#i know everyone likes to vote strategically on all groups

[companion-showdown]

Who is the best companion to get intoxicated with?

ROUND 0 MASTERPOST

[crookedkryptonitebeliever]

Best and Worst of Both worlds (part 8)

tw: like nasty living conditions implied

vote on da poll below ill start writing after 20 votes, next chapter will b focusing on monty

part 9

You can't do it. You can't say no to Yves without going through mental hoops. So you sigh as you let him conquer your room.

You had posters of your favorite artists, but they were all lost in the clutter long ago. It reemerged dusty and damaged, but Yves repaired it the best he could. It looks decent enough to hang.

You watched him cover his mouth in contemplation as he looked around the room, trying to figure out the best place to hang it.

Yves has done more for you than everyone else combined in your life. He cleaned, he cooked, he took care of your sickness, he cleaned you, he fed you, and now he's decorating your room to make it more habitable. All of this and you never said a word, neither protest nor request. You just let him do his thing.

From what you read in the group chat, he also replenished your section of the fridge with groceries.

Your housemate took a picture of the things he bought, all of them were labelled with your name. His handwriting is black marker ink undoubtedly beautiful.

Your housemate did warn him that you're not one for cooking, the perishables could potentially go to waste. He replied that he will be visiting over for the next few days to make your meals. One of them even broke the landlord's rules and gave him a spare key to the front door.

Eventually, Yves found the perfect places to position your posters' forever home. Who knew just the strategic placement of some piece of laminated paper would elevate a room? It looks much better and oddly bigger now... well maybe the latter due to his cleanup.

He clasped his hands and admired his work. As he should.

After that, he turned to you. Which made you jolt out of surprise.

"It's been an hour and a half. Do you still want to eat?" He asked.

You checked the time. He's right, it's now half past eleven. You're not hungry anymore, so you told him that you're full. He nodded and left your room again.

Your housemates blew up the group chat due to another wild Yves sighting around the house. Is this how it's going to be from now on?

This time, you received a picture of him portioning the leftover congee in disposable containers. He has his sleeves rolled up to his elbows, showing his lean forearms. You're surprised to see that they were riddled in old scars. It was captioned: "He's freezing the rest"

You squinted and it looks like he's weighing them on an electronic scale. There's a marker pen in this picture.

You sent a message to the group chat asking if he's using his own items.

"I think so??? Idk i have never seen these containers b4" "well theyre not stained yellow yet, he has gotta have these brand new" "yea n hes using rich people sharpies, like none of us here can afford it, all of us get offbrands"

You wonder if he managed to fit them into his handbag.

Yves came back into your room, explaining that the congee will last up to 3 months in the freezer. He also walked you through the steps on how to reheat them by yourself, using the microwave or otherwise. Yves told you not to worry if you couldn't remember what to do, he wrote it down and attached it to the containers- or you could call him instead.

You nodded and waited to see what he would do. Yves seem to be doing the same thing to you for the next few seconds. Eventually though, he deem that you didn't need anything from him at the moment.

"I have to retrieve something from my car." He informed you, walking towards his bag and fishing out his keys. He checked the contents of his thermos cup, it's empty. The metal straw clanked around the walls as he picked it up and carried it with him.

You paid no mind to your housemates' frantic messages enquiring about his departure. You're too tired to care anymore, and you're too tired to know if you actually wanted him here or gone. It's nice to have company for once, but it's from a questionable source.

So you tucked yourself under your blanket and curled up into a ball. Hiding your head under your pillow so you wouldn't need to see Yves when he comes in.

You heard footsteps. And sure enough, Yves is now breathing the same diseased air as you.

But this time, he says nothing. Yves flicked the switch to your lights off and set whatever he has down on your desk.

There was a long period of silence accompanied by the soft sounds of typing. A dim glow from his computer screen illuminated his face and reflected on his reading glasses. He's logging in all the events, the observations and other pieces of data he collected from you today.

Yet you're not awake to see any of it. Blissfully sleeping and snoring away as Yves kept you company throughout the night.

__

You woke up the next morning feeling much better. But still not as healthy as usual. You should be fit enough to go to the university today.

Yves is gone and so are his belongings. However, you found a handwritten note addressed to you on your night stand.

"Your breakfast is in the fridge. Look for a mason jar with your name. It is ready to eat. -Yves"

You stretched and yawned, crumpling the paper and shooting it into the trash can.

You peeled the blanket off yourself and set your feet down onto the floor. That was when you realized he left something on the foot of your bed.

Another note resting on top of a set of neatly folded clothes and a bottle of sunscreen.

"The weather today will be reaching 90⁰F/32.2⁰C, take care of yourself and avoid the sun. -Yves"

The clothes he picked for you were the ones you forgot you had. It was breathable and cooling, but in your daily, personal style. He must have found it yesterday when he did your laundry.

You carried it in your arms and walked to your door to see yet another note- this time it was a folded A4 sized paper, attached to your bag, which looked noticeably lighter and... newer.

"I do not recommend leaving yet. But if you do, I packed an umbrella for you. Please wash your water bottle regularly, it is growing mold. Your bag was full of unnecessary paper scraps, wrappers, food crumbs, and other garbage. I had to hand wash it as I found a dried house lizard pressed between a dictionary and a magazine. Some of the notes and textbooks you carry were not even required for this semester or the next, hence I kept it away on your shelf. Your bag had holes at the bottom and was already falling apart at the seams. I sewed the best I could, but replacing and upgrading is the better option. Be mindful of your belongings.-Yves"

Your face became bright red after reading the last line. You never asked him to do this for you! Why is he judging? He chose to stick around! You don't like being told you're pathetic, directly or indirectly!

Did he really have to underline the word "mold" more than thrice? And why did he switch to red ink for that one word?

You took a deep breath and sighed. Exiting your room to pay a visit to the bathroom.

You were taken aback by the cleanliness. It looked like how it was in the listing, shiny and grime free. The shampoo and soap bottles were arranged neatly with no trace of dark sludge coating it.

There is another note stuck to the mirror.

This time, there were crude drawings depicting penises urinating on your name, no doubt vandalized by your housemates. You went ahead to read what Yves had to say.

"To (name), I replaced your toothbrush as that too, was growing mold. Pay attention to your hygiene or else you will be prone to sickness.- Yves"

There were hearts drawn all around his name, no doubt the culprit was your housemate who took a liking to him.

After taking a shower and changing into your new set of clothes, you left the bathroom to eat breakfast in the kitchen.

You opened the now pristine fridge and sure enough, there is a mason jar with a sticker of your name on its side.

You rotated it to see that he has written something else:

"Banana chia pudding: Chia seeds, almond milk, banana slices, vanilla extract, maple syrup, granola. Gluten-free and lactose-free. Do not heat, eat as is."

You're not sure how to feel about the taste, texture and temperature. It is "sick people" food after all. Perhaps you liked it, perhaps you don't. But you are definitely grateful that you have a free meal from Yves.

One of your housemates entered the kitchen, she greeted you as she began preparing her own meal.

You asked her what time Yves left.

"Beats me. His car was already gone when I woke up at 4am to take a piss. He did leave us a note though."

You asked her what she meant by that.

She shoved her hand in her pant pocket and handed a crumpled piece of paper to you.

"I will visit at 6pm, please take care of (name) for me. -Yves"

You asked where did she find this note.

"Next to the light switch in the living room" She cracked open an egg on her skillet.

You looked at the wall clock. It says 12:03pm

You have around 6 hours left before Yves comes back. There is nothing much to do in your house because the Internet runs at a snail's pace and there is no air conditioning. So you would be boiling in your room.

You think you're well enough to move around and you definitely do not want to spend time with your housemates.

You don't have to go to the university, since your exams are over and so are your classes for the semester. But all the study spots, including the library, have air conditioning.

[stealth-liberal]

So, it's that time again, the anniversary of 9/11. Two years ago, on the 20th anniversary, I wrote an essay about the Twin Tower jumpers and how we as a society have refused to look their fear and pain in the face and hold it.

Now, it's been 22 years since that day and my thoughts go elsewhere. Now I am thinking about legacy and remembrance. Honoring the dead. How do we fully honor the 3,000 people who were killed that day? Because I have some serious issues with how that has played out over the last 22 years.

I was in my 20's when 9/11 happened, and I was in the Marine Corps, so, as you can imagine, it changed my life, and not a single one of those changes was positive. Right now though, it's not what I want to talk about.

We say never forget, always remember, but how are we doing that. By dooming ourselves to what was 20 years of unending war? That doesn't sound like a good memorial.

I never had an issue with the war in Afghanistan. We were attacked Pearl Harbor style, and that was always going to end the way it did. But the war in Iraq? It made me an angry liberal. I had never been conservative, and I joined the Marine Corps to pay for college, we had been at peace for So Many Years that I guess I didn't really think that could change. The war in Iraq was criminal, though. Dubya and his cronies whipped our pain and our grief into a storm and used it to help him LIE to Congress (both sections) so he could get his war. Afghanistan had no natural resources besides poppies for opium that would benefit the war profiteers. They were strategically placed, but that was it. Iraq? Iraq had oil and Haliburton, Chaney, Dubya, Condoleezza Rice, and the rest made So Much money. Billions were made, and billions were "misplaced." Congress was given false intell reports so they would vote for the Iraq War. The fact that no one went to jail for that scarred me. They lined their pockets, and my friends came home in body bags because they SOMEHOW didn't have the money for proper body armor. I will never forgive them for that.

So... It's not a very good way to remember the 3,000 who died on 9/11. Perhaps the worst memorial of all time. Dubya shackled us to pain and grief, and no one was allowed to recover. Least of all the families who lost people. They were paraded for the cameras to be used, and looking back on it, it was sickening. How could they do that to families and the survivors? Why?

I mean, intellectually, I know why. Emotionally, I will never understand it. The survivors and the families deserved to recover. We, as a nation who witnessed the horror, deserved to recover. But recovery meant no profit. Recovery meant no Iraq War. Recovery meant Halliburton might not make quite as much money. So we all stayed traumatized, unable to move forward.

And here it is, 22 years later. How should we honor the 9/11 dead and the survivors? Well, I have a few ideas.

1. 3,000 people died that day, but it could have been less. Why? Both the Twin Towers and the Pentagon had structural and safety issues that made something catastrophic even worse. The Twin Towers did not have enough emergency staircases for it's size. All skyscrapers were supposed to have 4 staircases in case they ever needed to be evacuated. Both Towers only had 2, and the why of that is rage inducing.

You see, 4 staircases meant less floor space, which meant less desk space, which meant less ability to charge businesses higher rents. So money changed hands when the towers were built, and the number went down to 2 emergency staircases. This was a decision that was heavily criticized at the time, and many in the trades predicted disaster.

When the 1993 bombing of the Twin Towers happened, the towers stayed standing, and the 2 missing staircases weren't a problem. Everyone thought all was good. To be fair, NO ONE ever thought a terrorist group would fly a jumbo passenger jet into each tower. No skyscraper was built with that eventuality in mind. They are now, though.

When the planes hit the towers, each tower lost access to elevators and 1 staircase each. Now, both towers had to be fully evacuated with just that one staircase. It wasn't enough, and survivors have all spoken about how everyone was jammed into the stairwells going down those stairs one at a time at a snail's pace. It's a miracle as many people actually survived as they did.

The South Tower was hit more on the side, so some people above the impact zone were able to get out. The North Tower was not so lucky. It was hit head on, everyone above the impact zone was doomed, and they knew it. It's why so many of them chose to jump once faced with what was no real choice to begin with, burn, or jump to their deaths.

Had there been enough staircases, had there been 4 instead of 2, many more people would have survived. So I think a suitable way to never forget the people who died in The Twin Towers is to enact legislation so that never again can a skyscraper be built without proper emergency egress/staircases in case of an evacuation. Any skyscrapers without enough staircases are brought up to code so that if the worst happens, as many people can be saved as possible. That seems a fitting memorial.

The Pentagon was built like a fish trap, the idea was if an enemy somehow got in, they would never get out. No one ever factored in the notion of a jet being flown into the building, most of the inner ring collapsing and massive explosion damage and fire racing through everywhere. There are many stories of people pounding on the glass and not being able to get out.

Thankfully for the people at the Pentagon, they were not in a skyscraper, and first responders were able to find ways to get to them. But they couldn't and didn't get to everyone. So I think a fitting memorial to the Pentagon dead that day would be to make sure no building is so secure that you can't get out, can't truly evacuate, if the catastrophic happens. When a building is on fire, everyone deserves the best possible chance to get out and get home alive.

2. The first responders of 9/11 were the heroes of that day. I think we can all agree that the very definition of heroic is running back into a collapsing and/or burning building determined to save just one more life. So many first responders died that day doing the best they could to save lives. The ones who survived were harrowed to their bones.

The people who worked the wreckage of both sites, who collected what was left of human remains. Who bit by bit picked up the wreckage and tried to heal two cities with the labor of their hands. These people were also heroes, and anyone who says differently is just wrong.

They were told it was safe, and they were told we would take care of them. However, it wasn't safe. Both of these groups of people have had massive health complications ever since from the toxins they were immersed in for days, weeks, months, and even years. The dust alone caused so much lung damage.

