#there are consequences

[taste-thewaste]

Do you all realize if you keep telling me I’m funny I will never shut up or go away

[bafflement]

Deaged Oz AU - Rumors In Atlas

The whispers had started long before Tip saved the little Faunus child, but his actions only served to strengthen them, make them more believable and more real. After all, now there were witnesses to state that Winter Schnee, or a boy calling himself that, had acted in exactly the way those old enough to remember the boy Atlas had lost would have acted. That? That changed things...

"Do you really believe them? Those stories, I mean? Even if they found the Schnee child, why would he care about us? He's human, after all... not to mention a Schnee..." The speaker reached up to scratch at one floppy ear, looking annoyed. He, for one, wasn't going to buy anything anyone said about them. After all, it had been far too long ago for them to still be the boy the whispers stated that he was...

"Nicholas' kid, though. And the old man? He cared, at least far more than Jacques did. What I don't get is why everybody's stating he's a kid." His workmate sighed, stretching overly tense shoulders, but his voice seemed more believing than his companion. The older Faunus looked almost wistful for a second, those around him suddenly forcefully reminded that he had known Winter Schnee, once...

"Maybe things'll get better? If it's really little Winter, then maybe he can help?"

"He'd have to grow up again, first... at least if things are to be believed. A temporal semblance... wouldn't wish that on my worst enemy. Imagine waking up in the future?" There was a hush as the meaning of those last few statements hit home. If it was true, then that would explain rather a lot, wouldn't it?

"Can you believe it?" A boy sneered, sounding disgusted. "Some jumped up kid claimed to be a Schnee, stood up for a filthy Faunus girl... no Schnee would ever lower themselves that far!"

"Maybe it was a stunt?" His friend asked, tentatively. "After all, with Jacques gone, don't they need all the good wiill they can get? I still can't believe he was such a monster..."

"Maybe. Wasn't there some cripple brat at the funeral? Could be them. Hey, maybe it really was Winter Schnee, figures the only person who'd be friends with her would be a dead kid."

He shot a venemous look over at Lily, who ignored him, content in the knowledge that she did have at least one person who cared about her. No, Tip wasn't at school with them, but he was really nice! Her parents had said that they'd let him come over to visit soon, she could see him again. she finally had a friend! Hey, maybe he'd bring the others she'd met, too? The bullies would never touch her with all those scary older kids around. Tip even had a sword! They hadn't looked very tough, running away from him, after all... she giggled to herself softly and continued reading. Maybe she'd be a Huntress, one day?"

The first protests started a few days later. Robyn Hill herself had gone on record that she'd met the boy in question. She'd had nothing but good things to say about the youngster who had thwarted what might so easily have been a massacre at her election party, which only really served to underline that something, at least, was definitely going on. They'd heard of the boy that she was talking about, little Wintertip Pine, too. And wasn't that just the coincidental name, under the circumstances?

Rumors were flying quicker than ever, so when James Ironwood came out and admitted publically that there had indeed been a temporal semblance involved in the recovery of one of the Atlas Four, almost the entire public were of the same opinion. It was Winter Schnee, the small, crippled boy that so many had taken into their hearts when he was snatched all that time ago. He'd been returned to them, so now? It was up to them to protect him, make sure it could never happen again.

After all, it wasn't like he could realistically protect himself, even if there were stories involving some sort of sword. That would just be laughable... right?

[bending-sickle]

I was literally listening to a podcast discuss this very thing this morning and was going to summarize it in the tags but no, I had to spend an hour putting this together instead of going to bed.

From MonsterTalk, Season 03E49 Richard Hatem’s Paranormal Bookshelf: pt. 2 (Explicit) - 4:11-9:48, emphasis added:

Blake: Like when I was in the Navy, I had so many friends who were gay and lesbian but they couldn’t say it and we hardly ever talked about it but y’know, they could lose their jobs, they could get kicked out of the Navy, they could be dishonorable discharged. There were serious consequences to being true to yourself. And that sucks. […]

