#it might be. if the treatment works out. but it might also not be.

[reasonsforhope]

"In Sacramento, California, an estimated 6,615 people are experiencing homelessness, a number that — while still heartbreakingly high — has declined 29% since 2023, according to the latest Point In Time counts. 

But a new project, which has been in the works since 2022, might bring that number down even lower.

A new 13-acre property purchased by Sacramento County will soon be home to the Watt Service Center and Safe Stay. 

The county broke ground on the mixed-use service center this week, which will provide shelter, emergency respite, safe parking, health services, and more to community members who are unsheltered — meaning they don’t have a place to safely sleep at night.

“We wanted to do something that is not only larger, but a large-scale campus to provide more than just the shelter,” Janna Haynes, of the county’s Department of Homeless Services and Housing, told KCRA3 News.

The Watt Service Center will have amenities to help meet the needs of anyone staying there, including bathrooms, showers, laundry, and food, as well as mental health, treatment, and employment services.

“You can also meet with your case manager, get behavior health services, look for a job, get rehousing services, a place for your dog,” Jaynes added. “It’s really everything you need, not only for your day-to-day life, but to hopefully end your homelessness.”

While the center is a costly offering, the city explained that it is ultimately less expensive than allowing the homelessness crisis to go unmitigated.

The land was purchased for $22 million and will cost an estimated $42 million to construct the center. According to ABC10 News it will be mostly funded by the American Rescue Plan Act.

While the center will have the capacity to host 225 beds in Safe Stay cabins, 50-person capacity in Safe Parking, and 75-person capacity for emergency/weather respite beds, it will serve countless others outside of the 350 total people it can house at any given time.

According to a press release from the county, “conservative estimates” have found that over the course of 15 years, the center will serve 18,000 people.

In 2017, the city found that the average cost for an “unsheltered individual” was about $45,000 a year, considering public systems like county jail, shelters, behavioral health, and more.

With the projected impact of the shelter, that cost lowers to less than $3,600 per person.

“If you break down the funding, it’s actually not that expensive,” Rich Desmond, county supervisor for District 3, told ABC10.

“It’s a heck of a lot cheaper than letting someone stay out in the community, unsheltered where they are extremely expensive in terms of the emergency response from fire, our emergency rooms, our law enforcement response.”

Providing what the county calls “wraparound services” not only brings down costs but truly helps people meet their basic needs.

“The really great thing about this site in particular, that we don't have at any other shelters, is the sheer size and the ability to really wrap everything people need,” Emily Halcon, director of the Department of Homeless Services and Housing with Sacramento County, told ABC10. 

One notable feature is the center’s Safe Parking spaces, which are the first of their kind in the city. People living in their cars will now have a safe place to park, monitored by security.

“We know a lot of people who are unsheltered actually are living out of their cars,” Desmond said, “maybe a family that’s barely hanging on but they still need that vital transportation to get their kids to school or get to work.”

This support is especially helpful for those who are newly homeless, Halcon added, building on the amenities provided in the county’s two other “safe stay” facilities. 

While Sacramento County just broke ground on the Watt Service Center, officials say they hope to begin moving people into the facility in January 2026.

“Our staff is putting in extra time and attention to this campus, ensuring that it houses everything we need to end homelessness for people,” Desmond said in a statement.

Once it’s up and running, Jaynes told KCRA3, they plan to onboard formerly unhoused community members as part of the staff at the facility.

“When you have a conversation with someone who understands where you’ve been, and you see the success they’re having now,” Jaynes said, “it really does give you hope something could be different.”

-via GoodGoodGood, January 24, 2025

[jamiebluewind]

I used to hike 3 to 8 miles at least 3 days a week and was going to college to become an occupational therapist. My grades were insane and most teachers excluded me from grading on a curve. I was in a very competitive program. I did volunteer charity work and loved to cook. I might have taken an antidepressant for my ptsd, but I'm not 100% sure.

Then the switch flipped.

Suddenly I was collapsing between classes and in screaming pain. Suddenly I had to quit a degree I had worked YEARS for and I couldn't walk. My speech slurred and my left arm got weak. Nobody knew what was wrong. Doctors literally told me to make final plans. At my worst, I couldn't even crawl to the bathroom without falling over. I remember screaming and moaning in pain for days at a time with no relief in sight. Real true 10s on the pain scale that eventually I didn't even have the luxury of passing out from. You can only imagine what something like that does to a person.

