#the only difference is one protects and the other attacks

[venuslarkspur]

Can I please request a teen female reader (15-17?) who’s entered the games to help her family, like all the responsibilities have fallen to her after her dads death 🥺💕(ANY CHARACTERS WILL DO) ILY UR PINK HAIR FIC AS WELL)

Playtime’s Over.

Pairing(s): Squid Game Characters meet Fem!Teen!Reader, (ALL PLATONIC). Contains: Thanos, Se-Mi, Kang Dae Ho, Seong Gi Hun, Cho Hyun Ju, Park Gyeong Seok.

Summary: Them just doting on Teen Reader and wanting to protect her!

Note: This can be read as gender neutral as well! I didn’t really go out of the way to make it female looking back. NOT PROOFREAD I COULD NOT BE ARSED

Warning(s): ANGST, mentions of eating, VIOLENCE, family problems.

Thanos

- He immediately takes a liking to you and can straight away tell you’re not actually 18. (I’m with the firm belief this man would have a soft spot for kids)

- Forces the rest of the group to refer to you as “yeodongsaeng” (or little just sister) and it makes you feel loved, even though you know he’s full of shit , kids see everything.

- You swear that sometimes he thinks you’re his actual sister, with the way he acts towards you; others in the game constantly think you’re actual siblings.

- Nearly gives you some of his drugs before he remembers your age and tells you to scram and do your homework.

- Doesn’t let Nam-Gyu shit talk you, would sooner slap him on the head than let him do that, and firmly reminds him you’re his younger sister now as well. That thought of being his sister made you want to vomit, but you wouldn’t mind Thanos being your brother though.

- Bonding over your father’s not being around anymore! Even though your circumstances are very different.

- When 2 players are called In mingle. He hesitates, despite the drugs running through his system; he shouts at Nam-Gyu to go with Min-Su while he drags you into a nearby room. Dumbfounded you still were, as he picked you first.

- You had found someone, despite his countless flaws and bullshit. There was still someone, until there wasn’t anymore. And you were left alone again.

Se-Mi

- You’re the only one she’s letting call her ‘unnie’, very protective of you even before knowing your true age.

- If you need a distraction she will let you play with one of her rings while she asks you how school is and how you are doing.

- Very torn when she hears you’re providing for a whole family by yourself, wants to be there for you. Since you’re a kid with no parents to guide you here.

- Would give you her milk carton and egg. She doesn’t want it anyway just take it!

- Lets you trail after her like a duckling.

- Isn’t afraid to tell anyone to leave you alone if you’re getting picked on.

- Has an epiphany when she realised the reason your so good at the games is because it probably hasn’t bee long since you played them on the school courtyard :(

- Protects you in mingle, even though she knows she won’t always be able to keep you safe. But it ended up being her you failed to save.

Kang Dae-Ho

- Was the first person to jump in and help you when you were getting abused by one of the other players, an older man that you had pickpocketed quite recently; naturally, he longed for his revenge, firmly punching your stomach, you fell to the ground immediately; he grabbed your hair and before he could land a blow on your face another player stepped in.

- “Leave the kid alone.” Another man, younger this time whose number read “388” had jumped in to defend you. The older man backed off slightly, but still felt the need to verbally attack you. “You know this little bitch?” He spat out, locking eyes with you. “This kid stole cash from me!” He screamed pointing an accusatory finger at you. You weren’t denying, you hanged your head in guilt; even if you explained your circumstances, he wouldn’t care. “Maybe she did, but shes just a defenceless kid,, lay off.” and with that the stingy man trotted away, maintaining eye contact with you.

- Player 388 had checked up on you after that, since that day you were overly attached to him. Trailing after him, he didn’t mind at all not one bit. He told you he actually had several older sisters and it was nice to have a younger one for a change.

- He respects your strength and perseverance more than anyone, having to provide for an entire family when you’re just a kid yourself is TIRING work and unimaginable for him.

- Encourages you to make your own choices, like don’t pick “O” or “X” just because he did.

- Makes sure you are one of the first prioritised during mingle, he saw what happened to Young-Mi and couldn’t live with himself if the same happened to you. You do a lot of hand holding after what happened to Young Mi; he’s scared to let go.

- He hates seeing how little hope there is in your eyes for someone so young, it’s his personal mission to make you feel hope again.

Seong Gi-Hun

- Even though he’s kind of in his depressed era rn, all he sees when he looks at you is his daughter staring back at him. Acknowledges straight away that you’re only a bit older than her.

- It takes you a while to catch on, but you eventually realise why he’s protective of you. His own daughter wasn’t around anymore is the conclusion you came to, where she is or if she is you don’t know. Only that he must not see her anymore.

- scolds you quite a lot, telling you that you shouldn’t even be here anyway. That instead you should be doing your homework or studying for your next exam.

- When the cameras watch he has to distance himself from you, he doesn’t want the Frontman to know of his now emotional connection with you.

- You remind him of Sae-Byeok in an odd way.

- Would never forgive yourself if you died, you’d constantly be on his mind.

Cho Hyun Ju

- I can’t lie she initially tries to stay clear of you, she knows if she gets too attached and you die, she won’t be able to live with herself.

- But she can’t seem to get rid of you, you follow her around like a baby duck.

