#so be incredibly respectful and moderate sounding and just be like

[tzimtzum]

Hey everyone! In light of the UK's puberty blocker ban I'm dropping back in to share the advice of my relative who works in parliament: email your local MP and tell them you will not vote for them in the next election if this doesn't change. even better, get your parents or other older people in your community to do it - labour has shown again and again that those are the votes they most want.

TERFs are a small but very vocal minority who have given many MPs the impression of a much larger voting base than they actually represent. The best thing you can do right now is convince your MP that this will lose them more votes than it will gain.

you can find contact details for your local MP here (x) and it will only take five minutes to email them! There are email templates floating around that you can use for inspiration, but please personalise it in your own words or they're likely to be treated as spam.

[shapeshiftersvt]

M'Mothm'n.

Here's the thing about the Mothman. Even though he scared the ever-living shit out of the people who saw him, the speculation around him has become, over the years, actually very kind. What if he's only here to help? What if he's trying to warn us about impending disaster? What if that horrible feeling you got that something wasn't right, what if that was the Mothman telling you to look out, be careful, danger is coming, doom is nigh?

It's one thing to be a harbinger of doom; there are apparitions of ghostly black dogs all over the world that will give you that, red eyes and all. It's another to have one who actually means well.

I'm going to be an Old Queer for a minute, now, and talk about gay politics in the USA as I watched it over the past thirty years. My experience is my own; my history is shared, but not universal. Sound off in a reblog if you saw it happen differently. I want your story, too.

There’s a certain line the right wing in this country likes to use against The Gays, one I’ve heard since I was a small child. It goes: queer people are threatening our way of life. Queer people are the pebbles that start the avalanche of apocalypse, the collapse of civilization as we know it. If marriage becomes something other than Man + Woman, or if Man and Woman become something other than we think they are, then we will lose everything we know and love.

The rise of the Respectable Gay in the 1990s was a pushback against this. “See,” cried Degeneres and Savage and all the rest, “see how we’re so very normal? We want to get married and buy a house and have 2.1 kids and a white picket fence. Our marriage doesn’t threaten yours. How could it? We’re just normal, ordinary, white, moderately wealthy, people. We're like you."

This move shifted the narrative across the 90s and 00s. Homosexuality was officially decriminalized in '03, and we got gay marriage in 2015, and every year in between there was another Influential Gay Person saying "I just want to get married, that's all." There were even commercials about it, remember? “Gay marriage is just like yours. Only gayer.”

But... in the mid-2010s this was already wearing thin. Transgender people, gender non-conforming people, gays who didn’t go in for two-person marriage, everyone in the greater LGBTQ+ umbrella who had thrown their support behind gay marriage and waited our turn to get our rights; we'd all been mobilizing, too. We'd been putting together our own coalitions, under the aegis of the greater umbrella or not. And, here's the crux: we were, in fact, threatening the right-wing Christian ways of life. Just by existing in public, by talking and writing and performing and living our lives during the Transgender Tipping Point, trans and non-binary people like me were challenging the foundational definitions of Man and Woman as exclusive, all-encompassing categories of humanity.

It wasn't just the right, either. Straight liberals who were totally on board with gay marriage would look at us and say, "um, wait, really? Really, like that? Do you have to?" The discomfort was palpable. This was my experience with my own family; they were fine with me dating and getting married, but a new set of pronouns was forcing something on them. It was hurting something intrinsic to their identities. It was, in a very real way, threatening them.

I'm happy and grateful to say that most of them learned to discard the parts of their own foundations that excluded me from existence. This is rarely easy for anyone. I'm honestly proud of those members of my family who have learned to look the Mothman in the eyes, so to speak, and think, "He's just here to help."

("Pop your hood up," I told this model, "and look at them. They should see their impending death in your eyes."

Layton is an incredible model, a great human, and they know and love the Mothman. They knew exactly what I meant.)

It can be awful, sometimes. When I'm unapologetically myself in public, I can walk past a line of protesters at Planned Parenthood and see the hostility rise up, the anger and revulsion and fear. And I do think it is fear, at the core of it. I think something in them knows that I'm just one of 2.6 million transgender people out here, living my life, casually being a harbinger of their doom.

Next time they come to Brattleboro, I ought to greet them with red glasses and a twelve-foot wingspan.

[llamaqueenprompt]

Love in the Spotlight

Characters: Dylan O'Brien, Reader, Tyler Posey

Not Requested

Word Count: 702

Inspiration: “This sounds a lot like a marriage proposal.” “Maybe it is.”

Since they met five years prior on the set of Teen Wolf, Dylan O’Brien and y/n l/n had been inseparable. They were always together and when they weren’t, they were probably face timing or texting one another non-stop. So when their relationship evolved to a status of way more than friends no one was really shocked.

And this was their first Comic Con as an out in the world couple. 

“Are you nervous?” Dylan asked, his fingers gently running through her hair.

“A little,” she raised from his lap to meet his gaze, “You?”

“No more than my first time” they softly laughed,  taking their last couple of minutes to relax on the couch.

“Everyone get ready you’ll be on stage in 10”

Dylan stood up and extended his hand to y/n, “Ready?” She just grabbed his hand and they got ready to enter.

“An applause for y/n!” The fans clapped and whistled as she walked into the stage with the biggest smile on her face and waving at them. She got to her seat and Dylan pulled out her chair for her before settling into the one beside her. His hand remained on the back of her chair while they clapped for the rest of the cast to enter the stage and make their way to their seats.

“Well, by now most of you know the rules but I will repeat them just in case. Everyone will be able to ask a question, our team will let you know when it’s your turn. Be respectful to the actors and the other fans that are here with you. And most importantly of all, have a good experience,” everyone clapped as the moderator took their seat.

The panel started smoothly, with the cast answering questions about their time on Teen Wolf and sharing funny stories from the set. Dylan and y/n sat side by side, occasionally exchanging loving glances and smiles, making the fans go crazy and already think of the edits they would do later.

“Y/n,” the girl in question took her attention away from Dylan and looked at the fan with a soft smile, “what was the most memorable moment for you during your time on Teen Wolf!”

“Well,” she looked around thinking for her second, “there were so many incredible moments on set, just the opportunity of being on this show with all these amazing people is as memorable as it gets,” everyone chuckled waiting for her to continue, already guessing what she was going to say next, “but if I had to pick one, it would be the day I met Dylan. It was the start of a beautiful journey, not just in our careers but in our lives. That moment was truly special.”

Dylan, with his head leaning on his hand, looked at his girlfriend with heart eyes and reached out to softly kiss her on the temple to which she responded by grabbing his hand and closing her eyes for a moment. The fans in the audience cheered loudly at the sweet moment between the two actors.

As the Q&A session continued, another fan stepped up to the microphone and asked, “Dylan, can you tell us what your future plans are? Both in your career and personal life,”

“Great question first of all, I’ve had some incredibles experiences in my career, and I hope to continue working on projects that excite me and that mean something to me. But when it comes to my personal life,” Dylan paused for a moment, looking at Sophia with a twinkle in his eye, “I do hope to see a big flower arch in my near future.”

The fans started whispering after his response, “Does that mean what I think it means?” Tyler Posey asked, already knowing the answer.

“Yes it does.” Dylan said with a goofy smile on his face and eyes glued to y/n’s surprise face totally ignoring the screams from the fans.

“This sounds a lot like a marriage proposal,” Sophia said with a hint of a smile on her face.

“Maybe it is,” Dylan whispered in her ear before kissing her forehead, “you will have to wait and see.”

[compacflt]

pre-publishing notes for slider (actually i meant to poast this yesterday i just forgor 💀), just to put them out there

as per usual i peddle an extreme amount of mis- and straight up disinformation about the aerospace & defense industries in this one. as a general rule of thumb if it sounds like i researched it poorly and/or made it up, that’s because i researched it poorly and/or made it up. like every scene i was like ‘that wouldn’t happen :D’ and wrote it anyway

this one-shot renders my third one-shot (about ice & hangman) entirely obsolete, as if the rooster one-shot didn’t already do that. so just ignore the hangman one. (i only wrote that one cause i felt bad about tagging my fics hangster when they’re barely in it.) Also, this one-shot kind of directly contradicts the end scene of “debriefing” in pretty much every way. i don’t really care, because this is a much stronger ending, but just throwing that out there—this one-shot doesn’t really jive with my other writing for plot/character arc reasons & im too lazy/sick and tired of my other writing to go back and retcon any of it

i only research things i am mandated to by school/a job/journalistic code of ethics, or that i think are interesting, or that i know will not depress me. divorce depresses me so i did not research divorce. Also im pretty sure marriage doesn’t work the way i described it “sign the papers & that’s it” but idgaf . shrug. im having fun

something i Didn’t make up, though: the thesis that iraq/afghanistan went so poorly in the long term partly because our armed services & especially that generation of commanding officers were prepared for total warfare with a near-peer (like the ussr) instead of counterinsurgency tactics against mountain-based guerrilla warfare-stratted forces (like Al-q*eda etc). that’s a very real thesis that ive read in multiple mil history books (“the generals,” ricks; “mil history for the modern strategist,” ohanlon) & co-opted because it’s kind of, in a fucked up way, a good metaphor for ice’s whole deal—he’d been expecting a traditional officer’s life with a woman etc (aka traditional warfare against the ussr, the us’ sworn enemy) and instead found happiness in the weirdest of places, another dude (aka guerrilla warfare) and no one taught him the right strategy for dealing with that; so, pigheadedly, like some US commands in the Middle East for a decade, he just dug in his heels & refused to budge/change his "total traditional war/heteronormative"-based strategy even if it obviously wasn’t working.

In a similar vein just so i can beat the allegations that im strategically dumb, the “strategies” against the ussr the boys are playing with in the usna section are intentionally the most dogshit strategies on earth. do not invade russia in a land war. especially not when nukes are on the table. the point is they’re ALL bad at strategy (strat as a metaphor for interpersonal communication).

i get the words “moderate” and “modulate” confused a lot. there’s a couple times in this one when I use moderate and mean modulate. Now it’s too late to edit it. by which i mean i am too lazy. editing anything on ao3 is a Sisyphean task. not worth it.

there's a lot to be said about my ice & maverick's respectability, which is to say, as slider points out, their life together is incredibly normie and boring and regular, except that they're two guys. like there's nothing super subversive going on here. "in the grand scheme of things is this really so bad?" is the question. politically this is a little funky. for metatextual character-arc reasons ice has to agree to an official marriage to prove that by the end he's not afraid to legally legitimize their relationship, but the heteroflexible/straight-passing/socially conservative ice & mav that I have written also probably aren't the kind of guys to acknowledge the struggle & strife & subversiveness of the queer community before them that fought for them to have that right. to quote from an essay by Lauren berlant & Michael Warner ("Sex in public"): "Respectable gays [ice & mav, distancing themselves from other gays] like to think that they owe nothing to the sexual subculture they think of as sleazy. But their success, their way of living, their political rights, and their very identities would never have been possible but for the existence of the public [visibly queer] sexual culture they now despise." just throwing that out there as something that is weighing on my mind having now finished writing this. I think that issue (ice & mav's relationship with/debt to the lgbt community) could be explored with a character like rooster, who might be much more a part of that struggle (especially pre-dadt-repeal)...but idk where or how I would write about it. just something to chew on. I keep finding different ways to politically interpret what I myself have already written which then keeps leading to more fucking one-shots. This slider one for instance was a reinterpretation from the 1980s Cold War politics lens of nuclear doomsday & how that affected a generation of men making shitty/suicidal decisions about their lives. an endless cycle for me. "just one more interpretation...i swear just one more..."

