#guess whose getting them in a campaign!!

[galacticsabc]

The Phantom Express Warlock's Form of Dread

[longroadstonowhere]

so

i’m playing a knowledge cleric in my dnd campaign, and the religion we’re using is a really loose structure, half teacher half librarian kinda vibe (and yes i decided to play this character before the library school thing happened), but clerics are something a little extra than just a follower of a religion, right? like, you get your magic powers from your god, so i figure there’s something more happening there for whatever cleric you play

but me, i’m not one for pages and pages of backstory, i’ll figure things out while i’m playing but i mostly just give myself sketches and outlines to work off of, so i present my dm with ‘i had a dream that god told me to look for something, but i don’t remember what i’m supposed to be looking for, and i’m not even entirely sure it was god’

and that’s where we start the campaign, dude in his early forties with a fair amount of knowledge and a not-insubstantial understanding of people finally striking out into the world, and the first major event he runs into involves someone he trusted turning out to be a blood cultist, and he doesn’t really learn from that because surely that was just a one-off weird thing, like not every person you run into will be lying to you, that can’t happen

and it’s happened again and again and again - he finds someone who is scholarly, or helpful, or even of his faith, and he trusts that they’re genuine, or at least that they won’t harm him, and then he is betrayed and it’s getting worse and worse (bodies are starting to pile up around him and some of them are those he created, when he barely took the martial training offered at his temple, only accepting because any knowledge is knowledge worth having, but now death is at his fingertips), and he still wants to believe

the worst of it is that he’s been getting visions, and at first he believed they were from his god, because why wouldn’t he? who else could get inside his head this way? but he’s found that these visions (at minimum, some of them) are coming from a former brother of the cloth, someone who believes their god is lying to everyone and is willing to destroy the entire faith because of it, and he’s recruited so many people of my character’s faith that they can no longer be implicitly trusted, and they’re even being forced to attack and die for this man’s beliefs

so my character is finding that he can’t trust anything implicitly - his siblings of the cloth, the world they live in, even the thoughts in his head - and he still wants, so much, to believe in the inherent power of information, of knowledge, in knowing that even if it’s the worst pain you’ve ever known, knowing is still better than not knowing

and it’s so rewarding to play through faith in this way, to be presented again and again and again with the same choice, the same burden - do you trust this person? do you believe they are who they say they are? how many lies can you hear before you stop believing anything at all?

but lies can tell you the shape of the truth, and that’s all that my character can hold onto sometimes

[remuslupingf]

Dustin, whose your friend? II

E.M

Eddie Munson x shy!reader

word count: 1.3k

warnings: fluff, shy reader, anxious reader, nice eddie, dnd

Part I

You hear Eddie before you see him. You just have time to give yourself a once over in the mirror before you open your door, and hop down the steps to your house. Eddies sat there in his van, waiting for you. When he sees you, he grins and jumps out. He runs to the passenger side to open the door for you.

“M’lady,” he says, while bowing you into the van. You smile and pat his head while climbing up into your seat.

Eddie had been teaching you how to play dnd and tonight was the first time you would partake in a real campaign. With real players. With people you know. You were beyond nervous.

“It's gonna be fine baby! They were all first timers once! And we never judged them or made fun of them. We're gonna have so much fun.” He says while smiling at you.

“Okay, if you say so.” You answer quietly. He takes your hand and kisses it, making you smile. He knew you could get in your head about things. That was fine, as long as he could bring you back out to him. Only he knew how to talk sense into you.

You arrived at the school, and he hopped out fast so he could get your door for you. He loved doing that. Being able to do things boyfriends do for their girlfriends. He was the kind of guy who took pride in being a real gentleman. Someone who you could brag about to your girlfriends. 

“Hey guys!’ You hear behind you. Of course Dustin is here early to set up. 

“Hey Dusty! Are you excited? The start of a new campaign should be pretty epic.” You gush to him, hoping that you don't sound like an idiot.

“I know! The guys and I are so excited you're gonna play with us. It's gonna be legendary.” Dustin smiles at you, while helping Eddie unload some of the equipment he would need for the campaign. Apparently Eddie has spent some money on some new props. 

You help them bring in the boxes to the drama room. What the hell was in here? They were so heavy. You set down your box as soon as Eddie had unlocked the door. You were starting to get more nervous than excited. What surprise did Eddie have in store? No one knew.

“HOLY SHIT” you hear Dustin yell. You whip around, to see him with an open box in front of him. Before you could think, Eddie was behind him, holding his hand to Dustin's mouth.

“Dammit henderson. You weren't supposed to open that. Do not tell anyone. Alright?” Eddie says, while slowly dropping his head.

Dustin slowly nods, mouth agape. “I won't tell, but how they hell did you pay for those?” he asks.

“Just renting them for the campaign, they gave me a deal too, they know Wayne.” Eddie says smugly.

You take a step closer, trying to sneak a peek at what is in the box. Before you get any closer, Eddie has you by the shoulders, spinning you around. “Let's go look over here angel, I’ll let you sit on my throne.”

—---

Now that Dustin knew about the secret, he got to help set up the surprise and you had to wait in the hallway. Before you knew it, the other members started to show up.

“Hey! We didn't know you were staring tonight.” Garett said when he and Jeff walked up to the drama room.

Before you could reply, Jeff pointed to the door, “Is Eddie not here yet? I have a spare key so we can get in.” He says, starting to take his backpack off so he can grab the key.

“No! Eddie and Dustin are setting up a surprise so we have to wait for them to let us in.” You tell them. They lean on the wall with you, making small talk. Some more members showed up, while you and Garett explained why the door was closed.

The collective group were all curious and excited for what was to come. Some had guesses, none very realistic. You explained whatever it was, had fit into 5 cardboard boxes. Before the group could start theorizing, the door creaked open. The lights were off. That wasn't normal was it? You look at Garett and he looks just as confused as you feel.

He pushes the door the rest of the way open. There's a break in the dark light. A deep red is emanating from Eddie's throne. Suddenly the floor fills up with smoke, where the hell had Eddie gotten a smoke machine? But that wasn't it. Once everyone was through the door, a menacing sound came from unseen speakers. Holy shit. Is this what hellfire was always like? 

As the music rose, the lights got brighter, and Eddie stepped out from behind his throne. He was grinning like a maniac. Once he sat, everyone raced to their designated seats so they could start. You found an empty chair next to Dustin. You smiled at him and sat down, pulling out your folder that Eddie helped you work on. You were so excited to see what was going to happen. It was comforting that you had the help of your party.

Throughout the campaign, the music flows with the energy of the campaign. How had Eddie orchestrated this so perfectly? He was an amazing Dungeon Master. There came a point where your character was the only one who could save the party. This was up to you to save them. You stood at the end of the table, facing Eddie. You were shaking the D20 in your hands, praying that you got enough to take down the thessalhydra that had attacked your group. 

You looked around the table, at your friends who were counting on you. You looked at Eddie, who was staring at your hands. Usually he would stare down the saviour of the campaign, but he wanted you to do well. He needed you to. Because if you didn't, would you still want to go to hellfire permanently? 

You let go of the die, crossing your fingers. You couldn't look. What if it wasn't enough to save the party? Would the campaign be over? It would be all your fault. They'd never invite you back-

“FUCK YEAH” Garrett screams while everyone cheers and celebrates. You looked down. You had just taken down the monster, saving the party, and ending the progress of the campaign for the night. 

You stood there shocked, with your mouth open. You turn to look at Dustin, who is mirroring your expression. You both stare at each other. “FUCK YEAH” you both yell while putting your arms in the air. You did it!! Everyones cheering for you. The party has a group hug, with you in the middle. You get a glimpse of Eddie, who is smiling from ear to ear. 

After all the commotion had died down, the group rushed to Eddie, asking him if they could rent the lights, smoke machine, and speakers again for next week. Eddie pretends to think about it, before yelling out “Of course we can, are you kidding me? That's the best session we've ever had.”

The magic of the night had affected them all. They had all been playing for years, but this felt like dnd reinvented. It was like they all fell in love with it for the first time again. It was magic. And Eddie had created that. They worshiped him for it. 

Before you knew what you were doing, your feet carried you to Eddie's throne. You threw your arms over him and kissed him. Eddie was shocked. Was he that good that you kissed him in front of EVERYONE? He didn't think much more than that because his brain literally stopped working.

You broke apart, instantly getting shy. What did you just do? It was only your second date! What if he thought you were easy? Before you could think much more, Eddie pulled you in for another kiss. Pulling you out of your head and back to him. 

