#rather than assuming the worst of people

[twistedrunes]

Just getting some thoughts out of my head about people's vague posting about other people 'stealing' their ideas for fic. Because I gotta say my anxiety is off the scale. Warning: unfiltered rambling below the cut.

I'm going to be vague here because this isn't a call-out post. I don't want to start any drama; people are entitled to feel how they feel. But, I need to get this out.

As anyone who follows me for my writing (if you are, I'm so, so sorry) knows, I haven't put anything out there for ages. But I have still been writing lots of different things. I just haven't shared any of it publicly. Some of what I've been writing has been for one of a particular actor's characters; I even have 2 fics where OC has the same job! But they are, to my mind, very different stories (this will be relevant in a bit).

Part of the reason I haven't shared is because I don't want to let people down by not finishing a fic again (I'm not saying that I'll never finish George, but I also acknowledge it's been a LONG time since I updated). But also because I've noticed the rise of people criticising other people for 'stealing ideas' and honestly, I'm scared of putting anything out there that may bring a bunch of angry fandom peeps raining down on me if I inadvertently 'steal' an idea of one of the fandom darlings. I have way too much other shit happening in my life for my escape to be turned into something I want to avoid.

Over the last few days, I've seen someone (Let's call them VP1) vague posting about other people 'stealing' fic ideas. This person (and many of their mutuals) writes for a particular actor rather than for particular shows/movies/etc. It has come to light today that this person is upset because they posted about a specific au/trope (pervasive generally, but I don't think I've seen a single character this actor has played not subjected to this trope) and a specific character. VP1's post was a couple of pics of the character and a comment that the image made them want to explore this trope. Apparently, someone (let's go with SO1), posted a fic with said character and trope not long after. VP1 is pissed and has gone from vague posting to reposting SO1's fic with a link to the post of 'their' idea.

Now look, I can understand being a bit hurt or miffed, if you think perhaps someone has done something you wanted to do. But, like, my anxiety is going off. Because how on gods green earth does one avoid 'stealing' ideas if it means not writing about anything anyone has ever considered ever?? Especially when that idea is a common trope. How does VP1 know that this fic hasn't been bumping abound in SO1's WIPs for ages. How do they know the person ever saw their post. Or maybe they did see the post and remember that dusty old fic in the WIPs folder. But even if not, does a single post give you the right to stop anyone else from writing about that at all? I mean shit we, could all get a kick up the ass for writing fanfic if that's the case. It's one of the most common criticisms of the genre. Additionally, there is absolutely nothing to say that VP1 can't still write their fic and put it out into the world. I'm sure no-one will complain (two cakes and all that!).

Now, I have read some fics in my time that seemed on the surface to be similar to stuff I had written. And yeah at first there is a bit of a sting. But, given that there are generally a limited number of options for introducing a character into a specific universe, similarities are to be expected. I don't generally write AU's myself, but I have read a million versions of coffee shop AU's often with the same characters by different authors! But most of the fics quickly divert off into a thing all its own. Hell, I've written fics that were based on the ideas, fuck even the worlds, of other members of fandom (looking squarely at you @whentommymetalfie - admittedly, I do acknowledge the person whose thought sent me off to write - if it's immediately apparent to me. If something bubbles up days or weeks later, I may not remember - sorry). And that's what I love about fandom; it's collective, really; we develop fanon, we goad each other on to hurt each other's feelings more and more, and we drag tropes and au's in a million directions to see where we get.

Now, part of the reason I mentioned my own writing earlier is that a particular character played by the actor in question inspired me into 'recycling' original fic ideas I wrote aeons ago (ok, like 2016). I have three fics for that character living rent-free in my brain right now. Two of them both have an OC with the same specific occupation. It relates to how they met Main Character. However, the stories are vastly different in regard to their focus, character development etc. etc. So am I 'stealing' my own ideas?? Am I being lazy by not coming up with completely new everything every time?

I don't know what the point of all this is. Maybe I'm just feeling old and tired. But I just need to get this out.

All I know is there are a limited number of stories to tell but infinite ways to tell them. What matters and what makes them different is how 'we' tell them. Each writer brings their own stuff to it. I mean, 'Person Encounters Alien' has produced everything from "Alien" to "Paul"; they are all different, interesting, unique and influenced by the people who wrote them.

I don't want fic to feel like work or a competition. I want to write stories and share them without fearing fandom wrath. I want to read a dozen versions of the same characters in the same AU and find joy in how each person made it different.

