#the eternal struggle of being non binary | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

reashot · 1 year ago

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After a long wait. My promised long fic sequel to ice queendom is finally here. Also a bit of a disclaimer this technically takes place after my last fic. You don't have to read it to understand it but it will enhances the experience. And may explains something.

This is technically just a prologue and not even the entire prologue. But I will continue this story if it get over a 100 likes. This is also my first time writing a non-binary character and I have a great fun writing them.

Jaune’s Big Dick Adventure: Prologue.

“Call me Ishmael…” It kept telling me again and again.

Jaune can't see who said that. In fact he can't see anything at all. He found himself surrounded by darkness so thick he can't even see himself. He looks around but he still can't see anything but the sound calling out to him. Unable to see anything he decides to look for the source of the sound he kept hearing. Stumbling in the dark for what seems to be an eternity with only the sounds as his guide. Without an end in sight. Jaune starts getting frustrated and starts shouting in the dark. Hoping that the person could hear it. "Who is Ishmael?!" Jaune screamed to the voice in the darkness only to be met with a silent response.

Normally he would have given up by now but for some reason he keeps on moving. 'Too soon to give up.' He thought to himself. So the only thing he can do is to move forward. Even when he seemingly walks into an abyss. As Jaune walks he starts to feel that each step he takes starts to get harder and harder like he's walking in water, until finally he finds himself in the middle of an ocean. From here Jaune then suddenly went from walking in the dark to swimming in a large ocean. It's there he realizes This is the same dream again, a dream of him swimming in the ocean as he watches a whale swim towards him. A white whale, A giant whale, no, a whale to end all whales. He found himself drowning as he was struggling for air while the whale looked at him with their giant eyes, watching him as he drowned. In a dream this is where he should have woken up, but it felt too real for him, so he keeps on thrashing around in his bed unable to wake up from his dream. All the while the whale still keeps their sight on the drowning teenager.

"Call me Ishmael…" The whale said again to Jaune.

Jaune however can't answer the whale on the account that he's drowning.

"Call me Ishmael…" The whale repeats.

Jaune tries to struggle as hard as he can to prevent drowning in his dream. He trashes harder and harder in his bed causing him to fall from his bed. The impact causes him to be violently awakened from his sleep.

Waking up, Jaune found himself on the floor of his dorm. "Ouch" Jaune touched his head and noticed that there's a slight bump.

"Is it that dream again, Jaune?" Pyrrha asked Jaune after being awoken by him.

"More like a nightmare." He answered as he slowly rose up from the ground near his bed.

"This is the third time you have had them, Jaune *yawn.* Maybe you should seek help. Beacon after all has a state of the art counseling facility. Maybe they can help you with this problem?" Ren offers Jaune some advice after being woken up by him.

Nora however, despite the loud commotion, somehow still fast asleep snoring in the background.

"I'm okay Ren. It was just a nightmare. You don't have to worry about me. It's nothing, I swear." Jaune answers Ren while smiling at him.

"... If you say so, Jaune." Ren reluctantly agreed with Jaune, but deep down he knew it's much more serious than he let on. He doesn't know how, but he just knew it. Because that's just a feeling he gets from him.

"You know Jaune? Where I'm from. Sometimes dreams are prophecies for things yet to come." Pyrrha explains to Jaune.

"Prophecy?" Jaune now seems more confused about his current situation.

"Yeah, we call those types of people Oracle. And people usually seek their help in predicting the future to help with all sorts of problems in their life." Pyrrha tries to explain as best as she can to people outside her culture.

"Wow! That sounds great. I bet that could be a useful ability to have.” Jaune is fascinated after hearing that he might have the power of prophecy.

Pyrrha giggled a little after hearing Jaune. “Well just don’t let it get to your head. It is not unusual in a story for an Oracle to be killed for giving false prophecy or for misusing their power.” Pyrrha gives Jaune a cautionary advice.

Jaune then lets out a short sigh in response. "Of course there has to be some catch."

Pyrrha giggled again after hearing Jaune. "Well of course, my people love their tragedy and especially their irony in our story."

"That sounds kinda messed up Pyhr? Jaune said not trying to be disrespectful.

"Well that's true. But I guess I'm just kinda used to it." Pyrrha places her finger on her cheek. Contemplating what Jaune said.

Jaune laughed a little hearing Pyrrha's response.

"I hate to break up you two flirting. But we still need to meet our instructor tomorrow morning. Well it's more like we have a few hours before we meet with our instructor." Ren cuts into the conversation. "So if you want to go back to bed there's still time for it, Jaune." Ren continues.

Jaune looks up to see the time and sees that the time is around three in the morning. He slowly gets up from the floor to face Ren. "No need, I'll use the extra time for training. You guys are welcome to join." Jaune slowly changes into his training outfit.

"I'll go with you Jaune." Pyrrha also follows suit and changes into her training outfit. "How about you Ren. You want to join us?"

"I'll stay here. Someone needs to wait for Nora to wake up after all." Ren pointed towards the still sleeping Nora.

"Wow. How could she just sleep through all this?" Jaune is amazed by Nora's sleeping prowess.

Ren simply nodded at Jaune's remark and waved them goodbye, Exiting their room. They make sure to tread lightly so as not to wake up everyone still sleeping.

When they are finally out of their dorm Jaune and Pyrrha do a light run around the academy as some form of a "pre-exercise" for Jaune. Pyrrha actually tried to give Jaune a regular and easier exercise course for him to follow. But Jaune insisted that he should have a more intense training course. At first Pyrrha was against it, seeing that Jaune was not used to such harsh training. But after seeing the determination in Jaune's eyes. Pyrrha eventually relented and gave him a training course similar to her. But Jaune must let Pyrrha oversee his training to make sure nothing bad happens to him. He accepted the condition without a second thought. Because he has to be stronger as quickly as he can. Because if the “Ice Queendom” incident taught him anything, it is that he is weak. Too weak to protect his friends, too weak to even be useful to them. The only times he was being useful to team RWBY was in being used either as bloodhound to help search for stuff, as a distraction or just giving pep talk to Ruby.

In short he doesn't want to feel useless anymore. This is of course in contradiction to what really happened during the incident. In reality Jaune did more than he realizes. His help during the incident was instrumental to help rescuing Weiss, but he doesn't see it like that. Jaune only sees himself as a burden to his own friends and teammates. Because of that he will make sure to never feel that way again.

And so he ran and ran as fast as his feet could get him. From his feeling of inferiority and ineptitude. But then he soon realizes that feelings can quickly catch up to him just as fast, as he tries to outrun them. While Jaune ran alongside Pyrrha. She can see that Jaune is having a hard time keeping up with her. "Jaune, do you need to slow down?" Pyrrha said to him.

"W-what, no! I'm fine, don't worry about me Pyrrha. *wheeze* J-just keep *wheeze* keep running in front of me." Jaune said with bated breaths.

Pyrrha of course notices that Jaune is having trouble breathing and decides to slow down for his sake. But Jaune shakes his head at Pyrrha. Signaling to her to just leave him be and go on without him. Pyrrha however pretends not to see it and decides to run slowly beside him. "You don't have to push yourself so hard Jaune…" Pyrrha voiced her concern.

But this caused Jaune to react in opposite to what Pyrrha had intended and instead run even faster overtaking her. Jaune knows the look she gave him very well. It’s the same look his own family gave him when he said he wasn’t good enough to be a warrior. The same looks of pity he gets everytime he is told that he doesn't have what it takes.

And so he continues running as a way to prove to others and to himself that he can do it. However Jaune soon finds out that his body did not share his thoughts. His breathing starts becoming erratic and he soon finds himself gasping for air. "I-I can make it." Is what he said before he can feel the content of his stomach vacating from his mouth. *Hurl* Jaune silently thankful that he didn't eat any breakfast before he started running.

"There, there." Pyrrha patted and rubbed Jaune's back.

"I-I'm fine Pyrrha." Jaune lied to her again. *Hergh* and he vomited again.

"That's okay Jaune. Just let it all out." Pyrrha does her best to console Jaune and rub his back to help him get all of his vomit out.

"I'm sorry you have to see me like this… *hurgh* Jaune said to her before he returned back to emptying the content of his stomach.

Pyrrha answered by merely shaking her head. " It's okay Jaune. The point of an exercise is to find out where one limit lies. And now that we found yours, we can now work on pushing past your limit.

"I must have looked very pathetic to you right now." *hergh* Jaune is still not done puking out his innard.

"On the contrary. I think you look incredible to me right now." Pyrrha beamed towards Jaune.

"Huh?" His confusion after hearing Pyrrha's statement made him temporarily stop regurgitating his inside.

"To me Jaune. The sight of you puking on the ground after trying your very best is the part I like the most." Pyrrha's answer only serves to confuse him even further.

"That’s a rather unique way of looking at things.” Jaune sarcastically replied to Pyhrra.

“It’s the truth Jaune. It’s up to you if you don’t believe me.” She simply smiled at him.

'What kind of question is that?' Jaune said to himself. Of course he believes her. Always. And it made him smile a little to hear her say that. If Jaune doesn’t trust himself then he will trust those that believe in him. “Pyrrha I want to. I want to try to run another lap again.” He said within bated breath.

Pyrrha is surprised by Jaune's enthusiasm but nonetheless she couldn't be happier after hearing him wanting to push himself even further. And she simply answered by running ahead of Jaune subtly signaling to him to follow her lead.

Having gotten his answer. Jaune instinctively follows her. To his surprise when he starts running this time it feels a little lighter and easier to move than before. I guess it's true that after you vomit it starts to get easier. With each step he takes it gets easier and easier. Until it starts getting better and better. This must be the runner-high he kept hearing about. If he knew how good this felt he would not have slack off all those years ago. He blamed his parents for not giving him the training and teaching him how to be a warrior in the first place. All of his sisters receive training except for him. Every member of the Arc family is a great warrior. He wonders why he's the only one not being trained. Could it be that his parents can see that he couldn't cut it, that he's too weak and not worth the effort to train him. If he can, he wants to ask his parents why they did what they did, but he can’t go back home anymore. At least not until he becomes a great Huntsman to show everyone in his family that they were wrong. Jaune will become a great warrior or die trying.

And of course right after he said that. He immediately slipped and fell face first on the concrete.

"Jaune!" Pyrrha screamed. Concerned about his condition.

"I-I'm fine…" Jaune answered Pyrrha while his face remained planted on the ground.

"Maybe we should stop running for now?" Pyrrha said to Jaune while still on the floor.

"Good idea." Jaune raises his thumb at Pyrrha.

Beacon Academy’s training ground.

When the sun finally starts to rise over Beacon Academy all the members of team JNPR can be seen together practicing with their respective weapons. Jaune with his sword.

“Eee Yah!” A strong downward slash by Jaune caused the air around him to reverberate. 'Not strong enough. Not good enough.' He said to himself with each slashes he made. Whether he's talking about his swordplay or himself is up to anyone's guess.

Pyrrha can also be seen practicing next to him. Improving her weapon transformation speed. '1.5 second… Not fast enough. I need to be faster.'

Ren practices his striking by hitting a wooden pole. '.......' Ren's mind is too focused to think about anything unnecessary. Although if one has to guess he is still upset that the fight with Blake during their last match ended with a draw with him losing consciousness in the end. Ren knew that Blake is not weak by any means. But he shouldn't lose the way he did. If he didn't choke in the end their team would have won. And still Ren likes to think he didn't let it get to him.

Nora on other hand practices by being Nora. "Nora Smash!" The ground broke and split in half by her weapon, the great hammer Magnhild.

All four of them have been practicing before dawn. With Pyrrha and Jaune practicing the longest.

Their training is overseen by their team instructor. A new program instituted by Beacon Academy by having Veteran Huntsman to teach them everything they need to know about being a Huntsman. Right now the new program only applied to those that passed their initiations, the so-called "Backliners." Or people who managed to get the chess pieces and received their team names. Those that failed to get it are still able to enroll in the academy albeit in the general-education department or so called "Pawns." While they can still receive Huntsman training and can call themselves Huntsman after graduation they are not the main focus of the Academy. That privilege is reserved for those that passed the test. Such as team JNPR. And right now their training is overseen by Shion Zaiden, a veteran Huntsman specializing in Nightmare Grimms. A special kind of Grimm that can enter people's dreams to eat the person's Aura. And it is to be noted that they met before. During the Ice Queendom incident. Shion used their ability to help both Jaune and Weiss from their predicament. Right now they are looking at the team they are supposed to be in charge of.

