#if this doesn't apply to you then it isn't about you

[archangeldyke-all]

just finished act 3 and I need more Sevika to cope with my emotions about it :’)

can we get some mundane ways Sevika is obsessed with us? like I gotta believe the tiniest things the reader does make her sit there and gaze and think about how in love she is (as well as probably make her horny). I firmly believe this woman would watch you brush your teeth and be enamored and turned on at the same time 😮‍💨

(your writings been keeping me sane all throughout arcane btw 🫶)

hehehehe yes

men and minors dni

watching you struggle to clasp your bra in the early morning is one of the strangest things that sevika adores watching you do.

it's by no means attractive. you're still half asleep, contorting your body as you try to get the clasps to align properly and make sure there are no twists in the straps-- but sevika's fucking enamored. she loves the frustrated, sleepy look on your face, she loves the way that you never manage to line the clasps up properly.

she'll usually reach out to help you in your struggle, kissing your shoulders as you sigh and thank her.

"'y need the kind that clasp in the front, love." she chuckles.

"then you wouldn't get your little show every morning." you point out. sevika grins.

"good point."

sevika loves it when you make a mess while eating food.

she loves looking up across the table and finding you grinning, your cheeks puffed out with food, a bit of sauce on your chin or shirt.

she loves pulling you in with an exasperated little chuckle, licking her thumb and cleaning up your mess. "you missed your mouth." she teases. you smile up at her as her thumb's rubbing turns into gentle sweeps across your cheekbone. "you're a mess." she sighs dreamily.

you reach out and dip your finger in the sauce of your dinner, swiping it over your lips. "whoops!" you giggle. sevika grins. "better lick me clean, sev."

she leans in and does just that.

in the mornings, you'll apply sevika's lipstick for her, holding her chin gently between your fingers while you swipe her favorite color over her plush lips.

sevika's favorite part of this whole process isn't the gentle way you hold her, or the soft puffs of your breath on her face. it isn't even the smile and smooch you place on her lips when you're finished to blot them.

her favorite part of this little ritual is the subconscious way you pucker your lips as you trace hers, like you're copying her facial expression.

she thinks it's your way of non-verbally telling her to pucker her own lips, but you never put your lips back once she does, holding your kissy face the entire time you paint her lips, before smiling at your work and actually kissing her.

it drives her fucking crazy.

one night, sevika comes home to find you cooking dinner wearing a big pair of sunglasses. she frowns at you. "'re you hungover or something?" she asks.

"huh?" you ask from where you're stirring the veggies. sevika gently taps the glasses and you giggle, pulling them off your face. "oh, shit! i forgot i was wearing these, i can see so much better now!" you laugh.

sevika grins. "why were you wearing sunglasses inside?" she asks.

"i was chopping onions, i didn't wanna cry." you say with a shrug.

she doesn't know how or why, but your answer makes sevika impossibly horny for you. "oh, fuck, i love you so bad." she groans, pulling you in for a long, sloppy kiss.

you gasp against her lips, only to melt against her, letting her pin you to the counter top and kiss the breath out of you.

by the time sevika pulls away, your stirfry's burnt.

you don't mind, though.

taglist!

@fyeahnix @lavendersgirl @half-of-a-gay @thesevi0lentdelights @sexysapphicshopowner

@kissyslut @chuucanchuucan @badbye666 @femme-historian @lia-winther

@sevikaspillowprincess @emiliabby @sevikasbeloved @hellorai @my-taintedheart

@glass-apothecary @macaroni676 @artinvain @k3n-dyll @sevsdollette

@ellieslob @xayn-xd @keikuahh @maneskinwh0re @raphaellearp

@iamastar @sevikitty @mascdom @nhaaauyen @annesunshiner

@mirconreadzztuff22 @veoomvroom @lushh-s3vik4s @katyawooga @lesbodietcoke

@lavandasz @strawberrykidneystone @sevikasfan @fict1onallyobsessed

[creatingblackcharacters]

Question 6 anon here, obvs u rlly don't have to but if u wanna argue w/ my comment pls do argue, if I'm full of shit I wanna hear it 👍 This question has been driving me up the wall for years I just want to know why ppl all seem to agree fandom racism is bad and agrees with all the arguments and yet everything's still so racist and would appreciate different perspectives

I just think that the idea you have, that the people who are racist and aren't don't hang in the same circles, is just fundamentally not true.

Like sure, Trumpers might not click on my blog to learn about designing Black characters lol. But a good majority of the antiblackness I've seen on this website has come from people who swear they're liberal or progressive or fight for some cause for something that they deem important... And then just don't apply that grace and logic to Black people. So you'll see people saying intelligent things... and hate negroes 🤣. And then you'll see those people being reblogged en masse by people who agree with their good takes... And maybe don't know about the antiblackness they were just spewing. Not that you can tell who does and doesn't, out of the tens of thousands.

So yes, y'all do hang in the same circles. Yes, the people who need this page very much are also people around you. We have to stop acting like they aren't. I have mutuals who reblog people that I won't follow, simply because I've seen those people keke-ing it up with antiblack, whitewashing bloggers. Even the distant connection there is enough for me to be like "nah, unfortunately I can't kick it with you", even though we're in the same fandoms and such.

Essentially, the call is more often coming from inside the house, and the unwillingness to approach it from within because "oh I'M not racist" is preventing it being answered. Every antiblack sentiment you see in fandom isn't gonna look like an overt slur. It's gonna be in the way people perceive and treat Black characters versus others, in the way they treat Black character design, the way they allow others to slide when they are racist because "their art is cool". That tolerance I've been talking about? That's where you see the line for people, and it's so much closer than folks think.

[cantheykillmacbeth]

Bowser Jr

The most "canon" answer to who his second parent is is a joke by Shigeru Miyamoto where he claimed he himself was Junior's 'mother'. There's also a theory that koopas reproduce asexually. In either of those scenarios, Junior qualifies for the birth parent clause.

Additionally, it's suggested koopas hatch from eggs so that's unconventional birth clause, too.

Bowser Jr. is very difficult for us to quantify. He clearly doesn't apply for Gender Clause under our rules, but the other categories are hard to nail down.

For Birth Parent Clause, while either method you mentioned would work, neither is canon to the Mario Bros. series (Miyamoto's comment is a joke and asexual reproduction is a fan theory), so neither of them count for our analysis. In Super Mario Sunshine, Bowser Jr. goes through the game believing that Peach is his mother, though it's later revealed that this isn't the case and Bowser lied to him about this, so that doesn't really give us any info. Developers of the series have stated that "we don't know who the mother is," which could imply that there IS a mother that we just don't know about. Since this could go either way, we can't definitively answer BPC here, unfortunately.

As for Unconventional Birth Clause, I looked into what you said about Koopas hatching from eggs, and the research was... very confusing. The main problem here for us is what exactly we mean by "Koopa." According to the fanmade Mario Wiki, there are Koopas (Bowser, Bowser Jr., etc.), Koopas (a shorthand term for Koopa Troopas), and Koopas (an umbrella term encompassing both the previous groups and several others, with some more as potential but unproven relatives to the species).

While Koopas and Koopas are both notably reptilian in appearance, there doesn't seem to be much to go off of for either of them when it comes to how they reproduce. From what I've found, I don't think we've ever seen a Koopa or Koopa egg in any canonical material.

When it comes to Koopas, what does and does not count as a Koopa is at least somewhat established, but there are still a few outliers where it is unclear whether or not they count, most notably Yoshi. If there was definite proof that 1.) Koopas, including Koopas, are all members of the same species and reproduce in the same way, and 2.) Yoshi is a Koopa, then we could say for sure that Koopas, Koopas, Koopas, and by extension Bowser Jr. are born from eggs, just as Yoshi is. But neither of these points are provable.

There is, however, one enemy in the Mario franchise that seems to canonically be considered a Koopa, and that we have definitively seen are born from eggs: Spinies. The Lakitu enemy is known throughout the series to throw what have been referred to as "Spiny Eggs," which will become another enemy called a Spiny upon hitting the ground. So, at least one member of the Koopa family is born from eggs, so it's plausible that other members of the Koopa family, such as Koopas, would as well.

While it is still possible that not all members of the Koopa family reproduce via eggs in the same way as Spinies do, I'm more willing to count this than I am anything for BPC. So:

TL;DR:

Tentatively, yes, Bowser Jr. from the Super Mario series could kill Macbeth under the Unconventional Birth Clause.

Thank you for your submission! sorry this one got so off the rails.

