#they're too real to me and so are all their families

[nerdykeppie]

Holiday Shopping that fights period poverty for college students? Yep! Read on. :)

After the success of our June/Pride 2024 sales goal, where we managed to eliminate a lot of the debt we accumulated while I was unable to work earlier this year & stock up cash so we didn't have to borrow for payroll during the fall lull and also donate to @queerliblib, we were considering where to focus on this year when a conversation I had with my mom pointed me in the direction of our charity for Holidays 2024: the East Stroudsburg University Warrior Food Pantry, and specifically, stocking menstrual products at the pantry.

Without getting too much into the weeds about the details - which I'll talk about under the cut for those of you who are interested - here's the pitch: we need to hit a gross sales goal of $45K in December in order to pay our bills and payroll basically until Pride starts up. Businesses like ours are very much feast or famine, and we've got to eat and we've got people whose paychecks depend on us having the cash to pay them.

If we hit that goal, we'll donate the equivalent of 1% of our net profit from the month of December in period products -- tampons and pads, specifically, by request of the food pantry, and possibly reusable pads and menstrual cups, if the pantry wants that from us. (At the end of the day, this is about taking care of people the way they need, and we'll listen to the pantry staff about what people are requesting.)

We've currently got our Bottoms & Tops sale going, too, so you can buy 2 tops or bottoms from the linked collection & get 69% off the 3rd item from that collection.

Okay, so for the long version whys and wherefores:

My mom taught math at ESU for 35 years, and she and Dad now volunteer running the food pantry along with a couple of other people. ESU is a state school, and as such is one of the few remaining vaguely affordable schools in Pennsylvania. A lot of its students are self-supporting for one reason or another -- many are "non-traditional"/adult students, have kids, or don't have families that can support them while they go to school. Mom & Dad have pushed to expand what the food pantry offers to personal care items, which has been difficult due to a bunch of boring stuff about money and state entities and also people thinking 'that's not food,' but Mom is stubborn about it, because -- to paraphrase her -- how can you focus on class when you feel gross? This struggle has been especially difficult for menstrual products, and way more so for tampons, because it's a rather conservative area and... yeah. People get weird about it.

I've been really broke, with a young kid, and reliant on food pantries, which rarely, if ever, have any menstrual products, let alone tampons. Period poverty is very real, and it sucks.

Plus, I gotta tell you, if we can send a bunch of boxes of tampons and pads to the food pantry, well... Rumor has it this will help my mom win an argument over whether those items should be carried at all, because what are they gonna do, throw them out? They're here! They've been donated! Wasting them would be terrible. :)

So that's the pitch, guys. Help me make a direct, measurable difference in the lives of people at the school where I went to winter swim team, the school that fed me growing up... and help my mom win an argument about making people's lives better... and get your holiday shopping done while you do. ;) We start counting sales from the minute I hit post. :P

[schoenpepper]

Hii

Can I request Rook and Azul with an S/O(reader) who really hates their real hair color so they dyed it to another color. The boys never seen their S/O with their original hair color but let's say they found a childhood photo of them and questions their S/O about it. Turns out they had the same hair color as their abusive father so they've dyed it to another when they turned into a pre-teen

Sorry if it's too much and confusing but if you ever do it thank you in advance!

Faded Colors

Warnings: bad writing, awful grammar, not proofread

A/N: See how productive I am (please don't throw your tomatoes at me I'm just a poor college student and November fucked me up bad). Presenting two characters I almost never write because they're...not my favorite.

Masterlist

"Is this you?"

Your heart almost stops beating when you saw what Azul was holding up—a yellowed Polaroid with a familiar child clad in a little black outfit. You sit beside your lover, leaning on his shoulder as you quietly trace over the picture.

"I didn't know your hair was dyed."

You know he won't judge you for it, and certainly not when he hears the reason. But right now, nothing leaves your lips. You freeze in place and nod. Azul nods with you.

You don't need to explain.

Not when he scoots closer to you and wraps his arms around you. You know he understands because he presses the softest kiss on your forehead and murmurs, "you look better with dyed hair."

He knows exactly what to say. Always.

