#idk what its activation factors are bc they don't do this if I'm checking out at a grocery store or something

[flimsy-roost]

me being treated poorly for reasons outside of my control: well this sucks real bad, but this is happening for reasons outside of my control. while it still hurts emotionally, being conscious of my lack of agency allows me to put my energy towards things I can control that may at least cheer me up

me when I'm talking to myself and my noise cancelling headphones turn on an inscrutably applied pass-through mode that can't be manually toggled and the leaf blower next door fills mine ears once more: slapping doorframe hard enough to mildly fuck up my wrists NO NO NO NONONONONONONONO

[greenunoreversecard]

Kai,llyod, and Cole hc of them with a s/o that's kinda like a child of aphrodite from pjo? A bit more like piper though, they hate their gift and have to deal with cat callers alot?

I got cat called by way older men on the way home so this would be really comforting.

A/N:sorry it took so long to get this out for you. Ik my words can't offer much, but I'm sorry you get catcalled, it's not a fun feeling.

Sugar and spice-> Gn! Reader

individual headcanons of kai, cole and lloyd with a stunning S/O

Kai:

Kai, despite being extremely similar to his element in a multitude of ways, is an utter gentleman.

Hes always respectful of you, and makes sure to ask before he touches you in anyway, and is respectful with his eyes as well

With this said, as you guys grow close and start dating, he becomes uber protective of you.

He knows your very stunning.

And he knows others know that as well.

But alot of times, these people are creepy and go about saying: "hi, your outfit is cool" weirdly

And so he won't hesitate to punt a bitch into the sun

Most likely to throw a punch before a word leaves the creeps mouth.

And if your ever feeling gross and icky bc of the creeps?

Bros pulling out every stop.

Hes getting Zane to make a 10 course Michelin star meal, he's getting your comfort items, a hoodie (yours or his, doesn't matter) and he's becoming a 10/10 massager

Hes getting self care items, and a bath along with movies and cuddles with a side of shoulder to cry on

But if you get angry about the creeps??

He eggs you on. Agrees with you"YEAH BABE, FUCK THOSE ASSWIPES"

he will actively encourage any fist fights fights want to start with them

Hes your number 1 hype man, as well as comforter

Cole:

This man worships the ground you walk on. Just generally

Also drinks the respect tea (all of them do)

Hes always telling you how amazing you look, and even gives advice for anything you may need

Clothes? Food? Whatever hobby your working on?

He just has a eye for style of all categories

Hes generally also more down to earth, and realizes its much more than looks that makes a person

Which is why it takes him a bit longer to confess, as he wanted to get to know you better first (this man is demiromantic and demisexual)

Hes also fucking oblivious

So when people are more... sly about their intentions, like wording and such, he prolly won't notice

But the second he gets wind of what they are tryna pull

Hes super passive aggressive

And he slings a arm around your shoulder, or hides you behind him

Trys to talk it out first, and if they don't catch the hint they will catch his hands

Hes not... great with comfort tbh

His mom's dead and his dad's lowkey emotionally unavailable so he's not good at it

But he will rub your back when you cry, and buy takeout

He'll also prolly ask kai or Jay about how to comfort you better, bc both had either a sibling or parent.

He would ask Nia buts she's a younger sibling with a emotional brick wall of a brother so it's next to never she did some comforting.

Hes a little confused when it comes to comfort but Hes got spirit

Lloyd:

He has always been a little silly

So expect to bark at your aggressors

Idk why I just see him barking at your catcallers

Besides that

Hes always relied more on personality for if he likes someone, like cole

Not that kai doesn't care for personality he does, but looks plays a bigger factor for kai than they do cole and lloyd

Anyways

Off topic

Lloyd doesn't make a big deal how you look. Like doesn't comment on your outfits like cole.

