#like i said you should be boycotting to begin with

[bandzboy]

if you are thinking abt buying ppulbatu (which you shouldn't bc there's a hybe boycott but alas) but just a psa that apparently they are being produced/distributed by hybe america specifically and so the money is most likely going directly there which makes this ten times worse so please keep this in mind

[beggars-opera]

Ok, so I live in one of the more liberal areas of the country. Our governor is a lesbian and I literally did not even know until after she got elected, because it was that much of a nonissue.

Lately, I'm seeing more and more local institutions doing things for Pride. Institutions that don't necessarily have to, or do so awkwardly, but they're trying to be good allies. And, even here, I see people foaming at the mouth. This thing is ruined. Unprofessional. Political. Sexual. Boycotting, disgusted, bye.

And a part of me is like, "Why would a random store, a museum, a restaurant, do this?" Part of my mind has been so corrupted by the idea of rainbow capitalism that the thought of someone just...trying to be an imperfect ally is a cash grab.

It's not. Every bit counts, and especially as we see pushback, and see some of those corporations beginning to rethink their rainbow capitalism, the places that continue to speak up are so, so important.

I'm reminded of a rant by Illustrious Old White Man Historian Gordon Wood a few years back where he lamented how fragmented modern history is. Why do we need ANOTHER book about women, about enslaved people, about the poor? Why are we focusing on these people instead of George Mount Rushmore Washington?

And it was an interesting framing, because he insinuated that these micro histories were bad not because they existed, but because they didn't give the whole story, which in Gordon's mind was a story in which they were the side characters instead of the mains. To that end a biography of G Wash that features the bare shadow of Billy Lee in the far distance is a complete history, all that needs to be said, because one of those figures is a God Amongst Men and the other does not deserve to be fully fleshed out as a full, autonomous human being with a family and a profession and a beating heart. And a biography of William Lee, war aid, professional valet, and person closest to the first president of the United States, with the shadow of George in the background, would consequently be Bad History, because no one is saying that this man didn't exist, but his story isn't the whole story. It's backwards; he should be a footnote, and if he's not, that's bias.

But for me, as a historian, I know that the reason these microhistories exist, and are so important, is that they didn't exist before. Before someone can be truly, purposefully, tactfully inserted into the historical narrative, you need to know who they are. Not just as a name, not just as an archetype. You have to get to the point where there are so many books flooding the market about women and children and immigrants that it's no longer controversial to be talking about them, where learning about them instead of someone else is normal.

THEN you can feel good about rewriting the more general narrative. THEN you can actually have the information you need in order to put things into their proper context, to rethink the most important figure in each story, to assess what the full milieu of the time is.

And that's where we're at with Pride. We are still very much living in a time where queer people are shadow characters in the background. They are people that many will admit exist, but for god's sake, don't make them important, don't make them real, don't make them normal. And until we can shove rainbows down everyone's throats to the point where being queer is no longer seen as a thing that is Other, until we convince people that we're not going away, we will never be able to fully assimilate queerness into society.

We can't just be normal about Pride, because normal isn't loud enough to not get drowned out.

[dollarstoreparadise]

i want to talk about all the shubble/wilbur soot discourse going on rq.

i have a friend who is very into dsmp/lovejoy/qsmp and loves wilbur. she told me about what the situation was so i did a little research myself.

my own personal opinion is that i have immense respect for shubble and i'm glad she spoke up. from the posts that i've seen i think wilbur did not handle it well. at all. his "apology" was incredibly lackluster and did not actually truly address the situation. i'm glad that shubble didn't accept his apology because she did not need to, nor should she. it is disgusting that he lied and pretended he didn't know about the harm he caused. maybe he didn't in the beginning, but as time went on (according to shelby) he blatantly disregarded her boundaries.

i myself have experienced very odd forms of abuse that at the time i didn't see as abuse. i too felt absolutely miserable because of it. i played it off like everything was okay because i thought it was. it progressively got worse and worse and my family was very worried because i was significantly more depressed and isolated than usual. it wasn't until our relationship was forcefully ended that i realized the ways i was being manipulated and abused. when my abuser was confronted about it he did a very similar thing where he blamed me (the victim) for his behavior. i want to make this very clear: you are responsible for your own actions and the harm it may cause others.

any form of abuse is absolutely disgusting, and i will always, always stand with the victim.

that being said, if you support wilbur soot at all then please unfollow me and do not interact with me. i am boycotting him and lovejoy. i do not want to support someone who has caused that much harm to anyone.

i think this is a very important subject to talk about. my heart goes out to all victims of abuse. you are incredibly special and i'm so sorry for any pain you may have gone through. it doesn't have to remain as a bad situation. you can grow from it and become a stronger and better person, i promise. no matter how bad it seems there is a light at the end of the tunnel. there will always be a hand for you to grasp when you feel like you're drowning. you are loved and you are deserving of so much better. <3

[ichorai]

blueberries ; three.

pairing ; joey tribbiani x gn!reader chapter synopsis ; the one with lumpy potatoes, new years parties, and mother-kissers. wc ; 9.0k warnings / includes ; talks of sex/suggestive content, mild cursing, reader wears a dress but obv still gn, and a new love interest !!

series masterlist. main masterlist.

“Are you wearing makeup?” Chandler asked Joey as the actor sauntered into Central Perk, sinking into a chair beside you. 

“Yes, sir, I am,” replied Joey, rolling up his sleeves with a smirk. “As of today, I’m officially Joey Tribbiani: actor-slash-model.”

Snorting, Chandler piped, “That’s so funny, because I was thinking you look more like Joey Tribbiani: clown-slash-mime.”

You wanted to laugh, but you kept a straight face, sending Joey a reassuring grin. “Don’t listen to him, you look great!” Tilting your head to inspect him further, you added, “Though—your foundation could be a shade darker, you look like a ghost!”

“What were you modeling for, anyway?” asked Phoebe.

“Well, you know those posters for the City Free Clinic?” he asked excitedly.

Monica gasped, “Oh, wow! So you’re gonna be one of those healthy, healthy, healthy guys?”

Practically dripping with pride, Joey struck a ridiculous modeling pose, which made the rest of you scoff with laughter. 

“The asthma guy’s really cute,” you chimed. When Joey sent you a glare, you were quick to tack on, “And you’ll definitely give him a run for his money!”

“You know which one you’re gonna be?” asked Chandler.

“No,” the actor-slash-model sighed. “But I hear lyme disease is open, so…”

Patting Joey’s shoulder, Chandler said, “Good luck man, I hope you get it.” That earned strange looks from the rest of you while Joey just beamed brightly, blissfully oblivious to his phrasing.

It was then that Ross stormed in, a strained mope marring his features. He sank into a chair with a heavy sigh, prompting you to roll your eyes and ask, “What’s wrong now, Ross?”

“Monica told me mom and dad weren’t spending Thanksgiving here—and I didn’t believe her at first, but it turns out she was right. How could they do this to us?”

Sighing, the black-haired woman proposed, “How about I cook Thanksgiving dinner at my place? I’ll make it just like Mom’s!”

“Will you make the mashed potatoes with lumps?” he asked.

Monica hesitated. “You know they’re not actually supposed to have—” She cut herself short at Ross’ sour expression. “Fine, I’ll work on the lumps! What are the rest of you doing tonight? Joey, you’re going home, right?”

From beside you, he nodded enthusiastically, excited to finally go back home and visit his parents.

“And I assume, Chandler, you’re still boycotting all the Pilgrim holidays?”

The man snorted. “Yes, every single one of them,” he sarcastically quipped.

“Pheebs, you’re going to be with your grandma?”

“Yeah, and her boyfriend. But we’re celebrating Thanksgiving in December because he’s lunar, so—”

Slightly confused, Monica asked, “So you’re free Thursday, then?”

“Yeah, why?” replied Phoebe, equally miffed before realization dawned upon her. “Oh, can I come?” 

Monica nodded with a grin. “And Rachel’s planning on going to Vail—so what about you, Y/N?”

Tracing the rim of your teacup with a finger, you pursed your lips to the side in thought. “I think I’ll be free! You have room for one more?”

Ross crossed his arms in Monica’s kitchen, making him look abnormally burly in his chunky, woolen sweater. “If she’s talking to it, I just think I should get some belly time, too!” he complained. “Not that I believe in any of this.”

“I do,” you chimed, helping Monica season the turkey in the kitchen. “Babies begin developing ears well before thirty weeks, so I’m sure they’d be able to hear a little bit of what goes on outside the womb.”

Phoebe nodded her agreement. “I think babies can totally hear everything! Here, lemme show you, Ross—this might seem a little weird, but you put your head inside this turkey and then we’ll all talk and you’ll hear everything we say!”

“I’d like to say that I’m totally behind this experiment,” said Chandler. “In fact, I’d very much like to butter your head.”

You snorted in laughter, before turning to see Rachel walking into the apartment, sulking. 

“Hey, Rach,” you greeted, hopping up to grab her coat for her. She sent you a half-hearted smile. “Did you make enough money to go to Vail?”

“Forget Vail,” she sniffled. “Forget seeing my family, forget shoop, shoop, shoop.” She mimicked skiing down the snow as tears pricked her eyes. 

From the kitchen, Monica handed you the envelope, and you tapped Rachel’s shoulder. “Hey, honey, you’ve got some mail.”

“Just leave it on the table,” she replied, burying her face in her hands.

“I think you’re gonna want to see this,” you responded softly. When Rachel didn’t move, you rolled your eyes and smacked her arm lightly. “Now!”

She jolted in shock, before snatching the mail from you with a mildly offended look. The expression immediately melted away when she ripped it open, pulling out crisp dollar bills. “Oh, my God! You guys are great!” she exclaimed, lunging forward to drape her arms around you and pull you into a hug so tight that it was a wonder your ribs didn’t cave under the pressure.

“We all chipped in,” you assured her. “Except Ross, who now owes me twenty bucks.”

“Thank you, thank you, thank you!” She pressed a chaste kiss to your cheek, before pulling away and streaking into her room, yelling out something about packing her suitcase. 

When she was gone, Monica headed back to the kitchen, shoving a bag full of goodies into Chandler’s awaiting arms. “Here you go, your standard holiday feast—canned tomato soup, grilled cheese fixings, and a family-size bag of Funyuns for one!”

“You sure you want to spend Thanksgiving alone?” you asked him, peering into the bag with distaste. “What is it with you and this holiday, anyway? I never got around to asking—honestly I was too scared to know the answer.”

Sighing, Chandler placed his hand on your shoulder. “Alright, I’m nine years old—”

Ross and Monica and Phoebe all groaned, muttering how much they absolutely hated this story.

“We’ve just finished Thanksgiving dinner. I have, and I remember this part vividly, a mouthful of pumpkin pie. And this is the moment my parents choose to tell me they’re getting divorced.”

“Oh,” you said. “Oh, my God, Chandler, I’m so sorry.”

Holding a finger up, Chandler shook his head. “Ah, but it gets worse—you see, it’s really hard to enjoy Thanksgiving dinner again when you’ve seen it in reverse.”

He began miming throwing up all over you, and you wrinkled your nose, bile rising up your throat.

“Oh, stop! You’re going to make me puke, too!”

There was a knock on the door, and before anybody could get up to answer it, Joey walked into Monica’s apartment, shoulders slumped.

“Jo?” you asked. “What’re you doing here? I thought you were spending Thanksgiving with your family?”

“They think I have VD,” he sighed, moving to pull you away from Chandler who had frozen mid-puke, and wrapping you up in a tight hug. 

A bit surprised, you awkwardly patted his back, mouthing to Chandler to shut up when he began to say, “Be careful, Y/N, wouldn’t want you to get VD, too!” With a stout nod, Chandler bid himself adieu, claiming that he needed to ‘get away from all the merriment’. 

When Joey finally let you go, he wound his way into the kitchen, following Monica around like a lost puppy as she cooked. “Hey, Monica, I got a question—I don’t see any tater tots.”

“That’s not a question,” she replied, cocking a sharp brow at him.

“But my mom always makes ‘em—it’s like a tradition! You get a little piece of turkey on your fork, a little cranberry sauce… and a tot!” huffed Joey, sitting down at the kitchen table by Ross. “It’s bad enough I can’t be with my family, you know—because of my disease that I don’t actually have.”

Rolling her eyes, Monica blew out a heavy sigh. “Alright, fine. Tonight’s potatoes will be both mashed with lumps for Ross, and in the form of tots for Joey.” 

The two men grinned at each other victoriously, fist-bumping beneath the table. 

“I’m off to talk to my unborn child! I’ll be back before dinnertime,” announced Ross, grabbing his coat, waving goodbye to the rest of you and disappearing out the door. 

You took his spot at the kitchen table, resting your arm on Joey’s shoulder as the two of you watched Monica berate Phoebe for whipping the potatoes.

“Ross needs lumps!”

