#i do not usually talk about serious or political topics here

[squircatlies]

Hey, look at this cool earring I made purely for aesthetic purposes without any message behind it whatsoever.

Completely unrelated, I've been thinking of writing some words on small metal cylinders (like for example "live" "laugh" "love"), but I already cut my finger making this so I don't think engraving them is the best idea. Maybe I could use a marker, but I'd have to find one that doesn't smudge or some way to seal the ink.

Have I mentioned that I do not condone murder and violence and am not in any way a threat to any big corporations or their ceos?

(Serious rant below the cut)

The healthcare business is unethical. This is a global issue. Artificially inflated prices caused by privatization and monopolization of the medical industry affect everyone all over the world.

I do not live in America and do not have to deal with medical debt, but still have some medical expenses (though by no means am I struggling) and both medicine and medical procedures not covered by insurance or refunded by the government can be quite costly.

I hope that with more eyes on this issue more legislature will be passed to control the profit margins in the medical sector and pressure the insurance companies to do their job and stop denying people the care they need. It is sad that it took a shooting for this topic to come up on the public forum as more than a footnote, but it would be a waste not to use this moment to push for a meaningful change.

[calehenituse-brainrot]

Hiiiii may I request a very obvious and everyone knows it— a simp, pining, very much in love cale? With a dense reader who doesn’t realize they’re making him flustered- dense and oblivious? :>>

Thats all u can choose how u want to write it :))

Oh, ur works are so gooooodd btw :DD

LETS GO BABE !!! AND THANK YOU 🥺🥺💗

im gonna make this short as hell because i need sleep and it's three in the morning. im loopy as hell and couldnt think of how cale as a character would simp and this is the best i could do, im sorry 😭

Alver was a bit elated, to be honest.

After the war, things finally settled down and the lives of the citizens of the Roan Kingdom settled back to normal, or perhaps even better than before.

The talk of heroes was still a warm topic amongst the nobles and commoners, especially about Cale Henituse, the most praised hero of the continent.

Despite the heavy nickname he carries, Cale Henituse continued to be himself — not that Alver was surprised — and still became that bastard guy that Alver trusts.

Cale was chosen to handle the matters a Prime Minister would handle, gaining the position as the proxy of the Prime Minister — a position that was still vacant, of course reserved for Cale himself. But if the man himself knew of it, he'd immediately run away so Alver declared him to just be a proxy to keep the man by his side with the reason that he hasn't found someone fitting for the position yet.

Of course, Cale wasn't given as much as work as an actual Prime Minister are usually given. Alver was kind to his dongsaeng, so he would make sure Cale still has enough rest to slack off for awhile.

During those times, Cale would rarely come by to visit the Royal Palace, which was absolutely understandable. Alver himself would not want to visit his workplace if he's given a day off if he wasn't the Emperor and practically living in his workplace where a political dispute is always happening.

'He's been visiting often, hasn't he?'

Alver glanced up from his paperwork to his dongsaeng who wss reclining on the couch of his study, just sitting there and munching on cookies, this time without Raon.

"Cale..." Alver sets his fountain pen down, looking at Cale with a slight frown on his handsome face. "Is there something wrong?"

"Of course not, Your Highness," Cale answered quickly. "Nothing is wrong."

Alver pursed his lips into a thin line, not believing Cale once a bit because he knows his dongsaeng and while it is probably not something particularly serious from how lax Cale was, Alver was sure it was still something that bothers the redhead.

Alver hummed, taking another sheet of paper from the piles that were on his desk. "Then, is there a reason why you're here?"

"Can I not spend time with my Hyung-nim?" Cale asked with a raised eyebrow as if he was completely serious - Alver knows that he's not because why would Cale be here and spend time with him when he had been whining the other day about how looking at Alver's face was enough to remind him of the stress of work?

Alver shook his head, deciding to just accept Cale Henituse being contradictory as usual. He wonders why he's still so confused when he should know best that Cale Henituse is a walking contradiction and everything he does is confusing.

"Well, if you're staying here, might as well know that Dame [Name] is going to be here again for a private audience."

"From the [Last Name] Household?" Cale questioned and Alver let out a chuckle, "Is there any other one?"

You were a lady from the [Last Name] household, the head family being your single mother, Baroness Charlotte and you were the eldest one out of the three daughters the baroness had. People had originally thought the daughters were going to get married off to older noblemen who were willing to pay off their dowry but due to the Baroness' competence and your clever mind, your sisters have been pried away from the clutches of older noblemen as you were both enough to help your sisters to live.

Your household was compassionate towards orphans and the poor even before the war, providing food and shelter to the ones who needed them. This gives your family very good support from the commoners and loved ones, always being helped by the commoners with the little things. Your family had been very neutral when it comes to siding with the Princes as you all only focused on yourselves and those who are in need.

During the war, Alver had you and not your mother be in charge of sending out help to those who are in need, citizens of the Roan kingdom or not, and to make sure everyone is safe. Due to seeing his thoughtfulness, your family eventually sided with Alver. You had been exceptional in carrying out your duties and earned quite the fame for being the representative of the warm and generous Roan Kingdom, so when you returned, the title Dame was given to you for your services.

Cale would know that, not only because you were an important figure in what would be Roan Kingdom's history regarding politics and international affairs, but you had always coincidentally been wherever he was during the last few years so your title was given pretty quickly and earned much more respect from the nobles.

"Right..." Cale turns away from Alver.

Alver let the conversation to sink into his brain. Why did he have to say that to Cale? The man has been present every time you had to have a private audience with Alver, which had been a frequent event because you were building an establishment to house the homeless.

A knock was heard from the other side of the door of Alver's study.

"Come in."

You stepped into the office, dressed as formally as usual with a white shirt with ruffles and a long, fitted red skirt that flares around your lower calves. There was a folder clutched close to your chest, most likely the cause of your presence here.

"Oh!" You sound elated when you saw Cale in Alver's study but then turned back to look at Alver. "Your Highness, I didn't know you were expecting a guest."

"Dame [Name]," Alver greeted you with a relieved smile. "Please tell me you've brought me good news regarding that housing property case."

Cale stood up from the couch, approaching Alver's desk as well, curious about what good news you were bringing that you were smiling so brightly.

"Of course," you say, closing the door behind you and approaching Alver's desk. "The verdict's out -- the housing property is still within its area and not Viscount Chers'. We sued Viscount Chers for destroying some of the building he claimed to have entered his estate and won, so he has to pay for the cost, damages, and also interest."

Cale has heard of the case before. Viscount Chers had thought the housing property was being built on his land and had ordered his guards to destroy some of the building. With you supervising the project, you immediately sued Viscount Chers for his actions.

"Dame [Name], have I ever told you that I love you?" Alver smiled at you as he received the folder in your hand.

Cale jolted a bit upon hearing Alver's words and glanced at you, seeing your smile as you spoke, "Flattery gets you nowhere, Your Highness."

Alver sighed. "Shame."

Cale wanted to ask since when were you and Alver gotten close enough to be joking around like that. Of course you had been close to the two of them, but it seemed you have gotten more familiar with Alver. Just in time, Alver caught his gaze and raised an eyebrow, confused why Cale looked like he had a lot on his mind.

"How's your family, Dame [Name]?"

"Oh, my, thank you for asking." You cupped your cheek and closed your eyes as you continued, "My mother is well, but my sisters have been going out to parties more than ever. I think they're starting to have people they fancy."

Cale tilted his head, interested. "You seem relaxed about that."

"It's a part of being young," you told him. "Besides, I'm so busy to the point I can't really keep them safe forever. It's like having kids of your own, I guess. What about you, Cale-nim? What would you do with your own kids?"

Cale let his mouth speak before thinking properly, stumbling out his words. "I guess if we have kids -- wait, no, I mean, I already have kids, like Raon, Ohn, and Hong."

Alver watched this with a raised eyebrow, a knowing smirk forming on his lips as he watched his sworn brother trip over his own words and overexplain things. 'Is this why he had been in my office for the last few days?'

"I'm not the type to restrict them too much from experiencing life," Cale told you. "I don't want to be someone they grew to hate because I held them back from living their lives."

You smiled softly at him and Cale grinned, patting himselfon the back for his answer. "That's actually a very good insight for parenting. I might need to remember it once I have kids of my own."

"Aw, look at you both, talking about kids," Alver teased, the shit-eating grin on his face made the alarms in Cale's head come to life.

He caught on.

"Speaking of, Dame [Name], I heard you've been getting many letters regarding marriage," Alver brought up the rumor he had picked up a few weeks ago. He didn't think that such a rumor would end up being something so useful.

"Marriage?" Cale asked, his whole body going tense.

Your cheeks are tinted red as you laughed away Alver's words. "Oh, please, all of them are only sent because they heard you were handing me one of your major projects for developing the kingdom. I'm not dumb enough to see they're simply trying to get to you and Cale-nim."

"You should tell them that you're with my sworn brother so they won't bother you," Alver said, wasting no time to immediately struck that nerve.

You laughed again. "Oh, no, I don't want Cale-nim to get entangled in weird rumors."

"I don't mind."

Cale's cheeks are red when he said that and he wanted to hide from you when you and Alver turned to look at him. He cleared his throat and continued, stuttering a bit when he spoke; "I-I mean, just use my name if they caused you trouble. I don't mind."

"Oh, my, thank you so much, Cale-nim!" You grasped his hand with both hands, the smile on your face so bright that Cale's face immediately darkened with so much blood rushing to his face.

"I might overuse it so much that no one will dare to get close to me," you say, letting go of his hands.

'Oh, please do overuse it,' thought Cale.

"I think that's what my sworn brother would like," Alver added with a grin.

Cale wanted to kick Alver in the shin.

"Do you hate the idea of me with another man that much, Cale-nim?" You asked with a playful grin.

Cale opened his mouth to defend himself but no sound came out when he saw your smile and the red flush of your skin. He closed his mouth and decided to just stand there like an idiot.

"I don't think another man could live up to my standards considering I have been spending so much time with the both of you," you continued shyly. "Perhaps I should linger with the others lest my mother will complain about my being single."

"Or you could just keep spending time with us," Cale prompted, shrugging his shoulders to appear nonchalant. "There's no harm in that. Keep all of the bugging men away."

He doesn't miss the raised blond eyebrow Alver was giving him while you weren't looking.

"Perhaps," you murmured, beginning to walk towards the door. "Talking with the both of you is wonderful but I do have to rush to handle these paperwork."

"What time do you get off work?" Cale questioned quickly.

You stopped, turning to look at the red-head. "Around four. Planning on taking me home and meeting my mother, Cale-nim?"

"She loves the cakes from that dessert shop, right?"

You laughed, shaking your head in disbelief. "Yes, Cale-nim. The strawberry shortcakes are her favorite."

Cale nodded. "Noted."

You bowed to the both of them, excusing yourself out and leaving the two brothers inside the study.

Cale let out a sigh. "Well, I'll be leaving—"

Alver grabbed a discarded paper and crumpled it into a ball, throwing it at Cale who frowns. "What?"

"I cannot believe you came here just so you could ask Dame [Name] on a date."

[screamintoad]

I’m Not Different

A/n: Word vomit, this is pure heartfelt word vomit. And I love it. If there are typos, no there aren’t

  Spring break was in full swing and Alaric was more than happy to be home. He likes RSA and he enjoys the peace but he also deeply missed being surrounded by people in their large home nestled away in the forest. 

  Currently he was running errands for his mom while his dad and sister were at castle Draconia. Usually he wouldn’t mind going around to various shops in town but today, no one seemed to mind their business. Typically he doesn’t mind when people ask about how his schoolwork is going or what his life at RSA is like. Yet, they’re mostly asking about another thing. Another thing that he would like to avoid the topic of. 

 At the grocery store a women asked him, “Now that you’re out of The Valley, have you found anyone?” Alaric politely shook his head and said that he’s focusing on school. The next time it happened was at his grandma’s flower shop, “I’m sure you make everyone swoon at RSA.” The stranger stated. Once again, Alaric shook his head. He chuckled when his grandma shouted from the back room, “Quit harassing the boy!” Then he went to the marketplace to browse the stalls of handmade goods so he could find something to get his roommate. As he was looking at different nicknacks a man came up and pat his shoulder. “I heard you’re still not having luck with romance, but that’s okay. It’ll come to you eventually, you’re still young after all so don’t worry about it.” And he sauntered off. Alaric heaved a sigh and decided to just stop here for now. 

  So, he went to the training grounds where he knew his dad and sister would be. He sat on a step that led down to the area of dirt that groups of younger guards were sparring at. He looked across the field and saw his dad overseeing everything to make sure no one got too hurt. His eyes darted from each group until finally he saw his older sister going up against a beastfolk. Quick on her feet she knocked them right where she needed to to get them down and then flipped them over to complete the set.  Fleur raised her fist in victory then held out her hand to help her opponent up to their feet. In the corner of her eye she noticed Alaric sitting and watching. So she got their dad’s attention and pointed to him as a way of asking if she can take a break. Silver nodded and waved to Alaric. 

  Some people claimed he was too serious but that was only with his work and duty. Besides, he gave Alaric a tight hug before he left for the castle that morning. 

  Fleur had a bounce to her step as she bounded over to him. She plopped down next to him and they both continued watching the others train before Fleur spoke up. “Rough day? You seem agitated.” Her auburn hair flowed in the wind. The people who didn’t know the Vanrouge siblings assumed they were twins from their matching hair color and eyes. Alaric exhaled, “I love being home but, I just wish people would understand that I’m not like you or mama and dad.” Fleur nodded, “Ah yes, the romance word.” “Mhm.”

