#refusing to learn from them is the problem

[esther-dot]

Inspired by @eatsleepandsing ‘s post here

Ghost isn’t the problem.

It’s Sansa Stark who’s the problem.

You see, for a reticent guy, it’s a little embarrassing to have such an opinionated dog.

Especially one that has decided to supervise Jon’s love life. Not that he doubts Ghost’s judgment, hell, it’s better than his own nine times out of ten. After he ignored Ghost’s feelings about the girl from the bar, and overruled Ghost’s refusal to allow that blonde to cross the threshold, he’d learned his lesson.

No more girls who instigate bar fights no matter how aggressively they’re into you, no more ethereal beauties with worrying pyromaniacal tendencies. No more girls that raise Ghost’s hackles, Jon swears it. He didn’t trust him immediately, mistakes were made, lessons learned.

But Ghost is so damn picky. It’s fine though, Jon’s always been a loner, and now he has a great group of friends so he’s never lonely, it’s just, well, Ghost was becoming embarrassing in an entirely new way. And Jon isn’t sure what to do.

Ghost likes Sam and Gilly which means they get a tail wag before he retires to his couch. He’s fine with Robb, just fine which means a sniff. Disinterested in Bran and Arya, barely even lifts his head. Tries to avoid Rickon ever since the kid tried to ride him that one time.

So yeah, it’s Sansa Stark who’s the problem.

She’d been living down South for college, but now she’s back and part of the social group so she’s always around and Ghost has been an absolute menace since the first time he saw her. At first Ghost snores away on his couch as everyone troops in. They’re watching the game in Jon’s basement, so everyone has an offering of beer, chips and dip, and Gilly brought ribs. Last in line is Sansa with a lemon desert (of course), and just as she’s apologizing for imposing and offering Jon the lemon meringue pie, Ghost intervenes.

Sansa’s eyes widen at the comically large dog approaching her, and isn’t entirely reassured by Jon’s words, “Don’t worry. He’s used to your family. He’ll sniff and then go back to his—“

Well, she shouldn’t be comforted because Ghost makes him a liar. Yes, he sniffs her, he then rubs his head against her hip. It’s there, right at that moment Jon realizes Ghost being so attuned to what Jon wants even before he recognizes it himself might be a problem.

Don’t worry, it gets worse.

Ghost looks pleadingly up into Sansa’s eyes, and licks her hand. Not once, mind you, he just keeps going.

Sansa laughs, a bit discomforted, she is clearly not much of a dog person, or at least, not totally at ease with ones the size of a small horse who are overly friendly. But she’s gracious, and poised, and although Ghost follows her around the rest of the afternoon and lays on her feet, not near, on them, she is unfailingly kind about it. Apparently it wins her over because by the time she’s waving farewell to the dog and saying “bye, bye” to the monster in a high-pitched voice.

This is so, so much worse than Ghost wanting Jon to dump a girl. Ghost is sad when Sansa leaves. He watches her car until it turns at the stop sign and is finally out of sight. Each time someone drops in he stares at the door until it opens and gives a great big sigh before returning to his couch when it isn’t her.

It’s been going on for weeks and is only getting more out of hand, and all Jon can do is brace himself for the next time Ghost sees Sansa and smother her with unwanted attention. Jon would never make that mistake himself, he is very careful where his eyes rest and where they don’t, and when he hugs Sansa hello or goodbye he doesn’t linger. He doesn’t sigh over her the way Ghost does, he has way more self-control. Sansa hasn’t become his constant preoccupation. Lemon has always been his favorite desert flavor, he too has always enjoyed listening to show tunes, and picking up Shakespeare for the first time since high school is because he has always liked Romeo & Juliet, not because Sansa mentioned teaching it this semester. It’s Ghost who is embarrassing. Jon is entirely calm about becoming reacquainted with Sansa Stark, thank you very much.

He has nearly convinced himself it will be fine, he’s fine, Ghost’s fine, it will all be fine when Sansa is there again for another weekend hangout and Ghost swoops in as soon as she sets foot in the house only to gently take her hand in his mouth, reverently even, to lead Sansa to his couch.

Jon feels delirious. Does he have a fever? It’s not the most embarrassing thing that’s ever happened to him only because Sam snorts, “He has a thing for redheads, too, Jon.”

Now it is the most embarrassing moment of his life, all of human existence, really.

Gilly whacks Sam on the back of the head, and while no one has thought much about Ghost’s odd behavior before, one comment is enough for the whole lot of them to suddenly all agree that it is peculiar Ghost doesn’t care much for anyone but has decided Sansa is his dearest friend. They’re laughing and talking and looking at Jon and oh. Oh fuck. It’s him. He’s the problem.

Sansa laughs, blushes, runs her long fingers gently behind Ghost’s ear. Robb however doesn’t seem amused, especially when Ghost sighs adoringly and places his head in Sansa’s lap.

Arya starts gagging.

But Sansa looks at Jon with a small smile, just for him, convincing him in an instant a little humiliation isn’t the worst thing, a dash of lavish devotion never hurt anyone.

He sighs, scratches his ear, smiles back.

[lxffy]

❦ one piece men as hosts !

with: ace, sabo, luffy, zoro, sanji, and gn!reader

synopsis: one piece host!au headcanons where your favorite men try their hand in stealing your heart ! ❤︎

note: instead of saying madam/sir, i just left it as [term] so you can pick for yourself!

A host club had appeared in town, and while it usually wasn’t something you’d indulge in, you couldn’t help but wonder what kind of guys you may meet…

Sometimes Ace wonders if he truly belongs in the host club, but he just can’t find it in him to leave. He certainly doesn’t hate the attention, but sometimes it just overwhelms him, that’s all.

Learning the ways of a host was challenging, but he grasped it quite quickly, and his fan base grew immensely. He had a boyish charm about him, revealing a vulnerable side of himself if prompted carefully.

If you’re too affectionate with him, you might find yourself with a blushing mess! So please do refrain from complimenting his beautiful freckles, tell him he smells nice, or look at him too lovingly or he might combust!

“You’re too sweet to me, [name]…”

But all in all, he’s an amazing host. If you have a request, he’s quick to set a plan in action, ushering you around with a respectful arm around your waist. When he’s not trying to die from all the affection you give him, he’s quite confident and that playful smirk never leaves his lips.

He’s bold and suave, and makes grand gestures a part of brand. He spins you around, gifts you flowers, compliments your beauty and gives you an unforgettable experience.

Sabo is probably one of the smoothest hosts that this club has ever seen. He has a way with words that have his clients dropping to their knees, and he ends up with racks and envelopes of confessions from every client imaginable.

But you, on the other hand, are certainly his favorite. Even when he first met you, with the mannerisms of a prince, he took your hand and spun you around until you fell in his arms.

“It’s a pleasure to meet you, my beautiful flower.”

His smile was deadly and he made sure to use it right, often after a little teasing so you’d forgive him for playing with you so much. He often smelled of citrus and leather, and every time you left him his scent lingered on your clothes. He has no problem being a little handsy once you give him the green light.

If you're interested in someone you'll struggle to keep up with, Luffy is your best choice. Some may wonder why he's a host, but his playful and inquisitive manner makes him a natural in some eyes.

The moment you step foot into the hall, he greets you with an all consuming hug.

"[Name]! You made it!"

