#not at the same time that is illegal! not at the same time!! (❁´▽`❁)*��ﾟ*

[poorrichardjr]

Look, I want to believe the next four years, no matter how bad will just end in four years. As if the country will continue as it always has, no matter who is in control. I really want to believe that.

But, there is no way you elect an authoritarian fascist with as much backing as he has from the right-wing theocratic nutjobs and just see him walk away in four years. They are already telling people they are going to change the laws so they can elect Trump a third and fourth time, or just take the case to the solidly right-wing supreme court and argue that it is illegal to limit terms of presidents. You know what, as much as it takes to get an amendment through, why do you think the republicans in power won't decide they can do what they want despite the Constitution? They are already planning massive changes to how the government works including eliminating positions that are currently staffed by intelligent and seasoned individuals for political lapdogs.

That same mentality will trickle down to the way the House and Senate work. Once you start gutting one branch of government to work more like a tyranny, there is no reason to stop there, especially if the guy in charge is telling them they have to. The republicans are spineless little weasels, and if they believe they can get away with something so bold, they are absolutely going to do it.

We are not going to just have four bad years. Unless something drastic happens, we have just waved goodbye to the system we have lived under for nearly 250 years. I suggest people read project 2025, and then tell me how they plan to get away with it without breaking the government. They know it and wrote it down as to how they are going to break the government.

I don't say these things to be a downer or a doomsayer. I know what they are planning isn't going to be easy, but they are absolutely moving ahead with the foundations laid out in project 2025, which tells me, they never plan to have another consequential election. I hope and pray you are right and I am wrong. Until I see the system hold up against the coming assault, I will continue to believe we have willingly walked into the firing squad.

If it makes any of you feel better, Donald Trump will have an uphill battle to change the constitution. He will need:

-2/3 of Senators (67)

-2/3 of the House of Representatives (290)

-3/4 of the states (38)

In 2026, 33 senate seats will be up for grabs, and we’ll be able to vote for people who are against Trump and his ideals.

Breathe and remain hopeful because it’s not over. We can still fight and make Trump’s last four years hell.

[shalotttower]

Will-o'-the-wisp

Title: Will-o'-the-wisp

Fandom: Hunter x Hunter

Characters: Chrollo Lucilfer x Reader (female)

Summary: Reader encouters fae!Chrollo and breaks some rules along the way.

Word count: 1700+

Notes: yandere!Chrollo, fae!Chrollo, abduction, manipulation, AU, modern setting with fae, Chrollo is charming af and a bit creepy as usual, Reader is doomed long before they know it and slightly depressed

You walk home the same way every day, like many people do. There's comfort in routines. Comfort and security which you crave. The familiar routes, the repetitive programs on TV and the books you've read a million times. You like to know what happens next and hate surprises.

The fourteen-year-old you wouldn't approve.

Maybe even express a little pity, because she always thought you two were destined for an adventure, like in fantasy books you used to devour one after another. Every free second was spent reading or dreaming, but life went on and adventures didn't happen. The girl grew older, a lot more careful and a lot less hopeful.

When you finish work, it's usually around six. Your adult self is practical and prefers to save money on the bus, besides, every other time you take it, you end up having to stand, squeezed between people. It's not worth the frustration; a fifteen minute walk isn't that long and the crime rate in the area is low.

There's a small grove nearby that nobody has bothered to turn into a park. The residents made their own paths in time, put a few signs so the joggers wouldn't get lost, but that's it. Once or twice a month you stroll through there, picking up trash left on the side. People make you want to move to the woods altogether sometimes.

That's how the day starts or ends — with crossing a bridge which connects the grove to your neighbourhood.

And this is where you see him for the first time.

The man looks so out of place among the rustic wooden railings and rushing water below. Nobody wears this kind of clothes here. Expensive and elegant, something that blends well in a big city. They don't stare at passersby like he does either. You hate when people do that ─ block already narrow spaces by just stopping midway. Or groups who spread across the entire sidewalk.

"Excuse me," you say politely. Polite is good. Polite can be used as a shield and always makes you look better than you are. "I need to pass."

He smiles, then moves aside. "Of course."

His face is exactly what you imagine when thinking of pleasant: beautiful grey eyes with long lashes, pointed chin and a strange mix of delicate and sharp edges.

"Thank you."

The smile widens. "You're welcome."

---

It's time to accept that you've grown into an average person with a simple desire to live in comfort. Dreaming isn't your strength anymore, the last book you picked up was several years ago. Movies bore you fifteen minutes in, even if everybody else praises them; the idea of a relationship seems exhausting.

You do enjoy gardening.

Growing tomatoes is a far cry from distant fictional lands, but they taste nice with a pinch of salt.

The condo you live in doesn't have enough space and light, so you chose a small patch of ground in the grove to start a garden. A few tomato plants and some herbs like chives and basil. It might be illegal, yet nobody has come to yell at you. Most people don't pay attention to what's happening here, as long as you don't damage the trees or leave trash.

You water and prune, weed, add fertilizer if needed. There're some flowers too; mother told you that marigolds scare pests away from veggies and keep the soil healthy. They're pretty, little orange spots.

---

You find a crystal at you patch. Azure would be too bland to describe its color ─ maybe more like a mix of cerulean and moon stone. It's round in shape, polished so nicely that the outlines of your face are reflected in the surface. Did a magpie bring it? Or a kid? The thought of someone poking around your garden makes you frown. You hope they didn't step on your basil.

The stone is heavy and cool. You turn it around, entranced, before stuffing it into the pocket of your jeans. Maybe you can ask the neighbours' kids about it later.

"Would you look at that," you mutter and bend to inspect a tomato plant. Two green fruit, each no bigger than your knuckle, hang there, sprouted over the weekend. "Hello, my pretties."

---

You lie in bed, staring at the ceiling. It's past 1 AM, you should sleep; instead, you keep twisting the stone in the moonlight.

You asked kids from around here, but nobody claimed it.

Maybe it's a lucky charm, you've had a wonderful day. Got a call from your cousin in the morning, she has't contacted you in a long while and it was nice to catch up. After lunch, the resource manager praised your work, then an elderly lady from the store complimented your cardigan.

