#still debating that one. maybe i'll put out a poll

[ennkis]

BLUE IS THE COLOR (mason mount x reader)

summary : in which y/n and mason argue about their newborn babys favorite football team

face claim : not needed

notes : im a sucker for dad fics and as of right now mason is my no1 pookie 😝 also imagine hes still in chelsea cause i refuse to support any other london team #loyal (god i miss prime chelsea). ALSO.. if u dont support barcelona or chelsea .. idk i dont think youll like this fic so mby pretend its ur teams xxx except for Madrid 😊 (i dont hate madridistas but yk im a culer soooooo) im also now seeing that the font is apparently purple but im slightly colorblind so js ignore that thanks xx

pairings : mason mount x reader (dad!mason mount)

"NO SHOT, my baby is NOT supporting Barcelona" The Chelsea midfielder argued. You and Mason have been together for quite some time already (five years to be exact) and you've recently welcomed your firstborn son, Nicolas Mount into the world.

You were born into a family full of FC Barcelona fans, so naturally, you became one aswell. Even after meeting your boyfriend, a Chelsea player, he couldn't change your mind. Thankfully, these two teams are in different leagues so you don't have to worry about having an aneurysm everytime these two played eachother (except for the champions league and thats also just a maybe)

This was a conversation the two of you have had multiple times, even before your baby was born. It was always shrugged off but now, that your son is here. It was time to decide.

"How about everytime Barcelona plays, he wears their jersey but any other time it's your jersey?"

"I'd look unloyal and like im joining Barcelona" (ironic isn't it) the brown haired man laughs.

You playfully roll your eyes at Mason's remark, knowing that this debate wasn't going to end anytime soon.

"Oh come on, Mason. It's just a jersey, it doesn't determine his loyalty at this age, just the fact that he's not a Madrid fan"

"But it's the principle, Y/N. We can't have our little boy supporting a rival team right from the start," Mason chuckles, ruffling Nicolas' tiny hair as he sleeps peacefully in his crib.

You lean in closer, a mischievous glint in your eyes. "Fine, how about this? We let him decide when he's old enough. Until then, we can take turns dressing him up in each team's gear. That way, he'll grow up knowing both teams and make his own choice."

Mason considers your proposal for a moment, a smile forming on his face. "Alright, deal. But I'm warning you, I'll be teaching him all the Chelsea chants in the meantime," he jokes, kissing your forehead.

"Okay but he has Catalan blood? He's gonna be a Culer by default"

"I'm pretty sure he's gonna be sick of both teams and become a Juventus fan by the time he can decide" The man jokes while looking at his son.

"Still better than Madrid"

yapfest part two, i put out a poll and yall said i should do this but idk if its good 😭 anyways hope you enjoyed

[rcvcgers]

I know this won’t happen, but I lowkey want reader to sleep with Zayne at least once in Rotten Apples. As in, the weight of constantly feeling second best got to her after seeing Caleb still prioritizing MC over her despite putting his boundaries. But with Zayne, at least it feels like he chose her first. She probably feels guilty afterwards and tells Caleb though. I don’t condone cheating, but the relationship is already really toxic, so might as well go all the way

oooooh wouldn't that make things more interesting? 😆

maybe i'll write a what if..? one shot for this because i really like the idea of reader getting back at him! would y'all be interested in that? (please comment if you wanna see it bc if this post goes radio silent i'll just scrap it haha)

edit !! : ALRIGHT Y’ALL IMA DO IT — be on the look out for a poll bc i’m debating making it a one shot or two shot !!

edit 2 !! : SO SORRY EVERYONE WHO COMMENTED I JUST DONT WANT YALL TO MISS THE POLL LMFAO

[suzukiblu]

an inquiry for y'all, via poll!

So my current Ko-fi goal (the "get 'obligatory sugar baby' word count in thanks for donations" one, that is) is about 95% full now, so I'm debating the possibility of starting up a new one once I finish up the last couple subs I owe from last month and a few more of the thank-you sentence sets I've still got on the docket. And also dent the obligatory sugar baby word count a little more, I'd like to be a little farther along on that too.

My current thought, as was suggested to me by a follower, is to do a donation goal where I dig into my inbox and just answer random WIP Wednesday requests I never got to for one reason or another--just like, whichever ones I find or that speak to me as I go, not any specific ones. So basically, making a donation would be like taking a swing at a fic pinata or picking out a blind box; everybody would get random surprises in response, and I'd get a clearer inbox and can maybe answer some of the old asks I lost in there while I'm at it. Because I love doing WIP Wednesday, man, but it regularly just BURIES things in my ask box, hahasob.

( so many asks I made the mistake of thinking "oh I'll just answer it in a day or two so I can really think about my response" . . . )

I was thinking I'd do one fill per dollar donated and I'd just treat them the same way I would normal WIP Wednesday fills, so they'd all be three sentences minimum. So like, a three-dollar donation would get three random fic-bits adding up to at least nine sentences as its thank-you. And like I said, they'd be random, but if there were any particular genres or squicks/triggers someone would rather I avoid for the fills I do in response to their personal donation--like omegaverse or kid-fic or dubcon-related responses, for example--I'd take that into account for people, obviously.

I don't know if that idea appeals to/would work for anyone who might be interested, though, so therefore: a poll!

tl;dr: Ko-fi donation goal for filling random old WIP Wednesday requests in thanks for donos; y/n??

As always, thanks for reading, I very much appreciate it! 🧡

[ancenth]

Prism family Such Colorful Lives Legacy!

