#my trans socks are famous

[nerdyqueerr]

Was blocking a blog and saw they rbed some dumbass terf post abt the sancticity and anti-patriarchy victory of womens sports whatever whatever point is there were a few lines about rugby in it and. It was so instantaneously obvious that the poster didnt know shit abt rugby it was truly hilarious. And also keep rugbys name out of your mouth if anyone on my rugby team met you they would kick your ass

[schizopositivity]

what to expect when being admitted to a psych ward (this is from my own personal experiences of being admitted to a mixed involuntary/voluntary facility and a valuntary facility, both for adults, both holding people of all genders):

•when being admitted they are going to ask you a lot of personal questions (mental health history, drug use, triggers, etc), sadly you will have to get used to talking to strangers during your stay

• when they tell you the name of the facility try to remember it, you might be asked where you are later to check your awareness

•they will take your picture for the records

•they will confiscate your phone (this is to ensure that you cant take pictures of other patients)

•they will confiscate all other belongings you have on you and keep them until you are discharged

•they will confiscate your clothes and shoes and have you change into scrubs and the famous grippy socks

•you might be strip searched to ensure you arent hiding anything and to take note of any distingushing birthmarks, scars, tattoos, etc (in my experience this was done by someone who alligned with my sex assigned at birth)

• you will probably have a physical medical exam or just talk to a dr about you medical history and what accomidations or meds you may need during your stay, you may be subjected to blood and/or urine tests

•the doors will be locked and you wont be able to walk out anytime (even in voluntary you have to go through the discharge process before leaving)

•if you use nicotine, depending on the place they will either provide you with nicotine patches/gum or allow you to have cigarette smoke breaks (you have to provide your own cigarettes or have visotors bring them to you and they dont allow vapes because they cant monitor what is in them)

•obviously no recreational drugs or alcohol is allowed

•the place itself will feel bland and clinical (think hospital but devoid of anything you could hurt yourself with)

•you will probably have your vitals checked everyday like compression arm cuff, heartbeat finger monitor and temperature taken

•you might have to wear a face mask at all times in the facility

•if you have a wristband from a hospital you can ask staff to cut it off for you

•you may or may not be roomed with other people (i was roomed with a female since i am afab nonbinary, idk how they room binary trans people)

•the bathrooms will either have a curtain or a door you cant lock (this is for your safety)

•depending on the place and your risk, you will be monitered by staff (in the mixed facility they had to physically see me every 15 minutes, just come into the room and check off a clipboard)

•there will be a front desk that is staffed at all times, feel free to approach and ask for things, ask questions or even ask if they want to play board games with you

•there will be a schedule for meal times and activities, it will be the same every day

•the food will be cafeteria food, think hospital or school cafeteria or possibly worse, they will already be aware of any medical dietary needs of yours but from what ive witnessed they do not do the same for religous or personal dietary needs (like a friend i made in the ward asked if the food was hallal, the staff didnt know but encouraged her to eat it anyway) they will also let you opt out of the prepared meal for something like a sandwich or snacks

•they will also have snack times in addision to the meals, but if at any point you are hungry, ask staff and you might get an extra snack or sandwich

•there might be coffee, it will probably be decaf, and the hours they serve it might be limited

•there might be patients who scream, cry, swear or have psychotic breaks

•there might be patients who are detoxing that might gag, puke or cough repeatedly

•there might be patients with visible self harm/suicide attempt wounds or scars

•there might be patients who are violent and/or sex offenders (the staff should keep you safe, but a patient hurting you is a possibility)

•if you have an outburst or hurt yourself or others, you might be physically handled by staff, given sedatives agaisnt your will, placed in solitary confinement or all three (this should only be done when nessasary to keep you or others safe, if the staff do this without reason or otherwise abuse you, you should report it to police when you have the chance)

•if you cry you will probably be left alone, staff might ask if you want to talk to them

•there will be cameras inside the facility but not in bathrooms, and depending on the place not in bedrooms either (this is for safety, so in the event of abuse there will be proof, i witnessed a patient to patient assault in the ward and the police used the footage to convict the perpatrator)

•there will be landline phones you can use, there may be limited phone hours, and they may limit your time on the phone, the phones are placed by the front desk so staff will be able to listen in on your conversations, they will let you write down phone numbers while you still have your phone during intake so that you can have the numbers later when making phonecalls (in my experience the time limit depends on the staff thats around so some will let you talk as long as you like)

•the phones you use will not allow you to call 911, if you are having a medical emergency you should inform the staff if possible (they will treat you or take you to a hospital if nessasary), if you need to report a crime you should ask the staff to call the police or otherwise file the police report after discharge

•there will be communial TVs with limited hours, you will need to ask the staff to operate the remote (one ward only had cable and the other one only had DVDs and us patients took turns choosing the movie)

•there will be daily group therapy, depending on the place it could be manditory (in the voluntary ward i asked why i hadnt seen any group therapy like the schedule said, and they said no one was asking to go, so i asked and i was the only person in the group therapy lol)

•they might have activities like yoga, art therapy, craft time, music time or other things (if you see it in the schedule you can ask them to tell you when its happening)

•there might be outside time in a fenced off area or there might be no outside time at all (this is for safety)

•the windows might be frosted, tinted or have a dotted film over them (this is for privacy)

•there will probably be activities that you can always access like coloring pages with crayons and/or colored pencils, puzzles, board games and paperback books

•you will get your clothes you came in back probably the next day, they might wash it

•visitors can bring you clothes but it has to have no strings (like drawstrings or shoelaces) no metal bits, and no graphic or offensive prints on clothes

•jewlery is not allowed unless its a piercing

•visitors can bring you books as long as its paperback, and journals as long as it doesnt have a metal spine, and other safe activities like paint by sticker books

•visitors cant bring blankets or towells, that will be provided by the facility

•anything visitors bring has to be checked by staff before they can give it to you

•you might not be able to recieve calls unless the person has an access code that they will provide for you, so you have to call first

•there can be meetings with visitors, it could be limited to certain days of the week or certain hours, your visitors may be subjected to a search, and your visiting time might be monitored by staff

•you will be given your psych meds as normally perscribed, they may have you open your mouth and lift your tounge after you take them to show that you actually swallowed them, you might be able to meet with a perscriber to get a med change

•you will probably have short daily private appointments with a counselor, this wont be as in depth as therapy but rather a way to check your progress, it could even just be like "on a scale form 1-10 how depressed are you?"

•you can still have any phone/telehealth appointments you already had planned, just inform staff and you might be put in a private room with a computer

•ask staff for things! like deoderant, toothbrush, toothpaste, blank paper, to print out an image of something that can cheer you up, honestly anything just ask

•ask staff if you want to shave, clip your nails, or apply makeup, you will probably have to do it in front of staff at the front desk

•for showers ask staff for towells, shampoo, conditioner and maybe body wash (the shower usually has a soap despensor in it) the shampoo and stuff will come in little cups, also if you can, ask for extra towells to place on the floor for when you get out

•your shower time might be limited, the shower probably wont get very hot (to avoid people burning themselves) and it will probably be a timed button that sprays water for 30 seconds at a time so youll have to keep pressing it to shower long enough

•the bed will probably not be very comfy, like thin foam matresses and scratchy sheets

•you can ask the staff for over-the-counter meds like ibuprofen, laxatives, sleeping pills, etc

•the days will feel long, try to keep yourself occupied with activities and phonecalls

•i encourage you to talk to the other patients! you can connect and relate to people in simular situations, older mentally ill people with experience, and just to make friends while youre there (ive even witnessed two men agree to have a romantic relationship only during their time in the ward, they called eachother "hospital boyfriends")

•i encourage you to journal about your experience and feelings while youre there

•how long youll be there really depends on your situation, although both times ive gone they said the usual stay was one week or less and thats how long i stayed both times

•they may require you to do certain things before you are allowed to discharge like get a med change, improve your mood, set up appointments with drs or counselors in the future, get stabalized on meds or show recovery in other ways

•even if you are voluntary, you will need to go through the discharge process before leaving like signing paperwork, collecting your belongings, setting up a ride to leave, and confirming that you have somewhere to go (ive witnessed staff hire taxis, and help people apply and get into shelters)

i dont say all this to scare you or keep you from volunteering yourself into a psych ward, just to warn you about things so that you dont have to be shocked by a totally new environment all at once like i was

everyones experience in psych wards is different, every place is different, i didnt cover psych wards for people under age 18, or gendered wards, or addiction recovery wards or otherwise specialized wards because i have no experience there

but despite the bad parts, my time in psych wards has seriously helped me, it kept me safe from myself when nothing else could, literally saving my life twice, it gave me very important med changes, and it gave me experience with other mentally ill people, like the older woman who told me "as mentally ill people we cant always trust our insticts" and other advice that has helped me

it may feel bleak, it may make you feel trapped, you may feel like you dont belong there, but the bottom line is this is place meant to help you, even if just in the most basic form of keeping you safe, housed, fed and properly medicated

and remember youre still a human, you still have rights, if anything unjust happens to you there you have every right to report it to the police

[campgender]

“Lady Java’s Tignons” from The Color Pynk: Black Femme Art for Survival by Omise’eke Natasha Tinsley (2022)

image text under the cut

Viewing the world through rose-tinted glasses shaped like butterfly wings, edged in rhinestones, and fringed with hanging beads, Sir Lady Java identifies herself to interviewer Pasqual Bettio in 2016: “We’re called transsexuals, basically, because I’m in a trance about my sex.” Born in New Orleans in 1940, Java—who transitioned with family support at a young age—was a mainstay of Los Angeles’s nightclub scene in the 1960s and ’70s. Billed as the “World’s Loveliest Female Impersonator,” she “appeared in shows all over the West Coast with such personalities as Nancy Wilson, Redd Foxx, Lena Horne, Louis Jordan, James Brown, Isaac Hayes, Joe Tex, Ray Charles, B.B. King, and Quincy Jones,” according to the brochure “Who Is Java?”

As she rose to prominence, she became a target for police harassment. In 1967, the LAPD raided the Redd Foxx Club to arrest her for violating Rule No. 9, an ordinance that prohibited trans women from appear- ing in public with less than three articles of male clothing. But when Java—performing in a bikini, bow tie, slim men’s wristwatch, and tiny socks—proved unarrestable, police threatened to revoke the club’s license or to imprison Foxx himself.

Java understood this police harassment as racialized: “We didn’t know of any establishment that was white that they [the LAPD] were stopping [from employing impersonators], but they were definitely targeting me, because I was queen of the Black ones and they feel that they had more trouble out of the Black ones.” Java responded by picketing the Redd Foxx Club (which dropped her act) and hiring the ACLU to mount a lawsuit against the LAPD.