  They sat in silence again until Fleur continued, “Why let it get to you? You know and trust yourself.” “Because everyone asks, because marriage is so important in Briar Valley. If only people would understand that romantic love isn’t the only form of love. I do love my friends so why do I have to be IN love with one of them?” She hummed in acknowledgment, “I understand that, obviously I don’t fully relate to you but, I think you’re doing good so far. If I was you I would be so fed up I would be yelling from the rooftops ‘Just leave me alone!’.” The two shared a good laugh and continued talking for a while. Eventually though, Fleur had to return to her training and Alaric had to take the goods he bought home.

  At the front gate that opened up to the path that led to the front porch of his family’s house, he was happily greeted by their dog. The hound jumped up, it’s height enough for its front paws to reach Alaric’s shoulders. The young man laughed and gently pushed the dog off so he could walk normally. It’s a breed from the Shaftlands with the term ‘wolfhound’ in the name. The large, shaggy, gray dog followed him all the way up the path. 

  Blanche looked out the front door and called out, “D'Artagnan, come back inside!” She drew her attention to Alaric, “Sweetheart make sure you wipe his paws before he gets dirt inside please.” She gave him a smile and then rushed back inside. Alaric took in a whiff of the air and he realized his mom was baking something. On the porch, Alaric grabbed the towel they used to wipe off their pets paws before they came back inside and made sure D'Artagnan was clean. Then they both clambered inside. 

  Sure enough, Blanche was in the kitchen looking between her personal recipe book and the oven. As if she was expecting something to go wrong. Alaric placed the bag on the round dining table and placed the fresh flowers in the vase by the window. “What new recipe are you trying mama?” He wondered, she pulled him into a side hug that he gleefully returned. “Something that Mr. Clover recommended. I told his wife that you like bringing things back for your roommate so she asked him for any recommendations. I’m trying it out now so if it’s bad then I don’t need to worry about making something last minute.” Alaric nodded along but Blanche could tell something was bothering him. She didn’t press though, she knows he’ll talk when he wants to. 

  An hour passed and he still didn’t say anything about what was wrong. He helped out with the chores to occupy his mind. “Thank you Flora, Fauna, and Merryweather. Good evening.” He thanked the chickens as he brought the basket of eggs inside. Blanche smiled from her spot on the couch as she continued working on a quilt. “I swear those chickens are only nice to you and your dad.” She commented. Alaric shook his head, “That’s not true. You and Fleur just scare them off.” He teased. Blanche let out an exaggerated gasp as he chuckled. “You be nice to your mama.” “I am I am, I’m so very sorry.” Alaric reached across the couch to give her a hug, careful of the needle that she was currently holding. 

  When the embrace was over he plucked up their cat that was peacefully sleeping by the fireplace and went out the back door. Blanche decided that it was time to figure out what was up before it ate Alaric alive. 

  When she joined him outside he was hunched over on the step. Emily, the cat, laid next to him. Blanche walked up behind him but he didn’t look at her as he began talking. 

  “Why does it always lead back to romance?” Alaric was beyond exasperated by this point. “I think that maybe I could be a good ‘lover’ but, in reality, I don’t want things to ever evolve that way.” His head drooped down as he sighed. “I value people by who they are, not what could stem from being friends.” Blanche sat beside him on the step, “Well, at least I know I raised you right.” A hint of her accent came through as she spoke. “I think it’s a wonderful thing that you feel that way. Because you and I both know that love comes in so many shapes and sizes. Look around at our family, our friends, and the people in town. Love is sacred here, just seems that people forgot that anything can be an act of it.”

  He looked at her now and Blanche could tell how upset he was. “You’re doing wonderful, my sweet little bat. Just because your dreams are different than others, doesn’t make them any less significant.”

  She opened her arms for a hug as tears slowly flowed down his face. When he nodded, she gently pulled him to her and he tucked his face in her neck. They didn’t say anything more. Nothing else was needed to be said. 

TAGS: @blood-red-bumblebee @angelwishess @twtysevapr @gimmeurmoneyagh @4necdote

@bunniehunn @h0neybane @babyghoul138 @beneathsakurashade @justm3di0cr3

@moonyasnow @the-rini-rush @skibidibabygirl TELL ME IF YOU WANT TO BE TAGGED OR NOT

[siriannatan]

Count fWhip's Longest Day

I literally wrote this whole thing in one sitting. I have no clue what has possessed me. I did write it on my phone so I apologise is autocorrect snuck in something weird past me.

I hope the title doesn't seem as random as it does to me :(

https://archiveofourown.org/works/55485577

fWhip suddenly had this new hunger in him. If it was for blood or Scott's damned cold hands in him was up for debate.

“You promise no one will hear about it?”

“I swear on my name that nothin you don't want leaving this room will,” Scott said, totally serious. Not a trace of his usual playfulness present.

fWhip just nodded, sure that if he were still human he'd be blushing, and moved on with the paperwork.

“Anything else I can sign you?” Scott asked as fWhip was checking one last time if they didn't miss anything.

“All looks good, but can I ask you something?” Scott just nodded, taking a slip of tea he drowned far too much sugar cubes in. “Why did you decide to join WRA?”

Scott hummed, setting his cup down. “To annoy someone who recently got allied with the Cod Alliance. What? Did you think I wanted in just because you're cute? It's certainly part of it, I won't deny it,” Scott's usual playfulness was back in full force as he gave fWhip a smirk that clearly expressed his interest.

fWhip hummed. It was getting hard to not stare at Scott's neck. “Here's your copy,” he changed the topic to distract himself from the urge to bite. Or how he'd probably have to get into Scott's lap to do it. He was freakishly tall for an elf and elves were already damn tall.

Scott hummed back as he put the documents aside. “Hungry? I could feel you stare at my neck,” he was clearly done with political talks.

fWhip thought. On it for a second. “No one hears of it?”

“Not a word of it leaves this room or even my whole place,” Scott repeated his promise with a nod. “Here or somewhere comfier?” He asked.

fWhip glanced around the office. There was a couch under a window covered with a thick curtain. Did Scott close it once he noticed the sun hurt him? How considerate. “The couch should do, no?” He did his best to sound nonchalant.

Scott nodded and with far too muc grace moved to the couch. On the way opening his shirts wider to expose more. Enough to show some collarbone. fWhip felt more than was aware that he licked his lips.

Scott didn't have to encourage him into getting on his lap. “Pretty forward,” he still teased even if his hands were instantly on fWhip's hips, supporting him.

“Not my fault you're so tall,” fWhip bit back but his face was already at Scott's neck. Wondering what he's supposed to do now.

“Just bite, I'll be fine,” Scott breathed into his ear and all worries left fWhip's brain.

For a moment he nosed at Scott's neck. Instinctively looking for the best spot to bite. Once he found it he licked it a couple times, once more listening to his new instincts. And bit as gently as his overly excited and hungry brain allowed.

He could vaguely feel Scott tense up, cold grip tightening on his hips. He could hear the elven king pant and mutter what he vaguely recognised as pretty nasty elven words. But the way Scott gasped them out had him cling closer. His hold on Scott's dumb perfectly ironed coat tightening.

Scott's blood was heavenly. If that's how blood tastes then fWhip wasn't too disappointed to have to subsist on pretty much it alone.

“fWhip,” Scott gasped. Barely a whisper. As he gently pushed the vampire urging him to stop.

With some disappointment, fWhip pulled back. His disappointment was instantly gone as he took in Scott's face. The usually always in control elf was in shambles. Dark blush, eyes wide, panting as he looked at fWhip with a dopey smile.

“That was more intense than I expected,” he chuckled before healing his neck. Some part of fWhip was saddened that his mark would not be left on the elf. “Still hungry?” He asked.

fWhip shook his head at the same time as he realised something. “You sure liked me biting you a lot,” he chuckled, shifting awkwardly in Scott's lap.

He was about to offer to help Scott with his not so small based on the feeling through their clothes problem when there was a knock on the door. “What is it?” Scott asked as if he wasn't five seconds from an orgasm.

“There's been a message for count fWhip,” came a response as they struggled to make themselves presentable.

It was pretty impressive how fast Scott recovered. He'd have to do better if there was another time. Hopefully there would be, fWhip thought as he read the damned letter.

Of course Sausage had yet another border argument with Jimmy. At least Scott offered they could travel together so something good was coming out of it. Maybe he could invite Scott for some trade talks to Grimlands. It was closer to Mythland than Rivendell.

[do-angels-dream-of-starry-seas]

@certainunknownlove making my own post for this, because this is not only a response to your question about good omens fandom and its casual aphobia, but I want to try once more to get my thoughts down.

To simply put - when you see aphobia in a fandom setting, what do you expect to see? Most allo people think of the classics, "asexual and aromantic are not real!" or "you're being homophobic!"

But the problem is these are all too cut and dry (not to say aphobes like this still pop up every now and then). Social media is now far more aware of aphobia, and are all proudly saying how they love and respect aromantics and asexuals, they're apart of the lgbtq community, hoorah!

This leads to a situation like the good omens fandom: two mostly male-presenting beings are not human, and their relationship in the book and in s1 is in a weird murky ground of queerplatonic. Humans point out how romantic they look, the author repeatedly states how their relationship isn't in human terms yet doesn't shoot down anyone's interpretations and tries to do little innuendos like an ox-rib eating scene. And by the time s2 comes around, they showcase their relationship in a more traditionally human sense, ala a kiss.

Talking about whether making them asexual or aromantic is aphobic itself is a whole other topic that would be far longer to do, but the fact of the matter is some people see them as asexual, some people see them as queerplatonic, some people see them as completely alloallo.

For aspec people, the kind of comments you would usually find, off the top of my head, would be things like:

"They have to kiss again in s3"

"Wouldn't it be sooo poetic if they were made for each other, soulmates, and if other angels and demons were too?"

"Wouldn't it be great though if these non-human beings were soooo connected to humanity that they did these universally human things?

Innocuous, but then it builds up:

"It was queerbaiting"

"They finally confirmed they're romantic in s2 with the kiss"

And making assumptions based on their own allo perspectives:

"If they aren't sexual, what's with all the things like the ox-rib?"

"I understand people read them as asexual, but here is a 5k word meta confirming they're sexual"

"Ace people can still have sex!"

Which can then lead to certain people claiming things like:

"I'm going to quote tweet this person expressing their fear of them making ineffable husbands sexual by saying I hope they do"

"The author said they weren't sexual, but we saw them kiss"

"The author is too cowardly to commit to them being gay because of this"

"What are they gonna do, make them Ken dolls in their relationship?" (This is paraphrasing an actual post)

... what allo people dont get is they can make alllll sorts of excuses for these kinds of phrases: its my interpretation! I'm not really serious! Ace and aro people are valid!! But when those posts get hundreds of notes, and these posts are made by the Big Fandom People, other people climb on the bandwagon and it leads to those last few examples I gave. It's a fucking echo chamber, at that point.

When aspec people talk about these things, they only get ten to twenty notes at best. And you might still get people in their notes saying things like "it's not everyone in fandom, stop taking it so seriously!"

I don't know, man. I tried to talk casually, i tried to give detailed examples on why it's aphobic, I tried calling out the Big Aphobes and still politely censoring their usernames, I tried making a discord for aspec people but its always dead silent in there. All I know is, it's thankfully not just me.

[useless-catalanfacts]

Is anti-Latin American xenophobia as common in the Catalan Countries as it is in Spain? I think the fact we share a common oppressor is interesting but I haven't seen a lot of support for Catalan independence where I'm from, for some reason (or maybe I'm not looking in the right places?).

I can't answer this question because I don't know how common anti-Latin American xenophobia is in Spain, so I can't compare. When it comes to systemic xenophobia, it's the same, because Spain is the one who makes the laws about immigration and who can access what, so it's the same legal system.

When it comes to political matters though, it's true that Catalan politicians and public opinion often argue in favour of Latin American countries. For example, in favour of getting paid reparations for colonization, many Catalans refuse to celebrate Hispanity Day to honour colonization (Spain's national day, October 12th), and there was a huge scandal when the Spanish king refused to apologize when Mexico asked while it was praised by many in Spain including the most voted party in Spain PP. (Actually, something weird happened with that. Two of the most famous public figures in Catalonia -the comedians Òscar Andreu and Òscar Dalmau- on their late night TV show in Catalonia's TV made a song making fun of the Spanish king and saying he's an asshole who will always refuse to apologize for his ancestor's crimes. The song was sung directed to the Mexican people and basically saying "don't you know this guy is an idiot who refuses to apologize when he's wrong, a proud ignorant who will never accept reality" things like that, sang in a ranchera. And somehow -seriously, I still don't understand how, it couldn't have been any more clearly on Mexico's side- it got misunderstood in Mexico and lots of Mexican news channels talked about it as if it were making fun of Mexicans for asking for the forgiveness. When it was openly saying that not asking for forgiveness was so basic and criticised the king for not being able to do even the bare minimum. That was a weird time, I can only think that it might come from people who found it not knowing who the Oscars are and that they do humour, but even then it's still difficult to understand how they didn't understand it as being in their favour, maybe satire is difficult to translate through cultural barriers? or maybe they thought this topic is so serious it shouldn't be joked about?. Anyway, anecdote over.)