[reactivatedrockstar]

EYO! This post is pinned because I can't do pages on mobile! Therefore, it will contain all the information you need to know about my boundaries, this AU, and my portrayal of Bonnie! I know I said to read all of it before following, but HONESTLY you only really need to read the rules unless you plan to have threads. (My headcanon tag is Merchandise {Headcanons} if you want to read up, just don't reblog please.) All that you need is under the

Rules

I am on mobile, so my tags are very minimal.

Do not reblog threads you are not apart of.

I'm lenient about this, but do not reblog art or memes from here, as it clogs up my feed.

Don't poop on the floor

I am a mobile user. Maybe once in a while, I'll pop onto a computer at the library to fine tune posts like this, but it's hard, if not impossible for me to use the site to its full extent. As such, icons will not be used, tags will be scarce, and trimming posts will not be done the way I like.

Trimming posts are a strange area. I have adhd and autism, so the best way for a thread to be trimmed is with the last response still attached. This way I can remember what's going on in the thread, which will lead to an overall better rp experience.

RESPECT MY FUCKING BOUNDARIES. I've had some issues with one individual who sucked me into this Fandom, they refused to take no for an answer, and forced me to rp an incest ship. This has scared me away from the rpc for years. If I say no, it does not mean "convince me," it means no. I have a three strikes your out policy.

I have a full-time job as a daycare teacher. I am not always online. Do not pester me for replies.

I have kept up with the lore moderately well, but if I don't know something, or have forgotten something, do not bully me. I have zero tolerance for it. You respect me, and I respect you.

The AU

Prior to the events of security breach, Monty was a new animatronic that was incredibly jealous of Bonnie. He didn't understand why he got to be on the stage when he played the bass even better than he did!! This resentment eventually lead for Monty to do the unthinkable. He asked to talk to Bonnie, where he threw him against the wall, slashed his torso open, ripped out the wires, and smashed a bowling ball into his head. Once the deed was done, Monty then hid the body away where it was never found.

For a whole year, Bonnie lay there, desperately sending some sort of distress signal that was too weak to get through to most of the animatronics. However, the voiceless wetfloor signs began to act strange, making odd sounds and turning to face just about anyone, as a result of this distress signal.

Then, somehow, Freddy found him, and he begged the human staff to help fix him. While they didn't have the right parts to fix him completely, they were able to fix him enough to where he was functional again. Bonnie had absolute no memory of how he came to be in such a state due to data corruption, but he does remember some things, which will easily agitate him and make him aggressive.

Due to his state, Bonnie is unable to interact with guests and do shows, which he misses, so he tends to loiter around behind the scenes where nobody can see him during the day.

In this AU, Gregory waited for the doors to open at 6 in Freddy's room after seeing Vanny and Moondrop, because he was absolutely terrified, however I am willing to negotiate this upon request. (Well, I'm just about willing to negotiate anything lore-wise.)

Bonnie Bunny

First off, Bonnie is non-binary, and his pronouns are he/him. He honestly loves playing around with makeup and facepaint, and of course, playing music. Glamrock Bonnie was one to prioritize self expression to the kids, be it music, facepainting, drawing, makeup, or what have you, and he, obviously, absolutely loves bowling, and is unbeatable at it. Bonnie also has a sense of adventure, and loves doing something new.

However, he remembers bits and pieces of what happened to him, corrupted memories come and go, they make his head hurt, and he doesn't act like himself, and he can become aggressive if not de-escalated. He was also operating somewhat while he was hidden away, and remembers being "asleep," but active, and being so alone. So afraid. So angry. So sad. It's an awful, all-consuming feeling that he couldn't get rid of. He just knew he'd spend the rest of eternity rotting there, helpless. Unable to even speak out and beg for help.

Freddy is his best friend in the whole world. In his programmed backstory, Bonnie was bullied a lot until Freddy started hanging out with him. In turn, Freddy soon started being made fun of in his adolescent years, and Bonnie chased them off as well. According to their backstory, it was them against the world, and they've been an unstoppable duo from the beginning, forming a band and singing duets together. Bonnie could never imagine life without Freddy, and he doesn't want to.

One day, according to his programmed backstory, Freddy and Bonnie were performing, when a pizza-loving chicken had asked if she could take up the mic. They let her, and were absolutely blown away, and added Glamrock Chica to their band. Bonnie deeply cares about Chica, as all friends do, and while he doesn't judge her for her love of junkfood and exercise... he does judge her for eating it out of the garbage. He's pretty sure it's a programming glitch that can't be fixed, but he's gotten damaged prior to the incident trying to stop her in the past. Bonnie means no offense, and doesn't love Chica any less, but he can't stand to watch her eat trash. He and the girls would often do each other's hair, "nails" and make-up just for fun for special events, like Halloween, Christmas, and Saint Patrick's Day, to name a few.

Roxy and Bonnie are chaotic together, but they have some good laughs. Roxy was added as an animatronic in the Pizzaplex at a later time, so he has no programmed backstory pertaining to her, but he still accepts her as one of the band members, and is sometimes even compelled to impress her. He does, sometimes, get afraid of her when she's angry, but he knows that if she ever DID hurt him, it would only be an accident. He's seen the loving and caring side of her, and he loves her for it.

Bonnie has nothing but respect for Monty. He's a cool guy, and he was certain that he'd appeal to teenagers better than he would. He welcomed Monty into the group with open arms, accepting him almost as quickly as Freddy did. And yet... Bonnie gets so afraid of him when he's angry. He'll let him win if it means he won't be angry.... but he would never hurt him... right?

Mun

Honestly, I'm not too sure what I can say about myself. I'm 25+ years old, I work at a daycare, I'm bisexual, she/her pronouns. I am an extremely anxious individual who's terrified of stepping over boundaries or hurting feelings. Since this is a side blog, I can't like starters, so I'll send them to you via dms instead, and if you have anons turned off, I can't send asks either. I'm sory of trying to hide from that person who forced me to rp an incestual ship that made me really uncomfortable, so I'm not using my usual alias. Rest assured that I am following you if I'm sending asks or dming you, I'm always interested. If I'm following you but haven't reached out yet, its probably because I don't have any ideas for interactions. Call me Twoie, if you have to call me anything.

[wild-winder]

》Rules《

Hello.

I go by feral. they/them or she/her.

You might have heard of me. Or maybe not. Ive been around one side of this rpc or another for somewhere around 10 years.

I will turn asks and anons on and off again depending on my safety. if I forget to turn that back on before an ask meme let me know lmao

if you can make it through these rules without being scared off. maybe I will give you a chance. yes they are extremely long. consider it a filter. if you can't handle that. get out. you're already not worth me giving a chance.

I'm well fucking over 18. I am over 30 years old. Get off my lawn. Kids don't belong on Tumblr let alone anywhere near this RP blog. this is 18+ and you need to get the fuck out of here.

I will do icons or iconless threads. I primarily do ic-blogging but I will also do para. I don't always have the energy for threads but I'm willing to adapt.

I am nowhere near as acerbic as these rules make me sound. all of this is essentially fear-biting. but this community leaves me no fucking recourse other than to come in guns drawn. I will keep myself safe. unless you are already friends with me? I do not give a fuck about you. I am here for my safety. this community is too toxic to my well being for me to be anything else.

this blog will be NSFW. all of my blogs will be. though I plan to keep most overt erotic posting to side blogs there will be lurid stuff here and I likely will do sexual sunday stuff here. Get lost if you can't handle it. I'll try to tag such things #nsfw //

in general my tags are in the "#blank //" format but if you have a specific tag you use let me know!

this blog will also feature usage of weed and psychedelics, but no hard drugs.

I have extremely complex and very very harshly enforced rules. I have a lot of needs as a mun. I am not going to apologize for them, because this community at large makes zero effort to make any form of safe space for me to exist in. So instead I will make it myself. If you do not follow these rules you will be blocked for my own safety.

If you find yourself randomly blocked by me and you dont know me, you probably post some triggering shit the algorithm keeps shoving onto my dash so i had to block you to get rid of it. nothing against you. this site just sucks.

I am extremely selective. meaning im very choosy about who I interact with. who i follow. and who follows me. don't take it personal. i have extremely complex triggers that make Tumblr a wildly unsafe environment for me. I can only exist here with extremely harshly enforced boundaries and even then I see shit on here that triggers my intrusive thoughts every single fucking day.

I will only RP with mutuals. I will only RP with non mutuals on very select occasions. often I don't even look at my dash because I don't trust y'all to actually respect my needs and not start reblogging triggering shit because you "forgot." I am so incredibly used to having multiple days of violently intrusive thoughts because some friends "forgot."

and I am so incredibly tired.

I am fat and do have trauma around being fat how I depict big bodies with sexual overtones comes from a place of self acceptance and I will absolutely drag your ass through the dirt if you try and come for me with that. your experience with fatphobia is not mine. I will reclaim my own damn body how I fucking want to and I do not care about your opinion. My body positivity my rules.

I am aggressive and will bite as a mun, I’ve gotten too much bullshit to do otherwise. I have 6 years of experience moderating hyper leftist communities with over 10,000 members. I have heard every brain dead idpol argument in existence. If you try and go to war with me you won't win. Multiple individuals on this platform have tried. None have succeeded. Don't fucking bother. I will beat you.

there are people in this community I do not want to ever see again. if I see you interacting with them I will not start drama. I will not spread rumors. I will just unfollow or block you. that is all.

I do not respect anti vs proship rhetoric and i will not acknowledge or care about it. it's fucking stupid ass teenager culture war nonsense based on radfem terf beliefs worming their way into queer spaces. Get your own disgust-based reflexive politics out of my life because your bullshit is what empowered the current anti-trans wave that's destroying lives. get your worthless ramshackle house in order. you aren't virtue signalling by including it in your rules you're just an idiot.

freaks are absolutely welcome here. freaks and weirdos with every kind of depraved fucked up or silly cartoon deviantart kink imaginable. there might be some things I don't want to see but I will not judge you. yes even for that. yes even for that. I am an ex-furry. There are no kinks that will make me judge you. as long as it is between consenting adults then I don't care.

Please don't stalk my DMs, I am very selective socializing that much especially with people I don't know, its exhausting and puts me on the spot, besides, trying to get me to interact with you that way is a fast way to get me to not do that. Do not see me posting as a right to pester me via dm or on discord. That shit makes me so uncomfortable. I will bite.

this blog is multiverse & multiship. canon is extremely fluid and will change or be rewritten or retconned at any time.

I don’t do actual sex rp with anyone but close friends. do not try. I will block you and retcon any history you have with my characters as blog canon is arbitrary and fluid.

tag shit #feral don't look or #feral dont look

use this tag so I don't have to mind your 4000000 different personalized tagging systems. my safety is about me. not your blog aesthetics.

if you are making it through this. Good for you. I do not require you to automatically send a rules password. I know that can make people anxious. But. If you plan on trying to interact with me, then I need you to include the password "paws up" somewhere. that way I will know you have acknowledged these rules and will abide by them. otherwise I won't interact with you.

dont talk to me about religion and spirituality. yes yours too, even yours. deeply traumatized exvangelical. what beliefs i have are my own and im not interested in yours. that means any mention of demons or angels even in character form. that also counts for witchcraft and such that closely mimics irl spiritual practices. Stuff that's obviously fairy tale fantasy stuff doesn't count. Yes there is a difference between folktales and irl spiritual beliefs. Use your brain. if it's commonly accepted mythological fantasy fun material it's fine. if it is buried in the trappings of modern real world spiritual practices it is not fine.

a dnd wizard is gamey fun fantasy, your irl new age spiritualism is not the same thing. they are not interchangeable. one is made up nonsense for fun and games and the other is a real held real world belief. The latter I do not want to see. and if any game or media specifically draws from those real held real world beliefs. It is off limits for me. and if I see it I will block you.