“Oh, well,” the blonde started sheepishly, “I thought we could have them whipped and then add some peas and onions.”

Frustration flooded across Monica’s features. “Why would we do that?”

“Then they’d be, uhm, be just like how my mom used to make it before she died,” said Phoebe, which made Monica blanch out of part-guilt and part-exasperation.

“Okay, three kinds of potatoes coming up! Unless you have a specific kind of mashed potatoes, too, Y/N?” she glared at you expectedly, eye twitching.

You raised your hands in a placating manner. “No, ma’am, I’m fine with whatever you’re making.”

The glare melted away and was replaced by one of relief. “You’re officially my favorite.”

Right at that moment, Rachel stumbled out of her room haphazardly carrying about half a dozen bags that looked to be on the verge of breaking open because of how stuffed full they were. She was beaming radiantly nonetheless, rushing to the door. 

Before she could leave, however, Chandler ran back into Monica’s apartment, out of breath and blurting out, “The most unbelievable thing just happened! Underdog has gotten away!”

Joey’s eyebrows quirked upwards. “The balloon?”

Chandler shot him a sharp look, before leering, “No, the actual cartoon character. Of course the balloon! It’s all over the news—he broke free and was spotted flying over Washington Square Park! I’m goin’ to the roof, who’s with me?”

All of you began bolting for the door, except Rachel, who lamented that she had to leave for her flight.

“Come on, Rach, an eighty-foot balloon dog is flying loose over the city? You don’t wanna miss that!” you exclaimed, tugging her along. She reluctantly followed after all of you, dropping all her bags to the floor. 

“Got the keys!” exclaimed Monica as all of you rushed out her apartment.

“That moment when we first saw the giant shadow fall over the park!” squealed Rachel, eyes sparkling. “I felt like I was in one of those big action movies!”

You chuckled. “Yeah, and the big bad villain was an inflatable balloon in the shape of a smiling dog.”

“But did they really have to shoot him down?” asked Phoebe. “That was just mean.”

The group arrived in front of Monica’s door. 

“Okay, right about now the turkey should be crispy on the outside and juicy on the inside! Why are we all just standing here?” she said, rubbing her hands together anxiously.

“We’re waiting for you to open the door,” said Rachel in a ‘duh, isn’t it obvious?’ tone. “You’ve got the keys.”

Monica blinked. “No, I don’t.”

“Yes, you do. When we left, you said you got the keys!”

“I didn’t!” Monica’s voice went shrill. “I asked if you had the keys!”

“No, no, your voice went all flat at the end, like you already got the keys!” Rachel stressed, her own tone getting higher to match Monica’s.

“Do either of you have the keys?” Chandler unhelpfully asked, exaggerating the last word. 

Panicked, Monica jangled the doorknob. “The oven is on!”

“I gotta get the money and my bags!” Rachel cried out. “I’m gonna miss my flight!”

“Oh!” said Joey. “We have a copy of your key in our apartment, right?”

“THEN GET IT!” Monica screeched, which made the two men step back out of shock.

“Alright, jeez, that tone won’t make me go any faster, you know?”

At the raven-haired woman’s withering glare, Joey bolted into his apartment to grab an entire box full of keys, which made the rest of you groan in exasperation.

After about ten minutes of trying out different keys, Monica bit out, “Can’t you go any faster with that?”

“I got one keyhole and about a zillion keys—you do the math!” he replied, tossing another unfit key back into the box. 

“Why do you guys have so many keys in there anyway?” barked Rachel.

“Hm, for an emergency just like this?” deadpanned Chandler.

Rachel was practically vibrating with frustration at this point, grabbing Chandler by the lapels of his button-down shirt and yanking him down threateningly. “Alright, listen here, smirky! If it wasn’t for you and your stupid balloon, I would be on a plane watching a woman show me where the emergency exits are right now! But I’m not!”

“God, I swear I asked if you had the keys,” sulked Monica. 

“I didn’t! I wouldn’t say I had the keys unless I had the goddamn keys! I obviously didn’t have the keys!”

“Oh, my God,” you groaned, burying your face in your hands. “Really, guys, there’s no point in arguing about it anymore—blaming someone won’t make the door magically open.”

Ignoring you, Monica rounded back to Rachel, hissing, “Why would I have the keys? You were the last one out!”

“Because you said you had them!” Rachel replied, practically screaming at this point. Joey momentarily stopped trying to jam random keys into the door to watch them fight, but you swatted his arm to get him back to work. 

“Why?”

“Because!”

“Why? Because everything is my responsibility? Isn’t it enough that I’m making Thanksgiving dinner for everyone? Yeah, everyone wants a different kind of potato, so I’m making different kinds of potatoes! Does anybody even care what kind of potatoes I want? No! Just as long as Phoebe gets her peas and onions, and Joey gets his tots, and Chandler gets to watch from the side, and Ross gets his gross potato lumps and—and—it’s my first Thanksgiving all on my own and now it’s all burnt and I can’t—” She burst into a mess of tears and running mascara, and you shook your head sympathetically, walking to her to wind your arms around her and comfortingly pat her on the back. 

She hiccupped into you, about to hug you back when Joey said, “Hey, I got the door open!”

Monica ripped herself away from you and shot into her apartment, leaving you blinking in surprise. 

“Thanks for being there for me, Y/N, you always know how to make me feel better!” you muttered under your breath, before following the rest of the group in. 

The apartment was full of smoke, the stench of burned poultry lingering in the air. You waved your hand in front of your face just as Monica yanked the oven open and threw the ruined meal onto the counter. “Well, turkey’s burnt! Potatoes are ruined, potatoes are ruined, and potatoes are ruined!”

It was then that Ross strode into the apartment, whistling a merry tune beneath his breath, before noticing the smoke and the sullen expressions. “This doesn’t smell like Mom’s,” he quipped, which earned him a cuff to the shoulder. 

“No, it doesn’t,” grouched Monica. “But you know what, Ross? You want lumps? Here, you got one!” She yanked one of the burned, hardened no-longer-mash potatoes out of its bowl, waving it around with a manic look to her eye.

From across the room, Rachel slammed the phone onto the coffee table, screaming out, “God, this is just great! The plane is gone, so I guess I’m stuck here with you guys!”

Joey crossed his arms. “We all had better plans, okay? This was nobody’s first choice.”

You winced—technically this had been your first choice, but you opted to remain quiet.

“Really?” said Monica, clearly hurt. “So why was I busting my ass to make this delicious Thanksgiving dinner!?”

“You call that delicious?” Ross gruffed. 

The entire group erupted into screams and accusations and loud arguments.

You sighed, moving to the door, where Chandler was leaning. 

“Now this feels like Thanksgiving,” he whispered to you, which made you snort in laughter. 

“Guys, look!” Phoebe exclaimed from the window, interrupting everybody’s yelling. “Ugly Naked Guy’s taking his turkey out of the oven!”

Everybody was in too sour of a mood to care, until—

“Oh, my God. He’s not alone! Ugly Naked Guy is having Thanksgiving dinner with Ugly Naked Gal!”

All of you bolted to the window, both cooing at how cute they were and how gross it was at the same time. 

“Ugly naked dancing!” Monica pointed out, a smile breaking out across her face. 

“It’s nice that he has someone,” said Phoebe.

The rest of you sighed, before looking at each other fondly.

Soon after, all of you were seated at the kitchen table, watching Chandler cut grilled cheese sandwiches in half.

“Who wants light cheese and who wants dark cheese?” he asked.

“I don’t even wanna know what’s in the dark cheese,” replied Ross as he grabbed half of a sandwich. 

“You wanna split with me, Jo?” you asked, holding up an uncut sandwich.

Phoebe clapped her hands. “You guys have to make a wish! You know, like a turkey wishbone!”

With a smile, you held out the grilled cheese to Joey, and he clutched the other side, before pulling. He ended up with the bigger half, a wide grin split across his handsome features.

“What’re you wishing for?” you asked, biting into your smaller portion.

“Duh, the bigger half,” Joey replied, which made you kick him beneath the table. He tilted his head. “What would you have wished for?”

“I don’t know, honestly. I’m really happy with what I have now,” you smiled at him, before turning to look at Chandler, who was clinking a fork against his glass. 

He cleared his throat. “I know this isn’t exactly the kind of Thanksgiving any of you had planned, but for me this has been really great. Mostly because it didn’t involve divorce or, you know, projectile vomiting. I was just thinking if Rachel had gone to Vail, or if you guys had been with your family, or if Joey didn’t have… syphilis and stuff, we wouldn’t be all together. I guess what I’m trying to say is—I’m very grateful all of your Thanksgivings sucked.”

The rest of you raised your glasses. 

“Here’s to a lousy Christmas,” said Ross.

“And a crappy New Year!” you chimed, before taking a long sip. 

“Hi, guys,” you greeted everybody as you sat down beside Ross on Central Perk’s largest couch. “I’ve got news!”

Ross was just about to ask what it was when Rachel came with a steaming cup of tea for you, smiling softly. “Hey, Y/N! Do you guys know what you’re doing for New Years?”

Suddenly, the entire group threw their arms up in the air, groaning loudly. 

“Jeez, what? What’s wrong with New Years?”

“Nothing for you, you have Paolo!” Chandler replied hotly. “You don’t have to face the horrible pressures of this holiday—the desperate scramble to find anything with lips just so you can have somebody to kiss when the ball drops! Man, I’m talking loud!”

Frowning, Rachel cocked her head. “For your information, Paolo’s gonna be in Rome this New Years, so I’ll be just as pathetic as the rest of you!”

“I am so sick of being a victim of this Dick Clark holiday! I say this year, no dates—we make a pact. Just the seven of us, dinner,” proposed Chandler, spreading his arms out invitingly. 

As the rest of them chimed their reluctant agreement, you winced, setting your tea down. “Sorry, Chandler.”

“Sorry? What do you mean, sorry?” he asked.

“Sorry, as in I already have a date for New Years.” Your words were a little hushed, and you sank further into the sofa out of mild embarrassment.

The entire group seemed to double-take at your words, practically bursting at the seams with questions.

“Who?” Joey asked.

“A guy from work—his name’s Connor, and he’s one of the head researchers for quantum photonics,” you said in response, playing with the fraying threads of your sweater. “I’m not even in that field but I’ve become more or less his consultant and peer reviewer for his papers and just this morning, he came up to me with flowers and asked me to be his date for New Years, and gosh, I just felt like a giddy teenager, you know?”

Monica slapped your arm, an excited smile spread across her lips. “That’s great, Y/N!”

“What does he look like?” asked Phoebe.

“He’s got the most gorgeous dark hair, and soft brown eyes,” you began describing, sinking your teeth into your bottom lip. “And he’s just so soft-spoken, you know? Honestly, I never really saw him in a romantic light until he came up to me this morning and it all just came rushing at me—it’s honestly a bit too good to be true.”

Joey scoffed. “Yeah, especially after the last person you were with.”

Stiffening, you clenched your jaw and shot him a half-hearted glare.

“Who was the last person?” Ross queried.

Purposefully, you dodged his question and said, “Well, good luck with your no-date pact! I’d love to spend New Years with you guys, but—”

“Why don’t you bring him?” asked Rachel.

“No! No, it’s for single people only, that was the whole point!” Chandler butted in.

With a sour glare, Monica said, “Come on, it’s Y/N! The last time we’ve met one of their partners was… come to think of it, I don’t think I’ve ever met someone you’ve dated. We can make an exception, Chandler. Just one. Besides, I’d really love to meet this Connor guy!”

“Fine,” he sighed. “Just Y/N, but that’s it.”

The next day, the entire group was gathered in Monica’s apartment, helping her decorate a small Christmas tree. Joey wasn’t here, however, having gotten a job as a helper elf at a local mall. You couldn’t shake the feeling of him being upset with you, he’d barely spoken a word to you ever since they had made the date-pact yesterday, but you tried not to read too much into it.

“I can’t believe he hasn’t kissed you yet!” Rachel told you. Untangling the silver tinsel, you wrapped it around the pine on Monica’s coffee table. “God, by my sixth date with Paolo, he’d already named both my breasts!”

You blinked in surprise. Ross made a choking noise from beside you.

“Ooh, did I just share too much?”

Ross huffed out of his nose. “Just a smidge.”

Hanging up another ornament, you shrugged. “I don’t know—I kinda like that he’s taking it slow, you know?”

Phoebe nodded enthusiastically. “David hasn’t kissed me either—are all scientist guys like that? Very methodical.”

You remembered Phoebe mentioning that she was seeing a physicist. “I can assure you, Pheebs, not all scientist guys are like that. A lot of them don’t waste any time with sex, much less kissing!”

“I think it’s romantic,” Monica chimed.

You smiled softly. “It’s really nice. Connor is just—he’s just so nice and smart and gentle and sweet. When he looks at me it feels… I don’t know, I just forgot what it feels like to be wanted by someone else, you know?”

