#DO HER PARENTS MONITOR HER INTERNET ACCESS…. WHATS GOING ON HERE

[little-triboulet]

daycare interactions….

[aceing-on-the-cake]

Compulsory Heterosexuality Info Dump

So because a friend of mine didn't know what comp het was and their internet history is monitored by their parents so they can't just use google, I'm doing a very quick research dive and giving you guys the results in case there are others out there who are in the same situation. I'll also be tagging blogs bigger than me because again, there might be fellow queers out their who are in the same boat as my friend and I want them to have access to this information.

So what is compulsory heterosexuality (or comp het)?

Comp het is in essence the societal belief and enforcement of being straight.

What does this mean?

In basic form it means that the only options presented to everyone, from the moment of birth, is that of a cis, amatonormative, heterosexual lifestyle.

You are given two gender options, these gender options determine the two roles you're allowed to fulfill, husband and wife, and you are told that these two roles are what will make you happy and are what you are supposed to strive for.

Meaning society, if you are born AFAB, tells you you're going to one day get married, it's going to be a boy, and this is what will make you happy. Almost everything in life is then seen through this lens. How attractive your are, how you are supposed to talk, how you're supposed to behave, etc is all considered through the lens of if a man will be attracted to you.

On the flip side, if you are born AMAB society tells you there are roles you have to fulfill as well. You are told you will one day want a wife, that you have to be able to have a job to provide for her, that you have to behave in a certain emotional way to be strong for her, that if the things you like are too feminine well then you're gay or a girl which is a problem because at the end of the day you're supposed to want the girl-fiance-wife.

This literally just sounds like the patriarchy.

Yes, it does, because it's caused by it. Nowadays people commonly know about compulsory heterosexuality from the Lesbian Masterdoc, but the term actually originated by Adrienne Rich in 1980.

Adrienne Rich in her article Compulsory Heterosexuality and Lesbian Existence put forward three ideas, 1) that heterosexuality and lesbianism were institutions themselves/possible political ideologies, 2) that heterosexuality as a system if not constantly maintained and upheld would eventually crumble and 3) that heterosexuality as a system could be opted out of and actively fought against whether or not you were actually attracted to women/non-women.

This is very different from the way we currently think of and define those terms, I am aware of that, but her point does still stand to some degrees that comp het, cisnormativity and amatonormativity all crumble when we stop rigidly enforcing the structures that uphold them, i.e., the patriarchy, misogyny, classism, and racism.

Ok but like what does that actually look like?

It can look like a lot of things, for a lot of different people. In the Lesbian Masterdoc you see comp het presented from a straightforward lesbian lens (of a 19 year old figuring out and defining their own sexuality guys, I'm not gonna sit here and critique it and rip it to death, go do that somewhere else).

This is therefore presented through things like women/non-women who were raised/socialized as women possibly having crushes on men, but they're always unattainable in some way (celebrities, fictional, someone real but they wouldn't actually ever be able to truly be in a relationship with, etc). It might also show up for lesbians as liking the idea of a man but being uncomfortable when one actually wants to move forward in the process. Or even sometimes it might show up as sexual fantasies with men but they're faceless, they're more an idea, or you're actually viewing another woman sleeping with him.

This presentation of comp het has made a lot of bi/pan/mspec people uncomfortable because they feel they too have experiencing comp het and when reading the Lesbian Masterdoc it's presented as if experiencing this is a straight shot towards being a lesbian.

And they're right that comp het isn't experienced by just lesbians. For mspecs who present feminine/as women this could be in the feeling that they have to dress a certain way to be presentable, but presentable is based on appealing to men. This can mean something as simple as women are expected to wear makeup, always, regardless of if they're looking to seek men's attention or not, because that's the base standard.

For mspecs who present masculine this can look like the inability to express themselves in an overly emotional manner because that doesn't make them "strong" and if they're not "strong" then they won't attract women, and that's what they're supposed to be doing.

For mspecs in general that can look like their queer looking relationships to be seen as a phase even if their mspec-ness is respected because of course they're eventually going to get married to a man/woman.

This can affect polyamorous cishet people in that they're seen as doing heterosexuality wrong because you're supposed to have the one partner and the 2.5 kids.

This can affect aspecs because they're told they'll never truly feel fulfilled if they don't have that boyfriend/girlfriend/partner to love them in a way that's so special nothing else could match up.

This affects all of us guys is my point.

How is this helpful to me?

Well for sapphics and lesbians (or sapphics/mspecs confused on if they are actually lesbians) this can be a helpful concept to consider because it can help you determine what relationships you truly want to pursue, which is the main point I feel is to be gained from the Lesbian Masterdoc. As she's put it "it's way more important to ask yourself if you can be truthfully happy with a man than if you’re attracted to them"

So if you're a sapphic who experiences attraction to men but you honestly can't ever see yourself willingly entering into a relationship with them, consider the idea of comp het.

If you're Achillean the opposite of this can be true, if you've been attracted to women before but honestly can't ever see yourself willingly entering into a relationship with them, consider whether comp het is working on you.

For mspecs this can be a helpful term to throw over the table back at your parents when they ask when you're going to get a "real relationship".

This can be a helpful term to consider when asking "am I forcing myself to wear mascara because I feel this is the only way I look presentable or do I actually like mascara."

Or it can be a helpful concept to look back on when undermining our internalized ideals of misogyny, towards ourselves and others.

This is a helpful term to put in our tool boxes to talk about the harm the systems of patriarchy, classism, and racism impose upon us.

Comp het can help us to understand why so many people look down on polyamory as a legitimate way of life.

It can be a helpful term for aspecs who are trying to figure out if they really want to date/have sex, or if they just believe these are the only things that will make you happy.

In general

Compulsory heterosexuality is just another term to describe a system we are all intimately familiar with. But by giving us the words to describe our experiences, it gives us the power to communicate those experiences more effectively, and to possibly understand why we're experiencing them.

This is just a bare basic knowledge post.

Honestly if you have the ability to, as in your internet history is not monitored in the way my friend's is, I encourage you to go on the deep dive through the sources listed below. Many of them are honestly only 30 pages long, that's a relatively short read, and understanding queer theory like this not only helps you to understand your own identity, but the ways in which you are connected to the rest of the fellow queer community.

Sources

Lesbian Masterdoc

Queer Theory 101: Compulsory Heterosexuality

Compulsory Heterosexuality and Lesbian Existence

Normativities Defined

Taglist

I'm tagging blogs bigger than me so that this has an easier time getting passed around as I mainly talk about aspec issues because I am aspec, but as stated above, I wanted to make sure that queer people who's internet histories are monitored and are only able to find information through tumblr safely could do so.

@our-queer-experience @our-sapphic-experience @our-lesbian-experience @our-aspec-experience @our-polyamorous-experience @our-pansexual-experience @our-unlabelled-experience @our-aroace-experience @our-mspec-experience @our-questioning-experience @our-bisexual-experience

[bambinotattoo]

Erica’s Diaper Plan

Chapter 13

(Four years ago)

((Erica was now at the age where she had unsupervised access to the Internet, and the first thing she did while no one could see was figure out what this whole ABDL thing is… especially since diapers are changing table and everything have been ripped from her.

To her amazement, it seemed that there was an entire community of older people, teens, and alike that were diapers. From first glance, it seemed like most people had “a thing” for wearing diaper diapers. That was cool but kind of skeved her out. She much more enjoyed the stories post, etc. about real teenagers wearing diapers for bed wetting and other necessities. She really enjoyed this one person’s page she stumbled on to who has posted things and multiple platforms. The user name was Baby J, and although there was no pictures or any associating data… she did happen to see a reply that said they also lived in southeast Virginia. That made Erica happy.

Over the next few months and years as Erica got braver with her posting and ABDL research, she became Internet friends with this baby J… and the two shared stories, experience experiences, desires, and etc.

Erica wasn’t one to share pictures of herself online, but got the courage and sent a picture of her and a good night to Baby J. In Erica’s mind, no harm no foul… however “Baby J” immediately knew who she was…))

(Present day—Sunday morning)

A typical Sunday morning was playing itself out as Jim was mowing the lawn, Sara Beth got Erica changed into a fresh diaper and went home to get herself ready for school tomorrow, and Erica was doing a little emailing as well as getting herself ready for school in the morning.

Erica noticed, that all the parental controls were still on as she was trying to accomplish things. So she stopped, and went to find her mother…

“ hey mom”

“yeah honey? Do you need changed?”

“Um, I think I’m a little… but it can wait. I was kinda wondering about the parental controls on my computer. I can’t do the things I need to do with those.”

“Shit, that’s right… that’s my bad honey. I was still mad about all the post and blogs and etc… bring me your computer and I’ll get those off for you”

Erica turned around to go grab her computer, and quickly brought it back to her mom…

“ OK here we go, now, I’m trusting you to use this for school. Even though we’re letting you be a baby and be diapered and stuff right now… I’m still not happy with the way you went about it, and I’m still gonna be using some of the things you wrote, and replied to and your future punishments if necessary”

“ OK mom, what if I just give you access to all that or you making an account and can monitor what anything I say?”

“ Erica, that feels like invasion of privacy… but yes, if it means that much to you, I will make an account follow you on all those things and if you post or say anything, I’m not comfortable with. I’ll say something.!”

“ thanks mom, that really means a lot!”

Her mom smiled, thinking to herself did I just say that out loud? But she also thought, this is a good way to give her some freedom back as well allow her to monitor that side of things. Besides, maybe she’ll get more insight into how her daughter is feeling about everything.

“ I’ll tell you what Erica, why don’t you start a blog about your time and diapers so I can read what you really think instead of just getting blushing nods and stuff… would you be comfortable doing that?”

“ like a public blog?”

“ if that’s what makes you comfortable, I just know you want to be involved in that and I wanna try and be understanding…”

“ OK!”

“ now come here so I can check you, don’t want you going to school tomorrow with a fresh rash”

It was deemed appropriate for a diaper change, as Erica got changed out of her pink little for big into a new one this time with a nice big booster pad to make her waddle and feel more little.

As Erica went back to her room, and opened the laptop. She immediately logged into all of her sites, blogs, and etc., and sent links to her mother so she could be monitored. This felt weird as her mom would be reading all about her want to be diapered… but I guess it’s a little late to be not honest and open.

After she sent that, and her mother yelled thank you… she noticed she had a message or two and decided to check them. One was from Baby J, the one consistent person she’s talked to about all this for a few years now. Baby J had been the one that was helping Erica decipher her original plan to get back in diapers. And they hadn’t heard anything since Erica went dark for five days ago. So Erica composed a long message about the public accidents, the letter she wrote her mom, and all the diaper she’s been changed into in the last few days. Even told her she’d be going to school the next day diapered. As well as expressed some apprehension and shyness about the whole situation. But ended with the fact that the school nurse was a friend who had diapered her before… so that was at least making her feel OK about it. She talked at length that how much she likes Jasmine and how she hopes that she can babysit her in the future as well.

After checking a few more blogs and replying to several more things, her mom walked into her bedroom and decided to ask a few questions…

“ Erica, do you mind if I ask you a few things while we’re being honest and open about all this?”

“ I guess, what do you wanna know?”

“ I’m not even sure what I wanna ask, but there’s a few things I’ve seen you like talk about etc. that I just want some clarity on.”

That sounded fair enough in Erica’s mind, besides all the things that’s on there are things she was really interested in so any and all that happens couldn’t be a bad thing, right?

“ you prefer it if you get your diaper, checked and changed… like I mean, you don’t want the ability to do it yourself do you?”

Erica started turning that familiar shade of blush…

“ it’s OK Erica, we’re being honest”

“ I don’t wanna change myself… I like it when you do it or someone else does it”

“ that’s what I thought, just wanted to make sure we weren’t putting you in a position where you felt assaulted at all”

“ goodness no, I like it!!”

“ I thought so just questions, secondly, I see you like respond and reply to a lot of stuff about public humiliation… it seems you’re really interested in that, but also seems like when that happens you don’t want to… I guess I just want some clarity on that, because I’m open to a lot of that if you want it”

Erica again couldn’t speak, mind, wavering, and wandering as her mother’s words eloquently tiptoed upon her ultimate wants and desires…

“ I like it once it’s over… does that make sense?”

“ honey, not much of this makes sense to me. That’s why I’m asking some of these questions. So I was gonna go through a couple of scenarios, and see how you felt about that… and then just go from there. Cause I’m sure you don’t wanna know when things are coming, and I want you to be surprised when they do.”

“ yeah OK, we can do that”

“ OK great, I’m gonna go over some just simple stuff to gauge your interest and excitement. I don’t wanna give anything away… so you’re OK with me dressing you in your little clothes, thicker diapers, and taking you to the mall, store, and or etc.?”

“ I think so yeah, I mean the mall would be a little nerve-racking… but yeah”

“ OK, and obviously, I’ll be carrying your diaper bag… as well, as loudly asking how your diaper is doing? If I’m understanding, any of this the right way, you like the idea of strangers, sort of knowing your diapered? Yea?”

Again shyly, “yes mam”

“ OK, and getting changed in public… you’re good with that?

“ gotta do what we gotta do right mom?”