At a certain angle, the stone seems almost glowing. A summer night sky condensed into a tiny orb. Your fingers trace its smooth surface without much thought until eventually it drops onto the pillow by your side.

You don't notice when exactly you fall asleep.

It's the strangest dream you've ever seen.

Gone is the condo building with its stuffy kitchenette and old pipes that constantly rumble. Instead, you feel damp grass underneath your feet. Wind brushes through the hem of your nightdress, carrying the scents of rain and moss. So many shades of black and raven blue swirl together that you barely recognize a signpost nearby. It's the grove, but you've never seen it like this, as dark as it can be only at night.

It's uncomfortable to stand barefoot, with a chill creeping up your legs.

After a while your fingers touch the rough bark of a nearby tree to get a sense of direction, and you start walking, because there isn't anything else to do.

There's the bridge, you think. If you just get to the bridge, the rest will be simple.

You're walking there, or that's what you think when a small ball of light appears right before your nose.

Fireflies don't glow blue. It doesn't falter, doesn't flicker, coming up closer then farther like a pendulum. There's something uncanny and fragile about it. For a second you forget everything and stand mesmerized, until it starts moving.

Through the trees, past the branches, onwards.

It's more instinctual than anything ─ you don't want to be left here alone again, so you follow. Light is good, darkness isn't. The ground becomes more uneven as you go, the grass changes to moss, but you can barely register anything at this point apart from that lonely glow. It halts at times as if making sure you're keeping up.

Is that a clearing ahead? Your eyes hurt from trying to focus.

The blue dot continues to float, never speeding up, never falling behind.

Then it disappears.

No. Not disappears ─ settles on the tip of a pale finger.

There's your tomato patch, your plants, the empty box that you forgot to take back to the condo.

But it's impossible.

Your garden should be not very far from the border, yet it feels like you've walked through half of the grove by now.

Why is he here?

"It took you a while," he says, the stranger from the bridge whose eyes made you pause before you caught yourself. "I was waiting, my dear."

Maybe you shouldn't ask. Maybe the wisest thing would be to turn around and run. You step back and trip on a root which somehow snuck between the moss. He catches your hand before you fall and doesn't let go. Instead his thumb caresses your skin in leisurely strokes.

There's a faint scent of lilies coming from him, and something else. Something heavy, equally sweet that lingers on the edge of cloying and enticing.

Smells aren't supposed to be so strong in dreams.

"I need to go."

"Where?"

This simple question asked in an equally plain tone makes you falter. What does he mean 'where'?

"Home," you say softly and try to free your hand again without success. The man leans in close enough that you can see his face, illuminated by that blue light.

"And where is home?"

"I-" you swallow. "I have to go."

He releases you with surprising ease; you don't waste any time rushing towards the path. The long walk has exhausted you, and the lack of light makes it difficult to tell which turns to take. You stumble multiple times. The hem of your nightdress catches a few twigs. You sprint past the trees, past the low bushes along the familiar trail, and it's there, suddenly in front of you: the wooden bridge.

Out of breath, you grab the railing. And then open your eyes on the same side where you started.

How?

Again and again, you dash across it, yet every time there's a single step left to cross over the stream, the view shifts. Your feet land at the beginning of the bridge. On the ninth time when it's impossible to run any longer, you press your forehead to the railing. Every breath feels short and raspy.

"That's enough, dear."

"What is this?" You grip the planks with trembling hands. "I don't understand. Why can't I-"

A coat falls over your shoulders; you clutch at it mindlessly, because it's warm and you're shaking all over.

"You thanked me. Claimed my land, charmingly audacious of you. Such care and love, right under my nose."

There's no malice in his voice. Gently, finger by finger, he uncurls the tight grip of your hand. The stone is there, cerulean blue like summer sky condensed into a tiny orb.

"Took my gift and kept it close to your heart."

It takes some effort but eventually you manage to speak. "I didn't," you whisper urgently, despite the shiny proof in your palm. "I didn't know! Take it back."

"I'm afraid it's too late for that."

"I didn't know!"

He lifts you in his arms when your knees give out and you sink to the ground, still gripping that damned stone. His coat carries the same distinct scent of lilies and heavy sweetness. The sceneries you dreamed of when younger pop in your head, like old postcards covered with dust, of mystical beings hidden from human eye, fantastical places no one has seen, grand adventures where heroes defy impossible odds and come out victorious.

Those were tales for the brave and imaginative. You're neither.

"It doesn't matter. The land claims you," he says. "And so do I."

[olderthannetfic]

Im neither a proshipper nor an anti at this current stage in life, but at one point i was an anti i guess? And I hate it say it, but looking back, I understand why. I don't think I actually gave a fuck about Harmful Fanfic or whatever, it was just a substitute for therapy that i couldn't get at the time (because "literally neurodivergent and a minor" or whatever, but like...actually literally neurodivergent and a minor LOL).

As weird as it sounds like, no one cared about my ACTUAL PAIN, and that made me feel EVEN MORE PAIN, so i took it out on ppl who shipped "abuse", or whatever.

It's so stupid now, as an adult who is mentally better than I was then, but as ridiculous as it was, seeing someone ship an "abusive" ship or a "queer erasing ship" (like a canonically gay character with someone of the other binary gender)...it felt eerily similar to the actual abuse I was facing and the stress that everyone was putting on me to find a boyfriend or ask why my (closeted lesbian) self didn't like any boys.

But it was so much easier to keyboard warrior about how people who ship Bad things are Bad people, than it was to fix any problems in my actual life because...well, the actual problems in my life COULDN'T be fixed. That isn't a learned helplessness thing, there was genuinely nothing I could've done. So pissing off Shippers was, like, a vessel for that, and it *felt* like I was getting to lash out at the same people who were ACTUALLY hurting me, even though that obviously is not the case. Funny thing is, it wasn't actual fandom discourse that made me switch sides, it was getting to learn more about youth liberation movements and stuff, because it was then that I recognized the actual structures that were making me hurt.