Then, to add insult to injury, a Republican congress tried to take away their health benefits, to leave them twisting in the wind. These ghouls left the ACTUAL heroes of that terrible time in chronic illness, terrible pain, and in many cases tried to let them die. Why? Because they were too cheap to spend a dime on these people. John Stewart basically had to retire from The Daily Show to shame Congress into taking care of these people.

On the 17th anniversary he gave a blistering speech to them and I paraphrase here: "17 years ago, they acted heroically and did their jobs. They did their jobs! NOW DO YOURS!"

You want to know the very best way to remember the first responders who died in 9/11? Take care of their brothers and sisters who survived, their brothers and sisters who spent years working The Piles. None of these people should EVER pay so much as a dime for their health care ever again. For the rest of their lives. Period.

This is how we should memorialize them, this is how we never forget. Not chaining us to a never ending cycle of pain, despair, and anger. Not lying to us to get a second war that no one needed. Not war profiteering and then calling it patriotism. Not terrorizing our Muslim citizens. Not taking away our rights, not trading our civil rights for the illusion of safety.

This is how we make peace with the horror of what happened. This is how we move forward and let the memory of the dead be a blessing.

[horizon-verizon]

I'm still trying to see this complexity that TG has, and that's why TG stans like them?? Alicent changes her opinion and personality every hour, is the complexity of her still having any consideration for Rhaenyra? not have imagined that a war would start? or just have the same crying expression? Please....!! What complexity does Helaena have? supposedly having dragon dreams and not knowing how to interpret them? the girl doesn't say anything in 1S and everyone just thinks she's weird, she doesn't do ANYTHING! Aemond's complexity is that he was bullied and became a presumptuous arrogant who killed his nephew? and I'm not even going to talk about Aegon..... he's an abusive drunk but yes.... he's a complex character

A)

I think that "interesting" for them is actually"potential for high drama, spectacle, and foolishness just because" for some TG stans who say the greens are more interesting. Yes, the green side is actually a complex group AND they rely on fear (amongst themselves and sometimes against the blacks) & strategy...because they have to strategic in order to try to justify some of their actions or wrest the power Rhaenyra's allowed or could accrue at court. To wittle her already-given status as heir to a more passive role. And beyond-court, they wished to convince the realm that Aegon was the rightful king both before and a little after he's crowned. The greens basically had the task to work past the whole "my heir should rule after me" deal that many lords wanted to stay as solid and meaningful as possible by precedent while also arguing on the precedent set by the GC of 101...which was itself a vote based on the adulthood as well as maleness of the candidate chosen. So, again they had to be strategic and shady and underhanded. And that will inevitably give us more drama.

Funny. Ironic.

We already know that the greens were not that successful with the convincing part even with Rhaenyra at Dragonstone and their long success at isolating her, bc it is only Alicent's move to hide Viserys' body, imprison courtiers and servants, hurry to search for Aegon that enables the greens to take the throne at the end AND Rhaenyra still was able to have many more supporters fighting before and after her death for her and her sons' claims.

Which if this is why you like the greens and not bc you think Aegon deserves the throne or ay sort of leadership [bc we see how unwilling and determined he was to not allow his grandfather to actually try to rule him in canon for the very paradigm that develops from Otto-Alicent's style & aims, they created their own monster], valid. I admit, they make the perfect antagonists & foils to the blacks and they do what they are supposed to do.

B)

People, not just TGs, have cited Alicent's past affecting how she views her own and Rhaenyra's motherhood, that chain of abuse. I'm fine with this, this is true. As for Aegon, I wrote a whole master post for what I think is his "deal" HERE, which is long but you can really sum it up as him trying to prove how great of a leader and man he is in lieu of the all the years he's been on the side and Rhaenyra was Viserys' heir. Yeah his life and misery and nastiness is in part bc Alicent wishes to prepare him to become king and "peacefully" reestablish the order of patriarchal feudal primogeniture/order so she'd not have to confront her own suffering and still materially benefit from it in "exchange". This sentence in itself reflects more on Alicent's complexity than Aegon's.

Aemond? Show!him, as presented, is interesting in that he's going to show a sort of vulnerability from his inflexible role as his side's militant "guard" and his worth being drawn mostly from that. He is there to be the support to Aegon's claim. hamliet describes what I am saying well. "Love is a transaction for the Hightowers". He seeks to "prove" himself and tries to make the glory of a warrior replace real love, but it can never so he's a ball of terror.

And love is a transaction, conditional and more so than on the black side because the greens really rely on putting their children's bodies to some sort of use, from Alicent to Otto to Aegon himself and there is no recourse or sign of deep bonds where each understands the other, comforts each other, reaffirms their emotions etc., or tries to make them happy just for the sake of it formed between any green member. (prob should have made this part part of the 1st paragraph but idk how to):

Helaena's body is made into a breeding machine for Aegon's claim for Otto

Aegon is a tool for Otto's desire to move the crown how he wants and is thus not really asked to be a great leader so much as it there & take his orders/suggestions

Alicent was a Helaena for Otto

Alicent uses her kids to stick it to Rhaenyra (show & book) or else ignores them bc of the troubled context from how they existed even as she genuinely loves them

Daeron--if the show will show that dynamic b/t Daeron and Ormund--is suggested to be more of a tool for his way into high prestige behind Alicent and Aegon's own rise, which is why Daeron's sent to Oldtown in the first place, away from his own family for years...yes I know about fosterage, but I'm speaking to the effects this has on the actual bonds b/t these family member s being reduced to transactions towards their goal towards power

So this troubling, repression, and denial of love is itself intoxicating, and thrilling to people who even don't have to be part of any team. I don't blame them.

C)

This issue for me is then:

Alicent could have been a lot more coherent without the inherent benevolent sexism of her becoming Rhaenyra's only friend and underdeveloped writing that makes her a lot less rational, deliberate, & mentally vulnerable to manipulation than she was in the book....all of which undermines her "complexity" bc she becomes less active as a character much sooner than she does in the book

people say all this ethically justifies the greens' actions, determine that their moral examinations of psycho-social conditions yield the correct and only conclusions to then just reveal that they just want their thoughts to be the general thought in contrary to the evidence in text, or hide behind their real biases and need for validation of those biases through the greens

Don't get me wrong, the black side aren't angels and do heinous actions...but it is simply true that they do not create the conditions for the war to begin and are also reacting to the usurpation.

Moreover, the blacks are pretty open when they can be to be about their actions and Rhaenyra is also already the heir. But the show didn't explore her life as a mother, what her relationship to womanhood as a mother AND heir looks like without Daemon there, or her kids' development after episode 5:

Rhaenyra being reduced to her body (advertisement of "Realm's Delight"; affairs and talk of them)

her kids' understanding, more of this from episode 6 and how exactly they interacted with Alicent's sons...how does Aegon enlist them and their frustrations against Aemond and from their perspective; court interactions, including those with Viserys and Harwin or any of the Strongs; education

Rhaenyra's perceived lack of ability that really just comes from her society evaluating her gender

[book] how she forms bonds with women around her, her relationship with Daemon and their journey towards each other, her relationship with the other Velaryons (Corlys and Laenor)

Daemon as a father -> how he "settles" but not really -> how he navigates/learns to raise another life form(s) & instill pride in their heritage and family after years of his beef with Viserys and losses and his resentments he tried to allay or "make up for" through social advancement and by becoming a warrior/has moved for mainly his own validation [idk how to say this concisely]

how he met and developed whatever relationship he had w/Laena...Corlys and Rhaenys' reactions to that (yes, bring Daemon & Laena back from Essos sooner)

The blacks comparatively do not have to be as underhanded and sneaky, and yet you will also have green stans argue that they are entitled, malicious, terrible threats to a perceived order (a projection--the greens are more that bc they are going against the king's word and what I said above about heirs and precedents).

This and majorly bc of how much opportunity we lost from the writing of this show focusing on developing the greens is also why they appear as "boring" or uninteresting while overbearing, scheming, manipulative agents of destruction at the same time to some people, even though they have more than their fair share of drama and angst from the very hierarchies they are perceived to totally benefit from.

[banamine-bananime]

the forum werewolf game ever. of all time.

do you remember playing werewolf/mafia in school or at a party? the game where a few people are secretly assigned werewolf roles, each night they kill someone from the village, and each day everyone lets the mob mentality accusations fly as village tries to vote out the wolves? well, you can find communities online playing absolutely wild tricked-out role-madness elaborately-themed-with-long-writeups-and-plots versions and it's wonderful.

so a few years ago some friends and i ran a Red vs Blue theme game, mostly with friends who were not familiar with the series. we knew it was going to be a wild time but there was nothing that could have prepared us for exactly how it went down.

you see, no one knows each others' roles (the character, their affiliation, and any special abilities) in werewolf except for the wolves knowing each other. somehow, despite this and most of the players not knowing the source material, they were fucking possessed by the spirits of their roles - this is the only explanation i can find for what happened - and things got Immensely Silly. we were watching in mod chat going INSANE.

please, join me as i try to recount our crowdsourced improvisational RvB fanfiction.

so, to set the scene: the introduction

and a basic recount of the rules and mechanics of werewolf in general and this game in particular:

Each player gets assigned a role and are either village or a wolf (or sometimes, a third party). Villagers do not know each other, but wolves all share a group private message to strategize together (thus this is a game of a side with numbers advantage versus a side with information advantage)

Villagers win by eliminating all wolves, wolves win by eliminating/killing all villagers (although the game ends at the point when villagers wouldn't be able to prevent this, i.e. when there are fewer villagers than wolves). Third parties with unique win conditions may also be in a game.

During day phases, each player votes for who to eliminate, and the "winner" dies (note: in this community we use "yeet" for eliminate because it's silly and because the traditional forum werewolf term is "lynch" which like. we're not gonna say that.)

During night phases, wolves choose someone to kill, and any players that were given "powers roles/PRs" with actions they can perform at night can act (e.g. protecting someone so they will not die if wolves target them)

(specific to this game) Each player is assigned to red team or blue team. Reds can only vote to eliminate blues and vice versa (no teamkilling during the day!)

(specific to this game) The first day of the game will be Team Captain selection instead of an elimination. You may only vote for players on your own team.

(specific to this game) Unless otherwise noted, night actions can only be used on members of your team.

(specific to this game) You are each allowed to open one private message thread with a player of your choice on your team.

along with this introduction to the public thread where people try to convince each other of who to eliminate, each player gets their private role message thread. these roles were:

Village:

Church, blue team treestump ("Your main motivation has been to save Tex because of your history, but deep down you know that you'd lay down your life for any of the Blood Gulch Crew. Upon your death, rather than joining the rest of the dead, you will still be allowed to converse with the living on the game thread.")

Sarge, red team tinkerer ("On odd nights, you can create an item and send it to a member of your team. Item functions are subject to mod approval, so get creative! Just remember, violence is always the answer!")

Tex, blue team tracker/oneshot vigilante ("On even nights you can track a player on either team. Once during the game, you can choose to shoot first and ask questions later, killing your target instead of tracking them.")

Simmons, red team back-up ("Enthusiasm is not unrewarded in the military and you've worked your way up Sarge's colon and are the Red Team's second in command. Its clear that this job is not for you because you tend to lose your cool and break down at the slightest psychological provocation. You have no assigned ability at this time, and will inherit the ability of whoever is elected Red Team Captain.")

Tucker, blue team back-up ("If anyone can pick up chicks in a tank, its you! The war itself doesn't bother you, because you'll find any opportunity to shirk duties and spend time at your…..ahem special…rock. This is unfortunate because you seem to be the only one who has any combat ability (besides the "freelancer" mercenaries). You have no assigned ability at this time, and will inherit the ability of whomever is elected Blue Team Captain.")

Caboose, blue team wildcard ("Repeated head injuries, firefights inside your consciousness, and having an A.I. ripped out of your head have progressively deteriorated your mental state to the point where you're pretty much divorced from reality. All you know is that your friends need you! On even nights, you can pick any ability to use on any player, but the chances of failure are high.")

Grif, red team commuter ("After dropping out of Ithaca College, you decided to join up with the USNC. Flailing your way through basic, you've ended the self proclaimed "good-for-nothing-slacker" of the Red Team. Being cynical and selfish has earned you no big fans amongst your squad. Your bottom of the totem pole social status, and constantly being the butt of Sarge's jokes, doesn't stop you from laying down some lead to help your friends (but 48 snack cakes might distract you). Once during the game, you can go take a nap in the supply closet, effectively removing yourself from the game for a night. No one, including Sarge, will be able to find you.")

Sheila, blue team bulletproof ("Despite your big size, treads, and heavy weaponry, you are a kind, calm, and caring A.I. But a tank is a tank and you enjoy blowing stuff up, even if its your own teammates. It can be lonely in deep space stuck in a canyon with a bunch of idiots, but you've managed to strike up a romance with the red team robot, Lopez. You are immune to night kills.")