[dostoyevsky-official]

Letter from Professor James Schamus

As Columbia survivors of last fall’s International Day of Jihad (sic), a not-surprisingly quite effective disinformation campaign, we still shouldn’t dismiss credible accounts of genuinely anti-semitic incidents on the rise, here and elsewhere. They deserve condemnation – as does the manufactured hysteria around them, weaponized in the movement to quell legitimate political speech on campus and elsewhere, mainly through the conflation of criticism of Israel with anti-semitism itself.  Let’s start with Rav Elie Beuchler, described in much of the recent massive press coverage of the terrors awaiting us Jews at Columbia as the “Columbia Rabbi” who sent an email to a few hundred students yesterday telling them to go home “as soon as possible” in fear for their lives and safety. One thing Beuchler is not, in fact, is the Columbia/Barnard Hillel campus rabbi; rather he is on the staff of the Orthodox Union-Jewish Institute for Leaning on Campus, run as a wing of the Orthodox Union.  To get a sense of the political mission of the OU-JILC, consider its Founding Director, Menachem Schrader, whose biography on the organization’s website attests he “has been community rabbi of Moshav Carmel in the Judean Hills and of Congregation Tiferet Avot in Efrat.” Carmel and Efrat are – and you can probably guess where this is going –  illegal Israeli settlements located in the Occupied West Bank, centers of the Amana movement, the radical settlement arm of the violent, racist Gush Emunim. Amana was founded and led for decades by Ze’ev Hever, a Jewish supremacist terrorist who spent 11 months in jail for a Jewish Underground bombing plot before becoming a major establishment figure in the settlement movement. (Ironically, after his own car was vandalized in a violent “Price Tag” settler vigilante action in 2012, Hever himself, at least publicly, called for a reduction in settler rampages – one needn’t wonder whether his fanatical acolytes heeded that call.) The OU-JILC actually brands itself as the “Heshe and Harriet Sief OU-JILC,” named, one assumes, after its major benefactors. Heshe and Harriet Sief, who are also major donors to Yeshivat Har-Etzion , which is located – you guessed it – in the Etzion bloc of settlements. It should be noted that funding for the Initiative, as with the Union itself, is opaque – the Union itself, given its prominent political activities, has been decried in Jewish philanthropy circles for its lack of transparency).   The Initiative has planted itself on thirty or so campuses in the United States, and has been welcomed into spaces controlled by International Hillel, which has become increasingly reactionary in its policing of Jewish students’ speech around Israel and Palestine.  That policing now threatens to engulf the University as a whole. Action based on genuine concern for the well-being and safety of our Jewish students and colleagues should be founded on the defense of the very principles and norms being assaulted by those hijacking that concern to give cover to the larger project of ethnic cleansing and settlement in the West Bank and, now, of course, Gaza.

a letter on the rabbi who said campus isn't safe and jewish students should stay home. yet again it should be noted that some of the students leading the protests are antizionist jews, and that columbia suspended the student jewish voices for peace organization several months ago, for which they are facing an ACLU lawsuit

[marciabrady]

it's so funny to me that the princess our culture associates fundamentally with passivity offers credos which are among the most active and powerful of any in the fairytale canon

first and foremost, cinderella communicates that we all are what we contribute.

cinderella saves the mice and fosters an environment of collaboration, harmony, and unity that's harbored by her own industrious nature. mind you, she does all of this against her stepfamily's wishes, actively defying them, and creating a counterculture in the process.

as the story team intended the animals to be a reflection of their human counterpart, notice how cinderella's kindred are uniformly hardworking, intentionally kind, and approach every situation with their best foot forward, adapting a problem-solving mindset that collectively aids them all in their shared progression toward the betterment of themselves and the world around them. take the very first scene in which we see cinderella and the culture she's created, for instance:

everyone has a hand in the first chores of the day and they're all choosing to do it with a smile on their face. key word: choosing. because this isn't an idly happy lot whose joy is an accident of their own nature or something that's easy. their happiness is something they have to be mindful of and, in many cases, fight against themselves to achieve. because, guess what? their life is terrible. they've been reduced to living in a dusty attic room of a decaying house. many of them were saved from death by cinderella, herself, and know that if they venture too far outside of the safe quarters she's provided, or if they allow themselves to be seen in some way, they'll be back at death's doorstep. the danger and stress they live under would cause anyone to snap, or anyone to never want to get out of bed, which is why we see them looking like this in one of the most relatable openings of all time:

i mean, cinderella canonically hits the snooze button:

the birds literally have to force her to wake up, initially:

and once she does wake up, she's playful and pleasant and kind, yes. but that doesn't last long- the clock immediately tries her by reminding her of the daily toil she must face in order to maintain the food and shelter that's tantamount to, not only her own survival, but that of this tiny community that she's the unofficial mayor over and continues to be responsible for. she has to sustain herself and the others she's collected around her by choosing to live life the way she does. this kindness is something she has to pay for, every day. and she physically snarls at being reminded of the hand life's dealt her:

and you know what? that's a very human quality that everyone can identify with in some regard because it's hard, even if you are someone who loves life and the people around you, to keep going in spite of the challenges you face. being positive, plainly put, is something that's difficult and you have to keep reengaging yourself to be because it isn't a natural state for most people, and especially not people that have been treated as unkindly as cinderella. let's not forget that she lost both of her parents at a young, formative age, and from that time in her youth when, like all other children, she deserved to be supported and loved and protected, she was literally "abused, humiliated" and "forced" into being a literal "servant in her own house." she had no security- both of her parents were gone, she had no money to fall back on, no education, no means with which to leave the house, and to try to get a job in that world and environment- as unlikely as it would've been to obtain in the first place (which, again is so relatable- look at the staffing shortages and people struggling to find employment today)- would've been contingent upon references of some sort, and we all know that lady tremaine definitely would've either a) ran a smear campaign against cinderella to absolve herself and the family name of any personal fault or b) prevented cinderella from ever leaving in the first place so that no one would ever know that atrocities the tremaines forced her to endure from the time she was practically an infant.

she wakes up after barely being able to sleep, probably, due to all the daily chores she must, alone, accomplish to keep an entire estate afloat. everyone is depending on her, from the stepfamily to the mice to the grounds of her family's home itself. her body's practically aching from the lack of rest, the physical work she's forced to do every day, from sleeping on such an uncomfortable bed. the only place she feels remotely safe is in this drafty attic, which smells of fraying wood and aging artifacts and is in a constate state of decay, with weeds growing in the sides of the tower. that's not even mentioning the emotional turmoil, the ptsd, the grief, the neglect, the physical abuse she's also processing at any given moment

so, yeah, cinderella snaps. and there are times she snaps later on in the film but she always reels herself in and consciously makes the choice to never succumb to her circumstances. this is what makes cinderella extraordinary. she singlehandedly- and actively- ends the cycle of abuse through the behavior and choices she partakes in every single day.

and, again, this isn't something that's easy for someone who has been in survival mode for a majority of their life. but the conscious choices, active efforts, and mindful decisions cinderella makes is what frees the household from that cycle of abuse continuing. i mentioned earlier that the animals are supposed to be a parallel to their human counterparts. remember how we meet gus? he's just been caught in a trap, doesn't have anything to wear, and is literally recoiling in fear. due to his terror and his own need to defend himself out of instinct, he attempts to make himself come off as threatening as possible and is ready to pop off the minute that jaq approaches him:

but, through cinderella's influence, she's able to give him hope once more. she treats him warmly, pairs him up with a buddy to go through life with, comes up with a name- and even a nickname- for him, gives him a community, a safe haven, and clothes him. in that short time, look at the difference she's made in his mood, his demeanor, even his approach to life:

and it isn't just the mice cinderella's this way with. in the opening slides, we see cinderella holding an adorable puppy dog. but as the film progresses, and the narrator details the despair the family estate has fallen into, that puppy dog turns into an old, starved bloodhound who's secretly sleeping on the floor of the cold kitchen to keep from freezing to death. he has to keep even his dreams to himself so as to not be heard by the stepfamily and potentially kicked out. he openly hates lucifer but cinderella encourages him to think of lucifer's good points too, even if she can't think of any herself, to be able to continue successfully cohabiting this environment with him. and when he pounces on lucifer, deserved or not, she puts an end to this:

because cinderella knows what will ever happen if bruno allows himself to give into his impulses, to treat others as life has treated him, to attempt to retaliate in an impossible environment when the odds are already against you. you'll harm yourself the most and perpetuate that cycle.

but, just as bruno is a reflection of cinderella, notice how gleeful lucifer is in falsely incriminating bruno, so that another being who's never wronged him will be unjustly punished and suffer:

this is what separates cinderella from the tremaines. this is why she is the heroine and they will never be, despite how many people you see empathizing with how unfairly life must've treated them for being the "conventionally unattractive" characters in the film, or for having a single mother which to them denotes less resources, or for being awkward, or for whatever other reason of the month they're being rewritten to be the victims.

if we are the sum of our contributions, the tremaines are nothing and that is definitely a reflection of their reality. they only feel alive when they're making fun of cinderella or humiliating her by continuing that cycle of abuse they passively adhere to and never challenge. remember how we met cinderella and her friends, gathering their spirits and putting on a smile, despite how hard it is with the troubles that face them? how they look past that to work together and try to change life for the better?

the tremaines can't be bothered to get out of bed. the truly passive, lazy characters, they grog about in dim rooms, turning around in their fine silks and ornate finery, while a being they literally enslaved is being forced to do their bidding. and they refuse to actively participate in their very charmed and privileged life. they can't even find a reason to be happy- but instead are upset when cinderella enters their room. they want to know why she's taken so long, to hurry up, to continue to wait on them, hand and foot. when she asks them how they're doing, they grumble, "as if you care." because they don't care about anyone else, so why would others care about them? and that type of apathy breeds resentment, which- in the wake of such sedentary creatures- seeks manifestation and results in destruction. the stepsisters get out of their comfortable beds only when they have the opportunity to point their finger at cinderella, to get their mother to punish her. again, they feel alive by inflicting pain on others, it's literally what gets them out of bed:

again, as the parallel, this goes for lucifer, too:

as cinderella nears lady tremaine's bed, her stepmother's eyes blaze with fury, hatred plain on her face:

lady tremaine doesn't move, her hand only lifting to stroke lucifer, who has the biggest grin on his face. meanwhile, the desperation is evident in cinderella. she isn't quite defeated, because she does stick up for herself three times in the scene. but she's tired of this. she's tired of being tormented by her only family, of having the odds stacked against her even when she's doing everything in her power to live as peacefully and productively as possible, of being forced to fight a losing battle that will never result in peace but will only further prompt hatred, and division, and anger. in her expression, there's almost a plea for lady tremaine:

it isn't until she sees cinderella's expression, she hears cinderella try to explain what happened, that she livens up. because she has the opportunity to, again, keep that cycle of abuse alive, to actively try to destroy cinderella's quality of life and to profit off the position of power she's in over cinderella. look at the difference in lady tremaine's expression in the previous cap, and in this one, when she believes she's silenced cinderella and is preparing to tear into her:

one of the best instances through which i can further illustrate this ideology (you are what you contribute) is in a later scene, where we see the stepsisters discard their fine wares, labeling it trash and flinging the luxuries life's afforded them to scorn. it's nothing to them.