I think one silver lining is it's made me more compassionate an adult. While I don't have any defense for the antis who do actual horrendous stuff like doxxing or sending death/rape threats, etc, I do have a lot of defense for the ones who were like me and would just make posts talking about how Wrong it is to ship certain things. I know that not all antis are in the same place that I was once was, and some are just genuinely immature brats, but it's like. . . I get it, you know?

The cycle of abuse/bullying is weird and it's not often a 1:1 "I had an abusive parent so now i'll be an abusive parent", sometimes it's the chronically online stuff like I did. It's also why I'm careful-careful to not engage and to just block or, even try to have a mature discussion if I can, and if the person I'm talking to is just "a little bit annoying" rather than "actual bully doing/sending illegal stuff". A lot of them just want to be heard, I think, and it really makes me sad that this is the way they choose to be heard...but also i get it, because i was that.

--

Yup. We often discuss anti tendencies in this framework.

People want control over their environment when they have none. They want the world to make sense and for there to be simple rules they can follow to Never Mess Up. This is a very common reaction to trauma and also typical of brains that like order and neat boxes and a world full of justice and logic.

The trouble is that a critical mass of "I'm just pointing this out" type posts does tend to make all the other teens with an issue around moral scrupulosity implode. (And let's be real, plenty of the antis themselves are secretly into dark content and are trying to pray the gay kink away.)

I have some sympathy, but I'm still going to tell people they're sealioning when they are and tell them they're flat out wrong about how fantasies work, not sugar coat it because they're probably a delicate teen. There's no need to be excessively mean or treat people as irredeemable, but I also don't like how we talk endlessly about compassion for teen antis and not for teens targeted by antis. It's similar to how there are all those complaints like "Hey, I work hard to manage my mental illness, but all the support seems to go to people who are letting their issues rampage..."

[ingridgh0st]

I'm so curious about what would be the dynamic between Ivan and Luka if they ever had met in canon.

These two are parallels but at the same time are extremely different. They came from opposite up bringing, Ivan was picked up from the slums and bought at an illegal auction while Luka was a tube baby created for the sole purpose to be the best contestant in alnst, as kids they were both quiet and reserved but they were also considered really obidient by the aliens and were investments for both their owenrs and growing up they both got through life by compling with the the world they lived in. A thing they differ however is in how they act upon their feeling for the subjects of their affection. Ivan, even though he wants to be aknowledged by Till and is convinced that he doesn't care about him, wants to see him free, proof of that is the meteor shower scene and the numerous times he unlocked Till's collar. Luka on the other hand is really possessive about Hyuna to the point of claiming tha her life is his and it's implied for the little we know about their dynamic that he wants her.

So I think it would be cool seeing two characters that came from opposite places but that have the same behavior in regards to alnst, yearning for someone that's a symbol of rebellion, so kinda their opposite, but acting in totally different ways when it comes to them

[trekbec82]

The thing that really pisses me off about locking illegal immigrants desperate people arriving by boat without the correct paperwork completed in detention and deporting them instead of saying "damn you've been through some shit, welcome" and helping them to become Aussies, is that it's so needlessly cruel.

My sister's best friend of over 30 years was born here to Vietnamese refugees who arrived in the early 80s. Quite a few of my classmates at school were similar stories. One of them was a horrible bully who I hope matured into a kinder person than he was in his teens, but most of them were genuinely lovely people. Their parents got jobs and did their best for their kids, and made themselves useful members of society.

I see no reason why desperate people shouldn't be allowed to do the same now as they did in the 80s. Sure, there's a cost of living crisis, and housing affordability is at an all-time low, and things are hard for a lot of Aussies. But our government could spend less (as in zero) on nuclear submarines and corporate bailouts, properly tax the wealthy and big corporations, and support both the people already here, and those arriving in desperation. They could. They just don't want to.

[maddhatterreviews]

I think the funniest thing about Arcane is that it's this serious steampunk high fantasy story with deep socio-political themes about classism, oppression, and the cost of revolution. As well as where the limits of technology and scientific expansion should be. All centering around various political machinations and a violent family drama that spans two generation and spills out into all out gang warfare.

But because he's a central figure in the lore of Piltover and Hextech in League of Legends, one of the most important characters in the story is named Heimerdinger. And he looks like this:

Like, Jayce gets arrested for performing illegal, potentially danger experimentations after a group of street kids accidentally caused an explosion...and then this little fuzzy gremlin creature walks in and Jayce is just like "Professor Heimerdinger, let me explain..." Like the introduction of this character doesn't HARD clash with the tone and setting of the show until that moment.

But the show also never treats Heimerdinger like he doesn't fit into the setting. The only time Heimerdinger ever feels out of place is when he goes down to the undercity; but for the same reason Caitlyn felt out of place, or any other member of Piltover's upper class would. Not because he's two feet tall and fuzzy.

[anjelicawrites]

Anon who sent the request for modern!dark!Aegon, obsessed with reader. Tumblr ate it! That's not stopping me from answering!!!

Aegon knows everything about you: the name of your first pet (Mr. Whiskers), how much watching cute animal TikToks makes you cry, your favorite way to make risotto (saffron with a dash of white wine). He knows you have been hoarding books you don't have time to read, and that you're trying to learn how to crochet in your spare time.

Warnings: DDDNE, stalking, disfigured Aegon, dark Aegon, obsession, non con fantasies (from Aegon to reader), masturbation, use of toys, talk of drug rape usage, voyeurism, talk of kidnapping, talk of reader becoming a basement wife, talk of a previous car accident, talk of drugs and alcohol abuse, talk of infidelity, Aegon enters reader's home to spy on them.

Read at your own risks. Be responsible for the fiction you consume!

NSFW and 18+ only please.

He knows all about the way you sound when you're pleasuring yourself, those high sobs, almost as if you're in pain, when you keep the toy against your clit, forcing another orgasm out of your body. He's learnt to know which one of the toys you're going to use, depending on the kind of porn you pick; he refuses to masturbate if he can't come with you, watching your lovely face contort with the pleasure you force upon yourself, through the screen of his laptop.

