#trans vibes both directions

[avaritia-ffxiv]

Slightly related to that last post but I've been slowly talking to this one trans woman (who's over 30 years older than me, sue me I like older people) to see if we'd start a BDSM type sexual relationship, and I've been upfront and adamant about the fact that I will not agree to any manner of romantic relationship, with anyone, ever.

She knew that when we started talking, and when I reiterated it at one point, her response to that was basically that she can't promise she'll never start to want a deeper relationship with me, but "I will keep in mind that's not allowed with you".

And idk I thought that was just a really nice acknowledgment of her own fallible humanity with the emotions it comes with, while still respecting my boundaries.

[atopvisenyashill]

omg always looking for trans actors that could play targaryens (this started as me being annoyed every time someone would go “biblically accurate rhaenyra” and it would be another cis woman lmao) and obviously this means hunter schafer is rhaenyra and aegon’s daughter in my rhaegon au lol but i can never find a trans man that has the right vibes.

[chr0n1c-ag0ny]

More Sigzai HC's - [nsfw below]

•°•°•°•

Dazai likes to suck on Sigma's titties. a lot. It starts as just kissing his breasts and around his chest, and he slowly gets more intense, until he's sucking on them.

He's shameless about it too.

it tends to be after they have sex, like, as they're coming down from it, as they're cuddling, but before aftercare.

Dazai's laying his head on Sigma's chest, getting the last of his worshipping kisses in (cause he's down horrendous) and slowly starts gravitating to their breasts.

by the time they've fully settled into cuddling, Dazai's latched on, breaking off only now and then to switch breasts or to kiss Sigma some more. He's listening to the thrum of Sigma's heart as he does so, as his ear pressed up to Sigma's chest. Sigma has a hand in Dazai's hair, gently scratching at his scalp. Somtimes they hum to him, or praise him and tell him how good he is. Other times its just comfortable silence.

He finds it all very soothing.

Sometimes they don't even have sex, sometimes they're just cuddling and Dazai gets a little handsy, a little (lot)... needy... and Sigma just knows to pull off his top and let Dazai go to town, doesn't even get a chance to take their bralette off cause Dazai's hand are already pulling it down himself and getting himself situated (he likes when its left on, he plays with the fabric). Sigma just waits for him to settle and pets at his hair and tells him he's being a good boy.

Sigma always has love bites on their chest at this point.

[visibun]

I have a habit lately of describing myself as a "part-time robot girl." That was up until I recently started to get very heavily into mech stuff... namely, games. Even more specifically, the mech games where you can intricately customize your unit, between frame sizes, weapon types, paint jobs, and so forth.

Being able to step into the mech unit that I customized myself as a direct portrayal of my own specific aesthetic tastes and functional preferences, and piloting it as an upgraded version of my original human body. Built to be faster, stronger, and more capable of taking damage than anything that I could ever hope to accomplish without the mech's assistance. Stepping out of the unit, and immediately losing that powerful and prideful part of myself in a tangible way that can't be properly substituted in sensation until the next time that I'm meant to pilot the mech. Having my identity being tied to my mech in such a severe way that without it, I lose my own senses of meaning, purpose, pride, and self, and I melt back into a mundane rut of an existence for every second that I'm not directly inside of that cockpit with my mech powered on.

You know, a not-so-subtle trans allegory type of deal. HRT made my body better and easier for me to both love and customize to my tastes, and my personalized mech that I love so much makes me feel better when I get to use my body in order to control it, letting me effectively ignore my physical form and instead become a powerful portrayal of myself for as long as I'm still piloting the unit.

So, what I'm trying to say is that maybe when I say that I'm a "part-time robot girl..." I really mean to say that I'm just a mech pilot, instead. I'm not in the mech all of the time, so that's pretty much the same vibe as me being "part-time" as a girl who's sometimes also a robot, I think.

[kinghijinx22]

Why Silent Hill 3 is my big favorite- a terrifying horror game about woman's experiences and the fears that come from existing as a woman in a patriarchal society

Silent Hill 3 is probably my favorite Silent Hill game and one of my favorite games of all time, and it has a story and themes that I've always really vibed with. It tells a remarkably progressive story for it's time that handles some intense themes that are still relevant even today, about experiences that a lot of woman go through and the fears that come from existing as a woman in a patriarchal society, what it's like having your own agency and bodily autonomy taken away from you, forced pregnancy and sexual assault, how harmful patriarchal societies are and this game really getting into the religious flavor of patriarchy in particular.

It's an incredibly scary game that uses a feminine sort of horror to great effect, with the design of the other world being as bloody as it is and the monster designs being representative of this. I mean there is a type of creature that are literally supposed to look like fetuses that start getting bigger throughout the game as the birth of God draws near and the giant worm boss for lack of a better way of putting, literally being a giant penis. I think the main complaint that I hear from people about this game is how slow the story is in the first half of the game, but I think the whole getting home late at night as a young woman contributes a lot to what this game is saying. And I absolutely love how this game ends with Heather literally aborting God and fighting it as the final boss, symbolizing her fully taking control of her life and rejecting all of the harmful expectations that were forced onto her. Main antagonist Claudia is such a tragic character though, someone who was so brainwashed by town's religion into think that someone HAS to give birth to God so hard that she did it herself and she suffered for it.

Also while not as intentional considering when it was written and they probably couldn't even write about this stuff if they wanted to, something that I think is worth noting is that I've heard from a lot of trans people who relate to this game as well and I can really see it. Considering it's about people who Heather knows from a past life, coming back to remind her of that past life and forcing it onto her, and Claudia referring to Heather as Alessa could be interpreted as deadnaming Heather. But yeah I've always really loved and connected with this game for how well it handles it's themes about woman's experiences and I think it's really cool how many trans people have been able to relate to it with those specific experiences as well.

Another of my favorite things about Silent Hill 3 is the main character Heather, because she really is one of the coolest characters that I've always really related to. Her struggles are incredibly relatable, but she's also inspiring in how she overcomes them and is always so confident. In fact I appreciate how her and her father subvert societal gender roles in opposite directions, with Heather being as confident and extroverted as she is, probably more then any other Silent Hill protagonist and willing to stand up to all of the men in the story like Douglas in the beginning, Vincent and Leonard, along with all of the monsters she has to fight. And Harry being a single parent who is as gentle and caring as he is, with his one track mind of looking as his daughter, he's kind of both a father and a mother in that way, and also being as physically weak as he is and the opposite of a action hero. She also easily has the most personality of any Silent Hill protagonist, like this girl is overflowing with charisma and is even a little jokey. In fact another detail that I like is how much personality comes through in her examine dialogue, where you actually get to hear her thoughts on everything instead of just basic observation "this is a thing" that the other games in the series do. Heather has opinions on everything, but how she's feeling throughout the game is also conveyed. The dialogue of her observations in the first half of the game has a much more playful and hopeful tone to it, but after Harry dies she becomes much more pessimistic, can only see the negatives in everything and just doesn't seem to care anymore.

