#what logic is this fallacy trying to pull

[osokasstuff]

i think about a lot of overlaps between fatphobia and intersexism, look:

normal variations of anatomy and physiology are claimed inherently bad and disordered. (fatness is a normal variation of body type, intersex variations are normal variations of sex characteristics, but both are claimed not normal).

fear mongering and pulling "risks" out of the ass. if a person is fat, they get 100500 "health concerns" from everyone and may be medically labeled as unhealthy just because of weight. fatness is equated to being unhealthy without taking anything else in account. even if a person is perfectly healthy, their fatness is treated like it's health problem (or a step to future health problems). same for intersex variations: every single intersex variation is treated like a health problem, despite how it actually affects the person. and every try to confront these beliefs is faced with hostility and "BUT WHAT ABOUT THIS SPECIFIC CASE WHERE IT'S A PROBLEM???? SEE??? SEE?? I'M RIGHT! IT'S BAD!" fuck, yes, sometimes it is a problem. but even in those cases, it doesn't work like society wants: the problem lies not in normal body diversity but in a specific condition that causes specific discomfort or risk. for example, some intersex variations cause inability to urinate. and the problem here is the inability to urinate and not ambiguous sex traits. (so you need to address this specific problem and not mutilate a person's body to fit in social expectations).

the discrimination is protected by biased science. bigots refer to biased scientific sources to justify their bigotry. authors of these sources refuse to admit their prejudices and change their opinions even when new information is provided because they don't want to be fucking scientists and reevaluate their opinions after new data appear. they'd better protect their image of the world and use every existing logical fallacy and shitty argument to justify their outdated sources. so, medical and scientific fields are extremely biased on these topics.

unnecessary, unsafe, and actually harmful methods of "treatment" are pushed on people, often without their consent. it is closely related to the previous point (about biased science). all potential risks are either ignored and denied or "justified" by fear mongering around not intervening.

there definitely are more, but all other points i can come up with are more universal for different discriminations.

no conclusions except society really likes to police people's bodies.

[little-worm-grant]

Night Terrors

Moonboys x You (Reader) 574 words / 18+ only, no minors

Masterlist.

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Summary: Marc isn't the only one to suffer the occasional bad night, they all do. Here are some ramblings of how each of the alters handles night terrors with you around. This will contain descriptions but nothing graphic.

A/N: A lil cathartic trauma writing after a bad night. I have CPTSD that's not too different to Marc's experience with his mom growing up. No matter how many years of therapy I've done to find my baseline normal, I still get night terrors every month. This is a damn sure better than what it used to be, but still annoying. It's one of those things I will never have control over and just have to deal with it. Thought I'd use my experiences to write how I imagine it'd go for the moonboys. Regardless of the things I write, I'm genuinely in a good place in my life. Healing is not linear. The worst experience to ever happen to me was my childhood and I've gone forward in life with my head up knowing nothing will ever be that bad again. Look after yourself first, no one can do it as good as you can.

Steven wakes up sometimes in a panicked wheeze, flapping his arms as though to get a spider off his pillow (it's just the shadow indent of where his head was that his brain hasn't quite registered), or just straight up flying out of bed in a scramble to get away from the perceived threat. You've learned he needs a lot of physical contact to come around and be eased back into bed. He never remembers these nights or what he's dreaming about. Laughs and calls himself a "right plonker" when you explain it the next day. He'll comfortably make jokes about his evening escapades. He panics when he's conscious, it doesn't surprise him one bit he also does it in his sleep too. No wonder he's always so tired. Steven deeply appreciates knowing you're there for him when he needs it. He'll pamper you and try making your day a little easier to make up for it. Scratch each other's backs and all that. -

Marc shouldn't be touched when he gets like this. Always a small chance it'll freak him out more. He's never hurt you, more like he doesn't recognize you and tries to keep you at an arm's distance to keep himself safe. You've never seen him so tense. Sat upright, shaken breath. Eyes wildly scanning the dark of the room, convinced he's seen something in the shapes he can make out. As though it's both your lives on the line if he's distracted from it. He doesn't look angry, it's not like that stern expression he usually carries... but more like he's seen a ghost. He's terrified of whatever may come out of the dark. It breaks your heart. You talk him through his logical fallacies until he's convinced enough to settle back down. Sometimes it requires a light being turned on for him to snap out of it. Come the next day, he'll brush off your follow-up questions of it. Embarrassed you saw that side of him. Marc won't often remember getting up in the night, but he certainly remembers what he dreamt about. He won't willingly discuss that in any detail. He thinks you'll look at him differently if he does. The day naps wrapped around you make everything better. -

Jake you've only seen out once in this state. The broom you'd moved out the way before bed came tumbling down in a loud clatter, and he was up in a blink of an eye. No staggered breathing or wild eyes like Marc. None of Steven's exaggerated or fast movements. Stiff as a statue he's up and staring off into the empty void of the room. It was more unnerving than the other two. You try talking to him but he doesn't acknowledge you. A tentative touch snaps his eyes to yours. After a moment, he seems to soften and come back to himself. Some mumbled strung-together Spanish you aren't convinced was meant to be coherent. He chuckles and drops back down into the sheets. Reaching out to pull you in closer. Soundly snoring a moment later. You're left perplexed and blinking. Questioning who the hell that was. Jake tends to have a very vague recollection of coming to and trying to tiredly explain his reasoning. He doesn't remember if he was dreaming. "But there's no danger, so there's no problem. Go back to sleep," he'd tell you, thinking you understood him perfectly. He can sleep better for it.

[antiquarianfics]

Therapy

Sometimes all a person needs is a little reassurance they’re not a bad person.

A/N: I’m rewatching TFATWS and the therapy scene broke me tbh. Pairing: tfatws!Bucky Barnes x GN!Reader Warnings: None. Note: I do not own the character Bucky Barnes or any other Marvel affiliated characters.

You do not have permission to repost or translate my work; however, feel free to like, comment, or reblog.

—

“And if he was wrong about you, then he was wrong about me!”

Bucky’s words make you tense, and you feel your heart clench. Your eyes shoot from Bucky, to Sam, to Raynor. Neither Sam nor Raynor seem as affected by Bucky’s words as you. You suppose, however, his therapist would only see Bucky’s confession as a breakthrough, and his friend, in his anger, would only see it as selfish.

Bucky seems to realize he admitted something not only to the room, but to himself. It was clearly not his plan to share such a thought, and it was clearly a thought he didn’t want to admit to himself.

—

Later, when Sam, Bucky, and yourself are sitting on a plane, headed to meet with Zemo (against your protests), you finally bring up the impromptu therapy session with Bucky.

“Sweetheart?” You say, pulling Bucky’s attention from a random spot on the wall he’s staring at to you.

The hardened expression on Bucky’s face melts away as he looks at you.

“Doll?” He responds, mimicking your same questioning tone.

You bite your lip anxiously before leaning forward and planting a kiss on his lips. The kiss takes him slightly off guard, but he happily returns it. The kiss takes you slightly off guard, too, because you kissed him to buy yourself some time to figure out what you want to say. After a second, you pull away, anxiously biting your lip again.

“What was that for?” Bucky asks, a goofy smile gracing his lips.

“Uh…” you trail off. “A distraction?”

“A distraction?”

“Uh, yeah. I needed to distract you while I figured out what to say.”

He shoots you a questioning look, but you continue before he can say anything.

“What you said earlier, to Sam,” you start, voice unsure.

Bucky sighs and leans back in his seat, closing his eyes.

“Y/N,” he says, a pleading tone lacing each syllable of your name. He doesn’t want to talk about this.

“Bucky,” you argue, “I just… I just want you to be okay. Do you really think that? That Steve was wrong about you?” The thought upsets you, and you can tell he knows it.

“Wasn’t he?”

“No.”

“Doll.”

“James.”

He meets your eyes and you raise an eyebrow at him.

“Steve trusted Sam with his shield—with his legacy. Steve was a better person than all of us. If… if he was wrong about Sam, then he was wrong about me.”

“First of all, Steve was just a man. He wasn’t a god, and we need to stop talking about him like he was. He was a really good man, yes, but just a man. His opinion on any one person or any one situation is not inherently the right one. Second of all, that’s a logical fallacy and you know it. Steve gave Sam the shield because he believed he would do with it what was right. Sam did exactly what he thought was right. You have to stop blaming him for that. Third of all, Steve wasn’t wrong about you. If he was, Buck, you’d be in prison, but he wasn’t and you’re not. You’re here, with me, with Sam, and you’re trying to make the world a better place.”

Bucky stares at you. You’re so adamant, and it scares him. He knows you’re right, but even if you weren’t, he thinks he’d believe you simply because you’re so sure of yourself. He swallows.

“Okay.”

“Okay.”

You sigh in relief that he’s at least agreeing with you.

“Y/N?” He asks. You hum in response.

“Thank you.”

“Anytime.”