-Mod Anthem

[aquotidianoddity]

I keep seeing posts like this about Finland and homelessness and I wanted to add a comment to correct some misinformation. To be clear, this isn't a criticism of Finland, just the way the information is being presented.

This post doesn't say it, but I've seen others that say that Finland has "ended" homelessness. This is not true. Finland has about 3500 homeless people, about 2/3 of which are living with friends or relatives. Finland has made huge strides in reducing homelessness and poverty-based homelessness is almost non-existent (meaning that homeless people usually have a social problem that prevents housing: debt, drug or mental health issues, or violent living situations).

Finland also doesn't "give you an apartment." The philosophy of "housing first" means that the social services in place are available to you regardless of your situation and their goal is to help you find your own apartment as a first priority. There are no sobriety or health requirements to receive them. The only prerequisite is that you're homeless or about to become homeless.

There are many services available to help you find and keep an apartment: social workers, housing counseling for those who don't know how to look for an apartment, and advice for approaching landlords when you have a mark against your credit, you have debt, or you're unemployed. There is also public housing; however, this can be limited, wait times can be long, and applications are prioritized by need (for example families with children and people who can't get private apartments because they've lost their credit details are prioritized)

There are also other services that are available to everyone, which help prevent both homelessness and poverty. The government pays a housing allowance to everyone whose income is under a certain amount (about 1600€/month). For example, as a student with no income my housing allowance is 313€/month and my rent is 480.

Unemployment benefits have no maximum time limit. There are some higher, wage-based unemployment benefits that have a time limit (300-500 days), but if you don't qualify or you run out of days, you can get the minimum benefit, about 800€/month.

If you can't work because you're sick, the government pays you 70% of your wages or a minimum of 800€/month for those with low wages or no job.

If your income isn't high enough to cover your necessary expenses, or if you have no income (perhaps you've temporarily lost your right to unemployment because you didn't apply for 4 jobs per month) and no savings or assets, the government pays you a basic income aid. This includes about 550€/month for food and necessities, the rest of your rent after the housing allowance (up to a certain maximum), plus the exact amount of your water, electricity, renters insurance, and medications. Other urgent and necessary bills can also be covered if they're approved. For example if you're evicted from your apartment and can't afford your new apartment's security deposit.

This is kind of the tip of the iceberg when it comes to welfare in finland, but these are some of the main pillars that most people will use at one point or another. All of these add up to a system that prevents homelessness before it can happen and supports people with issues to get back into a home and maintain it.

This system is unfortunately under attack by our current right-wing government. Health and social services are being underfunded and the conditions for receiving certain benefits have been made less generous and less flexible. The current government has a goal of eliminating long-term homelessness by 2027, but with their policies, I would be surprised if they achieve this.

Also let me know in the replies or my asks if you want to know more about welfare in Finland! It's one of my special interests and I have a lot of experience both working in the field and receiving it myself

Source

Source

[idkjustlemmedrownlikerab]

Why Regulus dying was crucial to the plot of Art Heist Baby!

It really pisses me off and people say "Omg it's so sad that Regulus never finished the heist, why did the author have to kill him?! He never finished his life's purpose" No it's not,  because that wasn't what he wanted in life, he achieved everything that he wanted.

The story doesn't work if Regulus lives. Art Heist Baby isn't about the heist. I mean it kind of is, that was what drew me into the fanfic, why I read it. But, as I read it, I realized that it's not about the heist, it's about love, it's a love letter from @otrtbs, the author, to art history and to the fandom, and about the love of found family, brothers reuniting, and falling in love and all the sappy stuff.

But Regulus and the readers by extension, have always thought that it's about the heist, that it's about the infamy and being remembered, and that's how he lives forever, the heist gets him his brother back, the heist lets him live forever.

But then in Copenhagen, when he's literally dying, he's having this internal monologue, like, maybe I failed this heist and it's not successful and I didn't do what I wanted and I wasn't the best person, but I was loved,  I am loved and I have loved back, he says that he knows he can take that love with him wherever he goes, even if he's a damn star in the sky, it doesn't matter. He's taking that love with him, it lives on, and that is its own form of immortality. That's what Regulus had been searching for this entire time and even after Regulus dies, James is still there, and Sirius and Barty and Evan hell all the others in the team, and it's like even death can't defeat that kind of love. We see James talking to Regulus every night and recounting memories and keeping Regulus alive in a way, which is what Regulus always wanted!!!! Just not in the way he thought he was going to get it.

I mean, otherwise what's the alternative? Regulus lives and he's happy with James, and maybe that's better than living on an infamy and better than the heist because, well, he's actually alive, but it's not just about love. Regulus and by extension, the reader wouldn't have this moment of realisation like, oh, it's love, love is the answer. Love is what makes all of us a little bit immortal for a little while. That's what it's all about in the end. Not the money or fame or notoriety. Just love. And Regulus dying feels like it was the best way Nat could have driven that point home. Like plz look past the heist, what else is there?

Because Regulus spent his whole life thinking that this was his goal. Just one more heist, that's what he'd always said right? One more heist, this is the last one. This is it. He'll have achieved everything he's ever wanted. Except, it's not what he wanted. Because throughout the story, he gets his brother back, he gets Sirius back in his life after spending years in silent mourning dangling just as precariously as the daunting Degas in the bathroom, he gets his brother back. He sees Barty and Evan who have spent their whole life going back and forth, finally getting together. He watches them grow up and grow together, and he spends his entire life with them. He brings together this group of strangers, this ragtag team of random people that applied via a fucking poster about a lucrative job and watches them bond. He watches relationships form, he connects with the Remus through annotations and books and a shared love for Sirius, he organizes dorlene's proposal and wedding!!!!

He bonds with all these people that he never would have met if he led a normal life, and then he meets James. He meets James Potter, who teaches him everything, who lets him borrow his bravery and shows him that life could be so much more if he wanted it to be, which he does.

"I love you, that's all." His last words, love, that's all. Not the heist, not the drop offs, not the money or the fame or the glory. Love, that's all. He started getting involved with the heists to feel loved, to get the attention that Sirius got from their parents growing up. Some superficial kind of love, and his life ends after he gets real love, platonic and romantic. Love, that's all, not the heist. He died with everything he knew he always wanted but never had the bravery to attain until then. That's why he said maybe he hadn't lived a long life but he lived the best life he could have.

Nat literally told us the reason with Regulus' last words and all of us decided to turn a blind eye to it, yes, yes ik it was heartbreaking to see him die and not live in the house in Brazil with James but we do see them meet again in the epilogue don't we? And let's trust Regulus and the author both when they said

"in every lifetime?"

"in every one."

[megalony]

A Medical Emergency

Here is a new Dad! Evan Buckley imagine I had an idea for after watching the new season. I hope you will all like this.

Taglist: @justagirlthatlovedtoread @musicistheway @avada-kedavra-bitch-187 @luula @missdreamofendless @bradleybeachbabe @woderfulkawaii @amberpanda99 @daggersquadphantom @marvel-and-chicago-fan @angryknightstatesmantrash @minjix @lyje @kmc1989 @itsmytimetoodream @noonenuts @hiireadstuff @ashie-babie @classyunknownlover @jayyeahthatsme @sp1ritssz @dumb-fawkin-bitch @oliverstarksbae @gimatida @heart-35 @supernaturalstilinski @kyky9103 @wutheringhearts2275 @gay4hotmilfs @itshamleth @chaoticnosleepinfluencer @gs29 @wh0reforsmutstuff @mel-vaz @natashamea18 @chrisevansdaughter @alexandra848484 @deena-beena-weena @targaryenluvs @kpoplover-19 @marvelmenarebeautiful @gillybear17

@zoeybennett @mrspeacem1nusone @zephyrmonkey @estella-novella @eleventhdoctorsangel @kniselle @senjoritanana @shauna-carsley @dottierose @cfdhouse51 @darkfemme1 @rainechase45 @lolalolsstuff @jupiter1700 @ashdoctor @an-aliens-ghost @lunaroserites @houseoftwistedspirits @callsignwidow @winterreader-nowwriter @reneinii @bellsbomb @western-pyro @itsgigikay @harry-satellite @midsummereve1993 @babyqueen17 @buckyyyismahhlife @sammiejane22 @mrsyixingunicorn10

Evan Buckley Masterlist

Summary: When Evan's son isn't well he comes down to the station for help. The team try and keep him out the way of their new Captain; Gerrard doesn't like family visits. And Evan starts to argue with him.

Enjoy.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"I can't do this."

