#like what do you propose to somebody like me who already does work with trans rights and who is stealth irl?

[senil888]

Don't want to hijack any posts about KOSA specifically, though please please please if you are a US Citizen resch out to your senators AND representatives because it WILL eventually go through there, because this is more of a general thing that KOSA happens to fall under.

The TL;DR: One should always, ALWAYS, treat any bill claiming to be for ”protecting the children” as bullshit. They never EVER do what they claim they will. They're always a way to lock down spaces even more than before, and companies will always go with the strictest law to apply to everyone to make things easier on themselves. Do not trust them, fight them every chance you possibly get.

Just about every time a law claiming to "protect the kids" passes - or even that argument is used in general - the vast majority of the time it's made up bullshit designed to appeal to a certain group of people who will hate you for not supporting something meant to protect children. My home state had a bill (that I think passed, thankfully) re: expanding sex ed down into grade school. A TON of people freaked out, thinking they were going to be teaching eight year olds about anal sex or whatever (it was similar claims to that idfk).

They were, of course, dead wrong. You could literally look up the proposed curricula and grade school? Was focused around consent, asking permission to do things like hugging, that of stuff. The kind of thing that will actually protect children should they find themselves in an abusive situation, because they'll hopefully ALREADY KNOW that this is a scary person who is not asking them to do these things and you aren't saying yes to any of this. Hell, even saying no and realizing the abuser isn't listening could ring that alarm of "this is somebody not listening to me or my boundaries. I am being Abused" or something like that.

The thing the nuts claimed wouldn't protect children because they thought sex ed for grade schoolers would be the same as sex ed for high schoolers would, in fact, actually help children by virtue of education. Of knowledge. Of knowing what boundaries are, how to set them, and how to ask to do things.

The same shit applies with bills such as KOSA. The goal is never to actually protect children. It's to indirectly harm them by making knowledge access harder. In a time where libraries are actively getting slammed and underfunded, online resources and communities are sometimes the only vaguely safe outlet someone has. It might be the only way a queer kid out in rural flyover country finds solace in being queer, is able to freely be queer. "Protecting the children" (from those filthy queers) means gating off those spaces from people. From letting people find those spaces where they can be free.

Let's not forget the way this can easily gut activism work too. Often these bills are ways to delete spaces for the "outcasts" of society, and once one group of "outcasts" is dealt with, they'll find another. We've seen this "protect the kids" line when it comes to trans people (especially trans women), when it comes to drag, or any form of queer expression. "Cis white men holding hands in public" is seen as damaging to children.

"Protect the children" is effectively (if not outright) a dog whistle for "this law or whatever is actually meant to target a specific group of people, set of actions, etc. without us saying it does that because saying what we actually want to do would mean nobody would like this thing." KOSA specifically can and likely will gut online activism organization, gut queer spaces, black spaces, whatever kind of minority or leftist space you can think up of. It has the power to do that.

And its effects will almost certainly be felt globally, because again. Companies will go with the strictest possible approach, if not outright blocking access from places stricter than they care to manage. Twitter being affected by a bill such as KOSA will affect people worldwide because they have to comply with a strict as fuck law, and it's infinitely easier to apply the basics to every user they legally can (IDK about how GDPR plays into this specific bill).

There's a reason companies cracked down on queer groups after SESTA/FOSTA became effective in 2018 (which, FYI, is likely a large part of why Tumblr moderation routinely cracks down on queer people, trans women in particular!). Because queer people are, by default, seen as more "sexual" and whatnot, that those groups are more likely to get a company in trouble legally speaking. So, they try to suppress those groups as best they can without making it blatantly obvious (usually failing the latter part but they don't care).

"Protect the children" will only be used, and continue to be used, as a way to mask the actual intent. Bills like KOSA do not protect children. If they do, it's purely a coincidence. Their real goal is to crack down on whatever "undesirable" they want to send into hiding next. That's what it's used for. Is the internet, in ways, shittier than it was 15, even 10 years ago? Oh absolutely, and it was still shitty then too. I definitely found myself in spaces I absolutely shouldn't have as a kid. But the solution to that isn't to lock everything up real tight. It's a good education about these things.

Nobody told me that, if I ended up a little too sensual towards an adult, it doesn't matter if they didn't know I was actually 15 and I'm making the advancement and they had no way of knowing my age. They're still the person in trouble here. Mind you, I was just smart enough to stick to the sidelines, maybe make comments in stuff, but that was it. Nobody told me what to watch for, why things were maybe Bad, etc.

I was punished for *gasp* having porn (furry porn) saved to a deviantArt account that I had an app for. This did absolutely nothing for me. Nobody said anything about why it was bad (or could cause problems to the artist). I was just yelled at and grounded. "Protect the children" just results in that happening. In kids and teens getting punished for not knowing things that nobody would ever teach them because "they're so delicate, they aren't old enough to know this yet."

Fuck this "protect the kids" bullshit. Fuck this bill. Fuck every bill like it. Fuck every legislator who supports it. Fuck every court that even dares to uphold it. Fuck whichever US president signs it off. You don't protect children by banning drag or outlawing any form of transition before 18 or whatever. You don't protect children by removing their spaces online. You don't protect children by indirectly empowering their abusers by making sure they never know what they're going through is Wrong and Bad.

I'm pissed off that this needs to be said, that this is even a topic worth bringing up. That this is even NECESSARY to say.

[from-a-reckless-writer]

dove down my rabbit hole of wips and one of my wips isnt a wip anymore! so here, have some gay shit....

“Kelly wants to get married in the woods, I want to get married in Midvale. So, apparently, our wedding will just happen via Zoom. Her in the woods, me at the beach. Ain’t that just fucking grand?”

Alex comes through the door like a hurricane covered in leather. Her helmet lands on Kara’s counter loudly. Her keys haphazardly thrown somewhere in the general direction of the bowl by the door.

“Then have two weddings.”

Alex follows the voice and her eyes zero in on her sister’s best friend.

Lena is sitting on the floor of Kara’s apartment, wearing an oversized sweater. Her dark hair spilling down her shoulders softly. A hand wrapping around a wine glass, the other typing on her laptop, not even jumping in the slightest at the commotion that is Alex’s entrance.

Alex plops down on the couch sighing loudly, not even batting an eye at this utterly domestic scene that is her sister washing the dishes with Lena Luthor on the floor of her apartment.

Lena doesn’t comment at the Danvers’ Sisters antics and Alex doesn’t call them out on the ridiculousness that Lena and Kara are still keen on keeping up.

The three of them already well desensitized to one another’s preferred brand of bullshitery.

“You know, sometimes I forget you're a rich-ass bitch and then you say shit like that and suddenly, I remember,” Alex says, smoothly snatching the wine from Lena’s hand.

She finishes the entire glass in one gulp and Lena rolls her eyes. Alex had finally proposed to Kelly the other week and well, that meant this week all of them had fallen victim to the Olsen-Danvers wedding debacle. It seems today isn’t the day that that whole dilemma is going to stop.

The wedding, of course, was still a few months away, but both parties were stressing about it as if it was going to happen immediately the next day.

Kara swoops in then, mussing up Alex’s hair, earning her an annoyed Hey stop it! before putting down another wine glass and pouring for Lena. Her arms are still wet from washing the dishes.

Lena murmurs her thanks and continues what she was saying, “Well, since you’ve finally remembered that I’m a billionaire. Let me pay for two weddings.”

Alex chokes on the wine.

“What? You’re kidding me, right?”

Lena continues typing, ignoring Alex’s shock, you’d think she didn’t just offer to pay for a wedding.

“Well, I mean, I’m never gonna get married,” Lena explains, “but if you let me do this, I can brag around that I’ve paid for two weddings. Not to mention I’m gonna make two brides very, very happy.”

“Or,” Kara interjects, lowering herself on the opposite side of the couch, perfect for Lena to lean back between Kara’s legs and lay her head on the side of her thigh. “You can just wait for Kelly to get here,” Kara says, pointedly. “Talk it out like normal adults and reach a compromise.”

Kara’s hands start to snake their way from Lena’s hair to Lena’s shoulders, massaging, all too aware that Lena won’t stop whatever it is she’s working on on her laptop till everybody gets here.

Lena lets herself melt and closes her eyes, sighing as Kara’s fingers dip at the junction of her neck and shoulder with just the right amount of pressure.

“I don’t wanna get married in the woods, Kara.”

Lena opens one eye to take a peek at Alex, who looks exasperated, her eyes pleading, gulping down another glass of wine.

“Don’t tell me,” Kara replies. “Tell Kelly.”

“The bugs, Kara,” Alex moans. “Imagine the bugs, and the moss and the ughhh.”

She dramatically thumps the back of her head on the couch.

“Imagine the soil. Clumpy wet soil. Eurgh. Ew. What if I fall face first in that? What if I trip over a stupid tree root in my heels? In my wedding dress?!”

“Alex, you don’t even have a dress yet,” Kara deadpans.

“I thought you were gonna wear a suit,” Lena adds.

“You two suck.” Alex pouts.

****

The rest of their friends arrive and Kara finally succeeds in prying Lena’s work laptop away from her. Alex was already teasing the line from tipsy to drunk by the time Kelly comes through the door.

“Let’s get married in Vegas!!!!” Is how Alex decides to greet her fiance.

Kelly laughs, gives her a peck then answers, “As much as that sounds like a very convenient wedding, I don’t think Eliza would appreciate that, baby.”

Alex frowns at being rejected, sags against the couch and crosses her arms. Why does Kelly always have to be right?

“How much has she had to drink?” Kelly turns to Kara.

“Uhh ask Lena. She made her switch to whiskey.”

Lena—who Kelly thinks was way too busy nuzzling against Kara’s neck to even answer her question—mumbles something that sounds like “S’was just two glasses.”

Kelly just shakes her head, makes Alex drink a glass of water. Her ring making a clink against the glass.