Donut, red team armour-colour-seer ("The red team rookie. In deep space. In the middle of a war. Surrounded by death and destruction. SOMEONE has to remind everyone what you're fighting for. Someone has to remind people of the finer things in life wine, cheese, wearing colors that match, and waxing codpieces. Growing up in rural Iowa has made you a little…..naive, but friendly. Generally bumbling and incompetent like Caboose (the blue team rookie), your geniality makes everyone tolerate your screw ups. Your armor is lightish red, not pink! On odd nights you can seer a player to find out their armor color. You must alternate teams when choosing your targets."). Donut's response to his role:

Doc, blue team protector ("Too bad you're the WORST medic there is. I mean really? CPR for a bullet wound? What happens if someone gets shot in the foot? You rub aloe vera on their neck? Damn right! You arrive months late and your patient is already dead, but because of budget cuts you are on loan to both the red team and blue team and get caught up in their antics. You take your do no harm vow seriously and are a pacifist....unless there's a murderous rage filled A.I. possessing you. On even nights you can protect a member of your team from being killed.")

Lopez, red team blocker ("You are the closest thing Sarge has to a son and he treats as such. You think Sarge is an annoying pompous jerk. Ever since Sarge damaged your speech unit while installing it you've only been able to speak in spanish and so you can only post in spanish. The blood gulch gang typically use and abuse you, which you resent but can't do anything about. You passive aggressively make comments in spanish that no one can understand. However, the language barrier hasn't stopped you from striking up a passionate romance with the blue team's tank, Sheila. On odd nights, you can block a player of your choice.")

Andy, bomb, as one would expect. ("Despite not having a mouth, you sure as hell like to run yours. The only reason anyone takes your crap is the constant threat of explosion. However, no matter how foul-mouthed, vulgar, and sometimes creative you get, Tex can get you under control. If you are attacked, you will explode, killing yourself and anyone else in the immediate vicinity.") (i also want to note this role was randomly assigned to the sweetest, cutest player possible lmfao)

Wolves:

The Meta, red team reflexive ability seer ("If anyone performs any actions on you, you will find out who they are and what they did.")

Wyoming, red team ninja/bombproof ("Ruthless, cunning, and not afraid to manipulate others to your will, you've always known what its going to take to reach your goals and nothing will stop you. This disregard for regulations and laws extend to the laws of time. Using equipment stolen from the military, you set people in time loops, and overpower them while they're confused. Time travel baffles even the smartest minds, wonder what it does to a bunch of idiots in a box canyon. On even nights you can't be tracked, and on odd nights you can diffuse the bomb - if you correctly target them, you can kill them without killing yourself.") Wyoming's response to this role assignment:

O'Malley, blue team redirector/force-kill/result-thief ("When implanted in other people, you serve to accentuate their own rage and internal desires. On even nights, you can redirect a player on the Blue team to perform their action on someone else. Once during the game you can force them to kill. Once during the game you can steal your target's night results in addition to the redirection.")

Third parties:

Vic, red team treestump jester. ("As is custom for all thing Blood Gulch, you are terrible at your job. Acting as a glorified tech support guy, you offer unhelpful advice and end up complicating things far more than necessary. You answer all calls with "hey dude" or "whats going on dude" which makes everyone question the legitimacy of the operation at hand. You are an independent third party, and will win the game if you are voted out AND the game makes it to the point that the final day has only 3 or 4 players)") [this means Vic wants to keep things even between wolves and villagers, so one side doesn't eliminate the other too quick]

Each player has a role PM that's just them and the mods.

Each player can also open a PM between themself and one person on their team. This can be opened any time and continues for the rest of the game.

Doc PMs Sheila (starting day 1)

Andy PMs Doc (starting day 1)

Caboose PMs Sheila (starting day 2) (oh god. oh god the happenings as a result of this PM. it's. well. you'll see.)

Tucker PMs Caboose (starting day 3) (Tucker immediately regrets it:)

Simmons PMs Grif (starting day 3)

Lopez PMs The Meta (starting day 3)

Church PMs O'Malley (starting day 3)

Sheila PMs Tucker after Tucker bugs her for one incessantly (starting day 4) (it's really cute. I won't include snippets because they're irrelevant but they talk about DnD. blue team DnD nights when.)

The Meta PMs Grif (starting day 5)

Grif PMs Donut, on Donut's request (starting day 5)

Next: day 1

[vaguely-human-man]

Being queer and at least somewhat politically active/aware in the south rn is so surreal. Like. Wake up, check the group chat to discover the newest horrific ordinance our local gov is trying to implement. Arrange plans for people to go speak against it. Listen to your friend vent about almost getting arrested for trying to verbally defend themselves against a council person who openly misgendered and belittled them. Read the newest notes about safety and security. Go to a weekly meeting and play card games and drink coffee and register everyone to vote.

Remind each other over and over. Do not engage. Do not get angry. Just keep smiling. Be polite, do not debate. Just say what you have to say. Show who you are to the best of your ability. Try to show these people that we're human too. Do not show fear, aggression, or anything resembling what you actually feel right now. It will get us nowhere.

Focus on the arguments they'll actually listen to. Focus on the money. The time. The feasibility. They've already decided we aren't human so ask a different question. Who's gonna check everyone's ID before they use the bathroom? Are you really gonna make every business with only one bathroom build a second one to comply with the ridiculously specific language written here? Is this decision based on any actual statistics about trans people being predators? Do you expect citizens to police their fellow people? What is this really about?

Lose anyway. Console each other with snacks and show-and-tell while discussing how to turn this failure into momentum. Start talking about it to everyone you know. The first article hits in less than 24 hours. Queer orgs in other parts of the state are offering support and lawyers.

You're all different ages ranging from early 20s to late 40s. You all have day jobs, volunteer work, and families. You are some of the most politically informed people alive whether you want to be or not. None of you want to be doing this. You want game nights without an undercurrent of tension, you want festivals and parades without always keeping your ears tuned for gunfire. But instead you spend meeting nights strategizing, organizing, working to weave support networks at every opportunity. Do you need a ride to vote? Did everyone check their registration? Who's bringing food, who's covering the vegan and dairy-free option? Is everyone up to date on their Covid vax? Who's going to the action two towns over, who needs coaching on how to go about it? Who needs a ride? Here's the latest laws we should be aware of. Here's a meme about how angry we all are.

And the council person says 'I love you. I respect you. But I don't want you in the bathroom with my grandkids."

And the group chat says 'Dont go to this business, they called me a slur'

And your mother says 'youre overreacting'

And your world gets narrower. Your friends get more tired. More and more resource packets get compiled. Where to get healthcare- trans or general. Where to get help for college, employment, housing. Where to get therapy. Where to get a haircut.

Time marches on. The walls feel like they're closing in. You hold them back together with all your might.

You scream. Together. Often, intentionally. Take genuine time to yell out your frustrations before going back to work.

You fall in love over and over with the people around you. Listen to their hopes and their dreams, watch the way their fire ignites when we make genuine steps forward. Watch how it dims when we go backward.

Keep going. Wake up. Eat anything you can manage to swallow. Reach a hand out to your siblings. Hold them close. Take a walk in the fresh air to try and feel better. Keep going. Keep going. Keep fighting. Take a deep breath, hold on to hope with both hands like it's the only thing that can save you because it is. Keep going.

And it's just that. Over and over again, with no clear end in sight. But dammit. You and your bunch of misfits are gonna bring about that end with your bare hands if it kills you.

[botaniqueer]

Forward: This post isn't meant judgmentally, targeted at anyone in particular or as a gotcha and I write in entirely good faith.

A question I have for white folks in particular (but also abled people, cis people, etc, but also everyone in general who votes) when engaging with electoral politics is, are you taking measures to protect the rest of us from your candidates? There's no perfect candidate for sure, but that means people will be hurt, and as voters we have a responsibility to call out and prevent harm that our candidates do; if we aren't then we're directly complicit in that harm. Are you willing to put your bodies and minds on the line to protect those who aren't going to be protected by those candidates? Because of the nature of US politics, our own candidates need to be challenged just as fiercely as if someone else got elected.

Again, I'm not against voting at all! I literally vote blue every time and in every election. I think there's strategic value in it, but we have to actually strategize, which hasn't been getting done. Are we actually engaging with why people are hesitant to vote? People use the "you're damaging your own cause!" whenever people seen as "scary leftists" participate in their actions, but it's never applies to liberal and electoral politics even though the same can be said. Trying to harp on and guilt people into voting when without engaging with why that is just damages the cause and pushes them further away. Also note that the majority of people critical of the way electoral politics are done are BIPOC; this is important to think about.

The democrats are objectively better for more people than the republicans, but there are people who are destitute to the point where those two parties are the same. Palestinians for example! Democrats also fund police measure against homeless folks as we see in the PNW, which is strongly blue. Indigenous people here are another similar group– the way indigeneity is legislated here, they're literally programmed to eventually go extinct from a legal standpoint due to the colonial law of blood quantum. Not to mention that reservations are literally, in their words, concentration camps.

Are you going to make things better for yourself and leave others to fall through the cracks? Or are you going to use that to lift everyone else up? This traditionally hasn't been the case, so if you want BIPOC voters to trust you, you have to demonstrate that you won't get attached to you candidates and hold them on a pedestal.

How are you going to assuage fears when people get anxious (and they will!) without also invalidating their fears (which is common under electoral politics votes). Can you do this without a lot of the manipulative tactics a lot of outlets use? (Blaming disaffected BIPOC for when things go wrong, using the "well the other guy is worse!" line.) Folks ask for 1000 step plans when talking about non-electoral political elements, but when engaging with electoral politics people treat it like magic, and if anyone falls through the cracks and complains, they're just being cantankerous. This is only a small percentage of the things that need to be considered.

Election season is also really retraumatizing for folks who have colonized backgrounds. Are you making sure we feel safe? Are we being thought about as real people, instead of just abstracts or as a resource to generate votes, but who are just being obstinate? (As opposed to again, real people with real motivations)

As a final note, people also comment on "Why abstain anyways when you know it's going to be bad either way?" for particularly marginalized people, and I think the answer (folks in those situations can correct me here) is that it's more cathartic to watch the people who let you slip through the cracks fall with you, than slipping through the cracks and watching those same people have brunch and pretend you and your problems don't exist. It's like being trapped in a room with only crumbs to eat while the people on the other side of the door throw a dinner party, and if you complain, yell at you saying that the other guys wouldn't even give you crumbs.

[chopper-writing-stuff]

Siren's Silence

New Arrows and Zapland were like heaven and hell. Now, the four convicts had regular meals, time for recreation and comfortable beds to sleep in. This seemed to be enough for Trigger, Tabloid and Count to decompress, but it wasn’t fooling Avril. This was still a prison for them. The presence of guards was just one of the reminders, the most noticeable one. They were being watched eating, exercising, sleeping, and walking to the briefing room. Another day behind bars, another suicide mission. This time with Scrap Queen in the sky.

“Our counteroffensive has been struggling against the Erusean forces.” The base commander spared no time getting to the point. “Enemy drones, hooked up to an auto-intercept network are preventing the army from gaining ground. We’ll be needing air superiority over the whole continent to win this war.”

Usea, shown on an enormous screen, was almost entirely red, and a small blue region was fenced off behind the UAV range, marked by places with familiar names.

“As proved by Spare Squadron’s sorties, frontal attacks are met with overwhelming air reinforcements.”

“Not that over-” Tabloid chimed in, but looks from everyone in the room effectively silenced him. He looked away, annoyed. Trigger, who had to shake Tabloid’s hand off his shoulder, withstood the stares and didn’t try to add anything.

“To get around this problem,” The base commander continued, “we have received an order to carry out a long range strategic strike.”

A blue line stretched from the base’s location, to the North, bypassing the red wall before turning West, along the coast. At the end of it was Erusea’s capital, Farbanti.

“Operating separate from the main force as the Long Range Strategic Strike Group, we have developed a strategy to carry out long range strikes behind enemy lines.”

“Ten bucks he can’t repeat that.” Count muttered.

“Striking strategic targets at a long range, the LRSSG can cripple Erusea’s air defense capabilities and open them up for ground forces’ strike.”

“The Cyclops Squadron will be leading the group.” Wiseman walked up to the front to continue. The display showed a giant from the perspective of someone who’s about to be crushed beneath its foot - the squadron emblem, accompanied by TAC names of its members: Wiseman, Lanza, Jaeger, Húxiān.

“You,” Cyclops 1 gestured towards the convicts, “have been ordered to form a new squadron to protect and support Cyclops.”

One-eyed, blue giant moved to the side of the screen to make space for purple knight, jousting on horseback. The ribbon under it read “Strider”. Spaces for members’ TAC names were blank.

“I had an idea to let you decide your positions in Strider squadron. If you manage to agree on that, I’ll have more trust in your ability to protect my guys.”

“I think we all know who deserves the top spot here. I vote for myself.” Count briefly turned to face the rest of the new Strider Squadron, and was about to announce hearing no objections, when:

“We do know, Count. I vote for Trigger.”

The con man stared down Tabloid, but seemed to be prepared for that turn of events.

“Come on, Trigger? He wouldn’t even try to lead you, let alone a whole squadron.”

If the stories Avril heard from other Spares were true, this was correct. As Spare 15, Trigger was said to have kept a strict radio silence, in the air and on the ground. Avril herself only heard the pilot say a single sentence. But it was enough to mark him as a way better leader.

“I also vote for Trigger. Count can have Strider 3. I volunteer to be on his wing.”

Avril hoped that the con man hungry for kills will let her stay behind and out of trouble. Striders 3 and 2 continued their staring contest, but looked a bit less hostile. Trigger waited a few seconds, but hearing no objections he walked up to Wiseman and simply said “Decided.”