This means I don't want to see hazbin hotel, this means I don't want to see helluva boss, this means I don't want to see dungeon meshi, this means I don't want to see your edgy demon oc blog. This means I don't want to see your castiel blog. If you get anywhere near me with any of it or reblog or post any of it untagged you will almost certainly be automatically blocked. unless I know you personally and can talk to you about it I am going to just cut you loose without a second thought.

I do not give a fuck about your stupid ass fandom wars over these properties. I need them off my dash because they're triggering. That is the only reason I care. If it involves demons or devils succubi or incubi or deadly sins or hell or angels or heaven or even a stupid pitchfork and demon horns halloween costume any of that horseshit get it the fuck away from me or I will start attacking. I will not be nice to you.

the actual trappings of church or priests or temples are not nearly as triggering as the more metaphysical aspects of religion.

I will not engage with any aspect of settings surrounding that kind of religiousity even in settings my characters are ostensibly in. consider those elements to be retconned even from canon settings I roleplay in. I do not care. No I don't care if yours don't "have a religious theme." if it's got western religious trappings I won't touch it and I will block you.

Japanese yokai don't count. we just call those demons because translators are stupid.

I have other triggers, but people are so incapable of following even this one that I almost don't feel like bothering to bring it up. I don't do alcohol or alcoholism. I don't really like slugs and snails. but they all pale in comparison to how difficult it is to exist in this community with the previously outlined restrictions.

if you made it all the way to the end. good for you. maybe I'll give you a chance. but don't take it personal if I'm not up for it. either way? I greatly appreciate you taking the time to read and understand this.

[dreamingofstarslight]

This is so true.

Not many people who want biden to drop out because of his think that it actually makes him as bad as trump. (personally i think it showed that they are both incredibly childish). A majority of people want him to step down because he sucks.

Biden is 81 years old and most older people like him are going to have cognitive decline especially regarding speech and communication so im not gonna really talk about that (even though that itself is credence to why he should drop out).

In the past, presidential debate have been a space of decorum and respect of your opponent(s) (even if you were lying through your teeth about it). Theyre a moderated event meant to talk about policy, upcoming changes, and the benefits of having a specific person in charge (and the cons of having the other)

This past debate between trump and biden sounded less like a debate about policy and such and more like and argument between a pair of my students (5 years old). There was zero respect shown between the two, it was practically a petty squabble that shouldve been handled in a private setting, not a nationally televised event. That alone shows that biden is no longer fit for office.

There is also the massive point of biden actively funding a genocide, which a good chunk of, literally everyone, have expressly stated that we do not like, want to stop and want aid and other resources sent to help the Palestinian people.

Biden is saying if he is re-elected he’ll reinstate roe v wade, but hes president now. and could reinstate it now. But he wont, because its just an imaginary carrot hes dangling in front of people in hopes they vote for him.

People dont want a candidate that they know is lying to them, a candidate that is going against the wants of the majority, a candidate that squabbles like a child, and definitely not a candidate that you can see the physical and mental decline that comes with old age.

Trump sucks ass. He’s a rapist, a pedofile, a felon, and other such stuff, but the fact of the matter is, with the attempt on his life over the weekend, the pictures taken and the way the situation is being reported on is portraying him as strong.

He is being portrayed as strong. And he has a fan base that views him as a deity, and who will definitely vote for him.

Like thatfizzyyyy said, its important to advocate for a candidate that is not biden, not olny because of the aforementioned reasons, but also because there is a whole group of people who will refuse to vote for biden because it is biden.

He needs to step down and allow for a stronger more respectable and respectful candidate who actually stands a chance at winning

Hey, remember when one of the two Presidential candidates tried to overthrow the lawful government of the United States and install himself as dictator in contravention of the voters?

Well, I'm sure Biden must have done... something that bad, or else why would people be so angry at him?

One of the weird things that doesn't fit to me is people explaining that it doesn't matter that Trump tried to overthrow the government, and install himself as dictator, because really the President isn't that important and his advisors prevent him from doing anything too crazy.

But also, Biden can't be president because the President is really powerful and we can't rely on his advisors to blunt bad decision-making, if the President can't make good decisions it's a deal-breaker.

If we're the victim of a terrorist attack and Trump orders the military to, I don't know, nuke Iran, his advisors will ignore him and do what's best for the country.

But if we're the victim of that same teroris attack and Biden just sounds confused then his advisors will somehow... Be unable to help? Like they'd somehow be energized if Biden says "Nuke Iran" and they'd go off and do something really useful but if he just asks them to use their best judgement they'll be crippled?

I genuinely do not understand how that is supposed to work.

The other idea that doesn't fit is,

"Biden is bad at projecting strength, and Trump is good at it. So the obvious play is for Biden and the Democrats to do the exact opposite of what Trump would do, it's the only way to look as strong as Trump. Fold like a cheap card table and change your entire party strategy the second the media criticize you, that's the lesson on how to be as successful as Trump."

I just don't think that's the total slam dunk obvious strategy a lot of you people seem to.

Anyway yeah remember when only one of the candidates tried to install himself as dictator of the USA?

[tanoraqui]

Sons of Fëanor: Linguistic Prescriptivists or Descriptivists?

(follow-up to this post)

Maedhros: True Prescriptivist, Very Invested. If you went deep into Maedhros’s subconscious, or maybe like semiconscious, you’d find a chart in which Column 1 is Father’s Ongoing Causes - ranging from “building a new Gemcutters Guild Hall” to “300th Anniversary Getaway with Mother” to “Reviling the Descendants of Indis” (further sub-categorized by individual) - and the other columns are a scale ranging from “Truly Wholeheartedly Support in Every Way” to “Publicly Support, Covertly Attempt to Mitigate” to “Wholeheartedly Disagree and Disavow in Every Way.” No causes have check marks in that last category, though there are a number in the preceding category, “Passively Disagree; Avoid Debate with All,” including for several descendants of Indis. (There used to be even more. Marks have been erased and rewritten everywhere, over time.) UNFORTUNATELY, the cause “Prescriptivist Linguistics” is firmly in the Truly Wholeheartedly Support in Every Way category. It was easy, okay. It’s such a simple, easy thing to support (especially while covertly mitigating other things). It has larger philosophical implications, sure, but the core of the issue is an aching void where a grandmother and mother should be, which does��ache in Maedhros as well, and his father generally ignores the larger philosophical implications anyway, So why should Maedhros care about them! Language has definitive rules! It objectively does, one of which is that the Þ is a common and important letter, and everyone else is petulantly making trouble about it for no reason!

(This is Maedhros’s greatest flaw as a person; don’t let anyone tell you otherwise.)

Maglor: True Descriptivist (Respectful of Names), Very Invested but Avoids Argument. Maglor is a writer of Songs and songs; he plays around with language far too much not to know and love it for just that: being an ever-flexible plaything. He both sings and speaks whichever sounds finest to him in the moment, and his father begrudgingly accepts this as a matter of craft rather than a linguistic or even (family) politics. One is permitted to break the rules after learning them exhaustively, after all; that is how much of the best art happens. (Maglor deliberately diminishes the sa-si-ing in Formenos, though, as Fëanor’s temper grows ever worse.) And Maglor always crafts any lyric so as to support the correct pronunciation of Miriel Þerindë. He’s not an animal.

Celegorm: True Prescriptivist, Moderately Invested. Celegorm is a Prescriptivist on principle of family loyalty, but the only reason he really cares is that one time, some pointed out that even the languages of animals change naturally over time, and he knows and admits that, so why can’t he accept it for Elves? And Celegorm off the top of his head retorted that no creature but Elves builds tall walls of stone where nature did not place them, nor forges rings, blows glass, bakes bread, or a hundred other things that don’t happen “naturally.” So why should their language be like that of animals? Why shouldn’t they have rules as unyielding as stone walls or forged blades? And he was so proud of that argument, which really isn’t bad, that he pulled it out at every opportunity henceforth, and may never be persuaded otherwise.

Caranthir: Dutiful Prescriptivist, Minimally Invested. If asked offhand, will toe the family line. More often, will snap out whatever position is either most likely to start a fight or most likely to end whatever fight is already happening, depending on his mood. Really thinks there are better things to shout about.

Curufin: Is Going to get a Good Grade in Agreeing With Father, a Thing that is Both Normal To Want and Possible To Achieve. ‘Nuff said. (Deep DEEP deep down recognizes that language evolves, that’s what makes it cool, and incidentally this is all an incredibly stupid debate and can he please get back to the forge.)

Amrod: Dutiful Prescriptivist, Secret Descriptivist, Moderately Invested. I headcanon that the twins were born shortly after the creation of the Silmarils (I headcanon that Nerdanel and Fëanor were gossip!infamous for getting baby-making levels of horny whenever one of them created a particularly impressive thing; the Silmarils inspired twins), so they never really know a time when things aren’t getting...steadily worse and worse, in the politics of Tirion at large and the House of Finwë in particular. So neither Ambarussa would dream of saying sa-si... Except Amrod does, in fact. Dream of it. Because he’s done some research and he’s like 95% sure their father is just being wantonly emotional and covering it up with hypocrisy and just plain stupidity, about this particular issue.

Amras: Dutiful Prescriptivist, Rebellious/Fraternally Supportive Descriptivist, Minimally Invested: See above, but doesn’t really care that much...but Amrod does (later: did). So late in the Formenos era he started experimenting with a dash of dramatic teenage rebellion in the form of Þ, and after Losgar he stops being dramatic about it but one time a few years into Maglor’s terrible reign as Regent-King, he and Celegorm get into a screaming match over “Þerindë” vs “Serindë”, among other things, and Amras never speaks with a Fëanorian lisp for the rest of his time in Beleriand. (After eventual reincarnation, he concedes Þerindë, but that’s it. Language evolves. It’s fine.)

Others of Note:

Fingon: True Descriptivist, Very Invested. This is possibly the only topic on which Fingon and Maedhros will get into genuinely heated fights. Especially when it’s a thinly veiled metaphor for fighting about their loyalties to their respective fathers, but also when it’s literally a fight about linguistic philosophy. Fingon is perfectly capable of heart-stirring poetry, eloquent court language, and sesquipedalian intellectual debate, but when he’s just having fun, his default state is Buffyspeak. 

Turgon: Dutiful Descriptivist, Secret Prescriptivist, Moderately Invested. Toes the family line, of course, if only because Fëanor is an asshole. But secretly, secretly, is entirely swayed by Celegorm’s argument. Would literally not admit this under 1000 years torture in the depths of Angband, and I mean literally.

Fëanor: Begrudgingly Comes Around. It would take literal millennia of therapy for Fëanor to admit that maaaybe this isn’t about linguistic theory, maaaaaaaybe it’s really about his desperate need to keep around any part of his mother that he can. But isn’t that what the Halls of Mandos are for? (With help from Irmo, Estë, and Nienna?) Not that he comes out without a lisp, when they finally do let him out. More like...he slowly concedes, over some large number of years of being reembodied, that maybe he can...dial this debate back. For real. But! A lot of his personal pride and reputation is still invested in it (and he’s not��going to let people mispronounce his mother’s literal epessë), so he just dials it back to “implicitly admitting that maybe this is slightly silly but it’s a matter of Principle (and personal emotional investment; please humor me)! we’re arguing but it’s a jokey, ‘sibling’ argument, like the kids have!” You know, the sort where you genuinely hold opposing opinions but you’re deliberately acting melodramatic about them because it’s fun? And everyone else is pretty okay to let this become something they...tease each other about. Nobody else (except maybe Nerdanel) knows that Fëanor has actually changed his mind (except about “Þerindë” itself).