Phoebe sank into a chair, grinning like a lovesick fool. “I know what you mean. I just want to be with him all the time, you know? Day and night, and night and day. And, uhm… special occasions…”

With an exaggerated gasp of betrayal, Chandler pointed an accusing finger at her. “Wait a minute—I see where this is going. You’re gonna ask him to New Years! You’re gonna break the pact!”

“No!” Phoebe vehemently exclaimed. After a moment’s pause, she sheepishly asked, “Can I, though?”

With a defeated sigh, Chandler propped his hands on his hips. “Yeah, cause I already asked Janice.”

“What?” you asked, nearly dropping a fragile ornament you’d been holding. “Chan, the entire pact was your idea.”

“I snapped, okay? I couldn’t handle the pressure and I snapped!”

Monica shook her head. “Janice, though? That was, like, the worst breakup in history!”

“Well, I’m not saying it was a good idea, I’m saying I snapped!” Chandler defended, face reddening.

The door to Monica’s apartment swung open, and Joey strode in, dressed head-to-toe in a ridiculous array of bright green, red, and white fabric that came together into a shoddy elf costume. His shoes were pointy and little bells hung off the ends, and jangled with every step he took. 

“Too many jokes,” Chandler gritted out, doubling over as he suppressed the urge to make fun of his roommate. “Must mock Joey!”

“Oh, stop it,” you said, grinning at him. “I think he makes a handsome elf.”

Strange, you thought. Joey almost completely ignored your comment, opting to head back to his apartment, claiming that he had to change because around a dozen kids sneezed on him during his shift.

Back at Central Perk, Ross was throwing a fit after Monica had told everybody that she had also caved and asked Fun Bobby to be her date for New Years.

“Okay, so on our no-date evening, four of you now have dates!” he grumbled. 

Raising his hand, Joey said, “Uh, five.”

You raised your eyebrows, but you weren’t really surprised. Joey had an uncanny knack for getting random strangers to fall in love with him.

Rachel bowed her head, also saying, “Six. Sorry, Paolo’s catching an early flight!”

“Yeah, and I met this really hot single dad at the mall. What’s an elf to do?”

Before you could question him further, Ross buried his face into his palms. “Okay, so I’m gonna be the only one standing there alone when the ball drops?”

“Come on, Ross! We’ll have a big party, and no one will know who’s with who!” Rachel reassured him.

“Ugh, this is the last thing I needed right now! Marcel’s shutting me out, and now this.”

It took you a moment to realize that Ross was talking about a monkey that he had gotten, which you believed was really to fill the lesbian-wife-shaped hole in his heart, but you never vocalized those thoughts. 

“Why’s Marcel shutting you out?” you questioned.

“I don’t know, he’s moping around all the time, dragging his hands.”

You bit back the urge to say like owner, like pet, but bit down on your tongue and sipped on your tea. 

“That’s so weird,” Chandler added. “I had such a blast with him the other night when you asked me to petsit! We played, we watched TV—that juggling thing is amazing!”

Ross blinked. “What, uh… what juggling thing?”

“With the balled-up socks? I figured you taught him that.”

A muscle ticked in Ross’ jaw. “No.”

“It wasn’t that big of a deal,” Chandler said placatingly. “It was just a couple socks… and a melon.”

The party at Monica’s place was in full swing. 

You had shown up early with Connor, an assorted tray of nearly-burnt homemade cookies in hand. Everybody was fawning over Connor, and he was a doll the entire evening, constantly keeping a warm hand on your lower back and whispering sweet compliments into your ear that made you swoon like a seasick sailor. 

There was one point when he had excused himself to go to the bathroom, and Monica rushed to you, telling you that if you didn’t hold onto him for dear life, she’d smack you silly.

The rest of the guests were acquaintances that you barely recognized, and you could feel your social battery draining by the minute. You stood in the kitchen sipping on a glass of punch as you listened to Janice talk your ear off about a new diet that she’d been on, trying your utmost best to come up with an excuse to leave her. 

“Sorry, Janice, I gotta head to the bathroom real quick. Nice dress, though, you look amazing!” 

“Oh, thank you, you’re such a sweetheart! You know, if Chandler hadn’t already asked me, I wouldn’t have minded having a piece of you to myself—!”

You squirmed away before she could try to flirt with you any more, bolting into the general direction of the bathroom. Suddenly, you crashed straight into somebody’s chest, which you were utterly relieved to be Joey.

He grasped your forearms, concerned, before promptly letting go of you.

“Hey, Jo,” you said, strangely timid. This was Joey, for heaven’s sake, what were you being so shy for? “You look good!”

“Thanks,” he said, before giving you a smile that didn’t reach his eyes. A dark brown leather jacket was thrown over a tight white turtleneck, and his dark hair was combed to the side. “You look great, too. Dresses suit you.”

Tonight, you had decided to wear a silky dress that was a mottled shade of olive green, draping just right over your figure. It shone dimly beneath the lights, and Joey couldn’t help but notice how it brought out the brightness of your eyes. 

“Really? I can’t remember the last time I’ve worn a dress,” you nervously replied, tucking a loose curl of hair behind your ear. “I’m only wearing this because Connor told me it complimented my eyes.”

Immediately, Joey’s expression seemed to falter. “O-Oh, yeah. Well, he’s right.”

A knock on the door drew your attention away from Joey, and Monica opened it to reveal a man—and judging by Joey’s wave, you guessed that it was the hot single dad that he had mentioned was his date. Your inference was further confirmed when two small children walked in after him, much to your amusement.

“Oh, uh, bye—” you began to say, but Joey was already moving away from you.

Before disappointment could fester within you for too long, Connor was by your side, curling an arm around your waist. You smiled at him, leaning forward and softly pressing a chaste kiss to his cheek. Rouge dusted across his cheekbones and he returned the favor, before nuzzling his nose against the side of your temple.

It was sickly sweet—nauseatingly so. But you loved it, anyway.

 From across the room, Joey watched the two of you cozy up to each other and he cursed under his breath. He forced himself to tear away his gaze and focus on his date and… the two kids awkwardly following behind.

The door flung open not five minutes later, revealing Rachel. Only, she was covered in mud and dirt, and a mysterious goopy substance that dripped down her hair. Her lip was busted and swollen, and deep bruises littered her pallid complexion. 

“Oh, my God,” you whispered under your breath, whispering an apology to Connor before rushing to Rachel, who was being fawned over by Monica. “Rach, are you okay? What happened?”

“Fuckin’ Paolo missed his flight!” she spat out, a bit muffled and hard to understand because of her swollen lip, taking a seat on the sofa. 

Hurriedly, you grabbed a glass of water for her and dampened a small towel with warm water, and rushed back to her, cleaning away the speckled dirt on her face.

“And then your face exploded?” Phoebe asked hesitantly.

“I was getting into a cab at the airport, when this woman, this blonde bitch with a pocketbook started yelling at me! Something about how it was her cab first, and the next thing I know, she’s just pulling me out by my hair! So I start blowing my attack whistle thingy and then three more cabs show up! So as I’m getting into a cab, she straight out tackles me! And I hit my head on the curb and cut my lip on my whistle!” She burst into tears, before quickly composing herself, realizing that there were more than a dozen people watching her blubber bloody, dirty tears. “Oh. Everyone having fun at the party? Y/N, is that Connor? He’s very handsome!”

Connor waved hello, but you sighed, gently pressing the back of your hand to Rachel’s forehead. “Honey, you might’ve hit your head really hard and gotten a concussion. Can someone get some ice, please? Or a frozen bag of peas, or something?” When Chandler brought you a small pack of ice, you gingerly held it to her head. “Alright, this should bring down the swelling soon. Are you feeling sleepy at all? Is it hard to keep your eyes open?”

She shook her head. “I’m fine, I think. Thanks, Y/N.”

“No problem,” you replied, patting her leg softly. “No alcohol for you tonight, though.”

With a meek smile, she nodded, before heading into her room to get changed and clean herself up a bit more. 

You blew out a breath, before allowing Connor to sweep you away closer to the windows. “That was…” he began.

“What?”

“You’re really great,” he said, eyes softening. “I know this thing between us is really new, and I don’t want to rush anything, but I really like you.”

You swore you could feel your heart liquefying within your chest and drip down between your ribcage. “I really like you, too, Connor.”

Not too far from the two of you, you overheard Joey’s date purr, “When I saw you at the store last week, it was probably the first time I’ve ever mentally undressed an elf.” 

Disgust coiled within your stomach when you noticed that her kids were watching. 

“Hey.” Connor’s fingers lifted your chin up to meet his gaze. “You okay?”

“Yeah,” you replied. “I’m good. Let’s go get some more food, I’m starving!”

The next hour was spent mingling some more, and you were already hiding yawns behind a fist. Connor, ever so considerate, had asked you if you were feeling tired and wanted to leave, but you had waved him away. Though you were tired, you really did want to kiss him on New Years.

Before you knew it, it was five minutes before midnight.

You had bumped into Chandler, who had sullenly told you that he had broken up with Janice. Again. 

“Will you kiss me at midnight?” he asked you. 

You reared back in surprise, gesturing to an equally bewildered Connor. “I’m here with Connor, Chandler.”

He squinted. “Okay. Connor, will you kiss me at midnight?”

“Oh, go away, Chandler!” you swatted his arm, and he hissed, scuttering away to ask another poor soul to kiss him. 

From the corner of your eye, you saw Joey tuck in two kids on the sofa with a large blanket, passed out cold. You tilted your head, heading towards him. 

“Where’s their dad?” you whispered quietly, not wanting to awaken them. 

“Chandler told me he saw him in Monica’s room, getting it on with some chick,” replied Joey, distant. “I’m just watchin’ over the kids.”

Your gaze softened. “That’s real sweet of you. Happy new year, Joey.” A bit more hesitantly, you spread your arms out. You were tired of walking on eggshells around him—you wanted your best friend back. He looked at you for a second, gaze flickering to Connor, who was chatting pleasantly to Ross, and then back to you. Then he stepped forward and wrapped his arms around you tightly, blueberry perfume invading his senses, a tirade of overwhelming emotions winding through every nerve. All of a sudden, your glossed lips were on his cheek, nose bumping into his cheekbone. “In case you don’t get a new year’s kiss,” you whispered against him, before pulling away.

Throat tight, he nodded stoutly, watching as you sent him one last devastating smile, and turned on your heel to head back to Connor.

A minute before midnight.

“Looks like the no-date pact worked out,” Chandler huffed. “Except Y/N, the bastard.” He glared at you from afar as Connor placed his hands on your waist, tugging you closer, his nose brushing yours. 

“Everybody looks so happy! I hate that,” said Phoebe. Sure, she had been the one who urged her date to go to Russia for a big break in his career, but it still hurt that he’d left nonetheless.

As the clocks hit midnight, the couples around you cheered and began embracing each other. Connor pulled you flush against him and kissed you deeply, and you couldn’t help but grin into him when he skimmed his fingers down your side, tickling you slightly. Your hands cradled his jaw as if he were made of fine china, inching to the back of his neck to lace together.

You pulled away, breathless, just in time to turn and see Joey exasperatedly grab Chandler’s face and plant a firm kiss on his lips to shut him up about being forever alone.

Nora Bing was a delight, despite Chandler’s vehement difference of opinion. 

She was confident, a good conversationalist, and often divulged a bit too much information than needed, which made for a rather entertaining evening. She was a pretty popular erotica writer, and though you haven’t had the chance to pick up any of her books yourself, you’ve heard it to be rather… raunchy.

The entire group was out at a fancy Chinese restaurant, and she had asked you to bring your ‘little boy toy’ as she had called Connor. 

You sat between him and Chandler, with Nora being on the other side, and Joey across from you. 

Soon after you arrived, Rachel and Paolo rushed in, looking disheveled. 

“Hi, sorry we’re late. We kinda lost track of time,” the brunette said, breathless. Paolo was kissing down her neck from behind her and you had to resist the urge to gag. Down the table, you could see Ross discretely fist the tablecloth so tight his knuckles turned white.

The two sat down, and the food arrived shortly after. You shared a dish with Connor, who placed a warm hand on your knee.

“Mrs. Bing, I have to tell you, I’ve read everything you’ve written!” said Rachel as she fed Paolo a prawn cracker. His tongue dragged down her hand and the rest of the group watched in disturbed, awkward silence. “I mean it! When I read Euphoria at Midnight, all I wanted to do was become a writer.”

“Please,” the blonde woman smiled at the compliment, “if I could do it, anybody can! You just start with half a dozen European cities, throw in thirty euphemisms for male genitalia, and bam! You’ve got yourself a book!”

From beside her, Chandler gagged around a soup dumpling, pounding his chest. “My mother, ladies and gentlemen,” he hacked out.