“Alright, what if,” Nia sing-songs, eyes sparkling with mischief, “we just settle this whole wedding thing with Charades?”

Nia claps her hands together like some gameshow host and Kelly takes a deep breath through the nose.

She’s been to enough Game Nights to know where this is headed.

Everybody else was intoxicated enough to accept the suggestion as a grand idea, not at all even thinking that: Hey, isn’t this something we should all take seriously?? Maybe ask the brides what they want, maybe???

Kara nods enthusiastically, agreeing immediately, “Oh!! That’s a great idea! Fun and fair at the same time!”

“Olsen vs. Danvers. Brides get to pick their teams.”

Nia pulls a white board out of nowhere, uncaps a marker and writes “Team Danvers”, “Team Olsen” separated by a neat line in the middle.

“Are we really letting Nia take charge of our wedding venue?" She hears Alex whisper from where she has her tucked at the crook of her neck.

Kelly sneaks a glance at the chaos happening before their eyes; Brainy already claiming to be on Kelly’s team, J’onn shaking his head opting to be the game scorer instead and refusing to participate, somebody’s shouting about: NIA, DREAM PROJECTIONS AT CHARADES IS CHEATING!!!!

Guess this is their life now.

Kelly smirks, boops Alex on the nose and says, “Scared you’ll lose, Danvers?”

****

Alex loses by three points.

“How was I supposed to know you were gesturing 'Transformers'!?!” She barks at Kara, throwing her hands in exasperation.

“I pointed at Nia!” Kara huffs, incredulous at the fact that her sister is blaming her.

Nia lost them a point too!

“What does Nia even have to do with it???” Alex’s voice grows higher in pitch. Her brows furrow in a mix of confusion and frustration.

“Trans, Alex. Trans.”

“Oh my God,” Alex groans. “How are you this dumb?”

And that was the story of how Kelly got her dream wedding.

****

The frenzy finally dies down, some time between Nia making up another drinking game and J’onn making her sit back down. A movie that none of them were watching provides a background noise to the almost lazy atmosphere. Kelly and Alex were pressed close on the far end of the couch, enjoying the temporary quiet.

“Guess we’re getting married in the woods, huh?” Alex murmurs.

“I guess we are,” Kelly whispers back. Alex beams at her, grinning dopily at the thought of finally getting the ending they deserve. It would be the perfect day, she has no doubt about that. No matter where they are. It would be perfect because they got there together.

Alex can’t wait.

“What? Why are you looking at me like that?”

“Nothing.”

Alex continues to smile stupidly, nudges her nose to Kelly’s.

“Just— I don’t really care where we get married, I guess.”

“Oh yeah?” Kelly raises an amused brow at her.

“Mm-hm. So long as you’re the one walking down the aisle.”

Alex presses their lips together, breathes Kelly in deep and for the first time that night, she feels that the future isn’t so scary, even though there is still a very large possibility that she might trip over a tree root on her wedding day.

Somebody interrupts their kiss.

“She’s only saying that ‘cos she lost.”

“Shut up, Luthor.”

****

“Text me when you get home!”

Lena hears Kara call loudly after her sister, before closing the door. Game Night has officially ended and as usual she’s still here. She’ll always be here, she thinks for a brief moment. The thought holding more depth than it should.

Kara didn’t even question her when everybody began filing out and Lena just started picking up the discarded dirty plates and walking them to the sink. They’re well past the point of asking each other if the other would stay over.

It was already some unspoken rule.

Already well past the point of Lena wanting to ask Kara what the hell it is they’re doing.

She’s bent over the sink, scrubbing—Kara doesn’t own a dishwasher for the sole reason that she finds doing the dishes therapeutic—when Lena takes a glance over her shoulder.

Kara is sitting on a high stool near the counter, casually flicking through her phone. It was Lena’s turn to do the dishes tonight. Once upon a time her doing the dishes would have resulted in a fight. “I can superspeed the dishes. Why would you even want to do them?” A statement that would be met with an eye roll.

Kara has learned not to fight her on it again, after around the 7th time that Lena had stubbornly insisted and Supergirl got doused with dishwashing liquid.

And now, it’s become some sort of routine, Kara does the dishes after lunch and Lena does the dishes after dinner. Oh, how the paparazzi would kill for this—Lena Luthor Knows What A Sponge Is?

“Is it true when you told Alex you’re never going to get married?”

Kara decides to break their quiet.

“Yeah, pretty certain about that one, why?” Lena turns around, cocks a curious brow. If she’s being honest she’s beyond certain that she’s not going to get married. She always jokes about how she’s married to L-Corp but it isn’t till now that she realizes how true that is, and...how lonely.

“I don’t know,” Kara murmurs, not meeting Lena’s eyes. “I just like the idea of you getting married, I guess.”

“What?” Lena chuckles at that; genuinely confused but still curious.

“Well, I mean—” Kara wobbles through her words.

“I guess, I just— I like the idea of you walking down the aisle...in a white dress,” Kara muses.

Then, “Or a suit!!” she quickly amends. “If you wanna wear a suit, that is. That can totally be arranged, you know?” Kara waves her hand around and it’s like now that she’s started, she can’t stop.

And Lena’s just standing there, water still dripping from her elbow, unsure of how to feel about Kara imagining her getting married. Quite an incredulous scene isn’t it? Her getting married? What a crazy thing to say, an even crazier scenario to imagine!

She snaps out of it, realizing Kara’s still rambling.

“I have no objections whatsoever with that, if you wanna wear a suit. And yeah, you know? I just— I like that idea. I like the idea of you dancing to your wedding song. The idea of you exchanging your vows, the idea of you-”

“Kara,” Lena decides to put a stop to it, since it’s clearly evident Kara won’t be stopping any time soon. And Lena's feeling way too many things that she doesn’t want to feel at the moment. She’s sure that she’s going to feel more, if she doesn’t put a stop to it herself.

“I’m well aware that it’s the best friend’s job to help with the bride’s wedding,” She says, “but, darling don’t you think you’re putting just a bit too much effort into this? Certainly seems like you’ve thought about it a lot.”

At that, Kara’s cheeks turn a light pink, squirming sheepishly under Lena’s questioning gaze.

Shouldn’t Kara be thinking about her own wedding? How beautiful she would look walking down the aisle. How her blonde hair would look so nicely with her dress. How happy she would finally be after finding someone she could share her life with. Not that Lena's been thinking about those kinds of things. No, of course not. That’d be hypocritical of her at this point. Why would she even— Why were they even talking about this again???

Lena tries to rein in it, tries to focus on Kara again; hands finally finding a dry towel, hesitantly walking into Kara’s space to hear the blonde more clearly.

“Well, I mean- Like I said, I do really like the idea of you getting married,” Kara repeats herself slowly.

And before Lena can come any closer, “Like the idea of you getting married…to me. More specifically,” Kara adds more quietly.

“What?”

Lena stands frozen.

“I’m sorry, I don’t think I heard y- Kara, did you just?”

Lena’s heart is pounding away in her chest. Did she hear her right? Did Kara really just—

Lena’s a step away from her and Kara uses this to her advantage. She pulls Lena closer, tugging at her wrist, the towel dropping from Lena’s hands. Kara summons enough willpower to stare into Lena’s eyes.

“I like the idea of you getting married to me, Lena Luthor.”

“Kara, I’m sorry- What?” Lena jerks away from her, the words finally landing.

“Is that a no?”

Kara lets her go. She can’t focus on Lena’s heartbeat to assess the situation more. Kara’s own heart is betraying her, drumming so loudly in her ears.

“Uh- no, that's definitely not a no?” says Lena hesitantly, eyes wide, breathing nervously. She turns away from Kara for a minute to take a breath, hands fidgeting about.

She whirls around again to face, mutters, “You do realize marriages are for people who are—”

She pauses.

How do you exactly phrase that wedding proposals are for people who are actually in some kind of romantic relationship? And not for people who casually stay over every goddamn Thursday without fail?And okay, maybe sometimes, in a much different reality, would willingly commit fratricide to save the other? And in an also much different reality, willingly expose a secret identity to save the other?

Lena can’t find the right words.

“Oh, I don’t know, Kara,” Lena scoffs, shaking her head disbelievingly. “Marriage is for people who are actually dating each other.”

Kara takes her sarcasm as a good sign and pulls her in again.

“Well,” Kara begins. She can hear Lena’s heart thumping erratically, now that Kara’s gotten her bearings.

“We can always have our first date after the wedding, right?”

Aren’t they well past the point of dating anyway?

She’s got Lena standing between her legs now, her hands wrapping around her waist.

“First date and honeymoon all in one. That sounds great, doesn’t it? I can fly you wherever you want, Paris, Maldives, hell I even have a Fortress in the Arctic, if you’re into that.”

Lena stares at her, blinks once, twice; shakes her head and lets out a noise between a laugh and a scoff.

“Kara Zor-El, you are one ridiculous woman,” She breathes, putting a hand on Kara’s cheek. Because what else is there to say? This whole conversation really is ridiculous. But at the same time Lena feels like she’s floating? Like this may be the best moment of her life, and of course, it’s going to be ridiculous. This is Kara she’s dealing with, after all.

She doesn’t know what she’s going to do if Kara reveals this to be just some sort of joke.

But the way her blue eyes are piercing through Lena’s, so earnest and so warm, argues otherwise.

“So, what do you say? Wanna get married?”

“Are you serious right now?” Lena asks, still unbelieving. This is beyond crazy. They’ve fought aliens and monsters and traveled through time but this? This is just beyond crazy.

“Lena, do I look like I’m joking? And besides, you’d already offered to pay for two weddings, why not pay for our two weddings, instead?”

She shakes her head again, let’s herself fall closer to Kara, lets out a laugh against her neck.

“Mm. You want a Kryptonian ceremony too?”

“Yeah.” Kara’s voice turns shy. “If that’s alright by you.”

