#the massive minority in major houses does not count

[rise-my-angel]

To the jonsa implying aunt/nephew and uncle/niece are on the same level as siblings in Westeros: no. In Westeros it is not taboo for an aunt or uncle to couple with a nephew or niece. I personally do not ship these types of pairings because of my real world sensibilities, but the kinda is proving your point because they probably brought that up to decry jonerys (which I don’t ship; tbh the only thing I really ship is Podrick and Sansa). But jonerys would be acceptable in Westeros. House stark has had this type of incest marriage. Jon and Sansa think of eachother as siblings and sibling incest is not okay in Westeros. They can like what they like but they’ve gotta drop the superiority complex

Sort of missing the point. Anyone saying "thats not acceptable incest but THIS is" does not realize they are adding to the issue. Aunt/nephew or neice/uncle was ONLY accepted through the Targaryeans, not normal houses. It isn't normal. Westeros doesnt see incest as normal.

The faster we ALL can understand that everytime you say "this is the accepted incest actually" you are only adding to this fire of the incest debate.

What the Targaryeans did is not universally accepted amongst Westeros and as soon as they were gone, their incestuous practices went right back to being demonized because the realm does not accept it.

The minority does not represent Westeros in incest and no debate of cousins, siblings, aunts, newphews will change that. It's not normal and the majority of characters in the series do not think its normal.

The shipping wars for Jon only ever boil down to who has the right incest ship, because they dont care about the in universe implications of the incest, just that their personal ship is morally superior.

Yall can ship incest, but none one will ever be morally superior for arguing any form of pro incest here. Not on my blog, thats for sure.

[blindbeta]

Hello, I hope you are well. The main character of a book I'm writing is blind and I want to make sure I'm not being disrespectful.

He's had both retinopathy of prematurity (stage one) and recurring glaucoma that have left him with 20/200 vision, photosensitivity, and trouble processing visual information. He can see pretty well for a range of around six feet, eight if he really focuses (which he rarely does because doing it too much will give him a massive headache and exhaust him.) He doesn't have a cane, as he's spent his entire life in the house (long story short, he's adopted and his birth parents kind of want him dead) and he doesn't need it when he already knows where all of the obstacles are, but he does have a guide dog (she's mostly for his mobility issues and physical disability, but she can also do guide dog stuff.) When the story begins and he has to leave home and go into an unfamiliar situation (boarding school when he used to be homeschooled,) he couldn't bring his dog with him and didn't know a cane was an option, so one of his friends, the only one who already knew he was blind, has been subtly guiding him. He hides his blindness at first, not sure if revealing the information could put him in danger, but eventually the other characters find out. They do initially get kind of protective, but they quickly find out to not do that because if they tell him he can't do something, he'll do it anyway just to prove them wrong. He really wants to be independent and hates it when people assume they know his limits better than he does and they try to tell him what he can and can't do despite his objections.

(The character also has Williams Syndrome, epilepsy, intellectual disability, PTSD, IED, and a major injury that renders one of his legs near useless. He uses a modified cane in place of his leg as a weight-bearing limb because working with crutches wasn't possible with old breaks in his arms.)

He's transgender and in a relationship with three other characters (all aware of each other and all fine with polyamory,) two guys and a girl. One of the guys has some trauma-sourced physical disability, CPTSD, and kleptomania, and the girl has NPD and CPTSD. They all love each other very much and all put in the effort to make their relationship work. He also has two sisters who are also blind (all three of them were premature and the glaucoma is genetic,) one who's completely blind and one who has a little bit of light vision, and there are a few other blind and low-vision characters.

Here's the problem, it's his magic. I kind of added in the blind detail after deciding his magic, and I'm worried it could accidentally count as erasing. He can shapeshift like his older sister, but neither of them use it to fix their eyes because it's a massively complicated change and because they've been blind their entire lives and their brains wouldn't really know what to do with enhanced vision. And then he has an energy ability. He's always been scared of the energy ability because he nearly killed his adopted dad with it, but one of the other characters, not knowing he's blind, recommended trapeze to help him get used to using it, because he can sense things through sensing the kinetic energy. This is only used to help him get used to his power and he only uses it for trapeze (he saw it and fell in love with it before anyone could tell him not to. With a bit of adaptive technology for his leg and small, humming sound devices, each at a different pitch, on every trapeze platform, he actually does really well at it,) but does it count as negating his blindness? He can't really see with it, it's closer to hearing a projectile coming close but not being able to hear exactly how far away it is.

(These are more minor details, but there are also other details in the story about his blindness- his adopted parents got him a Braille printer and translated a few books for him, and then his younger sibling decided he liked typing on the Braille printer and started translating a bunch, so he knows how to read Braille and has a massive collection of Braille books because they're easier for him to read. He also uses voice-to-text and text-to-voice on his phone and laptop. One of his friends gets him a bunch of talking technology, like a clock that tells him the time when he presses a button, and some things like oven rack covers and colour-coded kitchen utensils, and another friend takes notes for him using those 3D ink pens so that he can easily translate them to Braille and have his own notes to study.)

Thank you for running your blog, your posts have been a great help

Photophobia, Service Dog for Someone Who Can’t Leave Home, Multiple Disabilities, Choosing Accommodations and Assistive Technology, Giving Gifts to a Blind Person, and General Blindness Stuff

This post is a big one. If you are not the asker, feel free to use the big text titles to explored the subjects that interest you. Additionally, please forgive any lingering typos in this post. I did my best to address them all, however they may still occur due to the length of this post.

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I tried to address as much as I could in your ask. Please let me know if you have more questions.

Photophobia, Health Care, and General Advice for Writing About Blindness

I can see how staying in the house all the time might lead to an even bigger increase in photophobia when venturing outside. Even if he has a backyard he can use safely, I imagine being in the outside world regularly would exacerbate his photophobia. If you plan to give him sunglasses, be sure to connect them to the photophobia and have him remove them on occasion, such as when indoors. This post might be relevant.

I’m assuming he has access to reliable medical care, considering all his conditions. Blindness generally requires regular optometrist visits, particularly for glaucoma. Same for epilepsy. He may also want psychotherapy treatment for PTSD, adoption and childhood trauma, and managing other symptoms that come with his disabilities. Since he has access to a computer, virtual therapy and virtual check-ups are possible. That said, certain testing or treatment cannot be conducted virtually. I am not familiar with weight-bearing prosthetics, but he will need to be fitted for that as well and have access to help with up-keeping it. You probably don’t need to spend a lot of time on this subject, although considering it may add realism or relatability to your story. If he takes medication for epilepsy, pain management, or if he’s on testosterone, access to medication should be considered as well, both at home and the boarding school.

For his difficulty processing visual information, he might benefit from using a screen-reader, audio descriptions, and audiobooks. He might like the tactile sensation of Braille since you mentioned Braille books. So a Braille display might be more beneficial than a Braille printer and more effective considering cost and physical space. He can get Braille books from plenty of programs, so he won’t go without, supplemented with audiobooks and the Braille display as he gets older. I have seen Braille printers at schools. Not so much in homes. Although I suppose people with access to Braille printing at school would not have much need for them at home. This might be different if he and his siblings are homeschooled.

I suggest considering what options he and his siblings prefer and why. What makes sense for their home, finances, school needs, reading needs, writing needs, and personal preferences?

For school work, slate and stylus or computers are also options.

Braille literacy is declining. I’m honestly happy to see Braille mentioned at all. These are just extra topics to consider.

You also mentioned he can see about 6 to 8 feet in front of him. I think you’re on the right track with mentioning that he doesn’t try to strain himself. A lot of blind people with residual vision are expected to use and even rely on it. Because seeing is effort for us, this can be exhausting or even painful. Eye strain is real thing. Feeling tired from using your eyes a lot, such as for reading or navigating dim, unfamiliar spaces, can cause eye strain.

Other than that, I suggest focusing less on his exact level of vision and more on using techniques to make his life easier. More on how blindness influences and enriches his life. Maybe he uses lamps instead of harsh over-head lights. Maybe he has his screen-reader read an article to him instead of having to stare at his phone. Maybe he cuddles his guide dog when it rains and his old breaks are aching. Or maybe he has brightly colored kitchen stuff to increase contrast while he cuts veggies or bakes muffins for his family.

Needs for a Service Dogs: O&M Skills and Getting Out of the House

I can also see how the lifestyle and limited mobility, exercise, and access to healthcare would influence his other disabilities, including his mobility concerns. Having a service dog who can act as a guide as well as provide stability sounds helpful. Although I wonder how training with his service dog would go, given that 1) he would need to have proficient O&M skills, including cane skills, before getting a guide dog and 2) guide dog applications require not only training with new guides, but also routes that are traversed regularly.

The Samsung Guide Dog School in Japan lists this requirement here which reads:

“There should be a daily destination to maintain activity.

School → Student, Working place → Worker or Self employment

Other social activity → Homemaker, Freelancer”

Guide Dogs of America also lists a similar requirement in this list of qualifications here which reads as follows:

Are you legally blind?

At least 18 years of age or older?

Have you completed orientation and mobility training?

Are you physically able to walk one or two miles a day?

Do you have three or more routes you walk on a regular basis?

Financially able to appropriately care for a guide dog?

Additionally, this section refers to the necessary O&M skills, particularly navigating and cane skills I mentioned earlier: “Orientation and mobility is training that visually impaired individuals receive that helps them confidently navigate the world. O&M focuses on things like sensory awareness, spatial concepts, relationships which exist between objects in the environment, searching skills, independent movement, sighted guide, protective techniques and cane skills. Every potential GDA student must submit an O&M evaluation before being accepted into our program.”

With these qualifications in mind, consider these questions and how your story can explain them. He may not need to walk exactly one or two miles a day, nor does he need to go far with his guide dog. Even walking to a general store, the vet clinic, and a neighbor’s house would work. As I explained in my post about canes and guide dogs, financial concerns also vary as well, with some schools covering all veterinary care and others only covering some food for when the dog and handler leave training. You can get flexible with whatever fits his situation best as long as the general outline is there regarding training, routes, exercise, and care for the dog.

Some things about training to consider are:

How did he get the service dog and train with her if he can’t leave the house? If he needs to stay inside for safety reasons, a program that allows him to go away and train with his service dog might actually be to his benefit. Or he could choose a program that includes training in his own home and community, depending on if it is safe enough from the people who want him dead. While a lot of programs that I can find include training at a specific location which the guide dog handler travels to, there are some programs in which trainers go to the handler instead. For example, Sadi the Blind Lady discusses this type of training with her guide dog in this video here.

As for development of cane skills, he would need to spend at least some time outside, such as when learning to cross the street safely. This would also require at least some exploration outside even with an instructor meeting him at his house. Traveling to other indoor areas to practice navigating is important as well. For example, my indoor cane skills involve finding and using escalators, elevators, stairs, and ramps safely. Finding landmarks is also a useful skill. He can use some of his residual vision for all of these tasks, along with his cane.

Exercise and routes for guide dogs are also important. These are big dogs that need at least some time outside. Most programs want a handler walking a few routes daily or a few times a week.

I can’t speak for other types of services the dog in question is trained to do, but I know that some guide dogs are also able to provide stabilization for DeafBlind handlers.

My suggestion for all these concerns would be to either come up with a reason he is safe in his general community or an area around his home rather than only inside. This might allow him to learn O&M skills, train with his guide dog, and go on short walks.

I am imagining a quiet village or perhaps a community that is secluded. Perhaps he lives in the mountains or the forest. Even a rural area could give him a little more freedom to leave his house without risk.

One last point I wanted to mention is that the requirements I listed above suggest handlers should be 18 or older. However, some schools accept 16 and older. Some accept handlers as young as 13. I’m less concerned about the more common age requirement so long as service dogs are portrayed accurately.

The Boarding School and Mobility Aids

The boarding school should allow the service dog, as service dogs can go anywhere. I also feel that him not knowing a cane is an option is confusing, especially given that cane skills are a prerequisite for guide dogs. Forgoing a cane and his dog also reduces his independence both as a blind person and someone with mobility issues. This, coupled with a drastic change in living situation, lifestyle, and amount of socialization, could be challenging. If used for plot reasons, this could be effective for creating emotional and physical struggles. However, it may be quite a lot for what sounds like a story already filled with different problems to face.

In my opinion, going into an unfamiliar situation without his usual mobility aids would probably cause additional strain. Instead of having a familiar dog by his side, he would go into this situation with no source of familiarity. Therefore, a guide dog there might help him in several areas, while also leaving his blindness less obvious than it might be if he used a cane. This is because canes are meant to be indicative of visual impairment in addition to mobility tools. Service dogs, on the other hand, can be utilized for multiple purposes, as is true with your character’s dog. This means that if your character does not want to disclose his blindness, which he is not required to do, he can explain that the dog is a service dog trained to provide assistance for various disabilities. As far as other characters know, these tasks could be anything from stabilization, medical alert, retrieval, or psychiatric support.

This post on service animals might be of some use.

This post I made about mobility aids might also be helpful.

The Spectrum of Blindness

I like that you have a few other blind characters, displaying the spectrum of blindness and different experiences. I wonder what mobility aids the other characters use.

Boarding School Accommodations and Assistive Technology

If he isn’t sharing about his blindness, how does he do schoolwork? I mention this because of little things that come up in classrooms, such as print being too small on exams, teachers writing on the boards without verbalizing, or students needing extra time. Eye strain can also be a concern in classroom settings. If he can talk with his teachers about accommodations he may need in order to do his schoolwork, this might help. He doesn’t necessarily need to let anyone else know unless he chooses to.

Conversely, you could also show the difficulties of not having accommodations or not having them fulfilled properly. The frustration, confusion, and helplessness often felt in these situations could be relatable to readers. Eventually, he could receive accommodations and advocate for himself, displaying the difference accommodations make. These can take the form of teachers and friends helping him in ways he would like to be assisted.

Accommodations put blind students on an even playing field. As long as you don’t normalize not having them, you’re probably good going either route. I wanted to include my thoughts here just in case, as you only mentioned a friend taking notes for him.

About note taking with a 3D pen—I’m not sure if that would work for notes. 3D pens are fun to use for drawings and art, but the ones I used weren’t very reliable, plus there is the size of the letters to consider. 3D letters are meant to be tactile, which means they would need to be larger than usual. This means reading an entire page of notes might be challenging.

He might be better off using other options, such as large print, for notes, particularly notes for maths or other materials written on the board that are not said out loud by the teacher. In this case, the notes his friend takes might be supplemental, with him taking his own notes by listening. He has a few options for this, including Braille, a laptop, or recording lectures. Since you mentioned he has a laptop with a screen-reader, he can probably use that with headphones. Refreshable Braille displays and note takers are also options, although they cost money. Typically they are provided by schools, governments, or scholarships.

When choosing assistive technology, consider his personality, his level of vision, how comfortable and knowledgeable he is with Braille, and how comfortable or uncomfortable he is with potentially standing out in some way. I’m not sure if at this point he’s still hiding his blindness or being open about it, but if he wants to hide it or avoid standing out among his peers, he might choose something like large print, a laptop, having a friend help take notes, or a combination thereof. Of course, if he has trouble processing visual information, large print might not be an option. In this case, a laptop with a screen-reader would allow him to take his own notes as well as read any that are emailed to him. If you go with him hiding his blindness, a laptop is probably the best option.

If he is comfortable with others knowing about his blindness, he might be more likely to use a Braille note-taker with headphones. He can also use a combination approach depending on his needs as well. For example, maybe he also records lectures because he is a slow note-taker or he gets distracted easily.

So far, you have a good use of assistive technology and Braille so far. I do wonder how he and his siblings learned Braille. Did an instructor come to their home to teach them as part of their homeschooling?

Some Thoughts About His Friends Helping Him

Other characters assuming his limits is pretty true to my own experience, as well as the reverse, such as people assuming he can do things that are actually hard for him because they can’t relate to his amount of vision. Vision can also change depending on environmental factors, lighting, fatigue, stress, eye strain, or anxiety.

While I don’t have a problem with friends making the mistake of being overly protective of blind friends, I think it is important that the behavior is also addressed and changed. His friends are not more knowledgeable about what is safe for him than he is. They are not more knowledgeable about what he can do than he is. [Bolded for emphasis.]

I also wonder, why hide his blindness and not other disabilities? Is it because blindness is a bit easier to hide than the others?

Consider how his various disabilities interact with each other. For example, blind people and people with cognitive disabilities are often infantilized, which can make advocacy difficult.

Lastly, you mentioned his friend subtly guiding him, of which I feel wary. If he asks his friend to do so, that would give him more agency, if you weren’t already alluding to that.

Oh, and another point I wanted to mention is that you have a lot of disabilities represented, some of which are highly stigmatized. Consider finding a few sensitivity readers for those as well, such as CPTSD, cognitive disability, and NPD, or at least the things you don’t already have personal experience with. @sensitivityreaders is a good place to start, as well as conducting general searches on tumblr and twitter.

@cripplecharacters is also a great resource for writing disabilities. Check out their master-posts for sure.

Avoiding Erasing Blindness Wth Shapeshifting and Energy Abilities, Plus Blind Person Learning Trapeze

The shapeshifting and energy stuff don’t seem like erasing blindness as far as you have described them here. Since one of your characters also has difficulty processing visual information with his residual vision, that means that the overwhelm would double for him. This isn’t even considering his photosensitivity. Additionally, eyes are complex structures, so messing about with them is probably not advisable if you don’t know what you’re doing.

Also, disclaimer, I know nothing about trapeze. The set-up your have sounds plausible to me, especially if you throw in magic. My main concerns are about possible light sensitivity from spotlights or light changes, as well as his stability problems making trapeze more arduous for him.

A quick search online brought up two blind trapeze artists: Sarah Houbolt and Rachael Storey.

As long as you can make trapeze accessible for him, you’re probably fine. Relying on audio and energy cues sounds like a good way to do that, as well as following regular procedures for training and safety. If anymore more familiar with trapeze can help, feel free to do in the notes and OP can contact you.

His Friends Getting Him Blindness Stuff Feels Off to Me

You mentioned that his friends get him stuff for cooking. Is he also cooking for himself at the boarding school?

A talking alarm clock and a Braille watch might be useful for school.

My only concern about his friends getting him such tools is that sighted people usually don’t know what is available, let alone where to order these items. Doing so could show that they paid attention and were proactive about doing their own research. However, what tools help can depend on the person and it might be important to establish that he expressed wanting certain items already.

Some blind people enjoy receiving blindness stuff as gifts. It shows the giver put extra consideration into choosing it. However, some blind people are sensitive about receiving items that specifically relate to blindness, unless they communicated wanting it beforehand as a gift option. Personally, unless I specifically asked for something Blindness Stuff TM, I would feel strange if a friend showed up with a talking alarm clock and gave it to me. This might be because I would rather something more personal, less utilitarian. Also, when sighted people talk about accessibility tools with me, I have usually already heard about it, didn’t want it, or already have it. The exceptions to this are if I, for example, want money to go toward something like an expensive Braille display. Or one of my blind friends gives me something I’ve been talking about for a while. With the exception of Braille cards or considering general accessibility where possible, none of my blind friends have gifted me Blindness Stuff.

@askablindperson made a video about giving blind people gifts that might also be useful. It captured some of my awkward feelings related to receiving blindness stuff. Link here.

