#please please please do your own research before spreading information

[akapen011]

This is happening in South America too. Trump inspired the republican party to be founded here in Chile (in 2019) by a guy who's pretty much a nazi and who was a finalist in the last presidential election.

Not to say conservatives didn't exist here before, but they have gotten so much more vicious and bold after Trump.

They have adopted his talking points and ideas, parroting them to people who are too tired to fact check, and looking for someone to blame for their misery. And it's WORKING.

The guy I talked about who founded the Chilean republican party? He went to fucking CPAC (the Conservative Political Action Conference, for those who don't know). The Brazilian ex-president, Jair Bolsonaro, went to that conference too and gave a speech that's pretty much a Trump talking point copypasta, transphobia and all. Not only that, but the current Agentinian president, Javier Milei, went too.

And those are only the ones that I know of! I can speak only for Latin America since I live here, but the rise of conservatism is extremely evident and people everywhere are getting radicalized by them.

Please, I know these are terrible times, but if you think you can change someone you know's mind about going full conservative by explaining and showing evidence to them, then PLEASE try.

It's not always going to work, but there's many people who can still become allies. It's okay to be angry, and it's true that some people are too far into it, yes. But if you can change even one person's mind about this, you might be saving someone that person knows' life or even their own.

Being kind and patient can go a long way, I have done this for other people and it can work. It's hard work, but if no one does it then people are just going to continue to be radicalized to the far right, because they're not going to stop, and if there's no one to counter their misinformation and propaganda, it will just keep spreading.

And this is not the only way to help of course! Volunteer, donate, talk to friends and help them, build community, organize get-togethers with marginalized people around you to trade and get to know each other so you can help if needed.

If you can't do any of that? Learn about politics and post information in a way that's easily digestible by people who are too tired to do their own research, encourage them to get involved, research ways to help others and spread this information, it doesn't matter how many people see it, if you can help even one person you're already doing so much good to the world.

Push for change where you can, don't waste energy, don't waste water, recycle if you can. Even doing one of any of the things I wrote about helps more than you can imagine.

To OP, I'm sorry for hijacking your post, I'm just very worried and I want people to know these things.}

Keep fighting however you can, for your sake, and for the sake of the future, we can't let them win.

thats the thing thats missing from america-centric discussion of fascism: this shit is global. every country in “the west” is seeing the same rise of fascism in real time, all of it focused on murdering migrants. like giorgia meloni is campaigning to deport people to “migrant camps” in albania. last year the greek coast guard outright drowned a boat of 500 asylum seekers. and as that last post said im not dismissing the suffering of people within the US, i’m just saying its so supremely frustrating that every conversation is about the minutiae of american domestic policy and not the horrifying ultranationalist global trend scapegoating arabs and africans.

[earthly-ali3n]

trying to convey to people who don’t like to do research that they can’t just take what they hear online at face value is so frustrating. like my mom will send me this video of a guy talking about chemicals in our food affecting our biochemistry and drawing stuff in white boards and i’ll say “that’s really interesting. does he have any sources?” and my mom just is like “no, why?” and it’s just so shocking to see exactly how well misinformation is spread. my mom will bring this up in conversation with her friends and say “i heard this guy say—” and whether she fully believes it or not, she is still spreading information that she did no fact checking on. And I’ll tell her this, and she just doesn’t seem to understand the gravity of it all. It is so easy to lie to the general public and the average person just doesn’t care that much.

[82mitsu]

Previously translated pair names that had been posted to Twitter. However corrections had to be made (misinterpretations & an instance of mistranslation), so this is version 2.

Note: This is the only translated thing I will be posting, I am not off hiatus. I had been meaning to archive this before my hiatus, but I also had to fix some things, which is why there was a delay.

Please consult to this post only regarding pair name translations done by me (82mitsu), any other posts or reposts you might see of this chart is the older version. (Previous version has been deleted, but I'm unaware how far the information had spread.)

If any other corrections need to be made, feel free to contact me and I'll make them as soon as possible.

Below follows an extreme lengthy TL note breaking down some pair names, it's a lot of text, so be warned once you unfold the read more.

A lot of research went into these due to 18TRIPs tendency to mix up words, use Gen-Z slang that hasn’t been picked up by everyone yet (or limited to TikTok) and make up their own words (“Omotenashisto” -> “Hospitalister”). I used dictionaries, searched forum results, looked up how people use these words on social media, went TikTok digging, etc.

I tried my best to localize in a way that should make sense even without added context. I only explained the ones that I thought might needed some more back-up in a cultural sense or because it was a specific JPN thing. Thus, not everything has been explained. However, I hope things are clearer compared to the first version that was posted. For Renga & Yukikaze: For ぽゆぽゆ (poyupoyu) there is no definition or anything for this word, but from context clues and digging through how people used it, I deduced that it means something soft and squishy like a plushie or cheeks, so to say. For Renga & Liguang: かりそめの宿縁 (karisome no shukuen) is a Japanese saying about a fated connection of bond that only lasts for a brief moment, but leaves a deep impact on your life. For Renga & Raito: Party is mispelled in the katakana as “paachii” and not the usual “paatii”. Renga has a tendecy to say English words wrong. While “friends” is spelled the correct way, both words have been “mispelled” to drive the point home. For Renga & Kinari: なぁぜなぁぜ (naaze, naaze) is JPN Gen-Z slang from Tiktok. It’s a statement made as an act for complaining, with a bit of sarcasm and irony thrown in at times. Like, “I said I wanna diet but I ate a big meal anyway! なぁぜなぁぜ” or “I’m an idol but I get more anxious doing improv than performances! なぁぜなぁぜ”. Best way I can describe the usage in this context is Renga is throwing a bit of a self-aware tantrum as to why Kinari would correct him. (As mentioned earlier, he isn’t good at English). I guessed a close equivalent would be “nuh-uh”, since that is a dismissal of someone else’s opinion without actual good reason, even if the other person has a point. For Renga & Netaro: まんまん (manman) means “a lot” but I also believe it’s a reference to meatbuns (nikuman). For Kafka & Yodaka: Hanbei is Takenaka Shigeharu, a Japanese samurai from the Sengoku era. He was known for being Toyotomi Hideyoshi’s strategist. For Liguang & Yodaka: 闘牌伝 (touhaiden) is related to Mahjong stuff. 闘牌伝 seems to be an old timey Mahjong video game with RPG elements. Rekka is a fighting game term, and I will quote the website The Fighting Game Glossary by Infil on this: “A type of special move that has multiple stages, as long as you input more commands to continue the sequence. Not all multi-part specials can be called rekkas though; a rekka tends to have exactly three distinct parts and will move your character forward along the ground with each new input.”  For Akuta & Nanaki: They went to the same kindergarten and were grouped together in the “Oden Class”. Japanese kindergartens, from my understanding from researching, tend to have a name for their class, rather than a number. To give an idea what such names could be, in 2019 the website hyenasclubs hosted a poll of most commonly used names for classes, and the top 3 were “baby chick” (hiyoko), “peach” (momo) and “dandelion” (tanpopo). For Akuta & Muneuji: My take on はっけよい輝矢部屋 (hakkeyoi kaguya heya) is a bit of an elaborate bit joking with Princess Kaguya of the Moon (from Tale of the Bamboo Cutter) because I was wondering why they suddenly opted for Muneuji’s last name instead of first. (I might’ve also just overestimated Kaguya Heya being some joke on Kaguya Hime). Hakkeyoi is what a referee shouts at the start of a sumo wrestling match. For Akuta & Ushio: I think ポジティブに腕押し (positive ni ude oshi) is a take on 暖簾に腕押し (noren ni ude oshi) that means something has no effect or is pointless. Lit. it means “pushing a curtain with one's arm”.    For Akuta & Tao: Akuta Nine is a joke on the baseball movie Gyakkyo Nine which is an adaptation of the manga of the same series, I believe. The movie is referred to as GK9, hence I made it AKT9.  For Akuta & Ryui: The original is OYAxKOBU which comes from 親分子分 (oyabunkobun) meaning “boss and his underlings”. Akuta also calls Ryui by “Oyabun”.