[eemolu]

i'm gonna just rant about gorgug for a second and like. nobody has to read this. this can just be a thing that nobody reads. but basically the beginning of sophomore year was really getting to me and i think it stems from brennan and zac trying to set up gorgug's season arc. naturally second season arcs are going to feel a little bit more clumsy, and i think this is a particular struggle that happens with zac characters (the limited data points we have coming from gorgug and ricky) but they're using zelda to try and give gorgug something to worry about. and she's pretty much finding reasons to be mad at him for like the whole first four episodes.

and here's the thing: it doesn't make sense!! he gets back from tour (which is happening during the school year? okay?) and the bus pulls up to fig's house so she can see her family, and when zelda shows up she's like ummm hi why didn't you come see me. brother this is the first stop home. gorgug's parents came to mordred, he didn't even go home. and then she's like omg you're going away again >:( zelda girl the entire party found that out forty five seconds ago when aguefort showed up and made them rich and told them they'd fail if they didn't find this crown. ALSO you're going to the red waste!!! you also will be gone!!!!!

but whatever. fig and riz get kidnapped. they rush out of town and there's the whole narrative of gorgug forgetting to say goodbye and there are a couple of reasons that whole plotpoint made me mad both in game and out of game. first of all, zac is not the kind of player to call for scenes like that, and when he is, they're usually mystery focused and made to advance the story for everyone. if you want someone to go call for a one-on-one scene with an npc, you're going to have to ask emily. second, zelda keeps listing all these things that they "had time" to go and do as a way to say gorgug could've said goodbye to her (you went to the mall, you picked up cathilde, etc). but girl. the mall was a lead to try and find fig. cathilde was someone who was GOING ON THE ADVENTURE WITH THEM. can you imagine if they were racing out of elmville to find fig and gorgug turned to sandra lynn and went "hang on, i need to stop by my girlfriend's house and say goodbye," not to mention that the only significant other was coming with them. you're stopping a van full of nine people to go to the other side of town. that feels crazy. and the thing about gorgug is that he can't articulate that, and he's trying to be understanding, so he's like "yeah you're right i should've stopped" - no dude!!!! you shouldn't have!!!! that would've felt crazy!!!! the only thing he missed the ball on was getting the generator, but again, they had to leave in kind of a hurry.

and i'm not saying i can't see what the purpose behind this was. it sets up gorgug trying to build a cell tower, which brought into question his intelligence and helped create in him the drive to become an artificer, and it also highlighted this logical fallacy that i think brennan was really stuck on after season one which is this idea that they're still acting like the underdog kids when in fact there's no way they're not the coolest kids in school. and so zelda is like "dude you act like nobody would ever like you when in fact you're popular and a rockstar and on the sports team" which i think makes sense, but gorgug is the only character who's facing this pressure. i would've loved to have adaine grappling with the fact that she's just as popular as her sister once pretended to be. where's the version of kristen that's dealing with the fact that everyone at school loves the performance of her just like people at the church of helio used to? where's riz handing out business cards and people actually taking them and blowing up his phone? (i left out fig and fabian because i think they're actually fine with it and thriving).

it just really bothers me to have a lot of gorgug's energy and scenes at the beginning of fhsy spent trying to make up for a mistake that to me as a viewer it really didn't seem like he made, and so any character growth or solutions he arrives at don't feel satisfying or meaningful because of that. and that's the whole rant. needed to get it off my chest and hope you didn't make it this far.

[maxdibert]

I’ve seen several of the Snaters who attacked you the other day saying that what happened to Snape wasn’t SA because back then it was normal to pull people’s pants down, and it was a common “joke.”

Do these people know what else was considered normal at that time?

Hitting your wife because it was your right as a husband.

Do they know what else was normal?

Putting gay people in jail or sending them to asylums for being “deviants.”

Do they know what else was normal?

Apartheid in South Africa.

I mean, the excuse that “it was normal at the time” seems like a weak argumentative fallacy from someone who lacks basic debating skills. It’s something useless for defending a point because it’s irrelevant. By that logic, if we read a story about a character who suffered the horror of being a slave and was abused by their enslaver, we can’t think that the enslaver is a piece of garbage? We can’t say they’re a racist and a bastard because “at the time of the book, that was normal”? The fact that less than fifty years ago it was considered a man’s right to hit his wife—does that mean those women weren’t abused because “that was normal”?

I don’t understand the reasoning behind these people’s logic. I don’t know if they actually want to defend their points or if they’re trying harder and harder to make themselves look worse, but every time they open their mouths (metaphorically), they just prove they have fewer functioning brain cells. Honestly, I stand by my opinion that these are either people with barely half a brain or kids who don’t understand how the world works, because excusing an act of violence like publicly stripping someone and choking them against their will by saying “those kinds of jokes were normal back then” seems just as problematic to me as defending a man who beat his wife black and blue because “husbands like that were normal back then.”

These people will do anything to try to excuse liking James Potter. They could just admit they’re drawn to the idea of a rich, white, entitled brat flaunting his power and that they don’t care that he was abusive and a bully. That’s fine. We’re not judging people’s tastes—we’re judging when people use crappy excuses to justify their tastes, especially when those crappy excuses involve victim-blaming and justifying abuse.

[ransprang]

thank you for your request @fantasyfictionfables <3

If anyone else wants personalised hcs this is our kofi

gale x fem!reader

sfw

How you met: You were in Baldur’s Gate, out on an evening walk in the town square when you saw a crowd of people gathering. Curious, you approached the group. It was a man, preaching about how great some new legislation was. He was confidently making baseless arguments (your least favourite kind) to a crowd who seemed very enthusiastic about his opinions. You disagreed but held your tongue and were about to leave when suddenly he called out, “It is a fact none among us can dispute! I invite you, good people if there are any here who can refute my words.” A bold claim, you thought to yourself and before you knew it you had joined him at the center of the crowd. You began to systematically, logically and with citations deconstruct his entire argument, pointing out every logical fallacy you found. By the end, the man had turned red, either with anger or embarrassment. Having finished your speech, you strutted away, leaving the man to try and recover the dwindling faith of the crowd. As you left, Gale approached you, saying he was impressed with your little speech. You both began discussing the topic, and charmed by your thoughts he decided to trust that the Weave had brought you two together for a reason and asked you out to dinner.

Gale could spend hours staring into your eyes, wondering at the mysteries which lie there, boundless as the mysteries of the weave. It would make him feel understood, as though before your gaze he could be fully and truly himself.

Gale, like you, is an open-minded and intellectual individual who holds more traditional values. He is the type of guy who would want to settle down with a wife and have a child or several. 

Gale and you share similar hobbies. Both of you could disappear for hours into a library. You both would walk in on a fine morning and only find each other at the closing time, breathless with arms full of books, eyes bright with excitement ready to discuss all the new things you had just read.

Gale would often show you magic tricks. On dates or even while doing simple chores, he would surprise you by learning mundane little tricks like pulling a penny out of your ear or making a deck of cards disappear.

Gale loves to hear himself talk so you would often hear him going on long, incredibly verbose tangents about topics that interest him. Your ability to speak up regardless of other people would balance out that tendency, and ensure that the both of you have a good time. 

Gale would love it when you would help him cook. He is often the one who ends up preparing meals for camp, and usually a prestidigitation cantrip suffices for the mundane work, he likes the ritual of cooking with you. Since your love language is acts of service, sometimes you surprise him by cooking his favourite meals. Regardless of the outcome, he appreciates the effort you put in.

Gale loves that you speak what’s on your mind when it comes to entertaining his random thoughts during the night. Like “Y/n, do you think the universe is infinite?” he loves staying up hearing your views, seeing how your logical mind works and of course sharing his own opinions. 

Faerûn is full of unexpected situations and problems which often require pragmatic solutions. Gale often asks for your advice and tries to devise solutions with you. The way you think makes him fall for you harder every time. 

If you try to comment on magic and sorcery however, Gale’s pride may come out with him trying to say that he understands the Weave better and so he can make a better judgment of the situation. Those moments would be the only ones where he may irritate you, but if you tell him he’d be more than willing to talk about it. 

n/sfw

Having been locked up in the tower for a long time Gale is insecure about his abilities to pleasure you in bed. He’d take the first few times of being intimate with you very slowly. He loves peeling off every layer of clothing, admiring every portion of skin being revealed to him. Your moans and roaming hands on his body make him grow confident over the days. 

When you tell Gale of your breeding kink his face turns red in embarrassment trying to process what you just said to him. He replies respectfully, “Oh my, I wasn’t expecting quite that to come out of your mouth. Don’t get me wrong, love, I’m glad you feel open enough to tell me about your needs. I just sometimes worry that I may not be able to satisfy you.” After a few moments he continues, “That being said, perhaps we should practice this kink of yours tonight? Hm?”

Gale would enjoy, changing pace from fast to slow and then pumping faster than ever again. He enjoys feeling you up and kissing your neck even when he simply wants to cum deep inside of you.

He would enjoy holding you by your hips and touching the curvature of your hourglass figure while grunting.

Gale would pull you to be on top of him while gripping your waist strongly and firmly as you ride him back and forth. He would enjoy taking in the sight of your beautiful physique.