Amiable chatter filled the rest of the dinner—Phoebe was telling a story about a homeless man that once chased her in the street wearing a full-body chicken suit, Joey filled Nora in with his upcoming auditions, and you and Connor told the group about what you’ve been up to at work. 

Both Nora and Ross had excused themselves to go to the bathroom, and you looked to Joey with a soft smile.

“How are your auditions going, Jo? Do you need any help practicing your scenes? You know I always love doing those with you,” you said, pulling a small plate of wantons towards you. 

“Oh, no, it’s fine—they’re more solo acts than anything,” he reassured, before falling quiet once more.

It was your turn to choke on your noodles when Connor’s hand began inching up your thigh. Irrational panic cramped your insides. 

Concerned, Monica asked, “Are you okay, sweetie?”

“I, uh… need to go to the bathroom.” Abruptly, you stood up from your seat, face practically set aflame. Connor’s hand fell away from your leg, but he stood up as well. “No, uhm, I’ll just be a second—you can stay here.”

As you rushed to the back of the restaurant where the bathrooms were, you were driven further into a mess when you saw Ross and Chandler’s mom making out against the wall, making obscene, porn-like noises.

You were just about to turn and leave when you saw Joey right behind you, concerned gaze fixed on you. “I was just makin’ sure you were alright, you looked a little—” He cut himself off when he looked back and saw Ross and Nora. “Oh, my God!”

The two sprang away from each other, staring wide-eyed at you and Joey. 

“We’ll, uh… just go pee in the street!” you uttered in an abnormally squeaky tone, grabbing Joey’s arm and yanking him away from the bathrooms.

When you returned to the table, Connor smiled at you kindly, but there was a glimmer of apologetic worry behind his hazel irises. 

“That was quick,” he commented. “Are you alright?”

“Yeah—no. I don’t know,” you whispered, still a little shell-shocked.

Lowering his voice, he leaned closer to you. “Was it about me touching you? If it was, I’m really sorry, I shouldn’t have done that and I should’ve asked if you were comfortable with it first—”

“Oh, Connor, it’s fine! That wasn’t what I was worrying about, I promise.”

With a sigh of relief, Connor nodded. “You’ll tell me if something’s wrong, right?”

“Yeah,” you replied distantly, glancing towards Joey, who’d been boring holes into you the entire time since you got back. “Of course I will.”

Early the next morning, you knocked on Joey’s door, greeted by him wrapped in a bathrobe and his dark hair a disheveled mess.

“Hey,” you said with a warm smile. “I brought you some croissants from that bakery down the street.”

With a grin, he took the bag from you and inhaled deeply, groaning. “Thanks, Y/N, these smell amazing.”

“So, uh, about yesterday…”

You were about to bring up Ross and Nora, but Joey asked before you could, “Was Connor bothering you?”

The mention of your doe-eyed partner made you rear back in shock. “What? No! I mean… he did kinda touch me in a suggestive way and I was just surprised, was all. He’s really great, but…”

“But?”

“I don’t know! Being in a relationship is terrifying,” you huffed, leaning against his kitchen table.

There was a beat of silence. “You guys are in a relationship?”

“Well, we haven’t really made anything official, but I think we are,” you said.

“Oh.” Joey swallowed heavily. “Don’t worry about it too much, okay? Just do whatever makes you happy. I… we’ll always be here for you. I’m one of your best friends, remember?”

Worrying on your bottom lip, you quietly murmured, “Lately it just hasn’t been feeling that way.”

Joey’s brow furrowed. “What do you mean?” 

“I mean—there’s like this sort of weird tension between us. Do you not like Connor or something? Or is it something that I did? Because you know I love you, Jo—I’d never do anything to hurt you on purpose.”

A troubled expression melded over his features. He shook his head. “You didn’t do anything—and Connor’s great for you! Nothing’s wrong, I promise. I’ve just been in a weird funk—but things are gonna go back to normal soon, I swear.”

“Oh, Jo,” you whispered, pushing off the table and stepping closer to him. Gently, you wrapped your arms around him in a warm embrace and he returned the hug immediately, resting his chin on your shoulder. “I care about you a lot, you know?”

Before he could respond, there was another knock at the door. You let go of him so Joey could answer it. 

Ross was standing behind, looking distraught.

“Oh, good, Y/N you’re here too. Is Chandler in there?” 

“Yeah, he’s sleeping,” replied Joey.

At the confirmation, Ross grabbed the two of you and yanked you out of the apartment, much to both of your dismay.

“Okay, about last night, you know,” Ross began, gesturing vaguely with his hands. “You guys didn’t tell Chandler, did you?”

With a sigh, both of you shook your heads. 

“Great, because I’m thinking… we don’t need to tell Chandler, right? It was just a kiss—just one kiss, it was no big deal. Right?”

“Right, no big deal,” said Joey. “In Bizarro-World!”

Disappointed, you prodded Ross in the shoulder, pointing an accusing finger at him. “You broke the code!”

“What code?”

“You don’t kiss your friend’s mom!” you said, a bit too loudly, which made Ross shush you with paranoid glances back to the apartment. 

Joey nodded his agreement. “Sisters are okay. Maybe a hot aunt, but moms? Never a mom! They’re off limits.”

It was then that the door swung open again, and Chandler appeared, yawning. 

“What’re you guys doin’ out here?” he asked as he bent down to pick up the newspaper on the doorstep. 

“Uh, the three of us had discussed getting in an early morning racquetball game!” squeaked Ross, before gesturing to Joey. “But apparently somebody overslept!”

“Yeah, well, you don’t have your racquet,” Joey shot back. 

Scratching the back of his neck, Ross nodded. “No, uh, no I don’t. It’s being restrung. Y/N was supposed to bring me one!”

You blinked in surprise. “Yeah, I, uhm, you forgot to call me yesterday and tell me what kind you wanted! So many different racquets to choose from, you know?”

Chandler rubbed his eyes sleepily. “You guys are spending way too much time together,” he quipped, before turning on his heel and heading back inside, closing the door behind him.

“I’m scum,” lamented Ross once Chandler was out of earshot.

“How could you do that to him?” you hissed lowly.

Ross threw his hands up. “I don’t know! It’s not like she’s a regular mom, you know? She’s sexy, she’s—”

“What, you don’t think my mom’s sexy?” asked Joey. 

“Well… sure, but in a different way.”

Joey scowled. “I’ll have you know, Gloria Tribbiani was a handsome woman in her day, alright? You think it’s easy giving birth to seven children?”

“I think your mom’s beautiful, Jo.”

“Why, thank you. See, no wonder she keeps saying you’re her favorite—”

Ross blew out a frustrated huff. “Alright, I think we’re getting a little off topic here.”

From the opposite side of the hall, the door swung open to reveal Rachel and a barely-dressed Paolo. 

“Hey, what’re you guys doing out here?” she asked, clearly in a chipper mood.

“Not playing racquetball,” you hummed in a glib tone, shooting Ross a dagger-sharp look.

A little confused, Rachel nodded, but didn’t care enough to ask more about it, leading Paolo out of the apartment and heading up the stairs to kiss him goodbye.

The three of you filed into Monica’s apartment. “Are you gonna tell him?” Joey asked. “You can’t just lie to him forever.”

“Why would I tell him?” asked Ross as he fished a carton of orange juice out of Monica’s fridge.

“Maybe because if you don’t, his mom might?” you chimed, cocking a brow. 

“Oh, God. Oh, man—you’re right. I have to tell him.”

With Chandler seated and Ross standing in front of him, you and Joey lingered in their kitchen as you listened in to their conversation. 

“You’re my best friend. I had to tell you,” said Ross, which made you roll your eyes. 

“I can’t believe it. I just can’t believe Paolo kissed my mom! I mean, I barely saw him leave Rachel’s side that night!” Chandler said in disbelief.

Joey crossed his arms and glared at Ross. Guilt welled up in your long-time friend’s face, and he sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose with two fingers.

“Alright, no, I can’t do this. I was the one who kissed your mom. I’m sorry.”

Shocked, Chandler got to his feet. “What?” he asked, jaw unhinging. 

Stammering, Ross began to explain, “I was just really upset about Rachel and Paolo and I had too much tequila in my system and Nora—uhm, Mrs. Mom—I mean, your Bing, was… she was just being nice, you know? But nothing happened, I swear. Ask Y/N and Joey—”

Rounding on the two of you in the kitchen, Chandler asked incredulously, “You guys knew about this?”

“Uh… well, knowledge is a tricky thing,” Joey began to cough out.

“I spent the entire day with you!” gruffed Chandler. “Why didn’t you tell me?”

Defensively, Joey retorted, “Hey, you’re lucky we caught them when we did, or else who knows what would’ve happened!”

“Not helping!” barked Ross.

A muscle jumped in Chandler’s jaw. “And you, Y/N? We spent the rest of that night together and you didn’t say a single word! Too busy making googly eyes at your boyfriend?”

“Don’t bring Connor into this,” you bristled, glaring knives into all three of them. “Listen, Chandler, I obviously wanted to tell you, but it wasn’t mine to tell. Ross had to own up to his mistakes and tell you himself.”

Lifting a finger, Ross said, “Mistake—as in, not plural. Just one. It was just one kiss—okay, I’ll shut up now.”

“I can’t believe this. What the hell were you thinking?” admonished Chandler. “Of all my friends, no one knows the crap I go through with my mom more than you. I can’t believe you!”

Despite Ross’ desperate attempts to get Chandler to hear him out, he turned tail and made his way out of the apartment, slamming the door on the way.

“See what happens when you break the code?” Joey huffed, before rushing out to catch up to Chandler. 

You sighed, slumping against the kitchen counter. 

“I’m sorry, Y/N,” Ross said, making his way to you.

“I shouldn’t be the one you’re apologizing to,” came your stout reply. You fixed Ross with a pointed look. “I know you’re hurting over Rachel right now, but that doesn’t excuse the fact that you’re hurting others, too. Give Chandler some time to mull it over, and then talk to him again. Okay?”

Ross pursed his lips. “Okay.” He slung an arm over you, pulling you into a side-hug. “Say, what were you doing with Joey so early in the morning?”

Your cheeks flushed with a surge of heat, and you ducked your head. “We had some things to talk about.”

Dubious, Ross narrowed his eyes, but didn’t say anything in response.

Later that night, you were sitting beside Connor, who was engaged in a lively conversation with Joey—something about how waffles were really just the ugly, older sister of pancakes. You were glad to see them finally getting along, despite the initial awkward stage.

Chandler walked in, sinking into the empty spot beside Connor, asking him how he was doing.

When Ross opened his mouth to speak, Chandler held up a finger. “I was asking Connor, not you, mother-kisser.”

Much to Ross’ dismay, Joey burst out into raucous laughter, which left Connor confused.

“I’m doing great,” your boyfriend replied, evidently puzzled. “How about you?”

Before Chandler had the chance to reply, Ross sat up straight. “Can I just say something? I know you’re still mad at me, I just wanna say that there were two people there that night, okay? There were two sets of lips!”

“What’s going on?” Connor dipped forward to whisper into your ear. The smile melted off of Joey’s face. 

You twisted to mumble back, “Ross kissed Chandler’s mom.”

Connor’s eyes widened, and he nodded in understanding before settling back to watch the two hash it out.

“Yes, well, I expected this from her, okay?” retorted Chandler. “She’s always been a Freudian nightmare.”

“If she always behaves like this, why don’t you say something?” Ross postulated. 

“Because it’s complicated! It’s complex! Hey, you kissed my mom!” Chandler exclaimed loudly, which made some of the other people in the cafe stop and stare at the two. You sank lower into your seat.

Placing a hand on Chandler’s chest, Ross said, “Hey, you have every right to be angry at me and I’m still really sorry. But you’re not gonna talk to her at all and tell her how you feel about all this?”

“Look, just because you played tonsil tennis with my mom doesn’t mean you know her!”

“I might not, but I still think you need to let her know that you’re upset with her, Chandler.” 

Chandler’s face hardened as he considered Ross’ words. With a stiff nod, he stepped away from the taller man, waving goodbye to the three of you on the couches, before heading out to presumably talk to his mother.

“Well,” you said, rubbing your hands together. “I think that’s my cue to head back home.”

“Let me walk you home,” said Connor, gently grasping your chin between his thumb and forefinger before dipping forward to kiss you, all soft and sweet. You pulled away to press another quick kiss to his cheek, then swiftly got up from the couches, his hand intertwined with yours. 

Ross watched as Joey barely said goodbye to you and Connor, his expression tight and closed-off.

When both you and Connor were long gone, Ross turned to Joey.

“You’re in love with Y/N, aren’t you?” he asked quietly.

Joey’s head snapped up so quickly that it was a wonder he didn’t get whiplash. His eyes widened a fraction. “What?”

“You are,” said Ross. “I can see it in your face. It’s written all over you.”

The Italian shook his head vehemently. “I don’t know what you’re talking about. Y/N’s my best friend.”

“Yeah, sure. One that you’re in love with!”