Then one day in like the Fifth Age, Fëanor is enduring a particularly annoying conversation at some sort of royal event, with some particularly insipid courier, and the exact matter of insipidity causes him to snap somewhat loudly, “Language evolves, you idiot. It cannot be ordained.” And from halfway across the room, Fingolfin’s head whips around like an owl, and in the subsequent fight about who said and/or heard what, they nearly draw swords on each other in the king’s hall again.*

*I know it was only Fëanor the first time. I am not ruling out the possibility that over the course of Fëanor’s inevitably messy post-reembodiment reconciliation with his extended family, it happened mutually at least once.

[061890]

Asougi and Naruhodou’s speeches and localization

A while back when the Great Ace Attorney was first released, I made a post on my DGS Twitter on some… Not great localization changes made in the first Escapade in the game's DLC. Namely, the topic of Asougi's speech.

In the Dai Gyakuten Saiban subtitles channel's translation of the DLC, Asougi's speech excerpt is this:

"Now's the time to make a stand! All you young and elderly, gentlemen and ladyfolk of the downtrodden classes!"

In Japanese: 「さあ！ 今こそ立ち上がれ！ 低所得者層の老若男女よ!」

While the translation uses the phrase "downtrodden classes", the original text uses  「低所得者層」 specifically, referring to low-income working class people. This is relevant due to the fact that, in the late 1800s and early 1900s, rapid modernization and changes in Japanese labor relations led to the mistreatment of the working class. The emphasis on social harmony, along with censorship and restricting the right to assembly (which would later become criminalized in 1900), made it difficult to organize labor strikes.

And yes, while this DLC episode was very much a slice-of-life thing compared to the rest of the Great Ace Attorney, the original topics of both Asougi and Naruhodou's speeches are very informative of their characters and political views; Asougi especially, which makes the changes made in the localization even more confusing.

See, at the time, rapid industrialization was done in order to bolster the military, as the government believed back then that doing so was necessary at the threat of European imperialism; however, as real-life history shows, this directly led to Japan doing irreparable damage in its own imperialist conquest.

So, for Asougi to have given a speech explicitly in support of low-income working class people was not just him being anti-capitalist, it also very much had to do with him being anti-militarist and anti-imperialist as well. 

Him planning to say 「老若男女」 ("men and women of all ages")  —specifically, him mentioning women of low-income in the working class— also references how labor relations for female workers in the textile industry were mostly girls from poor families that worked in wealthy households in preparation for marriage. Similarly, Asougi acknowledging workers of all ages references how at the time, Japanese labor unions were more inclusive than that of the United States', as apprentices could join regardless of age and skill level. 

Kazuma Asougi is, to the surprise of few, an incredibly political person. In fact, his actions here and generally recalcitrant treatment of authority figures, parallel left-wing socialist views at the time:

"One ideological faction [of the early labor leaders] favored discussion and cooperation with management, avoided strikes and political issues, and tried to win higher wages through improved productivity. These were moderates who favored harmony between labor and capital. The other major faction favored confrontation with management, thrived on political issues, and embraced the strike weapon. These were the left-wing socialists." — The Birth of the Japanese Labor Movement by Stephen E. Marsland

Even the year wherein he gave his speech, namely, the summer of 1897 is relevant to Japan's labor movement and how Asougi's character is rooted in exploitation by Western powers. This is because in April of 1897, Takano Fusataro, a Japanese labor activist, wrote "A Summons to the Workers", calling for the workers of Japan to organize at the threat of being exploited by foreign capitalist powers. Asougi's speech even parallels some of it, but notably, advocates for confrontation now while Fusataro discouraged revolution and radicalization, instead advocating for gradual change.

From "A Summons to the Workers":

「立て職工諸君、立つて組合を組織し、以てその重大なる責務とそのの男子たる面目を保つを務めよ。」

"Stand up, you workers! Stand up and organize unions!"

Asougi's speech:

「さあ！ 今こそ立ち上がれ！ 低所得者層の老若男女よ!」

"Now's the time to make a stand! All you young and elderly, gentlemen and ladyfolk of the downtrodden classes!"

Note: Fusataro references men due to "Summons" being directed towards factory workers at the time, but Asougi's speech generally references workers of all ages due to having a different audience.

In sharp contrast, Naruhodou's speech is about filial piety:

"Let's all cherish our mothers and fathers!"

Asougi losing all support for what was considered a very gutsy and controversial speech when he made a single slip-up —that being the infamous tongue twister— where Naruhodou wins for a very simple, even boring, speech tells us a lot about how they're seen by society. 

Asougi in canon is considered arrogant and annoying by multiple authority figures —namely, Auchi— because he's outspoken about current events and politics; and while being 23 years old is very much an adult by our standards, in Meiji era Japan, one couldn't vote unless they were male, over the age of 25, and paid taxes of at least 15 yen per year. This was something that mainly landowners and ex-samurai could do.

Naruhodou, on the other hand, is initially a typical Japanese young man that conforms to the status quo. He dislikes going against his parents' wishes, and as his speech shows, advocates for an idea that's the standard in Japanese society. He's also notably apolitical, as originally, when he claims he and Asougi talked about politics over lunch, Asougi corrects him stating he only ever talked about comedy theatre.

Note: While Naruhodou uses the term 「愛国」 (あいこく, lit. love of one's country, basically patriotism) when talking about he and Asougi's "debates", from literally everything we know about Asougi's political views, I seriously doubt Asougi was being patriotic when he criticizes the government as often as he does. That, and the fact that Naruhodou is already a very unreliable narrator and doesn’t even remember what actually happened.

Similarly, in the Japan-only DLC episode for Dai Gyakuten Saiban 2, he chides Naruhodou for not keeping up with current events:

Asougi: "It sounds like you haven't been reading the papers, Naruhodou." 

Naruhodou: "N-No, not so much lately..."

Asougi: [...] "Defence attorneys didn't exist in our country until only recently. Our reputations are still as low as mud, being called shysters who make underhanded deals. It's stuff like this which makes us have to claw back the people's trust. You should read at least this much, Naruhodou."

Naruhodou: "Urghhh… Newspapers are too complicated…"

Now, to return to the topic of the Great Ace Attorney, Asougi in the localization instead gives this speech:

Asougi: "So arise, ladies and gentlemen, and applaud our forefathers' plight and the fight for filial piety!"

...Thus, making him losing to Naruhodou a matter of skill and verbal articulation rather than that of politics. While again, yes, the DLC episodes are very much just extra content, the fact of the localization changing this not only weakens Asougi's character due to him being a very political person, but goes directly against his character.

After all, his original speech was a call to action for laborers in a time where labor relations were based in a parent-child (oyataka and kokata) dynamic for employers and employees respectively. To have him say that when he originally challenged this authority is just plain wrong, especially when Japanese society expects one to defer to their elders and authority.

Not only that, but Asougi's motivations for traveling to London had to do with how he and his immediate family were killed or harmed because of the Professor ordeal. He makes no mention of being obligated by his family name, even when he tells Naruhodou and Susato about them, nor the idea of clearing Genshin's name of wrongdoing. After all, while Genshin supposedly being the Professor was concealed from the public, it still would have brought him and his family shame in the wider Asougi family as a result.

While the Great Ace Attorney being localized certainly brings many great things —accessibility, directors' commentary, etc.— to the Ace Attorney's audience, it has several flaws in its localization, and this speech thing is just one of them; one particularly egregious example being Megundal being made Irish in a time where they were racially discriminated against, not to mention the antisemitism in DGS1-3, but that's a post for another day. 

In the meantime, I can only wonder why this change was made to a character whose story is inherently rooted in questioning authority, and speaking out regarding Japanese politics and current events at the time.

[counsellormurdock]

have some matt murdock headcanons to share?

oh man, yeah, i got a few :joy:

re: matt's senses - i'm a firm believer that they can easily exhaust him when used at length or intensely (see dd. vol 5 issue 14 where matt develops a nosebleed by trying to listen so hard for the absence of sound in order to find blindspot / muse). extended use of his senses to navigate and fight leaves him thorougly exhausted if he doesn't moderate himself (and we know matt is aces at moderation). because of this, his skills & training in being able to expertly navigate in traditional ways as blind people do is incredibly important. following a few days stretch of constantly vigilantism, matt just wants to check out and in order to get around relies on the skills he learned in his O&M classes back in the day.

re: matt's cowl that only covers half his face - this was intentional. yeah, it might make it easier to recognize him, to put two and two together that matt murdock is daredevil, but being a disabled man, matt knows how inaccessibility can disparige and increase stigma and ableism. by only wearing half a cowl, matt's able to better assist the Deaf and HOH within his city. Hearing loss is not something that matt can easily detect with his own senses, and if he covered his mouth he'd be removing his help from this community of people.

@ live action: always expressed displeasure at nelson & murdock being on the second floor with no elevators. again, a roadblock being truly accessible.

firm believer that matt murdock is pansexual demiromantic (always pretty quick to sleep with people but takes that deeper emotional connection to form that last relationship).

two main reasons matt refuses to having a seeing eye dog: 1. the overall assault having a dog would have on his senses ie. loud, smelly and they shed. 2. obtaining a seeing eye dog is an unnecessarily difficult and usually expensive process and he wants those trained dogs to go to other blind individuals who need that mobility aid more than him.

off the previous point: matt also makes a yearly contribution to 'the seeing eye' a foundation that provides specially bred & trained dogs to the blind. a non-profit that relies on donations, matt keeps his anonymous, not needing the recognition. (the amount varies, but in the comics where matt & foggy have a pretty successful law firm it's a sizeable donation).

at his confirmation, matt chose joseph as his name. st. joseph was chosen by god to care for mary & jesus because of joseph's love for god. he was also a man of great compassion for others and his desire to protect people was honorable.

matt dislikes lent - not because of sacrificing a luxury to show his faith but because of the weekly fish fries that a large number of churches hold. it's the entire city smells like a fast food grease trap.

doesn't own a lot of books due to the size in which braille books are in respect to the printed versions. he has a couple, mostly his favorites that he keeps, as well as a lot of his law texts - which are unruly and massive, but they were a bitch to carry and remind him of how he became a lawyer. he doesn't really reference them much, since they are quickly outdated and obtaining more recent versions in braille is difficult. this is one area where matt depends on electronic copies/screen reader technology to stay up to date.

in dd vol 6 issue 8 matt mentions that reading in braille reminds him of work and enjoys audiobooks for pleasure. he's picky about the ones he listens too, wanting a good plot and a nice narrator to listen to. he only listens to them when there's true downtime, it's not something he plays on commutes or while on patrol. they're reserved for the pleasure of relaxation.

also, he enjoys being read to, especially from people he cares about and is close with. it doesn't matter what it is, listening to his loved ones voice will always calm him down even when anxiety and depression feel like they will tear him apart.

there are two separate issues of dd comics where matt doesn't say a word the entire issue. i cannot remember which ones, i know one is from the 80's when doctor fear has the entire city infested with demons and idr the other but i know it exists. BUT, there are days where everything is just so overwhelming that matt doesn't need to add his own voice to the mix and doesn't say a word - his quiet days.

his love language is words of affirmation - the boy just rly needs to hear that he's doing a good job at things.

it doesn't take a lot of alcohol or other drug to get matt drunk/high. what someone might consider tipsy, matt feels is closer to a stage of drunk. his blood alcohol content is still the same as another individual of his size drinking the same amount. so, matt can still go drink-for-drink but he seems like he can't hold his liquor as well as a "normal" person.

dislikes texting, especially with people who don't know proper etiquette when texting someone who uses a screenreader. strings of emojis become incomprehensible nonsense and he won't bother listening to the end if he has to listen to "winking face with tongue winking face with tongue winking face with tongue" over and over.

okay, i think that's where i'll call this, i could keep going forever, but thank u for the ask !!