I'm gonna put this under a cut because it's long, but basically since I'm starting posting my SCL legacy on gen 7 (accidentally wrote 6 on the poll whoops) Sadly no screenshots since I wasn't really taking pictures since I was just playing on my laptop :')

I found the rules here, and tweaked it however I felt like for my own play through, which I'll get into below

Gen 1 — Rosa 🌹

The founder of the legacy! She had a very standard generation where she completed all required tasks, got married and had kids, and didn't do much else. She married Darrel Charm, and had twin spellcaster babies; Clementine and Nova. Lived in San Myshuno for this gen.

Gen 2 — Clementine 🍊

I love and adore her and she's actually still kicking around the save! She's a highest rank spellcaster who took a potion of immortality to be with her vampire wife (Evie Delgato) forever :) (and also because I get extremely attached to my gen 2 heirs and I didn't want her to die). She completed the snow globe collection as a teenager before moving to Del Sol Valley. She had her first two kids, Sol (Granddaughter of Makoa and Lilliana), and Amber (daughter of Kiyoshi) who were both spellcasters, before marrying her wife, Evie, and eventually having a little vampire baby named Alba :)

Gen 3 — Sol ☀️

This was the first generation where I started to change the generational goals; namely I'd done the politician career 10000x so I swapped it out for the Law career, in the judge branch, which then had me swap to max research and debate instead of charisma. I also swapped the "donate to every charity" rule to a "volunteer every Saturday with the whole family" rule. She married Aurelio Robles, lived in San Sequoia, and had one daughter, Ivy.

Gen 4 — Ivy 🌿

I did a TOOOONNN of the kid stuff from growing together with Ivy, which was really fun! I think I did almost all of the kid aspirations with her?? Her generation did follow the actual challenge goals. Her ex-wife was Daniela Banuelos, a random townie who cheated on her with some guy named Troy, and had a kid named Dana. Ivy and Daniela had twins, River and Lake. I think her house was my favorite; she lived in this renovated cottage in Henford-on-Bagley that she built up over time and had a giant garden :)

Gen 5 — Lake 🐟

Also followed the actual goals of the generation for her! She married a mermaid. I forgot to mention that every single heir since Clementine has been a spellcaster lol. Lake ended up having 3 kids because for some reason her, Ivy, and Sol all have essentially the same face, so I kept trying until the game finally gave me someone who se genetics actually show the other parent. So first there was Violet, a spellcaster who married her high school sweetheart and immediately had triplets, and then a fourth child for good measure. After Violet was Lilac, also a spellcaster! And finally came our heir, Lavender, who broke the spellcaster streak and is a mermaid!

Gen 6 — Lavender 🪻

This gen was weird for me because I got super used to having spells like scrubberoo and delicioso, and now all I could do was make it thunder sometimes. I also changed this one up, since I've done a bunch of the original goals a bunch! The aspiration was swapped to Strangerville Mystery, career to Military, and swapped the bookworm trait for Adventurous. I still had her marry a scientist (who she met in Strangerville), and still get abducted and impregnated by aliens! Maybe it was a little cruel of me to make a mermaid live in Strangerville but I gave her a lil pool at least.

And then I'll be posting gen 7! I'll make a separate post introducing the family and generation goals (they are completely overhauled from the legacy rules). The gen 7 heir is starting in high school, because I guess Lavender was just too productive and got things done really fast.

[aerithsage]

Moving to Subscriptions: Patreon & Inkitt

Hi everyone!

Yes, I am back. Thank you so much for the warm welcome!

Over the years since I stopped writing, I've never truly stayed away from this world. I still read books, sometimes I wrote the stories in my head and kept them on drafts. Also, I was a ghostwriter for several published books (I cannot say what, sorry!).

Other than those things listed above, I also created a new account on Wattpad and finished an entire book.

The community was chill and nice when I finished that book which made me think maybe the toxic readers from before have truly grown up so I went back to my AerithSage account and started writing again.

And I am 100% back! The love for writing is also back. If there's anything that changed, it's that I monitor the comments section more thoroughly now. I click on every single notification and make sure I don't give the trolls an opportunity.

This time around, I went back with a plan.

For so long, I've kept my completed works free. This time around, I'm trying out subscriptions. I don't really like the coin-based ones as I feel this is more expensive. The subscriptions like Patreon and Inkitt work well because people can subscribe and binge-read.

So here goes:

While I was still debating which platform to choose, and at the same time, setting both up to test out features, 3 people subscribed (2 on Inkitt and 1 on Patreon) and I guess I have to do both this time.

So dear readers, I leave it up to you where you want to subscribe! You can go choose between Inkitt and Patreon.

I understand Inkitt is better for readers in terms of the actual reading interface but Patreon has more features like the polls, ability to upload images, podcasts, and the chapters have graphics!

Here's a sample of how a chapter looks like on Patreon:

Pretty, right? Too bad the reading experience is not as good yet as Inkitt or Wattpad.

THE TIERS:

The Billionaires ($2.99)

This gives you access to all my previously completed works. If you want to just binge-read this is for you!

The Immortals ($4.99)

This gives you access to all my previously COMPLETED and early access to all ONGOING works.

I will still post chapters on Wattpad for Ongoing Books but there will be more advanced chapters on Inkitt / Patreon.

OTHER STUFF:

If you subscribe on Patreon, there's also other features like Polls, Chats, etc. One way I was thinking of using polls is to put on a vote which book gets updated along with my main book.

For example: Right now, my main goal is to finish How to be a Queen so that's my main book. I'll open a poll on which book my subscribers also want to be updated aside from How to be a Queen.

Let's say How to Defy Fate won. I will also then post 1 chapter for How to Defy Fate.

Let me know what you think about this system and if it sounds interesting! I think I can put polls up every 1-2 weeks depending on workload.

**********************************************************************

LINKS:

Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/c/aerithsage (Read Online via web or Download the Patreon App)

Inkitt: https://www.inkitt.com/AerithSage (Read Online via web or Download the Inkitt App)

**********************************************************************

Anyway, thank you everyone for reading!

