#the people doing this aren't trying to be gross it's just part of the weird absorbtion of certain gross language without noticing or caring

[pyreflydust]

I recognize that a lot of this is just being a lesbian in my 30s who developed an entire mental illness specifically around going to church around the time puberty started (because I had a not then processed crush on the friend who was already going to said church) but younger lgbt+ people acting like the world immoral has some kind of concrete definition as if most people who condemn ~immorality~ aren't talking about us makes me so fucking uncomfortable. It's good and cool to have morals, but morals are relative and if you say shit like "I won't draw anything immoral" as if that's supposed to have an understood definition I'm just going to process it as "queers belong in hell"

[a-dinosaur-a-day]

Mammal bias is esp rampant in the pet community. I've had pet reptiles and spiders/tarantulas since I was about 10 and being told right to me face that the animals I cared for and cherished were gross and weird and some even "jokingly" staid they would gladly stomp on.

Nothing against dogs and cats but if you wouldn't say that about someone's dog or cat why would you say that to anyone who loves their pets?

Yup yup yup. Honestly, I've always known mammal bias was a thing, and when I majored in biology it was shoved down my throat, but I kind of figured its scope was limited or not really that damaging until I got my pet birds.

Apartments list themselves as pet friendly, but they only ever mean cats and dogs (and good luck trying to find ones that have other pets listed as okay online - same for temporary lodging)

Vets are usually only trained in cats and dogs, and it is impossible to find vets for other species close by - sometimes, at all - fish literally are done a major disservice alone

Homes and group living areas like townhouses, apartment buildings, etc. are not built with the safety of non-catdog pets in mind. How many have linked ventilation systems, which would endanger birds to emissions from other homes?

Service animals can only be dogs. Because dogs were literally bred to be our obedient servants. Never mind that other animals are more intelligent, and can also be trained. Just dogs.

Heck, cats and dogs even form a binary! Are you a cat lover or a dog lover? If you say neither, you get weird looks, and are accused of hating animals! Even though that's only two animals out of the billions!

And of course there's the death threats. Whether its someone threatening to kill someone's pet tarantula, to stomp on their snake, or eat their chicken, that just comes up again and again.

Cats and Dogs are elevated to essentially human status, because they are companion animals in our society and seen as part of the family. But no one can fathom that other pets are seen as family, too, that we'd like the same level of care and respect given to them.

like take this example: many people suggest eating non-cat/dog pets on the internet, and they're hardly ever called out or criticized. "It's just a joke!" and all that. Never mind these pets are beloved animals, and not actually a threat to anyone. Meanwhile, outdoor cats are actively causing ecological collapse. But if you suggest any form of aggressive population control - not of people's pets, of feral cats - you get called a monster. These aren't even beloved animals, just the *concept* of a cat is enough to make people lose their heads. this is a blatant double standard. an actively damaging double standard.

anyways if you want a non cat/dog pet remember to research vets and housing rules for your area before you accidentally screw yourself.

I would be remiss if I didn't add an afterthought that while small mammal pets and other mammals other than cats and dogs do have better vet treatment and some other benefits thanks to mammal bias, they often face similar struggles, and this hierarchy for pets really has cats and dogs on a pedestal lording over everyone else - including rabbits, hamsters, and especially mice and rats, and all other mammal pets as well as pets in other groups.

I hate cat-dog supremacy so much it sends me into a blind rage. Like, there isn't a 24-hr emergency vet for birds within three hours of me. I either have to drive that long or wait till my (hour away!) daytime vet opens up if I have an emergency. Birds can bleed out fast. This is just negligence. And there are so many animals, not only birds, that have been bred for captivity and rely on us. It is irresponsible and cruel that we designate them second-class pet...izens.

oof, you probably didn't expect this long of a ramble, I'll leave it off there.

[signedeclipse]

Probably really weird and macabre but I would like to request headcanons for Douma, Hantengu and Gyokko with a human s/o who wants to try human meat for once and is really adamant about it (but not in a fetishizing way, just like 'I wonder what it tastes like'). Like what would their reactions be if their partner saw them eat someone and suddenly ask them if they can have a bite?

(If the request is too gross you really don't need to do it that's totally fine. I know cannibalism makes many really uncomfortable.)

Douma

One interesting fact about his human is that unlike others, they didn't seem all that worried by blood and gore

He was used to the screaming, pointing and running by most that ever tried to get close to him, but at worse you looked away, and it seemed more in a respectful way than a fearful way

But that is where he figured it stopped

Certain people weren't sympathetic, but you were

Others were monsters themselves, but Douma only found that to be partially true about you

"I find it's just the natural order of things" you would say "Like a lioness hunts a gazelle."

Douma didn't need ethics to keep him from feeling bad about it, but he was glad it wouldn't be an issue

But once when you walked in and naw him chewing on a leg, you stared way longer than usual

"Hello! Is everything okay?" His smile had bits of flesh and viscera stuck between the teeth

"Oh! Yeah, sorry, I got lost in my thoughts."

When he pushed to learn more, he was surprised to hear you were wondering what it tasted like, and had always wanted to try

Immediately his claws dug into the thigh and ripped out some of the muscles, tearing into the piece over and over till it was almost a sludge

Then, he shoved it in his mouth and kissed you

Of course his first concern was that your teeth couldn't break through flesh like his could so you might choke, so he broke it down as much as he could with his hands and teeth before pushing some into your mouth and parting

He swallows the majority and lets you try what little you did get

Wouldn't care if you spat it out or not, either way nothing would change

If you do like it he would tell you to hunt your own humans

Gyokko

Gyokko didn't really eat around you ever

Mostly because you spent your time in his studio and he actually tried to keep blood and gore away from his beautiful works unless intentional

But when he did he tried to be quiet about it

Surprisingly you didn't mind the gore, but you really hated mouth sounds and when he ate it was far too much to handle

It isn't beyond the upper rank to offer you to try some, but you always laughed it off or said you didn't want to ruin your clothes/appetite incase you didn't enjoy it

But this time, when he caught you staring he decided to offer for the nth time

And much to his excitement, you accepted!