“Of course, that’s alright by me. I’d be honored.”

Her heart feels more than full at the thought of Kara wanting to share that part of her with Lena. She’s always had some doubts whenever the topic of Kara’s Kryptonian heritage arises, always half-afraid she’s overstepped on something that isn’t hers.

But looks like there was nothing to fear all along.

“So, we’re getting married, huh?” Kara wiggles her brows, her face breaking into a wide grin.

“Yes. Mm-hm,” Lena hums against her. “I do. I’d marry you. Let’s get married.”

“Seal it with a kiss?"

****

“Hi.”

Lena blearily opens her eyes, follows the soft voice, her bare back being caressed by the sun filtering through Kara’s curtains.

“Hi,” She whispers back. All this feels much too like a fever dream. She’s half-tempted to pinch herself just to check. She’s woken up beside Kara a million times before but she’ll never get used to the sight of soft golden hair and sleepy blue eyes.

Kara gives her a soft peck and the feel of her lips sends Lena reeling.

The previous night was a whirlwind in her mind’s eye. The moment Lena murmured her 'Yes, please.', Kara kissed her passionately. Once they broke away, Kara had zipped around the apartment, Lena too dazed to even ask what it was Kara was looking for.

She watched as Kara tore off a keychain from one of her bags, curled the keyring to fit Lena’s finger and whispered, “This’ll do. For now.”

Kara had kissed her knuckles reverently, her lips making Lena’s blood sing in her veins. The feel of mangled metal fitted just for her left hand is an imprint on her soul. A promise of more to come.

They didn’t make it out of the kitchen the first time. Kara had lifted her by the waist and set her down on the kitchen counter. Which was a good thing, because Lena couldn’t feel her legs after.

They didn’t make it to the bedroom the second time either. She had tackled Kara onto the couch, pinning her wrists together, licking at the shell of Kara’s ear. “My turn now,” Lena had whispered. The way Kara shivered underneath her was enough of a reward. How long had they been waiting for this?

Flashes of last night had her hips bucking slightly unto Kara’s leg sandwiched between her own, but before it could escalate further...

“I have exciting news to share,” Kara tells her.

“Really?”

“Mm-hmm,” Kara hums, now nosing at Lena’s hair.

“What is it?” Lena asks.

“I’m getting married.”

“Oh you are?” Lena plays along.

“Yes. I’m getting married to my best friend,” whispers Kara, almost conspiratorially. “How cool is that?”

Kara looks giddy with excitement and Lena knows she’s mirroring that exact same expression right now.

“Mm. Very cool, darling.”

Kara giggles and they trade more lazy kisses before Lena breaks away to breathe.

“Quite a coincidence though,” Lena husks out against Kara’s lips.

“Oh really? Why?” Kara asks, tries to keep a serious neutral face despite her nose scrunching up in that cute smile that Lena can’t resist

“I’m also getting married,” Lena confides, “To my best friend," she adds, eyes flashing. "Isn’t that great?”

“Very great.” Kara nods slowly, blonde hair falling into her face, a hand running through dark tresses.

“I love you,” Lena whispers, her lips brushing Kara’s softly.

“I love you, too.” Kara kisses her harder then, her hands lazily wandering along Lena’s skin.

They lie there quietly for a few moments, basking in the morning glow and then, “Alex will kill us.”

Lena snorts, twists in the sheets and says, “I think your sister is too busy planning her wedding to even think about plotting our murder.”

read follow-up here.

[keichanz]

***PLEASE DO NOT REBLOG***

I knew it was only a matter of time before something like this happened. Considering how much the owner hates me and likes the play the poor, pitiful victim, I’m not at all surprised one of his little fans took it upon himself to “warn” the community about me. 

The fools really should have made the posts private just in case I happened to stumble upon them. But then again, I never pegged them to be particularly intelligent. So I suppose I have that in my favor.

I’m sure you’re all well aware of the “famous” Official Inuyasha group on Facebook. This was posted to it just a few hours ago. I’m not a part of this group, however somebody on here was kind enough to alert me to this, and they will remain anonymous so they don’t receive any backlash from this post, but I hope they know they have my plentiful gratitude.

I struggled all day on whether or not to make a post about this. But then I decided, y’know what, I have a goddamn right to defend myself against the above bullshit, so fuck it. Here I am, about to address every libelous accusation this Seth person - whom, mind you, I have never talked to before in my life and I have no idea who the hell he is - has just callously tossed out there.

First and foremost, because this accusation really dug deep and because it’s pretty much the foundation of this bullshit, I want to address the so called fact that I attacked Official Inuyasha - I’m going to call him OIY from here on out - because he’s trans. 

False. 

I will say this as many times as I have to--I do not give a flying fuck that he’s trans. I don’t. That literally has nothing at all to do with my opinion of him, and this Seth dude is just grasping at the most obvious reason, or so he thinks, for my “attacks.” I also want to point out that I also don’t give a shit that his fiance is trans. 

I have gay friends. I have lesbian friends. I have trans friends. I have bi friends.

I myself am motherfucking bisexual.

So for this guy that I’ve never even talked to before to sit there and indirectly claim that I am in any way, shape, or form trans- or homophobic? He’s off his goddamn rocker.

I will say it again: 

I. DO. NOT. CARE.

Oh, and the whole “attacking people I don’t like just because”? Also false, but that goes without saying. Or at least I like to think it does. I also don’t give a rat’s ass that he changed his name to Inuyasha. Do I find it strange? Sure. Do I have a problem with it personally? No. 

Concerning me sending my friends to attack people I don’t like--um, no?? God, I would never, ever ask my friends to do that for fear of retaliation against them.  I can say with the utmost confidence that my friends are fiercely protective, very loyal, and they will voluntarily stand up and defend me without me asking them to. They all know I love them to death and I appreciate them all so much. They have my back, and I have theirs. I don’t send them to say anything on my behalf--they do that all on their own, and I sure as hell ain’t gonna stop ‘em. People can argue that I have them fight my battles for me, but I disagree. They are my allies, my reinforcements, my backup when I grow weary. Every battle needs them, no? I hope they know that they are so appreciated, very loved, and they have my undying gratitude. I don’t expect them to defend me either, and they know it. All I ask is that they support me in my time of need, and the fact that they rise up to the occasion without question, defend me, support me and protect me at all costs just goes to show what kind of amazing, wonderful people they are and I wouldn’t trade them for the world. 

Regarding the statement that I attacked Seth himself. As I mentioned before, I have no goddamn clue who this guy is. I didn’t even know he existed before my anon friend notified me, and browsing his profile gleans zero recognition. So where the hell is he pulling this shit from? Oh, and I would love to see these proposed screenshots that are “too detailed to post,” mind you, depicting me attacking him. I will show anyone who asks a screenshot of my messages, both on here and on Facebook if they want proof. And I never delete them either--I have messages from like...2015 or some shit.

The discord chat. Seth has conveniently failed to mention the fact that OIY himself joined that chat, and deliberately went through every single channel and searched my name. He found messages I had sent last year that don’t prove anything other than the fact that I think his “beautiful edits” are bogus, but that’s it. Nothing else. My friends and I discussed it briefly, but we never “talked shit” about him. So once more, he’s pulling false facts out of his ass to make me seem like such a horrible person. 

I’m not even going to touch the “he never steals artwork and gives credit” because I have some strong opinions on that, but would rather not get into it since this post isn’t about that.

“I make fun of his cosplay and looks.” I”m assuming he’s referring to that post of OIY in full cosplay with fake black eyebrows. Despite my best efforts, I couldn’t find the actual post anywhere on this site, so I suspect it might have been deleted, but if anyone is truly curious, here’s a screenshot that was attached to the above post. So after viewing that, someone please enlighten me how saying “Thanks, I hate it” is, in fact, making fun of his cosplay and/or looks? Yeah, I haven’t a clue, either. But whatever, go off, I guess. 

“I make up lies and brainwashes everyone into thinking it’s truth.” Well, shit, guys, why didn’t somebody tell me I can brainwash people? Because this sure as hell is news to me. What lies are these, exactly? Any idea? No? Hmmm. Welp, anyway, I can attest that this is also false. If I can magically brainwash people I sure as shit wouldn’t be working a job that barely gets me by. And who do I lie to? My friends already support me and carry the same opinions, so it can’t be them. And I take pains to avoid anything and everything that has to do with OIY just for this exact purpose because it’s a pain in my ass. I don’t like the guy. Big fucking whoop. Who cares. Grow the fuck up and move on, Jesus Christ. So, no, you can bet your ass I’m not spreading around lies to random strangers about something I give zero fucks about. 

There. I think I addressed everything in that atrocity of a paragraph. The comments on that post are less than pleasant - I’ll spare you the details, but most of them included various degrading names and ridiculous statements - and I find myself just...incredulous that these people, who don’t even know me, so readily agree with something that has no basis of fact. It astounds me that they accept this bullshit as truth just because someone says it is without seeing for themselves first. Talk about blind faith. Very misguided/misinformed blind faith. 

It truly does sadden me that people are so quick to judge without getting facts, but that’s the way of the world, isn’t it. 

Moving on, I suppose this post can be considered as an open letter to Seth Whiterun, and any of OIY’s followers that happen to see this. So please, feel free to reblog this all you want. Reblog it once, twice, ten times. I want them to see it. I want to right the wrong that Seth has so callously dealt me and have the chance to defend myself given that he made a post to a group that I am not a part off like a damned coward, knowing there was little chance of me seeing it. 

Well, surprise, Seth Whiterun. I saw it.

I want them to come to me. This directly involves me, no one else. What right does Seth have to say any of that? Absolutely none. 

I am tired of this. How many times do I have to put up with this? This is so mentally exhausting and I just want to be left alone. Again and again I’m having to deal with this complete and utter bullshit because some asshat with a hero complex decides that it’s his job to “warn” the community of this toxic person with, need I remind you, zero evidence in which to prove himself with. Or at least evidence with any credible standing. 