Hatem: […] And we were growing up at a time when the sort of like most glaring example of that [not being able to be one’s authentic self in all situations] would have been, oh, gay people who are part of our culture, but keep this one aspect hidden. What's really cool about right now and the, you know, podcasts and the internet, is that a lot of people who feel outside the mainstream for all kinds of reasons are able to kind of find each other. […] Well, what it does though is in the best possible sense, it makes you go, oh, okay, but if I feel weird and marginal because of my interest in a particular subject, I can now understand and sympathize with other people who feel marginalized for other, maybe much more foundational reasons that are—that actually do impact their lives and the way they are allowed to even conduct their lives. And it's certainly what it's done for me. It's, it's almost like, yeah, please tell me how you're an outsider in whatever way. And we will then have something we share even if you're an outsider because you like some weird, you know, sport or stamp collecting or whatever. It's like, yeah, that's the thing. And I talk about it a lot next season, but it's kind of, it's the joy in the tragedy of never joining the group, you know, yeah. And you're never going to be the one in the stands waving a flag for your football team. […] Because I wasn't an athlete, you know, and I wasn't whatever. So it's like, oh, the things I care about, no one else does. And that's not, you know, and it's so funny because again in the 70s, it's like, no, you're special, free to be you and me. And whatever makes you different makes you special. […] [And] God bless them for saying that and for making the, the outsider kids try to feel okay, but the fact of the matter is for the majority of our lives, being different isn't helpful. And it doesn't make your life easier. It makes your life more difficult. It's actually far easier to just be, “I'm a straight white guy who loves the team.”

Blake: The Team, yeah, and I don't have the sports gene. […] I mean, no, I feel disconnected from most of society because most people do love sports.

Hatem: You know, okay. Yeah. So, so, okay, now you're me. Yeah. You know, you finally are working in Hollywood as a TV writer. All TV writers feel like outsiders, even within Hollywood. And now I'm sitting, I find myself throughout my career. I'll be sitting with a group of writers. And then one of them will start talking sports. And then the others suddenly are all talking sports. And so this, that's so weird. Just keeps getting smaller. I'm like, oh, my God, even among my people, I'm still ostracized because, and, you know, I don't have a lot of regrets in life. But one of them in a weird way is I almost wish I had been born with an interest in sports. Because if you have that as a guy, you can talk to anybody. […] You know, and I just never had that. And I'm like, yeah. And again, at a certain point, I just had to embrace all that stuff. And it's like, hey, you know what? I also don't like opera. And I also don't care. I mean, there's a lot of things that I'm not into. But the sports one is like, yeah, that's—that's—when you're a guy that—that cuts you out of so many—

Blake: It makes you an outsider. It absolutely does.

It’s crazy and fucked up that being yourself is actually the solution.

[sadclowncentral]

shoutout to the guy who after unsuccessfully hitting on my sister and being politely declined asked her "is it okay if i ask your brother instead" and when she said yes gave me a long and searching look before sighing and going "no. i am not drunk enough to go for a dude. but you look like an angel" happy bisexual pride to this man and this man only. hope you figure it out soon king

[rae-butter]

Honestly, I love it when characters relapse. When someone who’s gotten over their anger issues falls into a situation so out of their depth they fall back on their old habits. When someone who’s learned to open up becomes a recluse again in order to cope with something outside their control.

There’s just something so horrible, so toxic, about watching a character grow and then slip back into their old selves in order to cope, bc you know they still care, that they’re the same inside, but watching them hurt so hard they don’t know what else to do brings a sense of catharsis.

[artielu]

Ok, so. The Trump budget. It has already passed the House and now just needs 51 senators to pass it and send it to Trump for signature.

There are 53 Republican senators, 45 Democratic ones, and 2 Independents that vote with the Democrats. VP Vance is a tiebreaker vote.

So to block the bill, at least four Republican senators need to find their spines and the Democrats and Independents all need to keep their spines. This will not happen without direct action from voters.

They are only going to resist this bill if they hear from voters in their states. They do not care if some person from California calls them.

It's really fucking bad for everyone except the ultra-wealthy, surprise surprise.

I'm going to go through some of the features of this budget in reblogs, but trust and believe that it's horrible for the vast, vast majority of Americans, including you.