"Shall I help you next time? My dear, would you like to emulate my hair color perhaps?"

At that, you let out a little laugh and nod again.

"Sure. If you can find a good box dye that matches it."

Today won't be the day you tell him about your shattered childhood, but eventually, you'll give him the pieces and let him glue you back together.

You don't need to tell Rook anything. If not because of... unconventional methods, he'll already have an inkling of your past and reasons just by watching you. The way you almost obsessively schedule your hair appointments, how you clam up when the topic turns to family history and your childhood, it's all an open book to him.

He is a hunter, after all. And you are his most precious proie.

It's Saturday.

You wake up in a daze, then panic. Every three weeks, you're supposed to get your roots touched up to avoid even catching a glimpse of your actual hair color, but you got so backed up by exams and projects and events that made it impossible to actually remember anything else. You can buy the dye today, you can still make it—

"Bonjour, mon amour. I come bearing gifts!"

The familiar dramatic greeting makes you jump back, clutching at your hair to desperately hide the fading dye at the roots, smiling awkwardly.

"Oh, Rook, love, I actually need to go out and buy something."

"These?"

He hands you a plastic bag with your usual supplies, pushing you back into your room. "Dépêchez-vous, I shall assist you in reaching your full potential of beauty!"

Taglist:

@fsh1 @lemon-koii @yummyyummyinmytumny

[miraculouslbcnreactions]

Do you think that Ms. Bustier is overhated?

Not particularly. I don't have any strong feelings about her, but she's clearly a terrible teacher who is in way over her head. I totally understand why she sets some people off. If she was a real person that I actually had to deal with, then she'd probably set me off, too, because she so perfectly encapsulates toxic positivity. If you're not familiar with that term, then here's a quick definition:

Toxic positivity is the act of avoiding, suppressing, or rejecting negative emotions or experiences. This may take the form of denying your own emotions or someone else denying your emotions, insisting on positive thinking instead. Although setting aside difficult emotions is sometimes necessary temporarily, denying negative feelings long term is harmful because it can prevent people from processing their emotions and overcoming their distress.

Read that definition and then look at this scene from Zombiezou:

Marinette: But Miss Bustier, it's so not fair! It was Chloé, pulling another...Chloé! And...I'm the one who's getting in trouble?! Miss Bustier: Of course you're not in trouble, don't worry! As the class representative, I want you to set a good example for your classmates. Don't give into feelings of anger. Try to forgive Chloé instead. Marinette: I don't get it... Chloé is the meanest person I've ever known. Miss Bustier: Come on... There are much worse people in Paris right now than Chloé Bourgeois. I'm sure people like Chloé are capable of great things. The problem is, they only think of themselves. They don't understand the meaning of love, and we can't force them to change. But perhaps we can show them by setting a good example. That's why Marinettes are so important in today's world; because they have a lot of love to give. I'm counting on you. Marinette: Yes, Miss Bustier.

This is toxic positivity in action. Marinette is told to set aside her extremely valid feelings as if anger is a terrible thing, but it isn't. All emotions have their place and ignoring them can do real harm, a lesson that Miraculous really struggles with. It seems to see "negative" emotions as bad and they're really not. What matters is how we express and address our emotions, not that we experience them. If you want to see a family friendly piece of media do this topic right, then go watch Pixar's Inside Out.

There's also the fact that Chloé is never punished for her actions in this episode. She ruined a gift that probably took Marinette hours and yet Miss Bustier puts the onus to fix things on Marinette, blaming the victim and doing nothing to actually fix the situation. Canon mildly complicates this with Chloé's father's willingness to meddle, making punishing her apparently impossible, but Miss Bustier doesn't even acknowledge that here. The stated logic is that you need to be nice to your bully and that will hopefully magically fix things, which is a terrible lesson that I don't want any kid to learn! What kind of logic is that?

