#the thing was up to my chest HA

[my-darling-boy]

Scotland has made me branch out from the Tommy trousers and test out the kilt; some of the kit was leant and the kilt was too big but it still worked out!

📷 ig keltikfilm

[alevens]

zolu is maybe one of the easiest ships i've ever liked. they're dating, except when they're not, they're best friends even when they're kissing and they're still captain and first mate when they aren't. they hold hands, they hug. they have sex. they don't.

Luffy can hold Zoro's katanas and Zoro can hold Luffy's strawhat and no one bats an eye. one says "You're so cool!" and the other says "You're strong" and it's just another way to say "I see you, this is why I follow you/this is why I trust you". it's not seeing each other for a long time and still knowing how the other's steps sound like against wood and sand. the captain runs and the first mate follows. it's always "Zoro and the others" and "Where's Luffy?"

if they're just friends, if they're something more, if they don't have a label for it, at its core, it's just about how they get each other. they understand how the other's mind works. however you view them, it doesn't erase they fact that they love each other in a way they don't love other people.

[shamera]

this expresses about 1.5435432% of how much i've been enjoying this series lately, and touches even less on its amazingness, but what can you do.

if you have the time and energy to spare, please go read My S-Class Hunters / The S-Classes That I Raised!!!

[gildedmuse]

Drunk!Law who, anytime he uses his powers, somehow "accidentally" ends up with a lap full of Zoro.

[dilutedbeanibeans]

what’s up with this guy

[puppetmaster13u]

Okay, had to do this on a separate thing @phoenixcatch7 but-

DCxDP crossover with the meat marionettes. Itty bitty bird boy Danny perched on top of one of the batclan members like,

Said Batclan member is also perched on top of their respective alien/magician/demigod, whichever is there.

Also completely unrelated sort of, but can you imagine if Danny's ghost form was something akin to their meat marionette bodies? Like visibly more monstrous looking. Maybe it started out more human looking, maybe it's a mimicking his surroundings sort of thing, maybe this is an AU where ghosts Do Not look human except for when they look in their own reflections. Or something.

Honestly just slowly rotating ideas at increasing speeds lol

[mistergenderer]

You know what. Trans men should talk about the oppression they face from cis women.

[sleepynegress]

Love this interview... I have been semi-checking in on Zawe's journey since before certain stans were feeling some kinda way about her recent familial additions. I do for certain Black actors/creators especially, who seem to be moving in interesting ways in entertainment/film media...

-A remnant from a period when I used to go to screenings and blog about films (and was published a few times in a major national newspaper)... So, I knew of Zawe through the grapevine of her mentorship, i.e. she is the reason why Rege Jean Page of Bridgerton fame got to work in U.S. markets, as she sponsored him. And she is known, as one of those "good eggs" who will be accessible and help/advise especially young actors of color. ...But, I have some other stuff to say. This isn't about proving that she's an amazing human being. It's about a certain brand of misogynoir that some of these people far beneath her in self-knowledge, self-love, and just plain grown-ass-woman-personhood...keep letting fly in what they *think* are compliments, but actually are just trite microaggressions. Saying things like "as long she makes [T-blank H-blank] happy then she's alright" as if he's the centered human and her attachment renders her worthy somehow. Babies, as long as SHE'S happy. Yall. He's marrying up.

WAY UP and the fact that he knows this? Actually elevates him. She's been there.

She tells a story in the above interview that reminds me of Uzo Aduba's anecdote about her name , - of an incident when she was called to an early job (at 6!) and someone there said she wasn't pretty because of her gap and her Ugandan mother took her on past this person and into the room, ANYWAY.