Highlights include:

Extends the Trump tax cuts passed in 2017. This continues $3.7 billion in tax cuts for the wealthy. If this budget does not pass, these tax cuts will expire and go back up without any action.

$150 billion in additional military spending

Work requirements for Medicaid. "childless adults without disabilities would be required to work 80 hours per month to qualify for benefits.". They expect millions of people to fail to meet work requirements and lose Medicaid.

Planned Parenthood and trans care. "Bans Medicaid from providing funding to Planned Parenthood as long as the organization continued to provide abortions, and would bar Medicaid from covering gender affirming health care to any beneficiaries. "

Reduces SNAP food stamp access that 40 million people use. "mandates work requirements for able-bodied SNAP enrollees who don't have dependents.".

Clean energy "dramatically scaling back many of the tax credits for clean energy."

Border walls and ICE. "$46.5 billion toward completing Trump's border wall. It also allots $5 billion for Customs and Border Protection facilities and more than $6 billion to hire and retain more agents and officers"

Student loans. "cut $330 billion from the student loan system by scrapping several existing repayment options, including the Biden-era SAVE program that based payments on income and household size.". Does anyone want to have student loan payments that you cannot afford?

Guts Obamacare. "Saves $100 billion, but will result in millions of Americans becoming uninsured if they fail to adhere to new paperwork requirements or can no longer afford insurance premiums."

Weakens federal courts that keep using orders that his actions are illegal and unconstitutional. It prohibits courts from enforcing contempt citations for violations of injunctions or temporary restraining orders unless the plaintiff pays a bond. Bonds can be EXTRAORDINARILY EXPENSIVE and are not currently required in these cases. The provision "would make most existing injunctions—in antitrust cases, police reform cases, school desegregation cases, and others—unenforceable," says the god of constitutional law, Dean Erwin Chemerinsky.

So, you folks in red states and you folks in wobbly blue states (PA, NC, etc), you need to call your senators and save us all.

Call every day. Call after hours so you can leave a voicemail and not talk to anyone.

For real y'all, millions of people are going to starve, go broke, and be without medical care if this bill passes. Which is a feature, not a bug, of the Trump administration.

And it will balloon the national debt to pay for these tax cuts for the wealthy.

[biggest-gaudiest-patronuses]

we need to step away from viewing marriage as inherently romantic, or the primary goal of romance. marriage is a legal contract we use to create important ties--financial, medical, next-of-kin, mediating shared property and parental rights. the details vary a lot based on where you are and what paperwork you sign. which is not very romantic! but it does have many real-world effects on our ability to share our lives with our partners.

first and foremost, marriage is a legal right we use to build and protect our families, whatever that family may look like

[northern-passage]

we go through this every hurricane season but the way people will find any excuse to point the finger at the victims of natural disasters and say cruel shit like "fuck around and find out" like it's not horrifying having to leave behind your home and all your belongings and potentially your pets with the full knowledge that there might not be anything to come back to after... ignoring that there are people that don't have a car or the money to evacuate, ignoring disabled people who have no way to get out, ignoring people that can't find places for their pets to shelter, ignoring people that have medical equipment that can't be moved or replaced, etc... and even if someone stays behind solely because they want to, they still don't deserve to suffer.

as someone who worked extensively in disaster response previously, it is not easy to "just" evacuate, and the relief that comes afterwards is intentionally difficult to obtain. and already the forces that be are trying to spin this narrative that the victims are at fault, to put the blame on them so that if (probably when) people are forced to resort to looting (because the aid never comes) everyone will nod and agree that they're all bad people and deserved it... rather than acknowledging the fact that there was no attempt to make the evacuation accessible and safe for everyone, no guarantee that aid will be waiting for them when they return to a home that has been swept away... no empathy for the fact that these people's entire lives are potentially destroyed with no safety net to catch them.