Of course he wouldn't give you anything other than the best, so he ripped the heart clean out of the freshly obtained body and pressed it against your lips

Of course it was really hard to bite into, but he let you take your time before pulling it away and biting out almost half the heart with his left mouth

"Oh I love the way the red stains your pretty lips darling~"

Would laugh and prod at you for being too weak if you couldn't eat it, but would stop asking if you want any afterwards

Hantengu

Hantengu keeps to himself when eating, but he would usually do it while you eat your own meals because he enjoys the comfort of 'normalcy'

It's actually pretty impressive to him that you can keep food down and talk to him while he is eating a human

The other personalities tend to prod you about it and ask if you are a freak or something, but otherwise leave it be

They aren't out often anyways

One dinner, you were frustrated about forgetting to go to the market during the day and how you'd only have plain rice for dinner

You wondered aloud if human meat would make a good protein which immediately Hantengu was by your side

"Be careful!! Eating blood like that could make you ill,,,or worse!"

Very worried about the potential of sickness in someone's blood getting to you

But when you insist, Hantengu forced you to cook it so at the very least any bacteria is killed

You make a little stir fry with just that and mushrooms on a bed of butter rice

Surprisingly not bad, but Hantengu wouldn't let you have more beyond that one occasion

He doesn't want you to get sick, nor does he want you to lose your humanity

Authors Note - Please do not apologize because I REALLY REALLY enjoyed this request! I was a horror writer for a really long time and honestly kinda feel the romance with this <3 Also tysm for requesting Hantengu and Gyokko I love them sm... Come back soon, Anon!

[mixelation]

reborn au plot.... stuff. has plasticity spoilers. also canon characters die!

i said this recently, but i don't have much in the way of an overarching story after tori's, like, 17. part of this is just that i haven't made some major decisions about the premise (like what orochimaru is up to) and part of it is that...... what problems would even challenge these characters. like we have a bunch of weird interpersonal shenanigans but like obviously one appeal of this au is giving tori opportunities for Feats.

so i decided on a Feat.

i think as an ongoing looming threat, i might have some petty proxy war stuff going on. no one wants to reignite a multi-nation shinobi war, but everyone is scrambling to grab things for themselves, especially since konoha just like.... stole from iwa??? ame burned down half of kusa? oto-nin are just? in the wind???? someone probably hires orochimaru. people are out trying to snatch jinchuriki left and right.

so i was thinking thusly: one of the bigger nations captures fuu for the seven tails. ame sends an akatsuki pair which includes tori. somehow, the situation goes completely to shit. multiple nations are involved. the seven tails is released, killing fuu. everyone wants this weapon and they don't care if they had to kill a young girl to get it.

akatsuki's solution is that they should simply control all weapons. tori knows this will fall apart. she also knows that, even if she wrestles the raging seven-tails into a container and gets around the multiple nation's people ALSO vying to capture it for themselves, and she takes it back to konoha, this also solves nothing. and so she thinks: if no one can resist the temptation of a weapon, then i will remove the weapon.

this is the part that's a pretty big plasticity spoiler, but also a few people guessed it so i don't mind sharing. basically, the shinigami doesn't like tori because he can't have her. she's a weird, foreign thing that shouldn't be there. functionally, she can't die. she can be irreparably maimed, so she still has a healthy fear of most life-and-death situations, but she technically can't die. (she's unsure if this still applies in this universe in the earlier parts, but we'll let her figure it out eventually.)

the side-effect of this is that she has more bullshitty leeway with summoning the shinigami than other people. it can't take her soul so it will take things around her more indiscriminately, so she's not going to use it if her allies are around. but if she's fed up and doesn't care if everyone dies? fuck it, we're going to kill the tailed beast itself.

i want how this to be accomplished to be kind of metal and/or gross. you know that scene in plasticity where tori is simultaneously herself AND the shinigami and she's confused? like that but they're eating the seven-tails.

tori comes to later and the whole battlefield is dead, from the shinobi to the plants and wildlife. whatever other akatsuki was with her is either some probationary schmuck, a canon character who got separated, or hidan-but-he's-not-revived-yet (i'm leaning towards this last one). at first i was like "how does she explain she killed a tailed beast" to other people but THEN i decided

tori realizes she's done something she should not have been able to do. she's just created another weapon people will want to use. so she gets up and goes home, and she lies.

the seven tails killed everyone and ran off. yes, even the forest. even the little bugs in the trees. the soil is irradiated. i guess it was pissed off. how did i live? aren't i a barrier specialist..........?

and then of course everyone goes out looking for the tailed beast. like, you can't just have a wild bijuu running around!! but they can't find it. it's nowhere. it will never be found because it no longer exists.

probably at some point she'll tell someone, most likely itachi and/or deidara. hidan might confront her about it. but i just love the idea of her getting a major feat and then immediately denying it.

also she may or may not decide to repeat the experiment

[transmascutena]

what do you think about the incestuous relationships in revolutionary girl utena, and the root causes of the abuse? one of my favorite analyses I've read so far talked about how rape and incest aren't deviant, they are an extension of the patriarchal family unit. And do you have any thoughts/analysis about how it specifically manifests in RGU and the way the narrative communicates these themes?

It's so annoying the way some people act like the incest is just regular brother and sister complexes that's common in a lot of anime, and not an integral part of the show's themes about the Family fostering an environment ripe for abuse. The show treats these heavy themes seriously, and I wish I was smart enough to articulate my thoughts about Miki and Kozue, Anthy and Akio, etcetera. Hence, this ask.

Jsjsksks I know I sent an ask just yesterday about Revolutionary Girl Utena, but your analysis is so cohesive, and I really appreciate you bringing family/marriage abolition and amato-normativity into your analysis posts. It's very affirming to me as an aromantic asexual.

thank you so much! i will admit i also have a hard time putting my thoughts about these themes into words, because they are . a lot, so forgive me if this is a little rambl-y. but they are a huge and very important part of the show, so they're important to talk about.

i think i know the analysis you're talking about, and it's spot on. every kind of abuse we see in the show is a product of The System (patriarchy, the school system, the nuclear family, etc.) that's not to say that the abuse isn't purposeful, or that it doesn't often come from people choosing to do harm, but their ability to cause that harm is facilitated by these systems. for example, the system is not forcing akio to do what he does (although it is the reason he knows it will get him what he wants) it is just giving him the tools to do it effectively. abuse does come from people, but the systems are what makes the abuse so effective, and that's why we need to dismantle them.