I hope you can support my writing by subscribing. I researched this pretty heavily and I think this is the cheapest option for my subscribers rather than me going by coins which always end up being more expensive.

Also, if you can't subscribe, that is totally fine! As I said previously, ongoing works will still be cross-posted to Wattpad just on a delayed schedule.

Not subscribing is fine but please do not send any hate. Just like you, writers are humans too and we need food to eat and a roof over our heads. Please do not get mad at us for trying to earn something by doing what we love.

Thanks so much for reading this long blog post! If you have any questions, here's where you can reach me:

Facebook Group: AerithSage's Immortals

Facebook Page: AerithSage

Instagram/Threads: @aerithsage

Twitter/X: @aerithsage

Love lots,

AerithSage

[covfefeships]

Weekly Writing update

Because I decided I'm gonna do these now every week to keep myself accountable and on track.

The writer's block is over hallelujah!!!!

Specific updates for each fic below the cut:

I should have the next chapter of Penned to You out by tomorrow morning. Decided it's going to be longer chapters than my usual stuff, but a much shorter fic, only 7 chapters total. Looking at about right under 50k total words completed for this fic.

The Once Great King Ch 2. is in the works. I'm taking my time with this one. I really want it to live up to how good I thought the first chapter was. (Which is very difficult because I was in the height of my college days and writing ALL the time when I wrote that one) Expecting this chapter by 4/29.

... I'm really, really frustrated with The Emergence Day Parade right now. I don't have good feelings surrounding this fic right now so I've been distancing myself from it a bit until I can look at it a bit more objectively because half of me just wants to just delete it and the other half is like "well hang on there cowboy, that's a little impulsive". I haven't started the outline for the second half yet, not for lack of ideas, I am just very disappointed in the first half and want to do major restructuring before I move forward. I'll have decided how I would like to proceed or what needs to be corrected on this one by the end of the month.

These Masks We Wear... I really didn't like the last chapter and it's been tearing me up. I feel like I changed the tone way too quick, and put too much emphasis on keeping the fic lighthearted. The character experienced a manic episode, albeit an unrealistic one, (expect maybe the scene in the pantry) I originally had it more realistic and the entire chapter mainly took place in the reader's head but I pussied out because I wanted this story to keep a more lighthearted tone. I'm really debating deleting that chapter and rewriting it fully as the more realisitc chapter that I initially wanted, just because I think I would be happier with that outcome.

Ghost of You - My little Dust/ Reader one shot. I've got a little written on this one, but it is very low on the totem poll, still, I will try to get this one out by 5/4/24

[back-of-the-bus]

@blue-moon5

Hahaha!!! Like I said, it was a loss or "loss" by a thousand cuts. Biden wasn't my choice in 2020, but he was the right choice and exceeded my wildest expectations.

Should Biden have declined to run for reelection a year or two before the election? Maybe. But we know how it goes. He declines to run and let's say Gavin and Bernard and Bashear and Big Gretch and a bunch of others decide to run. What does that look like? How would that impact Biden's ability to be effective? He would've been a lame duck. Do they bruise and batter each other to the point where they can't even win re-election for the seat they held? Would we have ended up with the same guy who won or "won" this time? Maybe.

Biden had that bad hour on debate night and the wheels came off. After the debate, he seemed fine. We haven't seen that version of him since that night. Of course we heard whispers after the fact, but I keep asking, "What happened that night?" He's looked old for years but his mind was always sharp except for that hour. I still have questions.

We never saw any medical reports from the attempt or "attempt". That man knows how to put on a production and I'll leave it at that.

Kamala was thrown to the wolves. She is the ultimate public servant. The party couldn't have a wild west primary season where "party elites" make the selection. People are still running around saying Bernard was selected by the party, and he wasn't. Imagine if the party really made the choice this time and it wasn't Kamala. I know I called my rep and senators and told them it had to be Kamala or they would lose me as a voter. I know I wasn't the only one.

When she got in there, she was left with 107 days and Biden's team and infrastructure. Yes, she hired some of her own people, but it wasn't enough. It takes a long time to build your team and state ground game. There was no time. Where Biden invested in terms of communities, was what she was left with. Those investments may not have been her investments, but with 107 days, what do you do? You stay the course and try to make your mark in other ways.

As a sitting VP, you have your current job and the job you're auditioning for. We know there were policy differences with Biden, but her day job was to be lockstep with POTUS. Again, an impossible situation. She is loyal to a fault and I think it hurt her to a degree.

Speaking of loyalty, I think back to some articles that came out after the election. It seems that some folks working for Kamala from Biden's camp were almost working against her. They weren't keeping her informed and making decisions that ultimately hurt her. They weren't listening to folks on the ground.

The right has built an entire ecosystem. They behave as those voters are stupid. They've mastered the art of repetition and they are on the same page. Democrats don't have an ecosystem or echo chamber. They act as though voters are smart. They haven't mastered the art of messaging and repetition. Democrats are stuck in the old ways and they haven't evolved in terms of communicating.

I blame the media for a lot of it, but I also blame the party. A delivery guy came over before the election and I was talking to him. I was asking him about things that were important to him and he had no idea about how Kamala's plans would help him. He was like, "Wait, how do you know all of this? Where can I learn more." I mentioned stuff he heard at the barbershop and debunked the lies I knew he was hearing. By the time he left, he was registered to vote. There were a ton of people like that and I think a good, modern digital campaign could've helped.

The right never had to expand their base and, in fact, made no attempt to do so. Their entire focus was in shrinking the electorate and they did just that. They shrunk the voter rolls and made it more difficult to vote.

On election day, in my cousin's blue community, her polling place was shut down due to a threat and she received multiple calls from overseas and a country that shall not be named. That was repeated around the country. How many people weren't able to vote because they were disrupted?