[im-still-watching-anime]

trucy: hang on polly you have a hair on you—oh, it’s long and…blonde. again.

apollo, internally: oh my god they’re all going to think i’m STRAIGHT and that i’m sleeping with a WOMAN

trucy, athena, and wright all thinking: oh that’s for sure klavier’s :/

[problemnyatic]

You gotta make peace with the crudeness inherent to the human condition or you are doomed to be a puppet of sensless disgust and scandal over that which comes naturally and harms no one

[naivety]

okay i need feedback from the autism mentall illness website um. this is going to read like an AITA post. brother vs half-sister (who are currently my dependents do to their own individual disabilities + ptsd/depression) spat i will skim the details on but i'm worried my sister will discount my take since i'm not autistic myself so. am i crazy to call it ableist to look at an autistic person (23) who is clearly going through it dealing w long term depression, a world that doesn't give a shit abt him, unemployment, very self-isolated and burnt out barely leaving his room because the world is an ableist dumpster fire with zero opportunities for him, and then bring up childhood abuse he's suffered and his diagnosis as reasonable factors on top of this to worry he'll [checks notes] abuse my cat just to hurt me or even worse have a breakdown and kill me and his other sibling in a violent episode, a train of thought i probably wouldn't even be having were he not [checks notes] mad at me for the first time in my life?

like i don't have any other read on this kind of fear-based characterization other than ableism. like those are very real things in his life but she never points out any current violent behavior, of which there are none, only the one (1) instance of him lashing out when he was like 14 and Officially Diagnosed Low Empathy she thinks is a concern and Hateful Looks toward her since he stopped getting along with her, that's it. i tried explaining to her why i, someone who's lived w him his entire life, can vouch for how unlikely he is to do anything like that, especially when it's again not based on anything he's actually currently doing except for isolating in a way that is much more indicative of him potentially being a danger to himself than anyone else, and being cold towards her specifically, and i thought she had let it go, but when i brought it up off-hand in a conversation tangentially related, she continued to defend and justify her Concern about the potential directions his behavior could lead to because [checks notes] other people in similar situations have lashed out and killed their entire families according to. true crime books or videos she's watched on youtube as far as i'm aware. ignoring the fact that her and i have had the same or Worse childhood abuse and have acted similarly isolated in the past, or for her literally just as currently as him, and she's not expressed any worry past or present about either of us doing anything like that, in my opinion obviously because i haven't cut her off due to our differences like he decided to. like am i big sibling biased because this is pissing me off so bad.

[jeepersjpeg]

•°☆{🕯🥤🎒💡}☆°•

[sharkneto]

Hey, sorry if this is a bit of a personal question - and feel free to ignore it if it is - but how did you know you wanted to start hrt? I am someone who IDs as transmasc and knows in an ideal world, I would've loved to have been born a guy. But the idea of going on hormones is terrifying because I can't figure out if I really want it... I worry about regretting it, or it making me 'unappealing' physically, or my friends judging me for it. Did you ever struggle with similar worries?

I think every person thinking about and starting HRT goes through this. A rite of passage, if you will, and also not a bad thing to do. HRT is a big step, some of the changes (especially on T) are irreversible. It's good to think through if it's a choice that's right for you or not.

That said, it's also Just A Thing You Can Do. I first started really questioning my gender at the end of 2020 (thank you, Elliot Page, for coming out and making me go "oh shit, you can do that?"). I got a therapist to talk about gender... Mid 2022? And started hormones spring 2023, top surgery a year later.

Before getting the therapist, I spent over a year Just Thinking About It. And a lot of the thoughts were around the changes on T and if I'd like them or not or if I'd regret them. If I'd be ugly, after being conventionally attractive as a woman.

It hits a point, though, where eventually you have to pull the plug one way or another. I spent a lot of time thinking about how my body would change on T. A Lot. With longing. I caught myself putting things off Until I Knew For Sure and because I didn't want to do it while being perceived as a woman. I was sitting, treading water for a hypothetical Later that I could start moving towards at any time. I was scared for the Teenage Round 2 phase, and didn't want to spend months being "ugly and awkward", but then the months passed anyway and I was still in the same spot.