This entire situation is old. Am I dealing with children? Why can’t they just let sleeping dogs lie and put it behind them? I sure as hell have - or at least I’m trying to, but then shit like this happens and I’m dragged right the fuck back into it because of course I’m not going to just sit there and let this guy slander my name. Did he think I was going to remain quiet about this? WRONG. 

Now that I’ve said my piece, I want to implore you my dear followers and friends, please, please, please DO NOT contact Seth Whiterun or Official Inuyasha. I understand if you get angry on my behalf, but please, I don’t want to get you mixed up in this. If Seth has the balls to confront me himself, or one of OIY’s followers, or even the guy himself, then by all means, they are free to come forward and we can discuss like this adults. Otherwise, please don’t go attacking Seth or OIY because that will just affirm to them that I do send my friends after them, and I really don’t want that. 

I think that about covers it. I wanted it to be known that if you happen to hear any of this bullshit, please be aware that it is untrue, and I am more than happy to answer any question directly. Message me. Send an ask. I will clear up any confusion or misinformation. Don’t assume something is true just because you read it somewhere--get the facts from the source first. 

There you have it. Grow a pair, Seth, and confront me yourself.

I’ll be waiting. 

[squidpunk1312]

On The Topic of Debate, Truth, Justice and Duckspeak

(CW: RACISM, TRANSPHOBIA, QUEERPHOBIA, BIPHOBIA, OTHER GENERAL IGNORANCE)

Far too often have I seen people in real life, online and even here, arguing against their own benefit.

"Queer is a slur."

"If you question the FBI/the American government/the military, you're a Russian spy."

"You need to be dysphoric to be trans."

"All lives matter, so why is BLM an issue?"

"We're all human, so why does gender even matter?"

"If you're such a boy/girl/enby, then what's in your pants?"

"You don't look autistic."

"If you're so bisexual, then why are you dating (xyz)?"

"Asexuals aren't LGBT and barely qualify as people."

Like... why are you arguing against these? What do you have to gain? There is nothing to be sought here for you! Nobody is being hurt by demanding to be treated like a person and nobody's being hurt by demanding that people should be treated like people.

And so I propose this:

People argue against their own benefit out of a lack of experience and out of a socially ingrained will to enforce the status quo.

Now, what's this mean? Well, it means that people who are entirely unqualified to speak about what it is to be something speak about it anyway because they wanna make things their idea of normal.

You've seen it with TERFs hooting and hollering about how trans women are just "male infiltrators". You've seen it with bisexuals and how biphobes seem to think you can only be straight or gay, depending on your partner. You've seen it with ace exclusionists and their equation of aces to horrible, horrible people like Margaret Thatcher, Jeff Bezos and the Onceler. You've seen it with white people and how they often seem to think that because racism isn't an issue for them, it's not an issue for anyone.

They all argue against marginalized people because it's all they can do to make sure that they feel like they're normal and that they live in a normal world, at the expense of the struggles of any "non-normals".

And let me tell you.

Invalidating the struggles and circumstances of the existence of any marginalized people is absolutely awful to do to anyone.

You might not realize whether you've done it or not. You might not even care. But if you do really care about not doing awful things to innocent people and not being an ignorant jerk, then perhaps you should consider the following the next time you go to argue with somebody.

Who am I arguing with?

Why am I arguing?

What am I defending?

What am I attacking?

What do I have to gain by arguing?

What do I stand to lose by arguing?

What if I don't argue with them?

Who is affected by my opponent's point?

Does my opponent harm anybody by making their argument?

Why is it my business?

What makes me qualified to argue about this?

What do I have to learn from my opponent?

If you ask yourself these

Twelve Basic Questions

before you go to argue with somebody, I can guarantee you that you will make more friends, pick better fights and become a smarted, wiser person for it.

What are you doing when you don't ask yourself these questions?

Orwell had a good word for it:

Duckspeak.

Essentially, duckspeak serves no purpose but to repeat the points that society wants you to repeat, even at your own expense. In 1984, this was described as literal quacking, like a literal duck. However, I'd like to redefine duckspeak as

duckspeak (n.)

1. the repetition of perspectives, philosophies and statements that only serve those already in power, even when it comes at the duckspeaker's own detriment.

There isn't any thinking for one's own self or individuality in duckspeak. There is no you in duckspeak, only what the people in power wants you to say. Liberals (yes, that includes you, "conservatives") are excellent at this, parrotting all the same points filtered in different ways by their favorite politicians. There is not an individual thought in arguing in favor of the Confederates, the Nazis, US war crimes in Vietnam, the Iraq war or genocide. It's all ideas that the powerful want you to repeat and believe so that they don't have to do the work of convincing you to do their fighting for them for free.

If you really do consider yourself an individual, then let go of all this nonsense about the good things about nations, war or the arbitrary whims of society. You won't be remembered or thanked for doing their bidding and you will be exalted for going down your own path as a human being.

And by doing that, you will come upon newfound understanding that some business is just better for other people with different life experiences to talk about. Indigenous people should be given priority about indigenous experiences, aspec people should be given priority about aspec experiences, queer people should be given priority about queer experiences, etc. You might even find that... it's kind of nice to not pick fights you have no business fighting.

Defy expectations; think about what you're doing first.

LONG STORY SHORT: IF YOU DON'T KNOW WHAT YOU'RE TALKING ABOUT, SHUT UP AND LET SOMEBODY WHO KNOWS WHAT THEY'RE DOING TALK INSTEAD

[xyloophones]

hi! :) music anon here - i just read your reply and pls give me allllll the (gay) music recs!!

this is gonna be a long list anon pls buckle up. also note that im not gonna link anything bc theres a lot but all of these songs are on youtube/spotify 

🌈 xylo’s super gay, super incoherent music rec list 🌈

the basics / the popular ones

troye sivan. i know. I KNOW. half the playlist was already him but listen ive been a troye fan since he put out happy little pill & let me tell u all his songs have such a VIBE. blue neighborhood???? an iconic album. got me thru my last 2 years of high school. to this DAY i cannot listen to suburbia without thinking about driving to watch the sunrise on my first day of senior year w my best friend, sitting in the parking lot in her car n holding hands over the center console bc we were so scared of growing up. he just EVOKES that kind of MOOD u know??

listen to: fools–– talk me down–– heaven 

frank ocean !!!! a bi ICON. i waited so long for new music n he blessed us with TWO ALBUMS. not only is his music spectacular and literally lyrically genius (”see both sides like chanel?? c on both sides like chanel???“ as a metaphor for bisexuality???? BEAUTIFUL. INCREDIBLE. LITERALLY AMAZING.) but he also just has sUCH an aesthetic. 

listen to: thinkin bout you if ur feelin soft;  ivy ––chanel–– nights if u want his newer stuff

lesbian jesus herself hayley kiyoko. anon. ANON. listen to me when i tell u that her music will change ur life. she is so RELATABLE and her songs are SO CATCHY. the girls like girls music video single handedly raised my gpa and cleared my acne. 

listen to: everything uhh girls like girls–– palace–– gravel to the tempo

kehlani. im literally so obsessed. shes again another #bi icon. her gf is really cute. im in luv w her. sweetsexysavage is her latest album n its honestly??? driving my life force???? her voice is also just so lush & smooth while also bein slightly gravely in a way that makes me blush in public a lot like how can i be so gay for just her voice??? shes also just so charming n has the cutest smile and, again, i’m gay

listen to: honey is my fav song bc it reminds me of my gf (AGAIN: IM GAY) but distraction is v cute n flirty n a longtime fav. listen to in my feelings if ur ex is awful. also: keep on –– piece of mind –– the way feat. chance are all really good. just listen to her entire discography honestly

DODIE. ive been a dodie fan since i, a repressed baby gay, stumbled upon “she” on youtube and was filled with such immense love that i immediately stanned and here we are, 2 EPs later. nothing more relatable than pining for ur str8 best friend. pls listen to “she” it literally kickstarted my gay awakening

listen to: ill say it again, she –– also sick of losing soulmates–– her cover of somebody else by the 1975 

against me. i dont know if ur into punk anon but even if ur not, consider checking out against me. lead singer laura jane grace is a super badass trans woman & trans dysphoria blues is an album with. suCH EMOTION. 

listen to: black me out , a song to plan a revolution to. im here, im queer, im angry and its a midterm election year #registertovote 

lesser known artists + singles + lgbtq+ artists that i know but am not a big fan of under the cut

let me go by tunde olaniran. i regularly cried listening to this song after a break up. if u wanna be emotional n gay this is a good one. 

somebody loves you by betty who. ok not specifically gay (i dont think???) but it was used in a rlly cute gay marriage proposal (look it up on youtube im begging i guarantee u will be smiling for the rest of the day) and they are. ALWAYS. playing this one at pride. a bop. 

boyfriend by tegan and sara. ok i know theyre technically popular but no one talks about their last album and boyfriend is a good song ok?? ok.

jenny by studio killers. another song about pining after ur best friend. can u tell i went THRU SOME STUFF in high school 

ok aGAIN i know that halsey is also technically mainstream but i didnt wanna write a whole paragraph about her. listen to strangers feat. lauren jauregui. #unpopularopinion but her last album was just “ok” dont @ me

HEART ATTACK BY LOONA. do u like k pop??? do u like gay girls???? do u like cute music videos???? my friend do i have the song for u

mary lambert. she did the hook in that macklemore song. pls listen to her other stuff its so good n soft n  “i cant think straight / im so gay / sometimes i cry the whole day” #relataBLE

everyone knows who sam smith is right?? anyway prayers is good. his entire last album is honestly so good but hes not a particular fav of mine.

elton john. a LEGEND. he’s like 150 years old but im hoping the sheer love of the gay community will keep him alive for another 150 years

ANGEL HAZE. ive been a long time fan.  v emotional n the lyrics r heavy but honestly?? so important??? one of my fav rap artists

i know a place by muna. i listened to this on the way to pride n almost cried in front of my mom, my friends, and an entire BART station full of pride goers. its a v upbeat song, im just emotional 

zolita. uhh not a big fan tbh, just not my musical style

girls/girls/boys by p!atd. ok also not technically gay (?? maybe??? there are some Bi Rumors but thats not my place to say) but anyways def a bi anthem. dont watch the music video its very “lets have two girls kiss for views” which is like. not the msg of the song but whatever i aired my salt about that in 2013 n im not going back now

idk what kina grannis’s sexuality is (again, not my business) but she does a lot of good covers and never changes pronouns. i like sweater weather and shut up and dance with me a lot. 

oh !! ben j pierce !! 2 v good songs about how gender roles r bullshit n heteronormativity is awful. hes also like my exact age n i luv his makeup tutorials. 

there are honestly so many more. also a lot im forgetting. im so sorry you had to read thru this long incoherent post w my awful typing 

anyway if u want my full gay playlist on spotify just msg me off anon and ill give u a link (this goes for anyone btw !!) im currently adding + taking things out n its a constant work in progress but u know, its at least not the same 8 songs over and over again (no shade at 8tracks tho….ha …) 

[theautumnarchive]

I wanted to write a post commemorating the official one month mark of my hrt, but I don't think I have the energy to muster faux excitement today.

