#I'm really sorry if your name is Sally I didn't mean to single you out you deserve equality too I just needed a random name

[secretgamergirl]

All people are equal... well, except for Sally of course.

I walked in late on a conversation somewhere on civil rights somewhere and this one sentence jumped out at me somewhere in it: "Neurodivergent queer computer engineers aren't being chemically castrated by the state in my country anymore." I always feel guilty quoting people at random like this, particularly when I agree with the overall point they're arguing, but the specific wording here really struck me because, well, I'm a neurodivergent queer computer engineer and I was totally chemically castrated by the state in my country. Now I'm not sure what country the person saying this lives in, but I don't think its true of any of them.

From context, this seems to be specifically referencing Alan Turing, for reasons I assume you know or can easily look up, and that would suggest we're talking about the U.K. and WOW is that country not an exception here. If I recall correctly there's at least one other country that will full on accept refugees from the U.K. with how badly they're persecuting queer people. And like, yeah, obviously what we're invoking here is a law, at the time, in the place, where being gay was illegal and this one cool nerd who wrecked Nazis' stuff accepted "chemical castration" in lieu of a prison sentence for it, and what I'm thinking about are the hoops trans people have to jump through getting medical treatments they don't need or want to get proper legal recognition and protections, but that's not comparing apples and oranges, that's comparing like... apples and red apples.

I have a larger point than this, but I'm gonna need to take you down a quick rabbit hole with me. I was just about to start going off about how "chemical castration" is a particularly emotionally charged term for testosterone blocking medication, then launch into how those get pushed on trans women to access a lot of medical treatments and rights even when they actively don't want them, and frankly they have really awful side effects for anyone taking them, at least at that dosage, and the more I look into things the more support I see for the idea that we should maybe just give trans femmes various estrogens and trust that if their T levels are too high they'll come down just from that, without having to deal with a powerful diuretic that trashes energy levels and causes other issues. But I like to be accurate, so I double checked, and holy crap what they actually forced Alan Turing to take was diethylstilbestrol. Functionally speaking, that's synthetic form of estrogen which used to be what they'd give trans women (and menopause sufferers, and everyone else who takes it) instead of estradiol, but stopped because it was kind of an extra strength version with more serious side-effects. So turns out, and I'm sorry, there's really no other way to put this- They force-femmed Alan Turing. That's far worse than what I thought he was put through and what I thought he was put through as already pretty monstrous.

But yeah, point still stands. While there's plenty of trans people who can't or don't want to get HRT, for all sorts of reasons (it not working on them, health risks for some people, the point I was going to make about T blockers making people feel awful, potential sexual performance and/or fertility issues, that stuff ain't free, the only options being to push the hormone sliders to absolute extremes of testosterone or estrogens at the exclusion of the other, which doubly sucks if you're nonbinary and actively avoiding that very choice, etc.) it's generally a formal requirement to go pretty hardcore with it for years before you can have anything else done, whether we're talking about other sorts of medical care, or basic legal recognition. Actual literal surgical-removal-of-gonads castration is also required for any sort of legal rights in decidedly more places than you'd think, and plenty of trans people would very much like to keep those before even getting into what an ordeal that sort of surgical procedure is to even access, if it's even possible for a given person.

So yeah, if you're looking at stuff specifically from the perspective of a cis guy who's gay or bi (or from any of the various demographics who'd never be in such a situation) you can look at what happened to Alan Turing, and go "wow what horrible bigotry-soaked times we used to live in. I couldn't even imagine that happening now. We sure have made some progress." And OK, sure, but like... seriously I personally know at least a hundred neurodivergent queer computer engineers who don't have to imagine that happening now, because it's an actual fact of life we really do have to live with, on top of this whole other thing where the horrible effects this had on Turing's body and mind being basically what all trans people have to live with for significant percentages of our lives jumping through hoops for decades to access what we need to correct weird endocrine issues causing that crap to happen "naturally."

Now I'd hope most of us would agree that this crap is horrific and nobody should have to do with it, with this big cognitive divide between people who sincerely believe nobody HAS had to deal with it for decades, because that's what they learned in school, and people who deal with it, and would very much like to stop doing so. And this causes big huge arguments between people demanding basic equality and people who don't comprehend that we don't actually have it and think people must be asking for something else... but you know, there's also bigots. Who not only don't agree that nobody should have to do with it, but were in the room when the sort of laws that ruined Alan Turing's life were struck down (or not actually struck down but we all agree not to enforce them, for now, until they gain enough power to start doing so without too much fear of reprisal), specifically digging in their heels to get some sort of weird compromise where OK they'll give up on making some of these people's lives a living hell, but only if some exception for some smaller group specifically gets carved out so they still have someone to bully and firmer grounds to rationalize it.