Maybe, just maybe, he could try to meet you the normal way, perhaps strike up a conversation in the elevator, or when you both are checking the mail, down in the lobby. Then he looks at himself in the mirror, the scars on the left side of his face and torso, those that plastic surgery couldn't cover, the partially missing hair and his limp: he's not the kind of man anyone would ever desire to date, not after his car accident at Rook's Rest.

If only that night he hadn't driven drunk, if only he had listened to his brother then, perhaps, you'd entertain the idea of dating him. In this parallel universe, so dear to his heart, he's still handsome and healthy, he would sweep you off your feet and stop using drugs, only for you. This other Aegon would be faithful to you, and he would never drive while drunk: he'd be your perfect lover, your best partner.

He'd be able to show you that he's the half of your apple, the piece missing from your soul, because you're the one he needs from his.

It's almost a joke the surgeons managed to save his dick and balls, only for him not to be able to use them anymore.

So, no, he can't try to date you the normal way, he decides after having stumbled upon you the second time. He can't talk to you, nor he can even imagine to ask you out for a drink: that's why he starts learning all he can about you, using every means possible, unconcerned with the money he spends, or the illegality of it.

He fully knows that putting cameras in every corner of your apartment it's wrong, so it's cloning your phone so that he can check on your messages, apps and phone calls. So is doing the same to every piece of electronics you own.

He doesn't care because he needs you in his life, and if he can't have you the usual way, he'd be happy to be with you like this.

Only, he didn't realize that Want is an ever famished demon that, day by day, needs you more and can't be satisfied this way any longer.

So he takes risks: stumbles upon you on purpose in the lobby and around King's Landing, he slips into your apartment when you're out, to touch and pretend to live among your things. Still, Want needs more, so he enters your place at night, when you're asleep, to watch you as you lay in bed and, when he dares, to slip next to you and pretend you two are sleeping together.

It's not enough, not anymore. He needs to know what your skin feels like under his fingers, how sweet your cunt is after he's fucked you with his tongue into multiple orgasms or how tight your hole will clench around his cock.

For days he has played with the idea of putting something in your food, to make sure you would not remember him fucking you for the whole night, his cock milked and milked by your hungry cunt, his tongue licking you clean, his lips at your clit, constantly.

But he wants to know if he could make you sound the way you do with your toys, and he can't find an answer if you're asleep.

And Want desires more: a full life with you, whether you're happy with this decision, or not.

Looking for a quiet, little place, somewhere in the country, where no pesky neighbors will come and ask unwanted questions, is the logical response. So is buying a special wedding ring, the kind that can't be taken off, because it has little knives on the inside that will come out the second you try to remove it.

Planning your taking is easy, finding the right people who will help him, for the right price, is a piece of cake. Now he's only waiting for you to return home, hidden by the shadows the empty furniture cast in your apartment. He's taken the liberty to cancel your lease and to send all your belongings to the house you will share with him, where you will have all the time to read your books and learn your crochet. Where you will be his, body and soul, his lovely little wife he will fuck every single time he feels like to, and Want is ravenous inside of him.

So, hurry up, your new life is waiting for you!

[fish-are-fun]

Perirep Headcanons!

Irep was fucking terrified when he realized he'd begun having feelings deeper then hatred for his opposite, being the prince of anti fairies in all, being in love with a fairy after all was definitely something his father wouldn't like. For Peri he'd only realized his feeling weren't platonic till he and Irep actually kissed, he knew that dating a anti fairy was most likely stupid, dangerous, and very probably illegal

There first kiss may have been a messy angry make out session that start well they were mid fight

Irep has clawed feet so when he and Peri got to the point in there relationship where they were sleeping in the same bed he whore sock so he wouldn't accidentally cut Peri's legs. Peri just thought he was werid for the longest time till he noticed his feet once when showering

Peri is always kinda cold, he has no idea why but when he found out anti fairies naturally run warmer be was excited, but he was even happier when he found out Irep is warmer when he sleeps, now Peri tucks his feet under Irep

Irep secretly loves cheesy romance like slow dancing, walks on the beach, and cuddling by a fire, but he will never admit it. Well being the opposite Peri prefers more private dates like, watching movies at home, making dinner together, and playing games

Peri absolutely hates pickles, but Irep loves them so much, he sometimes eats them as a snack, so whenever Peri gets pickles put on something by accident he gives them to Irep and it makes him so happy

Wanda makes herself Cosmo and Peri all matching sweaters for the holidays, but when Peri told her him and Irep were dating and it got serious, she made one for him as a way of telling him he's a part of the family

Goldie insists she knew they liked eachother before they knew they liked eachother (And she probably right)

Peri used to get really jealous of Sammy when they were younger whenever he hung around Irep, and he just figured it was because he wanted to be involved and to join the fun, he only realized he was jealous when Sammy made a joke on there anniversary about how he was scared Peri was planning to killing him for a while with the death glace he give him all the time

Irep keeped a friendship bracelet Peri made and gave him when they were babys, he liked knowing that someone cared about him enough to give him a hand made gift. Peri found out once on accident when he dropped a box and it fell out, so he made new ones for them. Well Peri takes his to sleep Irep only ever takes it off to shower

Irep is a really good cook, well Peri has the power to burn water, so Irep makes Peri his favourite foods when he's had a bad day (mostly chocolate related)

I know these are long but I had fun making them!

[riality-check]

Viktor thinks his leg should go without saying. Everyone else seems to disagree.

He is a cripple, not deaf or blind. He is perfectly capable of hearing the whispers over the thud of his cane as he passes by, not so focused on walking that he cannot see the way their gazes track him as he shuffles down the Academy’s halls.

There are too many stairs in the Academy, he is finding. Every time he encounters another set, he grits his teeth, hefts his bag a little higher on his left shoulder, and climbs, despite the growing ache in his right hip and the inordinate weight of the tomes he carries.

There is only the work, he reminds himself.

The number of people does not shrink as he climbs up to the fourth floor. They eye him in a way he cannot easily describe. It is not… hate, that is in their eyes. It is not quite suspicion, though Viktor is sure it would be were it not for the too-loose, too-stiff, too-fine Academy uniform he is wearing. It was a courtesy of Professor Heimerdinger, who had sent it along with the books and a map of the Academy, annotated with Viktor’s class schedule.