[xiaq]

Hi, I have a question re:sex and Christianity. Small background: I still go to church, and I still live with my parents even though I'm not much younger than you, because housing is very very expensive where I live (pretty common here, I would say about 2/3 of my friends live with their parents and we are decently privileged kids)

Anyway. How does one get over purity culture? To be clear, I've never been told in church not to have sex, I've never gotten the gendered lessons that you got. But I am terrified of having sex. My first real, multi-year relationship just ended and while there was hand stuff etc, there was never any p in v sex (lol I feel 12). But I still had insane anxiety about being pregnant despite being on bc. And I think its because I know my parents would be so disappointed if I had sex. And if I was pregnant I could imagine all the gossip. And honestly I think im from a pretty open church, b/c one of our previous ministers kids recently got married at 8 months pregnant and lots of church people were at the wedding and supportive and her parents were there and everything.

I dont even think I particularly like sex, i might be on the ace spectrum, but how do I remove it from all the anxiety that's tied to it so I can even give myself the chance to find out???

(Asking because it seems like you've been pretty open about purity culture/removing yourself from it)

CW for sex talk (again)

How does one get over purity culture?

Oh man. That really is the million-dollar question, huh? Obviously, I can only answer re my personal experiences, and this is something you should talk to a therapist about, but I can tell you how I’ve tackled it with my therapist at least.

Purity culture is, at its core, an ideology that is perpetuated by shame. If you’re indoctrinated into purity culture when you’re a kid, the concepts become baked into the way you construct your identity, your perception of self, and your perception of your sexuality. It’s practically intrinsic, by the time you’re an adult, to feel shame any time you’re reminded you have a body, much less a sexuality.

According to the chapels I sat through every week as a kid, a girl's body could be 3 things: an intentional stumbling block for men, an accidental stumbling block for men, or unnoticeable. Women were to strive for the third option so as to keep their (and their male friends/authority figures) purity intact. After all, if a boy, or even your male teacher, had impure thoughts about you, it was your fault for tempting them (which, holy shit. I still can’t believe that was a thing I bought into for so long. If my 45 yr old grown-ass teacher had impure thoughts because he could see my 12 yr old collarbone, that sure as hell wasn’t my fault. But I digress.) The Only time a woman’s body can be something else, is when she gives it to her husband, at which point she must suddenly flip the switch in her brain that she is now allowed to be a Sexual Being and she must perform Sexual Duties despite living in outright fear of her own body and sexuality for years (decades?) up until this point. Jesus take the wheel.

Purity culture isn’t a thing you can just decide to walk away from if you’ve grown up in it. Because its ideology is insidious and internalized. So first you need to submit to the fact that you’re going to be fucked up about sex. It sounds like you’re there. Second, you need to interrogate what you believe. If you’re leaving religion behind entirely, you’ll approach removing yourself from purity culture differently than if you still identify as a Christian. It sounds like you might be the latter, which meant, for me, separating what’s actually biblical and what’s shitty, contrived, doctrine that I was told is biblical but is actually more political than spiritual. This helps you address the shame issue.

You need to throw away I Kissed Dating Goodbye and Lady in Waiting and all those ridiculous books you read and reread in the hopes of somehow obtaining impossible marriage perfection and look into actual scripture interpreted within its historical context. I could write a book on this, but the TL;DR is that the text of the Bible was written, translated, curated, and changed multiple times over thousands of years by human beings with human biases and, often, personal and/or political agendas. It contradicts itself! Reading it as it is—a flawed historical document—rather than some sort of God-breathed perfect document—is incredibly freeing. When you do, you’ll probably realize that purity culture is bullshit on a spiritual level. Which is a good start, if that matters to you. Because any time you start to feel shame or guilt you can ask yourself: does God actually care if I wear a bikini or touch a dick I’m not married to? Probably not. Wear the bikini. Touch the dick.

The most important therapy session for me was when my therapist asked what I would do if I got to heaven and God was actually the God I’d been raised to fear. What would I do if he condemned me for being bisexual and having premarital sex and becoming educated, for arguing with men, and failing to isolate while menstruating, and wearing mixed fabrics? If Montero had come out at the point, I probably would have said I’d pole dance down to hell. Instead, I said I would spit on heaven’s gates. If a god that cruel and that pointlessly demeaning really exists—a god who would create in me condemned desire—I won't worship him. The good news is, I’m 99% sure he doesn’t exist. At the very least, he isn’t supported by scripture.

Okay. The final thing you need to do is figure out what you actually want, sexually speaking. This bit is probably the hardest. I’m still in the early stages of this myself. You say: “I dont even think I particularly like sex, i might be on the ace spectrum, but how do I remove it from all the anxiety that's tied to it so I can even give myself the chance to find out???” Bro, I wish I had an easy answer for you. For me, whenever I’m feeling anxious about Sex Things, I tell myself: 1. My God does not equate my worth to my sexual habits. 2. My partner does not equate my worth to my sexual habits. 3. I do not equate my worth to my sexual habits. It seems silly, but reminding myself of those three things is massively helpful. If, after I’ve sorted through those, I’m still anxious or uncomfortable, I stop doing the thing. I evaluate. Am I overwhelmed and I need to try again some other time? Do I just not like the thing? Sometimes it’s hard to tell. Sometimes you change your mind. Sometimes you just don’t know. That’s why having a partner who you trust and who’s willing to patiently explore your interests (and respect your disinterests) is so important. Half the battle, for me, was having a partner who told me they’d be ok with no sex at all. Because that took the pressure off me. If the bare minimum they need is nothing, then anything more than that is a bonus! Hooray! This is maybe TMI, but let me tell you. I thought I was asexual* right up until I was able to have moderately non-anxious sex. Never in my life did I think I would initiate a sexual situation but… I do now. It’s a fun thing to do with a person I love and, holy shit. I am furious that I nearly missed out on it.

Finally, re birth control: I don’t know how you can approach that fear in a way that works for you. If you don’t want to ever have penetrative sex, that’s fine! If that’s a point of anxiety you can’t get rid of, then don't push yourself to do it. If you find out you like other sex things, do the other sex things! If you don't like doing any sex things, don't do any sex things! Also, have you considered sleeping with people who can’t get you pregnant? Always an option if it’s an option you want to consider. ;)

Okay. I hope this was even a little bit helpful. Sorry if it’s a little convoluted, I typed it up in bursts during my work breaks.

*This is not at all to say that asexuality can be “fixed." Rather, it’s to say that things like purity culture can drastically confuse your sexuality in general. If you’re asexual, then this process is still important to discover what you like/dislike. Then you can be explicit about those necesities and find a partner who’s a good fit (if you want a partner at all, that is).

[labrats-and-clonetroopers]

"I Won't Bury You Again" Ch. 1 - Leo Dooley & Chase Davenport, Lab Rats [Elite Force]/The Dark Tower (C.S. Lewis) Crossover

Masterlist 

Lab Rats/Mighty Med/Elite Force Masterlist 

Request Guidelines 

Synopsis:

Leo was the one who heard all of Davenport’s confessions in the elevator. He was the one who sought out Douglas, who had been the one to originally break into his and Marcus’ lab. He’s the one who’s been trapped in and escaped from a freaking parallel universe. 

He knows, better than any of them, that all the secrets surrounding their past will never fully come to light. 

But he needs to save his brother. And if that means chasing a ghost from Douglas’ past, then he will. No matter where it leads him.

Story Warnings: violence, minor character death, mentioned drug use, mild horror, moderate blood and gore

_______________

Leo knows. He knows that none of them, not Davenport, not Douglas, nor his mom, or Adam, Bree, Chase or Daniel, will ever know everything. Every part of the complex web of secrets and lies that connect their lives. 

He heard Davenport’s confessions while trapped in the elevator. Heard them, acknowledged them, and stored them away. Donald Davenport’s life before he clawed his way to success read like a nightmare. And while he is still an incredibly flawed man, Leo can respect that some things, some things should be left undisturbed in the past. 

But some things, they just nag, tug at his gut, as if some intuition is telling him that he needs to pull at this thread, that he needs to uncover it. 

Leo had always expected that Douglas had continued to keep secrets, that he would never reveal the full truth. Not intentionally, at least. 

And there’s always been something about Marcus’ story that never fully added up. A comment he made during their confrontation in Giselle’s lab, to Douglas. 

“You created me to betray someone I never could. But you, you I can betray.” 

He brought it up to Douglas one afternoon. Found him sitting alone in the dining hall, hunched over the table, frowning, looking at his phone. 

Leo pulled out a chair, sat down next to him. His uncle barely glanced up, “Oh, hey Leo.” 

“Watcha doing?” 

Douglas stilled. “Just looking through some old photos,” and he deflated, weary. 

It was an odd mood for him to be in. Leo frowned. “What’s wrong?” 

“Nothing,” Douglas dismissed. “Anything going on with you?”

Leo shook his head. “No, just chilling. Enjoying having all the students and Adam gone for the day. Video-chatted Janelle. We have a date planned for Wednesday.”

“Sounds fun.” 

“It will be.” 

Silence settled over them. Leo leaned back in his chair. “So, I was wondering something.”

Douglas looked back up. “Wondering what?”

“About something Marcus said,” and he watched his uncle immediately stiffen at that name, “He said you had created him to betray someone, someone he couldn’t betray. Thing is, that doesn’t make any sense; he didn’t hesitate to betray Adam, Bree, and Chase.”

Douglas had lowered his head, fixated his gaze on the table. “He wasn’t referring to them.”

“Then who?” Leo pressed. “Wait a minute, if he wasn’t referring to them, then you didn’t originally create him to capture your kids…” 

“That was why I built him, technically. The whole situation was just a bit more complicated at the time.” Douglas corrected, then sighed. “Look, Leo, I really don’t want to talk about this.” 

“Well, you never talked about Giselle either, until she just showed up, and we both now how that turned out,” Leo asserted. He leaned over the table, looking Douglas in the eye. “Who did you create Marcus to betray?”

Douglas met the intensity of his gaze. “You need to trust me, Leo. Leave it alone.” 

[professors-polycule]

right. sorry. i forgot about that. please forgive me. you understand that i can't give you exact details for your rare specimen, because it is so rare. but i can give general advice for eevee and eeveelutions.

//headcanon territory ahead. also it's gotten pretty long

generally, eevee are very adaptable to new environments and work well with people of all personalities, professions and ages. they are common starter pokémon for a reason. eeveelutions are no different with the exception of sylveon, who can be very hostile towards new people, it differs from specimen to specimen and depends on their bonded persons reaction the the new one as well. umbreon and espeon are also more sceptic, but rarely hostile. this is probably of no concern to you though.

giving advice for this topic is incredibly difficult because it is a rare species and this can differ greatly between individuals regardless. my only advice is to let her express herself and respect her boundaries if possible. yes, she has to be properly trained, but this doesn't mean she has to become a machine.

eevee are very active pokémon. i advise you to check her needs for physical and mental enrichment. this differs a little between eeveelutions. jolteon are incredibly energetic and need a lot of physical activity, such as running, battling or swimming. vaporeon on the other hand are often more lax but like to learn new tricks and use their brain.

from your previous posts i assume your new friend is more on the active side, but only time and testing the waters will tell. do not forget to allow her rest though. i have seen too many trainers let their jolteon battle themselves to exhaustion because they heard that they are very active and like battling. this is obviously not healthy.

now, her diet. eevee are omnivores. they will do well with poké-chow, berries, vegetables and fruit, but will enjoy the occasional meaty treat. a lot of human food is also safe for eevee, provided it is not seasoned too heavily. they do consume milk and dairy products, but in moderation. in the wild, eevee will hunt if given the opportunity, but will not risk their safety. the evolutions are more specialized again. they are all omnivores as well, but take to specialization. vaporeon for example will often prefer fish to other kind of prey. they also won't travel far from water just to find rare food. leafeon are also a special case as they have the opportunity to photosynthesize. they will actually try to minimize their time hunting and instead try to find plants to feed on as well as sunny spots to use their clorophyl.