For Kiroku & Nanaki: Weebs who watch highschool anime should be familiar with this, but emergency staircase refers to the hallway stairs in a JPN highschool that are sometimes used as chilling out spots by students. For Kiroku & Chihiro: TuRyStA is the clothing brand they wear. 18TRIP has a various selection of clothing brands, which each character having a preference for one or another. For Kiroku & Yodaka: Zhao Yun, as quoted by Wikipedia, “was a military general who lived during the late Eastern Han dynasty and early Three Kingdoms period of China.” For Ushio & Raito: Some heavy freedom was taken with バスボムしゅわリスト (basubamu shuwaristo). After considering how to approach it in the most sensical way, I decided to translate it as “bubblist” due the other options being “hand sign list” or “bubble list”. I thought リスト might function as in -ist, like dentist, artist, guitarist. しゅわ comes from しゅわしゅわ which means bubbly. Although bubblist isn’t not that common, it is sometimes referred to entertainers that do bubble performances (in English). And I think it made more sense than “hand sign list” or “bubble list” to say the least. This was also taking in consideration how 18TRIP, as explained in the intro, gets very creative with its language usage. For Raito & Nagi: Mandarin ducks symbolize “soulmates” of some kind in China. In other words, Mandarin Duck Touring is more along the lines of “Motorcycle touring soulmates”. However, I find the mandarin duck reference and interesting pull compared to just “soulmates”, so it was kept as is. For Kinari & Ryui: “Super Darling Gap Inspection” is more along the original lines. “Gap” in Japanese is usually used in the context of when someone acts one way, but unexpectedly, can act a different way. Ex. A very shy person shows they can be super vulgar, that can be considered a “gap” of some kind. In English, people are more familiar with “gap moe”, thus gap moe was used. For Tao & Nagi: Might be a reference to Yokohama’s Zo-no-hana (Elephant Nose) Park. For Toi & Yodaka: The original is more along the lines of, in the most literal sense, “going around raisins circle (of friends).” Toi likes raisins, but Yodaka doesn’t, so Yodaka passes them onto Toi. I’ve turned into on a play on “sharing is caring” since that’s a common concept in English.

[heywriters]

To aesthetic blogs & writing blogs...

please don't share random images from pinterest or instagram without credit. doesn't matter how pretty they are, you uploaded them without permission or credit

please do not share "advice" from another source without crediting the person who wrote the advice. a random link to pinterest is not a source! who was the author of the advice? do they have a website? respect other writers by not passing off their work as your own

DO NOT repost tumblr posts that you found on pinterest. the source is often in the image itself! just go to their blog and do a little research! reposts are NOT welcome on tumblr

research information for yourself before sharing. you are not your silly aunt on facebook who thinks moon melons are real. stop the spread of disinformation by simply checking the facts

gifs are not inherently free use! if the creator of a gif wants you to take it down off a post or wants credit for how often you use their gifs in your posts, you should respect that

[cheollipop]

*swims across the ocean and shows up at your door with my lobster plushie (larry) in my arms* hiii my nora i love youuu and i’m so excited for the sleepover ahh >< ALSO I HAD THIS IDEA RIGHT …. soo … gamer boyfriend woo – he loves to play LoL in the late night hours and he’s been ignoring you and you’re just sooo needy for him that you crawl into his lap and rub yourself against this thigh to try to get his attention and bc he sucks ass at the game he’s mad and hard but stubborn so he’s like, “if you want my cock so bad then you can keep it warm for me, can’t you, baby?” so you cockwarm him until you can’t help but move your hips and he can’t resist your pussy so he just fucks you into next week <333 ahem … so… what should we do? make some hot cocoa and have a pillow fight? :3 💕

2𝙠 𝙎𝙡𝙚𝙚𝙥𝙤𝙫𝙚𝙧 𝙀𝙫𝙚𝙣𝙩

my alyssa ily too!! <3<3 gamer bf woo...... cockwarming...... frustrated woo...... *head in hands* good god. I fr had to do research for this bc I don't play league, but wanted to include some of the gameplay between paragraphs of reader being needy ^^ also went a little crazy towards the end so enjoy the filth ig. hope you like this, happy reading!!~

pairing: gamer bf!jung wooyoung x fem!reader

w.c.: 1.0k

tags: smut, dry/thigh humping, some teasing, cockwarming, mean/frustrated woo, he may or may not switch up a little tho ^^, reader is so needy (not projecting whatsoever), creampie kink, terrible description of league gameplay oopsie

nsfw under cut—minors dni!

Wooyoung’s character remained perched by the fountain, mainly because the opposing team had formed a camp around his own’s spawn point, taking them down before they got the chance to make their way out. He tried to convince himself it was just that, and that the heavy drag of your clothed cunt over his thigh had nothing to do with the drowned out, fuming screams blasting into his eardrums, the idle stares at his screen while his character repeatedly respawned, the nth time the ‘defeat’ screen flashed before him.

“Woo, please,” he saw your lips move in his peripheral, one side of his headset moved off his ear to catch the faint whine leaving your lips as you used his thigh to get off. “You’ve been playing for so long….. ‘want you so bad.”

He didn’t reply, but the arms reaching past you to punch at the keycaps tightened around your waist, his muscles flexing under your moving figure. It’s only when his screen turned red once more that his attention shifted to you, your grinding faltering when fierce, lidded eyes fixed on yours. He remained quiet, the silence stretching until you shifted on his lap, a groan echoing in the space between you when the heat of your wet cunt engulfed the throbbing bulge in his sweatpants, your arousal seeping through your ruined panties to stain the grey material. His fingers floated above your hips, refusing to hand the control over to you, yet battling the need to touch you as you rolled your hips over his weeping cock.

“C’mon, Woo, I've been good-”

“Good?” His eyebrow raised, he gazed at you in disbelief. “Is that what you call humping my thigh like a needy slut while my friends listen to your pathetic whining?”

Wooyoung watched you panic, turn your head around in search for the crossed out mic, your shoulders slumping in relief once you realised that had muted himself the second you’d walked through the doorway, the familiar glint in your eyes enough to inform him of your intentions.

Twisting your head to face him again, you stutter over your words while he stares back at you with burning irises, “no, Woo, I-”

“if you’re such a good girl, then why don’t you warm my cock while I win the next match for my friends, hm?”

And you did, scrambling to pull the elastic waistband down to free his pulsing length, the tip glistening with precum, lowering your head to allow a line of drool to lube up the rest of it, unaware of the hooded eyes following the trail of saliva then the hand spreading it over his cock. Adjusting his headset to properly cover both ears, the infuriated scolding blaring through the speakers masking the grunt leaving his lips when you split yourself open on his girth, taking every last inch between your walls.

Wooyoung waited until you found a comfortable position, a hand on your lower back urging you closer to his chest until your arms circled his waist and head rested on his shoulder. You heard his keyboard clacking behind you, followed by the rasp of his voice in your ear,

“Was AFK, sorry. What did I miss?”

More screaming. Screaming you drowned out as soon as it started—the overlapping voices and aggressive mouse clicking fading the more you take in Wooyoung’s warmth, his cock nestled deep within your fluttering cunt, inhaling the pungent musk emanating off his honey skin. His thighs flexed under you. He wasn’t unaffected by your tight heat, that much was obvious. He was just being stubborn.

You rolled your hips experimentally, the edge of your panties dragging over the side of his cock where you had them pushed to the side, the fingers resting over the expensive keyboard flying to your hip, Wooyoung’s neck craning to shoot a disapproving glance your way. Shifting his attention back to the game, you moved again, clenching around him and smiling to yourself when a broken moan left his parted lips.

Wooyoung wasn’t sure where his irritation stemmed from—was it his continuous losses, the fact that he was absolutely terrible at the game and the only reason his team ever won is because Yunho carried every time, or was it because he needed you so bad, despite his wordless claims otherwise? Both, perhaps. But mostly the latter, he finally admitted, the small, incessant rolls of your hips paired with heated lips pressing kisses to his pulse point breaking his long-lasting composure.

“Something came up, got to go,” he blurted out, hurriedly dropping his headset over his desk before standing up with you in his arms.

Hastily grabbing onto his shoulders, you studied his expression while he held you—features relaxed, a semblance of a smile on his lips, it seemed as though his previous exasperation had dispersed without warning, eyes now filled with nothing but adoration. He mooned over your dazed features, clouded by unbearable lust as you continue to grind on him despite your position, sending gentle waves of pleasure up his spine and aggravating his need to stuff you full of his cum. Until you’re fucked-out and leaking, mumbling repetitions of his name into the sheets, begging for a break while he pounds into your overstimulated cunt.

He laid you down onto the mattress, a hand on your spine to soften your descent, contrary to the replaying images of how he planned to take you, to fuck you senseless, to watch your pussy spit his load out only to finger it back into your womb.