“ I reckon so, if you start blushing or crying or getting upset, should I stop or keep going?”

“ keep going?!?”

“ you don’t sound too sure about that one”

“ you’re the mom, you’re in charge, literally whatever you wanna do, or put me through…I trust you!”

“ OK then, I have several ideas, please be open with me after the fact, so I can amend anything to make you more comfortable or less whatever, lol”

“ thank you again for allowing this to happen Mommy, every time I move for fill myself crinkle… I smile so big and think of you!!”

“ well that’s sweet Erica, know I may not seem excited about it at all times… but I’m trying to come around. Speaking of which, let’s get you changed into a cute skirt… I need to go pick up some things, and we’re gonna test this!”

Erica’s mind immediately started wandering, now she thought… kind of thought I would have some time to prepare, but that’s what happens when your diapered…she thought to herself. Her mom got her into a baby doll skirt, a pink onesie underneath, and some long pink athletic socks. Her mother clipped her pacifier onto her top, and patted her daughter’s thickly, diapered butt.

The 2 Made Their Way to the car, waving at Jim, who is still working on the grass.

Just as Erica was about to get in the front, her mother stopped her…

“Um, hey… so I picked up something this morning… why don’t you open the backseat”

“ is that a car seat?”

“ sure is little girl. Let me help you up there!!”

For the first time since getting put back in diapers and this whole thing starting, Erica felt apprehensive and wrong. Seeing the car seat, knowing it was big enough for her, made her feel really little and really shy.

“ what’s wrong Erica? I figured you’d hop in there lickety-split?”

“Um, just took me by surprises on Mommy… I’ll get in”

Karen got her daughter all situated, buckled in, and inserted her pacifier.

“ now, at all times… but specifically when we’re out. If I put your pacifier in or tell you to, it stays in. Got it? If not, you will get punished.”

Erica noted her head and began sucking her Paci, the words, your mother just spoke, bouncing around in her head. Erica noticed how high she sat, and how everyone driving by would see her.

Erica started to take her pacifier out as the drive progressed, but remembered what her mother said. The two pulled into the parking lot, that was quite familiar to the young girl… it was the mall.

“ OK Erica, I’m gonna check your diaper. We’re gonna get your diaper bag together, and we’re going in. Oh, a few more things… you need to hold my hand at all times, and do as I say…got it?”

“Yes mommy” mumbled through drool and her paci

Karen grabbed her daughter’s hand, her diaper bag over her shoulder, and the two entered through one of the big retail entrances. Karen didn’t really need to be anywhere today, but wanted to use this opportunity before she started school tomorrow to let her know how it’s gonna be being diapered out in the open. Also, to see if her daughter really wanted to be humiliated like she claimed. The two walked around, looking at things, no harm, no foul. When out of the corner of her eye, Erica noticed a group of girls that looked familiar.

“ Mommy, can I take my paci out, please?”

“No mam”

Her mother also noticed the girls, and decided to parade her daughter near them, but not too close. However, it was close enough to hear the group say…

“ is that girl sucking on a pacifier, and holding her mom’s hand… what a little baby?”

Laughing jokes, etc. came from the group. Her mother started looking at whatever that was where they were, and loudly asked…

“ hey gumdrop, how’s that diaper feeling?”

The group of girls couldn’t keep in there, laughter, and walked off, giggling and pointing.

Erica, knowing what her mother is doing, sucked it up and didn’t make a peep. To her mother’s surprise, Erica smiled at her, and kept on keeping on. The 2 Made Their Way into a clothing store for teens, that Erica had loved for a while. Although it was team clothes, they had a pretty big selection of little clothes as well…

Eric and her mom walked around looking at things, and found a a few cute pairs of leggings, and shorts that Karen wanted Erica to try on. Erica concurred, and followed her mother to the front to ask for entrance to the dressing area.

The two greeted with a smiling face, that quickly turned confused when they saw the teenager with a pacifier holding her mother’s hand. This made Erica blushy, but also ignited her desire to be OK with this. Karen noticed, and knew what she wanted to do.

“ hey thank you, OK Erica, I’m gonna go in there with you to make sure things go on over your diapers OK, OK?”

Erica darted her vision at the store clerk, to see a very confused look after the diaper comment… her mother, helped her get her skirt and onesie off and began trying on the leggings and shortalls.

“ I mean, they fit OK… you stay here and I’m gonna go get some bigger sizes and see if we can’t find something that doesn’t totally make your diaper stick out!”

Karen left her daughter, standing in a dressing room, wearing only a gently wet diaper. This embarrassment, totally made her start wetting herself. And wetting herself, totally not in her own. She was wetting her diaper, just like a toddler.

Erica could hear her mother talking and decided to listen…

“ hi there yeah, so I wanna try a few bigger sizes if that’s OK. Just trying to find things that will make her diaper situation not so obvious”

“ yeah no problem. Let’s find some bigger stuff, so…diapers huh? That’s different.”

“ yeah it’s really no big deal, she’s been wearing them our whole life. She has urinary incontinence and has no idea when she’s gonna go to the bathroom. To make it easier I just kind of baby her a little…”

“ that’s so adorable, and you’re a good mom for helping her out with that. I couldn’t imagine wearing diapers at what 11/12? That would be too much for me, she’s at least old enough to change yourself, right?

“ she’s actually 15, starting high school tomorrow… and no actually, she doesnt changed herself at all”

“ okey-dokey, still really cute though.”

“ you think it sounds cute. You should see her in a thick pink diaper., lol”

“ that’s adorable, I would like to see that!!”

Erica, hearing all of this continually wet herself with absolute anticipation of humiliation. This isn’t exactly what she had in mind, but again… this is what she asked for. Erica hurt her mother and the clerk walking toward the dressing rooms, and prepared for what ever was going to be next. The door swung open, exposing Erica and all of her pink diapered state.

“ oh man, that is adorable… you ever need a babysitter. I totally got you! lol”

“ I’m always looking, send me your info”

Her mother helped her try on more things while the clerk helped and they talked more, all Erica could do was suck on her Paci and trickle into her now soaked diaper, hoping her mother wouldn’t check her until they got home.

Her mother decided to grab some leggings short alls and a new skirt that all helped keep her diaper more secret, so that was the underlying positive. Right as they were checking out her mother decided to give her diaper a check before they headed home.

“ looks like you’re a saggy little wet girl, Miss Erica, why don’t we get you changed before we head home?”

The clerk finishing up their purchase, chimed in with…

“ oh my gosh, I totally want to see you change her if that’s Ok. I’m the manager here today, and we can go into the back break room for some privacy!”

Karen apprehensive at first, gave her daughter a look to make sure she wasn’t about to burst with too much going on… not at her head and said “okey-dokey”

Erica still holding her mother’s hand, was ushered back into the back area and told to lay down. Her mother opened the diaper bag while still talking to the clerk.

"I love all these colorful diapers, they’re so cute”

“ I like, keeping her and stuff that makes her feel a little… it’s more adorable that way”

Her mother opened her wet diaper, got the wipes out and started cleaning her up. The clerk especially liked all of the diaper rash ointment, and Erica cooed while powder was dumped on her. New diaper slid under, and fold it up and snuggly tape taped on.

“Yay, baby girl!!! That feels better, huh?” The store clerk chimed in

Erica could only not and smirk

“ so Karen, right? And baby Erica?”

“Yup, thats us!”

“ I’m totally babysitting for you, enough said. Do you have my info? Please text me whenever and I’m totally down!”

“ no problem, Crystal! Thanks for being so cool and helping!!”

“ no problem you’re welcome! Bye baby Erica, be good for your mommy?” The clerk said waving

The two finished shopping, returned to the car and headed towards home. While sitting in her car seat, staring at the window, Erica day dreamt.

“ whatha thinking about Erica? What’s today too much or was it OK? Remember, I’m learning here.”

“ it was fine I think”

“ it was fine, huh? OK, I’ll make sure go to go further next time”

That last statement really stuck in Erica’s head, everything she just experienced was a whole lot… and she was still processing. Now her mom says she’s gonna go further, what could that even mean? Oh well, this is my reality she thought.

[eldritchsurveys]

1256.

1. Do you think it’s cute when you’re going down the road and see a dog with its head hanging out the window? >> I do, that's my favourite thing.

2. Do you know what a capo is? >> I do not.

3. When was the last time you wrote down a schedule? .

4. What does your favorite hair tie/accessory look like? .

5. When was the last time you used a touch screen monitor? >> So, an actual, like, computer monitor, as opposed to a smartphone or tablet? I've only used one of those once, Sparrow's mother has one. It's basically the same laptop I used to have but mine was regular and hers was the touch-screen version.

6. Do you have a favorite kind of milk? 2%, whole, etc? >> I don't care much for cow milk at all, but when I do use it (like for cooking), I use whole only.

7. Have you ever tried Parmalat milk? >> When I was a child. I didn't even know they still sell it, I haven't seen it in ages.

8. Are there any buttons on your keyboard that you don’t know what they’re for/never used? >> Nah, I know what all the keys are for and I'm sure I've used all but maybe a Function key or two at least once. 9. Have you ever had to take prenatal vitamins? >> I have not.

10. Do you have anything unusual tacked onto your walls? >> I don't know what makes a thing unusual.

11. Do you have a favorite drummer? >> I don't. 12. Do you like to earn your own money or do you prefer that your parents/family buy you things? >> I don't earn my own money at all (aside from a bit here and there, not nearly enough to be taxable). This is a situation that I'm glad I'm fine with, because it'd suck to be weird about financial dependence when that's basically my only recourse.

13. Have you ever heard of the man with rubber skin? >> I have not.

14. Does anyone in your family play in a band? What band? .

15. Why do you think a lot of girls claim to hate the color pink? >> Internalised misogyny that is referencing societal gender stereotyping. 16. Are there any symbols that have personal meaning to you? i.e: dice, a necklace, etc. What are they? >> Well, sure. All the necklaces I wear have personal symbolic meaning, for example. 17. What’s the biggest spider you’ve come across? >> There was one on the corner of the house a couple of months ago that was pretty huge. Not, like, nature documentary big. But big enough.

18. Have you ever been bitten by anything poisonous? >> I have not. 19. What brand is your remote? RCA - etc. . 20. Do you know anyone who has been knighted? >> I do not.

21. Have you ever heard of the band Goatwhore? >> I have.

22. Have you ever met someone who thinks they are a rockstar because they can play Guitar Hero? >> Of course not, lmao. I was an avid player and I knew a lot of people who played and we were all perfectly aware of the difference between playing a video game and playing an actual guitar. It's fun to act like a rockstar when playing, though. Like, that's just normal.

23. Which Mario game would you say is your favorite? That is, if you even like Mario? >> I have very little experience with Mario games. Mario Kart is fun.

23. Do you have one of those creepy family members that no one really talks to? .

24. Do you have a DeviantART account? >> I have three. My first dA account is one of the oldest internet accounts I still have access to (made it in the mid-aughts).

25. How many quarters would you say you had on you right now? >> I don't know, I have a little tupperware that I keep change in and there's definitely at least like 10 in there right now.

26. Have you ever seen any Bruce Lee movies? >> I have not.

27. Ever started watching a movie, then forget why you watched it in the first place? >> I mean... I watch movies because I want to watch them. What other reason would there be?

28. When was the last time you used a hot glue gun? >> I have no idea. Long, long time ago.

29. Do you have a junk drawer? >> I have a nightstand drawer and a drawer in the container under my vanity that both act as "miscellaneous" drawers for their general area, but I wouldn't call them "junk" drawers because there's still an organisational method happening. I don't just throw random shit in there.

30. Have you ever gotten wasted off cough/cold medicine? >> Many, many times.

31. Did you know that if your baby’s gums are hurting you can rub whiskey into them to numb them? >> That is a thing people do, yeah. I don't know anything about its actual effectiveness, though -- although I assume it must be at least a little effective, if people keep doing it.

32. What’s your opinion on thoroughbred racing? >> I have no opinion. I couldn't even begin to care enough about this to have one.

33. Ever watched Jerry Springer just to remind yourself that your life isn’t as messed up as theirs? >> That's not why I watched it, I watched it because I thought it was funny at the time. 34. Have you ever had acne? If not, you’re so lucky. >> Only as a teenager.

35. Have you ever been spelunking? >> I have not. 36. Ever walked into a facility of the opposite gender - like restrooms? >> I have used every kind of bathroom there is -- men's, women's, neutral.

37. Ever lost your car in the parking lot? If so, did you use your car alarm to find it again? .

38. If you’ve ever ridden a roller coaster, which one was your favorite? >> I've not ridden any that I would consider a favourite. The Superman one was kind of cool but the line was so insufferably long for such a short experience that it kind of killed the fun for me. Also, that was like 20 years ago. 39. Has there ever been a Christmas where you had to do without gifts-wise? >> Actually, I've not received gifts for most of the Christmases I've experienced. This is normal and not vexing to me. 40. Do you type with capital letters and proper punctuation? >> Eh, I just type however I wish. 41. What’s so cool about Sweden? >> I like a few bands that come from there. 42. What’s your favorite piece of your silverware and why? .