... She learned a specific self-knowledge and self-love, that is necessary in very white western spaces that constantly pressures a narrow sense of worthiness and beauty, especially from Black women, something a lot of these small-minded stans don't even have a notion of seeing beyond. Zawe is biracial, and her features, aside from her skin tone are very African. So while she benefits from colorism, featurism is something I've seen those bigoted stans, pick on as well. She knows those features are what makes her beautiful and knew that, w/o and before her partner saw that too. And people who aren't blind narrow-minded ignoramuses can *also* see that. This is why I assert the fact of featurism needing to be in the conversation of light/dark privilege conversations. Lips, nose, gap, and even the set of her eyes are ethnic beauty markers within quite a few spaces in the Black African diaspora... My mom was an absolute stunner because of her gap.

Even the old school white model Lauren Hutton got there because of her gap. Uzo Aduba, who I have already mentioned has a deeper skintone and has similarly large round striking eyes, gap, and a non-pinched-nose *rightly* played Glinda in NBC's production of The Wiz a few years back, with Dorothy saying she's so beautiful *because* of those features, not despite them as a very narrow white-washed gaze would wrongly assert.

And while we're here that includes sizes and shapes too. I'm saying your boy is enjoying all that plush. A lot of yall need to read or reread Maya Angelou's Phenomenal Woman, for comprehension.

Anyway... All this to say I know Zawe is and will be fine regardless.

P.S. Maya Angelou *also* had height, and gap and was very much known for her beauty/magnetism as a woman when she was alive. :

[revivisection]

i thought well. can't have this guy mention flashdrives looking like that (ignore the fact that tunisia is not canon)

[thefirstknife]

Some important stuff in regards to the harassment of developers came from Bungie today. They won a lawsuit against a guy who repeatedly harassed a community manager and his family (not fully confirmed in the official document, but people are fairly certain this is about A_dmg and his family). This is a twitter thread from the lawyer who went into some details about the situation. The court document is also available to read (featuring some of the horrific harassment tactics that were motivated by racism and also used racism as part of the harassment so be advised if you want to read).

This isn't just a win for the individual community manager and Bungie, but also has potential to set a bigger precedent in the future. It's basically the first time this has been done to this extent and some ruling in this case made it clear that companies can pursue this sort of legal action in the future if their employees are harassed and threatened. This is HUGE because the protection of employees in the gaming industry has been abysmal otherwise. This case will allow for the company to file a lawsuit on behalf of their employees in cases of harassment.

Before I add some of the more heinous stuff about this situation below, I want to say that the majority of reactions to this are positive. People are happy that this happened as it did and a lot of people are excited about potential big influence this will have in the future to combatting harassment of this type in the gaming industry.

Extra details and thoughts below (racism tw):

This started because the community manager highlighted a black content creator, Uhmayyze, who is himself a victim of harassment more often than not (usually of racist nature). He is most often harassed because he is unapologetically positive for which people have continuously sent him awful shit and comments. Because he enjoys the game and isn't jumping on the hate train. Just recently he commended Bungie for a ban wave and had hundreds of people hound him on twitter for his comment, including Gladd who started it by specifically replying to Uhmayyze and putting him on blast (warning for a lot of gross comments, including photoshopped screenshots of fake discord texts to make Uhmayyze look bigoted, nsfw images, r slur, suicide baiting and so on). This is important because the incident of real life harassment was fuelled over a community manager highlighting a content creator that is himself being harassed and despised online for the crime of... being positive. And you know, for being black. This situation isn't an isolated incident. The community, including other content creators, are absolutely horrible towards this one person that they feel, I guess, does not follow the content creator NPC questline of hating Bungie and Destiny.

So of course, at some point, someone from that crowd will feel confident and justified taking things further. How dare Bungie promote this person they hate. How dare they focus on a positive creator. They're clearly biased and don't want to listen to criticism, only to "toxic positivity" streamer. How dare a community manager highlight this creator. It's a personal slight to them, and "proof" that Bungie is bad and evil and "ignoring criticism." There's someone out there (and probably not the only one) that hates this creator and the game so much they were willing to harass and threaten a community manager and his family in real life.