My last suggestion for increasing general accessibility is to watch blind content creators, such as on this list linked here.

Closing

There is quite a lot to chew on in your ask. I tried to address everything. Please read any notes that might be added with anything I missed. I would also highly suggest a few sensitivity readers for the blindness and guide dog aspects.

I hope this helps.

[dailycharacteroption]

Deity Drop 4: Chaldira

When you close your eyes and imagine a halfling deity, what comes to mind? Perhaps a down to earth agricultural deity? Some goddess of hearth and hospitality, perhaps? Or maybe you go with the stereotype that fantasy gaming gave them as soon as someone read enough of the Hobbit to know that Bilbo’s profession is “burglar”, imagining a halfling deity of stealth, thievery, and skullduggery.

Chaldira Zuraristan is none of those things. Well, alright, she does appreciate good-natured mischief, but also the value of community, but what she’s best known for is being an embodiment of halfling luck, and the confidence and fearlessness that comes with it.

Indeed, Chaldira and her followers think nothing of diving headfirst into danger with a bloody-knuckled fist, ready to punch a tyrant or villain in the face. This often gets her into trouble, but she is always confident in both her luck and the help of her friends to get her out of any jam. To her, the best case scenario is catching evil off-guard and winning the day, but even in the worst case, at least she would go out spitting in evil’s eye.

But again, she’s not about fighting all the time. Chaldira is also a community builder and a lightener of hearts, her faithful planning harmless pranks well in advance for both random occasions and major holidays alike.

Chaldira typically appears as a curly-haired and freckled member of the halfling ancestry, wearing a patchwork red and green coat held together primarily by countless buttons, though there is some variance based on different communities.

While not a true divine realm, Chaldira maintains two homes, one being the Hearth-Grown House in the Aktun district (Abadar’s divine realm) of the plane of Axis, a roving mass of restaurants, gambling halls, and shops as well as Chaldira’s personal domicile. This realm, while too lawful for her tastes normally, is a perfect place to keep an eye on her rival Thamyr Gixx, the other half of the halfling pantheon. Her other home is a guest house in Desna realm of Cynosure, where she often goes to visit with Desna, offering to go on adventures with her and cheer her up with the butterfly goddess is feeling down.

The faithful of The Calamitous Turn style themselves as merry role models within their community, taking part in good-natured pranks, while also being generous and kind to all within their lands. They try to make friends with everyone in a community that they are in, to the point of being seen as gossips by others. Still, there are fewer more inclined to help build community and fight for the people.

Chaldira is friend to all goodly divinities, especially Desna, though her focus on community also endears her to Erastil and Abadar, despite the way her free spirit throws chaos into the mix. She is a passionate enemy against all evil divinities, to the point that Desna has had to help her out of bad spots before, but that does not stop her from trying. Her worst foe is Thamyr Gixx, who represents the mischief and cleverness of halflings turned to wicked ends.

Despite being seen as a minor divinity, Chaldira has many allies she can count on. Her herald is a massive rag doll called the Button Man, who is well-known as a brawler against evil, but also a source of comfort to those in need. She also followed by a swashbuckling vulpinal agathion called Angravva, and a mighty celestial dragonfly called Frogslayer. Beyond those three, as a neutral good goddess, she has a following of Agathions, particularly vulpinals and other small variants.

Her domains are Good, Luck, Trickery, and War, with the Agathion, Fate, Friendship, and Tactics subdomains, reflecting her being a goddess that delights in being lucky and mischievous, leveraging both against evil as well.

In second edition, her domains are confidence, luck, trickery, and zeal, blending in flavors to better represent her daring and her uncompromising attitude.

Chaldira’s obedience reflects her love of luck, mischief, and charity. The faithful must steal a coin or button from someone who will not miss it, balance it on the edge of a weapon and flip it, calling it in midair. If called correctly, they must give it away as a gift, citing it’s luckiness. If incorrect, they must leave it somewhere where someone might find it and consider themselves lucky for finding it. Either way, the weapon type used to flip the coin becomes especially accurate and deadly in their hands, more so if they called right.

For evangelists, the blessings of obedience are a mix of luck and mischief. They gain spells for feeding themselves with enchanted berries, hiding as a bush, and speaking to plants. They also gain the ability to bend minor luck to their favor with gambling games like coin tosses or dice rolls. However, they must use this for the betterment of others, lest they lose their blessings and have to atone. Finally, they gain a blessing which allows them to redirect misses into accurate strikes, looking to observers as if they stumbled into a strike rather than are being guided by divine providence.

The exalted instead focus primarily on luck, gaining spells that bolster the luck and fortune of the recipient. Furthermore, their luck-based magic becomes even more potent and more likely to succeed. Finally, when doom seems at hand, they can call out Chaldira to protect them, becoming resistant to the incoming injury, seeming like the worst of the blast passed them by.

Sentinels tend to favor her more warlike aspects, leaping into battle without a thought to their safety. They are rewarded with spells that blur their appearance or even shift them between dimension to make them harder to strike. They also gain a similar luckiness that the exalted do, but only to luck magic they receive, rather than cast. Finally, while others may fear being struck down as they traverse the battlefield, the blessings of The Calamitous Turn ward them from such strikes as long as they are moving closer to a foe they aim to strike down.

Chaldira is one of the few  deities outside of the core group that has been mentioned in Starfinder, where she remains the patron of the halfling people, and retains her ideology of encouraging others to rise up and face wickedness head on rather than stand idly and let more wrongdoing occur. As such, she is often the patron of unions and exploited people whom tyrants and corporations seek to take advantage of.

 Well, that’s another week of deities down, and there are still many to go. That will do for now, though. Tune in next week for more archetypes and options!

[beatrice-otter]

Presidents do not make laws. They can suggest laws; they can veto laws Congress passes; they do not make laws. (That is something only Congress can do.) Biden has been doing a lot to influence what laws are passed (and to veto the worst ones Congress passes despite him) but as long as Republicans control one of the houses of congress we're not going to see a lot of progressive lawmaking.

BUT.

Presidents have two big powers: executive orders, and appointments. That is, there are certain things about how the government bureaucracy functions that they can just declare by fiat, and they also have the power to appoint people to crucial posts in government. (Sometimes Congress has to approve those appointees, but Congress still can only say yes or no to the person the President names, they don't get to dictate who he puts in place.)

And Biden has been doing a lot with those powers. First, he overturned dang near every executive order Trump put in place. And then he went about tailoring new ones to do things like advance racial equity, stop the federal use of private prisons, fix problems in our asylum and immigration system, increase minimum wage for Federal contractors (increasing the GENERAL minimum wage takes a law from Congress, but he can damn sure see that when the US government pays someone it does so equitably), and a whole slew of other issues. You can see the list here.

Second, he's been appointing left-leaning people to everything he possibly can. He's appointed far more women and minority judges to the Federal bench than any President in history. He's appointed the first Native American to be Secretary of the Interior in US History. (The Department of the Interior is the department that handles Native American issues and ALSO handles environmental issues and manages 75% of Federal lands. That's a lot of power, and putting a Native American in charge has deeply affected US policy and how much our land management listens to tribal needs and wisdom.) Biden's people on the FCC have reinstated Net Neutrality and changed regulations to cut down on spam calls. Biden's people on the National Labor Relations Board have made it dramatically easier to form unions, and for unions to succeed in their aims when negotiating with major industries. Biden appointed a noted critic of Amazon and Google to the FTC (which is why Amazon is currently being sued for antitrust violations, which could result in MASSIVE positive changes to the internet if the major giants can no longer force everyone else to dance to their whims).

All of these things make a huge difference to America, but a lot of them take time for that difference to be felt. And, crucially, they're changes that the next President is going to either maintain and build on, or wipe away and get rid of. A Democrat will maintain and build on it; a Republican will end all of it. (Except the judgeships; those can't be rescinded.)

Given America's electoral system, the next President will be either a Republican or a Democrat. Probably the two candidates will be Biden and Trump. Trump put judges on the bench that he could count on to overturn Roe V. Wade and also to vote against queer issues and racial equity issues and environmental issues. Biden put women and minorities on the bench. Trump worked to increase corporate power. Biden is working to decrease corporate power by suing corporate monopolies.

The only way you could possibly think that Trump and Biden are the same is if you have absolutely no idea about how the government works and no clue what Biden has done, and also don't have much clue what Trump did. But hey, that describes like 90% of Americans across the political spectrum, so you're not alone in that.

What progress at home has biden enacted? What policies of his show that he is making progress that prove he is actually different than trump?

I like to pretend I have faith in humanity, so I'll answer as if you're asking this in good faith.

Biden's DEA has lifted restrictions on telehealth prescriptions to make appointments and assistance more accessible.

He put a funding package into place to help unhoused people get access to mental and physical healthcare, as well as short-term and long-term housing.

He has attempted and is still attempting to get student debt relief through - this was blocked by Republican judges appointed by Trump, but he's still working on it.

Infrastructure repair - his administration has budgeted funds to actually fix some severely-damaged and frequently-traveled bridges.

Trying to expand access to healthcare to include undocumented immigrants who came to the USA as children (Dreamers) under the Affordable Care Act. Support for Navigator programs and outreach has also been increased.

He has vetoed Republican-led bills that were attempting to overturn environmental protections - one that would have forbidden investment fund managers to consider climate change in their portfolios (I have two degrees in accounting and this is actually huge), and another that would have overturned restrictions on agricultural runoff into our waterways.

He and his administration worked for ages to get rail workers paid sick days.

This is just some of what he's been doing. Meanwhile, Trump and other Republicans want to criminalize the lives of LGBT people like you and me. They want to eliminate no-fault divorce and force births that will kill parents or devastate them financially. They have stated flat out that they want to install a military dictatorship in the USA. They attempted to put that in motion on January 6th, 2021. They failed once. They will do better next time.

One party wants to house the homeless and expand social safety nets, while the other one wants to criminalize homelessness. One of them wants a future in which I might be able to vote to change how much of a war machine my country is, while the other one wants to eliminate my ability to vote entirely. Those are not the same. Those literally are opposites.

At the end of the day, all you and I can do is choose to do the least amount of harm possible. You and I cannot choose to do no harm. This is the USA, we sell war, you and I cannot choose to do no harm. I wish we could, my god do I wish we could, but that is not an option. So we grieve for the harm we couldn't eliminate and work to minimize the harm that is done. Despite all the crap they support, Democrats are the minimum amount of harm right now. Acting like they aren't is exactly what brought us to an election where our options are a future where we are either wading in blood or drowning in it.

Not voting for Biden will not help Palestine. Not voting for Biden will guarantee a Republican president who will make the situation in Palestine WORSE. AND it'll hurt a lot of other places as well, both at home and abroad, because Republicans are about business and the USA is in the business of war! And I would very much like that to change someday! I would very much like to someday be able to choose to do no harm! And I know what I have to do to try for that future, so what are YOU going to do? There is no standing off to the side in this. If you aren't helping pull, you're the dead weight we're pulling. Are you going to dig your feet into the mud and blood and drown us there? Or are you going to get the fuck off your ass, grit your teeth, and help us pull free?

[the-firebird69]

We are blessed to have the two in our service and we do see what they're doing and it is working it's been a while but it does work

--we are a key in this whole program of course and our people are the biggest and most important

--we haven't put out notices we are hiring hours all of them and they all must sign on yes to our military and as soon as humanly possible

--we have other news but we're going to post no we're going to put it here this group is unruly unsavory and not likable in any way yet we still have to work with them they're asking people how are we supposed to do that and we found out we don't really have to they're dying rapidly and are stupid as hell very dumb and very mean assholes.... They are dying from radiation and in droves finally what a drag Jesus the radiation is so damn high and walking around doling their s*** out . High on the hog but no they're dying there's just a huge pile of them finally a leadership is down to about 60,000 and most of them are dead by the way they start off with about 8 million and now they're alone and small and most of them are screaming idiots and really their brain is shot and swiss cheese. We don't want to hear them they're just crying screaming idiots but that's what it is and we are issuing orders on them because of what they're doing. We think today that they will be dropping down to about 40,000 originals and with ease or lower so they're going to come out of their houses and get a major dose. Another thing

--when you people insult us or say something stupid we are on you and it's probably your last day here on Earth and you'll be gone and you'll be dead keep that in mind when you're issuing your wise ass remark cuz you've identified yourself

--and Donald Trump is going to die very soon and his brain is in the large part gone and it's new and you can't tell you have a child running stuff and he's a massive fuckup

--now he wants to get hit twice and would like to do it and he doesn't think so because he's a s*******

--we have a lot of time for you Donald Trump and a lot of personnel to blow your brains out every time that you step out of line he really need it now don't you yeah you need it f****** loser you got plenty of warning from everybody now it's time for you to leave again you have to actually now we have to kill you like every few minutes just to make sure you don't get anywhere

--there's other things going on other than this turd and they're pretty big we are in receipt of several butterfly threats bona fide threats from other people and they're threatening us and we have to address them so let's make quick work out of please so we don't spend all day talking to nobody and yeah that's right they're hardly here at all they're just a portion of what they used to be and some nasty and mean disgusting portion that's what he's been saying for years they're here but they're gutless worms and they're mean and they don't know how to chop wood in anything so we will get moving right now we have a couple other things

--our Empress is not to be mentioned in any negative way and if she is we are coming for you to terminate your life s and we're going to make sure you die.

--we are not here for your amusement if you think so you're going to get hurt and we've got a lot of talk about us and if you're talking we will have your family pick a casket out for you

--there's a few more things you're not getting we do not count to or bow to the Empire we are the negotiating to say it one way and we definitely don't have to to you like you say we do if you keep continuously threatening our son we're going to just kill you and we've got rid of a lot of you because of it and their numbers are smaller here and we can handle you but you're really not understanding your situation are you... people are talking down to you and you don't get it, a lot of minorities condescending to you calling you useless pricks and shoot you in the head and you're not following it are you you're like f****** dogs they've been hitting the head you're useless you're stupid oh someone says they get it that's amazing how can you possibly get it when you're such a flipping f****** loser a****** every f****** day you try to hit our son in the nuts with a tennis ball he's telling you what he's going to have someone do with it and you won't stop because you're a f****** moron and we're going to have him do that to you today blow your body up with his stupid tennis ball that's what you're going to pay with you piece of s*** your cities are cordoned off nobody goes in around and the threats are meaningless you're issuing in the cities you're dying in droves who the f*** are you to sit there and do that stupid s*** you moron you're not our kid f**** we're going to cut your arms off and stick them up your ass yeah just the bone and we're going to attach the skin to the outside you can walk around and say that you're someone special with eight legs or whatever it's going to happen to you because you're such a f****** a******

--we have other things that we're going to do to you Trump but really Tommy F wants to do anything he can and everybody else so you screwed over you're a piece of s*** and we are going to take you down today and you're a meeting this person okay you don't have this huge rebel cause he said it too he said it's kind of a piece of s*** and you have to direct him or he's going to mess you up it's like okay so you'll like a cat or a dog really a lot of people got mad and he sees that you killed a lot of Mac proper and not at war with him though like Tommy f is and you're bothering him like a retard and you're bothering us like a retard you're at war with your own people and he suddenly stopped and stared yesterday heard it he said this is what I'm doing and people hate me and they're right here and yeah he's getting his ass kicked but furthermore we have actual news to announce not just about this idiot retard who was going to get for his insolence right now

Thor Freya

Olympus

[memeadonna]

Metallica

You are an intern working at Fatgum’s Agency alongside our favourite Hard Himbos: Tetsutetsu and Kirishima. Your quirk allows you to control metal, which attracts the attention of a certain someone. 

Alternatively: I thought Tetsutetsu might have a thing for piercings and then @malicealieness bullied me until I posted this because we Tetsutetsu simps are starved for content (and don’t worry guys she promised to post more of her own writing if I posted this so I’m more than happy to do so (I love you mom ❤️))

Word Count: 5,971

This story is NSFW. Minors DNI. 

Warnings: Switch Tetsutetsu and Reader, Piercings, Size difference/Kink, Mentions of Blood, Biting and Scratching, Loss of Virginity, Vaginal Intercourse, Creampie, mentions of birth control, Tetsutetsu being a Simp, mutual pining, this boy deserves more love. 

Update: Part Two is Out! 

When Tetsutetsu was in his last year at UA, an underclassman joined him and Kirishima at Fatgum’s agency. She was in class 2-A and went by the hero name Metallica. That was you, and you were certain he was terrified of you when you first met. To start with, your quirk was metal manipulation; you could control anything metal and, as the name implies, manipulate it however you’d like – changing its shape, sending it flying, or even adjusting its hardness – and that meant if he were to ever fight with you, he would be at a major disadvantage. It wasn’t like you wanted to hurt him (unless you counted raking your nails down his back and biting his collarbone), but the threat was there. 

Tetstutetsu spent a lot of time staring at you, especially when you were in your hero costume or when the two of you had been left alone for a moment. On the rare occasions you met up with him on campus, he always stared at your piercings while you talked. You had ended up fighting with UA over their dress code: students in the hero course were supposed to be limited to only earrings (which you had several of) and small necklaces as jewelry, but due to your quirk you preferred to wear as much metal as you could. Different metals reacted differently to your quirk, and because of that your piercings, bracelets, and rings had been a mix of many different types that you had painstakingly organized so it was stylish rather than garish. It was hard to pull off so many different colours, but you managed. The school wanted you to only wear the piercings in your earlobes during class (the rings were fine), but after a long argument, you managed to convince them to let you wear something so your holes didn’t close up. The stainless steel you ended up with was much less flashy than the other colours you had had before, but you didn’t mind. It was a versatile metal, and the ability to shape and change it to your will was an asset. Besides that, your piercings were not technically support items, so you could use (and had used) them at the sports festival. 

The first time you met Kirishima and Tetsutetsu, Fatgum had insisted the three of you go out for food together. Kirishima had spent the whole time talking and laughing with you, trying to get to know you, and Tetsu had just spent his time staring like he was in a trance. You were used to people staring – like someone with a mutant quirk, the large number of piercings you wore every day was unusual, and you had gotten used to stares and comments. You tucked your hair behind your industrial and sipped on some boba. His eyes never left your face, scanning over the barbell bisecting your eyebrow then down to the one on your tongue as you took another sip. 

“So, metal,” Kirishima spoke, kicking Tetsutetsu under the table and shooting him a glare that said Pay Attention. “Tell us about that.” 

You waved your hand, the ring on your index finger unwrapping itself and forming into a bowl shape. You concentrated as it dipped into your parfait and brought a delectable scoop of vanilla ice cream up to your mouth and took a bite. Tetsutetsu’s brain was all but short-circuiting as you casually dunked the ring into your untouched glass of water and wrapped it back around your finger. As you explained how your quirk worked to his companion, all he could think about was being bent to your will like that. His legs felt weak and shaky, and he was so, so glad you were all sitting in a dark restaurant. 

He seemed skittish around you – never wanting to be alone with you, always fidgeting when you used your quirk. Even Fatgum noticed his strange behaviour and pulled you aside to ask if anything was wrong. You felt so guilty as he asked you if the two of you had had a falling out and what he could do to help – was the transition into working at his agency smooth? Were you happy in the position? Why does one of his interns hate you? He hadn’t asked that of course, but the question was there. 