He would slowly stroke your skin, and play with your hair while giving you soft kisses after cumming deep inside of you. His chest rising and falling against your skin, feeling the tickle of his chest hair. 

He would cup your breasts and squeeze them slightly while giving you a cute playful smile before leaning into a reassuring kiss.

Gale would astral project your favourite hangout spot after sex, and you both would sit on the comfort of your bed cuddled just chatting about a shared future.

Gale would light candles around the house and bring you your favourite snacks with water, with a big caring smile on his face after particularly rough sessions.

After lovemaking, Gale’s hazel eyes stare deep into your dark brown ones with a sweet smile on his face. He strokes your hair without breaking eye contact and imagines his future with you. Your eye contact doesn’t make him flinch at all, he feels comfort feeling that you can see his soul, hoping you also yearn for a future with him. 

yours soulfully,

admins sar, san & sav

[sepublic]

Vee has the parallels with Luz that make her reconsider the choices she made, while also foreshadowing for the Day of Unity, and so forth. And I think Vee has the additional narrative function of complicating the idea of Camila just moving to the Boiling Isles, too; As uncomfortable as she still is four years later, Camila’s a supportive mother so fans naturally figured she’d make the sacrifice of moving to the Demon Realm for Luz’s sake, so Luz wouldn’t have to worry about leaving her mom behind. But with Vee’s introduction, it’s not that simple; Because Vee is someone who really wants to stay in the human world and even has her own friends there. And Vee is family, she’s Camila’s other daughter so she can’t just leave her either.

In a way, Vee is like the extended family Camila and Luz would have in the human world, that would deepen the ties they still have with it. Though I would’ve loved to explore their Dominican heritage via their biological relatives and other aspects, to emphasize what’s connecting them to the human world… That said, with Yesterday’s Lie being written after the crew learned of the shortening, I can see how the writers settled for Vee serving that purpose, because she already pulls off the other functions I mentioned before; It keeps things concise when the show’s runtime led to established setup like the Bat Queen’s owner or half of the coven heads being left unexplored. ‘Creepy Luz’ had already been introduced in S1, so there was a prior obligation to explain something already connected to the Nocedas.

And I can see the ties to Vee adding to Luz’s guilt, because in addition to Vee’s existence suggesting to Luz that she never needed to leave in the first place (which is of course a logical fallacy, but her trauma-riddled brain understandably isn’t being rational), it also makes her feel obligated to stay in the human world. Because Camila obviously wants to look after Vee too, and Luz wants stay with her mom, which means all three Nocedas might have to stay in the human world to make that work, since they aren’t certain about there being a new, permanent portal to normalize travel.

There’s now a new layer to her conflict; Luz wouldn’t want to force Vee to lose her own family again (first her fellow basilisks, then Masha and co. when Luz reclaimed her identity), because she doesn’t feel right making that decision for somebody else who she’d tell herself has had it worse. As for Vee, I wonder if she felt obligated to find her fellow basilisks back in the Boiling Isles, and hoped to invite them to the human realm to stay together… At which point, at least Vee can have it both ways, to Luz’s relief. And after her guilt in helping Belos, for Luz her sister would’ve been almost an excuse not to go back to enjoying the Demon Realm.

Because doing so means allowing herself to try being happy, it means letting herself pursue her dreams again, whilst forgiving herself. And in her repentant state of mind, that would’ve been difficult for Luz to accept; That it’s okay for her to keep trying to be happy and consider what she wants. It means facing her guilt by moving on, and taking risks by allowing the possibility of mistakes again; She’s allowed to make mistakes, and Luz shouldn’t have to fear them because of repentance for whatever harm she might cause.

And in the end, the Collector helped to create a new portal; And because of that, everyone could be happy. Vee didn’t have to abandon her new friends and home, but she didn’t have to lose her new mom and sister either; Similarly, Luz and Camila wouldn’t have to forsake a fellow Noceda, as well as everything else about the human world they still held dear, such as their culture.

On Vee’s end, she can also be reunited with her Basilisk family, who now live at the University of Wild Magic! So Vee could still have her own ties to the Demon Realm that she’s allowed to keep, and not be the only Noceda sister interested in maintaining contact; Her siblings still seem fond of the isles, so they too have it both ways with family and their home. In that case, the entire Noceda family —Manny, Camila, Luz, Vee— really is a family of immigrants navigating two worlds at once! Luz might not have been so alone in her dilemma after all, which is another thing for her and Vee to bond over, and a reassurance for her wish because Luz is understood not just by her mother, but her sister as well… It was always available for Luz to work with Vee about what they wanted once the situation had settled.

And finally, Luz can still explore the Demon Realm and hang out with her friends there, while studying its magic; Her quincenera having both families of both worlds, mixing in aspects of her Dominican heritage with the Boiling Isles’ take on things, perfectly encapsulates all of this. None of this would’ve happened if Luz hadn’t let herself go to the Boiling Isles again to help, because she was needed to speak to the Collector, after all, and they helped reconnect the worlds. And she wouldn’t have kept visiting after returning to the human world had Camila not helped Luz forgive herself for loving the Demon Realm.

[kendrixtermina]

Giving Doctor Who a New Chance, Part 3: The Giggle

It's nice that they're bringing back some classic villain, but I really wish they had the Toymaker butcher some other language. The gag is just not funny at all when you actually speak German

Ok, that's an illustrative montage of a mightyfine chaos

IDK what I think of this - set it up in a way that it can be reset again.

oooh, Mel is back! As a 6th Doctor fan, I appreciate this. Did not expect that. She still got that perky way of talking.

Having seen the eps he was in, slipping over a bottle of Vodka is exactly like Sabalon Glitz would die, but hey, at least he lived to a ripe old age.

Donna just landed herself a new job. I guess there's that duality in human's fluctuating confidence levels again cause she glibly asks for double but looks ecstatic that it worked

so, Donna doesn't remember in detail, but she got a rough glimpse

the guy playing the Toymaker IS pulling off the creepy clown act pretty well tho

I really liked that scene between Donna & the Doctor in the infinite cabinet with the Doctor re-evaluating his life choices.

That's another thing that's been missing, that fucking Chibnall didn't get - that the point of him, at the end of the day, is that he's just some guy. Somewhat wiser & tougher than a human, maybe, but still fundamentally just dude with wits & confidence. A trickster, a flawed person trying to do the right thing that through trickery ended up with this fearsome reputation. I used to think of RTD not getting it as much as Moffat did cause he did like overly savior-archetype-like plots sometimes whereas moffat emphasized the 'just a madman with a box' angle, but RTD gets it in this scene where we see the Doctor cringing at his past self for things he couldn't have foreseen & now he doesn't know what to do in a world that doesn't follow predictable rules

Because that's what they don't tell you about getting smarter, wiser or even just older - the price you pay for knowing better today is cringing at the awareness you used to lack. thats very real. you end up thinking you should somehow have known or done better even if you couldnt have.

there's certainly some thematic rhyming with the 'narrowmindedness-plague' afflicting the earth

Donna's dad is actually right. Good for him to be wary of the Hot Hand fallacy and its ilk. Missed a chance for an epic nerd reference

I dunno what to think about the concept of 'shift to fantasy', i wouldnt have done that & really turned more to harder & concept fanfiction, but i suppose it keeps thinks fresh without being repetitive (they cant keep destroying and un-destroying gallifrey all the time...) & the show has always been the very softest of sci-fi anyway - at leasts its set up in a way that it can be reset again or let future writers pick whatever they want. though i suppose it depends on how its done like, if possible without wholly throwing out humanist values. You can absolutely be a trickster in a fantasy story or fight crazy things with logic; Infinity train did it to great effect. I mean, the classics had far wonkier stuff like actual Vampires & whatnot.

i appreciate Donna rhyming while defeating the puppet

"jingsaw out of your history" thing imply that the timeless child thing was an in-universe retcon of sorts? Oh please. I mean I could kinda sorta accept 13 is she literally wasn't really the same character.

between this & the last episode it's pretty close anyway to the "every single backstory is true because of timey wimey ball" thing from the expanded universe fixed, on-screen canon. That I could live with. It's potentially deeply interesting that by virtue of getting tangled up in all the timelines the Doctor has in some ways been to many possible futures & possible versions of reality.

Former companions werent affected by the giggle thing cause it was a retroactive change made by the toymaker upon getting free

It's kinda sad that we'll never get to see the battle between the Master and the Toymaker because that must really have been something. Like two Jokers or Phantoms of the Opera fighting.

this is like when Q showed up on the bridge of the enterprise. Only much deadlier. I appreciate that the scene never stops feeling actually menacing.

I like how Mel also comes in to hold his hand, too, she's for realsies. (I guess this is how she makes up for making him drink all that carrot juice)

The "Alons-y" is a niftly little contrast/ bookend with 10s exit

My headcanon is that bi-generation absolutely WAS a myth, but that this is an extension of the whole breach in the logic/edge of reality storyarc being set up here, or really just the Toymaker thinking it would be fun to double them infinitely

I like how the Doctor mocks the Toymaker's fake accent with 'the ball' thing

The advantage with the ball game is, of course, that Fifteen has already seen it. He's fabulous alright.

