#over a third of those countries have made exceptions

[coochiequeens]

“Performing sterilization without the informed consent of the person concerned is considered to be a violation of their rights,” the ministry said.

By Sarah Hurtes Sarah Hurtes reported from across Europe, including spending more than a month in Iceland.

Nov. 25, 2023, 5:00 a.m. ET

Anita cannot speak or comprehend complex information. At 28, she communicates mostly with facial expressions and baby-like sounds. When excited, she washes her hands. When her periods cause cramping and pain, she moans and agitates, unable to understand.

To eliminate this monthly discomfort and ease the burden of caring for her, caregivers at an assisted-living home in Reykjavik, Iceland, proposed an unusually aggressive step. The home’s manager recommended that Anita undergo a hysterectomy, a major surgical procedure to remove her uterus and end her periods.

Eirikur Smith, an official in Iceland’s disabilities office, discovered this plan last year during a routine visit to the home.

“Does she even know if she wants children later?” he recalls asking.

The manager, he said, was stunned. “She just laughed in my face.”

“‘Of course not,’” he said she replied. “‘Why would she ever want children?’”

Forced sterilization, with its history of racism and eugenics, is banned under multiple international treaties. Thirty-seven European nations and the European Union have ratified the Istanbul Convention, which declares, without exception, that nonconsensual sterilization is a human rights violation.

But a New York Times investigation found over a third of those countries have made exceptions, often for people that the government deems too disabled to consent. Some countries have banned the practice but not actually criminalized it. And records show that the Istanbul treaty’s official watchdog has repeatedly criticized governments for not doing enough to protect disabled people. (The United States has signed but not ratified a separate treaty on the issue and sterilization laws vary by state).

The result is that people with intellectual disabilities — mostly women — are still being sterilized, even when it is not medically necessary.

Doctors and experts believe that the practice is rare, but record-keeping is inconsistent and data is often unreliable. Iceland’s government, for one, does not keep a tally.

“So many times, you hear it’s in the best interest of the woman,” said Catalina Devandas Aguilar, a former United Nations special rapporteur for disability rights. “But often, it’s because it’s more convenient for the family or the institution that takes care of them.”

That pattern has complicated things for lawmakers and doctors. While in generations past, governments around the world sterilized disabled people as a matter of policy, today it is parents and caretakers who seek out the surgery — saying they have the women’s best interests at heart.

In Iceland this March, for example, Hermina Hreidarsdottir authorized a hysterectomy for her severely cognitively impaired 20-year-old daughter, whose periods sometimes lasted six weeks.

“I know it’s taboo, but we didn’t do it to make her infertile,” Ms. Hreidarsdottir said. “We wanted to make her feel better.”

Since 2019, Iceland has banned nonconsensual sterilization except in cases of medical necessity. But the law covers only tubal ligation, the surgical blocking of the fallopian tubes. Hysterectomies are considered medical treatment and excluded from the ban.

Neither the treaties nor most national laws address how seriously disabled women like Anita or Ms. Hreidarsdottir’s daughter could ever consent to such a surgery. United Nations standards say that caregivers should try alternative ways to communicate with severely disabled people, but experts agree that happens sporadically at best.

In France, the law allows the sterilization of people with severe mental disabilities under certain circumstances.

“When we say ‘sterilization of the disabled,’ we might sound like Nazis, but this completely ignores the diversity of disabilities, the gravity of certain disabilities, and the distress of parents,” said Ghada Hatem-Gantzer, a Paris gynecologist who sits on a regional committee that approves roughly three sterilizations annually.

Even when the law is strict, sterilization sometimes continues.

In Belgium, it is generally illegal to sterilize someone without their express consent. But one therapist, Anne Dasnoy-Sumell, said she was counseling two women with moderate intellectual disabilities who had been sterilized at their parents’ insistence recently without understanding what was happening. And Yannick Manigart, the chief obstetrician at Saint-Pierre University Hospital, said that he and his colleagues would still perform the surgery if parents request it and doctors, after consulting with hospital psychologists, deem it in a woman’s best interest.

In Iceland, Mr. Smith, whose sister has Down syndrome, was particularly frustrated with Anita’s case. Notes by his colleagues show that caregivers had not tried a hormonal intrauterine device, or IUD, which can shorten periods.

“They proposed hysterectomy without consent or conversation,” one of Mr. Smith’s colleagues wrote. A Times reporter visited Anita’s home several times, observed her and reviewed records related to her case, which refer only to her first name.

After Mr. Smith intervened, the home’s manager stopped pursuing the surgery.

Iceland, like its Nordic neighbors, has a dark history in this area. In 1938, the country began a policy of sterilization and abortion for people its law called “feebleminded.” Such policies have long since been abandoned and Iceland is now a leading voice on human rights issues. The country’s Ministry of Health said it had tightened its sterilization laws over the years with the treaties in mind, and would continue to do so.

“Performing sterilization without the informed consent of the person concerned is considered to be a violation of their rights,” the ministry said.

Still, Mr. Smith said he had seen other cases like Anita’s recently. The hardest to spot, he said, involved parents and doctors who pressured disabled women to consent. “Not necessarily for eugenic purposes,” he said, “but still definitely to control and affect their sexual and reproductive health.”

For him, this issue is simple. A woman does not lose her human rights because she is disabled or has long periods.

But he acknowledges that he is hardly unbiased. His sister, Kristin, was sterilized at their mother’s insistence.

“She gave her written consent,” Mr. Smith said. “But she was misled.”

‘What If I Want to Have Children?’

Kristin Smith always knew she was into boys.

As a teenager in the 1990s, she sang along with the Spice Girls and fangirled over the Irish boy band Westlife. She watched “The Bold and the Beautiful” and dreamed of marrying.

She was part of a new generation. Women just a few years older recall comparing abdominal scars with classmates in special schools. Ms. Smith was among Iceland’s first students with Down syndrome to graduate from a mainstream high school — the same one as her older brother.

But she remembers feeling under near-constant surveillance by her mother. Ms. Smith’s mother declined to be interviewed.

At age 20, Ms. Smith said, her mother arranged for her to receive a tubal ligation. “I told my mom, ‘What if I want to have children later?’” Ms. Smith recalled. “But she said no. It would be too difficult.”

It is rare for people with Down syndrome to become parents, and their children have an increased chance of having the condition themselves.

Any talk of children, though, was theoretical. Ms. Smith had never even had a boyfriend. She consented to the surgery.

Ms. Smith remembers her mother taking her to the hospital. The doctor explained that she would be unable to have children. Then came medicine to make her sleepy.

Her mother assured her that this was for the best. And sometimes, even now, Ms. Smith agrees. “It’s a good thing,” she said. “I feel fine about it.”

‘This Is What Is So Horrible’

Mr. Smith joined Iceland’s Disability Rights Protection Office in 2016. Though Iceland had signed a pair of treaties that banned nonconsensual sterilization, neither had been ratified and the law still allowed it for the mentally ill.

Iceland’s health ministry even ran a committee that approved requests from parents, which has not previously been reported. The ministry says it kept no records on how many sterilizations occurred this way. But a spokesman for Landspitali, Iceland’s largest hospital, said that between 2013 and 2017, the committee approved the sterilization of six teenage girls.

“This is what is so horrible: I never met any of the children who would be sterilized. Never,” said Anna Sigrun, a former hospital social worker who said she was ashamed to have recommended cases to the committee.

The committee disbanded in 2019 after Iceland banned nonconsensual tubal ligations. But sterilization cases continued to pop up in Mr. Smith’s office.

Less than a year after the ban was passed, his unit intervened on behalf of an 18-year-old girl with severe cognitive impairment. Her foster mother, with the support of government social workers, sought a hysterectomy to manage her periods. Mr. Smith said the surgery was simply a way to ease the burden of care.

“They reasoned that she would be easier to handle afterward,” he said. The surgery did not go forward.

‘The Best Medical Treatment’

Hermina Hreidarsdottir’s fourth child, a girl, was born with six fingers on her right hand and a pointy, almost elfish left ear. One eye was a lighter shade of blue than the other, but she otherwise seemed healthy.

After a few months, though, Ms. Hreidarsdottir (pronounced RAY-thars-DOH-tair) realized that her daughter had trouble seeing. Doctors said she might be blind in one eye.

“I knew something was not normal,” she said. She welcomed a reporter into her home to meet her daughter, but asked that she not be named.

Finally, at about 8 months old, the girl was diagnosed with two rare genetic disorders. For the rest of her life, doctors said, she would see in only two dimensions and would probably struggle to speak and understand.

With no special-education programs nearby, Ms. Hreidarsdottir placed her daughter in a mainstream school. She dreaded her daughter’s first period. “I knew she wouldn't handle it well,” Ms. Hreidarsdottir said.

At 11, her daughter started menstruating, sometimes for weeks. Confused, she would sometimes remove her pad, then bleed in class, her mother said. Her doctor says she has the mental capacity of a 4-year-old.

Ms. Hreidarsdottir said she tried hormonal injections, but struggled to give her daughter a shot every three months. An IUD failed to shorten the periods.

Dr. Alexander Smarason, the young woman’s longtime doctor, concluded that because she could neither understand nor manage her periods, a hysterectomy would be in her best interest.

“That’s just giving her the best medical treatment possible for her quality of life,” he said. “We cannot deny her that right.”

Ms. Hreidarsdottir said she also knew that disabled women face increased risks of sexual assault, and she feared an unwanted pregnancy. At 56, she could not care for another child and knew her daughter would never be able to.

Decisions like these, involving people who almost certainly cannot give express consent, hang over the sterilization debate. Katrin Langensiepen, a German politician and one of the few visibly disabled members of the European Parliament, is pushing for a strict Europewide ban on nonconsensual sterilization. Many of history’s notorious eugenics practices, she said, were justified as being in a disabled person’s best interest.

But she acknowledged that some parents saw things differently. “They have the deep, strong belief: I need to protect my children,” she said.

At 20, Ms. Hreidarsdottir’s daughter has soft eyes and a knack for puzzles. She loves audiobooks. In March, her mother explained that she would go to sleep and have an operation to feel better.

“I don’t think she understood,” Ms. Hreidarsdottir said. “But we always try to explain things.”

True Love

Even after her surgery, Ms. Smith kept dreaming of romance. She considered trying dating apps, but in every potential profile picture of herself, all she saw was someone with Down syndrome.

Every summer, she attended a camp for adults with disabilities. During those Icelandic nights, under vast skies that never went dark, she hiked, sang karaoke and mingled outside her mother’s gaze. “I felt free,” she said.

There, during the summer of 2020, she met Sigurdur Haukur Vilhjalmsson, who also has Down syndrome. They both liked pop songs and soccer. He was charming and had a silly streak, a contrast to her more serious personality. He made her laugh.

At age 38, she had found love.

The following Christmas, on the beach in Tenerife, Spain, Mr. Vilhjalmsson knelt in the sand and proposed.

They now live together in Husavik, a town on Iceland’s northern coast. They share a cozy one-bedroom apartment in a building for people with disabilities. Their baby pictures hang in the living room.

Some residents need lots of help. Ms. Smith and Mr. Vilhjalmsson are the building’s most independent tenants and its only couple. She washes dishes in a restaurant. He works in a hospital kitchen.

They enjoy road trips, cooking and music. Mr. Vilhjalmsson plays the drums. Ms. Smith serenades him with “Husavik (My Hometown),” a song from the Will Ferrell movie “Eurovision Song Contest.”

They’re picking a wedding date. On Sundays, they walk hand in hand around the port. They talk about their future.

Mr. Vilhjalmsson wants children. Ms. Smith has spent years saying that she never did, that her mother’s decision was for the best. Now the conversation is less abstract.

Does she want to be a mother?

“I wanted to,” she said.

Her eyes welled. She paused, composing herself.

“I still want to.”

[loving-family-poll]

Ultimate Incest Poll - Final

Propaganda under the cut:

Liam/Noel:

The Gallagher brothers have a very intense relationship that doesn't make any sense to the outside viewer unless one considers the possibility of incest. For 30 years now they have been utterly unhinged about one another in the public eye. Noel has often made incest jokes; Liam once said on-stage once "we had sex last night" referring to him and Noel. Even people writing in actual books and magazines have picked up on the vibes (some stuff that has been printed about them fully feels like it was written by tumblr incestinas except it's like. actual fucking journalists). Also there was this one time in 1996 where they kissed each other with tongue in front of 40 thousand people.