With a shake of his head, Evan clenched the cloth in his fist until the material felt like it was starting to fall apart at the seams and the threads became stuck between his fingers. He could feel his insides bubbling up with frustration and it was making the blood thunder to his face and pool beneath the surface.

He couldn't carry on like this. Evan couldn't continue under this insolant man's reign of terror. He had no idea how Hen, Chimney and Tommy had lasted so long when Gerrard used to be in charge. He couldn't fathom how they had managed to hold their tongues and do as they were told when Gerrard felt the need to be so cruel and needlessly harmful to them.

After the first week, Evan was ready to throw hands. Three months in and he was about to explode.

"Come on, Buck. Head down, do the job and head home." Eddie patted his hand against Evan's shoulder, but it didn't do much good.

"It's not the work, I can handle scrubbing the toilet until I can see my reflection, I don't care what job he makes me do anymore. It's the way he speaks to everyone. I 'pout' and I'm insubordinate. He's harassing us and that's sweet-talk."

It was Gerrard's mannerism and his snide remarks that Evan couldn't handle. He couldn't cope with hearing their Captain degrade every single person because he felt it made him better than them.

He constantly beat down any ideas they had but then took the credit for himself. He told them whatever they did wasn't good enough. He was racist. He was sexist and homophobic and there was nothing they could do to stop him from making remarks to them all because no one listened. The amount of complaints they put in against him didn't do a thing because the Chief seemed to think they were ganging up to break the ranks.

Nothing worked, and Evan couldn't cope.

Twisting his head from left to right, Harvey timidly looked around the environment that had become a second home to him over the years. He scoured his eyes around the station, searching high and low for the one person he wanted to see.

While his hands raked up and down his exposed arms with his elbows pinned into his waist and his forearms imbedding into his stomach like he was trying to apply enough pressure to feel his insides. He could feel his nails puncturing through the skin on his arms and it gave him that satisfying burn as he dragged them up and down his arms, raking flakes of skin beneath his nails along with small droplets of blood.

His tired eyes finally latched onto someone familiar and he tried his best to smile, despite the overall unease rattling through him.

"Uncle Chim." His head twinged to the right when a jolt ran down his neck and he winced, hissing at the feeling of his pulse throbbing in his neck. He could feel a nerve twitching down his neck and it felt like his veins were all trying to jump out of his skin.

"Hey kid. What- uh, what're you doing here?" Chimney hurriedly glanced his eyes around the station before he jogged over to his nephew.

This wasn't a good idea.

Since the moment Gerrard had replaced Bobby as Captain, no family or friends had come down to the station on visits. When Bobby was in charge, families were welcomed and encouraged to stop by, especially if they needed anything or there was some kind of emergency.

But with Gerrard in charge, they were all told to abstain from the station. Even taking phone calls was hard for the team with their Captain watching every move they made.

Evan didn't let his family come by the station now Gerrard was in charge, and Chimney didn't want the Captain to see the thirteen year old here. He wouldn't put it past Gerrard to try and talk to Harvey and make him uncomfortable or say something he shouldn't to him.

"Where's dad?" Harvey did another sweep of the station before he dropped his hands from his arms and moved to scratch the side of his neck instead.

He could feel his heart skipping a beat or two, adding palpitations into his rhythm that was becoming unbalanced. He needed to see his dad. He needed to talk to him. Harvey knew he had been told not to swing by the station for a while, but he needed help and his dad always said to find him if he needed anything.

Chimney glanced around while his hands gripped his hips. He couldn't see Evan anywhere, and he wasn't sure where he had scuttled off to after mopping the floors for a third time this shift.

"He's here somewhere. You okay?" When he glanced down to Harvey's exposed arms, he found himself frowning and taking a step closer. His arms were scratched to ribbons; again.

"I need dad."

Harvey's head ticked to the right again when he felt his pulse jump and he ground his teeth together, hissing while he stomped his foot against the polished floor. He didn't feel well. He needed to find and talk to his dad. He needed someone to help him.

"Let's go find him." Reaching out, Chimney looped his arm around Harvey's shoulders and reeled his nephew under his arm while he guided him further into the station. Hopefully he could get him to Evan without Gerrard spotting them and making a big scene out of this.

Harvey gripped the bag on his shoulder and aimed his head down as they walked. He let his uncle steer him in the right direction, being led hopefully towards his dad.

Chimney tilted his head back and pointed towards the locker room ahead when he saw both Eddie and Evan who looked like they were in the middle of a rather heated debate. But he stopped dead in his tracks when an all too familiar sight caught his attention to the left. Gerrard walking down the stairs.

The Captain hadn't spotted them yet and Chimney used that to his advantage. His hands moved to Harvey's shoulders and he quickly pushed the young boy ahead of him and steered him into the locker room to the point Harvey was tripping over his feet and his head started to spin.

"Chim-"

Evan felt his heart drop to his stomach when he looked between Eddie and Chimney before his eyes latched onto his son.

Why was Harvey here? Why was he at the station when Evan specifically told (Y/n) and the kids they couldn't come down here? He made it clear he didn't want them around Gerrard, even if he didn't specifically tell Harvey that the new Captain was an ass. He didn't want his boy to worry, but he certainly didn't want him around Gerrard either.

"Harvey, what are you doing here?" The stern tone in Evan's voice made Harvey cringe and push back into Chimney.

He glanced his eyes between them all before he looked up at his dad with unease in his eyes that were on the verge of watering. He watched his dad look to the watch strapped to his wrist before frowning at him.

"You should be at basketball practice-"

"Dad, it… it's happening again."

Evan's shoulders dropped and he looked through the glass to try and see if Gerrard was around. He would come straight into the locker room if he knew that they were all in here and he thought they were gossiping or coming up with ideas instead of doing whatever task he assigned to them. Evan did not want Gerrard coming in here and talking to Harvey.

He looked at Chimney and pointed to the door. "Make sure Gerrard doesn't come in here, please."

With a nod of his head, Chimney twisted and moved back to the station floor. He would stand guard, as it were, and make sure Harvey didn't have to see the Captain or witness anyone being degraded and told off.

Eddie placed one hand on his hip and leaned the other arm against the locker, slouching to the side while he watched Evan reach out for Harvey.

He guided his boy to the bench and sat him down before he crouched down in front of him. The adrenaline sparking through Evan's body had him on the verge of shaking as he looked up at his son, waiting a little impatiently to be told what was going on.

School had finished, but Harvey was usually at basketball practice three times a week after school, and today was one of those days. Maisie would be in a book club after school too which made it easier for (Y/n) to pick them up after work. Harvey could walk home alone if he wanted to, but he never just turned up at the station like this unless something was wrong.

"I- I forgot my meds this morning, mum brought them to school for me… dad, it itches so bad, and my heart's doing that thing again."

Harvey gritted his teeth and tilted his head back, giving his dad access to his neck to feel his jumping pulse.

Evan pushed up on his heels and cupped his son's neck in his hands so he could press his fingers over his pulse. He stayed quiet as he counted the beats in time with the quiet ticking of his watch to check the beats per minute. Harvey was right, he was starting to have palpitations and his pulse was higher than normal.

When Evan looked down at Harvey's arms, he winced. Deep scratches littered both arms and he could see Harvey had been scratching his neck and around his collar too.

"You've had your meds though?"

"Hm." He nodded his head and sank his teeth down into his lip. He did his best to keep his hands on his lap, but he couldn't resist from trying to rake his nails up and down his arms. The result was Evan clamping a hand around his wrist and holding it down against his thigh.

"Don't make it worse-"

"It hurts." The small whimper Harvey let out made Evan's lips curve into a grimace.

"I know, but scratching doesn't help." Evan ran his hand up and down his jaw before he pushed to his feet and moved over to his locker. If he remembered correctly, he had some of Harvey's things in his back pack that he brought to work with him. Evan kept them in there for when they went out playing basketball on the weekends and for emergencies before or after school.

Bobby used to let Evan drop things off at school for Harvey if needed or he let him go pick him up if he wasn't well.

"Alright, take one of these and some painkillers. If the palpitations get worse your mum will have to call out of hours when you go home."

Evan handed over one of the emergency medications they had for Harvey and two painkillers, along with a bottle of water. And he fished the skin cream out his bag that would soothe the scratches he had created up and down his arms.

He took a seat on the bench beside Harvey and began putting the cream on the marks, wincing every time his boy took a sharp breath or his arms twitched in Evan's hold. He watched Harvey chug the tablets with the bottle of water that had been beside him on the bench. Once done, Harvey closed his eyes and tucked his face into his dad's chest while Evan looped an arm around the back of his shoulders.