I appreciate how they climb on each other at some point

I don't envy Kate, watching this absurd thing... humanity already got somewhat good at taking Sci-Fi threats on their own, but this they don't have context for. Maybe UNIT is gonna need a vault of magical artifacts now. I suppose you can play with that for a few seasons. Like how a contrast of fantasy & sci-fi elements worked in Madoka.

I like how Donna is casually putting her arm around 15

I guess 15 has reached that point where rather than cringe at your younger self you're able to have compassion. That's a good arc, actually.

aaand of course there's the obligatory sequel hook for the Master's return, to the surprise of no one

I like how the years with the lost memory weren't completely lost but Donna still learned something from them that allows her to send this message now

Soo Fifteen is basically taking advantage of the cartoon logic still being in effect until the end of the episode to duplicate the TARDIS. I bet it only worked because he picked the silliest possible hammer.

I appreciate how 15 makes sure to get one last Donna hug.

I do like that it kinda came down to self-love, self-compassion & knowing when to take a restorative break & all that. That's an important message these days.

So, the Nobles just deadass adopted the Doctor & Mel. Makes all the sense.

I always thought of Mel & the Doctor's dynamic as sibling-like (as opposed to Peri & the Doctor having a 'tsundere couple' energy & Ace who of course had a teacher/student thing), so I feel vindicated.

Also I appreciate how an older woman who didn't have kids but spent her life traveling & adventuring & doing what she wanted, & then ended up feeling a bit lonely because of it here simply ends up not lonely by finding friends / found family. Cause that's the fucking annoying gotcha they always hurl at you "Oh if you don't have kids & live the life you want you'll be lonely!" As if you can't have friends. Also, plenty of ppl who do have kids wind up lonely because the kids end up hating them.

I'm all for the Doctor catching a break. Very touching, honestly. & he's like actually a point where he wouldn't just run off & get side-tracked or brood on the inevitability of its end. (like he would have when spent those years with River)

Also sets an interesting background for 15 of course, as he'll be coming out of it 'fully rested', in a sense.

So, yeah, I do think I'm looking forward to what 15 will get up to. It was sort of a great way to introduce him in such a way that ppl will instantly like him for how he comforts his past self here.

It's also probably the ideal ending for Donna, cause, much like Rose & Clara she wanted to stay forever, & maybe now that she has a daughter & other responsibilities she won't want the big danger all the time, but the Unit Job & living with the Doctor in a house? That's prolly what she would have wanted.

(I wonder if they'll end up running into Martha & Mickey at her job, since Donna & Martha were buds that time they met. )

[strawwritesfic]

Asexual!Q x Female!Reader: Logical Fallacy [Ch. 21]

Summary: Q’s got one hundred and two problems. His girlfriend is, technically speaking, every single one.

Challenge:  “102 Things A Guy Should Know About Girls” challenge by Miss Chocobo on Lunaescence Archives.

Ratings/Warnings/Tags: T (foul language; sexual references; asexual!Q; sexual!reader; a running gag about sexual harassment; double standard: sexual harassment, female on male; sexual harassment played for comedy; James Bond & Reader friendship; civilian!reader; artist!reader; complicated family relationships; reader has a really big family; miscommunications; MI6 would not behave this way in reality; set post-Skyfall; joking references made to Bond/Q)

Pairings: Q/Female!Reader; James Bond/Eve Moneypenny

Tag List: @imaginesfire; @rory-cakes​

Master List

Rule #21: Size does matter–but only to hos, not to girls that want relationships.

If Q thought seeing Bond in various locations across London was stressful, it was nothing compared to seeing Bond in his own home. Even then, sitting at the table, Q could not help but feel immensely uncomfortable. Relatively large though the flat may have been, it still didn’t seem roomy enough to contain Bond, Q, and the latter's excitable girlfriend.

“There you go! Tea is up.” 

You flashed Bond a smile as you set one mug down in front of him, then Q. Bond smiled back, Q nodded, but you didn’t leave. Instead, you pulled out one of the kitchen chairs and settled in beside them.

“Mr. Bond, I know you’re here for super-secret work purposes and all–”

“Yes,” Q interjected. “He is.”

“–but could I ask you a question really quick?”

“[Name], now is really not the time. Mr. Bond needs to catch a flight to Beijing in the next five hours, and he really cannot afford to waste time with idle chitchat.”

“Oh, give the lady a break, Q.” Bond smirked at the look Q shot him over the top of his glasses. Really, it was bad enough that he had to invite Bond over to do this trade, and now Bond was purposely going to make Q look the bad guy. “I’m sure the professional matters can wait for a few minutes. Unless my ticket is going to blow up if I don’t leave quickly enough?”

Q answered with stony silence that you reacted to not at all.

Bond’s grin widened as he turned back to you. “Go ahead, [Name].”

For a moment, Q thought you might just do as he had asked and leave. You took a deep breath and closed your eyes. These actions were unfortunately not in preparation for exiting the room. They were instead preparation to ask the following question:

“Mr. Bond, how big is your penis?”

Tea spurted from Q’s mouth. Both you and Bond turned to give him quizzical looks as he continued to cough.

“[Name]!” he protested around his coughing fit. “Why would you–You just can’t–Why do you even–” Q could not finish his sentences.

You shrugged your shoulders in an almost offensively casual manner. “What? It’s not like I’m taking out a tape measure and asking him to whip it out on the table.”

Q’s cheeks grew as hot as the teapot sitting on the stove. Next to him, Bond’s shoulders silently shook, as if he were trying desperately not to laugh openly at Q’s predicament. When Q could not find it in himself to speak, Bond ran a finger around the lip of his mug and asked:

“Why the sudden interest?”

“Well.” You frowned at the table. “Q says everyone wants to sleep with you. I guess I was just curious if that had anything to do with it, because as far as I know, no one has offered to sleep with Q other than me. Maybe it's a size issue?”

Now Bond was definitely suppressing a smile. “How big is Q’s?”

“That’s none of your business!” Q burst out at last. Bond chuckled. You cocked your head to one side and blinked. “Can we please just get back to what we came here to do?”

“You didn’t come here to do anything. You live here.”

“You know what I mean!” Of course, it was unprofessional to snap, not to mention that Q probably wouldn’t hear the end of this particular embarrassment for a long time to come–from Bond or you. He sighed and tried to contain himself before speaking again. “[Name], please relocate to the living room. This does require the exchange of some confidential information.”

“But I didn’t get my answer,” you said, sticking your lower lip out.

Q glowered at you. Sometimes it seemed as if you got some sort of kick out of mortifying him. 

From the corner of his eye, Q saw Bond wink. “I’m afraid that’s confidential information as well, [Name].” 

Q turned his head slightly to stare at Bond. What was going on? Was he really trying to salvage the situation? Or was he about to speak some new terror into it?

Your eyes widened. “Really?”

Bond nodded gravely. “I might have to kill you if I told you. M would definitely find out about it, and then where would we be?”

“Dead,” you said breathlessly. “Or arrested.”

“That’s right. Now, why don’t you run along to the living room before Q here’s head explodes?”

“Okay!” You got to your feet, beaming, and headed toward the hallway. “You two have fun!”

Q waited until he heard the television turn on, then heaved a relieved sigh as Bond took a deep swig of tea.

“Thanks,” said Q.

“Don’t mention it.”

[silver138]

Perfectly Flawed - Chapter 11

word count - 1.2k

warnings - none

Summary: Lina gets nervous…and a little enchanted.

"G'mornin', Penny," I say with a smile as I walk into the room and put my bag down. 

"And a good morning to you! Another coffee run?" Penny says, gesturing to my coffee cup with her chin.

  "I, uh, yeah. Spencer got it for me." I say, sitting down.

Penny hums in acknowledgment, turning back to her screen. I clear my throat and ask her, "So, um, what's the likelihood of us not getting called in by, oh, tomorrow night?" She slowly spins back around to face me, chin resting in her hand.

Wicked grin on her face she replies, "Why do you ask, Lina? You have some plans for tomorrow?" 

Flushing, I smile a little and say, "Uh, y-yeah. Spencer and I were gonna hang out and get some coffee tomorrow. Hopefully. As long as a case doesn't come in."

She looks at me and starts squealing excitedly. "I'm so happy for you, Lina!" 

She reaches over and hugs me, and I laugh and tell her, "Whoa, whoa, it's-it's not like a date or anything. It's hanging out as friends."

She lets go and rolls her chair back, saying, "That's how it starts, though!" 

I laugh lightly and say, "Well, I'm not gonna lie, I'd love for it to happen that way. But I'm not gonna get my hopes up, and just plan on enjoying whatever happens."

Penny gives me a smirk and an "Mmm-hmm..." then turns around and gets back to work on the case file she's typing up. I grin while pulling out my headphones and MP3 player and get to work as well.