When it comes to personal bigotry, I don't think xenophobia aimed at Latin Americans is particularly present here (Moroccans, followed by Romani people and Romanians, are the people who racism is usually aimed at), or at least I've never encountered it myself, but I'm not Latin American so I'm less likely to ever have heard it than someone who could have it directed at them. The only case I can think of is one of my friends, who is originally from Bolivia, who got insulted being called a Moor once because some racist assumed she was Moroccan for her looks. But I also have two friends whose family is all Catalan and they've also been called Moors before, so I don't think this happens more to Latin Americans than locals. However, I'm sure it exists, because sadly there's bigoted people against all kinds of people.

I don't know, I'm sorry I can't answer you better!

As always, if any Latin American Catalan or anyone else has something to add, please feel free to add in a reblog or in the comments. I would also like to learn more about this.

[bookwormstarwarsfan]

A mad rambling about a certain fan community and a rare mention of politics kind of stuff from me, that I may regret, but thankfully only like 5 people will see it sooo

IF I SEE ONE MORE POST SAYING THAT THE PLANNED TERRORIST ATTACK AT THE VIENNA TS CONCERT WAS AN ANTI-TH FANBASE AND/OR MISOGYINIST ATTACK, I'M GOING TO BREAK SOMETHING

It's... it's... soooo.... I don't know... selfish? Definitely incredibly ignorant towards the topic of terrorism, but also a very good example of my problem with th fanbase. No, I'm not disliking you because you are women, no, not because I'm sexist, no, not because I don't like you seeing having fun, it's because this!

I'm a soon to be international relationship expert~political scientist, which is also my hobby and passion, so this is an extra sensitive topic to me, especially that I also lived through the maddening, frightening feeling of the European terrorism wave around 2015-2017.

I can't believe that I had to explain this terrible thing here. But ISIS and any other islamic fundamentalist groups are fighting a war that was born in their broken minds: they just want to kill anybody who is not muslim or the right kind of muslim according to them and making headlines with it. It has nothing to do with TS and nothing to do with the fact that the audience would have been mainly women, they just saw the opportunity to attack an event with a huge amount of people that will be also big news around the world. It's just feels so self-centered to instantly make it into a TS thing. I'm not saying that the attackers couldn't have had sexist motivations, but this would have been a fundamentalist terror attack, that's it.

I'm especially angry, since I'm barely over the shock that the Southport stabbing is also circulating as an anti-TS attack. I didn't even know it was a dance class to her music until I saw a post here talking about how the whole world just wants to murder the fanbase or idk. I'm not ashamed to say that I find disgusting that three children's death and many others' injury is used for this, to make it about themsleves. Could have been a madman who hates TS? Yes, although it's a low chance. Could have been a misogynist attack? Higher chance. But in this situation it's even more important than usual to not to make assumptions. Don't forget that there are violent, islamophobic, anti-migration riots going on in the UK because people made assumptions about the attacker and his motives. But in reality, we don't know if it was an extreme right-wing attack, an extreme leftist attack, a terror attack, a sexist attack, or if he just woke up one day with sounds in his head telling him to kill someone, anyone.

I, like any other normal person, am fully against jokes about how TS fans should be killed or locked up, or any other humorous intended or serious ideas about violence against them, but let's not make it look like it's a niche community of 1000 pursued women around the world who are fans of some underappreciated artist who is in grave danger all the time because the whole globe is against her. Especially that a very big part of this fanbase is systemathically harassing people for various reasons.

Violent misogyny and aggression against people who like and do harmless stuff other's don't like is a serious problem, but doesn't give right to this kind of manipulation of events, and can't be solved by not having clear, honest dicsussion, and especially not by making things up.

[weirdestbooks]

A Civil Disagreement Chapter 8

It Begins (Wattpad | Ao3)

Table of Contents | Prev | Next

December 20, 1860

Something was wrong. America couldn’t tell what exactly. He had never felt something like this before. But something was wrong. He felt sick and nauseous, a nausea that was growing into pains in his stomach. America was slightly dizzy, and he wasn’t sure why. 

Was he sick? But how could he be sick? Sure, there were internal conflicts between his states due to the election, but nothing that would cause him to feel this awful.

Right?

“Pa? Can I talk to you? I have something important to say about a diversion my government has made, and I’d rather you hear it from me first.” America heard South Carolina’s familiar voice ask. America turned to his son and smiled, a smile that quickly dropped when he noticed the nervous, almost fearful expression on his face. Yet even then, there was a kind of resolute determination there. 

Was this connected to how awful he was feeling? No, surely it couldn’t be. America couldn’t think of any action South Carolina could take that would hurt America like that. It must be for another reason, then. America would have to ask DC if she knew of anything that could be causing it the next time America saw her.

“Of course, South. What is it?” America asked. South Carolina exhaled a breath, looking slightly guilty as he did so. But then his face changed to one of resolve, and he straightened his back, looking America right in the eye.

“You’ve known for a while now that my people and I have had a problem with Abraham Lincoln's election, right?” he asked. America nodded, unsure of where this was going. Did South Carolina have more complaints to give on the topic? It had only been a few months since the election; it's only logical that he’s not over it yet.

“You have made that very clear, South. Very, very clear.” America said, “What is it this time? What complaint do you have?”

“It’s not a complaint.” South Carolina said. America raised an eyebrow at that before a realization came to him.

“Oh, are you finally accepting that President-Elect Lincoln is the next president?” America asked, smiling at South Carolina.

“It doesn’t seem like he will do that, though,” James said.

“No. No, I’m not. I’m leaving. I…I’m leaving the Union, Dad.” South Carolina said. America stared at him in shock before letting out a nervous laugh.

“Okay, South, there is no need to be this dramatic about threatening to leave again. We’ll work things out like we normally do.” America responded. South Carolina had threatened secession before. It was just a threat. He wasn’t actually serious about this. It was just a threat, a bump in the road that would be solved with some overly complicated political compromise like usual.

“It’s not a threat!” South Carolina insisted, hands curling into fists, crinkling the paper he held.

“You…you can’t actually be serious. South, you can’t leave the Union.” America said, hoping to talk some sense into his son. Leaving the Union wasn’t something that he could do. Why did South Carolina think he could do that?

“Why the hell not? It’s a union I chose to enter, and I have the choice to leave. The Union… it's not… it's not something that I want to be a part of anymore. I know I helped create it, but I can’t stay here when my interests are being ignored in favor of the North and the abolitionists. You won't listen to reason, and you won't help the slave owners. You made an abolitionist president. He’ll destroy the economy if he gets rid of our slaves. And I, for one, am not going to stick around and wait for that to happen.” South Carolina ranted, and America's nausea grew as the state did.

He was actually serious. How could he be serious?

“South…” America said quietly, at a loss for words, as his panic grew. America clamped his lips shut, trying to keep the vomit he could feel welling up from spewing out. That wasn’t something he needed right now. America had to talk South Carolina out of this stupid mistake he was making.

“I’m sorry, Pa. But I just can’t stay here anymore. I…I’m sorry, Pa. But…this is for the best. You’ll see.” South Carolina said, giving America an apologetic smile before he left, returning to his state.

America just stood there in shock. How could this be happening? States had threatened secession before. Hell, basically, all of New England had threatened secession during the War of 1812.

But none of them had actually left. None of them went through with their threats. 

But South Carolina just did.

What did this mean? Would America have to fight him, like Britain did with them? Would America be able to find a peaceful solution?

There had to be one. South Carolina was stubborn, but he wasn’t an idiot. Surely, he would see sense. He had to.

America stumbled out of his office, still reeling in shock, walking outside, where he then proceeded to puke in the grass. Was this what it was like for Britain when America declared his independence? Or was it different because he was a colony, not truly a part of his country?

“If more states secede, his physical health will get even worse,” James said, sounding like he was talking to someone else.

“Is it possible that he could be at risk of dying?” Utah asked, sounding worried.

Oh, Britain. If he found out about this America would never hear the end of it. America needed to resolve this, and soon.  

Before some other country took advantage of his weakness.

Or before any other states got any idea. If New England’s threats during the War of 1812 taught America anything, it’s that when one state tries to succeed, their region might follow.

————————

January 9, 1861

Not again. This couldn’t be happening again. South Carolina was supposed to be a fluke—just a single event that could be handled diplomatically quickly. It was supposed to be like those other secessions. It wasn’t supposed to be serious, to get bigger than South Carolina, the one state that threatened secession a lot. 

Mississippi wasn’t supposed to secede. No other state was supposed to secede.

This wasn’t supposed to be happening.

America’s nausea only continued to grow as a headache began to accompany it. He felt awful and knew if these successions continued, things would only worsen. America was thankful it was only nausea and a mild headache. It hadn’t become painful yet. But knowing his luck and how things were going, it was only a matter of time before he was in pain.

“Ippi, you can’t just secede! There’s a solution we can come to to address your concerns. Seceding will only make things worse.” America pleaded with her.

“I need to secede! It’s the only way to protect and preserve slavery. And slavery is an institution that is vital in our culture and identity, and it’s vital to our economy. You can’t elect a president who plans to destroy our workforce! South was right to leave. That’s why I followed his example.” Mississippi argued back. America groaned, annoyed, stressed, exasperated, and felt so many other emotions he couldn’t describe. The South seemed not to understand anything President-elect Lincoln had ever said about anything. They were making a mountain out of a molehill, and now America had an extreme internal crisis on his hands.

This could end horribly for everyone. They could get invaded by another country during this, they could end up not becoming states anymore, and they could end up going to war with America’s government. America didn’t want that! Why can’t they see the worst-case scenario? Why can’t they see that staying with America is what they need to do? Why don’t they understand they can’t leave and were his states?

“Was the fact that they couldn’t leave ever made clear to them?” New Mexico asked.

“It was never directly stated, but between the Nullification Crisis and Neville’s reaction to South Carolina leaving, I feel like it’s pretty clear that leaving isn’t allowed.” James explained, “And Neville, tread carefully. Now’s not the time to burn bridges more than they already have been burnt.”

“I told South this, and I'll tell you too. It is illegal for you to secede from the Union. It is illegal for you to leave. Stop this, please, before you make things worse for yourself.” America begged.

“I’m not making things worse for myself. I’m making things better. Things will be better if I leave. If you can’t see that, I’ll make you. I will be successful. I will protect slavery from people who want to destroy it. And I’ll protect my fellow Southerners from the damage you want to do to their culture.” Mississippi said, every bit the stubborn girl she had always been.

“Keep your siblings out of this, Ippi,” America said. Mississippi laughed. 

“They are already a part of this. You made them a part of this, not me,” she said before leaving, smiling softly at Delaware, who had been watching the fight from the doorway, a nervous fear on his face.

“You should leave too, Delly. Before things get worse for you.” Mississippi told him. The First State shook his head.

“I was the first state to join the Union Maggy. I’ll be the last to leave it.” He said. Mississippi’s smile turned sad, but there was still something in her eyes that didn’t reflect the sadness of her smile. Mississippi didn’t say anything else, though, and just walked out. Delaware sighed, his shoulders dropping as if a heavy load had just been placed on him.

“Things are only going to get worse, aren’t they Da?” He said. America nodded, wishing he could deny that fact.

“Things always get worse before they get better, though, right?” Washington asked.

America didn’t want things to get worse. But he didn’t have control over that.

“Things will get worse, Del. I only hope God will have mercy on us when they do.”

——————

January 10, 1861

Less than a day. That’s how long it took for the next state to leave—less than a day.

This only hurt the most emotionally. Even worse than one of his original states leaving. Mississippi and South Carolina were both biologically America’s children, but Florida, he was adopted. And he wanted to leave.

Was America not a good father to him? America tried to do his best for Florida, respect his boundaries, and understand his abuse. Was that not enough? Or was this like when Florida betrayed him for Britain during America’s War of Independence? Was Florida just someone who could never be trusted, and America was a fool for ever doing so?

“I know you think this is personal, Papí. You always overthink things like that.” Florida said calmly as if he didn’t just give America horrible news, as if he wasn’t betraying America again.

“I…why…Florida, why do you think leaving is the solution? We can come up with a solution if you just stay and work with me. Leaving isn’t the answer. Please back down from this silly endeavor and just work with me. Please. I don’t want to be forced to hurt you.” America said. Florida shook his head.

“I won’t back down, Papí. I made my choice. And I’m sticking with it. You understand my perspective somewhat, don’t you? After all, you did the same thing when you decided to be independent. I'm following in your footsteps. I hope you don’t follow in your Father’s.” Florida said, staring America in the eyes, a confidence in his voice and body that America had never seen in him before.

“He compared him to Britain?” Caleb asked, shock in his voice.

“That’s not going to end well,” James said.

He had grown so much from the scared kid America had taken in, the scared kid America used to teach English back when they were both just British colonies. America couldn’t help but be proud of Florida, even if he was betraying him, even if America did feel like he had failed Florida.

“Britain is not my father, the same way New Spain isn’t yours,” America said, gritting his teeth. America didn’t want to yell at him to make things worse. Maybe if America just tried hard enough, he could convince him to stay.

“Britain might not be your father anymore, but you act like him sometimes. I knew him personally, remember? You are kinder and less manipulative, but you have the same issues with being possessive and always insisting you have to be the best. You might not be the same, but you are certainly similar enough that I would think you'd be even if I didn’t know you were father and son.” Florida said, the words cutting into America. They were personal attacks, in a way.