They have been described as “in love with each other” by both themselves and third parties. the lyrics “you’re my lover, i’m your brother.” they kissed with tongue at loch lomond in 1996 and have also been photographed/videoed kissing on the mouth other times. liam regularly groped noel onstage. liam’s entire twitter is just propaganda too. liam talked about impregnating noel once. noel frequently talks about how physically attractive liam is. liam claims that he’s noel’s muse

their song guess god thinks im abel has the lyrics "i could be your lover" while comparing themselves to you guessed it abel and cain. and like. a thousand more instances of them being weird about each other. also noel REALLY wanted a sister and he mentioned it quite a few times and said well liam IS basically a sister or something like that. normal behaviour

Liam literally called himself Noel's good boy on twitter, and called him god a few times after reunion. Noel said he loves make women cry and the only thing that's better is make Liam cry so he can laugh and call him a woman. They literally kissed with tongue and loch lomand is not their only kiss they have two more photos of different kissing to, they literally used the japan kiss video for reunion video. YES THEY DID THAT TF. Noel said they are head over heels in love and said it's illegal in many countries. Also Noel said Liam is like his ex-wife a few times or shit like those cunts are fucking crazy

Other people have described them as more like boyfriend/girlfriend than brothers and said they’re in love. someone on twitter asked liam “if you’re john lennon, who is noel?” and liam said “yoko ono.” another time someone said on twitter “you defo rimmed noel when you were younger” and liam replied “you jealous?"

Deeply weird about each other getting married (them not attending each other's wedding which occurred month apart and then getting divorce around the same time and they stayed at the same hotel for months), intense infamously love-hate relationship and is everyone's favorite soap opera, noel saying "on stage i just wanted him..there's only two of us that will ever get this", prominent theme of shame and crime and impossible dream in noel gallagher works, the elusive meaning of wonderwall which noel insisted is not about anyone but there's good amount of evidence that it referenced back to their childhood and their shared bedroom, liam having mental breakdown several times on twitter about noel, liam's my brother is getting a divorce playlist to which he shared with his 3 millions twitter followers, incest-baiting on main ever since the reunion, brother and lover being interchangeable for noel when writing lyrics, noel (allegedly) lying to liam that his girlfriend cheated on him in order to sabotage their relationship before oasis took off, liam hating noel's latest (ex) wife (sarah), noel writing "the owner of the star on stage" after liam's autograph and so many more insane shit

"[Liam] thinks all the songs are about him. He even thinks Wonderwall is about him." –Noel Gallagher (1997)

"It's all about me it always was and is" –Liam Gallagher (2023)

Japan kiss (kiss is at the end) loch lomand kiss

PLUS they’re back together after 14 years of estrangement! The narrative!

Cain/Abel:

the og brotherssss. invented murder.

Brothers inexorably tied together… brothers alone in a field, no witnesses but god… jealousy violence guilt sin… you get it.

Blueprint for violent older sibling & younger sibling relationships. Our beloved Cain complex comes from this story and where would we be without it? These two are the huge inspirations for both incestuous and non incestuous poetry, especially between brothers. Nothing represents the self destructiveness of incest more than these guys. Also I know they frotted in those fields, Eve told me.

[hellsquills]

Disclaimer: I know about the duffle bag Filbrick threw at him, but you can ignore that if you want

My thoughts below the cut! (this turned into a whole ass fic lmao)

Edit: timeline here!!

My personal headcanon is that Filbrick is as much of a coward as he is of an asshole. Therefore, he wouldn't have kicked Stan when he did in canon. Probably not for a while after that.

However, he does try to send him to military school. He keeps talking about how this kid needs to learn discipline and respect, and if he's not gonna bring money to the house, then he should at least bring some honor to his family.

Stan obviously does NOT want to go. Not only because it's a pointless war ("what've the vietnamese done to us anyways?") but because he remembers his mother's face when Shermie got drafted and he will NOT make her go through that hell again. Also, he doesn't wanna die!!!! Hello?????

He talks it out over the phone with Ford, who's obviously just as against it as he is. He tells Stan that, if he gets into a PhD program, he could skip military. Stan laughs in his face. It'd be easier to jump off the plane without a parachute.

And so, he comes up with a plan. When he goes to take his physical, he tries his best to botch it. If he is bad enough, if it looks like he can't do it, maybe he won't have to. Unfortunately, the recruiters are far too used to this by now, and they don't buy it. Stan goes home with a recruitment letter hidden in his jacket.

Everything goes downhill after that. He runs away from home, changes his name several times, does some crime here and there... The military is after him, and it doesn't take rejection kindly.

Stan stays out of contact with his family for a few years. He can't risk getting them involved in this mess. They don't deserve it. So he just leaves, without saying a word, in the middle of the night. No phone calls, no notes, nothing. Not even he knows where he's going. But if it just looks like he abandoned them, maybe they'll hate him. That will make them sound more believable with the police. They aren't covering for him, because they genuinely have no idea where he is. It's the best way to keep them safe.

In that time, Ford doesn't stop looking for him. He finds him every once in a while, but only his phone number, and he knows that could give away his brother's location and get the family in trouble. So, against his deepest instincts, he doesn't call.

One, three, five, seven years pass. Stan has been around almost all the country, and is genuinely considering leaving it. Maybe going to Mexico, or Colombia. Those sound nice. Maybe they'll be nicer to him.

He's passing his time and thinking about this in a small town restaurant in wherever he's in (somewhere he's not banned from, yet), when a family enters. He doesn't make eye contact, but he can't help but stare at them: a man and a woman, probably in their 50s, with 7 kids; one must be older than him, the second one around his age, the third one a little younger, the fourth one a teenager, and the last three between 10 and 15, no more. Except for the last three, they're all taller than him, even the mother, and they have various degrees of blond hair. Their clothes (overalls and plastic boots) suggest they must work in one of the farms he's seen around the state. They don't wear any accessories, except for the glasses that the father and four of the kids have. They're talking loudly and laughing. They look exhausted from a morning of hard work. They seem happy. They... look nothing like his family, and yet, he can't help but think about it.

He can't help the sob that comes to his throat. It's loud and messy from trying to suppress it, which obviously makes it worse. He covers his mouth immediately, and at that point he notices the tears that have run down his cheeks. "Great", he thinks, "that will make it easier to hide, for sure".

He doesn't move. He wants to escape, but that will draw even more attention to him, and he hasn't even paid for the food yet (normally he'd leave without paying, but the old waitress was kind enough to give him some extra food when she saw how little he ordered). He settles for not moving, lowering his head and covering his face, hoping that no one heard (unlikely) or cared (very likely).

"Ya'lright, son?"

The voice startles him. I wasn't very deep, but it was close enough to send his body into immediate danger mode. He looks up at the man towering over him, who's standing in front of him at a prudential distance.

"Y-Yeah, yeah, no worries."

He hates how broken his voice sounds. He's spent more than enough time sweet-talking his way out of trouble, he should be better at this by now. The man looks about as convinced by it as he is himself.

" 'lright then. Can I help ya?"

Damn villagers and their welcoming demeanor. If he wasn't a wanted man, he would appreciate it. But right now, it couldn't be worse timing.

"Come get ya food, kids!" The waitress' yell yanks him out of his thoughts.

"No", he blurts out, and he turns to the man. Least he can do is show him some respect and look him in the eyes. "I'm fine, thank you."

The man smiles lightly and nods. "Okay. Welcome to the town."

Stan watches as the man goes back to his table. He wishes he had been more polite, the guy was just worrying about him, but he can't afford it. They already know his face, he can't risk anyone else recognizing him-

"Sweet Mother of God almighty."

Stan turns to his right. One of the kids, the one about his age, is looking at him like he just grew a second head. He's frozen in place, his eyes wide as plates behind thick glasses. He doesn't say a word, and it's getting increasingly unnerving. Was the bruising on his face still visible? Maybe it's more apparent in broad daylight than in the shitty light that last motel had in the bathroom.

"I'm sorry, I- Can I ask your name?"

The fuck?

"No", answers Stan. Considering how nice his dad was, this guy is pretty rude.

"Son, leave him alone." The mother seems to have manners too, good to know.

The guy does pretty much the opposite. He comes closer to him, until he's right in his path, blocking his exit. That can't be good. Stan feels trapped.

"Are you Stanley Pines?"

Well, that's about it.

Stan tries his best to stay still. This guy doesn't look like a cop, not even an undercover one. But he knows his real name, so maybe someone in his family or friends works in the police; or worse, in the military.

"Listen man, I don't know who you're talking about, but that isn't my name. See?" He reaches for his wallet. He pulls out an ID, with a very clear Jackson Cage on it. He makes a mental note to change it soon, just in case his hunch is right and this guy has connections. "Now, if you excuse me, I'd like to pay for my food and leave. Move."

Stan is already on his feet, but the guy hasn't moved. Stan looks him up and down, trying to appear threatening despite his face probably still being a little red from before. He also gauges how feasible it'd be to escape if things turned bad; the dude is taller than him, sure, but he's also as thin as a toothpick, and by the anxious look on his face, he doesn't seem eager for a fight. The real problem would be evading the restaurant's staff and the other costumers, which include eight carbon copies of the guy in front of him. Probably better to try to de-escalate the situation.

"I- I can't let you leave. Please. I know who you are."

This man is making it really difficult to believe he's not a cop.

"No, you don't. I'm new in town. Move."

"Listen, I-"

"Move out of my way."

"I know your brother."

The words are like a bullet between his eyebrows.

"You look just like him-"

Against his better judgement, he quickly grabs he guy and pins him to the wood in between the booth benches, arm to his throat. If he knows Ford, he knows too much. God he just wanted to have lunch.

The commotion is immediate. He doesn't break eye contact with the guy who's grabbing his arm, whose strength is frankly surprising. He can hear, however, the screams from the dad and the siblings, as well as a couple of gasps from the other costumers. This is not going to go well, but fuck that. He's escaped worse.

"Stop!", the guy shouts as he keeps Stan's forearm from blocking his airway. "Don't hurt him! Don't get closer!"

It takes Stan a second to process what he said. The first part, sure, who wouldn't shout 'stop' when you're being attacked? But the second half doesn't make sense. Is he protecting him? The attacker?

Whatever it is, it works. The family stops in their tracks, still very ready to attack if needed. Out of the corner of his eye, he can see the three younger kids moving closer to their mother. For a split second, he feels a pang of remorse for the scene he just caused.

"Hang up the phone, Clarisse, it's okay. Please."

Stan looks in the direction the guy was talking to. Right behind him, the waitress reluctantly puts the phone down.

He looks back at the guy. He looks a little shaken up, probably from the impact his back (and his head?) made with the wooden plank, but he doesn't look scared. He almost looks... sympathetic? Stan is confused as hell.

"I know who you are", the guy whispers, low enough for Stan to hear alone. "You're Stanley Pines, and you have a brother named Stanford. I know him, okay? He's my friend. I met him a few years ago in a quantum physics congress and we've been talking ever since. He told me about his family in New Jersey, and about you. About how he hasn't seen you in years, and how he was trying to find you, to no avail."

Stan is gradually loosening his grip on the guy's neck, who takes a deep breath. He should know better, but- shit, hearing that Ford was looking for him was not what he expected. Even if he doesn't know yet if this guy is lying out of his ass, it's enough to make him doubt.

"I know you were called to Vietnam. He told me. I spent a week with him in his place when he found out, he was unconsollable. When you ran away, he called me. He knew what it meant for you and he thought he'd never see you again, whether you got caught or not. All because of that stupid war." Stan is now trembling a little, he knows it. This guy must know it too, with how close they are. If he stays here any longer he'll break down, but he can't move. Anything to hear his brother's name a little longer. "I know what it's like. Three of my cousins were drafted last year, and I know at least one of them won't be coming back home. Please... let me help you."

Stan meets his eyes. They're green and brown-ish, not unlike the immense fields he's seen in his last journey, the one that led him to this town. With the years, he's learned not to trust beautiful eyes, because they are better at hiding. These ones, however, seem serene and honest, just like his words, and he can't help but believing them. This guy, whoever the fuck he is, knows just about enough.

Stan lowers his right arm. The guy still has his hand on it, but this time is much less defensive and much more comforting. He doesn't complain.

"My name's Fiddleford McGucket, and I'm gonna help you find your brother."

______________________________

Essentially, after this Fidds calls Ford as if nothing happened (per Stan's request, since he's still paranoid about the police tracking his calls) and asks him to come to Tennessee. Ford argues that he's very busy and all, but Fidds convinces him in the end.

Obviously the twins have a dual breakdown and cry their heart out. In this AU they're much less emotionally constipated lol

Ford tells Stan that he's gonna build a house in a small town in Oregon as a part of his research, and asks him to move in with him once it's finished. Stan, of course, accepts.