After several hours of typing up files, I look up at the clock and see it's about 10 til 12. Finishing the file I'm on, I place the folder in the case box and take my headphones off, pausing my music and stretching.

A minute or two later, there's a knock on the door jamb, and I see Spencer standing there. "Hey, Spence, be there in a moment," I say with a smile as I pick up my purse. I turn and say to Penny, "See you in a bit!"

"See you two later!" she says. 

As we walk, I say to Spencer, "I'm kinda nervous about tonight, now." 

He looks at me quizzically and asks, "How come? I thought you we excited about tonight?" 

I sigh and say, "I mean, I am still excited, but I'm also getting more nervous the closer it gets. What if I say something idiotic?" 

Spencer shrugs and replies, "Well, you haven't said anything idiotic yet, so, statistically, you should be in the clear," giving me a small smile. 

I snort and say, "Okay, thank you for trying to make me feel better, but by that logic, I'm bound to say something stupid soon. Law of averages and all." 

He smirks and says, "Ah, but that could also fall under the Gambler's Fallacy, which is a particular misutilization of the law of averages in which the person believes that a particular outcome is more likely because it has not happened recently. Or, inversely, that because a particular outcome has recently occurred, it will be less likely in the immediate future."

I look at him in amazement for a moment, before breaking into laughter, saying, "I should know better than to argue statistics with you, huh?" 

Spencer just smiles sheepishly and says, "Look, I manage to stick my foot in my mouth relatively often with people, and the rest of the team doesn't tease me...well, too much. You'll be fine tonight, Lina."

Beaming, I look at him for a moment, then look down and say, "Thank you, Spencer. That...that really does make me feel better. I'd hug you, but I know you aren't really into that." 

He flushes quickly, and stammers out, "W-well, I don't know about a hug, but, um, I'm-I'm sure you could think of something to convey how you feel..." 

I snort and lightly knock my shoulder into his. "Would that suffice?" I ask, smiling slyly at him. 

Face going a deeper red, he squeaks out an, "Uh, y-yeah, that-that's fine..." 

Getting our lunches, we sit down and start eating. After a few minutes, I asked Spencer, "So, just in case we can hang out tomorrow, where do you want to go?" 

He thinks for a moment, then says, "I, uh, I liked what you proposed. If that's still good for you."

Grinning, I nod and say, "Y-yeah, I'm cool with that. Um, wh-what time did you want to meet up? Like, late morning or something? Say, 10 or 11?" 

Giving me a small smile, Spencer says, "Yeah, that-that sounds good."

Still smiling broadly, I say, "Okay, cool, cool...it's a...that's the plan, then..." flushing slightly at how quickly I devolve into dorkiness. Going back to our lunches, Spencer and I finish eating in silence.

As I go to grab Spencer's tray, he grabs it first, along with mine, and stands up. I look up at him and am about to protest when he says, "I've got it today. And before you say anything, I don't have a book to read, so I can take them." Then he walks away with a small half-smile.

When he comes back, he sits down and asks me if I want to see something. I nod as I ask, "Yeah, sure, what'dya want to show me?" 

Grinning slightly, he says, "I figure I could show you some magic tricks since you seemed interested yesterday."

My eyes widen and I grin as I say, "Yeah, go for it, Doc!" He rolls up his sleeves and grabs at the air, opening his hand to show a coin. He then quickly flips it between his fingers, making it disappear, showing his empty hands.

"So, where'd it go?" I muse quietly. A smirk flashes on Spencer's face for a moment, then he narrows his eyes as if spotting something, then reaches behind my ear and pulls out the coin, showing it to me.

A giggle escapes me, and I grin as I say, "That was awesome, Spencer, I loved it! Maybe you can show me how to do that sometime." 

He gives me a small smile and stammers out, "Uh, yeah, m-maybe..."

I look up at the clock and groan, seeing that it's time for us to get back to work. As we slowly start making our way to the offices, we talk more about various magic tricks, while Spencer explains some of his favorites.

As we go to part, Spencer asks, "So, um, I-I'll see you before we head out tonight, right?" 

Giving a smile, I nod and say, "Yeah, Spence, I'll probably see you a bit before then."

  He gives me a shy smile back, saying, "Oh, g-good. I-I'll see you, then."

Gently knocking my shoulder into his, I say, "See you then, Doc," turning and walking back to Penny.

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Story masterlist

[critical-skeptic]

Why I Call Out Idiots, Ridicule Them, and Still Put in the Intellectual Effort

Let’s get one thing clear right out of the gate: engaging with the intellectually bankrupt isn't about convincing them. It’s not about changing the mind of the conspiracy nut, the QMAGA cultist, the religious zealot, or the Dunning-Kruger poster child who thinks they know more than any expert because they once watched a YouTube video. Most of these people are beyond reasoning. They've willingly turned off the critical thinking switch in their heads and committed to their insulated worldview. Trying to talk them out of it is like trying to teach a fish how to ride a bike—it’s pointless, exhausting, and ultimately a waste of time.

But here's the thing: I’m not talking to them. When I call out their bullshit, ridicule their arguments, and put the intellectual or academic effort into tearing down their fallacies, it's not for their benefit. They’re lost causes. It’s for the one person in the crowd—the bystander, the lurker, the person who hasn’t yet fully bought into the echo chamber of ignorance—who might be open to listening. That person? They’re worth the effort.

There's a popular conception that if you engage with these kinds of people, you should do so respectfully, patiently, and with empathy. Frankly, that’s nonsense. These ideologues don’t deserve respect because they have no respect for truth. They don't deserve empathy because their entire shtick is designed to perpetuate ignorance, division, and sometimes outright harm. When someone uses their platform to spread blatant lies or dangerous fallacies, they should be called out—and if it takes ridicule to do that, so be it.

Critics might say, "But you're not going to convince them if you're dismissive or rude." Guess what? I don’t give a damn. I’m not interested in convincing someone who thinks the Earth is flat, that vaccines are mind control devices, or that an invisible deity is pulling the strings of the universe. What I care about is the other people watching, the ones who are still on the fence. The ones who might be swayed if they see someone actually pushing back against the tide of misinformation. If one person out of a hundred sees my argument and it plants a seed of doubt in their mind about the nonsense they're being fed, that’s worth it.

This is about reaching them—the thinkers, the skeptics, the people who might not even realize they’re hungry for real information. Maybe they’ve been floating around in the middle, too timid or unsure to push back themselves, too lost in the noise to seek out better sources. When they see someone pushing back—whether with logic, mockery, or cold, hard facts—it might just give them the encouragement they need to look deeper.

We live in a time when people are retreating into ideological bubbles, only talking to people who agree with them. That’s dangerous. It allows bad ideas to fester, unchecked, and gives the impression that everyone is either an extremist or a coward. I'm not interested in talking only to my bubble. I want to break through the walls and let people outside see that there’s another way to think. That’s why I engage. That's why I argue. And when necessary, that's why I ridicule.

The problem with staying silent or pretending these people can be reasoned with is that it normalizes their nonsense. It gives the impression that their ideas are just one side of a "legitimate debate." Newsflash: they're not. When you engage with a creationist, you're not debating science versus religion. You're calling out blatant ignorance masquerading as intellect. When you respond to a QMAGA believer who claims Trump was sent by God, you’re not engaging in a political conversation. You’re confronting a cultist mindset. And when you take on a conspiracy theorist who thinks 5G is part of a global mind-control plot, you’re not discussing telecommunications technology; you're pointing out someone’s dangerous disconnection from reality.

So, why do I still bother? Because it matters. Even if 99 out of 100 people are unreachable, there’s always the chance that the one who’s left will see the truth. And that’s worth everything. We all have a responsibility not to just talk to our perceptive bubbles, but to provide others with the tools and information they need to see things for themselves. You don’t have to force anyone; you just have to be there to plant the seed.

The world doesn’t change because a few idiots get smarter—it changes when a silent majority sees that the idiots can and should be called out. When rational people stop being silent and start pushing back, others take notice. And maybe, just maybe, that leads to real change.

This is the goal—what should be everyone’s goal. Not to convince every lost cause, but to ensure that the people on the fence have a clear view of both sides. And to make damn sure they know which side is built on reason, evidence, and truth.

If calling out the bullshitters and ridiculing the dogmatic helps accomplish that, then I’ll gladly do it every day.

[rametarin]

The donut hole the TERFs are currently drowning in.

Rejected by the base of their own ideology, incompatible with ideologies that use objectivity and concrete facts instead of arbitrary, ideological "I'm oppwessed because I'm a woman uwu" as a truth. TERFs are in rough shape.

Obsolete, ineffectual, like a divorced Army Wife still trying to "pull rank" as the general's wife, while not being his wife anymore.

While Radical Feminism lives on and has evolved to be more wholly and completely socially constructionist, shedding any illusion that it wasn't purely principle and abstract in nature, the TERF beast is otherwise as good as dead. It's cut off, it cannot reproduce, and all the things that attracted girls to radical feminism pre-Trans Question are no longer possible in modern feminism that forcibly demands feminists conform to the idea a woman isn't based on biology whatsoever. Modern day radical feminism has doubled down on capitalizing on woman as an identity and divorced it from being female, successfully.