Florida used to be terrible at speaking English. Now, here he was, emotionally devastating America in English. He really has grown a lot.

Dammit America! Stop being sentimental while you're trying to deal with a severe political situation! America thought angrily to himself. Florida exhaled before switching to Spanish, looking away. He always had an easier time expressing himself in his first language, just like Louisiana did.

“Dad, I love you, but please let this happen. I have made my choice. Please accept that. You fear the worst. I also fear the worst. And if you keep trying to make me and the others stay, something bad will happen. Don't be like Great Britain. Let us go.”

“Stop comparing me to him!” America said, his voice more stern. Florida’s posture straightened, and he looked me in the eyes again.

“Once you stop acting like him, I will,” he said. 

And then he was gone.

—————

January 11, 1861

America had once thought South Carolina would be the only one. But now, three days in a row, he’s had a southern state come up to him to tell him they were leaving.

Not that they needed to inform America. He could feel it in his ever-increasing nausea. He could feel it in the headache that pounded against his skull, growing more painful as the days passed and states left. He could feel it in the emptiness in his chest where his connection with that state once was. Every part of him knew when they decided to leave.

It was a terrible feeling. America hated it with all his might. It ate away at him and left him feeling weak and drained, leaning on the others for support.

Alabama was the newest one to leave. America should have expected him, too. He’s the same stubborn brand as the rest of his region. However, America didn’t expect him to have changed his flag so soon. Or for him to gain new animal features from that.

“I want to make thisss quick,” Alabama said, clasping a hand over his mouth as the s came out as a hiss.

“He’s actually a snake now!” Kansas spat out, sounding bitter, sounding so unlike herself. Between these states attempting to leave and the events of Bleeding Kansas, she had become bitter and jaded, directing much of that toward the Slave States.

“The others are not going to let him forget this, will they?” Unorganized Territory asked.

“Rattlesnake?” America stated simply, looking at his scales decorating Alaabama’s face and arms, the forked tongue that peaked out of his mouth, a mouth that was held open, probably to account for the new fangs. Alabama nodded, looking embarrassed. 

America didn’t think this was how he planned his betrayal to go.

“I don’t want to talk about it. I’m ju—I…you know why. I am going to leave like my brothers, and Maggy did,” he said, avoiding saying the letters s. Probably because he seemed to be unable to speak the letter normally now, he just hissed it. 

Like a snake. 

“While snakes have been associated with traitors, the devil, and many other negative things, snakes have also been associated with me, most commonly during my revolution. I know you, and I aren’t on the best terms right now, especially because you think you have the right to leave because you think I want to get rid of slavery. But although your siblings might see the snake as meaning something else, meaning you have taken the appearance of the traitor you are, I don’t see snakes as being negative. It’s just another part of you.” America said, partially to reassure his son and partially in a feeble attempt to show Alabama that America still loved him and that America wanted him to stay.

“It is poetic that the signs of his treasonous nature have become a permanent part of him. No one will ever be able to look at him again without learning that he is untrustworthy.” Nebraska snarled.

“Apologiesss won’t change my mind, Pa. It’sss been made up for a while now. I am leaving. You haven’t ssstoped the othersss yet, ssso I hope that meansss you won't ssstop me. But if you try to, you will have a fight on your handsss, and I don’t think either of usss wantsss that.” Alabama said.

“I've tried to convince President Buchanan to let me take action instead of just sitting in office waiting for President-elect Lincoln to be sworn in as president in March, but with no luck. The only reason no action has been taken, Bama, is because we have a lame-duck president who refuses to act. But as soon as President-elect Lincoln is in office, I will bring you and your siblings back home. So please, stop this foolishness before you get yourself in more trouble than you want to be in.” America said. Alabama looked him in the eyes, and America saw how his eyes were now yellow and slitted, as opposed to the pale green they had been before.

“Florida wasss right. You really are like Britain.” 

And with those final, hurtful words, his son left.

—————

January 19, 1861

“So, fourth to enter, fifth to try and leave.” America said to Georgia after she told him about her plans for her attempted secession, “If you were fourth, it would be more ironic.”

“You’re taking this well.” She said. America let out a bitter laugh.

“He is far from taking this well,” James muttered, and America could feel him get closer.

“Don’t act like I can fool you, Gia. You know just as well as I do that this is all an act and that I'm falling apart at the seams. My only comfort is that I haven’t lost any height yet, meaning you aren’t really gone, just pretending to be.” America said. Georgia shook her head, taking a step back.

“I am leaving Pa. Permanently. Nothing you do will change that.”

“You need me, Georgia. You need me to help you, to protect you. You can’t survive on your own. None of you can!” America said, punching the wall as he tried to force down his emotions: the anger, the betrayal, the sadness, the pain. This was diplomacy. No emotion was better than any emotion.

But America couldn’t help but lose control of that skill England hammered into his mind until he could do it without a second thought. America’s children knew exactly how to poke and prod him until his walls came down. They made it so hard to be diplomatic.

“We did so before. I, Florida, and South Carolina have all been independent of you before.”

“But not of others. You were colonies before you were states. Even then, you were under another's protection. You don’t know the first thing about being a country. You don’t know how hard it is. You think you understand because of the political power I’ve given you, but you don’t trust me on that, Georgia. This will only hurt you more.” America explained to her. He knew what it was like to be a colony, convinced they knew how to be a country. America didn’t know how to be a country, not at first, and thinking that he knew how to be a country nearly killed him. Georgia was there. She should know. America almost broke under that stress and pressure.

Georgia would too.

“Unlike you, Dad, I’m not leaving without a proper government. I know how to run things internally, and I’ve watched you enough to get an understanding of how to run things internationally. I have experience, something you lacked when you declared independence. My situation is nothing like yours.” Georgia snarked back.

The fucking audacity of his kids.

“I wonder where they get that audacity from,” Rebecca muttered.

“I'm trying to help you! Things can be fixed if you just stay and work with me. Leaving and ignoring your problems does nothing.”

“I am fixing my problems. This is the only way to fix them. You’ve made it clear you don’t want to listen to me or my concerns. Or the concerns of any slave states. You let the balance of free and slave states vanish and allowed us to be outnumbered. That was our first clue you wouldn’t listen to us anymore. But then you fucking went and allowed an abolitionist to be elected as president. Lincoln will destroy our culture and economy. He wants to get rid of slavery. I’m protecting my interested Dad. Just like you are protecting yours by trying to convince me to stay. You don’t care about me anymore. It’s just a political game now.”

“That's not true! I do care about you, Gia.”

“You have a really funny way of showing it. Just admit the Free States are your favorite! We all know it's true.”

“It’s not Gia.”

“Save your breath, Dad. I'm not blind. Everyone can see it.”

“Gia—”

“Just accept the truth, Dad. It’ll hurt less for everyone that way.” Georgia said before leaving. America shook his head, causing a wave of dizziness to sweep over him.

“It’s not the truth. I love you all. I didn’t vote for Lincoln. Please don’t hurt me for other’s actions.” He muttered. 

America wasn’t sure who he was talking to. If it was just himself, to the others, to Georgia. He didn’t know. His head hurt. His soul hurt, his everything hurt. Everything seemed to blur.

“America, you need a break. Let me take care of things for a little bit.” James requested. Biting down a sob, America nodded.

“Let me know if anyone else tries to leave. Get me back.” America practically snared out, surprising himself with his own ferocity. 

“Of course,” James said, his voice so comforting. America buried his face in his hands, feeling silent tears begin to fall before he receded back into their mind, letting James take control of the body.

But everything still hurt.

—————

January 26, 1861

“Did you hear that South Carolina changed his flag? Next time you see him that'll be different.” Louisiana said awkwardly. 

“Should I go get my alcohol since I’m about to be informed of another betrayal?” America stated, his tone eerily blank. But it took too much effort to summon any emotion other than a dull anger. Louisiana looked surprised at that, her eyes widening. 

“How did you—”

“I know that feeling by this point,” America responded. It was easy to tell when someone left. He felt incomplete and broken. He felt empty, like he was being drained of everything, leaving behind an empty shell.

America had never dealt with anything like this before, and it scared him badly. America didn’t know what this would mean for him or any of his states, both loyal and traitors. What would happen if their country turned into an empty shell, a lifeless husk? What would happen then?

“Maybe this will motivate you to listen to your states and not ignore our problems. And show you that electing people who want to destroy our culture is wrong. You can’t possibly think that Lincoln isn’t an abolitionist!” Louisiana insisted. America sighed, used to this same argument from the traitors and the other southern states. Future traitors, most likely. It seemed they were all planning on betrayal. If only Buchanan had let America do something, he could nip those problems in the bud, reminding the states that their autonomy did not make them countries.

“Lincoln has stated multiple times he will not end slavery. He just wants to end its expansion into the new territories. People who hold those beliefs have been elected into Congress before. This isn’t new, so I don’t know why you overreact like this.” America told her, walking over to the small cabinet in his room where he stored his liquor. 

Liquor made everything easier to handle. It always had.

“Don’t get too drunk. You still need to project a good image for your people and show them you are strong. Now’s not the time to let your incompetence and foolhardy nature take control.” Rebecca said, surprising America with her somewhat supportive attitude.

“It’s the president Popá! That’s not like congress members. That’s a completely different thing!”

“Yeah, but the president is the executive, not the lawmaker.” Nebraska snapped.

“But he doesn’t make laws, Ana. Congress does. They are the ones who would make a law ending slavery. If that concerns you, you must worry about Congress, not Lincoln. By leaving, you are just removing all influence you have in Congress. You are just making the government less pro-slavery. You are making your problems, not me.” America said, bringing up Nebraska’s point. Louisiana clenched her fists.

“You aren’t listening!” She said.

“I am, and I'm stating facts. If you would just stop this temper tantrum and see the facts, then you wouldn’t want to leave.”

“That…was probably not the best thing to say,” James said, sounding so tired.

“It’s not a temper tantrum! I am furious at you, and for good reason. You are ignoring everyone….I don’t know how to describe how furious and angry I am now, Popá! Not in English, not in French, not in Spanish, and not in any language I know. Your head's so far up your own ass—”

“I could say the same about you!”

“Just because I am your daughter doesn’t mean I have your bullheaded stubbornness. Instead, I seemed to have gotten the ability to use common sense from my biological parents. I can see how things really are. When will you finally see that Popá?” Louisiana yelled before storming out, slamming the door shut with a force that seemed to shake the whole house.

America looked down at his liquor cabinet and sighed before pulling out a bottle of whiskey. His life was one disaster after another. He took the top off the bottle and began drinking immediately.

This was not a situation where he would only drink a little bit.

America just hoped they got Kansas into the Union before the next state left. America needed some good news and something to keep his mind off the stinging pain of betrayal.

Maybe finally being able to hug his daughter would relieve some emotion in his body.

—————

January 29, 1861

Little Kansas. Finally, she was able to become a state.

And she was adorable.

“Dad, you can’t hold her forever,” Maine commented with an amused smile. America held the sleeping state close to him.

“Yes, he will,” James said, sounding so unbelievably fond that it warmed America’s heart. Despite the throbbing pain and the ache of the emptiness inside him, he felt warm and loved.

“I can, and I will,” America said, his voice a whisper, as he didn’t want to wake up his daughter. 

“Trust me, Maine, he will. Dad is very attached to his youngest kids.”

“I'm attached to all my kids. Even the ones who are misguided.” America said, thinking back to the states that had betrayed him. America pushed the thought out of his mind, not wanting to focus on them.

“But especially the younger ones. They have you wrapped around their fingers so easily.” Rhode Island said with a small smile as he joined them, eyes focused on his newest sister.

“They do not!” America insisted a little too loudly, causing Kansas to shift in his arms. America looked down, worried he had woken her up. Kansas lifted her head and blinked.

“Papa?” She muttered tiredly. America ran his hand through her hair and smiled.

“Hey, Kan. Sorry I woke you.” America apologized. Kansas smiled, and America felt his smile grow.

“Oh yeah, she definitely doesn't have you wrapped around her finger.” Rhode Island muttered sarcastically, shaking his head in amusement.

“He has you there. You do act like they have you wrapped around their fingers.” James said like he wasn’t just as bad with the younger ones.

Shut up, James. America thought before turning to Rhode Island.

“Rhody?”

“Yeah, Dad?”

“Shut up,” America said. Rhode Island and Maine laughed at that, and America couldn’t help the smile that spread across his face. But the smile quickly faded as another dull stabbing pain from the secessions hit. America’s smile faded. Kansas could make America feel better emotionally, but physically?

Nothing but his states ending their little rebellions would stop that.

America only hoped they could finish that quickly. Kansas has enough blood in her history; if things went wrong, she would have to endure more bloodshed.

And America didn’t want that for her.

The State of Kansas deserved a break. America only hoped he could make sure she got one.

—————

February 1, 1861

“You know why I’m here, don’t you, Pa?” Texas asked his pa as he walked into his pa’s office. Pa put down the bottle he was holding and rubbed at his eyes, his eye bags standing out sharply against his skin.

“I should have expected you to want to leave as well. Are you always planning on trying to leave your parent’s countries? Because this is the second time it’s happened. You have a theme of not liking to be told what to do.” Pa said, his tone bitter and sharp.

“I got that from you,” Texas responded. His people, being Americans themselves, had been inspired by America’s War of Independence. 