You're smothered with his scent as he pulls you into a welcoming embrace. He's genuinely eager to meet you, but someone in the background quickly reminds him to address you correctly, and he certainly does try going forward.

He quite honestly takes you for a ride! He has so many things he wants to do and he wants to do them all with you. If he wasn’t confined to the host clubs premises, the two of you would probably explore the entire city! But please tell him if you’d like to slow down—he may be energetic but he refuses to neglect your needs.

For starters, Zoro doesn't know how he ended up as a host. Rumor has it he lost a bet or was challenged by a fellow host sanji and went along with it. But he is the hardest host to book with—if it wasn't for the weekly quota he had to make he probably would've found a way out by now.

He may be a bit gruff, but he certainly is intentional. When you arrive to the club, Zoro is already waiting for you, his back on the wall. When he looks up to see you, only a faint blush is noticeable on his ears. His hair was partially combed back, but stubborn strands littered his stoic face.

"I've been waiting for you, [term]..."

Zoro tenderly reached for your hand and bent down with his eyes closed to place a delicate kiss on your fingers. Your senses were suddenly invaded with the scent of sandalwood and musk, strands of hair falling to cover his sincere expression.

When he looked up at you with hooded eyes, you almost had a heart attack. His gaze was intense—you’d think he was trying to seduce you if this club was meant for other purposes, but the faint blush that dusted his expression revealed he was just as shy as you were.

Unlike the rest, Sanji had the most experience when it came to hosting since it’s simply in his nature to treat his interests like royalty. His beguiling smile and sweet words have many head over heels for him.

Every time he spoke, a string of saccharine compliments followed—you’d think he was a poet the way he his each compliment effortlessly rolled off his tongue.

“I could give up my dreams for you, but something tells me you’re the dream I was meant to chase, mon chéri.”

He was quick to serve you by pulling out a chair, twirling around you to compliment your style and your absolute beauty. His treats and tea were his speciality—he made sure to ask in advance if you had any allergies or preferences.

[unsolicited-opinions]

how long do you give it for the Free Palestine movement, as it stands right now, to self-implode?

I'm not going to make predictions about the Western "Free Palestine" movement, but I'll try to put it in some context.

How Long Until the Western "Free Palestine" Movement Implodes?

Pattern Recognition: Comrades Eat Comrades

Western leftist movements are uniquely good at destroying themselves from within. I don't mean in a vague "movements always change" kind of way. I mean they start off energized, decentralized, idealistic…and then flame out in spectacular fashion after turning on their own organizers for being insufficiently pure.

Students for a Democratic Society (SDS) collapsed in the 1970s when it split into warring factions…some of whom literally became terrorists.

Occupy Wall Street No hierarchy, no demands, no outcomes. Just a long, slow descent into incoherence as activists argued over process, language, identity, and whose trauma deserved the most microphone time.

The problem wasn't the cause.

It was the belief that moral clarity must always mean moral absolutism. Absolutism inevitably leads to internal purges. The only real suspense is how fast it happens. Ideological rigidity eventually leads to doom.

Say what you want about the political far right (and I do because they suck), but they do understand how to rally behind a single message and follow a demagogue without asking whether he centers each of their specific sub-groups and sub-interests.

We saw in the 2024 election how many leftist purists were willing to help sabotage an imperfect candidate generally aligned with their values...and help elect Trump.

Why? Because the candidate who agreed with 65%-70% of their positions was more offensive to them than someone who has openly expressed admiration for Hitler. (How's that been working out for you, leftist purists?) These parts of the far left have their heads firmly up their own pure asses. They can’t/won't see the forest for the trees.

They subvert the goals they claim to care about because they're too busy performing their purity and moral absolutism for each other and clout instead of trying to effect changes to policy.

An Aesthetic of Resistance

The Western "Free Palestine" movement, especially since October 7th, has exploded in scale and visibility.

While some people are genuinely driven by concern for Palestinian civilians, a whole lot of others are clearly in it for the aesthetic, the vibes, the social belonging, or the drama.

It's a chance to cosplay 1968 without reading anything published before 2010.

What the Western "Free Palestine" movement offers isn't a roadmap to peace, justice, or statehood. It offers an identity. It's a moral fashion statement. You wear the scarf, you learn the slogans, you change your bio, and…congratulations! You're part of something Righteous and you didn't have to sacrifice or even learn anything!

An aesthetic of resistance, however, is not a strategy. It doesn't change policy. It doesn't build power. It doesn't endure.

Worse, it doesn't tolerate any nuance. In a coalition built on branding, anyone who doesn't fit the brand becomes a threat.

It can't permit any introspection or growth, so while might grow in size, extremism, or tactics, it's intellectually sterile, and that can make it ineffective and/or brittle.

Pattern Recognition: Factions and Purges

Leftist movements which base their legitimacy on moral purity almost always eventually turn inward.

First they identify the oppressor, then then identify the collaborators, then they start purging anyone insufficiently zealous. Eventually, everyone's a collaborator.

That’s already happening.

Mainstream ceasefire activists have been smeared as traitors by more radical circles for not calling explicitly for the abolition of Israel. Members of groups like JVP or IfNotNow (who for years were considered the "edgy" left flank) are now sometimes labeled as gatekeepers, liberals, or even crypto-Zionists for refusing to call October 7 a legitimate form of resistance…and JVP and INN keep shifting with the overton window of their movement to greater degrees of extremism.

Arab and Palestinian organizers who speak about nonviolence, coexistence, or long-term political strategy are being pushed out of leadership roles and branded as traitors...by white cultural Christians who know far less about the matter than they do. If they suggest anything other than total victory for Hamas and the destruction of Israel "by any means necessary," they're branded a sellout or a Westernized Zionist. The movement increasingly rewards people who sound revolutionary...not people who organize effectively.

Jewish allies to their movement, even the extremely anti-Zionist ones, are walking on eggshells. Support is conditional. They're expected to show up, shut up, and definitely not talk about antisemitism unless they want to be accused of derailing and supporting genocide. The number of Jews who've been publicly smeared or privately frozen out by movements they supported is growing fast, and most of them aren't saying anything. They just walk away. I don't know what their numbers are, but I've spoken with a handful like this. In each case, it was the privately unrestrained antisemitism which broke the spell and helped them realize what was happening.

Internal discourse policing is relentless. Want to talk about the complexity of Hamas's role in Palestinian suffering? You're platforming Zionist narratives. Want to discuss how sexual violence on October 7 has been minimized? That's "white feminism." Want to clarify that Jewish self-determination doesn’t inherently mean colonialism? You've committed the cardinal sin of nuance and must be purged.

None of this is new. It’s the same bullshit which took down SDS, tore apart the anti-Iraq war movement, and gutted Occupy from the inside. When your movement decides internal deviation is a bigger threat than external opposition, it stops building anything and just chases ideological purity.

Social Media May Accelerate the Cannibalism

In the past, movements have sometimes eaten themselves slowly. SDS took years. The anti-globalization movement unraveled over the better part of a decade. 

That was all before social media. Now what used to take five years can happen in five weeks.

Every far left movement now has an online wing and an IRL wing. The online wing is where purity spirals metastasize because virality rewards outrage, not organization.

Calling someone a colonial apologist gets more engagement than helping to register voters.

But Engagement ≠ Change.

So what does that mean for the Free Palestine movement? It might just undergo a slow, chaotic unraveling. Callouts, splintering, people walking away in frustration or disgust because they're too tired of it to say much about it as they just…stop showing up.