This also means the same women that may've embraced the bandwagon of radical feminism under the basis of TERF values, will simply reject it outright now, and they'll be homeless. They'll have to find something else.

Feminism will never be the same and it has cut out its own heart in the name of principle. And I just can't stop fucking laughing about it. The question isn't, "Doesn't intersectional feminism still exist?" Yes, but the way Top Gear got an American version that stripped out everything that made Top Gear attractive to the people that liked and watched Top Gear.

Intersectional Feminism is nothing more than when a corporate merger keeps the old name for the recognition and a vague sense that it's still the same company while also everything has changed and it's not the same principles nor values nor integrity anymore. A skin mask of TERF feminism for the benefits of how recognized and the street cred it had. It's not the same beast, at all. It just took over the niche and expanded the ecology, until the ecology was no longer about whom it once was.

So the indigenous animal has been kicked out of its own ecology and this new creature sitting in its swamp is causing the whole environment to die off. Radical Feminism, and the institutional stupidity it endorsed and encouraged culturally and sociologically, and the people that culture appealed to, have become utterly repellant to one another.

Sure, Intersectional Feminism is picking up where TERF type radfems left off, on different basis. Often worse ones, but without the concrete base of gynosupremacist supporters. And that makes all the difference. Appropriation of a territory and a community by an entity that has otherwise abandoned what the group wanted it to be about, leaving them directionless, uncoordinated, and homeless. And the organization without the base they hoped to inherit as the niche.

So TERFs being TERFs, strut around vainly trying to operate as if everything as normal. Like an American reed bittern, still lifting its head and beak to hide among the reeds, despite walking through a black tar parking lot and sticking out like a particularly goony thumb.

It pleases me. It means the girls that accept biology as true and are still conscientous about a woman's freedoms and liberties are freed from this absolutely noxious nonsense, because there's nothing left for them in feminism and its philosophy that demands class struggle theory, anymore. All the dogmas of that philosophy and culture no longer apply whether by logical fallacy or by structural inertia. If it matters that much to them, they'll either find other cultures to join, or embrace general law.

But the entire TERF power structure in feminism, and its uniquely unassailable niche marrying the worst elements of social constructionism and gender essentialism, is effectively irrepairably broken. Even if certain elements remain functioning.

[amarantine-amirite]

Everything is Crap

Here’s how sneaking out of the house usually ends for me. It starts when I'm not allowed to do something I need, and the reason I'm not allowed is usually really stupid. Nice, then something catches me off guard. I lose my cool and haul off at someone, usually because they try to gaslight me. After the dust settles, my parents find out and I get in double trouble: once for sneaking around, and again for yelling at someone. Sneaking out never seems to work for me.

That is, of course, until now.

I got canned from the soccer team for having short hair. I have no idea why that’s an issue, but it shouldn’t be. Back when I had long hair, I had such a hard time keeping it under control. I have a much easier time caring for short hair. Also, nobody can pull you over by your ponytail if you have short hair. 

The good news is that nobody knows I got kicked off. All of us have a microchip embedded in our bodies that monitor heart rate, respiration, and other stuff like that. The school only monitors our physical location during instructional time, but they look at the biometrics 24/7. To see if we’ve attended sports practice, they see if the time at which our heart rates go up corresponds with practice time. 

It's easy to bluff technology, especially if the technology in question feeds into a system built on a logical fallacy. All you have to do is take a digital metric and reverse engineer it to meet your needs. I could fool people into thinking I was still on the team by going to the gym at the time soccer practice took place. An increase in heart rate is an increase in heart rate, it doesn't matter what causes it.

I am not supposed to be here. The gym has a big sign that says NO PEOPLE UNDER THE AGE OF 19 BEYOND THIS POINT at the entrance. So far, nobody has cornered me. But I have a weird feeling that my luck will run out today. 

I accidentally knocked the weights off a barbell at the gym. They shattered when they hit the ground.

It’s not like accidentally breaking a plate at a restaurant. Nobody claps. Instead, the glare at you. One person even took a step further and asked, "Can you go for longer than ten minutes without breaking something?"

“No,” I said, “but not for the reason you think.” I remained unusually calm. 

“and why is that?” the person replied. I don't think it occurred to them that a person could constantly break things without being a total klutz. 

I shrugged my shoulders. “Nothing these days is built to last.”

An attendant looked at me and nodded. “Yeah, ain’t that the truth”, she mumbled. I get the sense that this is not the first time she’s had to replace a free weight because it shattered upon impact with a rubber floor.

I can’t think of a better example than what I’m talking about other than the zipper on a $5000 pair of pants that abruptly came apart. My mom was angry that she spent $5,000 on a pair of pants that fell apart within a week, and it came out as scolding me for being clumsy. And it’s because of that zipper that whenever anyone tells me I break things or I'm clumsy, I tune them out. It's not my fault everything these days is very expensive junk. 

It goes beyond goods. Services are going downhill, too. Nobody teaches people not to blow through a job without confirming what needs to be done. Of course, if you say anything, expect the political correctness crowd to rain blows on you.

After I finished at the gym, I went to the Starbucks down the street and ordered pumpkin tea. It took 22 minutes for someone to fill the order. The idiot barista gave me regular tea with chai syrup.

Now, there were two possibilities. Either she didn't understand the order and didn't double check or they ran out of pumpkin tea and she couldn't be bothered telling us.

I looked at the cup, waved down the barista, and said, “excuse, me, but this isn’t what I asked for”

The barista leaned over and yelled, “Hey, I have to juggle so much crap that I can't remember anything. You’re just too demanding!”

“what?” I said. I shook my head, “No, I'm not.”

The person behind me put my hand on my shoulder. I flinched. She nodded as she explained to me, “Instead of saying fast food employees are lazy, say fast food employees are overworked and underpaid and should be patient with them.”

My jaw dropped. “I never said that!” I barked, “I didn’t even imply it!”

The woman shrugged her shoulders. “Any time you complain about subpar service, you’re implying that providers of that service are lazy when in reality that is not true, they are overworked and underpaid.”

I ignored her. It sounded like she was trying to get me to say something that made me sound like a bad person. “Can you fix this please?” I asked the barista.

The barista walked over to me. Instead of offering to fix the drink, she said, “no, it’s cold tea season, not hot tea season” 

I knew what she said was ridiculous. I gestured to the guy who just got a hot cup of coffee and said, “But the guy over there got a hot drink!”

“We have any of the following available during cold tea season,” the barista replied. She gestured to the Iced Drinks section of the menu.

I looked up the menu and my eyes widened. “all that stuff has a ludicrous amount of sugar!”

The barista shrugged. “May I please talk to the manager?” I asked.

The barista left. The manager arrived a few minutes later. "Hey, how can I help you?" she inquired.

"I ordered a pumpkin spice tea," I began, my voice tight with frustration, "but I got this instead." I gestured to the offending beverage.

"And the barista wouldn't fix it?" she asked, raising an eyebrow. I shook my head in response.

The manager seemed to understand. With a curt nod, she disappeared behind the counter. A short while later, she reappeared with a steaming cup of pumpkin spice tea in her hand.

"Here you go," she said, placing it on the table. "That should be what you ordered."

“Thank you so much,” I said. I reached for the cup, ready to finally enjoy my drink.

"That'll be $100," the manager added, her smile now completely vanished.

I shook my head. “To hell with that,” I grumbled. 

I left. I didn't have it in me to complain. I can have tea at home.

My luck did run out today, but not because of a shattered barbell or everyone defending a barista who blows through things without checking what has to be done. The weather in Dallas screwed me over.

I saw a news story on TV. My school’s soccer team had a game down there. Every single on team got wiped out in a lightning strike due to the metal studs in their cleats. The other team was OK because they had plastic studs in their cleats. 

My phone rang. I snatched it out, muttering a quick "hello?"

"Paula, are you okay?!" My grandma's voice, usually warm and soothing, was laced with panic. "I saw something on the news..."

"Yeah, I'm fine, just leaving Starbucks," I replied reassuringly. 

Right after saying that, my heart hammered against my ribs. They’re going to find out that I got kicked off the soccer team. 

@promptlyprompting

[zero-up]

"Shooters are still A thing. Therefore: no one shouldn't complain when someone kills A CEO. Because making rich people unrelated to the suffering of 6-year-olds is totally good because."

What was the point of killing that CEO? How will it improve the health care system? Doesn't it just make it harder to attack the corporation he was in charge of, which role likely just continue honest though nothing happened anyway? Even if the CEO was completely evil, what was the point? Was it just to make someone you don't like suffer? Did you even know the CEO before this incident?

Gosh, I hate the Luigi apology! Especially when they try to pull the "so we should just sit down and politely ask for rides?". My dude, what will violence accomplish? How will killing anyone illegally make anything better in any way shape or form? What is the process here? How does this work? What is the step 2? Because unless your goal is to literally overthrow the government, I'm not really seeing how killing people can help you accomplish your goals.