Heimerdinger has worse handwriting than the “doctors” Viktor is well acquainted with in the Undercity. Hence the early-morning visit to his office, where he is the entertainment for the other early Academy students. The ones who are more assured of their belonging here, if he can judge by their jewelry and their shoes.

(He wears no jewelry, has never owned any, and he stapled the outsole of his right shoe back together this morning.)

The other students, congregated around classroom doorways in their impenetrable social groups, stare at him in the same way he used to look at strays back home. They were a good source of amusement, given the absence of human company that plagued his childhood. He liked those animals. He fed them when he could, pet them when he couldn’t, and learned early how to tell when one would bite.

He realizes, as he spots the plaque outside of Heimderdinger’s office, that these students stare at him like that. They smirk with bemusement or avoid his gaze altogether. They hide their remarks poorly behind their hands.

They regard Viktor as a stray. Something to pity. Something to be cautious of. Something to be nice to, if he can prove himself by rolling over enough times.

Viktor supposes he is a stray, with how Heimerdinger plucked him off the streets of the Undercity and gave him a new “home.” What, does he now need a bell around his neck? Perform tricks?

He breathes and takes a moment to unclench his right hand from around his cane before it cramps too much to be useful. He resolves to do what he has done all his life: ignore the way they make him a spectacle, though they are worse up here, like they have never seen a cripple before.

Maybe topsiders have not. Viktor cannot recall seeing anyone like him so far.

He knocks on the office door before his brain can take him too far down that path. Unproductive.

Heimerdinger answers promptly. It is odd for Viktor, at his height, to have a superior he must look down at. He supposes it is something else he must get used to.

“Viktor,” the professor says, surprised, though he does let him in. “It’s early. Very early, my boy. Classes don’t begin for another half an hour.”

Viktor stands in front of the massive, dark wood desk and waits for Heimerdinger to sit back in his chair before he says, “Your map is illegible, and there are too many stairs.”

Undercity habits beget speaking quickly and directly; in an environment in which nothing is wasted, words are no exception. Topsiders, however, can afford waste.

“Professor,” Viktor tacks on in a too-late attempt to adhere to topside standards of respectability.

Heimerdinger, thankfully, chuckles. “Terribly sorry. You’d think that after enough decades of scribbling on blackboards, I could use a pen well enough.”

Well, no. After seeing this map, Viktor began to fear for this man’s students, himself included. Professor Heimerdinger teaches his introductory engineering course.

He draws up a new map, humming as he works. With nothing else to occupy himself, Viktor leans his cane against the desk, placing both hands on top of the furniture to take some weight off his hip, and surveys the office.

A bookshelf, matching the dark wood of the desk, stands along the far wall. Its shelves are bowed under the weight of the tomes it contains. Most of the spines are in languages he can read, some are not, and his fingers twitch toward them all the same. He stands on a plush, patterned rug - that explains the instability of his cane, and of his leg, he should rest a little more weight on this immovable desk - that would be better used as a blanket down below. Trinkets and baubles clutter the desk, the biggest of which is a globe. It spins of its own accord, illuminated by… something.

Viktor wants to take it apart. See how it works.

He takes his weight off the desk to kill that temptation and barely muffles a hiss at the flare of pain that shoots up his right leg from ankle to hip. He stretches his right hand surreptitiously behind his back, preparing to grab his cane once again.

This office looks exactly as he had expected it to from his one previous meeting with Professor Heimerdinger. It is practical… by topside standards; it is as large as his kitchen and bedroom back home put together, and any one of the items on the desk could pay three months’ rent, though that is… “low-balling” it, as he has heard some people say.

“Here you are,” Heimerdinger says, handing him the new, blessedly legible map.

Viktor takes it and scans it quickly. His first course is on this floor, thank goodness, but the rest…

“Professor, these are,” he pauses, trying to think of how to phrase his concern. He cannot seem ungrateful, not when Heimerdinger has already helped him and when he has him later for class, and he cannot be annoying, not when he was already ignored when he brought up the stairs the first time. 

But his leg screams at him, and to prevent the pain from giving him a sympathetic headache, as sometimes happens, he grabs his cane. To hell with the hand cramps.

“Is there any way to have all my classes on the first floor?” he finally says.

Heimerdinger glances at his cane, and his furry eyebrows raise. This is not the first time he has seen it, but Viktor thinks it is the first time the professor remembered it was there, or that it meant something besides… well, he does not know. A fashion statement, maybe?

Perhaps topsiders haven’t seen a cripple before. They would see plenty if they ever went down.

“We can’t move classes this late, I’m afraid,” Heimerdinger says sympathetically.

Viktor hears the unspoken “but if you had asked earlier” and bites his tongue against excuses.

“I’m sorry.”

“It’s fine. I will manage.” And Viktor will, because Undercity habits mean that opportunities are not wasted either. A little pain is worth it. It will be no more difficult than anything he has already done.

Heimerdinger hops down from behind his desk and totters toward the door. As he passes Viktor, he pauses and makes an aborted movement to reach out to him before correcting course.

At least he stopped himself, but that was probably only for practical reasons. Unless Heimerdinger wished to replace his cane altogether - and what a shoddy replacement his bouncing steps would be for solid wood - there is nothing he can do.

And Viktor can walk on his own just fine. It is why he has the cane in the first place.

He grips the map a little tighter, hefts his bag onto his shoulder, and turns toward the door.

He makes it one step (on his injured leg, cane in his right hand) before Heimerdinger asks, “Viktor, which one of your legs is the bad one?”

He grits his teeth. There is no moral attribution to his body. It is neither good nor bad. It just has parts that work and parts that do not. He has one leg that works and one that does not. If he could chastise it into functioning by calling it “bad,” it would have been fixed when he was a child. But that is not how it works, and it is wasted energy.

“My right leg, Professor,” he says because he always wishes that any and all conversations about his leg be redirected to important matters as soon as possible.