Doesnt mean he doesn't think you don't look nice, bc he thinks you look lovely always

But moreso doesn't give a fuck

Wear a potato sack, or go naked, he doesn't give a fuck he just wants to get to the mall before it closes to he can check out the anime shops

He Def has a idrc additude, especially in dragon rising i feel, so I think if you want compliments you'd have to be outright about it, whereas the other two just kinda;"aww my partner is lovely🥰🥰"

And he's like;"babe, love you to bits and pieces but hurry the fucketh upeth I wanna get there before the fucking store closes"

And bc of that he's also the worst at comfort

Like he's always been told to suck it up so he kinda just is like... cool you done? And stands there awkwardly. He will get better with time, but please explain how to help better for future moments bc he was a Lil scared when you started crying.

Anyways back to the beginning about when mfs are being creepy

Barks at them

Fr barks

Bc it weird them out and he thinks it's funny

Or just tries to be as weird as possible

Like starts acting possessed

Crawls backwards on all fours like the lady from the ring or smth

If generally weirdness doesn't work he fights them

Though he tries to scare them off first

[drewtanakagf]

A Red Queen Social-Political-Economic Meta devolves into prison reform (bear w/ me) 

links at the very end smile. ask me to elaborate a point or don’t idc. I will be talking more regardless.

How This All Started: 

Me, writing: do you think that rq story aus (canon-divergence specifically) can work w/out the existence of silver/reds or at the very least power/no power dynamics, or rather, how well would the plot work without that? 

Me, opening new doc: bc like, the rq story is built off the usurpation of the silver/red dichotomy and calling into question the validity of oppression with the existence of a third group which shares qualities of the two (if you wanna get sociopolitical with it). 

TL;DR: Cameron Cole’s role in the narrative works as a connection between the oppressive systems irl and in the rqverse by her simply being a Black girl from New Town and a Newblood silent. 

Norta’s Social, Political, and Economic System 

Thinking about it more, I think that RQ can be seen as a racial-adjacent (blood, in canon) oppression story and class oppression story, but combining those lenses to more closely mirror what we experience in real life is, iffy at best. Since race as we understand it in our world is purely social while in rqverse there is a biological difference (which uhm. I don't end up talking about eugenics but let's keep that in mind yeah?) in which the system of oppression is made from. That system of oppression then allows for the discrimination of Reds in society, which can be seen at its worst in New Town and tech towns in general. Reds are at the bottom of the social ladder with no hope of climbing above their station. 

Now as a class story, this is where economics would come in.  And since there is no economic mobility for Reds, RQ as a story rooted in class falls apart. Basically (without thinking myself in circles) it cannot be only a class story and it cannot be a story in which both social factors and economic factors combine, since there is no sense of "class" in the Red's lives, all of them suffer. But this is true only in the Mare's point of view, the Silvers in universe are separated by high houses, low houses, and "common." Yet, this is only where we begin to see politics come in as the Houses are separated by respect and power as well as wealth. The connection to monarchy is viable for those in the Houses and is all draped in political pomp and shit. idk man it's one am and i'm thinking too hard.  SO the sociopolitical works in tandem w the social-economical whilst for Reds politics is unfathomable bc they're second class citizens. 

Prisons in The USA 

WHICH BRINGS ME TO (the worse segue in history) TO CAMERON COLE *cheers whoops etc*  I cannot for the life of me get over how Cameron is pretty much the only Black Red "main" character and she came from New Town, which is a place where everyone works to create for the rest of the country. This is a little too similar to the reality of prisons and like, the generational Blackness of it all is a lot for me to NOT look over. 

Note: Prisons are long-term holding facilities where convicted people go to carry out their sentences, Jails are short-term holding facilities and most are awaiting charges or trial (Prison Fellowship). 