yet, to the mice and cinderella, it isn't nothing. because, remember, the royal proclamation declared that every eligible maiden should attend. at first, the stepmother refuses to let cinderella go and even the stepsisters brush her aside with classist comments. when cinderella sticks up for herself by reminding them she's still a member of the family, and by trapping them in the language of the royal decree "every eligible maiden," lady tremaine has no choice but to consent- on the grounds that cinderella is able to make herself eligible through producing a suitable dress. because, remember, cinderella isn't seen as a person. she's seen as subhuman, someone who's reduced to wearing tatters and isn't seen as a person in the eyes of their society unless she has social indicators of wealth via her clothing, in this specific instance. drizella and anastasia never have to think about that, because they exist as people of value in their society due to their good fortune that they had no part in creating. they don't know what it's like to be laughed at, to not be considered eligible or even a person in the eyes of society the way that cinderella's lived experience has reflected since her father died. meanwhile, the tremaines are so deep in their own privilege, that they're literally waving it around like it's a rag and carelessly tossing it away. yet, what does cinderella do, with much less?

cinderella makes do with what little she has, always to help someone else. and because of this active kindness, it changes the mindset of those around her. since she's afforded this to so many of the mice, what do they do for her in return?

what a difference in how cinderella and the stepfamily approaches what's, essentially, the same material? and this community that cinderella has established and continually maintained and influenced comes to each other's aid, time and time again. whether it's cinderella freeing the mice from death, or giving them clothing, or allowing bruno to sleep inside unbeknownst to the stepfamily, or the mice turning into a LITERAL army and battleground in cinderella's honor:

again, this community is just as active and vital as cinderella, herself, is. because those values i mentioned earlier, of helping one another and rising above your circumstances and working together, aren't just whimsical morals cinderella sings about. they're constant behaviors she's actively taking part in and impact the household they all share, to the point where when they help each other take action when the time is right. they're constantly conferring with one another on how to best use their community and the resources this offers to get closer to victory. (meanwhile, the stepfamily is only for themselves; anastasia and drizella literally repeatedly hit each other and compete, even to the point of giving conflicting stories to the grand duke that makes their pathetic attempt seem all the more discreditable at alleging they were the princess at the ball the night before) we see it in how cinderella and her friends accomplish their chores together, in how the mice plan to get her dress remade while she's busy, even in how cinderella's quick thinking leads to calling upon bruno, who must be awoken by the birds with an interjecting call from the horse, and how this leads to all of their escape:

because, this community also knows when it to fight and support one another in times of battle and when the goal will bring about a victory that will ultimately reign peace; they know when it's worth it for a shared goal and the benefit of all parties involved. and the difference cinderella brought into that household is what gave them all glory and helped them, not only survive, but succeed. it isn't just the poor scullery maid we see ascend in the closing chapter of the film. we see the same bluebirds who attempted to wake her up in the beginning of the film holding her wedding veil:

we see those same mice that she nursed from death, and clothed, and fed, and loved; the mice that risked their lives in remaking her deceased mother's dress so that cinderella might, too, have a chance to go to the ball; they're still here, cheering her on and throwing rice in blessing at the happy couple, their own clothing being upgraded to reflect that of the royal staff:

we see that starved bloodhound and the old horse leading the royal regiment, as beautiful and shining and proud as their majestic counterparts:

and this is the world that cinderella, as a character, offers. not a world in which multiple parties are at competition with one another over who's the prettiest, or the wealthiest, or where hatred breeds continual hatred. but she presents us a world in which everyone deserves to be seen, heard and valued; where everyone can find a community they can contribute to and have purpose in and be worthy of experiencing love, whatever you determine love to be whether it's romantic or in the form of a found family.

a world in which everyone can go to the ball:

[sashketter]

How the clone leaders react to getting a kiss on the cheek for helping you

Rex: He blushes from head to toe. He looks stunned, eyes wide and darting everywhere, as you pull away. The 501st doesn’t spend much time among civilians, often deployed to the frontlines for their consistent effectiveness, so the captain is unaccustomed to gestures of gratitude. He stumbles and mumbles a quick and low “thank you” before clearing his throat and giving a curt nod. On a dime, he blanches, shakes his head, and corrects himself, “Uh, oh, I mean, you’re welcome.” He sighs, winces, and closes his eyes as he shakes his head again.

Cody: He looks at you fondly, leans down, and places a hand on your elbow as you lean in. “Happy to help,” he says warmly. His smile is genuine, not just polite. As marshal commander, he interacts with more people than the other clone leaders, and as the Great Negotiator’s second-in-command, he’s become adept at diplomacy. He understands the need to represent his brothers well to the public and welcomes any small gesture of goodwill.

Howzer: He remains at parade rest throughout, a tight smile on his lips. “Just doing my duty,” he says politely before quickly moving on. He’s spent an inordinate amount of time with the civilian population of Ryloth, more than most clones whose campaigns usually last a few rotations before decamping to a new planet, so he’s familiar with their manners and customs. He’s ambivalent about these kinds of gestures, thinks they’re both unnecessary and yet a happy reminder of his competency.

Gregor: He won’t see it coming, and when he does, he freezes. He giggles and touches his cheek as you pull away. “What was that for,” he asks, slightly incredulous, and when you tell him, he huffs and follows confidently with, “Guess I should help you more often.” And you believe he actually will.

Wolffe: He’s at attention, his hands balled behind his back straight as an ironing board, but he tilts at the waist so you can reach his cheek. His eyes cant slightly in your direction, the corner of his mouth tugging up and his left eye wrinkling as you pull away. “My pleasure,” he purrs, low and sweet. As commander of the battalion typically tasked with rescue and recovery, he’s used to receiving thanks, and you quickly realize he enjoys this particular show of gratitude. He feels he’s earned it.

Fox: He still has his helmet on, but that doesn’t stop you. He sees you start to lean in and cuts you off immediately. “That’s not necessary,” he says sternly and walks away. The Coruscant Guard resents not being on the battlefront. Not that they think their work is below them, but they don’t feel their actions warrant such rewards when their brothers are dying throughout the galaxy.

[shorthaltsjester]

if i ever have to see another thought piece on the description of the white picket fence outside of fjord and jester’s place in mighty nein reunited indicating jester’s unhappiness in the relationship i will burn the world to the ground.

a) heteronormativity doesn’t exist in exandria !

b) fjord isn’t your Typical Male Love Interest Guy. if i ever have to read someone say that shit again i’m gonna (correctly) assume they haven’t paid attention at all to campaign 2 and any of fjord’s character arc.

c) perhaps, jester lavorre, woman who was raised on the ideology of romance novels and sexuality as exchange, might just find it uh… not a terrible thing that the white picket fence is falling apart outside since… fjord explicitly does Not feel like those romance novels to her, instead he feels comfortable. the way that a brightly painted but rarely used house might, especially when the couple in question spends most of their time adventuring together… which is an essential part of jester’s motivations throughout the campaign.

d) the reason fjord and jester seem unhappy in the reunion might be because, well, uh, whereas everyone else was getting a “vacation”, jester and fjord’s life together (specifically the fact that Fjord Loves Jester Enough To Risk The World (Momentarily) To Save Her) was the inciting action for an apocalyptic demigod being released - they Were unhappy. who wouldn’t be given those circumstances. jester nearly died, and fjord felt like the god that once saved him had now abandoned him, i am so truly sorry that their romance was not satisfactory for your vision of atypical romance (which, by the way, is literally reinforcing the restrictive romantic tropes you think you’re criticizing, so good job i guess). i would be much, much more concerned if jester and fjord Weren’t clearly dismayed.

e) both fjord and jester are individuals whose entire lives and character are defined by the expectation (both external and internal) that they behave and emote a certain way. that they’re in a relationship with someone who they feel that they can show that they are frustrated with or disagree on the layout of their house with or have different ideas on how to deal with the looming threat of a demigod is incredible. jester and fjord are emblematic of a relationship in which the characters Aren’t meant to be, but they Want to be together and they want to understand and support the other person so they work at it. we wouldn’t have conversations like “you seem disheartened..” “i am very disheartened! you almost died!” if they didn’t take the time and care to communicate with one another.

f) if you want a honeymoon era joyful queer romance, yasha and beau are right there! they are explicitly horny and in love and bright about it! if queerness is your measure of “trope breaking” i am very sorry to tell you that queer people partake in white picket fences, and i’d actually argue that in terms of Lifestyle Metaphor, beauyasha are more adherent to the whitepicket fence, nuclear familyism. this isn’t a detriment to them, just, very literally, beau works a 9-5 where she comes back to her housewife who gardens and cooks dinner and their future includes explicit reference to children. comparatively, fjord wants to address some issues in his past, jester is an artist, and both of them are interested in adventure for the foreseeable future.

g) if you truly think that a single part of laura’s description of the part-time abode of fjord and jester overrides every interaction and choice that both laura and travis make towards fjord and jester caring for each other in a deep and meaningful way that goes beyond the weird fandom constructed Man/Woman characters being portrayed by a married couple i truly, Truly have no idea why you even watch the many hours of content that cr is when you could… play/write your own shit.