43. If you’ve ever had a crush, what is the most embarrassing thing that has happened to you around him/her? .

44. Have you ever pet a tarantula? >> I haven't and I'm mad about it 😭

45. Have you ever been to the Olympic Games? >> I have not.

46. Have you conquered any fears recently? >> I have not. 47. If you’re in school, and have a bookbag, what does it look like? .

48. Have you ever shopped for clothes at a thrift store? If not, why is that? >> Of course. At this point, thrifting is my primary clothing source.

49. Let’s say you win a trip to Australia (if you already live there, then you’ll go to Russia.), at any city of your choice. What would you like to see first and why? >> I don't know enough about Australia to have specific locations picked out. Honestly, I'm fine with whatever. It's a big ass country, I'm sure I'll find something interesting.

50. Have you ever written your own Bucket List? If you haven’t seen the movie, it’s a list of goals to accomplish before you die. >> I have not. It's not a concept that really makes any sense to me.

[psychic-refugee]

Cate having unfettered access to the internet during her formative years, actually would explain the version of Soldier Boy they met in her mindscape. I don’t agree that there was ever produced media that had him being so crass that would have influenced her imaginary version of him that we saw.

What movies etc…there were of him, at most had the misogyny of its time. Mostly that women were largely damsels to be saved, with a few exceptions that were on a Supe team. And that “manly men” did xyz and couldn’t deviate from that. But otherwise, Vought would have given the world a heroic and charismatic version of Soldier Boy.

Here’s how I think SB of Cate’s mindscape came to be.

12 year old Cate watches a SB & Crimson Countess romantic movie. She thinks SB is really cute and like everyone else, a great hero. She wants more content. She goes to the internet to find all his movies and whatever else. She buys posters and magazines for her room.

What else does she stumble upon? Soldier Boy fanfiction. She starts with non spicy things, mostly where SB saves someone and takes them away from a horrible situation.

The first incarnation of Soldier Boy spoke like a wattpad protagonist. The strongest Supe of the time was not afraid of her.

But then there are spicy things, she likes that a lot. I think that’s when she starts exploring her sexuality with the aide of a SB pillow. She’s still reading vanilla romance where she’s saved, but now they’re having sex. She then finds spicier content, and probably veering into darker stuff. Some of this darker stuff might contain asymmetrical power dynamics or degrading talk.

I feel like her parents were just counting down the days until she hit 18 and could send her away for good, so as long as she stayed in her room, they basically didn’t monitor anything she did.

She’s bored and lonely, so she keeps reading whatever she wants and watching whatever she wants. I definitely think she eventually finds video porn, and some are definitely spoofs/look alikes of Soldier Boy.

Soldier Boy “teaching” her to masturbate might have actually been a porn actor who looked like him and did spoofs.

One of the problems with watching porn with no guidance or anyone to really explain anything, is that most presume porn is a reflection on what is “normal.” It’s not necessarily intuitive to anyone that the vast majority of porn is catered to the male gaze and specifically what men fantasize about.

What do men tend to idolize and produce? Hyper masculinity and women with specific grooming.

So now, Cate is seeing Soldier Boy going from the glossy Hollywood produced version of himself which was probably filled with corny lines and flirting, to a porno version who is probably aggressive and domineering to scene partners.

What else is on the internet? Reddit and other like forums. So as a fan of Soldier Boy, she goes on reddit hoping to talk about her favourite hero.

But what she finds is a bunch of dudebros who idolize him and wish they could go back to a time where “men were men.”

Soldier Boy wasn’t saying these crass things, but his fanboys were. Some of these fanboys might have also been writing the fanfic she’d been reading.

So, all of this is warping her lovemap and the Soldier Boy of her fantasies. At this point, she probably doesn’t care what Soldier Boy is like, she’s attracted to him and her pillow doesn’t reject her touch.

The Soldier Boy we saw was the one that had survived her childhood fantasies. Which is really effing sad to think about.

Everything Cate learned about sex, she learned from porn

Cate was confined to this space between the ages of 9 and 18. That means she was here during her puberty years. In the absence of proper human contact until Shetty came into her life, much of what she learned about sex would've likely come from movies, and probably from porn at that.

The proof exists in two forms:

First, a lot of the things that "Soldier Boyfriend" says here sound like stuff right out of pornos.

"I taught her how to jerk off. Diddle that Skittle. Flick the bean. How to find that man in the canoe. She came like a faucet. She'd crank up the Jonas Brothers and she'd hump a Soldier Boy pillow. She'd raw-dog that pillow till she saw God. [...] It was pretty romantic. 😏"

And then there was this moment from "First Day":

Having a guard Deep Throat a flashlight is the sort of thing that Cate probably saw in a porno. 😂

Hell, the dialogue she has the other guard say to this guy sounds like it's out of a porno too:

Guard: "I'll tell you what I'm doing, Bob. First, you're gonna get this flashlight nice and wet with your slutty fսcking mouth."

Bob: 😳 "What the fսck is wrong with you?"

Guard: "Then I'm gonna stuff it right up your tight little chocolate starfish until you see God. 😂"

Cate: "Do it. You know you want to. 😏"

[mysteryandnonstopfun]

SWANFIRE APPRECIATION WEEK 2021 (ﾉ◕ヮ◕)ﾉ*:･✧ﾟﾟ

🦢🔥 Day Six: Actors AU or Social Media AU // “I haven't ever really found a place that I call home, I never stick around quite long enough to make it” 

Emma Swan and Neal Cassidy have one of the most sweetest relationships in Hollywood. The kind that actually make you believe in true love. They even share the same birth year and might even seem fated for each other, having crossed paths in the past more than once even before The Thief Who Stole My Heart. The pair constantly made headlines for all the right reasons, given that they’re not only insanely talented, but also incredibly smitten with one another. 

Here’s everything you need to know about the adorable pair! 

Eleven years ago, Emma made a cameo in Neal Cassidy’s hit show, Neverland. She appeared in the last episode. However, they did not meet on set. 

They finally met in 2008 on The Ellen DeGeneres Show where both were promoting their own shows. Neal explained what ran through his mind when they first met. “I met her and I was so nervous. I was like “Oh god, I think I’m going to fall in love with her”.

In 2009, both attended the Golden Globes Awards, where they sat next to each other and were both awarded on their own category, they even shared a few moments on stage, the pair walking together felt like a foreshadowing of flames to come. Years later Emma said that her reaction wasn’t all that different “At some point we were alone at the backstage and that was it. He just stood there and made me laugh. I kind of knew right away”. 

Neal Cassidy and Emma Swan were confirmed to star in the movie, Once Upon a Time in 2011, the first time they would officially work together! The reports also revealed that Neal decided to work on the film because Emma was going to do it! Once Upon a Time became known for Emma and Neal’s on-screen chemistry despite the plot calling for them to relate to each other through a monitor. Fans wished for a project that would allow them to film more scenes together in real life.     

The movie premiered in September 2012 with a good reception. The movie surpassed all expectations and the couple shared on social media their celebrations. Dating rumors began soon after Once Upon a Time as the couple spent a lot of time together at promotional events. Around this time, Emma posted a lot of photos with her co-star on Instagram. 

In March 2013 (Neal’s birthday month) an online post about the couple surfaced claiming that Emma and Neal had been seen traveling together in New York, and even dinned together with Emma’s parents. A photo of the couple grocery shopping together also circulated online. However, the rumors were denied, with claims that it was mere coincidence for the two to be in the same place, that both were just really good friends.

A few months later they showed up for the first time in public after the rumors. When they were chosen to be ambassadors of the same brand!     

In 2014, fans rejoiced as Neal and Emma were confirmed for a new project together: The Thief Who Stole My Heart. The series premiered worldwide in December 2015 and instantly became a massive hit. The couple’s romantic plot line stirred dating rumors again. The show’s finale with Emma and Neal looking like a happily married couple, was too good for viewers not to wish it was true.   

Following the release of The Thief Who Stole My Heart, both won Best Lead Actor and Actress in a Drama/Comedy Series at the Emmy Awards. Ss the show kept winning all sort of awards. On New Year’s Day of 2017 a popular magazine claimed that Neal and Emma have been dating for about eight months. The couple confirmed the news with a sweet post on their social media’s accounts. 

Emma Swan and Neal Cassidy were engaged less than a year after they confirmed their relationship, with Neal proposing in Tallahassee. “She did cry after I cried and we cried and everyone around us was crying” Neal told Access Hollywood of the exact moment he proposed to her “at the end of the day, she said yes, which is great. It’s a big part of the whole thing” 

In 2018, Neal and Emma tied the knot in a very private ceremony on the beach. 

Nearly three years into her marriage with Neal, Emma opened up about their relationship on the cover of Elle “Meeting Neal really changed my life, when I feel his support, I feel invincible. There’s someone behind you on your good days and in front of you on your bad days”. 

The pair became parents on August 2020, welcoming their son Henry into the world. Neal choose Twitter to excitedly share the news. 

The couple appeared again after two years to attend the SAG awards, where both were nominated for their respective project. That night was important since Emma was nominated for the first time as a Director.   

Last year Neal confirmed that he and Emma would be working together again. On a project that he wrote and Swan will direct. Unsurprisingly, the internet went wild for it. We can’t wait to watch their new movie.  

[charmed-henry]

Interlude: Somewhere Beyond the Sea | Oneshot

Date: Mid August 2022 Warnings: Rich people nonsense Featuring: The Charming Family

The Charmings receive news from the mainland.

Living on a yacht was not all it was cracked up to be. 

Jacqueline was sunburned, seasick, and absolutely done with her family. She barely had any cell service, which was intentional, she imagined, so that they couldn’t be tracked. All of her entertainment consisted of rereading the same five historical romance novels she’d packed and fighting Granny for the portable DVD player to watch, in rotation, series four of EastEnders, Monty Python and the Holy Grail, and a grainy recording of Phantom of the Opera. 

She was twenty-six years old, for Christ’s sake! She had better places to be! Part of Jacqueline wondered if she should have done what the rest of her siblings had done, staying behind in England and ratting out the family. Sure, she might have to serve some time, but at least she’d have a social life afterwards.

Plus, did she mention there was no bloody Internet out here on a boat?

When they arrived at a port, Jacqueline was the first to volunteer to run to the mainland for supplies. Maybe she could get her phone to connect for a brief moment, and for a precious few minutes, she could go on TikTok again and feel a semblance of normalcy.

Jacqueline’s phone did not, however, connect when she reached the mainland. Damn it. Her parents had cancelled the family plan, hadn’t they? She had to wander for ages (it felt like) to find an Internet cafe, which was the sort of place Jacqueline wouldn’t have been caught dead normally. Internet cafes were for tourists! Regular people! Not people who vacationed the way the Charmings did!

But desperate times called for desperate measures, she thought, paying for her thirty minutes of access and setting herself up in front of a monitor. And this was no vacation. She wasted no time typing her name into Google, though she then had to wait (what felt like) an eternity for the page to load. (It was only a few seconds).

It popped up in an article from a local Wiltshire paper:

Jacqueline Knightley, Christopher Charming, and Shannon Charming are also considered to be persons of interest in this case, as they have been identified by the Charming siblings as participants in the illicit activities of The Order of the Prince.

She didn’t read any further than that. 

Those dirty little traitors! Jacqueline thought as she scrolled to the top of the page and saw the faces of her brother and sister glaring back at her. Of course, when Augusta didn’t show up to the boat, Jacqueline had a feeling she might do this. And everyone knew that Henry was in the midst of a nervous breakdown. But it still made her feel sick-- like maybe she’d made the wrong choice here.

Had she made the wrong choice here? Jacqueline was miserable. She was sick of her parents, sick of Granny, and starting to wonder if any of this was really worth it. She’d avoided prison, but at what cost? 

There was one more thing Jacqueline really needed to know. She typed another name into Google: Paul Knightley, and slowly an image loaded on the front page...

A mugshot?!