In the meantime, Stan stays in the McGucket farm and helps them out as a way of laying low. He has a great relationship with his family, and they're very proud of him for what he did (i believe that the McGuckets are hippies at heart, and they're VERY anti-war, especially when it already took three of them)

I don't know how much of the canon storyline would this AU follow, but it's pretty much your average Mystery Trio AU with some different backstory

[etheraltides]

Safe in His Arms

Pairing: Rafe Cameron x Pogue!Reader

Summary: After a grueling day at the Country Club filled with rude costumers and endless stress, you find yourself breaking down in your boyfriend’s bed.

Warning(s): emotional distress, workplace mistreatment and a bit of verbal harassment.

A/N: Can you tell I’ve had a rough day at work..?

The familiar weight of the day bore down on you as you trudged up the long driveway to Tannyhill, your work uniform damp with rain you faced after you lost the buss and the residual humiliation of serving yet another parade of insufferable customers at the Country Club. Your back ached, your feet throbbed, and a lump had been stuck in your throat since your shift began. It had been one of those days – the kind that leaves you questioning if it’s even worth the paycheck.

When you stepped into Rafe Cameron’s big house, the stillness was suffocating. It was late enough that most of the house staff had gone home, leaving the place eerily quiet except for the faint hum of the air conditioning. You kicked off your shoes and set your bag down by the door, barely able to summon the energy to call out for him.

“Rafe?” you said, your voice cracking.

No response. You figured he was still locked away in his office, likely losing track of time over something work-related or more of his dad’s expectations. A glance toward the kitchen clock confirmed it was nearing 10 PM. You shouldn’t have picked today for a double shift.

Your body moved on autopilot as you headed upstairs to his room, the ache in your chest growing heavier with each step. You bypassed the vanity mirror, not wanting to see the tired, blotchy version of yourself. Instead, you headed straight for the en suite bathroom, needing to wash off the grime of the day – physically and emotionally.

The water was scalding, but you didn’t care. The sting against your skin almost matched the burn of the angry tears threatening to spill. Your customers’ snide remarks replayed in your mind on a loop:

“Are all the staff this incompetent?”

“Can you just get the order right for once?”

“I’d like to speak to someone more qualified.”

“You damn pogues aren’t even good enough to clean tables. No wonder why your kind gets nowhere in life.”

By the time you stepped out of the shower, you were trembling. Not from the cold, but from sheer exhaustion. You grabbed one of Rafe’s oversized T-shirts, pulling it over your damp body before collapsing onto his bed. His scent still lingered in the sheets – a mix of his cologne and something inherently him.

You buried your face into the pillow, clutching the covers tightly around yourself as the dam finally broke. Sobs wracked your body, and you curled into a ball, feeling utterly spent.

Rafe was on his third read-through of the same email when the buzz of his phone distracted him. He glanced at the screen – it was just a notification for some pointless app. The house was too quiet for his liking, and it occurred to him that you hadn’t come to find him yet.

He checked his watch, guilt prickling at the edges of his thoughts. He’d told you this morning that he’d be free to spend the evening with you, but work had a way of spiraling out of control.

Shutting his laptop with a sigh, Rafe pushed his chair back and headed upstairs. The sight that greeted him when he opened the bedroom door made his stomach twist.

There you were, curled up on his side of the bed, his comforter wrapped around you like armor. Your shoulders were shaking, and muffled sniffles reached his ears.

“Hey” he said softly, crossing the room in a few long strides. “Baby, what’s going on?”

You startled, quickly wiping your face with the back of your hand as if that could hide the tears. “Nothing. I’m fine.”

Rafe frowned, crouching down beside the bed so he was level with you. “Don’t do that. Don’t lie to me.” His voice was gentle, but there was his usual firm edge to it.

“It’s stupid.” you whispered, avoiding his gaze.

“Stupid doesn’t make you cry like this.” he countered, reaching out to brush a strand of wet hair from your face. “Talk to me.”

You swallowed hard, the lump in your throat refusing to go away. “Work sucked today.” you admitted, your voice barely above a whisper. “The customers were awful. They treated me like I was nothing, like I wasn’t even human. I tried to keep it together, but—” Your voice broke, and fresh tears spilled over.

Rafe’s jaw tightened, and his eyes darkened – not with anger at you, but with protective fury for you. “They said something to you?” he asked, his voice dangerously low.

“Just the usual stuff.” you said, trying to downplay it. “But today it just… it felt worse. I couldn’t shake it off.”

His hand came up to cradle your face, his thumb gently wiping away a tear. “You’re not nothing, baby.” he said firmly. “You hear me? Those people? They’re assholes. They don’t know shit about you.”

You sniffled, leaning into his touch despite yourself. “I just hate that it gets to me.”

Rafe shook his head. “It’s not on you to be unbothered by assholes. You’re allowed to feel things, okay?” He stood up and climbed onto the bed, pulling you into his lap despite the fact that he wasn’t much of a hugger. You didn’t resist, burying your face in his chest as his arms wrapped around you securely.

“You didn’t deserve any of that,” he murmured, pressing a kiss to the top of your head. “None of it. You’re too good for them. Too good for this damn place.”

You let out a shaky breath, his words starting to chip away at the weight in your chest. His hands moved in slow, soothing circles on your back, grounding you in a way only he could.

“I’m sorry.” you mumbled into his chest. “I know you’ve had a long day too.”

Rafe tilted your chin up to look at him, his expression a mix of concern and frustration. “Don’t apologize for this. For needing me, alright?” He sighed, his voice softening. “I know I’m not… great at this stuff. But when it comes to you? I’ll figure it out.”

You gave a weak laugh. “You’re doing fine, Rafe.”

A small smile tugged at the corner of his mouth. “Yeah?”

“Yeah.” you said, the weight in your chest easing a little more.

He leaned back against the headboard, keeping you close as he ran a hand through your hair. “Next time something like this happens, you tell me, okay? I don’t care what time it is or what I’m doing. You call me.”

You nodded, resting your head against his shoulder. “I’ll try.”

“No, baby. You do more than try.” he insisted. “You promise.”

You smiled faintly, the corners of your lips twitching despite the tears. “Okay. I promise.”

For the first time all day, you felt a glimmer of peace. Wrapped in Rafe’s arms, with his warmth and steady presence surrounding you, the world felt a little less harsh.

“Good.” he said, his voice low and soothing. “Now just stay here. Let me hold you. No one’s gonna hurt you while I’m around.”

His words were like a balm to your soul, and as he pressed another kiss to your head, you felt your eyes grow heavy. The exhaustion of the day, coupled with the safety of his embrace, lulled you to sleep.

Rafe stayed awake, though, his mind racing with plans to make sure you never felt this way again. Whatever it took – whether it was him storming into the Country Club or just being here for you when you needed him – he wasn’t going to let the world break you.

You were his girl, after all. And he’d do anything to protect you.

There was no doubt in his mind that tomorrow he’d be talking to the club’s manager though.

[redrobin-detective]

So I had an interesting ATLA thought.

Let's say if Zuko had been there and the invasion was successful, but not entirely. The Firelord, Azula and some high up generals got away but the Gaang had captured the Capital. Just imaging how S3 pt 2 would have gone down.

The Caldera citizens who could leave are split into thirds: those who are Ozai loyal and want the Avatar out, those who are loyal to anyone NOT Ozai and are happy to embrace the Gaang, and those who are scared shitless. So anytime the resistance interacts with any FN citizens they have a 1/3 chance of either being stabbed, bowed at or cried on.

The Gaang has gotten used to roughing it, now they have fancy personal bedrooms and 5 star cooking?? every day?? Sokka never wants to leave. no sir he is staying put forever. Another mango juice please!

Zuko trying to teach Aang and there's so many other Firebenders around to have opinions and Zuko is very protective and fierce about who gets to to teach his student. Aang is very touched watching his Sifu run off another so called expert like an angry chihuahua.

Boiling Rock is exactly the same except they learn Suki is there and Sokka is off running. Sokka spends the entire time pretending to be a FN noble.

Iroh, upon breaking out and realizing the Caldera is lost, decides to assemble his White Lotus buddies there. He takes unofficial charge, working as a general to end the war. Everyone assumed he'd be Firelord afterwards not knowing he always intended to hand the crown to Zuko.

Everyone -including Zuko- thought Iroh would be Firelord so he'd chatting with Sokka and Toph about what he'll do after the war. He was considering being some sort of ambassador while also teaching swordsmanship and the true source of firebending when Iroh drops the news. Zuko is blindsided.

With the White Lotus now hanging around the capital we would be Toph vs Bumi (who escaped and made his way over JUST to ensure Aang's earthbending teacher was good enough), Katara vs Pakku 2 (feminism and family edition), and Zuko vs Jeong Jeong who debate firebending philosophy until they're breathless. Aang and Iroh are happily playing Pai Sho in the background.

Ok picture this, Azula and Ozai are on the run, they have sympathizers but they have to get to them first. Queue S2 pt 1 Zuko and Iroh on the run only they're both Zuko and everything is on fire. Azula, who has some experience with the real world, needs to corral her angry, sheltered father around. Ozai just gets dunked on every moment.

Azula gets a little of her own development throughout this. She can survive on her own but she isn't used to not being the shining princess who gets everything. Ozai treats her like dirt even as he is struggling with basic survival. Azula's loyalty wavers for him, watching him flounder without his peons and threats.

There are some guards with them, guards who are NOT paid enough for this. Oh you want a 4 poster bed with turtleduck feather pillows and silk sheets, Your Majesty? I have a rock with some moss on it.

They would eventually mount a defense to take back the Caldera and reclaim their throne during Sozin's Comet. The world would watch Ozai's willingness to burn his own damned country and people to get his power back. There is minimal protest when they stick Ozai's awkward teenage son on the throne. Anyone is better than Ozai.

[ode-to-arecibo]

Sapsippers, the third species to join the empire and the only hive mind as of the war.

Sapsippers are a hive mind that communicates between members via tapping on the ground. That has a lot of ramifications.

We're not talking about one of those weird unrealistic queen mind controlling everyone hive mind. I mean ants. A gestalt consciousness. An individual sapsipper isn't really a person, and one that gets isolated will freeze and hope someone will come pick it up. Get six of them together and they start to resemble a person. Six or more sapsippers communicating in one place are called a thrum. There's no limit to how large a thrum can get, though in practice subthrums form once you can no longer fit everyone in one room. All this communication is done through vibrations in the ground, and partially pheremones, which resemble emotions.

Sapsippers can also form a thrum over their internet (which is made of flesh), by standing on pads that transmit their tapping. Each sapsipper planet often consists of a single massive thrum which outside governments often treat more like a lect than a country.

A lot of their tech is made of flesh. Because they don't have genes, rather their protein equivalent also acts as genes and self replicates, just injecting a foreign protein alters their genetic material. This is true of everything on their planet. The hardest part of genetic engineering there is purifying the proteins. And then figuring out which proteins and how much will give you the desired result. But they were trying as soon as they figured out glass. Their spaceships still have to be metal though.

They use D-glucose like humans, so you can bring a thrum to a restaurant and order sugar water for them. They can tolerate most alien substances, though high sulphur drake food tastes terrible, so there's a culture of trying things like honey and maple syrup among smaller independent thrums.

Sapsipper philosophy has two "souls" or minds or personhoods or consciousnesses. The tatik is contained within the body, each individual sapsipper has one and it contains whatever their expertise is. A tatik can be trained to do specific things, just as different parts of your brain do different things, and it will contribute it's skills to any thrum it joins. Some optimize for pure processing power, some for specific knowledge, usually at least one per thrum knows Universal and has a translator implant to let them pronounce drake phonemes (all drake phonemes except the mandible clicks can be pronounced by humans, but humans invariably have horrible accents). The eidika is the soul of a thrum. It only appears when at least six tatik get together into a thrum. It's consider the more important consciousness, and it's the closest sapsipper concept to what a person is.

Thrum intelligence scales continuously with size, but there are two main classifications who hate eachother. Massive thrums the size of a planet or space station act similarly to lects. Huge gestalts that manage a ship and engage in many conversations at once. Talking to these things is like talking to an AI or a call center. The other kind is more common, if only because it doesn't require hundreds or thousands of bodies to form. Talking to the smaller sort is like talking to a human.

All crimes from minor theft and vandalism to mass murder are considered being cancerous and punishable by death. Or, well, they kill the tatik that isn't cooperating. Something like theft is indicative of a general lack of cohesion and a sapsipper that can't or won't merge with the thrum around it is treated like a tumor that must be excised.