How much foreign interference was there and did it swing the election?

In my opinion, this election wasn't lost by doing or not doing one thing. The data shows that Kamala saved the country from a much worse outcome. In my opinion, there are a million little things that cost democrats the election, and I'm not sure whether anything could've changed the outcome. I think history will reveal a whole lot and those of us who felt uneasy about the outcome and just couldn't put our finger on "it," will be proven right.

'Democrats are going to have to get their act together,' former White Ho...

This is the problem. The Republicans just voted to basically gut Medicare Medicaid and SNAP. Yet mainstream media is focus on how bad they can make Democrats looks. Democrats have to fight mainstream media and everything while Republicans are not the focus of basically taking food and healthcare out of their very own constituents mouths

[tysonfurybattlepass]

the way you draw lancer and king is soooooo nice and really cute (for lancer at least)

ive had an argument with my sister about whether lancer is fluffy or rubbery and i think i just won bc i showed her your art sjdjkajfkwfjsk

hehehe i'm glad i could help bring someone over to the dark side (the side of buppy lancer truthers)

here's a sketch of the boy from something i have in the works :3

[ranseur]

Hiya! Thanks for responding to my poll about Dead Dove Do Not Eat tags! I have a follow up question for you, because your angle is one I knew was common, but I haven’t seen laid out in the responses to my poll (except for you!!! Thank you!!!). Are you aware of the origins of the phrase? (From an episode of Arrested Development.) Again, thanks so much for replying, and in such detail!! I really appreciate your contribution to Science. (Aka, my dumbass curiosity.)

Hellooo @aurorasulphur! Thanks very much for facilitating this very scholarly and scientific survey. Also thanks for reading my response. I'm glad my take isn't so uncommon! I'm sorry in advance for subjecting you to read another wall of text where I explain my silly thoughts. (Obligatory Disclaimer: These are only my personal preferences that I'll try to put in words. Anyone may feel free to disagree. I primarily want to explain why I think it's important to have a tag that means 'dark fic in general'.)

Yes, I'm aware of the origins! (Arrested Development is such a funny show.) I debated mentioning in my tags that I knew it, but they were already so long;;; And I had thoughts related to it.

From what I understand, the punchline in the original gag was 'this is exactly what the label (on the tin) says; what did you expect.’ Which is the popular definition from the poll, and again maybe I’m picky about the wording but it’s not the definition I prefer. We already use a tag to emphasize the provided tags ('READ THE TAGS') and a tag to strongly advise viewer discretion ('Don't Like Don't Read). Personally, I broadly define Dead Dove: Do Not Eat (DD:DNE) as 'Dark/Horror Fic- that may or may not criticize itself or be specified', because I’ve only seen DD:DNE used on AO3 to tag dark fic. So in effect, the tag itself is the ‘label on the tin’. Also I think- regardless of what the tag is- readers forfeit their right to complain when tropes that they dislike are properly tagged but they choose to read the fic anyway. I think it's a readers responsibility to check tags. And if writers forget to tag some warnings, DD:DNE could be a useful catch-all, fail-safe tag to have for dark fic in general. (An aside, I also think the symbolism of a dead dove is apt for dark themes, and DD:DNE intuitively reads as a warning, like, 'Don't Dead: Open Inside' from TWD.)

I’ll be the first to point out that my 'dark fic' definition has a flaw, right, because the fics that people tag as DD:DNE will vary depending on where they personally draw the line on what is dark or problematic. I think defining the moral lines of ‘what is problematic’ is a bigger discussion that can’t be fixed by defining one tag; but I still think the vagueness of DD:DNE can be a feature, not a bug. In order to be as clear as possible, many writers tag additional warnings. And even though DD:DNE is almost always accompanied by tags affiliated with dark fic, I think DD:DNE by itself can indicate dark tone more universally than other content warning tags. I think DD:DNE establishes the genre of the story rather than emphasizing the accuracy of tags, on the grounds that sometimes problematic or ‘content warning’ tags can be accurate and true without being dead doves.

For example, a common problematic tag like 'kidnapping'. This tag might mean the fic is a saucy bodice ripper, in which the kidnappee is never really harmed or in danger because they're supposed to melt the heart of the villain. Even though the scenario is an indulgent romantic fantasy, it's still kidnapping, so the tag is accurate. But if a fic is tagged 'kidnapping, DD:DNE’ then, to me, that has an entirely different implication; it means the holodeck safey protocols are turned off (ie, within the fictional story- the setting is no longer a romanticized fantasy; the kidnapper will be cruel, the kidnappee will be in pain, etc.) In this example, tagging ‘DD:DNE’ doesn't emphasize the latter story to be 'more kidnap-y' than the former, but rather it sets the tone; it's going to be a dark story while the former is raunchy romance. Also, if tagged, people who want to read the former fic can safely filter out DD:DNE without filtering out ‘kidnapping’.

Another example- some media properties, like horror films/games, are already loaded with problematic or dark tropes that are canon and expected in the fan content (eg, zombie media with body horror and gore and cannibalism). Readers might be accustomed to seeing canon-typical dark/horror tropes in that fandom. And if some tags, that are usually affiliated with dark fics, fail to express how the tone of a dark setting will be even more dark, then DD:DNE might be used to say ‘this is on another level’.

All said- the definition of DD:DNE that I prefer is useful as an umbrella term to warn readers of dark content. I'm sure there are a dozen ways to tag my above examples differently and still achieve the same results; I just think one tag is easy to filter. Also, the tag really doesn't have to be DD:DNE anyway; theoretically in an alternate timeline where Arrested Development never made the 'dead dove' gag, people still would have found a way to tag dark fic warnings. I think writers who don't know the DD:DNE tag, or choose not to use it, have flagged their fics with tags like 'Bad Ending' or 'Not Safe Not Sane' or just 'Dark'.