"I've seen enough. All right, form a single line everyone." Shion clapped their hands together to bring the team's attention.

Team JNPR did as they were told and formed a line.

"I don't like to go on a long winded speech so let's keep it short, okay.

Nora, you rely too much on your strength. You're maybe the strongest in terms of physical strength on your team but I want you to realize your strength can only carry you so far. Not every Grimm can be defeated by brute strength alone and certainly not every opponent."

"Yes, instructor!" Nora shouts.

"Ren there's nothing wrong with what you're doing right now. Your fundamentals are strong and so does your strike. But what you truly lack is stamina. I suggest you follow Jaune and Pyhrra in their morning jog to increase your stamina."

"Yes, Instructor…" Finding no fault in Instructor Zaiden's words. Ren can only quietly answer with a yes.

"Pyrrha. I can find no fault with what you're doing. But if I want to chose one that will be you take too much of the burden on yourself. You need to share some of your burden with your teammates, that's what they are for. I can't recommend anything other than team building exercise. For now just try hanging out with your friends and find something to do together."

"Yes, Instructor Zaiden!" Pyrrha doesn't understand what Shion meant by that. Usually if someone said she is not good enough. That means she needed more training. But this is the first time someone is telling her to hang out with her friends.

"And Jaune."

"Y-yes!!!" Jaune prematurely shouts.

"I haven't said anything yet."

"Y-yes o-of course. Instructor!" Jaune shouts again earning him the laughter from his fellow teammates.

Shion joins in on the laugh too. "Ha, ha, ha, you don't have to be so tense Jaune." Shion wanted to continue but then they remembered something. 'The special case, huh?' In truth Shion has already been informed everything about Jaune. About how he falsified his document to enter Beacon, his lack of common sense in regards to hunting Grimms, about how he never unlocked his Aura before joining and most shockingly is when he did unlock his Aura the first time he managed to stop a Death Stalker in its tracks. Something doesn't add up. He fought like a complete amateur. That part is clear, but his strength and how the Nightmare only attached itself to those with strong Aura. If Jaune received the necessary training beforehands he would have been an exceptional Huntsman. Shion racked their minds as to why his parents never trained him. But decided against it the last thing they need is to meddle in family affairs. They could perhaps ask about it in the next PTA meeting. Yes, maybe they should ask his parents about it in the future. For now at least, they should focus their attention on team JNPR.

"Hmm… Pyrrha, please continue your training with Jaune." Shion gave their best suggestion. As best as they can anyway. What Jaune lacks first and foremost is the fundamentals of being a Huntsman. Although they can teach him about it. Shion decided to let Pyrrha teach him instead.

"Yes, instructor Zaiden!" Pyrrha's shout seems happy after hearing she can continue training Jaune.

"All right Team, I have an announcement to make. Our team will be going on a trip." Shion tells their team.

Nora raised her hand. "Ooh, where are we going to go? I hope it's someplace with a beach. I want to show everyone my bikini bod."

Shion giggled at Nora for almost guessing it right. "Well, you're close, but we're not going to the beach. We're going to the ocean so you are half correct."

Jaune is shocked after hearing that they're going to the ocean. "T-the Ocean?"

"Yes the ocean, is there something wrong Jaune?" Shion noticed that Jaune was hiding something.

"N-no! There's nothing wrong. Instructor." Jaune hurriedly replied back.

"Actually instructor Zaiden, there's something you need to know. Jaune is having a recurring nightmare about him drowning in an ocean." Pyrrha however decides to interject herself on Jaune's behalf.

"Is it true Jaune?" Shion asked while they stared at him.

"I-it's true instructor. I've been having the same dream where I saw myself drowning over and over again." Jaune is clearly uncomfortable remembering the experience he just had.

"We thought seeing that you're the dream expert and all. Maybe you can tell us anything about Jaune's dream?" Pyrrha is clearly concerned about her leader and friend Jaune.

"Wait, how come it is the first time I heard about this? Nora after hearing about Jaune's nightmare.

"That's because you were asleep the whole time." Ren bluntly told her.

"What! Then you should have woken me up when it did." Nora protests.

"We tried Nora, but you kept on sleeping." Pyrrha explains to Nora.

"It's actually quite incredible how you managed to stay asleep with all the noises." Jaune is actually impressed.

"Hey! At least I don't wet my bed like you, Jaune."

"I didn't wet my bed!!!" Jaune loudly denied.

"Didn't you just say that you're drowning in your dream? That is usually a code word for wetting your bed." Nora smugly told Jaune off.

"I never said I wet my bed!" Jaune continues to deny.

"Hey, whatever you say Bed-wetter." Nora smiles as she imagines her team leader wetting the bed.

"Nora. Jaune didn't wet his bed. Because I would know about it if he did. Although his bed is wet from all the sweat." Pyrrha trying her best to explain to Nora. But this just had the opposite effect.

Nora snorted after hearing from Pyrrha. "Hah! That's what all Bed-wetters say." She then proceeded to laugh even harder.

Ren placed his hand over his face. No doubt frustrated with his partner's antics. While Jaune and Pyrrha just silently sighed in defeat.

*cough* Shion clears their throat. "Bed wetting aside. Jaune. Can you tell me in detail the dream you had?"

"I didn't wet my bed!" Jaune shouted in protest at the insinuation that he urinated on his own bed.

"Oh, of course. I know that you didn't wet your bed." Their pitying gaze they gave to Jaune said otherwise. In their eyes. He might as well wet his bed.

"I don't know how to explain it. Because even I have problems remembering it. I mean there's a.." Before Jaune can say anything however. He noticed that someone else was entering the training ground.

"Ah! There's already people here. Didn't Uncle say he already reserved this place for us?

All of them turned their attention towards the source of the voice. "Ruby?" Jaune called out the name of the person. Just like Team JNPR. Team RWBY is already in their training clothes.

"Jaune? Oh hey Jaune, hey Pyrrha, hey Nora, hey Ren!" The cute chipper sounding sound belongs to his friend and fellow team leader, Ruby Rose.

" Hmph! I gotta say I don't expect team JNPR to be here this early too." Beside her is a white haired girl and Heiress to the Schnee's Dust Company. Weiss Schnee.

"Hey everyone… *yawn* Why do we have to wake up this early in the morning anyway?" The one that's currently yawning is Blake. She's a faunus but she's currently keeping the fact that she's a Faunus a secret to everyone outside of their teams.

"Hey the gangs are all here." The loud buxom blonde besides Blake is Yang. Ruby's older half-sister and team RWBY's main brawler.

Hey Ruby, Weiss, Blake and Yang." Jaune answered back.

And Pyrrha and Ren greet their sister team more or less in the same way. Except for Nora.

"Oh great, here comes the main characters…" She said in a low voice that none of them could hear it. At this time no one knows how much this will become a problem in the future.

"Good morning to you too. instructor Zaiden." Ruby politely greets Shion.

“And good morning to you too. Ms. Rose.” Shion tipped their hat to the little red reaper.

“Instructor Zaiden!..." Weiss shouted the moment she realized she saw them. "I want to say, t-thank you again for saving me…" She is clearly not used to saying thanks to someone.

"You don't have to thank me, Weiss. It's my job as a Huntsman after all. And it's not me you should be thanking, it's your friends who risked their life in order to save you. You are very lucky Weiss and I do mean it." Shion explains.

"T-T-thank you. And you're right I guess I am lucky to have such great friends." Weiss shying away.

Seeing Weiss being uncharacteristically cute. Yang took this as an opportunity to sneak up on her. "That's right Weiss, baby! You finally admit that we're great friends! Best even… Dare I say BFF!" Yang said while she tightly hugged her from behind.

Weiss felt crushed by Yang. Tried to speak out in protest. "L-let me go you huge boob!"

"Sorry I can't hear you." Yang smiled even while the bear-hug she gave to Weiss slowly crushed Weiss's ribs.

Ruby after seeing the sight of her sister crushing her partner. Caused her to burst into laughter. While Blake didn't laugh as hard as Ruby did. She still chuckles a little.

"Hey~ what are you girls laughing about? Did I miss something?" Said a middle-aged man with a flask in one of his hands and judging by his breath it likely contained alcohol.

"Unca Qrow!" Ruby greeted the old man.

"Hey Uncle, nice to finally see you wake up in the morning for once." Yang said.

"Instructor Branwen. Are you drinking before noon?" Blake's nose no doubt picked up the scent of alcohol before he even arrived. But to her strong Faunus's nose he might as well be a walking distillery.

"Oh great! Just our luck that our instructor is a drunkard? Is it possible to do a trade with Team JNPR?" Weiss asks while still being hugged by Yang from behind.

"I'm flattered, Weiss, but Qrow Branwen is a better Huntsman than I could ever hope to be." Shion was humbled by Weiss's statement.

"Ouch, ice princess. At least your sister treats me way nicer than you." Qrow ended his statement by taking a swig from his flask.

Weiss's eyes lit up at the mention of his sister. "Wait, why do you know about my sister?"

Qrow took another swig. “Well… Wouldn’t you like to know?” Qrow’s obvious attempt to tease her did not go unnoticed by Weiss.

Seeing his shit-eating grin, almost made her about to lose her patience. And If she ever figured out that Qrow and her sister are friends or worse! She doesn’t care if he is Ruby’s uncle. Weiss will introduce him to Myrtenaster’s business end.

Meanwhile, Jaune can't believe this. They're supposed to talk about the dream he keeps having. But the moment team RWBY enters the picture they steal all the attention away from him. Jaune knew this feeling quite well. As the only boy among all his other siblings. He never gets as much attention and with him being not as strong as his sisters caused him not to get much attention.

"So anyway, how can we help team RWBY?" Shion asked all of them. Completely forgetting about Jaune's problem.

Ruby then quickly answered. "I'm sorry, instructor Zaiden. It's not like we're trying to steal your team training spot. It's just that we thought we already made a reservation beforehand."

"Uncle Qrow supposed to anyway." Yang added.

"I don't like to judge people based on their outward appearance. But I don't think Instructor Branwen can be considered reliable." Blake pinched her nose. Trying not to gag from the overwhelming smell of alcohol coming from him.

Qrow, hearing the accusation, starts to defend himself. “Hey, I resent that!. I'm pretty reliable in most situations… Just not on waking up on time.`` He finished by taking another swig.

Finally free from Yang’s grasp. Weiss now is also free to give her opinion. “Simply put we need someplace for us to do our morning combat training. But thanks to our no good instructor. We don’t have any.”

“Well that is serious, You sure there’s no other opening around?” Shion said while rubbing their chin.

“I’m afraid not, Instructor Zaiden especially when we’re this close to the Vytal festival. All the other places are booked, even places outside the school." Blake explains.

"But isn't the Vytal Festival supposed to still be some time away?" Jaune asks. He might be ignorant on almost everything Huntsman related. But even he knew about the Vytal Festival. And their significance.

A battle Festival that happens once every two years. To commemorate the peace between the four kingdoms. And this time the kingdom of Vale will be the host of the festival. So there's almost a home team pride to be found going around inside the kingdom.

Yang answered. "That may be true for the public Jaune, but for us Huntsmen, especially those who want to prove themselves against a worthy foe. The Vytal Festival is the perfect venue to do so. Or in my case the perfect excuse to let loose once in a while." She puffed out her chest.

Qrow smiled before he added something to the conversation. Like he was waiting for this moment to explain a part of the Vytal Festival. "And not to mention there's an estimate of Hundreds of millions of Liens changing hands during the Festivals. So it's not just for the fight the people will be interested in."

Nora's eyes widen when Qrow tells them how much Lien is involved. "Hundred Millions!!! How many Pancakes can I buy with that?!!"

"I assume a lot…" Ren answered Nora with his eyes closed.

"That is indeed a lot of money." Blake placed her finger on her chin. Contemplating to herself with how much money that is.

"And all the weapon parts I can buy with that." Ruby's mind went towards buying new weapon parts for Crescent Rose. Or dare she dream. For a new weapon entirely.

"Yep, one can make a pretty Lien just by betting on one of the fights. So Ruby, make sure you win. Because I'm going to have a lot riding on you." Qrow's motivation has been made clear.