They don't worry about death so much in general, and medicine is only considered important for queens (who limit population size) and queenless thrums like on many smaller ships (that can't repopulate on their own). Sapsippers only live 6 to 12 years, but since the eidika is more of a person than the tatik, a dead worker just gets replaced no problem. At worst, that was the body with the translator implant and you won't be able to talk to non-sapsippers until you replace them. Bigger thrums have more redundancy built in.

Sapsippers have also had about a dozen wars total in their entire existence, counting the kinds of wars neanderthals could have had. before the bomber plane, any two colonies that got close enough to kill each other would merge into one whether they wanted to or not. After the radio, the homeworld was all one big thrum and fighting anyone would be like fighting yourself. People often hear this statistic and expect them to be pacifists. No, they love war, they're quite aggressive and generally consider violence to solve most problems. If not for the Empire being one big alliance they definitely would have taken over someone's homeworld.

They invented written language in 2050, after drakes and kaledevids tried to write down their language and did a terrible job. They didn't need it to communicate among themselves as one, they have terrible vision, they wouldn't be able to read 12 point font while sitting on it. And two, whenever they get close enough to another thrum, they merge, so they'd only use a written language for street signs in unpopulated areas, and sculpted maps work better for that.

[thevoicefromanotherworld]

"I NEED TO TALK TO YOU"

I WROTE A FIC WITH REED RICHARDS

(The trailer aired today and I just love him so much guys, I'm so excited for this movie to come out like, the employers of the cinema told me that I've to leave but I can't I'm simply so seated for this one lol)

(ALSO, parts of the movie where shot in my freaking country, so I'm SOOO excited to see the locations on the big screen)

I hope you like it! 💛☝😊

It was the third time that week that you sat in the back of the physics and electrical engineering class, listening to Professor Richards.

You thought he wouldn't notice, but as the days went by, he realized that, after the first five minutes of his class, you would sneak in like a cat to take the spot closest to the wall.

You couldn't help but put on dreamy expressions as you listened to him explain theories, parameters, and calculations you had no idea how to do, but just hearing him explain them made you think you'd walk out of there a full-fledged military science expert like him.

The way his lively brown eyes focused intently on different people across the room made you look away from the board, avoiding bumping into him.

You didn't want him to see you.

You were afraid he'd think you were actually his student and ask you a question about the subject, which you wouldn't know how to answer.

He turned to face the blackboard, giving you a close-up of his strong, broad back.

You felt your cheeks heat up, and you ducked your head for a moment to look at your phone, distracted.

Then the class ended, and the students began to disperse.

"That's all for today," he smiled. "I hope you come back tomorrow with the same desire to learn as today," he said sarcastically. "You can all go…" He scanned the people who were leaving until his eyes fell on you. "Except you," he nodded. "I need to talk to you, privately."

When everyone had left and the class fell extremely silent, you started to get nervous.

You didn't want to be alone with him, especially not there. What if someone came in?

You blinked a few times to clear those thoughts before focusing on him.

His soft, kind eyes rested on yours before he smiled the same smile.

"You've stopped by to listen to several of my classes over the last week," he began, getting straight to the point, "so I thought it would be only right to introduce myself." He offered you his hand. "Reed Richards."

"I know who you are, Professor. I…" You shook his hand. "I'm a big fan of your work." "I'm glad to see someone so young is motivated by my classes." He smiled, and you thought you might faint right there.

"Is there anything about the subject that particularly catches your attention?" “Gauss’s law seems particularly interesting to me,” you said after a moment of thought.

“It’s an interesting topic,” he agreed. “Many scientists before me tried to define that concept without success, until 1835, when Carl Friedrich Gauss discovered the divergence theorem, which later became known as Gauss’s theorem.” He smiled. “But I can explain that to you another day. I’m sure you have more interesting things to do right now than be here with me.” He laughed.

“Not really,” you acknowledged, looking at your wristwatch. “We have exactly twenty minutes for you to explain that law to me in great detail.”

“More than enough time,” he murmured, nodding at you to take a seat in the front row of the classroom.

Twenty minutes later, you left the faculty with two full sheets of paper filled with data and formulas you didn’t understand, and a smaller piece of paper with Professor Richards’s number written on it.

[bigbrotherlouis]

i would love to hear more about mcstrome 🫡

realistically i'm sure it's the age-old story of two kids end up in the same place and become best friends because of proximity and then once they leave being in each others' presence and grow up into adults that friendship fades away but there's still fondness there.

however fictionally? alexa play ribs by lorde

you are fifteen years old. you are fifteen years old and you have been drafted to a new team in a new city in a new country. you are the youngest person on your team and you are probably the best person on your team and you are eight hours from home, granted special exception to be drafted a year early into the OHL and you are proving yourself against boys two, three, four years older than you, but despite it all your team finishes almost dead last. you are rookie of the year.

you are sixteen years old. you are sixteen years old, and the second best player in the draft, the draft that should've been yours but wasn't, is coming to your team. you know him. you meet him in the summer and you're already friends, fast friends, and you've been dreaming about being teammates again. he talks fast and he's fiercely loyal and he keeps up with you on the ice and he reminds you of home. he is not your best friend yet but he will be. he invites you home during the summers and asks if you want to play street hockey with him. you come and you sit on the sidelines, already conscious of the worth of your body enough that you know this is not something you should be participating in. he doesn't care, though, captain of a team, yelling at mitch marner who is an awful goalie and keeps letting in goals, and winning that summer. you go to the beach together, pale and stretched out on the sand, and now you are best friends.

you are seventeen years old. you are seventeen years old and they have just named you the captain of your team. you're wearing the letter with pride but people are talking about you like you're the second coming of hockey jesus. they've been talking about you for a while now, but this feels like more. this feels heavy. you break your hand in a fight in november because you are, after all, still a teenage boy. you sit out and watch as your best friend lights up the ice. he is the best person out there when you're on the bench and it shows in the stats and the points. he can tell you all the stats and the points because he's good at remembering those. he says he can remember every single play he's ever made and honestly? you kind of believe him. the haunting specter of the draft covers your entire year, looming in the corners of your vision, colouring every interaction. you are good, and he is good, and there is no chance of being drafted together, no matter how much you secretly hope. the calendar is a countdown clock towards your end, but you make him promise you will stay best friends because you don't really know what you will do without him.

you are eighteen years old. you are eighteen years old and edmonton has already made your jersey even though the draft hasn't happened yet. the graveyard of first overalls and rumors of a curse after gretzky left. you're the next gretzky and you're the next coming of hockey jesus and the entire city is waiting for your salvation. he goes third. phoenix, which is the literal opposite of edmonton. you hang off of him the entire weekend before, realising that this is the crescendo. you will never be otters together again. there's little chance you'll even be teammates again, so you cling tight even as you're so breathlessly excited for the moment your name get called first. you trip off the stage in a jersey that doesn't quite fit right but has your name on the back, and quietly ask if you can watch this next pick before you go backstage. you twine yourselves in a hug when he follows behind and it feels awfully like a goodbye.

now.

you are eighteen years old. you are eighteen years old and your best friend is drafted number one overall. you always knew he was better. you always knew he was made for more, so it doesn't hurt. you're happy to follow in his footsteps because you are his best friend and nothing will ever change that. besides, third is still a good number. amazing, even. they send you back to erie but you expected that. no one makes it to the show unless they are exceptional or a team is desperate, and edmonton is both. he scores his first nhl point in his third game and you are named captain of the otters. life is good. he breaks his collarbone less than a month in, shattering his rookie dreams. he comes home to you, in erie, because no one else understands him like you do. no one knows how to manage him when he's broken and angry, but you have patience and a lot of love and loyalty. you lie in your big bed and take up most of the mattress, two grown boys in the dark, and you don't kiss him. you could, but you don't.

you are nineteen years old. you are nineteen years old and he is named captain of his nhl team, also at nineteen. he is the youngest captain in history. thirteen days later, you score your first point. a month after that, arizona sends you packing back to erie. this time it hurts. you were doing your best and it wasn't bad and your best friend is captain of the oilers and you are playing with your high school team again. they make you captain for the second year in a row, but it's not the oilers and it's not the coyotes, so does it actually fucking matter? you are determined to prove everyone wrong and so you drag your team to the memorial cup. you win and it feels like a fuck you and it is maybe the best moment of your goddamn life. your phone is quiet. you haven't had any texts from edmonton for months.

you are twenty years old. you are twenty years old and this is finally your goddamn year. except-- you go pointless in two games and arizona decides that's not good enough. you've aged out of the otters so you pack your bag for tuscon instead. you spend your winter bouncing between the nhl and the ahl, sometimes so fast it makes you sick. winter in the desert feels weird, feels barren. you lie on your floor under the a/c and deliberately do not think of the time you almost kissed your ex-best friend. he's your ex-best friend because he's got a new one up there, draisaitl who also went third but the year before you. he can keep up with him, even better than you can, because he's not being bounced up and down. you wonder if draisaitl ever wants to kiss him. you wonder if draisaitl ever has.

you are twenty one years old. you are twenty one years old and you are a draft bust. they've been calling you that for years but now they're right. arizona trades you to chicago for practically nothing, which is embarrassing, but it's alright because you've got an old otter, brinksy, there on your team. you're nothing special, but you're nothing bad either. if only you hadn't touched the hem of hockey jesus as a teenager. if only you hadn't known what greatness tastes like. when you face off against edmonton, he won't meet your eye. he slides out of the centre dot and draisaitl steps in and wins the draw.

you are twenty three years old. you are twenty three years old and you have a girlfriend now, a pretty one, and it's-- good. your team makes it to the weird-ass playoffs in august, because there's a pandemic now, and you get trapped in a hotel in edmonton. your girlfriend tells you that she's pregnant right before you leave, like right before, and you can barely care about anything else. you barely care that he is two floors below you and the last message in your texts was a happy birthday! three years ago. unimaginably, you knock him out of the playoffs on his home ice. in the handshake line, he offers you his palm and his eyes skate over you like you're a stranger.

you are twenty five years old. you are twenty five years old, and on yet another new team. that's good, though, even if he will always be so much better. your fiance asks if she should send an letter to an edmonton address and you hesitate. you are no longer friends anymore. you haven't been for years and years, even if you lie when the press ask. but you loved him, once. you loved him so much that you were part of him and he was part of you, and the teenager on a shared bed in the dark will not let you forget that. you put his name down on an envelope.

so.

you are twenty five years old. you are twenty five years old and a wedding invitation arrives at your front door. you slide your fingernail under the flap and freeze when you see the faces on the front. there's a secret you will never tell anyone, not even on your deathbed, but you think of it now. it takes up so much space in your lungs that you can barely breathe. and it hurts. your girlfriend, who you love very much finds you shredding paper into a wastebasket and asks if everything is alright. you lie. you can't imagine not lying and so she doesn't catch you at it. you tell her that you've always wanted to go to manchester, england. you tell her that you should plan a trip for the summer, and you end up on a plane to a different continent while your ex-best friend is getting married back home.

you are sixteen years old. you are sixteen years old and flat on your back at the beach, listening to the water lap up on shore. beside you, he drops to the ground to stretch out too, his bare arm pressing up against your own. it dawns on you, as consuming and as present as gravity, that you are in love with him. it dawns on you that maybe you always be.

you're the only friend i need / sharing beds like little kids / we'll laugh until our ribs get tough / but that will never be enough

[posttexasstressdisorder]

The GOP’s 43-year tax-cuts-for-billionaires-while-we-ignore-the-needs-of-the-country grift has an analogy in condos and homes across America that might help voters understand how it works and how they’ve gotten away with it.

Fully 84 percent of all homes and apartments built and sold in 2022 came with a homeowner’s association (HOA), and an estimated 27 percent of all homeowners nationwide currently live in a property controlled by an HOA.

And many are very unhappy about the experience.

According to a survey by Rocket Mortgage, only 47 percent of HOA residents think their HOA has made their community better, only two-thirds (64%) believe their HOA “honestly handles its finances,” and one in ten people nationwide who have an HOA cite the HOA itself as their main reason for moving.

How and why is this?

Louise and I have lived in five communities with HOAs in two different states. Three (including where we now live) were well managed, kept up the community, and set aside money from the dues every month for the inevitable future maintenance. I was on the board of one of them. The other two ran, essentially, a shell game or reverse Ponzi scheme, which led us to eventually quit those communities and move.