So, in my humble opinion, the DD:DNE definition based on the original context of the Arrested Development gag ('i tagged X: believe it!') is technically correct, but misses the point for me. My focus is on the context of AO3 tags and gaps in writer/reader communication. I prefer DD:DNE used as a broad term for genre of very dark or horror centered fic, because I believe reliable tags help us to curate our online experiences. By having clear expectations, we can keep our online sandboxes safer for everyone.

[sapphire-heart-tippy]

I'm not even done with the original Sapphire Heartverse fanfic (written anyway, but I know how I want it to end), and I already have ideas for the sequel, starring mine and Vanilla's son, Ramon

Okay so here's some quick info!

In case you don't know, here's the fic of how we found him

The reason the main story is called The Sapphire Heartverse is because that's my stand's name!

I think this ahem... "brief summary" covers everything

Alright, now that we have everything situated, let's go right into it!!

The original Sapphire Heartverse has two alternate endings, the good ending and the bad ending. The good ending is the canonical ending, the bad ending is what could plausibly happen if the couple didn't make it out of there alive.

I'm still debating on what to call the sequel. Something having to do with Ramon's stand Sugar Crash maybe? I'll figure it out, I might do a poll with all the different names I came up with!

Anyway, the sequel takes place 15/16 years after Vanilla and Tippy got married and found Ramon. So they're a little older, but still have the same ol' style (different designs, however).

Ramon is now a teenager, and got his stand Sugar Crash when he was about 10 years old. He's a typical edgy teenager, wearing dark eyeliner, painting his nails black, giving the finger to society. His teachers are in for a surprise when they find out that his fathers are exactly like that too. Unfortunately, Ramon gets in trouble a lot at school and might face expulsion. Vanilla and Tippy have a serious heart to heart conversation with their son. It's difficult being a teenager, but also being a teenager who has a stand and going to an all stand user school. They try to tell him that you can still defend yourself without breaking the rules and using your stand.

Vanilla and Tippy had to follow a similar rule while working at Dio's mansion. They teach him how to fight without using his stand.

Unfortunately, this doesn't end well either. Ramon defends his friend from a bully using his own fists. This doesn't sit well with the counselor. She suspends both Ramon and the bully from the school. Vanilla and Tippy go up there and end up making things worse. Now they have a reputation for being a family of delinquents.

To make things even worse, Vanilla and Tippy end up arguing a lot more because their bakery isn't making enough money to pay bills. Ramon has never seen them upset with each other before. Ramon overhears one of their arguments and they say something about how they should ask "him" for help again... Vanilla is especially nervous about this. Everything goes silent. Vanilla explains that "he" has helped them out before but he doesn't want to face "him" again.

They have no choice.... Ramon knows something is up. Over the next few days, things are more calm, but... his fathers are acting a little strange. Happier and more upbeat than usual, in a very bizarre way. Ramon goes to school and tells his friends about everything. One suggests they might be drug dealers and they're high on something. Ramon goes back home and sees his fathers cleaning up the house. They give him tickets to a concert he really wanted to go to and tell him that he can stay out as late as he wants that night.

This isn't exactly new, but... something is very off about this interaction. Ramon goes to the concert with his friends and heads home around 2am. Why would his fathers want him to stay out as late as possible? Don't they care about him anymore?

Ramon decides to sneak back in the house to see if they really are selling drugs or something... it's something even weirder.

Ramon hears 3 men laughing. One is Vanilla. One is Tippy.... and one.... is a man who sounds eerily familiar. Ramon can't quite put his finger on it, but he feels like he's heard that voice before. Ramon uses Sugar Crash to glitch into a wall and listen in on the conversation.

The mysterious man is very poised and feminine, yet super masculine and strong looking. He sips wine from a glass daintily and tells Ramon's fathers that he has been waiting for their return to Egypt for years. The man says that trouble has stricken the mansion and he would rather have it taken care of by the people he knows will fix it. Plus, the mysterious man has found somebody who might be important to Vanilla.

Vanilla is very confused by this, considering the fact nobody has ever really been important to him besides all of those who are in the house right now. The mystery man reveals that he knows somebody who is a blood relative of Vanilla. How he knows this? ... His blood tasted the same as Vanilla's....

Ramon's eyes widen and he is frozen in place with shock and fear. The man flips his blonde hair over his shoulder while speaking casually. Ramon is trembling at how equally casual his fathers are at the mention of blood drinking from this man. The man stands up and looks Ramon in the eyes... it seems.

Ramon is in between the wall, not visible to anyone, but Ramon feels like this man with piercing amber eyes, golden blonde hair, and flawless porcelain skin is staring deep into his soul. The man smiles, revealing two razor sharp canine teeth. A sudden flashback enters Ramon's mind. He has seen this man before... he just can't pinpoint when he has seen him. But the grin that man has made was the exact face he remembered. The man turns around to continue speaking to Ramon's fathers about the plan. He has recruited others for this task, including one of Vanilla's supposed relatives. They come up with a plan, but they can't just leave Ramon here by himself.

"Bring the little one with you! Where is he? I would like to see how much he's grown.... it's been what? 14 years? How old is he now? 16? My god, it's been so long since I've seen the little darling." Said the man... that's when Ramon realizes... that's him. That's the man. He hasn't aged a single day since Ramon had seen him. They tell him that he should be out at a concert with his friends. The man looks slightly disappointed. As he pours another glass of wine silently... he asks with a bit more seriousness in his tone,

"The child is a stand user... isn't he?" He swirls the wine around in his glass, "Why else would you allow him, a teenage boy, to go out and about at this unholy hour? Unless he has something to protect himself with? Hm?"

Vanilla and Tippy sullenly nods their heads and confirm.