One thing to understand is that prisons are rife with modern-day slavery, especially in the US (which rq was written in the context in). Last I checked, the US held about 25% of the world's prisoners, about a million people incarcerated, not to count those still in the penal system (like in jail, probation, or juvenile detention). Not only that, prisons are often private, not public, so there is an active economical interest in having as many prisoners as possible. You need bodies to make money in that industry. Not only that, prisoners work for little to no money and aren't even guaranteed to be able to re-enter society. In fact, many prisoners do not, the prison recidivism rate is still over a third in the US, meaning that over one-third of prisoners commit a crime again and become re-incarcerated (Wisevoter). There are a fuck ton of reasons why this is, mostly, in my opinion, the lack of effective reform programs. But you cannot deny that there is a corporate interest in having prisoners in prisons to make money and make profits for the low cost of labor. According to the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), prisoners make $2 Billion in goods only to be paid an average of  $0.13 to $0.52  an hour, of which "the government takes up to 80 percent of these wages for “room and board,” court costs, restitution, and other fees like building and sustaining prisons. These wage deductions generally leave incarcerated workers with less than half of their gross pay" (ACLU). One more thing, who's populating these prisons? 

Statistically, according to the Federal Bureau of Prisons, White people make up 57.3% of prisoners nationwide while the next biggest racial group, Black people make up 38.6% (Note: This is by race, and the government's definition of race. Hispanic is considered as an ethnic group, which is why the data about Latine people is not on the federal website. Hispanic group makes up 29.7% of prisoners, to satiate your curiosity)(BOP). However, you have to take into account the rates compared to population. Let's take a look at New York State, which in the Rqverse includes The Stilts and Archeon. White people make up about 55% of the population and account for 23% of people in prison. Black people on the other hand, make up about 14% of the population and account for 49% of prisoners (PPI).  Like WOW! What a jump am I right? 

This disparity is again, attributed to many many things and long history of racial injustice and racist policing (looking at you stop and frisk, which is also a whole different problem i would LOVE to talk about), but as stated, has its roots in racial injustice and how the US never bothered to recover from slavery, Jim Crow, and treating minorities (most notably Black people) as second class citizens. 

Cameron Cole 

Okay, so now you have the IRL quick breakdown, let’s talk about Cameron Cole. Cameron Cole is a young Black girl who is from New Town and is a newblood with the power of Silence. That sentence is the core of her character as she stands in the plot (nothing about personality, we may get into this later idk yet. I have now officially passed 1k words on this. So. we will see fr.) Cameron’s identity as a young Black girl is not explored as, again, in the rqverse race isn’t a thing, it’s all about blood, baby! (that's what a vampire would say fr). So, in blood: she’s a newblood, one of those in-betweens that usurps the dichotomy yaddi-yadda, and is really just a socio-political thing, because Newbloods haven’t been around/ known for long enough in Norta to have bearing economically (class) and Maven decided to be Maven about newbloods in general, not just Mare’s standing as a Newblood ( he legitimized Newbloods as a blood group in Norta, essentially). But to get into the whole young Black girl, we need to draw the connection between prisons and New Town. 

Okay, no more jokes (though that is true), Black people are seen as second-class citizens in the eyes of the systems in place today, and that is reflected in Red Queen as a Black character is a victim of modern-day slavery within that universe. Her existence calls for comparison between the oppressive systems in the rqverse and the world as we know it. 

New Town is one of many  tech towns, dedicated to industry, building all of Norta’s mechanical goods and basically the cornerstone of Nortan economy. Everyone in there is forced to work despite the horrible conditions and have no chance of entering society and for little to no pay (sound familiar?). While the prison system in the US is a continuation of modern-day slavery, New Town just cut out the middleman of the police system and put them straight into modern day-slavery. Making the notable characters from New Town Black draws all these lines together and provide commentary on our world today: Black people still can’t win!

Now, as a Black girl, even in the RQverse, Cameron is still saddled with the same generational struggles Black women face due to the intersection of their Black and Woman identities. (source: am Black, am a woman). Because not only is the woman expected to look after household affairs and family matters, but now we’re dealing with racial inequalities. It’s a lot on a girl’s plate right? Cameron and Morrey remind me of all the Black women who have lost the Black men in their life due to violence and my own fears for my brother each time he leaves the house. 