"I hate to tell you about this Qrow, but gambling is not exactly permitted for members of the faculty." Shion explains.

"Well, like I always said, it's only illegal if you get caught. And you won't tell anyone about this won't you Shion?" He points his finger, with the same hand he holds his flask towards Shion.

"Of course I'm not going to tell anyone, least of all Ozpin. We go way back after all. But please keep the gambling to a minimum. I don't want another repeat of Vacuo." They explained to Qrow hoping he would listen.

"Well just for you I try not to bet too much. But no promise though. Especially if there's a good chance of me winning." It's not what Shion wanted but at least Qrow will try to hold back.

Although Shion hearing the parts of him winning is still strange considering his Semblance. But I guess that's probably a figure of speech.

“It’s nice to see you again Qrow.” Shion smiled as they said that.

Qrow, not used to someone being nice to him, quickly deflected by changing the topic. “And this must be the team you’ve been saddled with?”

“Yes team JNPR. I would like you to meet Jaune, Nora, Pyrrha and Ren.” Shion shows their team to Qrow.

"Tai?" Qrow can't believe his eyes after seeing Jaune. The blonde teenager looks like the spitting image of his best friend Tai when he was younger.

"Tai? Who's Tai? I'm Jaune." Jaune corrected Qrow.

Qrow sighed. "This is what I get for drinking in the morning." Qrow places the cap back on his flask and twists it close.

"Tai is my dad…" Ruby answered Jaune.

"Oh, I never knew that? Why didn't you tell me that I look like your Dad?" Jaune asks Ruby.

"You don't look like my dad! There may be some similarities but you're you. And to tell you the truth you're actually much handsomer than my dad…" Ruby hides her face from Jaune after she explains it to him and hoping to the gods he didn't hear what she just said about him.

"Jeez Ruby, you don't have to shout at me. I was just asking. But now I kinda want to meet your dad." Jaune beaming. It is as if the depressing feeling he had earlier was never there in the first place. His bright smile caught everyone around him off guard but most notably the two girls.

'Not fair, Jaune. You know I’m weak to your smile.’ No, he did not know about it. This is just something Pyrrha made up herself. She took in Jaune's smile like what a plant does with the sun.

Ruby however responds quite differently. She averted her gaze immediately after she saw Jaune’s smile. She hides her face from everyone. But especially from Jaune. She didn’t know why she did that. Jaune is her friend after all. She has nothing to be ashamed of. But when she saw his smile her heart started beating louder. She can’t understand why. Ever since the Ice Queendom incident. Ruby has been seeing Jaune in a different light. She still sees him as the same lovable dork. But now there's something else about him that she can't quite put into words. But it's something that Qrow can pick up.

'Seriously Rubes. With him?' Qrow may be a drunken degenerate that on occasion gamble away his hard earned Lien. But he still can tell something is going on with his niece. 'He's definitely Tai alright.' His similarity to his friend is uncanny. If he can single out one key difference is that the boy in front of him looks dumber than Tai. Curious of the boy, he then decides to hit two birds with one stone.

"Hey Shion, I have a proposition for you. Would you like to listen?" Qrow proposes to Shion.

Shion noticed Qrow's grin. And realizes probably nothing good will come of it. But against their better judgement, they decided to listen to him anyway. "Okay, I'll bite, what are you suggesting?"

"Considering that we both needed this training ground, how about we decide to share it?" Qrow explains.

Shion is slightly taken aback after hearing his modest suggestion. “I-I seriously didn’t expect that you would be rather rational with this?”

Qrow however is pissed at Shion. And spat at his direction.“What do you take me for a thug, or something?”

“Well you do look the part Uncle Qrow. I was afraid that you would simply beat up team JNPR just to let us have access to the training field.” Yang bluntly stated.

“And in case you do, we will not accept it. We will not support bullying other people, especially our friends!” Ruby shouted her indignation.

“You know we would not be forced to… *yawn* share with team JNPR if someone did not forget to make a reservation for the field in the first place…” Blake made a not so subtle accusation towards their team instructor.

“I saw we should let him beat up team JNPR. That way we will have the perfect excuse to dump Ruby’s uncle. Sorry team JNPR but you have to take one for our team.” Weiss said half-jokingly.

“You darn brats. Weiss and Blake I can understand but my own nieces… Am I really that untrustworthy?” Qrow retorted back not realizing that he just set himself up.

“Yes!” Everyone in the field said in perfect unison.

“I really played myself there didn’t I?” Qrow said as he deflated himself in front of everyone.

“Well, if you cut down on your drinking maybe you will not be hated as much." Shion gleefully explained.

"I'll take note, so Shion, what do you think about letting team RWBY join your team for exercise?" Qrow asked.

"Of course you can. What are friends for." Shion extends one of their hands to greet Qrow.

Qrow reached out his hand to shake Shion's to greet them back. "Thanks. And by the way, Shion. If it's not too much to ask. Can I ask to have a one-on-one match with one of our ward?" And there it is…

Shion feared that something like this would come up. "You want to have a one-on-one match?"

"Yes, I want to see how much my Ruby will fare against your Jaune." He said to Shion.

"Me fighting Jaune?!" Ruby is shocked by Qrow's statement.

"I'm sorry Qrow, but I don't think it's a good idea." Shion answered.

Ruby breathes a sigh of relief knowing she doesn't have to hurt Jaune. But unfortunately for her fate has decided otherwise. "I want to fight Ruby!!!" Jaune screamed from the top of his lungs.

Everyone's attention is now focused on the blonde haired boy. Pyrrha the red-haired amazoness quickly grabbed one of Jaune's arms to drag him away so she could have a few words with him. "Jaune, what are you thinking? You know you can't beat Ruby!"

Jaune replied. "I-I want to test my strength against her."

Pyrrha shakes her head. "There are other ways to test your strength that don't involve you getting hurt." She said with a concerned look on her face.

Jaune bit his tongue, steeling himself for what he's about to say. "I want to fight her to see that I'm strong enough. I don't want to just be protected. I need to stand on my own two feets. I want to stand beside everyone with my head held high. And most importantly I want to make you proud of me, Pyrrha…"

Pyrrha is taken aback after hearing what Jaune has to say. Of course it's not that hard to believe after all. He's been different lately. More driven. It's like what happened with Weiss changed something within him. She didn't know what caused it at first. That is until he finally told her the reason why. She felt a sense of pride in the boy he trained. She wants to stop him before he gets hurt of course but somehow she can't find it in her to do so. Jaune simply wants to be stronger and Jaune doesn't want to be left behind by his teammates.

"Jaune… You have nothing to prove to anyone. You're already strong." Pyrrha gives him a hug.

"T-thank you Pyrrha, but I still need to do this…" Jaune softly answered. Clearly starting to feel unsure about his decision to face Ruby.

"I know that Jaune. I will not try to stop you. But please, Jaune, try not to let your face get hurt again, okay?" Pyrrha playfully boops Jaune's nose.

Jaune blushed remembering the time he hit his face on the pavement. "T-that's just that one time." He then walks away from Pyrrha while hiding his shame.

Pyrrha giggled seeing his Jaune acting like a kid. Across the training field Ruby has issues with fighting against Jaune. But in her case it's more like she's afraid of hurting him than the other way around.

"What were you thinking, Uncle! Do you have any idea what you did?" Ruby berated her uncle in front of her own team.

"No. But I have a feeling you will tell me anyway." Qrow lets Ruby explain it to him.

"I can't fight Jaune!" Ruby shouted.

"It's just a practice match, Ruby. What do you mean you can't fight him?" Qrow asking Ruby for the why. But in truth he had a guess as to the why. 'Does Ruby have a crush on him. Is that the reason why she can't fight the brat?' He ponders.

Ruby squirmed trying very hard to evade answering the question.

"It's not that Uncle. Ruby has a hard time controlling her power when battling him." Yang steps in to explain it for her sister.

"Explain what you mean by that, Yang." Qrow ordered his blonde nephew.

"I don't know how to politely explain it… But Jaune is kinda weak. And a fight between them often ended with Jaune being hurt badly." Yang bluntly stated.

"Yang! How could you tell him that!?" Ruby screamed at her own sister.

"I don't know how weak this Jaune brat is but that's to be expected especially against Ruby after all." Qrow feeling a sense of pride after saying that. After all he had a hand in making Ruby strong in the first place.

"N-no it's not like that. When I said weak, I meant weak, weak. Like he can't even hold his Aura shield properly." Yang further explains.

Qrow's eyes widened after hearing that. "What do you mean he can't hold his Aura shield? That's second nature for Huntsman. He should learn how to hold a shield before he comes here."

This time it's Weiss's turn to explain. Her arms are in a crossed position."That's the thing, instructor. We have to teach him… Well it's mostly Pyrrha though. We have to teach him a lot of the basics." She points out.

"Oh yeah… we did. It's. Kinda weird when you think about it. But it is still kinda odd we have to teach him something we already & he should know about." Yang just now realizes that the situation with Jaune was not normal.

A loud yawning sound cuts into their conversation. " Yawn…. Which we don't mind doing, by the way. We see it as helping a friend. And it also helps us to review what we already learned." Blake said as she's trying her best to stay awake.

Slipping in and out of consciousness Blake starts to wobble around where she stands until she can't stand anymore and starts to lose her balance and starts to fall. Luckily though Yang managed to catch her before she does. "Whoops, Caught you babe. You gotta be careful. Wouldn't want that pretty face of your hurt now, do we?" Yang said while holding Blake in her arms.

The cat faunus slightly averted her gaze from her blonde haired girlfriend. The black cat simply smiles back at her with eyes half-closed and with Yang returning her smile. After the event of Ice Queendom the two have been close. So much in fact that the two are now a couple.

"Okay, lovebirds. Wait until we return back to the dorm room to flirt all you want." Weiss commented on the two.

"Hater. Homophobe!" Yang playfully tease the white heiress.

Weiss responds by just shrugging. Qrow having had enough with the conversation going off topic decides to forcefully steer the conversation back. "Okay congrats on being a couple you two. But can we go back to the blonde bra-I mean Jaune?"

Yang turned her gaze back towards Qrow. "Well there's not much else to tell really other than that. We know he's not as strong compared to us."

“That still tells me nothing about the boy.” Qrow loudly sighed so everyone could hear him. "Anyway Ruby, please go and fight Jaune." He asked her again.

"I said I won't do it!" Ruby vehemently said. Qrow looks at her and sees that she is being serious for once.

Qrow didn't expect this from Ruby. Especially knowing that she usually jumps at a chance in having a battle with anyone. "I won't repeat myself again, Rubes."

"I said no!" She stares back at him as if she would rather fight against her own uncle than her friend Jaune.

Qrow is genuinely surprised by Ruby's reaction. She's never been this confrontational before with him. Under normal circumstances he would have been proud of her. Imagine his favorite niece being rebellious just like Yang… On second thought, it's probably best that she doesn't. In response he walks up to Ruby in a menacing fashion. Looking down on her like she is no longer his niece. In an instance he is no longer the fun uncle Qrow. He is now Qrow the Huntsman. "Ruby…" He said with a coldness that Ruby never felt before.

'Uncle Qrow?' Ruby looks up to him and when she does. She wishes she had never done so. She had never seen him like this before. Qrow being mad that is. His eyes feel like he could kill someone with it and his stare burning whatever that is left. She never knew her uncle could be so scary. But then again, did she ever know him that well to begin with. Half the time she only seen him drunk and the other half cracking jokes while drunk.

He then continues to speak. "If you don't fight him. I will… And I will not hold back." In contrast to his rather frightening appearance, his voice seems rather cold and emotionless.

"W-what!" Ruby is honestly at a loss for word after hearing him.

"So… What's it going to be?" His tone goes from cold to threatening.

Ruby is stuck between a proverbial rock and a hard place. If she fight Jaune. She will no doubt hurt him badly and she will never forgive himself for it. But if she didn't fight him. Then her uncle will fight Jaune and he will no doubt do to him far worse than she can ever do to him. But at least she will not have to bear the guilt of hurting her best friend.