"I told you so." The man take a drink and sets the glass down, "You know what needs to be done. Bring the boy to Egypt with you. Ice," the man gazes deep into Vanilla's eyes.

"Yes, sire?"

Sire? Ramon thinks to himself, is this guy royalty or something?

"Do what you did with your beloved. You will train him. You will work him to the bone until I find out just what his stand is capable of. Considering the fact you both are," the man uses finger quotes, " 'void dwellers', the boy might be one himself. Watch him closely."

"Yes, sire... very good, sire." Vanilla nods his head, feeling ill. The man smirks,

"You three will be my most powerful allies. Hmhmhm... Oh my my my my my..." He shakes his head, grinning and showing his full pearly white teeth, "You are not to tell him why you're there until I give you the right, do I make myself clear?"

The two men nod. The blonde man walks around, softly touching the counter. He leans in on Vanilla's ear and whispers,

"You're my favorite servant... I put my full faith in you once again."

Ice has his eyes closed, his cheeks are flushed but he resists feelings buried deep inside of him. The man touches Vanilla's right bang,

"Hm... you never decided to let it grow out, hm, Ice?" He chuckles and releases Ice. "Oh and.... Jonathan says hi... hmhmhm." After a while, the mystery man leaves.

Ramon is terrified. He's going to Egypt but his fathers are hiding some sort of dark secret from him...

What the hell is going on?!

(to be actually written one day!!)

[bl-bracket]

Info for how the brackets work:

So since there's been a lot more attention on this current competetion then the last, I thought I'd share some of my process on how the brackets get formed so y'all can understand how it works more!

Who gets put in the brackets?

Basically everyone who gets submitted at this point! I'm still starting out on here and I don't have a ton of traction yet, so every character submitted has been put in the bracket. Right now I've been doing 16-competitors brackets, so I basically take everyone's submissions and then add my own if I need more. The green flag bracket had the most amount of submissions so far (39) with 12 characters nominated. I added another 4 based on my personal choices to complete the bracket and that's how you got what we have now.

Why is X character against Y character?

The pairings for the bracket are about 80% randomized. The remaining 20% is my interference, which, in order to make the competition more interesting, is avoiding putting the real heavy hitters against each other in the first round. For this bracket (and those going forward), the "heavy hitters" were basically the characters I got the most repeated submissions for earlier. Like I said, I had 39 submissions with only 12 characters, many characters were submitted by multiple people. I took the ones with the most submissions and adjusted it so that they weren't going to face each other till later rounds. Maybe in the future I will adjust this policy but for now just keep in mind that the match ups are largely randomized.

Isn't this just a popularity contest?

I mean... yeah? Unfortunately that's how these bracket competitions seem to work and I'm not sure if there's any way to combat that. My best advice is to use as much campaigning and propaganda as you want for your desired canadite (also reblogging the poll if your follower base tends to have similar opinions on the shows can be advantageous to you ;).) I also think in future brackets I'll add the reasons people give for submitting their character to the posts to hopefully even the odds a little.

Also just some general info, I'm trying my best to be neutral as possible with these! I don't vote in the polls (originally because the very first round I ever did didn't have a lot of votes and I didn't want to sway any of them. Now it's just a fun little game of self restraint) so I'm not trying to get yall to vote for a specific character. I also haven't watched every single drama that is a part of these competitions so pls don't get too upset at a character being included that you think is inaccurate! There is a very real possibility that they were just a user submission I added! I don't want to stay which dramas I have or haven't watched (again I don't want to sway anything) so please don't ask me or interrogate me on why a character is a part of the poll! Like I said before, it's primarily user submissions and only a few are added by me, but I would really rather not say which are which (except maybe after a bracket has been completed!)

Anyways! This is just a reminder that this is all in good fun! The most popular bl is not necessarily the best bl, nor is the bl you find most enjoyable always the best bl either! It can be fun to argue and debate over fictional characters but please stay kind and remember to keep fun at the forefront!

[buzzworddotie]

The 8th Amendment Referendum in Ireland

And how history is being rewritten one step at a time

It's been a long time coming but on May 25th 2018 the people of Ireland were asked if they would like to amend the Constitution to decriminalise abortion in Ireland.

What's it all about?

Up until now, an Irish women who seeked out an abortion for personal reasons or medical ones was a criminal under Irish law. A woman would have to either travel to the UK or attempt to dangerously take abortion pills acquired illegally at home under zero medical supervision.

Or the alternative, for years, decades, Ireland and the stronghold held over her by the Catholic Church, would force girls and women into homes to have the baby. Often these babies wound up dead, buried away, hidden. Bones have been found in septic tanks.

Girls and women were treated brutally.

Secret pregnancies were also a thing, who knows how many women and girls suffered in silence?

Right up until May 25th 2018.

That's when we finally got to be heard.

Enough is Enough

I can't take a single piece of credit for getting this vote to happen but there are countless women who can. Women who have been banging on doors, demanding bodily autonomy, demanding rights, demanding choice. Finally the demand was heard, finally the government agreed to allow the people to make a decision.

The Campaigns

As soon as the vote was announced, I knew this was not going to be a particularly nice campaign. That's putting it lightly. In 2015 Ireland held the Marriage Referendum. An opportunity to change the Constitution to recognise and allow same sex marriage in Ireland. It passed, of course, but the campaign was filled with some uneducated, hateful rhetoric fuelled by the Catholic Church. Regardless of how much they wanted to deny it, hardcore religious groups and their followers were against that law with vigor and venom.

And I knew that hate would amplify for this one. I already knew what way I wanted to vote, I didn't need anyone to convince me either way, much like the Marriage Ref. But unlike then when I did tune into radio debates and absorbed the arguments, this time I made the conscious decision to avoid it as much as possible.