In the end, you had cornered your colleague. “I’m not going to hurt you,” you had told him softly. “I don’t think my quirk would even work on you. I don’t want to find out though, because if it did hurt you, I don’t think I could forgive myself.” You told him. “I want to be your friend, Tetsutetsu. I don’t want you to be scared of me.” 

Scared? It had taken him almost ten entire seconds to process this as you tried to make yourself look as nonthreatening as possible. “I – I’m not scared of you,” he had answered dumbly. 

Your friendship blossomed from there. He had to hide a boner whenever you used your quirk in front of him (which was a lot, you tended to overuse it if anything), but now he got to see you smiling and make you laugh, which melted his steel heart every time. He felt extraordinarily guilty whenever he’d sneak off to the bathroom, shove his shirt into his mouth, and beat his dick like it owed him money. This resulted in more than one shredded shirt and several raised eyebrows from Kirishima, but he learned to pack a spare change of clothes in his bag. At least his frantic two-minute tangos were almost enough to get him through patrol with you. Almost. 

His situation became more difficult when the agency was working towards a major drug bust. You and your coworkers were excused from school for two weeks and were living out of the agency’s basement. There were three rooms set up there – one for Fatgum with a massive bed, and one for each off-duty intern. Someone was supposed to be patrolling at all times, and all four of you were feeling exhausted. Esuha was not a horribly busy city, but as the dealers you were after were backed more and more into a corner, they began to lash out and take matters into their own hands. 

Tetsutetsu was so ready to slide into a comfortable pair of pyjamas, eat a quick dinner and pass out, but the zipper on his hero suit was stuck. Of course it was. Kirishima had taken up residence in the room Fatgum normally slept in, and was snoring loudly, so he shuffled his way over to your door and reluctantly knocked. 

You answered the door after a few moments, wearing only a tight tank top and a set of loose pyjama shorts. You were rubbing sleep from your eyes, and if he wasn’t so hyper-focused on what he was sure was the outline of a set of nipple piercings through your tanktop he would have felt bad for waking you. “Zipper,” he said quickly, fighting to tear his eyes from your chest. “My zipper is stuck.” 

You reached out your hand and activated your quirk, but frowned slightly. “Your zipper is plastic. Wonder what moron made that design choice. If it gets too hot, it’ll melt,” He was about to agree, but then your hands were on him and he was so, so thankful it was plastic. “Come over here, the light is better.” Your hands unclasped the steel straps across his shoulders, and you used your quirk to send it across the room to rest gently on your nightstand as you worked to get him out of his jumpsuit. He barely registered the door closing and the sound of the lock sliding into place as his brain once more began to short circuit. 

You pressed closer to see the zipper better, which only gave Tetsu a great view down your shirt. He had to be hyper aware of his hands, so he didn’t accidentally touch you. He was a gentleman, after all. He had to be a gentleman, even when you once more tugged him towards yourself to get him closer to the light on your desk. Yup. Had to be a gentleman. 

You continued to fiddle with the zipper, tugging it this way and that. You stuck out your tongue and dragged it backwards along your lip so the little ball on it clacked against your teeth, and he had to physically stop himself from letting out an unmanly noise. 

You triumphantly grinned as you finally got the zipper unstuck, and then your tongue was back in your mouth. “I think the fabric got caught in the teeth!” you told him with a grin. “It was no match for me.” he was so close to you now. You were all but pressed against the wall by him, and as you looked up into his eyes, a lazy smirk crept its way onto your face. “What? Embarrassed that you had to ask me to help you out of your clothes? Aren’t you at least going to say thank… you…” your voice trailed off as he leaned in closer, one arm bracing himself against the wall above you. You weren’t a small person, but he had hit a growth spurt in his time at UA and was now almost 6’6. He made you feel small. 

He didn’t lean in to kiss you like you hoped thought he would but instead leaned over to your ear. As you felt his lips ghosting against the shell of your ear and his warm breath prickling the hairs on the back of your neck, you felt your heart fluttering in your chest. “Do you have any idea how much you make me want you?” he growled out, voice gravelly and low. “Are you doing it on purpose?” he pulled your earlobe and the trio of studs it housed into his mouth, and you had to place your hands on his shoulders to stop your knees from buckling. 

He was so warm as his tongue teased at your earlobe and one hand came up to run itself up your side, splaying itself over your ribs before slowly trailing upwards. “Well, this is one way to thank me,” you smirked to yourself as he pulled away, snapped out of his trance. “Not even going to kiss me first? No, you’ve just gotta fondle my piercings, don’t you? You have such a one-track mind.” 

You ran your hands up from his shoulders to his hair, pulling him closer and standing on your tiptoes to kiss him. It wasn’t heated or anything, just a simple brush of your lips against his. He leaned into it, and for the briefest moment, as you pulled away, he chased your lips. He caught himself as he did, a bright blush spreading over his cheekbones. “I’m sorry, I-” 

You kissed him once again to shut him up, deep and slow and filled with passion. He relaxed above you, letting himself become putty in your hands and against your lips, pushing his body flush with yours and pinning you to the wall. He was strong enough to keep you there – he could easily snap your neck if he wanted – but the way he held you was so gentle. Like you would break if he wasn’t careful. 

That was nice, but it wasn’t what you wanted. You bit his lip which made him yelp and took the momentary parting of his lips to conquer his mouth, tugging his hair as you took control. He let out a sweet little whine as he felt the barbell against his tongue. He wrapped his arms around you and lifted you off the ground, holding you by the ass and thighs as he stumbled backwards towards the bed, kissing you more and more frantically. As you wrapped your legs around his body you felt him throbbing against the soft skin of your inner thigh and smirked triumphantly to yourself. He sat down on your bed and you peeled his jumpsuit off, grinding down into his lap as you kissed. 

Once the fabric was pooling around his waist, he flipped you over onto the bed, pinning you beneath his hulking form. “You’re awfully bold,” he rumbled. “Thinking you can get off domming me.” 

He kissed you deeply, a rolling kind of pleasure that made your knees weak and your toes curl. A wave of desire swept you away and made you almost forget your name. Then, you remembered you were Metallica and you had a series of bracelets on your nightstand. Maybe it was time to put them to good use. 

He was back to mouthing at your ear and teasing your numerous piercings, then trailing his hot mouth down your neck, before grazing sharp fangs along your collarbone. You squealed as he gripped the collar of your tanktop in his teeth and ripped it violently off of your body. The animalistic look in his eyes sent a lightning bolt of pleasure through you, and his hands left your wrists to rip the remaining shreds of your top off of your body. He sat back to admire you, letting out a quiet “Fuck” as he took you in. 

He was right, you had a set of matching barbells in your nipples, but he hadn’t known about your belly button piercing. It was one of the more basic piercings, but he seemed enraptured by it for a moment before his hands reached out to cup greedy handfuls of your breasts. One of your bracelets clicked around his right wrist and yanked his arm upwards, sending his body crashing down onto yours. You giggled at the “oof” he let out, and wrapped your arms and legs around him, mouthing at his ear. “I am bold. That’s why you like me,” you held his cheeks in your hands and gave him a commanding kiss before returning to his ear to whisper: “I’m also going to get off with your pretty mouth.” as you sank your teeth into the shell of his ear he full out moaned. What a glorious sound that was. You formed your bracelets into hooks to pull off his boots and his hero suit, careful not to tear it. He did need the thing after all. 

Pressed up against you like this, he could feel the rise and fall of your chest as you breathed, and also the drag of cold metal across his body. He began to kiss and suck at your neck and shoulders, relieved that the bodysuit you wore under the armour of your hero costume would hide this come tomorrow. He resisted the urge to sink his teeth into your warm flesh. That was probably too much for your first night but in the future…

Yielding his right arm to you, he used his left to finally grab one of your breasts and caress the barbell with the pad of his thumb. He felt you shift underneath him, and then your thigh was between his legs and he allowed himself to hump it out of desperation. “God you are such a needy bitch,” you laughed into his ear. “Do you really want me this much?” 

You were winning. You were winning and he knew it. But if there was one thing Tetsutetsu was, it was hard-headed. In more than one sense of the word. He redoubled his efforts on your collarbones, leaving dark hickies that would probably take days to fade. You raked your nails down his back to get a reaction and he bit you. Hard. The strangled wail you let out was more than enough to make him come back to his senses and he pulled away with a hundred apologies on his lips. “I didn’t mean to-” 

“Fuck that was hot. Yes please, more,” you sat up with him and gave him a kiss, ignoring the taste of your blood on his tongue. The feeling of your tongue piercing against him once more made him lightheaded, especially as he felt your bracelets closing around his neck like a collar. You pulled away from the heated kiss with a sly smirk, your lips just barely grazing his as you murmured: “You want to act like a dog then I’ll treat you like one.” 

His response was to lift you up a bit so he could get his mouth around one of your nipples. You squirmed in his arms, letting out breathy groans, tugging at his hair and struggling to keep hold of your quirk. He switched breasts, falling backwards so you were on top of him. One hand grabbed the meat of your ass and as you finally released your psychic grip on the bracelet restraining his other hand he was squeezing and fondling the tit he had just been sucking. It was like he couldn’t get enough of your body, and that thought made you gush.

He pulled away from you, grinning triumphantly. “Not so tough now, are you?” he teased, pulling you into another kiss as his big hands roamed your body, squeezing and touching and sometimes just holding certain parts of you. You couldn’t help but feel grounded and safe in his arms, even though you were still bleeding from the shoulder. The warm, fuzzy feeling of safety spread across your body, mixing with arousal, and you smiled into the kiss because he was yours. 

Fucking finally. 

You then squealed as he ripped your shorts in half, tearing the thin fabric off of your thighs and laughing to himself as you slapped his chest. You pulled back to pout at him. “You asshole I liked those!” 

“Fuck, baby,” he answered, hands exploring the newly exposed skin. “I’ll buy you new ones to show you just how sorry I am.” Based on that grin, the amount was zero. You rolled your hips down into his just to wipe that smug look off of his face, and the way he gripped your body to help you made sparks dance inside of your core. You could feel him throbbing against your sex, and based on what you could feel pressing up into you, you were almost sure you would be sore tomorrow. 

You made a show of crawling down his body and snapping the waistband of his briefs against his toned stomach. You peeled the garment off and tossed it over your shoulder. In the two seconds you were turned away the smug bastard had folded his hands behind his head and had leaned back into your pillows like he was presenting himself to you. 

Your eyes took in his muscular frame, sweeping from his toned arms down to the throbbing cock between his legs. You tapped the tip. “This is bullshit,” you told him. 

“What?” his brows furrowed. “Bullshit?” 

You nodded. “Yeah, what exactly I supposed to do with this? It’s as thick as my wrist what the fuck. Can it even fit in my mouth? Of course you would have a magnum dong,” you rolled your eyes at him as you pressed a kiss to his tip, wrapping your hands around it. “Fucking bullshit. You’re lucky I brought lube.” 

As he processed your words you licked his tip, and that damned piercing grazed his sensitive skin, drawing a strangled gasp out of his lungs. You smirked up at him, giving him another slow lick as you showed off the tongue piercing. He spread his legs a bit and bit his lip, closing his eyes as he slipped one hand into your hair. “You’re good at that,” he mumbled, pleasure washing over him as you finally slipped him into your mouth and gave him an earnest suck. He was absolutely mesmerized by his cock disappearing into your mouth, and the position of your body between his legs (face down ass up – something he hoped to explore more later). 

You worked more and more of him down your throat. You reached over and tugged his hand away from his body to bring it gently over your head. You winced as he stretched your throat open for himself, moaning happily as you gagged around him. “Shit, sweetheart…” he let you pull off of him and a hot bolt of guilt shot through his chest as you coughed. “Princess, did I hurt you?” 

After coughing a bit more you offered him a sweet grin. “I’m okay, just-” you coughed again, “-your stupid horsecock is too big for me to blow.” 

“Oh,” he turned bright red. “Sorry.” 

“I have another idea,” you grinned at him, taking his free hand and kissing his fingers before pinning it back behind his head. “Harden it.” 

“What?” his eyes widened and his cock visibly throbbed. “O-okay.” He obeyed you, and you licked your lips as you watched the grey steel colour spread across his dick. It was pretty, which was a weird way to think about a dick. It was also way too thick, and you were sure was going to mess up your insides, which only made you want him more. 

You raised your hand over him and met his eyes. “Tell me how this feels,” you told him. He nodded at you, and you activated your quirk. His heavy eyelashes fluttered as his back arched, and his breathing picked up speed. 

“Tetsu, baby, talk to me,” you cooed. 

“Feels good!” he moaned, spreading his legs more. “So good!” 

His eyes were all but rolling back into his head as you played with him, and his cock pulsed hard beneath your ministrations. It was almost strange, really, because normally when you manipulated metal it was obeying you and nothing more. With Tetsutetsu, you could feel his nerves lighting up with pleasure, and you smirked to yourself as you twisted your wrist to make him vibrate. He let out a loud moan as you did, and you giggled to yourself. 

He squirmed more as you stroked him with your psychic grip, careful not to change his shape. Lord knows that would happen if you did that. “Gonna cum!” he moaned, back arching. “Fuck, what are you doing to me Sweetheart?” you looked up at him, at how wanton he was for you, and your insides clenched around nothing. 

You straddled him and leaned up to kiss him again. “I’m ruining you,” you answered lowly. “You’re mine from now on.” 

You could feel how his throbbing changed as he came. You felt the thick streams painting your ass and back, and smirked to yourself. He arched up into you and moaned loudly, before slumping backwards, limbs jelly, and panting loudly. “Fuck,” he moaned. “Sorry.” 

You reached down to yourself and gathered some of your slick on your fingers. You spread them for him, showing off how wet you were. “Looks like we both enjoyed that,” you told him, watching as his eyes widened once more. He leaned upwards desperately, and you watched in amusement as he sucked your fingers into his mouth. You once more clenched around nothing, and the slick between your legs only got slicker. You wondered if you could take him with how wet you were. 

Probably not, but you wanted to try. 

Once your fingers were clean you leaned down to give him a kiss, your hands gently tracing themselves over his pecs and down his abs. He had released his hardening after he had finished, but he was still hard beneath you as you continued kissing him, your tongue piercing clacking against his teeth every so often. You slid back down his body and he reached his free hand out to cup your ass. “You’re covered in it, baby,” his voice was gruff and husky. 

You brought his massive hand up to your mouth and then it was your turn to suck his fingers clean. He watched you with hooded eyes, and as you pinned his wrist behind his head alongside his other one, he watched you with growing trepidation. You were also a little nervous – would he even fit? You should probably stretch yourself out first, but it just looked so delicious to you. You wanted to feel him. Now. 

You wrapped one hand around his thick shaft and guided the tip up to your lips. You were so slick it was practically gushing out of you, and as you ran his head along your lips and thought “I’m going to take all of this,” your lust only grew. 

You started to lower yourself down onto him, holding him steady. The pressure of him trying to push inside gave way little by little, and he threw his head back with a ragged moan as you slid the tip inside. It was so thick it was hard for you to breathe, but the stretch felt euphoric. You coaxed more of him into you, bit by bit, but stopped suddenly and pulled off. You used a bracelet to bring over your lube bottle and you squirted a generous amount onto his cock. 

“Where do you get off on having such a stupidly huge dick?” you asked him. “Are you trying to split me in half?” 

“You’ll learn to take it,” he purred at you, and that thought made you clench once more. You imagined him one day effortlessly able to slide it inside of your ruined pussy, imagined how the stretch would burn so good as you eased him back into you. You could feel him tugging against his restraints like he wanted to grip your hips and help you. You braced yourself against his pecs as you sank further down onto him, and he grinned smugly at your efforts. “Your face is so fuckin’ cute when you’re stuffed too full.” He purred, groaning as you sat back up and slid him in once again. “Not even halfway down yet and you already look like you’re about to break.” 

“In your dreams,” you teased back, riding him slowly as you slid his too-big dick further and further inside. Your body swallowed him up like it was made to, and the stretch burned the way you had hoped it would. He was quite a bit bigger than the toy you normally used on yourself, and you wondered briefly if you should get a new one to train your body better. You raked your nails down his chest and slid a bit further down. “Just shut up and enjoy this.” 

He looked down and watched his dick disappearing inside of you, and licked his lips. Even with all of that lube, you were still the tightest thing he had ever felt, so tight he could barely move. Even tighter than he had imagined. As he watched you take him, he noticed the slightest tinge of red on his dick. As he realized it was blood, he was not proud that his first thought was to thrust up and ram as much of himself as he could inside of you. You let out a choked sound and clenched around him, scrambling for something to hold onto. “Fuck baby, you okay?” he asked, apologies tumbling out of his mouth in a borage. “You’re bleeding, did I hurt you?” 

You had released your psychic grip as you lost focus, and he was instantly up with his arms around you, peppering your face with kisses. “I’m sorry princess,” he cooed, running his hand down your back. “Are you okay?” 

“Yeah,” you answered, looking down between the two of you. “Just surprising. Guess that was my hymen breaking or something.” 

He thrust up into you as you said that, once more attacking your neck with bites and hickies as he carefully rocked your bodies together. He growled at you as you tugged on his hair and let out a strangled sound. He rolled you over, so he was on top, and kissed you hard as you wrapped your legs around him. The drag of his cock inside of you hit all of your nerves at once, and in this position, you were almost certain you couldn’t push him off even if you wanted to. 

You once more restrained him, pinning his hands on either side of your head and using his bracelet-collar, brought his face down to you. You kissed him sloppily, once more tugging on his hair as he moaned and panted into your mouth and sucked on your barbell. The feeling of being stuffed beyond what your body could take was absolute euphoria, and as your toes curled and you held on tightly, moaning as he kissed and bit you, you knew you would have to do this again. “Princess,” he cooed. “You feel so good! Fuck!”

“Y-you too,” you hissed, scratching at his back. He tugged at his restraints once more, but as you held his hands firm you smirked up at him. “What’s wrong, want to touch me?” you slid your hands down your body and began to tease your clit, back arching as he sped up his thrusts. 

“The things I’m going to do to you,” he growled. “Gonna make every inch of you mine!” he carefully lowered his body so he was in a push-up position over you, and lavished your breasts with his tongue, sucking on your nipples like he was trying to pull out your barbells. He worked them with his tongue, which made you moan and keen and scratch. You could feel his arms shaking with the effort of holding himself up, and at the same time felt the drag of his abs against the back of your hand with every thrust. You used your free hand to tangle in his hair, and he bit down again as if on instinct. You let out a surprised yelp and he kissed your sensitive flesh as an apology, licking at the little beads of blood he had left on one of your breasts. Your cunt clenched around him as you heard the gravelly noises he was making, although he was stretching you so open you weren’t even sure it could be called clenching. You were too overstuffed and it was everything you had ever wanted. 

“Please,” he groaned. “Please let me fucking touch you. I need-” he cut himself off as he kissed you once again, sloppy and full of passion. “-I’m gonna cum. Need you to first…” you released his hands and he was immediately pulling you up into his lap, kneeling on your bed and bouncing you on his dick while he kissed you hard. Your legs were too high off the mattress to kneel on it, so you settled for wrapping them around his waist instead. He slid a hand over your abdomen. “I can feel myself!” he growled, pressing down. “Right here.” You kissed him back, moaning because you could feel it too. Feel him destroying your insides. 