"What's the plan? You wanna take him home?" Eddie looked over at Evan while he crossed his arms over his chest.

If Evan wanted to go take Harvey home, Eddie would cover for him so he could take him without telling Gerrard what was going on. He would gladly come up with some excuse and say Evan was out back working on the ambulance that was out of commission or say he was taking a shower. Eddie would come up with something.

"I don't know… I can message your mum, Harv, tell her to swing by here and get you before she picks Maisie up from school. But you'll have to go wait in the jeep."

Evan wasn't sure what to do.

He started to run his hand up and down Harvey's arm while he felt his boy cling to him and inch into his chest more like he was trying to merge them into one person.

He wanted Harvey to stay here like he usually would, but that wasn't an option anymore. Not with Gerrard in charge.

Evan couldn't let Harvey walk home alone, not when he wasn't feeling well and was prone to loss of energy. He could trip, get into an accident, collapse, anything could happen to him. Evan wouldn't let him leave here alone, he was scared at the thought of Harvey walking from the school to the station in this state.

But if he stayed, they would have to hide him and make sure Gerrard didn't bump into him at any point until (Y/n) could pick him up. The only other options were Evan walking Harvey back to school as it was only round the corner, so he could wait for (Y/n) to pick him and Maisie up. If Evan took him home, it was a guarantee that Gerrard would find out and Evan would be kept late or given some sort of punishment.

And Evan was in the mood to start a fight, he wouldn't take much more of Gerrard's criticism.

"Pops let me stay last time." Harvey lifted his head to look back at his dad through squinted eyes that showed he was having a dip in his energy levels. He felt like lying down and going to sleep.

"I know, but he isn't here anymore, and I can't have you around our new Captain right now."

"Why? I've not done anything wrong, have I?" The sudden panic in his tone made Evan sigh.

He leaned over and kissed the top of Harvey's head and moved his hand up from his arm to cradle the side of his son's neck instead. He reeled him back into his chest and hugged him while he glanced up at Eddie who was raking his hand up and down his chin and neck, trying to think how to help.

"Buddy that's not what I'm saying I swear. Our Captain isn't like Bobby… I'll text your mum and you can wait in the jeep, okay?"

It was the best Evan could do. He wasn't about to let Harvey head home on his own, it was safer to keep him here until (Y/n) could come and pick him up. And he knew she wouldn't be long before she would have to get Maisie anyway so she would be here soon once Evan texted her.

The car park was round the back of the station, it was sectioned off and secluded and safe.

Unravelling himself, Evan got up and got his phone from his locker to send a quick message to (Y/n). He stuffed his phone back in his pocket to be safe and when he turned round, he held his arm out towards Harvey and beckoned him closer.

"Let's get you outside." Eddie clapped his hand down on Harvey's shoulder with a smile. He had been friends with Evan for long enough to be like another uncle to Harvey.

He had taken Harvey out with Chris, he slept over at Eddie's place often enough that they felt like family. He knew why Harvey was here and what was wrong with him, and he sympathised. Often in the past Harvey had waited at the station after school or on days when he had to have hospital appointments and it had never been an issue.

Gerrard wouldn't see it like Bobby did, though. He didn't care about families and he wouldn't make any effort to try and help or understand.

Eddie stuffed both hands into his pockets and walked alongside Evan who had Harvey in front of him and both hands protectively placed on his son's shoulders. Every few seconds he leaned down to kiss Harvey's temple and when he felt his son take a sharp breath, he moved his hand to cup the side of his neck to check his pulse. Another palpitation.

"And who do we have here?"

A shiver rolled down Evan's spine and his hands tightened round his son's shoulders when he heard that grating voice that always managed to rile him up. He knew if Gerrard ever gave him a compliment without any snide remark attached, Evan would keel over in shock.

His jaw ground tight and his brows furrowed down as his nose crinkled in distaste. Goosebumps bristled on his exposed skin and he watched Harvey tilt his head back into his dad's chest to look up at him. Panic was written across his face and it made Evan angry. His son shouldn't have to feel panicked about coming down to the station, especially when he was ill and here for a legitimate reason.

Evan turned on his heels as slowly as possible, retracting his hands from Harvey's shoulders in the process. He reached out and carefully pushed his son to stand behind him while he tilted his head back and straightened his frame, squaring his shoulders as if preparing for a fight. In some ways, he supposed he was.

"My son." Evan kept his arm stretched out behind him with his hand on Harvey's arm. He was relieved when Harvey didn't make an attempt to peer round him and try to see the new Captain. He could tell his dad was uneasy and he didn't want to get involved.

"Right. I didn't realise we were running a daycare service now, Buckle."

That was a new one and it took all of Evan's effort not to roll his eyes. Since Gerrard started, he found it rather easy to wind Evan up and he had yet to call him by his actual name. The first time he called him something other than Buckley, Evan responded by calling him 'Gerry'.

Needless to say he had been on cleaning duty for two weeks after that.

"Neither did I, sir." Evan kept his shoulders squared and the unamused expression stayed plain on his face. He relished in the way Gerrard's lip curled and he held his head up, still no match for Evan's height.

"What's he doing here?"

"He came for medical attention, sir. Once my wife arrives she'll take him home." Evan squeezed Harvey's arm and kept him directly behind him, out of sight and reach of the vindictive Captain.

"Medical attention?" The crude laugh Gerrard let out made Harvey flinch and dig his hand into the back of his dad's shirt. "This isn't a hospital. Does he know that you're not insured to have him on the premises, and being here could put your job at risk?"

Evan felt Eddie's hand curling around his bicep to calm him down and prevent him from taking a lunge at their Captain. That would really risk his job, and he couldn't do that with Harvey here to witness it.

That wasn't fair.

He was clearly trying to rile Evan up at the same time as frighten his son, for no apparent reason other than it brought Gerrard a crude sense of glee.

"I don't see your logic, sir."

"What?"

"The department is insured for the public to come to the stations with emergencies, always has been. And since my son came here with a legitimate health issue, and I didn't bring him, then there's no liability."

Evan knew the rules. He read the handbook. He knew that the station had to be insured for a broad range of possibilities and the public were allowed to come to any station with whatever issues they had. Paramedics worked here and if someone had a medical emergency, the fire department were part of the health service and could provide that help.

Harvey came here for help, yes he wanted Evan's help, but he was here to get help nonetheless. They couldn't turn him away and Evan didn't bring him here or have him here because of childcare issues, so there was no risks involved and no liability claims to be made.

When he glanced his eyes across the station floor and saw Chimney stood to one side near the gym, Evan twisted to look at his son.

He twisted round and cupped the back of Harvey's head to kiss his temple. "Go wait with uncle Chim."

He felt Harvey grip his wrist and give a tight squeeze before he turned and wobbled on his feet, trying to hurry to get out of the commotion and over to Chimney. Evan watched him safely sit on the bench with Chimney before he dared to turn around and look back at his Captain who did not look impressed at being outsmarted.

Evan clasped his hands behind his back and stood straight, keeping a plain expression while he waited to be told off or receive yet more cleaning duties as punishment.

"What's the 'health issue'?" The air quotations made Evan's upper lip curl and he strove to stay calm while Eddie took a step to the side and hung back near the truck. He was keeping himself out of the conversation but close by in case anything happened.

"Hyper-thyroidism."

"Excuse me?"

"He has an overactive thyroid which controls hormones, it can give him heart palpitations so if he isn't well, he needs to be checked out. It's uncommon in kids his age."

Harvey's thyroid sent out too many hormones and signals to the rest of his body and the hormones controlled a lot of different things in the body. It wasn't common for young kids and teenagers to have this kind of issue which was why they had to keep a close eye on Harvey.

He suffered with an irregular heart rhythm at times, it caused excessive itching which was why he scratched his skin so badly. It affected his moods giving him bad mood swings, one moment he could be smiling and the next he felt like bursting into tears.

He had a lot of hyperactive bursts of energy but then some days he could barely climb out of bed, he felt so tired. The medication he took was to even out his levels and control the hormones he produced. But if he missed his medication or took it too late, his levels would become erratic like they had this morning.

If he wasn't well, Evan and (Y/n) had to keep an eye on him. They were always contacting the doctor regarding Harvey's medication and how he was affected.

It was why if he ever came over after an appointment or from school, Bobby was more than happy to let Harvey stay at the station. It stopped him from being alone and meant if he deteriorated, he had paramedics and family surrounding him to help.