"Free Palestine" means..?

One of the biggest warning signs here is that no one consistently agrees on what the endgame is. We know that to Hamas it means the end of Israel, but it's much more vague for many "Free Palestine" activists. It can mean:

End the occupation of the West Bank!

Ceasefire!

One-state solution!

Two-state solution!

Third intifada, globalized!

Dismantle the state of Israel!

Ask 10 of them, get 12 answers. In normal movements, that's no big deal, because people are allowed to disagree. In this movement, though, disagreement is treated like betrayal.

If you say you support a two-state solution, you're a filthy Zionist.

If you mention Hamas's role in civilian suffering, you're a genocide denier.

If you're Jewish and support Palestinian rights (that describes most Jews), you'd better not talk about antisemitism lest you be accused of centering yourself, weaponizing antisemitism/trauma, and supporting genocide.

And if you try to discuss actual policy? That's imperialist behavior!

This isn't just ideological incoherence, it's a refusal to tolerate difference...which can make organizing unsustainable.

So will it implode soon?

I very much doubt it.

Will it unravel soon? 

Almost certainly not. The slogans, at the very least, will stick around and the hashtags aren't going anywhere because they've become identity signifiers.

A lot of the disinformation fed to Gen Z has been sticky and I'm concerned what the US will be like when they reach the peak of their political power.

There will always be a core of people pushing for Palestinian liberation (whatever that means to them), and some of them will have good intentions and/or good strategy. Some of today's antizionist zealots will eventually come around and start hearing Ahmed Fouad Alkhatib.

The count of antizionist social media accounts and posts will continue to be high - much higher than the number of actual belly buttons in the movement IRL, due to bots and agents controlled by those seeking to destabilize the West. Those probably won't go away any time soon and are likely to get much more sophisticated, effective, and difficult to screen out...because AI.

But as a mass movement? As a unifying force with real impact on politics? Something which puts people on streets in huge numbers? I'm less sure about that. From here, it looks like it's already fraying around the edges. The internal fights, the factionalism, the paranoia about bad-faith actors, the purity tests, the bizarre rituals of performance...that looks to me like the start of a collapse by attrition.

What if it just hangs out in the ideological natural reservoir of academia?

It's already been absorbed into academic discourse and nonprofit branding, right? It may just live there in a natural reservoir while continuing to do nothing material to improve Palestinian lives.

I'm not sure if/how it can be dislodged from academia. I can't support Trump's methods, but the absence of ideological diversity is both alarming and predictable.

From graduate admissions to peer-reviewed publishing, career advancement in the humanities often depends not on the originality or rigor of an argument, but on how well it aligns with prevailing orthodoxies. Scholars are trained to cite the right theorists, frame questions within accepted ideological paradigms, and signal moral allegiance to dominant narratives, particularly around identity, power, and oppression.

You pass your dissertation defense if your committee LIKES YOUR VIEWS. If your dissertation shows excellent scholarship which disputes their preferred narrative, you've wasted years and tens of thousands of dollars...and there are already more degreed scholars than faculty positions in these disciplines. So they're highly motivated to conform.

So dissent is pathologized instead of being debated. The result isn’t a community seeking truth, but a faculty enforcing consensus. Challenging the orthodoxy ends friendships and careers.

That's how you end up with an entire Middle Eastern Studies department which only knows and only teaches one narrative. It's not just a political problem, it's an intellectual ans social problem.

(On a personal level, this makes me very sad. When I was an undergrad in the 90s, I learned so much from the disagreements between professors I respected. I also admired the civility and intellectual honesty they offered each other.)

So...it seems like academia is going to be an ideological natural reservoir for the movement until that's addressed somehow without resorting to fascist tactics.

Maybe it'll splinter out into competing groups with varying flavors and intensities of dogmatism.

There are groups and individuals within the movement who think Amnesty International is a Zionist PSYOP.

There are self-styled anarchists and communists who want violence. They want chaos. When these people chant "by any means necessary," I have no problem believing they're willing to resort to domestic political violence to globalize the intifada.

Maybe some violent factions will splinter off like the Weather Underground splintered from SDS.

The revolutionary left has been recycling these dynamics for over a century.

The rhetoric tends to be more lasting than the movements which use it, because movements built on purity or aesthetics rarely build lasting institutions or effect meaningful positive change.

The Party Dynamics

Forget "Free Palestine" for a moment and look at the bigger picture.

It may be hard to believe right now because the Free Palestine people are so loud, but most Congressional Democrats continue to support Israel's right to exist as a Jewish state. Party leadership has repeatedly affirmed this position, and recent bipartisan resolutions backing Israel's legitimacy passed overwhelmingly, with only a small group of "progressive" dissenters. While a vocal minority on the far left calls for conditions on aid and proposes condemnations of Israel, they don't represent today's Democratic party. Voting records, public statements, and primary outcomes all show that the Democratic caucus remains broadly pro-Israel, even as internal debates have grown louder.

But:

Since Clinton, Democrats have largely hugged the center, while polarization on the Right exploded...culminating in the MAGA takeover of the GOP.

Now the Left has its own hardliners, people whose politics are less democratic and more dogmatic. That's the very vocal minority. That's AOC/Tlaib/Omar.

...and they're driving moderates away from their party.

Trump didn’t surge in 2024 because Americans suddenly loved him. A lot of voters were running from a Democratic Party they see as increasingly dysfunctional and in which the loudest voices are often the most extreme.

The Democratic party's base keeps pulling left, but the candidates the "progressive" wing would nominate for a general election wouldn't do well.

AOC polls better than you might expect and may be beloved in Brooklyn or Berkeley, but she's still deep underwater nationally. If Kamala Harris was successfully cast as "too far left," AOC would be radioactive anywhere but the coasts. AOC may well take Schumer's senate seat in New York, but in a national election she'd likely crash and burn.

The far left isn't going to win the White House or a congressional majority any time soon because it alienates allies and energizes opponents...but a takeover of the Democratic party seems possible. Maybe not likely, but possible.

If you think that's silly, please note that nobody thought Trump would hijack the GOP and remake it in his image so quickly...until he did.

If you oppose the rising political power of the antizionist movement, get involved in Democratic party politics and help move them in more practical, policy-focused directions.

Final answer?

I'm less concerned about how/when the Free Palestine movement will end than I am about how many good people will be hurt by it before it does.

[rainrot4me]

I Not sure if you’re taking requests right now, but I’d love to see your take on trans Jeff the Killer!”

AHHHHAHAHAHAH YES LET ME SPEAK LET ME SPEAK SIT AND LISTEN. This is long, I have a deep love for raunchy transmascs.

── .✦

Afab tomboy kid to bitter transmasc adult pipeline.™

Jeff was always rowdy. Always scraped knees, dirt under his nails, running with the neighborhood boys, never wanting to wear the pastel dresses his mother picked. He’d have screamed if he had to wear a bow. Every time one of the other kids said “You can’t play with us, girls aren’t allowed.” He’d be getting sat down and scolded by his mother because he had given that kid a bloody nose out of anger.

He was that “problem child” who never sat still, roughhousing and refusing to act “like a girl.” It earned him constant lectures from teachers and endless sighs from his mother—the “why can’t you just behave?” moments that felt like acid on his skin.

