alone with your own thoughts and have no one to talk to

Thank you for your concern and the offer, you're very kind <3 But it's cool dw, sometimes life is a bitch and you keep living. I try to vent through my art when it gets too much, it's therapeutic in a way.

I'm grateful for you reviving this blog tbh, continuing to show up. I'm still riding that happiness high from the comments. If this is still the same person, if not, I deeply apologise for the confusion. I just didn't assume I had any other anons still active here.

If anything I think we take our good friends for granted. Give your dog a treat! Tell your mom something nice, send a heartfelt text to your best friend. It's good to remind the people you love of the fact you love them, we're just flawed humans deep down with a short memory span. I'm sure they know it, but getting reminded always relieves a burden.