"His age?" When Gerrard rose a brow, Evan bristled and muttered 'thirteen' under his breath. He didn't like the dark smirk that pulled beneath Gerrard's moustache. "So he's a hormonal teenager, no doubt due to hormonal teen parents-"

"He's a teen with a medical condition which you clearly don't understand."

The daring step closer Evan took towards Gerrard clearly unnerved the Captain who looked like he was trying to think of what else he could say that would rile him up. When Evan stepped closer, Eddie pushed off the truck and inched towards them. He wasn't ready to be a witness to a fight.

"Now listen here, Buck-"

"Evan?"

(Y/n) tightened her hand around her bag that was resting on her shoulder and leaned her head to one side when she looked ahead at her husband. She could see how he had his hands tightly clasped into fists behind his back. She noticed how tense his shoulders were and how he was straining his back.

The worried expression on Eddie's face was enough to make (Y/n)'s skin bristle and when she realised who Evan was standing so close to, she took a deep breath. If she had just interrupted a fight she was rather glad. The last thing they needed was Evan being suspended for fighting with his superior.

He turned on his heels, locking his eyes on his wife who was walking towards them slowly as if she didn't really want to step into the station and get into the middle of whatever was happening here.

When he looked back at Gerrard, he waited. He waited for the inevitable sound of Gerrard telling him he was now on cleaning duty once again. He waited to be told to clean the toilets until his reflection gleamed. He waited to be told he was being insubordinate and was going to get some form of a written warning.

Instead, Gerrard ran his hand up and down his chin and took a deep breath through his nose before he took a step away.

"Don't bring your kids down here again or you'll get a warning." It was a stalemate. Gerrard had been bested and there was nothing he could do today, right now, that would make Evan feel worse and he had no way to degrade him. He had no ground to stand on where Harvey was concerned.

Evan watched with a grinding jaw as Gerrard turned and pointed at Eddie, muttering for him to go and do something useful.

Just as Gerrard took one step away, Evan felt a wave of anger and protectiveness washing over him. He ran his hands up and down his trousers to ward off the anxiety flooding his system, but when Harvey flashed before his eyes, Evan shuddered.

"Then don't talk to me like that in front of my son."

Hurrying forward, (Y/n) wrapped her hands around Evan's bicep and gave him a sharp pull in her direction. She made him stumble on his back foot but he regained his balance quickly. He clamped his hand down on her hip, letting her keep his arm hostage against her chest while his other hand clenched into a fist at his side.

(Y/n) shuddered at the way Gerrard turned on his heels and stalked closer to them. He looked like a predator about to sink its teeth into its prey. She had never seen someone look at Evan like that with such an intense, hating glare before.

"What did you just say to me?" The authoritive tone in Gerrard's voice caught the attention of a few stragglers, hanging round under the pretence of working when they were really trying to watch the drama unfold.

"I think you heard me."

"Evan, let's not start a fight." (Y/n) pushed up on her toes to whisper in his ear before she glanced her eyes around. "Where's Harvey?"

"And who's this, what kind of 'services' does she provide?"

A shiver crawled down (Y/n)'s spine when she saw the way the Captain eyed her up and down. She didn't like what he was trying to imply, or the snide smile toying on his lips that made her want to back away. Her hands clenched around Evan's arm and she gasped when Evan tried to lunge forward.

Her face pressed into his arm and she tried her best to pull him back while Eddie jumped in the middle and slammed his hands down onto Evan's chest to push him back.

(Y/n)'s feet skidded against the floor and she gasped, pulling on Evan's arm when he continued to try and push against Eddie and pull out of her grip. He wanted to lunge. He wanted to throttle Gerrard for saying that.

How could he stand there and insult Evan's family and think he wouldn't do anything in retaliation? How could he think he would get away with that? Even if Evan got reprimanded for this, Gerrard would too when the Chief found out what he had been saying.

Twisting her head to the left, (Y/n) locked her eyes on Chimney who had both hands on Harvey's arms, holding the thirteen year old back from trying to hurry over to them. But (Y/n) could see the way Harvey was scratching at his neck and he was twitching and shivering. He was having his palpitations again.

"Evan- Evan please, Harvey isn't well. Please!"

She could of cried when Evan finally stopped fighting them both and stood firmly on his feet. His body paused, but he was reduced to trembling all over while he looked over in Harvey's direction.

He shook off Eddie's hands and stepped back into (Y/n), reaching behind him to uncurl her hands from his arm. He took a second to kiss her temple, breathing into her hair to try and calm himself down and give his mind something to focus on other than the Captain that was enraging every one of his senses right now.

Evan's hands moved to (Y/n)'s arms and he walked her back a few paces, wanting to be as far away from Gerrard as possible. He felt her hands reach up to grip his biceps, but she visibly shivered and pushed into him when she realised Gerrard was stalking closer to them.

"I need to take him home," (Y/n) looked up at Evan before she looked towards Harvey who had pulled out of Chimney's grip and was hurrying over to them. He didn't like this. He wanted to go home. (Y/n) wanted to take her eldest home, and she still had to go to school and pick Maisie up.

"Nobody's going anywhere. If this is a medical emergency, then he can get examined here…"

Whatever Gerrard said afterwards went in one ear and out the other for Evan. He looked over his shoulder, watching with an increasing sense of dread and hatred as Gerrard bypassed them and stalked closer to Harvey. Was he really going to try and make Harvey stay? Who did he think he could get to examine him? Evan wasn't letting anyone near his son, he was going home with (Y/n) and that was the end of it.

He had no idea what Gerrard was about to do and he didn't want to find out. He could feel (Y/n) letting go of his arms to try and follow the Captain but Evan pushed her behind him as if they were in a race and he was going for the head start.

"No you're not-"

Evan didn't know what made him look. He didn't know why he glanced his eyes from staring straight ahead of him to look towards the left where the open doors were blocked with work men who had been here all week. He didn't know why he darted his eyes away from his Captain who was aiming for his son who was trying to hurry towards Evan. But when he did, a bolt of lightening struck his heart.

His upper half leaned forward and his feet skidded against the floor as he pelted forward.

His left arm reached out and smashed into Gerrard and his shoulder hit the Captain dead centre in the middle of his back.

Evan opened his right arm and bound it like a rope around Harvey's waist, not caring about the way his son shrieked in confusion and panic. All he cared about was getting them both down to the ground.

His boots skidded along the newly mopped floor and he slammed his body down, snapping his eyes closed when he felt the collision incoming. He could feel Harvey's hands clutching at his arm and shoulder which were pinned across his chest. He could feel Harvey yelping in agony when the pair of them hit the floor and he knew all the air had been whacked out of his son's chest.

(Y/n) couldn't help the scream she let out, despite the way she brought her hands up to cover her mouth in shock. Her body stumbled back and she noticed Eddie doing the same, stumbling as if they had both been struck by an invisible hand.

One of the blade wheels from the machinery outside broke loose. It pelted through the air like a boomerang and when it imbedded into the bonnet of the truck, (Y/n) choked.

Her feet moved before she could register the action and she bolted across the floor, feeling Hen and Eddie close at her side while Chimney ran from the other direction.

"Are you okay?!" (Y/n) slammed down to her knees beside Evan, reaching her hands out for his arms to help reel him up. She clutched at him so tightly she was starting to pierce her nails through his skin, but she couldn't let go. Her chest pressed into his back once Evan pushed up onto his knees, reeling Harvey up along with him.

"Jesus Buck, I think you saved them."

"Harvey, buddy are you okay?"

Evan could barely breathe when he looked down at his son. He didn't spare the Captain at his side one glance. His breaths began to run away without him as he cupped Harvey's face in his hands and tilted his head from side to side while he looked him over.

"Are you hurt?" Evan could barely find his voice or the will to breathe as his wild eyes scoured every inch he could to see if the blade had caught Harvey anywhere or made so much as a scratch on him.

He felt (Y/n) loop her arms around him while she perched her chin on his shoulder when Harvey shook his head, despite the headache he now had.

The thirteen year old gently shifted his dad's hand so he could feel the jumping vein in his neck. His heartbeat was becoming uneven again and it was starting to hurt, but he wasn't surprised.

His dad had just rugby-tackled him to the floor.

His dad was heavy; Evan was more than double Harvey's weight and size and he had bashed him into the floor so fast that Harvey knew he would have bruises littering his back tomorrow. But he couldn't have been happier about his dad's fast reflexes. He would take bruises over a blade imbedded in him any day.

He looped his arms around Evan's neck and pushed forward, burrowing into his dad's chest while he felt his mum's arm curve around his back so she could hold them both.