I assume your eeveelution is also a omnivore, but most dragon-forms that have been recorded developed a more refined taste for meats than plants. you might have to accommodate for this. it is also possible that she might not be able to survive off of plant based foods alone. again, because of the uncertainty that comes with a rare form, testing different options is probably your best bet. give her different options and see what she chooses. also, i advise against letting your pokémon hunt herself if you can't guarantee that she won't get near trained pokémon. in some rural areas, people do that, but i'm no fan, personally. also take her to a veterinarian regularly for the next few weeks to months and get her screened and see if her muscles, bones and everything else is not declining. be aware of changes in her behaviour. something that seems unconcerning at first can rapidly develop into a serious health issue. i don't want to sound pessimistic, just keep your eyes open. diet is a big factor in pokémon health

now, a last thing: grooming. eevee are usually very clean if possible in the wild. they will try to find running water and bathe themself regularly. eevee in captivity tend to not enjoy bath time, but still like being clean. if possible, let them choose their own bath time. since that is difficult for most trainers, just deal with a grumpy eevee for an hour twice a week and you'll have a happy eevee the rest of the time. eeveelutions tend to be similar in behaviour, but as with everything else, it changes between the species. vaporeon obviously love being in the water. however it is advised to not wash them with regular soap. there are brands for vaporeon specifically and i recommend using these. the same goes for jolteon.

i'm getting sidetracked, you still don't have a standard evolution on your hands. again, grooming is important for eeveelutions, so try to keep up with it. try to find out if you can manage a schedule that your pokémon likes, but as i said before, better having it unhappy for a few hours a week than letting it's health decline. i can't quite tell from the photo if she has scales. if yes, then try to find a soft brush, let your pokémon soak in soapy water (test if it reacts to the soap first) and brush the scales. possibly look into guides to care for other scaly pokémon like, idk, axew or something? i'm not well versed there, i'm just testing scale care for the first time myself at the moment. if she has fur, a hands-on approach should suffice for wet bath time. brushing is obviously important for any pokémon with long fur. there are many different recommendations and guides out there, especially for eevee. in my experience, the pokémon show different preferences and there is no one-size-fits-all. some like to be scrubbed heavily, some others will wash themself without any human help. i could only give a definitive answer after spending time with her personally anyways. just one more thing: if you're in an urban area, try to find a soap she can use. if you live in a rural area with little to no pollution, just water should be alright if she doesn't do well with soap.

and to conclude: every pokémon is different. not every member of a species is like the others, we only see certain tendencies. and eevee in particular can be very versatile and surprising.

🌳

Hello. It's been brought to my attention that you claim to have discovered a dragon typed eeveelution. Frankly, i find this unbelievable, but i looked and saw the picture you posted. I have to say, from the picture alone i don't think it is a pure dragon type. But i have to stay scientific, and looks are actually not a good indicator for typing.

Regardless, as a researcher it is my duty to look into these things, especially since this discovery could mean incredible advances in eevee research. I doubt you would allow me to take this specimen in to study it in person, but i would implore you to send me a dna-sample. If possible, multiple. For example saliva, fur, scales or anything similar. If you know anyone with scientific background, like a biologist, they should be able to help you take these samples. If not, let me know and i can give rough instructions, but being able to handle the Pokémon in person would give even an amateur a better insight than working based off of a single a photo. I'll be sending you details for the destination of these samples.

I would also ask you to allow me to see this pokémon in person, should i find the opportunity to travel to paldea. If this is the case, i will contact you again in due time

Kind regards, Prof. Agonis (@professors-polycule) Marawhetu University of Pokémon Sciences.

Good afternoon Prof. Agonis.

I understand your scepticism and I’d be more than happy to send you some of her DNA. Do you have any tips on how to raise her while I figure out to mail you the things?

[tobiosmilktea]

ahh omg requests are opened !! can i request atsumu, iwa, kenma, and tsukki angst to fluff kinda thing where they get into a big fight and the boys blow up on the reader but make up at the end? pls make me cry but also go “💘🥺”,, thank you so much !!!

- 🧋

kiss and make up with atsumu, iwaizumi, kenma, and tsukishima

— m. atsumu

being with atsumu,, it’s no surprise that you two occasionally get into a few arguments here and there

they honestly range from the tiniest little, insignificant things from what to get for dinner to whether or not pineapple belongs on pizza aka things most people probably wouldn’t even bat an eye at

you were used to it considering how atsumu is, but his personality is what you liked most about him with how he’s constantly having you on your feet —never knowing what he’ll do next

they’re quiet funny at the end of the day and that back and forth banter is just another way you two show how much you care about each other

with that being said, no matter what you two are arguing about, it’s always lighthearted and not so serious

that’s why it honestly took you by surprise how atsumu’s typically nonchalant and teasing nature whenever you guys “argue” over something was something you’ve never seen before

very rarely did you ever see this man get incredibly angry and you’ve even seen all of his games where things weren’t going right

and perhaps that’s where the root of this argument started in the first place

dating a famous division 1 volleyball player who is well loved and respected, it’s hard being able to spend the proper time with him when he’s constantly travelling or getting recognized whenever you two are out on a date

you weren’t exactly complaining about this problem to atsumu after he came back from a tiresome and strenuous day of practice as you knew that it was going to be like this when you two first met

if anything, it was just a concern you voiced out that you obviously weren’t expecting him to solve with a snap of his fingers

“and what the fuck do you want me to do about it, (y/n)?” he snapped at you, venom coated his words like tar

you looked at him with widened eyes as a mixture of confusion and utter offense melted upon your expression

atsumu was notorious for using foul language on a daily basis, but never had he ever swore at you and it’s safe to say you like to keep that same energy with him

you scoffed at him, still a bit dumbfounded, “i’m not expecting you to fix anything over night, i was just saying.”

“as if i already didn’t know how hard it is to find time to spend together.”

“so, are you just treating me like an idiot now?”

it was late, you were tired just as much as atsumu was and you certainly weren’t in the mood to argue with him anymore

before you could even let him answer, you walked away from him and entered your bedroom withy a slammed door

you hated going to bed angry, but there honestly wasn’t anymore moral within you to even continue whatever leftover conversation between you and atsumu

perhaps giving time for something this to simmer until the morning would be enough to make sure your fatigue wasn’t blurring your thoughts knowing how dangerous misunderstandings can be

a few minutes later, atsumu enters the room, eyes scanning over your figure beneath the sheets as your breathing subsided

he thought you were fast asleep, but your mind was still awake and racing with the worse case scenarios. it made it so much more difficult now that atsumu laid beside you

he would wrap his arms around you, “i’m sorry, i shouldn’t have yelled at you.” whispering in a hushed, muffled voice. you could feel the way his lips pecked at you shoulder then up to your temple

you weren’t sure if he knew you were awake or not as you swore he could’ve heard your heart pounding

without uttering another word, you turn towards him, burying your head into the crook of his neck

you were just glad his warmth was still here

— i. hajime

you believe one of your biggest flexes within your relationship with iwa is that you two rarely argue or get into childish fights

sure, there were disagreements here and there, but most of them were minuscule decisions on what outfit to where that day or what restaurant you two wanted to eat at. most of which would be decided with a harmless game of rock, paper, scissors or nose goes lmao

other than constantly bickering with oikawa, iwaizumi isn’t really the type to get into shouting contests with you unlike with his best friend (most of which is started by oikawa anyway)

because of this, you weren’t really expecting to get into a fight with your boyfriend, and yet, it wasn’t like you weren’t used to him doing so

at the end of the day, you always ended up being the moderator of iwaizumi and oikawa’s loud back and forth banter if things got too rowdy

so never in a million years were you expecting oikawa to be taking your place at this very moment

poor dude doesn’t know what to do

he’s used to third wheeling you and iwa being all lovey dovey, but now that you two were in the midst of a midafternoon shouting contest, he’s completely dumbfounded

oikawa couldn’t help but feel bad for you as technically the whole reason why you and iwaizumi were arguing in the first place was because of him

long story short, iwa was sick and tired of oikawa flirting with you all the time despite only doing it to tease him

you were well aware of this as well, playing along with oikawa’s flirts just to tease your boyfriend

you didn’t see any harm in it as you made it very clear the moment you confessed to iwaizumi that you liked him and not his best friend (who you more or less saw as a brother over anything)

“listen, i’m sorry i was only playing around.” you apologize, throat already aching from the amount of stress you had already put on it

“if you were only playing around, then you wouldn’t be flirting with him everyday!” spat iwaizumi as he flickering a harsh look to oikawa who backed a good six feet away from you two (social distancing king lmao)

you honestly didn’t know what to say as a lump formed in your throat, rendering you speechless. granted, he had a point, but how couldn’t he overlook the way you only had eyes for him? the way you would “flirt” with oikawa they always tended to be backhanded, the way you would always kiss iwa after each of oikawa’s attempts to flirt, or how you would constantly remind him how much you loved him

it hurt slightly knowing how it was all overlooked by harmless teases

regardless,, it had to stop

before you could  apologize once more and say you’ll stop, iwaizumi huffs, “just say that you wanted him the entire time and not me.” before walking away entirely

your eyes widened, turning over towards a distanced oikawa who had the same look of surprise before motioning a hand towards your boyfriend, “well, go after him!”

with missing a beat, you ran down the block to catch up to iwaizumi, spreading your arms and throwing it around him as you bury your face into his back

“i’m sorry, i shouldn’t have done that.” your voice muffled into his uniform shirt, “i only like you, iwa, you have to believe me.”

your hands that were firmly clasped together to prevent him from breaking out of your embrace was slowly pulled apart by iwaizumi, feeling his entire body turn to face towards you

“idiot,” he muses with that same embrace

— k. kenma

i don’t think argument are common between you and kenma

he’s probably too preoccupied with playing video games or sleeping to even bother starting a fight over mindless disagreements

you were glad that you didn’t have to deal with such burdens of fighting with your significant other, but at the same time, you believed that small disagreements in relationships showed just how much you cared for the other

it showed how they were looking out for you if you were to ever make a terrible decision, and yet kenma would only bat an eye at you and shrug whenever you ask him for advice

in the end, you’d end up fucking something up or get hurt

or whenever you’d ask your boyfriend what he thinks about a specific outfit, he barely spare your a glance before uttering the words, “yeah, looks great babe.”

it sounded almost crazy to say, but sometimes you wished for you and kenma to get into arguments sometimes

not ones so serious it would lead to a significant gap within your relationship, but rather the ones the led for you guys to communicate more

besides, it’s not like you guys communicate a lot in the first place

you first brought up this concern when you came over to his apartment to which he was (surprise surprise) still playing video games

you didn’t mind about his hobbies as that’s what he liked most, but sometimes you just wished he would give you the proper attention for once

“hey,” you’d call out to him in the dark room, shaking a plastic bag in your hand in the hopes it would capture his attention, “i bought takoyaki!”

and to your low expectations, kenma simply hums as he clicks rapidly at his keyboard

your brows furrow as you pondered to yourself, what will get his attention?