Suddenly my partner became a saint for choosing to love somebody like me. My dad was pittied for having such a child. My opinion didn't matter. My intelligence was dismissed. Getting a diagnosis and treatment helped me have a life, but it didn't fill the space that I used to. People pushed me to be who I once was again, but I kept failing because I couldn't. People accused me of faking it or exaggerating to be lazy, especially since my disability is fluctuating. I was too much of a burden to be worth anybody's time. I went from a bright shining example in my school and community to worthless and forgotten, unable to even get help from any of the charities I used to volunteer at. My depression spiraled out of control while everyone was saying how they missed the old me.

It really is just luck.

Medication gave me a sliver of my life back. I had to learn to celebrate that instead of listening to people who dismissed it. I had to find value outside of what I could give people. I had to find people who loved me that didn't add a *despite clause on the end. I had to let myself use accommodations, modify my life so I could live it, and allow myself the dumb things that made me happy (rather I "earned" them or not).

I need meds to not only survive, but to live. But I also need to watch a silly show with my friends and a big soft plushy and decent headphones that don't hurt my ears and a collection of fidgets and a trip to the mall and the "good" icecream and... all the little things that make life worth living. And I don't have to reach a certain goalpost to earn them.

Some rando: You should think about stopping your prescription

Me: My pills make me not want to die tho

They: You shouldn’t want to die, that’s not normal

Me: Yeah that’s why I’m taking my pills

[onlyyvette]

BJ from your fave

warnings: top/dom reader + reader has a dick + age gap(barely mentioned) + blowjobs + hair pulling + bit of dacryphilia + choking + dick stepping + toji is a masochist + also a bit of a cumslut

★ Toji Fushiguro is a wickedly handsome man, and you've 100% fell for his charms. From his piercing green eyes, to the ragged scar etched onto his face, and when your eyes wandered further, his sculpted body that you could drool over for hours. No matter where or when you saw him, whether he was gambling his money away at a casino, or making shady deals in a dark alleyway, it was like he could never be caught not looking his best. It would actually be really annoying if you didn't find him so damn attractive.

Even now, when he's taking your dick deep in his throat, he looks fucking mesmerizing. You watch as his head bobs up and down on your length, leaving a traces of spit on your dick every time he lifts his head up. His dexterous tongue works its way around your cock, licking up all he beads of pre spilling from your tip. You swear it feels long enough to wrap around your whole shaft.

Toji suddenly stops sucking you off, leaving a string of shiny spit as he removes mouth from your dick. "You going to stand still forever," he says with a husky voice, pressing a kiss to your tip. "Or are you actually going to fuck my throat like you promised?" His clear green eyes narrow, mouth stretching into that smirk he knows you can't stand. He might have gotten you there, but you were going to keep true to your promise.

"Really thought you we-- mmMPphh!" Toji's eyes widen as you grip his hair and push your dick in his mouth. Without giving him a break, you feed him more of your dick, inch by inch, while his eyes begin to water and he nearly chokes. "Mmnghh! Uhmnghh...mhghh--!" Toji can barely even breathe! Your thick cock stretching his throat out way quicker than when he was blowing you at his own pace. His face is now red as a strawberry and the tears in his eyes are threatening to spill. His hands fist the fabric of your clothes. All Toji can do was moan and slurp on your cock while you had your way with him. He wasn't fighting back though. This was exactly what he wanted.

"I told you'd I'd fuck your throat raw, didn't I?" you growl, pulling him off your dick until his mouth only rests on the tip. You then slam your cock into Toji's mouth, hitting the back of his throat. Finally properly fucking his mouth, you thrust into his wet heat, savoring the sensation of his tongue sliding across your shaft and his throat tightening around your dick.

Toji can only take your dick deeper and deeper into his throat and he couldn't get enough of it. His scalp is throbbing with pain from your rough treatment, his throat burns, and his cock is so fucking hard it hurts and he just isn't able to hold back anymore-- He couldn't help it! Your cock was ramming into his throat so roughly and he was being deprived of oxygen, just enough to make him delirious with pleasure. He reaches a hand down, attempting to relieve himself. He's only able to take his dick out of his pants when you kick his hand away.

