#you know how many problems would be solved if we just eliminated the men

[can-we-die-now]

to simplify the problem

eliminate the man

~MPN

[maaarine]

"It's not really objectification in itself that's the problem, but rather de-subjectification, de-humanization.

Martha Nussbaum's criteria of objectification are: instrumentality, commodification, interchangeability, violability, disposability.

It's not just that someone is an object of perception for you, it's that they are a violable thing-like nonhuman object.

I see objectification as kind of psychologically opposed to identification.

When we objectify someone, we're refusing to identify with them.

Why do men objectify women? Well, misogyny, yes. But let's be more specific.

In part I think it's because most men don't identify with women, they don't even know how to.

Men are not socialized to identify with women. Boys often fear identification with girls or identification with their own mother.

It's as if boys are afraid that by identifying with girls, they might themselves become girls. I guess, in my case, that is what happened…

The phenomenon of men writing women illustrates what happens when men who can't identify with women attempt to write female characters.

Instead of plausible female identification, you get mere erotic projection. "She breasted boobily."

A lot of men don't know how to write women as subjects, so they write them as objects.

And this is really upsetting to most women. Women are not man-haters by nature.

Most women crave recognition from men and they're disturbed that so many men seem to relate to them in this introverted objectifying way.

I also think that heterosexual men have a selfish sexual motive for refusing to identify with women.

Many men, many people in general who are attracted to women, unconsciously view women as easily hurt, easily offended.

We're guilty about desiring women because we unconsciously view women as weak and vulnerable.

And so we feel that being attracted to women is predatory. I think this is a problem for straight men and for gay women.

But gay women don't usually solve this problem with objectification, because gay women usually find it easy to identify with other women.

We see ourselves in other women, so we can't view them merely as objects.

But because men often don't identify with women, objectification is a solution to the problem of guilt.

Because negating the other's subjectivity eliminates the shame of being seen.

When you objectify a woman, she becomes meat. You can stare and lust and consume her without the guilt and shame and self-consciousness that would result from seeing her as an equal subject.

(…) I also think that because masculinity is associated with power, objectification of men has different implications than objectification of women.

In particular a muscular man's body is not passive soft flesh to be preyed upon.

A muscular male body is power. And you see this in the almost quasi religious attitude to male bodies that's part of gay male culture.

I would even argue that gay men's objectification of men is extremely threatening to heteronormativity.

It's threatening to the male voyeur vs female exhibitionist heterosexual diad."

Source: ContraPoints: Tangent: The Male Gaze

[vvienne]

XICHENG FIC RECS

hold my hands by Snooze (Chiruka)

Transplanting a core into a new person isn’t without repercussions. One year after the events at Guanyin Temple, Jiang Cheng found himself once again faced with the possibility of losing everything he had. Reconciling with his brother, learning to let Jin Ling go, and dealing with his blooming emotions toward the First Jade of Gusu — will Jiang Cheng accomplish what he wants before time runs out?

it all passes someday by screamlet

A week before the anniversary of Wei Wuxian’s death, there was a commotion outside Lan Wangji’s house.

*

Jiang Cheng and Lan Wangji over the years.

The Unlikely Expression of Love by manamune

When everything has settled, when everyone else has moved on with their lives and their friends, Jiang Cheng has a realization which shouldn’t actually be a surprise:

He’s lonely.

Indigo, lavender, and violet (I don't wanna be red) by ohwhatevrewhatevr

It, in the pale colors of the late morning, is the closest to perfect Jiang Cheng will ever reach. He strokes Lan XiChen's hair and presses a light kiss to where his ribbon and hair meet. The sky is a pale blue, and the pastels of flowers and clouds are spread out through the window, a brilliant world waiting for them, them in the gentian house, safe from stronger breezes - there is the clutter of birds fluttering and chirping outside. It is a warm, perfect, spring morning.

Jiang Cheng and Lan XiChen have been together for an year. In which, no one ever really gets over things, Jiang Cheng has the misfortune of interacting with his brother, the juniors help out with the proposal, and there's a marriage.

Altitude by starknjarvis 

When Jin Ling lures Jiang Cheng to the Cloud Recesses under false pretenses, he finds himself out of place among this new family Wei Wuxian has formed.

Lan Xichen, at least, seems pleased to have his company.

Perhaps there is still a chance for Jiang Cheng to make amends and move forward.

[Modao Zushi Online] GLITCH REPORT: My Brother Got Chased Down And %$@*$&@ By Gusu Dungeon Boss??? by oh_fudgecakes

Modao Zushi Online is a virtual reality MMORPG. Jiang Cheng and Wei Wuxian are top ranking players in its new server, currently tied with their arch-nemesis from their previous server, Wen Chao. In an attempt to defeat him, they take on the Gusu Dungeon Boss, Zewu-jun, to win the reward of a legendary weapon. Ever the cheat, Wei Wuxian tries to take advantage of a glitch to defeat the seemingly undefeatable boss. It backfires. Jiang Cheng gets fucked by a boss monster.