Jacqueline had paid for more Internet time, but she didn’t care. Her chair squeaked against the floor as she smashed Ctrl-P and sent the page to the printer. “Thank you!” Jacqueline said harshly, slamming down an unknown amount of Euros and practically ripping the page from the printer before tearing off toward the harbor.

~~~~

“MUM! DAD!” Jacqueline shouted.

“Jacq, please take your shoes off before--”

She ignored her mother’s request, instead shoving the article in her face.

“LOOK AT THIS!” Jacqueline screeched. “What did I say? What did I bloody say?!”

“Jacqueline--”

“No! Don’t Jacqueline me.” The eldest Charming began pacing the boat frantically. “Paul’s been arrested! This is all your fault! If we had just let Paul come on the boat, this wouldn’t have happened, I would have had someone I actually bloody like on this boat, and my husband wouldn’t be a convicted felon!”

Shannon sighed a very long sigh, pinching the bridge of her nose like she was staving off a headache. Just then, Christopher appeared from the bow where he had been lounging. “What’s going on over here?”

“Read it!” Jacqueline flung the pages at her father, hmphing for emphasis. He examined them closely.

“...Paul’s been arrested?” he said finally, frowning.

“Yes! Paul’s been arrested, just like I fucking--”

“Language, Jacqueline!”

“Just like I fucking knew he would be, if we left him behind! My life is over! My husband’s going to be in prison forever! You can both say goodbye to grandchildren, you know!”

Shannon rolled her eyes. “As if there were going to be grandchildren anyway,” she grumbled. Jacqueline shot a sharp look at her.

Luckily, that particular conversation was interrupted by another set of footsteps emerging from the cabin. “Jacqueline, there you are. I was wondering if you had the next book in that series--”

“Granny!” Jacqueline squawked. “Why are you reading those?”

“There isn’t anything else to read, and besides, I rather like them--”

“Jacqueline, you brought books and didn’t tell me?” Shannon, who had also been battling boredom, whipped her head around.

Jacqueline felt like she was going to explode. And then she did. “Because some things are private!!”

“What is so private about a couple of books you brought? Do you not want me reading them or something?”

“Honestly, not really, mother!” Jacqueline was red in the face now.

Christopher sighed. “Jacqueline, I think you ought to eat something. You’re being rather erratic right now--”

“I’m being erratic because my bloody husband is in prison and my grandmother is stealing my only reading material which, by the way, I specifically did not want her reading!”

“Well, I really don’t think it’s fair of you to hoard those books for yourself,” Shannon hmphed. 

“Not the point!”

Christopher turned to return to where he had been lounging in the sun and Jacqueline let out a loud noise of frustration. “Not you, too!”

“Jacqueline, there are meals in the freezer--”

“I’m sick of bloody freezer meals,” she grumbled, plopping herself down on a seat and crossing her arms. 

She had done everything right. She had followed all of her parents’ advice, remained loyal to the people who were supposed to be powerful, used her head. And yet here she was, stranded in a foreign country that she couldn’t even place on a map eating a freezer meal and fighting her grandmother not only for her shows, but now her romance books, too! 

Where had she gone wrong?

She stomped down to the cabin to heat up a meal and almost slammed right into Granny.

“There was no need to be so defensive about those books. They’re quite interesting stories. I just skip past certain chapters, personally,” Granny sniffed.

Jacqueline rolled her eyes.

“Don’t roll your eyes at me, young lady.”

She couldn’t help but think of Paul. Was he having a better day than she was?

As Jacqueline settled in to dig into her pre-portioned meal, she glanced over at the pages she’d printed again. Wait a second...

Henry Charming is awaiting trial and is expected to plead guilty.

Jacqueline sighed loudly, pushing her food away. She didn’t know how she was supposed to feel about that. Henry was a traitor. He had turned on the family, abandoned everything he had been raised to believe. Jacqueline was never speaking to him again.

But he was still her brother. After all this, he was still her brother. 

“Ah, did you get to the part about the Duke’s twin?” Granny said, looking up from her crossword.

All Jacqueline could do was let out a loud noise of frustration and crumple up the article, tossing it in the nearest bin. Maybe it was best to escape to the world of the Duke.

[helenarlett-rex]

you’re a fucking freak for defending gross porn based on kids media just because “in america we have a little thing called freedom of artistic expression” shut the fuck up nobody is saying it’s illegal they’re saying it’s gross and fucking weird to do it. when will you freaks learn that protecting children is more important than your fucking weird kinks.

*Laughs* Fucking freak he says… Gross and fucking weird he says… While talking to author, Helen Arlet… You’ve obviously never read any of my books. You don’t even know what gross and weird is...

Also I love how your response to my factual statement about the fact that these things are protected was just, “shut the fuck up”. Oh man, you really put me in my place with that one. How will I ever respond to that?

This will probably be the last time I respond to one of these so I'll try to be thorough. I know what I am about to say may be hard to grasp, because it has to do with people's rights as well as with personal responsibility, and you seem to be the sort who thinks rights only apply to you and responsibility only applies to others, but try to follow me if you can… 

This has nothing to do with some kink regardless of how "gross and fucking weird" you think it is. I don’t know what gives you the right to decide what’s gross and weird... Most asexuals probably think whatever you are into is gross and weird. Where as I on the other hand think your tastes are pretty weak sauce... That's not the point though. The issue here is censorship.

For starters, it's not just America that has protections for artistic freedom. America was just the one example I used because it was the easiest for me to explain off the top of my head, but lots of countries have them. I already stated that before but you obviously weren't paying attention. Just like you weren't paying attention when I told you about internet safety precautions and said that it's not my responsibility, or anyone else's, to keep your kid from getting into porn. That's your responsibility. If you want to let your little crotch goblin have free run of the internet without restriction or supervision that's on you. It's not my fault if your kid finds porn anymore than it is if he ends up in a chat room with a bunch of pedophiles asking him to send pictures and tell them what his address is. 

The internet is not a safe place and if you are going to let your children be on it you should have safety precautions installed and be monitoring them regardless if cartoon porn exists or not. I mean, do you honestly think that the only way kids are going to get into porn is on accident by searching for a cartoon character? Trust me, if you give a kid a way to get into porn, they are going to get into it the moment you aren't looking. I can't even tell you how young I was the first time I figured out how to get access to porn. And I didn't even have internet back then… You keep talking about how important it is to protect children but your answer to actually doing that is the equivalent of telling a man he can't have a steak because a baby can't chew it… while you let the baby play with steak knives… 

That's why I stood up in defense of this issue. Because there is already a solution to it but you keep ignoring it in favor of a different one that doesn't work and makes no sense. You sit there and say that no one is saying it's illegal, but your argument is that it should be. So let's say we give you what you want. Cartoon porn is no longer allowed. There are still a million other things on the internet that kids shouldn't find that they are going to find. What's the answer to that? Do we ban EVERYTHING we don't want children to see? Do we censor the internet to the point where it's useless just to make sure irresponsible parents who won't take simple precautions don't have to worry about what their kids are going to find? And who gets to decide what is okay for kids and what isn't? I'm not saying porn is okay for kids. It isn't. But we are talking about more than just porn now.

We have people who come into the library I work at all the time and steal any book they can find that has anything to do with LGBT topics so those books won't be in the library anymore. They do this just so their children won't see anything LGBT. I even got an email the other morning from a woman telling me that she will never come back because we have LGBT materials and she doesn't want her child's "innocence" corrupted. As a transgender woman this kind of censorship is especially harmful to me because not only does it mean I have a hard time finding access to library materials relevant to me, but no one else can either and now I have to live in a community where people are growing up intolerant of me because all they know about me is what their bigoted parents are telling them. I can’t even go out in public without disguising myself as a man because I’m afraid I might get shot. This is what censorship for the sake of the children has led to.

Again, I don’t think children should have access to materials intended strictly for adults… but as long as those materials aren’t illegal I think adults SHOULD have access to them, whatever they are, regardless if it’s something I personally get or not. I won’t support censorship in any form because once we open that Pandora’s box of censoring one thing, it just leads down the slippery slope of censoring other things that some people might actually need. And I especially won’t support it when the only reason for it is because “children might find it” when again, as I already said, there are already ways in place to prevent them from finding it. It’s not my fault if you won’t use the things we’ve put in place to handle that.

But let’s be honest with ourselves here… You aren’t actually “worried about the children”. If that’s what you were worried about you’d be advocating for a lot more than just the removal of cartoon porn from the internet. And you wouldn’t be shitting on porn filters and safe searches either. “The children” is just a crutch you’re using to make yourself sound more self righteous when the real problem is that you don’t want these things to exist because you think they are “gross and fucking weird” am I right? What happened…? Did you accidentally stumble onto some My Little Pony smut and that picture of that bright pink, cartoon horse made you feel funny down in your pants and threatened your manliness? Well don’t worry… I won’t tell anyone…

[finallyaniguana]

Watch The Eyes: Paris 12:30pm CET [6]

[5]     masterpost    ao3    [7]

Marinette blinked back to her own body utterly confused. Who was that? Why were they fighting? Why were they speaking English? (Again thanking the kwamis themselves for having taken English lessons for several years). Why were they in a CAVE? And what was with the masks?

Taking into account that she had now moved from the classroom to the park she adjusted quickly to her surroundings. Her phone was in her hand. The time was 12:30. Six hours later than the time zone she had just left. The Americas, clearly. But why?

Adrien stood next to her, looking at her expectantly.

"Bug?"

She looked at him.

"Yes?"

"We're supposed to be picking out a spot to sit," he reminded.

"Oh... of course." She looked around and saw a vacant bench not too far away. "How about there, minou?"

He smiled at the nickname. It had been a few months since the reveal. Their friendship had only grown. Adrien might even go so far as to say they were closer than he and Nino.

It was a tough conversation at first. His vision still clouded with his juvenile declarations of love. He came to realize he really did love her. And she loved him.

But not in the way he had been expecting. She was his platonic soulmate. Not everyone who has a romantic soulmate will have a platonic soulmate as well. Some people have one or the other. Adrien was lucky enough to have both. It manifests by a slight glow at contact after a strong friendship had been formed.

He had been born with a tattoo tucked away on his shoulder blade.

He had mentioned it before and found his lady had no such mark. It nearly crushed him. But he got over it and realized that losing her completely would be far worse than never having the relationship he thought he wanted.

He grew up. He changed. Their partnership grew stronger.

The platonic bond is what gave him that final push to discovering her identity. He passed something to Marinette, skin fainting glowing from the brush.

He was surprised to say the least. He didn't think he and Mari were that close.

When they finally revealed themselves he nearly cried with joy. The strong willed amazing girl in his class he so desperately wanted to be closer friends with was already his best friend. She seemed quite excited too.

She was ecstatic to find out the sweet boy in her class she used to hope was her soulmate was her best friend. She grew out of her crush a long time ago, especially after seeing how well he got along with a certain fencing partner.

He was her strongest ally against Lila's manipulative lies. Without his support and backup, Marinette sometimes wasn't sure she would have been able to face the classroom over and over and over again.

Her repeated threats had no effect since Adrien couldn't be used against her.

The class was baffled at why Marinette would be so resistant to being Lila's friend. She knew the Italian girl's lies would pile up against her one of these days. She was, with Adrien's help, quietly undermining the falsehoods spread to her classmates.

When Marinette took a frontal attack on Lila's lie about her sprained wrist, in turn upsetting Max about the dangers of balled up napkins, Adrien had gone to Max after the fact and suggested he do more research on the statistics of people getting irreparable eye damage from paper. After just one quick search, he found out the truth, approaching Mari afterwards to apologize.

"I should have known you would never do anything that would put me in danger," he quietly confided.

She smiled her bright smile.

"That's okay, Max. I totally understand."

She and his back and forth dynamic of coming in after Lila to do damage control for the easily disproven lies helped keep the class on her side, even if they were still quick to believe it in the first place.

The lies about her famous connections were a bit harder to disprove. How could she show that it wasn't true if she didn't know the celebrity themself.

Of course, having done many commissions for Jagged Stone and Clara Nightingale, she had easy access to that proof. But she wasn't Marinette. She was MDC. Nobody knew that but her three closest friends and her parents. She wasn't trying to advertise that. She didn't want to win popularity like Lila did. That's why, even though that was the one she could easily fix, she didn't.

The biggest beam in her support network sat down beside her on the bench she had picked out. She deliberated what to tell hin for a moment before deciding to just say something. A few beats of silence passed.

"Adrien, the weirdest thing just happened," she said suddenly.

He looked up at her, startled.

"What? But you haven't moved," he said.

"I swear on my Kwamii I was literally just somewhere else for the last fifteen minutes," she looked over at him, wide eyed.

"You mean... like-"

Alya and Nino finally arrived with the icecream.

"Your favorite!" Alya claimed, passing off a cone to the birthday girl.

"Here you go, dude," Nino said, handing Adrien his.

They all looked at Marinette, smiling. It was an all around good moment. But the fifteen minutes of misplaced time would continue to trouble her. Adrien didn't get a chance to bring it back up at lunch.