"Not this time," you say, giving him a mockingly sweet smile. Then, you stamp your foot down on Toji's cock, crushing it. Toji's eyes snap wide open and roll back into his head. "HhhNGGH♡! Gghhh-- Mnggghh♥!" His moans sharply reach a higher pitch and his back arches. The pain coursing through his veins is so fucking overwhelming that he ends up cumming hands-free, barely even aware of his orgasm.

"Unghhh, mhgnn, nnhh..." Toji's half-lidded eyes rolled, his crushed cock still throbbing like mad. His body was still twitching from the aftershocks of his strong orgasm. Your cock was still slamming into his tight throat as strong as ever. You were pleased to see him cum before you, untouched, and it only brought you closer to your climax.

"You've had your fun Toji," you say with a coy smile, pulling him fully off your dick foe the last time. "Now it's my turn." With that, you slam your cock down his throat a few more times before pushing his head down to the base and keeping it there while you cum down his throat. Toji keens as your cum paints his throat white. He eagerly swallows your cum, barely even able to taste it as it as it goes down his throat. With a relieved groan, you pull your softening cock out of Toji's mouth and take his hair into your hand, raising his head to look up at you. Toji looks dazed, his eyes a bit cloudy and wet with tears. His face is still a brilliant shade of red, and his mouth is wide open, tongue out as he swallows gulps of fresh air. You almost wanted to shove your dick in there again...

"You can't be doing stuff like that with me. I'm getting older you know," Toji grumbles. He's now sitting against the wall, recovering from the brutal face fuck he received less than half an hour ago. You roll your eyes. "You're not that old, Toji. You're not getting sympathy points from me." Still though, you didn't want to leave him. It'd probably make you feel like a horrible person if you face fucked a guy, manhandled him, and stepped on his dick, only for yo to leave him to take care of himself. "Hey... you want to get a drink? Alcohol probably won't help with your throat, but I'm sure that's not your biggest concern anyway."

"...Sure."

[cripplecharacters]

Hello, I need some help with my story.

It takes place in a medieval fantasy world and there are lots of different species, including centaurs.

I like to have a lot of disability rep in my story, and since one of the main characters is a centaur, I thought about giving him a prosthetic leg.

The problem is, in real life it's extremely inhumane to give horses wheelchairs or prosthetic legs because it'll cause chronic pain, pressure sores, etc. because they weigh so much.

I know "Magical disability aid that's super amazing and way better than they are in real life" is a problem, but would it be okay in this case to give centaurs some sort of enchanted prosthetic/wheelchair that won't cause injury to them?

Hello,

Yes, that's absolutely okay.

In theory, it is possible to create wheelchairs and prosthetics for horses, it's just not practical. It would take a massive amount of funding, research, trial-and-error, etc, which is all extremely expensive and might not lead to any good results when the simpler solution, currently the most humane option, is to simply euthanize the animal. Because horses also aren't going to understand. Human amputees could willingly participate in the creation, trial, and modification of prosthetics and wheelchairs, they knew what was going on, what they were doing, and what the intended outcomes were. Horses can't understand that and will never be able to. The entire process would be unnecessarily stressful, painful, and distressing for the animal, so it's not humane to try.

But a centaur is sapient, they can understand the creation of mobility aids and prosthetics, consent to being part of the process, and won't be horrifically distressed by the entire situation, so developing prosthetics for them isn't inhumane. A hawk with a broken wing and a horse with a broken leg can't understand what's going on, so treatment is going to be extremely distressing and they can't communicate their needs to their medical care team, and they aren't going to understand temporary disability and physical therapy.

Centaurs, however, are going to understand what's going on, they can communicate their needs and do things to help themselves, as they'll be able to take off prosthetics, get out of wheelchairs, roll over on bed, etc, without help, or will at least be able to tell the team that they need to. They can understand temporary disability and can actively participate in physical therapy. That makes the science of treating centaurs much easier, as there's much less of an ethical dilemma. Plus, sapient creatures are going to get a different class of care. With humans, everything is done to preserve their life and then help them live with the disability because you can't just euthanize a human because they have a survivable injury. It's not ethical. So more effort is going to be put into the science needed to preserve their lives. In theory, the science needed to create good prosthetics and wheelchairs for horses is possible, it just hasn't been explored. If there were real centaurs, the science would be explored (this is also partially why we have bariatric, geriatric, and pediatric mobility aids and prosthetics, the original science didn't work so they created new science to work for them.) And with magic in the mix, it's infinitely easier to find that solution. Magic makes the science of this easier to figure out, because you can use spells or enchantments to prevent pressure sores and make the materials stong enough to support a centaur.