He liked toy swords, monster movies, getting his hands dirty—anything that let him feel powerful, even if he couldn’t yet name why it felt right. He would hide bugs and tiny critters in his pockets and bring them home to scare his brother.

The second puberty hit, Jeff’s sense of betrayal was off the charts. His chest came in. Periods started. Suddenly the adults were trying to mold him into a “young lady”—and the body that had always felt mostly neutral in childhood turned into a prison.

He became angry. Bitter. His room went from messy-kid-chaos to total rage den: holes punched in the wall, broken pencils, fists clenched so hard they shook. This is where the mask of apathy starts—Jeff acting like nothing bothers him, but inside, he is rotting with confusion and dysphoria. The worst part? He’s completely lost in it.

He doesn’t know what transitioning is, doesn’t understand that he could change, doesn’t have the resources or the patience or the want to seek help. All he knows is that he’s angry and he wears clothes way too big for him.

By high school, he’s full-blown spiteful. Short hair, baggy clothes, fights every authority figure tooth and nail. When he hears “you’re such a bitch,” it’s a death sentence in his brain. He’d weaponize his rage, becoming known as the scary teenager that you didn’t want to look at in the lunchroom for too long. He’d lean into the violence, because being feared felt better than being pitied.

It’s only when Jeff hears about the first trans person in his school that he stops and thinks, for once. Everyone badmouthed them, preaching how nasty and weird it was. He just stayed silent, slowly clicking every puzzle piece together when he didn’t even know there was a puzzle to begin with. It just all suddenly clicks.

The “killer origin” moment (burning off his face, slicing his smile) is also a transition metaphor. He chose his name, his body, his power. It was a permanent break from being what everyone demanded. Even though it’s bloody and horrifying, there’s a raw beauty to how Jeff reshapes himself—no more being a daughter, no more being a girl, no more being told “you can’t.”

He over-corrects, though, with aggression. A brutal, controlling masculinity that’s almost satirical—picking fights, dominating rooms, refusing to show vulnerability. If you ever see him truly soft, you’re seeing a side only his closest do. His entire life he’s learned that boys are mean, men are brutal, and masculinity in its whole is anger. So that’s what he embodies, because that’s what he’s learned.

THIS IS FOR THAT ONE ASK I GOT, HERE YOU ARE ANGEL: If you headcanon him Latino, mainly Catholic based, that adds such a sting—a family that saw girlhood as “pure” and “holy,” a church that said his feelings were a sin. That made Jeff’s rebellion even more violent. The guilt stays with him, even as an adult. Sometimes after a kill, he’ll wonder if God is sitting there watching him ruin everything. He’ll spit blood on a cross just to feel in control again.

Post transition? He’s proud as hell. He uses the scars from his face as a kind of armor—they distract from what he used to hate about his body, and make him feel permanently, violently other. They gave him ownership over his own flesh. He still deals with dysphoria sometimes—certain clothing, certain angles—but Jeff is the type to overcompensate with bravado and aggression. He’ll joke about “having a bigger dick than anyone here” and absolutely believing it.

He’s DIY’d more things than he should. Ben sometimes jokes about “Frankenstein hormone therapy” because Jeff refused to go through proper channels and took T from thrown away vials or by swiping them in drugstores. He binds, because even after he’s threatened murder on EJ, he still won’t give him top surgery because he doesn’t care, “you smell like a man, isn’t that good enough for you?” while snarling his nose (not in a transphobic way, in a you fucking reek way).

He binds so tight it hurts to breathe, but he likes it that way. It makes him feel secure. Pre-wrap and medical tape that nearly tears his nipples when he takes it off (if he does, he wear that shit for days at a time, only changing it when it begins to fall on its own). Kinda feels badass lounging around with no shirt and covered in bloodied tape.

Gets serious muscle tone and definition from missions and wrestling people to the ground, becomes incredibly lean and strong especially in his biceps and shoulders, which helps a lot with the “man” image.

All in all, don’t fuck around with it. It doesn’t matter who you are, what you are, or how close you two are—one word about any of it and you’re gone. It breaches a sort of delusional sense about his transition, he truly unshakenly believes he has a dick and he’s hormonally a male and that every childhood picture is somebody else. It’s the mental illness, but it’s also a safe-block on his brain to keep him from spiraling into anything messier. He has enough going on, there’s no point in stressing his body and psyche further.

꩜ .ᐟ

[babymorte]

i think what sucks about this entire situation is i though they were different. i know i bitch and moan about my relationships whether friends romantic or familial but i don’t know they were different. for the first time i felt like i made a legitimate friend. one that actually cared. all i wanted was not to be lied to anymore. it was never about them not being good enough or not giving me enough clarity or how often we spoke i never cared about any of that. it was where it counted that mattered. the lies, the half truths, throwing others under the bus to protect themselves from the lies they couldn’t keep from telling and i was always left with silence or their projection of their own insecurities and you know what? i was okay with that because i saw through it all and i didn’t care. we had already gone through so much and came out fine so why can’t someone make simple promise of not lying. i saw the person inside and i wanted to protect them because i know what it’s like to go through what they have i mean hell even now our situations are exactly the same. it was just nice to have someone that i thought was on the same page. i never expected any of this.

i never wanted any of this.

i’m okay with being the villain though. if someone has to do mental gymnastics to make me the problem when they can’t face their own emotions and feelings and consequences that is fine do what you have to. it’s not desperation to want what’s best for those you care about or to fight to hold onto them and you’re not a bad person for holding your friends accountable that’s the bare minimum of friendship what’s respect without accountability?

people want to change but are too scared of taking the risks and it’s unfortunate.

they say i’m crazy but they never tell me im wrong and i don’t think people want to be seen for who they are because they can’t fathom being fully accepted mess and all.

and i refuse to believe all of this was a game or manipulation. i think it absolutely delved into that but it was all protection and that is what’s unfortunate.

i won’t stop caring and i won’t stop rooting for their success and happiness and i hope that they can heal and stop with the bullshit because they really do deserve happiness and love and care and understanding from the people they actually want it from instead of just having to settle with what they’re presented with that’s easy.

all i want is for the people i care about to be happy and be the best versions of themselves but im learning that some people no matter how much they say it don’t actually want help or at least not from you which is fine i just wish we could start being more honest with ourselves and the people we claim to care about

[fumifooms]

What if we were both magic prodigies and it otherized us in different ways and we devoted ourselves to protecting a family member who has general other goals & priorities. What if we both did self-sacrifical devotion in opposite ways.

What if we were dark mirrors of each other and where I've grown overcontrolling you've grown complacent. What if, bought as a servant into a pretty loving home, ownership and control is what love looks like to me, and to you neglected and lonely growing up, love is gratefully taking any scraps of it you’re lent.

By belonging to someone, even if she comes back injured or fails at finding Delgal, she feels like she belongs and is cherished, by owning someone he feels safe in them not leaving him.

She’s what’s tethering him do you see… And he’s the only thing giving her direction and purpose in her state. She needs a compass and he needs a support.

They’re both so out of it 😭 It’s the weirdly intense and unearned mutual trust and reliance on each other?? They’re each other’s weird little comfort codependent teddy bear. Or at least they were headed towards that before SHE DIED THEN HE DIED THEN THEY BOTH FORGOT ABOUT EACH OTHER AND NEVER MET EVER AGAIN. Though she’s also the guard attack hound keeping him safe… And vice versa he heals her and can rewrite her very being with just one wave of his hand. They’re both so so mentally and physically vulnerable both but they cling onto each other. They can’t perceive things accurately but despite it all someway somehow they stumble into something closer to resembling companionship just before they both die. Falin is just that kind and Thistle is just that lonely. Overworked.