Heather is an incredibly well written and nuanced character, and I'll be honest that this is the game I least want to see be remade because I know that they would find a way to fuck up the writing of her character and handling of the themes of this game. Even after the Silent Hill 2 remake being as good as it is, one of Blooperteams biggest flaws is being incapable of handling anything to do with woman's experiences or perspective. SH2 used to be my fav, but I came to realize that it was mostly just because it was the popular one and that I vibe a lot more with SH3 and 4. Especially because SH2 tells a story about misogyny but makes it all about the perpetrator rather then the victim, unlike Silent Hill 3 which does actually tell the story of someone on the receiving end of that type of violence and objectification. SH3 and 4 are my personal favorites, 3 because Heather is best protagonist and I really appreciate it's themes which are handled perfectly, and SH4 because it has a really cool narrative and horror concepts. I know opinions on SH4 are really split, and while I think there are some gameplay things that are jank, I love it's story and premise so much.

[wedriftlikelonelyplanets]

What is you fav fics with strict dom sub dynamic? If you don’t mind me asking. Landoscar

So I'll start this by saying that like....there's not a lot of formal D/s Landoscar fics in existence that I've come across, and I've been like...living in the realm of F1RPF on AO3 for like the last two years.

I'm planning on writing a formal D/s Landoscar fic at some point but that is....not the HIGHEST on the list, because I have a lot of things on the go. IN THE MEANTIME...here are some recs, some of my faves, and if this is something you're looking for, maybe a smidge of self-promo.

off to the races series by foggystars (the vibes are INSANE in the most positive way, they're SOOOOOO hot and they make me feral batshit crazy like)

in the silence, hear your heart beat next to mine series by anonymous (probably the most formal dynamic in all of my recs, BDSM AU, really gorgeous, I love the relationship between Lando and Oscar in these fics)

lead me to myself by astronautafficionado (really gorgeous look at non-sexual bdsm, and kinda super hot all around)

how to be both a brat and a dom by lando norris series by wanderingblindly (brat dom lando.....CHRONICALLY frothing at the mouth about this, i have been YELLING at liquid in the dms for two days, esp with the new work she added the other day)

Nouveau Hot by wanderingblindly (ALSOOOOO incredibly hot....love it so dearly, soft dom Oscar)

cause we talk that talk (yeah we talk all night) by anonymous (trans oscar, orgasm control, hot)

violations series by bumblewyn (undernegotiated and not really "traditional" but INCREDIBLY hot, ace oscar piastri, lots of feelings and emotions)

These are like...probably my current faves tbh. I really do love a lot of fics with under-negotiated dynamics, and non-formal that eventually slips into something more formal in terms of dynamics too, which is why i feel like this list is like....shorter than I want it to be.

There are SO many people's fics that I love though, so if you ever want any other faves of mine, please feel free to hit me up.

If you're looking for recs and you HAVEN'T read my fics, the "give it to him however he wants" series definitely is like.....not formal dynamic but definitely is D/s, however undernegotiated it is. And honestly....everything I write that's Landoscar tends to lean in the direction of D/s anyways so y'know....that's always there too.

[snakesartblog]

I spent a day or two digging through BKMN for analysis, and I’ve got some interesting stuff to share! 

CWs: referenced sexual assault, murder, pregnancy

I'm writing this so that anyone could read it and have some understanding of it, even if they haven't read BKMN. This isn’t a formal essay and there isn’t one specific point that I’m getting at, but I’d argue that the central theme of the story is desire vs coercion.

WEGG

Wegg is the protagonist of BKMN and the symbolism around his storyline isn’t particularly subtle. It’s about finding acceptance as a man, especially following loss of bodily autonomy in sexual assault (unfortunately tends to be viewed as feminine). Following debatably consensual sex with the Swans, Wegg is cursed to die every month, a pretty clear parallel to menstruation, and then he “gives birth” to Calum. The connections from the assault to these things, very dysphoria-inducing for many transmascs, and his need to find meaning and masculinity of his own, I think exemplify the central theme of the book.

His desire for  masculinity and acceptance are very present through the entire book. Even his mannerisms and speech seem very intentionally masculinized, especially in contrast with mild-mannered Neighbor. I’d be surprised if this wasn’t purposeful on his part! In a symbolic sense, he finds acceptance and recognition with Neighbor, another trans person, when he explains his need to die each month and Neighbor takes it in stride. Despite the loss of autonomy he experienced and how it continues to affect him, he finds a place for himself among other trans people. Moreover, he’s homeless - lacking acceptance and community - until he moves in with Neighbor, and when he says that he doesn’t typically eat enough, from then on we see Neighbor cook or buy him food constantly. The symbolism here is pretty strong I think! Wegg feels that he is only accepted or loved when performing a femininity that he hates (as victim/messiah for the Swans and also demonstrated in the flashbacks to his past) until he finds others like him. 

NEIGHBOR

Neighbor is a super interesting way to write a trans character and weave transness into their storyline, in my opinion. It’s established from the first few pages of the book that he kills people, but specifically people who he perceives as harmful to others. Despite filling a classic “violent cis man” niche, a serial killer, he’s aware of his situation and power differentials around him and directs his necessary killing towards at least a less harmful route. Even the very first person we see Neighbor kill, in the opening of the book, is heavily implied to be the target because he committed sexual assault against his partner. He also doesn’t kill out of a desire to do so, and the moment Wegg offers his own blood, giving Neighbor a way out from the murders, Neighbor jumps at the opportunity. Compare this with Rarold, who I’d argue is a foil to Neighbor. They’re both relative outsiders in the community, they both butt heads with Tillman in one way or another, and they both kill people - but Rarold kills only because he wants to, he has no need to do so like Neighbor, and he is exclusively seen targeting young women. Rarold represents the sexist violence typically found in the stories of real-life serial killers, and in doing so makes it clear that Neighbor is not that kind of person.