As long as the aid isn't erasing the character's disability (bionic legs that function as well as or better than their biological legs,) it's fine.

Mod Aaron

[mariacallous]

After trying for five years to dissuade lawmakers in Missouri from enacting laws he believed would endanger his son and other transgender youth in the state, Russel Neiss finally admitted defeat.

The state’s ban in 2023 on transgender medical care for minors devastated Neiss, but it also came with something of an upside for him: no more sacrificing his family’s time to testify at the Missouri statehouse. No more sitting politely with his son while enduring hurtful comments from officials.

The battle was over, and it was time to find somewhere else to live — a state without legislation that could lead to loss of custody over his son, or the denial of medical care. But not just any haven for transgender youth would do. It also had to be a place where the family could continue to live as Orthodox Jews, with a synagogue that wouldn’t shun their child. 

“Trying to figure out where to go, we counted 10 Orthodox communities nationwide that might accept our family,” Neiss said, noting that he consulted a list of LGBTQ-friendly congregations compiled by a group called Eshel. “There are about four places that we can afford, and maybe one place where we actually wanted to live.”

He is married to Rori Picker Neiss, who is a “rabba,” a title for Orthodox women trained in Jewish law, and works as the senior vice president for community relations Jewish Council for Public Affairs.

Their son’s bar mitzvah in April 2024 — which they made sure conformed to Orthodox standards — also served as an occasion to say goodbye to their community in Missouri. A few months later, they relocated to Pennsylvania, joining a congregation called South Philadelphia Shtiebel.

“There’s a reason we drew a mile-radius circle around Shtiebel, and were like, ‘We need a house somewhere in here,’” Neiss said. “They have built the most welcoming space I have ever been a part of. Full stop.”

It was a blissful time for the Neiss family.

“We had a solid six months of not worrying at every moment,” he said. “In Missouri, we were fighting legislation and the stress was hanging over us, day after day after day. So we were enjoying the respite.”

That respite ended in January when Donald Trump was inaugurated as president. He had run on an anti-trans platform targeting health care, athletics and social protections. 

In the 11 days after his swearing-in, Trump has begun to make good on those vows. On his first day in office, he signed an executive order recognizing only two sexes, male and female, and invalidating anyone’s deviation from their sex as a “false claim” spurred by “gender ideology.” Next, he banned transgender troops from serving in the military. Exact numbers are unknown, but several thousand U.S. service members are transgender. In his executive order, Trump suggested that they are mentally or physically sick, dishonorable and selfish. 

On Tuesday, he signed an executive order that aims to outlaw gender-affirming medical care for transgender youth, describing such treatments as a form of child abuse, a view that implicates both medical providers and parents.

Neiss and his family had been expecting this, and preparing for it.

“It was just a question of how much, how fast and what would they get away with?” he said. “And then, well, what do we have to do to keep our family safe and secure?”

For fear of the worst coming to pass, he declined to detail what specific measures the family might be considering.

Caution when discussing contingency plans is not unique to Neiss. One Jewish woman with a transgender child agreed to discuss her family’s preparations on condition of anonymity. Living in Colorado, the family was feeling relatively safe. That changed with the inauguration. 

“We are now very scared to the point that we’re packing go-bags,” she said. “We have mapped a route to drive out of the country if something goes crazy. And we’re buying gold bullion.”

The woman, who comes from Holocaust survivors, continued, “I’m not waiting until they come to round us up. And I know that sounds hysterical, but, listen, my grandparents waited too long.”

Minors who transition can be offered therapy to help process the change, as well as social support in picking a new name and clothing. Some may take puberty blockers and at an older age, receive hormone therapy. In rare cases, doctors may administer mastectomies and genital surgery. 

Gender-affirming interventions have been shown to reduce rates of self-harm and depression among transgender youth. 

The nonprofit organization Keshet and other Jewish LGBTQ advocates were among those who denounced Trump’s executive orders as hateful and dangerous. 