Heimerdinger hums. “You’re using your cane incorrectly. You should hold it in your left hand, not your right.”

He mimes the motion, and Viktor tries not to feel… insulted? Ashamed? Coddled? Belittled? He cannot quite put a finger on it.

But there is no time for him to articulate it. Heimerdinger checks his pocket watch, squeaks, and runs faster than Viktor estimated his legs could carry him, leaving him alone in the threshold of the hallway.

He tries Heimerdinger’s suggestion, out of curiosity. The class is on this floor, and he has more than enough time to get there.

When he was a boy, no one taught him how to use a cane. He did what felt natural and what let him move the fastest. It was awkward, sure, but anything that caused him less pain was deemed a success.

It is awkward now, with the cane in his left hand. Slower as he walks down the hallway, because it is new. But it is more stable, he finds. A little less painful, as the pain stays localized to his ankle and knee, rather than his hip.

He could get used to it rather quickly, once he stops feeling so stupid about not knowing.

As he gets to his first class - it is in a room bigger than most big Undercity shops - the thump of his cane and his slow pace prompt more students and even his professor to stare at him. Viktor takes the closest open seat and is briefly, ludicrously, tempted to bark at them.

If they are going to treat him like a stray animal, should he not act like one?

No. He should not. Nothing is wasted, least of all this opportunity. He ducks his head down and opens a book on subjects he knows, matters he gets right, instead of wrong, like how to use his own cane, apparently.

Viktor thought he knew the comprehensive list of all his nonworking parts: the leg, of course, but also the childhood rickets, his lungs, his spine, the calcium deficiency that left his teeth stained slightly more yellow than topsiders’, whatever made him bendier than the average person, and not always in a good way.

Evidently, topside is intent on adding more to that list. Like the cane.

It does not matter. When he is the only one in the lecture hall who can answer the professor’s question - a leading one that she said they will know by the end of the semester - as a largely self-taught trencher, he relaxes. He even smiles.

There is only the work.

[nerdygaymormon]

Book Club conversation

I'm part of a small book club that gets together once per quarter. It's mostly LDS men, and the one requirement is these need to be manly books. Trust me, I rolled my eyes at the idea "manly" books.

We've met 4 times, the first book was about an athletic team, one was about World War II, and one was a story of pirates. The book we discussed yesterday was "Them: Why We Hate Each Other--and How to Heal" by Ben Sasse.

It was generally good, it had some interesting ideas. Basically it's a former senator writing about the breakdown of community in the United States, the reasons for it, and working to come back together.

At the end of the night, some of the participants told me I gave them a different viewpoint to consider.

The first was about social media, which Ben Sasse generally pans as making us feel like we're connected but actually these are very shallow interactions. Plus, social media generally isn't good for mental health as we compare ourselves to others who are posting about the best parts of their life, and it also gives us metrics like number of followers, likes, comments, and so on, that we can use to determine how popular we are compared to others. We should log out of social media and instead spend time with the small pool of people around us in order to build deeper relationships

I commented that social media was an important source of connection for me as a single individual during the COVID lockdown and for the 9 months I was homebound by a health issue. While there are studies showing there are negative mental-health effects for teenagers, studies also show the reverse for LGBTQ teens. For them, social media is a way to find other queer people who understand their experience and helps them build hope in their future, they don't feel so isolated. Plus, I have several good friends who I met via social media, they're all LGBTQ+, which underlines the point about the benefit of social media for queer people.

The second viewpoint was about politics and elections. Given we were discussing a book by a former Republican senator, and the presidential race ended just over a week ago, politics and elections came up. One man said that during his life he has rarely voted. He served in the military and knew he would continue serving no matter who won the White House. America is mostly the same no matter who wins.

I replied that I experience politics and elections differently from him and the others in the room. While they feel secure in their "certain unalienable rights" as the Constitution calls them, LGBTQ people are regular discussed and voted on and it is very uncomfortable. The "rights" that they enjoy are still fairly new for me. It was only four years ago that it became illegal to fire someone simply for finding out they're gay or trans. It's been less than 10 years since my friends could get married. Elections can feel scary because the results carry consequences for LGBTQ people.

Being present, sharing our thoughts and feelings, sharing our stories, that is how hearts and minds get changed.

[heterochromicnachos]

(hi yeah im feeling better anyway tfp time)

So, like, yeah, ratchet overworks, but there's a lot of implications he’s just not taking care of himself at all.

Optimus is SIGNIFICANTLY older than ratchet, as he’s stated to be one of the first cybertronians to be born from the well of allsparks in the covenant of primus. (and a reincarnation of one of the original thirteen, actually!) If optimus is functioning perfectly fine at his age with no slowdowns or issues, then why is ratchet not the same?

Most likely answer? He’s not taking care of himself. Before the steroid/illegal drug effects of the incomplete synth-en kicked in, ratchet was functioning normally for the first time in who knows How long. He was having no issues, he was lively and excited. He was likely grouchy and pissy due to a lack of nutrition and energy, and this was the first time in a long time where he’d successfully re-energized himself.

TLDR: someone get ratchet to take care of himself. He’s as bad as I am and my mother has to constantly pester me to eat breakfast.

Sometimes he needs a reminder that enough of any work will burn you out just as much as any dangerous patrol or enemy encounter would.

I just really wanted to draw Optimus huge hand on Ratchet's shoulder...

[th3-c0ll3ct3r]

Okay I want to hear your thoughts on sapnap and mcc bc oh boy that sounds interesting

No because, genuinely there are old clips of people laughing when they bring him up because they know he's popular but they don't want to see anything bad about him. Like you can barely tell it's chuckle.

As you may know originally teams were categorised based on 2 factors. Vibes. And if they could go a long period of time without swearing or not.

In the Skizz and Imp podcast, Scott laments about how it was so hard to categorize people who could not go an extended period of time with swearing in their stream and with people who could not stop swearing.

And there is more people who are PG/ can go a long time without swearing, then non-pg people, the podcast was recorded roughly a bit before the sapnap drama with MCC but it was still bubbling.