“Oh baby, I’m so sorry,” he ran his hands up the sides of your body, pressing his lips to the exposed skin of your neck as he spoke. “You’ve been so good, haven’t you? ‘Been such a needy slut for Youngie,” slipping his cock out, he swiftly discarded of your panties and fitted himself back inside your heat, fingers pushing up the material of your shirt to grab handfuls of your tits. “Let me make it up to you, ‘wanna give you all my love.”

[lemurzsquad]

Hand Sanitizer

Pairing: Sakusa x gn!reader (platonic or romantic, up to interpretation)

Summary: You and Sakusa hate each other with a passion, and it's almost always a disagreement over hand sanitizer. So when you leave to wash your hands and don't come back, Sakusa learns why exactly you avoid using it so adamantly.

A/N: Okay so this fic. Hooooo boy. This fic. I've been wanting to write it for a while and finally have. It started as a "Reasons why I'm pretty sure Sakusa would hate me irl" and turned into this.

So I have a skin condition known as aquagenic wrinkling of the palms (or AWP), which affects my hands when they come in contact with water, which is what this fic is about. I never hear about this condition anywhere, and it's very lonely sometimes, and there's no real treatment for it (from what I've seen). So this is essentially a vent where I take my skin condition seriously for once instead of just making water allergy jokes to cope lol

(More info about AWP here)

Word count: 3898

cw: skin condition (non-graphic descriptions and discussion) (AWP - please read above), hurt/comfort, angst, crying, enemies to friends...?, emotionally constipated apologies from Sakusa, hand sanitizer is evil /j, vent, not proofread because I just wanted to get this done and posted to do literally anything else, (please lmk if I should tag anything else)

(Disclaimer: I am not a doctor, and everything written here is purely from my own experiences and observations. If you would like to learn more, please do your own research; this is not designed to be informative. It's purely for myself and for awareness.)

You and Sakusa had never gotten along.

You were certain you knew when it started, having been completely oblivious of one another up until that point.

It was when you were both first years in high school, and there happened to be a lizard in the classroom. You, upon seeing it, immediately proceeded to pick it up and ask the teacher to let you put it outside, to which they agreed.

You came back to the classroom, dusting off your hands, when a curly-haired boy took it upon himself to comment, “Go use some hand sanitizer, would you?”

You squinted at him, partly confused as to why he was talking to you and how you had never noticed he sat there before. “No thanks,” you answered, “I'd rather just wash my hands.”

“I don't think just washing your hands would be enough,” he rebutted with a sharp look behind his bangs. “You probably don't even know how to properly wash your hands.”

“Well, too bad! I'm not using hand sanitizer!” You were starting to get annoyed, crossing your arms.

Somehow, that seemed to make him even more disgusted, possibly at the thought that you were spreading whatever it was on your hands onto your clothes now, too.

The two of you threw jabs back and forth until the teacher separated you, which you were both happy to oblige. The animosity between you never seemed to quite dissipate even as the year went on and you became second years. You almost felt bad for the misunderstanding, knowing it was entirely your own fault, but how were you supposed to explain to this random kid that you couldn't use hand sanitizer even if you wanted to? At least, in your head you couldn't.

At some point, you and Sakusa became something of enemies within your class—renowned ones, at that. People would often ask the both of you why you hated each other so much, but your answers were vague at best.

“He's just so pretentious,” you said once.

“They're just so obstinate,” he said once.

And thus, an impasse stretched between you. You hadn't even learned his name until months after your first encounter, too bitter to really care.

Despite the efforts you both went through to avoid being within the presence of the other, you somehow still ended up nearby. Maybe it was your teachers attempting to make you get along—maybe it was the universe laughing in your face.

Throughout that entire time, you still faithfully avoided hand sanitizer like the plague. The one time the nearest bathroom was out of order for a little while and you couldn't wash your hands, you used as little of the accursed substance as you could. Whatever microscopically thin layer that coated your hands there was, you shook it off almost violently, simultaneously disgusted by the feeling of something on your skin and afraid of what it might do.

The disapproving look Sakusa gave you when he saw that was palpable.

At some point, you hated each other mostly out of principle. You'd both kept it up this long—it would be weird to suddenly just let it go since your flimsy justifications seemed enough until now. To admit that you were being unreasonable would be worse than getting along, you separately reasoned.

So when you were paired up for a project, you couldn't help but grimace. Sakusa was the first to go up to the teacher about it.

“I can't work with them,” you heard him say. For once, you agreed with him.

The teacher, however, dismissed his concerns with a wave, saying, “In life, you don't get to pick who you work with. Sometimes you'll have to try to put aside your differences to get your work done.”

It sounded stupid to you, like some half-hearted excuse so they wouldn't have to rearrange seating or partners. But it's not like you had any place to argue, so you resigned to just sucking it up.

Instead of working together, you both divvied up tasks as quickly as possible and did what you assigned yourselves—separately.

All was going well; you ignored each other and worked on the project silently. Despite other groups discussing their plans and the room being filled with chatter, your share corner was dead silent save the sound of pen on paper.

Which didn't last long when suddenly the tip of your pen snapped off. The now open ink tube spilled onto your hands, and when you tried to minimize the damage, it only got worse. By the time you dropped the pen onto your open notebook, raising your hands in surrender, they were absolutely coated in black splotches. A sense of defeat washed over you as you watched your words get covered and your paper stained in ebony.

Taking a moment to glance at your already ruined hands, you just resigned to picking up the pen and throwing it out. It was your favorite pen, which was unfortunate. It couldn't be helped, you told yourself.

Sakusa had noticed you flailing about your desk, silently judging you for the clumsy mess you made when you should have just thrown out the pen the second it broke to avoid the noir crime scene that now covered you and your area. He scowled knowing you would now have to redo whatever you had written for the project.

It was nearing the end of school, the class you were currently in being the final one of the day. You approached the teacher's table and asked if you could go wash your hands. They checked the clock to see about twenty minutes left before replying, “Make it quick.”

You walked past Sakusa's desk on your way to the door. He made the snide remark, “You could get the ink off really well with hand sanitizer.”

It took everything in you not to snap back at him, but you just hurried past, careful not to touch anything on the way out.

Sakusa knew he would never understand you. From the moment you met, you stubbornly refused what seemed to be basic courses of action. Touch something dirty? Use hand sanitizer. Eating? Wash your hands before and after to keep from touching anything.

The couple of times he had seen you wash your hands, it was very brief, and you seemed to avoid using the air dryer, opting for paper towels that were arguably undoing whatever progress you made in washing your hands.

At the same time, you avoided any task that would require you to touch dust or water. You always asked to sweep or clean windows, so much so that everyone just ended up giving you those tasks to get you to stop asking. If you did get something on your hands, you immediately wiped or shook it off, seemingly disgusted. You would even briefly run it under water just to dry it on your clothes so they weren't wet. It seemed there were things worse than water if you were willing to rinse them off.

But it was still that one avoidance that came between you: the hand sanitizer. It was practically the same as water, and it dried quickly. Even if it was comparable to washing your hands, it was still much more convenient in most scenarios. Yet you continued to adamantly refuse to ever use it. At some point you declared, “I would rather die,” when he had tried to squeeze some on your hand, earning him his wrist grabbed and pushed away. 

He just didn't understand.

So when he found you sobbing in front of the stairs, opening your hands and clenching them closed into loose fists repeatedly, he was beyond confused.

You hadn't come back to class after leaving to wash the remnants of your broken pen, so the teacher decided it was your project partner, Sakusa, who should find you and return the belongings you left behind. He went over to your open notebook that remained just where you left it and noted the handful of words that were still visible. 

Sakusa folded the cover over, enclosing the now dried puddle of ink. The remainder of your things he scooped into his arms, leaving the room once the halls had cleared a significant amount. As much as he wanted to just leave your things and go to volleyball practice, he figured it would end poorly.

Plus, what could possibly have kept you out of class for so long that you would have left everything behind? There was no way it had taken that long to get most of the ink off of your skin, so either you had just skipped the last bit of school or something happened. Since you hadn't taken your wallet with you with your IDs (he checked your bag when he put the notebook back inside, sure that it was completely dry), he reasoned it was probably the latter.

“Tsk.” They would have been able to get it off with hand sanitizer, he thought, brows furrowed. This is such a waste of time.

Sakusa wandered through the halls when he didn't find you by the bathrooms. He was starting to think it was a lost cause trying to return your bag; he even had to text his cousin to tell him why he would be late. It wasn't until he got to a particularly empty hallway did he hear something.