HRT isn't an all-or-nothing thing, you can ease into it on a low dose. My doctor started me on a low dose and we ramped up over months. Some T changes can start pretty quickly (voice dropping, bottom growth - this isn't true for everyone, but was true for me). If these changes excite you, make you feel good - great! Keep going! If they scare you, feel wrong - stop. Assess. Figure out what about it isn't right (a gender therapist for all of this process is a Huge Help). In early days if you stop T, the changes can revert, for the most part. But you can always stop at any time.

The bigger thing I actively worked to wrap my head around before starting HRT is - Who Cares If You're Wrong? What's right for you now might not be right for you later. The idea of detransitioning was scary to me, society has such a weird spotlight on it, the Right uses people who have detransitioned as props against transition. But it shouldn't matter. At the end of the day, if I do change my mind, I'll know myself better, and I don't think it's wrong to chase and find comfort in your own body.

A year+ on T, I've mostly made it through the ugly duck phase, I think. I was lucky, I didn't get bad acne or get too oily or anything (after having horrible acne in my first puberty). Most of what I dealt with was the chronic baby face, where I was getting read as male but a teenager - I'm almost 30 and a woman wanted to card me over a free T-shirt at a baseball game because it had beer logos on it. After some middle months of changes and going "oh my god what am I doing" and not feeling confident in how this was all going to turn out, I think of myself as relatively attractive and I think I'm just going to get more vain as my beard comes in. Some of that is physical, sure, but I think a significant amount of that is me feeling more confident in myself and liking the body I'm in more. I was never a selfie or picture person, now I am. I joke I'm like a budgie, always looking at myself if there's a reflective surface nearby. I'm more excited to exercise, I'm interested in lifting weights for the first time, I'm curious what my body on T can do and become. Keep your eyes on the pieces that are going well, the changes exciting you, and let the rest catch up.

My social circle helped a lot. I'm very lucky and blessed to have great friends and family, all of whom are supportive. If you don't have friends who are supportive of you, that are judging you for exploring yourself rather than lifting you up for it, it's a sign to expand the social circle and find ones that are. Family is harder, but that's a thing you have to navigate for yourself and find your own boundaries for.

So, there's no ~one moment~ where you're 100% certain that medical transition is right for you. It's a huge unknown and you're changing the body you've had your entire life. At some point, though, you just have to jump and see how it lands. Part of being alive is making mistakes and doing things you might regret.

That said, the regret rate for trans people is something like 3%. The regret rate for knee surgery is something like 20%. Trust yourself.

[here-there-were-dragons]

i have to wonder what super hardcore militant vegans think should be done about obligate carnivore animals, because in all my painfully-rapidly-approaching-30-years i've literally never actually seen anyone give a clear consistent much less halfway feasible answer on that

[shadowslocked]

Man, I’m so torn up for Baghera because it isn’t in her character to bring up Forever attacking Leo, she in general seemed more focus on the debate than attacking others for their faults but because she branched the possibility of somebody bringing that topic up not very tactfully

(which is a fair since the questions are audience submitted- also I don’t think Foolish would do it but I have to wonder if he was heated enough but even then Foolish is pretty used to getting heckled to the point of madness. Either way, it’s best to be prepared)

Forever and Cellbit now suspect she might bring it up as a point against Forever.

And it’s so much turmoil watching Baghera try to reassure them that she has no interest in such tatics and cares about them, but they still hold doubt enough to act on it by Cellbit interrupting her during the debates when he thought she was bringing it up

And I just wonder what will happen when Cellbit reveals, if he does, why he did it. Because Baghera wants to Forever to trust her but then learns that in the end he thought she would sink that low? Maybe she’ll understand Forevers viewpoint and things will smooth out.

But also I could see her being frustrated because it’s hard not to feel that way when, from your perspective, your intentions are misinterpreted and the people you trust the most refuse to have the same faith and you.

And yet MAN I can get Forevers fear and how that rules his judgement, especially in such heated times

[cerealbishh]

"Once again, interfering with all your outlaw crap. Nothing's changed."

"At least I own what I am. Can you say the same?"

[truly-fantastic-me]

I don't know who needs to hear this-you know what? Yes, I do. This is a PSA for the motherfuckers who think it's okay to take someone's boundary in bad faith just because it was said in a way that "triggered" them. Needing direct communication doesn't make someone "controlling." Not hiding from you when you happen to be in the same fucking building doesn't make someone a "bully."

No one, except for your perpetrators if you have any, is responsible for your triggers. No, I'm not saying it's your fault you have those triggers. Yes, I am saying that it's up to you to deal with them. While your friends, family, and significant others can help you deal with your triggers, they sure as shit ain't responsible for dealing with them for you. Be safer! Do better!