- You, Her and Young-Mi become like a sisterhood, she’s the oldest and you’re the baby of the group. You both call her ‘unnie’

- Young Mi gives you her food and Hyun Ju follows along and passes you some milk. Because you need it to be “big and strong”

- She has so many questions about how you ended up in here. Where are your parents? What are your family doing if you’re here? Shouldn’t you be in school?

- When Young Mi dies she gets very protective of you, she’s not losing you as well.

Park Gyeong-Seok

- Projection!!! He’s missing his daughter, you’re missing your dad! The perfect duo.

- On a serious note he hates how attached he is to you.

- You joined his group in the 2nd game and you played Flying Stone. He knows something was off about you, even putting on a tough exterior you seemed so childlike. When you confess your actual age he’s horrified, he didn’t want to believe it. How on earth are you in debt?

- He can’t believe you’re providing for a whole family. He struggles just providing for his daughter.

- Encourages you to hit “X”, trust me you don’t want to die here, you can’t help your family from your grave.

- If you seem a little hungry he offers you his food.

- You’re attached by the hip during mingle, you never left his side.

- He comforts you during the riot in lights out. Cradling your body, and running his hands through your hair to calm you down; wondering if this is how he’d hold his own daughter if she were here.

- You beg him not to go with the others in the revolt, he almost doesn’t. And later he’d wish he didn’t.

[ratwithhands]

We got Volo!! I've been thinking about Mahoumas again now that my school workload is lighter, so I finally got to draft Volo's champion design. Worst to ever do it, can't wait to draw him fighting our main duo.

Since I've had time to think about it, I've also done some more refining on where the magic comes from. Essentially in this AU, legendaries are such powerful divinities that just being in a place will cause immense damage to the nearby environment and creatures as a result of the energy they let off. In ancient times they would "resolve" conflicts by whaling on each other, which would obliterate any nearby settlements and mess up the ecosystem. Arceus then decided that the best way to protect all his children would just be to simply stop them from doing that by only allowing proxies to fight.

The basic idea is that a legendary has a divine champion (diplomatic assistant) that meets with the champions of others in order to discuss and settle issues. This ensures no region ending damage and also makes sure that decisions aren't rash, spur of the moment actions. The champions are protected under the rules too; once in contract to a legendary, they aren't to be attacked or harmed by other champions unless they've already been cleared and confirmed for trial by combat. There's some other specifics too but in essence they're basically just there to keep the peace and represent their divinity.

What makes Volo different (and such a pain to deal with) is that he's Giratina's first champion, so he got a lot more benefits that champions generally shouldn't have. Giratina had never had to set up a champion before, plus was excited to have one after eons, so Volo was lavishly spoiled. Since Giratina doesn't talk to other legendaries, he was also pretty much unchecked and just doing whatever he wanted without any regulation. This is a problem in general but it is especially troublesome when another champion (cough, Ingo) tries to revert the "corrections" he's making.

Anyways bonus doodle: since he was the first, Giratina wanted a little whimsy for him.

Let me know if you guys want to see more of this bastard, I'm off to take a nap

[buggybuggs]

Ok :3 yay <3

This is Ly and it is FUCKED UP but it's not their fault but also is!!

They were first a gal named Linipi who became known as the girl who, along with a goddess, destroyed a machine that was built at the ceiling of their known world that was used to create other people* known as THE INJECTOR. The goddess died and transfered her immortality onto Linipi, who then fell from the sky, incredibly injured and traumatized.

Linipi has a mental breakdown alone one night and is rushed into the hospital (meanwhile someone who lived at the top of the world known as Mari invaded her room and invaded her brain to try to help (xe didn't help xe just made it worse)) and after time, her doctor friend goes "Hey! We're trying to clone your dead goddess wife, but the technology we're using might make it possible for us to remove literally all the trauma and bad that happened to you!" This is known as The Mind Shed.

So linipi got prepared and strapped in, and it was painful, but successful!! Gashes in her face were gone, the head she shaved in fear was a full head of hair, and the weird feeling she had about being a girl were gone! She's totally a girl, yeah!

But see, Linipi is immortal. And her shed skin came to life.

That is Ly. A shed skin that took literally all the trauma, hate, dysphoria, and the immortality as well.

But at this point, Ly is only a skin, so, while alive, it can't move or anything. It's just living as a limp shed skin.

And that clone of their wife? Ends up succeeding! But this clone is isolated from the whole program and ends up believing that instead of being a clone of this goddess, she IS the goddess, and ends up reigning control after shunning the doctor into solitude since he was the only one who "though" she wasnt really the goddess. This goddess clone then mass clones herself, selling them as meat or as mindless dolls to do whatever you want with, and takes two under her wing as her loyal followers.

Then, the clone takes it upon herself to "care for" the old Linipi, who was still alive! Just trying to regain her old life. Linipi is confused about why her goddess wife looks so different now, but the clone happily "fixes" that, by manipulating her memory while Linipi sleeps so that she believes truly that she is the goddess. Linipi is then kept in an enclosed bubble that's around her home, to keep her from getting harmed supposedly.

The two followers of the clone then find Ly, and, with the clones help, they hook them up to a robotic skeleton so it can talk and explain why it looks like the beloved Linipi. Ly is angry and knows that this clone is not the goddess, and demands to be let go, trying to attack the clone in the process as she keeps insisting that she is their goddess.

Out of a slight hint of sympathy, but more out of anger and disbelief, the clone keeps Ly. She wraps protective cuffs around its neck, shoulders, and some of its snakey body, and then a diamond shaped plug through a hole in its chest. Each cuff and the plug is then used to suspend Ly from the ceiling of its new enclosure, skeleton removed so it can't talk anymore, and Ly is left as a prisoner, unable to die.