Quietly, in a dark alcove with a set of stairs leading up, a figure was huddled against a wall. Their tears were soft but anguished, stifled because it was in the environment of school. Sakusa had tried to ignore them until he realized it was you.

You held your palms up just past your knees that were pressed against your chest. You opened and closed your hands, a fresh cascade of tears painting your cheeks as you choked back a sob. You pressed—with more pressure than could have been painful—your thumb into the center of your other palm, nails digging into the back of your hand. You set your closed eyes on your knees with the hope that it might stop the water that leaked from them.

Sakusa, with great caution, approached your hunched figure. He didn't want to, he really didn't. You were the person he probably hated the most at his school, but somehow he knew he'd seem like an awful person if he didn't at least give your belongings to you directly—he wouldn't give you the satisfaction of another thing to hold over his head.

And yet those thoughts went to the back of his mind when he crouched down in front of you. His mask and curly hair obscured his focused expression as he tried to study your current state. The moment you seemed to hear him there, you held your breath and repressed your already quiet cries.

When Sakusa got close, you buried yourself further in to hide your face behind your knees and clenched your hands even more.

He frowned and something in his chest tightened. His brows furrowed deeper over his eyes and he huffed. He saw your nails digging into the skin on the backs of your hands.

“That's going to leave a mark if you keep doing that.” It came out more biting than he had meant it, but he was being serious.

It was then that you could no longer hold back your sobs, almost choking on your own tears. The grip you had of your hands softened and unlinked; instead, you lightly shook them apart from each other. Sakusa had to take a moment to process, but it almost seemed like there was something wrong with them. 

He just wanted to get you to stop crying so he could give you your bag. As much as he hated the gesture, he asked, “What's wrong with your hands?”

You curled your lips in to bite down on them, fighting back hiccups. With your eyes tightly screwed shut, you upturned your palms.

The sight alone made Sakusa's eyebrows fly up in shock. 

He didn't mean to, but he grabbed your wrist to get a better look. Ignoring the ink stains that faintly persisted, there were pale, patchy splotches in the center of your palm and on the side edges of your fingers; there were even some tiny pale rings on the periphery of the bigger splotches. But underneath that, the skin seemed as if it had soaked in water for hours or maybe even days. Not only were there dozens of deep crevice lines trailing from the tips of all of your fingers to their bases but the lines on your palms were more prominent, surrounded by profound, dense wrinkles that spanned the entire surface.

His eyes darted around your hand for a few moments just trying to comprehend what he was looking at. It looked unnatural—it looked painful. And when he met your gaze, he saw unidentifiable emotions flash across it. Was it shame? Regret? He couldn't be sure aside from the blood that seemed to drain from your face.

You tried to pull your hand away, but Sakusa wouldn't let go. His eyes never left yours, searching for some kind of answer. When he couldn't find it there, he asked, “What happened?” It was soft, calm, and even, enough to make you tear up a little again.

The second time you tugged, he released your wrist. You pushed your thumb into your palm again, looking away. Hiding your hands away in the space between your stomach and where your legs were still tucked against your torso, you sniffled a few times and tried to even out your breathing.

“I-It's normal… it just h-happens when I-I touch water…” You stuttered and mumbled between hiccups.

“That is not normal,” Sakusa said a little too quickly and curtly, realizing it probably would have made it seem like he was berating you.

With another sniffle, you said, “It's a– it's a skin condition.” You started to scratch your palms partly out of stress and partly out of the persistent stinging. “It reacts to water i-if I touch it for too long.”

His eyebrows knitted in concern. “Was that from washing your hands then?”

You gave a small nod, still avoiding his gaze. “I couldn't get the ink off and ended up w-washing them for too long…”

“You could have just used hand sanitizer,” he said genuinely. For the moment, he almost forgot he was supposed to hate you, more focused on being worried than anything.

Your answer was your head shaking rather fervently. “No, I can't.” You lowered to set your forehead against your knees again. “Well, actually, I don't know. I-It just scares me and I don't want to r-risk any more pain than I already have. I haven't h-had good experiences with it…”

“What did hand sanitizer ever do to you?” It came out snarkier than Sakusa had meant. He slowly lowered himself to sit with his legs crossed in front of you, your bag still next to him.

You let out a heavy breath. “I was a dumb kid in elementary,” you started. “I had an obsession with scented hand sanitizer for probably a few months. I used it multiple times a day, and even though I don't know for sure if it's related, my hands got worse after that year I think. Only after that did I finally go to the doctor to get it diagnosed after my mom did a ton of research. I agreed to avoid hand sanitizer from then on. I just don't want to risk being in more pain…”

You both went silent.

“Oh…” It was all that left Sakusa's lips. A sudden wave of guilt crashed into him. All of the times he had berated you for not using hand sanitizer and all of his snide, rude, annoyed remarks resurfaced in his conscience. He felt terrible. He felt bad. Someone was hurting and all he did was throw lighter fluid on their problems—for months—and it seemed there was finally a spark to set it all ablaze. The thought that he started it all made it worse.

“Stop with whatever weird look you have on your face.” You squinted at him and his downturned, scrunched face. You'd calmed down enough to be making quips, it would appear. “It's not like I can do anything about it.” You shrugged, half-hearted.

He searched your face again for any sign of emotion aside from blank resignation, but he couldn't find anything. “Is there no treatment?”

You shrunk down further into your huddle, not vocally answering, but the answer was still clear.

Something about the whole situation made his heart hurt; it made him upset, he realized. “So what, you just have to avoid water?”

The nod of your head to the side looked pathetic as you avoided his eyes. After several seconds of silence, you said, “I used to love swimming. It's not like I can't, it's just… it hurts and it makes me feel gross. I don't even like the beach anymore because if I go in the water and get my hands wet, there's no real place to dry them off.” You laughed humorlessly. “It's stupid. You'd think I would get more used to it and get over it as I got older, but it just made me more upset. Why me? Why did I have to get stuck with a condition that's rare and isn't really bad enough for people to care enough to find a treatment? At least, it feels that way…

“I know it's awful, but I sometimes wonder, ‘Why didn't I get stuck with something worse? Then I might have a way to treat it. Then people might care.’”

You glanced up to judge Sakusa's reaction, instantly regretting spilling your feelings and questioning why you did. Tears threatened to flood over again and spill from your eyes. You felt helpless; not only from your condition but also from being stared down by the person you were certain despised you more than anyone. You were giving him more ammo to be disgusted and to detest you, too.

But you couldn't find his face. His ebony bangs hung down like a curtain and his mask further obscured your view, his downturned line of sight completely blocked out.

When the silence was beginning to crawl around on your skin and became almost deafening, you took in a sharp breath and held it for a moment before breathing out a tiny apology. “Sorry… you don't wanna hear about this…”

“No.”

“...No? No… what?”

“No…” 

Sakusa was struggling to get out the right words. How does he say sorry to you in a way that you might actually believe? How does he tell you that you're allowed to be upset, that you can talk about it? How does he make you understand that it's okay?

And how is he supposed to get you to believe it when it's coming from him?

His voice sounded almost angry but not at you—it was for you. “You can be upset,” he said between gritted teeth, hands clenched into tight fists. “No one deserves to have to live everyday avoiding something so common just to not be in pain. And no one deserves to have some jerk constantly making light of it even if they don't know.”

The way your eyes widened and water dripped down your cheeks in sudden streams said it all. “Oh…” was all you could muster before you completely broke down. No one you had ever told about your condition had seemed to fully grasp how much you were hurting inside, how every day was a struggle to avoid reminding yourself of how awful your hands were, how even looking at your own hands sometimes made you ashamed and loathing of yourself. It was a constant reminder that there would always be something wrong with you; you would always be broken, and there was no way to fix it.

Sakusa let you cry with the renewed emotional rush. He remained firmly planted where he sat, not moving an inch. He was not going anywhere.

And he didn't, even as your sobbing slowed to quiet sniffles and wiping mostly dried tears. It took a while before you finally muttered, “Thank you… No one's ever said that to me before…”

“Well, they should.” His words were curt but lacked any sharpness to them.

When you looked up to meet his eyes, he turned them away from you. Hesitantly, he uttered, “Look, I can't promise you that we'll get along, but I can assure you I'll try not to bother you anymore. No more stupid hand sanitizer comments anymore, either.” It was the only peace offering he could make for a chance to pave a path towards making amends.

You let out a breath through your nose that was close to a laugh before hiccuping, “Next thing you know, you'll be telling me we'll work on our group project together.”

“Don't push it,” he answered, quickly and humorlessly. It only made you laugh, although he couldn't comprehend why.