this is something i've mentioned before, but a big part of why anthy was so trapped in her situation until the end, is because of the expectation to value family above all else, and to always love and forgive them no matter how they hurt us. and that is the reason why incest is so inherently toxic and abusive. it's not that it's "gross and unnatural" (such rhetoric really only serves to hurt and alienate victims anyway) it's that you cannot ever have a healthy relationship in a framework that tells you that you always have to stay with someone, and forgive someone, and love someone, no matter what. it doesn't matter if there's no age gap (seen in the kaoru twins) to create other kinds of power imbalances and it doesn't matter if they're not actually related by blood (seen in nanami thinking touga isn't her "real" brother, and in touga trying to use that against her.)

i've talked about how all this affects utena as well, and how even the state of not having a family makes you vulnerable to it, here.

it's not that siblings (or other family members) are more likely to be abusive people, but when they are, it is a lot harder to escape said abuse. leaving a regular abusive relationship is already incredibly difficult, but if they're you're family, it's even easier to fall into the mindset of "oh, but they really just want the best for me." when you've been taught that family is the most important thing in the world, leaving them is a huge decision. especially if you rely on them for material needs as well, like housing and food (which also happens a lot in romantic relationships and marriages.) there's also the way that with sibling incest in particular, especially if there isn't a big age gap, the victim will often be made to feel complicit in the abuse, either by their abuser or by society at large. like it's something "weird and taboo" that two people are doing together, rather than the abuse it really is.

that last part definitely manifests in the show, with the victim-blaming anthy recieves. from nanami especially. her desire to prove that she's "not like anthy" comes from an understandable place. she's dealing with figuring out that her feelings for her brother weren't what she thought they were, but it ends up with her putting equal amounts of blame on akio and anthy for the abuse she witnessed, even though there is a clear perpetrator (not helped by nanami already disliking and distrusting anthy.) it's clearest, i think, when she refers to them as "those perverted siblings" to utena.

it's funny (it's not) that this kind of thinking even manages to happen in the fandom itself. anthy is obviously not a perfect passive victim, and it's reductive of her character to say so, but the idea that she is as much an active participant in the abuse as akio is, is a take i have seen too many times for comfort. like, congrats, you fell for the exact kind of thinking that the show was trying to critique!

[neko-loogi]

Okay.. so, episode 5 of season 2 from Helluva Boss just came out. I watched it and honestly I have so many mixed feelings about it. I don't even know how to explain it-

So starting off, we have Blitzo running around doing who knows what, asking random people for his sister Barbie. Which is like the sub plot of the story (that later turns out to be relevant sort of). And since he's "soo busy" focusing on that he completely ignores a client and lets Moxxie be in charge for once.

Since this is Moxxie's first time being in charge, he's all like "Oh, this has to be perfect, nothing can go wrong blah blah" and it's honestly like the stupidest thing ever. Because Moxxie instead of focusing on killing the target (which Millie already knows who it is and tells him) he just does a bunch of dumb shit to show off to random preteens at a summer camp. This is the part where we see him dressing up as a girl, and I fucking hated this part.

I physically couldn't stop cringing while watching the episode, every time Moxxie was on screen with his girl outfit. I feel so bad for Richard Horvitz having to make a really stereotypical Lumpy Space Princess sounding ass voice to make Moxxie sound like a popular girl- it was unbearable to listen to.

Moving on, I kinda like how the episode was a bit more focused on Millie, that's like the only thing that I liked about the episode, so I'll give it that. However, I don't like how Moxxie is still the punching bag of the series so yeah, it feels weird that he's all whiny and jealous of his own wife because she's getting more attention than him. I dunno, it feels off. Also I think it's really stupid that they spend an ENTIRE FUCKING WEEK trying to kill some guy, all because Moxxie is too self centered that he doesn't focus on that.

At the end it turns out that one of the camp counselors was selling drugs with a random lady and that random lady turned out to be Barbie (aka Blitzo's sister). Yeah and also Blitzo shows up to the human world and we get a glimpse of Asmodeian crystal or whatever you call them, so there's that.

Anyway, can I just point out how fucking ugly Barbie's human disguise is? (I honestly hope Blitzo and the others don't look as bad as her in the future-)

I swear her design looks so off to me, I don't know if it's the fact that her hands are really big (which makes no sense because this is her human version, so I don't understand why they gave her weird imp hands). Or the fact that her human disguise has those markings on her arms, including the stupid forehead crest, that could've been replaced with birthmarks or hell, tattoos even. The pigtails don't really suit her either, she could've had a better hairstyle.

I also really dislike her voice, no offense but she sounds like a Texas lady that smokes like 40 cigarettes at a New York bar.

I never really liked her design to begin with but this episode made me hate it more. Not only that but the implied that she's a groomer in the episode which is gross-

Anyway, the episode ends with a really unfunny and unnecessary incest joke (seriously this entire episode has really disgusting "jokes" that aren't funny in the slightest).

Overall, I didn't enjoy this episode and I hope Vivzie's hardcore fans realize that her writing is absolute garbage and her comedy ain't shit-

[simpjaes]

i see omo is in yellow but if you’re willing to write about it…mtl likely to be into it 👀

MTL: hyung line + omo/piss lovers

warnings: if u aren't into pee or ur like, weird about it, don't read this obv. squirting!!! yay!!!, im clearly jay biased in this one even tho he's the least likely lmfaoooo

most

★ jake: is he first bc i think he's a puppy? yes. do i see him as the type to literally piss on his girl to lay claim? yes. honestly, i think jake is the type to be into just about anything if his girl wants it or is okay to try it. the piss stuff would be allllllllllll him for the most part tho. such a messy pup for a messy situation too. after all, if the two of you aren't left a mess after the fact, then clearly it wasn't good enough. not to mention, even outside of sexual situations, it probably turns him on. always a possessive thing. in the shower? "just let it go babe, it's okay." and when you do, he's blatantly slapping your clit through it and watching your knees buckle :( holding you close to him so you don't slip and fall, hardening by the second feeling it run down his leg as he holds you, knowing you can't hold it in after you start, encouraging you that it's okay, he likes it.

☆ heeseung: a nasty motherfucker i'm telling you. he held his bladder one time by accident bc it was just...yknow, circumstances of the day or whatever, then later found himself jerking off before relieving himself. the pressure was insaaaaaaane for him, to the point it was his best orgasm probably. that would've been the beginning for him. just full bladder stuff, doing it himself, begging you to try it too. like, "baby please, it'll feel soooo good after holding it all day". and all of that would def open the flood gates for watersports though. tons of squirting for you, lots of degradation, hella piss play. im talking like, he'd probably be obsessed with the embarrassing aspect of it. despite doing it himself, he'd always make you feel gross for enjoying it too.