READ: Deep-red 'Republican stronghold' thought to be 'easy win for Trump' is now a swing state

I remember attending a board meeting in one of those “shell game” HOA communities we’d lived in. There were multiple common-area maintenance issues needing attention, but a group who called themselves “low-tax conservatives” had run the board for over a twenty years.

There was almost nothing in reserves, so maintenance had been continuously postponed until things hit a crisis level. Then they’d hit us all with a series of “special one-time assessments” ranging from a few hundred to a few thousand dollars to pay for the upkeep. They refused to raise the monthly HOA fee, referring to it as a tax, because, they said, they were “low-tax conservatives”; in fact, they were just cheapskates.

That HOA board had been, in the past and the present, stealing from future homeowners.

They did it so they could enjoy the community during the first 30 or so years — when maintenance costs were minimal — without setting aside money for the future, when things would rot or wear out and need replacement or upgrade.

For the first three decades, they were able to coast with $200/month in dues and no assessments; by the time we arrived when the units were pushing 35 years old, though, the assessments were hitting $3000 to $9000 a year, and, when the buildings’ roofs need repair (soon) it’ll be twice that amount or more.

Fortunately, once we saw the handwriting on that particular wall we were able to sell our condo and move to a well-run community. Americans, though, don’t have that option: Republicans have been running this same shell game or reverse Ponzi scheme against all of us (except the very rich) across the entire country ever since Reagan successfully pitched trickle-down economics to the nation in 1981.

If you’ve ever lived in one of these shell game HOA’s, you now perfectly understand Reaganomics and why it seems that America has deteriorated so badly over the past 40 years.

You could call it the disaster of pothole economics: all across America, roads, bridges, water systems, schools, and other vital public infrastructure have been underfunded and neglected ever since Reagan popularized the idea of “austerity” among Republicans.

In order to pay for the second most massive tax cut for the morbidly rich in history (Reagan cut the top tax bracket from 74% down to 25%), his administration cut spending on education, housing, roads and bridges, and pretty much every other aspect of America’s infrastructure. George W. Bush did the same thing, and Donald Trump tripled down on the scheme.

The result was a $51 trillion transfer of wealth — over a mere forty-three years — from the homes, retirement accounts, and savings of average working families into the money bins of the extremely wealthy. Thirty-four trillion of that transfer show up as our national debt, which was a mere $800 billion ($0.8 trillion) when Reagan first came into office and started this scam.

President Joe Biden and his Vice President, Kamala Harris, ran the first administration of either party to significantly repudiate Reagan’s neoliberalism by injecting trillions into rebuilding our nation (over 35,000 projects) while raising taxes on rich people and corporations to pay for it.

The result was immediately visible, just like in the 1940s, 1950s, and 1960s: we now have the best economy on planet Earth with unemployment lower than any time since the 1960s (and lower than any time in history for women, Blacks, and Hispanics). Inflation has been at or below 0% for the past two months and is annually running around 3% (Reagan never got inflation below 4.1% in his entire 8 years); all across America we’re putting our rural areas, towns, and cities back together.

For the past forty years, Republicans and their administrations have focused almost entirely on taking cash away from working class people and handing it off to the billionaires who own and finance their party. At the top of the list of ways they did this was a series of five tax cuts for the morbidly rich and big corporations adding up to over $30 trillion since 1981.

But they’ve also been cutting spending to compensate for their tax breaks for the billionaire class: They blocked extending the child tax credit this year, throwing millions of American children back into poverty. They’ve fought lifting the cap on Social Security taxes so people making over $168,600 will begin paying on all of their income (millionaires and billionaires currently pay only a tiny fraction of the percentage to support Social Security that the rest of us do).

Fully 100% of congressional Republicans voted against Biden’s Build Back Better program that’s now putting America back together and his American Rescue Plan that lifted millions out of poverty and put millions more back to work. They successfully blocked the Paycheck Fairness Act that would have penalized employers for wage discrimination based on gender; they’ve refused to expand Medicaid in almost a dozen Red states; they even filibustered an attempt to raise the minimum wage from $7.25 to $10.10.

For the past forty-plus years, Republicans — just like these dysfunctional HOAs — have been stealing from America’s future; our infrastructure deficit alone is several trillion dollars, meaning Americans will be paying more in taxes to make up for all those decades of neglect.

Democrats want those tax increases to hit people earning over $400,000 a year; Republican tax proposals, on the other hand, mostly focus on increasing income taxes and fees on working class people while continuing or even expanding tax breaks for the very wealthy.

One of the “low tax” HOAs we used to live in, instead of raising their monthly fee or instituting an assessment, recently negotiated a million-dollar-plus 20-year loan with people’s properties as the collateral to fund painting and repairing serious rot on the buildings.

This should have been paid for with an increase in HOA fees twenty years ago, anticipating the future maintenance and upkeep needs.

But instead they kept the fee low, never built up a reserve, and are now borrowing from the bank. In other words, they’re continuing the all-too-common HOA board scam of requiring future generations to pay for current repairs, just like the GOP budget proposals we’ll see when they return from summer vacation in September will require future generations to pay for their past tax cuts.

It’s the equivalent of Reagan, Bush, and Trump jacking up the national debt to keep things glued together, forcing future generations to pay it off when the bill comes due, while their wealthy corporate funders rob us blind.

Homeowners across America are waking up to these toxic HOA boards, as social media sites for HOA members are forming and local homeowner uprisings are happening against boards, either replacing the board members or, in some cases, even suing them. Some states are even starting to require they build up reserves for future maintenance.

Hopefully, Americans will realize how successfully Republicans have inflicted this very same scam on voters and working class people over the past forty-plus years and vote the bums out this fall.

ALSO READ: Mike Johnson's now-deleted Trump social media post sparks controversy

[viscountess-nila]

Six Months - Bridgerton oneshot

This occurs in the two years Benedict spends pining for his "lady in silver" benedict is pathetically in love with her, but he doesn't know who she is yet. Basically, some Benedict pining and Bridgerton family bonding - no plot only toothache causing fluff

Six months.

Six months of losing his mind, tearing his heart, going to every ball, soiree and promenade in the off season (to his mother's astonishment and Eloise's disappointment), for the slightest sign of her.

Six months of drawing her eyes in every corner of paper he had, seeing those dark chocolate eyes every time he shut his own, but never once when they were open.

Six months of merciless dreams, of feeling that kiss with crystal clarify, her laugh ringing faintly in his memory, the slight accent in her words making his heart skip a beat even in his imagination - and yet not a sight of her in real life.

He didn't realise falling for someone would be so easy.

Was this how it had been for his siblings? Had Daphne felt like no one else understood her better than Simon when they met? Had Anthony felt an invisible string pulling him and Kate closer and closer, as though it was impossible to look away from her? Did Colin lose his mind thinking of Penelope, his dreams and thoughts filled of one person?

Benedict wanted them here (not that he'd ever admit that to them) they would understand, help him find her or help him deal with the madness his Lady in Silver had left in her wake.

He just wanted someone who had felt the same madness - who better than his lovesick siblings?

Sure he had Eloise, and she had been steadfast comfort without even trying, but he- he wanted his older siblings (they became each other's older siblings over the years, age was not the determinant)

Alas, they were all in different parts of the globe, Daphne with her third pregnancy, Colin and Penelope having left to Italy with little Thomas in tow and Kate and Anthony yet to return from India, leaving Benedict in London.

Both his sisters-in-law had written to him, making even him consider leaving the country, but the prospect of her presence made him stay.

There was Penelope's letter, just last week describing Italy and Thomas's exploits, stealing chocolates and charming shopkeepers in such vivid detail Benedict had been tempted to paint (he'd ended painting her, silver mask, dark eyes, rose pink smile and silky black hair)

Kate also wrote, stating their little boy was fine, jumping into streams, climbing trees, constantly babbling in Tamil, Hindi and English and begging his parents for stories his many uncles and aunts - though his nephew's name remained unrevealed (Kate claimed it was a surprise).

But who else would they name him after, except both their fathers? (he had stopped asking after one point, where he became preoccupied with finding another name, the name he wished he had asked her that day, the day he fell in love)

To say he was excited about his nephews would be an understatement, so he had replied, eagerly asking when they would return. While Penelope had said they would be staying in Italy for another month, Kate's latest letter (5 months ago) expressed both her and Anthony's want to return to their mantle of Viscountess and Viscount, and that even their son wanted to meet the faces of the many stories he had heard.

Benedict was not sure the young boy had a good image of his uncle, given that Anthony was the one telling the stories.

Seeing as the journey took 4 to 6 months, they should have been back by now (Violet and Benedict took turns looking out the window for an arriving carriage, even Eloise had eventually joined).

But they weren't here, so life went on as it was, dreaming and wishing.

Benedict sighed, trying to focus on the ledgers on the desk in front of him, knowing well enough he would end up sketching her eyes again.

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

Two weeks later, the preparations for the next social season were in full swing, and as Benedict and Eloise were about to enter their house, returning from a promenade (he needed an excuse - Eloise had been bribed with writing equipment and some good articles on feminism), the long-awaited carriage finally rolled up to their gates.

As the doors opened, Benedict heard a bright, young voice with a similar lilt as Kate's "Amma, Amma WE HE-YA!"

The familiar voice that replied had Benedict grinning and Eloise rushing to the carriage, "Yes, Chellam, we're here. This is Bridgerton-", Kate's eyes lit up as she noticed Eloise approaching and hugged her, beaming at Benedict as they broke apart from the embrace.

"Nice to see you all again"

Eloise was practically vibrating, "Kate, I've missed you so much. There isn't another intellectual person in this house-"

"And you've missed genius presence, I know", Anthony cut in, a huge smile gracing his face, holding his toddler son in his arms.

Benedict did not realise how perfectly Kate and Anthony's features could mesh, but here was he was, his long-awaited nephew tugging at his father's collar, insisting he can walk on his own.

Anthony met his eyes, noticing Benedict's attention, smile getting softer, his eyes a little brighter than usual, "He'll tell you his name, if that's what you're wondering", as he let his son stand, his hands not leaving the toddler until he found his balance.

His nephew looked up at Anthony, and at the responding smile and nod, he turned to Benedict, beaming, "I readh aa' you lethers"

Kate laughed and Benedict crouched down, his grin widening, "Did Amma tell you who sent the letters?"

He shook his head, "Noo, Papa and Amma tell me sthowies", his baby smile grew, "You closer to cloudhs that Papa, so you Unc-uh Bene- Ben- Benny!"

At that, Benedict laughed as well, though he could also feel something pricking his eyes as he lifted his nephew up, admiring the adorable mix of Anthony's face, Kate's eyes and all their spirit, "And you're Edmund Milan Bridgerton, aren't you"

He smirked at Kate 'I figured it out'

But, to his surprise, Kate smirked back, as the boy in his arms giggled, glancing at his Papa who grinned back, "Go on, darling, tell Uncle Benny your name"

Had he got the order wrong? Was it Milan Edmund Bridgerton, then?

"Papa saidh you say wong", there was pure glee in the young boy's face, "Me Edhmundh Bene- Ben- Benny Bidg-ton"

Oh. Oh.

Edmund Benedict Bridgerton

He didn't expect that.

Or that it would affect him this much.

But after a lifetime of feeling like he would never be valued by his brother, to realise he named his first son after him-

The pricking feeling in his eyes seemed to aggravate.

"Alright, alright, no need to start bawling, brother dear", Eloise taunted, though even her eyes seemed to sparkle a little, "You're not the only one who needs to meet our tiny nephew"

She turned to Edmund, who was still in Benedict's arms, and raised her eyebrows with mock seriousness, causing Eddie to laugh.

Her lips curved upwards, unable to resist his contagious happiness, "You know Uncle Benny, who else have Amma and Papa told you stories about?"

Edmund's eyes lit up at the question, "Granny Violet, Unc-uh Colin, 'ntie Daphie, 'ntie 'Loise, 'ntie Frannie, Unc-uh Gregry andh 'ntie Icinth"

Eloise turned to gape at her oldest brother, "How...Half the ton can't do that!"

"He kept asking for stories", Anthony's voice was laced with laughter and pure joy, "I had no choice but to reveal all our exploits to him"

"Which are not a good influence, might I add", Kate continued, eyes filled with mirth, "Eddie was trying to scale buildings and climb coconut trees when he could barely walk"

Benedict laughed again, happiness lighting up in his chest, growing and growing, "And who came up with the idea of naming him after me?"

