thoughtsofagremlin

[thoughtsofagremlin]

Before you were anything, you were a mother.

When the universe began it was you, and the earth was the first of your children. The seas, the skies, everything that walked the earth was your precious offspring. Humanity, however, were the children you were closest with, made in your own image.

The earth could not remain young forever, and as it grew it began to become too much for you to handle on your own. And so, like every god must, you collected followers. Humans who would take responsibility to do your work. In exchange you promised to reward them, giving them whatever they desired.

Children, however, are imperfect, and humanity is no exception. When promised whatever they want selfishness begins to take over, and time and time again that selfishness has stung. For every three steps forward your followers took to helping you maintain the earth, they took one step back with their selfish wishes. Eventually it felt like a chore, to reward them. It no longer felt like a gift to your children but a betrayal of them. Still, a promise is a promise.

When your next follower came forth to receive their gift, you were already prepared for the worst. They had suffered greatly, and those who suffer greatly have the most pain to inflict back on the world. It comes as a surprise, however, when they instead ask for the warmth of a parent’s embrace.

When you wrap your arms around your follower, this broken child whose only desire is to be loved, you begin to remember. You begin to remember that while humans can be selfish and broken they are still your children who wish for guidance and love. You remember that your followers are still young in the eyes of the universe, and do not know how to not be creatures focused on themselves. You remember and you forgive, and you remind yourself and the earth that you are the mother of everything.

Before you were anything, you were a mother, and a mother you shall stay until the end of time.

You are a patron deity that physically appears before your followers in order to reward them for loyal service. Usually, they like to fulfill their darkest desires, so you’re completely caught off guard when one of them asks to feel "the embrace of a parent."

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There’s a bunch of right-wing people posting memes about “”DOGE”” making the government more efficient by removing funding from “”dumb bug researchers”” and I am now realizing how little the average person knows about entomology and its importance

Excuse me while I get sad .

[thoughtsofagremlin]

laptop overheating?? pour water on it to cool it down!

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My friend sent me this with a "this made me think of you."

I feel so seen.

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If a girl feels uncomfortable hanging out with you alone, and you get so offended by that, it makes you angry, she probably made the right choice.

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It occurs to me that there are people who weren’t on this website in 2012 and therefore never saw the magical gif that you can actually hear:

It’s been over five years and that still impresses the hell out of me.

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https://www.sfgate.com/california-parks/article/judge-says-park-service-reinstate-fired-employees-20220040.php

Public outcry works. Protest works.

Keep raising hell!

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Tumblr isn't giving us back the boops for ides of march so I will do it myself.

Get your boops everyone!!!

I just put these together real quick feel free to use them.

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Stab a politician day!!!!

[thoughtsofagremlin]

I've told this story before but the non-negotiable in allyship really reminded me of my gaming group. So one of my best friends is a twin and while I know *her* pretty well I don't really know her brother as well despite knowing him for roughly same length of time. We play videogames together and her brother asked to join us so at some point I took him aside and had The Talk with him because we at that point had a recently out trans fem within the group and she had just barely started hormones and hadn't done any voice training etc so I fully intended to head any trouble off at the pass.

So I basically had the "respect my friend's pronouns or die by my sword" discussion because while he knows I'm a trans guy and had so far been chill, I didn't know if that extended to all trans people.

What I did not expect was for him to pull an uno reverse on me and invite his two trans woman friends to game with us as well and did a "no no, *you* respect *my* friends' pronouns or die by *my* sword".

When I was working at Petco, one of my coworkers came to me having a total panic and anxiety meltdown and when I finally got them to tell me what was going on, the revealed they had sought me out because they were having Transgender Feelings and wanted advice. I ended up giving them my old binders that were too small for me but a perfect fit for them, and one of my roommates gave them their first masc haircut.

A few weeks later a customer speaking Spanish was saying many nasty things about my coworker and reacting with disgust. Another coworker- a cis gay man who speaks fluent Spanish- came to get me first so I could pull the other coworker away while he effectively cussed them out in Spanish. He told us the sparknotes version of the English translation and it was mostly horrifically transphobic drivel. My coworker had responded mostly neutrally to me being trans, but for him to be visibly steamed the rest of the day over my other coworker definitely bumped my respect for him.

And I've talked about how a cis lesbian friend of mine visibly bristles at anyone she even thinks is being shitty to me about being trans to the point of making them splutter and back down.

A cishet woman I am only sort of acquaintances with once caught me wincing at being she/her'd at a trial and asked if that had been happening all day. When I responded the affirmative, she stormed off and I didn't see her the rest of the day. The next day, any time anyone referred to me there was an audible pause before a deliberate choice to choose masc versions.

Another trans woman who is a friend of mine once beat up a bully for calling her trans boyfriend a heshe when they were in schooling together.

It's about holding the line. It's about making the active choice to show up for each other. And it's about linking hands and refusing to budge.

If you cannot hold the line with me by your side, then we are not moving together.

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How come semi trucks in Europe look like “toot toot :)” and in North America they look like “HONK HOOOOOOOONK >:|”

[thoughtsofagremlin]

do you know where "no beta we die like x" comes from and how it is used?

The term "beta" in this context is short for "beta reader" - a person who reads a fic while it's still in the editing stage and helps the writer get it ready to post. Some betas check grammar. Some check canon compliance. Some are sensitivity readers. There are lots of things that betas can do.

So functionally, saying "no beta" means that the writer didn't get this checked by a second person before they posted it. It's a warning that there might be errors or typos etc. It's mostly used when an author has written something quickly and is posting without doing a lot of (or any) edits first.

As for where it comes from? It all started with a bumper sticker.

This image was an internet meme at one point, and it got meme'd on in the form of "no ___ we ___ like men"

Here on tumblr, one of the versions that got really popular was from now-deleted user @grec1a who created this version:

From there, it migrated to AO3 as the "no beta we die like men" tag, and very often the word men is replaced by the name of a character who dies in canon.

[thoughtsofagremlin]

Reblog daily for health and prosperity

[thoughtsofagremlin]

I used to be a powerlifter

(please reblog this version, as it is finished!)