:) btw to our POV Ly is only like 3 ft long

It is my little skrunkly who i daydream about getting revenge with NIN in the background :3

Can we do an OCS sharing thing? I want to see other people's OCS are hear facts about them

[luluthespectator]

Loneliness and instinct

A human arrived on the ship. The crew didn’t exactly know what to think of this. They heard humans were wild, talkative, indomitable, sociable, flamboyant creatures, excellent liars and capable of taking down anything if they so wished.

When they saw the human however, it was different from what they expected. It was small, lonely and very quiet. It was competent at repairing anything in the ship but it would always do so in a corner, out of the way, if it could. When it finished, it promptly booked it before anyone could interact with it.

The crew didn’t know if it was a good liar since it never spoke more than two sentences at a time. They heard it say:  “Just passing by”, “I’m finished here”, “Excuse me, I need to access this”. From as far as they could tell it never lied with its words.

Some of the crew felt more powerful near the human. They could tell the human thought of itself as something weak and inoffensive and it gave them the feeling that they could crush it anytime. They knew to use this thinking to entertain themselves with the human’s fear.

That’s when Sak’ari intervened. They were from a very old and advanced species. A long white robe fell over their blue tern skin. They usually walked on their four legs and their tail. But when they stood on only two feet, with their tail helping to balance, with a straight posture, they looked majestic and wise. They were one of the last Ancient Ones.

They were the leader of the ship. They took decisions alone, as everyone knew how rational they were. There was no way to corrupt them and they knew to put the greater good before themselves, they didn’t exactly want anything. They longed for a connection, something…meaningful. But they wouldn’t have that by being a tyrant.

When they heard about what happened to the human, they knew it would affect everyone negatively. They first took measures to prevent some of the crew from seeing the human. Usually, they would stop here and focus on other issues. But this time, they listened to their instincts, and watched the human closely.

Sak’ari saw that these measures were practically useless, it was clear that the crew was deliberately malicious towards the human. So, they did something they have never done before, they made new laws to protect the crew and secretly, to protect the human.

Sak’ari had hoped the human would use those laws to protect itself. But it didn’t say anything to anyone and thus the laws were useless.

And so, Sak’ari decided to talk directly to the crew. They didn’t appear in public often however when they did, it was important. They were sure, the crew would listen, willingly or not.

Sak’ari told the crew “You might believe that a frail creature, weak physically, is below you. But no. If those creatures could survive their planet long enough to be civilised today, then, they are not weak. They have strength no one else has, they have a mind no one else has. Respect those species like you would respect anyone else. If you don’t want to do that, at least, acknowledge that you too have weaknesses.”

Everyone knew what Sak’ari meant. The toughest ones of the crew listened. Begrudgingly, they did. They apologised to the human who said nothing in response. After that, life continued its course on the ship.

——

Until pirates attacked them. Everyone knew the procedure. The more resistant species would protect the offensive ones in fights. The ones who had neither were requisitioned in a room to heal the wounded.

Sak’ari fought well. With their powerful bottom legs, they propelled themselves on their enemies before promptly shredding them with their claws. They were covered with fluids, they basked in these even.

It was one of the only moments where they were not the rational, stoic, collected Ancient One. They were back on their planet, they were wild, they were predators, they were free, they were feeling. How thrilling!

And then, they felt like they forgot something. They stopped for a moment, going back to their rational thinking. In their “infinite wisdom”, they didn’t tell the human the procedure.

They rose on their four legs, gave the commandment to their second and left in the corridors.

——

The human was running in the corridors. They were sweating, they were breathless but if they stopped they would die. The stomping behind them merged with their erratic heartbeats.

They knew they were not as fast, not as resistant, not as strong. They were all alone. They were a prey. A prey that needed to run fast. How long? Tears were falling down their cheeks. They didn’t want to die.

They saw a door on their left. It was the one to their workshop. They took it and closed the door. Claws made their appearance, ripping through the door. The human screamed. They took a crowbar on their shoulder and booked it.

They couldn’t hear the stomping anymore, so they walked fast trying to catch their breath. Then they heard it, closer than before. They turned around. Their heart dropped. They screamed. The mandible-claw-thing was right there!

Without thinking, they bashed its “head” with the crowbar and ran. They ran fast and whimpered. They took another door to save themselves…they trapped themselves. There is no second door here.

They turned around and watched as the door was torn apart. They backed off into a corner. As far as they could from the monster that was entering. They begged, they begged as much as they could. It cliqued its mandibles in rhythm. Was it laughing? 

The human felt dizzy. It was so big. The creature approached, slowly, already victorious. The human felt their thoughts fleeting, eaten away by terror. It was right there, it was right there, it was right there! They tried one last:

“Go away! I beg you.”

Before the creature could touch the human, it was hit by a crowbar, again. 

The human entered a frenzy. They hit the creature with all their strength. The creature was disoriented. Then its carapace started to crack. It’s only then, that they felt the shift.

There were no more whimpers, no more sounds coming from the human. They were just wide eyes, almost angry-looking. The fear subsided, there was only instinct. It was hit, after hit, after hit.

The carapace was broken, legs were destroyed. The creature was lying on the ground, fatally wounded. Now the creature was the one begging, it screeched uncontrollably, miserably. It was as if the human didn’t hear.