[comradekatara]

sorry if someone’s asked this before (i tried looking thru previous posts but didn’t see anything), but in modern au atla what clubs and/or sports would everyone join? i feel like sokka and suki would both do soccer (and thus sokka’s sexism storyline plays out) and sokka would also do like robotics or something. katara’s maybe in some environmentalist club and i get the feeling that she and azula would run against each other for student body president. zuko’s a theater kid and mai does tech or stage crew. toph does wrestling and aang’s probably in basketball and/or one of those peer leader things where he volunteers to help out in classrooms

okay some of this will be rehashing old stuff so if you’re as intimately familiar with my modern au as i am (which. how. that’s literally impossible) then this will be old news to you but just try to suck it up kthx

also, quick disclaimer that i do not think sokka would be sexist (not like, notably so anyway, obv everyone raised in a patriarchal society internalizes sexist notions, but he wouldn’t be like “girls can’t play soccer!!!” lmfao) in a modern au. like, if sokka grew up socialized around kids his own age that simply would not be an issue for him. the closest he gets to ever pissing katara off thru misogyny (he still pisses her off in a lot of other ways, of course) is when katara is like “can you believe this ‘male loneliness epidemic’ bs???” and sokka (terminally offline) is just like “well isn’t there kind of some truth in that…” and katara’s like “sokka. this isn’t about guys whose girlfriends have DIED, this is about guys whose vibes are so rancid that they cannot get a gf in the first place.” and sokka just like “oh. well then i guess they deserve to be lonely.” and that’s that.

katara is the queen of after school activities. she plays soccer, hockey, basketball (she’s not actually tall enough but she’s got enough spirit!), is on the swim team, she does it all. she’s the captain of the hockey team, but suki is the captain of the soccer team. azula is also on the soccer team and suki is constantly having to separate them bc they’re always getting into very violent fights in the dirt before the game even starts. katara prides herself on being the most athletic girl in school (aside from suki), and pushes herself so hard to be the best at every single sport. (for no reason in particular…)

when toph wants to start a wrestling club, katara is the one who starts a petition after the administration says it’s “too dangerous.” because aang asks nicely, they finally get enough signatures that the administration is just like “fine, whatever,” and gives them a room. for the first few meets, it’s just katara and toph wrestling each other with aang and suki sitting in the stands and that’s it, but eventually more people show up and it becomes a whole big thing. no one is as good as katara and toph, though. especially not when they fight each other (bc for them, it’s personal).

when azula runs for student body president, katara gets so pissed off that she also runs for student body president. toph’s just like “uhh.. no one will vote for you. everyone finds you abrasive.” and katara’s like “wow. that’s rich coming from you.” but toph’s like “no they hate me too, that’s how i know.” which, okay, fair enough. katara does actually win in a landslide though, because azula’s platform is bonkers. her campaign promises are all about improving test scores and gpas in somewhat violatory and terrifying ways, whereas katara’s platform is to abolish homework, abolish grades, make gym class a triple period, abolish math, and put a composting bin in the cafeteria. only one of those things actually happens once she gets elected, but at least the other kids can rest easy knowing that their president is a girl of the people.

katara is in a bunch of activist clubs that she started herself, and the only reason anyone ever shows up is because aang always shows up and everyone loves aang. toph shows up to katara’s indigenous students alliance and katara’s just like “uhhh…. i thought you were chinese??” toph’s like “oh. i am. but sokka promised he’d do all my homework for a week if i agreed to take his place at this thing.”

aang kind of just shows up to whatever katara is up in arms about this week. he can’t be bothered to join after school activities of his own because he’s too busy being a cool and popular kid (a very time consuming profession fyi), but he always shows up to every one of katara’s games (of which there is at least one a week), and all her little clubs and fundraisers for the poor (aang is almost always tactful enough to never say “um. aren’t you poor?”) and whatever else she needs him around for. every time aang is sick or otherwise indisposed, whenever katara attempts to organize anything, no one ever shows up. aang doesn’t even do anything in particular, he kind of just hovers near her, but his presence is like a magnet. people flock to him. katara, not so much.

sokka is actually on the baseball team. he joined after accidentally watching a full game of baseball on tv once in a doctor’s waiting room and realizing that baseball is actually just physics. he’s their star player, because he can score a home run with his eyes closed. if any of his friends ever actually showed up to his games, they’d be wildly impressed. but because katara’s propaganda, that baseball is the most boring of all the sports and who would wanna waste their time watching it, is so effective (because she’s right), no one who actually matters to sokka is in any way aware of his gift. he doesn’t really care, because he thinks sports are frivolous anyway, but it means a lot to katara that no one ever find out that he secretly has athletic talent. he already has ALL of academics, he doesn’t need to encroach on her thing!!! her ONE thing!!!!!

sokka is also in go club, chess club, robotics club, debate club, and mathletes. he also works multiple jobs after school and tutors other kids. no one knows how he has time for all his shit, especially considering he’s also never handed in an assignment late and has a perfect gpa, but whenever he shows them his color coded schedule timed down to the second they immediately regret they ever asked. (his secret is that if he doesn’t exhaust himself both physically and mentally with one million activities per day, he will succumb to his depression and never get out of bed again and possibly kill himself. so whenever anyone’s like “aren’t you tired!!” sokka lies and says “nope!” in truth, he’s exhausted. he just knows it’s wayyy better than the alternative.)

toph first meets sokka as her tutor. she had previously driven 11 other, much more qualified tutors away by being too smart for their bullshit. poppy is desperate by the point she agrees to hire sokka. she basically just needs someone to transcribe toph’s homework for her (and not fall into the trap of simply writing it for her, which she’s very effective at tricking people into doing), but sokka and toph quickly become actual friends. it doesn’t take long, they both just start shit talking her parents and realize that they already have so much in common. sokka still demands to get paid all throughout highschool, but toph knows it’s not personal and never feels like their friendship is transactional. sometimes she does ask sokka to teach her things, though, which he always happily obliges. although, on occasion, she’ll ask him about a subject he doesn’t already know about, at which point he’ll be like “that’s a good question. let me think on it, and i’ll prepare some materials for a lesson plan tomorrow!” at which point he goes to a library, gets a massive textbook on whatever topic toph was interested in, stays up all night reading it, and then comes back the next day and recites the entire book to her from memory. toph usually gets bored after like five minutes of this, but knows she’s in too deep to just say “forget i asked,” and politely waits out his lecture.

besides wrestling club, toph also tries to play soccer (it’s the closest she can get to actually joining the football team, which is her ultimate dream), but the administration forces suki to ban her from the team “for her own safety.” it makes suki furious, because toph is actually an excellent goalie and they’d know that if they ever saw her play, but they assume that because she’s tiny and blind there’s simply no way in hell she’s ever blocking a single goal. but katara is this close to threatening that they burn down the entire school to teach them a lesson, so instead suki’s just like “what if you guys started a wrestling club?? that could be fun.” and thus the highlight of toph (and katara’s) entire life is born.

suki is widely regarded as being one of the most popular girls in school, because she’s incredibly athletic, but also has a very cool, carefree, laidback attitude that doesn’t make her seem intimidating to guys (unlike. uh. some people). every single girl in school, gay or straight, either deeply admires her or straight up has a crush on her. this is why she ever has enough people agreeing to join her roller derby team. sokka comes to a game to support her and is just like “uhhh….. this should be illegal???”

suki also does martial arts after school, although not in any way affiliated with the school. however, they may as well be, because all the girls who are into her will show up to her dojo knowing that she’ll offer to train them in a hands on, personal session. to be clear, she’s fully aware of what she’s doing. it’s basically is her go-to move. when she first develops feelings for sokka she tries to do the same thing, but sokka just assumes that suki is looking to humiliate him as retribution for him knowing how bad at physics she is, and politely declines.

zuko IS a theater kid but throughout all of high school (this changes in college) he’s terrified of ever even glancing at a stage. he’s like “if i join any sort of theatrical project everyone will think im gay……………….which would be BAD because im NOT.” it’s very obvious that he’s an aspiring thespian/dramaturg, though, because every time the school puts on any kind of play all his friends are subjected to merciless critiques of how they’ll inevitably butcher the source material in such and such ways, as they always do. suki finds these diatribes particularly amusing. she’s just like “uh huh. sure honey.”

at one point zuko gets it into his head that if he did mathletes like azula maybe ozai would like him more and thus treat him better, so he asks sokka to teach him to be good at math so that he can be good at mathletes. sokka is like “shouldn’t your first goal be to get better at math so that you can stop getting C’s on all your math tests?” zuko is very stubborn about it, though, so sokka just shows zuko the kind of problems he works on for fun and zuko is immediately like “nvm. maybe i’ll do a sport instead.” sokka’s like “yeah! you could join the baseball team it would be really fun!” but zuko’s like “okay nvm AGAIN. why are all your hobbies boring and evil.”

mai doesn’t do clubs. mai doesn’t play sports. she is a loner, not a joiner. she’s like “maybe if there was a club for cool girls who play niche indie games and read dostoevsky….” but this all changes when sokka forces her to join his robotics club meeting. mai is just like “holy shit? you made this???” and after that day she is the number one robotics girlie and becomes obsessed with those robot death matches. she and sokka waste so much time building the most useless little robots. mai is really good at coding and sokka is really good at engineering, so their robots are actually quite impressive. katara thinks it’s the lamest shit ever, and wishes they’d stop bringing giant pieces of scrap metal into her house.

ty lee does ballet quite intensely and gymnastics fairly competitively outside of school. everyone sort of assumes she’d be a cheerleader if their school had a cheer team, so she gets the reputation of one without having to actually do any of those dangerous stunts. she’s also in go club and chess club. sometimes she and sokka are the only two people who actually show up and they just play one continuous game that lasts for hours. she also joins the roller derby team and suki’s dojo, for no particular reason.

finally, azula does everything. literally everything. even clubs she despises, because her number one goal at all times is someday getting into harvard (and then graduating harvard top of her class and then going to harvard law and then making partner within her first year at a big firm and then becoming queen of all totality). her number two goal is showing up sokka. she plays every sport the school offers, joins every club, volunteers, interns, tutors pro bono (only because she knows that sokka charges, and she wants to rub in his face that she doesn’t need money), takes every language their school offers at once, and demands extra credit homework even though her gpa is already perfect. she’s part of the young republicans but will also canvas for local democratic candidates because she knows that it looks good on an application. besides mai and ty lee, who have known her for long enough that they simply find her antics amusing, no one likes her. many are genuinely terrified of her. sokka, however, does not find her scary at all, a fact which infuriates her to no end. in his mind, she is just zuko’s little sister, that girl katara hates, or, the most annoying girl on the debate team. she fantasizes about murdering him every night before going to bed. it helps her fall asleep.