The community manager was first harassed by phone with text messages and voice mails featuring racist bile, including apparently a voice mail telling him to "convince Bungie to create options in its game in which only persons of color would be killed." This is the worst part for me and super concerning in general, as well as showing the dedication of this person to racism, motivated by his hatred of a black creator (which also, by proxy, technically makes the streamer being harassed as well). Absolutely ghoulish behaviour.

This escalated to also harassing the CM's wife and resulted in doxing them; the harasser somehow found their address. Most of the reports on this will say that the asshole "sent them pizza" which doesn't truly capture how horrific the incident was. First, it's a random guy who has your address which is concerning enough given that he harasses you by phone already. Apparently the pizza was made to be "inedible" and the delivery was instructed to bang loudly on the door upon arrival to maximise discomfort. The order was also deliberately made to be paid on delivery to create as much pain for the victims as possible. The harasser also kept track of the delivery and then called the family again when it was done to tell them to "enjoy the pizza." The family immediately contacted Bungie who contacted the police and provided the family with protection. There's no telling how this would've escalated had they not been in the position to call Bungie and had Bungie not reacted to them asking for help. It's absolutely crucial here that Bungie is the type of a company willing to immediately assist in this situation.

Immediately following that, Bungie organised a long and expensive manhunt to identify the harasser and bring them court. That's where most of the expenses went; finding the culprit and protecting the employee and his family. This is the money Bungie earned back by this court decision because they could prove that the expenses were caused by a person harassing and threatening their employee.

This is a big win overall for the whole industry. It's Bungie setting a precedent on how a company should protect its employees. No matter what people think about Bungie or big corporations or whatever, this is how you can use a lot of money and power to make sure that your workers have rights to decency and safety. That's huge for the rights of workers and worker protections. I hope it becomes a standard and that any future harassment is prevented altogether or at least punished accordingly.

Naturally, the commentary on the news from a big part of the community is super positive. Unfortunately, there's also a part of the community that has a lot of really awful shit to say about this. The comments on twitter are littered with people who are using THIS specific moment to yell about Bungie being a greedy corporation, how the money they won should be used to "fix the servers" and "make more pvp maps" or how Bungie will greedily put this money "into Eververse" or "into Marathon." There's comments about how time was uselessly spent protecting an employee who should expect harassment anyway, instead of working on "fixing the game."

This is what I mean when I talk about how impossible it is in the current situation to have a meaningful discussion about any sort of criticism or feedback. There's thousands of comments from people who think that this specific instance shows how Bungie is greedy. This is what I mean when I say that none of these people actually understand what they're talking about. You can't make proper criticism when you can't separate game development with a company's legal effort to stop an escalating harassment campaign of an employee. The majority of gamers are simply not fit to offer any criticism or feedback. The idea that we all have something useful to say and that employees at Bungie are obliged to give us their time of the day is simply incorrect.

I genuinely 100% stand by the claim that the recent barrage of content creators promoting the idea that Bungie is "the greediest company in the world that's scamming players and increasing costs out of greed" as well as the idea that Bungie is "abandoning Destiny for Marathon, isn't working on the game anymore and is deliberately ruining it" is the reason for these comments existing. If a big streamer said that Bungie is getting too much money but also not doing anything "good" with it, then any money that Bungie receives (including compensation for expenses they took to protect an employee from active harm) is a result of greed. The nuance of any situation is lost; when you only learn the mantra of "company has money therefore company bad" you WILL end up causing harm for people and you will most definitely not be an advocate of workers rights. That's where we're at right now.