Lady Java’s stage career continued brilliantly through the ’70s and ’80s, garnering positive press from Jet, Ebony, Sepia, and L.A. Advocate. Her career highlight, she tells Bettio, was performing for Lena Horne at a 1978 birthday party that Horne hosted for her “sister Cancerian, Gertrude Gibson,” where Horne enthused to Jet about her interaction with Java: “I had the feeling I was talking to a friend I had known for a long while... I feel sort of... protective [of Java]. I don’t know, because that’s my sign—Cancer—always trying to be somebody’s mama!”

To impress Ms. Horne, Java wore a spangled bikini and towering beaded headpiece whose curving contours—like many of the dramatically draped cloth, carefully sculpted tulle, and angel-wing feather wraps she crowned herself with—recall the tulip-shaped tignons (cloth turbans) made famous by her sister Louisiana Creoles. In an attempt to curb their social and sexual power, in 1786 Louisiana governor Esteban Miró decreed all women of African descent must cover their hair with knotted cloth and refrain from “excessive attention to dress.” But as Carolyn Long notes, “Instead of being considered a badge of dishonor, the tignon became a fashion statement. The bright reds, blues, and yellows of the scarves, and the imaginative wrapping techniques employed by their wearers, are said to have enhanced the beauty of women of color.” When Java turned her three articles of “male” clothing into high-femme sexiness, she followed in the footsteps of these foremothers’ fashion warfare.

Transforming the accessories meant to shame Black women into sexlessness into pure sexiness, Java declares, she chose “to wear beautiful outfits so a woman can be proud of me when she sees me. I don’t dress for men; I dress for women.”

By the 1990s Java was “enjoying a quieter life, retiring and, sadly, undergoing some serious health challenges,” according to Transas City. These challenges include a stroke from which, Java tells Bettio, “I lost a portion of my brain.” During her 2016 interviews with Bettio, her memories and historical records part ways: sometimes in small ways, as when she remembers performing for Horne at the Memory Lane supper club rather than the Pied Piper; sometimes in more significant ways, as when she proudly recalls winning her lawsuit against the LAPD.

“I went to court on it, and I won LAPD. I won the right for Java to work, meaning other impersonators could work also,” she recounts—though in fact her case was thrown out on a technicality. It would be easy to indulge the incoherence of her memories as post-stroke cognitive impairment. But it would also be easy to honor that incoherence as its own kind of freedom dream—an alternative history that translates the sinuous, undocumentable ways that change can happen.

After the publicity of her case, she reports, “They [other female impersonators] say: We’re able to go to work, and we’re all going [to] work the next day, and we’re going to put on the three male articles [of clothing], and they did the same thing I did: socks and the wristwatch and the bowtie if they wore bikinis . . . little bowties, some of them were jeweled.” Isn’t a flock of jeweled bow ties bouncing light off foremothers’ jeweled tignons another kind of win—another something to celebrate? How do we count and commemorate ways rewired and differently wired Black femme senses make a true story truer, more plentiful, more splendored?

[risetherivermoon]

Masterlist of my Fics

---------- (make sure to read the tags!)

• Ao3

1. How To Not Die Young

- Status: Unfinished / Ongoing

- Archive Warnings: None

- Length: Long

- Chapters: 43/?

- Words (Per Chapter): 2000-3000

- Main Ships: Wolfstar, Jegulus, Rosekiller

- Minor Ships: Dorlene, Marylily, Pandora x Xenophilius, Sybil x Peter, Quillkiller, Andromeda x Ted

- Background Ships: Nobleflower, Narcissa x Lucius (briefly), Alice x Frank (briefly),

- Desc/Themes: a modern highschool au, surrounding mental health and queerness + queer struggles, healing from trauma, finding happiness and reasons to keep going

- Link: How To Not Die Young - risetherivermoon

2. Just Different, Apparently

- Status: Finished

- Archive Warnings: None

- Length: 24,553 words

- Chapters: 4/4

- Words (Per Chapter): 5000-6000

- Main Ships: Jegulus

- Minor Ships: Wolfstar,

- Background Ships: Marylily, Dorlene, Rosekiller, Alice x Frank

- Desc/Themes: Modern meet-cute au, trans reg & autistic james, basically a lot of the themes are about feeling different and not being able to relate to others, and not knowing why, finally feeling seen & understood and loved,

- Link: Just Different, Apparently - risetherivermoon

3. Like A Kick To My Face, Your Love

- Status: Finished

- Archive Warnings: None

- Length: One Shot

- Chapters: 1/1

- Words (Per Chapter): 1,973

- Main Ships: Marylily

- Minor Ships: Jegulus

- Background Ships: None

- Desc/Themes: Mary, a famous musician/song writer recounts how she first met her now wife in an interview

- Link: Like A Kick To The Face, Your Love - risetherivermoon

4. Can't Get The Words Out

- Status: Finished

- Archive Warnings: None

- Length: One Shot

- Chapters: 1/1

- Words (Per Chapter): 1,316

- Main Ships: None

- Minor Ships: Wolfstar

- Background Ships: None

- Desc/Themes: Lily comes out to the group as a lesbian while they're all sitting together talking after a party in the boys dorm, + her experience growing up queer

- Link: Can't Get The Words Out - risetherivermoon

5. Reaching From Arm's Length

- Status: Finished

- Archive Warnings: None

- Length: One Shot

- Chapters: 1/1

- Words (Per Chapter): 2,106

- Main Ships: Wolfstar

- Minor Ships: None

- Background Ships: None

- Desc/Themes: Remus freaks out during a party because of a migraine, Sirius brings Remus away from the crowd and they talk, and Remus confesses and opens up to Sirius for the first time.

- Link: Reaching From Arm's Length - risetherivermoon

6. Feeling Overheated

- Status: Finished

- Archive Warnings: None

- Length: Oneshot

- Chapters: 1/1

- Words (Per Chapter): 1,640

- Main Ships: Wolfstar

- Minor Ships: None

- Background Ships: Jily

- Desc/Themes: After Remus comes out a few months prior Sirius starts to realize things about himself and how he feels about his friend, he talks to James about it and then approaches Remus.

- Link: Feeling Overheated - risetherivermoon

• Tumblr

1. Sock’s Fame Au Fic

- Status: Unfinished / Ongoing

- Warnings: Suggestive Jokes, Weed & Alcohol, Saying ‘kms’ as a joke,

- Media: Twinote / Fake Twitter Posts & Messages

- Major Ships: Rosekiller, Jegulus

- Minor Ships: Wolfstar, Dorlene, Pandamarylily

- Desc: A fame fake dating au, put together through twitter posts and messages between characters! Mostly a comedy,

- Parts:

- Out of context screenshots

- Ooc 1

- Ooc 2

- Ooc 3

- Ooc 4

- Parts

- Part 0.5: profiles

- Part 1: a fake relationship for no reason

- Part 2: the reason

- Part 3: another fake relationship but with more viable reasoning

- Part 4: not just a crush

- Part 5: tarty crouch jr

- Part 6: mr handsomeman & mrs prettylady

- Part 7: a new perspective

- Part 8: A Violent Encounter (Love You James)

- Part 8.5: More Profiles, More People

- Part 9: An Argument

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

[americanrealest-realestamerican]

I would like to apologize to all (none) of the groups I have hurt with my inconsiderate and gross statements and jokes. This includes, but is not limited to, gay people, asian people, hawaiian people, hispanic people, black people, women, my girlfriend, my girlfriends mom, trans people, autistic people, middle eastern people, jewish people, emo people, cross country runners, football players, art students, choir students, women in stem, men in stem, white people, peta, pronouns in general, people who unironically listen to Logan Paul, Logan Paul, Jake Paul, people who own fords, people who own kia souls, that one lambo I keyed, pregnant women, fat people, people who wear their socks over their leggings, people who wear leggings, people with facial hair, people without facial hair, people with stupid names, people with generic names, people who wear neon, people who wear yellow on yellow on brown, people who wear all red, people who wear all blue, people who wear all purple, people who sweat a lot, people who never sweat, cops, firefighters, accountants, Jeris Johnson (the non famous one), Jeris Johnson (the famous one), Tech N9ne, Marshmallow, imagine dragons, nuns, and people with blue eyes. Again, this is not a definite all encompassing list.

[science-lings]

I posted 2,119 times in 2022

That's 1,882 more posts than 2021!

1,060 posts created (50%)

1,059 posts reblogged (50%)

Blogs I reblogged the most:

@skyward-floored

@science-lings

@sciencelings-arts

@ezdotjpg

I tagged 2,096 of my posts in 2022

Only 1% of my posts had no tags

#linked universe - 306 posts

#ask andromeda - 299 posts

#lu wild - 125 posts

#ask game - 124 posts

#linked universe wild - 100 posts

#botw - 99 posts

#hsfr - 64 posts

#srb - 53 posts

#heroes spirit family reunion - 51 posts

#loz - 49 posts

Longest Tag: 138 characters

#i love how warriors initially was all like ‘you deviated from the plan you dipshit’ to ‘oh you’re having a mental breakdown… maybe later…’

My Top Posts in 2022:

#5

Honestly one of my favorite things about botw is how the typical roles and attributes for Zelda and Link are swapped, she’s the one associated with the color green, at least much more than he is. She can hear the voice of the sword and he can hear Hylia, he’s the one shown to automatically know his duty and be born with a perfect hold on his ‘powers’ and destiny. She’s the hero that held off the calamity and he’s the one lying sleeping in a tomb like a Disney princess, waiting to be woken up by the voice of someone who is heavily implied to romantically love him. She’s the one who learns to control her anger and pride while Link stoically bears his burden with a stoney expression. She’s the one motivated by unflinching dedication and even though her bloodline is supposed to communicate with the dead, the only person we ever see do so is Link. I mean even in TotK his hair is longer than hers!

690 notes - Posted September 14, 2022

#4

I adore how fucking tiny Link is in botw. He’s smaller than every character who isn’t a literal five year old by a considerable margin. Like it baffles me when he’s depicted as not a full foot smaller than any normal sized npc. As close as we can compare him to is a few teenage girl npcs. He’s also an absolute menace. He climbs walls like a lizard and takes out legions of monsters no sweat but he’s still so short. I love him so tiny and we should talk about it more.

833 notes - Posted August 11, 2022

#3

No one should be surprised that Link is widely headcanoned as trans or nonbinary I mean his name is Link, that’s the kind of name an enby would give themselves like ‘sock’ or ‘dishwasher’

946 notes - Posted September 5, 2022

#2

There’s something so devastating about botw’s world from a lore standpoint. There are exciting famous places from earlier games but they’re all in ruins. There are the skeletons of creatures who were once known to be deities and whispers of so many names that we’ve heard before but mean nothing to the people of this world. Gods like the wind fish and Levias (and technically the fierce deity) and even the might of the master sword are all long dead or incredibly weak versions of what they once were.

This world is so unbelievably old. But there are still stories and pieces of the history of Hyrule that live on even after the apocalypse. And I think that’s pretty cool.