His fingers found your clit and roughly began to abuse it. He was so hot inside of you, pulsing like he was happy to be there. You panted against one another, lips connecting and sliding apart as he bounced you for all you were worth. It was wild, it was feral, and he was grunting like a caveman as he claimed you. You gripped his muscular shoulders desperately, looking up into his eyes as he smirked down at you. He kissed you again, long and hard and slow, and you felt his tongue turn to steel in your mouth. You tightened your grip on his shoulder, activating your quirk on him. 

The change swept across his entire body, including his dick, and as he jackhammered even faster into you, you manipulated his body to send twinges of pleasure zinging through him. You could just about hear his thoughts, every “Yes!” “Good!” and “More!” and then the word “Mate!” popped into your mind and you once again clenched hard around him. 

He let you fall backwards a bit, once more kissing at your chest as he fucked your plaint body. Your back arched from the new angle, and you gripped at him desperately, insides twitching as they waited for that last push over the edge. You trusted him to hold you and released your death grip on his shoulders, splaying your hands in the air and making his entire body rapidly vibrate. That feeling threw you into an orgasm almost instantly, and your insides clenched around him. You leaned backwards and he held you close. It was so intense you couldn’t even scream. All you could do was lie there stiffly, unable to even breathe as the feeling washed over you. He kept fucking you through it, burying his teeth in your shoulder once again as he pumped you full. As you came down from your high, you gasped for breath and wrapped your arms around him once again. You kissed him desperately as he held you, and as he leaned back into your pillows he kept you in his arms, his cock still buried deep inside of you. You panted against him, aftershocks making your pussy twitch around him. 

The metal beneath your fingers softened to skin, and he ran his fingers gently through your hair. “Fuck me,” he croaked. 

“What, again?” you laughed a bit, drunk on the euphoria flowing through your body as you reached up to kiss him again.

“I should get my zipper stuck more often,” he grinned, running his fingers gently over the bite on your shoulder. “Does it hurt?” 

“A bit, but I like it,” you looked at him flirtatiously, before lifting yourself on shaky limbs and reaching down to pull him out of you. The wet Schluck! sound made both of you giggle, and so did the wet slap of his softening dick hitting his abs. 

He let out a gasp as his cum began to pour out of you now, dripping heavily all over him. “Fuck, we didn’t use condoms!” he looked absolutely mortified. 

“Relax,” you gave him a kiss on the cheek. “I’ve got an IUD.” 

He pulled you back down to rest on his chest, tracing patterns into your skin. His eyes drifted from the piercings in your ear down your jawline and up to your lips, and he gently ran his thumb over them. “You’re my girlfriend now, right?” 

“Mhm,” you mumbled sleepily, nuzzling further into his chest. 

He resisted the urge to do a happy dance or pump his fist in the air. “We should get cleaned up,” he kissed your shoulder as he sat up and carried you to the western-style shower. You clung to him as he turned it on, and finally put your feet down as the water warmed. 

You removed the bracelets from around his wrists and neck very carefully, and as you smiled up at him, he smiled back. He then blasted you full in the face with the showerhead and the two of you were giggling again. He washed your body carefully, reverently, and even somehow made hosing you out with the shower head feel intimate. 

By the time you were done with your shower, you were putting on your hero costume to go out for your patrol. He helped you zip up your padded bodysuit, and his dick stirred back to life beneath his towel as you gently draped your armour-esque hero costume over your body. “You should go rest in your own room, Fatgum will get suspicious,” you gave him a kiss and used your quirk to slide his hero suit onto him, doing up the zipper with a flick of your finger. 

“H-huh?” he stared down at it as you clasped his chest straps. “But I thought the zip was plastic!” 

You chuckled a bit. “How else was I supposed to get you alone in my room?” you teased, before offering a wink and slipping out the door. 

“Clever girl,” he whispered to himself, grinning like a moron. 

Taglist: @malicealieness 

(If you would like to be added to the Taglist, please send me an ask :D)

[qqueenofhades]

Trump's SCOTUS pick scares the ever loving shit out of me. I'm trying not to have a full blown panic attack actually.

Sigh. I know.

I’m not going to say that picking someone literally, un-exaggeratedly out of The Handmaid’s Tale for SCOTUS, especially to replace someone like RBG, isn’t mother fucking terrifying. It is.  Especially since Mitch McConnell is trying to set her final confirmation vote for October 29, literally five days before the election. Yes indeed, that would be a third Supreme Court seat filled by an impeached president who lost the popular vote by three million votes, (possibly) confirmed by Republican enablers (some of whom are absolutely going to lose their seats in this election) who represent a sizeably smaller fraction of the US population than their Democratic counterparts, in a display of outright, staggering, truly breathtaking hypocrisy about the protocol of election-year vacancies on SCOTUS, which they themselves shouted about to no end with Merrick Garland in 2016. This is how tyranny by minority rule works, and... yeah. It’s bad. It’s awful. When is this going to end.

That said, however: we do not yet exist in this theoretical grimdark future where some dystopian 6-3 (or even 7-2) conservative SCOTUS strips us of our rights at every turn, with no recourse except for us to sit passively and take it, and there are a lot of things that we ourselves can do between now and then to make sure that it never happens. First off, House Democrats have proposed a bill to introduce 18-year term limits for SCOTUS justices, rather than it being an automatic lifetime appointment. This would also give every president the ability to appoint two justices per four-year term. Because SCOTUS has become such an instrument of partisan warfare, and because the obvious implications of having a partisan head of state pick the senior federal judges for a lifetime is part of what has fucked us up now, this would be a GREAT improvement. House Dems can’t make it into law right now, because Democrats do not hold a majority in both chambers of Congress and they do not hold the presidency. You know how this COULD be passed? If Joe Biden was elected with a blue House and Senate. That way, even if God forbid the GOP horror show snuck Coney Barrett onto the bench just before the election, this could be fixed.

Here’s another way to think about it. I myself have a HUGE problem with catastrophizing: a bad thing happens, and then it seems like an inevitable chain of nonstop bad things until everything gets irredeemably, unfixably even worse. This year, obviously, has not done much to help that, because yes, the bad things keep coming. But they’re still individual events and have not yet crystallized into some unbreakable, unavoidable future. History is made up of thousands of millions of choices, accidents, unforeseen developments, total random bullshit, and much more, as much or more as it is made up by the macro-scale actions of oligarchs. Obviously, globalization and capitalism have made us all more connected to each other, and thus changes to the system can ripple more broadly, but they are not the only people who make history. If there’s one thing I can tell you as a historian, it’s this: the future is just history that hasn’t been made yet, and it is subject to the exact same unpredictable bullshit that has constituted history throughout, well, history. Nothing is unavoidable and we have never existed in a world where we can’t do anything at all. Also, authoritarian regimes (especially those imposed without the consent of the people -- willing subjection to authoritarianism is one thing, but the other, yeah) have a relatively short shelf life, historically speaking. That won’t help all of us who could be hurt right now (though we can STILL fight back and speak up and help our neighbors), but it’s the truth. Authoritarian rule (especially when it’s not balanced by economic security, which sure as hell isn’t happening right now) can last for a while, sure. But it is always its own worst enemy, and it will always be ended. How that ends is a choice we can make.

This isn’t the “get out on the streets and Start The Glorious Revolution!!!” nonsense that the armchair internet leftists, none of whom are actually starting a glorious revolution or doing anything except bitching on Twitter about how Biden and Trump are alike, are fond of. This is an active choice to realize that there are always things you can do, that there are things you can do right now, and one of them, most obviously, is voting. This mess was all completely goddamn avoidable if people had voted for Hillary Clinton in 2016. But well, they didn’t, and we get one last shot to fix this by democratic process. Trump is already openly setting up to contest the election results/try to invalidate them/throw out ballots. This is all old-school fascism. This is what is happening. He is counting on another razor-thin margin of votes that he can then contest in his hand-picked SCOTUS; he wants another Bush v. Gore very, very badly. The only way to blow away any legitimacy for anything like this is to vote in such overwhelming numbers that there’s no question of Biden’s victory, no need to wait for mail-in ballots (another reason the GOP has been trying so hard to destroy the post office) or anything else. At heart, Trump is a coward. He’s also an egomaniac. If it comes to stepping aside peacefully or being dragged out of the White House by the FBI for everyone to laugh at for the rest of time, hmm, I doubt he’s going to go for that. (And if he does, well, I will also savor the sight of him in handcuffs for all eternity.) However, that doesn’t mean the GOP machine won’t TRY, because Trump is not just Trump, but is his entire miserable cabal of enablers. I have written my fingers raw about how badly people need to vote. This is literally your last chance to do it.

I’ve seen a lot of the-sky-is-falling, we’re-doomed, they-have-the-votes-so-don’t-even-bother handwringing in the last few days. To some degree, yes. We all feel doomed. We have all been asked to find strength to deal with massive and unending waves of terrifying bullshit past anyone’s normal capacity, and we’re tired. We want it to end. But it’s SO CLOSE to ending, if we can all just get out and vote for Joe Biden in massive numbers on November 3 (or if your state has early voting, sooner; BANK YOUR VOTE). That’s such an easy thing to do. Nothing is set in stone. We can still fix things and make it so, you know, we’re not living in a fascist state ruled by Gilead. (And besides, all this Chicken Little rhetoric is super easy for the Russian troll farms to exploit. Don’t listen to it. Shut it down. Reject it.)

They want you to think you’re powerless. You’re not.

They want you to think this will never end. It will. We decide how.

They want you to think this is a foregone conclusion and you should just go back home and let it happen. You don’t have to.

They want you to think your vote doesn’t matter. It does.

They want you to think your rights are gone. They’re not.

They want you to think this future is inevitable.

IT’S NOT.

Hang in there.

Lots of hugs.

[thewatchau]

Duil Legends and Culture: “The Ranger’s Tale”

Most of the lore in the upcoming series will be edited compilations of dozens of posts from the last two years. While there are some minor new details sprinkled throughout, I’ve attempted to post significant new information in a “Watch AU Fun Fact” post so you don’t have to read all of these HUGE posts to find them.

Other Posts in this Series:

Introduction • Your Soul, My Child • Souls of Form • The Ranger’s Tale • Frisk’s Choice • Other Tales

In this Post:

Summary

History

Original Text

Translator’s Annotations

Vernacular Text

Trivia

Summary

“The Ranger’s Tale” is a story originally written in the Feadhainn Language that was recently discovered, translated into the Common Tongue, and published in the mid-1610s by members of The Watch. 

Due to the tale’s connection to the strange magic used by The Enemy, the discovery of this story was considered a major breakthrough within The Watch, as well as a massive cultural and scientific discovery for scholars of Feadhainn and magical studies. 

History

“The Ranger’s Tale” was collected and translated by Mage Morgana Spewraith and Bard Scholar Autumn Green of House Jameson, and written by Bard Scholar Autumn Green of House Jameson. 

This is an ancient tale from the days of Feadhainn, the ancient civilization that lived in these lands centuries before Duilintinn existed. Recent discoveries have uncovered that this tale may hold major implications for The Watch, specifically regarding The Enemy’s powers.

However, due to the linguistic patterns of the Feadhainn language, this tale is extremely dense and difficult to read for those unfamiliar with the language and/or the original story. Therefore, a vernacular translation of the tale was also compiled by Bard Emily Keyes for easier reading. In the second version, certain implied elements of the original tale are emphasized, but nothing is changed from the tale’s original intent. It is meant to help new readers become familiar with the tale, and should not be seen as equal to the source material. Any conclusions drawn from this tale should be based solely on the original translation.

Original Text

The falcon had been following them for years, and they had gotten used to it by now. To anyone who asked, the falcon was their familiar, but they knew that a relationship of that sort was supposed to look different. That was all right, they thought. The falcon had been faithful, had protected them, and often led them to clean waters, nourishing meals or dry shelter. The falcon was all the companionship they needed, and with its intelligent demeanour that sometimes even could make it appear humanoid, they were happy roaming (the Western Woods).

They did not know their own age. The seasons came and went in a steady cycle, as did the glorious sun, however difficult it was to keep count, when it does not matter in the end. They could see their family grow like them when they did visit. They knew that one day, age would consume them, but they expected this in every day as much as the next, so knowing how many they could have left is of no importance to them.

It was a night in the bleak and cold winter, and the falcon had found a cave that wound behind rock and was thus shielding from all weather. They had taken to bringing a many animals of the Woods to this shelter, for many could not find the necessary means to survive, and even with their help, they were slowly going away to a better land. Their any settling was far away but they did not feel the cold loneliness of the season creeping in, but safe with the purest beings that they were giving a peaceful rest. The falcon was discontent with their work, however, seeming to want to tell them not to waste their own power while lessening their own, but in the night, it would be close to them and it would rejuvenate all their spirits to make worth the troubles of the day and give fresh meaning to the next.

It was around this time that they saw every such tree the falcon touched to give off the mists of the night, but in an ever such calm way as they had never seen before. They would often run from the mists, and the danger they bring to body and soul. But in this winter, when the trees breathed and the snow was a comfort, its effects appeared entirely reversed, and it gave life to them, and they felt it was for them to give. It was on this night that they felt safe to go out into the mists. If they were to help and give to them, they could attempt to ask them for further than what they had already provided, for the wood’s creatures in their cave were not taking well to the cold. And the dale was filled with the fog thick with water and legend, and as they descended, the falcon flew overhead and before them, and it spoke.

“You are ready,” it said. “Ready for the gift of nature and to accept and use it. This is your purpose, so do not be afraid.”

And they were surprised and not afraid, but glad that their companion was with them. And they held their hand out for the falcon, and it took it, and they walked into the mists to embrace the night.

This was the night, and the day followed as they returned to their shelter to find that the animals going to the light had turned back to them and were awaiting, and those in the ground came from below to greet their saviour, and spring came.

The forest lived, and all creatures new and ancient would live, and they would live for them. 

And while they knew that not every day would see their passing as much as the next, their village shall live large, and when they felt their time had come, they laid down and turned to their falcon and said,

“I am aware that this was not my purpose, to give humanity all of nature's gifts and then give it away, but I was not to live my eternal life as their pawn with all their power, to live out someone else’s mistakes in someone else’s game. I shall give all the power to the forest and those that live in and off it, and hope you can understand and forgive me, dear falcon. You have done well in your purpose to find me and guide me. And you have guided me well, no matter where, old friend. My time has come, I can feel it, and it is to you to return to your people as it is to me to return to my mother. ”

And the falcon returned to its people never to speak again of their lost friend and their power’; not only their magic, but power of will.

And they lay deep in the forest where it's creatures have their power ‘long as none shall pass.

Translator’s Annotations:

This is an account of the legend put together by multiple oral and written accounts. What I have accumulated and translated here cannot be found in one single tale. I have done my best to only take parts of the story that appear in at least two separate accounts. Thankfully, most versions of the story itself are the same in its basics throughout.

The Western Forest is not explicitly mentioned as the location of this tale, but considering the geography described in the context as well as the origin of the legend itself, we can safely assume that this does indeed take place in the Western Forest.

The line “and they would live for them” is very much up for interpretation. It is lost to time if the creatures lived for “them,” or “they” lived for the creatures. This can point to a possible codependency through a usage of magic or life force by one side upon the other. 

The usage of certain phrases and pronouns in the original Feadhainn are clearly meant to imply that the falcon is a Fae shapeshifter. Unfortunately, these linguistic distinctions have no direct translation in the Common Tongue. 

Recently The Watch has noticed that the “powers” vaguely described in this tale share some similarities to those of The Enemy. Both are believed to relate to the Western Forest and Fae Magic, and both deal with the giving and the taking of life forces, aka souls. 

The human’s monologue is arguably the most illuminating part of the tale. It implies that the powers were originally Fae in origin, but somehow the result of a mistake, prompting them to lock them away in an eternal human. 

This tale has many concerning implications about The Enemy’s powers, but more interpretation and research is required before The Watch can draw any conclusions. 

Finally, I’d like to credit Mage Gardener Margret Green, with the inspiration to make this tale the first- as well as the oldest- account known to be passed down within the Watch, as a major help on this project.

Vernacular Text

The falcon had been following them for years, and they had gotten used to it by now. To anyone who asked, the falcon was their familiar. Yet in their heart, the ranger knew that this bond was something different. 

This concerned them little. The falcon had been faithful; protecting the ranger on many occasions and leading them to clean waters, nourishing meals, or dry shelter. With its intelligent demeanour, it even seemed humanoid at times, and that was enough for them. The falcon was the only companionship they needed, and together, they were happy roaming the Western Forest.

The ranger’s life was full of such mysteries. They had long forgotten their own age. The Seasons came and went in a steady cycle, as did the glorious sun. Why bother to keep count, when it does not matter in the end? 

The cycles were clearest when the ranger returned to their family, rare as these visits were. They could see the time passing in the worn lines upon their parents’ faces, in the gangly length of their cousins’ limbs, and in the final homes of their grandparents’ bodies. 

One day, age would consume them all; the ranger expected it each day. It was irrelevant, questioning how long until they would fade into the forest soil.

The ranger pondered such things no more, as the bleak, cold winter night fell around them. The woods were harsh, and growing harsher with each passing year. It was time to move on.

Faithful as ever, the falcon led them to a cave, hidden behind a rock that shielded them from the weather. Here, the ranger worked their secret craft, sheltering the woodland animals that couldn’t survive on their own. Yet despite the aid they offered to these creatures, their numbers were dwindling. The ranger hoped they were going away, to find a land where they could thrive. 

 They did not allow the alternative to speak itself into their mind.

Though they were far from any settlement, they did not feel the cold loneliness of the season creeping in. Safe with the purest beings of nature, the ranger was content.  

However, the falcon was unsatisfied with their work. Each day, it would stare piercingly at the ranger as they poured their soul into saving the creatures that were doomed to fade away. It seemed to be judging them, imploring them to cease wasting their life in such futile efforts as this.

It was this creature that prompted the ranger’s thoughts of time and death.

And yet, when the ranger finally laid their body down to rest, the falcon would settle close to them throughout the long night. No matter how hard the ranger had worked, they would awaken with their spirits rejuvenated. With the falcon at their side, the troubles of the past day were worthwhile, and each morning was given fresh meaning.

No, whatever being it was that accompanied them, the ranger knew it had power beyond that of a simple familiar. 

They cast their gaze to the cave entrance. In the darkness, a sliver of moonlight illuminated a gauzy tendril of mist, another constant companion of the ranger in the forest. 

It had been long since the mists had started to appear, pouring out dark as the night from whatever tree that the falcon had touched. The ranger had fled from this darkness, knowing it was dangerous to both body and soul, yet they could never escape it. Wherever they went, the falcon followed, as did the mist. 

It had ceased to concern them years ago; it simply was. Like all such mysteries, the ranger did not bother to question its existence, nor their own normalization of such things. . 

Yet this year, something was different. The mists still emerged from the trees, but calmly, in a way the ranger had never seen it manifest itself before. Wherever the mist appeared, the skeletal trees would breathe with new life, and the deadly snow felt like the comfort of a warm blanket. 

The ranger did wonder at this, for nature is not one to change her ways so suddenly. Yet the creatures under their care were not taking well to the cold, and if this mist could help them save them…

The falcon’s eyes shone with pride as the ranger arose to meet the tendril of mist. That alone was enough to convince the ranger that this mist was now safe to take into their lungs and breathe out into the world.

And breathe they did.