Neighbor’s position in the town is also interesting, especially in comparison to Wegg’s. Neighbor is a member of the Baths community, arguably due to the services he provides for its members, but he’s still an outsider; no one knows him that well, he has no friends until he meets Wegg, and Tillman gets a bad vibe from him. In the context of this narrative about transmasculinity, there’s a lot there - Neighbor passes as a man thanks to his deal with Trudy, and he pays dearly for it with the murders he enacts. He asks Tillman not to disclose his first name, a name he never uses, to anyone following their trip to the Trudy temple “for safety purposes,” a mirror to the way any stealth trans person might talk about a legal name they never changed. Neighbor is accepted as a man in this pillar of the community, traditionally masculine provider role that he’s built for himself, but he’s still an outsider, and knows that he would risk losing the support of those around him were he open about his transness. To maintain his personal safety he trades openness regarding his identity, close relationships with those around him, and his conception of his own morality (he says multiple times that he doesn’t consider himself a good person due to the murders he has to commit). Even so, despite his lack of close ties to the cisgender people in the community and his idea of himself as a bad person, he tries to direct his killing to reduce the harm he’s doing, he helps Tillman find Trudy, houses Wegg, and does chores for, like, half the town of Baths. Despite his position, he clearly cares about the people around him and wants to be a positive influence.

As a note, there’s a bit of Biblical symbolism connected to Neighbor, but it’s not consistent. I couldn’t find a properly reliable source for it, but the internet says that the name Adie was originally a diminutive of Adam. He built his own body, making him his own God, and was cast out from Eden (became an outsider in the community) in the process. His original body was also burned on a cross following his deal with Trudy!

THE GODS

I think the conflict of the story is most concisely exemplified in the conflict between Trudy and Calum. Trudy represents desire itself, as the book very explicitly tells us. She’s the snake in Eden of Neighbor’s symbolism, and her devotees follow her very willingly. Trudy’s religion is decidedly voluntary, she grants her followers’ desires and only takes what they’re willing to give. She requires Neighbor kill people because it’s within his capacity, but Tillman isn’t required to harm others at all - dealing with Trudy is morally neutral and never seems to be forced. Calum, on the other hand, was forced onto Wegg, and represents a loss of autonomy for the power of others. The followers of the two gods are juxtaposed, especially in the ways Wegg and Tillman are treated as new followers of Calum and Trudy respectively. The fight scene between the two gods in the climax of the book is symbolic of the central themes of desire and consent.

[warframestuff]

PRIDE 2024

CELEBRATING INCLUSIVITY AND DIVERSITY THROUGHOUT THE ORIGIN SYSTEM!

There are wondrous vibes aplenty in the Origin System this month as we reach Pride 2024! Join us in celebrating the vibrant LGBTQIA2S+ community in Warframe! We are thrilled to honor and support our incredibly inclusive and diverse player base this Pride month and all year-round.

There are many ways for you to join in on Pride throughout June and onwards. Pick up in-game Pride items, support Warframe Creators, and so much more!

RAINBOW RAILROAD AND TRANS LIFELINE

In honor of Pride 2024, Digital Extremes is immensely proud to support not one, but two organizations offering aid to LGBTQIA2S+ people around the world.

Rainbow Railroad is a global not-for-profit that assists at-risk LGBTQIA+ people worldwide in reaching safety. Their mission is to protect vulnerable communities facing persecution based on sexual orientation, gender identity, and sex characteristics from systemic, state-enabled homophobia and transphobia.

Trans Lifeline is a grassroots hotline and nonprofit organization offering direct financial and emotional support for trans people in crisis. Their mission is to connect trans people with their community and provide the resources everyone needs to survive and thrive.

Both Rainbow Railroad and Trans Lifeline have received $10,000 CAD donations from Digital Extremes, respectively, to kick off Pride 2024! If you’re interested in supporting both organizations yourself, check out the donation pages for Rainbow Railroad and Trans Lifeline!

PRIDE IN-GAME

There are three all-new items available for Pride 2024! Add dazzling Customization like the Pride Glyph III designed by NimkeArts (He/They) and the Pride Display III designed by RoboMythos (She/Her) to your Arsenal via the in-game Market for only 1 Credit each!

Fill your Orbiter with neon Pride! The brand new Neon Pride Wings Decoration is also available in the in-game Market for 25,000 Credits. There is no limit to how many you can purchase, so that your Orbiter, Dormizone and Dojo can all be elevated with dazzling colors.

If you couldn’t pick up any Pride items from previous years — good news! We’ve also brought back the Pride Display I, Pride Glyph I, Pride Display II, Pride Glyph II, and Pride Celebration Color Palette back to the in-game Market for 1 Credit apiece!

These new and returning Pride items are available in the in-game Market until June 30 at 11:59 p.m. ET. If you missed out on the Pride III Glyph and Display, a code will be shared on July 1st for you to claim them both all the way until next June 2025.

FEATURED CREATOR STREAMS

Featured Warframe Creators will be celebrating Pride all throughout June! Watch these streams for 45 minutes each this month and receive Twitch Drops to even further enhance your Arsenal. Just don’t forget to link your Warframe and Twitch accounts ahead of time!

June 1 from 2 p.m. to 4 p.m. ET - Miabyte (She/Her)

Drop: Ordis Reified Statue

Twitch: twitch.tv/miabyte

June 1 from 4 p.m. to 6 p.m. ET - Nerdtured (He/Him)

Drop: Xaku Prex

Twitch: twitch.tv/nerdtured

June 8 from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. ET - Tibetansun (He/Him)

Drop: Fibonacci Floof

Twitch: twitch.tv/tibetansun

June 8 from 7 p.m. to 9 p.m. ET - AuntieTan (She/Her)

Drop: Domestik Chapp Drone

Twitch: twitch.tv/AuntieTan

June 15 from 4 p.m. to 6 p.m. ET - LadyTheLaddy (They/She)

Drop: Panzer Vulpaphyla Floof

Twitch: twitch.tv/ladytheladdy

June 16 from 12 p.m. to 2 p.m. ET - MjikThize (She/They)

Drop: Solaris Food Can Decoration

Twitch: twitch.tv/MjikThize

June 22 from 1 p.m. to 3 p.m. ET - JamieVoiceOver (She/Her)

Drop: Corbu Shawzin

Twitch: twitch.tv/JamieVoiceOver

June 22 from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. ET - SiejoUmbra (He/Him)

Drop: Warframe Articula

Twitch: twitch.tv/SiejoUmbra

MAKESHIP KALYMOS PLUSHIE

If you’re keen on making a feline friend, Makeship has your back! They’ve brought Albrecht Entrati’s elegant companion Kalymos to life!