Anthony pulled him into a side hug, and Benedict realised how wonderful it was to have his older brother back, "We wanted to name him after someone important to both me and Kate, and while Edmund was decided, Benedict fits that category best"

"I would be offended", Eloise butted in, "But I haven't seen Benedict this happy in a long time, so I'll let it pass", she turned to face Kate, who smiled sheepishly, "Your daughter better be named Eloise"

"Mary Eloise Bridgerton sounds fine", Kate replied, taking her son from Benedict's arms, "Plus we had to name him Benedict, or gods forbid my wonderful son ends up like his strict and serious Papa, hmm chellam?"

Eddie giggled at Anthony's pout, "Andh- andh Amma say nex' Mi-an"

Benedict raised a questioning eyebrow, "Next?"

Now even Anthony's face turned sheepish, "We may be expecting again. Surprise number two!"

Laughter bubbled out of Benedict once more, "Mother will be ecstatic, though we should've seen it coming. It's not like you two can keep your hands off each othe-"

"Benedict", Anthony hissed, the inner Viscount showing, "Not in front of Edmund"

Kate rolled her eyes, responding before Benedict could open his mouth, "He's been like this since Eddie was born. Can't even seduce him in peace"

"Kate, not in front of Edmund", Anthony stressed again, though his frown had been replaced with his characteristic, rakish smirk.

Benedict opened his mouth to cut through the rising sexual tension (he could deal with it, but it was still sickeningly sweet), but once again was interrupted as Eddie tugged on his mother's collar, "Amma, Amma, sthowy, sthowy, sthowy"

Kate sighed, "This is what Anthony was referring to", but then caught sight of an unsuspecting Eloise and grinned.

"Eddie, chellam, which of your aunts likes reading?"

"'ntie 'Loise, 'ntie 'Loise!!", he grinned at getting the answer right, as his Auntie Eloise whipped around to glare at Kate.

"Well, that's Auntie Eloise", Kate pointed to Eloise, setting Edmund down and smirking wider.

Unaware of his mother's plotting, the young boy stumbled towards his intellectual aunt, his eyes glowing at the prospect of more stories, "Read me sthowy, 'ntie 'Loise!"

And, just like that, Eloise's glare melted away into a bright smile, as she shot back to Kate, "If he's a radical by the end of this, not my fault, Amma"

Because kids might not always be her forte, but a nephew with Kate's genes and a love for stories? Eloise could work with that.

And so she took the little boys hand, making sure to take slow steps and led him into the house, telling him how they'd steal some chocolate pudding for themselves then go to the library to read all the stories he wanted.

It was not a surprise that she ended up one of the young boy's favourite aunts.

This left Anthony, Benedict and Kate, standing outside, still basking in the glow of the adorable reunion.

"Thank you", Benedict's voice cracked, the extent of his emotion finally showing, "for-"

"No need, you idiot", Anthony cut in, ruffling Benedict's hair and beaming just like his son (or his son smiled like him), "We named him after who mattered a lot to both of us", he grinned a little wider, "Just name your son after me, and we'll call it even"

Benedict shook his head, "I knew you'd have ulterior motives, I never should've trusted you"

"It's better than putting glue in your shoes"

A beat passed and both brothers broke down laughing, Kate shaking her head with a wistful smile.

"Ok, now that your sappy reunion is over", the Viscountess interrupted their raucous laughter, "Why were you promenading?"

Anthony's brows furrowed, "Right, why were you? It's not a very 'Benedict' thing to do. You should be doodling away in your sketchbook"

That's when it hit Benedict, that for the first time in six months, his thoughts weren't being haunted by his Lady in Silver. It wasn't some grand award, but he had gone ten minutes not thinking about the angel of his dreams, ten minutes simply enjoying his wonderful, sweet, chaotic, annoying family.

So he replied with, "People change"

But Kate, heir to matchmaker Violet Bridgerton's position of Viscountess, smirked with maliciousness he didn't realise she was capable of, "More like certain people change you"

Benedict sighed, his mind once again whisked away to that fateful masquerade ball, "You've caught me, Lady Bridgerton"

And so, Benedict led a gaping Anthony and smug Kate into the house, so he could explain the mysterious masked owner of his heart to them.

But as he did, he realised that even if he never found her, he could survive. Sure he would feel as though part of him was always missing, but with moments this sweet and a family this chaotic and bright, he'd survive.

He had his family. What else did he need?

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

It was no surprise when, two years later, Benedict, husband of the magnificent Sophie Bridgerton nee Baek (who was now the family he needed most) walked into the Bridgerton household announcing the birth of his son, Charles Anthony Bridgerton.

I realise this is very Kate and Anthony centric. It was intentional. I love them. I just love the Bridgerton family being adorable together. and now that the possibility of Kate not returning came up, I HAD to write this scene. Please, please bring back Kate - I need scenes like this in season 4

[lightleckrereins]

Six the musical boots guide part 1/3 the boots

I promised like last year that I would make a full breakdown of how the boots work so here it is. This part is about the boot styles, part 2 will be about rhinestone patterns and part 3 a breakdown of who wears/wore what. And note, all three posts will be super long, so under the cut part one.

Six boots are high heel black combat boots witha a block heel (which means lace up with a bulkier, round military style). At the start six actors wore store bought boots and decorated them with a variety of scattered rhinestones and studs. With the 2019 West End cast change they introduced new boots in the same style high heel combat style now with straps around the ankle in most cases. Custom made by dance shoe specialist brand LaDuca and with rhinestone designs on the heels and straps in the queen's colors made in collaboration with crystal embelishment specialist @/crystalledbyjane who still does the UK boots.

A note before we start. I explain this below but I will generalize to US and UK boots a lot. This comes from which production office and design associate team works on or supervises each production, not the country where the production happens although those are heavily linked. US boots refers to the ones worn on US productions (Broadway and both tours) and Canada. UK boots refers to UK productions (WE and UK/intl tour), Australia, South Korea, Japan and cruises (even if cruises got US costumes for most of their run boots stayed UK).

All the boots have the same basic shape and cut but there are a number of differences in the lenght over the leg, the amount, shape and style of the straps, the material, the heels and the embelishment style.

First lenght and straps, which combined I call the style. When the custom boots were introduced there were three styles, all going just over the ankle. I will go over which queen had what below but at this point there was no standarization for this and most costumes had boots in at least two of the three styles for different actors.

(Left to right)

Boots that have no straps over the ankle. This were retired after the 2021 reopenings.

The single strap boot, with a single wide strap with two buckles going over the ankle, versions of this one are by far the most common one even before full standarization happened (more on that in a bit).

The three strap version, it has two thin straps each with a buckle around the ankle and a third further down the foot that cuts before the heel. This design was slowly retired starting with the UKT 2023 cast change and fully went away with the closing of the cruise productions in early 2024.

For the Broadway transfer new styles of boot were introduced. This added a patent leather lattice grid (materials below) with studs on the body of the boot replacing the rhinestone grid from the UK boots. This remains a US originated production exclusive (US, NA tours and Canada) with all others following UK boot styles, with the exception of Cleves (that one is right below). (Left to right)

They kept the single strap boot.

First new addition was a taller boot reaching mid calf with a second wide strap also with two buckles.

And then they introduced thigh high boots with no straps and additional lacing on the back for Cleves.

Later UK productions introduced designs closer to the US style. (Left to right)

The UK Cleves boots are also thigh high boots with extra lacing on the back and lattice over the body of the boots. Materials are slightly different than the US boots and they alternate studs and rhinestones on the lattice.

Then for the 2023 WE cast change they introduced the taller double strap boots and a new version of the single strap boots, both with removable straps for principals which until then had been an alt exclusive element (below) those two kept the rhinestone grid in the body of the boot like previous UK boots instead of the lattice.

Last are the alt boots. Starting at the Aragon tour opening (2022 UKT cast change for UK) alternates got boots with neutral colored heels and no fixed straps, instead they added tabs at the back where interchangeable straps matching the costume are inserted. US alts have lattice and either single or double straps. And UK alts get rhinestone grid and so far all have single straps.

The straps are inserted at the back tab, are attached with snaps behind the zipper and then buckled. Buckles on removable straps are sewn with elastic for a little extra flexibility and to make buckling easier. My personal side note is that this is a great option for cosplayers who want six boots but for whatever reason don't want to fully bedazzle the boots (can't afford a dedicated pair or like me wear the boots outside of cosplay and dont want rhinestones on them). The tab is not too intrusive, but for short periods you can go without that and you can rig a temporary fix with magnets (if someone is interested in that one send me an ask).

Heels. When the boots were introduced all of them (with a few injury exceptions) had a 10 cm (4") heel. Casting calls said performers needed to be able to dance in that size of heel and had to wear similar boots for dance calls. Starting at the Canada opening in mid 2023 they switched to 7.5 cm (3") heel likely to prevent injuries and auditions changed to reflect that. Aside from that there are a few lower heel options for times when the queens can't wear heels due to injury or strain, in the UK in some cases for long term issues they wear a lower 5 cm (2") heel. Or a flat boot, UK boots are made as needed, while US productions generally get boots made from the start mirroring the heeled boot style, US flat boots also get embelished heels. All the boots have a short patterned platform that both helps make the heel feel a little shorter and gives them a better grip of the stage. There are also cases of other flat or lower boots being worn in emergencies (below).

With materials I am assuming a little because my shoe making knowledge is very limited. There are three main outer (upper and heel cover if you know shoemaking terms) materials in six boots. Not sure on the inner structure but its likely a mix of leather, some sort of synthetic for the inner sole and the rubber heel. The outside of the boots is all black leather, dance shoes are generally made of softer leathers to allow the shoes to bend with the foot, I think six boots are probably stiffer than most dance shoes but still softer than regular shoes as the shape is not as fitted around the toes and foot and they need extra support on the ankle. UK style boots are regular leather (there is def a term for this but idk what it is, visually it is what you imagine when thinking leather shoes or leather clothing) and pattent leather for the Cleves boots lattice. US boots are made of black suede. Lattice and the area around the eyelets is made with black patent leather. And heels and straps are made of suede to help the grip of the rhinestone glue.

I've mentioned a few times that the boots were standarized at one point. That started with Broadway and has slowly reached all productions. But before the current system a few different things happened.

When the boots got introduced there was a loose system of who had what but it was not consistent from one company to another. This was used by all productions with UK boots that debuted until late 2022, and by all cruises until those ended in early 2024. And note: this is the most common things, basically all of them have exceptions that are not hard to find. In this system A/S/H/P alternated between one and three straps, Boleyn usually had one strap (there is at least one case of no straps) and Cleves had 3, until they introduced the thigh high boots for WE at 2021 reopening and UKT at the 2022 cast change. Black and pink alt were usually three straps, teal one, orange was three and sometimes one, and silver has always been one.

The second UK system was introduced in early 2023 with the South Korean opening. In this one all principal queens have single straps minus Cleves who has the thigh high boots, alternates switched all to single interchangeable straps and swings have single straps.

When Broadway was preparing its original opening in 2020 they introduced a system that is now the base for all companies worldwide. In this one A/P have double strap boots, B/S/H have single, Cleves has thigh high boots. Originally alts had a single pair of boots in neutral colors. For the Aragon tour opening they switched to interchangeable straps with either one or two straps. There is no pattern on what alts will get aside from it being either half or mayority single strap.

With the WE 2023 cast change they switched to the current system that mirrors the US one: A/P double straps, B/S/H single, thigh high boots for Cleves, and alternates with interchangeable straps (all single) plus silver swing in single strap.

And now special cases, or as I like to call it: emergencies, experiments and NCS makes choices. Since the custom boots were introduced there have been a few cases of different boots being worn.

A lot of them are related to the cruise productions. Early cruises got the rhinestone designs but not the Laduca Boots so they had to adapt the designs to store bought boots. Later cruise productions had LaDuca boots in standard sizes that were reused for different casts (so not custom made for the actors) and relied on having boots available in new queens size and roles (or unembelished) so a few interesting things happened. The rest are either tests that were not done again after their first appearance or things done for emergencies in land productions.

Left to Right.

Boots with no laces or straps, most cruise store bought boots tried to mirror the LaDuca designs as best as possible but a few pairs had no laces.

A style with two thin straps with buckles around the ankle which was probably the most common cruise style aside from no straps before they got LaDuca boots.

The low cruise heels. Early cruise casts had a second pair of boots with short block heels to perform on rough sea days.

Fourth and fifth are what I call the extension boots. This are regular six boots that got a leather extension sewn at the cuff and a strap over it, there was a version with only that top strap (4) and another with both the usual single strap and the extension/strap (5 here pictured without the top strap).

Left to Right.

The last cruise specific ones are not six boots, they look like regular character heel boots (note the curved heel) customized to look as six boots, this was only briefly worn by Janice Rijssel before getting a regular pair which points to there being no Cleves boots available in her size.