The screeching subsided to clicks. Then its mandibles were damaged. It only left it with a low and weak rumble. Then it didn’t make any sound anymore. Finally, it didn’t move. It was completely disfigured, damaged beyond repair.

The human kept going, mind blank. It was mechanical at this point. It is all they did for who knows how long. They only stopped when they felt their arms hurting.

——

Sak’ari chose this moment to approach the human. Only to swiftly dodge a crowbar. Upon seeing them, the human backed off, tripped on the carcass, fell down with a whimper and managed to hit itself with its own weapon.

It crawled toward a corner and stayed there. Tears streamed down its face. Sak’ari knew it meant it had too many feelings or one very strong emotion. They approached the human, making sure their movements could be predicted.

What Sak’ari didn’t predict was that the human would jump into their top legs. It held on to them for comfort while sobbing. It reminded Sak’ari of what they did when they were younger.

They passed their tail around the human. Their species are not so different, they thought. In fact, in some ways, they looked alike: they both came from death worlds and convergent evolution made their bodies similar; they were wild but knew to keep it for themselves and harbour a calm look, until danger was near.

Perhaps, that was why Sak’ari was so keen on defending the human against the crew. Maybe, it was because of these small links.

After this incident, the pirates were successfully defeated. The crew discovered what the human had done. The ones who hurt the human felt like they had dodged a bullet, or a crowbar in that case. The crew thought that humans could indeed take down anything, that the rumours were true.

The human was now respected by the crew. However, it was all the more terrified by the tough ones. It found comfort with Sak’ari and stayed with them as much as it could. In the end Sak’ari and the human were inseparable in their time off. Sak’ari found solace in finding someone just like them and the human wasn’t as lonely anymore.

[eretzyisrael]

by Nils A. Haug

Islamist land claims pertaining to Palestine (by which they infer all of Eretz Yisrael - the land of Israel) are, unfortunately, based on false allegations of illegitimate colonialist actions by the Jewish people of the area. The Jews have, it is claimed, usurped the rights of Muslim Palestinians to their historical land. These allegations, however, are merely a façade for covering the true motives of jihadist Islamists who control the public narrative.

The less-than-elevating background to the "Palestinian movement" was exposed by leading Harvard Law School Professor Alan M. Dershowitz in his June 2024 article on the notion of Palestinianism. He explained that the dispute over land has escalated in recent times from "a resolvable conflict over land to an irresolvable conflict over religion." The true nature of the conflict is thus one of religion.

The late senior PLO official Zuheir Mohsen even openly admitted in the Dutch daily Trouw in 1977 that the Palestinian cause is actually, well, fake:

"The Palestinian people does not exist. The creation of a Palestinian state is only a means for continuing our struggle against the state of Israel for our Arab unity. In reality today there is no difference between Jordanians, Palestinians, Syrians and Lebanese. Only for political and tactical reasons do we speak today about the existence of a Palestinian people, since Arab national interests demand that we posit the existence of a distinct "Palestinian people" to oppose Zionism. Yes, the existence of a separate Palestinian identity exists only for tactical reasons, Jordan, which is a sovereign state with defined borders, cannot raise claims to Haifa and Jaffa, while as a Palestinian, I can undoubtedly demand Haifa, Jaffa, Beer-Sheva and Jerusalem. However, the moment we reclaim our right to all of Palestine, we will not wait even a minute to unite Palestine and Jordan." — Zuheir Mohsen to James Dorsey, "Wij zijn alleen Palestijn om politieke reden", Trouw, March 31, 1977.

Palestinianism has nevertheless accelerated on the world stage through an intersection of Western ideologies based on the neo-Marxist premise that if someone succeeds, it can only have happened because they have oppressed someone else. A situation of win-win capitalism -- with unions protecting workers, and profit-sharing plans and investments that share the opportunity so that if an enterprise is successful, all the investors win (and if it is not, they all share the risk and lose) -- does not occur to them. For the Marxists, there must always be an oppressor and an oppressed.

Recent ideologies have related, for instance, to critical race and sex-gender constructs; allegations of settler-colonialist conflicts -- one in particular referred to as Zionism, whereby the purportedly rightful landowners (Muslims) are displaced by Jews, even though Jews have also lived on the land continuously for nearly 4,000 years. Human rights violations are supposedly committed only by Israel, whether in war or peace.

Some leaders of Western nations are complicit, whether by commission or omission, in encouraging or tolerating Palestinianism, notwithstanding countless violent crimes committed in the name of the "Palestinian cause" by jihadists and their supporters. Nations that blame only Israel include Ireland, Norway, Spain, France, Netherlands, Germany, USA, Canada and UK.

Eli Wiesel, during his Nobel Peace Prize acceptance speech, reminded the world that, "We must always take sides. Neutrality helps the oppressor, never the victim. Silence encourages the tormentor, never the tormented."

Most Western leaders fail to counter jihadist attacks, jihadist sexual grooming and mass rape of children, violence against women, stabbings, vehicular ramming and other sociopathic behavior. They apparently want every vote.

[dystopianlover1]

What kind of armour or attire should one wear in a battle where magic is used?

This is a really good question!

It really depends on what kind of magic is used. The simplest to cover would be your material magics - those being ones that can control physical things, like element magic. The armor that our character would have to wear would have to defend in some way against those attacks, while still being able to move.