"You just saved Cap's life." Hen glanced over at Evan who finally spared a look down at Gerrard. The elder man was laid on his back, seemingly half-conscious with a growing puddle of blood beneath him. He has still gotten hurt somewhere, somehow, but Evan had saved him from being sliced apart.

He saved him from sudden death.

[olderthannetfic]

Discussions about terminating pregnancies if the child is disabled are…dangerous, and OTNF might not want to open this can of worms, but I wanna say, leftist circles' insistence on the fact that "an autistic child" or "a deaf child" is In No Way Different than "a child that will live, at most, to five years old, and will spend every moment of said life in severe pain and distress" is infuriating to me. I know that the concepts "quality of life" and "suffering" are utilised to argue for eugenics a lot, but goddamn, quality of life MATTERS, and arguing that a persons' ONLY REASON for aborting a fetus if it's is going to live a life of extreme suffering is "they don't view a disabled life as worth living" is just ignorant. Like, I don't know that a lot of the people arguing "future suffering isn't a reason to abort a disabled fetus" are actually imagining the degree to which certain genetic diseases fucking ravage the body. They're imagining, like...being blind, or being born with DS, or without a limb. Not "you will be on life support from the moment you are born to the moment you die at whatever age the constant transfusions you need to live - which also have serious side effects - stop being effective." I believe some genetic diseases ARE worth eradicating, not because the people that are born with them don't deserve to live, but because I also believe like...arthritis is worth eradicating, even though I obviously don't believe people with arthritis don't deserve to live. I'm disabled, and obviously I don't believe I deserve to die because of it, but I also don't wanna be in pain 24/7! & When I'm old, or if I'm ever terminally ill, and I'm at a point where the rest of the life I have remaining is going to be spent in agonising pain, I want to have the option to die! Not because I believe I DESERVE to die for it, or that a life at that level of pain isn't WORTH living, but because I just do not want to be at that level of pain constantly. & some people might argue "well, YOU have the right to decide that, but you don't have the right to decide that for your future child" and like...a disabled fetus doesn't have any more of a right to life than a nondisabled fetus. You will NEED TO decide either way, because a fetus can't have an opinion! "You owe it to your future child to carry them to term and birth them" is not any more of a pro-choice argument even if the future child you're referring to is disabled. Additionally, arguing that aborting a disabled fetus (even if the disability WON'T cause extreme suffering) is JUST AS BAD as murdering a disabled person is also incompatible with being pro-choice, because...abortion is not and never will be morally on par with murder, and to argue it is, in any context, is incompatible with pro-choice argument. "But the REASONING is the same" does not render it morally on par with murder. Aborting a fetus because you can't afford to raise a child is not morally on par with murdering your born child because you can't afford to raise them, even if the reasoning is the same. "But aborting disabled fetuses SENDS THE MESSAGE that disabled lives aren't worth living!" First of all, if the person doesn't announce that they've aborted a disabled fetus, it sends no message. And even if they do, once again...if aborting because you can't afford to raise a child doesn't send the message that poor children don't deserve to live...it's not a moral argument against abortion. Like, conservatives use the line "aborting a baby because it's the result of rape sends the message to people born out of rape that they don't deserve to live" CONSTANTLY. And lastly, because this is the goddamn internet, before anyone says "but aborting because YOU can't afford a child is DIFFERENT than aborting because the CHILD will be disabled!" Yes, it's different, but the comparison isn't actually ABOUT the reasoning for abortion. It's about whether reasoning for abortion can be evenly applied after a child is born, which...no, it can't, in any circumstance. It's not a 1:1 comparison, it's an illustrative comparison.

--

We've had this discussion here before. It's a touchy subject, to be sure, but if people can feel confident that most of the others discussing things don't think they should have been aborted for being autistic or having only one hand or something, it's usually possible to talk about it.

Last time, the general trend of the discussion was "I have horrible chronic pain and of fucking course I wouldn't wish this on a child. Supporting the disabled people we already have is a good thing. It is a separate thing from which babies we should intentionally carry to term." And "For fuck sake, ableist shitheads raising a disabled child will make that life a living hell. Don't make them keep a baby they can't and don't want to care for."

Most of us around here take a dim view of inspiration porn... but also of not using paragraphs.

[spiderbitesandvampirevenom]

I mean, I think you partially answered your own question there. Because you're right, If we treat TMA/TME as a binary it can't include intersex issues. And you're right, it is often applied without any consideration towards intersex issues. However, my point with the original post is that TMA/TME isn't and shouldn't be a binary.

First of all, lets talk real quick about the terms themselves. Transmisogyny Affected/Exempt. These are deceptively simple labels, and I think that's where a lot of the confusion comes up for people. Transmisogyny can refer to specific interpersonal acts, but it's also first and foremost a term describing the societal system that is designed to oppress transfems, i.e. people who were Assigned Male At Birth and no longer identify with that. And at a systemic level, that is the deciding factor. Transmisogyny picks its targets based on that assignment at birth. Individually, people who were not AMAB may find themselves the target of interpersonal transmisogyny, just as any individual can be mistakenly targeted by bigotry that doesn't apply to them. I get misdirected anti-hispanic shit thrown at me all the time, it doesn't make me hispanic. Likewise, being subjected to transmisogyny as someone who was AFAB does not necessarily make one TMA.

You're right, though, being intersex means you're not necessarily going to fall neatly into either a TMA or a TME bucket. Which means unfortunately when perisex people get to spend some time adjusting to the concept in Transmisogyny 1001: Transfemininity for Babies, you've been forced to skip ahead a bit to Transmisogyny 2001: Critical Thinking & Intersectionality. I don't know you or anything about you, so I'm not gonna talk too specifically here, I'm just trying to give you the lead to make your own analysis. SO. Here we go.

On some issues, you might be reasonably considered affected by transmisogyny. Depending on where you live and how legislation is written, you might find yourself targeted by transmisogynistic legislation. On many issues, however, as someone who was AFAB, you will find you are not going to be affected systemically by those issues. Because Transmisogyny's primary target is (primarily perisex) people who were AMAB and are now transfem. Regardless of whether or not you're TMA/TME though, this overlap in the treatment of transfem people and intersex people means we get to do something really cool called Intersectionality, where we focus on discussing the shared problems our communities face. Like personally, I don't particularly care whether or not you're TMA/TME. The fact that we have shared experiences matters more than the labels at that point. Transmisogyny and Intersexism have very similar playbooks and a lot of the time, one is going to include some level of the other. I'd rather discuss the intersection of our experiences than try to delineate where one starts and the other ends.

you folks realise TME isnt just a new synonym for transmasc right. like you realize when trans women are talking about TransMisogyny Exempt Individuals that includes, like, for example, cis men and women, right?? if you're gonna throw a fit over TMA/TME being "a new binary" i think you are a) purposefully misrepresenting these terms for the sake of delegitimizing them or b) being taken advantage of by those who do so. check your transmisogyny and do better lmao.

[dufferpuffer]

Tom Riddles orphanage is interesting.

1920s/1930s The idea of not putting children to work was quite new. In fact there were still Workhouses until 1948.

Victorian's commonly thought that people were only poor because they are lazy, plus the well-blossoming ideas of eugenics meant poor people were probably just worse genetically. It was 'Christian values' to at least dress and feed poor children, but if you were too supportive of them they would only grow up to continue to be lazy, probably like their stupid poor lazy parents. They will go off and join the workforce at 14, so you shouldn't coddle them too early or else you'll spoil them.

Most orphanages were set up and funded by whichever rich fuck wanted to boast about how many little kids they 'help'. Some really were trying to help - but yknow... eugh. Rich people. Nothing was particularly regulated and abuse against children was accepted and even encouraged.

Plus its fresh after The Great War, poor street kids fending for themselves were hardly rare, infant mortality was high... Lots of kids and not much demand for them. If they could hurry up and grow up to join the workforce... that would be swell.

Experience of the common orphan in a common orphanage: + Crowded eating halls where they usually didn't eat well. + Beds lining the walls, no privacy, everyone in the same room. + No individuality - kids often forgot their own birthdays or names... adults rarely use them, there's too many kids to remember and they keep dying and shit, honestly who cares - if they get adopted maybe they'll be renamed anyway + Education was often light, just the basics + Sometimes they were also put to a little work beyond their own laundry and cleaning etc. + Sundays they get dressed up, cleaned up - to try and get them adopted. Trot them out like little show ponies to try and tempt some rich person. ''They aren't dirty street shits, they're nice and handsome little children who won't embarrass you.'' + In many places child abuse was just... awful. Being made to eat their own vomit, pushed down stairs, locked into rooms and forgotten about, straight up being murdered by their caretakers... if you can imagine it, it probably happened.