★ sunghoon: probably not like a super fan of being pissed on or pissing on other people but a huuuuuuuuuuuge fan of pleasure and making his girl squirt. he's the type who probably didn't know squirting was practically just piss too, so after a while with you he'd be like ":( i always try to make you squirt but it never happens, you just get really wet and that's it." and you'd be like "well....if you're not afraid of a little piss, i could probably squirt for you." and he'd be 100% IN THE GAME at that point. bro would not give a fuck what's shooting out of you, as long as it's going into his mouth tbh. he's drinking that shit, probably super into the full-bladder stuff after too. like "drink more water babe, you're gonna need it." and "where do you think you're going?" if he sees you disappear towards the bathroom shortly before he's about to rail you into the next dimension.

☆ jay: man, jay, jay, jay. the service top of all service tops, willing to do and try just about anything with you if it means you're screaming his name and clinging to him in a way that feels like your fingernails could bring blood. i don't think he'd want you to piss on him blatantly, nor do i think he'd do it to you- unless...well, one night you whisper something filthy to him regarding a new thing to try. this time you'd probably whisper something like "i saw this video online...real nasty stuff...wouldn't be into it normally but-". his cock would immediately stand to attention but he probably wouldn't jump into the act right then and there. it would be saved for one of those days where he's really degrading you (for your pleasure). like, pulling out of you mid fuck, straddling your stomach with his cock in hand, looking at your teary eyes and saying "you wanted it so bad didn't you? here, go on, open your mouth then." and you'd be totally shocked, forgetting you brought it up at all until he's flexing his abs and forcing himself to piss. loooorddd would his relieved face look sexy too. and that's when you'd realized just how into it you are. after all, it's not like you haven't drank his cum out of him anyway, this isn't much different to you.

least

[northern-passage]

i've been thinking a lot about the word "representation" and what it means and how it's changed over the last few years, particularly when it comes to the writing/publishing landscape but also in movies and tv shows… and i really don't like it anymore. to be clear, of course i think it's important to have diversity in your work, i'm not saying i hate the concept of representation. but i do really dislike the way it's used now, and i really just hate the word itself

in a broader sense it's just become a marketing tool. i'm not impressed by any publisher or author who just describes their book by listing all of the minorities/identities the characters represent as if that should be enough. it feels very gross, very exploitative and disingenuous. it also really bothers me because it's always marginalized identities- which i understand Why, but it feels very othering to me (and again. Very exploitative as an advertisement). you would never list out "cishet able-bodied white man" as a character description to pat yourself on the back over. so why do it to everyone else? why insinuate that one is the "default" and the other one is "special"? (and when i say this i'm mainly talking about advertisements/marketing. i understand why people would specify about characters in descriptions with the plot, but i don't like to see an ad that's just "this book has gay people!" with nothing else)

which then leads me to my other point, which is that a lot of people treat "representation" as if it's "too hard." like "oh i don't know enough to write about that, i don't have that experience, etc" which is a fair way to feel! however… it's weird that people only say this about writing trans characters or characters of color. i'm writing a story right now with a character who is really into motorcycles. i personally do not know that much about motorcycles, so i researched what parts are what & what different kinds of models there are & what basic bike care looks like. i guarantee Most people will have to google something at some point in their writing process. so what's the problem? it also, again, feels very othering when authors treat certain groups of people as "impossible" to write, "too hard" to understand. they are just.. people. you write them as a person. and then you figure out the rest later.

and i think part of the refusal or fear to write something outside of your experience is because of the way representation is treated as So Special. these characters are So Special that they aren't allowed to be anything other than "representation." they're Not allowed to be characters with complex emotions and interesting motivations, they have to just be Trans or Gay or Disabled or whatever. they're not allowed to be people. which means, at the end of the day, we loop right back around to where we were at the start….

there is bad representation. there are depictions of certain marginalized people that are harmful and that are damaging, i'm not trying to minimize that or argue against it at all, in fact we should all be mindful of that while writing and reading. but i also think it's possible to swing too far in the opposite direction as well and put certain groups of people on a pedestal and not allow them to do anything at all but be Perfect Representation, if that makes sense.

[rollercoasterwords]

i do think it's odd when people talk abt r's lycanthropy as though it is somehow offensive to like....acknowledge or emphasize the fact that he is a werewolf at all. like i think it's weird when people say that it's gross or harmful to write lycanthropy (which is, of course, a fictional disease that is an allegorical tool for exploring themes related to disability) in a way where r is written with "wolfish" traits, or he or the people around him refer to him as a werewolf or just in any way emphasize that being a werewolf is part of who he is.

and i'm not trying to overstate this like it's a huge issue, because at most it's just like. a couple people making posts online, y’know? but i just think it's odd when i do see people say stuff like "don't refer to him as a beast/wolf/etc!!! he's a person!!" or act like it's disgusting for lycanthropy to alter his characterization at all to make him more "beastly"

because like. ok. what we have here is lycanthropy as a chronic illness that is vilified + stigmatized by the wider wizarding world. and typically in fics remus has a very negative view of his own lycanthropy since he's grown up in a society that tells him he's a monster. so if the response to that is "don't emphasize that he's a werewolf at all by giving him negative werewolf traits!!!" it's like....that is. exactly the message that we are supposed to be questioning if we're going into this allegory with a critical reading. bc u are also now treating being a werewolf like it's a bad thing.

like if u think it's an actual issue for him to be portrayed in a way where he is more wolfish/beastly....why? who's saying that those things are bad? why is it so important for him to be portrayed as "civilized" rather than "monstrous," and who in this context is qualifying what counts as "civilized" vs. "monstrous?" why is monstrosity diametrically opposed to humanity/personhood in the first place?

obviously this is all fanfiction and if somebody wants to write r's lycanthropy so that he's just a werewolf once a month + otherwise isn't that affected by it, or is only affected in ways that are easy to deem sympathetic (ie, he gets hurt + has to spend time in the hospital wing but he never exhibits any kind of aggression or "animalistic" or "beastly" qualities otherwise) then that's fine. and i'm also not saying that he has to be written as like hyper-dominant alpha wolf beastman either--i don't necessarily think that's the only possible interpretation for how lycanthropy might manifest in traits outside the full moon. it's more just that i think it's weird when people moralize about like...."playing into werewolf stereotypes" lol bc. again werewolves aren't real. but also in the context of lycanthropy as allegory, the goal is not to say "you can't write those traits related to disability bc it's a negative stereotype," which does nothing to question why it's a negative stereotype and ultimately just reinforces the idea that those traits are something negative. the goal is to use the allegory to explore how people who fit "negative stereotypes" of disability navigate an ableist society that stigmatizes them + insists that the only path to acceptance is to hide their disability as best they can + assimilate, while simultaneously making assimilation an impossible goal.