The therapy is going fine. Rather uneventful so far. My reaction to the last shot was a little better than it has been to every other one since the initial shot. Still itches. Still red. Just tolerable.

I am excited about the hrt, honestly, but right now I'm in the middle of a low point brought on by my own inability to keep my mouth shut. I have substantial issues with emotional, physical, or romantic attachments to people, and I thought that perhaps I had found.. Not a solution, but a lifeline, I think... But sometimes it's better not to reach for those lifelines.

It has come to my attention that any time I try to take a leap of faith for myself, at least in this regard, that I end up worse off. When I moved to Florida, I was in the middle of a divorce and I thought that would be the last relationship I'd ever be in. He was a decent person, but we were completely incompatible and his unwillingness or perhaps inability to acknowledge my emotional and physical needs and limitations left me pretty damaged. The four years I spent with him in Louisiana left me so touch-starved and heartbroken that I used to cry myself to sleep because he always pulled away from me when I reached for his hand at night.

He was respectful when I told him I'd realized I was ace. It was nice, because we'd only had one conversation about asexuality before and it went about as bad as it could go without physical violence. It was nice, but it was the last bit of physical interaction we had. I think my coming out cost me whatever bit of attraction he had left for me. Its fine, though. We agreed to part ways and I thought, well, that was the end of that. I have a hard time figuring out how to communicate and connect with other people beyond friendship. I'm not even particularly good at that, but I get lucky, I think. Proximity does the bulk of the work. I just figured that that rollercoaster of a marriage would be my last exercise in romance.

But I was wrong. I wish I had been right. Florida has been a bittersweet experience for me in really every meaningful way. I got caught off guard by a boy who I connected with on so many points that I had never shared with one person. He was friendly and interesting and brilliant and I should've been grateful to just have shared a timeline with a shooting star like that. I was, really. I had no intention of going anywhere beyond friends with him. Powers beyond myself intervened, however, and I was pleasantly surprised to find myself experiencing that sappy shit you always read about in books and see in movies. I haven't been so high on a heartstring since I was fourteen. But I miscalculated. I wasn't ready. I said my marriage screwed me up and I meant it. I was so anxious that I'd screw it up and lose that happiness that I made it a self-fulfilling prophecy. I needed him too much. I wasn't even.. I don't even think he liked me, to be honest. I think he wanted to. I think he tried. And I wasn't honest. I thought if I told him about being ace, if I told him that my chromosomes messed up and my body is wrong, that he'd realize it wasn't worth all that red tape. Maybe I was right, but it doesn't matter, because I lost anyway.

That was a hit with a harder contact than I expected. I was wrecked over some guy who I had barely known a season. I thought maybe I loved him - how sad is that? I'm so mixed up and bandaged that I think I might love somebody because they make me feel like I matter. And the truth is that he really didn't. When I was in his presence, everything was firecrackers, but then I wouldn't hear from him for days or he'd take a bad emotional day out on me when I made conversation at work. But I can't feel properly. It takes so much out of me to feel any emotional at all - anger, happiness, excitement, fear, love - that those high moments were everything. And when the person who finally made me feel again was gone, I broke.

It was embarrassing and pitiful and disappointing. Someone helped, though. I assumed that losing him would mean losing his friends that I'd met, as well. But one of them stayed. And he was helpful and patient and listened.

Maybe it was my fault for not putting barriers up right away. I don't know. I like to blame the fact that I'm quoiromantic and say that I could've been fine being friends if I'd never been given an alternative, but that's probably not true. It's probably more like a total disbelief that anyone is ever actually interested in me, and especially one who already knows all of the baggage I come with. He was the first person I came out to as trans. He was one of the few people I've met who shared my ace status and didn't need further clarification or ask if that meant I'd been sexually assaulted.

I guess I took that for granted, too. And this one was the relationship equivalent of a nuclear bomb. What a disaster. I made so many mistakes. I should've been more patient. I should've learned from the last 10 years of being a complete failure and pulled my own reigns back. But I didn't. And I wasn't there for him the way he always had been for me. I lost him, too.

We're all friends now. Or, we're supposed to be. I think I'm always going to be a sort of supporting character, especially because I was introduced because I was dating someone. You're never going to be an equal after that. And I don't know what it is that I'm trying to say here, really, except that I just keep messing up. I vascillate between still being a little head over for one or both of them and being fine without anything other than their friendship. It's really frustrating not being able to understand what you actually feel for other people. It leads to a lot of bad calls.

I am in the state I am currently because of another in a long string of bad calls. I wanted to try and see if someone knowing me, the real me, who I am supposed to be, and accepting that would make me less distraught about sexual intimacy. I asked the one person in the entire world who I trust enough with that charge if they thought it was worth testing the hypothesis. But I shouldn't have. Do you know what's sad? Out of this entire post of self-pity and disappointment? The saddest thing to me is that a major contributing factor in my confidence that I could try out this theory with this person was a single night that we spent spooning in the same bed. Honestly, it wasn't the best sleep I've ever had or the moment I realized I loved him or anything cheesy like that. I just felt safe. I felt like all the bullshit up until that point was okay because I had ended up there. I know that experience was strange and new and stressful for him, but I needed it and he cared about me and I was happy and safe. I just thought that trying to get past my traumatic sexual past by taking it slow and honest and positive with someone who is willing to go through a lot of shit for me would work out in the end. He made me feel safe in a time and place where I never have that luxury. I just want to feel normal. I want to have one fucking box unchecked on the list of qualifiers that supersedes my personality and worth. It is hard to be ace and hard to be trans and hard to be gay and hard to have arthritis and fibromyalgia and anxiety and depression and nerve damage and it's really fucking hard to be all of those things at once. I just.. I just wanted to feel normal.

But I should've kept that to myself. I never keep my mouth shut and I told myself it was going to come off idiotic and make him think I was trying to subvert his decision to not entertain relationships anymore. That wasn't what I wanted. I won't lie and act like I don't wish I had done a lot of things differently and that I had gotten it right the first time, but the feeling isn't mutual and I respect that. This was a separate thought entirely. But it doesn't matter. For a lot of reasons, or just one big reason, it didn't work out. It's fine. I'm fine. But I should've kept my mouth shut. I was embarrassed when I thought of it the first time, embarrassed when I proposed it, and I'm embarrassed now. I feel stupid because I got my hopes up. Because I keep thinking that telling people what I actually think is a good idea. Because I never learn. Because I dragged someone else into my mess and made a stressful situation when I didn't have to, like I always do. And at the end of it all, I'm still just as bad off as I was. Perhaps worse, actually, because there's a chance I'll have to watch the two people I can't let go fall into each other eventually. And the fact that that hurts me makes me feel worse because, shit, I should be happy for them. That's what a friend would do. But I'm selfish in my loneliness and neediness and I say things like, "what if we all dated," because I'm poly and I genuinely think it's a good idea and we would all be good for each other and keep each other afloat and mentally stable and because monogamy puts too much pressure on people like me who crave intimacy but need a lot of personal space, when I should've just kept my mouth shut. Again.

So, yes, it's the 24th today and it's my first month on T over with. I hope that next month ends with a lesson more thoroughly learned. Sorry, mom.

[xekstrin]

So Roots was a story I was going to write about Ruby growing up as a trans girl & figuring out her identity, as well as unraveling the mystery of “why do ruby and yang have different last names? and who is Summer?” but it’s mostly a story about Yang and Summer

When I started writing it we knew NOTHING about Yang, Ruby, or Summer, so in this story Yang isn’t Ruby’s sister, but Summer is. Their dad is named Ash Rose and I never gave their mother a name. Naturally a lot of shit got jossed so I dropped it but @arulaen reminded me I’ve never posted the whole story. I’m literally never going to write any more but I did like the ideas I had. (And it’s very On Brand for the shit I like). 

Anyway, in the last chapter of Roots we met the death-predicting cat named Grimm. (This is based on a real cat.) Summer watches that cat with dread as over the next few days he goes to every single person she saved in the hospital, just hours before they die, until there’s only one person left. Summer is sick with grief at not being able to save these people, and Ruby sees being a huntress isn’t all heroism and fairy tales.

Summer hates that cat. Ruby feels a little bad for him and suggest that maybe predicting death is like his Semblance, he didn’t choose it : ( don’t be mean to the cat, sis. Summer  stays with that last patient until one day Grimm comes back. He always wanders around but every time she sees him, Summer gets a little heart attack. Please take me instead, she thinks weakly, sleep-deprived and weary from days spent in the hospital watching over the sole survivor. Please let me save just one person.