No longer a hallmark of death, the mist had bestowed life upon the ranger. Not just for their own mortal form, but for them to give and bestow to others of the forest. 

Unafraid, the ranger pressed onwards, descending from the cave to the forested dale below. Thick with water and legend, the mist grew into a heavy fog, called into being by their faithful companion soaring behind them. 

Suddenly, a voice called to the ranger, both familiar and strange. 

“You are ready,” it said. “Ready to accept this gift of nature and use it. This is your purpose, so do not be afraid.”

As the falcon lighted onto the ground in front of them, the ranger realized that it was the faithful creature that had spoken. Though surprised, they were not afraid, and felt joy that their companion was with them. 

And they held their hand out for the falcon, who took it, and together, they walked into the mists to embrace the night.

This was the night, and the day that followed was young when they finally returned to their shelter. Awaiting them were the animals, alive and well, even those that the ranger had been unable to dissuade from their final journey into the light. The creatures of the ground came from below to greet their saviour, and spring came.

The forest lived, and all creatures new and ancient would live, and they would live for them. The ranger who had been given new life, and gave it out in return. 

Finally, the falcon was content with their work. No longer would age consume the ranger. Each cycle left its mark on their family’s descendants, yet they remained untouched to watch them fade into the forest soil. Their old village prospered amongst the life the ranger had breathed around it, and yet that was not enough for them.

When they felt their time had come, the ranger traveled deep into the forest, laid down, and turned to their faithful companion. 

“I know that this was not my purpose, to give humanity all of nature’s gifts, and then give this power away. But I will not spend an eternal life as their pawn, living as a vessel to hold the mistakes of someone else’s game. I shall give this power to the forest, to those who live in and off of it, and hope you can understand and forgive me, dear falcon. You have done well in your purpose to find me and guide me. And you have guided me well, old friend, no matter where it led. Yet now it is your time to return to your people, as it is my time to return to my mother.”

And so it was. The falcon returned to its people, never to speak again of their lost friend and their power of both magic and will.

In their final resting place, deep in the forest, the ranger passed their power on to the winds of nature. There it will remain, dark and unknowable, never to be stirred from the mists again, as long as none shall pass. 

Trivia

“The Ranger’s Tale” is an original story written by tumblr user @autumnleafauthor alongside @shamrockace and is not tied to any external media. 

[la5t-res0rt]

Wanted to ask about beetlelyds, sorry, I thought it was technically cannon? Like in the old comics after the show ended she grew up and married him. Sorry I’m an old school fan and have no idea why this whole thing is such a big deal. Wasn’t the actor like 20 too? I’m sorry if I sound very dumb. I’m not used to this new tumblr.

youre fine you are one hundred percent allowed to especially when you do it civilly as you have done here

first of all the biggest issue faced in the whole what is and is not canon debate is the fact that there are three (four if you count the limited comics run) publicized iterations of my media

i will go over each very briefly just kidding this is going to a long answer so i will spare the dashboard with a readmore

there is the movie which im sure you dont need me to explain the plot since youre an old school fan but basically the climax is that yes beetlejuice does go for the marriage angle in exchange for stopping the exorcism of adam and barbara and his motive for this is so that he can cause as much chaos as he wants on the mortal coil but his plan is thwarted when barbara rides a sandworm into the house which promptly eats beetlejuice sending him to bureaucratic death limbo

the end of the movie features the deetz and the maitlands happily living together with lydia havign a new appreciation for her situation and beetlejuice gets his head made real small which is very funny haha 

so no in the movie they are not canon editors note the actress who played lydia winona ryder was a teenager while filming the movie she turned 17 the year it released 

the next is the cartoon which i will admit has the most grounds for being considered canon but in the end the show is about a middle schooler and her best friend who is a ghost which in itself is a pretty iffy gray area sort of thing but for a childrens cartoon to work a friendship is better than the obvious enemy status they held in the movie

anyway in the cartoon they are potrayed to be very close friends with lydia being the person beetlejuice cares about the most and honestly if you were to watch it with no prior knowledge of the media and if you ignored their massive and obvious age difference than yeah you probably would read it as a romantic relationship 

however lydia is a middle schooler and that is simply immoral

there have been writers for the cartoon who have been credited to say that a relationship is what they were trying to invoke but for obvious reasons they couldnt exactly move forward with that angle with them establishing that lydia is a child in middle school and a fully grown adult man dating a child who is in middle school is immoral and also illegal in the united states and in canada 

this isnt a good argument for whether or not something is canon and i will tell you why with one simple name and that is luke weber

if you dont know who luke weber is he was a storyboard artist on the cartoon steven universe he is known for making a lot of self ship artwork of him and the character pearl

he worked on the show isnt his material canon no of course it isnt it wasnt put in the actual publication and also if memory serves he was eventually asked to leave the project after he drew art of the shows creator giving him permission to date pearl and calling them her otp and a lot of fans hated this because the most generally accepted interpretation of pearls character is that she is sapphic so a lot of people took issue however that again is just a widely perceived headcanon it is never stated what her actual sexuality is no one in that show is because it isnt a show about that its about wait im getting off topic sorry

what im saying is what can truly be considered canon is what you see on the screen and with the cartoon they are definitely the most friendly with each other and that is why so many people in the beetlebabe shipping community take so much stock in the cartoon because it is the easiest to read the relationship between the mas romantic although that is not what the show actually provides in black and white terms

interpretation does not equal canon and in this case no matter what anyone says the fact remains that in the cartoon itself they are friends good friends yes but friends all the same

it is definitely not a show about a grown man grooming an adult and if it were you definitely shouldn’t be stanning it the extreme because grooming a minor is wrong and it is apparently a problem in the fandom

anyway if the cartoon and the movie are both products of their time and there was more leniency on content bear in mind this was the same era as notorious animation powerhouse and known predator john k who was a showrunner on ren and stimpy and he maintained a relationship with a teenager which was an open secret that nobody really took issue with because in that time being a woman in the animation industry was tricky business and your career could be ended easily if you rejected advances luckily time has moved forward and the animation industry although still full of problems of a similar nature at least people are getting called out and punished for it

you can look more into that yourself its really upsetting though

as for comics i havent been able to find good scans of them and im not willing to purchase them but in my search i never found anything about the two of them ever being married in the cartoon again because she is a child i did find a cover where he appears to be getting married and hes asking lydia to get him out of it but im not sure where the comic actually goes all i know is she is standing off to the side shrugging and looking like she doesnt really care

anyway that brings us to the musical which is set in the modern day 

in the original libretto lydia is described as thirteen but since they got an actress who was older in the updated librettos she is listed as 15 and the story is pretty similar to the movie the young girl befriends ghosts and they try to scare her family out etc etc

the major difference between the film and the musical are that lydia and beetlejuice are more like friends like in the cartoon 

she summons him to help scare after the maitlands attempt doesnt really work so he shows up and they have fun terrorizing people together however she drops him for the opportunity to perhaps get her mom back but when no one will help she goes back to beetlejuice who tricks her into almost exorcising barbara

she agrees to marry him in order to stop the exorcism and he only wants to get married so he can be alive again and cause problems on the mortal coil like in the movie in the musical he states several times its a green card thing whihc obviously doesnt make it okay but still

anyway lydia tricks him and runs off into the underworld before the wedding can happen blah blah blah she goes back blah blah and she agrees to go through with the wedding to save her friends and family with a plan to make him go away for good

theres a very tongue and cheek song called creepy old guy which points out how wrong the whole thing is but everyone is going along with it in a very comedic matter and it includes the line 

i cant believe some cultures think this kind of things alright

basically saying yeah this is very very wrong anyway they do get married and beeltjeuice is alive for like 6 seconds before lydia stabs him to death with bad art and he dies thus nullifying the marriage because death do you part etc

so in the musical no at the end of the show they are not canon because he is dead their marriage is nullified and they go their separate ways

anyway sorry about that i just need to make it very clear that these three properties are all very distinct from each other and basically all three are indeed canon since they are publicized material and arguing the validity of which one is pointless editors note all actresses who played with the exception of dana steingold were minors for the majority of their runs as lydia with sophia ann caruso the originator of the role turning 18 during the run and dana being in her late twenties presley ryan however was a minor the whole time and still is one

tldr no they aren’t canon but to the credit of some people in this fandom their interpretation isnt too far of a stretch thanks to the era and some of the writers wishing to imply a relationship between an adult and a child

i also need to address how this is all a big deal and i suggest you take a peak through my discourse tag and check out @leedia‘s blog to see some of the more harmful things done by beetlebabe shippers

the beetlejuice fandom is home to many minors after the musical came out since musical fandom is vast and the ages of its members varies and normalizing pedophilia is harmful to them not to mention the people who have been effected by sexual harassment at the hands of adults

both sides have victims of csa but one side continues to perpetuate the cycle by showing time and time again that this behavior is normal and easily romanticized in the name of coping and literally anyone who has ever been to a good and credible therapist could tell you that posting cp even if it is simulated cp isnt a really good way to cope and you can get mad at me for saying that its totally fine but and im going to remove my character veil here for just a second as a csa survivor myself i think its harmful to not only myself but many others ok the veil is back down

tldr again there is a lot of bullying and harassment going on with both sides having their own issues but there is one side whos issues run a bit deeper in my humble opinion 

thank you for your question it allowed me to talk a lot you are welcome to discuss further with me in dms if you wish i honestly recommend giving the musical a listen because it is very fun and despite what some people say its very clever and if you get a chance to see a boot of it its visually stunning

one last note that i couldnt really fit in here but a large portion of the beetlebabes shipping community ignore the musical because it openly condemns the idea of beeltejuice and lydia having a relationship and a lot of the antis take issue with much of the writing and characterizations of the cartoon just a note that i think is important since were talking about canon

[allmyleftistsliveintexas]

Gerrymandering in Austin, Texas and What We Can Do to Fix It

Below is a deep dive into Austin’s gerrymandering problem. It includes defining gerrymandering, a look into how Austin’s congressional districts are drawn, some actions we can take to make this drawing more fair, and more. 

Note: while gerrymandering can occur in any electoral district, this post focuses on US congressional districts in Austin, Texas. 

The Redistricting Process

To best understand gerrymandering, it's important to understand the redistricting process. 

Every part of the country is divided into different congressional districts. Each district is represented by one congressperson. Redistricting is the process of drawing these districts so that each congressperson represents a relatively equal amount of people.

In every year ending with a zero, the US Census Bureau aims to count every person in the country or every American citizen, depending on the party in power. (Trump did not want to count undocumented folks. Biden will.)

This data is then used in reapportion, where it is decided how many congressional seats/districts each state receives based on population. Typically, the reapportion report is delivered by the US Census Bureau on the last day of the year. This year it is expected by April 30th. This year, Texas is expected to gain three seats. California is expected to lose one.

Next, the US Census Bureau releases redistricting data to the states. Typically this happens for April of the next year, but this year it will happen before September 30th. States then utilize different methods to redraw district lines.

Who redraws the lines depends on the state. While 21 states currently utilize some sort of nonpartisan redistricting committee, in Texas, the state legislature is in charge of redrawing the lines. The current Texas redistricting committee includes 10 republicans and 7 democrats.

"Redistricting is like an election in reverse. It's a great event. Usually the voters get to pick the politicians. In redistricting, the politicians get to pick the voters." - Thomas Hofeller, Redistricting Chair of the Republican National Committee

What is gerrymandering?

"The practice of dividing or arranging a territorial unit into election districts in a way that gives one political party an unfair advantage in elections" - Merriam-Webster Definition

Gerrymandering refers to when electoral districts are drawn to favor one group of people over another. This often means that districts are drawn counterintuitively and in strange shapes so that like-minded voters are separated into one district instead of spread out over multiple districts. Because these voters end up in the same district, they are only able to win that one district instead of the multiple districts they could win if the districts were drawn fairly. 

The word "gerrymandering" is named after Elbridge Gerry. (pronounced Gary.) While he was governor of Massachusetts in 1812, he helped create a partisan district of Boston that resembled a salamander. This led to the district electing three Democratic Republicans into historically Federalist seats that same year. While this wasn't the first time the US experienced gerrymandering, this was the first time a name stuck to the practice.

salamander district, via vox/boston centinel 1812

Today, gerrymandered districts play a massive role in keeping political parties in power. While both democrats and republicans are guilty of gerrymandering, the majority of gerrymandered districts are drawn by republicans. In 2010, Republicans launched "REDMAP" which utilized software to strategically redistrict in favor of republicans. This led them to retain control of the US house by 33 seats, even though democrats had a one million voter majority. Additionally, AP found almost four times as many republican skewed states than democrat in 2016. An AP analysis indicated that Republicans won 16 more congressional seats in 2018 because of gerrymandering than they would have with fairly drawn districts.

"When the representatives are drawing their constituencies in a way that allows them to choose their constituents, you've reversed the dynamic quite fundamentally." - John Akred

Gerrymandering Strategies

There are many tactics used in gerrymandering districts, but the two main ones are cracking and packing. Note: there are even *more* methods of gerrymandering than those included on this list. 

Cracking - Cracking is when voters of the opposing party are "cracked" or split into many different districts so their voting power is diluted across many districts.

Packing - Packing is when all voters of the opposing party are "packed" into one district to reduce their voting power in other districts.

Kidnapping - Kidnapping is when an incumbent's home address is moved to a different district making reelection more difficult.

Incumbent Protection - Incumbent Protection is when redistricters use any of the above strategies or others to create districts that favor the incumbent over the opponent.

Additionally, there are two main kinds of gerrymandering: racial and partisan.

Racial - Racial gerrymandering seeks to disempower voters of a race or races of people. Racial gerrymandering is illegal but still frequent throughout the country.

Partisan - Partisan gerrymandering seeks to disempower voters of one political party. In many cases, partisan gerrymandering is racial gerrymandering.

What does it look like?

While gerrymandering can occur in any electoral districts, this post is focused on US congressional districts in Austin, Texas. 

Here’s what the six congressional districts in Austin look like: 

via The Austin Chronicle

A Closer Look at Austin’s Districts 

Despite Austin being a heavily blue-voting city, five of the six congressional districts are represented by Republicans. This is one reason why Austin has been identified as one of the worst cases of gerrymandering in the country.

Austin is mostly gerrymandered using the "cracking" method. Austin's blue voters have been spread out among multiple districts, all of which include large swaths of country towns. For example, district 25 travels from Austin all the way to Fort Worth, district 17 travels beyond Waco, and district 10 touches Houston. By including hundreds of small Texas towns into Austin's congressional districts, the firmly red voters in the country outweigh the blue city voters. This design is intentional, and is slated to get much worse this year unless we receive federal protection.

district 10 (michael mccaul-r)

57% caucasian

26% hispanic

10% black

5% asian

.6% indigenous

district 17 (pete sessions-r)

57% caucasian

26% hispanic

13% black

5% asian

.5% indigenous

district 21 (chip roy-r)

62% caucasian

30% hispanic

4% black

4% asian

.5% indigenous

district 25 (roger williams-r)

70% caucasian

19% hispanic

8% black

3% asian

.5% indigenous

district 31 (john carter-r)

59% caucasian

24% hispanic

11% black

5% asian

.4% indigenous

district 35 (lloyd dogget-d)

26% caucasian

61% hispanic

10% black

2% asian

.5% indigenous

Additionally, district 35 is packed. Hispanic voters are grouped together from East Austin to San Antonio so that their voting power is isolated to only one district instead of many districts.

You can view an interactive district drawing map here.

Why this is Bad

Gerrymandering is a racist tool that politicians use to strip minority voters of their political power. If we do not stop gerrymandering in it's tracks right now, districts will be redrawn to be even more oppressive than they are now.

Though racial gerrymandering is illegal, Texas districts still get away with it. In 2018, a seven year legal battle regarding Texas's racially gerrymandered districts (like district 35) ended because the Supreme Court rejected nearly all claims.

Districts in Texas are drawn strategically so Republicans retain power. We need a fair districting map to ever have a realistic chance of unseating republicans.

A Possible Solution

Independent Commissions - 21 states are currently using some sort of nonpartisan commission to redraw their maps. Utilizing independent commissions means districts are drawn sensibly and without favoritism for one group or another.

HR1 is an act that recently passed congress seeking to implement independent redistricting commissions for every state. Should it pass the senate, we would no longer have to trust Republican legislators to draw our district maps.

There are other possible solutions including proportional representation, using artificial intelligence, and ranked choice voting. However, independent commissions seem to be the most realistic future for Texan gerrymandering prevention at this time.

What We Can Do

1. Register ASAP to speak at the Texas Senate's public hearing on Thursday, March 11th at 9am!

The Texas Senate is having a public hearing about Austin's congressional districts on Thursday, March 11th at 9am on Zoom. This is an opportunity for the public to "share details about their local communities and information that they believe is relevant to the upcoming redistricting process." Sign up and tell Texan representatives why your community should be kept together in the redistricting process. Request and independent commission be used if possible. The Texas government canNOT be trusted to draw districts fairly.

Sign up to testify at bit.ly/2OdIgE0

Testimony Guide at fairmapstexas.org/testimony-guides

Leave a written comment at senate.texas.gov/redistrictingcomment

2. Call your senators and tell them to vote YES on HR1, the For the People Act!

The For the People Act would incorporate 800 pages of voting rights legislation. Among other things, it would guarantee mail in voting and at least 15 days of early voting for federal elections, would require states to automatically register citizens to vote, would restore voting rights to felons who have completed their sentences, and would require all states to use an independent citizen commission to draw congressional districts.

HR1 passed the US House on March 3rd. To pass the senate, all 48 democrats and the two independents would need to be joined by 10 republicans to overcome a filibuster.

Will Ted Cruz & John Cornyn vote yes on this bill? Very unlikely.

Should we let them know how we feel by blowing up their inboxes anyways? Yes.

Ted Cruz: (512) 916-5834 - email him here.

John Cornyn: (202) 224-2934 - email him here.

"Historically, gerrymandering has been used both as a racist weapon to undermine the political power of minority communities and a political weapon to ensure partisan advantage... Gerrymandering fundamentally undermines a fair and representative democracy." 