I'll admit that I'm a big fan of "an eye for an eye leaves the whole world blind," but that doesn't mean that you should never acknowledge harm or fight back. It just means that you need to be measured in your responses and pick your battles wisely. If this episode was about that, then I'd be fine with it, but that's not the lesson here. There is no point where the wrong done to Marinette is even mildly acknowledged. Miss Bustier's initial reaction to seeing Marinette's ruined gift is:

Miss Bustier: Well, I think this present is wonderful. It'll be my new cosmetics bag! Then I'll be able to think of both of you every time I use it.

And we go straight from that to the toxic positivity.

Something is wrong with this woman. You shouldn't even take this approach with preschoolers! While I could see this being a good final solution to something like Chloé scribbling on Marinette's drawing, Chloé's behavior still needs to be addressed. She is still the one in the wrong here. The one whose behavior needs to change.

This is one of many cases where there are two paths to take with this character. The writers clearly want Miss Bustier to be a wonderful teacher, but they wrote a victim-blaming disaster who shouldn't be in charge of anyone. If you're ever adapting her, then it's up to you if you want to redesign her into her intended self or if you want to lean into the bad writing. I think both paths have merit because the writing is so bad that there is no way to make canon Caline work as a good teacher. She's too fundamentally flawed so you either acknowledge how awful she is or do a major overhaul where she's much less forgiving and actually acknowledges things like the Chloé problem.

[amxrany]

!! CHAPTER 7 / DIASOMNIA ARC SPOILERS !!

I'm excited with how much this one will hurt me (Ruggie's Dream):

We are now in Afterglow Savannah, and the group (Grim, Sebek, Idia and Ortho) is teaching Jack how to use "Dream Form Change" and bro's too hesitant to say it 😭, he evens mention that it's just like the shows his sister watches. But the group continues to egg him on until he actually said it and everyone's just excited for it (except for Silver and Azul).

So in the background, we see a statue of the birth of Simba scene from the Lion King, it's said that this scene is often referenced in children's books.

The group then brought up one detail: why aren't there any statues of hyenas bowing? That's when Jack mentions an old theory, that the statue was made during the time the hyenas weren't serving the King of The Beasts and Afterglow Savannah yet. Because people believed that the hyenas lived in the "Land of Shadows" (or the "Outlands") and had their own rules.

It's also believed that lions have been kings for a long time. But despite beastfolk being scattered all across Twisted Wonderland now, their origins can be traced back to Afterglow Savannah. Jack also tell us that his family are immigrants who moved to the Land of Pyroxene.

We actually go into a bit of real-world issues here as the group talks about how Afterglow Savannah values of the co-existence of their people with nature despite urban development plans. That's when Idia brought up Leona's choice of joining a mining and energy research institue for his internship and how it highlights a current issue of his country. Ortho then tells us that mining can help a country prosper but it clashes with the traditional life of the residents, which is why the issue is seen as controversial.

The issue of excessive mining is also brought up, because if that happens people can be forced out of their homes. But with Leona joining the institute to learn about its programs and possible plans to understand the issue from the other side, shows that he really does care about his people 🥹

THEN THE OWNER OF THE DREAM APPEARS AND HE'S RUNNING LATE TO CLASS (very school girl behavior if you ask me)

This actually makes me sad because as we're passing through the market, we can see that Ruggie's dream is just life treating him better. Because his father comes home with a great fortune (they really pulling the father comes home with the milk route on him huh 😭), everyone and everything in the community is thriving with vendors handing food to Ruggie because he slept late and not because he missed a meal, and Ruggie's worries being about an exam he might miss and not how to survive to see the next day. Once again, we get hit with the reality that all of this is just Ruggie's imagination.

We end up in a school called "Ivorycliff Academy" where most students are hyena beastfolk. It also has a statue of the hyenas we see in the Lion King as well. The academy actually holds hyenas with high regard, seeing them as important figures for fighting alongside the King of The Beasts for their rights.

The academy also has an abundance of fruit trees to the point you can just pluck a fruit off the tree and eat it (had those in my old school but we were never allowed to eat the fruit smh 😒). Because of this Grim couldn't hold himself back and proceeds to eat the fruit from the trees, which causes some chaos because he's seen by students and Ruggie nearly called security on them but luckily Azul comes in with a save, telling Ruggie that Grim belongs to them and that they're exchange students.

