#in round

[ottpopfic]

When they get back to the main room Katie’s goddads are kissing in the kitchen

“WHY” she shrieks, turning away dramatically and putting her hand over Draco’s eyes

“Let me Live” Uncle Leo yells back, Uncle Jason breaking off into laughter

“Your ass is on the counter, we eat here!” Katie screams, trying to maneuver through the main room blind and leading a nine-year-old while still shielding him from the horror of dudes in their late forties swapping spit “We have guests, children no less! Go be gross somewhere with a door!”

“I'll show you a door” Uncle Leo mutters and then yelps, Uncle Jason must have bit him. Katie runs into a couch, she hears someone laughing at her expense as Draco starts complaining about his predicament

“What's going on?” the kid whines

“I'm protecting you dude,” Katie tells him “From horrors worse than death”

“Were they kissing?”

“They were absolutely kissing”

“I've seen kissing”

“This is worse,” she insists “This is old married kissing, the grossest kind”

“I'm not old!” Uncle Leo protests and then yelps again “Babe quit biting me”

“What, their eyes are covered” Uncle Jason chuckles

“Gross gross gross gross gross gross,” Katie complains as she feels their way over to the roof stairs “Climb to safety Draco, go go go!”

They make it to the roof garden without needing further eye bleach, thank the gods

[veronikablogs-blog]

[amygdalae]

If covid hadn't happened I would've had a foursome by now

[sunglassesmish]

boop

[wonderfullbutt]

Naughty blond with a huge and hot ass...WOW🤤

[milkandhoneyfemme]

Pride season is approaching and if I hear ANYONE speak poorly of bisexual women with boyfriends/husbands I’ll pop all your tires okay thx for listeninggg <3

[indra-sexygirl]

Because beautiful ass show…

[ottpopfic]

“I thought you said they're nice” Draco murmurs to his older siblings as the adults disperse

“They are nice,” Gus tells him “We're just in big big trouble”

Draco looks awestruck for a second “This is in trouble?” he asks

“I mean we're probably gonna lose dessert for a month” Jackie says

“And be on double stable duty” Gus adds

“But yeah” she finishes “This is being in super major deep trouble”

“Oh wow,” Draco breaths “I guess they are nice”

And god damn it does that break Katie's heart, but she can ponder that later. She walks over to the other side of the main room under the rose window to make her call, quieter away from the bustle of the newcomers. It's easier to go through Janet when it's Papi than boot up a rainbow maker, she licks her necklace again

“Satan's Armpit, how can I help you?” comes Janet’s voice through the coin charm

“Hey girl,” Katie greets “Can you put me through to Papi?”

“The ass beating go that bad?” Janet teases, popping her gum into the speaker

“I am still waffling on the ass beating, we’ll see what the dads say”

“Oh hoho, tell me later then hun” the ghost cackles “patching you through”

The hold music goes for longer than usual. Katie doesn't sweat it, everyone at camp is probably in some kind of search party right now. She just leans her head back against the wall and lets The Seeds wash over her. Lettie is starting grilled cheeses in the kitchen, the comforting smell of browning butter reaching Katie on the other side of the room

Papi sounds frazzled when he picks up on the other end

“Hey, sorry Pippi. Nows not a good time we got some misplaced kids”

“Mayhaps the Steel siblings?” Katie prompts

“How did you-”

“I happen to be looking at them right now. In my kitchen no less”

“What the hell are they doing in Indiana?!”

“Kidnaping their baby brother apparently”

Papi lets out some creative curses in Italian, tells Katie to hang on, and then she can hear the crackle of the walkie over the call. She can't make out the words, but the voices are displeased and relieved. Katie relays what she knows as Papi acts as the go-between the two communicators, the Steels are losing more than just desert privileges when they get back from the sound of it

[circumvision]

[embervoices]

A very useful thread on Bluesky:

(There is a lot more. Rather than give you all the images, I've copied the full text below.)

Meredith Rose‬ ‪@mrose.ink‬ November 8, 2024

This is not going to be a repeat of 2016-2020. It will be better, it will be worse, but most of all it will be different. Here are things I want every single person to keep in mind as we head into round 2 of a Trump admin.

My credentials: I’m a queer female public interest attorney working on tech policy in DC. I’ve been doing this for a decade--longer than some, not as long as others. I had to navigate three different administrations, as well as Congress, regulatory agencies, courts, and the advocacy world.

FIRST: don’t let despair override your media literacy.