“It's getting late,” Sakusa tried to divert. “You should head home.”

You reached for your phone, and the little numbers on the screen confirmed his statement. Suddenly, a flash of panic crossed your face. “I don't have my bag,” you state frantically, “or any of my stuff.”

It was then that Sakusa held up the original object of his search for you, gently lowering it to the ground. “The teacher told me to bring it to you since you never came back.”

Relief washed over you in a calming rush, and you finally seemed to relax. You pulled your knees away from your chest and sat with your legs crossed. Confirming that everything was in your bag, an immensely relieved sigh left your lips in a gust.

“Thank you.” Your gaze was earnest, trying to convey just how much you meant your words to make sure it sunk in.

Sakusa just grumbled, “Whatever.” He was back to his usual self despite how he stumbled embarrassingly when he got up and realized his legs had gone numb. He reluctantly offered up his hand to help you stand, but you only looked at it for a moment, mouth pressed into a line, before you got to your feet on your own.

He pretended he hadn't tried to assist you, instead pivoting on his heels and shoving his hands in his pockets with a slouched posture. Without another word exchanged, you both headed towards the school's entrance.

The air fell into a comfortable quiet until then. When you did reach the entrance, however, you both stopped in your tracks. You turned to Sakusa, giving him a soft smile and a small wave, and headed down the street. Only when you turned the corner, out of sight, did he head back towards the volleyball gym. He was so horribly beyond late that it was almost laughable.

But he didn't care, knowing it meant someone was there in that very moment for you when you needed it most. So what if he also started to mend whatever nonexistent relationship was there in the process? What mattered was that someone told you that it was okay.

And Sakusa was okay with that. Being late to practice wasn't nearly as pressing as his long overdue apologies. What could be more important than that?

Do not copy and/or repost!! Any likes or reblogs are appreciated, though! (c) 2024 LemurzSquad

[0liver-hope]

if you love books, save a library!

I hear people on Tumblr talk a lot about the importance of libraries; now’s your chance to help save one!

At Vermont State University is a newly merging Uni in so-called North America, pushing together three previously separate universities: Castleton University, Northern Vermont University, and Vermont Technical College.

Just last week, the new VTSU administration sent out an email to faculty, staff and students announcing that all the libraries at each of the 5 campuses contained within these universities would be moving to an ‘all-digital’ model. Librarians will lose their jobs if this plan goes ahead; in fact, librarians were only informed of this change 11 minutes before the email was sent out.

We have come to understand that this means that all physical material will be removed from the library. They seem to want to do other things with the space, such as set up ‘a coffee or smoothie bar’ and determine ‘what students want’ to do with the space. This plan would go into effect on July 1st, 2023.

The fact is, students want to keep the library as it is. Quiet, and full of stacks and stacks of physical books. The administration cannot claim they are listening to students when we have demonstrated, via hundreds of emails and impassioned testimonies in front of the administration at a forum last week, that we hate this plan and oppose it vehemently. And the faculty and staff are with us, and they too have been speaking out. Not only that, the communities that surround these colleges greatly value having access to a research library, particularly in rural Vermont, and are opposing the plan as well, because, as far as I know, they will completely lose access to these resources if everything goes digital.

The image of the books above are what I just checked out today. I can’t tell you how much I enjoyed browsing the stacks, in one case (not pictured above) finding a tiny book of Milton’s poetry inscribed with a reader’s name and the year 1865. So many important and precious books like that one are to be found in our library. Each book I checked out hasn’t been checked out for at least 10 years, and that’s one of the administration’s excuses for taking all our books away: that circulation is down, and that, somehow, it costs money to let books sit on a shelf. As many people have rebutted, though, just because books aren’t being checked out doesn’t mean they aren’t being read within the library and, most importantly, it doesn’t mean that they don’t have value.

Below I will post some links to various local news article on this subject as well as one radio broadcast that will probably be able to articulate this situation better than I can.

I’m just so angry and upset about this. I’ve seen students and faculty alike crying about this situation, and an old lady braver than me telling the administration that maybe they should consider lowering their own salaries before taking away our books. I think everyone here feels powerless, because the administration isn’t backing down, despite all our protests, because ultimately their goal is profit and to make sure that this new ‘equitable’ University makes as much money as possible.

At the Castleton forum, the president of the University said he was ‘deeply humiliated’, by the outrage, by the heckling, the ‘throwing of verbal tomatoes’ as I have taken to calling it, by having his and his fellow’s bullshit exposed and questioned.

Please, please, if you care about books, about libraries, about the problems with big tech and the way it continues to invade all our lives, replacing physical experiences with their more hollow, less engaging counterparts; if you care about the interests of the people triumphing over the interests of capital, about students, about education, then please -- help save our books by spreading the word however and wherever you can, by flooding the inboxes of the capitalists below; tell them how you feel about this decision and its larger implications for books and libraries in general! Not so much to convince them that they’re wrong (they already know that and don’t care), but to make going forward with this plan more of a nuisance and a PR nightmare than cancelling it would be.

I don’t know if anyone will read or see this post, but please if you do and you care, reblog, educate yourself on what’s going on, and take action if you can.

A few disclaimers:

Any specifics I mention pertain primarily to what I, as a student at Castleton University, have either heard via word of mouth or seen with my own eyes. I am not officially speaking on behalf of anyone but myself.

The only exception to all the physical materials being removed from the libraries seem to be the books deemed ‘most used’ and some valuable historical collections. This was not clear from the beginning and not yet fully clear in any further specificity.

please try not to use violent rhetoric - as much as I’m not into policing people’s speech and anger, I don’t want this to backfire and I don’t want them to crackdown harder on us or make a big stink about it if they receive those kinds of messages

Email addresses of administration officials responsible for this decision:

VTSU President Grewal: parwinder.grewal@vermontstate.edu

VTSU Provost Atkins: nolan.atkins@northernvermont.edu

VSC Chancellor Zdatny sophie.zdatny@vsc.edu

VSC Board of Trustees Chair: Eileen “Lynn” Dickinson eileen.dickinson@vsc.edu

News articles + broadcast:

https://www.vermontpublic.org/show/vermont-edition/2023-02-10/vermont-state-university-president-on-move-to-all-digital-libraries-changes-in-athletic-programs

https://www.rutlandherald.com/news/local/castleton-community-protests-vtsu-library-cuts/article_100d9539-c6ca-569e-a9b9-ecd6b3cef0ad.html

https://vtdigger.org/2023/02/08/vermont-state-university-to-close-libraries-downgrade-sports-programs/

http://www.castletonspartan.com/2023/02/12/vtsu-library-plan-sparks-outrage-and-emotion/

[angel-sweets666]

Idk if your taking requests! I saw your puppy love kirishima fic and i was wondering if you could do middle school kirishima with foreign exchange student (hispanic)but it can be wtv you want .if its too much im sorry you dont have to write it😭👍🏽

UHMMM ITS NOT TOO MUCH TO WRITE, I’m Hispanic aswell however I’m not to connected to my culture (Spanish and Mexican) as I’m not fully Hispanic. But I can 100% write this! (Plus it gives me an excuse to research my own culture!) sorry I haven’t been online but I’m getting to it all now

Mkay so before any of u start acting like I just wrote the most racist stuff known to man I wanna inform you, My hero academia is based in Japan and Japan is a monoethnic country where foreigners make up less then 3% of the whole country, so most of the time when they see a foreigner they are very surprised. Don’t come for me please <3

this may be shorter but I’ll try

Eijiro kirishima x Hispanic reader

kirishima groaned as he looked up from his table, feeling a hand tap his shoulder “eijiro, eijiro look. There’s a new kid…” his friend whispered, causing the black haired boy to look over his shoulder towards his friend. the boy looked really confused, almost shocked? Who reacts like that to a new kid? Kirishima looks over and sees you standing by the door, clutching your book bag in one hand and the end of your shirt in the other as you nervously fidgeted with the hemline. Not only do you look different from the rest of them, but your the prettiest person he’s ever seen in his whole life! Your hair, skin, eyes, body, EVERYTHING! You just were so pretty to him. Kirishima made it his mission to befriend you and win you over, you were his mission. Kirishima noticed your nervous expression as your eyes danced around the classroom to find an empty spot that wasn’t to close to anyone else, kirishima stood up from his seat and walked over to you at the front of the class “I’m.. I’m eijiro kirishima!” He grins, stuttering at first but finding his confidence “you wanna come sit with me? I’ve got an empty seat!” He welcomed you.