[underthehedge]

I've found tone tags to be consistently confusing, particularly how a number of them are already well known acronyms or abbreviations (because its a shitshow of both). I mean, hj? pos? Handjob and "piece of shit"/"HIV positive" respectively. Of course, acronyms can and do have multiple meanings, which are often context dependent, and that's fine. But tone indicators seem to be beyond un-intuitive to me.

I once had a disagreement about how helpful they were with someone on reddit, who was insistent that they're helpful for neurodivergent people (not this neurodivergent person, nor the majority of people I've since asked about it) and how you "just had to google them and learn them". I was then linked to a carrd which contained a list and it was just...not good. There were like 85 tags to learn, and a solid third of them did not, in fact, indicate any sort of conversational tone.

One of my biggest gripes with them though is that half the ones I see recommended are things that are just, things you say in the sentence. The list included things like /ao "an order", or the original concept of tagging with something for "genuine question" which is, look if you are talking to people out loud you qualify that by just saying "genuine question". You do not need a tone tag for it, you can just say the words like you would anyway.

The biggest thing though is that we already have a highly accessible system for clarifying tone over text, and it's called stating your tone. If someone has to ask me or go off and google what I mean by /t (which apparently means teasing, like yeah that's obvious), I have not made communication easier.

actually you know what that's exactly it i would rather someone add 5 parantheticals after every sentence than use tone indicators it's 1. accomplishing SO much more in terms of clarity 2. extremely funny to look at depending on how they're used

[adamantine-ribbon]

I fucking hate pronoun circles

[iamthedukeofurl]

Discworld is an interesting beast in the age of ACAB. Like, the city watch books are a story about police and the way in which a good police force can help and protect people. Which would make it copoganda. And I'm not going to say that the City Watch books are completely free of copoganda, but they also do something interesting that fairly few stories about heroic police officers do, and I think it has a lot to do with Samuel Vimes. A lot of copoganda stories like, say, Brooklyn 99, are perfectly capable of portraying cops as cruel, bigoted, and greedy, but our central cast of characters are portrayed as good people who want to help their communities. The result is that the bad cops are portrayed as an aberration, while most cops can be assumed to be good people doing a tough job because they want to help protect people from the nebulous evil forces of "Crime". The police are considered to be naturally heroic. Pratchett does something very interesting, which is provide us with Vimes' perspective, and present us with an Unnaturally heroic police force. In Ahnk-Morpork, the natural state of the watch is a gang with extra paperwork. It's the place for people who, at best, just want a steady paycheck and at worst want an excuse to hit people with a truncheon. Rather than be an army defending people from the forces of Crime, the Watch is described as a sort of sleight-of-hand, big burly watchmen in shiny uniforms don't stand around in-case a Crime happens in their vicinity, they stand around to remind people that The Law exists and has teeth. The Watchmen are people, when danger rears it's head, their instinct is to hide and get out of the way. When faced with authority, their instinct is to bow to it out of fear of what it might do to them if they don't. Carrot is a genuine Hero, but his natural heroism is presented as an aberration. Normal Cops don't act like Carrot does. The fact that the Watch ends up acting like a Heroic Police Force is largely due to the leadership of Sam Vimes, but Vimes himself is a microcosm of the Watch. The base state of Sam Vimes would be an alchoholic bully of an officer, one who beats people until they confess to anything because that makes his job easier. Vimes The Hero is a homunculous, an artificial being created by Sam Vimes fighting back all those instincts and FORCING himself to behave as his conscience dictates. Vimes doesn't take bribes or let his officers do the same because, damnit, that sort of thing shouldn't happen, even if doing so would make things a lot easier. Vimes doesn't run towards sounds of screaming because he WANTS to, he forces himself to do so because somebody needs to. It's best summed up in Thud “Quis custodiet ipsos custodes? Your Grace.” “I know that one,” said Vimes. “Who watches the watchmen? Me, Mr. Pessimal.” “Ah, but who watches you, Your Grace?” said the inspector with a brief little smile. “I do that, too. All the time,” said Vimes. “Believe me.”