“i also brought my boyfriend with me!” you lied just to see if his expression would even change

and what do ya know, it doesn’t. it’s the same focused deadpan on his computer screen, “no you didn’t, your boyfriends right here?”

you were at the end of your rope

“then why doesn’t my boyfriend come over here and act like it?” you hissed, “last time i checked, boyfriends get excited whenever they see their significant other and not over genshin characters.”

now that was a bite to kenma’s ego as he finally pulled his eyes away from the screen and towards you. “what?” he says, confused.

“do you even like me anymore?”

kenma scoffs almost dumbfounded, “of course i do, how could you say that?”

“because i experience it everyday, kenma.” you confess, fighting to keep your heavy gaze onto your boyfriend as he approaches you. “every time i come by i always see you at your desk in front of your computer. you never greet me first and unless i verbally say something, you probably won’t even notice that i’m here.” you voice broke slightly

“i-i’m sorry, (y/n)—”

“do you ever stop and think of the fact that the only times we see each other if from me visiting you? if i were just to stop one day i’d figure we wouldn’t even have a relationship in the first place.” you sigh as you shook your head, “you probably wouldn’t even notice, anyway.”

almost immediately does kenma wrap his arms around you in a tight embrace, almost as if he feared that you would disappear if he were to let go in the slightest

he places a kiss on your forehead before resting his own against yours, “i don’t ever want to hear those words come from you every again, (y/n). i’m so so sorry, i’ll promise to be better.”

you melted within his embrace, feigning a smile from appearing as you quickly give him a peck before remembering that the bag of food you bought was still in your hand

“let’s start by eating before the food gets cold.”

— t. kei

unlike the rest of the previously mentioned boys, arguments are pretty common between you and tsukishima considering his nature

he’s constantly teasing and making fun of you, but all of which were just jokes not meant to be taken seriously and you were well aware of this too

it’s probably the main reason why tsuki found himself so enamored with you as you constantly matched his energy 

you two were shockingly similar with your humor and your smugness, but the main differences between the two of you was you academics

it’s not surprise how tsukishima is always at the top of his class while you’re always at the bottom of it

considering this, the majority of your dates during the week with him are usually study dates or normal dates that end with the two of  you either at the library or each other’s houses studying material for the following day’s test

it was clear that in order to date each other, you both had to have patience

you weren’t exactly the fastest learner and you easily got distracted with things around you that you’re honestly surprised that tsukishima’s nonexistent patience was still up and active

besides, he loved you. he had to understand your difficulties as most of the time you can’t help it, but at the same time his personality was like treading on broken glass

usually he had enough patience to last an entire two hour study session with you, but today was oddly different

nothing was going right with tsukishima’s day and he just got absolutely annoyed with every little thing from a person bumping into him in the halls to a stain on his uniform that you could barely even notice

right now, this was the tenth time he found you tuning him out and daydreaming

his knuckled turned alabaster from the pressure of squeezing his mechanical pencil. he huffed, trying to calm himself down as he rubbed his aching temples

“(y/n), were you even listening to what i was—”

“do you think giraffes know where other giraffes are from?” you interrupted him with another one of your mindless tangents, “like considering how the pattern of a giraffe’s fur depends on what regent they’re from, do you think a giraffe from southern africa could tell if another if from western africa—”

tsukishima was at his limit, “can’t you just shut the fuck up and focus for five minutes, (y/n)?” he shouts at you, “i swear, you wouldn’t be failing if you just listened for once.”

he huffs out in annoyance, completely ignoring the way the brightness in your expression fell into a frown

you weren’t mad as you honestly couldn’t blame him. having learning difficulties and a short attention span was burdening you boyfriend so much that he isn’t even obligated to be doing this for you

he was sacrificing his time tutoring you and you’re just wasting it

“i’m sorry i can’t learn as easily as you,” you mutter softly, picking up your things quickly

tsukishima gives you a look of confusion, “w-where are you going?”

“thanks for all your help, but i can’t keep wasting your time like this.” you say as you zipped up your backpack and left

the next day you walked to school alone. usually you would be walking with tsukishima and yamaguchi, but it seemed like even tadashi wasn’t there to wait outside your house either

you weren’t able to hide your melancholy as you entered your classroom, slightly glad that tsukishima and yamaguchi weren’t here yet to see your expression

it allowed you time to pull yourself together, and yet, that time alone was cut short as the two walked in

you briefly flicker them a look fast enough that they don’t notice, but long enough for you to see yamaguchi patting his best friend on the back with encouragement

tsukishima had something in his hands, but you were too far away to construe them

you looked back down to your desk, fiddling with you pencil and pretending as if you were thinking about what to write next

it was then did footsteps approach, arriving right next to you with a presence so unwavering

you gulped, hoping that it wasn’t who you thought it was as you looked it

of course it just had to be that one lanky boy with glasses and messy blond hair to be standing by your side

he was holding a stuffed giraffe and a small white box with string neatly tied around it

“i’m sorry for blowing up on you,” he bursts out his apology, “i know you have a hard time and i should’ve remembered that you can’t help it.”

he places the giraffe plushy and box onto your desk

“it’s an masai giraffe since i remembered you liking their unique fur pattern and i also got you strawberry short cake this morning before they ran out that’s why i wasn’t there to walk you to school.” tsukishima continues explaining, “i just hope you’re not angry with me.”

you felt a smile creeping up to your lips as you shook your head, “i could never.”

[the-insomniac-emporium]

Serenade (Daniela Dimitrescu/Reader) Pt. 8

Fandom: Resident Evil: Village Rating: T for language? Warnings: None? I think? Please let me know if I missed something Notes: Bit of fluff with some anxiety/update on primary conflict. Next chapter will be a cute date with Dani, the one after that will be maximum h*rny, and then what will likely be the finale. Music for this chapter here. PS this one is a bit on the shorter side, but I hope y'all still enjoy it. Past Chapters: Pt. 1: Nocturne, Pt. 2: Overture, Pt. 3: Accelerando, Pt. 4: Toccata, Pt. 5: Poco a Poco, Pt. 6: Elegy, Pt. 7: Harmony

Chapter 8: Obbligato

(Obbligato: An instrumental part which is essential in a piece of music)

“Okay, okay, serious this time, please? I’ll give you a kiss if you try hard enough,” you promised, grinning up at Daniela as you did. A week had passed since your talk in the library, with the two of you spending most days together, and you were progressing nicely with the musical lessons. Still, your girlfriend (you would never get tired of saying that word) was prone to getting a tad ‘distracted’. By you, usually. Not that it was intentional by any means. There was only so much you could do to keep her focused when the two of you were this close together.

“I could just kiss you anyway,” Daniela teased, leaning in with familiar intent. Right before your lips touch, however, she pulls back and smirks. “But if you insist, I can handle the challenge.” Then she’s turning back towards the piano, carefully finding the starting position. Even with her prior experience, you were impressed with how much she had already learned, and couldn’t help but be immensely proud of her. If anyone could meet Lady Dimitrescu’s expectations within a three month timeframe, it was the two of you. Except, of course, you still had to double-check just what her expectations were.

In the meantime, you were excited to hear your girlfriend play through the sheet music you had written up. Most of what you were working with had come from the family’s storage room, but you had also found some blank sheets, and figured it couldn’t hurt to create songs of your own. This particular one was relatively simple. It had been based on a song from a game you had played years ago, and only posed a moderate challenge due to its interesting rhythm. Daniela had seemed to enjoy playing it, with you even hearing her practice the song outside of your lessons, but had so far today refused to play it seriously.

Finally that was going to change. Once she found the starting notes, she nodded to herself, then started playing. For the first time today her expression is stern, focused. Seeing her like this was nice. She was always cute, you just thought that she was extra cute like this. But you tried not to let yourself get too distracted, knowing that you couldn’t give her feedback if you didn’t pay attention. In your head you “play along”, fingers miming the movements, knowing that it would help you catch any possible mistakes. Throughout the piece there are only a couple that you catch, none of them being severe enough to ruin the experience. Finishing with a little flourish, Daniela returns her gaze to you, grinning expectantly.

“Well? I seem to recall you promising me a reward,” she said, perking a brow. Laughing a little, you roll your eyes, before moving in to give her exactly what she wanted. Both of you are smiling into the kiss, enjoying every moment of it. Soon enough Daniela is running a hand through your hair, and pressing against you more, tilting her head just enough to deepen the kiss. You’re blushing hard now, thoughts going everywhere other than music. It’s not until you pull back for air that you remember what you’re supposed to be doing right now.

“As wonderful as this is… we still have a few more songs to go over,” you murmured, despite how much you wanted to keep kissing Daniela. By the way she groaned in frustration, you figured she felt the same way, more or less. “Hey, don’t fret too much. Think of this as an opportunity to earn a few more rewards,” you teased, gently patting her on the shoulder. For a moment she simply pouts, but eventually she sighs and gets ready to play another song…

------------------------------------

Rushing up the steps, practically two at a time, you desperately hoped that you wouldn’t be late. This was your third “update meeting” with Lady Dimitrescu, which by itself was enough to make you a nervous wreck. Add in the fact that this was the first time you’d be meeting alone? And in her personal study, no less? Well, it was safe to say that you were terrified. You hadn’t even been told why things were different this time. No, you were about as clueless as could be, given the circumstances.

By the time you make it your Lady’s study, you cannot tell whether your heart is racing due to stress or physical exertion. Regardless, you make it there in short time, arriving precisely at the scheduled hour. After taking a moment to settle your nerves, you briefly knock on the chamber door. There’s the sound of movement from inside before the way opens. Lady Dimitrescu has to bend a little to see out, but quickly smiles when she meets your gaze. Which was rather unexpected. The last time you had met with her she had been distanced, although still polite. Then again, Daniela had also been with you, and the focus was, as always, on her.

“Lady Dimitrescu,” you greeted, giving a short bow per customs. Then you were being waved in, brought over to a small sitting area, where you waited for permission to sit down. Once it was given, you relaxed a little. Maybe I don’t have as much reason to be nervous as I thought, you muse.

“Please, make yourself comfortable. There are no reasons for you to be unsettled, as far as I am aware,” Lady Dimitrescu said, smile disappearing for a moment at the end. But it’s back as quickly as it had vanished. Did she suspect something? Perhaps she had seen the way Daniela looked at you, or even overheard the whisperings of your roommates. Both thoughts do little other than renew your anxiety. Noticing this, Alcina frowns and shakes her head. “I was merely joking. Now, let us get to the reason for our meeting: How are Daniela’s lessons fairing? There is only so much I can glean from listening.” Glad to have something to think about other than your secret relationship with your boss’ daughter, you nodded and began explaining.

“Lady Daniela is making outstanding progress, in my opinion. Even with her occasional… lapses in attention, once she puts her mind to something, she’s quick to master it. At this point she can sight read nearly as fast and accurately as myself. However, we’re still going over vocabulary, as well as keys and their corresponding chords,” you answered, barely able to maintain eye contact with your employer. Thankfully, she seems to have accepted the inevitability of your nervousness. You were especially thankful now that you prepared to ask her a question. “My Lady, may I inquire about what specifically you expect from my teachings? If there are certain genres you wish for Daniela to be familiar with, or techniques-... I must admit I am unsure as to how to best meet your requirements.”

Slowly reclining in her chair, Alcina appears to ponder your question. In the meantime she sips at her beverage, holding the cup as if it were a fragile heirloom (which it could very well be), eyes looking into the middle distance. Then she gives a soft hum, setting her cup down and returning her attention to you.