We both haven’t lived for ourselves in a very long time, haven’t we.

They both have a similar devotion to the people they love but again the difference is that Thistle starts overtsepping while Falin is self-effacing. The other difference between them is that people care about Falin <3 People have given up on Thistle long ago, and he has given people reasons to, while people refuse to give up on Falin. Yaad has a mini arc about it dw about it it’s ok he’s not all alone in the end 😭😭 He reached out for Marcille’s hand but they already all wanted to help him, they just had to be given the chance to, Yaad just had to be given the chance to, it’s okay I’m okay

Hey what if we learned to get in touch with our own identity and the world around us and living in the present again through being in the worst codependent situationship ever.

Falin and Thistle sitting in a tree, sucking on flowers together because they’re h-u-n-g-r-y 💕💕💕

I bet he’s only ever thought of flowers as useless ornaments. Weak weeds. But she shows him they’re tasty and useful and good and pretty in their own right too and deserve existing without proving their worth and waaa <33 Thistles…... Did you know thistles taste sweet if you remove the thorns and eat them?

"Even as a chimera, her kind nature remains" you can’t suppress her in the way that matters. You can’t soothe him in the way that matters. It’s doomed. You’re doomed. It’s all doomed. Save me.

[harrypotterheretic]

The problem with saying the trans debate is only a tiny part of feminist issues and that there are larger and more pressing ones is that it disregards entirely how much the trans debate has turned the world on its head and the impact this has on both women's lives and their ability to deal with all the other issues.

The trans debate has removed the word "women" from women. It has destroyed society's understanding of biological sex classes. It means when the word "woman" is used, we no longer know if we mean actual women or some men as well.

The supreme court in the the UK has just ruled the the word "woman" does in fact mean biological woman. UK women have had their sex class recognised in law - and this has caused furore all over the planet.

Until the supreme court ruling, women's spaces were being used as "women's" spaces. Businesses, services, charities and even in the government were acting like women were not legally entitled to sex segregated spaces and that woman was an ill defined feeling, and anyone - regardless of the body they had - could use women's spaces and services. With no thought to how this was harming actual women.

The word "woman" was being taken off women's health information (which disadvantaged those with English as an Additional language, those with learning difficulties and those who had not had access to high school education - all of whom are vulnerable and marginalised i their own way).

Men were in woman's sports. Causing injury and taking medal.

Men (some of them convicted sex offenders) were in women's prisons.

Men were in women's rape crisis centres, homeless shelters and domestic violence shelters. A man was running Edinburgh rape crisis. Women who objected were refused service, while the men carried on taking up space that was not meant for theirs and re traumatising victims of male violence in the process.

Women were being told that the definition of woman as an "adult human female" was a bigoted dog whistle.

The supreme court ruling is putting things right in the UK, but across the world women are still being denied the right to define themselves and organise themselves free of the company of men who wish to join in.

For example, the Tickle vs Giggle ruling in Australia means lesbians do not have freedom of association. They legally must include men.

Womanhood, as a legal status defined by biology has been erased by the trans debate. If womanhood cannot be defined it cannot be protected. If woman is a feeling then sex based rights disappear.

None of the other issues, no matter how big or pressing or urgent, can be successfully fought if "woman" cannot be defined. If we cannot name our oppression then we cannot end it.

In order to address the other systemic problems women face, we must be able to name ourselves, without caveat or argument, and understand what it is we have in common and the root of our oppression.

The trans debate has put a stop to that. We must undo this before we can move forward on anything else.

And that is why so many rad fem blogs feel like they have to focus on the trans debate for now.

I hate going through radical feminist tumblr specifically, because every other post is a trans debate. Like, how about we worry about actual issues than impact women and not that 0.1%? And I’m not even talking about whether you’re terf or tirf or whatever else, I just feel like there are way more important issues to discuss than this and this debate shouldn’t be taking up most of the radical feminist conversations when trans people barely have any systemic effect on anything. It seems to me that half are just using radical feminism as an excuse to hate on transgender people rather than discuss other, real systemic issues women face. Also nearly every post, it’s always just some two dumbasses arguing with each other dropping horrible takes, except one is a radical feminist and the other is against radical feminism.

[dzozef]

ive decided that my newest hobby is mixology this is who i am now

[theres-whump-in-that-nebula]

Just applied for a summer childcare position (like for a camp type thing) that pays 20–28 dollars an hour based on qualifications (I should be towards the end of that scale because I work in a school; and the only requirement the job lists is to be 16 and have experience with children). So hopefully they’ll consider me. That would be wonderful.

[inspired-lesson-plans]

@storieswritteninthesand I always appreciate your input. I wanted to respond to this earlier today when I first saw this, but I've been really busy. But I at least took the time to look back through our DMs.

You were teaching 10-12yo a few years ago. Are they still learning phonics at that stage? And what do you mean they're moving away from "silent letters" and "magic e"? Aren't those, just like, part of how the English language works?

I honestly don't have much direct experience with how phonics instruction is done in today's classrooms, since so my exposure to the primary grades comes from working as a substitute and witnessing the dry, lockstep way they reinforce phonics (which is functional, if tedious and a little soulless). Thus, I defer to those on the frontlines like yourself.

And yeah, definitely grouping related letters together. Make D&T siblings. I didn't realize these are called voiced & unvoiced but that makes sense given how you have to engage your voice box to make a D-sound but not a T-sound (same with Z/S and many more).

I love the idea of E&D being in a relationship. Have you ever seen a husband and wife who have to work together? Especially where they have unequal responsibilities? Good opportunity for story.

Finally, I kinda wish you hadn't told me about Numberjacks. I tried watching it and do not have many nice things to say. It feels like 5 different people all had very different ideas for a children's show and refused to compromise any more than what was strictly necessary. And I like having numbers as characters, but they interact with the world more like sentient toys than like actual numerals, and that doesn't work for me.

Not to mention how deeply uncanny they look.

And they aren't anything like lumberjacks! I was NOT expecting them to be like a dollar store Paw Patrol. Why do the numbers live in your couch? Why do children ask them to solve problems? Why are the problems only vaguely mathematical? "1 became 2, 2 became 3, and 3 became 4. Is there a pattern?" THE PATTERN IS OBVIOUS. If I were watching this as a child I would already have turned away to do literally anything else. The human actors (what are they even doing here?) should not be the most engaging part of a children's show! That's not how it works!

Oh, and here's a shout-out to everyone in the comments. Y'all have really been putting out some really good resources!

Instead of taking a nap I just had the greatest idea.

Children's cartoon series that focuses on the lives of all the English letters. Each one has its own personality that is in part derived from its phonic function, and they all have relationships with each other that come from how the different letters relate to each other.

This was inspired by the thought that kids might learn the alphabet just as well if the letters had full names like Kappa instead of the tiny names they have today. This evolved into the thought that every letter has its own personality and that we could tell stories about them because they're all characters (ha).

Here are a few notes that I thought of in the shower and couldn't sleep until I wrote them all down:

Subconsciously I am 100% basing this on a combination of the Mr Men books and the Wayside School series.

Every letter has a proper name based on their ancestral Greek letter names*, but they are typically called by their nicknames (the English versions). I do not know what to do about C and the like.