In the hands of another writer, or another series, this exchange would be weirdly dismissive. To whom should the police be accountable to? Themselves, shut up and trust us. But from Vimes, it's a different story. Vimes DOES constantly watch himself, and he doesn't trust that bastard, he's known him his entire life. The Heroic Police are not a natural state, they're an ideal, and ahnk-morpork only gets anywhere close. Vimes is constantly struggling against his own instincts to take shortcuts, to let things slide, but he forces himself to live up to that ideal and the Watch follows his example. Discworld doesn't propose any solutions to the problems with policing in the real world. We don't have a Sam Vimes to run the NYPD and force them to behave. We don't have a Carrot Ironfounderson. But it's at least a story about detectives and police that I can read without feeling like I'm being sold propaganda about the Thin Blue Line.

[lumu]

Call out post for [Newly Popular User Here]

[Newly Popular User Here] is a [broad, vague accusation]. They've been posting [accusatory term] content and their success is based in it.

Here are examples of this egregious behavior.

[Link to content depicting a very common trope in media that has been echoed and parodied by hundreds of people already]: [The most bad-faith interpretation you've ever seen]

[Link to content]: [The biggest stretch of all time, followed by the new most bad-faith interpretation you've ever seen]

The comments:

"I ALWAYS HATED [user] AND COULD NEVER PUT A FINGER ON WHY!"

"People still put [user] on my dash despite everything and I'm 🤨"

"THIS, can we stop giving [user] a platform in [current year]?"

"Hey guys, I went several months back through their account, and it looks like the creator has issued an apology and done their best to avoid [action] months ago. They didn't realize it could come off as [term] and it wasn't done maliciously."

"@ the user above me, how does that boot taste?"

"Any mutuals who post [user], I'm disappointed in you."

"If you don't reblog this, you're saying that your funny content is more important than [oppressed group]"

Notes: 20,000

[infiniteglitterfall]

Right????

That's one of the most widespread forms of antisemitism.

This is why, for so many people, Hamas's actions during its literal invasion are held up to a very high standard of proof, while anything Israel is said to have done is assumed to not only be true, but be much worse than you're hearing.

People consistently disbelieve statements Israel, or Jews, make about what's happening and what Hamas is doing, even when Hamas doesn't dispute them. It doesn't really even have to dispute them, and it knows that.

"The top US diplomat involved in humanitarian assistance for Gaza denied allegations that Hamas has stolen aid and commercial shipments into the enclave, saying that no Israeli official has presented him or the Biden administration with 'specific evidence of diversion or theft of assistance....'"

But he did say Hamas uses delivery channels to "shape where and to whom assistance goes."

And that the police force that was guarding the aid trucks included Hamas members.

And that aid distribution is hampered by "the rising value of humanitarian assistance" leaking into the black market.

And this article includes a screenshot of "Armed, masked men reportedly affiliated with Hamas... atop trucks carrying humanitarian aid that arrived in the Gaza Strip via Egypt's Rafah crossing, December 17, 2023."

And there are approximately one gazillion tweets from people in Gaza about Hamas 'N' Friends stealing humanitarian aid and selling what they don't want on the black market.

And Palestinian human rights activist Bassem Eid has posted about it repeatedly. And so has Palestinian human rights activist Ahmed Fouad Alkhatib, who worked for months to get air drops and a provisional port for aid, specifically so that Hamas couldn't steal it.

And Hamas has never denied stealing aid, or as far as I can tell even been asked about it.

But yeah no. It's probably just another Jewish lie attempting to cover up genocide.

On Twitter there are currently a lot of Christians and Muslims getting really angry about ways that Jews work around restrictions on work during Shabbat, and, like, honestly I do not understand why they care? Just a lot of non-Jews telling nice Orthodox Jews that they’re doing their religion wrong for no reason.

[roanofarcc]

A MISJUDGMENT

pairing. tyler owens x fem!reader

summary. when kate drags you back to the home for a one-week stint to help out one of her old friends, you meet tyler owens. the uncouth cowboy and his reckless actions when dealing with something as dangerous as tornados almost instantly prick your nerves until you realize maybe there's more to the cowboy than meets the eye.

warnings. description of tornados, a curse word or two, slightly inaccurate meteorological info, reader is from the midwest.

word count. 2k || masterlist

a.n. did not expect my other fic to get so much love!! sending kisses to everyone who sent me such nice words <3 and I am having a ball with all of the wonderful requests I'm getting!!