Sebek berates Grim for causing trouble because he got hungry, but he's no better because his stomach starts growling too 😭 but Ruggie told them to feel free to eat with them since hyenas share the spirit of solidarity. He relates this to his own experience that he can't ignore other people when they're hungry.

Ruggie brings the group to a donut stall and shows us his favorite combo - a plain donut with chocolate sauce, topped with sliced fruits, custard, fresh cream, and lastly some berry jam - The Ruggie Special if you would. He gives the donut to Sebek, who eats it all in one bite. He also prepared a mountain of donuts for the group and Azul's just concerned with the amount of calories 😭

We also learn from the vendor of the donut stall that Leona was the one who established the academy. In this dream, Ruggie doesn't know Leona personally but he really looks up to him here; because Leona used his knowledge from studying abroad to build schools just like Ruggie's. He's even more popular than Farena amongst the country's youth. But then the bell rings and Ruggie leaves the group to go to class.

But then the vendor of the donut stall suddenly turns into the darkness and attacks the group, Ortho warns the group that Malleus' presence is strong so they must wake Ruggie FAST

Jack says that he doesn't want to wake Ruggie up because he's so happy in his dream. But Azul tells him that in reality, Ruggie isn't always happy and that they should wake him up for the sake of his body, because he's receiving zero calories and his real grandma is alone and probably worried sick about him.

We then remembered what happened during Book 4 where Ruggie brought food for the people in his community during winter break and they come to the realization that he wouldn't want to be stuck in the dream world when the people he cares for are still suffering in the real world. This is where Azul proposes his plan.

So Ruggie's with a group of people going to the cinema to see a movie when Azul suddenly drops a coin in the ground, 1 thaumark/madol to be exact. Ruggie stops when he hears the noise and suddenly doesn't understand what's happening to him, like something calling him.

Azul increases the amount slowly from 1 thaumark/madol to 5 thaumarks/madols, this caused Ruggie to slowly lose his mind and separate from his group to look for the source. That's when Azul pulls out 100 thaumarks/madols.

Everyone's wondering why he's dropping money all over the place, that's when Azul mentions that when Ruggie sometimes takes shifts in Mostro Lounge, he can immediately the amount of money someone dropped based on the noise (like a coin buff if you think about it). Because there was one time someone dropped money by accident and he managed to guess the exact amount of 753 thaumarks/madols. He also manages to find the location just by the noise (wish my coin buff was like that fr 😔)

Anyways look at Ruggie in the Octavinelle uniform, so cute

Everyone's surprised about this discovery, even Idia said that it's like a buff you get in an RPG.

But anyways, Ruggie manages to find the money and wonders why he suddenly feels happy about it; this causes the dream to start distorting. Azul strikes in a moment of weakness and shows Ruggie 500 thaumarks/madols.

That's when Azul throws the money into the fountain and Ruggie jumps in immediately to look for it (I think that part explains Ruggie's groovy? Correct me if I'm wrong tho). Then Azul just laughs at him (what an asshole 😭 but Yuu gets mad at him for it)

This actually wakes Ruggie up and the group of people he was with approaches him and the first thing he does when he's back on his senses is to complain about the color of their uniform 💀 and that he doesn't give a damn if it gets dirty, preferring the NRC black colored uniform better.

The group tells him not to be behave that way because they're meant to be affiliated with the king. But Ruggie's like "King? I'll choose which King I'll serve." which turns them into shadows.

Once the shadows are defeated, Ortho explains to Ruggie that everything was just a dream; which causes him to breakdown completely.

He cries about how all the food was fake, and when he goes home his dad isn't there and his grandma won't get a new car. Idia isn't helping with the situation either because when Ruggie asks if Malleus was a heartless person, he proceeded to responded "erm actually he's a fae ����" (would've killed him just saying 🤷‍♀️)

Ruggie calms down and suggests we go find Leona because if there's anyone who wants to fight Malleus, it's most definitely him. Jack agrees, saying that Ruggie is the best person to wake him up knowing that he does that every morning.

The update ends with Ruggie joining the gang as we go to Leona's dream.