The Abby Mueller boots, she had a low heel (about 4 cm/1.5" is my guess) and no platform, this design was never used after her but is an early version of the lower heels the UK has sometimes.

Third is a notable emergency UK boot with one thin strap worn by Rebecca Wickes and Chlöe Hart while new boots were being made for them.

Four and five are the two most common emergency flat boots. If a queen has no flat boots and needs them on short notice usually for injury related reasons, costume team will get them a store bought pair and embelish accordingly. This results on things like embelished cuffs instead of straps and US productions adding studs to the body of the boot to simulate the lattice. The other option done usually in the UK is for the queens to temporarily wear a pair of LIW boots which are also LaDuca makes in a slightly different construction style to queen boots and embelished with studs.

[joannerowling]

do you think they'll ever go for another HP spinoff? Both Cursed Child and Fantastic Beasts received poor or mixed reviews at best and were not that popular (I don't think anyone has ever referenced them IRL in my experience) so I doubt they'll be trying another spinoff anytime soon. Perhaps after the HP show is over in a decade? I really hope not lol, I found both CC and FB incredibly uninteresting and basic (Ezra Miller and Johnny Depp really turned me off too lol) and I figure any other spin off would be just as disappointing.

I also think the terminally online fans going "No one wants this! we want a spinoff about the founders or marauders!" are so incredibly out of touch. the HP show everyone will watch, however no one would care about either of those except super duper HP fans. If I said "marauders" IRL I highly doubt anyone would even know what I'm referencing. Also why on earth would they take a gamble on a new show after CC and FB flopped? and these terminally online JKR haters complaining about the show and screaming for a Jegulus spinoff instead also hated and complained about CC and FB for the most part? it's such a bizarre reaction that is based exclusively in 'I hate jkr and want to complain' instead of any actual desires on their part IMO

Will there ever be another HP spinoff?

Short answer: probably not.

Long answer: they can only greenlight a project with JKR's approval, so it really all depends on her. She's clearly not interested in writing more original Potter books right now, but she's ok letting others play with the IP in various media and/or commercial forms (except novels; duh, she's not stupid), so long as her specific wishes on some topics are met. So far, pretty successfully:

Theatre : Cursed Child, while hated by a vocal minority of (essentially book) fans, is a commercial and critical hit, winning several awards and touring in multiple countries while playing non-stop on the West End.

Video Games : Obviously a quite successful format, from the popular smartphone mini-games to Hogwarts Legacy. Nobody cared that much about HL's story, its success came down to the fun of actually getting to explore Hogwarts, Hogsmeade, etc.

Park theme(s) : Very successful and not to be underestimated creativity-wise, between decors, costumes, ancilliary products, etc. Again, the appeal is immersion and exploration rather than rides.

Supplementary non-fiction material : The "Hogwarts Library" supplementary books deepening the universe's lore have always been hits, hence WB using them as a base to develop FB.

Fantastic Beasts movie series (and the whole "wizarding world" brand) : The big disappointment. It didn't start so bad, the first was a success and well received. The second was too complicated and lost the GP, but still made money; and the third was better received but not well enough to save it. Still, even Secrets was more of a flop than a bomb (it made back its Covid-inflated budget twice after all, not enough to make a profit but better than nothing).

At some point, if i'm a WB exec and i'm a little smart, i start to notice patterns:

Normie fans and GA don't want new "wizarding world" stories: they want an immersive experience. Movies are a bad format for that. You just can't cram too much stuff in a movie without shit becoming real expensive real fast.

Book fans hate everything new in general, even with Jo's involvement it's getting touchy after FB and CC. (I'm sure an original novel would work but even that's risky and she's not interested anyways.)

On the other hand, book fans also famously disliked the movies, so a new, more faithful adaptation might interest them. Normie fans and GA too: they already know the story, so it's accessible, and parents would love sharing it with their kids.

Sales show that people in general are definitely still massively attached to Harry Potter, so it's worth investing.

TV adaptations of books following disappointing movies have been pretty successful recently: BBC/HBO's HDM, Netflix's Series of Unfortunate Events, etc.

TV's not a bad format for immersive story-telling. Not the best, but you have more screen time and it's usually cheaper to produce than films and more character driven, meaning more opportunities to add details and play with them. Enough "new" elements to stand apart from the movies and excite fans, but no risk of messing with canon.

For WB, a remake is a great middle ground to work with JKR in spite of her controversies: she's involved, but not too involved, because the story isn't a new one. It's not like she's writing an original script for them, she's just consulting to make sure they're not messing up. And for Jo? Also greatly convenient! She gets to make money with minimal work. She's a very busy woman you see, and she's got expenses (those rape crisis centers aren't paying for themselves).

Conclusion : Spin-offs = bad, expensive ideas almost bound to fail, unless they were adaptations of a new, critically acclaimed original novel by JKR, which will not happen any time soon. Remake = safer, actually something people want to see (or could be persuaded to watch if initially unconvinced, for the hardcore movie fans). Movies are (kinda) out, shows are (still) in. Carpe Diem, etc.

Will there specifically ever be a Marauders spinoff?

With the disclaimer that i'm not JKR so i can't actually know that but: no. Never. Not even a remote possibility, won't ever happen in a thousand years.

[loving-family-poll]

Ultimate Incest Tournament - Semifinals

Propaganda under the cut:

Liam/Noel:

The Gallagher brothers have a very intense relationship that doesn't make any sense to the outside viewer unless one considers the possibility of incest. For 30 years now they have been utterly unhinged about one another in the public eye. Noel has often made incest jokes; Liam once said on-stage once "we had sex last night" referring to him and Noel. Even people writing in actual books and magazines have picked up on the vibes (some stuff that has been printed about them fully feels like it was written by tumblr incestinas except it's like. actual fucking journalists). Also there was this one time in 1996 where they kissed each other with tongue in front of 40 thousand people.

They have been described as “in love with each other” by both themselves and third parties. the lyrics “you’re my lover, i’m your brother.” they kissed with tongue at loch lomond in 1996 and have also been photographed/videoed kissing on the mouth other times. liam regularly groped noel onstage. liam’s entire twitter is just propaganda too. liam talked about impregnating noel once. noel frequently talks about how physically attractive liam is. liam claims that he’s noel’s muse

their song guess god thinks im abel has the lyrics "i could be your lover" while comparing themselves to you guessed it abel and cain. and like. a thousand more instances of them being weird about each other. also noel REALLY wanted a sister and he mentioned it quite a few times and said well liam IS basically a sister or something like that. normal behaviour

Liam literally called himself Noel's good boy on twitter, and called him god a few times after reunion. Noel said he loves make women cry and the only thing that's better is make Liam cry so he can laugh and call him a woman. They literally kissed with tongue and loch lomand is not their only kiss they have two more photos of different kissing to, they literally used the japan kiss video for reunion video. YES THEY DID THAT TF. Noel said they are head over heels in love and said it's illegal in many countries. Also Noel said Liam is like his ex-wife a few times or shit like those cunts are fucking crazy

Other people have described them as more like boyfriend/girlfriend than brothers and said they’re in love. someone on twitter asked liam “if you’re john lennon, who is noel?” and liam said “yoko ono.” another time someone said on twitter “you defo rimmed noel when you were younger” and liam replied “you jealous?"

Deeply weird about each other getting married (them not attending each other's wedding which occurred month apart and then getting divorce around the same time and they stayed at the same hotel for months), intense infamously love-hate relationship and is everyone's favorite soap opera, noel saying "on stage i just wanted him..there's only two of us that will ever get this", prominent theme of shame and crime and impossible dream in noel gallagher works, the elusive meaning of wonderwall which noel insisted is not about anyone but there's good amount of evidence that it referenced back to their childhood and their shared bedroom, liam having mental breakdown several times on twitter about noel, liam's my brother is getting a divorce playlist to which he shared with his 3 millions twitter followers, incest-baiting on main ever since the reunion, brother and lover being interchangeable for noel when writing lyrics, noel (allegedly) lying to liam that his girlfriend cheated on him in order to sabotage their relationship before oasis took off, liam hating noel's latest (ex) wife (sarah), noel writing "the owner of the star on stage" after liam's autograph and so many more insane shit

"[Liam] thinks all the songs are about him. He even thinks Wonderwall is about him." –Noel Gallagher (1997)

"It's all about me it always was and is" –Liam Gallagher (2023)

Japan kiss (kiss is at the end) loch lomand kiss

PLUS they’re back together after 14 years of estrangement! The narrative!

Amma/Camille:

Off the charts messy vibes. Grief over losing dead sister mixed with complicated feelings of having new sister. Possessive, jealous, manipulative.

Camille is lowkey infatuated with Amma and Amma is highkey infatuated with Camille. Great annoying younger sister trying to get her older sister's attention material. Plus murderous, intense, dangerous and clingy younger sister trying her damnest to capture her emotionally stunted but ultimately survivor older sister as a means both of getting out of the family sickness and drowning in it through a more compatible dynamic.

I mean. They literally make out. It's incest and pedophilia and weird family trauma and murder. I mean it's literally the perfect sicko ship.

In the book camille is obsessed with her 14 year old sisters big ol titties. truly insane.

I love these teeth sisters so much. Camille obsession with Amma in the book and the way she can’t stop talking about how beautiful Amma’s looks. The drug kiss at the party and the way Amma/Camille can be consider a form of mother/daughter incest due to their age gap and the way they’re recreating the trauma of past relationships like their mother and late grandmother.

[mariacallous]

A decade ago, the U.S. Congress was on the cusp of passing a bill that would have legalized most of the nearly 11 million unauthorized migrants living in the United States and put them on a path to citizenship. Now, come Jan. 20, the country is set to launch what will likely be the largest mass deportation effort in its history.

“We know who you are, and we’re going to come and find you,” said Thomas Homan one day after President-elect Donald Trump named him as the incoming administration’s “border czar,” responsible for border security and the removal of unauthorized migrants. Homan has promised to carry out “the biggest deportation operation this country’s ever seen.”

If he succeeds, it will reshape migration for a generation or longer—not just in the United States but in much of the world.

This moment has been building slowly. Since roughly the 1960s, most of the advanced economies—with the notable exception of Japan—gradually opened themselves to larger flows of migrants. In the United States, the foreign-born share of the population rose from less than 5 percent in 1970 to nearly 15 percent today; in Britain, that share rose from a little more than 6 percent to more than 16 percent.

Most Western countries saw immigration as an economic winner, bringing talent and ambition and helping fill labor shortages in occupations from farm work to health care. There was a strong humanitarian impulse as well: Horrified by the refusal of most countries to admit European Jews fleeing Nazi persecution before and during the Second World War, Western countries adopted generous refugee and asylum laws obligating them to admit many of those escaping persecution, torture, or death threats around the world.

But in the 21st century, that welcoming spirit has crumbled. In the 2000s, Congress tried several times to pass legislation to legalize unauthorized migrants who were longtime U.S. residents, as it had done during the administration of President Ronald Reagan in 1986. The most recent effort failed in the House of Representatives in 2014, despite support from more than two-thirds of senators, including 14 Republicans.

Then over the past decade, both the United States and Europe faced a series of migration crises, with displaced people arriving at their borders in far larger numbers than governments could handle or their populations were willing to accept. Tinkering with asylum processing and enlisting help from neighboring states such as Mexico or Turkey bought occasional breathing room—until the number of arrivals would inevitably soar again, creating a fresh crisis.

With the growing number of migrants fleeing conflict, violence, or economic collapse—the number of displaced persons worldwide has doubled over the past decade, to nearly 120 million today—immigration has become more politically charged across the world. In Europe, populist parties running on anti-immigrant platforms have made widespread gains. Even countries that have historically welcomed large numbers of migrants, such as Canada and Australia, have become warier and are reducing immigration quotas.

But no country faces an about-face as stark as that in the United States. Trump returns to the White House with what he believes is a mandate to sweep the country of unauthorized migrants, including millions who have been in the United States for decades and millions more who have arrived in the past four years and enjoy temporary legal status under the Biden administration’s more generous schemes.

Trump’s first appointments attest to his seriousness. Homan has four decades of experience on migration issues; as the acting director of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) during Trump’s first term, he was the architect of the controversial policy of separating migrant parents from their children when they crossed the border from Mexico illegally.

Trump’s new deputy chief of staff for policy, Stephen Miller, has spent the last 15 years schooling himself in the intricacies of U.S. immigration laws to wield them in the service of a xenophobic agenda. At Trump’s Madison Square Garden rally in late October, Miller told the cheering crowd that “America is for Americans and Americans only.”