“As people who come from a tradition that sees each one of us as created in the divine image, we recognize these actions as defaming God and betraying the preciousness of life; we see these actions as motivated by people in power seeking to create a world in their narrow image — certaintly not God’s,” Keshet said in a statement following Trump’s latest action. 

In social media and texting groups, LGBTQ Jews and their allies are supporting each other by sharing feelings of dismay, fear and despair. They are also consulting their communities on what measures they can take to safeguard their families. Those who may not be directly or immediately affected are offering material support. 

A Jewish woman in Oregon, for example, posted that her home is available to take in transgender youth who are escaping abusive or unsafe situations. She noted that her home is “moderately kosher.” (The Jewish Telegraphic Agency is not providing her name given the sensitivity of the issue and because she did not respond to an inquiry.)

Rabbi Mike Moskowitz of Congregation Beit Simchat Torah, which bills itself as the world’s largest LGBTQ synagogue, posted a video message for transgender Jews on the synagogue’s Instagram page.  

“For those of you who feel scared or alone, we see you, we love you,” Moskowitz said. “God doesn’t put extra people in this world — we need you.”

In Chicago, where transgender rights are relatively secure, Danielle Solzman, a freelance film critic who is transgender, is considering immigrating to Israel. For her health care, she relies on Medicaid, which is a federal program and therefore run by the Trump administration. Trump has so far not targeted gender-affirming care for those, including Solzman, who are 19 years old and over. 

“If things get worse, as I expect they will. It’s going to give me no choice but to move to Israel, where the treatment I need is accessible,” she said in an interview. 

Solzman was already considering moving there, but for a different reason. 

“Right after Oct. 7, it was going to be antisemitism that would force me into moving, not federally mandated transphobia,” she said. “Trump is not looking at trans people as being human. He’s looking at us as being subhuman. It’s like 1930s Germany all over again.”

Several lawmakers in Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government are openly anti-LGBTQ rights, but Netanyahu has vowed to block them from advancing discriminatory legislation. The country scores relatively high on LGBTQ legal rights compared to the rest of the world, according to an index by a group called Equaldex, which says Israel is among 28 countries where gender-affirming care is legal. With the country’s universal healthcare system, Israelis generally have access to many kinds of treatments, including hormone replacement therapy. 

In the United States, the policy effects of Trump’s executive orders are still mostly uncertain, and they have no direct or immediate impact on Neiss’ son. But the message they send is clear to Neiss. 

“The order suggests that living as a trans person — that my son’s entire existence is up for debate, and that is unconscionable,” he said. “When you start talking about people as lesser than or as inhuman, that’s language which puts people at risk.”

Neiss is also disappointed that the historical echo of Nazism he hears in Trump’s rhetoric isn’t spurring more alarm among mainstream Jewish leaders.

“The dominant Jewish community has nothing to say on this particular issue, and it is a huge moral failing,” he said. 

Transgender rights are not at the center of the mainstream Jewish advocacy agenda. Many left-leaning Jewish groups, however, have at minimum criticized efforts to ban transgender women and girls from participating in women’s sports. In January, before the inauguration, more than 100 groups — including the umbrella organization for Reform Judaism, the Conservative Rabbinical Assembly, the leading Reconstructionist Jewish groups and the National Council of Jewish Women — signed a letter opposing a transgender sports ban bill in Congress.

Neiss and his wife don’t immediately update their 13-year-old son with every news headline. As with many parents in difficult circumstances, the Neisses want to deliver the unvarnished truth without sparking panic in their son. 

“We’ve made sure that he’s gotten the love and support that he needs and so we can be truthful with him,” Neiss said “Then we tell him, ‘We got your back.’ And he says, ‘I know it,’ because he believes it.”

[funnier-as-a-system]

Big decision making has made me decide to try ADHD meds. My psychiatrist is awesome and she assures me that none of the effects are permanent and if I don’t like them, I can stop and go back to how I was before.

But my question is…what do I do if the meds cut off communication between me and my headmates? I’m not sure we know how to function completely independently from each other. Some of us don’t, definitely.

What advice can you give and what do you know about ADHD meds and the impact they have on headmates?

Might it go in the opposite direction and make communication EASIER? And CLEARER? And make us work more efficiently as a team?

I know the number one thing people taking them say is it makes your brain “go quiet” and I don’t like the sound of that. I’m not prepared to only have one train of thought and I’m a bit nervous about how I’ll react.