You smiled, “Hey…” as you seemed to loosen up, letting go of the hemline of your shirt. Kirishima’s warm grin widened as he ushered you to the seat next to him.

“C’mon then! Sit here,” he said cheerfully, making you feel instantly more at ease. As class went on, you couldn’t help but notice how genuinely friendly and inviting he was.

After a while, Kirishima turned to look at you. “So, where are you from?” he asked. You knew this question would come up eventually; your mamá and papá had warned you about it.

“*Your country*,” you replied.

“Oh wow! That’s pretty far from here…” Kirishima seemed fascinated. “You speak Spanish and all?”

“Eh… Sí,” you replied, trying to prove you could speak Spanish by replying in it.“That’s so cool! You’re so manly,” he grinned again, his eyes shining with genuine admiration. “You should teach me some time. I’d love to learn.”

You chuckled at his enthusiasm, feeling a warmth spread through you at his sincere interest. “Sure, I can teach you some phrases,” you said, starting to feel more comfortable. Kirishima’s excitement was infectious, and you began to feel grateful that he had bothered to come up to you.

ITS SO SHORT BUT ITS SOMETHING

[incorrect-riordanverse]

Can you explain Palestine vs Israel. I have done my own research and still do not understand. From my understanding Palestine attacked Israel first, and this war has been going on for so much longer than just now. So why is it suddenly so important and how is Israel in the wrong?? Genuinely trying to understand since you are spreading news of the Genocide on your page.

hey so i cant really explain all the complexities and details in a singular tumblr post. i dont really know how much research you did if october 7th is your earliest knowledge of ‘attack.’ israel has been an apartheid state since 1948 and during that year they were downright deplorable to palestinians to get them to be conpliant. nakba is probably the most notorious case but there is more.

this issue is important because this is the first time we see such atrocities in mainstream media and online. Its so oversaturated with suffering that it sets a precedent for how the world (the general public in particular) reacts outside of politicians and activists. will we continue to care when we see other people suffer, or will we grow numb and desensitised? it’s important we don’t lose our humanity like capitalist neoliberalism would prefer. just because we live comfortable lives, it doesnt mean we should be ignorant to those who are suffering. in fact, we should inspect ourselves and ask whether their suffering lends to our comfort and vice versa (it usually does). for instance, many western countries are profiting from this apartheid, hence their support.

i’m not going to list through everything (plus i myself don’t know everything) but i can tell you where to go, and hopefully some others can add on to it.

for israel’s crimes against palestine since october 7th on the account of genocide i feel like south africa has done an amazing job putting together documentations of evidence against them in the ICC. you can find the full thing on youtube or online. some of the crimes include bombing and stopping aid trucks from reaching gaza, preventing women from giving birth by bombing maternity wards, bombing hospitals (there are now 0 active hospitals in gaza, whereas before october there were 36. this info has not been updated in the case) to prevent civilians from getting life-saving treatment, psychologically tormenting civilians until they lose the will to live (particularly in children), and so on.

of course please pay attention to palestinian journalists within gaza specifically— they will show you firsthand whats happening. there’s many apart of al jazeera. al jazeera has also done some articles on the history for you. here is one on nakba. amnesty also did a good job on explaining what an apartheid is.

theres also quite a few independent ones that have become journalists through this attack from israel. bisan is one of them if youre active on tiktok. noor harazeen is a journalist on instagram.

here is a link on how israel funded hamas to rival the plo

here is al jazeeras article on the cultural genocide of palestinians through bombing ancient historical sites and artefacts.

kind of seperate to all that but still related is how support for palestine affects other people. people are losing the jobs over supporting palestine (such as melissa barrera in scream). yemen, another third world country who has been going through crises such as food insecurity for years, has been suspended aid by the UN because it has been aiding palestine throughout the conflict.

The UN in general has been useless about calling for a ceasefire. The United States vetoed during a UNSC meeting because the USA sucks ass. you can look any of this up and they will come with multiple sources im just too tired to find something rn (i’m currently on vacay and heavily sleep deprived).

also general advice to not ask a percy jackson account but an account dedicated to spreading information on the palestine-israel apartheid because they would be able to help you more. yes, ive talked about it on this account but that doesnt mean i’m qualified to explain 75 years of oppression.

[starwarsmum]

Day 24! Officially less than a week left. @maribat-calendar-events prompt of the day is Surname

“Come on, Damian,” Marinette coaxed, holding his hand as they walked along the Seine. “I would love to meet your family, and you said that a few of them have been asking as well. Are you worried they won't like me?”

“Tt, of course they will like you,” Damian replied, bringing her hand up to his lips. She waited for him to continue and he gave a sigh. “My family can be insufferably inquisitive, I do not wish to subject you to them so soon. I find the thought of you choosing to end our relationship deplorable and would like to have a more stable base before unleashing them upon you.”

“You're surprisingly sensitive, you know that?” Marinette giggled, blushing lightly when he smirked back at her. “I've already met Tim and Dick, what worse could the rest be?”

“Tt, Drake and Grayson are objectively the least irritating, excepting Cassandra. Todd is the one I am most concerned about, and at any rate it will interfere with our investigation if we take time out to indulge my family's curiosity.”

“Why do you do that?” Marinette asked suddenly, looking up at him. He squinted at her, and she clarified. “Call them by their last names, I mean.”

“I have done it since I arrived with my father. It was…a way to assert my position as my father's one true son originally. Over time I have accepted that my father adores his strays but I have kept to using their last names.”

“But you don't with Cass any more?” Marinette asked, her head quirked to the side as they continued their leisurely stroll. The tips of Damian's ears turned ever so slightly pink and she immediately wanted to know why. “Damian, pretty please won't you tell me why?”

“Tt, that is because you call her Cass,” he admitted, his blush spreading as she looked up at him. They pulled to a stop just before the Pont des Arts bridge, Damian fidgeting ever so slightly. “I also owe her a debt for introducing the pair of us, and continuing to call her by her surname seemed rude.”

“You are the sweetest,” Marinette said, lifting her free hand up to his face and brushing it against his cheek. He huffed and looked away from her so she reached up and kissed his cheek gently. “No, really, you are. You're so incredible and thoughtful, I have no idea how I got lucky enough that you want to date me.”

“Well, you do carry around a pocket sized deity as a good luck charm,” Damian smirked, laughing as she squawked and slapped his chest lightly. “But if you are serious about wanting to meet the rest of my family, I can think of no further reasons not to.”

_ _ _

After a quick message to Dick, Damian resigned himself to most of his family descending upon Paris to assist with the investigation (and meet Marinette). Bruce graciously said that he would remain in Gotham this time, to ensure that the city was kept safe, but otherwise the rest of the Batfamily were ready to get on a plane.

Damian's work towards finding Hawkmoth had begun to show definite signs of pointing to one person and Damian was impressed once again by Marinette's capabilities. Her intuition had pointed at Gabriel Agreste and all of Damian's further research was heading that way.

To help avoid a bias, Damian had not told his brothers of her suspicions and was vindicated by their drawing the same conclusions. If they were quick, they would be able to inform his family that the threat was neutralised by the time they landed.

As it was a Saturday, Marinette was free to move around the city as she wished. Damian and his family had discussed their options, and all had confirmed that he should work with Ladybug as Robin for the actual takedown of Hawkmoth. 

She had been surprised when he had confessed his secret identity, but had been surprisingly accepting. She admitted that she had suspected something had to be going on given his interest in Hawkmoth and willingness to help her bring him to justice. 

He planned to inform Dick and Tim of his plans, to make sure they had back up if things went sideways, but he was confident that Marinette would be able to defeat Hawkmoth quickly if it was a straight fight.

So it was that later that evening, Marinette and Damian as Ladybug and Robin slipped into the Agreste mansion. Silence permeated throughout the grand house, and Damian was ever thankful that he had been trained in stealth from the moment he could walk.

Their first stop saw them slipping into the assistant’s room. She was fast asleep, although her breathing was laboured and Marinette saw a contraption designed to help the woman walk in the corner of the room. Any doubts either of the two had were snuffed out when Marinette retrieved the guardian’s tablet from the bedside table.

When they didn't find the peacock brooch, Damian signaled for Marinette to follow him along the hall. They stalked along it noiselessly, coming all too quickly to the master bedroom. The door was ever so slightly ajar and Damian managed to push it open just far enough for them both to slip in.

And there they were: the peacock and butterfly brooches, lying on the far bedside table. Marinette froze but Damian moved as quickly and quietly as a bell-less cat. He padded across the room and caught up the jewelry, shooting Marinette a look of triumph as he returned to her.