#rwby #rwby fanfiction #ice queendom #rwby ice queendom #rwby ice queendom sequel #jaune big dick adventure #ruby rose #jaune arc #pyrrha nikos #yang xiao long #blake belladonna #weiss schnee #lie ren #nora valkyrie #qrow branwen #shion zaiden #moby dick #nonbinary

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sleepingdeath-light · 1 year ago

Text

non binary s/o hcs ; hunter

requested by ; anonymous (15/06/22)

fandom(s) ; the owl house

fandom masterlist(s) ; main | hunter only

character(s) ; hunter wittebane

outline ; “Nb reader x hunter fluff for pride month headcanons?”

warning(s) ; none, just fluff!

calls you his ‘partner’ or just your name when talking to others — but will call you ‘babe’ or ‘sweetheart’ to your face (if you didn’t know any better/hadn’t been told then you might have assumed he’d forgotten your name altogether)

goes with you to help you find gender affirming clothing in your size — checking in with old acquaintances and even lending you some of his own clothes if they fit you (that’s if you haven’t stolen them already)

you’ll sometimes just catch him staring at you and smiling because he struggles with how lucky he feels for being able to be with you as your partner

he’s eternally experiencing puppy love and it’s absolutely adorable

adapts his language depending on your preference — especially regarding how he compliments you to others

this includes your pronouns (obviously) if you use neos or multiple sets of pronouns

but it also includes general language — like compliments

if you’re okay with ‘feminine’ terms of address like ‘pretty’ or ‘beautiful’ then he’ll use them

if you’re okay with ‘masculine’ terms of address like ‘handsome’ or ‘striking’ then he’ll use those

if you’re okay with neither or both then he’ll adapt

the last thing he wants is to make you uncomfortable, so he makes a point to keep up with your preferred terminology with weekly updates — making sure that he can keep up with his routine of smothering you with praise and affection without tainting it by accident

#sleepingdeath #non binary reader #fluff #fluff hcs #toh fluff #toh x reader #the owl house x reader #the owl house fluff #toh hunter x reader #hunter toh x reader #hunter wittebane x reader

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pompelon · 5 months ago

Note

You really have to define what you mean by "prescriptivist."

When we say that "linguistics is descriptive, not prescriptive," we mean that linguistics is an empirical field of study: We base our understanding of how language works on the actual evidence. And there's no evidence that any language variety is "worse" or "less grammatical" or anything like that. There is, however, a lot of evidence that attitudes toward different language varieties are heavily correlated with attitudes toward the people who speak them. Language prejudice is a proxy for social prejudice a lot of the time.

However.

That doesn't mean that a linguist can never have an opinion about how language should be used.

For example, I'm a linguist and I genuinely believe that singular "they" is a better option than "he or she" when speaking about a hypothetical person whose gender is unknown. Not only is it less clunky, it's more inclusive of people with non-binary gender. And I don't think you should use the generic masculine. I also think that "flammable" is clearer than "inflammable," and therefore is preferable when it's really important that someone not light a cigarette in the flour factory.

Am I making a statement about how people "should" use language, and thus being a prescriptivist? Sure. But the divide between descriptivism and prescriptivism is false a lot of the time; they're not opposite ends of a continuum, but orthogonal to each other. A prescriptive argument can be sound or unsound--compatible with an empirical understanding of language or not.

Or to make an analogy. Biologists don't really have to contend with people who think that one variety of giraffe is more "correct" than another. That's just not a misconception that a lot of people have. So biologists don't have to go around emphasizing the descriptive nature of their field. And no one will get confused when a biologist speaks up and says, "hey, maybe we shouldn't breed dogs that can't breathe?" No one will say, "Aren't you being rather prescriptivist?"

But because language is so socially salient and people come into Linguistics 101 with so many preconceptions, we have to emphasize that linguistics is a descriptive field--that we're not here to study how to "write properly" or whatever. That often ends with students swinging wildly in the other direction, thinking that there is this eternal struggle between descriptive and prescriptive, like between heaven and hell, light and dark--and that if a linguist says something prescriptive they've betrayed their fundamental principles. It's not so. It's an issue with a lot of nuance that of course gets lost as it gets passed around.

Of course, if you define prescriptivist to mean something like "language snob who thinks only this-or-that variety is the right one," then yeah, you're going to have a really hard time being a linguist and a prescriptivist at the same time.

are you a prescriptivist or a descriptivist?

i don't think i'd have survived studying linguistics if i were a prescriptivist. that's like 101 shit

#linguistics

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centralsaints · 4 years ago

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see the thing is i wanna start wearing skirt and dresses again bc i have been dressing p masc for. so long and i am just bored with my style (if ur definition of masc includes checkered pants and bright orange hawaiian shirt. lets say i dress. kind of androgynous, but never outright feminine)

most of the time i just end up wearing jeans and a t shirt or like, some kind of dress/linen pants with a turtleneck and i am just. painfully bored. but the thing is the last time i wore skirts regularly was in the summer of 2016, right out of high school, so like. 4 years ago. and now when i want to dress more feminine, and when i do, i just look at myself and it looks WEIRD. not that i don’t like it. it doesn’t look good, or fitting with my body, and adding on the fact that i gained a lot of weight since then. idk where im going with this. i just wanna wear pretty things but when i do it just looks super weird and out of place on me so im stuck always wearing the same 5 pieces of clothing. i also hate my legs which is a big issue lmao

#i am sure whining a lot today uh :/#the eternal struggle of being non binary

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spvdermansgirl · 3 years ago

Text

͏͏͏͏͏͏ ͏͏͏͏͏͏ ͏͏͏͏͏͏ ͏͏͏͏͏͏ ͏͏͏͏͏͏ ͏͏͏͏͏͏͏͏͏͏͏͏ ͏͏͏͏͏͏ ͏͏͏͏͏͏ ͏͏͏͏͏͏ ͏͏͏͏͏͏ ͏͏͏͏͏͏͏͏͏͏͏͏ ͏͏͏͏͏͏ ͏͏͏͏͏͏ ͏͏͏͏͏͏ ͏͏͏͏͏͏ ͏͏͏͏͏͏͏͏͏͏͏͏ ͏͏͏͏͏͏ ͏͏͏͏͏͏ ͏͏͏͏͏͏ ͏͏͏͏͏͏͏͏͏͏͏͏ ͏͏͏͏͏͏ ͏͏͏͏͏͏ ͏͏͏͏͏͏ ͏͏͏͏͏͏ ͏͏͏͏͏͏͏͏͏͏͏͏ ͏͏͏͏͏͏ ͏͏͏͏͏͏ ͏͏͏͏͏͏ ͏͏͏͏͏͏ ͏͏͏͏͏͏͏͏͏͏͏͏ ͏͏͏͏͏͏ ͏͏͏͏͏͏ ͏͏͏͏͏͏ ͏͏͏͏͏͏ ͏͏͏͏͏͏͏͏͏͏͏͏ ͏͏͏͏͏͏ ͏͏͏͏͏͏ ͏͏͏͏͏͏ ͏͏͏͏͏͏͏͏͏͏͏͏ ͏͏͏͏͏͏ ͏͏͏͏͏͏ ͏͏͏͏͏͏ ͏͏͏͏͏͏ ͏͏͏͏͏͏͏͏͏͏͏͏͏͏͏͏͏͏ ͏͏͏͏͏͏ ͏͏͏͏͏͏ ͏͏͏͏͏͏ ͏͏͏͏͏͏ ͏͏͏͏͏͏ ͏͏͏͏͏͏͏͏͏͏͏͏ ͏͏͏͏͏͏ ͏͏͏͏͏͏ ͏͏͏͏͏͏ ͏͏͏͏͏͏ ͏͏͏͏͏͏applications !

↬ back to navigation

‣ last updated ; april 19, 2022 ‣ status ; open !

↬ always indicate whether your request is a/an ;

‣ blurb [900 words or less] ‣ imagine [1k words or more] ‣ headcanon/s [up to three or five characters] ‣ fake chat/text [1-9 characters, depending on the request, i may override the number of people you requested for, if the topic is a bit too small for me to think of different reactions]

↬ please specify if you want a fem! reader or gender neutral! reader, unless otherwise stated, i will be using gender neutral readers (male! reader is also possible if one does request for it, i may struggle a bit since i don’t identify as male lkajdha]

↬ requests are written in my own time and in my own pace ; i will accept emergency requests if you do indicate them [emergency requests may override the current status of requesting if in dire need, and i will get to them as soon as possible]

↬ i will not write for the following ; [will be updated]

‣ noncon/dubcon ‣ rape ‣ character x character ‣ incest or any forms of this (stepcest, etc.) ‣ pedophilia ‣ kinks i am unfamiliar with (e.g. watersports, very kinky stuff) ‣ A/B/O ‣ drug use

↬ i do write ;

♪ fluff ♪ comfort ♪ lgbtq+ themes ♪ lgbtq+ ships [wlw, mlm, and non-binary folks] ♪ platonic relationships, familial relationships

[keep reading for the character list]

↬ AVENGERS

— tony stark, steve rogers, natasha romanoff, bucky barnes, bruce banner, thor odinson, clint barton, wanda maximoff, pietro maximoff, vision, james rhodes, sam wilson, peter parker, carol danvers, scott lang

↬ ETERNALS

— ajak, phastos, sersi, ikaris, thena, gilgamesh, druig, makkari, sprite, kingo, dane whitman, starfox

↬ GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY

— peter quill, rocket, groot, drax, mantis, gamora, nebula

↬MISC.

— harley keener, yelena belova, kate bishop, mj watson, liz toomes, ned leeds, tobey! spidey and andrew! spidey, stephen strange, hope van dyne, pepper potts

↬ AVENGERS CAST

— robert downey jr., chris evans, chris hemsworth, scarlett johansson, jeremy renner, mark ruffalo, tom hiddleston, sebastian stan, anthony mackie, tom holland, elizabeth olsen, benedict cumberbatch

note ! a lot of these characters, i would rather write them with a platonic/familial relationship with the reader, than them being a love interest, but we’ll see HJSDHKASJHA if you want a character that is not on here, you may ask thru my askbox whether i’d write for them, cuz honestly, i may have forgotten KJASHYJKASDGJKS M’ SORRY so just ask ty <333

#—underoos!#rules !!#don't reblog ty!

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lovemayari · 3 years ago

Text

↬ back to navigation

‣ last updated ; jan. 20, 2022 ‣ status ; open !

↬ always indicate whether your request is a/an ;

↬ i will not write for the following ; [will be updated]

↬ i do write ;

♪ fluff ♪ comfort ♪ lgbtq+ themes ♪ lgbtq+ ships [wlw, mlm, and non-binary folks] ♪ platonic relationships, familial relationships

[keep reading for the character list]

↬ AVENGERS

↬ ETERNALS

— ajak, phastos, sersi, ikaris, thena, gilgamesh, druig, makkari, sprite, kingo, dane whitman, starfox

↬ GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY

— peter quill, rocket, groot, drax, mantis, gamora, nebula

↬MISC.

— harley keener, yelena belova, kate bishop, mj watson, liz toomes, ned leeds, tobey! spidey and andrew! spidey, stephen strange, hope van dyne, pepper potts

↬ AVENGERS CAST

note ! a lot of these characters, i would rather write them with a platonic/familial relationship with the reader, than them being a love interest, but we'll see HJSDHKASJHA if you want a character that is not on here, you may ask thru my askbox whether i'd write for them, cuz honestly, i may have forgotten KJASHYJKASDGJKS M' SORRY so just ask ty <333

#—underoos!#rules !!!#no rbs ty

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1ncandescentrage · 4 months ago

Text

I think another interpretation that could be had in the series is that Utena could be non binary or gender fluid. She is not fully a princess nor is she a prince. At the very least, when she views herself as a princess, she places limitations on herself. As a prince, she can go further until the final showdown. This show shows that eternity can mean memories preserved forever, cycles always repeating, or keeping the same narration of one's life. Utena's view as being a prince could only bring her as far as the showdown as that is how far she envisioned her future or cycle. It is once she is clearly kicked off her thrown metaphorically as a prince that she is able to fully help Anthy.

(And of course Anthy literally stabbing her in the back as important because if Utena "saved her by being a prince against all odds and beat the end of the world herself" it would have kept Anthy in a passive role in her life own and continue squashing Anthy's agency. Agency sometimes means we make mistakes. Anthy has to be allowed to have agency, make a mistake, and still see being loved in spite of mistakes or someone seeing all of our flaws and loved being in spite of it. I think this helped Anthy realize that even if Utena cannot save her, she was still worthy if life and the attempt to be saved, and thus Anthy seeing herself of value for herself and not by serving someone else's goals is what gives her the strength to leave the abuse on her own and change her own narration. Of course, she did not have full agency as she was following what Akio wanted with Anthy stabbing Utena, but it still came across as a choice between her role as serving her brother and her role as the Rose Bride).