There's no one certain way that ADHD meds will impact your internal communication. Some say it makes communication more difficult, others say they make it easier, still others report no difference at all; for some, their brains "going quiet" can include not hearing their headmates as much, but for others, their brains "going quiet" can just mean that their brains calm down enough that their headmates' voices are clearer. So, unfortunately, this is something that won't make its effects obvious until you're on the meds for a while.

But even if meds make communication more difficult, it's unlikely that it will just stop entirely. In addition, you can practice external communication if that sounds like it might be helpful – things like keeping a journal, leaving each other notes, and co-fronting or proxying* to write messages back-and-forth without having to switch (you can even hold entire conversations this way, though it may take some practice).

* I'd recommend asking other system blogs about this, because I don't feel that I can give a good explanation and description of proxying.

At the end of the day, your psychiatrist is correct that you can stop taking ADHD meds if that treatment doesn't work out, which includes if the meds impact your internal communication badly enough that it's not worth taking them. If this happens, perhaps bring up the possibility of short-term meds that you only take when you need to focus on something, rather than daily meds (which I assume you'll be trying out). We tried out ADHD meds, and the negative side-effects outweighed the positives, so we stopped taking them. If worst comes to worst, you can do the same and look for alternative treatments.

You don't have to just wait for results to appear before you take action, though. By recording how you feel and what's going on within your system each day, you can track symptoms, positives, and potential problems as they appear. If you start now, you'll also have records of how you are when you're not taking any meds, so you can compare later down the line if needed (or just wanted, if you're ever curious). Keeping your own records to refer to can also help your psychiatrist know what the effects of this new treatment are, when they appeared, and how things are likely to develop in the future.

In short: things might go better than you expect, if things go poorly they can be fixed and new plans can be made, and in the meantime, you can keep a personal record of your internal and external functioning to help keep track of things and catch any problems you might face early.

Wishing you the best, anon!

[whetstonefires]

#4 please !

Now see this could be tricky, because generally if I don't get some key elements written down very quickly the idea flows away again and the 'yet' disappears, even if I remember generally what it was about, but I have one this time! I am still just enough plagued by this vision that it's not out of the question I'll go for the capture, but so far nada.

Idea was basically a Jiang family character study by way of modern au. (So tw canonical abuse.) I started from the reflection, in a modern au very high chance the Jiangs are divorced, because being a divorcee wouldn't necessarily ruin Yu Ziyuan in the modern world, as long as she was allowed to control the narrative enough that she didn’t look at fault, so it might be on the table.

Especially because modern views on child abuse are such that while she'd hold back more than she already does in terms of physical chastisement, Jiang Fengmian would also be under less societal pressure to not interfere in her disciplinary system too much, and both these factors mean he’s more likely to put his foot down.

So, concept: Jiang Fengmian, when his son is eight and his daughter thirteen, forces the issue of taking in his best friends' abused orphan child whom he’s just managed to track down in a nightmarish group home, probably leveraging the fact that wherever their money comes from it's mostly his, something he usually doesn't do, but she has always known he could, and been fucked up about it (reasonable) and hated him a little (less so) and hates him so much more now (understandable but still fucked up).

They were obviously still both pressured into this marriage by their families, because I literally cannot imagine them choosing one another of their own free will, and if they did that would be an au in an even more dramatic way than being modern, and no longer work as a character or relationship study as far as I'm concerned. I mean or it’s a cql-based au, but that’s not the version of this toxic marriage I find compelling.

Situation subsequently deteriorates to the point that when the boys are around twelve some outside party observes and is repulsed or otherwise upset by Yu Ziyuan's treatment of Wei Wuxian specifically--she's emotionally abusive to everyone in the family, canonically, and it harms Jiang Cheng significantly more than Wei Wuxian, which I think is also pretty explicit on the page, but she's more openly antagonistic about going after wwx because he's basically a proxy for her husband, whom she doesn't consider to be someone she's capable of harming.

And ofc in a modern family scenario, being abusive to your foster kid is more plainly personal misconduct than being unfair in how you discipline one of your husband's many students, even if it is his favorite. Which means she's very unlikely to chase him around with a whip, but whatever she does do will sting that much more emotionally.