And the thing of it is, this pattern is all over the whole civil rights movement. And you know, legislation in general really. OK, we can have government health care for the ultra-poor, but only if we can really screw over people in SOME income bracket, and also sabotage the whole thing with weird arbitrary restrictions. We can give people financial aid, but we have to make the application and renewal processes a full time hell job with a ton of triggers that get it pulled, including getting their feet partway under them financially.

There's been a whole thing in the past 5 years where people are shedding light on how it's not really true that women in the U.S. were categorically given to vote when the 19th amendment passed, pointing out various sub-groups who still couldn't vote, and what sort of legal reforms it took for each to be able (and honestly, there's still plenty who can't for various reasons). And then we have further conversations on how it's not like all these loopholes weren't being discussed within the suffrage movent. People were quite aware, but white supremacists and people who wanted not to alienate white supremacists pushed to exclude all these other people and focus the whole movement on white women specifically.

And hey, speaking of amendments that didn't actually do what we're all taught they did, you ever actually read the 13th? Here's the actual wording:

"Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall exist within the United States, or any place subject to their jurisdiction."

That is a HELL of an exception in the middle there! Slavery is totally illegal... unless we send you to jail first. Oh by the way, we're hiring all these now out of work slave-catchers to work as cops and building more prisons than any other country in the world and having those prisoners do a bunch of manual labor for which the owners of those prisons get paid.

Anyway, the real obvious take away to all of this is that bigots will always cling to keeping some group of people they can kick around no matter what, and efforts to compromise with them will always involve sacrificing people to that sick desire, which is morally indefensible and should never been done.

The less obvious takeaway is that we all collectively turn a blind eye to that because we keep teaching these sanitized "arc of history bends ever towards freedom" success myths rather than be honest and point out how these exceptions get carved out. Pretty sure we'd be in a better place politically if we actually taught kids things like "so that slavery thing the civil war was fought over didn't even actually stop after that. It's still being done today even, because the horrifically evil pro-slavery managed to get this loophole carved out to keep doing it." Let's test my theory or something.

[reythenerdypisces]

things that I overlooked in PJO the first time / small, funny things I noticed during my reread

Part 4: The Battle of the Labyrinth

it's been way way way too long, I'm sorry, but I'm back with part 4 and part 5 will be uploaded by Monday!!

Whenever I thought about her [Rachel] (and I'm not saying I thought about her; she just like crossed my mind from time to time, okay?), ... this is after meeting her once!

She bared her fangs. I was so paralysed I couldn't move but Rachel through a snare drum at the empousa's head. Rachel is a beast with inanimate objects

We'd [Percy & Annabeth] fought together so many times we knew each other's moves. We could do this, easy.

Annabeth's hand slipped into mine. Under different circumstances I would've been embarrassed, but here in the dark I was glad to know where she was. It was about the only thing I was sure of. CUTEST

"I wouldn't have paid any attention except... well, it was Luke." She [Juniper] blushed a little greener. Grover huffed. "Forget what I said about good taste."

I stepped away from Annabeth. "We were just looking at maps," I said stupidly. Malcolm stared at me. "Okay."

"Percy, the spider's getting away. Do you really want me to explain the exact details of how I was born?" "Umm...no. That's okay."

Annabeth glared at me like she was going to punch me. Then she did something that surprised me even more. [...] I probably would've sat there for the rest of the day, staring at the lava and trying to remember what my name was, but the sea demons jarred me back to reality.

"They sent you to me, my brave one, knowing that you would break my heart." "But... I'm just... I mean, I'm just me." Percy has everyone in love with him and he still asks 'me?'

For the rest of my life I would always be thinking about her [Calypso]. She would always be my biggest what if. must be weird now that she's back and with Leo

"He was probably the bravest friend I've ever had. He..." Then she saw me. Her face went blood red. "He's right there!" then cut to: "You are the single most annoying person I have ever met!" And she stormed out of the room. I stared at the doorway. I felt like hitting something. "So much for being the bravest friend she's ever had."