“Well, how would you know, huh?” Joey crossed his arms, panic coiling within his gut. 

Exhaling, Ross lowered his voice, muttering out, “Because that’s how I look at Rachel… and that’s how I feel when I see Rachel with Paolo.”

A second of silence passed before Joey cuffed Ross on the shoulder, laughing. “You’re a funny guy, Ross. Just because you’ve gone and fallen in love with Rachel doesn’t mean Y/N and I are the same. You got it all wrong—Y/N’s like my sibling, if anything!” 

“You sure?” 

Joey sank his teeth into his bottom lip. “Positive.”

Ross couldn’t tell if his friend was telling the truth, or if he was just a really good actor.

[tatsuma-forever]

to be honest i can’t really handle all of the things people are saying about me ‘not getting it’. i kinda want to delete the post because this is honestly way to much for me, but enough people think it’s important so i can’t do it. this is really stressful, i don’t know what to do. i don’t want my posts to breach containment again. and half of the things people are saying i can’t tell if they’re calling me stupid or not. like, i’m autistic, i can’t tell if these people don’t like me or if they’re just saying things not targeting me at all.

i’ve said this before but like. this is a personal blog/a devilman blog/a mido tatsuma fan page. i post about how much i like tatsumon and how cool i think makimura miki is. i care about boycotting eurovision, i really do, but i feel like someone else should’ve made that post. i hate going through the tags, which i feel like i have to do in case anyone says something i think might be important. i feel like i should be prepared for this, when i made that post i was signing up for this. i can’t even begin to imagine how other people feel.

if you want to send anything intentionally mean to me, send it to my ask box. i can respond better there. i can’t really respond to tags, sorry. at least if you send it there i can be sure of the intent, y’know?

sorry if this sounds bad, i’m very overwhelmed right now. i don’t mean anything bad!

[acti-veg]

Someone recently posited that dismissing "harvesting grain kills mice tho" with statistics about how much grain is fed to livestock is too detached and akin to "repeating propaganda" because that's not true everywhere.

They used Australia as an example of a place that "doesn't do COFA" and has a huge problem with the astronomical numbers of rodents dying in grain harvest. They claim that over there there are way more animal lives lost to grain harvesting than slaughter and that grain consumption is as optional as meat consumption, but vegans "dismissing" those concerns are doing nothing to help. They also said something about some vegans thinking intentional slaughter is objectively worse than incidental death due to monoculture, but that "utilitarians are held to a stricter moral standard" and that the sheer number of deaths should make it worse.

I don't even know where to begin learning the details of the food systems in Australia. I know the statistics and some details globally and in my home country but I feel out of my depth with this conversation. Do you have any guidance you could share?

Well the first thing to recognise is that Australia absolutely does do intensive feeding operations, that’s a frankly bizarre claim. There is no way they could feed the number of animals they farm and kill without it. Here is a farming consultancy talking about it and advocating it, here is the department of agriculture acknowledging pigs, sheep and cattle in feedlots, here is meat and livestock Australia discussing it, here is RSPCA Australia discussing it.

It took me about five minutes to find all of these, so they can’t have done much honest research on this topic. The same thing is true of the ‘huge problems of astronomical numbers of animal lives lost to grain. Australia is currently experiencing an ‘epidemic’ of mice due to sustainable unseasonable weather and rainfall, every reference I could find on this topic was talking about how we can get rid of them - there doesn’t seem to be any such concern about mice being lost to grain harvesting.

In fact, the only source I could find talking about this (making the exact same points you’ve included here) was written by the Center For Consumer Freedom, a notorious animal agriculture lobbying group. It’s literal propaganda. The sole reference in that piece is a ‘study’ they link to, which is actually just an opinion piece in The Conversation. The only actual source there is a paper that actually supports the opposite conclusion.

“While the number of mice found in fields substantially decreased after harvest, their numbers substantially increased in the border regions. When it came to disappearances, a category that included both mouse deaths and migration out of the study area, there was no significant difference between the three habitats. The study concluded that changes in the number of field animals were “the consequences of movement and not of high[er] mortality in crops”.

So the factual basis of this argument is obviously deeply questionable, but you can still make the argument ‘ok we don’t know details but it’s highly likely some animals do die to provide plants for human consumption.’ This is undoubtedly true. However, it’s not just true of grain, it’s true of all the plants, it’s true of medicine, building materials, electronics - everything. If we stopped eating grain they’d be calling us hypocrites for not boycotting sprouts.

Furthermore, who is dismissing these problems? I don’t know any vegan who doesn’t want to improve plant agriculture, arguing for agriculture without animal inputs is a fundamental part of what veganism is about. Acknowledging the reality that whatever we eat will cause harm is not hypocrisy, nor is trying to reduce that harm by boycotting industries who directly and purposely exploit and kill billions of animals for profit.

Veganism is, as we all know, about doing whatever is possible and practicable to avoid animal exploitation. We have to eat something. Incidental vs purposeful deaths absolutely do matter, animals die as a result of grain harvesting, but they’re not exploited for grain. Those things are ethically very different, even if both are wrong. We can harvest crops without harming animals, that is what veganic farming is, there is no way to produce animal products without exploiting animals.

As for ‘utilitarians are held to a stricter moral standard,’ since when? If we feed more humans from harvesting grain than we kill in producing it, that’d be fine for most utilitarians. Interestingly, it’d also create the moral imperative to feed that grain to humans directly rather than farmed animals, since those farmed animals will suffer to produce less food and produce less good than would have been produced had that grain been fed to humans directly.

However, that data just does not exist. It is a hugely speculative assumption that more animals are killed to produce grain than to produce meat, there isn’t anything even resembling reliable statistics on that front. It is also an argument only relevant to utilitarians which… is fine for them, but for anyone is not a utilitarian the response is just… okay, so what? I’m not a utilitarian.

This is phrased as if veganism is dependent on utilitarianism as part of its ethical principles, which they may have gotten from someone like Singer but it’s a misunderstanding to suggest that is what vegsnism is, and arrogant to insist we should all hold ourselves to the same ‘strict standard’ as utilitarians, whatever the hell that means.

In conclusion, it’s a confused piece of pseudo-philosophy, likely sourced from corporate propaganda, which is based on assumptions, the misrepresentation of data and some odd assumptions about the ethical basis for veganism. You don’t need to learn anything about the food systems of Australia to debunk this argument, since evidently the person making it didn’t bother to learn about it themselves.

[frazzledsoul]

So occasionally I come across an interesting claim/conspiracy theory on this website

This theory is that Jess was supposed to be in season 7 of Gilmore Girls, but after the Palladinos left Milo boycotted the show and refused to show up for guest appearances. Fair enough, even though Milo was doing 22 episodes a year for Heroes on another network at the time and probably didn’t have a lot of time anyway (sometimes rival networks let their stars do guest appearances on other networks and sometimes they don’t). Amy showed up for Milo’s Hollywood Walk of Fame ceremony last year and he credited her in his speech and she wrote a role for him in The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel. Maybe loyalty did explain why he didn’t show up, even if it wasn’t the only factor.

However, the weirdest part of the theory is not that he didn’t show up during that year, but that the original season 6 finale was not Lorelai running to Christopher and sleeping with him two minutes after giving Luke an ultimatum, but that Rory was going to show up in Philadelphia instead. ASP allegedly switched the endings after her contract talks fell through.

I don’t know if it was possible to do this. According to this interview the Palladinos did with Michael Ausiello, they had decided to walk away by April 26. The season 6 finale aired two weeks later on May 6. Was it possible to change the endings at that time? Would they have been able to do so? Hell if I know. However, some quotes from that article indicate they probably didn’t intend for it to originally be Rory showing up on her ex’s door instead of Lorelai.

Ausiello: Based on the mail I've been reading, a lot of fans don't buy the April obstacle. As you know, they were pissed off before she ever appeared on the screen. And at the time, you asked them to have a little faith. So, cut to April 24: April has driven a wedge between Luke and Lorelai. If the spoilers are to be believed (SPOILER ALERT), Lorelai will end up in Christopher's bed in the finale, and now you guys are leaving. It looks like you asked them to have faith, then you split Luke and Lorelai up, threw her in bed with Christopher, and quit. What do you have to say to that? [ Crickets] Dan: I've got nothing to say to that. Amy: Yeah, that's something. You know what, that's a good story line. We should use that. Dan: You know, in the very beginning of the series, in the first year with Alexis Bledel with that beautiful baby face as Rory, if we had said in three years we're going to have this girl lose her virginity to a married man, our heads would've been chopped off, put on pikes and paraded around Burbank. Amy: Which Warner. Bros. is still negotiating for, by the way. [ Laughs] Dan: I'm basically repeating what Amy said: We try to follow the characters and we also try to make it as interesting as possible. And I've always felt with spoilers, a lot of people hear about a plot point seven episodes down the line without taking into account what happens in the episodes in between now and then. I've always sort of been astonished by that. That's why I say if in the first year you had heard that [about Rory], a lot of people would have turned off their televisions like, "This is going to turn into a soap opera." And that was a very controversial story line for us.

That really doesn’t sound like they had another ending planned in the first place. Also, they’re being total assholes about this plot point, but that’s another issue.

They also had this to say about Matt Czuchry.

But when you see stuff happening, and when scenes and moments happen that you didn't think could happen before, and when you add a kid like Matt Czuchry to the show and all of a sudden it brings in different layers and different stories and different textures, it's like, it doesn't have to end.

It certainly doesn’t sound to me that they were intending to relegate Logan to the background in that hypothetical ASP-penned seventh season, as he was still a main cast member.

For the record, I hate, hate, HATE that Lorelai ghosted Luke for several days, threw an enormous temper tantrum in the street in which she demanded to be placed at a higher priority than his child (how do you think it would have gone if it went the other way?) and then ran off to screw Christopher when she didn’t get the answer she wanted. It was malicious, cruel, and massively damaging to everyone involved and definitely indicated she was not ready to make major life decisions. However, Luke and Lorelai’s relationship had been deteriorating for months and Christopher was set up as a viable alternative. ASP even has him play Prince Charming and take Lorelai as a date to a wedding of her fiance’s employee just so she can try to sell him to us as chivalrous. I honestly believe if Luke and Lorelai had just sat down and had a normal conversation like grown ups and called a custody lawyer then this never would have happened, but that’s not the way it went. Unfortunately, it wasn’t surprising.

Rory giving up on Logan and running off to hook up with Jess didn’t have the same set-up. In the first place, she had already pulled this shit a few weeks before when she takes Logan back after finding out about the bridesmaids but is still angry with him, goes off to visit Jess when Logan is out of town, lets him believe she is single, kisses him, and then comes clean and says she can’t go through with it because she still loves Logan. They both acknowledge that what she did is fucked-up, that Jess doesn’t deserve to be treated like that, and she apologizes and leaves. Then Logan almost dies and she determines she’s going to stand by him and is sad to see him leave the country.

Given all that had happened a few weeks earlier, why would Rory then run off to cheat with Jess again when both of them know that he is unwilling to engage in that with her and she’s sorry that she tried to use him before? Why would she do that to Logan, who she went back to? Why would this at all be something anyone would want to happen for all three people involved, and why wouldn’t Jess tell her to fuck off if she tries to make him her sidepiece for the third time?

It just sounds like a nightmare scenario for all three of them. Even if Rory wanted to do that, I have to believe that at this stage of her life she would care enough about Jess not to do that to him (or to Logan, who she should probably break up with if she keeps trying to cheat on him) and she would respect his boundaries in this way.

Because in a show with so much cheating and love triangle shenanigans, Jess is one of the few characters who has the principles to stay out of the fray. Rory flirts with him for a year and even visits him alone in New York, but he doesn’t try to initiate anything. She’s the one who kisses him, before ignoring him for months and refusing to break up with her boyfriend. When she gets jealous of his new girlfriend, he reminds her she’s got no right to his time or company after the way she acted. When Dean breaks up with her, he refuses to touch her until he’s broken things off with Shane first. And as mentioned before, he doesn’t initiate anything when she comes to see him until he seemingly confirms she is available.

Who else lives up to these kinds of standards? Rory doesn’t. Lorelai doesn’t. Christopher doesn’t. Dean doesn’t. Paris doesn’t. Logan certainly doesn’t. Even Richard with his decades of secret lunches with Pennilyn Lott crosses the line. Why do people want to take that way from one of the few characters who won’t get involved in this shit? Let the man keep his dignity. It’s season 6. Almost everyone else has none left.

I suppose in an alternate scenario Rory could have broken up with Logan and then showed up on Jess’s door, but none of her behavior indicated she was intending on doing that and since Matt was a main cast member and Milo wasn’t, it probably wasn’t going to happen this way.

So since we’ve determined that I think Rory showing up on Jess’s door while still with Logan is a horrible idea, let me illustrate two alternate scenarios where Jess shows up in S7.