[hotpinkboots]

jealous mando x fem reader please? reader meets someone while they're out and the guy starts flirting with her

~~~~~~~~~~

~Jealous!𝕯𝖎𝖓 𝕯𝖏𝖆𝖗𝖎𝖓 x Fem!Reader Headcanons~

~~~~~~~~~~

I don't think you darlings know that I am audibly speaking to you because when I get a request I love it's an immediate "I LOVE YOU OH MY GOD" or a giggle and wiggle from me. I AM SPEAKING TO YOU PEOPLE OUT LOUD

THIS RIGHT HERE MADE ME GASP AND JUMP FROM MY SEAT THANK YOU

*insert more whining about how my black text option on Tumblr is still broken* so yeah it's boring and colorless :(

⭐REMEMBERRR THIS IS ALL PART OF THE MANDALORIAN SEASON 3 EVENT THINGY! Any requests I get with Mando will be done BEFORE any other requests in my inbox! This goes all week long!⭐

~Enjoy~

★★★★

𝕯𝖎𝖓 𝕯𝖏𝖆𝖗𝖎𝖓

★★★★

~So you finally were able to pull Mr. Metal Head out of the ship-

~But then it went downhill.

~Let's say the guy was just chatting with you because he thought you were cute and not because he was a pervert.

~Din, as soon as he saw, walked over and just looked at him, trying to be intimidating but not cruel. Just a warning.

~Guy got the point and backed off, sulking a little and feeling embarrassed because he didn't know you were taken. Oops :(

~But let's say this guy will NOT stop trying to chat you up.

~Maybe you're talking back because 1. he's a funny guy, or 2. because you're humoring him.

~Either way, Mando's way more sensitive than one would think. He feels a sense of abandonment that he always has to deal with because people are always tryna betray him or be like "if I do this for you then you need to do this for me", and his parents, and now you look like you're having fun with this guy so like

~Are you happier?? he wants you to be happy :(

~He knows how God damn AWKWARD he is too and how he's not good with words really.

~So maybe you think he doesn't love you?? What is it?

~Not to mention the fact you aren't even allowed to see his freaking face.

~He's overthinking and watching from afar

~But then jealousy starts bubbling up

~And he's like

~Who does he think he is talking to her she's way out of his league

~Totally glaring and trying not to let jealousy control him.

~Eventually the dude leaves, and Mando comes back. He doesn't say anything yet but he's obviously way more stiff than he usually already is.

~So when you're both walking back to the ship he's silent and weird. Not because he's angry at you but because he's self conscious and wants to bring it up but doesn't want you to think he's saying you aren't loyal.

~"...He liked you."

~It's blunt but straight to the point. He's not gonna tip toe around the subject like it's something that shouldn't be talked about.

~Din ends up getting real close to you and looking down at you like the intimidating bitch he is. In your personal space. Like drop everything you're doing because he's serious rn.

~"Did you like him?"

~Don't tease him about it. If you start teasing him that he's jealous he'll hate it. Makes his chest heat up and his jaw clench, and he just ends up walking away from you.

~Also sorry but purposely trying to make your boyfriend jealous is gross behavior that just makes people self conscious and upset c'mon man

~So it's best if you actually explain the situation and reassure him about it. Communication is key to a healthy relationship. Din wants you to talk to him about stuff even if he doesn't really know how to respond. He'll try his best.

~So yeah overall he's overprotective and might immediately glare daggers at someone if they try for one second to flirt with you. Jealousy makes him self conscious and sulky, maybe even a little annoyed at you for entertaining it and causing it to continue on rather than just speaking up that you're taken.

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I have the biggest FATTEST URGE to write a oneshot for this darling oh my gosh

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Here's my Masterlist!

And here are the request rules!

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⭐REBLOGS⭐>💀LIKES💀

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Discord Server! Here you can roleplay with and as your favorite characters, get updates on my fanfiction, and get sneak peaks for my upcoming videogames!:

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~Love, PinkBoots

[headspace-hotel]

I think that middle grade books tend to have more complexities to them first of all because there's less publisher focus on them, there was a YA boom not a middle grade boom so they're not as... squished into a money-making formula. And secondly because there's a lot less romantic plotlines "allowed" in middle-grade books, romantic subplots aren't inherently bad but they're a lot more likely to be forced into a book that doesn't need or want them because they "boost engagement" or be written by people who don't want to be writing because Love Triangles Sell. Middle grade books can't have the sort of "heaving muscles, sexy body, no/awful personality but I just Want Them" thing that can kind of absorb a book's interesting aspects and devour them, it's not safe for the kids!

Also middle grade worldbuilding might not always have pressure to make sense because it's "just for kids" but it's more likely to try and get exciting or weird or fantastical with it because it's For Kids, so people who have an interest in a world they're writing might have more freedom to do what they want with it leading to more novelty if not universally higher quality.

I think the romance thing is part of it.

I think this is evidence that the way romance is treated in "teen" novels has a ripple effect on every level of the web of character relationships and interactions in a YA novel.

In a "teen" novel, other characters the MC's age are almost always being courted by the narrative as potential love interests. This can starve the book of other character interactions through pure overcrowding.

"Love triangles" were common throughout the YA boom, and I'm convinced it's partly because it's a money-making strategy. Manufacturing a "ship war" is a way to get people to talk about your book even if there is really nothing there worth discussing. I've seen small fandoms have a sudden explosion in activity after a "love triangle" plot was introduced.

But a triangle needs three points, and a "love triangle" means you need to devote a lot of "page time" to the romantic subplots because...you have to develop at least two love interests. There are many YA novels that have the MC torn between more than two possible love interests.