The difference between the Oklahoma and New York was more jarring than you remembered. The wide-open skies and fields that stretched for miles were a distantly familiar sight as you stepped out of the truck. You had grown up in the Midwest, smack dab in the middle of tornado alley, which meant your youth was spent listening to your cautious mother warn you every tornado season of the dangers the storms posed so you’d always be prepared when worst came to worst. You’d hunkered down more time than you could count in your storm cellar, listening to doors rattling and the radio speak. Your father was less cautious; he enjoyed watching the storms roll in on the front porch as he listened to the distant hum of sirens. 

You’d never been a fan of storms, not like your father. They made you nervous; the unpredictably and devastating destruction wasn’t something you found fascinating enough to chase.

Moving to New York was a culture shock but you were lucky enough to score to a job working in tandem with someone who also grew up in tornado alley. You and Kate quickly became friends, bonding over your upbringing and knowledge of the weather. She had opened up to you about her storm-chasing days, all ending with the tragedy that took the lives of three people she loved. Her story only cemented your opinion of storm chasing; it was too risky. But she had suckered you in with your love for the science behind weather, and the next thing you know you were in Oklahoma with Kate and a friend of hers on a one-week mission.

You stuck back with the team in charge of reading the data the chasers collected. Your apprehension wasn’t thwarted by Kate’s reassurance, but you’d always known her to be smart and she knew those storms better than anyone. Your distaste for storm chasers was not because of those there for the science of it all, but rather those who did it for the thrill. 

Tyler Owens was exactly the kind of person you expected to drive into tornados with no regard for the danger. What he was doing, from what you gathered from Javi’s brief explanation, was for entertainment and the excitement of facing down peril, laughing in the face of it. 

You stretched in the nighttime air as Kate closed the truck door behind her and turned to you with the same unsure smile she’d been carrying around since you arrived in Oklahoma. You could tell her feelings were mixed about being back there, but you also saw the spark of enjoyment she was slowly relighting. 

“I’ll go check us in,” Kate said, gesturing to the front office of the motel before she took off. You leaned against the side of Javi’s truck, yawning and taking in the scene of more storm chasers lounging around the motel’s lot, enjoying each other’s company as you all waited for another storm to pop up amidst the outbreak. 

The sound of boots under gravel approached you, belonging to none other than Tyler Owens himself. “How ‘ya holding up, city girl?” he said. 

He introduced himself to you and Kate when you first arrived with Javi, meeting his team and the other groups of chasers who were all gunning after the same storm. She had told him the two of you were in from New York for the week, and he assumed that meant you both were born and raised there. Maybe you had lost your Midwest twang during your stay, but no matter how far you moved away, a piece of you would always remain there. 

“Just fine, thank you,” you replied. His team had set up not far from where you two stood; they all seemed busy working on their equipment, but their work was often cut by howls of laughter. They seemed to be enjoying themselves more than Javi’s team was. They’d all split up into separate rooms for the night, so they’d be ready to leave first thing in the morning. 

He rested his arm against the bed of the truck, making himself comfortable as he too looked out across the lot at the people. “I’ve always wanted to visit New York City,” he said, surprising you. That seemed like the last place someone like him wanted to go. “What’s it like?” 

You shrugged. “A lot different than this.” You looked upwards at the sky, seeing stars blinking back at you. The skies were never that dark in New York City, but the towering buildings made for a cool scene too. “I haven’t lived there too long, though. I’m still figuring it out.” You were still trying to gauge if you liked it more than home. You liked the hustle and bustle most of the time, but being back under starry skies and open plains, you had to admit you missed it a little. 

“Really?” he furrowed his brows. “Where’d you move from?” 

“Kansas.” 

He smiled in disbelief. “Well, I’ll be damned. City girl’s not actually a city girl after all.” 

“I’m full of surprises.” 

“I’m seein’ that.” Tyler was quiet for a moment before he asked, “Do you miss it?” 

You weren’t sure why he asked or why he seemed to care, but you answered regardless. “Sometimes. Not so much the storms though.” 

He laughed. “Yet, you’re out here storm chasing anyway?” 

“I’m just here to help my friend; their business is to help people. That kind of storm chasing I can get behind, I guess. Yours on the other hand…” You trailed off, and he scoffed in mock offense. 

“My kind of business is to face my fears.” 