1,290 notes - Posted May 24, 2022

My #1 post of 2022

What the fuck is this book

4,431 notes - Posted January 11, 2022

Get your Tumblr 2022 Year in Review →

[guccipherous]

I posted 444 times in 2021

76 posts created (17%)

368 posts reblogged (83%)

For every post I created, I reblogged 4.8 posts.

I added 62 tags in 2021

#criminal minds - 19 posts

#cow - 12 posts

#impression - 7 posts

#selfie - 6 posts

#iiiiiiii miss the mountains - 5 posts

#brokeback mountain - 3 posts

#mitski - 3 posts

#fall out boy - 3 posts

#daredevil - 2 posts

#bones - 2 posts

Longest Tag: 104 characters

#one time i accidentally invited a freshman over to hook up and so we watched 3 episodes of gravity falls

My Top Posts in 2021

#5

is this funny ? i have no idea how to date

4 notes • Posted 2021-01-22 22:59:56 GMT

#4

my math prof emailed me and said “you don’t understand this” and its like. yea judy i really don’t understand this math bc ur making me go to an in person class during a pandemic so that anxiety coupled w my social anxiety means my brain doesnt fucking work and i don’t really care abt proofs anyways

4 notes • Posted 2021-02-20 23:02:35 GMT

#3

just finished these socks for my friend!!! i love love love them so much!

7 notes • Posted 2021-02-27 04:30:37 GMT

#2

ur boy had a great new year’s eve, pairing the classic sunset blush franzia with a new spin on “goth”

7 notes • Posted 2021-01-01 15:53:26 GMT

#1

finished this sock for my friend, ate three whole meals today, only want to sleep the whole day away instead of worse things

29 notes • Posted 2021-01-21 01:01:48 GMT

Get your Tumblr 2021 Year in Review →

[battlemaiden13]

Master List 2

Round 2

SFW

Favourite Scents

S/o is a mage PART 1, PART 2

Housemate can’t cook 

S/o broke a bone 

Cooking ability 

Seagull stole a hotdog

Berry and Syrup with a Male S/o

S/o Crocheted a scarf 

To be genuine friends with Swapfell and underfell

Walks past a cute baby 

Best friend young sibling has a crush on the skeletons

S/o is a complete day dreamer 

S/o has an epileptic fit 

S/o with a physical disability 

Playing cuphead 

Comforting sad and stressed S/o

Favourite horror movies 

Reading their crushes secret diary 

S/o makes dolls when their skeleton is going away for a while 

Zumba Classes 

How many water bottles does the skeletons have in the room 

S/o has an inability to feel pain

S/o accidentally ignoring skeletons  

Naive S/o suddenly becoming serious and aware 

S/o is having a panic attack 

What romantically attracts the skeletons 

Soulmate doesn’t like men 

S/o with amnesia 

S/o has their head in the clouds 

Reaction to bitty bones 

Skeletons feelings on tattoos 

S/o loves dark humor 

Interactions with the Mirror bros 

Reaction to being physically picked up 

Wearing the skeletons clothes 

Soulmate AU: Switching bodies 

Improvised face masks

Animal crossing 

S/o enjoys making towers 

S/o owns a haunted necklace 

Pet owners s/o doesn’t like their pets 

S/o is secretly a badass

S/o was an underground fighter 

Berry and Blue with Bear nicknames 

Human traditions

Gift basket  

Kuudere

Skeletons and attention 

Asgore and Toriel with a human friend who sings in public

April fools  

Error hoping timelines 

Quarantine

Friend with bad posture 

S/o fell underground 

Dying there hair the skeletons Magic colour PART 1, PART 2

Artist S/o asking to draw the skeletons PART 1, PART 2

S/o has seen a save point 

Supernatural creature 

Likes and dislikes 

S/o jumping in front of a projectile for them 

So has gone missing but has been found by the police 

Thoughts on mirror bros

S/o is a famous song writer

S/o is part dragon 

Skeletons as fairytale characters 

Crooks personality 

Male S/o is ticklish 

Deja Vu dreams 

Mythical creatures 

Selective mute 

S/o sings death metal with perfect fry vocals 

S/o is goddess of the moon

Crush's best friend is also their crushes ex

S/o has an accent 

S/o clings to skeleton during horror movies 

There's a wasp and S/o is deadly allergic 

S/o wearing the skeletons clothes

S/o puts people in their place

S/o is super forgetful   

S/o is constantly asked out

Glittered bombed

Pirates of the Caribbean

S/o is a tsundere 

Nightmare sans with a childhood friend 

Skeletons crush thinks that Grillby is hot

When the skeletons realized they liked S/o

Sleeping next to someone 

How the skeletons sleep 

wood would a woodchuck chuck if a woodchuck could chuck wood

S/o is very passionate while watching TV shows 

S/o introduces skeleton to their crazy family 

Eating bone marrow 

S/o Mirrors skeletons personality 

S/o appears neat and tidy but is a slob 

Syrup falling out of love 

Syrup falling for a third party 

S/o voices thoughts out loud 

Skeletons in a poly relationship 

Skeletons wedding 

S/o has an addiction 

Trans crush 

Super shy S/o says “I love you” 

Naive S/o who misses subtle ques 

Traits that attract the skeletons 

S/o has Autism

Autistic S/o whose good triggers are associated with the skeleton 

Autism shutting down, the skeletons reaction 

Assassination PART 1, PART 1.5,  PART 2

S/o saying the skeleton is their guardian angel

Syrups S/o faked their death 

S/o is a knight and Ink, Error, Fresh or NM is the king

Ink, Error, Fresh or NM are your bodyguard

.

NSFW

Slapped the butt

Wearing revealing underwear 

Playing DDLC

Has Sans, Papyrus, Blue, Red, or Orange snapped anyone's neck?

Wearing something that accidentally turns the skeletons on PART 1, PART 2, PART 3

Skeleton kinks

Berry and Syrup Headcanons

More Berry and Syrup Headcanons 

Horrortale and MafiaFell Headcanons

Underfell Papyrus Headcanons

Underswap Papyrus Headcanons

1-10 on how pervy the skeletons are

Finish on their partners face

Orange and Edge Headcanons

Found Oranges Pictures

Sailor outfit

Dead Girl walking Scene from Heathers

S/o died in an accident so the human child resets. 

Yandere Nightmare Headcanons

Red and Orange with a perverted S/o

Tipsy crush makes a move on the skeleton 

Asexual Parnter 

Syrup trying to kill an immortal 

S/o is thought to be dead PART 1, PART 2

Snapped someone's neck 

Skeletons are a little to excited while s/o is sitting on their lap 

S/o covered in scars 

Mc is a jokester who can be a little fiery at times 

Skeletons react to Mc being excited to show them a video

Violated as a child

Nightmare with a male S/o (yandere and normal)

Breeding kink

Skeletons with a Chubby S/o

Skeletons friend is being held hostage 

Syrups S/o was kidnapped

S/o moaning their name 

Ahegao face

Saw housemate naked PART 1, PART 2

Sex with the skeletons 

Skeletons accidently getting their S/o horny 

S/o makes the skeleton horny 

Deep Throating PART 1, PART 2

Ink, NM, Error, Fresh and Dream going Yandere for their kid 

Skeletons as stalkers 

Skeletons find out their S/o is a virgin 

S/o is a virgin but wants to go to the next level 

Syrup S/o catches him being a yandere PART 1, PART 2, PART 3

Zombie apocalypse 

Pinned against a wall 

Skeletons and socks 

How do the skeletons get their partner in bed 

S/o is pregnant from a previous relationship 

S/o was attacked 

Their packages 

Heat with a S/o whose afraid of sex

General Yandere headcanons for NM, Ink, Error and Fresh

Learning about menstruation cycle

Learning about menstruation cycle Mint and Mango

Stoner and self harmer S/o

New bra, hold my breasts 

Heats

Both yandere 

[emcon-imagines]

“BEING HERMIONE’S SIBLING WHO COMES OUT AS A TRANS MALE TO THE GOLDEN TRIO (HARRY POTTER)”

gif // requester: anon ​​// request here

You told your sister before the rest of the trio and you were super nervous at first, it took weeks to finally get the courage

You were sure why, maybe because you had known her the longest, she was your sister after all

But when you finally told her she was like “oh! like... [insert the names of other famous trans wizards she had read about because that’s how she relates to everything]. Yeah, okay! I’m really glad you told me.”

And telling people after your sister was much easier

Ron is absolutely obsessed when you’re picking a new name and he literally comes to you with lists of names that he genuinely thinks is cool, but his taste is rather skewed, since “Bilius” is the bar

Hermione: “Ron, you can’t keep suggesting your brothers’ middle names!”

Ron: “What? It’s a cool name and I would much rather y/n has it than Percy.”

You: “Ron, no offense, I’m not gonna be an Ignatius.”

Harry and Ron are stoked to have you move into the boys’ dormitory with them and you guys stay up way too late talking about dumb shit

Harry being like “right, okay, I’m going to sleep!”

Ron: “....”

Ron: “~Snaverus Snape~”

*cue laughing for another 20 minutes*

There are a ton of magical aids to help with transitioning, and Hermione finds them all for you to make the process as easy as possible

And Hermione trying to explain that process to your parents for you without confusing them with all the magical stuff

If you do end up wearing a binder for the time being, it’s usually Harry reminding you to take breaks, just quick, “you all right, mate? you taken a break today?”