She had fifteen minutes of someone else's memories. Throughout the rest of lunch and her remaining classes Marinette maintained an eerie calm. A calm that usually wouldn't be there. Normally she would be freaking out. For some reason, she was inclined to figure this out for herself.

Arriving home that afternoon her parents greeted her warmly, letting her know they would be closing up shop a bit early and cooking her favorite for dinner that evening. She hummed her thanks before heading up to her room.

Sitting a her desk, she jogged her mouse to wake the monitor, home screen showing an image of her superhero family, smiling wide.

Marinette clicked open the internet and put in a few key words.

'Mind switching for fifteen minutes'

"Rare Mind Switching Soul Bond"

An article popped up. Her eyes widened and she opened it up.

She pulled a notebook towards herself, copying down all the important information.

• Younger person's birthday in the year the two would meet

• Fifteen minutes at a random time

• Eyes follow the mind

• Eyes are windows to the soul

• As the souls grow closer, the two people begin to trade traits until they finally meet at some point during the year

This had to be it. She scrolled a bit further down but found the article ended there. There was very little data for this soul bond.

So all Marinette knew was that she was going to meet her soulmate this year. But there was no way of knowing when. But... she had submitted an essay to win a trip for her class. To Gotham City. Three weeks fully funded, Mlle Bustier said. She put her heart and soul into that essay. For even a little while she wanted to get her classmates she cared so much about out of Paris. They deserved a break from the stresses of holding everything back. They deserved to feel their emotions.

It ended up being lengthy and it took her a good bit of time to perfect. But once she submitted it to the Wayne Enterprises educational class scholarship competition she felt incredibly proud of herself. Hopefully it would win her class the respite they needed.

[tharrb]

Digimon tamers retrospective- Episode 42

Like with episode 24, this episode deal with the kids and their parents dealing with the upcoming battle against the d-reaper

“Oh make up your mind you piece of junk” shoddy internet in a nutshell

“I wonder if jeri will ever be happy again” she will, just give her time

To put it bluntly, things are going to get a lot worse before they better. But they will get better I promise

Again, let’s ignore Ryo’s reconciling with his family after over a year in the digital world because that would distract from him being mr perfect

Impmon has lost all ambition and drive, so he does the only thing he can do; he goes home

Impmon:”this note would be important if it weren’t be the fact that I can’t read”

And here we have the fake jeri attempt to mimic her step-mother, but it dosent understand gentles or compassion, leading it to be cold and downright hostile.

I wonder how Jeri’s parents are going to explain this to her step-bro

Takato having to tell his parents that he can’t come home just yet, after being away from home for so long😭

Rumiko explains how everyone tried to stop her from getting married, but she went through with it anyway. And telling rika that she should be able to make her own decisions, before giving her a full heart shirt

It’s sad though, considering how Rumiko’s marriage fell apart, and that she just has to have to faith that her daughter will turn out better than her

In cruel twist of irony, rika has matured into a loving person, while jeri has only been getting worse and worse…

Lopmon just wants to fuckin sleep

The entire scene where Henry and his mom talk about him leaving for the fight

Yamaki:”who would have thought that creating a secret sect of the government that monitors civilians activity in the net while having unlimited access to all their private information, and then using that computer system to creat a weapon of mass destruction was a bad thing?”

Janyu: “yeah, maybe not your best though”

Seriously, is it any wonder why the d-reaper was able to bio-emerge, considering that juggernaut was unleashed like 6 times already.Of course having a human partner certainly helped…

“Make sure to stay behind the tank men, that will protect you when it attacks.” “Sir, but what about a us trapped inside the tank when it attacks?”

And Jeri’s disappeared… maybe before it could pull anyone exorcist bull crap

And the trio all’s together again, ironically in the the tunnel, which is where they united as team for the first time

So is the scene where a swarm of searcher agents appear on the sides of buildings a reference to Godzilla bs megaguirus(which came out only a year prior)

I’m just gonna say…the d-reaper arc isn’t THAT dark

I mean, it’s certainly pants browning my terrifying, but there also a scene of hope and unity throughout its entirety. The trio has already become the best versions of themselves, and every-the tamer, their parents, the monster makers, Hypnos, the sovereign- are working together to stop the d-reaper

So when ever someone tells you that tamers is darkTM Or edgeyTM, remind them of that

[wrongfullythinking]

Twitter and the “Public Forum”

There is a very large looming legal question about whether or not social media sites, such as Twitter, are “Public Forums.”  Most would agree that they are not... at least... not yet.  But the question is... should they be?

First, a look into why it matters.

In a public forum, all First Amendment protections apply.  So you can say any number of very objectionable things (https://scholar.google.com/scholar_case?case=12634874511090553174) and be protected.  In a private forum, this is not so.  I can kick you out of my house for wearing an Abercrombie shirt, and you have no Free Speech/Expression reason to contest my staggeringly good decision-making.

Second, the public forum cannot be policed for any content that may be stated.  This is why if you go to reserve time at a public park, you don’t have to tell the Parks and Rec department what your event is for.  Just things like how many people, how long the event will last, etc.  This is well-established and well-backed by many years of precedent.

Finally, there is the very serious matter of personal liability.  In certain circumstances, officials can be held personally liable if their policies deliberately and knowingly infringe upon Bill of Rights protections (most often First Amendment protections).  This means that you could literally sue for the property and assets of a person.  (Also, this is why those of us who own either physical property [like a house] or intellectual property [like a book] buy “Umbrella Coverage” from insurances... I recommend State Farm, but that’s totally irrelevant and I’m not getting any kickbacks for that shill =P.)

But hang on... so if the government owns a billboard and rents it out to whomever can pay, can I rent it and post a naked lady?

You could try, and you might win!  What you can’t do is post something obscene.  And yes, whether or not a naked person is obscene is staggeringly controversial.  There’s a 3-part test from the Burger court, a host of vague terms like “average person” and “contemporary community standards,” and “lacks serious artistic/literary/political/scientific value.”  And then there are protections for children, a whole separate piece, as well as child pornography, which is always classified as obscene... except when it is not, like in the cases of naked cherubs in church windows.  So, confused yet?  We’re off topic, but I make this point to explain that even in public forums, where First Amendment rights are fiercely protected, there are still outstanding issues of content censorship.

So, is Twitter / Facebook / Tumblr a public forum?

At this point, the answer is no.  They are privately controlled by companies, not owned by the feds or states or local municipalities, and thus can make almost any policy they want.  The idea here is that the free market dictates the life or death of these platforms... and that idea tends to hold true!  Tumblr itself is a good case-in-point, because it has lost millions of dollars in value due to bad leadership decisions, and at least partially because of censorship.  There are countless examples of others... I remember when Yahoo! was the primary search engine of the internet and Xanga was the biggest blogging platform.  While you can still Yahoo, I’m not sure there are more than a few hundred people on Xanga, if it still exists in any useful format.  So, since places like this are subject to the free market, and thus can die... they should be allowed to make all the good or bad decisions they want about their content.  Or at least, that is how the theory runs.

But really... ARE they subject to the market?  Now we’re getting into the really interesting territory.  If Facebook shut down tomorrow, would it be a problem?  Maybe, but life would continue.  But if Google shut down tomorrow?  Well, millions of schoolchildren are in GoogleClassrooms right now, so that would certainly be a problem.  It would at least cause massive disruption... and Facebook shutting down would cause some disruption.  Likewise, Twitter controls so much speech that instead of publishing headlines from Newspapers, newspapers publish headlines from Twitter!  The 14-year-old looks at that line like “well, duh” and the 44-year old reads that line like “wow, we’ve come a long way,” and the 84-year-old reads that line with just a sad headshake.

So, now we’ve joined one of the most controversial points of the last 20 years... the Fannie Mae “Too Big to Fail” problem.  Basically, a set of banks and big mortgage companies (Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac) made a bunch of bad decisions in about 1995 - 2008.  [As an aside, whether or not Fannie Mae {technically, the “Federal National Mortgage Association”} is actually a company comes up as an issue... it originated as a government program, but is today a publicly-traded company and has been since the late 60s, though it was delisted from NYSE and is only traded off-exchange].  And the government had to step in.  You can read all about that issue at another time, the bottom line is that actually Fannie Mae has paid back more than it borrowed, but there was a ballooning of the debt ceiling by over 800 billion.  Some people care about the national debt, some don’t, and again, not the subject of this commentary.  The point is that it set a very odd precedent, whereas a company could make extremely bad decisions and then the burden would be placed on the taxpayers to fix their decision, because the company itself was a part of so many people’s lives.  Would social media fall under this guidance?  Unlikely, and I think we would all run from state-sponsored social media... but hey, what do I know.

So... get to the point.  Should they be public forums, or not?

My two cents always comes down against censorship, especially censorship by entities that don’t have my best interests at heart... so basically, everybody else.  I think that it is so easy to self-censor the internet at the personal end (for example, by installing filters and blocking services for objectionable content), that companies should not be unilaterally making these decisions, especially if those companies want to be venues for mass public communication.

Let’s go with another example... let’s say you wanted to call up your buddy and have a nice long phonesex session.  Good for you.  Or just chat with them about the latest Dr. Doe video (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QXgT8WXaPUY), because enthusiasm is important.  Would you be okay with Verizon telling a robot to monitor your call, and then automatically hang up if you said “penis” too much?  Or “Trump”?  Or “Black Lives Matter?”  What about “Nazi,” “Rohypnol,” “Mary Jane,” “negritos” [I’ve got your back, Mr. Cavani], “snowbunny,” or “Insane Clown Posse”?  I think most people would be upset about any of those, and they would rightfully tell Verizon that they will find another provider.  So Verizon doesn’t do that, although it could.  But Twitter does do that.  And the availability of another Twitter is in question.  Will something succeed Twitter?  Absolutely.  But right now, Twitter is under no market pressure, so it is succeeding at taking off its platform any number of conversations that it probably should not be policing.

There’s also a social-justice side of this.  So, let’s say that we all decide Twitter is a bad platform and move to something else.  And that something else costs us 10$ a month.  I wouldn’t notice this fee.  Others would.  So that’s an access issue.  Or, let’s say that some people start migrating to a new platform, and they only tell their friends about it.  That’s okay, right?  Absolutely... but imagine that college student who is trapped at home in a pandemic right now who cannot get any viewpoints outside of what her parents approved of, and previously used Twitter to explore and challenge her upbringing.  If she doesn’t get an invite to the new platform, is she just lost?

And that brings up the Pandemic.  Many, many common public forums have been shut down due to the pandemic.  This alone has caused serious controversy (see: BLM protests on crowded streets where state governors participated, while those same governors implemented executive orders enforcing 6-foot distancing in churches and stores), so the argument for Twitter censorship “but you have many other public forums!” is tough to substantiate during the COVID-era.  And this is a HUGE problem.  Historically, taking away public forums is always an early move of totalitarian regimes.  Taking away rights to assembly and speech follows soon after.  We’re now in Phase 2 there... and our governors keep assuring us it is temporary... while at the same time, encouraging Twitter to take off any viewpoints they don’t like, under the guise of “false or misleading information.”  Soon, they start moving into the schools, and that leads to...

SCIENCE!!!

So, to talk about what rigorous debate means, we need to understand a bit about Science.  And specifically, the philosophy of science, what scientific discourse looks like, and why review and critique are parts of the scientific process.

Point 1: “Scientific consensus” is hogwash.  Yes, we all agree that the Earth orbits the Sun, and the Sun itself moves, but beyond that, there isn’t much scientific consensus.  If you see an article that starts with the phrase “Expert say,” you can go ahead and close your browser window right there.  The rest is bull****.

Point 2: The limits of science are boundless.  Any specific scientific paper is, by necessity and the peer review process, very strictly bounded.  “Whether or not a vaccine is efficient” is an entirely different paper than one titled “Whether or not 80-year-olds with lung cancer should get the vaccine,” and both of those are different than “How the US should achieve herd immunity, and if it is even possible for COVID-19 before significant mutations cause current immunizations to be ineffective,” and all three of those are different from “Do we need to vaccinate our cats from COVID in order to reach herd immunity?”

Point 3: There is no “finalized” science.  The answers are never finished.  What is “cutting edge” science today is out-of-date tomorrow, barbaric and backwards by the end of the year, and grounds for an abuse lawsuit by the end of the decade.  The best examples of this are from Psych treatments.

Point 4: I get very worried when anybody starts to censor scientific content... especially those without any qualifications.  Okay, so this one is a personal sentence (note the “I”), but I’m going to go ahead and guess that Twitter robots and interns flagging posts don’t have any idea the difference between sensitivity and specificity, the background as to why the FDA has never approved an mRNA vaccine previously, the difference between statistical and clinical significance, and how to read a limitations section.  The people who are qualified to do so are peer reviewers... and in the case where those fail (which happens!), the rest of the writer’s peers.  And we do that.  Anything published is open to critique, which leads to the final point, that...