“If you wanted to be a country, Texas, then you shouldn’t’ve let me annex you. You gave up that right long ago. Besides, the last time you were a country, you nearly collapsed due to internal conflict and debt issues. Do you really think that you can survive again? You need me to help keep you stable. That’s why you joined. If you were going to leave, you shouldn’t have joined me and stayed independent,” Pa said. Texas laughed at that, trying to hide how much the words stung.

“I don’t need anyone. I can do everything on my own.” Texas shot back, “You’re a huge hypocrite, Pa. You claim you are different from the limey, yet you act much like him. If Britain is the villain in your War of Independence, then you're the villain in this. You're acting just like he did. When I joined your country, I thought I would have a family who cared about me and wanted me to have freedom. You are just like Mexico. The both of you are the same!”

“I am not like Britain or Mexico!” Pa argued back.

“Yes, you are! You are both overbearing and over-controlling and think that I should belong to you. But I was my own country! And I'm going to be my own country again. Because now…now I see that joining you was a mistake. You’re right! I should have stayed independent. Dying would have been better than dealing with you,” Texas said, partially regretting the words as he said them. Pa did help him a lot, but…he wasn’t now, and Texas needed to make him see that he was just being unreasonably stubborn.

Texas was so glad he didn’t inherit that trait from Pa. 

Pa jerked back like Texas had shot him, his eyes widening. It was obvious Texas’ words cut him deeply. Not that Texas didn’t expect them, too; that was the point. Texas pushed down the little bit of guilt he felt and forced himself to be determined. This was his Pa, yes, but this was politics, and Texas couldn't appear bothered when he’s supposed to be resolute and determined.

Texas didn’t need Pa to convince himself that he had regrets.

Because Texas didn’t, he didn’t regret this at all. All of his people wanted this.

Texas ignored the small part of him that said the opposite.

—————

February 8, 1861

“I can’t be the only one who feels a little bit weird about this, am I?” Louisiana asked.

“No, I feel weird too. It’s weird that we are doing something so big without Dad.” South Carolina said.

“Well, we are independent countries, so if we want to make a confederation between ourselves, we can!” Mississippi said. Alabama nodded in agreement.

“Yesss, we aren’t under Pa’sss control anymore. Maybe it’ll ssseem weird at firssst, like my sssnake partsss, but we’ll get usssed to it. Besssidesss, thisss isss for the bessst. Pa hasss already threatened to ussse violence if he hasss to. Usss working together and becoming a confederation will help usss.” Alabama hissed out. Adjusting to being part snake along with his wings was hard. His voice was stuck at one volume now, a low hiss. It was hard to raise his voice. He had fangs, his tongue had changed, and all of his senses were screwed up.

It was very annoying and stressful. Alabama was grateful for the distraction making a confederation was giving him. It gave him something else to focus on, especially since he was hosting the constitution writing sessions in his country.

Although he and his siblings weren’t doing much writing, even if they were the personifications of countries, they were still treated differently, like kids, even though only some of them looked that way. The confederation wouldn’t be much better, as they would look younger than Alabama and all his siblings.

“Holy ssshit, I will be a father once the Confederate Ssstatess of America isss born,” Alabama said as the sudden realization hit him.

“Oh my god, Bama’s gonna be a Dad,” Georgia said as Florida and Louisiana exchanged money.

“You bet on that?” Mississippi asked, amusement in her voice.

“It was funny,” Louisiana said in her defense.

“It’ll beat you up for that.” Alabama said, “My teeth are very sharp now.”

“Are you threatening to bite me?” Louisiana exclaimed. Alabama shrugged but didn’t give a verbal response. He did try to hide his smile at Louisiana’s reaction to his threat.

“No one is getting bit. We are trying to make a country here.” Florida said.

“You’re next,” Alabama said, pointing to him. “Alssso, you’ve bitten people before. Why can’t I?”

“I’m responsible with my biting. You aren’t.” Florida answered while Louisiana nodded in agreement. As much as Alabama hated to admit it, Florida was right. He didn’t have fangs like Alabama did, and they still hadn’t tested to see if they had venom like an actual rattlesnake did. 

Alabama didn’t say that out loud, though. He didn’t want to give Florida the satisfaction. Alabama opened his mouth to comment about Florida’s biting habit before something stopped him. Alabama froze, trying to figure out what that odd feeling was. 

“Al?” Georgia asked, concern in her voice. Alabama stood up and began walking towards the door.

“The Confederate Ssstatesss isss here. I…I can feel it.” he said. Was this what Pa felt every time one of them was born? That was weird. This entire thing was strange. Alabama heard a thud from behind him, probably someone’s chair, as he exited the room, following the feeling.

As soon as Alabama left the building, he saw the Confederation. His face was the Bonnie Blue Flag similar to the ones used by Texas and the Republic of West Florida. 

Alabama wondered why that was. The Confederate State didn’t have an official flag yet; they were still working on that, and he didn’t have a seal either. This must have been the symbol of their new nation that God decided to give him. 

“Hello,” Alabama said, grabbing his attention. The Confederate States of America turned to him and smiled.

“Hello, Father.”

Something about it felt right, and Alabama quickly pulled his son into a hug, squeezing tightly.

“I’m ssso happy to sssee you. You’re going to be a great country!” Alabama said, pulling away, smiling as his siblings began to offer Confederate States their greetings. Confederate States looked very happy.

“I hope to do you proud, Father. To do you all proud.”

“I know you will.”

[xuenstrugglestoblog]

The Media to Opinion would be Excalibur to Arthur

So we’re talking media again, well, I am a media student… So…

This time, it’s on wielding the media to shape public opinion, specifically the ongoing Ukraine-Russian war. Since the era of digitalization is here, social media has played a key role in influencing public perception and international discourse that is regarding the Ukraine-Russian War. You can see people discussing and holding debates about the topic via X (formerly Twitter), users making awareness posts on Instagram, others sharing links for people to sign petitions through Instagram stories or even just WhatsApp. With social media to create a more direct way to spread information, real-time updates can be facilitated too which will definitely create a powerful narrative war where the whole world will be looking at each move both countries make. However, this narrative war can also be swayed by misinformation, emotional appeals and citizen journalism so we're gonna dive in deep on how social media has shaped global views of the conflict.

Just wanted to add since this essay is touching on something as sensitive and serious as war, there's gonna be less lame, corny jokes that I'd usually make on my blogs since I want people reading this to be serious about it as well.

(source: Financial Times)

1. Creating Empathy & Awareness

One of the most significant impacts of social media in the Ukraine-Russia war has been its ability to evoke empathy in users by showcasing the human side of the conflict. In my case, I was touched by this article that I read a while ago on Ukraine's President, Volodymyr Zelensky, who was a comedian turned president with no experience of politics (Mulvey 2022). As an amateur in this new world of politics, he still emerged to become a convincing war leader, fighting in the war himself for the sake of his nation and citizens (Mulvey 2022). You don't get to see much presidents this selfless in the world *ehem especially that orange twice elected president who wants to make his country great again*. President Zelensky is smart in using the social media to fight in the war as well, as I quote Mulvey (2022), "He has rallied the nation with his addresses and video selfies and given voice to Ukrainian anger and defiance of Russian aggression". According to Karalis (2024), Ukraine's digital strategy has helped to globalize this conflict, making it feel closer to people who might otherwise see it as a distant political issue. By sharing personal stories and raw images, Ukraine has framed the war as not just a geopolitical struggle but as a humanitarian crisis that seeks international attention.

This form of digital advocacy has been very effective in generating support for Ukraine, in not just public opinion but financial aid as well. Maruskhovska-Kartunova et al. (2023) noted as well that social media has put millions of users into action, whether it's through donations, volunteer work or just as simple as spreading awareness. Social media has allowed users to respond quickly and contribute to global solidarity, which in turn gives people a sense of direct involvement.

(source: Vanity Fair)

2. Citizen Journalism as the Protagonist and Misinformation as the Antagonist

To answer your question (that I've already heard in your head), citizen journalism is when the general public (who are NOT journalists) collect, spread and analyze news and information, via the internet. thus, it definitely plays a part in shaping perceptions of the Ukraine-Russia conflict. Through smartphones and socmed accounts, everyday people have been able to provide direct, real-time coverage that traditional media outlets are unable to do so. This form of reporting is only faster, but also more personal, since it raw, emotional moments are being captured which will resonate with audiences globally (Maruvkhovska-Kartunova et al. 2023). Citizen journalists have shown the world how the war looks like, unfiltered, which will increase empathy and create urgency among viewers.

With good, comes bad, so while citizen journalism often prioritizes speed over accuracy, this may lead to the rapid spread of unverified information, which at times, can appear to be false. Mir et al. (2023) explained that false content or inaccurate reports can go viral before they are actually fact-checked, contributing to a vicious cycle of misinformation that further complicates the public's understanding on the conflict. While social media has been great for broadcasting Ukraine's point of view, it has also become a battleground for misinformation from Russia. Russia has long utilized digital platform to spread narratives that justify its actions. This strategy includes the spread of "malinformation", which are facts that are accurate but presented in ways that mess with perception and interpretation (Selvarajah & Fiorito 2023).

However, as an X user myself, I've noticed that X now has a new 'fact-checking' feature that allows the community to "contribute fact-checks and corrections, with citations and references then displayed in-stream" (Hutchinson 2024). This is great but since it's still a pretty new feature, we don't know how whether it brings more trouble or it's a new helpful addition. Until then citizen journalism should definitely be consumed carefully since unverified contents may risk distorting the realities of the Ukraine-Russian War.

(source: Paollo Pellegrin)

3. Compassion Fatigue and Information Overload

One of the unintended consequences of the Ukraine-Russia war's continuous coverage on social media is compassion fatigue in users globally. While it's great that the widespread availability of war-related content has raised awareness, overtime, the constant consummation of distressing visuals and stories may cause an emotional burnout. To simplify, people may become desensitized to the violence, which reduces the sense of urgency around humanitarian support. New technology such as deepfakes and AI generated content add complications, making it harder for audiences to distinguished between genuine or manipulated footage, which leads to further disengagement (Mir et al. 2023). This issue poses a risk for Ukraine since it could diminish international support when sustained engagement is crucial. The rapid pace of social media news cycle also causes users to have shorter attention span, as people move on to other crises once the initial empathy tires out. According to Ghosh (2024), this desensitization effect stresses on the need for strategic, compelling storytelling that keeps the public engaged without overwhelming with repetitive content.

(source: The New York Times)

The Future of Social Media's Role in Conflict Perception

This Ukraine-Russian war has shown us that social media is a great tool for shaping public opinion in times of conflict. Socmed platforms have amplified Ukraine's voice, humanized the crisis and built a global community of support, but obstacles such as misinformation and compassion fatigue still stands in the way. DIGITAL LITERACY IS IMPORTANT. I can't stress it enough, we have to be smart in knowing what information we are consuming and platforms should also filter out false information to help out. Not just this war, but with other conflicts rising up on the internet, social media's role will only get bigger. Karalis (2024) states that social media must be harnesses ethically and responsibly, to ensure that it serves as a force for accurate awareness rather than confusion or disengagement. Thus, the Ukraine-Russian war is a great example for us to see that while social media can bring distant issues to our screens and minds, it is still up to users and platforms to navigate its complexities thoughtfully.

References

Ghosh, C 2024, ‘The Impact of Social Media on Conflict Perception: Case Studies of Russia- Ukraine and Gaza Conflicts’, ResearchGate, Amity Institute of Social Sciences (AISS), viewed 10 November 2024, <http://dx.doi.org/10.13140/RG.2.2.17178.25285>.

Hutchinson, A 2024, ‘X Says That over 500K Users Now Contribute to Community Notes’, Social Media Today, viewed 11 November 2024, <https://www.socialmediatoday.com/news/x-formerly-twitter-500k-contribute-to-community-notes/715866/>.

Karalis, M 2024, ‘Russia-Ukraine War through the Eyes of Social Media | GJIA’, Georgetown Journal of International Affairs, viewed 10 November 2024, <https://gjia.georgetown.edu/2024/02/02/russia-ukraine-through-the-eyes-of-social-media/>.

Marukhovskа-Kartunova, O, Marukhovskyi, O, Aleksandrova, M, Ivanova, I & Lebedenko, N 2023, ‘Digital Journalism and the Role of Social Media in Shaping Public Perception of Russian Aggression in Ukraine’, Revista Amazonía Investiga, vol. 12, no. 69, pp. 143–153.

Mir, AA, Rathinam, S, Gul, S & Bhat, SA 2023, ‘Exploring the Perceived Opinion of Social Media Users about the Ukraine–Russia Conflict through the Naturalistic Observation of Tweets’, Social Network Analysis and Mining, vol. 13, no. 1.

Mulvey, S 2022, ‘Ukraine’s Volodymyr Zelensky: the Comedian President Who Is Rising to the Moment’, BBC News, BBC News, viewed 11 November 2024, <https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-59667938>.

Selvarajah, S & Fiorito, L 2023, ‘Media, Public Opinion, and the ICC in the Russia–Ukraine War’, Journalism and Media, vol. 4, no. 3, pp. 760–789.

[killeroos]

Tbh I can't see Virat being all mean girls to Josh at RCB 😭 there are honestly two versions of Vi. The first is on-field Vi. That is the superstar of cricket, the Indian batting hero, the abusive and arrogant and smug captain. Then there's off field Vi. That is pookie! Vi. That is cute, cuddly, sweet, funny, mischievous, happy, bouncy, giggly and excitable little Vi. Vi on field is pretty much 😡👿🤬👊🏻😤 Vi off field is pretty much 😇🥰🤗🎀 haha.