Alternate Scenario 1: Logan and Rory remain in a stable relationship. Jess shows up when his sister is born. I think you could do a lot with this even if he never interacts with Rory: he has this new sibling, who is going to be raised in the stable environment that he never had, while Luke is starting to realize how badly he messed up with Lorelai and starting to fight for custody of April. There’s a lot to unpack here just with his family alone (maybe he writes a reference letter for the custody trial, too). However, across town Rory has her own much younger half sister living in her house, in the nuclear family she never had as a child, and yet she knows things are not exactly right with her parents marriage. What a dilemma for them to bond over (platonically). If everything still happens the way it did in the OG season 7, the door is open for a possible relationship between them at the end of the story. Milo keeps his main gig, there’s an entire season with no cheating, and everyone keeps their dignity. Sounds beautiful to me.

Alternate Scenario 2: Rory and Logan do not have a stable relationship, and Logan never leaves the life that was planned for him. I suppose they would have to be somewhat involved for most of the season, as the show really isn’t interested in Logan having an arc outside of its effect on Rory (season 7 tries, but it still mostly boils down to how it’s going to affect her). I guess Jess would have to emerge as more of an alternative in this scenario, but nothing physically happens until she’s parted with Logan. I guess this is more problematic overall, but it definitely seems preferable to her trying to cheat on Logan with Jess twice in a month after she’s well aware that she’s mistreating both of them by doing this.

I guess this scenarios aren’t perfect, but they seem better to me than what so many fans wanted to happen. I do wish for Milo and Jess’ sake that he had gotten more closure in the OS, but it wasn’t to be. And of course, I wish that season 6 had not ended the way that it did in the first place.

[where-fading-princesses-live]

i finally purchased j.k. rowling's The Christmad Pig and look i know she's a piece of sh*t and stands for some pretty crappy ideologies but that won't stop me from enjoying-some- of her work to a certain degree. i won't sit here and pretend like she's not controversial or anything or like HP is not problematic and it was never a perfect series to begin with and i'm not a "Potterhead" nor am i glorifying her or anything. but i still enjoy the HP books with or without rowling and i don't think i should feel guilty for enjoying just because the author is a poor excuse for a human being. you can be anti-rowling but boycotting the actual books is just dumb.. we can separate the art from the artist know what i'm saying? i'm not supporting her beliefs but i did want to read her new book. she may be a terf but it's not like the book is about transphobia so there i said it and i'm not ashamed to admit to reading it.

[rainofthetwilight]

Hello, another Egyptian here. I also experience the blackouts, I also know that they're bombing our border, I also see the protests and fundraisers and try to help in every way I can as I'm a minor, I also boycott like many other Egyptians who do so. But comparing films, matches and music to extremely huge events like the Met gala or Eurovision is just an extremely unfair comparision.

Unless the music, film, match or whatever is zionism material and/or made by zionists, then yes, people can watch, but also not drive their attention away from Palestine whatever they do. However, the reason why people are calling these events distractions because not only does Israel heavily bomb Gaza and continue it's war crimes during it, it's because they have always been distractions. For years, Israel has been doing this shit to Palestinians yet everyone all turned away from it because of western media. Even when the attention was on Palestine, people quickly moved on like it was nothing. People are calling these events distractions because these are extremely popular western events, they don't want people to turn their heads again like they did before. These events aren't things to be simply compared to movies and films, they were always huge events that everyone paid attention to worldwide. Especially the west.

These huge events do not only do they draw away attention, but they're also chockfull of celebrities who do not and continue to not give a single shit about Gaza. A Met Gala ticket is literally 75k dollars. Imagine what they could've done with that money to help Gazans. Yet these celebrities don't use a single penny of their money to help. It wouldn't even leave a dent in their humongous pockets if they actually did. All these diamonds they're wearing? Drenched in Congolese blood. Gold jewelries? All from Sudanese children's labour. While these celeberties are wearing insanely extravagent outfits that cost thousands, thousands that they could've used to donate to Gazan fundraisers, Gaza is being bombed and starved by Israel and the US.

And the Superbowl has been the exact same. Minus the fancy gowns, suits and dresses, each celebrity that had partaken in it has not said a single word about Gaza as they celebrate a popular western match while Rafah was also being heavily bombed.

And with Eurovision, it has literally banned any Palestinian flag or symbol in it and is still allowing Israel to participate. And not just Israel, but Azerbaijan aswell, who are commiting genocide on Armenians. They are allowing not one, but two genocidal countries to participate in their event. Despite banning Russia when it's invasion on Ukraine began, now it is suddenly a 'non-political' event.

These events very much are distractions no matter how much you try to deny it, these events should always be boycotted. Israel has always used them as an oppurtunity to continue their genocide on Palestinians. From the Superbowl to the Met Gala and many events before. The moment these events begin, even 'Pro'-Palestine people turn their heads away to marvel at the millionares' obnoxiously extravagant gowns and dresses that are drenched in blood, to listen to a zionist event's music as they let countries who are literally comitting genocide to participate and suddenly being a 'non-political event', to go in a frenzy over which celebrity is sitting next to Taylor Swift in the Superbowl while Rafah was being heavily bombed at that exact time. You have a point about saying you shouldn't shame people for enjoying a movie or show, but they should also not drive their attention away from Palestine no matter what. And I'm saying this as I'm literally reblogging this post from my fandom blog.

Good day. وكمان حاول تشغل عقلك ده شوية

I don't know who needs to hear this. Just because now you've started paying attention to Palestine doesn't mean that now suddenly they need "distractions."

The met gala isn't a "distraction." Whatever new film in the cinema isn't a "distraction." The IDF never needed distractions. The IDF never needed to hide its war crimes.

For decades, the IDF carried out their plans without needing to distract you. You sound like a conspiracy theorist when you keep calling every form of celebration or entertainment a government psyop.

Shaming people for enjoying a movie that is completely unrelated to the genocide isn't as ally as you think it is. I'm so sick and tired of people learning a few new words and turning their saviour complex up to a hundred.

I live in egypt. we have had daily blackouts going on 2 years now because of this conflict. They are currently bombing at our border. We have continuous protests and fundraisers. The boycott is still on going on a national scale, and somehow, We still have football matches. we still have new films, and we still have new music.

Caring about silly things doesn't diminish anyone's work and efforts. Shaming people for enjoying something isn't the activism you think it is. Speak out, donate, and stop harassing people for existing.

[moaninmoonen]

This needs to be said...

If you are someone who prides themselves as an artist online, it is NEVER ok to demean someone else's work, and even though being an ass is not illegal, it is very unclassy to act offended when someone is doing something similar as you like you are afraid of them being better than you at the one thing you are good at. I guarantee you there are people that look at you with stars in their eyes and wish to be just like you. Maybe they discover a new hobby inspired by you and it distracts them from certain aspects of their life they may not be particularly fond of. You then crush them when you say nasty shit and JUDGE THEM. People have absolutely every right to feel good about themselves, to defend themselves, and to create what THEY want to create, EVEN IF there's something about them or their story that you don't fuckin like. Don't watch them if that's the case...

One of my fears is meeting someone I admire just for them to be unpleasant and I end up being wrong about them. I understand not trusting someone you don't know, but that's why you don't trust them, BECAUSE YOU DON'T FUCKING KNOW THEM. The small things matter to a fan. They study you. A good artist pays attention to detail. When you start creating art that purposefully shames someone for liking you, they notice. As long as they are not trying to harm you or your well being, you have no business telling other people how to behave a certain way. Especially when you don't care about how they perceive you. That's not how it works. They don't have to care about you. They choose to. I myself have thought people would be a good fit for a friend and tried talking to them. I was wrong I left them alone...

I have met people who I never would have cared for to begin with if they had treated me a certain way from the beginning. When you do or say things just to bother people, it makes them boycot and spite you. So unless that's what you are going for, I would suggest remaining appreciative of the people who support you, especially when they have literally offered to assist you. Maybe their thing is just not for you and you can decline, but it does not give you the right to treat them poorly if they are not hurting you. Any good artist knows that "fans" and friends are your lifeline. They PAY MONEY to see you (I don't do that because I don't give money to people who are nasty towards me). Poking holes in your life raft is pretty stupid. Even if they are small holes you will eventually drown alone at sea and no one will care. We are all living on this shit hole together so get used to it. You don't owe anyone anything, but neither do they...

I'm just so sick of people talking shit about other people online if they aren't going to keep the same energy in person. I say it how it is, so if you don't like what I'm saying then change what it is...

I had to get this off my chest quickly because I'm getting tired of seeing people treat their friends, family, or follows like shit for seemingly no reason. Maybe it's because I'm a good person myself so I can't relate. If you're an artist, you should be focused on creating the best art for yourself and for the people around you. If you don't start taking things seriously, they won't either...

Thanks for listening. I digress...

[lunarsilkscreen]

TW: Sexual Immorality

Christians get this wrong ALL THE TIME. They think that Immorality means butt stuff. They don't think it means non-consenual rape.

And they certainly don't know what it actually means.

Lettuce begin at the beginning;

Man+Woman+Sex=Children.

What could be wrong with that?

Most Christians have this belief that wickedness doesn't exist in anyone that becomes a parent. That sin doesn't exist if they have children. That they are absolved of all evil should they reproduce.

And that's the issue we find ourselves against today.

And the question we must ask ourselves; what responsibility does a parent have to their child?

The common complaint about dating apps is that "People only use them for hookups and not relationships". In-fact; the business model supports repeat customers. That's why they have microtransactions in them; explicitly because they are selling sex.

They are acting like the middle-men in sexual transactions. Pimps. Pimp Apps. Yep; even your Christian Mingle app is pimping you out. You could personally think "No that can't be! It's illegal to invoke the word [Christian] and do such a thing!" And you'd be wrong; there are no legal protections for a religious word in any context. And so unsavory business practices hide behind religion all the time.

But I DIGRESS.

Even in this day and age of "pump and dump" scheming by Men (Who then blame trans women.) we KNOW for a fact that many parents, potential parents or *might be parents*, both conservative and and liberal; avoid the rights bestowed on them to raise said children.

My own mother used me, and my other brothers as a paycheck. Hooray for child support 🎊.

She has other reasons like being hard of hearing and likely undiagnosed autism. And she was never able to hold down a job; or a husband who had a job.

Not sure why; likely there were issues on *both sides*. And before you say anything; my father, her first husband is center-left. And her second husband is very conservative. And she is incredibly conservative.

The kind of conservative even other conservatives go "No, we don't know her." So conservative she boycotted burger king that year all the boomers were doing it, and continues TO THIS DAY.

She has not stepped foot in a Burger King ever since, but she loves Chick-fil-A. And that should tell you everything.

She's the kind of person that Fox News blames the liberal left for being. Chronically unemployed; might be on disability; and has no other income.

And then; as a conservative you might argue; well Yea: she has two unfaithful husbands who didn't want to take care of their children. she ran out on my father while he was in the military. Vanished while he was deployed.

I don't know the whole story about the second husband and I stopped caring. I'd like to take care of her; but she's been cared for her whole life. And I cannot afford to care for her, my future self, and a family--God Willing.

All of this to say;

Sexual Immorality is having a child that you cannot meet the needs of. Getting a woman pregnant, or a woman seducing a man to get pregnant to create a harsh family condition; or entrapment as the meninists call it.

That's sexual Immorality.

And the argument then; by Christians is: WELL YOU SHOULD'VE NEVER HAD SEX IF YOU CANT AFFORD CHILDREN.

Yes. Exactly. That's what we've been saying.

But at the same time;

What happens to children put up for adoption? Children in harsh living conditions?

We as a species have a responsibility to the children brought into the world; even the ones that aren't our own.

Because if the argument is; abortion should be illegal. Then the argument should ALSO be; well what about when those children are born to parents that maybe shouldn't be parents?

"It takes a village to raise a child"

The fact is; the sin is both abortion, AND birthing a child you cannot care for. Or at least; be reasonably certain they will be cared for.

And should that child reach hardships in their adult life because society has made basic necessities out of reach? Well... They can't exactly vote themselves a free plot of land like the wild West days. People tend to frown upon taking land away from people these days. How the turned have tables.

And that would lead us to the immigration argument. But we all know that's grandstanding, because they still haven't given evidence of severe infiltration by immigration.

The deal is; people want to own land to rent to people so that they can be paid without doing labor.

[shaftking]

https://www.instagram.com/p/C1SDRVYOzu6/?igsh=MzRlODBiNWFlZA==

https://www.instagram.com/p/C1RuLVIqa3N/?igsh=MzRlODBiNWFlZA==

Apparently now activists are shaming people for celebrating Christmas and expect everyone to boycott the holiday in solidarity with Palestine. I think these posts are awful and the type of shaming rhetoric that they employ should be rightfully ignored. Calling people “disgusting” and “sick freaks” will not get them on your side, especially over something completely harmless like celebrating Christmas.