Violence to us is like gun violence and police brutality and shit like that but to them is the war, where similar to the police system. Aw fuck new section time 

The Lakelander War as Control 

So my basic theory here is that the Lakelander war is used as the police system, not necessarily as like, actual policing but as a power move. It’s like Atlanta’s Cop City to me, a way to be like “heyyyyy don’t forget who has the power to kill you. Okie!” 

Back to Regular Programming 

Where violence is perpetuated by over policing and the war on drugs and such polices affecting minority populations irl, the war (and the duel things i forgot what they're called, and bowl of bones) exacerbate the uhm. Power dynamics. Reds are powerless Silvers powerful . “Look at what we can do” and shit. 

Edit: Lynching is also in this category. It’s about power, yeah.

 So Cameron has to save Morrey from this violence. I have to fear about my brother and dad and cousins. Like there is a connection there please tell me you get it I will cry its three am now im almost 2k deep like. 

Cameron, though, is not just a regular red, she is a Newblood and a  silencer at that. 

So how does she fight against her oppressors? She silences them, quite literally takes away their power. And isn’t that an apt metaphor for this all? 

Okay i'm going the fuck to sleep. Thanks for making it this far. Here’s a freshly baked cookie (imagine a cookie here) 

Links ( I gave up on the MLA LOL!) 

ACLU: https://www.aclu.org/news/human-rights/captive-labor-exploitation-of-incarcerated-workers 

Wisevoter: https://wisevoter.com/state-rankings/recidivism-rates-by-state/ 

Federal Bureau of Prisons (BOP) https://www.bop.gov/about/statistics/statistics_inmate_race.jsp 

PPI: https://www.prisonpolicy.org/profiles/NY.html 

Prison Fellowship: https://www.prisonfellowship.org/resources/training-resources/in-prison/faq-jail-prison/

[lesbiancarat]

Book anon here to say today is a happy day because it is dk and vernon day ^0^ the fact they share bdays makes my heart so big like djakdnaks that's the best thing really! (I say this as I don't like celebrating my own birthday lol but that shiz makes me soft) like how can it not get better than sharing a birthday with your fellow bandmate who is also your buddy :'))

Back on topic, I am happy that in the fandoms I'm in, update blogs or accounts are well loved so no drama there but I agree on cc peeps, my gosh the decline of them is obvious for the past 2 years =/ I remember 2018 the carat fandom here was HUGE with creators and lots of notes but now...its hard to see more than 200 for some and while numbers don't matter because you should ALWAYS be doing this for fun, its so shocking to see the interaction go so low and its more likes. I do have a theory as to why this is the case and it might be due to nowadays, people on Tumblr find reblogging alot to be "too much" akaspamming. I would know because some told me I do this and I'm like ??? I am simply reblogging content I like and if it means hitting the rbelog limit so be it djajdjw. Legit idk why its seen as bad nowadays when everyone used to reblog alot and no one complained so maybe this could be why? Again a theory but it would make sense and its a shame if this is the case :c I admit I like stuff because I sometimes do reblog it for a color theme but mostly I hit the reblog limit so I want to reblog it later xD

But let's not get into people that take others work as their own -.- now I get giving credit for say icons (I do this for icons and headers I use because its the least I can do. I would link it but idk how to do it on Tumblr lol) but taking someone's say gif and just posting it on twitter to share is like ??? You do know there is a share button that SHARES THE ORIGINAL LINK BACK RIGHT? Smh i can't with people. That's why I try to make sure for icons at least I know its not a repost and try to stay away from pintrest as best as I can (also svt on pintrest? Are they making moodboards or smth? I leave Tumblr for a bit and this is what I come back to lol)

Oof I wrote too much again sjamdna I'm living up to my emoji huh? XD but yes my tooth is better! It hurt again last night but today we are good!