The Kalymos plushie campaign is part of Makeship’s Pride event, with 100 percent of Digital Extremes’ net proceeds from sales going towards the Trevor Project, a not-for-profit organization committed to suicide prevention for LGTBQ+ youth. As part of the event, Kalymos will arrive with a Pride Flag cape, based on the flag design by Valentino Vecchietti. You can purchase the Kalymos Plushie today and help make this limited item a reality!

Please note that this is not a charity item associated with the nonprofit organizations mentioned above.

NEW TWITCH & DISCORD EMOTES

Enjoy new Discord and Twitch Emotes to celebrate Pride 2024 via BTTV! Flaunt sensational flair in chat with the Pride Citrine, Pride Limbo, Neon Pride Wings Emote (right), and Neon Pride Wings Emote (left) created by our very own Community artist TadaCharly!

PRIDE TIME STREAMS

Our weekly Prime Time streams are all about celebrating Pride throughout the month of June! So tune in every Thursday at 6 p.m. ET on Warframe’s Twitch channel to hang out with the community team, play Warframe and celebrate Pride!

[zforzelma]

A list* of Shakespeare characters for which casting a trans actor is the strongest choice.

Take a look at your complete works of Shakespeare. You can pack so much Gender in those plays. I am of the opinion that casting should be undertaken to highlight the text and make new discoveries.

Really, any Shakespeare role can and should be played by a trans person of any variety, but there are some roles in particular that I think would unfold incredible revelations about the text. I'm leaving out magical characters and fools because that's too obvious.

Lysander - Mids; why don't you want me to marry your daughter? Say it, you coward.

Helena - Mids; This one would be psychologically intense for the actress, so really only attempt if you've got a good therapist. Having a trans woman in this role would be such a gut-punch for so much of the text, I honestly think it would make the audience uncomfortable at some parts. To which I say: GOOD.

I have so many more.

Viola - 12th; Also pretty psychologically intense with all the cross dressing, and the wow-you-look-just-like-your-brother, but her equivocation about gender in her conversations with Orsino would absolutely sing.

Orlando - As You Like It; His older brother won't let him go to college with the other men. Proves himself by winning in a wrestling match. Doesn't recognize his crush when she's cross dressing.

Mercutio - R&J; At this point I feel like everyone knows Mercutio is a nonbinary lesbian or trans masc. Right? Like, we all know that. Jokes aside, I think his difficult relationship with masculinity and honor would be interesting if interpreted by a trans actor.

Hamlet - Hamlet; Obviously. I mean duh. trans masc, trans fem, man, woman, both or neither. Any queer person probably gets Hamlet on a visceral level better than any cis straight person. Who's even casting a cis man as Hamlet in the year of our lord 2023? Yawn.

Laertes - Hamlet; Yeah I don't know what it is. This one is purely vibes based.

Macduff - Macbeth; I actually made Macduff a woman, changed all the pronouns and made him a lesbian when I directed, and I'd probably do that again. But I think Duff could also - or alternately - be trans. I think it would say something interesting about violence of his journey, the scene with future King Malcolm, and the fact that Duff is the one to behead ol' Mack.

What do you guys think? Did I miss an obvious one?

* this is not at all a comprehensive list

[covid-safer-hotties]

Also preserved in our archive (Daily updates!)

By Laura Weiss

The Biden administration cut pandemic-era health benefits, and the Harris campaign failed to present any comprehensive health care reform policies. This was not an inspiring message for voters

In a week of hand-wringing and finger-pointing over what Democrats might have done differently in this year’s presidential election, one big topic has been absent from the conversation: Health care reform and public health. It’s a surprising omission given how 2020 was largely a referendum on pandemic response—a referendum Trump failed. The issue remains highly salient: At least eight in 10 voters said it was “very important” for the 2024 presidential candidates to talk about the affordability of health care.

But beyond Harris’s promise to maintain the Affordable Care Act and introduce some moderate reforms to drug pricing and medical debt, the issue felt like an afterthought. As of October, two-thirds of U.S. adults said they didn’t think the presidential campaigns were paying enough attention to health care.

The issues of health care and the Covid-19 pandemic are still front of mind to large swaths of voters and, in some ways, inextricable. President Biden owed his 2020 win in part due to his promise that he would do better than his predecessor in handling the pandemic; that unlike Trump, he would “follow the science.” And at first, he did. But once it became clear that new variants would arise and vaccines would not prevent all Covid cases—though they did limit hospitalizations and deaths—the Biden administration went way off course. Rather than following the science and ramping up rapid-test production, covering testing and new vaccines, and upholding commonsense safety measures like masking in health care, his Covid czar, a corporate executive, chose to pretend Covid was a thing of the past.

As new variants surged, Biden followed directives from consultants, corporations, and vibes. The Democrats’ current Covid-19 prevention playbook barely differs from that of Republicans, even though the World Health Organization has said this year that we are still in a pandemic.

But the Biden administration did not just stumble in following the science, it also lost its way in terms of capitalizing on its own successful policies, which taught broad lessons in the value of breaking from a broken health care status quo. Since Biden declared the end of the state of emergency in May 2023, tens of millions have lost benefits that they had gained in 2020—including Medicaid expansion, paid sick leave, increased unemployment benefits, and coverage for Covid testing and vaccines. Losing these benefits while inflation soared, income stagnated, and poverty increased certainly played a role at the ballot box.

“Pandemic social programs enjoyed broad support,” said Dr. Lucky Tran, a public health and science communicator based in New York. “However, when countries like the U.S. declared the end of the public health emergency, these programs were allowed to expire, despite Covid continuing to surge throughout the year and the long-term impacts on people’s health and economic well-being.”

Both campaigns seemed to view discussing Covid-19 itself as a “toxic” political issue, as Tran put it, but the Biden administration’s public health failings certainly didn’t help the cause of the Democrats, who had come into office promising a different approach. Disabled and immunocompromised people—who constitute a quarter of the population—feel betrayed by an administration unwilling to protect them.