Change is necessary for revolution, and stagnation of one's self/eternity preserved within one's self is antithesis. People struggle with changing internally, and thus strive to change things externally (the student council wanting to change the world rather than themselves, characters pining their hopes on the Rose Bridge, viewing one's self as driven by circumstance as Akio views it). Revolution has to begin from within.

Okay, in Utena I think the world and changing it is about changing your own narration on things and moving on from your own patterns, and not relying on something external to change your life (The Rose Bride, Juri and her relationship with Shiori, same with other student council memebrs). Akio is end of the world as he views himself as a victim of circumstance who must do these things and sees his only hope in changing life vis slmel else and taking it from someone else, he is an adult who has hit a dead end and will never change. The others are teens who can change (Nanami in the student council changes her narration the most). Utena could get so far because she changed her narration as a kid once, but got stuck at the end focused on the idea or princes and princesses (and Utena being in a coffin is foreshadowed in her wanting to be in one as a child. Anthy was shown to be in a coffin twice in the show, now Utena is in that coffin instead)

#utena #analysis #revolutionary girl utena

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maandarinee · 3 years ago

Note

what are all the podcasts you listen to?

anon I'm so glad you asked

Since it is a pretty long list including synopses (stolen from the podcast feed or website because I'm Bad at summaries and in some cases it's been a while since I listened) I'm going to put it under a cut.

I've separated the list into "Complete" (either finished or cancelled) and "Ongoing" podcasts. Some have additional comments by me. Current favorites are marked orange. My eternal beloved are Our Fair City and Wolf 359.

Complete

ars PARADOXICA: "When an experiment in a time much like our own goes horribly awry, Dr. Sally Grissom finds herself stranded in the past and entrenched in the activities of a clandestine branch of the US government. Grissom and her team quickly learn that there's no safety net when toying with the fundamental logic of the universe."

Blackwood: "Five years ago, Molly Weaver, Bryan Anderson, and Nathan Howell started a podcast focused on the local legend of a monster called The Blackwood Bugman. Quickly, the investigation grew out of their control, as they discovered that, not only are the legends seemingly true, many people in Blackwood have turned up dead or disappeared without a trace." --> [this feels like the Blair With Project, but as a podcast. Didn't get a second season due to no funding, but it works as a standalone]

Dreamboy: "Dane, a spun-out musician spending the winter in Cleveland, Ohio, has two main goals: keeping his job at the Pepper Heights Zoo and trying not to waste all his time on Grindr. What he doesn’t expect is to get swept into a story about dreams, about forevers, about flickering lights, about unexplained deaths, about relentless change, and about the parts of ourselves that we wish other people knew to look for. Oh, and also a murderous zebra." --> [very NSFW; does cool things with music! Didn't get a second season due to no funding, but it works as a standalone]

King Fall AM: "...centers on a lonely little mountain town's late-night AM talk radio show and its paranormal, peculiar happenings and inhabitants." --> [cancelled after 100 episodes, ends on a huge cliffhanger]

Our Fair City: "A campy, post-apocalyptic audio drama." --> [I know the description sounds like nothing but just trust me, I love it so much]

Steal the Stars: "...is a gripping noir science fiction thriller in 14 episodes: Forbidden love, a crashed UFO, an alien body, and an impossible heist unlike any ever attempted."

Stellar Firma: "...a weekly Science Fiction, Comedy podcast following the misadventures of Stellar Firma Ltd.'s highest born but lowest achieving planetary designer Trexel Geistman and his bewildered clone assistant David 7. Join them each episode as they attempt to take listener submissions and craft them into the galaxy's most luxurious, most expensive and most questionably designed bespoke planets. However, with Trexel's corporate shark of a line manager Hartro Piltz breathing down their necks and I.M.O.G.E.N., the station's omnipresent and omniinvasive stationwide A.I. monitoring those necks to within 3 decimal places, they'll be lucky to make it a week before being slurried and recycled into raw human resources." --> [semi-improvised, I thought I'd have a problem with the improv bit because that's not usually my thing, but no, I absolutely devoured this]

TANIS: "...is a serialized docudrama about a fascinating and surprising mystery: the myth of Tanis. Tanis is an exploration of the nature of truth, conspiracy, and information. Tanis is what happens when the lines of science and fiction start to blur." [+ spinoff The Last Movie] --> [I have no clue what the hell is going on here]

The Black Tapes: "...is a serialized docudrama about one journalist's searc for truth, her enigmatic subject's mysterious past, and the literal and figurative ghosts that haunt them both."

The Magnus Archives: "...is a weekly horror fiction anthology podcast examining what lurks in the archives of the Magnus Institute, an organisation dedicated to researching the esoteric and the weird. Join new head archivist Jonathan Sims as he attempts to bring a seemingly neglected collection of supernatural statements up to date, converting them to audio and supplementing them with follow-up work from his small but dedicated team. Individually, they are unsettling. Together they begin to form a picture that is truly horrifying because as they look into the depths of the archives, something starts to look back…"

Time:Bombs: "...a new audio drama podcast about the hilarious world of bomb disposal. Ride along with EOD technician Simon Teller on the busiest night of the year for him and his team - when business is, quite literally, booming."

Wolf 359: "Life's not easy for Doug Eiffel, the communications officer for the U.S.S. Hephaestus Research Station, currently on Day 448 of its orbit around red dwarf star Wolf 359. He's stuck on a scientific survey mission of indeterminate length, 7.8 light years from Earth. His only company on board the station are stern mission chief Minkowski, insane science officer Hilbert, and Hephaestus Station's sentient, often malfunctioning operating system Hera. He doesn't have much to do for his job other than monitoring static and intercepting the occasional decades-old radio broadcast from Earth, so he spends most of his time creating extensive audio logs about the ordinary, day-to-day happenings within the station. But the Hephaestus is an odd place, and life in extremely isolated, zero gravity conditions has a way of doing funny things to people's minds. Even the simplest of tasks can turn into a gargantuan struggle, and the most ordinary-seeming things have a way of turning into anything but that." --> [starts funny, turns very intense]

Ongoing

Alba Salix, Roya Physician (+ The Axe & Crown): "A witch, her apprentice, and her fairy herbalist treat the ills of a fairy-tale kingdom." + "Gubbin the troll tavernkeeper deals with his clueless new landlord, his shady niece, and some new competition."

Archive 81: "A found footage horror podcast about ritual, stories, and sound."

Arden: "A (fictional) true crime podcast about cold cases and the reporter and detective who try to solve them."

Brimstone Valley Mall: "The year is 1999. Lurking somewhere between Hot Topic and the food court, five misfit demons from Hell kill time inciting sin in a suburban shopping mall. When the lead singer of their band goes mysteriously missing, the demons only have two weeks to find him before they play the biggest gig of the millennium - or face the wrath of Satan herself."

CARAVAN: "First rule of Wound Canyon: No one who gets in, ever gets out. So when a brilliant, ghostly specter flies through the sky amid the rain and lightning, Samir stumbles off a steep cliff and into a hidden world, one in which demons, vampires, and all other manner of paranormal creatures take sanctuary." --> [also pretty NSFW and horny in general]

Death by Dying: "The Obituary Writer of Crestfall, Idaho finds himself deeply in over his head as he investigates a series of strange and mysterious deaths… when he is supposed to simply be writing obituaries. Along the way he encounters murderous farmers, man-eating cats, haunted bicycles, and a healthy dose of ominous shadows." --> [I had to stop listening to this in public because it kept making me undignified laugh and snort noises]

Desperado: "Blood magic, Voodoo magic, old gods, new gods: We've got it all! Follow the story of misfits from all over the world, as they try to survive and protect their heritage from modern-day crusaders."

EOS 10: "Doctors in space, a deposed alien prince, a super gay space pirate and a fiery nurse who'll help you win your bar fight."

Girl In Space: "Abandoned on a dying ship in the farthest reaches of known space, a young scientist fights for survival (and patience with the on-board A.I.). Who is she? No one knows. But a lot of dangerous entities really want to find out. Listen as the story unfolds for science, guns, trust, anti-matter, truth, beauty, inner turmoil, and delicious cheeses. It’s all here. In space."

Janus Descending: "...follows the arrival of two xenoarcheologists on a small world orbiting a binary star. But what starts off as an expedition to survey the planet and the remains of a lost alien civilization, turns into a monstrous game of cat and mouse, as the two scientists are left to face the creatures that killed the planet in the first place. Told from two alternating perspectives, Janus Descending is an experience of crossing timelines, as one character describes the nightmare from end to beginning, and the other, from beginning to the end." --> [absolutely harrowing horror]

Love and Luck: "...is a fictional radio play podcast, told via voicemails and set in present day Melbourne, Australia. A slice of life queer romance story with a touch of magic, it follows the relationship between two men, Jason and Kane, as their love grows both for each other and their community." --> [soft and gay, feels like a warm hug]

Potterless: "Join Mike Schubert, a grown man reading the Harry Potter series for the first time, as he sits down with HP fanatics to poke fun at plot holes, make painfully incorrect predictions, and bask in the sassiness of the characters." --> [the only non-fiction podcast on the list]

Primordial Deep: "When a long extinct sea creature washes up on the shores of Coney Island, marine biologist Dr. Marella Morgan is contacted by a secret organization to investigate the origins of the creature’s sudden and unnatural resurgence. Soon, she and a team of experts find themselves living on the research station The Tiamat, traveling along the abyssal plains as they search for answers far below the waves. But there are dangers in these ancient waters. Reawakened, prehistoric monsters are rising from the deep -- jaws wide and waiting, and in the darkness, something is stirring."

Red Valley: "No one at Overhead Industries wants to talk about defunct research station Red Valley, and account man Warren Godby is out of his depth. When he meets Gordon Porlock, a disgruntled archivist with a bag of tapes from the station’s last known occupant, they will begin a journey to the limits of experimental science, confront horror and trauma from the past, present and future, and try to remember the cheat codes from Sonic the Hedgehog 2."

Rusty Quill Gaming: "An actual play podcast following a mixed ability group of comedians, improvisers, gamers, and writers as they play through the extended, tabletop roleplaying campaign Erasing the Line, an original game world of the GM’s crafting." --> [took me a while to get into because I have trouble focusing on non-scripted things, but eventually I got really hooked on the plot and attached to the characters. This podcast is really fucked up at times if you think about it]

SAYER: "A narrative fiction podcast set on Earth’s man-made second moon, Typhon. The eponymous SAYER is a highly advanced, self-aware AI created to help acclimate new residents to their new lives, and their new employment with Ærolith Dynamics." --> [feels like Welcome to Night Vale but narrated by GLaDOS from Portal]

StarTripper!!: "Join Feston Pyxis on a road-trip through the cosmos, as he leaves behind his old life in search of the best and wildest experiences the galaxy has to offer!"

The Amelia Project: "...is a secret agency that fakes its clients' deaths, then lets them reappear with a brand new identity! A black comedy full of secrets, twists... and cocoa."

The Big Loop: "...a biweekly anthology series. Each episode is a self-contained narrative exploring the strange, the wonderful, the terrifying, and the heartbreaking. Stories of finite beings in an infinite universe." --> [I don't like anthologies, except this one]

The Bright Sessions: "Dr. Bright provides therapy for the strange and unusual; their sessions have been recorded for research purposes." --> [think X-Men, but with therapy instead of a school]

The Deca Tapes: "Recordings have surfaced of ten people that are locked into the same space together. We don’t know where they are, or if they'll get out. But the answers must be somewhere on these tapes."

The Silt Verses: "Carpenter and Faulkner, two worshippers of an outlawed god, travel up the length of their deity’s great black river, searching for holy revelations. As their pilgrimage lengthens and the river’s mysteries deepen, the two acolytes find themselves under threat from a police manhunt, but also come into conflict with the weirder gods that have flourished in these forgotten rural territories."

The White Vault: "Follow the collected records of a repair team sent to Outpost Fristed in the vast white wastes of Svalbard and unravel what lies waiting in the ice below."