And then they were scurrying out of the house as though they had never been there. As they shot across the rooftops, Ladybug let out a whoop, laughing almost manically. It was over: she was free.

[susiephone]

Or, a crash course in checking your sources. Because we've all seen some absolutely bullshit stuff spread around the internet, and Tumblr definitely isn't immune to it.

It can be hard to sort out the fact from the rumor from the propaganda when a story is actively developing, especially one that is fast-moving and has a lot of voices coming in from all sides, but it is vitally important that you check your sources before spreading a claim.

It's easier to verify or disprove a claim about something that's purported to have happened in the past, so, admittedly, checking stuff that's purported to be happening now is a messy, confusing process. All the more reason to err on the side of caution.

I am not a journalist or professional researcher or historian or anything like that, so this is all coming from a layman who does their best to be informed. If I get anything wrong, or anyone more qualified has something they want to add, please let me know in the notes.

Why should I check my sources?

Because you should care whether you're spreading propaganda or not.

Because sometimes in the heat of the moment, when emotions are running high, it's easy to be misled.

Because every time you spread misinformation to help your own cause, even - or especially! - if that cause is righteous, it becomes a ding on your credibility, and the credibility of your cause.

Because when you don't, a journalist loses their wings. Probably. Fact-check me on that.

How do I know when to check my sources?

If you don't recognize the source, check it.

If you hear a claim and think, "Wow, that is so cartoonishly evil," or, "That's so absurd I'd think it was far fetched if it was in a movie," or, "It's weird no mainstream outlets are reporting on this," check it.

Now, a claim sounding too bizarre or evil to be real doesn't always mean it isn't--I mean, half of what I hear about George Santos sounds like an SNL sketch and it always ends up true. But check it.

If the claim sounds like something a Nazi would want you to believe, check it.

If a claim is only being spread by one or two small sources, check it.

How do I check my sources?

The following sites are great resources for fact-checking.

PolitiFact. Ranks claims on a truth-o-meter and provides context for what's true, mostly true, kinda true, and made-up.

Media Bias/Fact Check: Publishes lists of fact checks from other credible sources, and ranks media outlets on their bias and trustworthiness.

Climate Feedback: Verifies claims about science, especially climate change.

Lead Stories: Verifies claims as they develop, especially stuff spreading on social media.

Here is a list of sources Media Bias/Fact Check considers to be the least biased.

What are some red flags to search for? / What are some questions I should ask myself?

Does the claim only come from a handful of small sources?

Do all those sources only cite each other?

It bears repeating: does this claim sound especially sensational or over-the-top? I know it sounds basic, but when you're furious at somebody (be it a person or a government or a system), it can be easy to believe every horrible thing you hear about them. But just because someone is awful doesn't mean every rumor about them doing awful things is true, and you still have a responsibility to keep your criticism accurate.

Who provides funding to the source? Do they work off of grants, reader donations and subscriptions, government backing, private donors? Do they not disclose their funding at all?

Has the source been caught spreading false info before? How long ago was this? Did they issue a correction in a timely manner? Was the journalist who spread the false claim fired or otherwise reprimanded? Does it seem like it was a mistake, or was there an agenda at play? Has the source taken steps to reestablish credibility?

Who benefits from me believing this?

Okay, I did all my fact-checking, and I'm really not sure if this claim is true or not.

Then don't share it.

If more information comes out and it turns out to be true, then go ahead.

But if there's doubt, don't share it.

Okay, sure, but the claim sounds like it could be true, and-

"Could be true" and "is true" are not the same.

Fine, but the person or government it's talking about has already done so many awful things, even if this specific rumor isn't true-

DON'T. SHARE. IT.

I am going to come to your house and bite you.

Further information.

How to fact-check like a pro.

The Psychology of Fact-Checking.

What is fact-checking?

Misinformation (YouTube video)

And there we go! If anyone has anything to add, go ahead, but I will be monitoring the comments and will be blocking any nonsense.

There's enough misinformation spread by bad actors in our current media landscape. Please don't make their job any easier.

[supercriminalbean]

Bloody Mark.

Trans Derek Morgan x Trans male reader (AFAB)

Summary: The reader is new to the team and no one knows he is AFAB. When he gets his period on a case he has to ask for help.

Warning: Fluff. Period talk. Trans male gets period. A brief mention of medication talk.

~~~

You have been on the team for about a year now, and still you haven’t come out to anyone else on the team and everything is

going great. Of course your boss knows, you told Hotch at the interview that you’re trans, born female but now identify as a man. He was understanding and told you it was up to you whether or not that information was disclosed to the team. You had decided to keep it just between you both for now, he made you aware of the fact that his team was 100 percent supportive and have had other trans people on their team before. You knew if you ever did come out and ever face discrationed from anybody you could easily go to Hotch for help and he would be there for you no matter what, that's just the type of boss he is.

~~~

You're currently on a case trying to find a serial killer, you are sat at the table with JJ doing research as the team is spread out throughout the precinct talking to other police officers running through there other cases to see if anything looks similar. Grabbing your bag you look through it searching for some period supplies, groaning softly as you find the pack empty, your head wacks backwards as fear runs through your body.

“Hey are you alright?” JJ looks at you with concern.

“Um yeah, I just forgot something” You grumble feeling embarrassed.

“Oh well what, I might be able to help” JJ smiles softly, you might not exactly be new to the team but you still had trouble asking for help and JJ just wishes you knew you could always ask them for anything.

“Um no, I'll be fine, thanks JJ” You smile weakly, feeling your inside burning at the thought of having to come out this way.

“Alright, just let me know” She smiles as you both go back to work, bouncing ideas off each other.

Soon silence fills the room as you both do your own research but you can’t concentrate needing to go to the bathroom but you can’t, not without the things you need.

“Um JJ” Your face grows hot as you look up at her worryingly.

“Yeah” She glances up at you, taking a double take as she spots the worry on your face. “Okay, what's up?” she asks, her eyes full of concern, watching as you glance around the room before turning back to her.

“I uh.. Do you have a pad or tampon or something, I ran out and need to go to the bathroom” Your voice trails off as you look away from her, missing her confused look before it quickly disappears and is replaced with a soft smile.

“I'm sure I do” She smiles, grabbing her bag, going through it, only to groan softly. “I'm sorry my pack is empty, I forgot to get more last time” She looks at you sadly. “Im sorry, but thank you for asking me, if you want I can ask Emily she normally has some”

“That would be great please but could you uh—”