Maybe it worked, maybe it didn’t, maybe Summer was praying to a cat. But Grimm never swings by and the last person survives and recovers and wakes up. Her name, of course, is Yang Xiao Long.

Her family is gone so Summer begs Ash to adopt Yang.

There’s a bit of a legal dilemma where Ash tries to adopt Yang but it never goes through. Something something but he’s able to keep her in his family as his apprentice, but it’s tenuous, and the threat of her being sent into the foster system is high. Summer makes her father promise, swear on his life, that he’ll never let Yang be alone and afraid ever again.

Summer immediately and strongly forms a deep attachment to the only survivor of the grimm attack. But Yang lost most of her memory, didn’t remember Summer saved her life, & Summer is a repressed little jerk and doesn’t know how to talk about feelings. It’s a bit of a “pull on your pigtails cause I like you” thing which Yang, understandably, does not appreciate. She keeps her hair short out of spite.

Yang doesn’t ever recover her memories but it’s heavily implied she harnessed her semblance at that young age and that’s how she was able to survive. But she doesn’t know how to use it now. So Summer tries giving her “tough love”, training her how to be a huntress and telling her things like “In this world you need to learn how to fight for survival or else you’ll rely on people like me saving you over and over again & I’m not always going to be there. On top of that if you don’t make it as a huntress, Ash can’t keep you as his apprentice!” and Yang is like “fuck you!!! I don’t need you to save me and I never did and I never will! I’m gonna be a huntress, & I’m gonna be BETTER THAN YOU”

Not only that, but Summer and Yang would get into constant fights over how to raise Ruby, as both of them see themselves as her older sister / mother figure.

“Stop being so rough with her! She’s just a kid!”

“If you think that’s rough, you should see the games we play at Signal >:)”

Summer is much more harsh and is the “toss you into the lake so you learn how to swim” borderline abusive kind of teacher. Yang is much more gentle, so Ruby and Yang obviously become very close very fast. 

Summer feels a little left out as she leaves for Beacon. Yang gets accepted into Signal and continues training Ruby until Ruby joins her. It’s a rough two years for Ruby, who retreats inside herself more than ever.  Ruby and Summer keep in touch but the relationship gets pretty chilly.

(More bullshit about how Yang and Ruby want to be legal sisters so bad, so bad, Ruby feels guilty for sometimes lying awake at night, sleeping in the same bed as Yang, thinking if only Yang were my real sister and not---)

Summer rarely comes home because she prefers the independence of life at Beacon (she didn’t get along with Ash, either). She’s very selfish and rude and mean and a lone wolf and gets into trouble a lot, but she’s the best huntress of her generation and everyone knows it. 

Meanwhile Ruby is slowly breaking out of her shell and making new friends at Signal, but she hasn’t come out to anyone except Yang. 

So when Summer finally comes back to visit them in person it’s been years since they’ve seen each other in the flesh. Ruby & Yang have both grown up and Yang is about to graduate from Signal. Ruby comes out to Summer and Summer is extremely excited and supportive! (she always knew tbh, ever since Ruby chose her new name)

Summer & Yang are both kinda tomboyish and they’re both :\ about Ruby being super femme, but they go halfsies on buying her a brand spankin new super fluffy hyper femme wardrobe, because goddamn you if you’re going to try and outspoil her on my watch, she’s MY Sister

The trip home ends on an unusually high note, and Summer and Yang grow much closer because they finally realize the most important thing they have in common is they would set the world on fire if it meant protecting Ruby. Summer also comes to grudgingly respect Yang’s strength as a huntress, because she’s top of her class and gunning for all of Summer’s old records.

 Take that, bitch.

So on a whim Summer demands that Yang write to her as often as Ruby does. Yang agrees, but half-heartedly, and both of them expect nothing to come of it. But Yang keeps up regular correspondence with Summer, and grudgingly starts to respect her as an adult huntress-to-be. She actually writes letters to Summer more often than Ruby does, which makes Ruby feel very “:)??”

Summer isn’t that much older than Yang but she’s on an accelerated course (as Ruby later would be). 

So she graduates Beacon and comes home again as a legal adult, and a huntress, and she asks Yang to marry her.

Yang:

Summer: Don’t get it twisted. This is just so that you can join our family. I’m aroace anyway, like Ruby is (and also probably our uncle Qrow) and I’m not interested in anything else from you.

In Summer’s eyes, it’s a win-win situation. She can finally relax, knowing that Yang will always be taken care of. And Yang gets what she always wanted, which is to be Ruby’s sister. (Plus, Summer gets a pay bonus if she’s married. Cha-ching!) Since she’s like 19 and an idiot this seems like a great setup.

Yang is like “I’m 16 dude” and Summer is like “yea? so?” and yang is like “I can’t get married as a kid that’s like leaving the party at nine o’clock” and summer is like “well who else are you gonna marry :\” and Yang is like “IDK!! maybe nobody! Maybe somebody I love!” and Summer is like “you're making a real big deal out of this” 

Yang: “you’re not making big ENOUGH of a deal out of it!” 

Summer: “I’m proposing a solution and you’re shitting all over it! RAAAH!!!!!”

Yang: “You’re proposing one? ;D wait shit this isn’t the time for jokes im mad as hell!”

Summer gives her the ring and tells her to think about it. Summer is already wearing hers, because she’s always been a cocky motherfucker. 

Fast forward a few years to Weiss’ POV for a few chapters. She’s crushing hard on Yang, her team mate at Beacon, but refuses to admit it. Ruby is on an accelerated track just like Summer was. There’s a few episodes of them dealing with problems and a few missions and Ruby finds out that Summer was involved in some shady stuff before she died. Really shady stuff. Yang has no opinion but she winds up defending Summer and Ruby is like :\

So there’s increasingly weird things happening and then someone even tries to set fire to the school! Everyone abandons ship... but Ruby is like “NO! NO!!” and fighting Yang like a wildcat trying to get back inside

Yang: wtf is your problem!? Ruby: Summer’s in there! Yang immediately changes tack and they both jump into the flaming inferno.

Weiss: (who the fuck is summer? and WHY IS THIS MY TEAM OH MY GOD)

Ruby and Yang jump right into the flames and recover one of the only photos of the three of them that they have. They do some cool shit with their semblances to put out the fire. Ruby recovers the photo and Yang comes out, all smiles, and is like “Oh Weiss I saved some of your stuff too :) and Blake’s too of course”

Blake: My heroes Weiss: (why do I have a crush on this idiot why is my face this hot)

Yang also saved the rings. She now wears them both on a necklace.

Ozluminati shenanigans are rampant and the tournament is used as an excuse for some BAD GUYS to storm the school and try to find something really precious hidden underneath. (Another big part of the reason I dropped Roots was because they wound up using this plot point in canon, hahaha.)

So naturally the leader of the bad guys is.... SUMMER?! And she’s got a cool robot arm, because robot arms are sick. Weiss sees Yang and Ruby are especially rattled because... well, there’s not a lot of time to explain. 

Summer: Why’d you cut your hair short? You know I like your hair long Ruby: PIXIE CUTS ARE VERY IN THESE DAYS WAIT WHY ARE WE TALKING ABOUT THIS

Somewhere in here I was going to have a #romantic moonlit scene where Yang explains that they never recovered Summer’s body but they recovered The Ring and Summer was her... fiancee? maybe? She doesn’t even know, they were both stupid kids, it probably wouldn’t have happened. But the fact remains that Summer dying meant that Yang lost... so much. (Weiss: wow Yang is so tormented and beautiful mmmm im gay)

But they have to RACE SUMMER THROUGH A LABYRINTH OF TRAPS N SHIT underneath beacon. Blake and Weiss team up to fight other people and let the sisters go thru THE MAZZZZE. 

And of course there’s one room that traps Ruby and Summer together and they have to fight! And it’s the last room and The Artifact is right there within reach and if you want it you have to get through me, Summer! and Summer is like Ozpin is using you! He’s using you like he used me and I am NOT the bad guy here! and Ruby is like You don’t get to say that after hurting innocent people! 

Yang is trapped just outside unable to do anything but watch because #magic force fields or something, and it’s just like a sick twisted repeat of when they were kids and Summer would abuse Ruby under the guise of toughening her up. And Summer beats the dogshit out of her and is like There’s nothing you can do! I’ve always been the stronger Rose and this Artifact is mine cause I’m the only one who can use it! and ruby is like WHYYYYY SISTER!!! and Summer is like I’m in debt to some Bad People, Ruby... people who make me and Ozpin look like angels!

Ruby is like What do they want with this artifact then? and summer is like lol.... not my problem. B)

And she pushes Ruby over the edge and then suddenly Ruby gets Red Eyes.

Summer: oh shit

Turns out the Artifact is something that lets you leech other people’s semblances? And it’s attuned to her?! So Ruby has Summer’s AND Yang’s and her own semblance and bang! she beats Summer and takes the Artifact and the force fields all drop. Backup swiftly arrives and Ruby is a big weepy bleeding mess as they take Summer away to HUNTRESS PRISON or w/e.

So then the story starts winding down with Yang Weiss Blake and Ruby talking to Ozpin, very “Dumbledore explains everything at the end of the book” where Ozpin is like “this artifact is a part of a great prophecy and it said that the daughter of [some old ruby ancestor] would take it one day :\ I thought it was Summer but now I realize it’s you, Ruby” 

and ruby is like “what! I don’t wanna be a part of a big prophecy, I have normal knees!” 

and Ozpin is like “mmmm But Thou Must Ruby and now we’re going to leave it really vague! Dangling plot threads! Who was Summer working for? Maybe Cinder? Xekstrin didn’t plan for a sequel.”

So Yang visits Summer in Huntress Prison to ask her questions. Weiss is there for emotional support and DEFINITELY not because she wants to see this ex-fiancee of Yang’s out of jealousy. Ruby is basically like Summer is dead to me

Yang offers the rings to Summer but summer is like “nah, you keep them. that’s contraband ;)” Summer doesn’t seem defeated at all and, throwing everyone off, keeps the tone very light and almost nostalgic.