The letters have genders because that makes them easier to remember.

They should have English or Australian accents because it's a kid's cartoon.

Speech bubbles must always be present when characters are talking. This is a phonics-focused edutainment show. The kids need to read.

C & K are married. K gets jealous when she sees her wife hanging around H because she knows what kind of effect H has on letters like S or T.

In one episode K is really upset and she refuses to make a sound when forming words like KNOW or KNIFE. Some of the letters don't get it, but her friend G helps her out.

I & E are sisters. E is the popular sister whom everyone wants to include in everything. The other vowels say "We're just not the same without you!"

I is always trying to be like E, which is why she's often trying to make the same vowel sound. When E is asked to help spell the word FRIEND, she brings her little sister along even though I doesn't actually do anything.

In one episode, E feels overwhelmed by everyone's expectations of her, so she decides to take a Self Care day. But that means that all the other letters need to figure out how to make words without any E's. Soon they start to panic because their words are all messing up now. This is reflected in the dialogue, such as "A S_lf Car_ Day? What do_s that m_an?" This is pronounced without the underscores, for comedic effect. Anyway, I decides that she has to take her sister's place. After some fumbling around, she realizes that she can't do everything her sister does, but she can still be useful. SKATE can't be SKATI, but with some help they can still make SKATING, for instance.

Ampersand is a letter. At first they think they're a punctuation mark, but then their adoptive family (grandparent . parents ! and ? siblings , ; – ) reveals that their full name is "And per se and", which means "& itself" and used to be said at the end of the alphabet song.

I am very open to discussion on this.

Please, reach out if you have any thoughts. I do not have anywhere near the skills to do something like this for real, but I want this idea to be out there and for someone to make it. And I am willing to be involved.

This is Tumblr, let's collaborate.

*Fun fact that I just learned, the Roman alphabet is taken from the Etruscans, who borrowed it from Greek immigrants but shortened their names. And the Romans called Y the "Greek I", which is why when I go to the DMV I keep on hearing a Spanish voice calling for "Igriega". (Sources 1, 2)

[cakesexuality]

I've been disabled for almost 29 years. Here's what I've learned.

Tablets sink and capsules float. Separate out your tablets and capsules when you go to take them. Tip your head down when taking capsules and up when taking tablets. Liquigels don't matter, they kinda stay in the middle of whatever liquid is in your mouth.

If your pill tastes bad, coat it with a bit of butter or margarine. I learned this from my mom, who learned it from a pharmacist.

Being in pain every day isn't normal. Average people experience pain during exceptional moments, like when they stub their toe or jam their finger in a door, not when they sit cross-legged.

Make a medical binder. Make multiple medical binders. I have a small one that comes with me to appointments and two big ones that stay at home, one with old stuff and one with more recent stuff.

Find your icons. Some of mine include Daya Betty (drag queen with diabetes), Stef Sanjati (influencer with Waardenburg syndrome and ADHD), and Hank Green (guy with ulcerative colitis who... does a bunch of stuff). They don't have to be disabled in the same way as you. They don't even have to be real people. Put their pictures up somewhere if you want; I've been meaning to decorate my medical binders with pictures of my icons.

Take a bin, box, bag, basket, whatever and fill it with items to cope with. This can be stuff for mentally coping like colouring books or play clay or stuff for physically coping like pain medicine or physio tape.

Decorate your shit! My cane for at home has a plushie backpack clip hanging from the end of the handle and my cane for going places is covered in stickers. All of my medical binders have fun scrapbooking paper on the outside. Sometimes, I put stickers and washi tape on my inhalers and pill bottles. I used my Cricut to decorate my coping bin with quotes from my icons, like "I've seen enough of Ba Sing Se" and "I need you to be angrier with that bell".

If a flare-up is making you unable to eat or keep food down, consider going to the ER. A pharmacist once told me that since my eye flares can make me so nauseous that I cannot eat, then I need to go to the hospital when that happens.

Cola works wonders for nausea. I have mini cans of Diet Pepsi in my coping bin.

Shortbread is one of the only things I can eat when nauseous. Giant Tiger sells individually-wrapped servings of shortbread around Christmas or the British import store sells them year-round. I also keep these in my coping bin.

Unless it violates a pain contract or something, don't be afraid to go behind your doctor's back to get something they are refusing you. I got my cardiologist referral by getting in with a different NP at my primary care clinic than who I usually saw. I switched from Seroquel to Abilify by visiting a walk-in.

If you have a condition affecting your abdomen in some way (GI issues, reproductive problems, y'know) then invest in track pants that are too big. I bought some for my laparoscopy over a year ago and they've been handy for pelvic pain days, too. I've also heard loose pants are good for after colonoscopies.

Do whatever works, even if it's weird. I've sat on the floor of the Eaton Centre to take my pills. I've shoved heating pads down my front waistband to reach my uterus.

High-top Converse are good for weak ankles. I almost exclusively wear them.

You can reuse your pill bottles for stuff. I use my jumbo ones to store makeup sponges and my long skinny ones to hold a travel-size amount of Q-Tips.

Just because your diagnostics come back with nothing, it doesn't mean nothing is wrong. Maybe you were checking the wrong thing, or the diagnostic tool wasn't sensitive enough. I have bradycardia episodes even though multiple cardiac tests caught nothing. I probably have endometriosis even though my gynecologist didn't see anything.

You can bring your comfort item to appointments, and it's generally a green flag when someone talks to you about it. I brought a Squishmallow turkey (named Ulana) to my laparoscopy and they had her wearing my mask when I woke up. I brought a Build-A-Bear cat (named Blinx) to another procedure and a nurse told me that everyone in the hall on the way to the procedure room saw him and were talking about how cute he was. Both of those ended up being positive experiences and every person who talked to me about my plushies was nice to me. If you don't feel comfortable having it visible to your provider during the appointment, you can hide it in your bag and just know it's there, or if you're in a video appointment, you can hold it below frame in your lap.

Get a small bucket, fill it with stuff, and stick it in your bed (if you have room for it). I filled a bucket with Ensure, juice boxes, oatmeal bars, lotion, my rescue inhaler, etc. in October 2023 in anticipation of my laparoscopy and I still have it in my bed as of January 2025.

If your disability impacts your impulse control (e.g. ADHD, bipolar disorder), you should consider setting limits around your spending -- no more than X dollars at a time, nothing online unless it's absolutely necessary, and so on. Or, run these purchases by someone you trust before committing to them; I use my BFF groupchat to help talk sense into myself when I buy stuff.

Feel free to add on what you've learned about disability!

[bandedbulbussnarfblat]

I made a post the other day that mentioned IEPs. So I wanted to make a post as someone who was worked for the american school system, and explain IEPs versus 504s. I double checked by looking online just to make sure I wasn't spreading misinformation. (Or just the way my severely underfunded county did things, bc they cut corners) And I found this site above that gives a great break down. It offers a pdf with a chart that compares the two. There is a video that explains it as well. There's also video, a podcast, and the transcription available here . That link also has a few links to other resources.

I'm going add a quick summary of the most important details below regarding IEPs vs 504s. I'm also to going to add a link for parents/guardians who either don't speak/have limited English. (Unfortunately the pdf is in English, but you could probably put it through a one of online translators and the gist of what it saying.)

Most important differences between an IEP and a 504:

IEP: Is always written. Includes related services and specially designed instruction.