Harry and Ron sharing a ton of their clothes with you in the beginning while you’re still changing up your wardrobe and after a while, you guys have a communal sock and t-shirt drawer

Fred and George knighting you as part of “the lads?” You’re not entirely sure what it means, but it involves secret meetings alongside Lee Jordan where they plan schemes and find new passages in Hogwarts

And gosh the first time you visit the Burrow after transitioning and Mrs. Weasley greets you and the others as “oh, my boys!” it’s like... wow

Arthur Weasley teaching you how to shave when you start growing facial hair around winter break because he’s super proud that he can shave “the Muggle way”

Hermione gives you your first new hair cut... but kind of fucks it up? It’s really funny though and Ginny’s able to fix it but for the rest of the year, Ron and Harry insist that Hermione keeps the scissors a mile away from their hair and yours

Ron imitates her “oops... erm... Harry is this bad?” for months after that whenever he messes up on his homework

[jaskierswolf]

Geraskier Fluff Ficlets

(Updated: 26/03/22)

Canon Era

Butt Bow, Bertie the Flirty, My Darling Esk,  Wolf Ears, Cuddles, Flower Crowns, Reunion Hugs, Snuggles, Flower braids,  What Pleases You, Sleepy cuddles, First kiss, Morning kisses, Spring God,  Medallion, Etiquettes, Baby Fiend, Kilt Jaskier, Amorous Bard, Corset, Lil’Bleater, Not friends, Baby Cockatrice, A new adventure, Wolfy Geralt the third, Cheek kisses, Falling in Love, Jaskier gets a new sword, I heard a rumour, Jaskier grows his hair, Skellige, Baby Forktail, Acting Famous, Butt Bow. 2, Platonic cuddles, Cuddle the Lute, Winter God!Jaskier,  Better,  Getting Together (s.2), Geralt Speaks Elder, A moment of peace, Drunk and Sleepy, Geralt can’t sleep, Alpha nesting,

Modern Era

Paint Fight, Breakfast, Faking Dating!, Paintball, Everyone thinks we’re dating, Gamer!Geralt, Fake dating… again!, ADHD Jask (Feat Trans Geralt), Booty Shorts, Coffee Shop AU, Coffee- Meet ugly, Footballer Geralt, Popstar!Jask, Birthday Cake, Hot tubs - 16+, Lion King, Trash Bag, Sharing coats, knee-high socks,

More Witcher Writing

[letpapersleep]

ask meme 4 aino :3

by POPULAR demand :,)

Full Name: Aino!! (lastnamepending)

Gender and Sexuality: trans girl lesbian 💕

Pronouns: she/her

Ethnicity/Species: her mom is japanese & her dads finnish

Birthplace and Birthdate: born in finland!! moved 2 America 😑

Guilty Pleasures: making little pictures in her computer programs, stress cleaning incredibly small details around the house, shopping for knicknacks she Doesnt need, large large novelty mug collection for one person, drinking coffee at 2am, peeking out her window & people watching, listening to weirdass experimental music very loudly in the car. putting duct tape around her socks, locking doors in the house she lives alone in, catching moths & studying them up close. day drinking, & collecting fashion magazines ❤️ smoking but shes not guilty fuck you

Phobias: super bright lights, being watched or recorded secretly, people breaking into her house, Bugs being On Her.

What They Would Be Famous For: very very good at programming

What They Would Get Arrested For: speeding somehow

OC You Ship Them With: lily ❤️

OC Most Likely To Murder Them: no idea

Favorite Movie/Book Genre: sci-fi and horror

Least Favorite Movie/Book Cliche: Weird Adults Having Sex: the movie

Talents and/or Powers: very smart. good at Computers. great tolerance for caffine and alcohol lmao

Why Someone Might Love Them: shes real funny and smart, super reasonable and great to be around if you can get along with her, reliable and interesting

Why Someone Might Hate Them: she can come off as very unfriendly sometimes!!!!!! also shes shy and hard to get to know & some people do not like that

How They Change: she becomes more confident and makes a lot of friends!!! calms down a little bit overall and feels safer in the world.

Why You Love Them: SHES SO GOOD.... my oldest and longest oc.. im proud of her design and she is just very. *rotates her in my mind*🥺🥺😿😿😿❤️❤️❤️❤️

[matildainmotion]

The Monstrous Shame of Motherhood and the Quest for a Cure

I feel exhausted. Even-more-than-usual exhausted. Whoever knew that staying at home could be so incredibly tiring. We have our daily outings – mainly to the golf course, which is the nearest green we have. The other evening, when we had finally made it out the house, and the children were running ahead of me across the fitted-carpet grass, I had a thought: “Maybe it will be okay,” and instantly I wanted to cry. It wasn’t a thought only about the pandemic. It was about the lot: the pandemic, plus how to get an autism diagnosis for my son that supports him, plus my 78 year old mother staying well, plus my husband’s work and the theatre community surviving in a post-Covid world, plus managing to finish my book, plus both my children’s long term futures, plus the world’s long term future and climate change, plus racial inequality, plus economic inequality, plus gender inequality, plus, plus…..

In that moment I realised that a kind of deep worry is such a constant for me now that I have grown accustomed to it, so that it is like the planes that used to fly over our house in London – a noise so familiar that after a while I no longer hear it, and yet it is there, every few minutes, unnoticed, another monstrous metal groan. And when it stops - when the planes stay down, when the worries lift up - the sudden silence is startling, enough to make me cry. But – here’s the thing- thanks to the lockdown I have realised that it isn’t just worry to which I have grown accustomed in this way. There is something else, even more monstrous, which it has taken me a long time to name – and its name is shame.

I believe the shame comes from a thousand ‘shoulds,’ from the many things I feel I should be doing as a mother and am not.  Motherhood, along with the paraphernalia of nappies, wipes and purees, comes with a huge bundle of shoulds. The very first thing I did, nine years ago now, on discovering that I was pregnant, was to rush out to Waterstones and buy a book on what I should and shouldn’t eat during the next nine months– and that was only the beginning. The shoulds come from everywhere, a mountain of well-meant advice, not only from books, but from doctors, midwives, family members, partners, friends, other mothers, even complete strangers. I remember standing in a shop queue with my three-week-old son in a sling, when the woman behind me leant forward and touched one of his toes. “Where’s his socks?” she said, “He’ll catch his death of cold.” On the one hand I felt reasonably confident that carrying my son around sock-less was not going to endanger his life, on the other, as a brand new mother, I was nonetheless shaken by the idea that my son’s survival was up to me, and that many different people had many different ideas about how best I should fulfil my role of raising and protecting him. At times, even my instinct, that famous maternal inner guide, seemed like a mysterious thing that someone else had told me I should follow.

Mothers Who Make began, in part, as a response to all these shoulds. When I went along to the new mother and baby groups, that I also believed to be obligatory, I noticed a distressing pattern. All too often we were simply swapping ‘shoulds’ with each other and coming away feeling worse than when we arrived. No place or position was safe: I met mothers who felt they should be breastfeeding, mothers who felt the need to put a label saying ‘breastmilk’ on the bottle they fed their baby in public, as well as mothers who felt they should be weaning their baby and moving rapidly onto solids. I met mothers who felt bad about co-sleeping and mothers who felt bad about not doing so. In those early days of mothering - when you should be feeling overjoyed - there are even charts that tell you what should be happening when, how much your child should weigh, by when they should be making eye contact etc. It is not that these charts are entirely unhelpful or inaccurate, but they certainly encouraged my constant questioning: is my child okay? Am I okay? Am I doing this right? And if I thought I wasn’t, if I was not doing what I should, I felt ashamed.

I have felt many parallels between lockdown and early motherhood – the sudden cessation of all usual activity, the focus on ‘intensive care’ and care-taking, the washing, the sense of vulnerability, the way leaving the house seems like an epic adventure, the isolation and longing for connection. And, as in early motherhood, our diverse lives are again apparently aligned. We are all in the same situation: all the mothers in those baby groups had a new born / all the mothers I know now are in lockdown due to a pandemic. This makes comparison seem possible, even appropriate. There is a set of scales around again – I weigh our lives on it and find myself at fault.

Let me give you a small sample of some of the shoulds that fly low over my home, through my mind, like aeroplanes, a few of the many that I have collected over my nine years of mothering. I should get my children to bed earlier. I should give them less screen time, or it shouldn’t happen first thing in the morning, or I should manage the whole issue of screens in a better, different way. I should give them less choice about what they eat. I should make sure they eat more fresh foods and less sugar. I should make them help around the house more. I should hold the structure of the day better. I should make sure everyone stays at the table when we’re eating. I should take steps towards weaning my daughter. I should never resort to threats – to the ‘if you don’t stop x, you won’t get y’ pattern. And so on and so forth – you get the gist. And because I do not do these things - and I imagine a thousand other mothers who are doing them wonderfully - I feel ashamed. I realise as I write this that my ‘shoulds,’ as listed here, are nice, white, middle class ones- signs of privilege. Shame is a heavy word and it is associated with far darker things than letting your kids watch too much telly. I want to acknowledge that my issues are trifling compared to those many have to navigate, but shame, whatever the context, is still shame and it is powerful. As someone who was once anorexic, I know that shame can sit alongside privilege and that, where present, it undermines the ease of even the most comfortable life.

Back in Jan 2019 I wrote a blog about guilt. I now think I was muddling up some of my guilt and my shame. In general, I feel guilty about specific instances that have an immediate, present moment, ground-level reality: I shouted at my son when he blasted water over the bathroom with the shower head and that triggered one of his big, aggressive rages. If I feel guilty about something, I can say sorry about it, to the person or people I have wronged, and then it’s over. Shame, for me, is more like the ongoing aeroplanes, it is long term - a long haul flight. On the bad days, motherhood seems like a very lengthy exam, the end of it still twenty years away. My children are not the examiners – certainly not for now – they are the results. Depending on how the children turn out, I will pass or fail. There are external examiners, keeping track, making notes, of all the things I am doing or not doing. And who are they, these examiners? I think, somewhere in my psyche, there is an impressive panel of them, made up of everyone who has ever shared ‘a should’ with me, from the author of the book on what to eat during pregnancy, to the woman in the queue who wanted my son to be in socks, to the many other authors, friends and strangers who have offered me advice - they are all sitting there, scribbling on their notepads, shaking their heads. They are not bad people. Many of them are people for whom I have enormous respect, which makes it worse. I believe in their advice – seriously, I should be following it.

In my blog on guilt, I found my guilt a figure – made it into an image that helped me connect to the things that mattered to me, lying underneath the guilt. It turned out to be a Mary Poppins-like character, flying a kite. I think my shame has a very different form. There is the panel of judges, frowning from a distance, and then there is the shame herself, much closer in, and, like the sound of the low-flying planes, she’s monstrous.

My son’s latest obsession is the Beast Quest books (he has moved on from My Little Pony - woe betide you if you mention his former interest to him). There are over a hundred Beast Quest books, all with the same basic formula – boy meets monster. Giant birds, snakes, insects, spiders, bears, apes, hounds, trolls, ogres, dragons – you name your flavour of nightmarish monster, it will be there. I am glad to say there is a reasonable spread of gender representations across the monsters – sadly none of them are trans but there are some mothers. My ‘shame monster’ is definitely a mother. She is immense, stinking, gruesome and green. Her roar is the soundtrack of my days, to which I have grown accustomed. In some of the Beast Quest books the beasts are evil and must be destroyed, but in some they are good, set under an evil curse, from which they must be freed. I think my monstrous shame mother is one of these – good at heart but under pressure, after years of judgement, she has turned malevolent. And here is the irony: I believe her malevolent aspect has a more toxic impact on my children and our household, than any of the things such as screen time, sugar, late nights, unstructured days, which have driven her into this terrible state. Her constant growling makes me tense, fractious and very, very tired. I don’t think I can go on like this. So, what to do? How to release her from the curse? And who would she be without it?

Often the opposite of shame is presented as pride. But I think pride too is problematic – the panel of judges, external examiners, is still present in the dynamic, it’s just that they are giving out good marks instead of bad. So, if the shame-beast, when transformed, does not turn into the proud mother, who does she become?

As ever, when I am wrangling with a question in my mothering, I look to my making for answers. Throughout the lockdown I have been writing whenever I can. Always, when the children are having their screen time. Often, when I should be getting them dressed, or focussing on making us breakfast, or preparing them for bed. I don’t write because I should. I write because I want to do it, because it helps me give things meaning, because it brings me joy. I think back to that teary moment on the golf course, watching the children run ahead of me over the grass. What made the worry lift, the planes stop, the monster turn out good? Yes, I think it was a moment of joy. I think, when the gory green monster is not sweating with shame, she is lit up with joy.