Point 5: Critique and Review are THE MOST IMPORTANT PARTS of scientific publishing.  If a piece is published without review, it is called an “opinion” and not science.  Even more worrisome than the censoring of unpopular papers is the censoring of the opinions of scientists on the papers of their peers.  Should someone publish a paper where I believe they overstretched their claims, it is a HUGE part of my job to call that out.  For an agency like Twitter to be able to say “you don’t have the right to say that they overstated their claim, because expressing a concern about a vaccine is against our Terms of Use” is a very big problem for science.

The flipside is that you get into the part where now a company can, through its policy, dictate what science gets done.  For example, lets say I wanted to examine an unpopular question... and I’m a social scientist, so there are plenty of those, but say I wanted to do something semi-controversial but apolitical.  I’ll say my research question is “How do the happiness of those in committed multi-year polyamorous relationships compare to the happiness of people in similar economic and social situations but in closed marriages where additional intimate partnerships would be viewed as grounds for relationship termination?”  There are plenty of ways I could conduct this study and I’ll spare you my methodological musings, but safe to say there are platforms who would not want me to publish my results.  And that’s fine. 

But let’s say that I did publish my results, and a commenter took to Twitter.  And their response was “I read your paper, and I see your conclusion that those in committed multi-year polyamorous relationships score no differently on a happiness scale than those in the closed marriages.  However, I disagree with your use of this scale, because it was tested on populations of retirees, and most of the people in your sample are in their late 20s or early 30s.”

That is an EXCELLENT and VALID critique.  And let’s say that Twitter was heavily into the social justice and had a policy that said “you can’t say negative things about polyamory.”  And they deleted this person’s comment.  Now, Twitter has interfered with the scientific process.  That comment IS PART of the dialogue and that dialogue is part of Science.  Yes, there are other places that those comments could be made, and not be censored... but we should not be encouraging that censorship ANYWHERE.  And Twitter has vastly overstepped the line on this point.  Random Twitter employees have no business removing professional critiques about a study, even if there are other platforms for those critiques.

Other Thoughts

1) Generally, you can’t prohibit meetings in a public forum based on prior behavior.  Thus, “X group was violent in the past” is not a reason to prohibit X group from accessing a public forum for speech.  So there’s no saying “Proud Boys were violent once, so no Proud Boys on Twitter” if it were to be declared a public forum.

2) I’m really not aware of any large precedents for taking a private company and declaring it a public forum.  That may seem redundant (obviously, if there was precedent, this wouldn’t be such a hot-button issue), but it bears specific mention.

[some-jw-things]

I know you have given advice before on the best ways to leave, so you have any advice for someone with sabotaging parents? I’m 26 but I’m still not allowed anything, my mother controls my money(and I can’t try to separate any money for myself because she monitors my paychecks and completely freaks out if there’s the slightest change so I have to get pay stubs to prove what I make) I’m not allowed to have a car so I must use hers(I’m 90% sure she put a tracker on it) Im just really at a loss now

Okay so anything you do, I think you should do while operating under the assumption that the car DOES have a tracker and your mother would find out if you temporarily disabled it

You clearly have at least a little internet access and I’d recommend using it to research financial law in your area. Find out if there is a way you can cut off your mom’s access to your account when it’s time, what all you would need to do to legally establish that your money is just yours, how long that process would take, if your mother needs to do anything for that to happen. If you can’t find a way to get her name off the account, find out if you can open a separate secret account and how much you would be able to withdraw at once in a pinch. You may need to get a p.o. box to be able to get mail without her seeing— you’d set that up as your mailing address. Alternatively you could ask to receive all statements and stuff just electronically, and sent to a private email

I’d make sure you do any online stuff in an incognito browser. Keep up “safe” activity in a public browser if your mom goes through your history or you suspect she would, but I’d keep checking that email entirely in a private mode

You also need to find out what your mom could do to your bank account without your consent and exactly how much power she has over it. It might be worth it to go into your specific bank in person and ask questions. Keep as much plausible deniability as you can, you can’t bank on how people will react after you leave, and play it off to your mom as just a regular bank trip for a mundane reason if you do do this

You need to find a way to talk to a real social worker or an expert in financial abuse. It’s a common aspect of domestic abuse and shelters/orgs dedicated to that should have resources you can reach out to. Though I’ve heard some absolutely terrible things about the Salvation Army, so try to avoid them if you can. But yeah there are ways to find people who specifically help people escape financial abuse and coercion, and they should be able to give you more practical advice from experience

I would not do anything to rock the boat at all until you have a solid plan to physically leave. Get the financial stuff as done as you possibly can, have a place to go, and then just do it. There might be a way you can get at least most of your money in your name before leaving or before your mom even finds out what you’re doing— like if there’s a delay between you making a big withdrawal and her being notified of it, or obviously if you could just remove her name from the account entirely. You might be able to legally force it, if that would be an option you could comfortably take.

I know you mentioned the car as a big deal and from personal experience, areas that don’t have buses/taxis/people who actually use uber, will usually have some form of a public transportation network, though it will be obscenely expensive. In my area it’s a bunch of county-owned vans that charge over a dollar a mile, they’re mostly intended for people who are unable to drive their own car or too poor to own one. And in a rural area, that can be a big deal, but ideally you only need the money for exactly one trip: from your mother’s house to a shelter or a friend/relative’s house. From then on hopefully you’ll be in a place where there is cheap public transport or you can borrow someone else’s car if you need to

Trains are also a thing, and I’ve heard they’re cheap but I wouldn’t know personally. Also you have to first get to the train stop

I say this every time I give advice on here but try to find a way to cultivate non-Witness relationships, it can literally save your life, even if it’s just one or two casual friends or distant relatives you can reconnect to. Also put your safety above politeness. You can be rude and selfish sometimes if you need to. That’s an okay thing to do

You can always claim that anyone you’re talking to is a bible study. If you have approved social media, you can say that whoever it is reached out to you with questions online after seeing that you were a Witness. If you’re capable of coming up with reasons for you to be somewhere, I’d do it. Any innocent reason to be at a place that is not your house or the Kingdom Hall can help; even if it doesn’t help you get out, the breathing space can be very helpful for coping. There are plenty of places you can go for free to get away for a few hours even in rural areas or small towns

If anyone else has any advice, please add on

[emma-nation]

Within You - Bloodbound AU - Chapter 2

Summary: One year after defeating Gaius, the gang has finally found peace… Until a tragic incident awakens the ultimate and most dangerous threat they ever faced.

Genre: Angst/Adventure/Romance

Rating: T - Warning for violence and language

Notes:

- Sequel to the fics For You, In The Daylight and Without You. You can read all of them here.

- I'm sorry for taking so long. I've been very busy for the last few days. Also, I wanted this chapter to be perfect, as it's extremely important to the plot.

- Happy Holidays!

Tag List: @supersphynxsworld​​, @lightning-fury​​, @spacecarrousel​​, @tigerbryn11, @gavryllo​​, @annabellewerecorgi​​, @whoinvitedalx​​, @sheyah​​, @imnotdonewiththeelementalists​​, @scaryqueenbee, @bigmemesplz, @la-guerra-69, @kamilahsayeed-owns-me​​, @morvengarde​​, @tephy24​​, @iam-the-fuckin-queen​​​​, @voltos9, @scorpistraub​​​​, @leavemeandmyshipsalone​​​​, @jen825​​​​, @andreear17​​​​, @justejuste727​​​​, @aureliaxj, @graceschoices​​​​, @sleeping-with-her06, @galaxyside-0​​​, @msuhailey, @zoe6111​​​, @noodledragon22​​​​, @tigerbryn11, @shanuuh​​​, @ilovetaylor13m​​​, @honorablebicycle​​​, @ilovekamilahsayeed​​​, @allaboutchoices​​​, @fal-carrington​​​, @scarlet-letter-a0114

Kamilah

“Your hands are shaking. Why don’t you take a cup of tea and calm down?”

Kamilah went to the kitchen and prepared her wife a special tea to ease her stress in such a difficult moment. Amy was sitting on the couch, crying in silence while she attempted to contact her mother.

When she returned to the living room, the girl had an entire different look on her face. Kamilah looked into her eyes, they seemed bottomless and without any emotion.

"Amy?"

“Don’t ask me to calm down when my dad could be dying,” she said coldly, before heading to their bedroom and starting to shove some clothes inside a small luggage.

Amy wasn’t acting like herself. Again. She was an impulsive person, even reckless sometimes, but that was something completely different. Aside from her look becoming vague, she’d become extremely angry and aggressive.

It had happened a couple of times since they returned from Greece. The first, triggered by a small mistake she made at Ahmanet Financial that resulted in a contract loss. The second, one night after her visions about Kamilah’s past started to increase. In both cases, she’d act distant and cold for a few days. Closed inside her own shell.

That had nothing to do with being a Bloodkeeper. Adrian thought it could be some sort of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder after her near-death experience. 

“Amy,” Kamilah spoke softly, trying to get her to hear. “We can go in my private jet by the morning. Driving right now could be dangerous, look at the rain falling outside.”

She wouldn’t listen. Amy continued packing her clothes like Kamilah wasn’t even present. The female vampire sighed and went to her home office.

“Adrian,” she said through the phone. “It’s me. It’s happening again.”

She told him about Amy’s father and how it triggered her strange behavior for a third time. 

"You know what concerns me. It all began since we discovered the Tree."

Adrian didn't believe it was possible, but Kamilah had a bad feeling about that situation from the start. The First Vampire had once tried to kill Amy to return to life. Whatever their connection was, their lives were bounded by something powerful. A power where Amy's death would make possible for her to walk on the Earth again. 

Kamilah only knew her through legends and stories told by Gaius, but it was enough to know she wouldn't easily give up. Especially when she had been so close to obtain what she wanted.

"What should I do?" She asked.

"Give her space. But go with her, don't leave her alone in under circumstances."

When Kamilah hung up, she only had time to see Amy passing through the corridor, carrying her bags. She quickly changed her clothes and followed her to the garage, using her vampire speed.

"I'm coming with you," she was already inside the car when Amy finished placing her stuff in the trunk. "I'm driving."

The girl didn't complain or express any emotion. She simply sat on the passenger seat in complete silence, staring at nothing.

Kamilah started driving, but that tightness in her chest only increased as she followed to the road. She knew something terrible was about to come, yet she couldn't tell when. Or how.

----------

Lysimachus

Even two years later, Lysimachus hadn't completely earned the trust of all Council members. The mistrust surrounding him had gone worse when he began to work as a Nighthunter in New Orleans. 

His chair on the Council was hanging by a thread now. Though he no longer feared a death punishment, Jax, Adrian and even his sister could be supporting Priya and Lester against him after such a huge mistake.

"I can't simply erase her mind, Adrian," he told. "What about her employee? A big person is behind this. They'd certainly seek for revenge."

"Go home," Adrian advised him, "talk to her. Try to make her spill who's paying her. We can go after them."

"Okay."

Before heading to his apartment, Lysimachus invited Katherine to the nearest bar. It'd be their first conversation since her appearance in the Council meeting.

“How could you betray me like this?"

“I never betrayed you,” she was sitting on a stool next to him, playing with her glass and with an annoyed look on her face. “As soon as you left the diner, a lot of zeros suddenly appeared in my bank account. Then, my phone rang. Somebody wanted to hire me to monitor Raines’ research. Well... I remembered your file, that was accidentally on my phone.”

“And used it in your favor!”

She rolled her eyes and stared at him for a moment, in silence.

“I couldn't say no, don't judge me."

He sighed and shook his head in denial. After one year working together and being partners, he'd never expect this act coming from her. 

"Do you have any idea of what your friend is in possession?" Katherine continued. "In the wrong hands, it could spread chaos and destroy the entire human race.”

“But it’s not in wrong hands, okay? Adrian has been studying it for good purposes.”

"Wrong hands, like mine?"

They both turned around to see Priya standing right behind them, with a malicious grin and her phone pointed to them.

"Mirror, mirror on the wall, who's the biggest traitor of them all?"

“What the hell are you doing here?” Lysimachus questioned, wondering if his night could become any worse.

“It's a public place,” she answered. “I come here occasionally, when I’m too bored in my big mansion.”

Something in the way she said 'big mansion' suggested she was attempting to insult Katherine. Knowing the Nighthunter, Lysimachus knew she wouldn’t simply ignore it.

“Big mansions can be quite of a pain in the ass,” she lamented. “I remember when I lived in one.”

“Not when you have houseboys to serve you.”

Priya joined them at the bar and ordered herself a drink. Recognizing her, the bartender said it was for free. Lysimachus just stood there, observing the scene and thinking of a manner to stop the conversation, that would certainly end badly.

“Oh so it’s true," Katherine sounded curious and sarcastic at the same time. "You do fill your house with sex slaves.”

“Better than living in an empty penthouse, don’t you think?”

“How do you…” the point Katherine stood up to face Priya in a challenging manner was enough for him to intervene.

“Can you both just stop?” He asked. “Priya, why don’t you go home?”

“Whatevs,” she shrugged, swallowing her drink in one sip. “I’ve got exactly what I wanted here.”

She played an audio file on her cell phone, when Katherine admitted she had access to Adrian's file. 

“If you want I can kill her for you,” Katherine suggested as Priya left. “I have a good aim when it comes to vampires.”

“I’m sure we can solve it in another manner,” he told, considering the alternative Kamilah gave him. Debriefing her would be the most correct thing to do, but first he had to know with who he’d be dealing with later.

----------

Amy

“She just don’t get it. Kamilah only cares about her own interests. She doesn’t have any empathy for you at all!”