Without waiting for us to protest, he picked up Annabeth and me as easily as if we were kittens, slung us both on his back, and galloped off towards the Big House. picturing this is hilarious

I left him in his wheelchair, staring sadly into the fireplace. I wondered how many times he'd sat here, waiting for heroes that never came back. ouch

Annabeth laughed. It was the first time, I'd heard her laugh in a long time. It was nice to hear.

The number had washed off my hand a long time ago, but that was ok. Without meaning to, I'd memorised it. he memorised Rachel's number!

How could this be a temple for my dad? My dad was a nice guy. He'd never asked me for a Father's Day card much less somebody's skull.

Ethan sneered. "There's no right side. The gods never cared about us. Why shouldn't I-" "Sign up with an army that makes you fight to death for entertainment?" Annabeth said. "Gee, I wonder." I love annabeth so so much

"Ow!" He yelled. For a moment it was only Luke's voice, full of surprise and pain. :(

Paul scratched his beard. "I don't know if it's permission, so much, but she's your mother. And I know you're going through a lot. I wouldn't feel right if I didn't talk to you about it first, man to man." [...] I thought about Paul and my mom, how she smiled and laughed more whenever he was around, and how Paul had gone out of his way to get me into high school. I found myself saying, "I think that's a great idea, Paul. Go for it." Sally and Paul are so wholesome

"And you Percy, are my favourite son." He [Poseidon] smiled, and at that moment, just being with him in the kitchen with him was the best birthday present I ever got.

the last olympian is left! on Monday, I promise :) let me know if you want the series to continue into heroes of Olympus, I'm really enjoying my reread

[imaginedilestrade]

Valentine's.

"What are those?" You raised a brow at the flowers on your desk.

"Those are flowers...the things with petals and they small nice, you sometimes find them in a garden..." Anderson sarcastically muttered.

You rolled your eyes and bopped him on the head with a file you had in your hand "I know what flowers are smart arse! What are they doing on my desk? Did someone leave them for Sally?"

Anderson shook his head "Nope...they're yours from a secret admirer..." he wiggles his brows.

You narrowed your eyes "It better not be you winding me up!"

"It's really not!" He defended "I don't know who left them, they were on your desk this morning when I came in." You looked back and forth from Anderson to be beautiful bunch of flowers whilst you removed your jacket and hung it over your chair. You moved them to a spot on the floor beside the desk. "It's strange...sunflowers aren't usually associated with Valentine's," Anderson uttered as he tapped away on his keyboard.

You looked down at the flowers, baffled, yet the corners of your mouth were tugging upwards "They're my favourite.. you quietly admitted before your eyebrows knitted together "But I've never told anyone they're my favourite, so how does this person know?"

Anderson simply shrugged "Maybe you did tell someone and they've either a) blabbed or b) it could be the person you've told..." Anderson wiggled his brows and you glared at him through your eyelashes.

"It doesn't matter, just someone being nice. I don't do Valentine's anyway..." you began to type up a report and Anderson sniggered in his seat "What?" You narrowed an eye.

"You don't do Valentine's because in all the years I've known you, you've never had one! Come on Y/N, do you have any plans for tonight?"

You sighed as you typed, not taking your eyes away from the computer screen "Well apart from me taking a long romantic stroll up the wine aisle and then the aisle with all the chocolate at the supermarket...no."

You could hear Anderson half groan half laugh "Why don't you put those police skills to use and figure out who your admirer is?" You glanced down to the sunflowers again and pondered over Anderson's comment.

"No."

Anderson blinked at your deadpanned reply before letting out a dramatic sigh. He sighed again, even louder and then again, trying to capture your attention.

"I'm trying to focus..." you warned him with a deadly look "I don't have the time to find this person!"

"There's always time lurveeeeeeeeeeee!" He teased and you flung a pen at him, he caught it with a loud clap "I want to know who it is too!"

"I'm going for lunch..." you uttered and saved the file on the computer before shutting it down. You grabbed the rest of your things and looked down at the sunflowers again...not knowing who left them was slowly starting to eat away at you. "I'm going to drop in and see Sherlock and John before getting my usual at Speedy's for lunch. Do you want anything?"

"I want to know who your admirer is!" He stood up and practically shouted it across the office. Everyone stopped what they were doing and looked at the pair of you.

Your face burned from blushing so much "You are so lucky I don't have my gun on me right now because I'd use it on you..." you gritted your teeth at Anderson who sheepishly smiled. You grabbed your things and left.