The left has grifters, just like every other movement. If you’re able and compelled to donate, give to orgs with established track records. Avoid giving to individuals, especially anyone who emerges overnight with a one-weird-trick “plan.”

The left is not immune to misinformation, and everyone—EVERYONE—falls for it sometimes, present company included. There is no shame in it. When (not if) it happens to you, you should acknowledge it; delete or retract the post to reduce the spread; and move on.

If a source consistently shares half-truths or outright misinformation, it is not trustworthy, no matter how much “their heart is in the right place.” Unfollow and move on.

Prediction, analysis, and reporting are three fundamentally different things. Learn to identify them for what they are. Reject attempts by amateur “analysts” to predict the future. They know as much as you do.

Real subject matter experts know and acknowledge their limits. They’re also (usually) hesitant to try and predict the future. The best frame their predictions in terms of a range of possible outcomes. Subject matter experts may also disagree with one another! It happens!

SECOND: What we know for sure about how the Trump, how he operates, and how that will impact the next four years.

Trump is a narcissist who avoids reading and doesn’t care about details. He cannot be persuaded by argument or logic; he’s moved mostly by flattery, and will agree with the last person who flattered him. He can and will upend his own administration’s work without warning, often by tweet.

As a result, most policy experts—even those "on his side"—dread him taking an interest in their field. Ask any Republican staffer who worked in Congress during the last administration, and most of them will confirm that their greatest fear was Trump tweeting about anything related to their work.

As such, people who are serious about their work will do everything to make it as invisible and boring-seeming as possible. This is the policy equivalent of defensive camouflage. Lots of “normie” work will continue in silence. (The lion’s share of tech policy ends up in this bucket.)

If you have a niche issue that you care about, now is a great time to donate to orgs that work on it. Lots of money will be funneled to big legacy orgs working on headline issues: ACLU, climate change orgs, etc. Consider sending your donations where they matter most: local, niche, established.

Trump runs his cabinet like the Apprentice. He thrives on chaos and making people compete for his approval. Not only does he not reward collaboration between his subordinates, he actively undermines it.

Moreover, everyone who works with him knows that they’re vulnerable to being thrown under the bus at a moment’s notice, for any reason (or for no reason at all). His cabinet is going to be scorpions in a bottle. They will not be able to coordinate, for good or ill.

One scorpion can still do a lot of horrific damage. But large scale inter-agency coordination is unlikely, particularly after the first few months, by which point he will likely (prediction warning!) have gone through a handful of cabinet secretaries already.

FINALLY: The view from inside civil society heading into 2025.

In 2016, Trump was a largely unknown quantity. The left and establishment right alike wasted a lot of time trying to read tea leaves and make sense of this guy, because he was completely outside the realm of what anyone had dealt with. That’s not happening now.

He did us a favor by broadcasting his plans in advance (aka Project 2025). Civil society has spent the last 2.5 years strategizing around it. We’re not starting off flat-footed.

The Biden admin did a good amount to future-proof its own achievements. Folks can speak to their own areas of expertise, but clean energy and CHIPS and Science Act (investing in domestic semiconductor production) have benefitted from huge sunk investments. That money’s not getting clawed back.

OVERALL TAKE-AWAYS:

It's going to suck. But civil society and the political left have some advantages we didn't have last time. We know him, we know his angles, and we know who he's bringing in--none of which we had in 2016.

We'll get through this. It will be grim, but we'll get through it.

John Cutting‬ ‪@johncutting.bsky.social‬

Thanks Meredith. I really valued your analysis over the past few years, and I think this is a reasonable, actionable framework to think about the upcoming storm

Meredith Rose‬ ‪@mrose.ink‬

I really cannot overstate how much time was (necessarily) wasted in 2017 trying to figure out this guy and his influences. The fact that he's not only a known quantity, but ran the most over-studied administration in this nation's recent history, makes this a very different game.

John Cutting‬ ‪@johncutting.bsky.social‬

I bet we can weaponize his narcissism. Let's say some ghoul starts making progress with a mass deportation effort, if we start calling that ghoul that "shadow president" en masse, Trump would fire him in right away and appoint Hulk Hogan or something

‪Meredith Rose‬ ‪@mrose.ink‬

This is exactly why I don't think Musk will last very long. Trump is very clear that he's the only one in the room allowed to have an ego or any kind of brand name.

[wonderfullbutt]

Make mouth water 🤤

[sothasil]

based on sinomacrops, one of my favorite little extinct buggers, and flash photos of night birds

[mournfulroses]

Kim Addonizio, from What Is This Thing Called Love: Poems; "''Round Midnight,"