“I wont tell her” JJ interrupts you, smiling softly. “Its not my story to tell” She gets up walking away.

~~~

JJ returns slowly with a sad smile shaking her head. “She ran out and used my last one apparently, didn’t even ask me” JJ laughs softly making you laugh relaxing jut alittle.

“Right well I uh.. Should go get some” That feeling fills your stomach with fear, small towns like this do that.

“Or” JJ interrupts you,

“Or what?” You crock your eyebrow at her.

“You should ask Morgan” She tilts her head at you smiling as your face is full of confusion then drops slightly before smiling.

“Wait really?” Your smile grows as the pressure on your chest eases.

“Really, he’s over by the coffee machine, go talk to him” She smiles encouragingly at you, as you quickly get up, making your way over to him, glad that he is far away from the others.

“Hey Morgan” Your smile falters a little as you approach him, nervous filling you.

“Hey” He smiles back, picking up on your nervousness. “You want some coffee?”

“Nah I’m alright, actually JJ said you might be able to help me with something” You let out a small shaky breath.

“Sure what's up?” His eyes narrow with worry.

“She said you might have some pads or tampons I could have, I ran out” You explain. He smiles at you, smirking slightly. If he’s surprised he’s hiding it well you think to yourself.

“I sure do, let me guess Hotch didn’t tell you when you joined the team, huh?” He chuckles softly.

“Uh no, he said you used to have other trans people on your team but I wasn’t aware there still was” You laugh quietly smirking. “You're not surprised?”

“Nah, we shared a room once, and I did see your medication so I figure you would tell us when you were ready” He smirks at you as you both make your way to the bathroom.

“Thanks Morgan” You smile as he hands you a pad once you both enter the bathroom, glad it's empty.

“No problem, feel free to always come to me about anything already, always got ya back”

“You to Morgs” You smirks as you walk into the cubicle.

[lunastrophe]

I love your posts. They're truly amazing. I've been doing a lot of my own research into Lolthian Drow culture as well, but have been unable to find much about formal holidays or the nedeirra. Anything you might know about any of that?

Hello! As for the festivals traditionally celebrated by Lolth-sworn drow, in books about Menzoberranzan for 2e and 4e there are mentioned three annual festivals specific to this city:

🕷️ Ceremony Of Graduation - celebrated by all the houses that have a member (or members) graduating from the Academy that year. Basically, a great feast with lots of dancing and drinking that spreads to the entire city - younger students and masters leave the Academy this day to visit their families, and graduated students and priestesses celebrate with wanton abandon as equals.

According to tradition and Lolth's will, on the day before, on the day of and on the day after the ceremony any conflicts between houses are forbidden. Most house servants and warriors are allowed three days of leisure, all trade is forbidden and the entire city is closed for the outside visitors. Many drow during this time, especially younger, are generally more relaxed, fun-seeking, drunken and less vigilant than normally.

Description of the main graduation rite can be found in R. A. Salvatore's Homeland, and an adequate summary is on FR wikia.

🕷️ Festival Of The Founding - celebrated on 20th day of Ches, on anniversary of the formal founding of the city. Drow celebrate this festival with their families, dining together - participants of the feast raise toasts to Lolth, to Menzoberranzan and to the founders of their family, and they tell tales about their ancestors.

The entire day is one of leisure and all the shops are closed, but the dinner lasts only for the second half of a day.

It is also believed that during this time, Lolth herself walks through the city in a form of a drow, listening to her people and judging them, rewarding those who please her and bringing death upon those who displease her (by making their food deadly poisonous, for example). It is a custom to offer hospitality to any drow stranger on this day - because who knows, it may be Lolth in disguise.

🕷️ The Open Days - celebrated from 23rd day of Flamerule to Midsummer (eight days). This festival encourages trade and resembles a trade fair when visitors are allowed to freely wander into the city, even into the districts normally reserved only for nobles.

During these days, all the drow houses put on special demonstrations of magic and martial readiness, to show their strength, impress the visitors and overawe their rivals.

🕷️ In other drow cities, there may be similar festivals - at least the Festival of the Founding and the Open Days sound like they could have their own versions in other Lolth-sworn drow communities.

🕷️ About nedeirra - it is a kind of dance popular among ...younger and wilder drow. Seldom attended by high priestesses, these wild, acrobatic "sweat dances" usually leave young drow drenched in sweat, dancing to the syncopated, driving rhythms of drumming and piping music. A wizard or two is often hired to create fun: illusions, tickling and slapping cantrips, and so on. (from Menzoberranzan, 2e)

In Daughter of the Drow by E. Cunningham nedeirra is described as dance competition of sorts (in the chapter where Liriel Baenre is throwing a wild party).

Hope you will find these information useful! 🙂

[skeletoninthemelonland]

hey starbs,

as a person who struggles with chronic depression and severe anxiety, I cannot imagine the extra stress of everything you go through. I honestly feel terrible for what's going on. I get what it's like for things to feel very stressful and not having your time occupied can send these anxious thoughts.

Is el nino to blame for the floods? I've heard that natural weather phenomon can cause terrible storms.

I dont trust the random news sources, is there a website or somewhere I can go to just see what is going on, i want to be able to, not understand but just.. you have so much going on starbs' i'm so so sorry, I don't have funds to donate or anything but i will spread awareness the best I can.

my whole family now knows about the flooding People spreading the news who may be abe to donate.

stay safe the best you can and blessing to you and everyone you love.

please do not apologize, and thank you very much for taking some time to write me this, for helping spread awareness, and i appreciate the fact you shared the news with your family and maybe even did some research on the topic. i truly hope for things to get better soon.

i have no place in complaining about the situation, because i'm still safe, with my house intact.

here are some good news: i saw HUNDREDS OF MANY (like. mountains of it) sacks with food and supplies in them for people in the public shelters earlier today on tv!

now from what i see, some websites are not updated or might spread misinformation (i heard they blamed the people for building their houses near the rivers. istg)

about the floods, i do believe there were many different reasons behind it, that added up, resulted in this disaster.

[BEFORE ANYTHING. i don't consider this post or my own words a reliable source of information. not even the people who live here know what is currently going on, or what's gonna happen next. i'm sharing what i've been told, and have reasons to believe it's the truth]

the main reason is, as you may know, global warming, which is very self-explanatory. el niño (rain) has already happened, and el niña (drought) was supposed to take its place.

the second reason is because of negligence from the state's government. from what i remember, there were systems to drain the water in Porto Alegre that were left without maintenance and only now they're being activated.

it's absolutely not the fault of the people who built their houses there. just so you have a vision of it: Rio Grande's city hall building is located in a point were the water has easily reached it within a few hours. like ??? oh so they did not saw that coming ?? are they that dumb?? it's literally a seaport city...

the third reason is more environmental. the most affected city (Guaíba) is found inside a drainage basin (meaning that the rivers flow to the lowest area and meet in certain points, causing them to overflow altogether when it rains too much).

[violetsandshrikes]

I have noticed misogyny is getting worse but I don’t know how to help out or volunteer. How do you find these women?

Honestly, a lot of women I’ve helped out find me. I am very open irl about being a survivor of some really violent and foul abuse, and between that and word spreading once you help one person, people have reached out to me for advice and help before on their own.

Misogyny is as bad as ever despite the fact many people seem to think it was defeated years ago. Depends which area you want to help in: shelters? Advocacy groups? Specific skill-sharing/learning? Health/health resources? Do you want to target your community, a wider community, a specific subset of women? I would recommend dipping your toes in and seeing 1) where you’re most comfortable and 2) where you’re most useful. Research, ask around, send emails, someone can usually point you in the right direction (and honestly, there’s never enough volunteers anywhere)

If you want to get involved on these fronts, there are other things I recommend if you are able and comfortable doing so:

• Some kind of self-defence training. It’s not necessarily going to help you in a fight. I find the most useful things are actually how to break different holds and grabs. Many will also have attached support groups, teach about how to deal with police and aftermaths, teach how to assess danger in the first place.

• First aid training. Especially if you’re in any sort of scenario where there may have been violence. A lot of people are too scared/in denial to seek medical help. Medical help is often not offered post-event. Even being able to assess someone enough to decide they need a hospital is important. (Many first aid training courses also have more specialised branches like children and babies, animals, etc.)

• Learn your lay of the land. Learn who offers support to women in your community, who funds and backs them. There’s lots of church-backed and other groups that you should be more wary of - you may not be able to turn down resources if someone is in dire need, but you also want to know if you’re sending a vulnerable person into a honeypot of an operation.

• There’s always lots of gaps for volunteers in nearly every field, not just women-based groups and charities. If you can upskill (and want to upskill) in a particular area, please consider doing so. Writing (articles, media, social media, informative pieces, etc), social media use, video editing, accounting skills, business skills in general (if you can talk to people and secure big funding, most places probably need you), food preparation, food safety, first aid, transport (yourself, others, special endorsements, etc), handyman skills and repair, cleaning and sanitisation, book keeping and record keeping…it goes on.

[eris-abomination]

VERY IMPORTANT PSA. Please share or repost if you can.

There’s some SERIOUS misinformation spreading around and I was considering reblogging the post to clear it up, but I decided to make my own to explain (and avoid giving it more traction). The image being spread and explanation are under the cut; MAJOR TW for mentions of trafficking and wording that could trigger anxiety or paranoia. Please remember that this image is NOT real.

THIS IS NOT A REAL CONCERN. There is NO sex trafficking ring using this spam text, and spyware CANNOT be installed on a phone simply by clicking a link.

This text is a spam message/notification for a defunct social media app called IRL. Clicking the link would simply take you to the App Store page. The unsolicited messages people claim to get are either spam marketing, incentivized invites from friends, or standard notifications regarding engagement on the app.

Even if IRL was still available, major spyware cannot be downloaded onto a phone through a link. The worst type of crime committed through spam links is credit card theft, and even that is fully dependent on you typing your personal information into a sketchy website. Your phone cannot be “hacked” through a link, and a “tracker” can’t just be installed on your phone by a random third party. Modern phones are equipped with specific protections to keep these things from happening, and phones can’t download malware like a computer can.

Human trafficking and sexual abuse are SERIOUS ISSUES, and it’s extremely disheartening to see a fake version of this being spread around online. The amount of people in the comments of the original post who were genuinely anxious and afraid breaks my heart. Not only is this misinformation harmful to survivors, but it also has the potential to severely worsen people’s anxiety, paranoia, delusions, etc.

Please be responsible and do your research before reposting shocking material.