"Hey," you walked into the flat and found Sherlock perched on his chair and on his phone texting away "Where's John?" You noticed the doctor's absence.

"Picking Rosie up from nursery...why are you here?" He muttered and you rolled your eyes, plopping yourself down on John's chair.

"Well it's nice to see you too! You know I pop in every afternoon before I go to lunch to see my favourite cousin!"

He looked up to you with a smirk "I'm your favourite?"

You gruntled "Don't tell Myc." Glancing around the living room you noticed a stack of unsolved cases building up on the fireplace "You taking a break?"

Sherlock rolled his eyes and stood up, making his way over to the stack of letters and papers and ran a finger through them all "I'm waiting until your finished with your current case. You know I only like working with you. Although I don't know why you work at Scotland Yard, you could do so much better."

"I enjoy it," you craned your neck to look at him "Plus I get flowers..." you added, smiling to yourself. It quickly disappeared when Sherlock caught you and raised a brow.

Before he could open his mouth to interrogate you, someone entered the living room with a tray carrying a teapot, cups, milk, sugar and biscuits "Ooh oh! Only me! Y/N!" Mrs Hudson cooed "Its so lovely to see you, tea?"

"No thank you, Mrs Hudson. I'm just popping down to the cafe to have some lunch. My break doesn't last forever!" You laughed and stood up.

"You've just missed G-" Mrs Hudson but herself off when she spotted Sherlock sending her a conspicuous glare, one that you didn't notice. She cleared her throat before continuing "-John!" She almost yelled out his name "Yes he's just away not that long ago."

"Right..." you politely smiled "Well I have to be off, see you both later!"

"Have a wonderful Valentine's Day Y/N!" Mrs Hudson grinned just as you headed towards the door. You tightly shut your eyes before groaning out a strained 'Thanks'. She giggled to herself "Oh Frank and I had wild Valentine's days...he'd do this thing where he was-"

You quickly cut her off "-Got to go!" You sent a single wave to the both of them, Sherlock was starting to grimace on his seat as Mrs Hudson continued.

You stepped into Speedy's and were instantly hit with the smell of coffee. The cafe was covered with bright red hearts and filled with couples holding hands and lovingly gazing at one another.

You made your way to the counter and just as you were about to place your order the waitress held her hand up with a smile "It's already taken care of, just take a seat."

You raised a brow "W-what do you mean?" You asked as she came around from behind the bar and took you to a table that had a single sunflower on it and a little package wrapped in brown paper and tied with red string with a heart gift tag attached to it "What is this?" You breathed out, too flabbergasted to speak more than three words.

"Courtesy of your admirer," the waitress coyly smiled "I'll be right back with your lunch." She walked away and left you more confused than ever. You slowly sat down in the chair and read the tag on the package 'Open this book and you will find, the reason why you have made me lost my mind.' You let out a small laugh and tore the paper off a journal of some sort. You looked at the plain cover with a furrowed brow before you opened it inside. You gasped to yourself finding the pages bursting with little drawings, hearts, poems and a list on the second page with the title 'Reasons why I can't get you out of my mind'. With each word you read your smile grew;

'•Your smile.

•Your laugh.

•The days you smell of strawberries because you've brought those flavour of sweets into the office.

•The days when you're proud of yourself for closing a case (I'm proud of you too.)'

You felt your heart flutter, you shut the book over with a soft thud as the waitress came with your lunch. "Can you tell me who it was who left this?"

She sadly smiled "They told me to keep it a secret, I'm sorry." She walked off and you let out a sigh, brushing your fingers over the cover as you tried to deduce who it was.

"I can't believe I'm saying this but Anderson," his head popped up from behind his computer screen and he turned the radio he was listening to down a little. You let out a defeated sigh "I need your help finding out who my admirer is."

"Yes!" He ecstatically stood up and swivelled his chair around to sit next to you. He soon got into detective mode "They left you that too?" He pointed to the book and you handed it over to him, even if it felt like handing him a piece of your soul. "It's interesting that they've typed everything and then glued the bits of paper in so you can't figure who it is by their handwriting..." he thought aloud "Have you made a list?"

"Not yet," you uttered before grabbing some paper and a pen "Okay, we'll start with this floor...let me see....there's Jackson, Daniels, Williamson, Samuels, Anderson," you playfully glared at him beside you before he tutted, took the pen and scribbled his name out. "Uhh...there's Hunter and Peters too-"

"Don't forget Lestrade," Anderson interjected.