Avril was sure a man that precise and collected would make an excellent flight lead.

***

Trigger was freaking out. The penal unit has made him stray from planned career path enough, he thought he’d never have to worry about becoming a squadron leader. This was just too abrupt. From “Looks like it’s been decided” he dropped ‘looks like’ even before taking the first step forward. It just sounded unprofessional. ‘It’s’ got stuck midway through his throat and only his quick reflex, aided by years of experience with this case, prevented him from gurgling out ‘Been decided’. Thank whatever communication god was watching over him, Wiseman accepted that declaration and Trigger could take a seat. By some miracle the shaking of his hands and knees were canceling eachother out.

Their first mission would be attacking the Erusean fleet and supply bases in Snider’s Top. While Cyclops are busy with the carrier strike group, Strider will be dealing with reinforcements from a nearby base. The task was simple but required strict coordination.

Trigger was climbing the ladder to his modified F-15 like it was steps to a guillotine stand. The months of getting away were finally going to catch up to him. This time there would be no desperate to be included AWACS, eager to call his fox codes. No relative freedom of a suicide squad. He was still a prisoner, but a load bearing prisoner. The lack of results will be directly proportional to consequences.

But in spite of his predictions, once in the cockpit, Trigger calmed down. The startup sequence, always the same, was relaxing. After weeks of quarrelsome 444th Tower, talking to New Arrows ATC was refreshing. Everything was finally by the book. Up until the first comm with AWACS.

<<Sthwid- gulp Strider and Cyclops, this is AWACS Long Caster. You’re nearing the AO. Commence operation Siren’s Song.>>

<<And uh… sorry, but I’ll be snacking occasionally. I can’t focus on an empty stomach.>>

<<Cyclops Squadron, attack the fleet.>> Wiseman didn’t let a casual AWACS surprise him.

<<And Strider Squadron, I don’t want to see any fighters near that area.>>

<<Wilco.>> Trigger answered, hoping nobody saw him nod first.

Obviously, Count broke the formation ages ago, and was the first to see the marine platform. Surprisingly though, he slowed down to let the rest catch up before attacking. The thing was massive. A short, but functional runway was held a hundred meters above sea level by wide pillars. Below it was a secondary deck with containers of supplies and whole buildings, probably barracks. Beside the flight deck was a control tower that wouldn’t be out of place on a regular airport, and two smaller platforms, connected by bridges and full of AA guns and CIWS. When Count finally decided to attack, both of his missiles were met with cones made of bullets. The Su-33 had to pull out of the dive almost immediately while a pair of Tomcats continued taxiing, unfazed.

<<They can’t expect us to do that. Let’s just get them after takeoff.>> Tabloid swung to the eastern part of the runway and Trigger did the same, agreeing with his wingman.

Soon the F-14s left the platform into a salvo of missiles. The next pair got to retract their wheels before they were met with the same fate. Finally their successors managed to get past them and Trigger realized they can’t go on like that.

While Count was busy dogfighting, Strider 1 Dove to deal with the next craft. Momentarily a fountain of lead grazed his jet, but he pushed on. From the two missiles he released, only one got past CIWS. Only one Tomcat got damaged, and Trigger had to break off. Meanwhile Cyclops 1 was celebrating sinking an Aegis vessel.

<<You can get past CIWS by flying low. Their barrels can’t depress that much.>>

<<To approach below the ship’s deck you’d have to be at 10 meters max. I think that’s too low even for Húxiān.>>

<<I’d love to prove Lanza wrong, but I’m not insane. You have fun though.>>

<<Don’t try to bite off too much. Cover each other and…>

Trigger tried the trick with a low approach, but it quickly turned out that it would be hard to attack anything on the runway from below its level. A quick pop up and a barrage of tracers forced him back down. He slowed down to get more time and then something caught his eye. There was a place on each pillar, right between the two decks, where the inner structure was exposed under the concrete. A short burst from the gun and the whole platform fell a few inches. Excited, Trigger fired more rounds and when he was just meters away from the pillar the structure finally gave in and the platform started crumbling.

He heard Tabloid cheering on the radio, but couldn’t share that excitement, because he just noticed a big mistake. It was too late to turn away. Trigger gritted his teeth, throttled up and pushed through the falling structure. Thankfully there was enough space between the decks to maneuver. By the time he passed the third pillar, Trigger thought about firing a few missiles as dumb rockets to bring down the rest of the runway. It worked surprisingly well and when the Eagle exited the structure it was short on half of its platforms.

<<Hold on. I think my radar’s not working right. It shows the marine base has collapsed.>> Long Caster was baffled.

<<Trigger flew right through! And eliminated the supports!>> 

<<That would be too crazy even for Wiseman.>> Cyclops 4, along with the rest of her squadron couldn’t believe it. But soon they were done sinking the fleet and could come see for themselves Trigger and Count racing each other in taking the rest of the platforms down.

<<You put some meat between those buns and have yourself a fine burger.>> Long Caster was amazed. <<How about you go to the valley base and serve it together?>>

The second resupply base, located nearby, didn’t have a fighter wing to protect it and soon was in the middle of two squadrons biting it from both sides. It would have been an even easier target, if it wasn’t for one thing.

Trigger sensed it while turning around for an attack. Platform-based helicopters shifting slightly to the sides of the valley. AA fire becoming more hesitant. And then Long Caster announced a squadron approaching.

<<Four aircraft. Su-30s. Bearing 080, low. Heads up.>>

<<Only four? They must be good. Everyone, keep your element. We’ve got the numbers.>>

<<Same aircraft type as in Yinshi Valley. That can’t be good.>>

<<That’s what I was thinking, Lanza. Wiseman, if it’s the same squadron, be better run.>>

Cyclops 1 took a moment to think about Jaeger’s suggestion and agreed to leave the valley base. With only a few platforms standing it was damaged enough. Strider squadron was going to be the rear guard but there wasn’t much distance between them and Cyclops when Avril shouted:

<<I’ve got a visual. They’re all black.>>

<<Mr. X’s crew. Cyclops Squadron, retreat!>> Ordered Wiseman before turning his aircraft to assist Strider.

Trigger was already on the offensive but kept slipping up, watching the sea below. Finally he decided to let the others know:

<<Mr. X might attack from below! He, uh, could slip. under the radar.>>

He hated his delivery, but that was something to worry about later. Right now, even with Wiseman’s help, the enemy squadron was giving them a hard time. Every time Strider 1 managed to get on one’s tail, another was already coming out of a turn behind him.

<<There’s no one below.>> assured Avril, and dove into the furball herself. She missed every shot however, and had to fall back behind Trigger.

The flight leader had to focus on evading. The enemies were working like a well oiled machine, always following on one another’s attacks. Trigger was well aware that the line of aircraft behind him was an easy and predictable target. It was only time before Mr X’s escorts realized that.

<<Trigger, Count. Listen up. We need to pick them off one by one. I’ll act as a lure. Get to work.>>

Wiseman overshot the aircraft he was following and started dropping flares left and right. Count took the first shots, but the black Flanker was too agile. Another one came up on Cyclops 1’s six and continued the pursuit. Wiseman was dodging well, but he wouldn’t be able to do that for long. Trigger finally got to him and started shooting. The Flanker slowed down almost to zero and performed a cobra maneuver. A second later it was outside of his radar. It was a similar case with its replacement but this time, instead of pursuing it, Trigger rolled aggressively and pulled up in the direction of the second nearest Su-30.

A line of bullet holes ran across the fuselage, nearly missing the cockpit. That was the turning point. Trigger noticed the others start flying more defensively and after a few turns they all dove to get more speed and retreated.

<<Hot damn! A job well done. Looks like my trust was well placed, Strider 1.>> Wiseman released some more flares to celebrate, and turned towards the base.

Trigger followed him, but kept thinking that Cyclops 1 might have been wrong. Trigger was a good pilot, yes. He accepted that by now. But he was no material for a leader. Despite, or maybe because of the number of people following him.

Note: A third work in this AU, and finally a look at Trigger. Not sure what else to say, besides that whoa boy, writing dogfights is hard. Thankfully the next chapter in this fic will be more dialogue focused, but I don't know if that's what I'm gonna write next week.

[nodynasty4us]

More from the reblogs:

Also worth noting that asking people who they're voting for or discussing candidate policies is pretty illegal on polling location grounds.#If you're a federal worker there's something called the Hatch Act that makes discussing political affairs SUPER ILLEGAL!#But yes your activism is commendable but it's more important for you to be safe. Lie like hell if you have to in order to stay safe!

how much you wanna bet republicans are going to try to go after private voting after this?

I hate that we hold up honesty as this unassailable virtue#that we don't teach people the difference between wanting to avoid taking responsibility and needing to protect yourself#it's another reason I hate corporal punishment so much#if you teach your children that it's wrong to lie even if they know you're going to hit them for telling the truth#then how are they going to know that they don't owe their spouse a truth that the spouse will hit them for?

my older sibling voted for Obama and never told our mother even tho mom was the one who DROVE them to the polling place

Republicans are really out here saying they’d rather be cucked than have their wives vote for Kamala and not tell them.

I was definitely too spooked to vote too far out of line the first time#Fun fact you don't gotta be spooked just vote whatever

for a group that loves tradition conservatives have really forgotten that so many peoples grandparents would NEVER discuss politics#EVER#my parents would never know who their parents were voting for#it was private. secret.#I never knew my grandfather's politics#either of them

and also don't say you wrote in yourself or him or someone you know because if your county releases a record of who received votes#and you or he don't appear with having received a solitary vote then he could extrapolate that you lied#so just say you voted for who he wanted you to vote for#and make plans to leave him#because if hes this frothing mad at the idea of you voting based on your own conscience then you need to get out

seriously you ain't gotta tell nobody who you vote for#also the volume and intensity of their outrage is meant to intimidate you#they are trying to scare you#'

What's "nauseating" is that these men - Watterson and Kirk - obviously don't believe in women as people, who have rights separate from men - from their fathers, husbands, or sons.

But imagine the gender-flipped scenario: An ad that tells you that you don’t have to vote for who your wife wants to vote for, and you don’t even have to tell her who you voted for — after all, you’re your own man, right? Suddenly, it sounds like common sense.

I hope we see a MASS of divorces after this.#that said I think we need to start getting ready to give additional support to battered women shelters.

If it was 1% more socially acceptable and politically strategically viable to say so, they would just straight up tell you that they want to take away your right to vote as a woman.

i remember seeing some right wingers saying that women shouldnt vote because why would you need to vote differently than your husband#and while i think comments like that are made to get people angry and talking#it's interesting to see the same exact sentiment described in this article#“imagine a man working so hard just for his wife to vote against him” thats crazy#proof they hate women and proof they hate democracy#but we already knew that

And they want to take away no-fault divorce. They don't want partners, they want possessions.

"How'd you vote?" "Same as everyone. Secret ballot."

Also if you have to lie you might seriously want to consider a lesbian affair. At least I think that's what Republicans are saying.

also the fact that the republicans were so mad about that ad proves that the ad is right#there's a reason your wife has to lie to you bud

this is on the heels of one trillion pity party op-eds scolding liberals for not wanting to date conservatives or estranging RW family

12:01 PM

The desperation to control woman is disgusting. Crazy from the party of "freedom"

republican men feeling entitled to control how their wife votes is so fuckin….#i'm grossed out for these women#we need to make it easier for divorce in the usa and i'm not joking

not quite related but u can also lie to the democrats themselves#you can say ''i wont vote for you unless you stop giving weapons to israel''… and then vote for them anyway#this is the having your cake and eating it of using your vote for political activism#except that in this case you actually can have your cake and eat it#as long as you're not discouraging others from voting just telling the democrats themselves this (#(in calls to your representative in emails etc etc)#it has no particular downside

my sisters told me they lied to our mom cause they came home to her angrily watching a trump rally#i dont know HOW she believed them#this is the same person who told me 'im not sure im going to let you leave the house until youre voting for the right person'

Republican men don't believe in female autonomy. You, as their wife, daughter, sister, and even mother are their property and its your job to vote their beliefs. Don't worry you're pretty little head and "try" and think for yourself ladies they'll do the thinkin for you….. Don't know how anyone could stand being married to or dating a man like that, but it sure seems to be quite common.

lie about who you voted for and then cheat on your husband, problem solved

Really makes me think of all the whining they do about how liberal women don't want to date conservative men. They'll say that we can just agree to disagree, but then act like a husband owns his wife's vote.

in 2016 I almost got into a fight with my aunt when I told her I voted for Clinton#it really shook me up and I think I cried afterward#both my mom and my doctor separately comforted me and told me “’you never have to tell anyone who you voted for#if they ask tell them it’s none of their business’#they went on to lament how when they were younger it was common courtesy not to ask how someone voted and they don’t like how people#feel entitled to know how someone voted

lying is easier than a divorce#he'll never know#and then maybe one day this decision can help get you the other tools you need to be free of a controlling man

Absolutely lie if you need to. This thread and the ad reminded me how my conservative parents refused to take me to absentee vote when I was in college because they knew I wasn't going to vote GOP. It was the first time I was old enough to vote, and I didn't have a car. My grandmother took me so I could vote before I went back to school. This was over 30 years ago!

so if believe these people think voting for a different candidate is like having an affair#does that mean theyre fucking trump. or something

Amazing how many republican men see their wives as extensions of themselves and not people with their own minds#to paraphrase Granny Weatherwax “Thinking of people as things is were Evil begins.”

it's a secret ballot for a reason#seriously this is why ballot selfies are banned; to protect the secrecy of your vote

“wife lying about her vote is as bad as an affair.” US is wild! Here, you go vote and press a button. Over there you go out and FUCK THE CANDIDATE! Now I understand why the voting time spread through a lot of days! It never made sense to me, but they do need to recover, get some electrolytes…

Man, conservative men just love announcing how fragile they are.

it is always okay to lie to keep yourself safe. it'd be good to start working on a plan to get tf out of this dangerous situation, mind. but: baby steps.