[destielmemenews]

source 1

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[megarywrites]

snippets from november: 3/30

The Silent Shore — Part II: Split - Ch14 "In Broad Daylight"

Sweat still poured off of him, his dense curls soaked through and sticking to his brow. I turned, glancing around for anything that could pass for a fan. There were some rolls of parchment tucked inside the cavity within the apeza, and I darted for it, unraveling one of them and folding it in half on my way back to the Diamo.  I sat on the bench before him, leaning over the back as I started to fan his face. He relaxed almost at once, his eyes fluttering closed as he rolled onto his back, his hands going limp at his lapels. After a few seconds of watching him, I looked back over my shoulder, watching the door for when Solera would return.   “I’m…pleasantly surprised by you,” he said at last, the raspy sound of his voice startling me. I looked back at him, finding his eyes still closed and his countenance adorned with a wan smile. “I thought…after last night…you’d take after your mother…with her insolence.” The hand fanning him faltered and he barely opened his wandering eyes. Once he found me, he reached out, patting my arm with his clammy hand. “But you’re a good girl, aren’t you…”  I was lucky. Not only did my sioti conceal most of my disdainful grimace, but Solera’s reappearance distracted us both.

[lastoneout]

I just love it when video games let you do really stupid shit that kills you immediately. I love being like "oh this is a terrible idea" and being able to do it and then die. It's good game design.

[phantom-shell]

I think it's super interesting how Jimmy's fear of Anya and the baby manifests in his mind as the Pony Express mascot.

Unlike every other character, Anya ISN'T in Jimmy's guilt/regret hallucinations near the end. He sees Daisuke walk towards the dark, he sees Swansea chase him through a cemetery, he sees Curly on fire in front of him but ANYA? Anya isn't given that kind of treatment. No, instead, we see a hallucination of the baby, a tiny horse in a womb that has no face attached to it (Anya's face specifically, all he sees is the womb), turning into a deformed monster that hunts him down the moment it's born.

Polle (the baby) is seen as a danger in Jimmy's head in the beginning of the game too, after he walks out of the cockpit. The more he walks, the louder the baby noises get and the more deformed Polle looks when he runs into it!

Jimmy doesn't give a damn about Anya, nor does he regret anything he did to her, but he is scared of that baby and what it means. The living proof of what he did to Anya, manifesting as a monster that hunts him down throughout the game.

[gin-juice-tonic]

thinking about artist alleys made me recall a memory

[snail-day]

You swear Geto ends up on his tummy more often than not. Draped across the bed like a lazy cat, broad back rising and falling with each breath, that beautiful inky dark hair tied half-heartedly in a low bun that’s already slipping loose. A few strands fall against his cheek, casting a shadow over those long lashes and the lazy curve of his mouth. He’s so annoyingly pretty like this - it’s tempting to attack him.

And he lets you.

One hand lazily typing on his phone, sending a message to Satoru asking when he’s going to be home. So you pounce while you have the chance. (Not like he'd stop you.)

You straddle him, smack his ass a few times, knead your fingers into the plushest parts of him as if he’s your own personal stress toy. And he just hums with every little assault. Sometimes you bite him, sink your teeth into his shoulder, just to feel the sharp intake of breath, to catch the subtle twitch of a smile tugging at the corner of his lips.

“Getting it all out of your system?” he drawls, unbothered, sending a help gif to Satoru. A message that receives a heart react.

You slip cold hands beneath the hem of his dark shirt and he doesn’t even flinch. Just lets out another low hum, close to a purr, amused and warm. His chest is stupidly firm under your palms, radiating heat, and you swear he could flip you over and trap you beneath him without even trying.

But he doesn’t.

Because he’s patient. Always has been, out of the two of you. He knows that eventually, you’ll wear yourself out, that you’ll end up curled right where he wants you. And so he lets you play, lets you giggle and wiggle and bite until your energy runs thin, until you’re soft and sleepy against his side, cheek pressed to his bulky shoulder, body tucked beneath the weight of his arm.

Then he turns. Just his head at first, those wine-dark eyes cutting to you through thick, heavy lashes. That slow, feline smile starts to curl across his lips. He watches you for a moment, messy, warm, half-limp beneath him, still letting out the occasional spurt of giggles.

And then he drawls, voice syrup-slow and honey-soft, just enough to make your stomach flip. For your giggles to turn nervous:

“My turn.”

[infinitelystrangemachinex]

The stewards of the old world are always keen to give you a glimpse of their might... According to legend, the ancients built specialized chambers to seal away false prophets.

The Arcane is waking up.