The expansion of the social safety net that came with the pandemic—which included Medicaid expansion, unemployment benefits, child tax credits, rent freezes, and paid sick leave—was undoubtedly popular. As it happened, voters cut across partisan assumptions in three red states (Alaska, Missouri, and Nebraska) to vote to increase sick leave benefits. Trump has promised not to cut Medicaid, though it never pays to trust him. During his last administration, he cut funding to programs that helped users navigate the complicated ACA system as well as ad spending.

During the state of emergency, some 23 million Americans gained health care coverage through Medicaid, thanks to a provision that halted Medicaid disenrollments. Typically, Medicaid enrollees have to prove their eligibility every year or their coverage will be removed; that means going through an onerous process involving forms, income verification, and bureaucracy in order to prove their income is low enough to grant them Medicaid. Medicaid eligibility was also expanded in several states during that time and its coverage was broadened to include things that made health care more accessible, like telehealth. The end of the state of emergency meant the end of the Medicaid disenrollment provision, and since then those tens of millions who gained coverage have lost it.

As Bryce Covert put it in The New York Times last March, “The message received is that the government could have done these things all along but had chosen not to—and has chosen once again to withdraw that kind of security.”

Jeff Reese, a bartender in Colorado, was one of the millions of people who lost Medicaid under Biden: “The Covid measures to help get us through, such as expanded Medicaid, food stamps, and unemployment benefits, were critical in getting me through the early part of Covid,” he told me. “Having access to health care was really good since I’m now in my fifties. I did have some preexisting conditions diagnosed, and I started treating and monitoring them, adopted a plant-based diet, and generally was able to improve my health.”

When the Covid emergency was declared over, he lost his coverage. This February, Reese suffered a serious e-bike accident that put him in the hospital for weeks, and he had to turn to GoFundMe to pay for intensive physical therapy. He says now that he owes $100,000 in medical bills, which he negotiated down from almost half a million with the hospital. He hasn’t been able to find an ACA plan that works for him yet, so he remains uninsured.

Though he begrudgingly voted for Harris in the election, many of his peers did not. “I haven’t been too keen on [the Democrats’] ability to see to my interests for a while,” he said. Reese said that he would have felt more enthusiastic in his vote had the Democrats presented a more comprehensive plan on health care. He said it was Barack Obama mentioning single-payer health care during his campaign that led him to vote Democrat for the first time after voting third party since 1992. According to a Gallup poll, a majority of Americans think the government should ensure that everyone has health care coverage.

To the extent that Harris addressed health care, it was largely to voice support for abortion rights or highlight Trump’s threats to unravel the ACA. In October, Harris ran some ads on health care and talked up her efforts to lower prescription drug costs. In a town hall on Univision, Harris faced criticism when answering a question from a Latina voter, Martha, about her problems qualifying for disability despite her debilitating long-Covid symptoms. Harris responded by talking about her support for medical debt relief, sidestepping the crux of the question.

Meanwhile, disability claims jumped by over a million between 2020 and 2023, largely attributable to long Covid, according to the Center for American Progress. Martha, who was left homeless and uninsured due to her struggles with long Covid, and who referenced “Make America great again” in her question, did not seem satisfied by Harris’s response.

At the last minute, Harris added expanding Medicare to cover some home care and addressing the high costs of ambulance rides, into her platform. But it was too little, too late. (Notably, Harris backed Medicare for All during her 2020 campaign.)

“I think the result of elections around the world have shown that ‘back to normal’ messaging was ineffective, with many incumbent governments losing office in large part due to a failure in acknowledging people’s pain and providing real plans to help people in the long term,” said Tran.

Trump’s brand of economic populism appealed to voters who are hoping for something different. But if things were already bad when it comes to health care, public health agencies, and health research, they are bound to get worse over the next four years.

“A second Trump presidency will erode essential public health and health care infrastructure, increase distrust in science and public health, and will put many people at greater risk of death and serious illness,” Tran warned.

Though Trump is no longer saying he necessarily wants to repeal the ACA—and is in fact now taking credit for “saving” it (um, OK), he can still do a ton of damage to this important health insurance program. For example, Democrats are worried about a looming expiration to ACA deductible subsidies, which make coverage possible for many, and fewer protections for people with preexisting conditions (that is to say: most people) who could not get health care before Obamacare outside of employer-sponsored plans.

Beyond that, Trump says he’ll let Robert F. Kennedy Jr. “go wild on health” and plans to give him a high-level Cabinet role, perhaps leading the Department of Health and Human Services. Kennedy, who has zero health experience (and who once suffered from a literal brain worm) is a notorious anti-vaxxer—so much so that his views got him kicked off Facebook. An HHS under his watch would surely limit access to vaccines, leading to outbreaks of diseases we thought we left behind in the twentieth century. Even if he is unable to outright ban vaccines, his efforts would surely stigmatize and discourage them. In a time when we still need a durable, variant-proof Covid vaccine and bird flu threatens to become a new pandemic, the outcome will be devastating.

“All of the policies which make the U.S. more vulnerable to Covid will also make the U.S. less prepared for future pandemic threats like bird flu because to prevent them we need health agencies that are competent, objective, and transparent; wide access to prevention and treatment tools; and strong trust in science and public health information, all of which will be under attack by the new administration,” said Tran.

Kennedy has also pledged to cut funding to the Food and Drug Administration, the Centers for Disease Control, and National Institutes of Health, which means more public health disruptions such as listeria outbreaks, as well as inaccurate or absent public messaging about current and future diseases, and less funding for biomedical research to help us understand and treat diseases affecting millions of Americans.

Some of the NIH’s biomedical research is going into things like long Covid, which affects some 20 million Americans and counting, as people are repeatedly reinfected. After a wobbly start, this research was finally showing promising signs under new NIH leadership and a $515 million grant, as I wrote a few weeks ago. We can probably wave goodbye to any further funding at the federal level.

Meighan Stone, who leads the Long Covid Campaign, says it’s critical to allocate NIH funding for Covid research as quickly as possible, before Trump takes office. “[Long Covid] is impacting force-readiness for the military, it is impacting the number of Americans who are having to apply for disability, it is affecting the economic strength of the United States,” she told me last month. “This is a significant public health issue, and it’s growing. We’re getting to the level of disease burden of other concerns like strokes, heart attacks, cancer,” she continued. “This is not a red state or blue state problem, this is a problem that’s impacting all Americans.”