Weiss leaves determined to keep her feelings for Yang under wraps. She doesn’t want to burden her friend with them. 

The story ends with Yang thinking about the last time she saw Summer before Summer faked her death. They’d stayed up all night talking and fell asleep in the same bed. It’s sort of like what Yang does with Ruby sometimes, but Ruby is her sister and Summer is..... Summer.

Yang wakes up first and watches Summer in her sleep. She’s considering the proposal, even though Summer has been more withdrawn lately, and taking on more dangerous missions, and looking haggard like something is chasing her even in her dreams...

Summer wakes up and sleepily runs her left hand through Yang’s hair. Half-awake, she mutters “You look like an angel with the sun in your hair like that. You should let it grow out so you can be this pretty when we get married.”

It’s just an idle comment, but the idea is like a seed, slowly taking root in Yang’s heart.

[rebeccahpedersen]

Real Estate’s New Problem: Listing & Re-Listing

TorontoRealtyBlog

Just when you thought that the real estate market was at the maximum level of frustration, it’s as though Realtors found a new and improved way of pissing people off.

While the rampant under-listing of properties that led to multiple offers on every single listing was frustrating to no end for buyers, the new trend that’s resulted from changing market conditions may be bothering buyers even more.

I’ve never seen so many properties being re-listed at higher prices in my career.

Let me explain what’s going on, and how we got here…

We’re in a really, really weird market right now.

The market has changed, but that doesn’t automatically mean that prices are down.

To be honest, I do think prices are down – a smidge.

There are still houses selling for 140% of list price every night.  But not as often as was the case in February and March.

April was a “transition month,” and I’ll blog about this next week in a separate, dedicated post.

But in any transition, people can be slow to adapt.  And right now, it’s the sellers, and the listing agents that are not just slow to adapt – they’re downright refusing to.

Listings are up in May, and whether the number of buyers is the same, or whether there are more buyers on the sidelines taking the “wait-and-see” approach, remains to be seen.

But I also think that with the hottest January/February/March on record, a lot of the would-be spring buyers, have already bought.

The result?

More listings, fewer buyers.

And this does not lend itself to the tradition of listing low, getting multiple offers, and selling for insane list-to-sale ratios.

Over the last decade, it’s been easy to take a $1,000,000 house, list it for $799,900, get six offers, and sell for $1,000,000 or more.

But this “transition” in April has led to a significant change, not in terms of price, but rather in terms of process in the month of May.

I started to notice this in the last week of April, when a few houses that would have, could have, should have sold, did not.

These houses were subsequently re-listed at higher prices, the day after the scheduled “offer night.”

I had a listing on the east side around that time, and we got lucky – with a bully offer for $200,000 over our list price.  But all the houses around us?  It was Re-List City, and we were living in the heart of it.

In fact, as we approach the end of May, what I’m seeing is absolutely shocking.

I would estimate that 1/3 of all houses, priced between $700 – $1.2M, are being re-listed at higher prices, after their failed “offer nights.”

And it’s making the market even more manic than it was when we had under-listing, offer nights, and multiple offers.

Who would have thought – as bad as things were, it could actually get worse.

So what’s going on out there?

I’ll give you an example.

A seller has a house that is worth around $1,000,000.  In January, February, or March, the seller would list low – perhaps $799,900, hold back offers, and schedule an offer night.

On offer night, because there was so little on the market, and so many more buyers, that listing would pull, say, 8-10 offers.

And the house would sell for $1,050,000, which is more than the seller thought it was “worth.”

This is the way things have been for the better part of my 13 years in the business, and up until now, the market has been so efficient, that a seller and a listing agent don’t need to figure out what the property is worth, and risk under-pricing and leaving money on the table.  Instead, they’d list well, well below anything resembling market value, hold an auction, and let the buyers figure out what the property was worth.

So what’s happening now?

With less activity among the buyers, we’re not seeing 4-5, or 8-10 offers on “offer night.”

And the owner of the $1,000,000 house, that’s listed at $799,900, is either getting 1-2 offers, the highest of which is $860,000, or getting zero offers, because buyers want to see if the house comes back onto the market the next day for a higher price, and if so, how much.

Face it – no seller of a house “worth” $1,000,000, listed at $799,900, is going to sell to the one person who shows up at the bargaining table, with a offer of $799,900.  Hate the game, hate the players, call it unfair and unethical – I won’t disagree.

But you wouldn’t sell if you were in that position; nobody would.

Now ask, “So what then, David, why are these people under-listing?  Why are they free to play these games?”

And I would answer, are these “games” any different than the ones sellers have been playing for the last 15 years?

And to the first question, why are they under-listing?

That’s the real conundrum.  And I think the reason is threefold:

1) Fear 2) Inability to change 3) Lack of experience

The sellers are afraid of leaving money on the table.  What if they listed their $1,000,000 home for (gasp!), $1,000,000, and somebody showed up the first day with an offer for the list price?  The seller would feel like he or she could have, would have, or should have got more.  With an “offer date,” they have that opportunity, even if it’s not working in May of 2017, they’re going to try it.

The sellers and the listing agents are both unwilling, and unable to adapt to a changing market, where listing at fair market value, instead of playing games, is more likely to get your house sold.

And the listing agents, who for years have had no idea how to price a house, but have simply been holding an auction with a “starting bid” of 20% under fair market value, still don’t know how to price houses, so they feel the “list-low, hold-back” strategy is the best way to go.

And all the while, the buyer pool is sitting back and trying to make sense of this.

So too are a host of buyer agents, myself included.

Now I mentioned off the top that properties are being re-listed “at a higher price” the day after offer night.

But what about the ones that are waiting?

Here are two stories that will add more fuel to the fire…

A particular house on the east side, that looked like it might compete with my listing a few weeks back, had offers on May 2nd.  And on May 3rd, the listing still said “Offers Reviewed on Tuesday, May 2nd, at 7:00pm.”

On May 4th, the listing read the same.

And on May 5th.

And on May 6th.

And buyers kept wondering, “Are they really listed for sale for $874,900?  Or are they going to re-list higher?”

Buyer-agents called the listing brokerage, and nobody could tell them what was what.

The listing agents spoke in generalities, and euphemisms.  “We’re open for business,” one of them told me.  “We’re evaluating all their options,” she added.  And then the classic fail-safe: blame the client.  “We’re going to do whatever our seller-clients feel is in their best interest.”

And on this went.

May 7th, May 8th, May 9th – the listing still read, “Offers Reviewed on Tuesday, May 2nd, at 7:00pm.”

And on May 11th, that listing was terminated.

But how many buyers wasted their time going to see the house, listed at $874,900, when all the while, the seller probably had no intention of accepting that price?

If you like that story, then let me double down.  And I should add, by “like,” I actually mean hate.

There was another east-side listing a couple of weeks ago, listed at $849,900, that passed its offer date, and didn’t sell, only this listing was updated and the “Offers Reviewed On….” part was removed.

I called this agent and asked point-blank, “Is the property available for sale?”  He said, “Yes.”

I asked him, “What’s going on with it?  I mean, a lot of agents are re-listing at higher prices, and I want to get a sense of where you stand.”

He said, “We like where we are, go have a look.”

And so we did, my clients and I, and we loved the house!

Who wouldn’t?  This house had to be worth $950,000 – $1,000,000, and dare I say in February, it would have received six offers and sold for over $1M.

So we made an offer, and by the time our offer was submitted, eight days had passed since the listing was updated to remove the verbiage about the “offer date.”

The agent, who was no slouch – he’s done 43 transactions in the past 12 months (I have a program that can look up any agent), albeit 42 of them outside the city of Toronto, didn’t get back to me regarding our offer for almost 24 hours.  When he did call me back, he complained that the offer went to his junkmail, and that I only gave him a 24-hour irrevocable (which is actually an eternity in Toronto).

I didn’t hear from him after that.

A day later, I called him, and he said, “I’ll meet the sellers tonight.  This noon-irrevocable garbage, what is this?  Like my clients don’t have jobs?  You should give people till midnight so an agent can meet his clients for dinner!”

Weird.  I guess he’s never heard of email.  Or the phone.  Or DocuSign.  Or the year 2017…

In any event, I didn’t hear back from this agent, which was utterly bizarre.

The next day, the listing was increased in price to $999,999.

And I never got a call back from that agent.

It was a strange way of doing business, and dealing with colleagues, but that part of the story is just for kicks.

The bigger problem here was that this property was listed for sale for $849,900, for eight days, when all the while, the sellers were going to increase the price.

And even though I brought the listing agent an offer, knowing full well, with paperwork-signed (probably in-person, at the Swiss Chalet in Bolton), that they would be re-listing for $150,000 more, the agent never though it prudent to tell me this.

Just absolutely, positively, bizarre.

Every day out there, we’re seeing houses re-listed for more than the price at which they were previously under-listed, which in itself, makes little sense.

The problem as I see it, is that sellers don’t want to show their hand.  They don’t want to show the buyer pool what they’re expecting, and what price they want, for fear that there’s a buyer out there that would have paid more.

And the bigger problem, in my personal opinion, is that at some point, “false advertising” guidelines simply must apply.

When sellers list their $1,000,000 property for $799,900, with an “offer date,” they’re effectively saying, “This is an auction, $799,900 is my starting bid price, see you on offer night.”  Most of us have come to accept this.

But when sellers are leaving the listings up on MLS at $799,900, for days or even weeks, allowing buyer agents and buyers alike to view the home under false pretenses, with a plan to increase the asking price, then how is this not false advertising?

The listing-and-re-listing is out of hand.

And while I accept a “transition period” is necessary for 4-6 weeks, if this continues through May and into June, then the whole thing is a farce.