****act now. sign up to testify. call your senators. ensure a fair redistricting process.****

Additional Reading:

https://www.keranews.org/2019-04-14/texas-matters-gerrymandering-in-texas

https://www.prisonersofthecensus.org/

https://www.caller.com/story/news/local/2019/11/01/why-redistricting-important-and-why-should-you-participate-texas-democrats-republicans/4103303002/

Sources: 

The Redistricting Process Sources: 

https://indivisible.org/resource/fighting-gerrymandering-states

https://ballotpedia.org/Redistricting_in_Texas_after_the_2020_census

https://www.npr.org/2020/11/30/940116088/supreme-court-weighs-trump-plan-to-cut-undocumented-immigrants-from-census

https://www.npr.org/sections/inauguration-day-live-updates/2021/01/20/958376223/biden-to-end-trump-census-policy-ensuring-all-persons-living-in-u-s-are-counted

https://www.ltgov.state.tx.us/2019/06/28/lt-gov-patrick-announces-2021-redistricting-committee/

https://www.c-span.org/video/?165594-3/2000-redistricting-review

What is Gerrymandering? Sources:

https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/gerrymandering

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/wonk/wp/2015/03/01/this-is-the-best-explanation-of-gerrymandering-you-will-ever-see/

https://www.vox.com/2014/8/5/17991968/gerrymandering-name-elbridge-gerry

https://www.wikiwand.com/en/REDMAP

https://www.businessinsider.com/partisan-gerrymandering-has-benefited-republicans-more-than-democrats-2017-6

https://apnews.com/article/9fd72a4c1c5742aead977ee27815d776

https://www.usnews.com/news/the-report/articles/2017-07-28/big-data-and-the-gerrymandering-of-america

Gerrymandering Strategies Sources:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gerrymandering#:~:text=Two%20principal%20tactics%20are%20used,voting%20power%20in%20other%20districts). 

https://www.policymap.com/2017/08/a-deeper-look-at-gerrymandering/

https://www.vox.com/videos/2017/7/24/16012440/racial-partisan-gerrymandering-redistricting-supreme-court-video

What Does it Look Like? Source:

https://www.austinchronicle.com/news/2018-02-09/u-s-congress/

A Closer Look at Austin’s Districts Sources:

https://thefulcrum.us/worst-gerrymandering-districts-example/7-austin

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Texas%27s_10th_congressional_district

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Texas%27s_17th_congressional_district

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Texas%27s_21st_congressional_district

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Texas%27s_25th_congressional_district

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Texas%27s_31st_congressional_district

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Texas%27s_35th_congressional_district

https://projects.fivethirtyeight.com/redistricting-maps/texas/

Why this is Bad Sources:

https://indivisible.org/resource/fighting-gerrymandering-states

https://newrepublic.com/article/149357/texas-republicans-got-away-racially-discriminatory-electoral-map

https://www.caller.com/story/news/politics/elections/2020/02/27/texas-republicans-democrats-gerrymandering-legislative-districts-voter-suppression/4545917002/

A Possible Solution Sources:

https://apnews.com/article/4d2e2aea7e224549af61699e51c955dd

https://digitalcommons.law.villanova.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1072&context=vlr

https://www.congress.gov/bill/117th-congress/house-bill/1/text

https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2021/03/05/hr1-bill-what-is-it/

https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2017/10/11/16453512/gerrymandering-proportional-representation

https://techcrunch.com/2020/09/04/ai-drawn-voting-districts-could-help-stamp-out-gerrymandering/

https://thehill.com/opinion/campaign/473788-replacing-winner-takes-all-system-would-end-gerrymandering

What We Can Do Sources:

https://zoom.us/meeting/register/tJItde6gpjMvH9Mn_8FA26GFQaVkPVxEzQNL

fairmapstexas.org/testimony-guides

senate.texas.gov/redistrictingcomment

https://www.vox.com/2021/3/3/22309123/house-democrats-pass-voting-rights-bill-hr1

https://www.brennancenter.org/our-work/analysis-opinion/five-ways-hr-1-would-transform-redistricting

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-election-house/u-s-house-passes-sweeping-election-bill-senate-prospects-unclear-idUSKCN2AV2JM

https://www.cruz.senate.gov/?p=form&id=16

https://www.cornyn.senate.gov/node/5853

[argentdandelion]

Should Simon Have Friend-Dumped Grace?

Note: this article does not sufficiently weigh Simon’s bad behaviors in Episode 11, “The New Apex”. This article has been kept unmodified for posterity.

Part 1 of 2: Series Abstract and “Strikes”

(Caveat: there’s a convincing case to be made they’re in a codependent abusive relationship, so treating this as a friendship gone bad may be the incorrect protocol or oversimplified. Still, for the sake of not re-writing the whole thing, it will be presented with the thesis they were originally close friends. Due to the difficulty of researching causes to friend-dump someone who isn’t toxic, some references come from toxic-friend protocol, so there would be some overlap.)

Abstract

The protagonists of Infinity Train’s third season, Grace Monroe and Simon Laurent, start off very close. However, as the season progresses, their friendship deteriorates, as clear through dialogue, but also facial expressions, body language, and vocal details. And yet, Simon chose to stay with her and obey her, if with increasing reluctance, and cared deeply about her (to him) inexplicable behavior changes. And it’s because he cared so much about Grace that he had to find out what was causing everything, leading to that shocking moment: “We….just won't tell Simon, okay?” Later on, he shoves her off a train bridge to certain death, and briefly looks shocked and sad before he descends into maniacal laughter, and is then killed by a Ghom.

2. Four “Strikes”

Their relationship became massively damaged due to Grace’s four “strikes”: her distressing behavior about her number, her inexplicable (to Simon) anger at killing Tuba, never telling Simon Hazel was a denizen, and many minor forms of mistreatment, considered collectively, that only count at all due to happening so frequently and in conjunction with major “strikes”.

Strike 1

Firstly, Grace hid her number, a mark of pride and authority in the Apex, for no clear reason. In Le Chat Chalet, they had a good interpersonal-relations moment on the stairs in which Grace disclosed “what she’s been dealing with”: her number going down. She was hiding it because she didn’t want Simon or anyone else to think less of her because of her lower number, and it’s presented as a nigh-medical problem. However, when Simon checks his number out later and tries to take off Grace’s gloves to see hers, Grace refuses, to the point of acting aggressively. Despite it being something Simon and Grace herself worried about, she didn’t seem to care about evaluating her number changes, which baffled and worried Simon to the point he went to The Cat for help. Clearly, he doesn’t believe numbers should go down, based on how he reacts to The Cat devaluing numbers and stating they should go down.

Strike 2

Secondly, Grace became very angry at him for killing Tuba, which was rather sudden and didn’t make sense based on their opinions and tactics on Tuba from before. Indeed, he thought killing Tuba would make Grace happy.

When they first encountered Tuba in Episode 2, Grace the would “ditch” Tuba later. When in Episode 3, Simon asked Grace when they would “take out” Tuba, and Grace suggested postponing it further because Tuba would “put up a serious fight”. Grace wasn’t clear that Tuba absolutely should not be killed, and seemed to forbid attacking Tuba only because Tuba was too strong to be taken down by only one or two people.* One could argue Simon could have guessed killing Tuba would distress Hazel, but not Grace: it wouldn’t match what he knew about her beliefs and stated opinions. At first, in Episode 5, Grace is exasperated and briefly glares at him, but after realizing how badly it affected Hazel, she’s outright angry at Simon. Simon knew Hazel was crying, but beyond that, didn’t know how badly it affected Hazel.

Strike 3

Thirdly, Grace didn’t tell Simon about being a Denizen, apparently never intended to so, and outright lied to Simon about knowing about it. Memory-Hazel even points this out, by saying: “and when you had the chance to make things right...you protected yourself! You tried to control me and Simon instead of being honest!”

This may be the strongest strike. Simon tends to react to severe stress with exasperation, aggression, or even violence (e.g., kicking a door when snowed in), but when he saw the “We...just won’t tell Simon, okay?” moment, he looks shocked and outright cries. From the way it’s on loop in Grace’s memory tape, it’s clear it was “on loop” in his own mind, too. Although Simon doesn’t immediately bring it up when he finds out, and seems to look forward to ruling the Apex with Grace without Hazel “holding them back”, when Grace says “Hazel was our friend, and you wrote her off like she was nothing!”, Simon is hurt, saying: “I was your friend first!”. Although friends do not have to disclose all their secrets to each other, and Grace had a good motive in keeping the secret, the nature and severity of this secret broke them apart.

Strike 4

Then there’s the “fourth strike”. Disappointments and conflict are inevitable in a friendship that’s lasted eight years. Their relationship is clearly strong enough to withstand a little negativity: Simon is okay with the occasional joke at his expense (e.g., criticism of his fashion tastes and body odor) or things which make him mildly uncomfortable. (e.g., shaking him by the shoulders while telling him to “loosen up”) Some of the conflicts, disappointments, aggression or distressing behaviors would probably have been minor, quickly-healed injuries to their friendship under normal circumstances. They collectively count as one “strike” of sorts, only because they occur one after the other, in conjunction with major friendship injuries.

The weakest strikes are ones that distress Simon but fit within the context of their modus operandi, and are approached with satisfactory explanations and care for Simon. Grace decides to go by the Debutante Ball Car’s rules, instead of their typical strategy; Simon is initially uncomfortable with this, but Grace provides an explanation and splits strategies. Grace says they should stay in Le Chat Chalet for the night even though Simon is very distressed to be there, but the two explain their distressing and uncharacteristic behaviors to each other in a heartfelt conversation on the house’s stairs, which resolves things.

The stronger ones have explanations, but not convincing ones, and aren’t made with any compassion or care for Simon. In episode 6, Grace angrily tells Simon: “Don’t you ever take action like that again if I haven’t given you explicit orders!”, and Simon sounds upset when he asks if she’s pulling rank. She says yes, and Simon obeys with a drained, shocked-sounding “yes ma’am.” Grace insists on giving Hazel a funeral; Grace provides reasoning but Simon clearly finds it impractical and meaningless. (“there wasn’t a body!”)

In the worst of the minor strikes, Grace acts as the opposite of the person Simon knew, and strikes at Simon’s psychological weak points when he’s already deeply distressed. While in Grace’s memories (which Simon would never have gotten into if he were a good friend, anyway), the idealized image of the Conductor suddenly changed into something less impressive, even dorky-looking. Simon himself was mistaken about The Conductor, true, and Grace realizing the Conductor wasn’t what “he” was cracked up to be was part of her character growth, but such sudden disillusionment in someone who’s already so distressed could only cause bad consequences for Simon. (Though it is possible to flickering to what really happened wasn’t something Grace consciously did, so she can’t be blamed for it.)

*To be fair, if Grace said, “absolutely don’t kill Tuba”, would Simon have obeyed? It would have been very unlike Grace.

[bluestm]

                *     𝖌𝖗𝖊𝖊𝖙𝖎𝖓𝖌𝖘 𝖑𝖔𝖛𝖊𝖉 𝖔𝖓𝖊𝖘   .    y’all  ever  wondered  what  an  actual  angel  looks  like ?  lemme  point  y’all  in  the  direction  of  oNE  zendaya  coleman ,  blessing  to  humans  everywhere . i’m  taking  the  torch  from  ares  n  her  beautiful  rendition  to  try  and  keep  this  lil  goddess  on  the  dash  in  the  form  of  my  darling  soft  sarcastic  fool , 𝒃𝒍𝒖𝒆 𝒔𝒕 . 𝒋𝒂𝒎𝒆𝒔 !  

  ⋆  ╰  another   year  at  hollingsworth  ,  another  year  of  the  big  six rivalry  .  i  hear  that  BLUE  ST.  JAMES is  ensuring  CHI MU OMEGA  gets  a  solid  pledge  class  and  stays  at  the  top  of  the  ranks  .  oh  ,  you’re  not  familiar  with  HER  ?  BLUE  is  the  ZENDAYA  look  alike  from  SEATTLE , WASHINGTON  .  a part  of  PC  ‘16  ,  she  is  majoring  in  HISTORY  and  has  plans  to  AUDITION  FOR  THE  AMERICAN  BALLET  THEATER  AND  REBUILD  HER  CRUMBLING  DANCE  CAREER after  undergrad  .  it  makes  sense  they  pledged  their  house  ,  their  SHARP-WITTED  &  ASSIDUOUS   attributes  make  them  perfect  matches  .  however  ,  their  ACQUIESCENT  &  OBSESSIVE  attributes  keep  their  name  alive  on  greek  rank  .  if  you  don’t  catch  them  dancing  to  SUPERMODEL  -  SZA  at  a  fraternity  band  party  this  year  ,  you’ll  be  sure  to  catch  them  nursing  their  morning  hangover  at  THE  CHI O  HOUSE  .  cheers  to  another  wild  semester !

⋆  ╰    𝑺  𝑻  𝑨  𝑻  𝑰  𝑺  𝑻  𝑰  𝑪  𝑺   .

𝒇𝒖𝒍𝒍        𝒏𝒂𝒎𝒆 :         blue    ocean    st . james   𝐧𝐢𝐜𝐤𝐧𝐚𝐦𝐞𝐬         :        i  applaud  u  if  u  can  make  a  nickname  out  of  “ blue “ 𝒃𝒊𝒓𝒕𝒉𝒅𝒂𝒕𝒆        /        𝒂𝒈𝒆 :        september    3rd  ,    twenty  -  one  𝒛𝒐𝒅𝒊𝒂𝒄         :        virgo 𝒈𝒆𝒏𝒅𝒆𝒓        𝒊𝒅𝒆𝒏𝒕𝒊𝒕𝒚        /        𝒑𝒓𝒐𝒏𝒐𝒖𝒏𝒔         :         cisfemale    identifying        with        she   /  her   /   hers    pronouns           𝒐𝒓𝒊𝒆𝒏𝒕𝒂𝒕𝒊𝒐𝒏         :         openly    pansexual    ,  panromantic 𝒐𝒄𝒄𝒖𝒑𝒂𝒕𝒊𝒐𝒏        :           student   at   hworth   majoring    in    history     (   with   a   focus   in   the  history   of   art    and    literature    )  and    minoring   in    african  -  american  studies   ,    aspiring    pro   ballerina   𝒉𝒐𝒈𝒘𝒂𝒓𝒕𝒔        𝒉𝒐𝒖𝒔𝒆        :        hufflepuff 𝒊𝒏𝒕𝒆𝒓𝒑𝒓𝒆𝒕𝒂𝒕𝒊𝒐𝒏        𝒊𝒏𝒔𝒑𝒊𝒓𝒆𝒅        𝒃𝒚         :       amy   from  booksmart   (  !!!!  ) ,  rory   gilmore    from  gilmore   girls   ,    stiles   stilinski   from  teen  wolf    (  !!!!!!!!! )   ,  grace  cardinal  &   cam  saunders  from  degrassi .       𝒕𝒓𝒂𝒊𝒕𝒔      :        -        melancholic  ,    overly-critical   ,    obsessive   , neurotic ,  teeteringly  non-confrontational   ,    astray   , acquiescent  ,  craven

         +                benevolent    , magnanimous    ,  tactful ,  inventive   ,   perfectionist ,   steadfast ,  sharp-witted   ,   rigorous  ,  assiduous  , sympathetic  

⋆  ╰      𝑨  𝑵  𝑻  𝑬  𝑪  𝑬  𝑫  𝑬  𝑵  𝑻 .

my  concept  was  that  her  mom  ,  sonya  ackerman  ,  was  a  world-renowned  ballerina  ,  like  one  of  the  first  on  the  east  coast  and  had  a  massive  studio  that  took  off  in  seattle  as  one  of  the  premier  ballet  academies  for  dancers  of  color !her  dad  ,  theodore  st.  james  ,  was  a  criminal  prosecutor  training  to  become  an  assistant  district  attorney  in  georgia  ,   but  would  commute  out  to  washington  bc  obv  blue’s  mom  isn’t  gonna  just  abandon  what  she  worked  so  hard  to  build  .  her  parents  were  a  rather  stable  couple  ,  but  blue  can  easily  admit  what  a  piece  of  work  her  mom  was  and  the  fucking  number  she  did  on  those  around  her

part  of  pushing  so  hard  for  success  meant  having  a  lot  to  lose  ,  and  sonya  made  that  the  driving  point  of  not  just  her  life  ,  but  her  only  child’s  ,  a  bright-eyed  baby  girl  with  a  gaze  as  pensive  and  thought-provoking  as  the  color  she  was  named  after  .  blue  ocean  was  a  miracle  ,  a  gentle (  but  rather  prone  to fixating  )  soul  from  the  moment  her  curls  came  into  the  light  of  this  world  ,  and  was  her  father’s  pride  since  the  moment  he  held  her  .  suddenly  commutes  were  that  much  harder  ,  the  tension  of  having  a  marriage  and  a  daughter  only  on  the  weekends  and  being  left  a  stranger  to  your  own  child  all  because  of  your  wife’s  unyielding  stubbornness  really  did  a  number  on  theodore  which  led  to  the  eventual  demise  of  their  marriage  :/

blue  doesn’t  remember  much  leading  up  to  the  divorce  ,  but  she’s  smart  enough  to  recognize  her  dad  didn’t  just  up  and  leave  out  of  nowhere  .  he  later  tells  her  he  was  sure  he’d  get  at  least  shared  custody  ,  but  the  courts  surprisingly  ruled  in  sonya’s  favor  with  no  rational  logic  behind  it  other  than  her  claim  of  motherhood  .  being  raised  with  the  world’s  weight  on  her  shoulders  hugely  influenced  blue’s  personality  ,  ballet  being  the  only  thing  she  remembers  as  a  constant  in  her  life  .  never  one  to  lash  out  ,  blue  took  the  oppressive  upbringing  as  an  opportunity  to  prove  herself  —  maybe  this  wasn’t  her  dream  ,  but  she  was  a  perfectionist  obsessed  with  control  ,  and  she’d  take  whatever  path  her  mother  put  her  on  and  do  a  damn  good  job  at  it .

highschool  was  highschool  and  she  was  gone  almost  as  soon  as  she  had  arrived  ,  graduating  with  only  enough  friends  that  she  could  count  on  her  hand  ,  and  whisked  off  to  the  city  in  which  she  had  heard  in  countless  of  her  mother’s  nostalgic  throw-back  stories  growing  up  ,  attending  julliard’s  prestigious  ballet  program  as  if  to  honor  her  late  mother’s  legacy  at  her  alma  mater .  

excelling  through  classes  ,  nailing  audition  after  audition  for  a  coups  de  ballet  role  but  never  a  principal  ,  blue  builds  her  reputation  among  the  new  york  dance  scene  with  grace  and  humility  ,  inching  her  way  towards  her  ultimate  goal  of  the  american  ballet  theater  as  paved  by  misty  copeland  ,  the  only  hero  who  even  compares  to  her  mother  in  blue’s  eyes  .  she’s  just  a  few  more  well-timed  performances  away  from  the  life  she’s  always  envisioned  ,  until  a  sudden  phone  call  flips  her  life  on  it’s  head  .  she  hasn’t  addressed  her  mother’s  passing  ,  nor  its  details  ,  and  it’s  unlikely  a  person  with  such  an  emotionally  reserved  disposition  such  as  herself  will  ever  really  come  around  to  processing  it  out  loud  .  the  news  hits  halfway  through  sophomore  year  and  she  makes  it  until  finals  week  before  she  spends  a  week  in  the  hospital  ,  unravelled  and  unhinged  ,  dehydrated  from  her  sobs  and  weak  from  her  inability  to  keep  food  down  due  to  an  unrelenting  anxiety  she’s  never  known  quite  like  this  .  this  subtle  childhood  nature  of  fixation  and  perfection  manifests  as  a  full  blown  obsessive  compulsive  disorder  diagnosed  during  her  psych  eval  ,  releasing  her  with  a  script  and  a  recommendation  to  go  somewhere  where  she’s  got  a  support  system  .

hu  ,  only  a  half  hour  drive  from  her  father’s  firm  and  the  current  school  of  her  childhood  best  friend  ,  receives  an  application  days  later  ,  declaring  an  interest  in “ a  change  of  pace  from  the  world  of  ballet  and  an  interest  in  their  world-renowned  history  program .  ” she  gets  sucked  into  the  greek  world  without  truly  meaning  to  ,  wandering  aimlessly  through  her  new  life  as  she  auditions  for  different  ballet  troupes  and  bombs  each  attempt  .  feeling  empty  ,  distant  ,  and  the  impending  sense  of  personal  failure  ,  her  new  sisters  in  chi  mu  omega  give  her  a  constant  push  of  go-go-go  to  fill  her  days  with  a  distraction  from  her  thoughts  .  senior  year  rounds  its  head  ,  and  blue  wants  to  spend  it  pushing  herself  to  return  to  her  former  glory  ,  eyeing  the  next  year’s  productions  at  the  american  ballet  theater  and  her  dream  to  once  again  reach  the  point  she  receives  an  invitation  to  audition  .  she’s  not  quite  sure  if  this  will  fill  the  void  in  her  heart  ,  a  void  she’s  sure  she’s  known  nearly  her  whole  life  ,  but  she’s  got  nothing  prepared  in  her  back  pocket  ,  so  it’s  really  ,  at  this  point  ,  all  she  has  left  .