The dehumanisation of people who work at Bungie (and the harassment itself) is a consequence of this crap and other similar crap that's been thrown into the ether for the past year, disguised as "we're just offering feedback." People heard that Bungie is a "microtransaction hell" and that Bungie is only investing in Eververse and Marathon and they feel like this story reflects that; they feel like an employee being harassed is not deserving of proper condemnation and that this isn't important enough and that Bungie is a greedy corpo anyway so who cares about that. They do not understand how companies work, how games are made, the state of the industry as a whole (or the world as a whole), the treatment of employees or workers' rights, and you cannot meaningfully critique a company's business practices without understanding that. And they don't because they think that legal expenses used to protect victims, finding a culprit and bringing their ass to court is money that is being used for game development and that Bungie receiving this money should result in... new pvp maps or "fixed servers."

And there's even seemingly good commentary where people recognise how this is good, but they initiate the comment with "As much as I hate Bungie and Destiny and I think they're awful and greedy and destroying gaming as a whole..." : that's not the time and place. You don't have to excuse your support of a big win for potential new employee protection policies just because those policies are done by a company. Of course it is. Companies are the only ones capable of pursuing this sort of legal action. It's one good way a big company can put their power and money into a good place to actually help people and bring forth positive change. And like, you don't have to tell us how much you despise Bungie before you're "allowed" to admit that this is good news. Sometimes companies do good stuff. It's literally not that complicated.

I hope that this situation will help other employees demand the same protection, that other companies will follow suit and that this will also make potential other harassers rethink whether or not they will engage in this or similar type of behaviour. In the meantime, know that the community is largely positive about this, but that there are still absolutely detestable human beings who should feel ashamed of their reaction to this. They shouldn't feel welcome here. And there's still people doing this to the devs and I hope Bungie takes their asses to court too.

[gilgil-machine]

I wish some people never had access to internet at all...

TW assault, TW r*pe

[non-descript0101]

No one

Absolutely no one

Me and my broken brain: What if I made a Nevermore Trimberly Au?

[persephoneflouwers]

-

[lindensea]

My dad died very peacefully at dawn, with my family around him, holding his hands

[softquietsteadylove]

Some aftercare for Gil after his poisoning experience? Thenas Pokémon being surprisingly caring and protective of him!

Something sweet maybe

Gil blinked, feeling something cool on his forehead. "Oh, uh, hey."

"Frosslass!"

Gil sat himself up in the bed, touching where Frosslass' hand(?) had just been. "Did I have a fever."

The ghost pokemon put on a contrite face and nodded, "Frosslass-Fross."

He had been at home for almost a week now, but they did tell him there could be latent effects of the poisoning he had suffered. So far the pain he had felt had at least lessened, but he still had some aches and chills, and the occasional fever.

Thena's pokemon had been...surprisingly helpful. He had expected Dragonite to be a bit of a worrywart, but both he and Teddiursa had been good about going back to work while he was still recovering. Thena may have told them that they had to help cover for Gil while he was still out sick.

She herself took as much time off from work as she could, but the league didn't exactly give her paid leave. Instead, she had gone back to her usual route with only Gallade and Ninetales, asking her most recent team addition - Froslass - to stay home with Gil.

"Frosslass?" she asked, floating down to the bed on top of his multiple blankets.

"I do feel better, thanks," he smiled at the kind hearted ghost pokemon. She tended not to let herself be visible for too long, but he felt that he had a good rapport with her. "What time is it?"

"Fross," she reached for him, using her long arm(??) to retrieve his pokegear. "Fross-Frosslass?"

"Yeah, she should be home in a little bit," Gil commented, looking through his messages, although they were mostly from Thena telling him that she hoped he was resting, and also a picture of a Luxray who apparently seemed to know her.

"Fross!" the ghost pokemon startled as he started sliding out of bed.

"I'm okay, really, I can at least put some soup on," he attempted to assure it, patting between the horns on her head.

But the ghost rushed in front of Gil, its eyes narrowed. "Frosslass!"

He had to admit he was surprised. He knew that Thena had instructed the ice/ghost type to take care of him in her absence, but he hadn't expected her to be so invested in his recovery.