It was your turn to scoff. “By putting yourself and your friends in danger for…what, exactly? Your internet audience? I know plenty of people like you from back home. You’re reckless and irresponsible.” You saw Kate waving you down by the stairs of the motel, flashing a set of room keys in the air. You said nothing more to Tyler, didn’t even give him a chance to defend himself, before you walked off and into your room for the night

You’d seen devastation before following a tornado, but it was still a harrowing sight. Homes flattened, family belongings flung miles away, and people left hurt in the ruins of their town. You, Kate, and all of Javi’s team arrived just as the storm subsided and the damage was fresh as wounds many of the townspeople bared. You wasted no time going around to help people; Kate did the same. 

An old woman sat in her front yard, carefully cradling windchimes in her arms. “Are you all right?” you asked, kneeling down in the wet grass in front of her. She looked up slightly startled but smiled kindly as she shook her head. “Oh, no. I’m just fine, dear, thank you.” 

“Here you go, Ms. Riley,” a familiar voice sounded from behind you. You turned your head just as Tyler appeared, holding a small box in one hand and a little kitten in the other. The woman, Ms. Riley, gasped and sat her windchimes back on the grass. She took the kitten, teary-eyed, as it purred. “There’s food there too. Make sure you eat, and if you need more my team’s got a table set up just down the road, all right?” 

“Thank you,” she said. 

Tyler said nothing to you as he began to walk away, but you followed him, not catching up with him until he was at a little table surrounded by his team. They had a stack of brown boxes they were handing out, filled with sandwiches one of the members was making quickly. They also handed out bottles of water to the line of people who had just been affected by the storm. 

One of his team members smiled at you, holding out a box of food. “You hungry?” they asked, but you shook your head. 

“No. These people need it, but thanks.” 

You weren’t sure for a moment that Tyler was going to say a word to you. You hadn’t left your last conversation on the nicest note, only to find him and his team working hard to help the ravaged neighborhood. 

But he turned toward you for a moment, looking a little conflicted. “At least take a water,” he said before looking at another member of his team. “Lily, can you take some boxes up the road? There’re  some people who can make it all the way down here.” She nodded, filling her arms with the boxes before she took off.

You were quiet for a moment, staring at Tyler as he and his team came up with a plan to help and feed as many people as they could before night fell. You felt a complicated set of feelings topple over you. And as Tyler started to walk away, you surged forward and grabbed his arm, forcing him to turn around. 

“What can I do to help?” 

Together, you and Tyler spent the rest of the afternoon helping members of the neighborhood find their lost belongings and connected anyone with injuries to the EMTs working overtime. It wasn’t until the sun started to set that you took a break, finding a blown-away lawn chair that was still usable to sit on. All day you had eaten your judgment and first impression of Tyler and his team. Maybe they all were reckless and a little irresponsible in their storm-chasing, but they were doing just as Kate was, helping people, just differently. He and his team apparently did that often and were some of the first responders to the damage the tornados they chased caused. You had overheard Lily tell Kate they used the money from their t-shirt sales to buy food for victims of the storm. 

“Hey,” Tyler greeted, approaching you with two boxes of food. “Here.” He handed onto to you before he found a seat and pulled it up beside you. 

You thanked him before the two of you ate in silence for a little while. Some of the debris had been picked up, but the wrecked houses haunted the street. You’d been lucky enough to never lose your home turning a storm, but you knew too many people who had. It was terrible. That was why you had gotten a metrology degree. You had witnessed the devastation storms brought and even though you were trapped behind a computer most days, your goal was to help improve warning systems for all kinds of disasters and ensure that people knew the best way to prepare for them, but it wasn’t foolproof. Sometimes all there was to do was help pick up the pieces in the wake. 

“I think I misjudged you,” you said, breaking the silence. 

“Yeah?” He smiled slightly, his face warmly illuminated by the ironically beautiful sunset. “Are you taking back the reckless and irresponsible comment?” 

“No.” You smiled too. “But maybe that’s not such a bad thing. You guys did a good thing here, helping these people.” 

Maybe there was more to him than you had originally believed. 

“It’s all a part of the job,” he said, a bit too casually for all of the work they actually did to help; one could say he was humble about it, which confused you even more. From the second he climbed out of his truck the first time you saw him, you were so sure you knew exactly the kind of guy he was. 

“You aren’t exactly how I expected you to do,” you said, honestly. 

He seemed to take that in stride, smirking at you bright enough to bring heat to your face. “Well, if you stick around, you might even get to like me.” 

You laughed. “Don’t push your luck, cowboy.” But you had a feeling he right be right. The week wasn’t over yet; you still had time to figure out exactly who Tyler Owens was.