I don't live at my parents anymore#and I'm in a safe space so I don't give a shit about being as vocal as I am#but once upon a time I wasn't#and I got into a huge fight with my mom about it because she voted for Trump and#and I did not#and it was really touch and go whether or not I'd still have a home after that#republicans are always deep into their own dramatics#this is NOT the same as cheating and they're lying to scare you

Every man who has had an affair deserves a woman who votes for Kamala. (Not really, he deserves to be alone. His significant other certainly deserves better. I just was trying to adulterer-shame)

this ad feels sooooo familiar for anyone who's ever been in an emotionally abusive relationship#i would not put it past my dad to pull this shit if any of us (including my mom) still lived with him#all the troll comments going 'but wHy WouLd YoU LiE tO yOuR hUsBaNd???' are being intentionally dense#so that he doesn't make her life even more of a living hell behind closed doors! that's fucking why!

From the October 31, 2024 article:

“In the one place in America where women still have a right to choose, you can vote any way you want. And no one will ever know,” Roberts says in the ad as a woman on screen meets up with her husband after casting her ballot for Harris.

The voter winks at a fellow female voter as her husband asks if she made the “right choice.”

Republicans have responded to the video with outrage, with some claiming that a wife lying about her vote is as bad as an affair.

“If I found out Emma was going to the voting booth and pulling the lever for Harris, that’s the same thing as having an affair,” Fox News host Jesse Watters said on air Wednesday in a clip highlighted by Mediaite.

Other GOP members including Charlie Kirk said the thought was “nauseating.”

[areyouafraid]

this video is a few months old now just to be clear but i want to say i agree with him here i 100% believe that kamala is going to win this election. i don't want her to win, i don't really even want to have to remember that she's out there, i don't like her as a candidate or as a person, etc but regardless i do foresee her winning

donald trump, on top of being himself, is clearly losing his mind and will likely be dead within the next 5 years. he's been losing traction rapidly over the past few years even among hardcore conservatives. his extant follower base is comprised mostly of old men with severe untreated schizophrenia (which ftr is not a dig, it is a statement of fact, if you spend enough time around trump supporters you will know what im referring to- i'm willing to bet money that the venn diagram of trump supporters and people who perform home surgeries for morgellons is almost a circle). i mean he managed to get mike fucking pence to walk out on him. i dont really know the details of what went down there tbf but just the concept of that being a thing that happened does not bode well for him. and then he brought on jd vance, who is just generally not liked by anyone on earth. he didnt win the last election which im ngl kinda shocked me after the shit the electoral college pulled the first time he ran, in any case both the citizens and the people who actually govern the voting process have been abandoning him for a while now.

re: kamala's veering to the right... its not even remotely surprising first of all. do i think that this is some kind of act? no and maybe sorta? on one hand democrats for time immemorial have built their campaigns off of making promises to vulnerable groups & leftists that they have 0 intention of carrying out when theyre in office. who's to say they can't go both ways? strategically it would admittedly kinda make sense to kiss the ass of republicans when the only republican candidate with any chance of winning is a guy who has spent literally every waking moment since he first won the 2016 election sabotaging his own cause (IF so many republicans didnt genuinely believe shes like, an evil communist conspiring to lace the water supply with woke pheromones or whatever). on the OTHER hand, leftists have been saying ad nauseum that democrats are literally just republicans in nicer suits and everyone just pretends not to hear us. right now joe biden is in office, not defending abortion rights, not defending the basic civil rights of multiple groups that are actively being threatened, not attempting to ease the housing crisis, not attempting make healthcare more accessible, or doing anything else that anyone ever fucking wanted him to do, but instead spending millions of taxpayer dollars to send arms and reinforcements to a right-wing military state actively committing a genocide that is so aggressive in its force and scale it is being compared to the holocaust and imperialist campaign of nazi germany or the genocide waged against native americans by european settlers & kamala has made it abundantly clear she intends to do the same thing even while surveys are literally showing that it is hurting her campaign. if her history of being a cop wasn't a very overt sign that she was going to do this, then everything she's cosigned and voiced her support for literally ever was.

in a sick way i actually think this election is perfect. kamala is like the perfect compliment to trump in the sense that together they both beautifully illustrate how the american institution is fundamentally evil and an actual active danger to the continued existence of the human species, and every new evil fucking thing that kamala proudly and shamelessly espouses makes it harder and harder for liberals to deny that. i would like to hope that this wakes a lot of people up

[oracleofmaya]

Politics.

Alright I don't usually post about this stuff, I don't usually post at all if I'm being honest I'm quite bad at social media all things considered. However I feel the need to say a few things because I'm starting to realize that at almost 35 I'm some how an "Elder" queer. Firstly: It is okay to lie to politicians and polls about who your voting for. If used strategically this can influence policy leading up to an election. We're a bit to late into the cycle for that now but remember it for next time. Second: This does not mean you shouldn't vote even if you hate him Biden is more left then Trump and thus is a stop gap towards the push towards the right. It hurts and can make you angry, but putting the energy towards something constructive can really help. If you're the more active type I recommend training, if you're the more mental type I recommend finding something you can get lost in. Third: If you fear for your safety getting armed can be useful, but knowing your neighbors and community is more important, and having a gun isn't as important as knowing how to safely use one and how to not get scammed. You do not need a surplus Mosin that's been buried since WW2, you need a Glock that's been milled for an optic and a mid price optic. Train with it daily and know how to keep yourself safe from yourself. Remember, for every fighter an army needs support staff, if you follow "tooth to tail" theory its something like 1 soldier to every 8 support staff for a "Modern" military. I'm disabled as fuck and couldn't fight if I wanted to, but I sure know how to feed a crowd. Fourth: There is no magical "Revolution". However waiting on gradual change is how we got in this mess. If you are blessed with extra time community building and helping your neighbor are almost always better uses of your time then yelling about "The Revolution". Even if one did happen it could very easily get coopted by outside forces without the groundwork of proper community building. You are not a nation state, they will always have more resources then you for propaganda. It's a lot harder to make groups doing genuine good look bad though. I'm gona say it again, you're not a nation state, but you can be a community. Fifth: Take breaks. You can't heal others without healing yourself. Anyone who tells you that you should always be thinking about this constantly is trying to harm you and probably themselves. Everyone needs time to heal. Take that time when you can so you have the energy to do the things that matter. I spent my 20s taking care of folks and breaking myself for others and now I can't take care of the ones I love when they need it. If I had paced myself I'd have been able to care for more people for a longer period of time. If you struggle with this something my nerd ass likes to say is "Resting is an action" I do this to remind myself that I'm not sitting around doing nothing, I'm letting myself be ready for the important bits. Ain't nobody going to save us but ourselves. Ain't no one going to fix this world but us, and don't let anyone tell you it ain't possible. We can fix this broken world, we just have to remember that we're not alone.

...This stuff is why all my friends call me a Paladin ain't it?

[sberg0]

Getting Congress on our side

Steve Berg plenary talk July 19, 2023

Thank you to everyone, and welcome to the closing plenary for this conference. It has been so great to be together and see and talk to all of you, thank you for being here.

This session is about the policies and overall approaches that will bring about more progress, including how important it is to center racial justice. Speakers are some amazing people who I’m happy to know.

First, though, I’m happy to celebrate that at this conference, this afternoon, we are returning to a live, in-person Capitol Hill Day. It couldn’t come at a more important time, with conflicts and controversy in Congress, and the need for robust responses from the federal government.

So thank you to the Alliance staff and contractors who helped put Hill Day together, especially Jerry Jones, Samantha Wood, and John Threlkeld, all of whom I hope you got a chance to meet at our advocacy hub.

Our message on the Hill, today and throughout the year, is pretty simple, and I can summarize it in three points:

One: Ending homelessness is good for everyone in our communities

Two: We know what the solutions are

And three: We need to take funding to scale and policy to the next level

Let me spend a couple minutes on the details of what we’re encouraging you to ask Congress about.

First is funding, through the Appropriations process, for homeless assistance from HUD. This funding for the Continuum of Care and ESG pays for building and maintaining systems that engage people who are homeless, keep them safe, and help them get into housing. We need a $200 million increase, in a year when money is tight, so we need to make a strong case. And the timing is excellent, since the Senate Appropriations Committee is meeting to vote on this bill tomorrow.

A specific thing we’re advocating for is funding within those programs to pay front line workers better, by building in cost-of-living increases for staff, the way funding for increased rents is built in.

Another detail is a 2-year Notice of Funding Opportunity, so that you only need to go through that NOFO process that you’re going through right now every two years instead of every year.

And finally, we need better funding for mainstream housing programs. Homeless systems have made amazing progress over the past 15 years at moving people quickly out of homelessness. New data from HUD and from groups like the Urban Institute with their new Women’s Needs Assessment Report shows that continues, but also shows that we need to have systems of housing stability that are equally effective at preventing homelessness. Of course the Housing Choice Voucher program is the most important and most underfunded component of such systems.

There are many other issues, including specific proposals about supportive services and health care. You can find out more at the advocacy hub.

The other ask at these Hill meetings, besides support for specific funding and policy proposals, is for your Members of Congress to become partners with you in reducing and ending homelessness in your communities. Your Members of Congress can help work out problems with federal agencies, convince local leaders to do the right things, and persuade other Members of Congress. They want to be part of something good that’s happening in the places they represent, and you can help them with that.

Earlier in this conference Ann and others talked about making the case, in a way that decades of research and practice have shown to be effective. We hope you’ll be able to use the principles of strategic casemaking as part of Capitol Hill Day.

Connect to people’s aspirations – helping build communities where everyone has what they need

Naming the power of the moment -- More attention than ever to homelessness, greater understanding of its roots in systemic racism and injustice, and greater know-how about what it will take to solve.

Talking about what people can lose by sitting on the sidelines – there are too many bad ideas out there, and we need to make sure that the good ideas are what decisionmakers understand.

Navigating the dominant narratives – Polls show that a solid majority of Americans think that homelessness exists because housing is too expensive. Good! But what’s getting airplay is mental illness and drugs. We know that addressing those things is part of the solution, and Housing First is what’s proven to work

Emphasizing solutions, not problems – and fortunately, we understand the solutions

We can remake the systems that are causing this problem to be systems that bring about solutions, with our communities joyfully coming together to ensure that nobody needs to worry about where they’re going to sleep at night

We know the solutions. We know what we need to turn the solutions into reality.  Our elected Representatives and Senators need to be part of that. We need to give them that opportunity, on Hill Day and throughout every year. That starts today. We’ll have many hundreds of people up there letting them know: We are back, we are here, we are advocating for justice as we are making justice happen in our communities. Thank you!

[survivor-trinidad-and-tobago]

Episode 8: "i have never been so alone in the game"—Astyn

In this round: Tony, Champ, Colin, Raffy, and Kolby win Family Feud, leaving everyone else in danger of being eliminated at tribal council; half the tribe loses their vote; Astyn is voted out; and Steven wins on Purgatory and re-enters the chat after tribal council

Eman

I've gone back to feeling a bit adrift . . . I feel like I am in a good position, very close with a number of people - but I don't think I'm anyone's number one. (In fairness, I don't know that I have a ride-or-die either, just a lotta people that I really like and would be happy to continue working with.

Interestingly, I will say that I've seen a bit of negative chatter re: Astyn, and I'll come right out and say that I like them! They were one of the first people to welcome me post tribal switch and they've just been plain *nice* to me and I see no reason not to reciprocate. Maybe the two of us could somehow get a whole UTR thing going I'd be down for that.

Also finally chatting with Alex more - I broke and addressed the elephant in the room first (we now only have one extra vote between us and should strategize on how to use it at some point) and I'm reasonably certain (it's SO hard when you can't read body language) that he appreciated that.

--

Oh how the worm squirms . . .

I suspected Zee, now I'm close with Zee.

I was close with Kolby, now I'm finding Kolby's actions suspect.

AND I CAN'T MAKE A FREAKIN' PLAN cuz I don't know how anyone beyond my immediate group did all because Raffy was milliseconds faster on hitting enter than I was (and I'd actually like to send off to New York for a replay because there's NO FREAKIN' way that he wasn't hitting enter before the hosts were done talking. That's all I gotta say.

But I think Raffy also knew he was in danger, so I can't fault that. I'm probably in danger too (or I'm paranoid; I'll give it even odds) for being too freakin' old and too freakin' likeable (and too freakin' opinionated, but right now only my diary/the confessional booth knows that latter part).

Anyway, I'd really like to stop thinking about the game and instead go back to obsessing about other things . . . so more later.

--

What kinda game am I playing?

I ONLY WISH I KNEW.