And that's it for the first part of the Savanaclaw update! Keep in mind the second part covering Leona's dream will be released on November 29, so stay tuned then!

Previous: Jack's Dream Next: Leona's Dream

(Note: This post is a summarized version of the update, info and pics comes from @/LBucchie and @/WitchDrug on x/twt, give them some support if you can)

[aesthetictarlos]

I don't know if any of you would accept to write this prompt but I'll try anyway, because I've already written a few fix-it and I have a few more planned so I've decided to write a canon divergence/fluffy Thanksgiving fic where they have never broken up BUT...

Imagine this.

Buck and Tommy had already made plans for friendsgiving before breaking up and Tommy's invited to Chimney and Maddie's place to have dinner with the whole 118 + extended families. Of course Tommy calls Howie and says he can't be there now that they've broken up because he doesn't want to hurt Buck more than he already did. Chimney, tho, can be very convincing and eventually Tommy decides that okay, he will be there.

Meanwhile Evan is sure that Tommy won't be there because he knows the man and is aware that he's convinced he doesn't really belong with the 118 (which to be fair it's what Tommy thought for real), so he doesn't prepare himself for the chance of meeting him again.

Except that once they're all there, almost ready to start dinner, there's a knock on the door and Tommy's there, looking beautiful but also tired, guarded, cautious.

They can't exactly talk right there, not when everyone else is waiting for them, so they awkwardly greet each other and then... Well, then the tension is palpable and eventually they talk and of course they make up (and make OUT).

Here's me generously offering this prompt because seriously, angst/tension isn't really my thing to write and I've already written too much of it for my liking 😂

[kings-highway]

consider: first year UC-berkeley iwaizumi hajime who doesn't know what to do during Thanksgiving Break. it's too much of a hassle and expensive, he reasons, to fly all the way home or to argentina for that short of a break. that time spent flying could be spent studying, not to mention the money. and all of that time spent home will likely still be spent hunched over his laptop and notes, clacking away at his final essays, and decidedly not with his family.

but he also doesn't want to stay in his cramped dorm room all alone. all of his newly-made friends and his dormmate are going home for thanksgiving. but him? he's already elected against flying, and that's pretty much his only option unless he wants to somehow uber all the way to argentina (bad idea).

his roommate then proposes to him: "why don't you just spend thanksgiving with me? we're real nice people, me and my family. we'll even leave ya alone if you wanna study, and we won't make ya eat anything if ya don't want it. it'll just give you a warm place to stay!"

and, well, his roommate is nice. he's heard glimpses of his conversations with his siblings and parents over the phone, and the stories he tells makes his family out to be... funny people, at the very least. and iwaizumi really doesn't want to stay in his dorm.

so. he says, "okay." and his roommate gives him this bright grin that both reassures iwaizumi and sends an inexplicable bone-chilling shiver down his spine. he gets his reasoning later, when his roommate sends him his flight ticket to alabama.

queue an incredibly rural southern thanksgiving with more cousins than iwaizumi can feasibly count to, constant noise and broken windows from all the little ones running around, old geezers talking politics while drinking beer and watching football, three different kinds of casseroles, and a turkey trot the morning of thanksgiving that he had NO prior warning of until his roommate is shaking him awake at five in the morning, talking about a 5k run. and those finals he wanted to study for? those essays he wanted to write? yeah, he doesn't get any time for that. instead, he's playing twister and Wii Sports bowling with both the younger cousins and the drunk adult cousins.

oikawa spares him no sympathy and laughs at him every single day of Thanksgiving Break.

i dont come from a place that celebrates thanksgiving with all the bells and whistles and football like the US does so i dont really know what kind of hell this would be but I know for SURE Japan doesnt have thanksgiving. Iwaizumi would have his roommate be like "hey i dont want you to be alone, wanna come to Alabama for thanksgiving?" and Iwa would be like "what the fuck is thanksgiving and what the fuck is Alabama" and then later he's on the phone with Oikawa and whispering so nobody can overhear him like "i dont KNOW whats happening they fed me about four metric tons of food last night and now they're teaching me how to play american football. no its not like volleyball. the big one shoulder checked me to the ground and I think I broke a rib. send help and send it fast please."