It is clear that health care reform is urgently needed in this country, as numerous attempts in previous campaigns have attested. Democrats and Republicans alike take the blame for empowering insurance companies to call the shots and set the prices for this basic human right. As millions lost the pandemic-era health care benefits that provided much-needed immediate assistance, as well as pointing to the potential of a better future, the two parties—having staked out meaningful differences with one another—ended up reconverging on their approach to public health. We may never know how many decided to stay home this election because they felt disaffected at the sight of their presidential candidates abandoning following science and sensible policy. Now we will all witness what it looks like to go from bad to far, far worse.

[like-that-one-weird-dog-thing]

was thinking abt an apothecary diaries omegaverse au(bc cmon omegaverse social structures are so fun to play with) and came to the unfortunate realization that if u wanted an omegaverse au that fit closely to the themes and vibes of the canon, alpha jinshi and omega maomao who are both pretending to be betas makes the most sense(and lets be real thats the most boring version of straight omegaverse) and then i remembered how easily jinshi is transed lmao

so my omegaverse apothecary diaries au proposal is trans omega jinshi who was born an alpha, convinced the emperor to let him socially transition to a beta(as eunuchs would all likely be forced to transition to betas if they werent one originally), and intentionally never confirmed his dynamic post-reveal, all with the end goal of easing the emperor into the idea of jinshi eventually fully transitioning to an omega

with maomao while i absolutely could see her as a beta or alpha, i do think thematically it fits more to have her as an omega who poses as either an alpha or beta to be less appealing to the average person. honestly see her as having little to no care towards her secondary gender(and primary gender for that matter) in direct contrast to jinshi caring Very Much.

could totally see the imperial family as being very strict abt their members aligning with classic subgenders (omega women alpha men) and probably doing fucked up shit to ensure that thats what happens (ie studding an omega crown prince or bitching an alpha princess). emperor being worried while jinshi's young bc he shows a lot of classic omega presenting signs and he rlly does Not want to have to inflict that shit on him but knows his hand would be forced if jinshi turned out to be an omega. him being relieved abt it when jinshi turns out to be an alpha. jinshi being absolutely fucking Devastated when he presents as an alpha and it only furthering his drive to get the hell out of the imperial family bc he knows if he could transition freely if he does.

[3cosmicfrogs]

not rb-ing the OG post because i don't want to.

On the case of the specific oppression experienced by trans men:

I think there's two arguments popping up on tumblr around the term 'misandry': 1) the discourse whether men, often marginalised men, are oppressed for being men, and 2) the awareness of how oppression operates differently for minority men vs women.

To discourse 1: misandry isn't real.

But I think, at least in the tumblr circles i'm exposed to, disourse 2 bleeds into discourse 1 and causes conflicting arguments and confusion. Because discourse 2 is tackling a different issue.

We all agree that gendered oppression that men experience is misogyny. However, what words do we use to describe the experience of marginalised men when this gender-specific misogyny intersects with their marginalisation, that still distinguishes itself from marginalisation in general?

I'll talk about trans men because that's what i have most experience with, plus that seems to be a frequent point of DiscourseTM on this website. The terms that we, within our own community, use to describe our gender-specific brand of oppression, are most often 'transmisandry', 'transandrophobia' and 'anti-transmasculinity'. Again, emphasis on this being a label by us and for us, not imposed upon us. Transmisogyny is the term used by trans women, so even though the oppression we face is misogynystic at its root, there is a need for us to distinguish ourselves from the specific oppression trans women face, because it's very different. And we can't just substitute anti-transmasculinity with 'transphobia' without loosing nuance in the process (the idea that somehow trans men are 'less' oppressed than trans women is a pretty common way transphobes silence transmasculine voices): We face unique discrimination not only for being trans, but specifically for being trans men. We are punished both for not being cis men, but crucially also for no longer being cis women.

While our oppression is misogyny at it's root, you have to make a few loops to get there. For example, let's pick apart the radfem rhetoric that trans men are 'gender traitors to feminism'. the logic is as follows: 'trans men are gender traitors and bad for feminism' -> trans men are 'women' who have made a (moral) mistake -> men/masculinity is inherently evil and women are inherently good -> women are good because women are biologically weak/soft/inferior = misogyny. As you can see, it's misogyny in disguise rather than 'direct' misogyny [that's really clumsy language, i hope you get my point].

So why not use 'anti-transmasculinity'? while I personally preferr it and believe it to be a better umbrella term, the word 'transmisandry' still gets the idea across well and brings the type of oppression experienced to the point. 'Transandrophobia' is similarly inclusive but personally i find it a bit milquetoast. Also the reason for its invention in because non-transmascs couldnt handle 'transmisandry'.

tl;dr Misandry in the strictest sense doesn't exist. I think having a distinct term that marginalised men may use to distinguish their experienced misogyny from those of marginalised women is valid, and if your chosen term includes the word 'misandry' then good for you! it gets the point across and does its job.

and if you are not a marginalised man, think long and hard about what right you have to tell us what we can and cannot call ourselves.

and in conclusion: if you use 'transmisandry' that's very sexy of you, keep on vibing, and explode transphobes who tell you otherwise with your mind.

[velvetvexations]

It's been awhile since I elaborated on my gender feelings, and I've had a lot of further thoughts, so here's a post about that. It's kinna unfocused. I don't really have many segues between points, I'm just throwing stuff out there. Maybe I'll edit it into something more readable later.

I identify with both the words "male" and "woman" because I feel them both about equally, intertwined, and sex and gender are equally arbitrarily. Most trans women are female, and like, that's great for them, but I'm not. I'm a male and I'm happy to be a male. While the word "man" is completely alien to me and I have having it applied to me, I do feel a strong kinship with other queer males, particuarly trans men and gay cis men.

One could theoretically call me bisexual, but I don't really vibe with being bi. When I'm with someone who also identifies as male, I'm a gay male, and when I'm with someone who identifies as female, I'm a straight male. I feel very strongly about that, not because I have anything against bi people, who are all very lovely, but being a gay male and a straight male at once is very key to how I experience gender.

I actually feel very seen when TERFs talk about trans women being parodies of femininity, and feeling insulted by the appropriation of womanhood as a costume. Other trans women aren't anything like that, but actually, my womanhood is very much satirical, and people who are offended by that should be offended by me. I am mocking women and femininity when I put on a skirt and call myself a woman, at least to ones who find that insulting in the first place.