Fly by the seat of my pants, what feels right in the moment, dear god I hope this doesn't come back to bite me in the ass in the long run, I wanna be likeable, but not too likeable, I wanna be smart, but not too smart, god-freakin-dammit, this is too hard, gosh-freakin-darnit this is so much fun.

That's what kinda game I'm playing.

And I am also obviously growing increasingly unhinged as time goes by.

Tony

Champ and I fuckin killed that challenge and I’m stoked that we’re in an alliance together! I’m not nervous for tribal but am torn because it feels like folks are gonna be gunnin’ for Michael. I’m gonna do my best to protect him but only hope it pays off.

Zee

We hit the merge! And my my my, I have so much shit going on it's crazy. I realized the only people I haven't really spoken to before merge were Michael and Raffy, but since the merge I kind of have just been talking about yellowjackets with Raffy, still haven't gotten around to talking with Michael but that's alright. I'm hoping that I'm on the winning tribe for this family feud thing, because I feel like there's a target on my back(put there by Raffy) and I'd really like it if I didn't have to feel like I need to play it so early on. I still don't trust anyone, of course, but right now I'm vibing the most with Kaleigh and Champ, and also with MH(Eman). The edgic definitely is super interesting, I'd like to think that I'm this under the radar player that people keep talking positive about, but I also have no idea, since it seems like(since last time they got UTRP5) that they are being talked about A LOT, by everyone, but in a positive way. So maybe it is me, who knows.

I also am majorly stressed about tribal council, to a point where it's almost unfun to actually play due to the anxiety. Why, you ask? Well, I got the read receipts on disadvantage in like....my first Idol hunt I think, which goes into effect in my next tribal council. Except the problem is, I NEVER WENT TO TRIBAL, so it's never been used. However, Trinica and AJ said they're only able to tell me how it messes up my game, AFTER tribal council, which makes it all the scarier. Can I calculate my moves based on what it does? Nope. So basically I have an advantage I know virtually nothing about now (insert yikes face here). I do know that if Raffy isn't safe, it seems like the smartest move to vote him out.

--

So Champ and I just had like an hour and a half call(and we're probably gonna call more later to talk about things) and like.....I don't wanna say I trust her but I really want to trust her. Like we out here vibing and I just hope she stays loyal bc I genuinely want to work with her so I think it's really good if she wants to work with me too. I feel like it would be wise to call w/Kaleigh at some point as well, just to get on top of things, but genuinely Kaleigh and Champ are the two people I want to be sitting at the end with. And I know, I know, you have to take goats along so that your game seems better and blahblahblah. Whatever, sue me. Also I genuinely don't know who is allied with who right now, but I do have theories. I think Kolby is probably in Alex's pocket, and if Alex is smart(which he is, in a very mischievous and tailored way) then he's definitely aligned with Raffy. I know MH might be close with Kolby as well, but maybe they won't tell him anything, if we(or I) stress the worries that I have surrounding that. Chances are that whatever we tell Kolby, makes a beeline right to Raffy, or at least to Alex, both of which aren't good. I definitely also think that Colin and Astyn have made their way back to Raffy, and also Colin apparently has a rather big mouth, so it's not wise to tell him anything of substance.

Champ and I also talked about who we'd want to get out, and the list as it stands is Raffy, then Alex, then Colin, in order of threat level. As it stands, the plan could be this: Kaleigh and I, and at least Jack don't have votes. There's a large possibility that more people than that don't have votes. But let's talk about what we are almost positive of. Kaleigh and Jack don't have votes, and neither do I. So, valid votes without extra votes are 9. If I use my extra vote, and Champ uses her extra vote and her normal vote, and MH votes with us, perhaps we'll be able to bring in Tony too, that gives us 5 votes. If we're lucky, the other votes will be scattered. If not, we'll either have majority, or go to rocks. At least that's the goal. I have no clue what's happening challenge wise, but we'll see. Stay tuned for more folks.

--

Ok so let’s get one thing straight. I still don’t trust none of these bitches. Especially since ya bitch doesn’t have a vote. HOWEVER, I think I’m making a plan. Most of the people in the Mystery Machine group(those of em w/votes) seem to want to vote Astyn, especially is good if MH can convince Tony to vote w/them. I’ve also heard Michael’s name from people like Kolby, and Colin seems to want to vote for Michael as well. Sooooo, if I’m lucky, the votes will be split somewhat between Michael and Astyn, sending one of them home. I don’t want to use my idol, because that will break the trust of everyone, so I just have to hope that tribal goes my way. Also, EVERYONE is coming out of the woodworks to talk w/me, I also have been trying to talk with others as well lol, since I kinda got a bit lax and didn’t do much talking for a bit. So I just have to stay on top of my social game more.

Colin

FUCK YEAH I'M SAFE

that challenge was so chaotic. glad we made it thru.

I haven't heard anything about the first vote yet, which is fun because I know it's going to turn out chaotic, but at LEAST I'M SAFE so I don't have to worry about it. Zee also put together a chat with me, Jack, and Champ and I suppose it's going to be an alliance. I'm excited for it, but there's not a ton of loyalty there, there's other people I wanna work with more. This group only formed because we played the codenames challenge together. I think I'm gonna try to reinstate the power rangers alliance with Raffy, Jack, and Astyn. BUT I also really wanna work with Eman and Alex, so I need to lay ground work there because we haven't been on a tribe together before.

I have nothing else to confess about so here's a power ranking of everyone on the tribe, ranked by how much I wanna work with them

1. Alex 2. Eman 3. Zee 4. Raffy 5. Kaleigh 6. Jack 7. Astyn 8. Champ 9. Kolby 10. Michael 11. Tony

will confess later when tribal starts triballing.

Jack

side note: I love Michael and would not throw him into the firing line unless it’s a last resort option but I was HELLA frustrated with his answers screwing us in the challenge

Kolby

Michael

We have tribal council tonight, I've heard from pretty much everyone that the vote is Astyn. Just makes sense at this point. So I'll go that way.

Raffy

I do not really have much to say. I haven't really been socializing well with my tribe, so I have no idea where the vibe is. Apparently, Kolby and Zee are leading the charge against Astyn which I hate. But I can't do much about it because I don't even have a vote. I could use my idol on Astyn, but to take out who? There's no one whose eligible that I really want gone. I wish the target would change from Astyn to Michael. If it has to be someone from OG Calypso, let it be someone I was never in an alliance with, you know? I just hope I can find my footing because I feel a bit lost right now.

Kaleigh

broooo i got a knowledge is power advantage holy shit. it stresses me out bc i’m like well maybe i should save it but i dont wanna be one of those ding dongs who leaves the game w an advantage that could have saved them. uuuuuuugggggggh.

lmao zee asked to chat and casually was like “i lost my vote in an idol hunt but i have that other vote from before,” as if she had told me about it, i was like hmm what vote? she was all “DID I NOT TELL U?” baby i c u!! u know u didn’t tell me hun. either that or the bimbo alliance is more aptly named than i thought. anyway so i'm not sure if champ told her i knew (rude) or if she just decided that she wanted to lock in w me. either way... NOTED!!!!

okay what is new what is newwwww. i’m vulnerable at tribal (i just typed TRIBLE LMFAO) , alex lost his vote in the SAME IDOL HUNT THAT ZEE DID!!! i wish i had told him not to go down that path but i didn’t know how to w/o telling him zee lost her vote. which NOW… i wish i j had cuz zee has suddenly gone extreeeemely messy. OR IS IT ME WHO’S BECOME MESSY? AM *I* THE DRAMA?!?!? zee wants michael out (probably bc he is the person she’s spent the least time talking with) and i want astyn out (for the same reason and also they are allied w raffy who is not allowed to get far in this game!!). so zee asked who we should vote and i said astyn and she was like “or we could stay soca strong and vote out michael.” LOL voting out astyn would be soca strong??? what r u talking aboutttTTT!!! and alex said after he threw Astyn’s name out to zee and zee said michael, five minutes later colin told alex that kolby was the one who mentioned michael’s name , not zee LMAOOO she is just… doing a lot. these sentences are so confusing even to me. ANYWAY.

alex and i are pipe dreaming about whether or not there’s a way to get zee out tonight - i havent told him (or anyone) about my advantage, j bc i’m kinda scared he’ll target me, but honestly i like alex and it feels like he’s been pretty forthcoming with me about stuff, AND he’s usually available for a phone call which is like everythinggg. like i like playing w him. we also figured out michael and tony might be irl friends bc alex noticed a familiarity when tony said something to trinica in the scavenger hunt challenge and michael told me yday he’s friends w trin and that’s why he’s in this game. AGAIN… something steven was correct about - he had said that he chose michael to be on that second soca formation bc he wanted to separate michael and tony bc they were both in texas and might know each other. genius! i miss steven!! but michael and i talked game finally (phew) and he seems to want to work with me and also alex which YAY. he said he and tony are voting astyn. i wish it felt like there was an easy way to get zee out this round cuz her gameplay is giving CONFUSING. and i dont like it LOL i haven’t gotten to talk to champ at all since the results of the challenge came out, and i’m kind of nervous about that. i thiiiiink we can get astyn out but zee is making me very wary cuz she’s j not rly replying and knowing that she’s trying to orchestrate some weird michael vote out is just creeping me out. ANYWHO… not much else to say. i might tell alex that zee lost her vote the same way he did to see if he can come up with any ideas to get her out tonight but i j dont think i feel it. might be too big a move rn or too divisive or alienating to ppl who aren’t in on the vote. or maybe it would just fail LOL who knows!! astyn feels like a safe vote rn but who knows what will happen before/at tribal. not me :) part of me is like, vote me out so i can have my life back!!! and the other part is like, if i get voted out my life will be over!! which is… truly out of touch with reality!!

Alex

It's fascinating seeing everyone keeping their cards so close to their chest for this first vote. Kolby and Zee both straight up asked me who I was thinking without any buildup but when I spun it back on Zee she was like "I don't have any big thoughts." Like, I know you suggested Michael to Kaleigh so you definitely have thoughts, you just suddenly don't want to share them with me? I know Eman and I will talk game today but we're at least having conversation outside of the game, too. Kaleigh and Michael are the two I feel genuinely solid with right now, and Champ, she's just hard to reach already and it makes me worried going forward. Kaleigh and I were thinking Asytn because they're one of the only two we haven't really met yet, and when Kaleigh floated it to Michael Michael floated it to me. So I think we're all solid as a trio, we just don't have a group chat or anything to make it official like Champ, Kaleigh, and I do. Jack it sounds like is also on board, at least for Astyn, but I don't know if it's because he and Michael are close or because he's just going along with what keeps him safe. Colin and I are dancing around giving up any information to each other and since he's tight with Zee I'm trying not to make the first move. Raffy and I haven't talked since before the challenge even kicked off, so I don't know where we stand, and Tony and I haven't talked since pre-merge but whatever.

--

LMAO I just remembered I don't even have a vote for this. Idol hunting is a nightmare and I'm half-considering stopping hunting entirely so I don't get hit with something else.

Astyn

This round been so quiet for me. I feel like my time has come to an end in this game. I was so excited to make merge. But i have never been so alone in the game. People I thought I was working with with aren't talking to me.

Tribal Council

Votes

Lost Votes: Alex, Kaleigh, Zee, Raffy, Jack, Astyn

Colin: Michael (I don’t think you’re going but unanimous votes are boring!)

Tony: Astyn (nothing personal, we just didn’t have time to connect)

Michael: Astyn (At this point it just makes sense for my game, hope you have a good one!)

Champ: Astyn (OPE OPE OPE)

Eman: Astyn (I hate voting for an enby during Pride month, but to do otherwise would be tokenism.)

Kolby: Astyn (they’re super sweet and i’m sad about this but everyone just wants an easy vote and i don’t want to rock the boat this early in the merge!)

[tammyisobsessedwith]

How I would’ve structured Season 4

I’m not even talking major revamping like changing character designs, motivations and so on (that would be another major post), just some structural changes within the overall plot of the season.

We get to watch the first coupling up as it happens

Make Kelly and Bruno OG Islanders, they’re coupled up when we get in

MC gets in as soon as the first coupling up happens as the eleventh Islander OR MC takes out all the boys on a (sit down, have drinks and talk) date during that first night

MC has 24 hours to pick a boy to couple up and everyone knows it

Girl left single due to MC picking her partner stays in the Villa, no one else recouples during that

Give us the option to be in a friendship couple if we’re not vibing romantically with anyone so far. They could go out on a daytime date the next day and establish that or develop further romantically

On day 3, Youcef and Oliver drop in - they both need time to develop worthwhile stories with MC (Youcef is too closed off/scared to open up at the beginning, he just stays behind this whole “I’m so sexy and smoldering” armour; and if Oliver’s whole thing is being friends first then let’s give him the time for that). They drop in during a party and there’s some group activity like truth or dare

On day 4, they each get to pick two girls to go on (separate) dates in the hideaway terrace/at the garden outside the Villa driveway that night (both choose MC as at least one of the dates, of course)

On day 5, Some cheeky kissing challenge happens (like rate the best kisser) and people start showing signs of wanting to switch couples, maybe some minor drama happens

First full girls’ choice recoupling on day 6, girl left single by MC gets to pick first, single boy is dumped. If MC coupled up with a girl (Najuma/Kelly), then Islanders have to vote to dump one of the single boys

MAJOR GRAFTING AS EVERYTHING IS HAPPENING. Just get MC to circle around and chat to people throughout the Villa, that’s what they’re there for. The bestie moments are nice, but I want to interact with everyone, even the people I may not like as otherwise how am I gonna get to know them?