Another thing to keep in mind is what era your story is set in. Armor has adapted and changed over the years, so medieval armor wouldn't be the same as armor from the ballistic vests of today. What resources are available to your people? How powerful are those resources? How is the armor designed to protect the wearer?

One thing I would say, is to NOT use just chain mail as your only defense. I know Frodo somehow survived a lot of attacks with his elven armor, but chain mail doesn't protect you against blunt force trauma. That was what got knights killed a lot of the time, other than the enemy straight up being trained to hit the weak spots.

Long essay short, I'd say to use something of your own design that is based off of your research into different era's armor. Me personally, I looked up the most protective armor, which as of late is the Level IV Armor. From there, I'd try to imagine it in leather, which is light and reasonably moveable, but does lack in blunt force attacks. Then again, as this is a world with magic, why not enchant or infuse the material with some protective magic or metal that counteracts the magic used against them?

Hope that helped, and happy writing!

[actual-changeling]

Very good analysis, OP! We really do not talk about the gender aspect enough.

Another episode that I feel really fits into this is Excelsis Dei. Mulder doesn't understand how personal this case is for Scully, how horrible the experience that the nurse went through is—that it doesn't matter who or what it was, they need to solve it.

A "logical" leap for him. Mulder always trusts the victims, he always trusts their insane theories and stories, he always goes with the most out-there option. EXCEPT when it comes to rape apparently.

MULDER: Given the emotional and psychological violence of rape, the face or identity of the attacker is often blurred or erased from memory. That he could be perceived as invisible is a logical leap for me.

Then there's the interaction in the bathroom with Hal where Scully is exposed (quite literally) to sexual harassment and he a) doesn't even attempt to protect her and b) makes fun of it right after.

SCULLY: What do you think, Mulder? MULDER: (grinning at her) About the guy's plumbing? SCULLY: About his story.

Someone shoving their genitals into your face and then further harassing you is far from funny, Mulder—and you FAILED to protect her. She looks to you for help because unfortunately men only take other men seriously. She looked to him so he would get them out of this situation but he just kept going.

Later, he's not doing much better.

MULDER: Between the rape case and the Alzheimer's? When they're not drawing childlike pictures they're brutal sex offenders?

He simply does not understand the weight of the women's experiences but Scully does, most likely because she's been in at the very least one situation like that. Being a woman or queer automatically makes you a target for sexual harassment from the day you're born.

Scully cannot just walk away from this and he can—that's the defining difference.

MULDER: I-I think you're looking too hard, Scully, for something that's not there. I think Michelle Charters concocted this story to get out of a job she hates. SCULLY: Her lip required 13 stitches. The blow to her head resulted in a subdural hematoma. That's quite a concoction. Look, I just want to talk to a few more patients there. We can catch the same flight out tomorrow night.

For some reason, Mulder is a sexist asshole throughout the episode right up until the end. He undervalues Scully's theories and explanations, he applies the presumption of innocence to the offender but not to the victim. He didn't do anything but she is lying, with her obvious physical and psychic wounds; great guy.

All the sexist bullshit he does throughout this episode is, in my opinion, a big part of why Scully says she cannot talik to him about this in Irresistible.

Mulder wants Scully to be vulnerable with him but he refuses to create a safe, trusted space in which she can do so without fear of judgement or betrayal. Him being a man means he has to work harder and he knows that, he just doesn't want to because this man is allergic to self-reflection.

Scully, Mulder, Gender, and Irresistible

Upon rewatch, what really struck me about 2x13 Irresistible is the way it prods and pries open the unspoken presence of gender within Mulder and Scully's working relationship.

Within the safety of their private little two-person world, you won't find many echoes of the misogyny that exists outside in society, or in their tremendously male-dominated profession. The implicit trust, respect, and mutual devotion that Mulder and Scully have built their friendship on is, in an of itself, a subversion of traditional gender norms. In their little world, they are equal to each other, have always been, and always will be.

But on the outside, if you pay attention, Scully is very very often the only woman in the room throughout this series. In police stations, meetings, at crime scenes, she carries that invisible burden. Suspects make passes at her on the job. Random people mistake her for Mulder's wife. But in Irresistible, the dial is turned up, and she is physically endangered because of her gender, and confronted with the existence of a vile hatred of women. She not only has to grapple with the terror of this fact, but the terror of being suddenly so much more vulnerable than her partner.

"I don't want him to feel like he has to protect me."

She wants to be by his side, not behind him, trotting at his heels, shielded from the world by him. Scully fears that if Mulder felt the need to protect her, in a way, that would tarnish the dynamic of their partnership. It would be admitting a weakness: and she's probably spent her entire career building walls around any possible weakness.

"I can't talk to him about this."

... Because he is a man. Mulder can be as understanding and supportive as he usually is, but deep down, he will never truly understand what it is like to be in her shoes in Irresistible. She is alone in this way, and that is horrifying.

So to me, (while the hug is truly life-changing), this little exchange is such a perfect moment of trust and affirmation within the episode.

At this point, Mulder knows that she's scared. Scully knows that she's scared. But they both recognize that being afraid doesn't make her weak, or any less capable, any less of a true partner than she always has been. Always.

Being a woman in a dangerous, male-dominated profession often means putting up high emotional walls for one's own safety. To be emotional, sensitive, or vulnerable can be seen as a sign of weakness. But at the end of Irresistible, Scully's emotional break is catharsis. It's not weak or humiliating ... it's very human.

[sugucidal]

now wait a damn minute...