You want to know how peace can actually solve the issue? By voting! Your elected officials rely on votes in order to keep power. You're elected officials have to care about their voters, because if they don't: they lose power. And if you do not vote: you do not have power over your elected officials. Doing research and voting sound like work? Fine then, don't vote, I don't either for that very reason. But at least I'm not saying "ViOlEnCe Is ThE oNlY aNsWeR" when I can't even be bother to vote!

And everyone sympathizing for the CEO because they don't want to live in a society that normalizes violence. And trust me: you don't either. You don't want the average person to think it's justified to resort to violence for political reasons. Because long beliefs don't magically have A different effect on one's psychology than true beliefs, and the vast majority of people think they are good, and that people they don't like are guilty.

If you normalize good people killing the guilty, then you also normalize bad people killing the innocent. That's not a slippery slope fallacy, that's A logical consequence of most bad people think their good people.

I generally do not like or trust the cops. If there's no other reason to hate them: let it be for how they conduct interrogations. And I have many problems with the US legal system. But I recognize the benefit of the law is that it forces people to abide by a standard that maximizes the punishment of the guilty and minimizes the punishment of the innocent. We can definitely do way better, but the easiest way to do that is to improving the system we currently have, and trying to ignore it or circumvent it is way more likely to make things incredibly worse than they are to make it better.

And trust me, I could go on, I have at least one extra point I could make right now that's alluded to in a previous point. I actually have A Reddit post draft that I barely started a while ago that I should probably finish at some point. But right now I'm really just venting because this gets me angry every time I see it, and I'm kind of annoyed that someone I followed unironically unironically reposted this, I still they thought it was so obviously correct that they didn't need to worry about backlash. And honestly, the Luigi-simping is just an example of a greater problem where people unironically think political violence is justified without ever putting A single iota of thought into how that would actually work. They come to conclusions based entirely off of what feels right, and then they call others naive when they point out how absurd their conclusions are.

I just want people to critically examine the own beliefs more, or at least honestly listen to what others critiques of theirs more.

[social-truth]

It's been a month and things just progressively get worse. I lost my job thanks to stupid Trump policies. Federal employees are now toddlers who have to write the OPM a letter each week telling them 5 things they got done this week or be fired. Although people are spamming the shit out of the email account since Elon stupidly publicized it on Twitter (I'm literally never calling it X) He's also using his kid as a bullet shield and refusing to talk to the mother of his 13th child even though she has the texts and the receipts and she's not remotely above going public with them. It's actually kinda funny watching the party of family values fall all over themselves to justify why it's okay that they voted for a president with 5 kids from 3 women who is a puppet of a man with 13 kids from 5 women. In the same breath as they try to talk about Nick Cannon having too many kids with too many women. The cognitive dissonance is hilarious. A lot of Trump supporters and voters are coming out saying they regret it now. More surface each day at this point. They haven't had a chance of heart though. They just didn't think the face eating leopards would eat their faces too. I saw a post about a woman who threw a party to celebrate Trump's reelection and the end of DEI only to get fired when was heavily pregnant and wanted her black woman friend to help her fight to get her job back. The woman just told her that's what those DEI programs she hated were for. I've seen plenty of fired government workers complaining about him even though a quick look at their posting history tells you they voted for him and they definitely get called out for it. Today though absolutely took the cake. I watched an argument unfold on Facebook about Trump's trade deficit. A woman was trying to explain the logical fallacy Trump was using to push the lie of the trade deficit and this absolute moron of a human being just kept insisting that the U.S. and Canada were trading the exact same goods but Canada was paying less. No logic, no facts to support that insane conclusion except Trump said so. Other people got in trying to explain it to him and he just kept calling them names and saying they were dumb. It wasn't even funny really, it was just sad. The blind stupidity and unwillingness to even look at the facts when they were pulling them up directly from government sources. Its terrifying how unwilling and unable to see the truth they are even when it's right in front of them in black and white with sources and links. They keep saying anyone who doesn't like Trump as Trump Derangement Syndrome. I think the real TDS is the insane fury with which they blindly follow him and insist he's right even when presented with tangible facts to the contrary.

[randomfoggytiger]

Mulder's Alien Baby Baby Trauma In-Depth (Part XIII): Fox Mulder, Partner and Father

Since his arrival at Scully's apartment the previous morning, Mulder has been demonstrating the ever-evolving state of his emotional growth. The events of the following twenty-four hours, however, bring these changes-- and his self-imposed distance-- to a head: he realizes the only person holding him back is himself.

SETTING THE STAGE

Plot plot plot, a body is found in South Carolina, and Reyes calls Doggett and Mulder in to investigate.

Mulder has, supposedly, stayed away from Scully overnight (and all the next morning) for reasons I can only log as Carterian. This is one of those Season 8 decisions that cannot be explained within reason of Mulder’s character, given his history and past reactions; and must, therefore, be taken with a massive, begrudging mountain of salt. However, because his characterization remains intact despite ill-thought-out teleportation, I’m not too frustrated over this development (as I am his actions in Essence and Existence.) Furthermore, the plot's logical fallacies-- air travel, time, distance, location-- that the writers didn't consider make their decisions... logically shaky, at best. 

Personally? I would have written this episode’s case closer to home-- Washington D.C. close-- and had this scene unfold after Doggett slammed Mulder against the wall. It would flow narratively, too: Reyes calls Mulder, Doggett catches them, hears their lack of answers and storms off to Scully’s hospital room. All three are called to the crime scene, then Mulder holes up in his office and tries to shake Reyes off his tail (previous post here.) Afterwards, Mulder walks off the case and stays at the hospital until Scully’s release (as he does the rest of Empedocles.)

DOGGETT AND MULDER, AND MORAL REFELCTONS

Mulder is waiting at the crime scene when Doggett pulls up, answering his “What am I doing here?” with a posturing, cross-armed, “Been asking myself that same question, Agent Doggett." Something’s different: Mulder is suddenly acting as if he’s on Doggett’s side, light-hearted in tone and subtly comedic in mannerisms. 

“But it seems,” he unwinds, pointing up to where Monica is, “that the tenacious Agent Reyes does not want to let go of this one.” 

Doggett does something interesting here: he squeezes right into Mulder’s zone, right up against Mulder’s back. He’s not trying to intimidate or crowd Mulder, either-- and, while this could be a result of the on-set crew guiding both actors into a tighter frame (for whatever reason), I posit that his actions are a result of his partnership with Scully.

We often give Mulder more props for being up-close-and-personal one in the X-Files department, but Scully does have a history of always initiating physical contact between them (the hug in Pilot and Irresistible, holding him close in Paper Hearts, ruffling his hair and feeling him for injuries as often as possible, etc.) In fact, her rush for comfort in the Pilot began Mulder journey towards more expressive physical affection (post here.) I’m not positing she was as chummy-chummy with Doggett in her partner's absence, but it is interesting to note that being in Mulder’s personal space-- even seeking that space-- was not outside of Doggett’s rote routine. 

(Sidenote: Can confirm: while Doggett is a typical, regular dude who isn't as bothered about personal distance, Scully herself initiates close contact multiple times. Both operate under strictly platonic terms-- the actual kind-- but it's an interesting observation, nevertheless.)

Mulder’s not particularly open or receptive to this closeness; but he doesn’t rebuff it, allowing Doggett to keep pace or withdraw as his mood dictates. It's a mark of Mulder's responsive sensitivity to others' distress: a sympathy born from true suffering, and one which enables him to empathize with fellow sufferers.

On the other hand, their actions also demonstrate that Agent Doggett has sensed Mulder's positioning allyship and is responding to that energy by leaning towards (and clinging to) it.

An interesting thing happens here: when Doggett insists, “There is no connection,” Mulder’s face grows strained and weary. The toll of his abduction and the burden of the files are weighing heavier and heavier on his psyche; and his unhealthy mental state-- combined with Reyes’s need for backup and Doggett’s increasing push and pull-- is wearing him down to a nub. More accurately, he’s so worn and weary that his walls and disguises and facades are dropping, and becoming harder to smooth back into place.

When Doggett resists the pull of the crime scene, maintaining that he sees nothing and there is no connection (i.e. denying his own instincts), Mulder’s eyes are fixed on him: surprised that the other agent is sensing something, and guardedly concerned for his wellbeing. And when Monica calls after her friend (“I think you do”), peeved, Mulder stares her down, tense. 

An understated but incredibly important point: witnessing Doggett’s reopened wound is tearing down walls Mulder had protectively erected after his return (post here and here.) Empedocles pits the near death of Mulder's own (unacknowledged but wink wink, nudge nudge, he knows, post here) child with another man’s loss. Having observed Doggett's intense emotion in the FBI hallway-- his hope and disappointment and frustration at their lack of answers-- and having read the files on his son and the investigation into it, Mulder is already sympathetic to his pain. But here, he begins to view this case through the eyes of a man increasingly aware of how close he came to this same grief, twenty-four odd hours ago. Total loss-- compared to his near loss-- is refocusing Mulder's perspective, shifting his acceptance and curiosity of Scully's pregnancy to maturer consideration and "ownership" (i.e., literally "laying claim" later by resting his hand on Scully's bump.) Reyes's insistence on pushing and prodding raises his hackles, too, because she is forcing Mulder to confront his own strain of disbelief and cowardice by proxy.