Tides: "...is the story of Dr. Winifred Eurus, a xenobiologist trapped on an unfamiliar planet with hostile tidal forces. She must use her wits, sarcasm and intellectual curiosity to survive long enough to be rescued. But there might be more to life on this planet than she expected." --> [think The Martian, but on a water planet]

Unwell, a Midwestern Gothic Mystery: "Lillian Harper moves to the small town of Mt. Absalom, Ohio, to care for her estranged mother Dorothy after an injury. Living in the town's boarding house which has been run by her family for generations, she discovers conspiracies, ghosts, and a new family in the house's strange assortment of residents."

VAST Horizon: "Nolira is an agronomist tasked with establishing agriculture in a new solar system, but when she wakes up on a now- empty colony ship, the whole of her plan disappears. The ship has been set adrift, with numerous mission-critical problems requiring immediate attendance outside of her area of expertise. Nolira is aided by the ship’s malfunctioning AI, which acts as her confidant and companion during the fight for survival."

Victoriocity: "Even Greater London, 1887. In this vast metropolis, Inspector Archibald Fleet and journalist Clara Entwhistle investigate a murder, only to find themselves at the centre of a conspiracy of impossible proportions."

We Fix Space Junk: "...follows seasoned smuggler Kilner and reluctant fugitive Samantha as they travel the galaxy, dodging bullets and meeting strange and wonderful beings as they carry out odd jobs on the fringes of the law."

Welcome to Night Vale: "Twice-monthly community updates for the small desert town of Night Vale, where every conspiracy theory is true. Turn on your radio and hide."

Within the Wires: "Stories told through found audio from an alternate universe."

Wooden Overcoats: "Rudyard Funn and his equally miserable sister Antigone run their family's failing funeral parlour, where they get the body in the coffin in the ground on time. But one day they find everyone enjoying themselves at the funerals of a new competitor - the impossibly perfect Eric Chapman! With their dogsbody Georgie, and a mouse called Madeleine, the Funns are taking drastic steps to stay in the business…" --> [one of THE funniest podcasts I have ever listened to]

#ask #anon #please talk to me about podcasts at all times #podcasts #podcast recommendations

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cybertronian-cupid · 4 years ago

Note

Hello! Would you guys be ok with writing something like sub non binary S/o of both (tfp) Megatron and Soundwave watching them have interfacing? Maybe they are tied up with some vibrator controlled by the other two inside of them? Idk fhfbc this is probably very specific lmao

Being specific when sending a request is GREAT ANON! 💥💥💥~Gregoria🏩

Thanks so much for the request, and we hope you enjoy~Mila💟

............................. ....................... ............................

Soundwave's spike has been mistaken for an additional data cable many times during interfacing, causing a number of complications when his partners tried to connect it to ports it was not meant to go in. His cables, on the other hand, could go wherever and however he pleased.

At the present moment, one is tightly wrapped around his Lord's servos, the massive mech kneeling before him, helm bowed and sucking Soundwave's spike, sharp denta grazing the sensitive plating.

His other cable set a brutal pace inside Megatron's valve, building up the charge and causing an absolute mess on the berthroom floor. Lubricant spills out with each thrust and the moans he draws from his Lord makes it hard to keep still.

Sending a questioning ping that is answered with eager loosening of the calipers working around him, just enough for him to start a comfortable pace, causes him to grip the silver helm and begin thrusting upwards.

Megatron moans around him, the vibrations shooting right up Soundwave's spinal strut and back down to his valve, spurring him to increase the pace.

His charge climbs, and it doesn't take long until his lubricant is filling Megatron's mouth, calipers hard at work to get every last drop of it, the mech swallowing it all greedily.

When Soundwave's spike returns to its housing, he grips the mech's chin and snaps the grey helm in his servos up, dazed eyelights meeting his visor.

"Megatron: Overload."

With that command, his cable thrusts as deep as it can go, the tentacles at the end shocking a cluster of nodes as they reach them.

The valve cycles tight around him with Megatrons cry, the pressure almost crushing around the cable, sending an additional shock to the sensitive nodes.

The expression on his face is a gorgeous mixture of both pain and pleasure, and it has Soundwave struggling to not preserve the moment with a picture.

Instead, his visor turns up to the small perch where the human is bound, their tiny body shivering when they come a moment later, wide eyes fixed on the sight down below.

The handcuffs hold their hands high above their head, while silver ropes snake their way down their arms, weaving tightly over their torso in a diamond pattern.

The purple ones around their waist form a harness keeping the toy buried deep inside of them, their legs bound as they kneel and wait for his attention. Drooling around their custom made gag, adorned with the faction symbol that they shly presented to the both of them only a few sessions prior.

They look stunning everytime they unravel during interface, and this expression of pure delight joins the many others in the seperate folder tucked away in his processor, right next to the files of their suggestions. The newest file being the one that got them in this position.

"Can we do it without you guys shrinking this time?"

A dilemma that was quickly solved; a front row seat to the best gladiators of Cybertron, fragging in all their glory.

They seem to enjoy it even more than he expected.

His gaze flicks away from them, to the still erect spike between his legs. Purple biolights are pulsing fast and the lubricant gathering at the tip is dripping down to the mix smeared on the floor. Just looking at it has his valve cover snapping open.

He sends a command, easing the cable out of the still clenching valve, loosening the other around Megatron's servos. The silver mech stands with some difficulty and a moment later all but collapses on the edge of the berth, fans stalling and massive chest heaving.

Soundwave changes the setting of the human's toy to the lowest it can go, offering them a moment to return to their senses, while he makes sure Megatron's servos will be able to support their combined weight. He wraps both cables around the elbow joints, squeezing the metal in a secure grip. Satisfied, he positions himself over the tip of the spike, his own servos gripping the spiked pauldrons.

He almost groans out loud when the spike's vibrating mod turns to full force, his node brushing against it. His folds smear the clear lubricant back and forth as he rocks, his attention finally focusing back to Megatron's face fully.

Steam is curling from between the seams of the grey armor, faceplate heated with the bright blue of energon. Red optics dimly pulsing, half choked noises of pleasure making their way past the tightly clenched denta of his Lord and Champion.

Soundwave swallows dryly.

His lenses focus, enhancing the details, making sure the lighting is perfect for a shot he'll enjoy for eons to come-

When the human lets out a whine and his optics snap away, his visor turning towards them.

They stare at each other for what feels like an eternity, them shrinking away with each silent second.

He bows his helm in a slow nod of thanks.

They relax and grow bolder, hips wiggling in place, soft whines muffled by their pretty gag.

He adjusts the settings of the human's toy to still completely, causing them to let out a muffled wail, and they strain against the restraints.

They did cost him a shot.

The warlord's hips twitch under him impatiently, tip of spike pressing slightly upwards into the dampness of Soundwave's valve, engine stuttering something akin to a growl.

He waits longer than necessary before he connects the toy inside their human to the frequency he wants, and in one swift movement slams himself onto Megatron's spike, drawing a sharp cry from both the warlord and the human at the same time.

He really has to thank Shockwave for his latest gadget. Seeing their human gasping at the stretch Soundwave is actually experiencing, their body reacting as if they themself slammed down on the spike that's nearly three times their size, truly is a sight to preserve.

When they catch their breath again, he sets a fast pace, the sounds of his lovers a symphony to his audio receptors.

#valveplug #tfp valveplug #tfp megawave #tfp megatron #tfp soundwave #tfp megawave x reader #anon

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raygirlramblings · 4 years ago

Photo

I really don’t need to make more Rayman fan characters...I have way too many that deserve more attention...but this little friend has been running round in my head all day and a combination of chocolate and a 4 day weekend inspired me to draw them. Plus I’ve been meaning to give Wunderlee a friend for a while!

More info under the cut because I suddenly realise I’d written an essay about this character XD

This is Fabergé, an Easter egg inspired limbless being. While having a bunny like appearance (those fronds are hair, not ears!) Fab is not a treat giver the way Wunderlee is. In fact he’s allergic to cocoa and is cripplingly shy. Fab’s real passion is for making outfits, but due to his own poor self image he struggles to design outfits he thinks are good enough for anyone else to wear. Fab is his own worst critic in everything from making clothes to having basic conversations, which only isolates him further.

Thankfully Fabergé has Wunderlee, his eternally supportive and encouraging best friend who tries to draw Fab out of his anxieties. While Wunderlee isn’t much of a talker Fab is thankful to have someone who listens to his concerns and takes them seriously, and it’s nice to have someone who will always invite you to go for a walk. Wunderlee thinks Fab is just that, Fabulous, and wants to encourage his introverted pal to feel more confident.

Despite his social anxiety Fab is VERY sensitive to the feelings of others, and making other people smile fills him with joy. When he actually builds up the nerve to talk to others people find him to be very sweet and complimentary. Fab seems to have an innate ability to pick out the best qualities in other people, even if they keep those qualities hidden.

I was wondering if I should make Fab gender-fluid, as opposed to Wunderlee who is non-binary. I imagine Fabergé takes on parts of gender depending on how confident he feels, and sometimes he just wants to look and feel pretty despite being quite tall for a limbless being (Wunderlee is the same height as Rayman, for reference!). In fact being mistaken for a rabbit causes Fab far more turmoil than people getting his gender wrong XD At the end of the day Fab just wants to feel more confident in his own skin, and is slowly coming to terms with himself and the fact that other people could like him for being himself.

#Rayman #my arts #my characters #i need to do some more research on the portrayal of gender fluidity in characters...

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weil-weil-lautre · 4 years ago

Link

By Jonathan Franzen September 8, 2019

“There is infinite hope,” Kafka tells us, “only not for us.” This is a fittingly mystical epigram from a writer whose characters strive for ostensibly reachable goals and, tragically or amusingly, never manage to get any closer to them. But it seems to me, in our rapidly darkening world, that the converse of Kafka’s quip is equally true: There is no hope, except for us.

I’m talking, of course, about climate change. The struggle to rein in global carbon emissions and keep the planet from melting down has the feel of Kafka’s fiction. The goal has been clear for thirty years, and despite earnest efforts we’ve made essentially no progress toward reaching it. Today, the scientific evidence verges on irrefutable. If you’re younger than sixty, you have a good chance of witnessing the radical destabilization of life on earth—massive crop failures, apocalyptic fires, imploding economies, epic flooding, hundreds of millions of refugees fleeing regions made uninhabitable by extreme heat or permanent drought. If you’re under thirty, you’re all but guaranteed to witness it.

If you care about the planet, and about the people and animals who live on it, there are two ways to think about this. You can keep on hoping that catastrophe is preventable, and feel ever more frustrated or enraged by the world’s inaction. Or you can accept that disaster is coming, and begin to rethink what it means to have hope.

Even at this late date, expressions of unrealistic hope continue to abound. Hardly a day seems to pass without my reading that it’s time to “roll up our sleeves” and “save the planet”; that the problem of climate change can be “solved” if we summon the collective will. Although this message was probably still true in 1988, when the science became fully clear, we’ve emitted as much atmospheric carbon in the past thirty years as we did in the previous two centuries of industrialization. The facts have changed, but somehow the message stays the same.

Psychologically, this denial makes sense. Despite the outrageous fact that I’ll soon be dead forever, I live in the present, not the future. Given a choice between an alarming abstraction (death) and the reassuring evidence of my senses (breakfast!), my mind prefers to focus on the latter. The planet, too, is still marvelously intact, still basically normal—seasons changing, another election year coming, new comedies on Netflix—and its impending collapse is even harder to wrap my mind around than death. Other kinds of apocalypse, whether religious or thermonuclear or asteroidal, at least have the binary neatness of dying: one moment the world is there, the next moment it’s gone forever. Climate apocalypse, by contrast, is messy. It will take the form of increasingly severe crises compounding chaotically until civilization begins to fray. Things will get very bad, but maybe not too soon, and maybe not for everyone. Maybe not for me.

Some of the denial, however, is more willful. The evil of the Republican Party’s position on climate science is well known, but denial is entrenched in progressive politics, too, or at least in its rhetoric. The Green New Deal, the blueprint for some of the most substantial proposals put forth on the issue, is still framed as our last chance to avert catastrophe and save the planet, by way of gargantuan renewable-energy projects. Many of the groups that support those proposals deploy the language of “stopping” climate change, or imply that there’s still time to prevent it. Unlike the political right, the left prides itself on listening to climate scientists, who do indeed allow that catastrophe is theoretically avertable. But not everyone seems to be listening carefully. The stress falls on the word theoretically.