If you're a cis woman who isn't offended by the idea of someone AMAB wearing a skirt, there's nothing offensive about me, but for someone for whom that constitutes an insult, yes, good, that's what I'm going for! Be insulted! I am parodying you. Especially when I dress up in hyper-pink frilly sissy outfits. "Bleh, look at me, this is what a woman is lol!"

You'd think people who consider themselves gender abolitionists would be more onboard with the idea of parodying gender. But a lot of TRFs are also offended by me in the opposite direction, though they disguise it as parternalistic worry over my "self-hate."

I would probably be the most normie woman ever if I had been allowed to transition when I was younger, but I wasn't, and now I'm the pornsick male crossdresser some other women, both cis and trans, feel extistentially threatened by. And TRFs take that as me indulging in self-hate, when it's entirely love for who I am. I like being a pornsick male crossdresser and calling my womanhood fake and artificial. I'm a fake and artificial person.

You'd think people who talk about themselves as robot girls all the time would be on board with this, but they use robots as a tortured metaphor for their victimhood, whereas it's much more empowering for me, and tbh goes a lot harder.

The thing is, yes, I'm a pornsick male crossdresser who performs womanhood much the same way a clown performs at a circus, but there's nothing underneath that! A statue of a woman is a fake woman but that doesn't make the statue a man. I simply am the idea of artificial womanhood, stripped of what makes that cute and gender validating for people really into that doll kink universe. I'm built with the wrong parts, big and hairy, with a deep voice, and when people see me they see a fake woman, and that makes me kick my legs in the air because that's what I am. Still not a man. Just a fake woman.

That doesn't mean everyone with those traits is a fake woman. Gender is inherently fake and not real and has no rules. The same person could be a he/him or a she/her or a xi/xir and you would never know because it's just an internal thing. Only you can decide if you're a man or a woman or whatever, or if you're male or female or both or neither.

And my gender, in many ways, is the embodiment of the transmisogynistic caricature. If you're cool about very butch trans women my existence shouldn't be insulting to you and you just move on, but some trans women are really bothered by that, and like with cis women, it's like, okay lol, good. Be insulted. I am parodying all womanhood, you're included in that, you're welcome. I am a nexus of misogyny for people who want so badly to see misogyny in another person dressing and performing gender the wrong way. I am a living monument of spite towards anyone who wants to control the self-expression of others based on their own insecurities. And in the course of my being a gay clown who calls myself a woman, I will make gender into a balloon animal, and everyone else - the ones who accept and encourage freedom of self-expression in others, who know that nothing I do for myself has to have implications for them - will be delighted.

[etz-ashashiyot]

I'm bored and stuck waiting and happened to remember that on my old blog I had made this statement:

Since I have a minute, I figured I'd finally drop the list with some brief explanations:

1. By Way Of Sorrow - Coyote Grace version

This song and its lyrics, especially as sung by a queer/trans bluegrass band, could not be more Jew-ish in vibe. I am aware this is a cover, but I have only ever heard their version and that's the one that matters to me. I love love love this song, so much, and it perfectly captures how I feel about having been welcomed into the Jewish people after years of exclusion and othering from numerous other quarters. Am Yisrael has taken me in, treated me like family, connected me to the Divine, healed my wounds, and helped me feel as whole as one can in a broken and unredeemed world - while giving me the tools to join the work of tikkun olam myself.

2. The Farthest Field - The Lumber Jills version

This is the best version I could find; the original I was shown I can't find but will link if I do. This song was actually introduced to me by one of my orthodox rabbis, and I agree with him that it can be understood as a beautiful image of geulah.

3. Hallelujah - Coyote Grace & Girlyman

This one just makes me happy, and the words, message, and themes are very on-brand for Jewish vibes as well in my opinion.

4. Be Thou My Vision - old Irish Hymn (this version and this version are my favorites)

This one is very obviously a hymn and therefore decidedly Not Jewish. On the other hand, the words aren't so explicitly Christian that it rules out use by Jews (in my opinion) and especially if you translate the words into Hebrew, it sounds just like a traditional piyyut. (@springstarfangirl if you want to add your beautiful translation, please feel free!)

5. Down to the River to Pray - Alison Krauss

This is one where I do think the lyrics are a lot closer to being Christian specific, but it makes the list for a couple reasons: first, I've encountered it in Jewish-specific contexts without modification (one of our rabbis actually had us sing it like a regular song during zemirot), and second, there's a modified version by Nefesh Mountain that's quite enjoyable.

6. Whither Thou Goest - traditional

Yes, this one is a hymn too, but the words are directly quoting the Book of Ruth - her famous vows to Naomi, and to the Jewish people - and so it's already practically a Jewish song. It also has a special place of pride for me as a ger, and also because I used it as my wedding song in both the English (as heard in this version) and I also transliterated the Hebrew for our singer to do as well. It works nicely in both languages!

7. Roll the Ol' Chariot - David Coffin

This one I think is a little less direct, but I love it and included it for two reasons: first, it's a song of getting through it and surviving and thriving under tough circumstances, and second, you could very easily put liturgy to this melody instead.

8. For the Autumn Sky - traditional

Ignoring the last verse, this hymn could be very easily adapted into a beautiful Sukkot melody. For the last verse, I'd either simply leave it out, or one could write a Sukkot or Tu Bishvat themed verse to distinguish it. Incidentally, this was one of my favorite hymns growing up.

9. Sanctuary - Shaker melody

The video for this one is obviously mega-Christian, but it's on the list because we actually sing it all the time in shul and it has a special place in my memory from going to camp as a kid. Our shul is definitely not the only one who uses it in a Jewish context, either: this version by Cantor Julia Cadrain is really lovely.

10. Genesis 3:23 - The Mountain Goats

Where are my fellow Mountain Goats fans?? I know you're out there, lol. Look, I know that John Darnielle is coming at this from a Christian perspective, but two things: first of all, TMG has a number of Jewish fans I think at least in part because the lyrics speak deeply to the specific feelings around life (and other people) being horrible to you, surviving, and thriving even in the wake of deep trauma. Second of all, I think this one in particular brings up a number of interesting ideas about the meaning of home, of homecoming, of returning to a home that no longer really exists in the same way, and of exile and redemption. What would it look like to return to Gan Eden? Is this what geulah is supposed to look like, at least in some interpretations? What does it mean if not?

Anyway, this is it for now, but I may add to this list later, because there are definitely a few more! Please also feel free to add your own in the notes!