⋆  ╰      𝑨  𝑵  𝑨  𝑳  𝒀  𝑺  𝑰  𝑺  .

for  a  lil  personality  blurb  ,  my  renditions  of  blue  have  always  been  really  soft  and  nuturing  and  i  want  to  keep  an  element  of  that  ? she’s  a  gentle  soul  and  part  of  that  absolutely  stems  from  her  upbringing  bc  her  mom  was  ..  .  .  .  not  a  nice  lady  lmao  .  but  somehow  ,  between  her  mom  at  home  and  then  her  mom  in  the  ballet  studio  ,  it  just  made  blue  more  compassionate  ?  she’s  admittedly  a  little  intimidating  ,  and  her  defense  mechanism  has  become  a quick  wit  that  manifests  most  amusingly  in  her  sarcasm  .  the  world  can’t  hurt  u  if  u  make  fun  of  it  first  ,  right ! i  also  wanted  to  sprinkle  in  a  little  bit  of  doe-eyed  buffoon  which  i  think  fits  in  well  with  her  whole  quiet  type  persona  ,  so  her  humor  deviates  into  goofiness  that  also  occasionally  manifests  as  an  awkward  as  shit  interaction  if  she’s  feeling  a  little  off ( as  in  :  the  bitch  has  a 50/50  shot  of  delivering  a  SEARING  burn  or  stammering  so  hard  she  ends  up  rlly  just  roasting  herself  :/  it’s  a  mystery  to  see  what  u’ll  end  up  w  when  it  comes  to  blue  ,  sigh )

delving  in  a  little  deeper  ,  even  if  she  seems  like  this  sarcastic  scattered lowkey  dork ,  who  gives  the  illusion  she’s  mellow  and  unbothered  ,  she’s  a  severe  overthinker  and  any  convo  longer  than  about  10  minutes  will  yield  to  the  fact  that  blue  is  constantly  stressed  the  FUCK  out about  the  smallest  things  .  she’s  really  observant  and  has  an  uncanny  ability  to  clock  ppl  ,  which  would  make  her  QUITE  the  devilish  fiend  to  exploit  ppl’s  weaknesses  but  alas  ,  for  a.  she  does  not  give  a  shit  abt  anything  enough  to  treat  people  cruelly  and b.  does  not  have  enough  braincells  to  spare  from  her  stress  and  misery  to  be  fiendish  and  manipulative  KSDJFKJSDHF  this  makes  her  a  really  great  person  to  tell  secrets  to  bc  literally  who  the  FUCK  is  she  gonna  tell ?  is  her  argument  n  lowkey !  she  right ! SDFHSKDHF  

contrary  to  what  her  performance  background  may  lead  many  to  believe  ,  she  really  is  not  fond  of  being  at  the  forefront  of  attention  and  feels  more  comfortable  lingering  in  the  background  ,  minding  her  own  business ,  and  staying  in  her  lane  so  catch  her  being  all  but  INVISIBLE  to  the  greek  rank  blog  !  her  critical  struggle  in  life  is  her  obsessive  personality  ,  deeply  rooted  in  the  trauma  of  being  riased  with  the  unyielding  expectation  for  absolute  perfection  .  she  has  a  hard  time  letting  go  and  comes  close  to  having  a  meltdown  if  things  in  her  world  arent  completely  under  her  control  (  as  exemplified  by  the  mental  breakdown  faced  during  the  most  stressful  time  in  her  life  .  )  she’s  incredibly  hard  on  herself  and  really  ,  truly  is  lost  as  to  who  she  is  without  the  fixation  of  perfection  in  her  life  .  this  is  incredibly  curious  due  to  her  selective  nature  —  in  terms  of  grades  ,  she’s  only  slightly  above  average  ,  and  is  rarely  interested  in  being  competitive  with  other  people  .  it’s  almost  exclusively  a  competition  with  herself  regarding  the  most  interesting  and  unassuming  things  : especially  considering  that  ballet  ,  her  whole  life’s  work  and  effort  ,  isn’t  even  her  PASSION  .  on  the  low  ,  she  kinda  hates  dance  culture  ,  especially  the  ridigity  of  ballet  !  like  bitch  wha t  the  FU C K  are  u  working  so  hard  on  it  for  ?  n  that’s  one  of  her  major  fears  ,  deviating  from  what  she  knows  and  pursing  her  true  passions  ,  because  at  least  with  ballet  ,  she  knows  it  and  she  knows  she’s  naturally  exceptional  — something  she  can’t  guarantee  with  her  true  passions  ( yet  tbd  but  have  something  to  do  with  art  history    !  ) and  would  rather  not  pursue  if  the  option  of  failure  ,  aka non-perfection ,  is  something  she’d  have  to  face  .

hcs  : she  doesn’t  drive  bc  she  doesn’t  have  her  license  as  she  has  rlly  bad  test  anxiety  and  ate  shit  all  4  times  she  tried  to  take  it  (  suffice  the  implication  of  her  failure  rests  in  the  sulking  pout  she  wore  for  about  2  weeks  straight  as  she  refused  to  try  again  a  5th  time )  ,  is  an  on  and  off  vegetarian  and  HATES  herself  for  it  ,  usually  that  friend  who’s  goin  “  i’m  not  sure  about  this  guys  ..  .  ..  ”    while  still  allowing  herself  to  get  dragged  into  shenanigans  ,  hates  her  own  drama  n  avoids  it  but  wants  to  BATHE  in  the  tea  of  those  goin  on  around  her  sdfsdfs  ,  goes  to  bed  at  9:30  on  the  dot  so  parties  are  oft  a  STRUGGLE  ,  has  strong  mom  friend  energy  despite  barely  being  able  to  manage  herself  ,  is  a  nerd  n  knows  it  yet  uses  nerd  as  an  insult  ,  cannot  cook  for  her  LIFE  ,  and  a  lil  pinterest  board  is     here   ! oh  !  and  she  does  NOT   fuck  w   being  touched  unless  u  get  her  express  approval !!!

plots  :  i  didnt  think  i  would  get  this  far  in  one  go  so  hit  me  up  on  dis/cord  for  my  list  of  plots  that  im  abt  to  pull  out  of  my  ass  ;))))

[radiopopstand]

Radio Popstand Broadcast 27 is available now!

Go to your favourite podcast player and search for Radio Popstand.

First item on this broadcast is me looking back to my 32 years with diabetes.

Here’s a transcript of the article:

My life with diabetes

Let’s start by saying that I am not a health care professional. The following words are my own experiences of dealing with my diabetes over the past 32 years. They should not be taken as a comprehensive manual in dealing with the condition. If you have any concerns about your treatment of diabetes or that of a family member or friend you should always consult your GP or practice nurse. We are all different and the way you need to treat your diabetes may be different to that which I mention in this article.

A few days after my 28th birthday, way back in the year of 1987, I found myself sitting in the surgery of my doctor. I was attending an appointment I’d made, hoping to rid myself of what I considered, at the time, to be a minor complaint, but what in essence turned out to be a much more serious problem than I realised, a condition was to be diagnosed that I still suffer from to this day, and will do so for the rest of my days.

My immediate concern at this time was the appearance of some boils on the lower part of my back. After living with these for what must have seven to ten days I decided, especially seeing they were becoming rather uncomfortable and would not go away, to see my doctor. Before this time I’d very rarely had cause to see the doctor, but things were about to change.

“Hello Jeffrey, don’t see you here very often, how can I help you today?”, said my GP as he shook my hand and ushered me to a seat. I explained the problem and doctor examined these troublesome boils. “I see, well I can prescribe some antibiotics, which will clear up these little fellas for you, but what we really do need to find out is exactly what has caused these to appear”, the doctor explained.

I was given a specimen container and asked to go to the toilet to provide a urine sample. This I duly did, and on returning to the doctor he went over to a corner of his massive room with my urine sample. In a few moments he walked back over to me and uttered those words that I’ll never forget “This is most interesting Jeffrey, there would appear to be a rather high sugar content in the sample you’ve provided today”, which he spoke to me in the matter of fact style just like Mr Spock from the TV series Star Trek.

It took a while to sink in, but this was the start of my life with diabetes. In those early days it didn’t create too much of a problem. I was diagnosed as having type 2 diabetes, and my doctor referred me to a specialist at the local hospital. Apart from the antibiotics prescription to clear up the boils I wasn’t prescribed any other medication at this time.

Whilst waiting to see the specialist, which must be have been ten to fourteen days after my initial GP appointment, I took it upon myself to refrain from eating anything that contained sugar. This was not easy, but I had no sugar in my tea and coffee, ate no pudding after dinner, and certainly ate no confectionery, cake, fruit or anything else that I considered contained sugar or anything resembling sugar.

I was certainly very strict with myself over those few days, so much so that when I did see the specialist, and he carried out his own tests, it appeared my diabetes condition was hardly noticeable. Unfortunately, over the months that followed the condition got worse. Despite taking various medications to coax my pancreas into producing insulin, the magical hormone that I was sadly lacking, the insulin was not being produced and I was diagnosed as having type 1 diabetes, this was less than 18 months after the initial diagnosis.

A whole new set of rules and a steep learning curve to take in about taking injections of insulin, a more stringent regime of testing my blood glucose levels and how to treat the affects of hypogljycaemia, which is often referred to as a hypo or a sugar low. The biggest hurdle encountered on a daily basis by diabetics is achieving a balance between the insulin taken and the carbohydrate value of your food intake, but these are not the only two components to achieving a satisfactory balance of blood glucose levels, what you are doing in way of activity is another thing that can very much affect this delicate balance.

So what is this hormone called insulin, what does it do, and why is it so important. I’m not an expert on the workings of the human body, so my following explanation is very much simplified, but put quite simply insulin stores away the glucose content in your blood until it is needed. Glucose is an essential commodity, as it is the fuel or energy needed by the brain to function, without glucose the brain can not function, but with too much glucose many serious problems can soon occur if your condition is not treated, and indeed can occur over time even if your diabetes is treated, that is why it is so important to keep a close watch on those glucose levels and try to keep them as close as possible to normal to reduce the chance of problems.

Some of the problems that could occur due to excessive glucose in the blood stream include a blurring of vision due to a change in shape to the eye lens, in extreme cases sight loss can occur, skin infection - remember my original problem with boils, urine infection, lung and other infections, nerve damage to hands and feet, kidney damage, excessive urination which can result in excessive thirst and tiredness and weakness, serious weight loss if body can’t use glucose correctly as your stores of fat are used, dehydration is another serious problem that can cause foot infections and maybe gangrene resulting in amputations of toes, feet or lower legs. I myself suffer with problems to my lower legs often becoming swollen, discoloured and aching, so need to take extra care to avoid the possibility of ulcers developing. This is just a few of the potential problems that diabetes can cause.

Ideally a carbohydrate count of your food has to be made, food that is high in fibre is desirable, as this will be absorbed into the blood steam slowly and help to avoid those blood glucose highs. Each meal should contain approximately the same carbohydrate value each day, to match the amount of insulin you take. This way the chance of the blood glucose level becoming too high or too low is greatly reduced, but of course, as already indicated, the activity you will be engaged in during the day can have an impact on the amount of energy required, and hence can cause problems, as can being ill with something as simple as a cold or even being stressed, these can all affect your glucose levels, as can the weather. Yes, that’s right even the weather can affect those blood glucose levels.

The affects of a low sugar situation can occur at any time, sometimes you become aware that they are occurring, test your blood glucose level using the test equipment available to confirm your suspicions and take glucose orally in the form of dextrose tablets or some other form to remedy the low sugar episode. Unfortunately, it’s not always that easy, there are occasions when the low sugar situation can take you by surprise, so much so that you can find it difficult to concentrate and take the appropriate action required to get you out of this predicament. It is always most important to carry with you some form of fast release carbohydrate such as dextrose tablets and carry some form of identification explaining you are are a ‘type 1 insulin dependent diabetic’. I also have a wrist armband which has these exact words, something that let’s others immediately know in moments of crisis that you are a diabetic.

In the thirty two years I’ve suffered with diabetes I’ve had three instances where I’ve collapsed into a coma due to a low sugar hypoglycemia situation. On the first occasion my father was still alive and he called our own doctor, who immediately came to the house and dealt with the situation, on the other two occasions an ambulance was called. There have been several close calls over the years, on one occasion hitting my head on the side of the cooker and giving myself a black eye. More often than not a low can be quickly treated and I’m back to my normal self quite quickly, on other occasions the affect can take several hours to recover from with intense shivering and sweating being a side affect and also the dreaded muddled head.

Apart from the falling into a coma incidents, the next worse state I’ve been in several times is waking up in the morning where I’ve obviously been low on sugar during the night and I awake with a totally muddled head, after working out how to cure the sugar low, the muddled head then stays with me all day. A very unstable way to spend a day, especially if it’s a work day. I’ve had days where the blood glucose level has returned to normal, but the muddled head can stay until after I’ve had my evening meal, which can, putting it mildly, be most disconcerting and ruin one’s day.

Obviously, if you get several days of low or high sugars you need to make adjustments to your insulin dosage or food intake to try to combat the situation. I currently take four injections a day of insulin, one before breakfast, one before lunch and one before my evening meal, this is a quick acting insulin, after taking I immediately have my food. There is then a final injection of insulin before bed, which is a more slow acting insulin to see me through the night and acts as a base insulin throughout the day. I can often go for weeks or months were my sugar levels are well behaved and everything stays within required parameters, then without warning several occurrences of either high or low levels happen, this can be one of the greatest headaches trying to get things back on course. This is one of the things I find most difficult to make the majority of people around me understand, I’m sure they just think my whole diabetic control is poor and I don’t know what I’m doing.

This whole process of insulin injections, carrying out continuous blood glucose tests by pricking one’s fingers, counting the carbohydrate value of foods, sticking to a schedule of eating meals without missing any, making sure you’re carrying dextrose tablets with you at all times, inspecting your feet to make sure they are not damaged, dealing with the muddled head situations and dealing with the tiredness and general lethargic feeling when sugars go too high can all over time put quite a toll on your well being and frame of mind.

Added to that those mundane illnesses that we all suffer from time to time, now appear to be twice as worse, as you’re not only battling with that but you’re also dealing with your diabetes, that always wants to play up at the same time making you feel appalling and not wanting to do anything. You must keep testing the blood glucose levels and KEEP TAKING THE INSULIN, as although you might not be able to eat, or only eat very little, those blood glucose levels still tend to rise during an illness. It is important to keep hydrated, all that glucose can cause serious dehydration, which can be a very serious situation. Try to drink as much sugar-free fluid as possible. Diabetes is difficult enough to deal with on it’s own, but when you have another illness raise it’s ugly head it’s always best to consult your GP or practice nurse for advice.

Something all diabetics have to deal with at some point is the strange attitude some people seem to have of diabetics, in many cases considering the condition to be a preventable self inflicted disease caused by carelessness of those that suffer with the disease. The truth of the matter is type 1 diabetes is definitely not a lifestyle caused condition, whereas type 2 diabetes can be caused, but not in all cases, by lifestyle. During my 32 years as a diabetic I’ve encountered my fair share of ridiculous, comical, hurtful or just plain silly comments about this condition that I suffer from. Most people make comments with the best of intentions, but some can be really quite rude and disrespectful. I try by best to ignore the majority of the ridiculous comments but the odd remark/criticism can, on occasion, be unkind.

Comical remarks include:

“Do you have a special hole that’s been made to put the insulin into yourself”

Hurtful remarks include:

“This whole problem has got to be your own fault, you must have been a real piggy in your younger days”

“Do you not think it’s about time you got this balance with food and insulin correct, for goodness sake Jeffrey you’ve had this problem for over 30 years now”

Ridiculous remarks include:

“It’s only diabetes, it’s not going to kill you”

“Jeffrey, why drink that diet drink, you need to drink this full sugar Coca-Cola, it’ll do you the world of good”

I’m going to be very boring now and repeat what I said at the start, please excuse me, but it would me very remiss of not to say this. This article has attempted to highlight some of my experiences of dealing with diabetes over the past 32 years. My remarks shouldn’t be taken as the correct or only way to deal with the condition. If you have any concerns about your treatment of diabetes or that of a family member or friend you should always consult your GP or practice nurse.

One event that seems amusing now although wasn’t funny at the time was during a low sugar episode when my head bowled down and I went for a swim in a plate of baked beans, my then teenage niece who was there at the time often reminds me of this incident and we both have a chuckle. You’ll have wait till she writes her memoirs for the full story.

Jeff Wright, 4th August 2019

[mensbodybuildingtips]

The Only Thing Harder Than Burning Fat...

Most individuals that are new to the bodybuilding and also health and fitness game think about burning fat to be among one of the most hard jobs they deal with. As many seasoned iron lifers will certainly inform you, the real difficulty exists not in losing the weight originally, yet in KEEPING it off, for the lengthy term. Any person could get ripped when ... but remaining very lean, year-round, is a challenge which verifies really difficult for the majority of lifters. Let's find out a couple of means you can make this task much easier for you!

Get mathematical It's very easy to run thru a flurry of exercises, reduce your calories, knock out cardio for hrs, as well as shed some fat. It's harder to maintain that degree of leanness as the days and weeks pass. Knowing the NUMBERS you employed to reach this degree of 'rippedness' is the crucial to your success. Record every little thing you consume for a week. Utilize a smart device app to count as well as build up the calories in everything you ate. Average them out. THAT is the standard variety of calories you need daily to maintain your present weight. Considering that each extra pound is composed of 3500 calories, you could eliminate 500 calories from each day to get to a weight-loss objective of 1 extra pound each week. When you reach your objective, proceed measuring calories to preserve your perfect weight. After a few weeks, you'll recognize the caloric content of everything, off the top of your head!

Take your vitamins Let's face it, people that are really lean ... they live some good lives. Every space they go into, they're the 'hot one' in the place. Sporting a 6-pack feels fantastic, yet it does imply your epic lean body can be extra prone to sickness. Remaining very lean could take a toll on your immune system. Taking your daily vitamins (C, E, B, D, and a multivitamin) belong to maintaining your body immune system strong. Appreciating a diet plan rich in nutrients can likewise add to superb health and wellness. This indicates you'll be able to stay in the fitness center, as well as stay lean, as opposed to getting ill and also losing progress!

Stay accountable Use the mirror, gauging tape, scale, as well as extremely dependable selfie electronic camera to tape your development to fat loss, along with your week-to-week development as you work to preserve this weight loss. Take the images in the same place every week, as well as take measurements at the very same time, as soon as weekly. You'll have the ability to inform if you're obtaining a little TOO lean, or if the body fat is beginning to sneak back up on you. From there, simply make minor caloric changes to your diet plan to relocate points back in the right direction.