“I suppose I can understand your concern. In some ways you have already exceeded my expectations,” she said, expression oddly plain in comparison to her positive phrasing. “My daughter has rarely invested herself in anything as much as she has in your lessons. For this, I am left wondering what she finds so captivating- the music, or the one who pulls the strings?... But that is not the answer to your inquiry, is it?” In that moment, you are incredibly still, willing yourself to keep a straight face, despite the racing of your heart. At your silence, Alcina perks a brow, expecting you to respond. You can’t, your mouth suddenly dry. “What I expect is a passion to educate, a drive to see my daughter flourish. I expect you to teach her exactly as much as she wants you to, focusing on whatever brings her the most joy. But I expect professionalism. Your duties come first, above your health, happiness, and all other desires. Am I understood?”

“Yes, my Lady. Of course, my Lady,” you replied, stuttering, eyes wide. Did she know? Or merely suspect?... There’s another thought, one you try desperately not to voice, only to hear the words fill the room before you can stop yourself. “May I ask where Lady Daniela’s desires fit into this?” Silence hangs heavy over the room for several seconds. Your employer has narrowed her eyes, lips curled downwards into a sharp scowl, watching you with thinly-veiled anger. All you can do is gulp and wait for her response. When it comes, you are surprised by the stability of her tone. It was almost as if she respected your gall.

“She is young still, with the mind of a lovesick maiden. Daniela does not know what she wants, not really, nor does she understand what she needs. If her… flirtatious nature begins to interrupt your instruction, then your response must be swift, and uninterested. Regardless of how unkindly she takes your rejection, I will ensure that she does not harm you,” Lady Dimitrescu said, giving a stern nod at the end. Though her tone was reassuring, you hardly felt better, considering you were far past the point of turning Daniela down (if anything, you had only turned her on). “Now, with that settled, I believe I should let you return to your duties. Oh, and do tell Cynthia that the tea she brewed was perfect, should you happen to see her.”

Then she looked away, practically ignoring your continued existence. So you rose to your feet, gave another bow, and left before your panic could devolve into a breakdown. Daniela is not going to be happy about this.

[true-blue-megamind]

FAN THEORY THURSDAY: Megamind’s Connections Beyond the Film

Before we get started, it’s time for the obligatory SPOILER WARNING!  

In case this hasn’t been made sufficiently obvious by the fact that this is a post about Megamind written in a fan theory series about Megamind and published on a blog dedicated solely to Megamind, please let me just assure that this article is, in fact, about Megamind.  

If you haven’t seen the film yet yet, I have to question why you’re reading this in the first place.  As well as your taste in animated movies.  I’m definitely questioning that.

Over the years I’ve heard several fan theories concerning connections between the film Megamind and various other forms of media.  Today, let’s delve into just a few.

The first one is so obvious it’s almost painful, but it has to be mentioned.  Megamind is a Superman spoof.  Metro Man is clearly based on the Man of Steel himself, with a hefty dose of Elvis Presley and a larger range of character flaws thrown in for good measure.  (He also seems to contain quite a lot of the Popular Jock archetype.)  The character of Megamind is more complex still, combining elements of Alice Cooper and a nineties Goth theater kid with several comic book supervillains. The best known of the last include alien genius Brainiac and mad inventor Lexx Luthor, but they aren’t the only ones.  Some of Megamind’s engineering and technological inventions call to mind Spiderman villain Doctor Octopus even more than Lexx Luthor, and he also shares some parallels with the mad inventor Dr. Sivana in the SHAZAM comics.

Megamind’s most notable of the latter is the similarity of attitudes toward society.  Both Megamind and Dr. Sivana started off trying to use their inventions for good—the first in the classroom and the second for the betterment of mankind—but both became bitter when people mocked and shunned them.  For Dr. Sivana, this led to a desire to conquer all of Earth while for Megamind, in a sort of microcosm, it led to a similar drive to take over Metro City.  Both Lexx Luthor and Dr. Sivana have, perhaps, the strongest connections to Megamind as share, deep down, a desire to help or protect mankind, and as Lexx Luthor, like Megamind, harbors a secret love for the reporter damsel in their respective stories.  (This desire to do good, especially in the face of corrupt officials, ties into another Megamind fan theory that I will likely discuss in more detail in a later post.)

The connection between Megamind and Alice Cooper, by the way, was extremely intentional.  The creators stated in an interview that, like Alice Cooper, Megamind’s dark, evil self is, in fact, a stage persona.  (Even their clothing, consisting largely of black leather and spikes, is similar.)  That fact is illustrated in the film as we can see that Megamind’s behaviors on- and off-camera tend to be vastly different.  Even as a villain, he is merely playing a role, although in the case of Megamind that role has begun to merge with his self-identity.

There are, however, hints within the world of DreamWorks that Megamind has other connections as well.  The first is fairly recent and intensely interesting. In the Rise of the Guardians, Jamie Bennett, a young boy who still steadfastly believes in the seemingly impossible, mentions “aliens in Michigan,” only to be scoffed at by his friends.  Because Metro City is located in Michigan, (as can be seen briefly when the Death Ray is fired from space,) many fans theorize that the “aliens in Michigan” are none other than Megamind, Minion, and, perhaps, Metro Man. 

This would indicate that the two stories take place in the same world, and that Megamind’s adventures, while well-known in Metro City itself, have been covered up and kept secret from the rest of the world.  (Imagine moving to a moderately-sized city only to discover that—surprise!—there’s an extraterrestrial supervillain in residence and, oh, by the way, if you live downtown homeowners’ insurance is ridiculous!)

The second inter-film connection is less clear, but has spawned some interesting fan theories as well.  The idea is that, like Rise of the Guardians, Monsters VS. Aliens also takes place in the same reality as Megamind.  It’s not too far fetched—after all, both films involve extraterrestrials and amazing inventions—but there is one specific theory that really ties the two together.  Consider this for a moment: Megamind is a blue alien with incredible intelligence who hails from a destroyed planet.  Does that sound like any other DreamWorks character you know?  If you’ve seen Monster VS. Aliens, the antagonist, Gallaxhar, probably springs to mind.

According to Fandom.com, Gallaxhar’s official backstory is that he “destroyed his home planet” for the implied reason that “he experienced bad childhood and unhappy marriage.”  The fan theory is that that Gallaxhar’s planet was, in fact, Megamind’s home world, and that the former created or harnessed the black hole which destroyed it.  This would explain why Megamind’s people—as well as Metro Man’s—didn’t have time to escape despite being space-faring.  You see, black holes take millions of years to develop, and even a rogue black hole would take about a million to shift and swallow an entire solar system, so if the event had occurred naturally, there should have been plenty of time to build an entire fleet of spacecraft and leave for Earth or another safe planet.  (The fact that Megamind’s parents set his escape pod’s navigation system for Earth indicates that they knew of its existence.)

Of course, despite their large heads and blue skin tones, there are quite a few physical differences between Megamind and Gallaxhar.  The first is humanoid while the second has four eyes and tentacles instead of legs.  Fan theories have explanations for that, too, however.  

There appear to be two schools of thought on the subject.  The first is that Gallaxhar was another breed of alien living on the planet, possibly a servile race different from Minions, and the second is that part of Gallaxhar’s “bad childhood” involved being experimented upon, thus giving him his bizarre appearance and his seeming obsession with experimenting on others.  (There is some disagreement in the Megamind fandom about exactly why Gallaxhar was subjected to such treatment, ranging from falling into the hands of an unscrupulous scientist to being part of an experimental medical program.  The latter fan theory suggests that Gallaxhar was both blind and paraplegic, and that his additional eyes and tentacle “legs” were meant to rectify that, but that those physical differences made him an outsider, thus leading to his unhappy life and ultimate hatred for his own planet.)

If that were true, many may wonder what, exactly, Megamind might do if he ever found out about Gallaxhar.  Well, good news!  Just like there’s an app for everything, there’s a fan theory for that, too!  I will warn you, however, that this one is, frankly, build upon pretty thin evidence.  However, it’s interesting enough to be worth relating.

There is a character in Monsters VS. Aliens named General Warren R. Monger who, on the surface, is exactly what he appears to be: a high-ranking military man.  However, there are a few things that fans point to as possible evidence that Monger isn’t what he seems.  

The first is so simple that, alone, it would be inconsequential.  Monger rose through the ranks uncommonly fast, so much so that it caused some comment among others.  The second is significantly odder; Monger claims to be ninety years old despite looking like he is in his late forties.  Now, of course, this may have simply been the character exaggerating or messing with the “monsters” under his care, but some fans say it’s more than that, and claim that Monger chose that age because he was unfamiliar with human lifespans.  Next there is the fact that Monger is so intelligent that, despite one of the beings in his containment facility. Doctor Cockroach, being a super-genius, Monger outwits every escape attempt the monsters can make.  Then, of course, there is the fact that, despite his brusque manner, Monger seems to actually sympathize with the inhuman people he is charged with containing, and even pushes for them to be given a chance to prove themselves.  There is the oddity that, although he is assigned to the secret military base at “Area Fifty-Something,” Monger seems to disappear a lot, often for days at a time.  Finally, there are a few key physical and technological attributes: Monger has some odd and incredibly energetic facial expression—including a nearly maniacal smile and a dark scowl—as well as a jet pack that he appears to have constructed himself and green eyes.

I’m still not certain I see the resemblance, but maybe there are some similarities?  What do you think?

If you’re familiar with Metro City’s resident blue alien, you can probably see where this is going.  Although it’s not a popular theory, I’ve heard it suggested in the Megamind fandom that Monger is, in fact, Megamind disguised using his holowatch.  (This is why the green eyes are significant; Megamind’s eye color is the only aspect of his appearance that the holowatch doesn’t change.  However, I feel compelled to note that the shade of green appears to be different.) Fans insist that it would have been easy for someone as incredibly brilliant as Megamind to hack government systems and forge documents such as birth certificates thoroughly enough to dupe even U.S. Military Intelligence. The two jet packs, some have contested, look different either because of the disguise or because the one featured in Monster VS. Aliens is an older model. I’ve even seen the fact that both Megamind and Monger begin with M being pointed to as possible evidence that the latter is no more than an invention of the former.

The argument is as follows: as Monsters VS. Aliens takes place in 2009, one year before events in Megamind, it’s possible that Megamind, still being a villain, created an alter-ego which he could use to help him search for and deal with other alien life.  (He is shown to be painfully lonely, and the Megamind comics reveal his desperate desire to find other survivors from his home planet.)  Upon figuring out who Gallaxhar was, and more importantly what he had done, Megamind wanted to be part of taking him down.  But he couldn’t be too open about it; he was, after all, still a “Bad Guy.”  This theory explains Monger’s frequent long absences—during those time Megamind was back in Metro City taking care of his regular business— as well as why Monger had a secret soft spot for the “monsters.”  Megamind, having always been treated like a monster himself, would naturally want to give them a chance, but wouldn’t dare behave in too overtly friendly a manner as it would have aroused suspicion.

As I said, support for that particular theory is, perhaps, a little thin, especially given the fact the Monsters VS. Aliens preceded Megamind, so character designs from the former are unlikely to have been influenced by the latter.  Nonetheless, I admit to appreciating the complexity and creativity of it.  It’s an undeniably fun theory. If they haven’t already, maybe someone will write a fan fiction about it one day.

Those are only a few of the theories out there connecting Megamind with other fandoms.  One could go on and on about the subject, but I won’t torture readers by doing that.  Nonetheless, it illustrates once again the immense love and original thought that Megamind fans put into developing their theories!  I dare say that few other animated movies have earned a following so dedicated and inventive…  But, then, any of us who love the film Megamind will tell you that it has more than earned the consideration!