Generally much more in depth.

Requires any changes made to the IEP are given to parents/guardians in writing before the IEP team meets and makes any changes. You are automatically part of your child's IEP team. You have to right to attend these meetings. They will send a letter, by snail mail, telling you of a time and date they would like to meet. (If your kid has a good teacher, they will call and try to find a date that works for you. If not, you can contact the school and request a different day. Most schools are willing to be accommodating.)

Written consent from parents/guardians is required before evaluation and before the IEP is put into affect. HOWEVER, the student has to fall under one the 13 disability categories.

Typically includes modifications of the what the student is expected to know and learn. (For example, if the student has an intellectual disability, their learning goals will be established by the IEP team.)

This doesn't mean the student will not be presented with general education grade level concepts, just that they will be modified to meet the student's capability.

IEPs have annual goals that are measurable. These goals are made by the IEP team, including parents/guardians. (Aka, there is a lot of progress monitoring.)

Usually teachers will send out a progress report every two weeks. However, most teachers send out less formal methods of progress monitoring weekly or daily. Sometimes it's just a chart in a file folder where the teacher will jot a note of anything that the student was doing well with, or anything the were struggling on. Sometimes it's their complete work for the week sent home, excluding anything the teacher is keeping for records.

An IEP team has to include at least one gen ed teacher, one special education teacher (special education is usually called EC these days) a school psychologist/specialist, a district representative, and the parent/guardian of the student.

An IEP team is required to meet at least once a year, and the student is reevaluated at least once every three years. (Typically they are reevaluated and deemed still in need of an IEP. Though there are cases when students (mostly in high school) have received enough support that they no longer feel the need an IEP)

An IEP is a legal agreement. You have the right to sue the hell out of the school system if they fail to meet it.

504s:

Doesn't include specially designed instruction. Is meant to help student remain in general education.

Doesn't have to be a written document. (Though typically most schools do write documents. Bc otherwise they would not be able to keep track of what students need, bc there are so many).

Usually provides accomadations/assistive technology, but not related services of modifications. (Though sometimes these are also provided, especially if a student fails to qualify for an IEP, but still needs services and/or modifications)

Requires a student have a disability that impacts their education

Much easier to obtain than an IEP bc less requirements

No specific set of rules of who is on the student's plan team. Generally includes the parents/guardians, the student's general education teacher, (in the event the student has multiple teachers, the teacher will probably be their 'homeroom' teacher, and/or the teacher(s) of whatever subject/area your student is struggling in) and someone from administration, such as the principal or assistant/vice principal. Hopefully also someone from EC who has been trained to teach students with exceptional needs.

Parent/guardian consent is needed to evaluate the child, but this consent does not have to be written. (Many schools will still send some sort of consent form, bc the school system believes in documenting everything.)

The school has to tell you of any big changes to the plan, but they do not require your consent before starting them. Generally you'll be sent a letter of those changes in the mail. (If your students team is good at their job, they'll contact you before. Like, the teacher will call and say we are planning on starting x thing on y date, or email you if that's your preferred method of contact.)

504s don't track annual progress or create annual goals. (Though usually teachers will keep their own form of progress monitoring, bc a student with a 504 could be reevaluated and found they meet the criteria of an IEP. For that reason, many schools treat 504s as if they IEPs. Some schools suck though.)

For parents/guardians with limited or no English language known.

Most importantly, if you have a language barrier, your school must provide a competent translator/interpreter. They should NOT expect your child to work as translator for you.

And there is a lot of times where the translator isn't available that teachers will ask a bilingual staff member to translate for them. How you feel about that is up to you. A lot of parents don't mind in my area, bc we are severely understaffed when it comes to translators, and they want a quick response. If it's something you absolutely don't want, be sure to tell the school. You don't have to do so verbally; send a letter in your language stating your wishes. The school will find someone to interpret it. Keep a back-up copy for yourself.

Just as a general rule to all parents/guardians, keep documentation of everything the school sends you. You never know when you may need it.

[arolesbianism]

Thinking abt my dupes some more, and it's such a joy imagining them working together to try and invent new stuff for their needs with their limited resources, especially when it comes to the guys anywhere but the main colony where the only actual scientist lives lol

[birdsareblooming]

bc of the alcohol scene people are FINALLY clocking that Toriel is also kinda shitty. for people who didn't pick up on it this is not new to Deltarune:

Toriel is incredibly stubborn especially about her beliefs and therefore she states very blatently that she is good and Asgore is bad and evil and horrible, meanwhile Asgore himself is a pushover and takes it like a pussy. Because she states it with such confidence people just kinda.. believed her.

Toriel's the one who left and decided to stew instead of actually solving any problems. it took six kids for Toriel to actually try to hold one back. When she comes back like. yeah a lot of this is Asgore's fault but what she says to him then could've been said six dead kids ago instead of basically ghosting him. Even after all of her worry she still doesn't come with you because despite herself and what she thinks, she's just as much of a coward delaying the inevitable as Asgore is.

These themes really continue in Deltarune. While Asgore is definitely too pushy, Toriel refuses to talk to him in any way at all, throwing away his flowers and trash talking him behind his back while also not talking to him at all. Similarly to Undertale she'd much rather avoid and trash talk him than make moves to fix anything.

Even though Toriel kinda does, it's not an argument of who was worse in the situation of either Undertale or Deltarune, if you start counting "sin points" to decide who was worse than you're loosing your media literacy. As far as I can tell at least in Undertale Toriel is just as at fault as Asgore is, even IF she tried and failed years ago and gave up, shutting herself off from the world and pretending it doesn't exist is no solution, and it's almost the same solution Asgore took, even right before he kills you.

We don't know the situation in Delatrune other than Asgore seems to have something he's involved with that Toriel doesn't want to talk about that Carol is "financing", very well could be an addiction of his own.

But I think the blatant alcoholism (that's in Undertale btw, in the alarm clock event she also got plastered) that people who know what alcoholism looks like noticed how Kris (and Susie) act in that scene has made it more apparent than ever that Toriel is an incredibly flawed character and one of her flaws is not being able to see that, something that Asgore does the opposite of where he's always wallowing in self-pity.

Toriel is really good at general mom-isms like making breakfast, taking the kids out, supporting interests, giving hugs, etc. However when actually worrying about Kris' safety and wellbeing she ends up falling short, as people have pointed out when we come home in chapter 4 she doesn't ask why either of them were out so late. Even a controlled state Kris has enough embarrassment and shame about the scene that they hide their face, meaning Kris has shown obvious signs of disapproval before that Toriel has not seen or ignored.

I think that's why her and Sans mesh so well together in an actually horrible way. Sans also likes to pretend stuff doesn't exist and brush stuff off with a joke instead of doing anything until literally the last minute. With how he acts in the scene he may not know, but weather he knows or not he is absolutely enabling her, which weather Toriel knows it or not is why she likes him and keeps him around. Finally a succinct way of saying why I believe their relationship, whatever you believe it is, is a toxic one.

TLDR: the only parent doing a good job here is Rudy unless we learn info later that changes that

[doberbutts]

And speaking of being black in majority-white spaces, here's something else I've learned first from my black family and then from direct experience:

I absolutely understand if you don't have the energy or ability to put yourself at risk and open yourself up to being the first [marginalized delographic] to do something or the only one to exist in a [empowered demopraphic] space, but also.