This got even worse when multiple POV's became the norm in YA, because then multiple MC's needed to be "paired up." So you had books where the MC's were romantically involved with each other and also each had something going on with another character, or books where EVERY POV character was paired with another POV character.

For one thing, this crowds out other character interactions just because there's limited space in a book.

For another thing, it's almost always bad when every character in a book is either a POV, a love interest, or both, because mains and love interests are virtually always the least interesting characters in the story.

The protagonist has to be "relatable" above all else, and love interests in YA are unbearably generic and stripped of all unique qualities. Part of it is the "attractiveness" requirement; there is only one "attractive" body type (thin with muscles) from this point of view, and in general "hot" means such a narrow selection of things that all you can ultimately do is shuffle hair, eye and skin colors. And they rarely ever have distinct personalities. They're just kinda angry and broody but also protective but also angsty. Or they're just generically nice.

(You also almost always can't have them be nonhuman in any meaningful way, because, idk, that would be Weird I guess.)

So...you don't have enough characters that are fucked-up weird gremlins. When your story is dominated by a huge love polygon that somehow involves 5 people, none of those characters get to be ugly, and that can be devastating.

Middle grade characters have to be interesting, not so much attractive or relatable. So you have characters that are weird, gross and nasty. You can have things like sentient kitchen appliances or telepathic Pegasi as important characters because you don't have to spend so much story RAM on characters that are acceptably hot. You can have scrungly trolls and giants with hairy nostrils and warts. You can have all your characters be cats.

[cripplecharacters]

You said somewhere that characters with facial injuries shouldn't be descriped as "good-looking despite it", but rather as good-looking *with it*. How do i do that without sounding weird?

Hi!

I think this one mostly comes down to wording. I would avoid using words like "despite [their injury]", "even with" etc. in that context when describing someone.

For me, it's all about not making it seem as if their difference is ugly and that the person who has it needs to compensate for it with other features to not be seen as ugly. So instead of saying

"they were pretty, even despite [their injury]"

you could say

"they were pretty and had [an injury]"

to avoid making a connotation that visible disability = ugly trope, stating it the same way you would say "they were pretty and had freckles" (or any other basic facial feature). Basically describe them as any other character and try to look out for wording that equates their disability to something gross or unsightly. You can state that your character has a drooped eyelid the same way you would mention they wear glasses - something neutral that doesn't make them inherently ugly or pretty, it's just a part of their face.

I think it might feel weird to do that in the first place because people with facial differences aren't pretty much ever described as good-looking at all, so it feels strange to do something you probably have not seen done before. But I think it will feel normal after a couple tries, and you get used to it.

I do not think you need to be making lengthy descriptions about how a character's facial difference makes them the most beautiful person in the world. I don't think the character needs to necessarily be beautiful either - though I would be lying if I said I didn't enjoy that - it is just to not say it in a backhanded kind of way if you decide to go for it. Describing facial differences as inherently ugly, gross or even evil/monstrous is extremely normalized in literature and media, so just not making that connotation is already a big plus. Making the character with them positive and/or good-looking is just a very welcome bonus (and a breath of fresh air).

I hope my answer makes at least some sense and that it was at least a bit helpful. Good luck with your writing :-)

mod Sasza

[evilsanlang]

Heyy sorry if this is a dumb question but I've been trying to get into tgcf for ages but I've always been so uncomfortable with the fact that xl met hc when he was a little boy...I know hc is a completely different person by the time they get together but it's still so weird to me. Isn't that grooming? Idk much about the story but I know mxtx has a history of writing gross stuff

I'd just like to know what you think since it's rare to find mxtx critical people and I never see anyone talking about this /gen

it's not a dumb question! it's completely normal to side-eye the circumstances of their first meeting with mxtx's track record. to get this out of the way right off the bat: it's most definitely not grooming, which is a tool deliberately employed to earn a child's trust with the intent to exploit them. their interactions early on are mainly one-sided and sporadic; although young hua cheng becomes his devotee after xie lian saves him, xie lian barely knows who he is, and there's nothing whatsoever on his side that suggests intent to form a connection. at best he thinks young hua cheng is good with a sword and should be appointed, but then that's really about xie lian getting on board with child soldiers, which. is a whole other topic. worth mentioning that it's not until they've passed 800 years apart that they begin to form a bond.

but that's taking the story at face value without considering the author's intent - and when we revisit the infamous land of the tender scene, the wink wink nudge author notes at the end of it, no one can say you're wrong to be uncomfortable. as with all media you have to start asking yourself: why did the author frame things this way? how should I contextualize their meeting at 10 and 17 years old respectively, knowing mxtx intended to write them as a couple from the start? how should I feel about a scene where the teenage future love interest witnesses the protagonist under the effect of a sex pollen in close proximity but technically nothing actually happens between them, and what was the author's purpose behind that?

this is part of what makes this hard to discuss: the characters themselves don't quite cross boundaries, but the characters aren't their own people, and the author behind them has a history of writing rape porn between teens and whatever the hell goes on in scum villain. that makes some of the choices she took with the story, at absolute best, questionable. and you should question them! I know my mutuals and I do, to the anger of some mxtx fans who stumble upon our posts lol

everyone has different tolerance thresholds, and personally tgcf is within mine, as is mdzs, while I refuse to touch scum villain with a ten feet pole. I do think hualian's relationship is written well enough that it doesn't bother me, but it might bother you, and that's completely understandable. something doesn't have to be morally reprehensible to turn you off of it

[cu-taibhseil]

Dark Water in Folk Magic

Everyone is always talking about water in witchcraft and folk magic. I have never seen a post like this on Instagram, Pinterest, Tumblr, Threads, Facebook -- anywhere. So I'm going to stand on my little milk crate and yap at y'all awhile about dark water and how I use it in my folk magic practice.

All important information provided below the cut.

***Trigger Warning and Content Warning(s): animal remains, roadkill, collection of animal remains/roadkill, harvesting animal by-products and parts, and the general weirdness and grossness of "vulture culture."***

***DARK WATER IS NOT FOR HUMAN CONSUMPTION. Please for the love of everything green and growing do not consume dark water under any circumstances. DO NOT use dark water to water edible plants/herbs or indoor plants/herbs. Do not feed dark water to pets or other people -- the latter being a crime and biological warfare.***

If you read this and try to Dead-Dove-Don't-Open me, I'm going to scream. I made the warnings bold and in red and yellow for heaven's sake. PLEASE do not read or interact with this post if it's not your vibe or if any of this content is triggering for you.