Choose foods you like Most individuals hate diet regimens since they despise the foods they have to consume while on this diet plan. They're always fantasizing concerning the end of the diet, when they can return to the foods they actually love. Why not design your personal diet plan, picking the foods you already love? This way, you see it as more of a healthy and balanced meal plan, rather than a strict rejection of all the foods you love a lot. Pick meats, dairy, carbohydrates, and also fat sources from checklists that you like, as well as supply your fridge and also closets with them. Always have healthy and balanced food alternatives that you enjoy, on hand!

Keep protein high Protein intake is one of the most important tenets of building/keeping muscle as well as staying lean all the time. Maintaining your protein intake high throughout a 'weight loss down' stage is usual understanding to most. Keeping your daily healthy protein grams high while travelling in the post-diet stage might not come as normally to the majority of professional athletes. It is a routine you need to create and also exercise. Consume 30 to 40 grams of protein with each dish, year-round.

Develop a water system Look around you, at the workplace, at house, at the gym. Do you constantly have a water bottle handy, or is getting a drink more of a task? Drinking a gallon of water each day is crucial to keeping weight loss year-round. Remaining moisturized is an outright requirement for keeping your impressive leans! Make sure you have a gallon, pack of water, or a cooler posted near you at residence, at the fitness center, as well as at the office. Never ever in your day should you discover yourself parched - because that is an indication that dehydration has actually already established in!

Rotate Supplements Yes, it is a well known fat that supplements play a massive function in getting most body builders, figure as well as physical fitness professional athletes to the sub-8% body fat degrees. But remaining on the very same supplements for months or years each time can make them much less reliable as your receptors weary and the body gets utilized to them. Turn the supplements you use for best results. As an example, you could start with a 3-week cycle of Lipotase to accomplish your initial cuts. Then, opt for a 4-month run of TridenosenH for high energy levels as well as muscle mass upkeep to really MAINTAIN your muscle while remaining lean. Mix it up!

Keep it green At the very least something at each dish should be eco-friendly. That's right, some leafy green or veggie should discover its way into each meal. This can be a side salad with lunch, some chopped environment-friendly onions with your early morning eggs, or any kind of kale or Romaine with dinner. Keep it eco-friendly, as well as your body immune system will certainly grow, digestion will be a wind, and your metabolic rate will remain fed - which is a huge part of keeping fat off, year-round!

[amaranthine-inscriptions]

11/11/11 Tag Game

I was tagged by @thewordreaper, @aslanwrites, @graceomeallain, and @elizabethsyson to do this! All questions and answers will be beneath the cut! Sorry for taking so long! <3

Tagging: @metaphors-and-melodrama, @mvcreates, @isanyonetoknow, @whywritewhenyoucansleep, @kaatiba, @rainy-rose, @radley-writes, @nectareouswrites, and anyone else who would like to join! :D

My Questions:

1. Explain the title of your WIP. 

2. Based on the title of your WIP, what category or genre do you think it fits into?

3. Which character did you like most?

4. Which character did you like least?

5. Summarize your WIP in one written sentence or a one minute speech.

6. Is your WIP a one-shot or do you have sequels/prequels planned?

7. Which character do you relate to the most?

8. Which character is least like you?

9. Are there any lessons/morals in your WIP?

10. Besides your main WIP, how many other ideas do you have floating around? Tell me about them!

11. Where do you find your inspiration?

@thewordreaper‘s questions!

1. What colours do you associate with your WIP? The Vennadore Volumes (Already Introduced and In Progress) - Blues, Greens, and Purples in general. Just depends on what volume we are speaking about. Blues and greens for the first volume for sure because of the the whole pirate thing. :) The Aeonian Chronicles (coming soon) - Black, White, and Gold. It captures the aesthetic of the gods I have in my head and they play a huge part in this upcoming series.  Untitled Series Name (Coming Soon) - Soft Pink and Navy Blue. This is solely based on another dream I had. Just like the one above except WAY different. 

2. Summarise the beginning of your WIP in three to five words I’ll be answering this for the WIP that I’ve actually started writing for lmao: Farmer’s daughter living provincial life. 

3. What character do you like writing about the most ? Adelaide... OR Octavia. I haven’t gotten the hang of writing Eponia or any of her companions just yet. I’ve had Adelaide and Octavia for a WHILE which is why it’s easier and why I enjoy them a lot more. 

4. Did your plot ever make any major deviations from what you originally planned ? Well... I did have a completely different idea for where I wanted to go with Eponia’s story, but she decided she didn’t like that and took a life of her own and ran in a completely different direction, which is why I’m re-plotting her story. (Thank god I haven’t written too many scenes that would pertain to the previous plot idea)

5. Do you listen to music while writing? If you do, what kind? I DO. I listen to anything honestly. Right now I’m listening to my playlist titled “Got the runs?” and it’s full of energetic music that would help with cardio. And it hypes me up to write more. ^__^

6. Favourite animals of your main characters ! .... I don’t have any pets or animals planned out D: They’ll probably will be written in but I’m just so focused on making sure that the characters get to where I want them. And then maybe fluff it up a bit and include some animal companions or familiars. 

7. What was the inspiration behind your current WIP? For the Vennadore Volumes, I did HELLA world building because it was originally for text-based roleplay for friends and other members of a dying community. And one of my friends said that I should make it into a series and include the storylines that happen within this world that I created. That’s when I was inspired to start on this WIP. And start with a story that hasn’t been RPed out yet. And then start with separate stories that all tie in together somehow. 

8. Which author would you compare your writing style to? Uhhhhhh.... I’m not exactly sure and I’m afraid to answer this question cos I’m not sure what my style is like compared to a published author. 👀👀👀 Cos I am but a worm. 

9. Is there a new form of writing that you plan on attempting in the future? I’m not sure if there are new forms??? If there are, please tell me cos I really enjoy learning new things <3

10. What instruments do your main characters play/ play want to play ? If singing counts, then Finnick can sing and his voice is like an angel’s and might be the reason why Eponia likes him A LOT. (And cos he’s unusually attractive for a pirate lol) 11. Are there any of your characters you would love to meet IRL? ISOLAH. I love my gay baby and happy that she’s got such a supportive wife. <3 The other’s could probably get fucked lol (I love them all but I just love the captain of the Temptress)

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@aslanwrites‘s questions!

1. What are some influences for your WIP? For world building: definitely Tolkien and GRRM. Kinda a mash of the two with my own twist to it all. Which is why Vennadore is so massive. But for writing, I’m not sure.  2. Is there a writer or someone you would like to collab with? Or maybe even do a crossover with? Not off the top of my head, no. But I’m pretty solitary when it comes to writing. And I’m terrified of sharing my ideas with another person if I do have to collab with them. 

But I really do enjoy Libba Bray since I’ve read her Gemma Doyle trilogy at least five times, so I wouldn’t mind collabing with her.  3. What are some facts about the world you’ve created that you’d like to share but can’t seem to quite fit into the story yet? Lore stories about the races of Vennadore. Mostly because I haven’t gotten there yet. I don’t know if there aren’t any facts I haven’t shared on my world page.

4. What are you most excited about sharing with your WIP? Anything Adelaide related. She’s my baby and I can’t wait to write more on her story. 

5. What are your OCs favorite genres of music? Eponia: Either something soft with a soprano voice or an energetic dance instrumental Finnick and Isolah: Sea Shanties Solandis: Anything with piano or harpsichord Alarik: Unsure. He’s very difficult to place. But if it were modern: metal for sure. He’s a very angry person.  6. How good is your main character at cooking? Not very well since she refused to pay attention to any lessons in becoming a better lady that her step-mother forced her to go through.  7. What kind of comics would your OCs like? Cos I don’t know much about comics, I wouldn’t know what they would like. 

8. What inspired you to write your WIP? “For the Vennadore Volumes, I did HELLA world building because it was originally for text-based roleplay for friends and other members of a dying community. And one of my friends said that I should make it into a series and include the storylines that happen within this world that I created. That’s when I was inspired to start on this WIP. And start with a story that hasn’t been RPed out yet. And then start with separate stories that all tie in together somehow. ” Same answer from a previous question, but I love it any way c:  9. What other stories do you have in mind? OH BOY. I have a lot of ideas.. This is what I have listed in my notepad so far:

Hide and Seek (Supernatural) Characters: Jensen Hyde and Amelia Siek (OTP)

Supernova (Sci-Fi? Fantasy?) Characters: Caelestis

The Above (Post-apocalyptic) Characters: suspicious gays

Aeonian Chronicles (fantasy; it's about time) Characters: A golden goddess and her high priestess (otp)

Allure at Eventide, Beneath a Starless Sky, Below the Sun, Dreams, Painted Skies, and [character name] (fantasy) Characters: English lovers that started off as friends then enemies then to lovers. Man conveys his feelings all wrong and thinks the woman knows what he means.

10. Oh no! Your main character has been kidnapped! Who goes to find them? Who says “let it be”? Who forms a search party? And what does your main character do in this event? Finnick would go find Eponia cos REASONS. Alarik says “let it be”. Isolah and Solandis would probs get the crew together and form a search party while Solandis informs Ep’s family that she has been kidnapped but they are going to find her. Eponia is like “Uggggh, not again.” and makes plans to escape and go back to her original “captors” or her family back home if given the chance. 

11. What is your favorite kind of ice cream? MINT CHOCOLATE CHIP. 

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@graceomeallain‘s questions!

1. What’s the age gap between your oldest and youngest OC? If you count the upcoming addition to the Alilart family (Emric and Lysandra’s baby c:), 0 years to 60s (I haven’t decided because they’re a minor character. Like hella minor.)

2. If your MC was dropped in a high school setting, which clique would they fit in with? Eponia wouldn’t fit in anywhere, so she would be considered the outsider. So the outsider clique. Or the new-kid club. But she tries to be nice to everyone, despite her attitude problem. 

3. Which of your OCs is the funniest? Mmmmm... No one has told a joke yet and none of them are keen to tell me. So I’m going to say Alarik because he’s pretty crude. So I would imagine his jokes would just as bad, but somehow funny???

4. Who’s an early riser, and who sleeps in? The early riser would be Isolah. She is the captain of course. Eponia however despises waking up, she loves sleep too much. 

5. Which draft of your WIP are you on? Planning/First Draft :)

6. How many main characters do you have in your WIP? Depends on which volume but the first one has six. c: 

7. Which of your OCs is the best looking? FINNICK. Hot damn. 

8. What do your OCs do at Christmas? If nothing, why not? They share stories of their lives before becoming pirates, maybe make little gifts out of things they find laying around the ship. 

9. Do your OCs have any piercings? Not that I know of, but I am their mother and I’m sure they’re scared of telling me that they went and got a piercing at their best friend’s house. (So maybe lol)

10. What are their favourite foods and why? I honestly haven’t thought about their favourite foods D:

11. If your WIP has any couples, which is your favourite? It’s between Finnick and Eponia (an eventual couple), and Isolah and Solandis <3

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@elizabethsyson‘s questions! Round 1!

1. what’s a trope you hate? I feel like I don’t know enough about tropes to know which one I would hate. 

2. what’s a trope you love? I feel like I don’t know enough about tropes to know which one I would love. 

3. what’s your main character’s aesthetic? Eponia’s is hard to place. I would think her colour would be between light purple and a dark pink. Lots of books. Sleeping in. And that’s what I have so far. 

4. describe your wip using only verbs Oh dayum. This is hard.... Fighting, Loving, Escaping, Conspiring, Worshiping and maybe some other verbs as the volumes grow. 

5. how significantly does time feature in your plot? There’s a whole different time system for Vennadore that somewhat resembles our own, and also has it’s own history that could repeat itself. And to show how time progresses, it is shown and explained (hopefully well by me lmao). 

6. how many settings does your wip have? So far in the first volume, three. Home, Markets, Ship. And since Vennadore is massive, there is LOADS more to come. 

7. do your characters travel during the plot? Yes, most of them are on a ship. What are they doing on the ship.... That I cannot tell. 

8. which of your characters is most likely to die young? ... How young? Cos I could say Alarik or Isolah; they’re in their 20s and 30s respectively.

9. which of your characters trust vs. mistrust authority? Alarik? Since he is a criminal. And is now a slave under the captain and crew of the Temptress. 

10. what’s one theme of your wip? The first volume covers the MC discovering herself while in this strange, new place. 

11. would your story be better portrayed in animation or live action? Live action. 

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@elizabethsyson‘s questions! Round 2!

1. what’s a story you read as a child that sticks with you? The fourth harry potter book. That was my favourite growing up. :)

2. what’s your approach to diversity in your writing? I kinda just.... put it in there. I don’t know how else to put it lol

3. what’s your favourite online resource for writers? Since I’m obsessed with having a great name, the fantasy name generator site is amazing. <3

4. what programme do you write in? A journal ^^; But if I type it up, I use google docs cos word slows my computer down wayyyy too much. 

5. how do you backup your writing? I normally write in journals, but if I type it up in google docs, I normally would store it in my portable hard drive :)

6. do you print your stuff once you’ve finished it? Not right now since I share a house with other people (besides my partner) who need to print things off and printer paper isn’t exactly the cheapest thing in the world right now. 

7. do you post entire wips, chapters, just snippets, or nothing? Maybe a line or two since I’m on my first draft and everything is kinda a mush of clay. 

8. tag some writers whose wips you follow on tumblr and tell me why you follow them :c I feel bad cos I don’t really follow any specific WIPs. I do try to share others’ work to make sure my followers get to see that person’s hard work. I just feel too spazztic and out of focus to find WIPs. I just want to share others’ work ^^; 

9. favourite medium for sharing your stuff? Word of mouth? I don’t really have any thing to share my work on like wattpad or ao3 and I’m not sure which would be best since Venn could contain some adult themes and I want to make sure that it wouldn’t be removed because it violated rules. 

10. do you create art of any kind? talk about it a little I’m terrible at art, but I do have a sketch pad because I enjoy doodling a little. I just don’t do it too often because I feel like I can’t compare to the amazing artists out there. 

11. what’s your favourite non-writing/reading/story-related hobby? Singing or practicing an instrument (I have a clarinet, keyboard, guitar, and ukulele)

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@elizabethsyson‘s questions! Round 3! 

1. What’s the first book you remember reading? Do you know about the Mary-Kate and Ashley mystery books???? I remember those. And Goosebumps. Hell yeah. 

2. Have you ever invented a language for a piece of writing? YES. It’s the Untouchable Language or the mother-tongue of the Rah’al people. I only have some specific words but that’s it so far. 

3. Describe your approach to worldbuilding. When I was building Vennadore, I looked up questions to answer when building a fantasy world, that got me started. General stuff like population and different sections of the world. Then delved into specifics like races and their customs. 

4. Do you write in multiple genres? Which? Fantasy, Fiction, and maybe Sci-fi.

5. What type of villain do you most hate? A villain that gives you no reason to hate them. I feel like there needs to be a reason to hate them. Like how I hate Joffrey in GoT (cos he’s a punk). 

6. Do you prefer to type or write longhand or something else? I prefer to write longhand, otherwise I wouldn’t know what I was trying to say when I revisit my journal. 

7. How do you motivate yourself? I put on some hype music and do a little dance while I write. It helps since I spend a lot of time just sitting there thinking. 

8. Opinion on nanowrimo? I’ve never tried, and I’m honestly terrified cos I feel like I wouldn’t make the goal I would set for myself. But I’m happy that it works well for other writers. 

9. Top 3 songs on your writing playlist? I don’t really have a writing playlist, just whichever playlist I decide to write to whether it’s “Mood,” “Got the Runs,” or “Chill.” 

10. How do you come up with your characters’ appearances? I search for face claims eternally on pinterest until something screams at me that has that character’s vibe. 

11. Do you write your scenes chronologically? Never. My thoughts are way too scattered to make them do the chronological thing. 

[converginglives]

I wanna get to know your characters and I need an in sooo, boi, you ready for some "Not so nice" asks? I made a few sets, you can pick whichever character you want for a set! =D Of course you don't have to do all or any if you don't want to, but I hope you have fun! Set A: 1 + 5. Set B: 10 + 11 + 13. Set D: 21 + 22 + 36 + 45. Set G: 12 + 37 + 38 + 39. Set H: 42 + 43 + 44.

@kriss-the-writing-nerd I LOVE asks like this! I am all for the asks! Though was the skipping of letters intentional or tumblr being a ditz?

Set A: Luc - books 1 to 6

1. What is one word to shut them up?

Isaac. 

Mention his first soulmate and he goes deathly silent. Depending on where one is in the series is the why. 

5.List 3 fears; one “surface level” fear, one “repressed” fear, and one “deep dark” fear.

Surface level: failure, though he would argue it’s not a real fear, even though it totally is.

Repressed: abandonment - he doesn’t like to admit it, but it’s one of his hugest fears. 

Deep dark: Jon’s death. That would break him more then anything. 

Set B: Sparks - books 1 to 6

10.What is their greatest mental weakness?

Depending on the day, he might

11.Do they have any vices?

Drinking started off as a big one, though slowly decreases over time

13. Which of the 7 Deadly Sins best describes them?

Set D: Iov - books 2, 4 to 6

21.What is something that causes them great anxiety?

Living. Seriously, just every day things cause him anxiety. 

Talk to peeps? Check. 

Leave the building? Massive check!

Making phone calls? Check. 

Eating? Check.

Getting dressed? Check, check!

Being alone? Check.

Being with peeps? Major check!

Really, it’s harder to list what doesn’t cause anxiety then what does. 

22.Do they have any mental illnesses?

I host of issues that progressively get worse because he doesn’t get treatment for years since he feels like he deserves to suffer. To list some: major anxiety &  depression, CPTSD, agoraphobic, OCD, and acrophobia.

36. Are they in control of their emotions, or are their emotions in control of them?

His emotions are totally in control of him.

45. What is the emotion they most commonly experience?

Terror, followed closely by anxiety, and love, but that one often gets hidden beneath the other two.

Set G: Isaac - books 1 to 6

12. Have they ever done something illegal? What was it?

Well, he’s an assassin, so I am sure he has done plenty of things that are illegal. Lets go with one of his minor things: he steals things for the fun of it. 

37.Have they ever had their freedom taken away?

Does getting caught occasionally count? 

38.Have they ever been imprisoned?

On several occasions by those who have captured him, not that it lasts, he generally breaks out, though there have been a few times he’s been rescued instead. 

39. Have they ever been accused of something they didn’t do?

More times then he counts, of course, he’s done a lot of things he hasn’t been caught or accused of too, so it’s pretty even over all. 

Set H: Jon - books 1  to 6

42.Are they comfortable with where they are in life?

For the most part, he’s rather adaptable. 

43.Do they wish that they could change their pasts?

Generally he doesn’t. However, he wishes he could have hugged his parents one last time before the trip that took them from him, but they left while he was at a friend’s house, not an uncommon way for them to plan.

44.What’s one thing they wish they could do more often, but can’t?

As the series progresses, he misses the traveling like he did with his family, and wishes he could do it again, but for most the series it’s not something he gets to do.

Feel free to send more asks! If you look on the webpage form, you will see i actually link my ask games so they can be done any time, even when not on the main blog pages!