[blackout-files]

matches has existed as a concept for awhile now, bc i've always had this plan for panic attack to have a rival who dies and he ends up looking after their kid but she genuinely didn't start taking shape as a person until today - like i only named her cassidy an hour ago that's how fresh she is - and now im just standing here with a thousand yard stare covered in blood

[ectoplasmer]

actually no I think it’d be really funny if my hs s/i and my ygo s/i switched places

[lith-myathar]

disordered eating talk in the tags

[ms-demeanor]

I understand that vaccines are proven to work and are a great advancement in our medicine, and also that homeopathic remedies don't work, but don't they work on the same principal? Why does one work and the other doesnt?

They do not work on the same principle.

I can see how vaccines look like a "like treats like" situation, but in homeopathy "like treats like" is a kind of magical thinking.

Let's take an example from Chicken Pox, a virus for which there is an effective vaccine and for which there is a common homeopathic treatment.

Chicken pox infects people once, and it is extremely rare to get a second case because once you have had it, your body forms persistent antibodies against the varicella-zoster virus. When I was a kid, they didn't have a vaccine for this, so kids mostly got chicken pox once and it ran around whole schools and that was it. It's a virus that is fairly minor in children, though it can cause dangerously high fevers. Adults who get chicken pox typically get much sicker than children who get it, and it can lead to permanent harms like infertility in adults who get it. Because it can be so dangerous, we don't want people to risk getting it, so we vaccinate.

The way the vaccine works is that it takes a weakened form of the virus and introduces that into the body of a person with a healthy immune system. The immune system responds and the person who got the vaccine may get some minor symptoms, like a headache or a slight fever, but it will be nowhere near as severe as getting actual chicken pox would be. Because the immune system was exposed to the virus and responded, it now has antibodies against the virus that recognize the virus and respond immediately before it can start replicating in the body. If a person who has either previously had chicken pox or who has been vaccinated against it is exposed to the chicken pox virus, their body uses those antibodies to react to the virus and protect against a systemic infection.

Are you familiar with Star Trek? It's kind of like the Borg. You can't use the same attack pattern against the Borg multiple times because if you do, they'll recognize the pattern and will be able to defend against it. The virus is the attacker, and your immune system is the Borg. It knows what it's looking for and won't let anything get through its defenses.

Homeopathic remedies don't seek to prevent illness or provoke an immune response, they seek to cancel out something that is happening in the body.

For chicken pox, which produces itchy red bumps, homeopaths use Rhus Tox - a dilution of poison ivy, a plant that causes itchy red bumps if you encounter it in nature. The Rhus Tox didn't cause the chicken pox, it's not given to prevent the virus, it's from a plant that is completely unrelated to the virus that happens to produce some of the same symptoms as the virus when you touch it.

They don't even think that the Rhus Tox will provoke an immune response from your body like actually touching poison ivy would, they're attempting to use an unrelated compound (that is so diluted that it isn't even present in the preparation) in place of your immune system to attack the itchy red bumps.

So I'm going to go over this in a few brief points:

Vaccines are preventative ONLY, they are not a treatment for illness or symptoms of an illness

Vaccines work by introducing your immune system to a partial, weakened, or dead virus so that your immune system can form antibodies against that virus and prevent that virus from replicating in your body when it is later exposed to a whole/strong/live virus.

Different vaccines have different levels of effectiveness and produce different lengths of immunity; this is for a number of reasons, but if you get a measles shot as a kid you may only ever need one booster, while you need a flu shot every year and a tetanus shot every decade. All of them work the same way, though: they show your immune system what a virus looks like so that your immune system can kill the virus.

That is why immune compromised people sometimes can't be vaccinated, or why vaccines don't work as well for them or may need higher doses or more boosters. Because they don't have a healthy immune system, weakened viruses like the ones in the chickenpox virus might be too strong for their immune system to fight, and even if it doesn't get them sick, their bodies may not be able to produce enough effective antibodies to protect them from the virus in the future. That's part of why it's important for as many people to be vaccinated as possible; the more people who are vaccinated, the harder it is for viruses to spread, and vulnerable people like immune compromised people or babies too young for vaccination won't be exposed to deadly viruses.

Homeopathy, on the other hand, aims to treat symptoms of an illness that a person is already experiencing.

Homeopathic treatments do not aim to provoke an immune response, they aim to cancel out a symptom with a cure.

Dilution is a very important part of homeopathy, with homeopaths claiming that the more diluted a preparation is the stronger it is. This is simply incorrect; I don't know how to make a more logical explanation of that, it is just wrong that less of a substance causes more of a response.

Homeopathy says "like treats like" and that may seem like using a vaccine with a weak virus to prevent infection from a strong virus, but their version of "like" is different - Rhus Tox (poison ivy) is supposed to be "like" chicken pox because both cause itching. Rhus tox is also supposed to treat PCOS, erectile dysfunction, uterine prolapse, sunken eyes, nausea, and backache. "Like" can have an extremely broad meaning in homeopathy, which should be cause for suspicion.

Here's a paper that compared the immune response of college students given homeopathic "vaccines" against a control group and against a group of students who were given standard medical vaccines. The control group and the homeopathic group both did not have an immune response in titer tests, while the vaccination group did have an immune response, demonstrating that they had protection from the vaccinated viruses. It's a pretty good demonstration both of how effective homeopathy is (not at all) as well as how to set up a fair and ethical study to look at the effectiveness of different kinds of treatments.