[kaishaexotica]

I'm gonna make a backstory dump on the loop dudes, I own it to you all at this point ☝️

[autisticrosewilson]

So do you guys actually think that Jason's entire story, relationship to the others, and philosophy amounts to him being a rebellious teen who wants his dad's attention? Like are you 100% serious? I thought you were joking about that but too many of you are saying it with your whole chest.

And what the fuck is this "Bruce antagonizing Jason is fanon!" Shit I've been seeing? You guys are aware that a parent can love their kid and still be a shit parent right? I know you guys don't want to fathom the thought that maybe your blorbo might also occasionally have to face responsibility for consistently endangering children but let's not start being delusional now.

Bruce does love his kids, that doesn't mean that he hasn't hurt them. And I'd also argue that for the most part he feels in the right for it, and he's said multiple times that he believes it's for their own good, so you can't even argue that he's sorry about it. It's okay for you guys to admit that your PERSONAL INTERPRETATION of the character wouldn't do that but don't sit here and pretend that it's not a facet of the source.

[mahou-no-momo]

I know the ending was bleak and tragic but I find it hard to believe that the crew's family would not be outraged with the company and go off to search for them on their own or at the very least hire a PI/search & rescue to find them. It definitely wouldn't take 20 years for them all to be found. Months at best. However, they all likely still would've been found dead because they didn't have enough supplies to last until they were all found.

At the very least I just can't fathom them all floating through space rotting away and NO ONE actually looks for them. No way. Specifically Daisuke and Swansea's family.

Like I think about this so much. How much would it cost? What would the company say to cover their ass? (We all know how corporations are. Especially this one.) Would they not even acknowledge any concern? How much hush money would they attempt to offer? How would the families cause enough of an uproar for the company to take action? What lies would the company spread before finally accepting that they're at fault? How long of a battle would the families put up with before taking matters into their own hands? Would this cause there to finally be proper work regulations? Not specifically for a crew since the Tulpar was the last, but in general for any job with humans at the helm.

I don't even wanna think about if any of the family finally finds the ship and goes on board. Daisuke's parents would be devastated and guilty. Swansea's kids would be outraged, seeing the bullet hole in their father's head. You even have to wonder about Curly and Anya's family too. I don't think they'd be allowed on the ship just simply for the fact that the investigator/S&R would know that the crew would likely not be in a good state when found. So that puts my mind somewhat at ease. None of their families has to immediately see that whole scene. But they would have to identify the bodies, and that's what hurts me.

[13reasonstoeatthatcake]

I really want to know how Lilith Sorrengail feels about trying her best to get her youngest daughter away from whatever it was that her dad supposedly found in the Archives after Brennan 'died', just to get said daughter even more involved with the tyrrish rebellion two: electric boogaloo.

[introspectivememories]

touch-starved bernard dowd is sooo canon to me

[irregularbillcipher]

do love how many of us bill cipher flatland truthers heard "when bill destroyed his home dimension, he killed everyone he'd ever known" and all simultaneously decided "well except kryptos. he knew kryptos. he kept kryptos :)"

[rinofwater]

Hah, so uh how to explain to my parents that I have reconsidered wanting to move back to the wannabe fascist state after all

[fromtheseventhhell]

They're so twins-coded

[demonateher]

I had a vivid dream that I flew to some random theater to watch the new episode premiere already, though in reality there aren't even showtimes listed yet on the theater websites. I was one of the first people seated in that classroom-style theater too.

Like, because it was a dream there were of course elements of the episode itself that made me go "what??? Why did Ufotable change it so much???" but also "weeee, new content, this is exciting!" but mostly it was me after the premiere being like, "So I know I just hopped on a plane somewhere to come watch this because of course I would, but I don’t actually know where I am. Hmm. Am I on Shikoku?"

Priorities.

Clearly I am excited to get a new anime episode soon.

[b-blushes]

good grief i have really gotten myself into a tizzy this evening. guy who post cancelled i can't even put it into words. horse ebooks everything happens to much <- not even big things happening i'm just autism styling (bad) my life today