Anyway the outside judgement provokes a more explicit confrontation than the last four years of maneuver and attempting to balance all the competing needs according to two very different standards. And the upshot is that by the time wwx is 13, the Jiangs are divorced. To avoid making a humiliating spectacle of themselves they present a weirdly united front in court and have a very smooth uncontested proceding, although the closed meetings with their respective lawyers involved a lot of vitriol.

Yu Ziyuan, despite having a smallish trust fund and probably a job of some kind, though one that's more prestigious than profitable like uh. Olympic fencing coach. Idk what they make but it's probably not enormous. She and Cangse Sanren probably competed in the same events back in the day.

Anyway she gets a solid chunk of alimony, the house, and primary custody of both her children, although Jiang Yanli is almost 18 at this point so mostly she just gets Jiang Cheng. Everyone thinks Jiang Cheng wants it that way, including sort of Jiang Cheng; he has this idea that if he has his mom to himself they'll finally have a good relationship, even though he's also terrified of being left all alone with her. He's complicated. Families are complicated.

Also she would never have forgiven him if he hadn't concurred that he wanted to stay with his mother because she was the only one On His Side.

Jiang Yanli ofc does not move out right away when she comes of age, in part because her brother needs her, but she probably does go to college, so she's only around part-time.

Jiang Fengmian, meanwhile, keeps most of his financial assets and Wei Wuxian, and gets his kids on the weekends.

So that's all setup for how you have this situation where Wei Wuxian and Jiang Cheng are entering high school--probably the same school, together, but no longer sharing the commute except maybe Monday mornings--and Wei Wuxian's primary residence is Jiang Cheng's dad's apartment.

It’s really chill. They get a cleaning service in once a week and eat a lot of delivery food, but they do cook at least once a week. The canonical thing where they largely agree about what’s funny and what’s right-or-wrong, and so forth, on the one hand really pops when there’s mostly no external conflict disrupting it, but also probably gains more complexity now that it’s not a thread of positivity fighting for its life against a background of drama. They get to know each other better than they ever had a chance to in canon.

Some of that isn't all that positive, because now they have the space to discover the places where they do actually have the capacity for friction, but both of them are very good at dispersing tension (I do tend to suspect jfm's dad was abusive he sure acts like it), and on the whole it's a good thing.

Jiang Cheng is going to have such a mental health crisis, and Jiang Fengmian is going to handle it so badly. Because of course when his son starts replicating his ex-wife's toxic attitudes and behaviors more now that she has primary custody, he’s going to feel guilty and like it’s His Fault, but he’s going to feel like it’s his fault that Jiang Cheng is growing up to be a shitty abusive person.

And even if he’d never say that the subtext would come through, in the assumptions he made when framing communications and so forth, as in canon, so the thing where Jiang Cheng’s father loves Wei Wuxian more than him, or at any rate likes him better and thinks he’s a better person and prefers his company, would wind up feeding into a self-reinforcing loop.

(Jin Zixuan's nasty public remark about Jiang Fengmian treating Wei Wuxian better than his own children hits Jiang Cheng significantly harder in this scenario, where he's being Tormented by the feeling that all his peers know his dad walked out on him for another son. Wei Wuxian's punch is therefore even more clearly primarily for Jiang Cheng's sake, although Jiang Cheng is probably more inclined to see it as being for his dad's. Jin Zixuan is about halfway between the Jiang kids' ages here, so he's a senior saying this shit to a sophomore.)

So that cycle builds to the point where Jiang Cheng would eventually have one of those rare moments where he resorts to actual violence, because his poisoned feelings are choking him so bad his rationality deserts him.

He’s not going to be nearly as close to actually murdering Wei Wuxian as he was in canon the night the Jiang Sect was massacred, because it’s a less extreme situation, but he still goes for the neck. So Jiang Fengmian is in his home office one Saturday about a year and a half into this new normal, and realizes the boys are fighting. He hears through the wall the accusation you stole my dad. He says to himself, well that’s terrible but interjecting myself into this situation would definitely make it worse.

Then he hears sounds of violence, and then an ominous abrupt silence, and updates that analysis.

And when he opens the door to the boys’ room, Wei Wuxian is being strangled. He’s not really resisting, which is because he’s made the call that that’s way more likely to get Jiang Cheng to snap out of it, and thinks it might make Jiang Cheng feel better to get it out of his system (because he does sort of feel like what Jiang Cheng is going through is all his fault, or at any rate is much worse as a result of decisions made for his sake) and is severely underestimating the dangers of choking, but looks to a third party like he’s already passed out and Jiang Cheng is still at it. Which is to say, it looks like a serious murder attempt on the brink of success.