"Fross," she continued, explaining how even in her short time in the house, she had noticed how much happier Thena's 'aura' seemed when Gil was around. He brought a calm to her trainer's mind which Froslass appreciated. "Froslass?"

"Of course I would," Gil sighed, not even wanting to think too hard on the idea of Thena being sick the way he had been. If anything, he was unconscious for so much of it, his memory was questionable at best. But as he had asked Thena about it, the severity of it was enough that she had admitted she was prepared to have a very serious talk with their little bear cub about the worst case scenario.

Froslass was right; he had a family to take care of, and to do that, he had to take care of himself.

She joined him, floating alongside him to the kitchen. "Frosslass...Fross?"

Gil nodded, reaching for the stew pot as well as some kitchen basics. They were actually from his apartment, since Thena's kitchen was terribly lacking for anything that wasn't related to pokemon nutrition. "It'll be easy, I'll just put it on so by the time Thena gets back it'll probably be almost ready."

Froslass floated around him, watching as he prepared the meal for himself and her trainer. "Frosslass."

Gil laughed, chopping a little more slowly than normal given his cold fingers. "Yeah, I guess I do kind of worry about what she feeds herself when I'm not around."

"Fross," the pokemon shrugged, pointing out that Gallade's snacking habit actually came from their trainer.

"Well, actually," Gil smiled at Froslass as he cooked. "When I first met Thena, I learned early on that she only cared for her pokemon and pretty much neglected herself."

"We ran into each other here in the valley. She had just moved and was still camping with Ralts and Swablu. When I brought her to the pokemon centre, not only did she sleep for almost an entire day, but I also found out that she spent all her money on luxury balls and vitamins and pokemon food. All she'd eaten was oran berries and packaged curry she'd brought with her."

Frosslass laughed as well, fading in and out of view as she expressed her glee. It certainly sounded like her very driven, very caring, but also very dense trainer. "Fross-Frosslass?"

"Well, I mostly told her that I would share my lunches with her, but only if she stopped spending all her money on her pokemon and at least bought herself some sandwiches or something. Or, y'know, worked on finding a place to stay while she was here."

"Frosslass?"

"She stayed in the league facilities for a while," Gil narrated as he began chopping the potatoes. He hadn't blanched them at all, wanting them to cook in the broth. But they were still pretty hard. "A lot of trainers do, but I don't think she liked not being able to have her pokemon out of their pokeballs and in her room with her."

"Fross," the ice type nodded, pressing the knife down with Gil. She was delighted to discover that, at home, Thena maintained an open pokeball policy. Sure, some people had a Pikachu or Skitty in the house with them, but mostly it was smaller breeds like that.

"I kind of like to think that was my influence, a little," Gil chuckled as Froslass helped him slide the diced potatoes into the stew as well. "I mean, she already carried Ralts in her arms all the time, but still."

"Fross?" she asked, intrigued by the idea of proud and stubborn Gallade being carried around the way Teddiursa had been at first.

"Yep," Gil confirmed as he started stirring. "She totally babied him. Carried him in her arms, let him sleep in her sleeping bag with her, even kept him in her coat when she went up the mountain. He acts all cool now, but right up until he evolved into a Kirlia, he was just as much of a lap pokemon as Teddi."

Froslass snickered to itself; she would savour this information the next time Gallade got bossy about the house rules.

"Come on, don't tell him I told you that," Gil attempted to dissuade her. "He already hates me, I can't have him thinking I turned you against him."

"Frosslass!" she waved, dismissing the notion that the Blade pokemon disliked the gentle ranger in any way. "Frosslass-Fross, Frosslass!"

"Really?" Gil felt the need to ask. Gallade always acted like Gil was somewhat of a nuisance, if a familiar one. He really hit those teenage years hard, and Gil sometimes wondered if he would ever outgrow that phase of only wanting to lie around and watch tv at home.

But Froslass argued that Gallade cared very much for his trainer's mate (as they put it). Gallade was Thena's battle partner, certainly, but he had at least some respect for the fact that Gil was her partner in a different way.