Our atmosphere and oceans can absorb only so much heat before climate change, intensified by various feedback loops, spins completely out of control. Some scientists and policymakers fear that we’re in danger of passing this point of no return if the global mean temperature rises by more than two degrees Celsius (maybe more, but also maybe less). The I.P.C.C.—the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change—tells us that, to limit the rise to less than two degrees, we not only need to reverse the trend of the past three decades. We need to approach zero net emissions, globally, in the next three decades.

This is, to say the least, a tall order. It also assumes that you trust the I.P.C.C.’s calculations. New research, described last month in Scientific American, demonstrates that climate scientists, far from exaggerating the threat of climate change, have underestimated its pace and severity. To project the rise in the global mean temperature, scientists rely on complicated atmospheric modelling. They take a host of variables and run them through supercomputers to generate, say, ten thousand different simulations for the coming century, in order to make a “best” prediction of the rise in temperature. When a scientist predicts a rise of two degrees Celsius, she’s merely naming a number about which she’s very confident: the rise will be at least two degrees. The rise might, in fact, be far higher.

As a non-scientist, I do my own kind of modelling. I run various future scenarios through my brain, apply the constraints of human psychology and political reality, take note of the relentless rise in global energy consumption (thus far, the carbon savings provided by renewable energy have been more than offset by consumer demand), and count the scenarios in which collective action averts catastrophe. The scenarios, which I draw from the prescriptions of policymakers and activists, share certain necessary conditions.

The first condition is that every one of the world’s major polluting countries institute draconian conservation measures, shut down much of its energy and transportation infrastructure, and completely retool its economy. According to a recent paper in Nature, the carbon emissions from existing global infrastructure, if operated through its normal lifetime, will exceed our entire emissions “allowance”—the further gigatons of carbon that can be released without crossing the threshold of catastrophe. (This estimate does not include the thousands of new energy and transportation projects already planned or under construction.) To stay within that allowance, a top-down intervention needs to happen not only in every country but throughout every country. Making New York City a green utopia will not avail if Texans keep pumping oil and driving pickup trucks.

The actions taken by these countries must also be the right ones. Vast sums of government money must be spent without wasting it and without lining the wrong pockets. Here it’s useful to recall the Kafkaesque joke of the European Union’s biofuel mandate, which served to accelerate the deforestation of Indonesia for palm-oil plantations, and the American subsidy of ethanol fuel, which turned out to benefit no one but corn farmers.

Finally, overwhelming numbers of human beings, including millions of government-hating Americans, need to accept high taxes and severe curtailment of their familiar life styles without revolting. They must accept the reality of climate change and have faith in the extreme measures taken to combat it. They can’t dismiss news they dislike as fake. They have to set aside nationalism and class and racial resentments. They have to make sacrifices for distant threatened nations and distant future generations. They have to be permanently terrified by hotter summers and more frequent natural disasters, rather than just getting used to them. Every day, instead of thinking about breakfast, they have to think about death.

Call me a pessimist or call me a humanist, but I don’t see human nature fundamentally changing anytime soon. I can run ten thousand scenarios through my model, and in not one of them do I see the two-degree target being met.

To judge from recent opinion polls, which show that a majority of Americans (many of them Republican) are pessimistic about the planet’s future, and from the success of a book like David Wallace-Wells’s harrowing “The Uninhabitable Earth,” which was released this year, I’m not alone in having reached this conclusion. But there continues to be a reluctance to broadcast it. Some climate activists argue that if we publicly admit that the problem can’t be solved, it will discourage people from taking any ameliorative action at all. This seems to me not only a patronizing calculation but an ineffectual one, given how little progress we have to show for it to date. The activists who make it remind me of the religious leaders who fear that, without the promise of eternal salvation, people won’t bother to behave well. In my experience, nonbelievers are no less loving of their neighbors than believers. And so I wonder what might happen if, instead of denying reality, we told ourselves the truth.

First of all, even if we can no longer hope to be saved from two degrees of warming, there’s still a strong practical and ethical case for reducing carbon emissions. In the long run, it probably makes no difference how badly we overshoot two degrees; once the point of no return is passed, the world will become self-transforming. In the shorter term, however, half measures are better than no measures. Halfway cutting our emissions would make the immediate effects of warming somewhat less severe, and it would somewhat postpone the point of no return. The most terrifying thing about climate change is the speed at which it’s advancing, the almost monthly shattering of temperature records. If collective action resulted in just one fewer devastating hurricane, just a few extra years of relative stability, it would be a goal worth pursuing.

#sorry for this essay it's for my #diss #quote #franzen #climate change #archivist #and i don't want to lose the text

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residentofthedisc · 4 years ago

Text

An Open Letter From an Autistic Transgender Man to J.K. Rowling

Dear Ms. Rowling.

This is a response to your comment made on the 10th of June 2020 on your blog about autistic transgender men being victims of manipulation by transgender activists and misogynistic beliefs. My name for this scenario is Unsigned. I am a twenty-one-year-old autistic transgender man and I feel compelled to write this open letter addressing your statement. As in any essay, academic or otherwise, the introduction must serve to provide the reader with the basics of the essay’s intentions.

I believe that I can sum up the heart of my argument in three simple sentences.

1. I am not your tragedy.

2. I am not your prop.

3. I am certainly not your weapon.

Firstly, before I go into this properly, as you can imagine, I was disgusted and grieved to wake up that morning and find that my existence had been filed into a weapon to harm and discredit those within my own community. I was especially sickened by your decision to release said statement – and your earlier one about an article describing menstruation with gender neutral terminology – during Pride Month, and amidst a historical and important Black Lives Matter movement. This seems to be an underhanded and inflammatory choice, of which, I must say, I do not approve.

Now, statement number one. Autistic people have long been mischaracterised as being – for lack of a better word – infantile. We are treated, regardless of our support needs (which is hardly an indicator of age), as eternal children. Our existence is spoken of in hushed tones, people deny their own children lifesaving medicine in fear of them becoming us, and we are spoken over and silenced by those around us. Being on the spectrum does not mean that we are something lesser. It does not mean that we are sick or broken. It does not even mean that we are something other. We simply are what we are.

We have been needlessly abused, mistreated, and not believed. If you, Ms. Rowling, wish to assist autistic people in the advancements of our rights and human dignity, you would turn your immense influence towards providing a more accurate understanding of autism, amplifying autistic voices (non, semi, and fully verbal and every gender and race), and supporting autistic-lead organisations such as the National Autistic Society. You do not help us, Ms. Rowling, by attacking and belittling members of our community who are already disadvantaged by transphobic attitudes. Our existence is not a tragedy, Ms. Rowling, we are simply human beings with differing needs and worldly understandings, and we do not need you to defend us against imaginary evil when there is real evil being done to us.

Statement number two. Autistic people are not props to be moved around the theatre of your performative prejudice. As difficult as it may be to believe, we are people with the capabilities to make up our own minds and make our own decisions. We are capable of understanding who we are. That is our decision to make. Not yours.

Your statement that autistic transgender men has increased is… true. But only to a point. We have not increased in number because of people pushing us down this path. We have increased because now we have access to the vocabulary to name what we are feeling, there is increased understanding and acceptance, and autistic assigned-female-at-birth people are now having their voices heard and being officially diagnosed. We are not being manipulated. We are coming to conclusions based on new information, which is how you grow as a person and understand more about the world. You change your opinions. You grow. That is what these autistic transgender men have done. It takes an extortionate amount of time and courage to gather help and have your feelings believed by doctors and parents. We are not running off and slicing off our breasts and genitals on a whim. We fight for our right to transition. It takes years and the negotiation of a circus-full of hoops. It is not a spur of the moment decision. We are not doing to look cool or fit in. We have realised something monumental about ourselves and we are acting on it. And if it appears that we change our minds again? Good. We are learning more and more about ourselves. You are not part of that process.

Lastly, I am not a weapon. My autism is not a weapon. It has been used as such, many times. It means I struggle with high levels of sensory input. I struggle with social situations and social cues. I have special interests and obsessions over little things. But I am not stupid. I am not alone. I have different views of the world. I am not something for you to hone against your transphobic whetstone. Let me explain myself.

I believe that gender and sex are two different things. Sex is to do with your genitals, your chromosomes. It has nothing to do with your brain. Gender is how you present yourself – it is a construct which you form about your own personality and likes. My genitals have nothing to do with how I present myself. And I feel male so that is what I am. This is not a moral statement, but a factual one. I am male. Gender is a social idea – our views on what makes someone male or female or intersex or non-binary have changed with the times and seasons. A man today would not be an ideal man back in ancient Greece.

Funny thing about autistic people? We tend not to pick up or agree with social ideas. Our autism does affect how we view the world and – personally – gender just seems to be a bit… simple. I have no idea why my genitalia should dictate which pronouns I use because someone else decided that that was fine. Or the idea that having a penis or a vagina or any combination of the above changes my personality. Rather like someone deciding that electroshock therapy for gay people was fine. It feels disingenuous to try and stuff a massive spectrum of personal enlightenment into two little boxes which we cannot move from. I knew I was transgender long, long before I knew I was autistic. There were no sinister transgender women creeping into my room when I was seven and whispering insidious transgender messages into my little ear. I was not even aware of what transgender was until I was around twelve. I did not have an accurate understanding of autism until I was fourteen. And not knowing the words did not change what I was. I was merely given the lexicon of my struggles and a voice with which to speak the language.

Additionally, if it is sex-based problems you say transgender people get in the way of, then why not speak purely on sex? ‘Menstruators’ or ‘people who menstruate’ gets to the intended audience far more accurately than ‘women’. Some cis women do not have wombs. And the first wave of feminism was about separating women’s rights from their biology. Why circle back around to that?

So, trans men are men because they feel male. Transgender women are women for the same reasons. And believe me, there are a negligible amount of predatory men (because that is who you are truly angry with, transgender women are your scapegoats), if any, who would subject themselves to the dangers transgender women face to circumnavigate an obstacle such as a door which says women only. They can just open the door and get inside to do their evil without this ridiculous rigmarole which you suggest they do. Really. And autistic transgender men are men. We are not confused.

Unlike you, Ms. Rowling, I do not pretend to speak for all autistic people. But I can speak for those within my own community. We do not want to speak these lines you’ve forced down our throats. I stand with my transgender siblings, especially my sisters, and I will not be used against my friends. Not by you and not by anyone.

#transgender #trans rights #actuallyautistic #jk rowling #terfs #terf #trans pride #transphobia #ableism #autism #harry potter #mine #writing #writeblr #important #autistic transgender issues #feminism #open letter

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project-ohagi · 4 years ago

Text

Dabi x Reader {Boku No Hero Academia}

Buy me a coffee!! <3

[A/N]: I'M BACK! Probably not for long though - I start university next week, so I'll be hella busy, broke and nervous! I apologise for the lack of content lately...I haven't been able to write <3

Flashback is in italics!

Trigger Warning: Dysphoria

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

Martyrdom was a false concept - there would be no salvation after the suffering, no easy adjustment to death, no gateway to paradise...no warmth. Why had it sounded so appealing? And...why hadn't you resisted conscription into this war? Perhaps it was a sense of civic duty, twisted by your loyalty to and admiration for society's heroes?

You were little more than a vigilante!

Sure, your morals were often greying at the edges, and a pact of romance had been formed between yourself and a criminal (dubbed 'malevolent' by those in authority, and therefore also by the hapless little sheep, who relied upon them for protection), but...your power was limited! You hadn't gained entry into any heroics programmes, so your quirk wasn't yet honed to perfection! You were just an ordinary university student, struggling to balance study and illegal (vigilante) activity! The heroes didn't need you as they claimed, right? You already bathed in the waters of betrayal! Your love, your feelings...they were forbidden, spurned by all. Your relationship would never be tolerated, for it was 'toxic', 'sinful', and ultimately, 'a death sentence'.

But...who was so immune to the influence of iniquity, that the right to condemn you was within their power? So what if Freya never granted her blessing? So what if your relationship wasn't conventional? It brought you insurmountable joy, and a reason to fight, even when everything seemed so hopeless! No miserable void had replaced your heart, nor had he cast you into Hel! So what, then...what was the problem?