On day 7, they get a silly challenge, like one of those gross out food ones or body paint/slime/dive into water

On day 8, Juliet and Valentina hit the Villa while the girls are out having brunch/having a spa day and start stirring shit up (that’s why they’re there). Give MC the opportunity to befriend them as the previous girl bombshell and strategize together

On day 9, they take boys out on those dinner dates (one boy prepares starter, another the main, the third the dessert) while the OG girls need to stay inside and fret (or not)

On day 10 they have a cheeky challenge where they have to kiss person whose secret is about and a party

On day 11, it’s a boys’ choice recoupling. The girl not picked is dumped. If MC had been with a girl before, they’re actually forced to separate but they can remain “together” while in official (friendship) couples with the boys. They can choose to sleep outside on the daybeds, for instance

On day 12, new cheeky challenge, like those silly obstacle course ones where they get wet and need to make out at the end. It’s possible to pick someone other than their couple and possibility for drama ensues

Day 13 is a chill day, something silly like playing around in the pool or games like Never Have I Ever

Day 14 there’s dates all around. DIFFERENT DATES FOR DIFFERENT LIs - like Oliver would be something to do with nature, Youcef would be a sit down dinner date, Bruno is something fun like paddle boarding and so on

Day 15: CASA AMOR! Give us six new hot guys to interact with. Bonus: Dylan could be a CA boy (minus all the red flags) while Tiffany is a CA girl

Day 16: Villa vs Villa challenge then cocktail party

Day 17: the video with suggestive clips from original boys drops in first thing in the morning, then they have brunch and Stick or Switch recoupling in the evening. Single Islanders remain in the Villa for now

Day 18: potentially awkward drinks date if a CA girl (could be Tiffany) stole your original partner (if we were with a girl and just in a friendship couple with one of the boys it’s a great drinks date with possibility for flirting as well) and integration party to get to know new Casa people

Day 19: dumping of least voted Islanders (possibility of breaking up couples if one is liked and the other isn’t). If MC was left single during Stick or Switch, usual deal where MC picks one Islander up for dumping. Final numbers are six couples, so depending on how many couples were formed during Casa Amor a lot of people could be going home then

Day 20: Tom and Cora invite people out on dates before even hitting the Villa. There’s a cocktail party in the evening to welcome them

Day 21: silly couple’s challenge or something like Most Likely To hosted by Tom and Cora

Day 22: chill day with some game like volleyball or a barbacue or something like Talent Show for integration

Day 23: Boys’ choice recoupling, but Tom and Cora pick first - MC of course gets stolen by one of them

Day 24: Brunch date in the morning, heart racing challenge in the evening

Day 25: They go out to a beach party where Returning Islanders (boy dumped in day 6 and girl dumped on 11) rejoin the group. Least favorite couples are revealed at the party (Tom/Cora and respective partners are immune from voting). Islanders need to choose to dump one couple.

Day 26: Mean Tweets/Movie Night - let’s stir shit up and ramp up the drama with unseen bits and shocking developments coming to light. This is where Dylan’s true nature could come out if we chose to recouple with him after Casa Amor (I’d still rather he be the perfect guy until we win the game and he chooses the money)

Day 27: The girls choose who they want to go out on dates with and we have final girls’ choice recoupling. If we’re with a girl, two of the boys couple up as well (either as friends or romantically, there’s possibility for that with some of the boys)

Day 28: Baby challenge then dumping of 2 least favorite couples (we get to influence who stays)

Day 29: Meet the Parents and Final Dates (gimme something glamorous that I’d never get the chance to do again in my life!!) then final dumping down to four couples (we choose who stays)

Day 30: Prom prep (shopping, dance lessons, speech writing) and Prom

Day 31: The Final

This is very basic, I’d still need to go into details of what happens each day exactly, group dynamics, couples drama thrown in the mix and so on, but this pacing would be so much more to my liking. There’s possibility for getting to know people before actual recouplings and we can actually choose to be with people outside of our official couples (as it happens in the show).

[kpop-zone]

Dating High School Blackpink

Jisoo

The valedictorian

She’s by far the most ambitious girl in school

All the high school drama couldn’t be more unimportant to her

She’s only focused on her studies

And on making her report card look better by joining strategically clever extracurriculars

She only keeps a small number of friends really close

Although she still treats the other students politely and helps them out wherever she can (resulting in her being the class president every year)

But she never really lets any of them close

That’s why you were really surprised when you learned that you had caught her attention

You had been in love with her ever since you started high school

But you had never dared to talk to her because she’s not so lowkey scary

There had been countless others who had tried to woo her

Because despite being a huge nerd, her beauty and unapproachability intrigued everyone

No one ever had a chance with her though

She simply ignored their advances or politely turned them down

So you didn’t even bother to talk with her

But one day in class, she came to talk with you

Your teacher had told you to find a partner for your final project

And suddenly Jisoo popped up in front of you

“Do you want to be my partner?”

Her question had totally caught you off guard and you stared at her with an open mouth

After embarrassing yourself for another painful minute, you eventually managed to shake off your trance and accepted her offer by simply nodding your head

“Ok, great. Meet me in the library after your classes end.”

Without awaiting your answer, she walked away but you wouldn’t have dared to disagree with her anyways

Therefore, you nervously made your way to the library after your classes had ended

Jisoo was already sitting at one of the tables, waiting for you with her school supplies neatly placed in front of her

She didn’t waste any time before starting with your project

Although she seemed to be trailing off several times while you were working

“He was involved with the Medici. They are from Italy. Do you like Italian food?”

You hadn’t expected her to ask you such personal questions, but you didn’t question her method and answered everything without hesitation

It wasn’t until two weeks later that you just weren’t able to ignore Jisoo’s weird behavior any longer

You had wondered right from the start why she had asked you for daily meetings although she seemed to know everything about the project already

Your confusion reached its peak on your last meeting one day before the deadline

Jisoo was completely out of it, fidgeting about on her chair and rambling about random things

“Are you ok? Are you nervous because of the project?”

You asked concerned but Jisoo immediately shook her head

“No, we’ll get an A. Do you want to go on a date with me?”

She blurted out, managing to catch you completely off guard

But you couldn’t say that you didn’t find her straightforwardness extremely attractive

Therefore, you -of course- said yes

The two of you agreed that she would pick you up at seven the same day

She ended up arriving five minutes early at your house and introduced herself to your parents (because she’s a classy girl), managing to woo them in a matter of seconds

After you had left your house, she managed to surprise you another time

You had thought that she would go with a safe choice -having dinner or watching a movie- but instead, she took you stargazing and prepared a fancy picknick with homemade food

And you fell for her even harder, so you didn’t hesitate when she asked you for a second date...and then a third and then a fourth...

On your fourth date she finally confessed to you that she had been in love with you forever

But just like you, she had been too shy to tell you

When the teacher had asked you to pick a partner though, she had decided to grab the chance

So she had used the two weeks that you had to work together to find out more about you and to plan the perfect dates (which she had clearly nailed)

You were completely enraptured by her confession

Therefore, you didn’t even need to think when she asked you to make your relationship official

And ever since, you are a dream team

You are a well-balanced couple

Although Jisoo is still very focused on her studies, she never neglects you

She always makes sure to have enough time for you and never stops being the most charming person on earth

Even though you are already hers, she still takes you on fancy dates and flirts with you as if she still needed to woo you

“Excuse me? Have we met before? I feel like I’ve seen your face before... Oh yeah, I remember now. It was in the dictionary next to the word ‘gorgeous’!”

She will hit you with pick up lines like that out of the blue

You always roll your eyes because of her cheesiness but secretly, you enjoy it

Jisoo also helps you to study

You had never been a terrible student, but sometimes you lack motivation

Your girlfriend has plenty of ways to motivate you though

“I will give you a kiss for every exercise that you solve correctly.”

So, since you started dating Jisoo, your grades had gotten exponentially better

In return for your girlfriend’s assistance, you help her to ease up a bit

You force her to accompany you to parties and to go out with her friends more often

She always whines, but in the end, she’s grateful that you managed to lure her out of her room

Everyone else is jealous of your perfect relationship

Never had the two of you ever been caught fighting

You even got voted first in the category ‘Couple who’s most likely to get married first’ in the yearbook

Because you just look right together

Although Jisoo isn’t a big fan of PDA and at most, allows you to hold her hand in public, the two of you still manage to cause some agitated whispers every time you walk through the hallways together

Everyone simply wants to know how you managed to woo her

But just like Jisoo doesn’t care about the rumors about others, she doesn’t care about the rumors about herself either

She’s perfectly content with everything that she has

And you are perfectly content with everything that you have too

Jennie

The rich girl

She’s by far the most popular girl in school

Everyone who’s befriended with her is considered a cool kid

Her clique frequently makes the hallways its catwalk

Because all her friends manage to significantly upgrade their school uniforms with expensive accessories

Especially Jennie looks like she stepped right out of Gossip Girl

Her look is usually completed by a headband, a shiny brooch, and the newest Chanel bag

The moment she steps out of her family’s Porsche in the morning, the head of every single person in the school turns around

There are only two kinds of people on the planet: people who want to be like her and people who want to be with her

You belong to the second kind

Ever since you had first spotted her, you were head over heels in love with her

But of course, you had never dared to talk with her, because you weren’t considered a cool kid

You just stole secret glances at her like all the other lovesick fools at school

Until the goddess of destiny decided to let you find a grain of corn one day

You had agreed with your friends that you would meet in the stadium to watch the soccer match of your school team together

As usual, however, they texted you shortly beforehand that they would be late

So you ended up sitting all by yourself in the stands, grumpily waiting for your friends to keep you company

Just when you thought that you had to be the unluckiest person on earth though, everything turned to the better

“Are you all by yourself?”

You instantly recognized her voice and whipped your head to the side in lightning speed

Jennie was standing next to you with her friends lining up behind her

You were so shocked that she had noticed you that you weren’t able to utter a single word

But Jennie didn’t seem to mind

“I wanna sit here, guys.”

She said to her friends over her shoulder who sat down obediently

“Hi, I’m Jennie. What’s your name?”

She flashed you the most beautiful smile that you had ever seen, making you blush profusely, but this time you were quick to respond to her question to stop making a fool of yourself

“Y/N!”

You blurted out breathlessly and Jennie’s smile grew even bigger

“Nice to meet you, Y/N! Here, cheer with us!”

She pressed a banner and some pom poms that her friends had brought into your hands before starting to cheer for your school team

You were still completely dumbfounded by the fact that the Jennie Kim was sitting next to you right now, but didn’t dare to disobey her wish

So you started cheering for your team too, causing her to grin at you happily

Till your friends finally decided to appear, you were almost feeling like a part of Jennie’s friend group

She had made sure to introduce you to the others and to incorporate you into their conversations

And to your surprise they were actually a lot more approachable than you had thought

If you were honest, they seemed to be fairly normal teenagers

(except when they asked you if you would also attend fashion week next month)

The evening flew by and when it was time to go home, sadness overcame you because you were sure that you would never talk to them again

But everything came differently the next day at school

“Y/N! Come here! Sit with us!”

As soon as Jennie had seen you entering the cafeteria, she waved you and your friends over

Perplexed, you stared at her, but your friends pushed you into her direction

Everyone in the cafeteria stared at you as you made your way over to the cool kids and started to whisper behind your back

But Jennie didn’t pay attention to anyone but you

She patted the seat right beside her and continued to eat as if it were just a normal lunch break

From that day on, your friends and you had fixed seats at the table of the cool kids

They always waved you over during lunch break

And also started chatting with you when you ran into each other in the hallways like you had always belonged to them

Especially Jennie always seemed to make an effort to see you as often as possible

You didn’t really think much of it at first

Until your friends couldn’t take your obliviousness anymore and told you that Jennie was having a crush on you

You laughed at their ridiculousness, but in the following weeks you noticed that Jennie truly always acted a bit shy around you

You began to doubt your certainty that the Jennie Kim could never be in love with you, and you became a nervous mess around her too

(It was pure torture to watch the two of you for everyone else)

So your friends hyped you up until you finally had enough courage and asked her out for homecoming

You had never seen a happier person in your life before

Jennie smiled with her whole face and instantly agreed

The two of you became the talk of the night

But once again, Jennie only had eyes for you

She even fled the coronation of the homecoming queen

Because she didn’t want to dance with anyone else

So the two of you stole away and talked on the stairs in front of the school instead

You talked all night until more and more students left the dance and you figured that it was time to bring Jennie home

But before you could stand up, she stopped you

“Wait, there’s actually something I wanted to do before we leave.”

Expectantly, you looked at her and to your surprise Jennie suddenly leaned in

Your lips met and you completely froze until she pulled away when someone bolted out of the door behind you

You stared at her in complete shock, but Jennie just smiled at you

“Ok, we can go now.”