I'm late answering this but yeah the fact that dk and vernon share a Birthday is super sweet! it's fun that they get to do their birthday live together as well ^^

but yeah i joined carat tumblr around late 2017/early 2018 (i made this side blog during oh my era but I'd been reblogging svt stuff on main before then) and I'm p sure most if not all the cc's i originally followed are inactive now :( obviously like you said content creators should make content for fun and bc they want to and not for the notes, but it's understandably disheartening when less people are interacting with it and even the people who do still see your content are (at least seemingly) less enthusiastic about it (ie liking but not reblogging it, less ppl writing things in the tags or replies, etc.)

but that's so wild to me? I've never heard anyone say someone is reblogging too many things like... how do you expect to see posts if people don't reblog stuff?? id welcome that extra content on my dash dhfjfh. i guess you can go in specific tags but like. idk reblogging is the main function of tumblr i don't know why there are people sort of against it/not as willing to use it (i mean... i suspect at least one factor is other social media platforms relying more on algorithms and likes to show people new content and ppl are just more used to that maybe?)

i feel like to some extent people feel entitled to have every or any gif or fanart or fan content on their platform of choice, but like if an artist posts something on tumblr but not on twt or instagram it doesn't HAVE to be on twt or insta. people can make a tumblr (or whatever platform) account if that's the only place a creator is active and they really want to see their content. and if people want to share something cool to another platform it is not hard to just post a link to the original post and tell people to check it out. like i do that every once in a while if there's a translation that doesn't allow reposts, but i still want ppl to know that trans exists if they wouldn't normally. and yeah!! you're gonna get less engagement that way!! but that's when you need to question whether your intention is really to share something cool w people who wouldn't normally see it or if you just want clout from this cool thing for yourself

and obviously not everyone who reposts things wo credit or permission has such innocent intentions as "i want to share this cool thing" but i think in a lot of cases it is something similar to that where ppl see something and they want to use it or share it for whatever reason and they just forget that it's something an actual person took the time to create and chose to share it. fan creations, unless otherwise specified, are not like memes in that they're intended to be shared and edited and copied to hell and back

but yeah pinterest is the worst in terms of reposts. like very little if any of the content on there (at least that's fandom related) is original content. the vast majority is reposts from other platforms without credit. a few weeks ago i saw someone on twt post like an old SVT photo or something and someone asked where it was from and they were like 'idk i saw it on pinterest' and when i tell u my blood boiled dhfkfj like!! ok!! so you're reposting a repost and u have no idea what the original source is... great

but yeah i have no idea what SVT is gonna do with pinterest... guessing it's just gonna be pledis posting official/behind photos that they also post on twt anyway. it really looks like it's something bh made them create given other bhl artists also have pinterests they're all following each other. also pledis didn't even officially announce the new account opening anywhere as far as I've seen so like. i think they really don't care dhfkfj

i really don't know what bh thinks they're gonna gain though like. ik there are active fandom pinterest users but i think most of them also have other social media like twt or insta. like they're not cracking open a huge new market, and LITERALLY NO ONE expects any musician or celeb to have an official Pinterest so. it's just so unnecessary dhfkgj

I'm glad your tooth is feeling better!!!

[fuckstudy]

Hey there idk what to say but I'm on the verge of crying bc I feel so lazy. Even one of my teachers told me about it and I feel like a useless law student u_u I know we need to be disciplined and responsible but sometimes I just can't keep it up bc I feel tired :( idk what to do I don't want to fail my finals or retake curses bc I know I'm smart enough to be at the top but I'm not doing what I need to be in that spot :( #help

/hugs tightly/ 

Cry. Cry if you need to - if it makes you feel better, if it means that you’ll have clarity of mind for the steps ahead. 

Here’s the secret: not all law students are type A, disciplined and ‘responsible’ all the time. Heck, not all successful law students are disciplined, responsible, 10 hours of study per day.

We’re human. 