Sometimes that person does have to be you. Sometimes you have to do it for those who come after you. Sometimes you have to do it if you want that space to change.

A friend of mine has a husband who attends a country club. Formerly mostly populated by truly ancient racist ass white men as a Good Ol Boys Club, except... my friend's husband is not racist and does not like this behavior, but does like the perks of the country club. So he got his friends of color into the club, and is slowly taking over the club dynamic and politics with his significantly more diverse friend group. And the guys he brought in are A: very pleasant people and B: becoming official members and then bringing *their* friends in, and slowly they're pushing out the racist assholes that dominated the club not even a few years ago. Soon it will be a country club where the average color is mine and not that of milk.

Dobermans are an incredibly white, right-wing, racist- and nazi-dominated breed. It is a serious problem and a major reason that I am very incredibly choosey about my doberman contacts. I joke all the time that Fenris' breeder is amassing a black doberman owner army to chase out all of the white racists, and a queer doberman army to chase away the homophobes and transphobes, and it's only like. Half of a joke. Because the more of us that she collects and are making waves on the breed, the more others behind us will know that if nothing else we'll keep them safe from Those Jerks. There was a woman in a hijab at the last UDC event I went to- 10 years ago I genuinely don't think she would have lasted more than an hour or two without someone making it very clear that she was not welcome. I certainly had people open their mouths to say something and then my more experienced, more accomplished friends would stare and wait and the offender in question would shut their mouth and walk away.

If you're unhappy with the social or political climate of a community space you want to occupy, sometimes you do have to occupy it anyway and collect people who are like minded until you have a collective to start changing minds. And it sucks but like. Those are your options. Occupy the space anyway and make waves by refusing to budge, make your own space, or avoid it forever and miss out on something you wanted to do.

[sillyswriting]

: ̗̀➛ roommate johnny 'soap' mactavish - 02

cw : sexual theme

ㅤㅤ     ㅤ  ㅤㅤㅤ collection - prev ⋆ next

anyone would have thought that after you almost broke his nose, johnny would have learned to at least warn you when he was coming into a room. but all those people didn’t know johnny. as much as he could be the most professional person you knew, he could also be the biggest man-child to have ever graced this earth.

his new amusement was to scare you off any chance he got. you’d come to realize that, for all his loudness, he could be eerily quiet when he wanted to be. to be honest, johnny mostly loved to observe you, without you knowing. what could he say? you were one of the most beautiful lasses he had seen in his life. he also knew you found him attractive, which was why the flirting hadn’t stopped.

johnny was not a pusher. if he had noticed you were absolutely disgusted by him and his body, he would have stopped his advances and let you live your life. the problem was that your eyes lingered on his arms, his pecs, his abs, his v-line, his thighs… he had seen it. he'd give it to you, to untrained eyes, you checking him out would have been mostly invisible. sadly for you, part of his job was to notice everything. so he kept the flirting. if anything, it became constant.

more and more, every time he left his room, johnny had the tendency to be less dressed than before. you asked him, a lot, to at least put a shirt on, but he refused, pretending that he ran hot. it was the middle of winter, how could he be that warm?

the final straw had been when you'd invited some of your girlfriends over, having a night in, eating junk, and gossiping about old friends. you had asked him if he was okay with it. his answer had been simple, 'it's yer place as much as mine, lass.' so if he knew your friends were over, why the fuck did he appear in the middle of the living room, only wearing his boxers, asking if he could borrow some of your laundry detergent?

before he could say anything, you grabbed his arm, pulling him angrily toward the kitchen and slamming the door behind both of you. it felt like deja vu, but you were lecturing him about wearing proper clothes when people were visiting and so many other things that johnny had already forgotten. he hadn't been concentrating on what you were saying but rather on your breasts. who could blame him? you liked to talk with your hands, making them jiggle. he was just a man, after all.

"aye, everythin’ in the wash, bonnie," was the only apology you got.

after that, you had a very painful and long conversation with your friends, explaining to them that no, you were not sleeping with your roommate. no, you didn't know why he was shirtless. yes, you found him attractive, but it wasn't like that. and judging by their faces, they didn't believe you at all. that night, they all left, telling you that with a specimen like that under your roof, you could have a lot of fun.

you didn't know it, but johnny had heard everything, and he couldn't stop himself from smiling. he was so close to his goal. of course, he wanted you in his bed, but he wanted so much more than that. when he wasn't flirting with you, johnny had actually gotten to know you. you were so bloody interesting, and passionate about what you did. you were everything he was looking for to finally settle down.

johnny never believed in god. after all the things he'd seen during his life, he didn't think a higher power was looking down at him. but the very moment the electricity got cut off in your flat, he swore god was real. no power meant no heater, and the nights were really cold in scotland. he also knew you couldn't live without your heater on, always cold, his sweet birdie.

so he waited, gently in his room, like a puppy waiting for his treat. after about twenty minutes, he heard your door open. had he been a real puppy, his tail would’ve been wagging so fast. a soft knock was then heard on his door. when you entered, you couldn’t see anything. johnny liked to sleep in total darkness, while you always let a bit of light from the blinds into yours. irritated, you asked him if his heater worked.

"na, but i know somethin' thon could warm ye up," he suggested. you could hear the smirk. you regretted it the moment you asked what. "guid auld johnny."

that's how you had found yourself in his bed, all the blankets in the flat on the both of you. you were lying close to each other, and god, he was a furnace. how could someone be that warm without being sick? compared to him, you were ice. and johnny was dead set on making you melt, apparently.

"take the sweater off, lass," and at first, you thought you hadn't heard him correctly, but he added. "body heat can heat ye up right quick, it's common knowledge, aye."

now in just a tank top and some shorts, this felt like deja vu. johnny had never been happier. you were so close to him, and he was just thinking about the best way to approach you without ruining his chances forever. he slid slowly toward you, cuddling up to you. when had he taken his shirt off? did he even have a shirt?

you didn’t know how to react. you were getting warmer, but it wasn’t fast enough for you. at the same time, the feeling of johnny’s body glued to yours, one of his legs between yours, sent a warm feeling through your entire body. it was going to be hard to fall asleep, wasn’t it? trying to relax your body, you closed your eyes, trying to imagine you were alone in your bed with a very big, strong, warm pillow behind you.

it worked, until you woke up in the middle of the night, and you were freezing. how was it possible? johnny was pressed behind you, and still in your drowsy state, you didn’t register the hard thing pressing softly against your lower back. feeling around, you couldn’t reach any of the blankets—did johnny throw them off? with how warm his body was, you figured he must have been sweating at some point. but now, you were cold.

you started squirming a bit in johnny's grip, trying to escape his arms. for sure now the power was back on, you could go back to your room, with your blanket and your heater. the movement woke johnny up. "staid air gluasad, till air ais gu cadal," he murmured into your neck, his voice and accent thick with tiredness. at your soft "what?", it registered in his brain that, in his sleepy state, he had spoken a language you didn't know.

"stop moving, birdie," he then said, a bit more awake. moving his hips against yours, he added, "ye're no gaun'ae like the consequences." your soft moan was the only thing his brain needed to be fully awake. oh. his moment had come.

slowly, one of his hands made its way between your thighs, feeling you over your shorts. the other one was already massaging one of your breasts. "ye cauld, sweet girl? dinnae worry, johnny's 'bout tae warm ye up."

and god, did he warm you up in the best way possible.