She held out her hand to you and you took it speechlessly

Together you made your way back home with your fingers intertwined

When you looked to the side, you could see that Jennie was still grinning from ear to ear and you started to ease up

Like two Cheshire cats you walked through the city, giggling sheepishly every now and then when your eyes met

And you were sure that you had to be the happiest person on the planet

Ever since that night Jennie and you are a couple

And you are allowed to see more and more of her world, realizing that people just had way too much fantasy

Not even half of the rumors that circulate about her and her friends are true

Jennie is not at all that scary, arrogant rich girl that everyone always makes her out to be

She’s just a normal teenager who tries to survive high school

Everyone had just put her in a box, because of her family’s money

She doesn’t think that she’s superior to others because of her family’s money at all though

Although you do have to stop her sometimes from spoiling you too much

Because whenever she sees something that she thinks you could like, she simply buys it

And when you’re getting food together, she always wants to pay

But you convinced her at one point to alternate because you want to spoil her too from time to time

Although she doesn’t really want you to spend a lot of money on her

“If you want to spoil me, then give me endless cuddles.”

She usually says and who were you to disagree?

Generally, Jennie is someone who isn’t too shy to show her love for you publicly

She always makes sure to keep you close by her side

As soon as you are together, your bodies are attached to each other in some way

Either your girlfriend will hold your hand, interlink your arms, place her hand on your leg or sit in your lap

Your friends always tease you about it when you go out together

But Jennie couldn’t care less

She loves you with all her heart and she wants everyone to know that you’re hers

Chaeyoung

The choir girl

She’s a sweetheart

Everyone knows her

And everyone loves her

Because she’s in a billion different clubs at school (she can’t say no...)

Cheerleading, prom committee, glee club, choir, creative writing club...

But her only real passion is music

In 99% of the cases when she’s not in class, she can be found in the choir room

Usually, she just strums away on a guitar or plays piano

Often she leaves the window open and her beautiful voice mesmerizes everyone on the schoolyard

The 1% of the time that she isn’t in the choir room, she can be found in the cafeteria

All the cafeteria ladies know her by name

And they are all whipped for her

She always gets an extra scoop or sometimes she even gets some special menu

And as her best friend, you enjoy the same benefits as well

You can’t remember a time that you weren’t with her

She’s your best friend ever since you can think

The two of you live in the same street

And grew up playing together

Ever since elementary school you also attend the same schools

So at one point in your live it literally seemed like you were seeing each other 24/7

That’s why you don’t really know when your relationship had changed

It was more of a creeping process

Even as children you liked to pretend that you were a married couple when you were playing

It was also normal for the two of you to hold hands wherever you were going

Therefore, you can’t really tell when you turned from friends to lovers

Neither of you were simply ever interested in anyone else

And when you moved on to middle school together, everyone assumed that you were a couple

And you didn’t bother to correct them

It wasn’t until the end of middle school though that you actually kissed for the first time

You were having one of your many sleepovers

And all the pent-up uncertainty and emotions that both of you had been feeling finally reached their limit

So when you were facing each other on your bed and Chaeyoung’s gaze flickered to your lips, you just leaned in

It was just a short and sweet peck on the lips

But when Chaeyoung giggled happily afterwards, it didn’t fail to make a million butterflies erupt in your stomach

And you knew that this definitely would not be the last time

Since then you are officially a couple

Although you actually spend less time together ever since you transferred to high school

Because both of you have quite busy schedules

That did not change the importance that you have in each other’s lives though

Chaeyoung is still the first person that you tell every important and not so important thing in your life and vice versa

And both of you are still completely uninterested in anyone else

Although there are of course a lot of jocks who want to woo Chaeyoung because she’s the captain of the cheerleading squad

But she is always quick to turn everyone down

Managing to break a lot of hearts in the process

Because she’s very bad at hiding the disgust in her face whenever someone flirts with her

So you usually laugh away all the advances of her admirers

Plus, most students know that the two of you are dating anyways

After all, you are one of those annoyingly cute couples

You have lunch together every day and wait for each other after school to walk home together

Chaeyoung also holds your hand at all times or interlinks your arms

So sometimes it seems like the two of you are magnets

And someone who doesn’t know you would probably think that you had just fallen in love

Because everyone can see that you’re completely crazy about each other

Especially when your girlfriend surprises you with small, sweet gestures

When you have a test, for example, she always makes sure to slip your favorite snack into your backpack

Or she leaves random cute notes in your locker when you have different classes all day long

In return, you always visit her at the choir room to bring her snacks when she forgets time once again

Often, you also study there instead of in the library, because you can never get enough of your girlfriend’s voice

That’s also why you would never miss one of her performances

No matter whether it’s a singing, dancing or reciting performance

You are her biggest fan

Although Chaeyoung always gets really shy when you praise her afterwards

But of course, you end up praising her even more, just to see her blush

When the two of you are not at school, you usually like to hang out at one of your houses

Often you have “study dates” which are not really used for studying though

You always plan to study, but end up doing other things instead

The longest time you had ever managed to stay focused was 15 minutes

It’s just too distractive for the two of you to be in one room

Usually you end up talking or making out all day long

So sometimes you don’t even bother to bring your books when you go to Chaeyoung’s house

Why should you study if you could have a picnic with your girlfriend and her cute puppy instead or watch some stupid variety show together?

Most of the time your procrastination isn’t too harmful for your report cards either

So neither of you feels too bad for not doing what you were supposed to

After all, time that you spent together is never wasted

Because even after all these years, you could never get bored of each other

Every moment that you spend together is special

Lalisa

The troublemaker

The moment that you had met Lisa for the first time, you knew that she would turn your life upside down

She is not your average high school student

She is just there to have a good time

Theoretically, she is smart and talented enough to join countless clubs (like the Foreign Language Club)

But practically, that’s too much work for her

The same applies to sports clubs

It takes no genius to see that she’s athletic as hell

But she doesn’t like the pack behavior that comes with those clubs

The only activity that she had ever tried was cheerleading because dancing is her passion

But it was way too restrictive for her

She hated following the lame choreographies of her coach

Plus, there had been too much drama for her with the other girls

Many of them had been jealous because they couldn’t keep up with her

So, Lisa simply left the squad again

She just wants to get through school without any stress or drama

Although she unfortunately has the talent to frequently get herself in quite a lot of trouble

Her favorite offense is to fall asleep during her classes

And one of her gravest ones is accidentally blowing up the chemistry lab

She never means to cause trouble

But the frequency of her accidents has earned her a reputation as troublemaker

Therefore, it is no surprise that the two of you had met in detention for the first time

Your teacher had guided you to the gym where Lisa was already waiting

She had instantly caught your eye although she seemed to be a be a bit shy

“Lisa! Nice to see you here...again. You know the drill. Everything needs to be squeaky clean.”

Those were the words that the teacher had said before leaving Lisa and you alone

For a few awkward seconds, the two of you just stole sheepish glances at each other

But then Lisa eventually piped up

“What are you here for?”

She asked while grabbing a mop and starting to clean the old, smelly gym

“I punched a guy for stealing a kid’s lunch money.”

You replied casually, causing her to stare at you in surprise for a second

Eventually she managed to recover herself though and nodded impressed

“Dope.”

From that moment, the ice between the two of you was broken

And you started to chat while mopping the floors

The time flew by as you learned more and more about each other

You found that you had more in common than just your inclination to get yourself in trouble

Your taste in music was pretty similar and you could also not argue with Lisa’s choice of absolute must-watch movies

After a while, your punishment didn’t even seem so bad anymore

If you were honest, you were glad to be stuck in your school’s smelly gym right now

Subconsciously, you had even started to clean slower just so that you could spend more time with Lisa

But eventually, your teacher came back to set you free and it was time to part ways

Both of you hesitated to leave though so you figured that you should not forgo this chance

“Maybe we could meet up some day and watch some movies together?”

You asked Lisa as you stepped out of the gym and she looked at you with a wide smile playing on her lips

“I would love that!”

She responded happily and you could feel your heart fluttering in your chest

Quickly, you exchanged phone numbers before saying goodbye

The following days, you didn’t see Lisa at school though to your dismay

She also never texted

And suddenly you started wondering whether she had just given you her number because she didn’t want to be rude

You were already pretty sure of your theory when Lisa finally sent you a message after four days

That’s Lego

Attached to her short message was a picture of a kitten and you laughed because of Lisa’s randomness

But you couldn’t say that her strategy hadn’t worked

The ice was broken again and the two of you texted every day

You also met up at school and hung out between your classes

It seemed like Lisa had just been a bit shy in the beginning

Because now that you knew each other better, you could barely stop her from talking (not that you would have wanted her to anyways)

You also followed through with your plan to have a movie night

Although you didn’t really watch a lot of movies

At first, you got distracted by Lisa’s cats

Then you stumbled upon her impressive collection of photos that she had taken over the years

And finally, she tried to make fresh popcorn, but forgot to put a lid on

So, when you started with the first movie, it was already past 10 pm

Nevertheless, you considered the night a success

Rarely anybody on this planet had ever managed to make you laugh as much as Lisa did

And you loved that she had allowed you to see a part of her world that not everyone could see

Therefore, your first movie night was followed by countless others

You grew closer every time, but you still didn’t really know what the two of you were

So you gathered all your courage and asked Lisa one night

“What...are we?”

You were a little nervous because you didn’t know whether you would like her answer

But Lisa just kept slurping the ramen that she was eating as if you had asked a totally mundane question

“I’m your girlfriend, right?”

She replied nonchalantly while glancing over the pot at you, causing you to chuckle

“Yes. Yes, you are.”

Everything about your relationship simply exudes strong ‘chaotic neutral’ energy

When the two of you are together no one knows what to expect

Maybe you use your time efficiently and build a darkroom for Lisa or have a study marathon

But maybe you also drink 20 shots of espresso each to watch all Harry Potter movies in one sitting

Everyone who knows you thinks that you are a safety hazard together

But for some reason you still work perfectly fine

You’re both chaotic, but in different ways

So you balance each other out

And both of you also have the same goals

You don’t take school too seriously

But you still have big plans for your future, so you always make sure to have a decent report card

And help each other out when you are struggling

Because you believe in each other

You know that Lisa will be the most famous dancer one day

And she would drop everything at any time to help you achieve your dreams as well

Together, you are an unstoppable force

And you know it

[repostedpoliticalarts]

Want to reblog but make sure you get OP’s excellent tags:

My additional commentary: (as a former evangelical myself) this is spot on, and something you have to continue unpacking. A lot of former evangelicals/fundamentalists keep the same framework but substitute what goes in it.

I call these folks Progressive Puritans, and believe me, I’m constantly having to kill the Progressive Puritan within myself and check that I’m not just perpetuating the toxic patterns and picking new “bad guys”, new “impure thoughts”, or a new moral code that is just as unyieldingly black and white as what I was indoctrinated with.

Progressive Puritans take the modern parable of the dogshit brownies as a fundamental truth and apply it to fucking everything, from media consumption to their political candidates, to people they will and won’t associate with.

The parable goes that a boy goes to his dad and asks to be allowed to go with his friend to see this new action movie, it just has a little swearing in it. So you know, it’s mostly good.

The dad considers this and then offers a deal to his son. He’ll be allowed to go to the movies as long as he eats some brownies the dad will make. But the brownies have just a little dogshit in them.

Wild applause. Unflappable metaphor.

Except then they spend all their energy finding fault in the media they or OTHERS consume. They break off relationships with anyone who has ever had a problematic belief or behavior, they dig up uneducated shit that people and celebrities tweeted fuckin 20 years ago, and most damaging of all, they refuse to vote for political candidates unless they’re above reproach (and always have been from the beginning of their 50 year career) on every single topic they support.

The problem is, this idealism and black and white thinking is attractive to others. It offers certainty and sense of smug superiority that is quite delicious. People go looking for things to be outraged about and when you can be outraged together you find yourself in a little community (a toxic one but beggars can’t be choosers). So they pull non-ex-fundies into their little cynical web. So while they withhold their votes, or write in Bernie Sanders on their ballots, Republicans goosestep right into fucking line behind who ever is anti-gay, anti-choice, pro-business, pro-Israel, pro-military empire, anti-bipoc, anti-feminist, and transphobic. They select and appoint inept, bigoted judges who align with their bigoted ideals, they make bigoted policy a state’s rights issue, and overturn federal protections for everyone else.

Y’all, us former fundies have GOT to start seeing in shades of grey and learn to listen to marginalized and vulnerable groups. We have to vote strategically and pragmatically. There are absolute wrongs in the world (like fucking genocide, for example. Free Palestine, ceasefire now) but we have to be better salespeople for progressive ideas. Outrage is exhausting and will never be as attractive as loving support, community building, resource sharing, breaking bread together, and especially… forgiveness. We have to give each other leeway to grow, and that means making mistakes, and understanding that people can change for the better if we give them the grace to do so.

This probably isn't a new take, but I think there's a subset of formerly-Christian (and likely evangelical) leftists who never like truly deconstructed their upbringing (watch this excellent series on this topic) and now have essentially replaced "rapture" with "revolution"

"Oh when the Rapture Revolution comes, all of our problems will be solved."

"I don't have to do anything to mitigate harm now, everything will be fixed when the Rapture Revolution comes."

"We'll finally be able to punish those wicked people when the Rapture Revolution comes."

This isn't everyone that talks about revolution, but it's very obvious which ones it is, y'know?

Really the only difference between them and fundie evangelicals is that the fundies are actually trying to force the Rapture to happen.