The flames licked your skin, and like a cobra, they coiled. Your condition worsened by the second, as the upper-hand seemed impossible to gain. Dabi had yet to recognise that the 'fake hero' being charred by his quirk, the one subject to a slow and agonising torture...was his own lover. With your face concealed and your voice distorted, he just couldn't tell. You wondered if he would tear himself apart, when it finally dawned. When the fire burned away your costume, and all that veiled you...how would he contend with the knowledge? With...his thoughts? How would he live out his days, as the nightmarish image of your corpse roamed his mind, at every available hour? You didn't wish such an existence upon him.

But no words could be spoken, as verification of your identity. This was a battlefield! Carnage was all that surrounded you. If you lowered your mask, or pleaded with him...someone else would notice. The opportunity for a hero to strike Dabi might arise, and then...either death or prison would follow.

You refused both. Dabi, for all his immorality, was your saviour. He held no ounce of care for the title, but it still rang true. Toward you, he showed compassion, respect and love. He gave you everything, and not once did he demand recompense. He was gentle! He never overstepped, never tried to cause you discomfort. You had always felt outcast, and he understood. More than most! So although the flames now encased your body, a deadly combination of worry and fear for his fate, illuminated your veins. This world would mourn you for a moment, but him for an eternity. You begged, silently, for his safety. You wanted him to survive - to abandon the League and start over.

As you burned, the tear-jerking memory of your first encounter flashed across your mind.

It was a day far duller than the last. The street-lights flickered overhead, periodically throwing shadows on to the walls. You startled a little with each, ever-uncertain if they were people, or objects. You were paranoid. You were...distraught. A bag swayed on the tips of your fingers, filled to the brim with sanitary products.

But you weren't female.

At least...you didn't feel that way. The items, however mundane, only served to invalidate your sense of identity. It was an ongoing debate, but you couldn't possibly be on the Non-Binary spectrum if your monthly cycle still occurred...right? It was depressing. No-one seemed to understand. The constant chants of "Hey, girl!" and "This is my daughter" were disheartening. The reservoir of hope was depleting very quickly. You walked at a continuous pace, every-so-often risking glances behind your shoulder.

Until you spotted them: a group of four men, who whistled at you from afar. You walked faster, but one had been blessed with a speed-related quirk.

"Hey, where are you going, little Missy?" He asked, sneering from ear-to-ear.

You ignored him, blatantly.

He clicked his tongue. "I was talking to you, whore."

Reluctantly, you replied, "...Can I please get past?"

"What's in the bag? You got money? Drugs?...Something naughty?" Another man questioned, grabbing your arm.

The whole group closed in, pride and hunger swimming amid their eyes. You squeezed yours shut, a stream of tears cascading down your cheeks. You expected to die there. You expected something a million times worse. But...nothing, except the sound of combustion and the smell of burnt flesh. That was a most recognisable mixture - Dabi, a prolific villain. You exchanged a fleeting look - yours of unrestrained gratitude, his of mild confusion. He turned to leave. You made him stay, insisting he be repaid.

How could he say no to you?

All too suddenly, the fire died.

Your face, now disfigured, was on full display. "...(Y/n)?"

"H-Hi..." Weakness permeated your voice, as maintaining breaths grew harder and harder. "...Dabi."

"Stay there. I don't have any...bandages. Shit!" Your body succumbed to gravity, but he rushed to catch you.

Despite your injuries, despite everything...his arms still felt so safe. "I'll be...fine."

"If only I..." His brows furrowed, as anger mounted. "...Damnit!"

A stray tear fell from your eye. "Just - just come home, Dabi. You don't...have to - to do...this."

"I'm sorry." But the time to grieve had passed - or perhaps, it never even began. "I can't ignore this war."

Your vision blurred, but he stood without you. "I-Is it more...important...than me? More important than - than...us?!"

Dabi's fist was clenched tightly, nails digging into what remained of his pale skin. "I loved you. I always did."

"Loved?...Did??" You panicked, but the pain was overwhelming - your limbs refused to listen to a single command. "H-Hang on-"

With relinquished autonomy, little was viable beyond watching your lover slip away - away from the broken and scarred remains of someone he professed to love. Someone he...used to love. And in that moment, as you lay defeated on the battlefield...you prayed for a sleep that never ended.

[Word Count: 1076]

#bnha #bnha dabi #dabi x reader #my hero academia x reader #my hero academia #league of villains #vigilante reader #gender dysphoria #gender questioning

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all-things-lgbtqia · 4 years ago

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JK Rowling continues to spout TERF ideology, continues to say she’s not a TERF.

JK Rowling, best known as author of the world-renowned Harry Potter series and the decider of who is and isn’t gay, took to Twitter within the past 24 hours to make what I can only assume was supposed to be a joke in response to a Tweet about efforts to help create a more equal world “those who menstruate” in a post Covid-19 world, saying that “I’m sure there used to be a word for those people.”

When called out for her erasure of trans men, non-binary, and gender-nonconforming people - all people who can be assigned female at birth but do not identify as women - Rowling went on the defensive, criticizing the idea that “sex isn’t real”.

Here’s the thing, Rowling: sex is real. Trans people know this. That’s kind of what makes most of us trans. Their biological sex, which is a real and tangible thing, does not match the identity they see for themselves, which is also real although it can be a lot harder for us outsiders to see. This is why many trans people opt for modified clothing (such as binders and gaffs), hormones and surgeries to make the exterior body match the internal sense of gender. Granted, many trans people will not do this, and they are not obligated to do so, but the vast majority of us will opt for such measures, not just to make ourselves more comfortable in our skins, but also so people like you don’t keep misgendering us and then pretend to be the victim when we call you out on it (which you’re doing right now). Absolutely no one is arguing that biological sex isn’t real.

She then goes on to say that saying women like her, “who’ve been empathetic to trans people for decades”, hate trans people “because they think sex is real and has lived consequences - is a nonsense”.

Like I said Rowling, sex is real and absolutely no one is saying otherwise. You’re the one who keeps saying it. You said it during the Maya Forstater debacle and you’re saying it now. “Woman” is not a term that refers to someone who is biologically female. An overwhelming amount of the time it does, but not always. “Female” and “female-bodied” are somewhat controversial terms when it comes to afab transgender people, but they always refer to someone who is biologically female. “Afab” is an acronym for “assigned female at birth”, which can even refer to cis women. So as you can see, there are better terms to refer to someone with female reproductive organs than “women”. And believe it or not, a lot of those “lived consequences” are often the same for a lot of afab people. Not everyone has the privilege to transition at 6-years-old, before the horrors of the real world affect most of us. Many afab trans men (I would like to quickly acknowledge that some trans men may be biologically intersex), non-binary and gender-nonconforming people will have lived as females or a somewhat “female experience” up until they come out of the closet and begin their transition, if they do so at all. Pre-transition afab people are still subjected to the same amount of sexism, misogyny, sexual harassment and general dangers that come with being a woman because even though they are not women, society sees them as women. And yes, these people will even menstruate, because they have a female reproductive system (although it is worth noting that some people born with these parts may not menstruate at all, because biology is weird and sometimes things don’t function the way they’re supposed to). And on top of all that, trans women will also face the same hazards during and after the main stages of their transitions. In fact, statistically speaking, transgender women are even more likely to experience male violence than cis women, so let’s not pretend they aren’t involved in this whole conversation at all.

And just a quick sidebar, like I said, some people with female reproductive parts don’t menstruate because their body just never kicks that system into gear. If a cis woman never menstruates because she’s one of those people, is she no longer a woman, J?

I would also like to take the time to comment on how she pretends trans people don’t exist when she wants the spotlight and only references them when she gets called out for it. This is a lot like the, “I can’t be racist, I have black friends” “argument”. We’re not tools that you can use and then put back in the closet when you’re done (only we can decide if it’s time to go back in the closet, and I would rather not do that again, thank you very much). We’re not accessories you can flaunt to show how accepting you are. We exist even when you’re not making exclusionary remarks and pretending that the issue at hand is exclusive to cis females only.

She goes on to claim she would support trans people if we are discriminated against. I don’t have a Twitter account so I can see only very limited Tweets online, but so far I haven’t seen her comment on the proposed UK bathroom bill that would force trans people to use the bathrooms that correspond with the sex marker on their birth certificates. If she has commented, let me know and I will update this section of this post appropriately.

She tries to justify herself by saying she is well-read in scientific journals and transgender experiences, so she knows the distinction between sex and gender. But if this was the case, she wouldn’t still be using “woman” to refer strictly to cis women, and she certainly wouldn’t be using it to describe all people who menstruate.

She says, “Never assume that because someone thinks differently, they have no knowledge.” And she would make a good point, if saying that only women menstruate and implying that if you menstruate you are a woman, plain and simple, wasn’t TERF rhetoric. Listen, you can know all about a subject as complicated and relatively new as gender identity, but knowledge and acceptance are two different things. Just because you major in Africana Studies and can name just about every major figure in black history doesn’t make you less racist when you clutch your purse tighter when you see a black man jogging down the street. Having a degree in Women’s Studies doesn’t make you any less sexist when you tell a woman to make you a sandwich because you disagree with her opinion. And reading scientific papers about transgender people and what it all means doesn’t make you less transphobic when you make sweeping claims that only women menstruate, and that transgender people don’t understand the struggles of being a woman.

In what is her most damning move so far, Rowling then Tweets out, “‘Feminazi’, ‘TERF’, ‘bitch’, ‘witch’. Times change. Woman-hate is eternal.” One of these things is not like the other, one of these things just doesn’t belong...

I get it, there are plenty of terms and phrases used with the intent of shutting up women you don’t agree with. TERF is not one of those terms. TERF is in the same category as racist, misogynist, neo-nazi, etc. NOT the same category as women-silencing words like ‘bitch’ or ‘feminazi’. A TERF is a trans-exclusionary radical feminist, someone who discredits the existence and experiences of transgender people (primarily trans women) because they feel like it (the transgender experience) doesn’t belong in discussions of women’s rights, or even that it threatens their identity as women. Sounds kinda familiar, doesn’t it? Calling someone a TERF is not a silencing behavior, and you’d figure a feminist would understand this. Calling someone a TERF is calling them out for behavior, while also letting the transgender community know that this is not a safe person to be around. If anything it’s a warning label.

And look, don’t take this all to mean I hate women. I don’t. I only hate it when we pretend that an issue such as menstruation is exclusive to cis women. It isn’t. Women’s issues typically aren’t restricted to cis women. Trans women will experience violence and hate, usually at a disproportionately high rate when compared to their cisgender sisters. Trans men will often experience discrimination pre-transition, and maybe even post-transition from people who still see them as women. Not only that, but trans men typically experience the issues that come along with being biologically female (again, those that are afab). Most transgender men will menstruate and experience all the absolutely wonderful symptoms that come along with it. Some transgender men even get pregnant and have babies. No one is arguing that women have it easy. Transgender people - regardless of if they’re trans women, trans men, non-binary, agender, gender fluid, or gender-nonconforming - don’t want to erase women’s experiences throughout the years. We just want to live our lives in peace like everybody else. I just wish Rowling would stop pretending otherwise.

Is JK Rowling a terrible person? I don’t think I can go that far. She has made some serious contributions towards the acceptance of LGB (although notably not T) themes in children’s media, supports the Black Lives Matter movements, and even showcases fan art from very young fans on her Twitter. Although, she did share an article talking about the lesbian experience with discrimination and erasure, which is very important (hell, I admittedly don’t come across a lot of lesbian content on my Tumblr feed so I don’t get a chance to reblog a whole lot of it), but it also says that “ask my pronouns” is decidedly anti-lesbian, and paints the entire LGBTQIA+ community (referred to as “LGBTQ” with the quotes) as greedy, money-hungry, well-supported, and even predatory against children. Is this just a subject I’m not all that knowledgeable in? Perhaps, but I have a really hard time taking your arguments seriously LGBTQIA+ community is decidedly predatory against children, but I digress. I will say, however, that I am just disappointed. I’m disappointed someone who has been all about standing up to bullies and fighting against oppression has been using her platform to side with bullies and take part in said oppression. I’m disappointed she lumps “TERF” in with “Feminazi” and other terms designed to discredit women with opinions. And above all, I’m disappointed that she claims to offer us support when her actions support just the opposite. But, after all we’ve seen over the years, I can’t say I’m surprised.

#JK Rowling #rant #transphobic #terf #menstruation #terf ideology #transphobia

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