So anyways, once Josh joins RCB, I can see Vi immediately go up to him, and go, "Hiee!! So happy to have you here, oh my god, I couldn't believe my ears when I heard you signed up for us! We're gonna have so much fun together!" Josh blinks, taken aback. Before he can formulate a polite reply to that, Vi is off on a tangent again, chattering nine to the dozen about where his room is, where the training grounds are, what they usually do at training, what they do after training, what are the best places to visit in Bangalore and how he'd be totally up to showing Josh around if he's interested in exploring. Everything is said at the speed of light, barely letting Josh comprehend what's said or letting him get a word in edgewise.

"Is he always like this?" Josh asks Maxi once, staring at Vi dance around the dressing room, singing along to a loud Punjabi song at the top of his voice.

"Like what?" Maxi asks, grinning fondly.

"... So chirpy and crazy." Josh replies. It's been ten minutes of this insanity, and Vi still doesn't look like he'll stop anytime soon. Josh's head has already started pounding. He handles Maxi and Marnus and Steve in the national team, he has absolutely no wish to deal with Vi in the IPL. Is a bit of peace and quiet too much to ask for?

It is, as it turns out. Vi keeps hanging out with Josh, hauling him to clubs and bars for post-match parties, encouraging him to join him on the dance floor and show some moves (josh almost faints with horror at that) and just talking Josh's ear off about every topic under the sun every time they meet.

Then, once Josh is having a really bad day, and Vi doesn't know that, and is being his usual vivacious and animated self. Vi is jabbering about something as usual, God knows what, josh lost the train half an hour ago, but you know, at this point he's tired, he wants to go to bed and sleep , he absolutely has no energy left to tolerate how loud and lively vi is. And getting irritated, he snaps at Vi, "Enough! Will you shut up now, or are you planning to natter on through the night? One of these days, you'll talk yourself to death. I'm sick of your foolish prattle!"

The moment Josh says that, he wishes he could take it all back, because the joy on Vi's face just shatters within a moment, and the excited gleam in his eyes dims to nothing. "Ohhh.." he says, lost for words for once. "I didn't realise I was boring you. I'm sorry." He looks absolutely crestfallen, and before Josh can apologise for his stupidity, the other runs off.

"That was so mean of you," Maxi glares at him, uncharacteristically serious.

After that day, Vi always guards his tongue around Josh, he's no longer his fun, playful self with him anymore. Instead, he mostly avoids him now, and when they have to interact, Vi is really wary around him, as if he's scared of Josh getting annoyed at him again. Then Josh realizes that while he complained so much about Vi's foolish babbling earlier, he actually misses having no one talking in his ear, pulling him to dance now, and he'd do anything to have Vi revert to that cheerful, bubbly version.

this is a really fun headcanon but i don't think it fits josh very well tbh, he might find virat a bit annoying at first but we do have to remember he regularly plays with guys like marnus. like he would be very used to dealing with very annoying teammates, plus he has a reputation for being cool and collected!

i would imagine when they first became teammates they would have a bit of a rivalry given how often hoff's taken virat's wicket (he even got him on his test debut!) and i think that would be the route to go down if you want that kind of tension! they could blow up in a similar way like maybe if someone took the sledging too far in the nets?

[ahopkins1965]

Politics and Diversity

This is a special essay concerning a very important topic when it pertains to American Politics. The topic of discussion is politics. First, what do we mean by politics? The definition of politics is the activities and methods of a political party. What are these activities that we are talking about; we are talking about people who represent our state, city, and government. We are also talking about people that represent a specific group or cause that has a reflection on human behavior.

These people are members of government that are supposed to assist the people and for the people of America. The people represent us as mayors, members of city council, senators, members of the House of Representatives, as well as other members of a diverse group that represent American Politics. These elite groups of members are responsible for making legislative decisions.

Next, we have to look at this specific group who are members of Congress or a political party that is made up of diverse members. What is the definition of diversity? The definition of this word means a difference or a variety. It is also a set of unlike characteristics having various forms or qualities. The diversity here pertains to how many men, and women who make up members of the political system in the United States.

Further, diversity is unique because it has an impact on its members. An example of this impact that I am talking about are the issues that are being addressed that concerns the citizens of the United States. The rules and regulations that are enacted in Congress have a bearing on human behavior. Politics and diversity are intertwined. I say this because actions that have a politically driven are decided legislatively through a process called majority rule.

Moreover, a majority rule process when it pertains to bipartisanship does not work. When there is a majority rule, it is not very easy to establish bipartisanship. The bipartisanship is an agreement on party lines but it has a yes or no to it. Whereas a consensus is when all of the parties involved agree to resolve an issue together and everyone is completely satisfied at the end of their discussions.

In addition, when it pertains to a majority in the political arena itself, this is a one complete party dominance. For example, specific members of the Democratic Party controlling both chambers of government. This one party dominance usually last for a specified period of time. This is true because there are elections after specific terms are served for each of our members of government. The elections later this year will be on the first Tuesday in November. There are seats that are available for both the incumbents' and their opponents.

Also, there have been issues that have not been resolved between the American people and the politicians. These issues are as follows: jobs, education, immigration, recessions, and foreclosures of homes all over the United States. There are other issues that have an impact on the American people. A great example of this is massive unemployment in all over the country. This issue has caused many Americans to depend largely on social services. This is very serious because there is at least over a third of the population that is living below the national poverty level.

In conclusion, the housing costs have dropped tremendously since the year 2000. This is simply because of the current recession that we are experiencing right now. The recession itself has hurt millions of people. This is because there are so many people who are applying for unemployment claims. There are many who have refilled for their unemployment claims. This is due to the lack of jobs that have not been readily available for those who need them. Another factor is there is also millions who are underemployed and have been affected as well. I will admit that there are jobs available, but only to those who have advanced degrees and in certain industries. These industries are in marketing, sales, nursing, engineering, nursing, and in retail. The politicians that we have in office currently are supposed to listen to the American people. The politicians that we have in office are supposed to be available to consult with anyone on an as needed basis.

Finally, when we speak of politics and diversity, I am focusing on members of Congress and the members of other groups that represent the American people. I am reflecting on the decisions that are made legislatively and are finally approved by a majority vote in both chambers of Congress. The final signature also comes from the President Himself. These decisions have an impact on human behavior. Some of the laws that are passed have an impact on the behavior of the citizens of a city, state, and country. These laws are passed through a bipartisanship of members who approve of these laws and rules for the sole purpose of satisfying all parties that are affiliated with a political party.

[the-prophesied-disco-gay]

What a beautiful wonderful post! Oh my gosh I'm so happy to have seen this!

I don't talk much about being a system because 1) I'm terrified of real world repercussions if this blog is ever linked back to my real name because the general population is NOT chill *at all* about plurals and 2) because I've dealt with this on my own as long as I can remember and I don't know all the terminology and politics of the community and don't want to accidentally step in it or hurt somebody

So I'm gonna go ahead and throw all that out the window and just be real with y'all on this here tag for a minute. Defenestrate your doubts babes <3

I usually use singular first person pronouns (I/me/my) for the most part, for safety. I don't want to slip in regular conversation and drop a "we" with the wrong person and create a safety issue for myself. However I will use we/us/our for clarity sometimes when specifically discussing this topic.

I have no idea what my system origin is! There is...um...lots of trauma in my background. Including things that go back to before my actual memory (nonconsensual operation to "normalize" my genital configuration as an intersex baby as well as continued supression of those traits and questions as I grew, as well as sexual abuse by a relative when I was very young). In addition to the stuff when I was little there are also several traumas that happened when I could remember them. However! I don't know when my system formed so I don't know if any of that was the cause or if there was a singular cause. I know I have never been able to intentionally create so much as an imaginary friend so probably traumagenic?

But much like snowglobe-system said, the existence of endogenic systems is extremely comforting to me. My headmates exist, that I am very sure of, so it doesn't really matter how they came to be! Love that for us tbh.

Also my mom is also a system! Definitely traumagenic and it didn't manifest until much later in life for her. But it makes me wonder if there is a hereditary element to this. Neither of us knew the other was a system until we had been years established, so it definitely wasn't something influenced by talking to each other about it.

I have no idea what my headmates names are, so I've given them names from characters in media that seemed to fit the closest. They're not those characters made manifest in my psyche, though from what I have read that can happen? Very cool. But for me it's more like that scene in The Last Samuri where the American dude is talking to the Japanese dude despite neither of them speaking each others language, and he goes "how about Bob, can I call you Bob?" because he can't actually ask for the guys name lol. I'm still learning how to directly communicate with my headmates on purpose, so I don't know what to call them other than names I've assigned 😅

There is an assortment of genders among us and at least one anthro in here. That took some serious getting used to because I, the one who fronts the most, used to hate furries and anthros in a very "I am legit afraid of them" sort of irrational way, which I think was me just desperately trying to be what I considered normal at the time.

I also have OCD, which shows up in every single headmate in the same way, very consistently. This is, ironically, very soothing to my OCD. It helps me keep a cohesive sense of self even when someone is fronting who isn't aware they are part of a system. We still know our routines and what we consider the "correct" way of doing things.

I get memory loss/gaps when someone else is fronting, but not when cofronting.

The easiest way to tell when I've switched (is that the right term?) is the change to my word choice and the way I speak. Apparently if you know me well, the shift in mannerisms and expressions is also a clear indicator.

So that's me! I consider the brain an incredible thing, capable of so many things we don't fully understand, and I think that's really cool! I think hating on other systems for how they came to be or how they function as systems is both arrogant to the extreme and morally wrong. I think there are many, many more plurals out there than we are aware of. I think greater acceptance and understanding will go a long way toward making the world a better place.

Thanks @snowglobe-system for starting this conversation!

Hello sysconversation! I'm a massive fan of this tag being coined, I think there's a lot of room for some really great discussion here, so I'm gonna try to kickstart a conversation myself!

I'm a traumagenic DID system. I experience a lot of denial. But you know what really really helps me? The existence of endo systems. No I'm not kidding.

Because I can say oh I must be faking this disorder. It must not be real. But I also believe that intentional systems are 100% real and that they exist, so... even if I don't have DID, I'm still creating my system right now. I'm real. My parts are real. No matter what disorders we do or don't have.

If you're traumagenic you ever been helped in some way by endo systems and/or their resources? If you're endogenic, have you ever been helped in some ways by traumagenic systems and/or their resources? We talk all the time about how we're different, I think it'd be great to have a chat about how we can be alike and how the intersection of our communities can help each other!

[serafiel-jacobs]

Dire Machinations (Fanfic)

New chapter from my main series 🩷

“Hey, Pulcinella can you do me a favor?”

He was at the Workshop Union attending to his work issues when one of the secretaries asked for his help.

“Of course” He replied, “What do you wish me to do miss?”

The girl chuckled, “You are always so polite”

She pointed at a garbage bag that was next to her, “Anyway I’m tasked with throwing away the trash but I just did my nails and a girl like me shouldn’t have to do them for something like this”

The girl had a big smile, technically he is the one who throws the trash every day because they all ask this favor.

“Can you help me out please?”

“As usual, I am happy to provide my services” Pulcinella doesn’t mind, it’s what makes their bond stronger with them. It’s good to have strong work relationships.

Meanwhile, Venigni was in a meeting, thankfully the last he would need to for his show-off transportation modes at the Grand Exhibition.

“How odd, where is Geppetto?” One of the workers asked, the meeting was about to start.

Geppetto is the president of the union, he should be in all meetings tending to this matter, once each project is given the final go, he personally has to handle the arrangements for its show-off at the exhibitions alongside the marketing department.

“He had family matters to attend to” Venigni replied.

Pinocchio is in a therapy session, and so is Geppetto.

“Can we finally admit he is overcompensating?” Another man in the room said, “Carlo died and he wasn't the best father but a puppet doesn’t need that much attention”

“Don’t say things like that” Another coworker said, “Yeah it’s just a puppet but if Geppetto thinks it's his family we have to respect that”

Venigni rolled his eyes, even when they weren’t rude to Pinocchio they still only saw him as an object.

“Can we go back to the topic at hand?” Venigni wasn’t in the mood for work drama, “Geppetto trusts that we can plan this by ourselves, shouldn’t we be flattered?”

Everyone took their seats, the meeting went on without issue, and everything seemed to go well, Venigni was leaving the union early to manage the hospital, and then he had to show up to an event, in his mind running the list of things he needed to do today when he overheard something that made him gasp.

“You know I heard that Geppetto is skipping work in the morning some days because he goes to see a psychiatrist”

Venigni stopped in his tracks, overhearing the conversation while pretending he was more focused on looking for some papers before leaving.

“Are you serious? Sure it’s weird that he treats that puppet at his son, but to think he is actually crazy…”

Venigni needs to inform Geppetto of this before it gets out of hand, for now, he can’t keep neglecting his responsibilities, Pulcinella can handle the rest while he is here.

—-

Pinocchio was playing the violin at Antonia’s home, Geppetto was leaving him with her in the meantime so they could spend some time together.

“Nothing has happened to you, right? Nothing suspicious?” Geppetto was concerned that she could be targeted.

“It seems this King of Riddles isn’t interested in me in the slightest” Antonia chuckled, “Perhaps if he wasn’t a ruthless killer, I would be offended”

How do you not pay attention to THE Lady Antonia? She steals the show in every room she is in, she is a prima donna without having to sing.