You looked up and furrowed a brow at Anderson "Do you really think so?" You asked in a hushed tone.

"Why not?" He shrugged. Your eyes flickered up to Greg and you gulped before writing down his surname and a trembling hand. "Why are you so shaky?" Anderson asked and you shook your head. It hit him and he smiled widely "You like him don't you?"

"Shut up."

"Do you want it to be him who's done all this?"

"I don't know! Maybe?" Anderson sent you a knowing look and you let out a groan "Alright yes! Yes I like Greg and yes I want him to be the one who's responsible for this, but what if it's not?" Anderson blinked once and then twice, realising that you had a point.

The pair of you peered over your computer monitor and looked at Greg who was on the phone in his office. He looked over and saw the two of you staring, you and Anderson quickly sat back down again looked at each other. The radio was still playing in the background, the host was playing Valentine's requests.

"This next one is for Y/N Y/L/N!" The radio cackled and you looked at Anderson in shock, although he was as equally as shocked. "Apparently this is the only love song she likes..." he laughed "'It must be love' by Madness."

You turned to Anderson and a smile slowly formed on your face "It's true..." you whispered to Anderson "It's the only one I like. But again, I've never told anyone. How do they know?"

"I can ask about, see if anyone knows anything?" You nodded and he dashed away. You reached over to turn up the radio a little before sitting back down in your seat and smiling to yourself.

The rest of the day dragged in, you barely saw Anderson as he was busy trying to get to the bottom of who was your admirer.

"It's alright," you assured with a disappointed smile "Thanks for the help though." You gave him a quick hug before putting on your jacket and flinging your bag over your shoulder.

"No problem, I hope you find out. Have a nice night, Y/N."

"You too!" You picked up your flowers and left.

On the way back home, you stopped off at the small shops at your house to pick up some shopping. A worker smirked seeing you with the biggest bunch of sunflowers in the world in your arms.

"Someone was lucky!" They winked and nodded towards the flowers.

You smiled "If only I knew who they were from!" Making your way down an aisle, you reached your hand out to grab a pizza for yourself when you froze seeing a note on top of the box of your usual choice. 'Dinner's ready, Y/N. You better hurry home.'

You ran as fast as you could out of the shop and down he street to your flat. A light was on and you look in a deep breath before rushing into the stairwell and practically leaping up the stairs.

You stood outside your door for a moment, a million thoughts running though your head, nerves creating a knot in your stomach, trembling fingers...you had to compose yourself.

Lightly pushing on your door, it opened and you felt tears welling in your eyes seeing your flat beautifully decorated with flowers, candles, hearts cut out of red paper and a trail of rose petals leading to your living room. You placed down your bag and flowers on the long table by your door and then took off your coat. You walked though to the living room slowly and felt the air leave your lungs within less than a second.

"Greg?"

The Di bashfully smiled and guiltily held his hands up. You reached your hand out as you walked towards him, relieved when it pressed against his chest and knowing that he was there and he was real.

"Happy Valentine's Day, Y/N."

You let out a watery laugh and wiped away a stray tear with the back of your hand. You leaped into his arms and he spun you in a circle "I can't believe you did all this for me."

"Why wouldn't I?" You both pulled back at the same time but were drawn together again like a pair of magnets, your lips crashing together. You finally thanked your admirer for all the wonderful little gifts he had gave you throughout the day.

You pulled back, both of you smiling so wide that your cheeks ached "How did you know? How did you know everything? The flowers, the song...how did you know all of that?"

Three weeks earlier...

"And you're sure? 100% sure?" Greg asked as he took down notes.

"I'm positive...I know that her favourite flowers are sunflowers, she always goes to Speedy's for lunch. Always. I also know that 'It must be love' by Madness is the only love song on the planet she likes. I've heard her bang on about it so much that it once almost made my ears bleed and I know that every Wednesday after work she goes to the shop beside her house to pick up dinner which is always cheese pizza."

Greg nodded and scribbled down everything "Okay. Thanks Sherlock."

Greg looked off into the distance before looking down at you again, innocently ignoring your questions with a smile before pecking your lips "Dinner's getting cold!"

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

Happy Valentine's Day everyone! I hope you've all had a lovely day 😁❤️

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