At this point, I think people who push this vendetta are purely virtue signaling. I found these posts since one of my followers shared them, meanwhile they liked my Christmas post lol. It’s all lip service for the sake of keeping up appearances.

Anyway, that being said, I hope you had a merry Christmas! 🎄

They literally just want to shame and berate people into submission. God forbid people celebrating their harmless religious holiday don’t constantly kowtow to your political agenda. And really what would “boycotting” Christmas even do? Make people more miserable? Lol okay.

It honestly shows the kind of difference between the broad sides of this conflict that the pro Palestinian side has called for Jews and Christians especially to halt their activities and tried to appropriate their religious figures (“Jesus was Palestinian.”) while there was no calls from the pro Israel side that Muslims should not celebrate Eid. Despite the frequently glossed over fact that it was Hamas, an Islamic terrorist organization that killed over a thousand civilians on oct.7 and started this current conflict to begin with. Yet another microcosm of the larger issue imo.

I gotta take a deep breath tbh bc all of this is honestly infuriating.

But I did have a nice Christmas! Spent it with family and friends, playing games, eating good. Received some thoughtful gifts and even went to a Christmas party. I did have a family member fall into a less than ideal health situation after the holidays, but I will be visiting soon to check in. I hope you and all my followers also had a great holiday!

[effieandtim]

I understand why you think you are doing a good thing by boycotting Paramount + and pirating shows, but that doesn't show support for the actors and crews on the show, and it is a short sighted view.

Boycotts and sanctions very rarely impact those that you want them to impact, but rather it is the workers and the poorer members of the organisations boycotted that are impacted, often through job losses if there are enough people boycotting a company.

I am not saying what you should or shouldn't do, and if you want to boycott the streamer that is your choice. I do not, and will not make moral judgements on people's actions, but I do look at all possible outcomes, including a worst case outcome.

In the situation of boycotting Paramount + the worst case outcome is that there could be potential lowered residuals for the actors, or the streamer decides that there weren't enough views of a show so it wasn't popular and they decide not to make those types of shows again, and therefore, some stories of under represented groups won't get made.

Informed choices are important, including understanding what the potential outcomes of your actions are, and to be honest if enough people do what you are doing the only people being harmed are the actors and those in under represented groups that feel represented by the show.

if you are the same person who sent the ask about not boycotting twitter, then i don’t have much to say to you bc it shows your logic is flawed and frankly stupid to begin with.

in any case, i am not creating and spreading a list of those watching the show on paramount - i am only encouraging people to boycott not force them, bc i dont have that power.

you do you, for me a genocide happening in real time in front of our eyes with the full support of the most powerful nations in the world is more important at the moment. the issues you brought up are important and representation and compensation to workers is important nonetheless but at times like these i think we need to see what is happening right now instead of what may happen in the future.

and this isn’t just about paramount or streaming services, it’s also companies in other sectors.

but as i said, you do you.

[baekhvuns]

Huh why is our last convo flagged as mature content 😅

I'm torn because EXO COMEBACK YAY but more money for SM? Very much NAAAAAAY and it's such a mess, but EXO RISE!

Armchairs when EXO and SKZ beat BTS: 🤬🖕🏻 FRAUD!!! Their outrage is so funny, nothing like good old fashioned Exol-s vs Armys battle!

The pre release is very nice and nostalgic, the vocals are vocalling! Baek cropping SM's logo in his IG story, idk if it was incidental, but I choose to believe he did it on purpose to be a little silly!

Not sure if I will see that Ferrari girl ever again, she has races to attend lmao

A lot of Shawols are feeling negative about the song description, I'm skeptical, but it's Shinee after all. Intense piano, something like the beginning of Advice maybe? This comeback is also bittersweet because of Jinki, but I'm still sooo looking forward to it. However...... 😭 https://twitter.com/pansymoons/status/1668272217904365574?t=lw0Cq8MzYXGdKBZl3gnJ3Q&s=19 - this combined with HARD I- are they for real ahdgaggsgagsgssfajshsh

Damn, how to be Hoshi?! https://twitter.com/hoshzone/status/1668567593085706240?t=v9rtKzMcXHxVPkY-9qjCiQ&s=19 and he followed them right after, I'm glad they allowed him to do it, after all the 5 in his IG username stands for Shinee and there's no other explanation

YES YES YES EXACTLY EVERYTHING YOU SAID ABOUT ATEEZ AND THEIR PHOTOSHOOTS. You know I have all their albums, I was either too blinded by their looks in the past or perhaps the photos were a bit better but now yeah I can see the lack of variety? I can't tell, but my god the shoots rely on their appearance only and sometimes the photos don't even look flattering :/ not to mention the whitewashing and air brushing. There's no depth in those photos. The inspiration may be there, but it's watered down. I have a lot to say about the technical aspects too, it pisses me off not only because I want better for Ateez and don't want KQ to milk fans and give them half assed concepts, but also as someone who dabbled into photography... so fucking annoying. There's so much to be done. The white outfits photos???? For what.... come to think, not only does Ateez lack great comeback photos, they barely have any magazine shoots? Very strange

Ok so Bouncy sounds fun, the preview doesn't really sound like an Ateez's song to me though, the dance looks like it may get popular on Tik Tok lmao. I wish they did something different, but maybe I won't dislike it, I was just hoping for actual singing, but I don't think that's the vibe they're going for right now lmao. It does sound like a summer banger, a good club song and Seonghwa is already eating it up! I'm just worried they're pushing the Hwa rapper agenda and won't give him a lot of singing lines, and look rapper Hwa is cool, but he has such a versatile voice!

Stray Kids' song left me speechless in a bad way at first, but... not to compare, but Skz can just pull off wacky shit, it's their brand at this point, so they sold it to me. Not my fave TT and they have better bsides, e.g. Topline with Tiger JK, but S Class isn't terrible. Hopefully I feel the same about Bouncy

THE NAKAMOTO YUTA YES! Maybe I'm back to being a Yuta girl now ajdhdhsgagsgaggaags I've always had Taeyong tunnel vision so it's hard to focus on anyone else, besides xenophobic SM doesn't give two shits about him, he needs to go jrock, he has the voice for it, instead he barely exhales on NCT's tracks JAIL. We actually told him we're looking forward to more jrock covers and perhaps an anime opening? I hope something good happens to him and EmbarrasSMENT actually promotes it. At this point he should join WayV, ignored, underrated... 😭😭😭😭 Anyway he was very kind and gentle and we made him laugh with our clown antics, so that's a win!

I'm so proud of Taeyong, he put his whole heart and Tyongussy into this album and it paid off despite SM not doing much for him, so much for being the company fave... and the fact antis were boycotting him? VILE. Yes, Mark was cheering so loudly it was cute! And Taeyong called Yuta and Taeil out for not attending his showcase, but then they eventually came <3 haven't seen much of Dream, but tbh I don't care about them, sorry 😅

Taeyong's photocards y'all will be mine... one day 🤧 where did SM get him from? The streets ahsghagshahshs pretty sure they lured him in with bread or some shit.....

Btw there's one scene in Bloodhounds that was shot at the same location as Skz's Back Door I was like, hold ooooon. Is it good?

You're watching anime illegally, so I'd suggest to look at animepisode.com! They have 10 episodes on there I believe. I mean black hair, blonde hair, pink hair... they're all Seonghwas anyway.

Taeyong is going the Kai's route and does challenges with so many people, both for his track and theirs <3 and https://twitter.com/taeoho/status/1668155919962714114?t=EFHbqllTpLsZtbFbv4kJEw&s=19

Both JYP and KQ and basically everyone else seem to be more relaxed about challenges now, so I hope to see more. The fact there's no Skz x Atz challenge yet is criminal... also LSF appeared on Aespa's channel?! Maybe Hybe is still trying to buy SM aksgdgsfahsgahshshsh

Ok but his mind! I know it's just a silly Tik Tok, but I'll never not admire his passion and dedication to details. He's so creative too, that's why I always want more for him, I know he's not greedy, but I just want him to have more opportunities 😭 https://twitter.com/hwalilac/status/1668188123984195585?t=nxxIDzwNPLbn_eGFEwKpvw&s=19

THESE TWO AGAIN MY GOD AND WHAT IF SEONGHWA..... https://twitter.com/TENsfeed/status/1668740420678090753?t=2sCKYa6AXtuNL022D_rQIg&s=19 - DV 💖

hello!!

Huh why is our last convo flagged as mature content 😅 /// I'm torn because EXO COMEBACK YAY but more money for SM? Very much NAAAAAAY and it's such a mess, but EXO RISE! /// Armchairs when EXO and SKZ beat BTS: 🤬🖕🏻 FRAUD!!! Their outrage is so funny, nothing like good old fashioned Exol-s vs Armys battle!

NO BC FHWKDHWK THIS IS THE SECOND TIME 😭😭😭 SOMEONES OUT FOR MY BLOG FBWNDBSJ more money to sm but if exo win the case,, they will get a sum hopefully the labor cooperation does their thing BUT EXO WE RISE !!!!!! NO IT REALLY IS SO VERY FUNNY BC THE STREAMING CULTURE AND EXOLS ARE JUST NOW LEARNING ABT IT AND TRYING IT OUT AND THE STREAMS ARE CRAZY SO IT GOT PPL MAD??? how are we gatekeeping streaming now 😭😭😭😭 also gotta make this comeback their biggest as a way of protest 🤚🏻u know 2016-2017 kpop is back when army v exols start pulling up 😭😭

The pre release is very nice and nostalgic, the vocals are vocalling! Baek cropping SM's logo in his IG story, idk if it was incidental, but I choose to believe he did it on purpose to be a little silly! /// Not sure if I will see that Ferrari girl ever again, she has races to attend lmao

it really is,,, i actually cried bc of the no autotune in their voice made me realize how kpop’s full of autotune but exo will always produce the best of their raw voices,, was discussing this with a friend rn with listening to atz’s cb and switching to exo give the ears something to be peaceful about 😭😭 NO BC I KNOW HE WAS LAUGHING DOING IT TOO but with the way his everything is being eyed upon,,, this is the least shady thing he can do bc otherwise when that mouth opens it drags esp after this??? drag them to court baeks,,, gotta attend ferarri races only for disappointment 😔😔 but at least seb will be on the track ✊🏻

A lot of Shawols are feeling negative about the song description, I'm skeptical, but it's Shinee after all. Intense piano, something like the beginning of Advice maybe? This comeback is also bittersweet because of Jinki, but I'm still sooo looking forward to it. However...... 😭 https://twitter.com/pansymoons/status/1668272217904365574?t=lw0Cq8MzYXGdKBZl3gnJ3Q&s=19  - this combined with HARD I- are they for real ahdgaggsgagsgssfajshsh

i mean yeah it’s shinee after all,, we’d get a good song either if not the tt then we know the bsides will ABSOLUTELY always carry,,, NO BC I TRIED TO FIGURE ALL OF THIS OUT??? HOW??? LIKE WHAT EVEN IS THIS SM 😭😭

Damn, how to be Hoshi?! https://twitter.com/hoshzone/status/1668567593085706240?t=v9rtKzMcXHxVPkY-9qjCiQ&s=19 and he followed them right after, I'm glad they allowed him to do it, after all the 5 in his IG username stands for Shinee and there's no other explanation

THIS IS SO WHOLESOMELY CUTE 😭😭😭 NO LITERALLY HOSHI THE MOST ACCOMPLISHED SHAWOL

YES YES YES EXACTLY EVERYTHING YOU SAID ABOUT ATEEZ AND THEIR PHOTOSHOOTS. You know I have all their albums, I was either too blinded by their looks in the past or perhaps the photos were a bit better but now yeah I can see the lack of variety? I can't tell, but my god the shoots rely on their appearance only and sometimes the photos don't even look flattering :/ not to mention the whitewashing and air brushing. There's no depth in those photos. The inspiration may be there, but it's watered down. I have a lot to say about the technical aspects too, it pisses me off not only because I want better for Ateez and don't want KQ to milk fans and give them half assed concepts, but also as someone who dabbled into photography... so fucking annoying. There's so much to be done. The white outfits photos???? For what.... come to think, not only does Ateez lack great comeback photos, they barely have any magazine shoots? Very strange

YES YES !!!!! it’s always the same studio,,, same backdrop, little to none accessories neutral tones,,, i also dabble into photography quite often so my first thought whenever i purchase albums is to see the photo books first bc i need them to be STUNNING my top3 are exo’s, nct’s sticker album but seoul city version the photography in it so sO IMPECCABLE to look at, the shine the colours the angles and the blurs and all??? ive been dying to purchase it,, the scenery is sTUNNING like look at these :::

and then

the difference between them is actually crazy,,, nEED a new photographer for atz + someone who dresses them accordingly to the backdrop— give us colour an outside background (like w diary),, do a kokobop photo scans colour scheme???? UR ABSOLUTELY CORRECT the depth we can get but won’t makes me mad, like how ty did for his album, black and white and his features carried him,, the shadows from his nose and his eye sets, pure artistry,, like those are photos id hang up as art,, have not seen the current album’s photobook but i won’t be surprised at it,, YEAH THE LACK OF MAGAZINE SHOOTS??? LIKE I SAW THIS ON PINTEREST AND WAS SCREAMING AT KQ ???? LIKE GET SHIT LIKE THIS IF U WANNA USE A WHITE BACK DROP GIVE US EDITORIALS???