I'm not going to dress this up or try to romanticize this at all: folk magic is messy, it's weird, and it can get pretty gross. Folk magic -- and witchcraft in general -- are not for everyone. Because of that, I hope this post finds the people who will enjoy it, and use the information in their own practices. I'm not taking sole credit for this idea -- a majority of the human experience is all similar and hardly anyone has unique experiences anymore so someone before me has done this, I'm sure of it. Just because someone isn't talking about something doesn't mean it isn't happening.

What is "dark water"? & How do you make dark water?

It has kind of a deceptive name, I'll admit. And, no, I didn't just collect it during a dark moon. What I consider "dark water" is what happens when you leave roadkill or the remains of an animal (any kind) in a tub of water and let nature take its course. The animal will degrade and break down into the water. And part of what comes out of that tub to replace the water and keep the animal decomposing is what I call "dark water." It's essentially water infused and/or combined with the remains of an animal.

How to harvest dark water once the animal is decomposed

Depending on where the animal came from: whether it was roadkill on the side of the road and you brought it home, a stock animal of some kind, or a pet (hey, I'm not here to judge - just giving information), you're ALWAYS going to want to follow these steps if you want to harvest anything from animals. ***Don't touch dead shit with your bear hands! And definitely don't touch dead shit without washing your hands thoroughly for at least 2 minutes with hot soap and water.*** Fucking wear personal protective equipment: gloves (don't touch your face with them), eye protection of some kind, a sharp knife, a mask to cover your nose and mouth, and do this kinda shit outside where the fumes of a decomposing animal aren't going to suffocate you. (And sanitize the shit out of whatever you use afterwards with bleach and soap!!!) (1) Don't just jump into parting the animal out. Give the animal's spirit time to leave its body. Whether you help the spirit along with some Bible verses, a prayer, a ceremony, or you prefer to leave the animal alone to leave quietly is up to you and yours. (2) Ask the animal's permission. USE DIVINATION. Whatever you're most comfortable with and will be easiest for the animal to communicate through. Ask it if you can use some of its by-products after its spirit has left its body. If the animal says "no" and you do it anyway, there will be consequences to that choice. I'm not going to divulge what those are, because it depends entirely on the animal, the circumstance, your folklore of your area, and the history of the interactions those animals have had with people historically. You'll find out what I mean, if/when you choose to fuck around. (3) Be respectful of whatever you harvest. It's not a game and it's not a toy. Harvesting should be done in a respectful manner and there should be intent to honor the animal's spirit when it's done. (4) As long as chemicals like poison haven't been used in the death of the animal, be sure to take care of whatever you're going to use respectfully and safely. Bury it a few feet down at LEAST 10 FEET AWAY from ANY water source that PEOPLE interact with (drinking, showering, etc.). Or you can drive it out to somewhere remote and put it somewhere where the animal's remains will be used by another animal to continue the cycle. I've never done this, but there's always the choice to burn the rest of the remains you don't use. Just please don't leave the animal lying there. (5) Don't store your dark water ANYWHERE NEAR anything you grow, you eat, you bathe in. It should be out and away from your house in a sealed jar where it's safe from being tampered with.

What is dark water used for?

I use dark water for lots of different things: offerings to the forest spirits, offerings to NON-edible plants that I DON'T EAT OR PLAN ON USING ON MY PERSON.* I use it in baneful works, in protection, in warding. For me and my practice, it's got the same versatility as moon water or river water. Don't water your edible plants or plants you plan on consuming with dark water. That's how you get poisoned or poison someone else. Don't die in a stupid way, please.

What correspondences do you associate with dark water?

If you've been following my blog or interact with me at all on Discord, you know that I'm very heavily anti-universal correspondences. Spells and workings are much more potent when a little bit of problem-solving and craftsmanship without inane hand-holding went into the creation process. I don't get my correspondences from a book. I build relationships with the plants and animals around me, and then go from there. If the relationship doesn't yield the results I want (i.e. wisdom into what the spirit of that thing can offer, I'll do research then). That being said, since I'm the one talking about it right now, here's what I personally think corresponds with dark water: Rot, decomposition, energy transfer from one form to another, gateways, and passages during longer bouts of travel. If you've got a working that is being done over a longer period of time to someone else, this type of water comes in handy to make the working more potent the longer the working is. You can also use it in ward-style protections to make sure if someone messes with your shit, they get theirs. Sometimes the water will have the essence of whatever animal decomposed in it as well. Whatever you decide corresponds with it is up to you.

I hope this little weird guide was helpful. I hope it gave you some inspiration. I hope you have the time, resources, and energy to get a little freaky with it.

(If I missed a trigger warning or content warning tag, please let me know and I'll update the post.)

[dailyadventureprompts]

Evening, Dapper. I'm a big fan of your work; I'm actually using a few of your NPCs in a campaign I'm running! As you've made a few 're-imagined' entries for demon lords already- how would you play Zuggtmoy in a way that's not just 'evil, but also brain-destroying and fungal'? What would she need to be like to motivate people to actually sign a pact with or worship her?

Monsters Reimagined: Zuggtmoy, Demon Queen of Rot and Regret

D&D has a problem with one note villains, blank slates that dungeonmaters are SUPPOSED to fill with their own ideas but end up coming off as pathetically shallow after their Captain Planet level concepts become increasingly rigid over successive generations. Occasionaly a great writer comes along and fills these concepts with interesting context, but they're few in far between.

Zuggtmoy is a great example of this, existing as what I like to call a "Fill in the blank baddie", as they adhere to a very simple formula that looks a little like this: X is an evil ____ who cares about ____, they want the whole world to be nothing but ____, they use ____ as minions and have a personality and ethos that one could describe as ____ like. For Zuggtmoy you could fill that blank in with "fungus" and you'd get her ENTIRE concept, indistinguishable from Jubilex the slime demon, Nerull the death god, and just about 90% of a high level party's rogue's gallery.

Below the cut I'm going to go into a complete lore revision for the dame of decay along with a bunch of adventure hooks, but for the TLDR: Default Zuggtmoy is weird because d&d assumes that fungus and decay are evil because they are gross, an odd stance to take because not only is rot a vitally necessary part of life, but fungus has brought us wonderful things like penicillin and mushroom risotto. My version of the demon queen is one that revolves around the idea of things “spoiling” when held on past their time, be they feelings, memories, relationships, or empires. Zuggtmoy herself is the mouldered and hollowed out remnants of a once queenly dryad, who’s influence appears in others unable to let go as a creeping blight that spreads through their mind, bodies, and surroundings.