So much, so often, is laid at the mother’s door. On the one hand we are ‘just’ being mums, with minimal status, doing an insignificant job, and on the other, we are accorded huge significance – everything can be traced back to us, to our care or the lack of it, our early influence. I do not wish to deny our responsibility as mothers, but I do not believe our shame helps us to shoulder it, or that we should shoulder it alone. When I started Mothers Who Make I wanted it to be a held peer-support space where women could share their challenges without shame, and celebrate, even cultivate, their joy. I wanted to create a group in which we did not find further fault, did not inadvertently end up undermining or judging one another, adding to the great big bundles of shoulds already carried. It is why it is still vital to me that we welcome every kind of mother – breastfeeding, bottle-feeding, those who keep their mothering and their making strictly separate, those who take their children to work – every kind. It is also the same impulse that lies behind our Matronage scheme. Rather than a panel of judges telling us whether or not we are worthy, I want to see whether we can hold each other up. We have been asking people to become our ‘Matron Saints’ by giving us the price of a coffee a month - £3. We need 300 of you to become self-sustaining. So far we have a fantastic 99! Once we reach 100, I am going to announce a new project in celebration– a way, I hope, to keep the same ethos of grassroots peer-support alive and kicking – kicking off the shoulds, turning them into wishes and dreams.

And in the meantime, whilst you are all rushing to bring us over the 100 Matron Saint mark, (go here to do so: www.motherswhomake.org) these are your questions for the month: as a mother and/ or as a maker what are the ‘shoulds’ and ‘should nots’ you carry around with you? Do your ‘shoulds’ turn into shame? And then- as an antidote to this -what brings you joy? In your mothering? In your making? As we slowly emerge out of this pandemic, can you do more of this? Can you create a more shameless world? Can you help make the monsters joyful?

[sandcrdriesens]

andi mack headcanons i came up with that i adore because i love ‘n’ miss them a whole lot !!! ₊˚.༄

cyrus’ favorite singer is childish gambino and has a secret stan account on twitter for donald glover

tj absolutely ADORES rihanna and totally snuggled up on his couch ‘n’ watched guava island with cyrus purely because their main stans were in it

andi makes pride bracelets for all of the gang ! gay pride flag colours for tj ‘n’ cyrus, lesbian flag colours for amber, bi colours for buffy, the same for marty but with the trans flag colours too ! ‘n’ last but not least, the aro colours for jonah !

when tj comes out to everyone, he most definitely gets himself knee socks for when he’s playin’ basketball with the pride flag on it !

‘n’ amber gets one with the lesbian flag to match with her brother !

amber ‘n’ andi regularly go on canoe dates, followed by a picnic that bowie makes for them :’)

buffy ‘accidentally’ wears marty’s clothes, all. the. time. but he never gets mad, ‘cause it’s adorable.

tj also loves the 1975 ‘n’ has the biggest crush on matty healy. he loves to brag about how ‘he was totally my sexual awakening’.

andi has a special memory box she saves with memories of her ‘n’ amber, and is planning to give her it the day she tells her she loves her.

jonah signs harry styles. that’s it, that’s the headcanon.

whenever the ghc is around marty, they say ‘marty, i’m scared !’ makin’ marty more confused than ever.

amber adores clairo, ‘n’ andi gets her the immunity album on vinyl.

every few weeks cyrus and amber both go out. whether to the movies, or just somewhere secret to talk.

andi’s favorite movie is the goonies. no doubt it’s freaking canon, babey !

buffy has a secret marvel stan account on tumblr she uses, ‘n’ is super famous on it !

tj sings ‘never knew i needed’ by ne-yo on the piano to cyrus on their one month anniversary :’)

amber is most definitely a ukulele lesbian, ‘n’ sings ‘house of gold’ by twenty øne piløts !

when they’re alone, cyrus called tj ‘thelo’.

[gleepotluckbigbang]

Coffee Shop Writing Prompts by @veronicabunchwrites

To start you guys off, a prompt list by @veronicabunchwrites. Veronica is no longer on Tumblr, only on Pillowfort, so I can’t reblog, only repost, sorry about that. The original post can be found here.

100 coffee shop au writing prompts!

there’s something about people meeting and falling in love over hot drinks that presents such a cozy atmosphere. it’s no wonder that it’s a favourite. some of these prompts are classic because who can resist the tried and true?

01.  clearly you’re going through a bad breakup because this playlist is the most depressing thing I’ve ever heard and I’m begging you please change it 02.  you’re my favourite employee because you always have my order ready on the days I’m running late to the office 03.  I order the same thing as my boss in case something happens to their coffee and one day, you write your number on the cup I give to my boss 04.  my friend swears that you can pick the perfect drink for anyone but I’m skeptical because there’s no way you can look at someone and just know their order - and of course, you nail my drink 05.  I run the shop beside your bookstore and I’m trying to convince you that it could be beneficial to knock down the wall between our shops and you’re being a big pain in the ass about it 06.  I hired you to make drinks not flirt with every customer that walks in and how dare you accuse me of jealousy, get back to work 07.  you were a dick to my coworker so I’ve been writing insults on your cups and why the hell do you keep coming back here anyway?