[xiaq]

It is absolutely wild to me how Republican news outlets and politicians try to sensationalize things that don't even exist. Yet these fabricated issues are having serious disastrous effects on real-life people's health and safety. B was just talking to one of his old "friends" and he was trying to convince us to donate to the campaign of a governor whose platform rests primarily on anti-trans legislation. And B was like...no?? Are you aware of his platform? And this guy says, with absolute confidence, that this governor's platform is about protecting kids. Because it's ok if an adult wants to mutilate their body, but we shouldn't be allowing doctors to surgically change children's bodies. Which is why gender-affirming care should be illegal.

The mental gymnastics. Except he genuinely thought that "gender-affirming care" was synonymous with "surgical intervention." Gender-affirming care for a 10-year-old is therapy and support and letting them wear the clothes and use the pronouns/name they want. Gender-affirming care for a teenager might also include blockers and/or hormone therapy (or not! I've only known one person who started hormones before they turned 18, and I specifically worked with queer kids when I was a professor/teacher). For some people, gender-affirming care is solely external and doesn't involve physical intervention at all. And it is so, extremely, rare for someone to receive surgery as part of gender-affirming care when they are a minor. Yet this is what so many people seem to think gender-affirming care means. Surgery.

This is not an accident. This is targeted and malicious. This is misdirection by people who know better trying to sway the opinions of people who don't. Listen. I don't know what my point is, here. I just needed to vent. I guess it just goes to show that, now more than ever, if you're going to get into a debate with someone, make sure you understand what they mean when they use certain terminology or you're certain to get nowhere. Because this man was so confident he knew what he was talking about until we did a quick vocabulary backtrack. And when confronted with the fact that maybe he hadn't, actually, been fed the truth, he suddenly had a lot less to say. Ugh.

[starplanes]

been debating saying something about this for WEEKS but it's been nagging at me so:

we all remember that anonymous ad account? there was a big kerfuffle about it - personally I was very annoyed how the account would constantly bring me up and occasionally say wrong things about me, but I know other creators had issues with what was being anonymously said about them.

Months ago I did find out who was behind the blog - an audio drama creator I have never spoken to. They were a member of the AD Lab Discord Server, and at least two mods of that server knew about the blog and were helping anonad with their posts. The person behind anonad seemed to really look up to these mods, who had more experience in the industry. The creator of Regina Prime (referred to henceforth as J) might not be strictly "behind the blog," but they were helping with it, and I would guess manipulating anonad to push specific messages, knowing anonad looked up to them and using that to their advantage. This is why the account would constantly bring me up - while I've never spoken to the point person on this account, I've rubbed shoulders with the mods. It feels really weird that these people would post about me anonymously while I was chilling in their server.

It also rubs me the wrong way that these mods styled themselves as community leaders, "professors" of the audio drama lab, helpers of new creators... but behind the scenes were actively stoking the anonymous, public shit talking of other projects. I've kept quiet about it cause I'm tired of "drama," but I feel culpable having in this knowledge and not sharing it. I feel bad that new creators are finding community with and getting advice from people who are willing to turn around and hinder their crowdfunding campaigns or stoke personal rumors behind their backs.

And I mean this in the most literal sense - one of the creators who had their crowdfunding campaign posted about by the anonad account has a different project they're "incubating" with the AD lab. J read over and encouraged a post ripping into a crowdfund before it was posted, then a month later approved a project for development in the lab by the very same creator whose crowdfund she helped end. Yikes. it seems like the purpose of this all was to criticize other campaigns they saw as "competition" - which we in the community know doesn't actually exist - while using the person behind anonad for plausible deniability so they wouldn't get in trouble for tearing their colleagues down over anything they could.

I'm tired of J's facade. I'm tired of knowing that people who trust these mods have been anonymously hurt by them. I'm tired of J and HR (of Packhowl) threatening my friend in private and lying about her in public, all because they sent her screenshots revealing the mods' level of involvement with the blog. HR may not have been involved from the beginning, but she and the remaining mods are helping to keep everything quiet. The facade remains, the trust remains, the lies remain, and all the moderators are responsible.

This isn't one-off behavior from the people who were seemingly manipulating anonad, and I'm done hiding their actions for them. I've hesitated in part for so long because I feel that the "main" person behind the account should not be named, and I worry these moderators will name them to deflect blame. I hope they won't.

Edit: removed first names per a request

[adorethedistance]

TKE House - Frat!Trevor Zegras x Reader

Hockey Masterlist

Warnings: swearing, PDA, drinking

Words: 2095

Summary: Trevor refuses to leave you alone until you attend a party at his frat, and the night takes an unexpected turn.

A/n: I wrote this months ago and never typed it up until now but I’m excited to see what y’all think of this. I’m debating doing a prt two or just doing a bunch of random parts in the same universe. I’m leaning towards option two so we’ll see how it goes ig.

“You know, you’re allowed to have fun once in a while?”

“You know you’re allowed to leave me alone?” I retort voice laced with venom and eyes full of irritation. Trevor just smiles brighter than before and keeps towering over me in arrogance.

I will never be outgoing again. On the first day of class, I decided there would be no more anti-social Y/n. As a result. I decided I would give my number to someone to ensure I had a study buddy and a friend in each of my classes. And it worked, for the most part, I’m three for four. The problem is one of them was not who I thought he would be. I was under the impression that Trevor was studious. Why else would he have sat next to me in the second row of the lecture hall? I was not under the impression that he would be a spoiled little trust fund fuckboy from TKE whose only objective, apparently, is to bother me every opportunity he got. His current campaign is to get me to go to the TKE party tonight at his frat. Why exactly I don’t know.

“The theme is whiteout so come dressed in all white.”

“Isn’t every frat party a ‘white’ out party?” I ask, facetiously.

“Ha. Ha. Just come, please?”

“Why do you want me there so bad?”

“I’ll make it worth your while.”

“That wasn’t an answer.”

“Please? Y/n?” I let out a deep sigh and then glance up to meet his inquisitive eyes.

“I guess I could stop by for a drink.”

“YES,” Trevor howls, clenching his hands in celebration.

“I don’t even own anything white.”

“You don’t have to! I do.” He’s… gloating. He then breaks the eye contact we’d been holding for too long. Before I can process what’s happening, he slips off the white TKE hoodie he was wearing and hands it to me.

“What?”

“Take it.”

“What?”

“Take the jacket.”

“No.”

“You said you didn’t own anything white.”

“I’m not wearing that,” I defensively cross my arms over my chest, wanting to cover up and hide from Trevor’s field of vision entirely.

“Well, you have three options. You can find time in your ‘busy’ day drive to Target, change into something else I have when you get to the party, OR you can take the hoodie from me now,” Trevor quirks a brow and bites back a smile. He’s got me cornered and he knows it. Annoyed, I take the hoodie and turn it right side out, and oh my god of course his name is on the back. I let out a snort of displeasure at the fact that I’ll basically be branded at this party.

“I’m wearing it inside out,” I deadpan. He laughs and shakes his head, his loose, golden curls fluttering in the sunlight. I can feel my expression soften at the sight in front of me.

“Y/n?”

“Huh? What?”

“I asked if you wanted any specific drinks tonight?”

I hesitate a moment. I usually drink mixed drinks but that’s a bad idea and also way too pretentious for a frat party. Besides, I don’t need Trevor handling my drink. What do frat houses usually have anyway? Beer and white claws? No thank you.

“Uhh. I don’t know- something flavored? And without bubbles.”

“Flavored and without bubbles…” he repeats, thinking hard. “Flavored and without- Okay, got it.” His enthusiasm makes me jump as if he’s just popped a balloon in my face. “Teek house at eight. I’ll see you there!”

“Mhm,” I barely affirm.

___________________________

Approaching the TKE house has my gut screaming at me to go home and don’t look back, but the logical part of me points out that Trevor would undoubtedly badger me for it for the rest of my life. Whatever. I only have to stay an hour and then I can go back home and lose his number.

In the entryway, there are two guys hassling a third guy because he isn’t wearing a red wristband. The taller of the two asks a pair of girls who they know in TKE and she replies cooly, “Trevor.” and they let her in. I cautiously go to enter but the boys stop me first.

“Who do you know in Teek?”

“Trevor…” I don’t know if it was my tone of voice or the fact that I was within earshot of the other girl, but the two of them look at each other and then skeptically back at me.

“What’s his last name?”

“What? I don’t know.”

“Yeah, sorry but you don’t have a wristband.” I’m at a loss for what to do. Right as I’m about to give up hope, Trevor appears in the doorway. He looks out onto the lawn that’s littered with drunk girls and their frustrated boyfriends, scanning the scene and looking directly over my head. I never thought I’d be relieved to see him.

“Sonny, can you-”

“Trevor!” I yell and he looks around confused, trying to locate the source before his eyes meet mine. His face lights up when he sees me.

“Hey!” I sigh and smile. A small smile, but a smile. “She’s with me, dude.” Sonny nods and gestures me inside before blocking the doorway again to keep out uninvited couples.

“You, m’lady, are fashionably late. It is nine already!”

“Did you just say ‘m’lady’?”

“So what if I did?” Trevor’s question goes unanswered as I take in the scenery. Sorority girls and frat brothers of little variety are packed into the space as 24K Magic by Bruno Mars blasts through the two five-foot speakers posted in the corners of the room.

“Ayo, Z!” Someone shouts over the music at which Trevor turns to the voice before his face lights up again. Trevor dabs up his friend before loudly discussing how they ‘haven’t partied together in a while’ and how ‘“Z” needs to visit “K Sig” sometime’. I stand awkwardly behind Trevor as he chats, oblivious to what’s happening until he says my name.

“This is Y/n. Y/n, this is Jack.” I smile politely, debating if I should shake his hand but quickly discard the idea.

“She the one you were telling me about the other day?” Jack asks as if I’m not standing right here. Trevor nods and Jack smiles mischievously.