Ok so Bouncy sounds fun, the preview doesn't really sound like an Ateez's song to me though, the dance looks like it may get popular on Tik Tok lmao. I wish they did something different, but maybe I won't dislike it, I was just hoping for actual singing, but I don't think that's the vibe they're going for right now lmao. It does sound like a summer banger, a good club song and Seonghwa is already eating it up! I'm just worried they're pushing the Hwa rapper agenda and won't give him a lot of singing lines, and look rapper Hwa is cool, but he has such a versatile voice!

it does sound fun and it def is!!! def the best mv aesthetically the chorus is STUCK in my head 😭😭😭 listened to the album, sorry to say but it sounds like a second geurilla album,, few of my friends and i were discussing this and we wished they chose songs like how sm chooses for their group’s bsides,,, it sounds the same but it does sound good just wished for songs like treasure and utopia,, just raw voices, vocals and a dream.

im gonna let u review of it happen so i will comment then 😭😭

Stray Kids' song left me speechless in a bad way at first, but... not to compare, but Skz can just pull off wacky shit, it's their brand at this point, so they sold it to me. Not my fave TT and they have better bsides, e.g. Topline with Tiger JK, but S Class isn't terrible. Hopefully I feel the same about Bouncy

LMFAOOOO 😭😭😭 i will def check it out now that u mentioned a few, i did hear one where they kept whispering and it just didn’t click w me 😭😭

THE NAKAMOTO YUTA YES! Maybe I'm back to being a Yuta girl now ajdhdhsgagsgaggaags I've always had Taeyong tunnel vision so it's hard to focus on anyone else, besides xenophobic SM doesn't give two shits about him, he needs to go jrock, he has the voice for it, instead he barely exhales on NCT's tracks JAIL. We actually told him we're looking forward to more jrock covers and perhaps an anime opening? I hope something good happens to him and EmbarrasSMENT actually promotes it. At this point he should join WayV, ignored, underrated... 😭😭😭😭 Anyway he was very kind and gentle and we made him laugh with our clown antics, so that's a win!

NO BC IM ACTUALLY SCREAMING ????? ANON IF U DONT PHOTOCOPY THAT AUTOGRAPH AND SEND IT OVER ,,, ITS OVER 🔫 no ur so right, yuta has so much potential he can pull of villain so good + sm need to get him on the big screen like d.o,,, like he can hit big he’s really good at acting esp after the japanese movie he did! NO UR SO RIGHT HE BARELY BREATHES IN THOSE TRACKS LIKE I DONT EVEN KNOW HOW HE SOUNDS LIKE 😭😭😭😭 he should bc at least he can fill that one spot w his magnificent voice <33 AND U MADE HIM LAUGH

I'm so proud of Taeyong, he put his whole heart and Tyongussy into this album and it paid off despite SM not doing much for him, so much for being the company fave... and the fact antis were boycotting him? VILE. Yes, Mark was cheering so loudly it was cute! And Taeyong called Yuta and Taeil out for not attending his showcase, but then they eventually came <3 haven't seen much of Dream, but tbh I don't care about them, sorry 😅

HE REALLY DID!!! that album screams him, from the photos to the entire concept vvv glad he took the initiative for it and got the copy rights at least ik the money will go to him 🧍🏻‍♀️,,, BENBFEKJDKW OH TO BE U AND ATTEND THESE EVENTS 😭😭😭

Taeyong's photocards y'all will be mine... one day 🤧 where did SM get him from? The streets ahsghagshahshs pretty sure they lured him in with bread or some shit..... /// Btw there's one scene in Bloodhounds that was shot at the same location as Skz's Back Door I was like, hold ooooon. Is it good?

LMFAOOOO taeyong photocards are like a new level of expensive which means at least u can get some from his album 😭😭 need his legendary one actually,, FBWKDHWKD IS IT GOOD??? LORD IM WATCHING FOR THAT PLOT BUT THAT DRAMA IS ACTUALLY CRAZY GOOD IM 100% SOLD everyone acts so well im so into it!

now that i think of it, these photo cards are like investment,,, i will sell mine in a few years to come for some moolah and ik that thv card will SELL

You're watching anime illegally, so I'd suggest to look at animepisode.com! They have 10 episodes on there I believe. I mean black hair, blonde hair, pink hair... they're all Seonghwas anyway.

ur my saviour omg i used to watch anime on watchdub.com back in the day and could not find a good place for now BUT IM SO GLAD THANK U THANK U 😭😭😭 all of them are seonghwas, no exception.

Taeyong is going the Kai's route and does challenges with so many people, both for his track and theirs <3 and https://twitter.com/taeoho/status/1668155919962714114?t=EFHbqllTpLsZtbFbv4kJEw&s=19

BUT WHEN DO WE GET MISTA ROVER X MR SHALALAA ?????????? TAEYONG GO VISIT KAIS 9 TO 5 AND GET HIM OUT

Both JYP and KQ and basically everyone else seem to be more relaxed about challenges now, so I hope to see more. The fact there's no Skz x Atz challenge yet is criminal... also LSF appeared on Aespa's channel?! Maybe Hybe is still trying to buy SM aksgdgsfahsgahshshsh

right!! it’s so nice to see everyone in the id is try somehow support each other and promo it, hoping atz also gets a lot!!! NO LITERALLY LIKE WE BETTER GET CHANGBIN DOING THAT CHALLENGE,,, hybe will forever try to buy it 😭😭😭

Ok but his mind! I know it's just a silly Tik Tok, but I'll never not admire his passion and dedication to details. He's so creative too, that's why I always want more for him, I know he's not greedy, but I just want him to have more opportunities 😭 https://twitter.com/hwalilac/status/1668188123984195585?t=nxxIDzwNPLbn_eGFEwKpvw&s=19

seonghwa director era is coming ??? ur right more of his opportunity to show his art !!!! i hope they get to go on running man this promo season, and lots more!

???

THESE TWO AGAIN MY GOD AND WHAT IF SEONGHWA..... https://twitter.com/TENsfeed/status/1668740420678090753?t=2sCKYa6AXtuNL022D_rQIg&s=19 - DV 💖

WHY DOES TEN LOOK LIKE ROSÉ 😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭 SCREAMS AND NOW HAVE SEONGHWA BY TENS SIDE FBWNFHWK WHEN WHEN WHENNNN!!!!!!

loona to freedom ✊🏻

😭😭

AND??? LMFAOOOO IF I WAS JAEJOONG ID BURN IT & and if all sm artists to jaejoong’s company? he will always have the last laugh

AND EXCUSE ME???? PLAY MMMH RIGHT NOW

[mostly-mundane-atla]

Thank you!! You are correct. I don't post on ao3 (not calling for a boycot or anything, just a personal preference in how i share what i write) or any other fic site. I do post random bits of it here and there on this blog under the "brothel fic idea" tag though, and if it's worth anything to you, here's what i had in mind for the scene:

"And what are getting me alone for?" she asked in her lighthearted, casual way, flicking her fan for emphasis. "Should I be worried or is it all in good fun?"

"Miss," Hyun-Joo adressed her, more nervous than any time before, "I have something to confess."

"Oh, do you?"

"I've tried to love my husband in a way that didn't come naturally to me." She rushed to clarify, "I do care for him, and he is a good, kind man with no pettiness or jealousy in his heart, but I can't love him the way I feel I should love such a husband, the way such a husband deserves. I can't love men that way, and I've tried, but it only works on women and, oh, miss!" She burried her face in her hands, feeling as if she had been cut to her core and anyone could see into her. "I see your face before i fall asleep and when I wake you're all i can think of! No chore or passtime brings me peace from thoughts of you, and yet i don't miss that peace and it now seems lonely to me." She looked this target of her affection, reminded of a strage family from her village that attributed all forces of nature to one being no one else prayed to. She only then began to understand the idea that a single being could be so important to bring rain and sun and shake the earth and strike it with lightning. She struggled to hold her own legs up from under her and concluded, "You fill my heart like wind in a sail."

Ayako looked none too surprised at this, surely she received hundreds of similar declarations in letters daily, and yet it was plain to see some facet of her knowing and carefree demeanor had cracked.

"My dear friend," she unenthusiastically smiled, "I'm afraid you still don't understand theatrical conventions. Women are always played by--" her face winced and her grip on the now closed hand fan tightened, as if the word hurt before it could even escape her mouth. She collected herself, put her smile back on, and specified, "I mean to say that my body is more like you husband's than it is like your own."

"You're a woman to me no matter what's under your clothes!" she cried. "And I--!"

It struck her that lovely Ayako may not want her in return. Other admirerers had been turned away by other performers in this same teahouse. She faced away before Hyun-Joo had begun to appeal, as if hoping she'd walk away quietly. Shame at her selfish desires pooled in her where there was once the overwhelming love of the one now trying to let her down easy.

"Forgive me, miss," Hyun-Joo said. "I will take my leave."

But a statuesque hand took her by the crook of her arm as she turned to go.

"You mean what you say?" Ayako asked, voice shaking for the first time she heard her speak. "That I am a woman in your eyes, not merely close enough?"

"The most beautiful and elegant that i have ever seen," Hyun-Joo declared, beginning to shake herself. "It's in your bearing, in how you glide across the floor. Your gaze. Your smile, the real one you smile when no one's looking and only a few can see. Men don't smile that way, miss."

She turned back to face Ayako. Her eyes were glossed with tears and her breath shook in her throat like a bird desperate to take wing. She cradled Hyun-Joo's face in both hands, and, leaning down, kissed her. Hungrily. Tenderly.

It wasn't like when she tried to love her Qaugaluk in a way that didn't come naturally to her; when she tried to make herself yearn for the polished calluses on his hands and melt at the sound of his steady voice. This time she couldn't stop kissing and caressing in turn. And she didn't want to either.

I was going to build this up but i'm impatient so you'll just have deal with the payoff before the build up

If you're paying attention to the brothel fic idea i keep posting about, the character Hyun-Joo, who married young to escape the sex industry to a chaste and still grieving widower, realizes that she's a lesbian and the actress she falls deeply in love with, Ayako, is a trans woman without any access to medical transition who also loves women.

Hyun-Joo ends up confessing her yearning to Ayako, explaining that the love she tried to feel for her husband rang hollow and false because she only loves women that way. Ayako brings up her anatomy, afraid Hyun-Joo would find it incompatible with a love of women, but when Hyun-Joo says she's a woman, the most beautiful and elegant she's ever met and no one could call her less, Ayako looks at her, eyes glossy with tears, and pulls her into a kiss

[honeysweetbabyfrisk]

hey sysboxes is anti-endogenic, from experience that userbox might be in faith and might not come from a place of actual support

anon, im going to say this as kindly as possible.

there is no such thing as an endogenic system. its a medical impossibility to have a trauma disorder without having trauma to cause it. children do not begin life with fully formed separate people in their head, they have different emotional states that comprise the same person that naturally integrate to form their personality in early childhood. you can only become a system if something happens to create dissociative barriers before that happens, forcing them to be separate and start development on their own. that something is always trauma, because dissociation is a trauma response

i do not think endogenics are faking. i do not support fakeclaiming under any circumstances. it's okay if you dont remember your trauma, especially with a disorder that exists to make you forget it. its okay if you arent ready to face the fact that what you've gone through really was that bad, thats a really hard and painful thing to do, and it can even be a dangerous realisation if you are still in that environment.

have you ever researched the origins of the endogenic movement? i have. it's heavily steeped in anti-psychiatry. and i dont mean recognising that the psychiatric field can be harmful and desperately needs changing, but the ableist ideas that DID was not real and should be removed from the dsm, that pwDID do not need and should not seek therapy, that trigger warnings were unnecessary, etc. there was an attempt on boycotting DID. there were efforts that succeeded to replace and erase DID terms and replace them with endogenic ones because they felt like ours was too tainted by psychiatry. there was an organisation called pavilion that did things like lurk in DID spaces to find vulnerable looking systems to convert to their cause, leave physical anti-DID brochures into DID/OSDD books, mailing hundreds of said brochures to dissociative specialists, and editing the DID wikipedia page (list non-exhaustive). this is getting long, but i'll direct you here as a starting place if you want to look into it more.

the endogenic movement has done incredible lasting damage to DID spaces, and continues to do so today. and having been there, it's really hard to pull yourself out of that mindset, and i'm very proud of every system who manages it.