I need you to go back and watch that podcast because even if they were clear examples you can still sense who he's talking about, because genuinely sapnap would swear so much but even non-pg people wanted to avoid playing with him. If you go back to watches old MCC wins you can hear the nervous chuckles of people when he begin to swear.

Additionally one time they were trying out a new system on MCC and a lot of people were aware of that and it came out that the math was wrong and two teams should have got first place instead of just one because of the math, and One team was willing to just relent a bit and at the end of the day walk away. But Sapnap on his own had caused such a fuss that they still had to give him a coin and had to let him compete in DodgeBolt, and how to get a crown for him post his picture saying that he won along with his team. I cannot describe to you the absolute tantrum that man went on. Over a coin. He was so disrespectful that he didn't come back for a couple mccs after.

There is a genuine reason why a collective group of people do not want him to compete in MCC.

And you're probably wondering why did he compete in the MCC recently? Because before the main deal of him being signed to kick.com he had already signed the application and had been accepted to do MCC. The same week he came out and said that he was joining kick.com and that a lot of it young viewers should join kick.com

People with begging Scott to remove him, but kick.com just gave that man 20 million and he would definitely find a suitable lawyer to take his case because he earns a substantial amount of money from MCC.

But why would he Sue over MCC? I have a longer post going through this, but I will explain it here to.

Scott couldn't say no. For alot of reasons but here are 2 off the top of my lil head

1. Him not allowing sapnap to compete in MCC after already accepting his application is illegal form of discrimination regarding someone's work. Because he would be discriminating against how he does his work and what he uses to do his work, ( a more clearer example of this would be for someone to reject another person's application because they found out that they were Binman/wasteman, explaining the other people thought it was filthy). In reality

Scott had no basis to withdraw his application and to withdraw his place because most arguments (which are true), had came from social media and it could be argued that the people on social media influence Scott to make that decision and therefore sapnap could have lost a large portion of revenue as a self-employed person that MCC and Scott would have had to repay him based on statistics.

Again I have a longer post going through the law on this but I fact checked everything, and he would genuinely have a legal basis to sue them for discrimination.

And Scott had to take all the stray bullets for that. Because in the UK you have to consent to a formal document being shared with someone else. And even though this is an application for a game it's still an application. So he couldn't share the content of the application because it's illegal here.

Also in the podcast Scott mentions him having a waiting list and then bring this up the applications and you brings up a rough idea of when they application started, and you could actually guess when the applications started From when sapnap started turning up less frequently. Meaning that he was one of the many reasons why the application was made in the first place.

2. Publicity. Sapnap brought a lot of viewers to can watch MCC and it's argued that if Dream and George were there but Sapnap was not there, the pair would not participate regardless of what team they were on because their friends. (BBH actually brings up how close their friendship is when he was defending dream against one of his many allegations and you can tell how close the friend group is. An in Sapnap's Defense of dream he literally goes on about how close they are and in the deleted vod he said wherever he goes I go).

But getting back on track, at the time without the large audience that MCC had it would have not been as sustainable as it is today. They definitely contributed to the success in the early days along with others as it will seen as a new form of Minecraft Monday.

He also raged pretty hard when in MCC 14 Scott's team won after giving hints to his teamate, to win ace race. To which half of his team didn't even finish. And they actually placed lower than top 3 in that event. Scott goes on to say about how he and other had tested it, they were giving instructions and Sapnap did actually finish.

But he was so mad that Scott team had won at a game that EVERYONE was objectively bad at that thiers a 15 minutes video of him screaming about it in Youtube.

Scott later went on to say him and many others who did finish also tested the map, and he always give hints to his team, AND SAPNAP HAD WON AN EVENT WITH SCOTT'S HELP AND USING SCOTT'S HINTS. It's only when he didn't win he had a problem with it.

Sapnap cried when he didn't win, and blame everyone about it yet shot up his ego when he did.

And admittedly he did get better as time went on but dude needs a whole ass team fr-

Are realistically you couldn't call the two of them friends they were more, a friend of a friend. And even if Scott didn't like them objectively over people like them and that's why they were there.

Sapnap but did not come back after the kick.com incident and I doubt he will.

And on that notion a lot of streamers have younger audiences ranging from children to teenagers to young adults. While kick.com is a primarily adult site, not completely adults but you're gonna see some weird things. The majority of streamers who participate in MCC, obviously are going to be put into teams. And if you were put into a team with Sapnap, who was streaming on kick.com, you might think to yourself "wow he'd fun ill check him out!" then boom pedo in your Dms.

For many streamers involved in the event he was not ideal to keep around because realistically he was endangering of a people's audiences while pumping out publicity from his own.

It was not fair to other streamers that their young audiences could we expose to an objectively talented person streaming on one of the worst sites known, and he signed this deal back when kick.com has no moderation, so imagine all the convicted sex offenders, criminals and gambling on the site, then in an attempt to get a younger demographic onto the side it paid Sapnap using the money that they gained from gambling to effectively switch over ( because, and Tubbo did a stream on this and summarized it accurately, because he had a couple conversations with this CEO and for money. Not for the audience).

Meaning that everyone is immediate circle who wanted to continue to watch his content or learn who he was through major events like MCC would download the app and then over your targeted by a lot of older people.

And actually this was the basis that allowed Scott to never bring him back but Scott could not get rid of him for the MCC because it would be legally discrimination.