“I’ll come find you later but right now I gotta get this little lady a drink.”

“Alright. Nice meeting you, Y/n!”

“You too!” I shout though I don’t actually mean it.

“Who was that?”

“Jack and I are friends from high school. He pledged K Sig though so now we just see each other a few times a week,” Trevor explains over the music as he leads me to a boarded-off area. The board looks like it’s a thin slat of wood chips spray painted with the TKE lettering. The surface is littered with sharpie graffiti of mostly poorly drawn penises or hearts with initials inside of them. On the center edge, there’s a combination lock hanging on a poorly-assembled latch hinge. The crack between the board and the threshold reveals a kitchen that would most definitely not pass a health inspection.

“Z!” A raven-haired boy cheers as we enter the space. He’s fixed between the legs of a lanky brunette who is seated on the countertop. She smiles excitedly when she sees me and pushes the dark-haired boy out of her way to come over and greet me. Trevor slips around me making his way over to the fridge.

“Thank god, someone who does not use a 3-in-1 shampoo! I’m Val but everyone just calls me Venus.” She offers me her hand to shake and I accept.

“You didn’t shake my hand when we met!” Trevor playfully complains as he approaches me again.

“Cry about it,” she bites back with no hesitation, “Ignore them.”

“I’m Y/n.”

“Y/n, cute. Is this your first time partying at Teek?” I nod heavily, exhaling a sigh,

“That obvious?”

“A little, but no big deal.” Trevor holds up a bottle that reads ‘Smirnoff ice pink lemonade and I can’t help but smile.

“Flavored and without bubbles,” he recites before handing it over. I nod gratefully and proceed to embarrass myself in front of everyone as I can’t uncap the bottle. “You need some help there?” I give it one last go before dropping my arm defeatedly and handing him back the bottle. He uncaps it with impressive ease and I reply with a quiet,

“Thank you.” As I begin to sip the drink, Val, who had just watched the entire interaction, speaks.

“So, how long have you been dating?” I nearly choke on the sip I’d just taken. Val’s eyes widen and she looks at me with concern. “Oh my god, are you okay?”

“Yeah. Yeah, I’m fine. Sorry, I just- we’re just friends- classmates.”

“Oh.” Val’s brow furrows. She looks as if my presence suddenly doesn’t make sense. And maybe she’s right. Maybe it doesn’t make sense why I’m here. “My bad, I had just assumed that you- because he…”

“Y/n’s an art major,” Trevor interjects to get me out from under the spotlight a little.

“Oh cool! I’m in film studies and Jamie- that’s Jamie by the way,” she gestures to the dark-haired boy who was standing between her knees earlier. “Jamie is environmental studies. And I assume you’re aware Trevor is in business administration.”

“Painfully aware,” I mutter.

“Hey!” Everyone, including Trevor, laughs.

“You’re basically the business major stereotype to a T. The only thing you’re missing is the trust fun.” I eye Trevor as I continue to deviously sip my drink. He freezes for a moment. Busted. Val laughs and I groan.

“At least my parents aren’t faculty!” He jeers at Val.

“Oh, you wanna go after me, huh?”

“Yeah, I do.”

“You really wanna play this game?”

“Yeah!” At the height of their bickering, Val turns to me and points at Trevor.

“Can I expose this motherfucker?”

“Expose time!” Jamie drunkenly shouts, mimicking the airhorn sound at Trevor.

“This dude is the BIGGEST simp on the planet.”

“Oh really? That’s it? I had faith in you, Venus.”

“Oh, I’m not done,” she turns to me, “did he tell you he went to three different stores to find those?” She gestures to the drink in my hand.

“The other stores didn’t have them. So what?” He plays it cool. Val gives him a look that shows she’s not backing down.

“When he got back from class today he was so giggly and excited that you took his sweatshirt.”

“No, I was not!”

“Yes, you were!”

“I wasn’t!”

“Jamie?” Jamie pauses for a second, debating which stance to take.

“...He was blushing.” The room erupts in chaos.

“HAH!” Val yells.

“Fuck you, Jimmy. You’re a little snake.”

“I’m sorry, dude but you were.” Val and Trevor continue to playfully bicker but I begin to zone out. Trevor had been excited to do those things for me? Don’t fall for it. I refuse to be another notch on his belt. For all I know, he does this with every girl he brings back here. God, I feel weird just thinking about it.

“Y/n?”

“Huh?”

“Has he taken you onto the balcony yet?” I shake my head no, confused as to what the balcony refers to.

“What is she talking about?” I ask Trevor, quietly.

“Trevor, why don’t you take your lovely guest up to the balcony so she can see the view?”

“The view of campus?”

“Not exactly. You’ll see.” Trevor offers me his hand and I hesitantly accepted. He leads me out of an exterior-facing kitchen door that has the decorative window covered by a “no entrance” paper sign. Without dropping my hand, he leads me around the corner to a wood lattice that looks ready to collapse.

“No fucking way,” I exclaim looking at the fixture in anxiety.

“Come on, you’ll be fine.”

“Trevor I- what am I supposed to do with my drink?” I ask, thinking I had found a good point that would delay the possibility of climbing.

“I’ll help you.” Before I can protest, he grabs the drink from my hand and monkeys his way up the structure. At the top, he swings over a railing and lands with a smile. Showing off, he then squats down to look at me through the broken bars of the railing, taking a cocky swig of my drink as the finishing touch.

“You’re crazy.”

“Come on, I’ve got you.”

“...Okay,” I begin cautiously climbing the lattice. “If I fall, I’m using your trust fund for my copay.” He laughs delightfully and I’m relaxed enough to laugh at my own joke. When I reach the top, Trevor extends his hand to help guide me over the railing. I grab his forearm as he moves to hoist me over the banister. I falter a bit once standing and Trevor reaches a hand around my back to steady me. The feeling of his hands on my back lights my nerves on fire and my breathing slows. “Thanks.” I squirm out of his touch, feeling uncomfortable from my own enjoyment. I miss the warmth of his hand on my back the instant I do.

“Is this where you take all your hoes when you invite them to parties?”

“You think I have hoes?”

“Well, don’t you?” I ask, thinking back to the two girls using his name for entrance to the party.

“Next question.” I snort an arrogant laugh before looking away from Trevor. The view of the neighborhood is actually really pretty up here. I walk to the perimeter to rest my hips against the balcony railing.

“Thanks for going to three different stores for me,” I speak up to try and ease the nervous tension I feel.

“How’d I do?” Trevor asks, moving closer to join me against the railing. He’s leaned against it, strong arms crossed comfortably over his chest, facing away from the view but turning his head to look at me.

“Very flavored and very bubble-less.”

‘Yeah, Ices are always a safe choice.”

“Maybe before you contaminated it.”

“What?!”

“You put your mouth on it and now every time I want a drink I have to remember that.”

“That’s okay. I’d rather put my mouth somewhere else.” He mumbles the last part. Surprised at his candor I tear my gaze away from the pretty view and meet his stare. His blue eyes are sparkling in the moonlight and I feel myself subconsciously gravitate towards him just to get a better look. Trevor searches my face for any uncertainty and when he doesn’t find it, he dips his head toward me and kisses me gently, but only for a moment. When he pulls away, his eyes flick open to search my face once more, and rather than saying whatever was on my mind, I kiss him hard and fast, tangling my hands in his wind-swept hair. He grabs my hips to pull me closer, our bodies molding into one right where we stand. Trevor deepens the kiss and I drop my hands from his hair to drape my arms over his shoulders.

“WOOOO YEAH!” Trevor and I instantly break the kiss to see Jamie and Val peering around the corner of the house. Jamie’s too drunk to listen to Val’s shushing him. I don’t drop my arms from Trevor’s shoulders and instead, pull him closer so I can hide my face in his chest.

“Come on, dude!” Trevor yells back frustratedly.

“Sorry, we were just curious if y’all were actually gonna do it!” Val calls up to us.

“You got your answer, didn’t you?” Trevor replies before turning his attention back to me, “Where were we?”

***

[overwatch]

I played D&D yesterday at a board game store and I am still a bit shook from it. This isn't a D&D horror story but there's a few things I need to vent about.

- the DM who we did not know handed us character sheets. Apparently this had been agreed with the guy from my group who was arranging everything but he forgot to tell everyone?

- I never related more to a drag queen who gets the role on a ruchallenge they hate. I was forced to play a low charisma wizard whose whole thing was being religious. I did rly good and moved the plot along despite this horrible character, I killed it.

- Anyway straight men are animals they immediately go "IM ROGUE" "IM BARBARIAN". They don't even read the character description or backstory. Or ask me and the other girl in the group if we wanted to read the roles first??

- nobody was doing character voice 🫠 "he says x" "he asks why"-- I interrupted the other players to speak like the characters and they were just stuborn. Especially the straight men they barely used dialogue they only wanted to fight?

- one of the things I HATED the most was that I got a crystal (important plot device) and one of the straights says a) he wants to break it. I start *discussing* with the group that I don't think that's a good choice. B) suddenly the guy says "I take the crystal from her and save it on my things."

????

- me and the group and still discussing what to do with the crystal but the guy decides he takes it and doesn't need to roll or interact/ask me. He then triggers a boss to appear who wants the crystal.

- Before we can discuss as a group why we should give him the crystal the same guy throws the crustal at the guy??

- The DM who had obviously put some effort into describing the boss and voice for the boss just goes ok. I guess he leaves with the crystal then.

- the same guy says he wants to fight the boss. Not for the crystal. Just because he wants ti fight.

- I see the horror flash on the DMs eyes. This is obviously a very high level boss to fight later in the campaign. He even goes "are you sure..?" I save it by saying no obviously not. We already lost the crystal let's not get killed too. Dm says "good choice".

- playing in a boardgame store is horrible. There's so much noise. I have adhd and oh my god. Also dm said something rly serious to my character and I couldn't understand him and didn't wanna ask him to repeat himself bc he did character voice and it was a tense moment.