Marketing

Despite that it was tough to avoid, every pole, every surface available was covered with Yes and No posters. The Yes posters usually said something like "Yes for choice" "Together for Yes" or a simple "Repeal"...

Murals went up by artists like Maser, badges were made, Repeal jumpers and through the help of crowd sourcing the Yes campaign managed to gain more support for their message.

Our message.

On the No side there were an abundance of posters, I have seen images of feotus in the womb telling me babies will be murdered. Billboards across towns, rural and otherwise.

The whole thing turned into a massive marketing campaign. To a degree, on both sides. Paid ads on social media, Google and streaming services, posters... So... Many... Posters.

Social media attacks, hashags... I just didn't want to hear it. I know burying your head in the sand isn't a solution but I personally don't believe that an issue as important as this should boil down to who has the most money to promote a post or buy a billboard.

One thing I will say is that, at least where I have travelled, there was far more "No" campaign imagery than "Yes". Those were the ones with the billboards, the video ads that interrupted my viewing and I had to wonder, where was all this money coming from?

In the end Google and Facebook to the best of my knowledge pulled paid advertising on their platforms but there were other means.

Attacks on People, places and things

Another side of the campaign was the inevitable attacks. Digital rows blazed up as the concept of reasoned debate flew out the window. Some of the words I have witnessed being used against women on social media were beyond appalling, disgusting, shameful.

Were there bot accounts? Yes, there were. It doesn't take too much probing to see that and that minor exercise in investigation proved that really the "No" side was in the minority. It was clear but you could never be certain.

And by no means would I ever suggest the "Yes" side were entirely innocent, I just didn't catch the trolling by them.

"No" campaigners also attacked places, apparently in one constituency very graphic posters were hung very close to a school, causing uproar.

They also stood outside maternity hospitals.

Let me reiterate that, MATERNITY HOSPITALS.

They stood outside them holding graphic posters, other establishments too, but that one made me sick to my stomach.

Then on the stunning Benbulben, in my home county, a place I adore, they stuck a massive "NO" sign. For some reason this triggered me. Using the landscape of this country, which throughout history has been defined with feminine pronouns, to announce that women's rights were not of value was disgusting.

Photo: https://garethwray.com/product/classiebawn-benbulben-sligos-iconic-duo/

Not more disgusting than standing outside a hospital or plastering graphic and insensitive imagery around a school but a different kind of insult. As if they were claiming this land shared their voice.

What was even weirder was the fact the people who did it were practically a parody of themselves, announcing on radio that the men had put up the sign as the women made them tea and sanwiches.

This had to be a joke, right?

It's not funny

Truthfully though, this issue wasn't a joke, not to me or to anyone involved. This vote could actually be the difference between life and death for so many women.

By night, reports were coming out saying that the turnout to vote had been exceptional, people had been travelling back home from all around the country to take part.

Many popular Irish female voices had been so loud in their messages to push this cause, many Irish men got involved too stressing the importance of men getting behind women, taking a stand with them, recognising this is their issue too. Women should not be alone in this.

Soon we began to hear the results from the Exit Polls. First the Irish Times showing a landslide in favour of Repealing. It was something like 68% in favour, an insane number.

RTE Uses Us

The "main" Irish broadcaster, the state owned one, decided to announce their Exit Polls on what I think is supposed to be a late night chat show, The Late Late Show.

I found this disgusting and I didn't watch, because I never watch, because it's utter fucking drivel. But what RTE did was decide to use this campaign for their own ratings gain. They knew people would tune in and so they decided to, as far as I know, discuss how "Toxic Masculinity is a Myth", very fucking timely decision lads. As well as this they had some gobshite on NATIONAL TV talking about how she speaks to fairies.

Because heaven forbid we take a step forward as a nation.

Now, I don't know at what stage they announced the results but I do know that it wasn't before any of that other shite. Again, that was a calculated move and they will point to those viewing figures to justify the ridiculous wages that we fund for that show and it's (wooden) presenter. I'll pause that one right there.

History is Rewritten

In a move that has the potential to shock anyone not clued into who most modern Irish people actually are, the "Yes" side achieved a mammoth victory with over 1.4 million people deciding to Vote Yes, over 66% of voters.

And the 8th Amendment has been Repealed. I am so proud of all of us.

Photo: Maser, https://deandublin.ie/events/maser-exhibition/

What Now?

So where do we go from here?

I can never shake a Bell X1 lyric from my head in times like this. Fitting, given they are an Irish band:

"...History is written by the winners. And I want my say."

If we want to continue to create an Ireland that is just, inclusive, fair and reasonable we have to keep banding together and becoming the winners. The people on the reasoned side do not always need to feel like they are being walked all over.

That's how things have felt for so long, I won't even say in the past because it is still happening. This moment was monumental and something that, just like the Marriage Referendum, should be really allowed to sink into the minds of every single person who voted, the real power of what was achieved this day is epic.

We didn't just pop an X next to a box. We have literally changed the Constitution of this nation twice. We have asked to please get a chance to update this nation to reflect who we are and not to be bound to the decisions of the past, which maybe were the right decisions back then or maybe the alternative was too alternative. We had to crawl for a while, but we started to walk and now we have the chance to run.

I don't want our interest in matters like this to start and stop with things that are so clearly emotive. There is so much more to do to keep pushing forward.

And the further we move ahead the more resistance will be out against us but we can't turn a blind eye.

OK the 8th is Repealed, what can we put in place now to ensure any womelan who require ls a clinic is not harassed with hate on entry and exit as is the case in other countries?

And there are more issues outside of this.

We need to really strive to separate Church from state, the stranglehold the Church has over schools is poisonous. There are laws that exist that people are not even aware of, did you know that if you work as a teacher in one of the many, many Church affiliated schools and you do something outside of the Catholic ethos like sleep with someone outside of marraige, they can fire you?! Can you believe this shit!?