So that sure made that situation worse!

So yeah that's my idea that I probably won't write but it sure has its teeth in me.

[chaoswillcalmusdown]

i never really understood why people always say there's a shame involved in like. chronic illnesses. but i think i get it today. i'm just like overcome with shame every time i write a sub plan bc of how many i've written and how shitty my work has become bc of the amount of sub plans. the way i haven't been able to get any consistency in my fucking english lessons bc i keep having to be home sick. anyways.

[lazylittledragon]

oK so after like?? 3+ years of trying to treat my IBS i just found out i almost DEFINITELY actually have RCPD??? no wonder nothing was working it's not the food it's my FUCKING BODY that's the problem!!!

[please-let-this-work-oh-my-god]

One thing I find very interesting, as a learner of German, is Isolde's usage of du when speaking to Kakania. In German, there are three main second person pronouns: du, ihr and Sie. The first two are mainly used in informal and casual settings or when talking to people you're close with (with du being singular and ihr being plural sorta similar to english's y'all) while Sie is used in more formal situations (or situations which require some form of formality) such as talking to strangers, customer service or when you're talking to a doctor/patient. Kakania abides by this and uses Sie when talking to Isolde (such as in her speech at the end of chapter 6) but interestingly, Isolde doesn't reciprocate this and instead uses du when conversing with Kakania in German.

This is super fascinating to me because it implies different levels of closeness within their relationship. Isolde's usage of du implies a level of closeness and intimacy to Kakania as Isolde herself saw Kakania as a close friend (most likely due to the fact that Kakania was once of the few people in Vienna who actually sympathized with her and saw her as a human being) but Kakania's siezen suggests a certain level of estrangement or distance between her and Isolde. Of course. this could just be her maintaining her professionalism as doctors normally use Sie when talking to patients but with how things turned out after chapters 6 and 7, I'd like to think this goes deeper than just formality standards.

[torchickentacos]

heating pads aren't enough. i need a foreman grill facedown on my abdomen

[dangerous-advantage]

(Image description below 'read more' line.)

[Image ID: A four-by-four alignment chart on a white background with text descriptions to the left and to the top of the squares.

The top left description reads, "seems like they'd be good at parenting." The top right description reads, "seems like they'd be bad at parenting."

Then, from the top down, to the left of the squares, the other set of descriptions reads: "excellent child rearing instincts," and "never trust them with a child in your life."

Each of the four squares contains an image of a different character. At the top left is an image of Lan Wangji of the Mo Dao Zu Shi donghua. He sits between the descriptors "seems like they'd be good at parenting," and "excellent child rearing instincts."

In the top right square sits an image of Wei Wuxian, also of the Mo Dao Zu Shi donghua. He sits between the junction of "seems like they'd be bad at parenting" and "excellent child rearing instincts."

In the bottom left square is an image of Xie Lian from the Tian Guan Ci Fu manhua. He occupies the square with the captions, "seems like they'd be good at parenting" and "never trust them with a child in your life."

Finally, in the bottom left square, sits an image of Hua Cheng from the Tian Guan Ci Fu manhua. He occupies the junction between "seems like they'd be bad at parenting" and "never trust them with a child in your life". /End ID]

[possiblyfunny]

Hey, look guys, more art-

HOPE.

I’ve been wanting to draw him like this ever since I first saw him smile, but my will to draw eluded me until now! This started off as a doodle, so, please excuse the messiness. I drew this to de-stress.

“Fire” Red belongs to @creatively-cosmic. They have a blog called @themissingnumbers, which is really good! Go check it out if you want to see more.

[Sketch + Colored Version below the cut!]

[twinsoftriumph]

i know i haven't been very active here or on my non-sky account in the first place, but with bisan calling for a strike, i thought it would be worth at least making a post about her message here:

pressure against israel's war crimes and their acts of ethnic cleansing + genocide is building, and there is always a way to contribute to this pressure. let's continue listening to and amplifying palestinian voices!

[leapinarmadillo]

my review of Moonwalk: hot mess. ★★★.

[sleepyjim2]

incomprehensible yap in the tags tldr im just not doing well i guess