- straight men's characters kept trying to "go investigate on their own". Boy we just started the campaign??? Maybe idk we should stick together. One of them kept "I go way ahead of them" or "I go way in the back". Which triggered events without us being there yet. At some point the DM ignored the guy and just spoke like he was there with us too.

- I was the only one (aside from dm) actually roleplaying and doing voices.

- one of the guys was mad the dm didn't let him use his own figure on the map even though it was three times the size of the figures the dm had for us.

- I am 100% sure the men were angry I was the hero of the battle we had. (It was bush like creatures and I used burning hands... They were all upset at the dm when the attacks they used barely did anything. And I mean actually arguing.

Anyway I just to take this out of my chest. They also kept asking for feedback/compliments on WhatsApp and I was nice and said I rly liked meeting with them and the dm was way better than I had imaged. And the guy that stole my crystal without asking and almost ruined the game an off comment about me being "uncomfortable" because I didn't join them for dinner after (worded like an accusation)? 🫠 And didn't even say anything about me carrying the game and helping him with his fuck ups. But ok.

[max1461]

I had a dream last night that I ran for president. In the Democratic primary I won California, Alaska, "Washington" (which was directly north of California) and another state whose name I don't remember because it doesn't actually exist, but it was east of Washington along California's northern border (you have to imagine the two of them shaped approximately like triangles, making up an approximate square directly to CA's north).

There was a brief moment when I was in the lead. I knew it wouldn't last, but I remember capitalizing on the opportunity to proudly tell my parents "I'm the front-runner in the race for president of the United States!". Again, this was supposedly the primary, but I recall the electoral map showing blue for the establishment Democrat, red for the Republican candidate (Trump I think), and yellow for me. So maybe it was the national election; I think this is just one of those dream inconsistencies.

Anyway, for whatever reason me and most of my campaign staff were down in a cave. We didn't have internet access anymore, so I was relying on my campaign manager (who was above ground) to clue me in to what was going on. We were in an upper chamber of the cave, and there had been some kind of near-disaster in a lower chamber where the fire department had to come and rescue a bunch of people who were trapped. I don't remember if any of them were part of my campaign staff. Anyway, as the establishment Democrat took the lead, I remember talking on the phone—a big, thick, 90s-style cellphone—with my campaign manager about what I should do. Should I give some sort of statement to the press about it? Should I congratulate the winner on Twitter? He said no, no, don't worry about it; everyone knows you're down in a cave and don't have service, so they can't possibly expect that.

I have no idea why we were in a cave, if it was intentional or we were stuck there. I guess we were just in a cave!

Anyway, then disaster struck! One of my staffers found a bunch of people in need of rescue in our (upper) chamber of the cave! Now, this wasn't as dire as the earlier rescue. These people were much easier to get to. They were like, sort of hanging upside-down from a horizontally suspended rope, like clothes on a clothes line, basically. I don't know how they got that way but they were in a dire state from hanging upside-down for some long. Some of my staffers insisted they could rescue the people themselves (I think they were worried that calling in the fire department again would be viewed as wasteful and damage my campaign). They managed to get some of the people down from the clothes line. I asked my campaign manager what to do (I was still on the phone with him) and he was like "no, call the fire department!". So he put me through to the fire department and I told them what was going on.

You have to understand throughout these events that I'm like, me. I have no idea how to run an electoral campaign, I'm 100% relying on my campaign manager for every cue, and I'm really nervous about figuring out the proper etiquette for everything. When I was asking him about whether I should congratulate the winner on Twitter you have to imagine it in this sort of tone. Like, first day on the job, nervous "I'm following your lead here" energy. And when I get on the phone with the fire department I'm super awkward (I've never called them before!) and as I'm explaining the situation I'm thinking like "good, good, that was normal, I sound normal to the fire department right now".

Anyway then they come down into the cave and start rescuing people. I get back on the phone with my campaign manager and he tells me confidently "look, here's what we do: on Monday you're gonna give a press conference. You'll announce that your bid for the presidency is over, congratulate the winners, and reiterate your policy positions." I don't remember what else he said about it, but basically this was the most graceful way to end the campaign and keep my political career strong. I was a popular candidate with lots of youth support and energy behind me, so it was gonna be easy to parley that into later success. Now, I didn't want a further political career—this campaign was 100% a one-off—but I agreed the press conference would be a good idea. Unfortunately that would mean I had to write a speech by Monday, which was annoying.

Anyway, the establishment Democrat won in the end, and turns out it was Obama.

Then I woke up.

[kathanglangit]

The Second Blade: Diplata - Extinct Bolo

Continuing the countdown to the launch of the Gubat Banwa Kickstarter coming up on the 10th of October- 6 days to go! Gubat Banwa is a tactical war-drama TTRPG set in the Sword Isles, a fantasy setting inspired by Southeast Asian cultures and folklore.

To promote its launch, I'll be posting some of the weapons I've been drawing for the game every day until the campaign kicks off in earnest. These were meant to be Swordtember entries, pardon the lateness I suppose. 2/7 blades so far, let me introduce you to the DIPLATA.

The diplata is a short-to-mid-length blade with a distinct handle, with most specimens sporting a horn-like protrusion facing the same side as the edge.

The blade shape itself I feel is something common across most toolblades in the Philippines, not much longer than one's forearm with a more-or-less rounded out tip- though the diplata seems a bit wider than most. I would say the most unique features definitely lie in the shape of the hilt, and the circular guard. Most Philippine blades don't have anything in the form of hand protection, so a wide guard like this stands out.

This one was a little difficult to find photo references for, as apparently they're quite rare. Some blade scholars call it an "extinct" blade, meaning those who traditionally forge authentic ones supposedly aren't around anymore.

(Photo from Victor Balaguer's museum near Barcelona; Diplata on the blades hanging on the wall, the two next to the rightmost blade) "Traditional" blades refer to those made by the same people to whose culture a blade belongs. To illustrate in the simplest terms, a katana made by a traditional Japanese swordsmith would count as a traditional blade. A messer made by a traditional German blacksmith would count as a traditional blade. I'm sure there's more internal nuance there, but that's the quickest reference point I could come up with. Take note however that the Philippines is composed of many, many different cultures who all happen to exist in the same archipelago with varying levels of overlap- there is no singular, unifying blade culture, so categorizations like "Traditional" and "Modern" (often referring to modern reproductions) aren't always as exact as convenience may demand. In particular, material exchange between cultures makes a mess of this categorization, not just because the blades themselves could get traded (or stolen or lost) and physically make their way to other places beyond the imaginary borders of their "homelands", but because the smiths themselves (or their knowledge and techniques) may travel around. Smiths in different places may also see blades from different cultures that they might feel like imitating or emulating in some way- that's how certain Philippine blades obtained D-guards- but that's a story for another time. The diplata is oft-attributed to the Aeta peoples, specifically those who come from Mt. Pinatubo in Zambales. Not much confusion as to whose culture these blades belong.

It is a little disheartening that most of the refs I could find were photos from foreign museums and loose images in books and blade forums. I will not speculate here as to how these blades ended up in these places, but it isn't hard to guess.

(Image from a Spanish museum)

(Image from Philippines, Early Collections, Museum of Ethnologie Vienna)

(Image from The Philippine Journal of Science Volume 81) I'm not a hardcore blade scholar, but even I recognize how inseparable blades are from the myriad cultures of the Philippines. I'm forever thankful to the random communities of blade enthusiasts who dedicate a not-insignificant portion of their time (and wallets) to supporting local artisan blacksmiths to grow their collections, and keeping track and tracing which blades came from which places and peoples. Our blade cultures are alive and still developing, but they could still use a little help sometimes, just so we don't lose them.

(Photo from the collection of Zel Umali) In any case- while it's not exactly a scholarly work in the academic sense- part of Gubat Banwa's violence is pushing a fantasy setting of our own making, as seen by our own eyes, as told on our own terms. This is no foreign museum; This time, SEAsian cultures take center stage.

The Gubat Banwa Kickstarter launches in 6 days! Check it out here:

It would be a huge help to this very small team from the global south if you could help us get the word out! We straight up can't afford to advertise on the same scale as bigger players in the field, so we're relying heavily on word of mouth. You can find out more about the game on its itch page.

[2023himbotournament]

CONTACT YOUR GOVERNMENT AND DEMAND A CEASEFIRE FOR PALESTINE

For Eu look up:

Voices in Europe for peace

For Usa look up:

US campaign for Palestinian rights

BOYCOTT FOR PALESTINE

FOA (Friends of Al-Aqsa) have organized a boycott in support of palestine. Here are the key companies to boycott:

HP (Hewlett Packard)

Coca-Cola

Israeli produce

We will be ending our call to boycott

PUMA once the contract with IFA officially dissolves in 2024. Until then, we encourage you to continue boycotting PUMA products.