"Fross!" It was the thing about auras again. Gallade and Ninetales - and Frosslass to a certain degree - could all sense the auras people and pokemon gave off. And Gil and Thena's auras were never so healthy and happy as when they were together, so the ghost type said.

"I guess that's a relief," Gil looked into the soup pot, stirring the dinner for himself and his aforementioned partner. He certainly felt like he was part of their family. "He could give me a little less lip, though."

"Fross," she shrugged. That was Gallade--he didn't like listening to anyone, and even listening to Thena didn't always work. But he cared for their family and took protecting them very seriously.

"Yeah, I'll say," Gil huffed, mostly in reference to the many occasions Gallade had interrupted their dates like a disgruntled father or agitated little brother. "I used to make poffins for him, and he treats me like I'm some homewrecker."

"Frosslass," she lamented, and she was right, Thena's poffins were better (marginally). "Frosslass!"

But Gallade did have fondness for Gil, and being his usual petulant self around him was a sign of that.

"Well, thanks for telling me that," he smiled at the ghost companion who handed him the pot lid. "This can just simmer away until she gets home."

"Frosslass?"

"A little," he also lamented, yawning into his palm. "Man, this is killing me."

"Frosslass!"

"Sorry, sorry," he chuckled, patting its head again before shuffling to the couch. "Thanks for keeping me company, too. I know you'd rather be out battling with Thena."

"Frosslass," she excused easily. Everyone was worried about him upon the news that he had fallen ill. And if she could do small things to help, like look after him at home or babysit Teddi on occasion, then she was happy to.

"What do you want to watch?" he asked as he picked up Gallade's precious tv remote.

"Fross," she pondered, watching him skip through programs until her eyes lit up and she floated up off the couch again, "Fross!"

"Okay, Great Galar Bakeoff it is," Gil declared, setting the remote down and sinking further into the cushions. "Do you and Thena watch this?"

"Fross-Frosslass," she nodded, recounting how Thena actually paid very close attention to the relaxed show, hoping to absorb some practical knowledge.

Gil yawned again, already being lulled to sleep by the calming music and gentle regional accents, "that's pretty cute."

"Fross," she whispered, watching as he curled himself up. She reached to the back of the couch, also using Gallade's precious throw blanket to drape over Gil.

[alien-ally]

the last thing i want happening if i come out as aplatonic (which takes immensely more than coming out as aro or ace) is to be erased to my face with something about friendship being very important and that i should really get out there and try it out and stop isolating myself or whatever. I am introverted, i get drained by social interactions a lot, even when I'm having a good time, i get quiet in between, for those reasons i do isolate myself. I am not good with approaching people and starting conversations or keeping them going most of the times as i usually have limited reactions and just humm most of the times. so i have to work my mind a mile an hour to make some comment or query to not seem too indifferent. overall I'm just very indifferent to friendship. significantly disinterested as compared to non-apl people. maybe it's cause i have not met very many people i truly connect with but maybe it's just the way i am. i usually have a lot to talk about topics and can go about it to other people if I'm feeling like it or if I'm 100% sure they're interested. But that doesn't happen all the time. rather, it happens quite rarely. eitherways it's hard for me to feel as intrigued/drawn in by other people. which i believe is a major factor of platonic attraction. there are several intersections between my introverted, reserved, private nature and my aplatonicity. both make it hard for me to function around people as friendship and enthusiasm for it comes as a natural expectation in the society. But I'm just a little too happy by myself most of the time, and that doesn't make a lot of sense to people. 2/10 times, when i want to do something out of it, my shell makes it hard for me to. As a result, there is a specific brand of isolation and loneliness i experience. Doesn't make me less aplatonic.

In any case I don't want to be erased to my face with some lame excuse about why you just cannot fully comprehend how someone could be this way when i come out to you.