08.  I know you’re about to close and I swear I’ll give you a $20 tip, can you please just take my order? I’ve had the worst day possible 09.  a $20 tip isn’t worth me staying open late, but then you burst into tears and I end up asking you if you want to hang around to talk 10.  you’re the night manager who runs open mic nights and I’m the baker who starts at 3am so sometimes our paths cross and I like talking to you 11.  you never order the same thing more than once and just as you’re about to get to the end of the menu, I start adding new things because I’m afraid you’ll stop coming in 12.  I’ve been writing lame jokes on your cups because you’re the grumpiest person ever and you finally crack a smile 13.  you always get my order wrong and I’m pretty sure you’re doing it on purpose just so you get a free drink out of it because employees have a crap discount 14.  I’ve been working on this essay/project/article/etc. for the last ten hours and I’ve barely moved so you come over to give me something to eat and ask if I’m okay 15.  I’m dragged to open mic night by my best friend, and while I’m ordering my drink, your voice fills the room and I’m mesmerized 16.  there’s a poetry slam and while I’ve never gone on stage, I’m obsessed with your stuff 17.  you were rude so I insult you and you just left a $50 tip??? who the fuck do you think you are? 18.  I decided to use my personal (and massive) mug collection when I opened my shop and you start hanging around just to see which mug you’ll get 19.  I open a cat cafe with a separate room for the cats that are all available to adopt, and you keep coming in to sit with them even though you’re allergic 20.  I haven’t seen you in years but you just walked into my coffee shop and by your snooty attitude, you don’t seem to know that I own the place 21.  I really don’t care that you’re a famous celebrity, you will stand in line just like everyone else and that’s that 22.  this shop is really busy but I need their wifi, so could we share this table? 23.  we’re working on our school project in this cafe and I’m pretty sure my group just figured out that I have a crush on you 24.  I have a job interview and you're the clumsy employee who just spilled hot coffee all down my white shirt 25.  I’m on the worst blind/Tinder/Grindr date and you ‘accidentally’ dump a drink on my date to save me 26.  you’re a big city person visiting my tiny coffee shop in a small town and you’re so rude when you ask if we have cappuccinos that I lie and say no 27.  I just bumped into my ex so I slip my arm in yours to pretend you’re my current partner even though you were just standing in line behind me 28.  my umbrella broke and I just stepped into your shop soaking wet and you run upstairs to get me some towels from your apartment and I’m sorry I’m crying but this is the nicest thing that’s happened to me all week 29.  my AC isn’t working at my apartment so I’ve been spending most of my spare time here and using your wifi and I think you’re flirting with me 30.  I’ve been hanging out more because I sit at the counter to watch two baristas flirt (OT3 bonus!) / and you join me so we make a bet on when they’ll get together 31.  I named my coffee shop Coffee Shop and you’re the customer who loudly talks about how stupid the name is 32.  I’ve been sitting in the break room wondering how to ask you out on a date when you come in and announce you were just asked out by a customer (bonus if OT3!) 33.  you’re a famous celebrity who ducks in to my quiet shop and asks if you can hide, and I mean, sure, but are you going to order something? I have to make a living here, dude 34.  I know you own this place but dude, this song has been on repeat for the last hour and I will pay you to change it 35.  I’m really nervous as I’m meeting a family member for the very first time and you’re the kind employee who sits with me to help calm my nerves 36.  you’re staring at me and I don’t know why until you tell me I’ve been singing along to my music and I’m mortified because I didn’t realize 37.  I saw your Help Needed sign in the window and you look busy so where are the aprons and how can I help? 38.  every day I write a quote on a chalkboard on the wall and apparently you’re the author I just quoted but you’ve never shown your face in public before so why are you telling me? 39.  someone left a note in the suggestions box that the barista is the cutest person they’ve seen and I’m laughing as my coworkers discuss who it could be when you quietly admit it’s about me 40.  you just cut in front of me in line and I’m not in the mood to let it slide 41.  I noticed you were on ao3 reading smut and when you go up to get something else to drink from the counter, I realize you’re reading the fic I posted twenty minutes ago 42.  your dog and my dog just tangled their leashes outside the coffee shop and now they won’t leave each other’s sides, so do you want to join me at this table? 43.  I know it’s not my place but your teenager seems to be mixed up in a bad crowd and I thought you should know they’re hiding in the bathroom crying right now 44.  your father comes in weekly at the exact same time and orders the exact same two drinks because that’s what he used to do with your mother and you come looking for him 45.  I really need you to put up this flyer on the community board but you’re sort of being a prick about it 46.  you hire my band to come place on a weekly basis but the more time I spend with you the more time I want to kiss you 47.  you’re my ex who I’ve never really gotten over and you just surprised me by paying for my coffee and I’m not prepared to see you 48.  my coworker wrote my cell phone number on your cup when I wasn’t paying attention and now you’re texting me 49.  after overhearing you order the eccentric coffee shop owner’s drink of the week, I warn you that it never tastes good (bonus if you convince me it’s great this week so I sip and suffer with you) 50.  the last clue to my partner’s scavenger hunt is supposed to be here, and while I’m looking for it, I discover that you’re my partner’s friend who set the whole thing up (bonus: ot3) 51.  I sold my business for millions when I was in high school and tried to disappear from the spotlight but I’ve just been spotted drinking your coffee and feel bad since you’re overwhelmed with the sudden influx of new customers 52.  I overhear you talking to your friend about how you’re planning on meeting up with your ex and I can’t stop myself from butting in because that’s a bad mistake 53.  I’m hosting a food-eating contest to raise money for charity at my shop and you seem to have an endless stomach that makes me a little concerned 54.  I catch you in the act of placing your newspaper over a customer’s cell phone/wallet/etc. and then stealing it when they deny you money 55.  you walk into my coffee just before close looking like a runaway bride/groom/princess/prince/royalty so I stick around to keep you company 56.  meeting at the coffee shop feels like fate, but now we’re sitting here because I’m terrified to tell you my big secret 57.  you’re a grumpy customer who doesn’t talk but you always have the most fun tie/socks/dresses/sweaters/etc. and I look forward to see what you wear next 58.  I’ve been obsessed with your homemade soups and I always rave about them to the cashier but I didn’t realize you also make them until you surprise me with a new recipe 59.  I rent out your shop for the evening to propose to my significant other and they dump me on the spot 60.  I run a baking class one night a week after hours at my shop and you keep coming back despite being the worst baker ever 61.  you left me a bad review so I’m tracking you down to yell at you and demand a retraction 62.  you’re the contractor I’ve hired to build individual bathrooms so I can offer genderless options for people (bonus if contractor is trans/nb/gender queer) 63.  I host a board game night every Friday and you always come in with your best friend and ask me to teach you a new game and I cannot believe you’ve never played Life before (or: insert own game) 64.  I’ve been getting really creative with my foam art and I do some naughty-bits to amuse my coworker on their drink when you mistakenly take it and think I’m hitting on you 65.  I’m wiping down a table when I notice that you left a cell phone number on the back of your receipt for your lunch and I ask my coworker if I should text you (bonus if ot3) 66.  every time you come into my shop, I swear you have a new sticker on your laptop and I desperately want to ask about this one 67.  you come in to steal the shop’s wifi for video calls with your mom/dad/family member and when they see me in the background, they think I’m your new partner 68.  I really suck at my job but I desperately need the money and when I get fired for spilling your coffee all over you, you offer me a job because you feel bad 69.  we’re coworkers who make out in the supplies closet and get caught by another coworker (bonus if ot3!) 70.  someone enters my hot chocolate into a contest for the National Best Hot Chocolate and you’re the hot judge who gets snowed in town for a few days 71.  you join me at my table thinking I’m your blind date and you don’t stop talking about how nervous you are for this date so I don’t get a chance to tell you that you have the wrong person when your actual date comes up and thinks you were hitting on me while waiting for them 72.  I watch you pull out a flask and add alcohol to your drink and then you wink at me 73.  I’m playing a game on my computer but I keep failing at the level so you tap my shoulder and tell me how to beat it (and we spend the rest of the afternoon in the coffee shop bonding) 74.  I've been assigned a fluff article about the different types of people who spend their days at coffee shops but I can’t seem to figure out why you’re here (articles: x, x, x) 75.  I found you curled up under a blanket asleep at my front door so won’t you come in, I’ll get you some food and give you a job 76.  you’re my favourite actor in my favourite TV show but by the sounds of that phone call, you seem to be having a rough day so instead of flailing, I offer you some words of support 77.  I don’t know how to spell anyone’s names correctly so I spell them phonetically and you always mumble your name so I just make up something 78.  I bump into you and knock your coffee out of your hands and you look like someone just died because you’re having the worst week ever and can I make it up to you? 79.  we met online and you suggest this place for our first date and I’m terrified you’ve catfished me or you’re going to stand me up 80.  when people hit on me and ask for my number, I usually make up a number to put on their cups, and today I just happened to write your number on your cup so you call me out 81.  you’re my significant other’s ex and you’ve invited me to coffee to tell me that I can do better and our connection is immediate 82.  I’m in the middle of a rant about this book I’m reading and oh my god you’re the author in line behind me and I’m sorry, not sorry 83.  you take a selfie and I photobomb you, but you don’t notice until the entire photo goes viral so we agree to meet back at this coffee shop 84.  I’m sorry for laughing at you walking into the glass door/window, please let me help you up 85.  I’m a little concerned that you might be too addicted to coffee since you always come down from your office to my little shop to get your fix multiple times a day but my coworkers think you have a crush on me 86.  I’m expecting an important phone call but my phone is about to die and please, please let me borrow yours 87.  I know your sign says ‘no shirt, no shoes, no service’ but can I please give you a really long explanation as to what has led to me desperately needing coffee without a shirt or shoes 88.  I’m a witch barista and I charm your drink so that you have a better day 89.  I’ve been trying to borrow this particular book that the local/college library only has one copy of and I just realized you’re reading it at this coffee shop and goddammit, why haven’t you finished with it yet? 90.  some asshole just stole your purse/backpack without you noticing so I instinctively jump into action and chase him down the street to get it back for you 91.  you’ve cut in front of me in line for the last three days by shooting me a charming smile and leaving me a little dumbfounded but today, that will not fly 92.  I keep making work-related puns and you’re the grumpy coworker who refuses to find me charming 93.  you sit down at my table and quietly tell me to pretend we’re talking because you’re trying not to be seen by someone and I’m so confused as to what is going on but you’re cute so I’ll roll with it 94.  you order the same obscure drink from the app but I always miss you picking up your drink from the counter and today, I’m going to finally watch to see who you are 95.  I don’t know who you think you are, but you really can’t make this shop your office unless you’re going to order more than one tea for the eight hours you stay here 96.  you read tea leaves as a hobby so I always bring my cups to you when I’m finished 97.  you look like you’re having a bad day so I get some icing and draw a smiley face on your cookie 98.  I overheard you talking about how you wish my shop had board games so the next time you come in, I watch your reaction to my new shelf of board games 99.  you’re the very kind employee who brings me my favourite tea when you witness my public (and loud) breakup 100.  this coffee shop is owned and run by queer people and is so very gay with our decor and the names of our menu items, and I’m pretty sure you’re not as straight you think you are because you keep coming in and asking a thousand questions 101.  you dropped to your knee to tie your shoe but suddenly, people are congratulating us on getting engaged and we just scored free coffee so we roll with it 102. I’m wistfully watching a couple when you come up to the counter to order something and get frustrated with my daydreaming

[the-queer-look]

Bee Yourself

When viewed from outside, the LGBTQIA+ community, is portrayed as a single, homogenous culture, with a few socially accepted experiences which cisgendered, heterosexual society expects use to conform to. In reality, the LGBTQIA+ community is an umbrella term for a multitude of distinct cultures, united by shared commonalities. This narrow view of what it means to be a part of our community can be extremely damaging to those looking to find themselves.

The Queer Look seeks to explore the identities and experiences of people within the LGBTQIA+ community. To show the many facets that make up a person, and the ways in which we express our identities physically.

The Queer Look aims to show that just because someone does not follow a traditionally accepted path to their identity, and does not conform to all stereotypes associated with that identity, that their experience is not less valid. A gay man who comes out in his forties is no less gay. A Lesbian who has had several boyfriends is no less a lesbian. A trans woman who does not want to wear dresses is no less a woman. And a trans man who refuses top surgery is no less a man.

We are here. We are queer. And we are as unique and distinct as the colours on our flags.

p.s. True to form, I was so excited about the first interview/photoshoot that I forgot to set up the recording equipment. Luckily, Bee took the time to answer a questionnaire that I sent after the fact, hoping to recapture the questions and answers received on the day.

Preferred Name: Bee

Age: 21

Location: Lewisham

Occupation/field of study etc: Receptionist, Arts - History/Gender Studies

Sexual Orientation: Bisexual

Gender: Non Binary

How would you dress yourself on an average day?

On the day-to-day I pretty much have a uniform! You will always find me in high waisted jeans, a white graphic tee and maroon Doc Martens. Some days I wear a binder but some days I don’t, depending on my dysphoria and level of laziness… I also always have colourful socks on because even if you can’t see them in my Docs I still love them.

At what point did you realise that you were Bisexual?

I think I properly realised when I was at college in university. I was sitting at the dining table with a friend and we were going through my tinder which had all genders selected (although tinder was still pretty binary then…) and we were both commenting on how hot we thought everyone was. Another friend came and joined us and asked what we were doing, to which we of course answered: “oh we’re just looking at hot girls on tinder”. I asked her what she thought of the girl we were currently looking at and she said “oh no I’m not into women” I ended up asking her again because I couldn’t quite wrap my head around what she meant… and in response she said “I’m not really attracted to her because I’m straight.” I think at that point I was like, oh…. I thought everyone was just attracted to everyone??? Which in retrospect I can only eyeroll a bit at my poor baby self… because it really did take me way to long to put it all together… So even though that was the exact moment, I think that was more like the moment I discovered the label applied to me rather than the moment I realised.

At what point did you realise that you were Non-Binary?

I think it was probably a similar experience to discovering I was bisexual. I realised over a year ago now when I was in USYD Queer Revue in 2018. Being around a community of trans people was something I’d never had before and listening to everyone talk about gender and how they felt made me realise that I had a lot of the same feelings… I bought a binder during the show and trying it on I just felt so like myself? I still sometimes feel insecure that I don’t have the classic narrative of knowing I was non-binary since I was a child, because it’s the narrative a lot of mainstream media likes to use for transness. But I think I needed the time to be experiment with femininity before I finally was able to put a name to how uncomfortable I’d been with it for most of my life. I think realising I was non-binary was a lot of putting pieces together rather than a moment of instant clarity. But I’m glad it took me awhile to experiment and figure out what identity fit me.

Have you noticed a distinct change in the way you present yourself from before these realisations to after? How has this changed since?

Definitely!!! I guess the first thing is that I stopped wearing things that make me uncomfortable! When I first came out I tried so hard to fit into the “traditional” narrative of being non-binary, which for afab non-binary people boils down to “if you’re not masc you’re not non-binary”. I wore my binder constantly, I lovvvved button ups and I wore a lot of low-waisted pants and baggy jumpers. After awhile I realised that it didn’t make me as happy as I thought it would, because even though I wasn’t being forced to perform femininity, I was still performing my gender. Now I think what I wear lies somewhere in the middle of what I used to wear before and after coming out. Before I came out I definitely tried as hard as I could to be the “perfect woman”. Lots of femme cut tops, dresses, skirts, heels (which god I hate wearing… just like so much…) and make-up. I still have a few of the clothing pieces I wore back then, but almost all of my wardrobe is completely different. I still wear elements now of what I used to wear – I have always been a jeans and graphic t-shirt person - but I now style them in very different ways.

I’ve also started to reclaim some of the things I vehemently rejected when I was in my masc phase. When I first came out I vowed I would never wear make-up again. But now I’ve come to love wearing make-up as a form of expression when I’m going out or to a party. I still feel pretty dysphoric wearing it day to day, but wearing colourful and bold make-up is something I’ve come to love again. I’ll also very occasionally wear a dress if I feel like it, but I tend to just wear the things that make me comfortable. Now basically all I wear is high-waisted jeans, they don’t give me a very masculine silhouette but when I see myself in photos or in the mirror I look like myself. I joke a lot that I wear a lot of dad fashion, and I think that’s maybe what I’ve become most comfortable in, knowing that people are probably still going to read me as a woman no matter what I wear (thank you heteronormativity…) so I may as well wear what makes me happy and for me that’s feeling like a fancy ass dad.