[nezuscribe]

you try not to get jealous. it does you no good. but sometimes you get a little miffed when it comes to how women treat your husband, arranged!gojo.

you see how the women giggle at him, how they bite their lips whenever he walks by. you see them giggle to each other, the way they try to catch his attention.

and though most ladies of the high society act this way, some of the servants around the estate, the women of the town, and others behave like this too.

they act as if he’s not married, as if that ring on his hand is purely for decoration. and sure, maybe a couple months ago it was for show but now things have changed and you don’t appreciate those ladies all that much.

and gojo notices.

he knows you’re getting better at talking to him about what ails you, but he also knows that it’s a a lot to get used to at once. he sees the way you tense up at their whispers, the glares you throw their way when you hear his name in their conversation. he understands because he’s the same as you, his feelings mirroring yours.

so he decides to comfort your worries a bit indirectly.

“what…” you whip your head around as gojo stops at a random spot in one of the hallways, taking you away from your tea time with shoko as he fails to give any explanation for his hurried responses, “what are you doing? you have that meeting with your counsel and-”

“missed you,” is all he’s able to say as he slams his lips onto yours, earning a surprised yelp in response.

your back hits against the stone wall, one of his hands against your head to protect it from bumping back as your gasp in surprise, letting him slide his tongue in your mouth as he sloppily kisses your lips.

“satoru, w-wait,” you try to stop yourself from whining out loud, your fingers cuing into his artic strands as his hands move down to hold your waist, “it’s daytime, p-people, people can come…” you can’t speak anymore because he doesn’t let you, lips slotting against each others as your eyes screw shut, heartbeat in your throat as he hands squeeze as your skin.

“i missed you,” he just repeats, nipping slightly at your bottom lip as you mewl, feeling his lips trail down your chin to your throat as you tilt you head upwards to give him a better angle.

you almost want to laugh because it’s only been hours since you’ve seen each other, but for gojo it feels like days since he’s seen you.

you peek slightly too look at him, see the way his lips attack your skin, sucking and biting, surely leaving marks as he makes his way down. you love the way his hair is slightly wavy, most likely from his bath after sparring.

you’re almost too intoxicated from his feverish kisses to notice the sounds of incoming footsteps, but the loud overbearing giggles is what pulls you back to reality.

you tense up, scrambling to push him away from you but he won’t budge. if anything, he seems to be motivated, moving back up to your lips to steal your words away.

“t-there’s people coming!” you try to warn him but he doesn’t seem to care, his blue eyes gleaming with a different look as your whine from one of his hands moving upwards to your chest, giving one of your breasts a light squeeze.

“so?” he murmurs, lips hovering against the corners of yours as his brow cocks upwards.

you go to say something else but he tilts your chin upwards to meet him, one hand balancing on the wall behind you, one on your hip, his hair messy from your fingers gripping at him.

you don’t feel like moving, too drunk off of him to even notice the ladies as they round the corner, not looking their way as you hear their squeals of shock, the way they try to hurriedly leave.

you glance slightly to the right as gojo moves back down to your neck to get a look at them, your fingers still tangled in his hair, one hand draped over his neck, squinting slightly as you remember their faces from last week, when you overheard them talking about your husband.

there’s a slight tilt in your lips as you hear their scrambled apologies, the way they try to leave as fast as they can. you try not to gloat too much in their looks of envy and jealousy.

and if you focused just enough, you could feel the smile on his lips.

“you missed me?” you ask a little breathless, a coy tilt to your voice.

“so much,” he mumbles as he glances up at you from his white lashes, his pupils blown wide, lips messy with spit, red and swollen as he presses a slopping kiss to the slight skin showing of your chest.

“you’re so immature,” you chide, trying to look away, the hide the bashfulness in your face but his hand cups your jaw, pulling your face back down to see his.

“they had to see for themselves,” he tells you, his voice wavering on something darker, “had to see who the only lady gojo is.”

and you smile, eyes a little hazy as your fingers slightly tug on his soft strands, reveling in the way his eyes roll back and his lips find their way back up to yours.

yeah jealousy wasn’t the best. but thank the gods your husband was just as petty as you.

[orcboxer]

Sure there's zombies killing and eating people on the street but those people are not dying from the virus they're dying from comorbidities. For instance, that guy we saw getting eaten on the way into work today clearly died from blood loss, not infection, plus he already had a heart condition. People with preexisting conditions are just going to have to take care of themselves. Say it with me, "They're all already dead to me." See, that feels a lot better now doesn't it?

Good because you still have to go to work. No we're not paying you extra. Yes we're doubling grocery prices. No you don't qualify for disability. Or healthcare. Or a home.

Look, if you get bitten, you can stay home for one day, I guess 😒, but then you need to come in early. We're really short staffed at the moment, despite our company's profits being higher than ever. In fact we may be laying some of you off next month. You don't mind working off the clock right?

Also you look silly with that protective gear. We're gonna harass you for it, not like institutionally but just socially. Who cares if a zombie attacks you? Who cares if we invite them into the building? You don't need to defend yourself, you're just overreacting. If you get bitten just tell everyone the festering bite mark is from a different animal, that's what we all do.

And hey, don't worry so much. It's endemic, which means we don't have to keep track of how many people are dying from it anymore. Just look at those numbers! It's only killed 2,000 people in America this week! That's basically nobody! We're back to normal!