There are a bunch of things too that I could say about how at the start the only people he would team with would be mostly from the dream SMP and how that directly correlates with how people described him in person, ( trying to control and dominate people), and how people like Niki were too scared to say no at the time, but it be a bit late my dude

The takeaway from this is that he was MCC Problem Child and that Scott couldn't immediately kick him out due to discrimination despite reassurance that he changed his behavior only to immediately sign to kick.com. How he'd endangered both his young audiences and other if he actually stayed. How we used to scream and yell at every one of his mistakes to the point where people didn't want to compete with him. How he would target people who faulted him within the game. And even how he practiced the game so much to the point where they had to make new maps and that if he would lose it would genuinely be down to his team and not him as a player because he had practiced so much meaning that his team felt worse after they didn't win because they knew it was their fault instead of just being happy to play the game ( like you remember when they blew up parkour warrior and replaced it with a new map because of them)

He was just realistically a mess and I'm surprised they tolerated him so long, because the amount of money they have to drop on changing things because the Dream Team had paid someone to recreate some of the maps so that they could practice, and then other people started doing that in which they would memorize a certain game practice that game and then come out on top ( an example of this would be technoblade, who memorised all materials needed for BuildMart and they had to change it and he was basically told that he couldn't do that and he was actually sorry because he didn't know because other people like we're doing it. And again with Technoblade killing people in Bingo to which in the Stream he says he didn't know that you could kill people in Bingo and once people figured it out that would be the strategy until they changed it. Philza practicing ace race maps as he had someone build an almost identical copy of the original because other people were doing it. Wil and other, trying to perfect The Glitch block technique and that's one point someone had commissioned another person to remake the map to see where it was going wrong so that they could utilize the bug instead of playing the game). All these things have in common that they were all in the same server at one point and that the dream team had started this trend but all of them stop doing it when they were told to stop doing it but the Dream Team didn't to the point where even Sands of Time had to be changed, parkour warrior, sky battle, battle box, parkour tag and TGTTOS had to be changed, and they actually sparked the "maybe we should have different maps" trend

Because it was a poorly hidden secret that they'd paid people to re-create maps so that they could practice. (but Scott giving hints is cheating he says while paying someone to remake parkour tag so that they can get a perfect run)

[uwuyangeppie]

This is gonna be so random but like imagine gepard kidnapping you right and going on his whole speech and whatever just for reader to look him dead in his face and say “Well that ruins my plans” because they were planning on kidnapping HIM and doing the same to him😭 basically stalker x obsessed!reader

LMAOOOO,,, aww look at the cute little couple!! they’re both incredibly mentally ill and need to be locked up. therapy can’t save them.

this piece mentions pregnancy, so if you happen to have a male body type, just chalk it up to mpreg lmfao

if ruan mei can make those cute little cake cat things that speak, gepard landau can impregnate anyone he chooses.

anyway, let’s give gepard a controlled shock!

you decide that it’s best to be nice. after all, he is the captain of the guards, and you have been doing some fairly illegal things. if you’re aggressive, he might choose to investigate further.

cause sure, you’re tied up, but it’s not like there’s any other guards around. this could just be a test.

“-and your rat bastard employer who’s always looking at you in such a disgusting way, but of course i don’t have any proof, i just notice things, and no proof won’t get him any jail time and killing him, well- and- and anyway, this is all for your own good, okay? and mine! i’m stopping crime before it happens, so really, this is actually a crime prevention tactic, and not a kidnapping. i know that’s what it looks like. but it’s not. it’s not a kidnapping. it’s crime prevention.”

ahhh…

oh, wait. ugh.

“well, that ruins my plans.”

gepard blinks at you. “what?”

you bat your eyes at him. “are you sure you want to kidnap me?”

“it’s not a kidnapping-”

“you have to worry about food and water and stuff and you already have so much on your plate! just come live at my house forever and ever and ever~ i’ll feed you everything! anything you want! it’ll be a holiday you won’t need to put in leave for! sure, i won’t let you out of the house or anything, but you don’t need that! you can just stay with me! forever! i promise i won’t use the handcuffs i got my hands on- haha- the other day! we can snuggle together in my bed and i can be the little spoon and eventually… maybe… continue the family line…?”

gepard is looking at you, completely stunned.

interesting. cute!

you did mean everything you said, though.

he opens his mouth to say something, but then closes it.

“i think i’d look soooooo cute carrying your kids, don’t you?!”

the captain looks like he wants to say something, but doesn’t know how to. eventually, though, he breaks past his confusion-

“um, maybe i should reevaluate who i develop feelings for. self-reflect, and all.”

and with that, he leaves the room, closing the door behind him.

[floccinaucinihilipilificationa]

[hxhhasmysoul]

idk, it feels like there should be nuance here.

there is a difference between the subtitles saying something completely different and subtitles being kinda a summary that gives you the gist of what's being said.

i can get why there would be some regulations about the subtitles being actually misleading and giving a completely different message than what's being said.

but this:

character in a movie: buddy, i'm gonna tell you what i've got to do netflix subtitles: i'll say what i must do

idk why this is illegal in the usa, it feels completely insane to me as a linguist who has some idea how reading and reading comprehension works...

subtitles are not a transcript.

they are meant to be read alongside the playing film. they can't be too long because they can't hang on the screen for too long and there are limitations to how much a person can reasonably read and comprehend in that short amount of time. especially if the characters are speaking fast and the subtitles will quickly change to be synced with the speakers as best as possible.

i know that when you're streaming you can pause the video and read the text and then unpause. but you can't do it in the cinema or on tv. and not everyone wants to do that even on streaming, they want to enjoy the video at the pace it's supposed to have.

when i was translating foreign films and shows and timing subtitles, we had very strict character limits and time limits as to how many seconds the words can be on the screen. it was always a compromise between getting as much of the message across and being as faithful to what was being said as possible.

the example i cited above is a perfect example of that. the person doing the subtitles trimmed the fat. the gist is practically the same but the ease of reading the second one and grasping the message is incomparably greater. if this was part of a longer exchange and if the people were speaking fast, the condensing this is the kind thing to do.

and please no one bring up people who can't hear or have limited hearing. because of the history of ablelism most societies have, many (not all of course) such people can't read that well and for many if not most the written language is a foreign language compared to their native sign language, at least where i live. and from what i heard my shitty country isn't really an exception when it comes to this. so no, if such people want to enjoy the video that doesn't have sign language translation and just subtitles, shorter and simpler subtitles are actually more inclusive for them.

i'm not saying transcripts shouldn't be made available for everything, it might be beneficial even if they were available. but they serve a completely different purpose to subtitles.

netflix subtitles are great for when you want to read a caption with like 50% resemblance to what's being spoken

[xx-sketchy-xx]

Astronaut Wally!!

and a few doodles of Wally below

Oh and this is without the background cause I honestly like it more lol