Do you believe that there is any weight to stereotypes about the way people dress based on their sexuality/gender? e.g. bi people tuck in their shirts, lesbians wear flannel etc. Do you believe that there are inherent differences in the way that lgbt+ people present themselves that make them more visible to other members of the community?

Oh god as someone who adheres to all the stereotypes (eep) this is a hard question! But yes, I think so. I think it really depends on the generation and identity. But I think a lot of people do wear things to make ourselves visible to each other. Whether that’s subtle things like adhering to stereotypes or more overt things like wearing activist or identity shirts.

But a lot of it just comes from LGBT+ culture. There’s an obvious style, way of talking, relating, and expression that LGBT+ people have developed historically and that almost all of us continue to participate in. I think a lot of it comes from musicians, particularly drag or music videos, historical figures like Bowie but now from lots of different singers like Janelle Monáe, Troye Sivan, Kim Petras, King Princess etc etc. I think stereotypes have developed because our culture is so prevalent, and most LGBT+ people adopt stereotypes unconsciously because we surround ourselves with people who express themselves in certain ways and are inspired by them. So, while sometimes we actively try to become visible to each other, I think it’s more that we’re all just hopelessly and lovingly enthralled in our own culture.

Do you feel that a lack of lgbt+ representation in media contributes to a more narrow, shared understanding of lgbt+ fashion, when compared to cis/het counterparts?

Oh god yes. Yes yes yes. Coming out as non-binary I think a lack of representation was so much of what contributed to me struggling with my identity. Before I came out I knew only ONE famous non-binary person… Ash Hardell I’m looking at you. While knowing about Ash was really helpful to me and representation of any form of expression is so important, the overwhelming narrative for afab non-binary people is that if you’re not masc presenting you’re not non-binary. For awhile that meant I tried so so hard to validate my identity by presenting as masculine as I possibly could. I cut my hair, I wore a binder every damn day, I wore joggers and button-ups, I wore hoodies constantly (because apparently to me that was the height of masculinity??). But after doing that for awhile, I realised I was just as unhappy eradicating every ounce of femininity from myself as I was when it was all I expressed. I think going through that process of experimentation was really important for me to realise that instead of trying to fit into what cis/het culture expected non-binary people to look like, I needed to just be myself first and wear what I love and want to wear and know myself that being non-binary is still part of who I am. And a HUGE part of that process was also finding femme presenting non-binary people, especially afab femme enbies. For me it helped enormously in accepting my body and realising that I didn’t have to hate it as violently as I was because it didn’t fit into the definition it was supposed to. Finding people like Dorian Electra (omg please do yourself a favour and look them up they are the epitomy of my gender), Alok Vaid-Menon, Tillett Wright, Sasha Velour etc etc made me realise that there are more ways to be non-binary than just one. Which is what is so damaging about having less representation – it only validates one path, so either you have to bush-bash yourself a new one (which is insanely tiring, emotionally exhaustive and scary) or you have to squeeze yourself into the one path that is provided for you to claim validity. Honestly, I could go on and on about representation but yes it’s so goddamn important. So Mark Zuckerberg and inc. if you’re reading this like I know you are FIX IT YOU HAVE SO MUCH MONEY PLEASE FOR THE LOVE OF GOD FIX IT.

When you are in an exclusively lgbt+ setting, do you feel pressured to “play up” your queerness? If so, does this heightened queer exterior feel more true to yourself?

Yes, I think there are still definitely elements of performance to being in a queer space. Sometimes they can be negative, which generally come from the part of me that is still insecure about my identity and worried about how valid I am. I think a lot of queer spaces still hold at their core a performance of queerness that can be a bit exhausting? As cliché as it is, watching Hannah Gadsby’s Nannettereally helped me understand that. Because part of being queer is finding ways to survive, and so much of queer culture revolves around making jokes about our experiences that sometimes are so limiting in how they allow us to exist. We are all just so starved of space to talk about queerness, that when we can I think we all tend to fall into the trap of performing our identities as much as humanly possible. I’m really curious about how other queer people feel about it, but I think for me there is definitely an element of performance that I still struggle with a little. However, I am still so indebted and so in love with queer spaces and queer people. I always feel so at ease being around people who share a way of thinking. And I mean hey, I’m queer, performing is in my blood.

Find all images from the interviews on facebook: facebook.com/thequeerlook

follow us on instagram at: @thequeerlook

[snow-lavender]

The Last Day of Normality

AKA, “Why is there a superpowered teenager in my kitchen?”

Word count: 3075

Didn’t have anything specifically written for Jackie’s birthday today, so I decided to post something I had pre-written. This is my take on Jackie's first appearance. Fully headcanon!

Heads up, contains trans JBM, I know that’s really not some people’s thing.

AO3 link: here

July 10th, 2016

Jackie was done.

He couldn’t deal with this anymore. Fuck his classmates and fuck the school policy and fuck his Aunt Doris and fuck Irish conservatism and just...fuck. He dumped all the books and supplies out of his backpack and threw it onto the bed. You need to start acting properly. Jackie snorted. Yeah, that wasn’t gonna happen anytime soon. Your niece has some behavioral issues we need to address. Of course leave out the fact that the people he kept fighting were total assholes. Any more suspensions and we may have to consider expulsion. As the floorboards creaked, he noticed he was shaking. He tried to take a deep breath and calm down and...no, screw that, he needed to punch something. 

You have such a bright future ahead.

Thump, went the pillow.

You can’t solve every problem like this

Thump.

I’m glad you’re experimenting, but you’ll be an adult soon.

Thump.

What will people think?

Thump.

I have your best interests at heart. 

Thump.

Thump.

Thump.

Jackie paused, shoulders heaving. It felt like he’d been going at it for ten minutes, but, like always, his clock showed that only two had passed.

I have your best interests at heart. Yeah, that was the problem, wasn’t it. Doris legitimately thought she was in the right, thought they had the same plans for Jackie’s life, expected that her perfect little child would be just that. Perfect.

And Jackie loved her, he really did. Doris was the only family he’d ever known. But damn it, he couldn’t spend another day in this house. 

He grabbed his bag and went to raid his closet. Jeans, shorts, loose tees, sports bras, everything was dumped unceremoniously in. Laptop, chargers, socks, toothbrush- photos.

Jackie stared at the two photos on top of his bookshelf. One was of his parents, cuddling a small bundle of blankets. The other was of him and Doris from a few years ago, smiling in front of the Cliffs of Moher. He hesitated, then shoved them both in his bag as well.

‘hey, can i come over? -Jackie’. He shot off a text to one of his friends, then paced around the room, trying to burn energy.

“Jackie, dinner’s in ten minutes!” his aunt yelled up. 

‘Now? -Morgan :P’

‘preferably -Jackie’

“Alright, I’ll be there soon!” he replied.

‘Kay. Need a drive? -Morgan :P’

‘i can walk -Jackie’

Well, it was now or never. He shouldered his pack and reached for the doorknob...the fuck?

Jackie turned around, blinking in the sudden bright light. A green orb floated in the centre of his room. “What?” he murmured under his breath, reaching out to touch it-

Then there was a flash, and nothing remained in the bedroom but piles of scattered belongings. 

>=•=•=•=•=•=•=•=•=•=•=•=•=•=•=•=<

Jackie blinked the spots out of his eyes. When had he fallen on the floor? He moved to get up, then froze when he felt the floor. That wasn’t the carpet from his bedroom. He looked around as his vision cleared up. Instead, he was in a small, wood furnished kitchen. 

“What the fuck?” came a voice to his left.

Jackie looked over. In front of him was a man in his mid-twenties, looking just as confused as he felt. Jackie blinked away the blue glow around him, eyes still spotty from the flash.

“Who the hell are you? How did you get into my apartment?” the man asked.

“I-I don’t know!” Jackie stuttered. “I was just in my bedroom, and there was this weird orb, and then I was here!”

“Orb?” the man repeated. “Like a green, glowy type orb?”

“...yeah?”

He ran his fingers through his very green hair. “ ‘Cause the same thing happened here; I was just makin’ coffee, then there was an orb and it flashed and out popped some random kid.”

Jackie tried to even his breathing. “What the hell? Do you have, like any clue what that was?”

“Maybe? Do you have magic blood?”

“Uh, what?” answered Jackie.

“You don’t come from a magic family, then?” the man pressed. Was this dude delusional? Did Jackie just get teleported into a psych ward? It didn’t look like any hospital he’d ever seen before.

“Magic isn’t real, though.” he said hesitantly, trying not to provoke the man. 

He snorted. “You sure about that?” he said, gesturing around the room, and okay, Jackie had to admit, he might have had a point. The man held out a hand. “I’m Sean.”

The teen took it slowly. “...Jackie.” he replied. “Where am I, exactly?”

“Athlone, County Westmeath.” As he pulled Jackie up, Sean squinted. “Are you Irish? Do you even know what that means?”

“I’m from Dublin. And I made it through fucking primary school, I think I can piece it together.” Jackie said indignantly

Sean held up his hands. “Hey, you can never be too careful.” he chuckled. “You want some tea, Jackie?”

>=•=•=•=•=•=•=•=•=•=•=•=•=•=•=•=<

Half an hour later, the two were in Sean’s sitting room. An awkward silence had fallen after the bare minimum of information had been exchanged. (How to contact Jackie’s parents/guardians had been the main point of conversation. Sean had looked a little confused at Jackie's reluctance to contact any other adults, but thankfully hadn’t pried. He’d simply said that it was Jackie’s priorities were his choice, and agreed to figure out their current situation first)

“You said you were from Dublin?” Sean finally asked.

Jackie looked over at him. “Yeah, why?”

Sean squinted. “You looked familiar, so I was wondering if we might be related, but I don’t have much for family in the city.” He paused. “Maybe it’s like that whole ‘There are seven people in the world who look like you’ thing? ‘Cause you look a lot like I did in Uni.”

Jackie took his first real, long look at the man on the other end of the sofa. “You do look kinda like my Dad did.” he conceded after a minute or two.

Sean’s eyes widened. “We’re not dealing with, like, time travel, right? It’s 2016 for you?”

“Yeah.” Jackie laughed. “Thank fuck.”

Sean smiled. “Good, meeting my future kid would come with a shit-ton of questions I don’t want to think about.”

Jackie made a face, setting off another round of laughter between the two. When they calmed, Jackie let out a huff and fell back onto the couch cushions. “So we’re back at square one.”

Sean sat up suddenly. “We might not be, actually.” He fished his phone out of his pocket and started tapping away. “This could be a stretch, but....”

“But what?” Jackie asked. When he got no response, he repeated, “But what?”