If everything starts tasting like rotting meat for the rest of your life, it's probably something else. If you experience brain fog or you forget things constantly or you're tired all the time after even minor physical activity, it's just because you're lazy. Yes every other virus you ever get will also be increasingly worse but that's just a coincidence. Those viruses just happen to be exponentially worse now.

Plus, those few weeks during the lockdown were terrible for my mental health. I just can't keep living like that, so we have to go back to normal life, which now involves people biting each other and twitching uncontrollably and rotting visibly.

You can't expect the world to wait for you. "Already dead to me," remember?

[bunnis-monsters]

NSFW

So hybrid bulls and cows are actually separate species in MY fantasy world, not male and female.

So you work on a farm specializing in male cows and bulls, the only woman that’s allowed there due to… how the hybrids behave around any females.

You milk them… but not in the normal way. As the only woman on the farm, you’re the only one they’ll allow to milk their cocks. They produce a special semen that’s a milk alternative, and very yummy!

The cow’s are fine enough, following you around and nuzzling into you, wanting cuddles and extra attention when you’re milking them… they behave so well, blushing and mooing softly, gently moving their hips against your hand as you milk their cocks dry.

The bulls however… are a different story. They’re very territorial and protective over the cow hybrids, who they’ve formed a friendship with. They don’t like most people, and tend to be loners that only come around when it’s milking time.

But your pay is upgraded when the farm owners notice that the bulls have started warming up to you, even starting to treat you like a heifer, keeping you safe and guarding you from the other employees.

It wasn’t a surprise to anyone but you when the bulls started being a bit… too handsy with you. They viewed you as a heifer now… but you were so small compared to any female cow they’d ever seen. A runt, stunted, maybe…

But you had that chubby tummy and plush hips, those plump breasts that would look so pretty full of milk…

Within a month of starting work, you find yourself being bent over by one of the bulls, the cows mooing in distress and trying to comfort you as a fat cock enters your cunt.

“D-don’t be rough with her! She’s little!” one of the cows protests, stroking your hair and cooing softly to you. The bull huffs, hot air hitting the back of your neck as he fucks into you.

“Being as gentle as possible… little thing, couldn’t take me being rough even if I wanted to be…”

Your cunt was stuffed full with cum, several bulls mounting you until you were a blubbering mess. Once the bulls were done, you were surrounded by cows, getting kisses and snuggles… but they wanted to mate as well…

They pressed down on your belly, cum pooling between your legs as they cooed and gently fucked their own seed into you. By the end of the work day, you were spent, curled up in the hay with several cow hybrids as the bulls guarded the door.

You were payed handsomely for your efforts, and offered an even bigger paycheck to let them mount you at least once a week to let out their sexual frustrations.

They became more territorial around you, but when you weren’t in the picture, the bulls were much calmer and didn’t attack anyone that brought out food or came to give them check ups.

And when you became pregnant… well… let’s just say you were tucked away in the barn, living there with the cows and bulls as your belly grew heavy and swollen.

The cows tended to you, making sure you received all the human comforts you wanted along with their endless affections, and the bulls kept you safe.

———————

A/N: omg… ask me more about this concept because… I’m in love

NSFW TAGLIST: @sunset-214 @screaming-crying-screamingagain @strawberrypoundtown @avalordream @icommitwarcrimes @bazpire @chubbumblebee @im-eating-rn @anglingforlevels @kinshenewa @pasteldaze @j3llyphisching @unforgettablewhvre @yoongiigolden

[ambrosiagourmet]

This episode of the anime made me realize something about Namari and her relationship with Tansu and his party. Before now I haven't been able to quite pin down how and why they start treating her more like family and less like a disposable bodyguard. But the anime conveys the shift so well!!

So, at the start of the episode, Tansu pulls Namari in the way of the undine's attack to protect himself. He's perfectly happy to let her die to save himself.

Kiki and Kaka both shout for him, but no one expresses a lot of care for what happens to Namari. This isn't remarkable to any of them. They do bring her back to the camp, of course, and Tansu resurrects her... at which point she starts yelling at him about how this is, in fact, a common thing.

Throughout the rest of the episode, there is a clear contrast in how the Tansu family all treats each other versus how they treat Namari. Tansu or Kiki being in danger is concerning. Namari getting hurt or killed is just part of the job. She is a meat shield, a tool they paid for and are using as part of this expedition. They take care of her, but they care about each other.

And though it's not exactly explicitly stated, Chilchuck's speech about reputation makes it clear why - they probably assume, because of her reputation, that this is how Namari views things, too.

From their perspective, Namari signed up to die a lot and get paid a lot. She is only there for the money, but acts upset when they don't treat her as a proper member of the party (and family). From their perspective, flawed as it is, she is asking for more respect than she will return.

That's not how Namari actually feels, though, and at the episode she tells Tansu as much:

And this is what changes things between them! Tansu finally sees her as more than a tool. For the first time, the party bonds with Namari as a person.

It's very fitting that this comes right after Namari realizes the value of Senshi's pot, too.

Just like the adamantine shield can be used for more than just fighting, Namari is more than just a tool and shield herself.

So they all share a meal, and things are different between them now. Tansu and his family will go on to treat Namari with more respect in the future, and they will begin to forge actual bonds. As complex as the layers of distrust, reputation, depersonalization and assumption are... In many ways it's as simple as that. How very like Dungeon Meshi. I'm so glad the anime made this finally click for me.