Please help to spread the word by sending this copypasta to as many blogs as you can and/or going to FOAs website where you can find posters to download and print out

Ok I'm not a copypasta person unless it's memes but like. Look I'm not Palestinian but I'm also a Southwest Asian and my mental health has definitely deteriorated seeing just. Everything. Especially the increase in racism and islamophobia (I'm also muslim) and seeing all the hate crimes and knowing that someone could probably shoot me in the head while I'm writing gay fanfiction in public and justify it by saying that I could've been a dangerous terrorist and therefore my entire family tree must be eradicated-

basically what I'm trying to say is that I'm hoping that making this post on the himbo tourney blog will get some eyes on this. Like. I've been feeling really powerless about this and kinda just like shriveling up and dying lately. Tbh. The world is fxcked right now. In the year of our lord 2024 /ref, here we are post undertale we are being pro-genocide how funny is that haha. It's not funny. It's. It's not. It's not funny . I can't. I've seen too many videos of children dying and crying and I just. I saw the one thing about the kid with cerebral palsy whose parents got shot right in front of them for literally no reason and then they got yelled at by soldiers and like. People literally will look at this and call these people animals?? I saw that term get thrown around a lot. It's just disgusting and like.

have people seen the bingo the literal genocide bingo. People are treating this like a joke like. Do people not realize that Southwest Asian people are like... people??? We're people you know. Like this is mainly targeting Arabs but I've seen stuff about people discriminating against the rest of us too (mainly because they can't tell the difference. Because the idea of not treating Asian cultures as interchangeable applies until you get to Southwest Asia I guess even in progressive circles everyone just says Arab for everything even here I've seen people like-). I'm Persian and I'm still scared someone will cut my life off. I'm 16. Nowruz is next week and I just want to live to it with my family. My mind is inundated wit the tears of the families that had never gotten to have their celebrations. Because of one group on one day.

one group on one day. One group on one day. it's always that. it's always that for people like us.I feel like I'm going insane. It's just 9/11 in America all over again. I wasn't even born for that. But you can just feel it all around you. And now we have the sequel, across the world. But it's used the same way. 7/23. Can't wait for the memes /s. This one thing happens therefore we can dedicate multiple months to killing all of you just making you suffer stripping your dignity you don't deserve anything and we'll make the world hate you because fxck you and then the world goes along with it because nothing good ever happens and I just want to escape from this but every time I go on tumblr it's just this and I know if I ever stop seeing this it means that the worst has happened anyway

and then people try to act like YOU'RE the bigot because you're trying to hold a country's government and military force responsible for war crimes just because the country has its branding in minority groups. How about I make this crystal clear: I don't give a flying fxck about what Israel is, it's what it's doing that matters. I'd be saying nearly the same shzt if they were PERSIAN, and that is MY ETHNICITY. I literally do not care. It doesn't matter. Because killing people is wrong and that should not be a controversial statement but I guess some people like the sound of screams in the morning. The Palestinian death toll has surpassed the 7/23 death toll. And it's still going. And not all the deaths have even been accounted for because bodies are still buried under rubble. Because they're still bombing people and they won't stop. And no one will make them stop.

like I don't give a fxck about Hamas either, I heard some of the members did genuinely say some like directly quoted antisemitic shzt and also they like condoned a racist caricature of a black woman in a magazine I think but I'm not sure about the second one (I know the magazine thing definitely happened but I'm not sure of their like involvement at all-) like. I don't need to suck there dzcks like some people do it's one group of fxcks like I don't. They're just the excuse being used for this. You're bombing the entire population of a country where the majority population is fzcking tater tots. You're attacking children. You are killing children. Paint yourself purple. Dammit. Just. Again it's 9/11 all over again but in another country.

even then like it's like. You know that trope in cartoons that shows up more often than you'd think that was in like Avatar and Korra and RWBY I think where there's like a fictional minority that is oppressed and wants rights and then active protest is represented by an evil terrorist group who attacks people and is the villains of the media and passive protest is always portrayed as good and active protest is evil and there's no nuance and also they just frame the group as just like evil spawned out of nowhere not addressing that they literally would not exist if not for the truly evil system of oppression that basically created them. Like.

You know Hamas only exists because Palestinians were already treated like shzt right? Like they were already displaced and didn't consent to the whole Israel thing and like look up Nakba it's fzcking awful like. Hamas is just a symptom of the disease and there will just be another Hamas if you try to knock it down without actually like. Doing anything about. the fact that Palestinians are oppressed. but people will just act like you can keep punching at Hamas like that'll result in anything like they're the flowers not the roots y'know-

also I'm calling it here, this entire thing is gonna definitely be used down the line by Neo-nazis I mean it kinda already is being used to justify antisemitism but like I saw the stuff of people trying to redefine antisemitism to be synonymous with antizionism and make isrseli and jewish synonymous and to basically gatekeep jewishness from anti-zionist jews (I'm not kidding I actually saw shzt like that) and it's like. Y'all they're gonna turn around in a year or two like "ohhh look at the big bad scary jews- I mean Israelis their identity is literally tied to the genocide of Palestinians they are inherently evil there is no denying it!" (Ignoring the fact that the USA and other bastards of colonization did the same shzt as Israel literally the same story history is repeating itself but we have social media brands this time-). And then like what the fxck do you do about it when the word antisemitic now means anticolonialist so no one takes it seriously anymore. What the fxck are you supposed to do about that. And when they probably made themselves right because they probably contributed to Palestinian Genocide themselves they don't care they're just using them as props in their fxcking jew hatred. But like. Yeah you are now tied to this nationality that is tied to fxcking genocide what do you do? It's like perfect to use for fearmongering around Jewish people since the shzt they used before somehow worked despite literally being pulled out of their xss istg like where the fxck did any of the bank stuff come from like. The fzck?-

im tired. I'm so tired. Both in the literal "It's past 1am" sense and the less literal "make the stop" sense.

I just don't want people to die. I just want people to be happy. I just want people to not suffer but every day it feels like it's getting worse and I just want something to change for the better and I'm scared. Why do people act like it's a bad thing to not want people to suffer? I don't understand. I just. I just don't understand. I. am I naive? For this?

does this wish make me naive?

[hadesoftheladies]

alright, some misogynist and ableist goons on this site keep bothering me about my jkr post because they cannot fathom the fact that calling out bias doesn't necessarily equal endorsing. so i'm going to be super nice about it and put all the facts here for the fact-enjoyers.

let's go over the claims made against jkr by testerical twitterheads, because everything to do with trans politics regarding jkr is just extremist white liberals reaching.

Claim: JK Rowling is friends with Matt Walsh. False!

Claim: JK Rowling is friends with Kellie-Jay Keen. Ambiguous! (She has agreed with Kellie-Jay Keen on several issues and advocated for her based on false allegations about nazism concerning Kellie-Jay Keen. Men-rights activists made shit up about her endorsing nazi salutes at her women's campaign. also, JK Rowling has agreed with many people whose politics she does not wholly endorse, like matt walsh. agreeing with someone on an opinion or fact, does not mean you agree with their politics.)

Claim: JK Rowling denies the Holocaust. False! (For proof, see this thread. JK Rowling does not DENY that the Holocaust happened, but that trans people were specifically targeted by the Nazis. Some argue that this makes her a Holocaust denier based on some German article, but I find the term muddies the water. It can be an offense, a grievous one, to deny the Nazis did something when they did, but calling JKR a Holocaust denier makes people think she doesn't believe the Holocaust happened when she absolutely does.

Additionally, the topic as to whether trans people were explicitly targeted by Nazis has had a fair share of scholarly debate. They may have faced some measure of harassment, but being specifically targeted is also a reach considering how little historical evidence we have of transvestites being outrightly persecuted, at least, to anywhere near the same degree homosexual, black or Jewish people were. Cross-dressing certificates were legal in Nazi Germany, for example, and I have found no record of a transvestite suffering things like forced sterilization. This article briefly mentions a German author who thought that the Nazis would finally take care of "the transvestite problem" because now they could be sent to concentration camps and castrated there, but there is still no record of any transvestite having undergone such a thing. Furthermore, of the examples of transvestites that were taken to concentration camps, both of them were homosexual, so it would be more accurate to say they were targeted for being homosexual, especially when you look at why they were arrested. On the other hand, some transvestites ended up in concentration camps, but it was likely due to the fact that they were Jewish rather than trans.

It is also very significant that in the German Republic, transvestites had permits while homosexuals did not!

JKR might be denying that they burned trans books. Unfortunately for her, she is wrong. Transvestite research WAS targeted by the Nazis. Again, not much is known about transvestites during this time and I have found no solid numbers. It most definitely didn't happen on the same scale as what gay, lesbian, Jewish or Roma people were suffering through--and why would it, transvestites weren't a large population, also i have found no record of transvestites being forced to wear pink triangles, like homosexual men were--, though gay men and transvestites seemed to get more leniency if they were "Aryan." )

Claim: JK Rowling directly funds government suppression. (Which government? Source? I'll make an assumption and guess that you're referring to her 1 million pound donation to the Better Together anti-Scottish independence campaign? Yes, she has. But she respects the opinions of those who disagree with her on the subject. She's also donated to the Labour Party, which is more centre-left politically.)

Claim: JK Rowling has financially supported groups that repress Scotland's right to independence. True! (She also voted "No!" on Scottish independence).

Claim: JK Rowling is gunning to be a Neo-Nazi. False! (She has not expressed any explicit Nazi views! Please tap the source to see what Nazi views actually are! JK Rowling has been explicitly leftist in her politics and anti-racist.)

Claim: JK Rowling is a fascist. False! (She does not identify as fascist and does not have any explicit fascist views. Unlike the people burning and trying to ban her books, which contain very little of her politics.)

i don't worship JKR, i don't even agree with a good chunk of her politics. especially when it comes to her sympathy for israel. she's a millionaire white woman, and i am a born and raised african middle-class person. we won't have many politics in common. but unlike you lot, i don't need to be misogynistic or ableist in order to disagree with a woman. resorting to misogyny, ableism, racism or homophobia just because you hate someone is still misogyny, ableism, racism and homophobia. i wouldn't call a transperson the "t-word" even though i don't profess their gender faith. because i recognize that using the "t-word" on a trans-identified person that's done or said disgusting things like, idk, andrea long chu or hunter schaffer (are these your leaders? seriously?), saying that word will still hurt trans-identified people who didn't do or say those horrible things unnecessarily.

see what i did there? i read things up for myself, added sources from people i disagreed with politically, discussed the valid history of people who i disagree with without resorting to dehumanizing language, and called out the celebrity you lot think are "my hero" without being a hypocrite!

class dismissed.

now fuck off you rancid misogynists and go back to snivelling about how righteous you are to your echo chamber.

also, radblr girlies feel free to reblog or link this for all the anti-jkr posts that make any of these claims or keep trying to bait you with this braindead discourse to save yourselves the effort. love you and muah! :)