I’m going to spend some time on the long weekend going over listings in April/May, and trying to get some actual quantifiable data about re-listing.

Yes, that is how I’m going to spend my long weekend.

I’d use a smiley-emoji here, but those don’t work on my blog for some reason.

In any event, have a safe and happy long weekend, and I’ll be back with a new post on Tuesday!

The post Real Estate’s New Problem: Listing & Re-Listing appeared first on Toronto Real Estate Property Sales & Investments | Toronto Realty Blog by David Fleming.

Originated from http://ift.tt/2q3jyVn

[rebeccahpedersen]

Real Estate’s New Problem: Listing & Re-Listing

TorontoRealtyBlog

Just when you thought that the real estate market was at the maximum level of frustration, it’s as though Realtors found a new and improved way of pissing people off.

While the rampant under-listing of properties that led to multiple offers on every single listing was frustrating to no end for buyers, the new trend that’s resulted from changing market conditions may be bothering buyers even more.

I’ve never seen so many properties being re-listed at higher prices in my career.

Let me explain what’s going on, and how we got here…

We’re in a really, really weird market right now.

The market has changed, but that doesn’t automatically mean that prices are down.

To be honest, I do think prices are down – a smidge.

There are still houses selling for 140% of list price every night.  But not as often as was the case in February and March.

April was a “transition month,” and I’ll blog about this next week in a separate, dedicated post.

But in any transition, people can be slow to adapt.  And right now, it’s the sellers, and the listing agents that are not just slow to adapt – they’re downright refusing to.

Listings are up in May, and whether the number of buyers is the same, or whether there are more buyers on the sidelines taking the “wait-and-see” approach, remains to be seen.

But I also think that with the hottest January/February/March on record, a lot of the would-be spring buyers, have already bought.

The result?

More listings, fewer buyers.

And this does not lend itself to the tradition of listing low, getting multiple offers, and selling for insane list-to-sale ratios.

Over the last decade, it’s been easy to take a $1,000,000 house, list it for $799,900, get six offers, and sell for $1,000,000 or more.

But this “transition” in April has led to a significant change, not in terms of price, but rather in terms of process in the month of May.

I started to notice this in the last week of April, when a few houses that would have, could have, should have sold, did not.

These houses were subsequently re-listed at higher prices, the day after the scheduled “offer night.”

I had a listing on the east side around that time, and we got lucky – with a bully offer for $200,000 over our list price.  But all the houses around us?  It was Re-List City, and we were living in the heart of it.

In fact, as we approach the end of May, what I’m seeing is absolutely shocking.

I would estimate that 1/3 of all houses, priced between $700 – $1.2M, are being re-listed at higher prices, after their failed “offer nights.”

And it’s making the market even more manic than it was when we had under-listing, offer nights, and multiple offers.

Who would have thought – as bad as things were, it could actually get worse.

So what’s going on out there?

I’ll give you an example.

A seller has a house that is worth around $1,000,000.  In January, February, or March, the seller would list low – perhaps $799,900, hold back offers, and schedule an offer night.

On offer night, because there was so little on the market, and so many more buyers, that listing would pull, say, 8-10 offers.

And the house would sell for $1,050,000, which is more than the seller thought it was “worth.”

This is the way things have been for the better part of my 13 years in the business, and up until now, the market has been so efficient, that a seller and a listing agent don’t need to figure out what the property is worth, and risk under-pricing and leaving money on the table.  Instead, they’d list well, well below anything resembling market value, hold an auction, and let the buyers figure out what the property was worth.

So what’s happening now?

With less activity among the buyers, we’re not seeing 4-5, or 8-10 offers on “offer night.”

And the owner of the $1,000,000 house, that’s listed at $799,900, is either getting 1-2 offers, the highest of which is $860,000, or getting zero offers, because buyers want to see if the house comes back onto the market the next day for a higher price, and if so, how much.

Face it – no seller of a house “worth” $1,000,000, listed at $799,900, is going to sell to the one person who shows up at the bargaining table, with a offer of $799,900.  Hate the game, hate the players, call it unfair and unethical – I won’t disagree.

But you wouldn’t sell if you were in that position; nobody would.

Now ask, “So what then, David, why are these people under-listing?  Why are they free to play these games?”

And I would answer, are these “games” any different than the ones sellers have been playing for the last 15 years?

And to the first question, why are they under-listing?

That’s the real conundrum.  And I think the reason is threefold:

1) Fear 2) Inability to change 3) Lack of experience

The sellers are afraid of leaving money on the table.  What if they listed their $1,000,000 home for (gasp!), $1,000,000, and somebody showed up the first day with an offer for the list price?  The seller would feel like he or she could have, would have, or should have got more.  With an “offer date,” they have that opportunity, even if it’s not working in May of 2017, they’re going to try it.

The sellers and the listing agents are both unwilling, and unable to adapt to a changing market, where listing at fair market value, instead of playing games, is more likely to get your house sold.

And the listing agents, who for years have had no idea how to price a house, but have simply been holding an auction with a “starting bid” of 20% under fair market value, still don’t know how to price houses, so they feel the “list-low, hold-back” strategy is the best way to go.

And all the while, the buyer pool is sitting back and trying to make sense of this.

So too are a host of buyer agents, myself included.

Now I mentioned off the top that properties are being re-listed “at a higher price” the day after offer night.

But what about the ones that are waiting?

Here are two stories that will add more fuel to the fire…

A particular house on the east side, that looked like it might compete with my listing a few weeks back, had offers on May 2nd.  And on May 3rd, the listing still said “Offers Reviewed on Tuesday, May 2nd, at 7:00pm.”

On May 4th, the listing read the same.

And on May 5th.

And on May 6th.

And buyers kept wondering, “Are they really listed for sale for $874,900?  Or are they going to re-list higher?”

Buyer-agents called the listing brokerage, and nobody could tell them what was what.

The listing agents spoke in generalities, and euphemisms.  “We’re open for business,” one of them told me.  “We’re evaluating all their options,” she added.  And then the classic fail-safe: blame the client.  “We’re going to do whatever our seller-clients feel is in their best interest.”

And on this went.

May 7th, May 8th, May 9th – the listing still read, “Offers Reviewed on Tuesday, May 2nd, at 7:00pm.”

And on May 11th, that listing was terminated.

But how many buyers wasted their time going to see the house, listed at $874,900, when all the while, the seller probably had no intention of accepting that price?

If you like that story, then let me double down.  And I should add, by “like,” I actually mean hate.

There was another east-side listing a couple of weeks ago, listed at $849,900, that passed its offer date, and didn’t sell, only this listing was updated and the “Offers Reviewed On….” part was removed.

I called this agent and asked point-blank, “Is the property available for sale?”  He said, “Yes.”

I asked him, “What’s going on with it?  I mean, a lot of agents are re-listing at higher prices, and I want to get a sense of where you stand.”

He said, “We like where we are, go have a look.”

And so we did, my clients and I, and we loved the house!

Who wouldn’t?  This house had to be worth $950,000 – $1,000,000, and dare I say in February, it would have received six offers and sold for over $1M.

So we made an offer, and by the time our offer was submitted, eight days had passed since the listing was updated to remove the verbiage about the “offer date.”

The agent, who was no slouch – he’s done 43 transactions in the past 12 months (I have a program that can look up any agent), albeit 42 of them outside the city of Toronto, didn’t get back to me regarding our offer for almost 24 hours.  When he did call me back, he complained that the offer went to his junkmail, and that I only gave him a 24-hour irrevocable (which is actually an eternity in Toronto).

I didn’t hear from him after that.

A day later, I called him, and he said, “I’ll meet the sellers tonight.  This noon-irrevocable garbage, what is this?  Like my clients don’t have jobs?  You should give people till midnight so an agent can meet his clients for dinner!”

Weird.  I guess he’s never heard of email.  Or the phone.  Or DocuSign.  Or the year 2017…

In any event, I didn’t hear back from this agent, which was utterly bizarre.

The next day, the listing was increased in price to $999,999.

And I never got a call back from that agent.

It was a strange way of doing business, and dealing with colleagues, but that part of the story is just for kicks.

The bigger problem here was that this property was listed for sale for $849,900, for eight days, when all the while, the sellers were going to increase the price.

And even though I brought the listing agent an offer, knowing full well, with paperwork-signed (probably in-person, at the Swiss Chalet in Bolton), that they would be re-listing for $150,000 more, the agent never though it prudent to tell me this.

Just absolutely, positively, bizarre.

Every day out there, we’re seeing houses re-listed for more than the price at which they were previously under-listed, which in itself, makes little sense.

The problem as I see it, is that sellers don’t want to show their hand.  They don’t want to show the buyer pool what they’re expecting, and what price they want, for fear that there’s a buyer out there that would have paid more.

And the bigger problem, in my personal opinion, is that at some point, “false advertising” guidelines simply must apply.

When sellers list their $1,000,000 property for $799,900, with an “offer date,” they’re effectively saying, “This is an auction, $799,900 is my starting bid price, see you on offer night.”  Most of us have come to accept this.

But when sellers are leaving the listings up on MLS at $799,900, for days or even weeks, allowing buyer agents and buyers alike to view the home under false pretenses, with a plan to increase the asking price, then how is this not false advertising?

The listing-and-re-listing is out of hand.

And while I accept a “transition period” is necessary for 4-6 weeks, if this continues through May and into June, then the whole thing is a farce.

I’m going to spend some time on the long weekend going over listings in April/May, and trying to get some actual quantifiable data about re-listing.

Yes, that is how I’m going to spend my long weekend.

I’d use a smiley-emoji here, but those don’t work on my blog for some reason.

In any event, have a safe and happy long weekend, and I’ll be back with a new post on Tuesday!

The post Real Estate’s New Problem: Listing & Re-Listing appeared first on Toronto Real Estate Property Sales & Investments | Toronto Realty Blog by David Fleming.

Originated from http://ift.tt/2q3jyVn