Amy shook her head, dismissing that thought. It had happened again. Her emotions and thoughts got out of control, leading her to act aggressively.

Depression. Anxiety. Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. Schizophrenia. A quick research on the internet suggested she could have any of these disorders. She’d take every opportunity when Kamilah was out of New York to visit a therapist. Dr. Blackwood was new in the city. One of the first vampires Lysimachus marked with his Brand, he chose a Scarab design to represent his Clan. Amy could vent and confess her everything, including the supernatural, without the fear of being labeled as crazy.

After a few sessions, her results were still inconclusive. Exams didn’t show anything wrong with her. Medications weren’t effective.

A sudden wave of unhappiness filled her heart. Not only because of her dad. Or because she how badly she had treated her wife. It was something bigger. Something she could not explain. Tears started streaming down her face.

“Amy,” Kamilah gently placed her hand on top of hers. “Everything is going to be okay.”

She was very focused on the road, making a lot of effort to see ahead. The rain had gotten even worse after they left.

“What a stupid idea,” Amy thought. “I should have waited until the morning.”

“Your father is still young, the chances of recovery are very high at his age. Besides, in case he needs better care, we can ask him to be transferred to the best medical facility in New York.”

Kamilah continued to speak. She tried to focus on her voice or the warmness of her hand, but the thoughts started again.

“She doesn’t even like your parents.”

It wasn’t true. The female vampire’s efforts to gain her parents approval were finally showing results. Her dad loved to hear her stories about Egypt and her mom would spend hours talking to Kamilah about finances. She focused her thoughts on their last Holidays together, where they all went to a ski resort.

“Thanks,” thinking of her family made those negative thoughts disappear. “And I’m sorry for the way I treated you. I just…"

Her crying wouldn’t let her proceed.

"It’s okay,” Kamilah squeezed her hand. “It’s a scary situation. It’s normal your emotions are overwhelmed.”

It was time to tell her. They had been together for two years. Kamilah was the person she trusted the most in the entire universe.

“I’m seeing a doctor for a few months now. I didn’t want to tell you until she had a conclusion, but… there isn’t any.”

Although she did her best to hide, she could tell her words had impact on Kamilah.

“Well, if there isn’t any explanation in science, we need to consider our other option here.”

“The supernatural,” Amy concluded.

“Exactly,” Kamilah looked at her with a nervous smile on the corners of her lips. "Do you think..."

That fraction of second she took her eyes from the road to look at Amy, she missed it. There was a woman, dressed in white standing in the middle of the road. Even with the heavy rain, Amy was able to distinguish her glowing red eyes and the blood in her vests. Her eyes widened in fear.

“Kamilah! Look out!”

By impulse, she grabbed the wheel, pulling to the other side of the road. The asphalt was wet and slippery, what made it impossible for her to regain control.

----------

Lysimachus

Being a Nighthunter for at least 10 years, Katherine was very cautious of her steps. Knowing this, Lysimachus couldn't raise any suspicions, he needed to act naturally.

If he couldn't get her to speak, he needed to take extreme measures. He offered her to spend the night at his apartment, until she found a place to stay.

"It can be dangerous," he said. "A Nighthunter alone in New York City. Some vampires may feel threatened and attack you."

"Oh really?"

With a mischievous smirk, Katherine exhibited her skills. In one stunt, she pinned him against the wall and pointed a sharp stake directly to his heart.

"I mean it, Katherine. You never know what Clan leaders are capable of. They can be a bunch of snakes when it comes to their interests."

"Does that include you?"

"Why are you asking?"

"You were so gentle to invite me to your place, when you're on thin ice with the Council," she pressed the stake a little harder, almost perforating his chest. "I've done my research about you in the past, you're a vampire with psychic abilities. You're going to erase my memories."

"I would never," Lysimachus told, placing his hands on her shoulders. "I just want to talk. About your employee."

Katherine finally released him.

"I know nothing about them."

"Not even a name, or a gender?"

"The person I spoke on the phone, it was a man. He had an accent... Greek maybe."

Considering how tired she had been, after a shower, it didn't take long for Katherine to fall into a deep sleep. Lysimachus carefully took her laptop from her baggage and started to investigate.

First, he tried to trace the money back to its sender. It took him to a bank in Prague. Then, he tried Katherine's cell phone. Anonymous number.

They'd certainly call again, and all he had to do was to make sure he'd listen to the conversation.

"I'm so sorry, Katherine," he tapped both of her devices. "It's for your own good."

After placing everything back in place, he waited. He laid on the couch and pretended to be asleep. There was a lot on his mind at the moment. Besides his problems with the Council, Kamilah had sent him a message. Amy's father was going through something bad.

Maybe he was tired, or only paranoid, but living for over 2000 years and having psychic skills, he knew when something dark and dangerous was approaching. And that was what his senses were alerting him of right now.

"I should call Kamilah to check if everything's fine," Lysimachus thought.

As he grabbed his phone, Katherine's started ringing in the bedroom. He went to the kitchen and secretly listened to the conversation.

"Raines thought he was in possession of the First Vampire's body, but DNA tests proved him wrong," she told her employee.

"Right..." the male voice paused at the other side of the line. "What about the research?"

"I've had access to the results. He also presented them to me during my visit. So far, he has obtained positive results for a serum to cure Ferals and to make vampires walk in the sunlight."

"Has he considered ingesting the blood himself?"

"No. He told me it would be too dangerous."

"Is it safe in his laboratory?"

"I suppose it is, but..." Katherine paused. "Now the information is in the hands of the infamous Council Of New York, I wouldn't trust them. Especially Priya Lacroix."

"I see. I'm going to New York to observe closer," the man told. "I expect to meet you."

"Sure."

Lysimachus opened his laptop. Another anonymous, untraceable call. At least now he knew the man was coming for them. After getting the date, time and address, Katherine could be debriefed and he'd assure her safety.

----------

Amy

Amy stood paralyzed and nauseous as the car finally stopped, colliding with a tree. All her surroundings were spinning, her head ached intensely and she was unable to even think. What the hell happened? The last thing she remembered was the mysterious figure standing in the middle of the road.

“Amy,” she looked at Kamilah on the driver’s seat. There was some blood leaking from small, shallow cuts on her skin that were already healing. “Are you alright? You’ve received most of the impact.”

“I… I…” after a moment, her pain was gone. As well as her dizziness. “I think I am.”

“There’s a cut on your forehead. Let me heal it.”

Kamilah pricked her finger and pressed some blood on her wound.

“Did you hit your head?” She asked.

“Yeah, but it was nothing. I feel fine.”

“Anyways, we better ask a CT scan once we arrive at the hospital.”

Kamilah dialed a number where she ordered a service to pick them up and later, collect her damaged vehicle from the woods.

“Shouldn’t we return to New York?” Amy asked, following her wife back to the road.

“We’re half-way to your hometown,” Kamilah said. “If you’re okay, seeing your father is still our priority. Right?”

Amy nodded, still feeling upset due to her early behavior. Her body was sore from the collision and now the rain was soaking her clothes, she was also shivering in cold. Noticing it, Kamilah took off her own jacket and wore it around her shoulders.

“I’m so sorry,” she told, starting to cry again. “What have I done? I must be really going crazy."

Kamilah stopped and involved her in a comforting hug.

“That’s okay,” she kissed Amy’s forehead. “What happened, Amy? Back in the car?”

“I saw a woman standing in the middle of the road.”

“A woman?”

“Like one of those freaky horror movies Lily likes. She... she was a vampire. I saw her red eyes. And there was blood over her clothes too."

Amy knew the look on Kamilah's face. She didn't think she was crazy, she was intrigued. 

"We'll investigate further when we get home. You're not going crazy, trust me."

She wrapped her arms around Amy's waist and quickly pulled them out of the woods using her advanced speed, what made Amy feel nauseous again. Only a few minutes later, a driver arrived to pick them up. For the rest of the trip, Amy's mind could only try to remember the woman. Her features, her clothes, her hair... she seemed so familiar, but at the same time so strange.

In the hospital, her family was in the waiting room. Her father was submitted to surgical procedure. Her mother came to meet them and quickly panicked, noticing how bad they both looked.

"I told her we should find a doctor and ask for a CT scan," Kamilah said. "She's hit her head."

"Kamilah is right, Amy. Come with me, I'll help you to find someone."

Amy didn't know which of the two women standing in front of her was the most overprotective.

"It was nothing," Amy insisted. "I'm okay. Just a little bit tired. I'm gonna... I'm gonna wash my face."

In truth, she just wanted to be alone for a moment to think about on everything that was happening. She looked at her reflection in the mirror. She was a complete mess. Her make-up was completely ruined by tears and rain. There was still some dry blood on her face and hair from the injury Kamilah healed.

"Oh my god. Disgusting!"

She applied some cold water on her face, to clean herself and hoping it'd relieve some of the exhaustion she was feeling. She needed to stay up for her dad. She needed to be there when he was out of surgery. She just needed to see him. That was why she desperately wanted to be there, wasn't it?

Turning off the water, Amy looked at the mirror again. There she was, standing right behind her. The same woman from the road. Glowing red eyes, exposed fangs and blood all over her vests. And she was smiling at her. 

She tried to scream but no sound would come out. Her legs were becoming too weak, forcing her down on her knees. All the intense pain she felt after the accident had returned. She still tried to reach for the phone in her pocket and text Kamilah, but she had no strength.

Instead, a vision started to form in front of her. She saw that woman and all the pain she experienced from finding out her husband and daughter were dead.

"I-I'm sorry..." she tried to speak. The woman couldn't hear it. It was just a vision, an hallucination. Strangely, she felt deeply connected to it somehow.

Amy closed her eyes, attempting to return to reality. The smell of blood seemed real. It wouldn't go away. Opening her eyes again, she noticed she was in another vision. 

The penthouse she lived with Kamilah was completely dark. It looked a little bit different, the furniture, the decoration. She grabbed a framed picture she found at the office. From an important event they were supposed to attend in only a few days.

"W-What... A-Am I seeing the future now?"

She heard a muffled sob coming from the master suite. She ran as fast as she could and opened the door. Kamilah was lying on the floor and she was severely wounded. 

"Kamilah!" Amy yelled, taking her in her arms. "What happened? Talk to me."

"Amy, I always knew it..." she struggled to answer. "I always knew you'd be my ruin. I always knew you'd be my death. I fell right into your trap and you know what? I don't regret it. Not even for a second."

A hint of a smile appeared on her lips, before she started coughing blood. Amy began to cry. It had to be a manner to save her.

"N-No. I'd never do anything to hurt you. I love you!"

Before she could do anything, she saw her again. The woman. She streaked forward and in a blink of an eye she extracted Kamilah's heart. Crushing it with her own hand.

Amy felt like her own heart was being crushed too. She couldn't breath. She couldn't stop the pain. 

The world spun around again and she was back at the bathroom. But not for too long. Soon, the world around her faded and everything became darkness.

----------

Kamilah

Outside the hospital, Kamilah grabbed her phone to call her brother. Adrian already had a lot of trouble in hands with that Nighthunter breathing on his neck. Venting her problems on him felt too selfish.

She sighed at the picture on her screen. The one from their trip to the ski resort. She and Amy looked perfectly happy, and now, everything seemed to be falling apart again. 

She also noticed the date. It was their first wedding anniversary.

"What a way to celebrate it."

At least Lysimachus had found out some good information about Katherine's employee. He authorized her to ask Serafine to erase her mind and then, he'd be attending the meeting in her place.

"What about you, sister?" He asked. "Your voice seems strange."

"It's Amy. I'm worried about her, but..." she sensed Amy's mother coming in her direction. "I'll talk to you in person, when we arrive."

"Okay."

He was ready to hang up, but she stopped him.

"Brother, wait. Do you think it's possible for a deceased person to be linked to a living person's mind, like a parasite? Using them, feeding off from the emotions and creating visions and thoughts?"

"I... Uhhhh..." he thought for a second before answering. "I haven't seen anything like this before, but I can make a research."

She hung up and Amy's mother came to tell her the news. Her husband was completely fine. The surgery was a complete success. Minor than they assumed at first. The doctors could barely believe he had a heart attack so recently.

"They said 'if you told somebody else, they'd say you're inventing things', the exams and symptoms indicated a heart attack, but his heart is so strong and healthy. It almost seems like he played a prank on us."

Inventing things. Playing a prank. Illusions. No. It couldn't be. That entire situation was forced. She played all them like puppets and they fell for it.

"Mrs. Parker," the realization made Kamilah's voice crack. She hadn't seen Amy for almost 20 minutes now. "W-Where is Amy?"

"I thought she was here with you. She wasn't in the waiting room."

She didn't care what mortals would think. Using her supernatural speed, she needed to reach Amy as faster as possible. Kamilah opened the bathroom's door in a slam. 

"A-Amy..." she felt her heart tightening inside her chest, like if it was about to explode. 

Her wife was lying on the floor unconscious. She kneeled right beside her, to confirm what her hearing was detecting. A weak, almost inexistent pulsation. Having lived for so long and watching so many mortals die, she briefly examined Amy to conclude she had a grave brain injury in the collision. She knew the human body enough to know she'd hardly survive that.

The door opened and she didn't even had to turn around to know it was Amy's mother. She could sense her desperation and hear her muffled crying. Yet, she wasn't able to act. She stood frozen in place, with Amy in her arms, watching as life left her body.

"Do something!" Mrs. Parker grabbed her by the shoulders and shook her hard, making her come back to reality. "Y-You promised it... You said you'd protect her!"

"B-But..." at that stage, only Turning Amy was an option. There was no other manner to save her life.

"Do what you have to do! I know what you are."

Kamilah nodded in agreement as her fangs opened a large gash on her wrist. She placed it inside Amy's mouth, letting the blood flow down her throat. 

She could feel it when her heart stopped beating and she exhaled one last breath. It was the worst feeling in the world. Kamilah felt empty and alone. She wanted to cry, to scream, even knowing that soon her wife would slowly come back to life.