“Good” Geppetto let out a sigh of relief, “He wanted to see you today, with how stressed he has been, I’m sure you can do a better job than me to cheer him up”

Antonia laughed, “You know there is talk going on that we are seeing each other?”

He hadn’t heard about it, although it makes sense considering how he spends more time with her than before due to Pinocchio, considering how many know she sees the boy as a son is not too far-fetched to believe that, unlike other rumors.

“That’s great, more cover for you and Polendina” Geppetto joked, “I am amazed that one has suspended a thing”

“I am good at hiding my secrets” Antonia smiled, “As usual, I’ll take good care of the boy as he takes good care of me”

Pinocchio practiced music with her, it’s always special when he can be at her home and not at Hotel Krat. The hotel will always be a treasured place for him, but considering how it’s filled with people now that are back in business it doesn’t seem as personal anymore.

They were having small talk, when Pinocchio became quiet, looking away from her.

“What’s wrong dear?”

It’s probably naive of him to ask this, still, “Why doesn’t he feel bad about killing people?”

He feels bad for killing, Cecile also feels bad, why doesn’t Arlecchino feel bad? Why didn’t Simon feel bad? Frederick is probably killing people too why doesn’t he feel bad?

“I know it’s because they are evil” Pinocchio continued, “Is that the only reason? Why are people evil?”

Antonia noticed that no one had properly explained it to him, they all assumed he would know.

“Pinocchio, everyone is supposed to have a conscience” Antonia knew this subject would be tough to explain, “A conscience is like your guide”

“Like Sophia or Gemini?”

“Mmm sort of like that” Antonia smiled, “Something that sets you on the right path, that teaches you right from wrong, since no one is born knowing that from the start”

Pinocchio nodded, he was understanding.

“Everyone has their ideals of what’s right and what’s wrong, most are not black and white, everyone has their own thoughts and experiences that shape them” Antonia pauses for a moment, thinking about what to say next, “For example do you think someone is a bad person for stealing?”

“Well yes, stealing is bad”

“But what if they stole food to feed their family?”

Pinocchio had never thought about something like that, “I don’t think they are, they only wanted to help, they probably had no choice”

“I agree with you,” Antonia said, “There are people that will disagree, we could be here all day debating what circumstances could as good or bad, my point is…”

Pinocchio had her full attention by this point.

“That most will shape their conscience over time, however, some people or puppets in the case of Arlecchino don’t have one”

“Why not?” Pinocchio asked innocently.

“I don’t know” Antonia touched his hand to make him feel reassured, “Some say that there are those who aren’t born with one, some say others lose them while growing up”

“Whatever the reason is, those who don’t have a conscience, don’t feel bad about the bad things they do, despite knowing that what they do is wrong”

She tells him how it’s different if someone does something wrong yet believes they were justified, that person believed they did the right thing. But some do bad things, knowing they will hurt others on purpose.

“In fact, many of them also feel good about the things they do, The King of Riddles likes to torment Venigni, because he has nothing that makes him feel bad for what he is doing”

Pinocchio had questions, “Can someone like that grow a conscience?”

“Well, if you ask me… I don’t” She doubted that someone who has committed such atrocities could suddenly feel bad, “But don’t take my word for it, I could be wrong”

Pinocchio does think that his mother has to be wrong, Cecile is a good person, despite everything she did.

Can Arlecchino become a good person? Or rather, a good puppet in his case.

Pinocchio doesn’t feel he can, but doesn’t that mean he is being a hypocrite for giving a pass to Cecile and not him? But Cecile does everything she can to somehow mend her mistakes, she is a caring person, and Arlecchino doesn’t care.

Antonia laughed, that’s when Pinocchio realized his springs were sounding loud due to all the overthinking.

“It’s good you are thinking about it” Antonia gently played with his hair, “It’s always good to have different perspectives when it comes to these sorts of situations”

“Can I ask something?” Pinocchio looked uncomfortable, “Even if they feel bad, that doesn’t take away what they did right?”

Antonia knew where this was going.

“So does that mean that I’m…” That he is a killer, he hurt all those people, he is a bad boy because of what he did.

“Dear that’s completely different, killing because you enjoy it and killing to defend yourself or save others is not the same thing” Antonia went on, “A killer is someone who hurts others on purpose, without justification, you were never a killer”

Pinocchio for the first time since this is talked about, doesn’t feel like crying. He doesn’t blame himself, he doesn’t think is evil. He of course still has remorse, yet now he can truly understand he wasn’t being malicious as he always thought.

“I really should have a talk with your father and everyone else about the things we should have taught you from the start”

What else is he still missing about life that they never taught him?

Antonia hugged her son, “While you are here, how about we catch up on topics like that? It’s my duty as your mother”

Pinocchio hugged her back, giving her a warm smile.

“Polendina darling” Antonia let go and called for him, “Can you please fetch us some sweets that I can give to my dear boy?”

Pinocchio smiled even wider, yes he loves sweets!

—-

Hours passed, and it was almost time for the workers at the factory to leave when Venigni suddenly came back to the union, Geppetto greeted him at the break room.

“I finished my tasks earlier” Venigni was pleased with himself, “Now where is Pulcinella? I must speak with him”

“I haven’t seen him all day, I’ve been so busy supervising” Geppetto did find it unusual, however so much was on his mind.

Something was wrong when everyone started saying how they hadn’t seen him either.

“Mmm I saw him this morning” The same secretary chimed in, “He helped me take out the trash, I haven’t seen him since”

It was outside near the garbage disposal that they found the note, Arlecchino had taken him captive, leaving a location behind.

Venigni almost fainted, Geppetto had to hold him so that he wouldn’t lose balance, he was living his worst nightmare, it didn’t take long for Pinocchio to arrive, they needed to go to the set place, at the set time, they ended up arriving just in time, it was an abandoned testing facility, going inside, only the room they were in was illuminated, there was a door to the left that was shut with an electrified lock and one to the right that could be opened, the front of the room had a big reinforced window panel, but due to the darkness seeing what was on the other side was impossible.

The instructions were clear.

The three of them had to be present no one else, Venigni and Geppetto had to stay at the entrance, they couldn’t leave once they were inside. The first strange rule was they weren’t allowed to say a word.

For Pinocchio he needed to enter the room to the right, without Gemini, so he handed his friend to his father. His strange rule was that he had to tell the truth.

There would be consequences if the rules weren’t followed, and they weren’t going to question them, Pulcinella’s life was on the line.

Pinocchio firmly grasped his weapon, he knew that inside was a trap and he needed to be prepared.

Nothing could have prepared him for what he faced once he opened the door.

All the rest of the lights turned on, Arlecchino was in the room behind the window, he was holding a taser in his hand, that’s how he ended up overpowering Pulcinella. He was standing next to a control panel on one side of the room.

The room was divided into two different sides, a large metal door divided the two parts.

On the other side was Pulcinella, who was tied up in a chair, the other side was bare, and the walls looked dull and worn out,

That’s when Venigni and Geppetto realized what this place was in the past, why it was so close to the factory, this was where they tested the disposal methods in the past, Pulcinella was in a trash compactor.

Venigni was about to scream at him when Arlecchino put his hand up. Pressing a button so his voice could be heard all across the now abandoned building.

“Remember, no talking” Despite not being able to smile, they could have sworn he had a twisted grin on his face, “Or this happens faster”

Pinocchio had no time to waste, he needed to get to that room, moving across an entire building filled with traps.

Floors were electrified, two more of those strange creatures like the one he faced before jumped him; quickly getting rid of them he opened door after door trying to find his way, this was set up as a labyrinth until he got to one door that was locked when he tried to open it.

“You know I love riddles but let me play with you a new game, Have you heard of Never Have I Ever? Arlecchino instructed Pinocchio to shout his answer as he could only hear and not see him.

“Tell me the damn question now!” This had to be the worst “game” Pinocchio had been forced to play.

“Let’s see mmm…” Arlecchino faked being in deep thought,

“You are such a dutiful son, Such a job well done, However, someone in this room has been an awful liar To continue sincerity is required, I wonder who here present, Will find this truth unpleasant”

Pinocchio could feel his heart racing, this doesn’t seem like a normal riddle. Arlecchino for his part, held up a picture from his side of the room, a picture that showed Pinocchio next to The Black Cat and The Red Fox inside Krat City Hall, a picture taken by the many photographers that day, one that he stole.

“Never have I ever lied to my father about who I hang out with” Arlecchinos's voice was snarky, delighted about getting to pleasure of mocking Pinocchio.

“I have” Pinocchio was furious, so this is why this monster decided to make his father come to the place.

“Correct!” Arlecchino pressed a button, opening the door.

Once in the next area, parts of the floor were missing, holes that would lead to a deep basement area, this part was dimly lit unlike the last one, Pinocchio couldn’t allow himself to fall, he might survive that fall but he would have no way to get back up.

Jumping from one place to the other was easy, the hard part was trying to avoid those knives he hung in the ceiling that would fall with the slightest bit of movement. He had to be more careful opening the doors this time, one of them could make him fall if he wasn’t careful.

Every second was agonizing for Venigni, he felt as if they were going to have a heart attack, he was biting his lip so hard he didn’t realize he was bleeding, Geppetto had to stop him. Unfortunately, he is unable to give him words of comfort this time, even if he could, what can he say in this situation?

Pinocchio made it to the next sealed door, Arlecchino wasn’t happy, Pinocchio was acting faster than he anticipated, and Pulcinella was still too safe for his liking.

Arlecchino proceeded to kneel down and grab something, showing a corpse, the corpse that was in the morgue that had the crude appearance of Carlo. Geppetto covered his mouth so as to not make a sound.

Arlecchino gave a dramatic agonizing pause, “Never have I ever lied to my father about what makes me feel upset”

“I have!” Pinocchio shouted, why is he doing this to his father?! Was tormenting his uncle not enough?!

The next area opened. This was so easy for Arlecchino, just as Cecile told Pinocchio, he was never following him, but he knew that Pinocchio was a liar, that Geppetto's precious son is incapable of telling the truth, so he would give him a lesson about why it's bad to lie to others, specially lying to your father.

Pinocchio was almost sown in half by a saw blade as soon as he entered, he managed to dodge in time, but the place was filled with blades, heavy machinery, and other hazards you would find while working inside a factory.

“You wanna know why it took me so long to finally start toying with you?” Arlecchino casually chimed in, “It’s because my playroom took me so long to build”

Pinocchio opened a door, he jumped backward to avoid another hazard. He used the shield in his legion arm to block the second trap that came after, blocking the blade almost directly hitting him.

“It was all so worth it, I’m having so much fun, wouldn’t the rest of you agree that we are having such a swell time together?”

Pinocchio got the third locked door, by this point, the walls of the trash compactor were getting closer and closer to Pulcinella.

Arlecchino was enraged, so he took an even longer pause, Pinocchio shouting at him to say something before he pulled an alchemist report he stole. Geppetto reads how the alchemists were after his son for ruining his experiment at the cathedral.

“Never have I ever, lied to my father about why I came home late”

“I have!!” Pinocchio was even more enraged than before, he won’t stand for any of this.

The final area, the room was filled with trash, literal piles and piles of trash that blocked the way, he had a hard time finding the doors, and Pinocchio felt something sharp piercing him from time to time. Arlecchino had scattered needles around to make it more painful.

“You are cheating, right? You have to be cheating, someone must have given you a heads-up, and your pathetic father must have realized what this place was before coming, I am right aren’t I?” Arlecchino rambled in fury, “The next one will be different, the next one will be a fun riddle”

Pinocchio ignored his delusional ramblings and found the last locked door, Pulcinella was flinching because the walls were so close to him trying not to think about it. Venigni desperately tried to break the looked left door with no avail, electrocuting himself in the process.

“For this time I shall ask something I asked in the past, Because it remains true no matter how much time has passed, Is Geppetto’s creation a killer? Confess!”

Pinocchio applied all the force he could and used his Legion Arm to punch the door wide open.

“I’M NOT!”

He is not a killer, he is not like him, and he will never be like him or allow him to make him feel that way.

Arlecchino had no time to react, Pinocchio grabbed his weapon and stabbed him right in his chest.

“Press the red button!!!” Venigni and Geppetto shouted frantically at the same time.

The trash compactor was put to a complete halt, all of them couldn’t even feel relief, still running high on adrenaline. Pinocchio got Pulcinella out of there and unlocked the door, his father and uncle rushing to get inside.

Venigni hugged Pulcinella while crying, if Pulcinella could cry he would be crying as well.

“Your hand!” Venigni pointed it out in between sobs.

One of his hands had been slightly damaged, almost crushed by the machine.

“It’s alright,” Pulcinella’s said, “You can fix this, you’ve fixed me from worse”

He was referring to how Fuoco had almost destroyed him.

“You are Lorenzini Venigni the genius inventor, there is nothing you can’t do” Pulicenella used his good hand to wipe away a few of Venigni’s tears.

“Son, are you hurt?” Geppetto got closer to examine Pinocchio, aside from a few slight needle marks, he was intact.

“Father” Pinocchio didn’t want to look at him, “I’m sorry”

“It’s okay son”

“No rather, really, I shouldn’t have-“

“I already knew”

“Huh?”