Although this is the only scene that hints at and attempts to address these insecurities (other than Essence's opening monologue... though that was a similar but separate issue), David Duchovny provides just enough fluctuation in his voice and facial expressions to float this idea closer to an actualized, well-written point.

When Doggett turns back around, angered at Monica’s insistence, Mulder looks away from both (handing out a measure of privacy to a fellow father and an ounce of disapproval to his other fellow investigative agent.) 

“You’re just afraid to go there,” Reyes states. 

It’s not a lie; but it galls Mulder, too. Not only is he frustrated with how bluntly she’s handling Doggett’s pain, but he feels the reproof of her words, too. If Mulder had been solely concerned for Doggett, he’d let the man fight his own battles-- a pattern he upheld with Scully throughout their partnership. Here, he lashes out: meaning, Mulder’s conscience is pricking him over his own withdrawal and cowardice; and, mad at being reproved, he snarks (a classic defense mechanism exhibited in One Son, for example-- post here):  

“Oof. Man, you just keep shootin’ until you hit something, don’t ya?” He stares Monica down, signaling she should back off. 

Reyes, as the saying goes, persisted: “You’d rather blind yourself to the connections, but I can’t.” 

The episode draws clear parallels between Doggett’s fear of grasping the truth, and life, again (i.e. retreating from Scully’s bedside and denying his instincts) and Mulder’s commitment to trying once more (i.e. joining Scully at her bedside and staying.) It’s a rather ham-fisted moral for the formerly dead: Mulder can choose to embrace new beginnings and happiness (“eat, dance, make love”); or he can spend the rest of his days haunted by the past, missing opportunities for contentment in the present. Moreover, it would have been the perfect follow-up to Closure: Mulder found resolution to his old lesson there-- freedom-- but is now presented with a new challenge-- responsibility. No longer would he be victim to-- and have to learn to accept-- the past (i.e. Samantha's death), but Mulder would be able to transform the present and change the future. In other words, he could shape his own life by choice, leaving his mark by fully embracing the desire to love, raise, and protect his growing child. Which, he does... without the added bonus of those connections being drawn for the audience.

Mulder listens to her and Doggett’s back and forth-- Doggett giving her another shot to explain herself, Monica positing her own (unfortunately true) theory; and remains silent until the latter suggests the two cases are linked by “a thread of evil” connecting to the former. 

“They see evil in death like others see God in a rose,” she says; and he jumps in with a flippant, “I saw Elvis in a potato chip once,” purposefully reinforcing the distance he’s been creating since their previous scene together. He continues to stare her down, a false grin stupidly plastered on his mouth.

However, Reyes still isn’t letting him off the hook, calling out his pretended idiocy with a pointed, “You know what I’m talking about.” 

Caught, and a touch amused, he admits, “Yes, I do,” dropping his flippancy long enough to observe, “I do.” Turning to Doggett, he adds, “But if this man doesn’t see it, he doesn’t see it. Right?” 

Point made, he watches Agent Doggett refuse to concede and Agent Reyes work out that she needs John, not Mulder, to solve this case; and leaves, knowing his job here is done. 

THE FIRST VOLUNTARY TOUCH

It’s after 3 PM in D.C. when Mulder finally makes his entrance. 

He opens Scully’s hospital room door haltingly, trepidatiously hanging on her face. Seeing no sign of pain or distress, Mulder is momentarily soothed; and he blinks, hanging back a second longer to gauge if she’s awake (and to watch her sleep.) 

Meeting up with Doggett and Reyes in the field and smacking against the wall he'd constructed post Deadalive began a shift in Mulder’s priorities (that will culminate in his transition from the Bureau.) Still, those sensations hadn't "clicked" yet: he asks after his partner's health, first, not yet considering the baby's until its safety is brought into question. That is the moment everything clarifies and slots into place.

“You awake?” he whispers gently, mirth dancing in his eyes and softening his face. He’s sneaking in, undetected-- or so he feels-- and hopes his partner’s awake enough to play along. 

She is. Scully stirs, turns, and tilts her head, birdlike, when she registers her partner. “Yeah,” she answers, and smiles. 

Delighted, he immediately slides through the doorway, eyes locked as he tries to divine her mood: to see if she’s all right. 

Mulder is newly tender, lighthearted, and unburdened-- a first, not only post abduction but also in Empedocles. We saw his return to form with banter and unbridled two-stepping at the beginning of this episode; but his behavior here is the first glimpse of that lost sense of “wholeness” he’d gained after his revelation in Amor Fati, his next step in Millennium, and his final “truth” in Closure. Even though he’s come a long way since his distance in Three Words (i.e. gravitating to Scully while refusing to open up to her) and the missing scene pre-Empedocles (i.e. rifling through his mom's stuff to bring an offering for his child), this is the first time Mulder approaches the pregnancy "situation" as an equal partner and father. No longer is he trying to puzzle “where I fit in”, but is actively creating a place for himself. And Scully is equally eager to welcome him, in all his Mulderly glory, back to her side.

As he closes the door, Mulder seems to take in, all at once, the cannula in her nose and needles in her arm; and is sucked back into a soberer mood. It dawns on him, perhaps, that he still doesn’t know what her prognosis is-- that neither might be out of the woods, yet. 

Closing the door first, he swiftly advances and asks, seriously, “What did the doctor say?” Mulder gives her a gentle, anxious little blink, hovering over the bed with repressed concern. When Scully takes a second to reply-- collecting herself with a sigh-- he starts to panic.

“That I had a partial abruption.” 

His panic evolves into terror as Scully continues to soberly lay out the facts. Mulder looks down, trying to make sense of this information; and his eyes shift to her bump while his brain grasps for any slight, hopeful intonation in his partner’s voice. 

In fact, not only does he glance over, but Mulder’s head also involuntarily turns in the direction of the baby, lingering there a second or two before swinging back to Scully’s face. 

As she continues to lay out the facts, he looks down again, a sense of devastation blooming over the notion that this child might not be stable for long. In that second, Mulder's mentality flips: he immediately rejects that thought, and looks up, eyes burning fiercely. As he licks his lips, a new and powerful determination takes hold and roots: he will do anything to keep this baby alive: not just for Scully’s sake, but for his own. 

This is the moment when Mulder alters: it’s one thing to observe lessons and accept truths from a detached distance, and quite another to be struck full-force with a surge of powerful, unconquerable-- and personalized-- emotion. While Mulder sympathized with and reflected on Doggett, he hadn’t understood or embraced those sensations for himself. The baby was his, if the math was to be believed; and he was ready-- he thought-- and happy, despite a lingering, unsteady feeling of inadequacy. But it hadn’t dawned on Mulder how irrevocably that protective and all-encompassing surge of “mine” extended to the baby, until now.

“They’re gonna need to monitor me for a while,” Scully concludes, subdued; but Mulder begins to relax, regardless, not having heard anything more threatening than implied bed rest.

Looking down once more, he soaks her answer in; and clarifies, “But you’re gonna be fine?” 

“Yeah,” she confirms, smiling.

The baby begins to move; and when Scully looks down, right eyebrow twitching, Mulder acts on his relief (and a whoosh of courage.) Tense but decided, he reaches out in one stiff, jerky motion, readjusting his hand before slowly letting it sink completely onto Scully's belly. Exhaling, he shoots a strained smile for her benefit: awkward, but settling in. She, meanwhile, is not at all disturbed, knowing these are Mulder's first baby steps (heh) and trusting he will be knocked off his feet once it hits home.

Two things of note: this is the first time since "the return" that Mulder has voluntarily initiated physical contact. While he rushed to Scully's side and rubbed her back at the apartment, that was in response to extreme pain and distress, not a reopening of himself. Post Deadalive, he's been gradually working back to normal (with a few hitches here and there); and his reactions here demonstrate how uncomfortable he still was in the wake of his surfacing memories and PTSD. However, this is his child, and his partner gave him an encouraging directive; and Mulder is determined to do this-- "this, having a baby 'this'"-- the right way.

Scully knows he can feel the baby, and looks up, drinking in the first of many happy firsts for her partner. The camera focuses on her face, her reaction first, then switches hazily to Mulder's comfortably resting hand-- a visual hand-off (heh) from the experienced (Scully) to the inexperienced (Mulder.)

Mulder is in awe, so completely enraptured that he is lost to the world around him. His eyes are full of wonder; his face is impossibly young, and his smile is impossibly soft. He blinks rapidly, unutterably content to bask in the moment yet unwilling to lose a glimpse of this miracle.

Scully reads this on his face; and closes her eyes briefly, soaking in this precious, fleeting moment with Mulder.

CONCLUSION

Empedocles may not be over, but I think this is a good place to end, for now. Don't you?

Thanks for reading~

Enjoy!