Sean still didn’t acknowledge his question, but he did mutter “Perfect.” and then pull himself up from the couch. “I have a friend who might have more information. C’mon.” he said, walking out into the hall.

As he followed after the man, Jackie kept on prodding for information. “You said something about magic families? Can you use magic, then?”

Sean looked up from his phone. “Hm? Oh, yeah, I grew up with it.” he said distractedly. Then he stopped abruptly. “Shit. If you could keep that a secret, that’d be great.”

“Even from this friend of yours?”

“Please.”

Up the stairs and around the corner, Sean opened a door and entered. “Huh.” Jackie said as he followed in. “I think this room has more tech than all of my classrooms combined. What d’you need all this for anyway?”

“I’m a youtuber.” Sean answered from the desk.

“What, like Pewdiepie?”

“Yep.”

Jackie took in his surroundings. His eyes were drawn to a bookshelf filled with various merch and figurines. “What are all of these?”

Sean turned back from the desk. “Huh?” Then a fond smile fell across his face. “They’re gifts, mostly.” He started pointing things out. “That bug is from my friend Suzy, those are from this kid Alfie that I met in London, the Undertale ones there I got at Pax this year, this buddy here I bought myself, but I love him, so he goes on the shelf anyway..”

Jackie nodded as each item was pointed out. He noticed a particular abundance of one logo, and the pieces finally clicked. “Wait…” Jackie whirled around. “You’re that septic dude that Quinn won’t shut up about!”

“Hm?” Sean turned to face him, mid-tangent. “Oh! Probably, yeah.”

“Aren’t you, like, famous?” Jackie questioned. “Why do you live in such a tiny apartment?”

Sean gave him a look. “I’m sorry, that was kinda shitty, wasn’t it?” Jackie said after a second. “Kinda.” the other agreed, “I get that sort of thing a lot, don’t worry about.”  He set a hand on Jackie’s shoulder. 

The two were interrupted by a skype ringtone coming from the desktop. Sean bolted over to pick up, Jackie following behind a moment later.

The call opened, displaying a worried looking man. “Jack! Is everything okay over there?”

“Uhh, sorta? It’s a little complicated.” Sean gestured for Jackie to move into frame. As he did, Sean’s friend inhaled sharply. “Jackie, this is Mark. Mark, Jackie. He just kinda ...popped into my apartment. Soo… yeah.” he finished awkwardly.

“Hi?” Jackie said, giving a small wave.

Mark cursed under his breath. “Okay, now I get why you mentioned the... yeah, that clears things up. Uhh, I’m gonna just...gimme a sec.” He typed something frantically into his phone. “Nice to meet you Jackie. Jack mentioned-” he paused. “That’ll get confusing fast.”

“You could just, you know, call me by my actual name?” Sean replied with a smirk.

“But that’s weird!” the other whined, grinning. “Alright then, Seeaaan. I’m gonna pop into the office to grab Google. Be right back!” and with that, Mark hung up the call.

“Did he say Google?” Jackie asked hesitantly.

“I think so?”

The two stood silently for a few minutes, before Mark called once again. This time, he was sitting at a computer desk. Standing behind him was another person who looked strangely similar to him. This stranger stood rigidly, arms behind their back and face blank. 

“This is Google,'' Mark said. “He’s... uhh...hm, how do I explain you?” he muttered, turning around to glance at him.

Google’s eyes glowed blue. “Designation: Google IRL Humanoid Home Assistant. Model Serial Number: G-IRL 001B. For more information about this product, please consult your user’s manual or contact Google Support online or through telephone.”

“I guess that works.'' Mark said after a moment.

Jackie and Sean stared, dumbfounded. “...Holy shit, is that a robot?” Jackie asked.

“I am an Android.” it (he?) corrected sharply.

“What the fuck.” said Sean.

“Why are you surprised?” Mark asked. “I told you about him. I texted you to complain about him literally last week.”

“Well yeah, but I didn’t think he’d look so much like a machine!”. Sean protested. The robot frowned deeper. 

“But they don’t have that kind of tech at Google yet, right? They would have told us! This is a huge technological leap!” Jackie said, brow furrowed.

“That’s because they didn’t make him.” Mark replied.

“Huh?”

Mark grimaced. “Okay, um, the gist of it is, you have a character, right? From a skit or joke or something. So in my case, sometimes to characters, well,” he gestured behind him, “become real. Somehow. I still have no clue how it works.” 

Jackie gaped, slack jawed. “So you made a video about a robot ...and he just came to life.”

“Yup.”

“Do they all look like you?”

“Yeah, ‘cause I play them first.”

“....uhh….”

“Yup.”

Jackie turned back to Sean. “And you’ve met these...things?”

“I call them figments.” Mark interrupted. “Like ‘figment of the imagination’.”

Sean was still staring at the robot, looking uncomfortable. “I’ve only met one other, when Mark was telling me about them last year.”

Mark winced. “Yeah, I figured Googs would be a better first introduction than Wilford. He’s less...well, just less in general, I guess.”

“Why are you telling me any of this? I don’t get how any of this is-” Jackie froze. “You think I’m like them.”

Sean looked sheepish. “It would explain why we look so similar.”

“But I’m real!” Jackie protested. “I existed before this. I have a life, and friends and all that shit! I’m a real person!”

Mark spoke softly. “All of my guys have backstories, things that feel like they happened. But those people never existed.” He smiled apologetically. “It gets easier with time, I promise.”

“But I’m real.” Jackie repeated. “I can prove it!” He pulled out his phone. “Look, my friends have been texting me non-stop!”. As he spoke, another notification popped up.

New Text from Morgan :P

  Jackie, please answer. Everyone’s really worried about you. Doris called the Garda and everything. 

“See!” Jackie yelled. “They’re real! I’m real! I’m not some imaginary character!”

Sean raised his hands placatingly. “Jackie, calm down. It was just an idea.” He stepped forward.

“Get off of me!” Jackie yelled. He pushed Sean away and ran out the door. 

>=•=•=•=•=•=•=•=•=•=•=•=•=•=•=•=<

Jackie ran down the stairs, looking for the bathroom. He needed someplace private. He bolted into the small room and locked the door. Curling up on the floor, he rubbed at his face, and checked his phone to try to calm down.

Meanwhile, in the recording room, Sean and Mark stared in shock at the door. Slowly, Sean pulled himself out of the mattress he’d been shoved into. “Um.” he said eloquently.

“Are you okay?” Mark asked. “Yeah, I think so.” he replied. 

“So, this isn’t exactly the same thing. But do you have any clue what could cause..” He gestured at the door.

“Some random teenager throwing me across the room and then super speeding himself away?” Sean finished.

“Yeah.”

“Unfortunately.”

He stretched, grimacing as he wiggled a shoulder. “I recorded a video where I dressed up like a superhero. It went up today.” Sean sighed. “And I called myself ‘Jackie-boy-man’.”

“Jackie.” Mark echoed.

Sean didn’t reply. “Can I call you if I need anything else?” he said after a moment.

“Course you can. Anything at all, man.”

“Thanks.” Sean walked over to the computer. “Thanks for everything. See ya.”

“Bye. Good luck Sean.”

Sean hung up the call and put his head in his hands. “What the hell am I supposed to do now?” he muttered. 

Leave him. Make him leave.

“Nope, none of that.” Sean replied.

Not his home. Not your responsibility.

“Stop it. Just because I don’t need to help doesn't mean I shouldn’t.”

Bleeding heart. Weak resolve.

“Okay, you can stop now.” Sean said, standing up. “I’m going to talk to him, and he’ll decide what to do, and you,” he emphasized, “are going to shut up and be reasonable for once.”

He left to recording room and started looking through the house. Jackie wasn’t in any of the bedrooms, not in the living room, not the dining room, or the kitchen…

When he tried the door to the toilet, it was locked. Sean knocked hesitantly. “You okay in there?” he asked. There was no response. “Can I do anything to help?” Still nothing. He tried once more. “D’you want some more tea?”.

That one got a quiet “Okay.” Sean left for the kitchen, and when he returned, Jackie was sitting against the hall wall, head on his knees. He set the two mugs down on the floor, before sitting himself. It took a little while, but Jackie finally spoke up. “I’ve been missing for two days.”

“What?” Sean exclaimed.

“Before I was here, I was in my room, on Friday night.” he sighed. “My friends think I ran away or something.”

“Did you talk to them just now?” 

Jackie covered his face further. “Mhm. Told ‘em I was safe. But what else do I say? ‘Hey, by the way, I got magically transported across the country, and also imaginary friends can be real, and also I might be one of them?!’”, he rambled.

“Yeah, Mark and I talked some more after you left.” Sean paused. “You got out of there crazy fast. Like, inhumanly fast. Did...did you know you have super speed?”

Jackie stared at him. “...I just figured I was bad at time management.”

“You threw me across the room.”

“...And anger management.” He looked up, worriedly. “You’re okay, right?” 

“Yeah, I landed on a mattress.” Sean smiled. “And I’m not mad. You should have seen some of the shit I did when I was still learning control. My parents have repainted the kitchen twice, and you can still see some of the scorch marks.” he chuckled.

Jackie laughed too. “Okay, sure, why not add superpowers to today’s what-the-fuck list.” He looked up at the ceiling. “Anything else, Universe? You wanna add multiple realities or some shit to the mix?”

They laughed. “Yeah, what a fuckin’ great birthday.” Jackie snorted.

Sean turned to him, surprised. “Happy Birthday! How old are you?”

“Seventeen.” Jackie smiled. “One more year, then I can finally move out.” Then he froze. “What if I lived here?”

“What?” said Sean. “How does that make sense?”

“Well, you think I’m one of those figment things, right?” Jackie continued. 

Sean nodded. “Yeah, I think you’re supposed to be a superhero character I made up.”

“All of your friend’s figments are close to him. Besides, you’re the only person who knows what’s going on.”

“I really don’t.” Sean protested.

Jackie shrugged. “Still. We’re, like, connected or something. You could help me figure out these powers or whatever. And…” he shrunk down again. “I wouldn’t really mind moving. I was about to get expelled, anyway.”

Sean rubbed at his forehead. “I’m twenty-six. I can’t raise a teenager. You’re like, ten years younger than me.”

“People make it work.”

He sighed. “I..I’ll think about it?”

Jackie nodded. Sean moved to get up, when Jackie suddenly interrupted. “Wait! Okay. Umm... so, you’re cool with gay people, right?”

Sean looked confused. “Yeah?” Then it clicked. “Oh! Oh no, don’t worry, I’m cool with you being-yeah, it’s okay.”

Jackie looked relieved. “Okay. Okay, cool. Then we’re good. No issue here”

“Gotcha.” Sean stood up, grabbing the mugs. “I’mma deal with these., then I gotta go record. You can use my Playstation, if you want. And I’m upstairs if you need anything.”

Jackie flashed him a thumbs up, then went back into the bathroom. He braced himself on the sink and looked into the mirror.

A superhero, huh?

Yeah, that could work.