...Why do I say all this? Because barely any of that seems to apply to Tom's experience. That doesn't mean his Orphanage was a nice place for him to grow up... but my god, it sounds like a DREAM compared to the norm-!!!

+ Tom Riddle... had his own fucking bedroom. WOAH. + Privacy. Access to books to read. He could READ. + His own WARDROBE, where he could KEEP HIS OWN THINGS. + It's assumed other children could ALSO keep their own things, as he had stolen their stuff - and some even had PETS??? + No real sign that he is put to any grueling work. + He was calm and impolite in his own room - he isn't terrified to talk back to adults. + Though it did anger and scare him, experts were being brought in to try and evaluate his health. + He looked well. Well fed, healthy, clean, normal.

Mrs. Cole the Matron - though she says judgemental things she says and the mention of 'whacking on the nose with a rusty poker' (which I assume is basic physical abuse...?) - seems shockingly involved with the children. She knows their names, their preferences, their backstories... and despite the orphanage being poor, they take the children on a holiday every year. Even Harry thought she seemed alright.

It is BONKERS how nice it is at Wool's Orphanage. That is an intentional writing decision. They author is British, she knows basic recent British history - the 'suffering orphan' is baked into her very bones as a concept.

He COULD have been depicted as: + Just one dirty face in a room of many beds, many children, that Albus had to weave through to take him somewhere private and tell him he was different from them, he was special. + Keep the smaller rooms - but he has to share with five or so other boys... who have all moved their beds as far from his as possible. + He could have only barely even remembered his own name - there's nobody who cares to call him it anyway, so he dislikes it. + A "Yes Sir, Sorry Sir, Of course Sir" little boy - who then breaks out in joy over going to Hogwarts + ...just straight up could have been in a workhouse.

It wouldn't be far-fetched for it to be described like Oliver Twist (set in 1830s, but there was actually higher child mortality in 1930s) Or more of an Annie situation (set 1930s New York - probably better conditions than 1930s England) The Author has never shied away from displaying child suffering before. Just look at Snape and Harry... and even Neville! Yet Tom Riddle very much has an air of being the Top Rooster. + Even the adults don't know what to do with him. + He is rather comfortable as long as doctors aren't being brought in. + He has gone out of his way to MAKE that comfort for himself, through enforcing a harsh pecking order amongst the other kids. + He is, especially for the time, a bit of a brat. Talks back, snappy, sneering and scoffing, talks over adults, snatches...

That's not unreasonable of him, by the way. He IS treated unfairly due to his powers, he is a poor orphan in a world with an abundance of poor orphans... and he's just a little boy. Of course he acts out.

But he could have been made more sympathetic - and more believable, honestly - with only a slightly more harrowing depiction of his living situation than simply 'a little shabby - and the over stressed but tries-to-care Matron likes a drop of Gin.' Instead he is living better than most of the lower class.

Which to me can only mean he isn't supposed to come across as too sympathetic. He isn't a suffering orphan, he isn't miserable, he isn't abused (too badly), he isn't lonely, he isn't any of the things Harry was... despite being in a similar situation, at first glance. He is still sympathetic. Harry and Albus both thought so. But the reader isn't supposed to see his childhood as terrible. Just sub-par. We are happy he gets a chance at life at Hogwarts... ...but aren't thinking 'Oh man, of course he murdered people, he has had such a harrowing life' Snapes life was worse. Harry's life was worse. Neither of them kill.

[nthspecialll]

Hey, do you have an analysis on the Sean/Lenny conversation about hate? I wanna hear your opinions

I hadnt actually heard of this convosation before, but it is quite interesting.

It is a bit hard to explain but this convosation is a fine example of "When I'm gone they'll just find another monster" but not from the side of the law but from the common people.

Sean hates on lords and kings, even when they are gone because he doesn't have anyone else to hate. Lenny clasifies it as "Old World Problems." And the reason why he is hating on them is because people need to hate, people need someone to blame: "if there ain't no kings to hate, and no lords to hate, who are we going to hate to pass the time?"

Lenny however is facing a new dilema. "New World problems" so to speak. Lenny's mother was a slave but she was safe when she went into town, Lenny is a free man but he is at the risk of lynching when he walks into town. He ain't sure who to hate, the slave owners or the men who freed him.

First there were the slave owners whom they hated, then the people who freed them came around and though they gave them freedom, they also put them in danger. Suddenly there was a new monster to hate.

The whole idea is that people need to hate, they need someone to blame, once one person is gone there is always someone new, and it isn't just in these big serious dilemas that we can see it, we can also apply it to our common lives.

People used to hate those who kept them out of school through laws and discrimination, but when they were allowed into school they started hating school because it was boring. People became so privillaged that they made the privillage the enemy. Humans naturally need someone to hate.

[mucking-faori]

None of you can speak maori and none of you understand anything about Maori culture. The left does not have "a bad case of noble savage", you have a bad case of racism and cherry picking.

That is not what that version of the haka translates as, which is an amazing mistake to make because it's the most well known haka of all time, and that is the version everyone performs. Almost as if you (or the person you're parroting) went for the most offensive and misleading mistranslation possible. You picked the /full version/ to translate, the one with a preamble te pati Maori DID NOT USE. There is no mention of storms, blood, food for dogs, or killing of other people in the words the Maori party haka. Even if you can't speak maori, you can easily hear them /not saying the preamble/ in the video.

Some people /do/ say "upokokohua" and "Kai a te kuri" /after/ the haka, but those are individuals, and they're saying more or less the only insults or "swears" that exist in maoritanga, and when they're used it's usually not for the literal meaning of those words. It's like how calling someone a fucker isn't literally insulting their sexual proclivities. How do you feel about coalition politicians saying they'd like to blow up the ministry for pacific peoples or calling others "stupid bitch" in parliament? Or can we not take things literally when it's people you like?

This haka is about a man who fled people trying to murder him through the help of his allies and then emerged into the light. The main chorus is "I will not die, I will live!" (Or, literally, "I die! I die! I live! I live!"). Therefore, it is an effective haka both for sports events or political threats, because metaphors exist. If you did this haka in a war you would not be threatening the enemy but asserting your own strength and survival because /that's what the fucking words translate as/.

Also, stolen valor doesn't exist in Māoritanga. Even if it did it would not apply to a haka like this because this haka, as with most haka, is not only for warriors.

As for the bill- it is not an "equal rights" bill. It redefines the treaty so Maori have none of the rights from the treaty /they and the government signed/, and ensures that the government do not have to make any sort of reparations for breaking those. It is not removing "racial privileges" because Maori don't have any. They have things under the treaty they can use to make the government treat them equitably- for example, under the treaty the government shouldn't have been able to force children to only speak English in schools, ban Maori religious practices, or confiscate land Maori were living on only to sell to developers. Maori have not been treated equally for years. This bill tries to pretend they have, and pretend that the things done to them by breaking the treaty have had no consequences despite pakeha doing better than Maori on almost every QOL statistic. So many Maori sources have explained this. But you clearly don't want to fairly listen to anything Maori have to say.

this is actually so fucking disgusting especially coming from the official ACT account.

For those who don't know there is a new bill that has been proposed in NZ that will have significant negative impact on māori in this country. For more info on the bill and jts potential impacts read .

This specific post that Seymour made is referencing a conference that was being about this bill where, during her turn to speak, Hana Rawhiti began a haka which was then joined in on by many of the other people in attendance. David Seymour, one of the main proponents of this bill then posted that on his party's official Instagram page trying to paint Hana as an uncivilized thug. This is a common tactic for racists and seeing an acting member of parliament openly say something like this makes me feel genuinely sick to my stomach.

[anarcho-commeownism]

the avoidance of discussing the gender we as trans people were raised as really glosses over the fact that no matter what gender we really are, most of us did in fact spend most of our childhoods living the role of our assigned gender, and experienced and internalized the lessons everyone assigned that gender is taught.

the "trans men are not exempt from misogyny" posts are so exhausting to me because do y'all not realize that we lived through that for all our lives pre-transition and usually post-transition as well? even after transitioning people are quick to speak over us, brush away our experiences, and treat us like we're hysterical women—even other queer people.

like, we don't suddenly transformers morph into cis men. trans women also don't suddenly transformers morph into cis women. transitioning does not shed us of the baggage we carried pre-transition, nor the lessons and biases we internalized. trans women can be misogynistic against trans men just as much as trans men can be misogynistic against trans women, if none of us unpack and reckon with our previous place in society.