Then there are the other social issues including housing, homelessness, classism which are still very active and we need to fight back against those structures too.

We have to keep saying when enough is enough.

We have to keep looking out for each other, from all walks of life.

Sure, An Taoisach gave some really character defining moments during this debate but he and his party need to be just as active in helping people out elsewhere. Maybe it won't get them as much PR but it should and if they make the best decisions it will.

Simon Harris has been charming people during these debates. Is that enough? Is that all it takes? He is Minister for Health of a system that is simply disasterous. A system where hospitals are under funded, where women are being improperly diagnosed with ceverical cancer, where patients are left on trolleys, where I don't know if my own father is getting the best treatment he can be getting right now because I simply do not trust the HSE.

The rich are getting richer, you can barely afford a basic, single bedroom roof over your head. People, families are homeless. Maybe the few are doing well but I'd argue the majority are struggling still.

Prospects are few and far between.

Really heinous crimes have been committed, some very recently, against women and girls. A lot of them. These are issues too that need to be examined, there is an underlying problem to this that needs to be addressed.

Mental Health needs to be treated as a real issue with real, available and affordable treatment. People should be able to get counselling or therapy as easily as they can get the flu shot.

That barely scratches the surface.

Yes, we achieved something outstanding and worth celebrating but this should be the fire in our belly to ignite us to realise we can do so much more.

We don't have to sit back and take our lot. We need to keep demanding better from our leaders and our services from the extreme examples to the basics of decent roads, schools and water.

The water in my own home been undrinkable for nearly 6 months that we are aware of. And it could have been longer.

Honestly the Irish rail service Iarnrod Eireann's slogan sums us up perfectly, "We're not there yet. But we're getting there."

This country is moving forward but we can't stop demanding true equality, for everyone.

A chairde, comhghairdeas, rinneamar stair le chéile. Ligeann an treocht seo a choinneáil.

Is féidir linn é a dhéanamh.

[treadmilltreats]

Just the lies...please

If you watched the non debates last night, you know we had to scramble between two networks to see what each had to say. This happened because #45 refused to get covid tested again and he refused to do it through a zoom meeting. (Maybe he was afraid of his mike being cut off)

Which was kind of like the first debate where we didn't hear what each of them were trying to say.

Anyway the highlight was all the lies #45 said last night and because of our favorite site, that wonderful fact check site, here is the highlight of such said lies.

1.Done more for the African American community 

Trump said he has “done more for the African American community than any president with the exception of Abraham Lincoln,” noting that “a lot of people agree.” 

Facts First: This is false.

President Lyndon B. Johnson, for example, signed the 1964 Civil Rights Act and the 1965 Voting Rights Act, monumental bills whose impact dwarfed the impact of any legislation Trump has signed. 

It’s also worth mentioning that Black people themselves do not, on the whole, agree with Trump's self-assessment. Trump has had a consistently abysmal approval rating with Black citizens — just 4% in one recent Quinnipiac University poll, for example, versus 93% disapproval. 

2.About ballots and voting fraud. 

"Thousands of them are dumped in dumpsters and when you see ballots with the name Trump — military ballots, from our great military, and they’re dumped in garbage cans,” Trump said in the NBC town hall.  

He went on to claim that the “thousands of ballots” were found with “my name on it.”

Facts First: This is false. 

There have been two incidents where ballots were found in a dumpster or trash can: 99 ballots heading to voters in New Jersey and nine ballots “incorrectly discarded” by a temporary worker in Pennsylvania.  

3.About Osama bin Laden 

Trump had retweeted earlier this week claiming Osama bin Laden was still alive and that the man killed in the raid was a body double. 

Trump defended his actions, saying, "That was a retweet. That was an opinion of somebody, and that was a retweet. I'll put it out there. People can decide for themselves. I don't take a position." 

Facts First: This is a baseless claim

It has no evidence to back it up. The facts around the killing of bin Laden are not a debatable opinion. 

4. About the virus and wearing masks

"Just the other day, they came out with a statement that 85% of the people that wear masks catch it,” Trump said.

It was a repeat of a similar claim he had made two times earlier in the day, citing the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention as the source for that number. 

Facts First: Trump’s claim is false.

 A CDC study released in September, did not say that 85% of people who wear masks get infected with coronavirus. In fact, it did not even attempt to figure out what percentage of people who wear a mask get infected with the coronavirus. 

In fact he never answered the questions about him getting the virus or if he is actually cleared of it.  He never answered the questions of his taxes and why he won't let the American people see them. 

He never answered the question about what his health care reform was even though he had 4 years to come up with "A great one, better than Obamacare"

He never addressed the American people and the loss of so many lives, or how so many people are still struggling.

He avoided the questions of police reform and Roe vs Wade or why he was so fast to replace the Supreme Court Justice.

He had no sympathy for what average Americans have been going through or any answers other than praising himself and "What a great job he was doing" Which is what he always does anyway.

This man does not care about us, he wants to divide and conquer. He stirs the shit pot with hate and division not wanting to make America Great again but trying to make America white again. Back to the good ole boys club, where gays were in the closets, women had no rights and where we all weren't considered equal.

This is what this snake charmer has offered to us the last four years and now wants another four years to drive the nail in the coffin for good.

This shows us what he stands for…. lying, cheating, dodging questions and filling the pockets of him and his friends who will profit off his policies. We need change and as much as we may not like the competition, we need this man out of the white house. Haven't we've been embarrassed enough? We need change and we need it now.

We only have 18 days, we must get out there, we must get everyone we know to vote now! 

Vote like your life depends on it because it does! 

#wearesickofthelies

"Be the change you want to see"

 

"And just when the caterpillar thought his life over...he turned into a beautiful butterfly"

**Now released my latest book**

The Blessing in Disguise.... revealed

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