“Son, I’m your father, I could tell you were lying to me” Specially when he lied about not seeing those two stalkers, “I was just pretending I didn’t realize it”

Sure it took him a little to figure out the real reason why he came home late that day, and he didn’t know why Pinocchio was upset after coming out of the morgue but his son clearly saw something that disturbed him.

It doesn’t matter, his son was lying because he didn’t want to hurt his feelings, he wasn't being malicious, that’s why he never said anything.

Pinocchio hugged his father tightly.

“You know I was going to hug you until we got home but I guess it couldn’t be helped”

Oh yeah, he is still filthy because of the trash, now his father is dirty as well.

“Sorry” Pinocchio mumbled, it’s then that he noticed his father was acting calm, too calm.

“Don’t worry” Geppetto gently patted Pinocchio’s head, “I think after today, I can trust you enough with dangerous situations”

Geppetto was terrified of anything happening to Pinocchio, yet seeing him like that, so bold, so determined. As a father the worry of his son being in danger will never go away, nevertheless, he has come to accept that if danger ever comes Pinocchio’s way, his son is more than prepared to handle it.

“Now when we get home, I’m showering first,” Said Geppetto.

Pulcinella and Venigni still didn’t let go of each other, they were letting them have their moment to themselves so they didn’t interrupt.

In the meantime, Pinocchio examined the room, there was a black locker, like the ones that were inside Trinity Doors, he found four quartzs, some cryptic vessels, and even notes and journals.

“Why is he leaving us so much?” In the end, Pinocchio will never understand Arlecchino’s methods.

“Probably because of this” Gemini had gotten out of the cage and was scrolling the pages, apparently the alchemists were looking for quartz for something related to their plans.

If he was going down then he was going to take the alchemists with him, it seems that he knew that he wouldn’t come out alive out of this situation. Although he did not expect that Pulcinella wouldn’t perish alongside him.

Pinocchio put all the information inside his bag, so he could read it carefully later at home, Sophia’s aid would be helpful too if possible, and his father and his uncle could analyze those cryptic vessels later.

Venigni and Pulcinella had calmed down, now there was only one elephant in the room to address.

“What do we do with his body now?” Venigni was at a loss.

They can’t tell the police about this, they are working with the alchemists, and they would cover it up. Not to mention the fact that if a puppet was revealed to be the murderer so close before opening the Grand Exhibition it would cause panic in the streets.

Technically justice has already been done, sadly the families of the victims will never find out the murderer is gone.

“There is the possibility of them bringing him back yet again” Gemini chirped.

It was unlikely, the killings might stop but soon after people will move on to talk about the next topic, that topic will no doubt be the Grand Exhibition, although at least that’s something positive. Plus if they wanted to do another distraction they could plan something else rather than bringing him back once more.

“I want to make sure this will never happen again, that he will never torment anyone else” Venigni knew what he had to do, although he couldn’t deny that it was also personal.

So Pinocchio put Arlecchino’s body inside, the trash compactor.

Venigni activated the machine then pressed the speed-up button, the puppet’s corpse was crushed beyond repair, and the small amount of his Ergo that was used so he could be brought back was crushed alongside him. Finally, nothing remained out of The King of Riddles.

“What do we do know?” Gemini feels as if this should be a big victory, although it doesn’t feel that way.

“I need to fix Pulcinella right away” Venigni was still frantic.

“Master Venigni, this is a scratch, you need to get proper rest, all this stress isn’t good for you”

At least father and son could agree that they needed to take a bath.

Venigni and Pulcinella kept on bantering on their way back about who needed the most help, Pulcinella eventually relented to have his hand fixed up first.

Pinocchio was ready to go to bed, but he left his room and decided to sleep next to his father, who welcomed him with a hug. Even though he trusts him that doesn't take away how scared he was, and despite how Pinocchio succeeded that also doesn't take away how he was terrified of witnessing him go through all that. Both of them can sleep in peace togther and Gemini sleeps happily in Pinocchio's huge bed all to himself.

One less threat on their way, they need to find out more about the alchemists. Not immediately, they deserve to have their victory, not to mention how rushing into action without thinking could cost them more.

For today, the only certain thing is that The King of Riddles will never make Venigni or anyone else suffer ever again.

[wonderingwanderingsworld]

Having weird feelings today. I am staying in more and more, just scared to leave my room or interact with people. It doesn’t feel healthy. I actually do want to be around people, I just want to be safe??? Anyways. I saw there’s gonna be a local vigil for Nex Benedict. I was thinking about going and clicked on one of the organizers’ names. I would say this person is a semi-celebrity in trans circles. Anyways this person has blocked me??!!!! I was quite taken aback, this is two days in a row I have found out I’m blocked by big accounts. I literally can’t remember ever having an interaction with this person. I think they liked something in my IG stories a couple years ago and I thought it was strange; even intimidating that a big account like theirs would do that. But otherwise I can’t think of anything.

I told a friend about it and they were like, hmmm I think it might be because of your stance against racism. Which honestly is the case with the other account that blocked me - that I know for a fact. I looked into this person and they seem to have moments where they’re fighting racism but then they backtrack or don’t make sense. I mean, I think most white people don’t make sense when it comes to racism. Including me, definitely. There is so much to unpack, make reparations for, work to change, it is massive. As a group we are not there, we are not even close to there, we don’t even wanna be there. Not saying there aren’t those of us who want change, but there is a massive gap between our desires and our actions. I know for myself I’m scared of the consequences of really going all out against racism; part of me wants to stay quiet or not “push it too far” for fear of being alienated and alone. I guess that’s part of what I wanna talk about here.

I don’t know how to have community right now. Most other white people do not want what I want, and when I spend time with them anyway they drag me back or make me doubt myself. But when I hang out with BIPOC folks I feel like I’m too serious and intense about racism in a way that centers myself when they just wanna hang out and have a good time. I don’t know how to navigate or regulate this. I want community that I love and loves me back. How do I do this as a white person who aspires to be antiracist?? I feel like if I could even get a few solid folks in my circle I wouldn’t be so swayed by the others. It makes me think about how often my sense of reality has been played with. I hate it.

Even when it comes to showing up to actions etc, I feel like damn, if I just knew *one person* to go with. If I just had one person I could process with. I can feel myself getting sleepy writing this which usually means I’m getting overwhelmed. I want to understand better my place in all this and how best to act. I find it very confusing.

Like for example with Palestine. At the beginning it felt scary but also liberating to post so much. I went to protests. I called and wrote to representatives. But then it started affecting my health. I got high blood pressure. Now I’m having kidney issues. So I should pull back right? But then I think, is my life more valuable than Palestinians’? I don’t think so. So what does it matter if I live or die for their cause? They die all the time. But for me it feels… I don’t know. Like they would die a noble death, whereas I would just die quietly in a corner without anyone knowing or caring why. It would be for nothing. And not even as a journalist or something, just as some trans guy in a homeless shelter who cared. So why does it matter.

I remember when I came to the witch community before I really thought I had found my people. They were political, supposedly. They cared about justice, supposedly. What I found was burnt out white activists who had decided they were “done” and would get angry, defensive or demeaning when topics around racism or even transphobia were brought up. It did not feel like my people so I left. But where am I now??? Cast adrift.

I don’t know where to go now but I’m trying. Everywhere is imperfect. But I hope to find a space that is better suited to me. Where more of the people have the same priorities. I’m not sure how to make that happen but I wanna try.

[strategicpause]

5 Things Widening the Leadership Gap

I see a growing trend and I am concerned.

The Leadership Gap

Change is accelerating. I am not talking about lowercase ‘c’ change. I am talking about uppercase ‘C’, all caps, and bolded CHANGE. Transformational change.

I will spare you the “change is good”, “change is evolution”, and “change enables growth” talking points. We all know those. My concern is that I believe leadership is falling behind. Yes, there are all sorts of books about leading through change. I am going to provide my POV on that, but that is the subject of future (and historical) leadership blog posts. What I am discussing here is the widening leadership gap and that it is resulting in fewer of us choosing leadership as a path. There are significant and growing forces pushing against leadership development. And, it is happening in a time when we need leadership more than ever.

5 Leadership Challenges

So far in my study of this topic, I have identified more than 10 sources of the widening leadership gap. In the spirit of being concise, I am going to share the top 5:

Remote Work: This includes the “distributed workforce”, “global teams”, and “hybrid work”. This one is kind of a “duh”. If you are not regularly in person with your team, leadership is harder. In these circumstances, you, the leader, tends to lean on developing and reinforcing the alignment and importance of your operating model. That is good. But, the connection with your team is just not as deep. You are missing the subtle communication that can only be picked up in person.

Gig Economy: This is “remote work” to the Nth degree. If your organization utilizes contractors and/or temporary staff, you are less likely to be a complete leader. You will learn how to set project objectives, align resources, and hold the doers accountable. But, you are far less likely to focus on the professional growth of your team. And, your “team” is much less likely to be open to feedback from you along those lines. The contractor-project leader relationship is very different than the associate-manager relationship.

Corporatism: There are lots of names for this. “Bureaucracy”, “matrix organizations”, and the term I like to use, the “borg”. This happens primarily in big companies. There is a lot here, but I will summarize. There are often misaligned goals and incentives. Two teams or departments that work together could have goals that are in serious conflict like “grow revenue” and “increase margin”. Tough to drive those two at the same time. If you try, you likely end up with neither. In functional matrices, the manager is usually not directly plugged into the actual work the associate is doing. It is tough to be a credible leader when the associate knows their end of year review is based entirely on secondhand feedback. In big companies, too often, leadership becomes political. It is more about leveraging relationships (at best managing up) than working with your team to deliver value. I could go on, but I think you get the point. Leaders in big companies have larger spans of control yet their environment discourages true leadership development.

Distraction: More information is hitting each of us than ever before. If you are in leadership, your larger than an individual contributor level of responsibilities means you are exposed to more information. This information overload also applies to your personal life in the form of social media and messaging. The personal information deluge seeps into your work life and vice versa. Making it worse, few companies explicitly try to improve the associate experience. They generally just keep piling it on. Each new initiative makes sense when considered alone but not when weighed against everything else you are asking of your associates. This means that a larger portion of your mental capacity is occupied processing all the information and less mental capacity is available to deliver your work, which includes striving to lead. So, the information overload means you are less likely to be fully present in moments when you should be focused on your team and striving to lead.

Bad Role Models: Where did all the good role models go? They are still there, but our view has been clouded with gray. Our media is filled with bad news and people in power doing questionable things. Are politicians, athletes, and social influencers good leadership role models? They can be, but we see more bad than good. We are being desensitized to bad behavior and poor leadership. It takes far too much work to isolate good examples. And, even when we do, the world seems bent on trying to find fault with anything good. The downside is two-fold. Solid leadership role models make up a smaller part of our vision. And, if you do strive to lead, you may hesitate because you suspect you will be attacked because you stick out.

I think you get the point. The forces working against leadership development are growing. The leadership gap is widening. But, there is good news. If you aspire to leadership, the landscape is filled with leadership opportunities if you look close enough!

Start with Self-Leadership

If you want to take advantage of the abundant opportunities to lead and bridge the leadership gap, what do you do?

It starts with you. Before you can strive to lead others, you have to lead yourself. How does one counter the five leadership challenges above? I believe one answer comes in the form of a 2x2 matrix. This conceptual model is the subject of my leadership blog post next month.

What Do You Think?

What did I get right? What other leader gap wideners should I have included? What am I missing? What do you think?

--

Thank you for reading my leadership blog post.

Check out “Strategic Pause” on Amazon. Follow me on Twitter (@DonThinks).

© 2024 Don Graumann. All Rights Reserved. Other than personal sharing, please do not redistribute without permission.

[flange5]

1of2 first, i hope your medical stuff works out, and your kitties forgive you. 2nd, a mortifying question, but: tumblr, what else is it for! so my hobbyist scrapping: www tumblr com/rfpreiwaphase/737374198868148224/heres-a-conference-from-2021 - only the 2nd rb is relevant, just displaying How Feral. fanworks aside, i decided i *do* want to learn this. but-if the subject might flag me as 'requesting abt pregnancy and my state is fascist af?' how does one cold-call a prof + 'i need to be anon'?

First, thank you! I'm not looking forward to it as it's my first surgery and is a fairly serious one, on the other hand, when an innard misbehaves and sends you to the hospital twice in 6 months, it gets evicted to become an outtard. Good riddance. Hopefully, I'll be up and ready for the semester :/

As for your inquiry, I've had some similar ones before, both for articles or book chapters, and for conference talks. It's a fairly polite but not too onerous request. You mention that you're personally really interested in X topic, and that you were intrigued/excited/etc. when you came across the title/abstract of X talk for x reason, and wonder if there's a way to access the paper (if the conference was recorded (a lot of sessions are, now), or if they are able to share the talk with you in any format, or if they have plans in the future to publish the work?

They may or may not do so, as if they are in the process of drafting future publication on the subject, many people are (sometimes very rightfully) leery of sharing in-process work. I've always shared when asked, though usually it's of stuff I've already published, such as articles or a chapter from my book, so I didn't have to worry about poaching.

If you think it might allay concern, you might explain that you're an independent scholar who is personally, rather than professionally interested. This is esoteric and academic enough in its treatment of pregnancy that I can't imagine that it would flag anything on a governmental level. But my guess is, if it's just a talk, it won't be monetized; that really only happens when it's published in a journal or book.

My advice is to be direct, respectful, politely enthused about their research, and short. Their answer will depend on things going on with them, rather than on if you successfully manage a secret handshake.

Good luck!