And the president-elect’s nominee to head the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), Gov. Kristi Noem, deployed National Guard troops from her state of South Dakota to help stop migrants at the Texas-Mexico border.

It is not at all clear, however, that Americans actually voted for this agenda. Immigration was a big issue in the campaign, but surveys indicate that it ran well behind the state of the economy and was a second-tier issue alongside health care, national security, the Supreme Court, and the future of democracy.

Polls on immigration are also all over the map. A September Pew Research poll found that nearly 9 in 10 Trump supporters, and 56 percent of registered voters overall, said that they favor “mass deportations of immigrants living in the country illegally,” suggesting strong support for the Trump agenda. But 58 percent also favor allowing undocumented immigrants to remain in the country if they are married to a U.S. citizen. And considerably higher majorities—including half or more of Trump supporters—want to admit more refugees, foreign college graduates, and immigrants who can fill labor shortages.

The new administration’s actions will be a test of which of these competing priorities Americans will actually support. In his first term, Trump did not push very hard. While he all but shut down refugee admissions from overseas, took steps to curb legal migration, and tightened the U.S. border with Mexico during the COVID-19 pandemic, his administration did little to remove migrants already present in the country. The total number of deportations during his first four years was 1.5 million—half as many as President Barack Obama’s first term and similar to the number in Obama’s second term and outgoing President Joe Biden’s four years.

Trump was more successful in reducing legal migration. Immigrant arrivals slowed significantly under Trump, though much of that came from the almost complete shutdown of U.S. borders and immigration processing during the pandemic year of 2020, the final year of his first term. What would a mass deportation look like? Unless Congress changes them, U.S. laws make a huge increase in removals unlikely.

Migrants targeted for deportation are permitted to appeal their removal to U.S. immigration courts, an arm of the Justice Department. The backlog in those courts is more than 3 million cases, a sixfold increase since 2016; wait times for hearings can stretch to two years or longer. U.S. detention capacity for all migrants—either recent arrivals or those awaiting removal—is roughly 40,000.

Miller has pushed for the government to create tent cities along the border to expand that capacity, but the costs would be high. The American Immigration Council has estimated that it would cost $88 billion annually to detain and deport 1 million migrants per year, which is nearly nine-tenths of the entire current DHS budget. And many countries are reluctant to take their own citizens back. Venezuela has at times refused entirely, and others, including Cuba and China, are considered “recalcitrant.”

Homan promised in a Nov. 8 interview with Fox News to start by focusing on “public security threats and national security threats,” which is pretty much what the Biden administration and others have done; more than 40 percent of those arrested and targeted for removal by ICE in 2023 had some sort of criminal conviction or pending charge.

Beyond that, things get harder. Homan has promised to revive “worksite enforcement” in which ICE targets workplaces such as slaughterhouses and farms that are suspected of employing large numbers of undocumented migrants. The history of such raids suggests that they will be difficult.

Only one large-scale raid—against chicken processing plants in Mississippi—was conducted during Trump’s first term. Some 700 migrants were arrested and some deported, but the employers got off with a slap on the wrist. The Mississippi plants continue to face large labor shortages and continue to hire unauthorized migrants.

Many of Trump’s wealthy donors rely on foreign workers, including unauthorized migrants, and are likely to push back against the resumption of workplace raids.

Reaching deep into American communities will be harder still. To start, it is challenging simply to find undocumented migrants; unlike some countries, U.S. residents are not required to carry documents that prove their right to be in the country. Many states, including California, Oregon, and Washington, as well as cities such as New York, Boston, and Philadelphia, also have “sanctuary” laws that prevent local law enforcement from cooperating with ICE agents, making arrests and detentions more difficult.

Homan has promised to ignore such obstacles in deploying ICE agents: “If sanctuary cities don’t want to help us, then get out of the way, because we’re coming,” he said on Fox & Friends. Miller has also talked about getting friendly red states to call up state-level National Guard forces and sending them to assist ICE agents in blue states. This could set up unprecedented clashes across state borders.

The public reaction is hard to predict. Most immigration enforcement takes place near the border or quietly, when unauthorized migrants are detained on criminal charges and turned over to ICE. Sending agents into neighborhoods to arrest individual migrants will be far more explosive; nearly 14 million U.S. citizens and lawful permanent residents live in households where are least one member is unauthorized. Nearly 1 in 3 Latino families—a group that voted  more strongly for Trump in this election than in the previous two—is faced with the threat of removal or family separation in the event of a mass deportation.

All of this assumes, of course, that the new administration chooses to be constrained by existing laws and norms. But other options may exist. With Republican control of both the House and the Senate, Trump may be able to push through laws not only to boost funding for removal operations, but also to weaken legal protections for unauthorized migrants.

His officials are likely to expand the use of expedited removal—a provision that permits removal without a court hearing for recent arrivals. Previous administrations have used the power almost exclusively to remove unauthorized border crossers shortly after their arrival, but Trump tried late in his first term to extend that power to migrants who had lived anywhere in the country for less than two years. The increasingly pro-Trump courts may help such an effort pass muster.

This week, Trump suggested he may go farther still and declare a national emergency—using broad powers granted by Congress to the president—in order to deploy the U.S. military to expedite deportations.

Even if his deportation plans fall short, a large-scale attempt of the sort being promised will mark a revolution in the U.S. approach to migration. Until now, conservative critics of immigration, including Trump himself during his first term, have focused largely on securing borders and reducing new arrivals. Right-wing parties in Europe, too, have focused on tightening borders.

But if the United States starts mass removal, populist governments in other parts of the world will likely be emboldened to take more draconian measures as well. Despite the political controversies, the United States has long been something of a model for embracing immigration—more than one-fifth of all the world’s migrants reside in the United States. Mass deportation will send a far uglier message.

If the effort proves too difficult, and Trump buckles to the inevitable backlash, the political debate in the United States may revert to where it has been for decades: how to provide a reasonable level of security at the border while continuing to admit new immigrants who benefit the economy—and looking the other way at the millions of unauthorized migrants who have settled and built lives in the country.

For decades now, that has been a messy and uncomfortable compromise. But the alternative promises to be much worse.

[shadowmaat]

NeverBidens

We're on a fast track to another Trump presidency. It was already going to be a dicey situation given his popularity among the white power groups, the antiqueer extremists, the misogynists, xenophobes, terrorist militias, and ultraconservative Christians.

Unfortunately, there's another equally large group throwing themselves in the mix. People who claim to be leftists, but whose beliefs align more with the alt-right than anything on the liberals side.

The NeverBidens use Biden's involvement with Israel over Palestine as a rallying cry to oust him. They're furious over the genocide taking place in Palestine and think the only way to "save" those people is to get rid of Biden.

"We need to send a message to Dems!" they claim. This has never worked in modern history, of course, and has led to an increase in suffering when attempts have been made, but that hardly matters. Whether it's refusing to vote at all or wasting a vote on a third party, their goal is the same as MAGA's: get Trump installed as president.

Why? Well, some of them say that Trump can "hardly be worse" than Biden, which shows a significant memory failure, if true. Others have flat-out stated that their goal is to destroy the US: burn it all down and start over from the ashes. This is, they claim, the only way to "fix" the country. I'm beginning to believe that this is what all of them want, no matter what excuses they make or lies they tell themselves.

Some of them may claim that no, this isn't about killing the US, it's about saving Palestinians, but if that were true they'd voting for the guy who is at least starting to waffle a bit rather than the guy who thinks Benji should "finish the job already."

The ones willing to admit they want the violent destruction of the US are also aware that this will lead to countless deaths, both in the US and across the world. It's a "necessary sacrifice" to achieve the "better world" they envision, and they're willing to throw all of us onto the pyre of their beliefs.

This is part of why I say that NeverBidens are a death cult: whether they're willing to admit it or not, they know a lot of innocent people are going to die, and they either want that or don't care as long as they "win." Many of them may not even care what comes next as long as the rest of us are punished: for allowing the country to get this bad, for voting Biden into office in the first place, for not managing to fix everything already.

Do the people calling for the death of the US honestly believe something better will take its place? Or do they just want the country to die and don't care what happens next? Hard to say. I'm sure some of them could probably outline grand plans for a better future, one where everyone is treated equally and nothing bad ever happens and all is wonderful and perfect, but that isn't the same as believing it's possible. And it isn't the same as being able to successfully implement those plans without any hiccups or dissent.

As an aside, I remember reading about a group of disenfranchised fic fans who decided they'd had enough of AO3's lenient content policies and decided to start up their own perfect archive: one where Immoral Content™ was forbidden and all the creepy perverts on AO3 wouldn't be allowed.

Which might have worked well if they had been able to agree on the specifics of the immoral content and where to draw the lines. Except, y'know, everyone has their own opinions on "immoral" and eventually the arguing got so bad that the project was abandoned.

Anyway! NeverBidens are a death cult. A lot of them get angry when you point that out. No, no, they don't want more people to die, they want the Palestinians to live! How, exactly, that's supposed to be accomplished with Trump as president remains vague and undefined. And even if, by some miracle, Trump suddenly decided to stop sending Israel money and weapons, A) I'm pretty sure Benji could continue to cause damage without us (we're his biggest supporter, not his only one), and B) what about the rest of the world? What about the genocides in Sudan, Ukraine, Afghanistan, etc? What about the hellscapes in the DR Congo? Haiti? Nigeria? Mass death and violence is happening in so many places across the world, not just Palestine.

While Palestine deserves to be recognized, so do all the other people who are suffering. And yeah, the US is going to get significantly worse under Trump, too. As is planned. As is desired by certain factions, including the NeverBidens. But hey, a little mass death, stripped rights, global suffering, and terrorism is better than letting Biden remain in office, right?

[puckpocketed]

In reference to this post: on moresomes. So hrpf doesn't have a LOT of moresomes, but the moresome fics that do exist, three or otherwise, have a couple of key things I've noticed. I too hate the moresome as a solution to ship wars talk.

Various exceptions aside, there's a couple main ways they're implemented/explored, maybe not in depth in the limited fandoms i read in, given there sre teams i don't know/touch but looking into. I may be missing some, def not an expert lol.

A. full lines, in which the third is a voyeur in any activity and/or engaging casually with the couple but clearly holds a deep affection for both, or with complex devoted dynamics between them all that may or may not be romantic depending on the fic. Even both.

Typical for lines that have publically been shown to be actually friends, and a lot of hockey moresomes, predictably, go for lineys that have affection for each other, as you mentioned.

The center winger relationship shows through in this in the sense that very often the center must allow full trust and surrender himself a little, and the wingers almost worshipful, on equal ground and choosing this. In agreement on their purpose.

The goalie gets a similar position to the center in moresomes, or is relegated to a knightly, tower and paladin esque role who must allow themself to be protected.

B. the "core". Whether it be the leadership core, the forward core, the d-core, or the generalised core members of a team who form the foundation of the team, irreplaceable and having been there for years. this is based on the dynamics of interteam/interline chemistry that forms over long periods of time and the responsibility and weight of the roles they are given, regarding trust.

More Often involves casual and/or ambiguous relationship though not exclusively,, commentary on team dynamics overall, exploration (both conscious and not) of locker room hierarchy and the politics that affect it.

C. "the men of mine own country" - self explanatory. Close friendships form between people of backgrounds in similar cultures. A consequence of close knit european junior hockey teams, leagues, and the selective drafts as well.

The line formations can be familiar from olden days, and the isolation creates different friendships that are shaped by loneliness. and also more mixed up in terms of positions, so lots of variety in dynamics.

D. "my bestie*, my liney and me" - okay at this point I'm just having fun with the names of this, off the top of my head, haha.

(*bestie just means one of the people in the line had some kind noteworthy pre existing history and contact with. )

I mean, it starts out with a pair of lineys, center/winger often, codependent, our blorbos conjoined by suffering. And then one of them, is made into more of a focus character, by virtue of bringing in that person's old friend/rival they were weird about/best friend from a different team/juniors situationship etc.

Like the lineys are devoted, fully trusting of each other, but dont necessarily know each other inside out. The third person in this case is both a whole person and a glimpse into a facet of the other, and vice versa, especially since this relies on all three being acquainted at least by hearsay.

It also can bring in complex team politics, sore spots/poinrs of vulnerability exposed in different ways, etc etc. Can be part and parcel of trade fics, too.

Moresomes are so interesting because of the sheer variety, and ways they occur, even with these common threads of thought/initial plot.

Those are the main kinds I've noticed, thank you for listening. :)

-signed, tynedtime.

hehe taxonomy of hrpf relationships goes brrrrr........