When it comes to concepts Zuggtmoy is as about as “fill in the blank” as it gets, with her single notable character design concept and personality both being “She’s a lady made out of fungus”. This would be fine I suppose but she’s also specifically a demon lord, and that doesn’t tack at all for a whole bunch of reasons:

Do mushrooms have souls? Can they commit sin? Most of the creatures Zuggtmoy is described as being worshipped by don’t have traditional consciousness, if they have an intelligence score at all. Yeah, it sucks to be covered in slime and/or rotted from the inside out but those creatures aren't EVIL, so why is she a demon other than the fact that gross/ugly = evil in d&d world? She’d be perfectly fine if she was just the goddess of fungus, but she needs a reason to be considered one of the Pit’s big bads.

One could theoretically talk about how the grossness of Zuggtmoy is meant as a torment to those people who fear filth/corruption who might be damned to her realm, but d&d cosmology increasingly does not work like that. If Zuggtmoy is queen of a layer of hell, there needs to be a specificly demonic reason that her domain is one of rot and fungus.

Why is Zuggtmoy a lady? A giant mushroom or that happened to use feminine pronouns would have served but she is very specifically described as a humanoid made out of fungus, frequently depicted with signifies of being an attractive and elegant. The answer is obviousuly that sex sells, even when you’re trying to sell a list of demon gods, so while the male coded demons get to be grotesque blobs of muscle and bestial features the female ones need to be coded as traditionally attractive even if they have a few monsterbits stapled on. When redesigning her I could have gone with a purely fungal angle, but I wanted to play with the “lady made out of fungus” iconography

Taking all this into account, here’s my pitch for Zuggtomy:  There was once an archfey, a queen among dryads who found herself undone by heartbreak. None can say what tragedy or manipulation of the great courts laid her low, only that she knew a sorrow so profound that she simply could not be anymore, leaving her body as nothing more than a grief-hollowed statue of wood. Left exposed to the elements, the echo of that grief took root, and eventually bloomed into a being that knew only regret, only loss, only Zuggtmoy.

If sorrow is left to fester it can sour any happy memory, and thus is the case for the Dame of Decay, unable and unwilling to let go of the things that gave her joy and now cause her pain, even if her continued grief eats away at them until there is nothing left. So little is known about the story of the original dryad queen because Zuggtmoy’s influence ate away at anyone and anything involved in the events, leaving behind nothing but a spore choked barrens and hollowed out husks who mine out the events again and again without detail or reason.

When rot and regret had exhausted the dryad’s story it began to spread out across the multiverse looking for new places to take root, more tales of woe, more souls stagnant in their nostalga or sorrow where the queen’s essence might bloom anew.

Within a grand estate the revels of an indolent count are said to never end, as psychedelic indulgence rages every day and night while the lands around them decay. Folk say that the count had tried for years to drown the sorrows of his long dead brother, but he now appears to have succeeded with wild abandon. Rumors spread of the count’s riders gallivanting about the countryside decked in worn parade motley, snatching up performers and carrying them back to the estate. The party comes face to face with one of these agents looking to pressgang their local minstrel into service, only to lay the rider out flat in a brawl and have his body burst open with fungal rot for all to see.

The kingdom’s wilds contain the remnants of an ancient realm, once goverend by a queen who suffered a rotting sickness that the peasants still tell folk tales of to this day. Many of the fey of these reaches are sick, and seem intent on inflicting stories of this queen on any who pass by. Only after multiple ruins with these bestricken faeries do the party realize the truth: the story is the sickness and the sickness is the queen and all three are a curse that now spreads through the land with them as a vector.

After an encounter with a particularly fungal villain does the party realize that they’ve only defeated one bud of a deeply rooted threat, with multiple copies of their foe having sprouted off from some deeply rooted evil. More than simply bashing in mushroom caps, the party must exorcise the essence of Zuggtmoy’s influence, an act that will require them to call up the spirit infected by the demon queen and work through its particular issues to resolve its grief and deny the dame of decay her seedbed.

Art

[iwaasfairy]

some of you know that i don't like tiktok n it has many reasons but i have had a rant brewing in regards to it for a while and it's definitely extremely prevalent on tiktok

it is not your place to judge people's relationships, even the toxic ones

i know we all go like "yeah duhh" but i want you to actually take in what i'm saying. it's not your place. just because they exist in an age where things can be found online, doesn't mean it's your place. people are allowed to have the human experience. people are allowed to fall in love with the wrong people, and people are allowed to have toxic experiences and people are allowed to be stupid and make mistakes, even public ones

definitely if the person in question is a young woman. like genuinely, i think there is nothing more disrespectful and ironically, anti woman than determining for some young woman that she shouldn't be in a relationship with some older dude. it's not up to you. yea maybe she's making a mistake and will regret in in 3 years, and so fucking what? that's life. young women are able to choose, for themselves, even if the choice is stupid.

billy dating that goofy fucking dude and getting so much shit for it bc what? she whose wrong? yea, i'm pretty sure she made a conscious choice, so stop. she'll survive her mistake. trying to keep young women from experiencing life, even the bad parts of life, isn't doing anyone a fucking favor. its just dismissive of the fact that they can make their own choices for fuck sake.

some nineteen year old ending up married to her high school teacher because they wanted to, getting called out because it's weird and creepy? they're living their lives. who are you to criticize random people? even if it is weird. even if it is true. it's not your fucking place.

a thirty year old woman married to a seventy year old guy and they are living their life and existing in a space where people can see it, but now suddenly it has to be called out bc that's toxic and gross. ok, it's also not your fucking relationship. stop butting in where you're not asked. it is so unbelievably disrespectful and honestly, i'm sick of seeing it. everyone needs to keep their nose in their own business

the easy access of drama on tiktok has made everyone believe that everything is drama that you should stick your nose into. it's not. other people's lives and mistakes shouldn't be your entertainment. young women making bad choices for themselves isn't a hill you need to die on. you aren't being an ally. you aren't being a feminist. you aren't being appropriate.

it isn't your place. it isn't your place. i'm sick of it