[uncanny-tranny]

Good news! You aren't required to make your hobbies and passions "marketable." In fact, your crafts, hobbies, and passions don't even need to be public if you so choose. You don't have to spend all of your energy becoming perfect if you aren't enjoying the process. You are not a product, you are a person, a creative, and your work also does not need to be a product.

[classicslesbianopinions]

the thing about being a disabled grad student is that if you want even half a chance you constantly have to not only reveal but interrogate and explain your softest most vulnerable parts. while people around you act like this is just completely normal and actually that is not the softest most vulnerable part of you and actually you are exactly the same as all of them. so you feel like you are in disguise as exactlythesame while also completely exposed. and you just have to live like that. absolutely insane

[narrator-navigator-storyteller]

Hi, I said I wasn't going to reblog this because I wanted to stay out of conflict, but I kinda had to.

This is a serious misunderstanding and misrepresentation of actual intersex experiences, and a very disingenous description of what it means for an intersex person to be AFAB or CAFAB (your daily reminder that those are not the same thing).

To be clear, for starters, assigned gender at birth is an event, not a permanent status. Your gender later in life can be medically changed without purposeful transition (such as, y'know, actual CAFAB people, who often develop male traits at puberty even if having gone through IGM, and get reassigned as male because doctors find it easier). Your assigned gender at birth doesn't inherently mean that you are going to look that gender, or be raised as that gender, especially for intersex people. People who are assigned female at birth can in fact have experiences identical to a transfeminine experience, even before you bring the complexity of the intersex identity into the mix.

As such, as much as you claim you aren't being bioessentialist, what part of this isn't? You explain to a person with a condition you don't have what her condition means for a possibility to identify as transfem, while using language that, honestly, reeks of this weird medicalization of someone's experiences ('struggles with virilization' reeks of 'disorders of sexual development' language, that shoves intersex people into "woman intersex" and "man intersex" boxes that don't actually exist). You paint AFAB and CAFAB people under one brush of this "woman but weird who could never be forced to identify as male", when that is not the universal experience. There are children who are AFAB and, even without having mixed genitalia at birth, go through an early mixed or outright male puberty. Sure, some of those children are going to be treated as 'women but wrong', but a whole lot of them are going to either be reassigned as male or just not be allowed to be either, and be punished if they try to break that assignment. You cannot go onto a post talking about the complexities of intersex identity with gender and transition and try to paint us all with the same brush. This applies to both transfemininity and transmasculinity: we have different experiences because we are intersex. Each intersex person will have a different experience with this. My friends who went through IGM and have had to go through the same HRT as transfeminine people in order to live as their genders are different from me as someone who is AFAB and CTF and still was not allowed to identify as female whatsoever for the majority of my life are different from my friend with turners whose womanhood was never questioned until her development was an issue and suddenly she was treated as an other, and all three of us have unique intersex experiences with womanhood. Not all three of us are transfem, but nobody else gets to decide that for us based on the idea of what doctors told us when we were born.

This is probably going to be massively controversial, but I just feel like it needs to be said at this point. I desperately need people to read this very carefully and approach this in good faith. General blanket warning for intersexism, transphobia, and intersectional misogyny with both of these I just wonder how many people in the intersex community just like… fundamentally don’t understand the way being intersex impacts your gender. I know that sounds fucking wild because obviously being intersex impacts your gender but like… it feels like a lot of people reach for comparisons to the binary over just, like, the label intersex itself. The thing on my mind in particular is the stark difference in what transfemininity seems to mean inside and outside the intersex community. This isn’t to refer to AMAB and/or CTM intersex transfems, but in particular people who were AFAB and/or CTF.

I want to clarify before I get into the main body of this post that I fully believe people can be AFAB and/or CTF and be transfem. This post isn’t to say that this never happens, no one ever experiences the combination of these two* things, or that people who identify this way are wrong for it. I just want to open up a discussion about why people are identifying this way, I guess. It’s not about invalidating anyone or their experiences, on the contrary, I really want to discuss the varied nature of the intersex experience.

I was AFAB, and I would generally consider myself CTF. I have simple virilizing classic CAH. I experienced many of the events which a lot of people talk about as why they relate to the transfem experience or consider themselves to be transfem. I grew up with a tenuous connection to girl/womanhood at best, I had the locker room harassment, I was widely rumored to be a hermaphrodite and transgender (no one could decide in which direction), I was put into situations specifically to attempt to uncover my “real” sex/gender. Even when I was seen as a girl/woman, I was Wrong about it. When I was seen as a boy/man, it was before I had ever come to terms with that identity for myself, and it was instead something thrust on me against my will for being a girl/woman Wrong. I was, for much of my life, locked out of womanhood in various ways.

I can very easily understand why people with experiences such as these would relate to transfemininity (and on a “relation” basis, yes, I would say I relate), and perhaps even identify with it based on how these sorts of things impacted them in particular. That being said… I have never understood why people think this is somehow not just being intersex. I’m not trying to say it can’t possibly be both, but sometimes it feels like people just refuse to acknowledge that this is a very common experience of the intersection of misogyny and intersexism. There are certainly transmisogynistic elements to it, I think transmisogyny and intersexism are deeply intertwined and always have been, but like… to act like this is solely transmisogyny feels like a denial of the intersex experience. For intersex people who were AFAB, are CTF, and/or likely some other types of intersex people depending on their circumstances, this is entirely par for the course because they are intersex. The things I described are, above all else, intersexist in nature. They happen to people for being intersex. There are aspects reminiscent of transmisogyny and perhaps even motivated by transmisogyny in many cases, but this distinct experience that I see many, many intersex people have experienced, it is to me such a classic experience of growing up intersex.

This is to say nothing of the appropriation of the transfem experience (no, I’m not accusing you or anyone else specifically of doing this, if it doesn’t apply to you, it doesn’t apply to you, but yes some people are objectively doing this). I am not focused on that. It is its own separate issue, but the thing I am trying to communicate here is why people struggle to find themselves in the word intersex when the thing that caused them these traumas is being intersex. The denial of intersexness and intersexism as explanations for the experiences directly caused by being intersex. The need to use terms broadly conceived of within perisex communities to describe perisex experiences of sex and gender to describe experiences inherently outside of the perisex view. To me, it seems like there is a very clear difference between using intersex transfem to describe “I have Klinefelter and also I am a trans woman” and “due to my experiences with PCOS, my relationship with femininity is deeply complicated and I use transfem as a sort of code for reclaiming my womanhood that I feel has been denied to me.” And like. I am not saying that these couldn’t possibly both be transfem experiences! I am not the decider of what makes people transfem, and it’s not really my business at the end of the day, but these are still just like, objectively different concepts being described. This is what I meant at the beginning of the post by the inside-outside usage of the term. It feels like transfem, in intersex spaces, is often used as a shorthand to describe a specific relationship to femininity and womanhood and this relationship is not necessarily “transitioning to femininity.” At the same time, it feels like it is being used this way because in some way, perhaps, the community is lacking in language that adequately communicates “my being intersex locked me out of womanhood, even though womanhood is what I was assigned and expected to conform to” which is, to me, a fundamental difference between most (not all, I’m aware we cannot ever make absolute statements when it comes to intersex experiences) AFAB/CTF and AMAB/CTM transfem experiences.

To me, I feel that intersex does adequately express these sentiments. Or, at least, it can if you let it. Intersex people pretty much inherently experience a complicated relationship to their sex and gender, and I wish we were allowed to talk about this without there being an obligatory comparison of how every intersex experience is always analogous to some equivalent transgender experience. Intersexism is intersexism, and intersex people experience it because we are intersex, and maybe we should fucking talk about that sometimes.

[fromtheseventhhell]

It's crazy that people still uphold show!Sansa as a well-written character and pretend that liking her is the pinnacle of feminism when it would be infinitely more impactful to acknowledge her terrible and misogynistic writing. This is the same character who, while written by two men, was thankful for the abuse she suffered because it allowed her to grow. The same character who we had to be told was smart because the writers were too lazy to develop or show her intelligence. The same character who had to rely heavily on the men surrounding her and ended up accomplishing nothing on her own merit ( and no, thinking that she deserved to be Queen doesn't mean that she earned it). She is not well-written, she is not complex, and she is not a feminist character. Which is fine! If you enjoy her then good on you, but please stop pretending that she's something she isn't just because you feel the need to justify liking her character