That could only be another attempt of the First Vampire to end Amy's life to regain hers back.

But she failed. Kamilah found her in time. Time enough to Turn her. She'd live. At the first signal her body was beginning to react to the transformation, a small smile appeared in the corners of Kamilah's lips. She sighed relieved.

"Is the going to be okay?" Amy's mother asked, still watching everything.

"Most likely, yes," the female vampire answered. "There's still some procedures I must perform, to guarantee a successful Turning. The next six hours are crucial."

The woman tossed Kamilah her car keys.

"Go. I'm only begging you, save my daughter."

Kamilah nodded again. Without being noticed, she rushed outside the hospital carrying Amy in her arms. She placed her inside the trunk, where she'd be confined in a small space and away from any sources of light.

At the same time she started driving, she also dialed Adrian's number.

"Adrian, prepare the basement. I'll be there as soon as possible. We've got a problem."

[southparkrpg]

TAKEN CHARACTER: BUTTERS STOTCH!!

Howdy, partner! Welcome to SOUTHPARKRPG. Please find the accepted application for LEOPOLD “BUTTERS” STOTCH below:

OUT OF CHARACTER:

Name/alias: Emma ( admin )

Age: 24

Pronouns: She/her

Triggers: ( removed )

IN CHARACTER (TRIGGER WARNING: PARENTAL ABUSE THROUGHOUT):

Name: Leopold “Butters” Stotch

Age: 19 (September 11, 2000)

Gender ( pronouns ): Male (he/him). Butters has a very fluid view of gender but isn’t educated on the terminology, nor confident enough to explore it whilst under Linda and Stephen’s roof.

Living situation:  Living with parents. Butters isn’t just trapped in South Park, he’s trapped in adolescence. As assumedly the last ‘kid’ left with a bedtime, Butters still suffers with parental restrictions on his web-access, daily chores, and regular groundings for evading any of prior mentioned limitations to growing up.

Occupation: Mailman! What better job for a growing boy than one that gets him up at sunrise, guarantees exercise, and allows his parents to snoop for town gossip. Outside of this, Butters is allowed to study for a degree part-time (completing three-years later than his friends) if he continues to work, abides by his parents’ regime, and doesn’t get any “funny, liberal ideas” whilst on campus. He’s majoring in Music and Drama, and was thoroughly shocked when his parents approved an arts course instead of something more practical. In truth, his parents have an ulterior motive because, “honey, no-one’s going to hire someone with a Music and Drama degree. Butters will stay right here.”

Sexuality: Pansexual. Butters has gone from confused to confident in his sexuality – it’s one of few things he feels comfortable asserting (whether that be to authority or his friends). He don’t see nothing wrong with someone loving whoever the fudge they want. 

PERSONALITY:

Self-critical: it’s no wonder that, after years of being told he’s not good enough, Butters believes it. He often whispers insults to himself as he works, affirming the notion that he’s a “no good lazybones who ain’t getting nowhere in life.” This constant self-deprecation means that Butters is incredibly studious, always volunteering for extra credit projects: one, because it ain’t right to say no when someone asks for help and, two, because he needs to be at the top of the class or face the consequences at home.   Naïve: whilst academically intelligent because of his work-ethic, and surprisingly wise beyond his years, Butters’ stubborn optimism and good-heart mean that he is easily manipulated into helping with malicious schemes or baited into danger. He’s programmed to believe the best in people, despite years of evidence to the contrary, and is always disappointed (but ever-forgiving) when he’s proven wrong.   Caring: the world should have hardened Butters, but instead if made him kind blah, blah, blah. Sometimes his kindness is aggressive, shouting at unjust nastiness. Most of the time it’s in the little gestures; a blanket around your shoulder, a cup of soup in your hands, and a happy tune to cheer you up.   Innocent: Butters has seen some shit. He’s been a pimp, a pirate, (tw: eye trauma) maimed by a shuriken and wondered through post-apocalyptic Earth. Despite this, innocence still sticks to him like a band-aid over immoral wounds. He knows a fair amount of curse words but will rarely say ‘em, preferring a “heck” or a hamburgers” unless the moment really calls for it. He’s seen porn, he’s seen war, but he remains altogether kinda clueless to how the world works.   Assertive: whist Butters’ other traits suggest a complete walkover, this isn’t the case. Once he’s got a (usually wrong) opinion in mind, it’ll take a lot for Butters to cool his righteous fury. As a kid, this frequently made him the antagonist in South Park’s many moral conundrums, i.e. Chaos. He’s better now – more aware of the evils of the world– but he’s still easily swayed into stupid beliefs and unwilling to let them go without a fight.

BIO:

Butters had tough time growing up, but his sunny disposition might trick you into thinking otherwise. Fuelled by naïve optimism and a stubborn trust in the well-meaning of those around him, he frequently found himself suffering at the hands of his friends’ money-making schemes, his parents’ manipulative whims, and a pawn to the powers-that-be. This has left him physically and mentally scarred, (tw: eye trauma) the most prominent being a slice down his left eye. Despite this, Butters can’t hold a grudge for very long – even when viciously empowered to a cause. Forgiving, forgetting and then being fooled again is his daily routine, particularly with his parents, Linda and Stephen Stotch. Linda and Stephen are not good people, though they – and consequently Butters – believe their actions justified by love. Unjust groundings, suffocating rules and curfews, as well as an actual bonified murder attempt have left Butters with a rotting self-esteem, immature world-view and corruptible innocence.

Nowadays, Butters is a little older, a little wiser, and a lot more whimsical about the world outside his bedroom window. He still has a curfew (10pm on weekdays, 12am weekends) which, if he breaks, means sleeping in the back garden. He has a strict study schedule designed around doing the dishes, washing the car and shining his dad’s shoes. Worst, his internet and phone are heavily restricted and constantly monitored. Still, his morning mailman duties – singing with the birds, saying howdy to his neighbours and getting to stretch his legs in the rising sun – keep his spirits lifted and his tushy firm! Being able to study music and drama, as well as engaging with his other creative hobbies, distract Butters from his crippling self-doubt and life-long barriers. Just like Rapunzel, he knows escape is on the horizon: he just needs to get the god-damn balls to do somethin’ bout it.

 HEADCANONS:

Butters loves mom memes (and I mean really awful mom memes). He will absolutely overshare minion, impact-font, family-humour photos online to the point where it’s lost all possible irony.

He also loves to bake! His dream is to open his own bakery in South Park one day, filled with personalised cupcakes, ice cream cakes, and hot cocoa towers. 

Butters is a man of many talents! He’s sworn off tap-dance for good, but he’s big into musical theatre, writing, drawing, baking, gardening - anything creative to improve himself and the world around him.

He definitely still makes up his own lil tunes and hums them as he goes about his mailman duties. 

In short: I love Butters Stotch.

[electrogeek95-blog]

[Opinion] The Cyber Effect : Gaming Freak Outs – An unacceptable bias (Mirror from electrogeek95.wordpress.com)

I am reading this book right now: The Cyber Effect written by Cyber-psychologist Dr. Mary Aiken.

As a Software Developer and an internet enthusiast, this is a book that goes pretty much biased against my profession and field of interest In fact, in the very first chapter, it kind of prides itself on its bias. However, I decided to read it nonetheless – it’s important to get to know a view outside (in this case, opposed) to the bubble of your life and your life’s interest.

While I found a lot of deliberate opinions and facts during the course of my reading, the nature of their bias was moderate at most. However, I reached a section which broke that barrier pretty blatantly.

It is titled “Gaming Freak Outs”. Depending on your version of the book (and variety of print), you can find that section on page 77.

The section begins with an example of a blonde German boy. A gamer, whose recording of an intense freak out was posted on a popular YouTube channel – Gaming Freak Outs. Long story short, that boy was hitting his keyboard and shouting at the game during the course of his play. As the author rightly points out, he is freaking out because the game is going rather poorly. The author uses the example to accentuate in further paragraphs that these ‘all-engrossing online/multiplayer games’ make gamers distressed and often more focused on success in-game rather than adhering to real life obligations, unless, to the gamer’s dismay or anger, interrupted by a sibling or elder. Especially for children at a very impressionable age.

While this is true for online games, this is true for any kind of game – be it sports outside, indoor sports, or night outs with friends. These days, interactions with players in online games have more or less replaced interactions with boys/girls in the neighborhood playground. But even when they were popular, children used to get irritated when called back home or given strict time deadlines by their parents. These characteristics, while I agree have been amplified by the addictive nature and minimal physical fatigue of online games, are not something new. My complaint with the author here is not her description of the amplitude of this issue, but rather her subtle indication of these phenomena as a creation of online games.

In the last sentence of the next paragraph, the author writes – There are many videos of small children, under nine, shouting words they shouldn’t know yet while being pulled away from violent shooting games like Call of Duty, which they shouldn’t be playing. I was a bit surprised here as popular Call of Duty Multi-player titles such as Modern Warfare (I don’t know which edition the author is referring to as she doesn’t mention the video or the specific edition of the game) usually have a PEGI rating of 16+ or 18+ and are rated as mature. So the question to ask is: how is an under nine year old granted access to this game? If you expose a nine year old to a multi-player game meant for adults, is it any surprise that s/he will learn words that “they shouldn’t know yet”? Is the problem here the game itself, or the guardian’s lack of proper internet monitoring for their child? It is surprising that a cyber-psychologist is speaking like a mother who doesn’t know too much about this multiplayer game thingy or the internet.

The author continues in further paragraphs to make the point that these freak outs cruelly recorded by people who are supposedly “loved ones” and “friends” of the gamer, are posted online. The author says that the gamer will be possibly humiliated for the rest of his life over this video posted online. This didn’t happen when “sore loser” kids used to play outside. Their wounds were soothed and there was no record of the incident anywhere. But now these videos are forever on the internet – privy to multiple uses for repeated humiliation of the gamer in question.

Here let me ask you this question: How many of these videos really go viral? I agree that in its initial phases, these videos were far and few. However, over the years, with the rapid expansion of the internet, so many of these videos are uploaded every day that ‘that video of Klaud freaking out in CS:GO’ gets lost in a sea of similar videos. Maybe it lies in the consciousness of the people for a while, but then it, is erased away. Besides, considering YouTube and it’s super broken and exploitable system of copyright take down of videos, such videos can be easily taken down with a take-down request by the subject of ridicule. In some cases, the “victim” even accepts the video as a little joke and laughs it off (I stay neutral with this attitude though: some people are more sensitive about their image than others and that is not wrong). After all, the best way to kill a joke on you is to participate in it and laugh at yourself.

Plus, these “supposed loved ones” recording these freak outs is a very similar phenomenon to the videos of fails going on shows like “America’s Funniest Videos” and the similar shows (even channels on YouTube). It’s not cruel, it’s just different from what the author is used to.

After I had read this section, I had to write about it. It ignores so many aspects of such a complicated and nuanced subject and, I believe, is a little above the acceptable level of bias.

The author does make quite a few valid points and does point out problems of the gaming culture. But she also makes a lot of blatantly opinionated and biased observations without delving in deep into the issue. Not that I have done a good job of the same, but at least I scratched the surface of both sides of topic – the reason I wrote this is because I believe she failed to do even that minimal level of analysis.

[foxtrot91]

I have some thoughts on this that may not jive with others here but I’m posting them anyway.

Look, there is a reason major tech CEOs are extremely cautious about allowing their children access to tablets and other forms of technology and heavily monitor that access. And if you look at any major studies done into this issue, the science backs it up, unlimited access to tech and social media use is not good for children, period.

And honestly, as someone who works in elementary schools as an educational assistant and is currently working towards their teaching degree, I’ve seen first hand the damage this shit can do. As for this specific case, we don’t know for certain that her mother didn’t speak to her and try to reason with her about these things, she very well may have, but in all honesty, and I even include my 14 year old self in this, young teenagers are not the most rational when it comes to this. We don’t understand long-term consequences at that age, our brain just hasn’t developed enough at that point and that’s why we still need to be parented at that age.

I read this and see 1.7 million followers at 14 and immediately consider this a big cause for concern. That kind of exposure at 14 is insane and not even remotely healthy. This isn’t about how hard she worked to get there - if anything I’m concerned about what kind of content got her to this point, particularly in a culture that tends to sexualize younger and younger teens. I work in elementary schools, and we’ve had to deal with children as young as ten going to the bathroom and taking nudes to send out on Instagram. I’m not kidding, there was a board-wide staff meeting about it and whether we as the adults could be held responsible despite the children doing this in bathrooms without our knowledge.

It’s not that these kids are stupid, it’s just that they don’t fully understand what they’re doing and they’re being preyed upon by adults who know better. And when children have the equivalent of a handheld computer with unlimited access to the internet from a young age, they can get into some seriously shady shit. It’s honestly not unheard of to find children on pornhub on their phones and you may be thinking “not my kid” but if you hand your child a smartphone at age 9 and don’t think very much of it, I’m telling you it very well may be your kid one day.

I’ve never once heard a child psychologist or child development expert say that parents should be hands-off with their children in regards to technology. But I have heard the exact opposite, especially with how quickly that technology is evolving.

As a soon to be parent, I can’t say I wouldn’t have done the same. I simply would not be comfortable with my son or daughter, at 14 having an audience of even 100 people they don’t know, let alone 1.7 million. In the end, I am their parent, not their friend, and their safety is going to be my number one concern.

thisbis like good parenting tho