[skyfcx]

yo yo yo! howza'bout an update?

howdy, long time no see and all that. it's currently almost 3 am est at the time of starting this post, so if you're looking to read this, just expect a real stream of consciousness type post.

first, let's address tumblr stuff! i've been absent for a good bit, and... i think it's going to stay like that for quite some time. if i'm being honest, the desire to write on tumblr has been at an all-time low as of late. the only ping i've gotten has been for tails and rosalina, and that's really just because those two are forever characters and that desire will never properly vanish. but for rping in general? i think i'll be taking quite the hiatus.

now i'm not putting up the deuces and vanishing forever! i'm still having creative thoughts, just not in the rping direction. if i were to post anything, it would probably be some more fanfiction-type stories featuring my ocs and the adventures i've been plotting out for them. so. short stories, i suppose! i could see myself reviving my extremely short-lived personal blog and posting some things there if i ever got the motivation to sit down and actually write something more bookish.

though with all of that said, this is probably a mighty see you soon on the tumblr front. i still check my main blogs and i am available on discord even though i've been pretty shit at responding to messages, totally my fault to those i've kinda lowkey ghosted. but i'm gonna be real quiet going forward. hugs and kisses to the lot of you, though. i see everyone still having fun every single day. just imagine an image of me giving a thumbs up superimposed on the sky. that's the vibe.

now, personal life stuff! gender is still weird but i think i'm starting to get a handle on it. after properly being mistaken as a female in public for the first time, i think i'm comfortable enough to upgrade my he/him to a he/she/they! still have. no idea if boy or girl or both or neither, but in terms of pronouns? i dont mind being a him because that's what i've been all my life, she feels very good because that means im being viewed as feminine-presenting, and they is honestly just the most accurate nine times outta ten. tbh the only thing i know for sure is that i dont want to be masculine-presenting. i can be male, but i refuse to be masculine, lmao.

also, i got new glasses! they're more rounded and really help the feminine look, i think. i've been catching myself smiling more at my reflection whenever i see myself in the mirror with them on, so the change has been really positive already. i'm in a place where i wanna experiment with my clothes and see how me i can truly feel like.

oh! and im not sure if i've mentioned it, but i've moved to a far more comfortable place with my girlfriend!!! she's trans, her family was super accepting of her, and now they're super accepting of me wearing the sorts of clothes i like! so i've been far more willing to test out the sorts of clothes i wear now that i dont have to worry about being found out. so...

yknow. all in all? i'm doing real good over here, gang. despite the radio silence. perhaps sometime in the future i'll pop back in with some sorta blog to get goofy on the dash with yall again. or maybe i'll actually write short stories and post those to their own blog! whatever it is, i just wanted to pop in at. three at night. and share my thoughts in the form of a life update. life's been good on the macro. we will work on the micro, but the overview makes me quite happy when i step back and look at it.

[actual-changeling]

We need to talk about the Archangel Michael.

No, seriously we NEED to talk about Michael because I think she's going to be way more important than we currently think.

(quick side note: I will be jumping between pronouns for everyone involved because I go by vibes and also bc I'm trans and I like doing it. Hopefully it won't be too confusing, but I'll try to make it clear who I am talking about.)

So! Welcome back to Alex's unhinged meta corner. In accordance with the usual essay rules, let's begin with my hypothesis before we go down a long, probably very unhinged spiral.

I completely underestimated how thorough I was going to be, so to not overwhelm everyone with a miles long post, I will be dividing this meta into parts and will post them as I finish them.

A lot of small details have been fluttering around my mind over the last few weeks, and I think I am finally starting to put all the pieces together—and there are a LOT.

Part 1: Season One and Michael's Rank

We know them as one of the three (four—but that's another post) Archangels next to Gabriel and Uriel. While Gabriel's title was that of the Supreme Archangel, Michael's is explicitly stated in episode one of season two as 'duty officer', which, broadly speaking, makes them the Watcher, the one in charge in the case of Gabriel's absence for whatever reason, taking command where he can't; usually that probably meant him simply being busy and not him being unemployed and naked.

Their position is further signified by their ring, which resembles the Ophanim, the many-eyed angel wheels.

They are the one to keep a literal eye on things—they find pictures of Aziraphale and Crowley in S1 in the Observation Files, they watch over the heavenly hosts, they oversee plans, everything.

Michael even takes it a step further and (presumably created) the grapevine with hell, having direct contact to higher ranking demons such as Ligur, most likely also Dagon, and Beelzebub.

This is where we get to my theory: Michael is actively working with demons against both heaven and hell. It doesn't mean that they care about preserving earth, though they might later on, but that whatever plans heaven currently has are to be stopped.

I'm going to take this one step further and say that Michael also knew about Gabriel and Beelzebub, and helped him escape.

Now to the fun part: the evidence!

In season one, they are interested in stopping Crowley and Aziraphale from preventing the apocalypse, but that does not mean that they agree with the plans heaven has for said event—only that they need it to happen so their own agenda can stay on track. She has information she technically shouldn't, like, well, literally all the details about how, when, and what is going to go down

This is due to heaven and hell's general cooperation, which is its own post, but all of that runs through them.

That 'apparently' is doing a lot of heavy lifting here, it's the basic and plausible deniability that's required for them to not be in trouble. She is also in charge of ORGANIZING the troops, fulfilling her role as a navigator.

On top of that, the way she talks to Ligur highly mirrors the way two covert operatives might talk to one another, using phrases like 'our man' and 'working for you'. The mere assumption Michael makes here, that Aziraphale could be a spy, implies that there ARE already spies and angels working for hell.

Consorting with the enemy is allowed as long as it is done within a very specific framework, so Michael and Ligur are free to do so, while Aziraphale and Crowley are working outside of it, which gives heaven & hell the basis to punish them for it.

I think the phrasing of this sentence is also quite interesting.

Not "time to come back to heaven" or anything along the lines that takes Aziraphale's ethereal status into account, no, she simply says he needs to 'choose sides'—and who is to say that he needs to choose heaven or that heaven and hell are the only sides one can choose? Additionally, Michael is the one to bring the holy water to hell while they send one of the Erics, and while the trial as a whole holds a certain tension, there does not seem to be any open animosity between him and the dukes of hell.

In short, Michael is working with hell behind the scenes, likely pursuing their own goals, and standing in opposition to heaven.

Moving on to season two, and here it gets REALLY fun.

Part 1 - Part 2 - Part 3 - Part 4 - Part 5

(hopefully it will just be five. it was supposed to be two. then three. but here we are)