And that means its natural to feel tired, to experience burn out and fuck everything I’d rather maim myself than read another 100 pages on constitutional law. 

But that doesn’t mean that you can’t be successful. That doesn’t mean you can’t reach your potential. 

It just means you need to rest. To find your motivation. To reset. And recharge.

So that you can work at your full potential again.  

And you’re not alone. 

Just because you’re not disciplined, ‘pomodoro’, bullet journal, study 10 hours a day doesn’t make you any less of a good, smart or talented student. I can’t count the number of years I felt ‘inferior’ because I wasn’t studying as much as I thought I needed to. I was the classic ‘stress but don’t do anything about it until a week before the exam’ type student. In my final two years at law school, I crammed each semesters worth of work the week before the exam. In my final year I started and finished my thesis the week before it was due. All nighters were my jam. 

Was that ideal? No. Was it good for my mental, emotional, social health? Absolutely not. Do I advocate it? Not a chance. 

But in the end, I passed. I graduated. I did well. 

And I guess, that’s what I’m trying to convey... in a long winded manner. Don’t count yourself out of the race just because you’ve had a stretch of bad days, months, years. Don’t think you’re inferior just because you’re not studying the way everyone else is. 

You’ll get there. You will. I promise.

Why? 

Because failure, lack of motivation, lack of dedication - these factors alone do not determine your success.

Its how you respond to them that will. 

It sounds like your body and mind are imploring you to take a rest. Take a break. A day, an afternoon - a significant period of time. It may sound counter productive but law school is a marathon, not a sprint. Taking some time out now... well, think of it as insurance for the future. Refuelling the tank for the journey ahead. 

And when you’re ready, when you’ve cried your lungs out, binge watched every single tv show you have on your list, caught up with your friends - then chip away at the work. Get up, a start again.

Law exam tips (for the last minute fuck its due tomorrow type student) 

With regards to specific tips for revising exams (when you’re under time pressure or not feeling like it): 

Start by checking what topics are examinable, and what aren’t 

Consider the weighting of each section (might be helpful looking through how many weeks you spent dedicated on each topic) 

Highlight the key principles of law and the source (e.g. statute, the specific case) 

Have one or two factual case examples 

Problem solving structure 

Practice past exams - just IRAC that shit. Seriously. Just get really quick at issue spotting. 

And if you’re running low on time, go to your online legal encyclopedia or similar source (e.g. Lexisnexis, Halsbury, LawNow) and PRINT OUT THE COMMENTARY 

SERIOUSLY

DO

IT

Because it’ll sum up the principles, provide case examples (which you can then look up and flesh out)

BASICALLY ALL YOUR NOTES IN ONE. LEGAL PROBLEM SOLVING FRAMEWORK, DONE. 

then flesh out the commentary with what you’ve learnt in class. Or delete the stuff that wasn’t covered. 

Other resources

And here’s some resources that may help: 

Things you can actually do before going to law school that do not involve attempting to teach yourself the law (but also useful here) by @lawschoolruinedme

An important message from @medicalstate

Staying motivated

Dealing with failure

Studying for semester finals

Dealing with a shit grade  

Burnout 101 by @polcry

How to deal with burnout by @simmonestudies

How to deal with a burnout by @kawaiistudy

Exam guide ( incl helpful links to IRAC motherfuckers) by @polkadotsnstripes)   

A final note  

All in all anon, I just want to tell you that you’re human. And thats ok. That’s actually bloody fantastic cause humans are much more exciting, much more happier and balanced than animals that lock themselves in the law library for 15+ hours a day. 

You can achieve great things as a human. 

With sleep, a good support network and time to just breathe. 

And pass on my “fuck you, kind regards” to anyone who dares to accuse you for not being a ‘good law student’, just because you haven’t done [insert stupid cocky law assholery type comment brag about reading cases/ doing an activity/ volunteering etc here]. 

All the best anon.

I look forward to hearing about your progress.