He can't get enough.

Meanwhile, Lan Xichen, the unwitting staff member in charge of controlling Zewu-jun, absolutely did not sign up to be pulled into a secret virtual reality fling with a player. Mod Ji, who has to deal with Wei Wuxian's incessant glitch reporting of his brother's sex life, is long-suffering.

Mulberry by xxdz

Jiang Cheng grits his teeth and pushes harder. He feels like torn silk, the embroidery needle sinking in again and again and again; patiently, desperately, endlessly trying to make something beautiful out of something broken.

Jiang Cheng builds his sect, learns embroidery, and raises his nephew.

we can raise a little family by lanyon

“Well, brother,” says Wei Wuxian, leaning against the outside of Jiang Cheng’s chambers. “I had heard that you and Xichen went on a night hunt and came back with a baby, which is not the order I’d choose to do things in…”

In which Jiang Cheng and Lan Xichen acquire a baby of unknown origin, and are the very last to know what it means.

Beyond the Impossible by Silverine

Summoned by Lan Qiren, Jiang Wanyin goes to the Cloud Recesses to drop his nephew Jin Ling, expecting to discuss relevant matters with his old master. Instead, he's asked to take with him no other than Sect Leader Lan himself, all the way back to Lotus Pier. If the reason why he accepted such an outrageous task is indeed a mystery, he's about to be surprised by how this entire trip, their encounters, and his warm company, suddenly feel fated.

Incrementally by xxdz

Jiang Cheng is trapped in a day on repeat where he begins by waking in Zewu Jun’s bed at dawn and ends by dying painfully at dusk.

It’s getting very irritating, and he has the sneaking suspicion that his chances to solve his own murder are rapidly running out. Soon, his death will be much more permanent.

All in all, worst birthday ever.

Audience of One by WinterDreams

“Then let an established star go first,” Lan Xichen interrupts again before Lan Wangji can give a stubborn reply. Both men twist toward Lan Xichen, and he smiles at Wei Wuxian’s tilted head. “If I publicly date a man for awhile first, your engagement shouldn’t receive as much backlash.”

Or, that AU where everyone is famous in some way or another, Wei Wuxian and Lan Wangji have been dating in private for years, and Lan Xichen and Jiang Cheng pretend to date publicly for their brothers' sake.

A Bit of Ruthlessness by jirluvien

When Jiang Cheng hears that Lan Xichen went into seclusion following Jin Guangyao’s death, it’s almost as if he can see the grabby hands of a restless ghost, reaching out for something to keep him company. For something warm and living and devastated. And as history has proved time and time again, the Lans are perfect victims when it comes to giving in to ghosts.Yeah, no. Not on Jiang Cheng’s fucking watch.A story about grief, determination, unexpected friendships, abandoned watchtowers, and letters. So many letters.

All Tied Up In You by Clearpearls

Yet again, the night had come to this:

Jiang Cheng on the floor, kneeling, Zidian wrapped around his wrists.

Alone.

Thank You, and I'm Sorry by Hamliet

Jin GuangYao might be dead, but his story is not. Taking advantage of the chaos he instigated, someone makes an attempt on the life of the young new leader of the Jin Sect. When Jiang Cheng takes Jin Ling to the Cloud Recesses to have him study while he attempts to work with Wei WuXian and his husband Lan WangJi to eliminate the threat, he encounters a mourning Lan XiChen, lovestruck teenagers, and a persistent corpse--and both pairs of brothers find themselves struggling to move on.

saturn's rings (don't be a heartbreaker) by iskendaris

Set after the seige of burial mounds, Yunmeng rebuilds as they hold the first Discussion Conference at Lotus Pier. Sometimes the night is a gift, a refuge for loneliness. "So stern, Sect Leader Jiang," Lan Xichen murmured, "So glacial... What will it take to melt that icy exterior? What can I say?"

"Nothing. There's nothing you can say or offer."

reciprocity by jukeboxhound

There’s a pause before Lan Xichen says, in a tone that’s a little more neutral, “I would like to paint on you.”

“…What?”

“Of course, if you say ‘yes’ but then change your mind at any point, for any reason, you need only say so and I will stop immediately,” he adds.

Well, silver lining: Jiang Cheng is feeling much more awake than he was a moment ago.

Talent Hunt Crew Finds Angry Guy Shouting On College Campus, Recruits Him For Vocal Projection Abilities by oh_fudgecakes

Jiang Cheng, resident Angry Guy and heir to a conglomerate empire, has never been the apple of his father’s eye. Quashed under the shadow of his brilliant brother, the music prodigy Wei Wuxian, Jiang Cheng sees his chance to turn things around when he is recruited by the All-Stars Lan Talent Hunt. One problem: he can’t sing to save his goddamn life.

As he struggles to develop his nascent singing abilities, Jiang Cheng finds himself sucked into the whirlwind drama of reality TV, helped along by his adoring siblings, his irritable vocal coach Wen Qing, and strangely enough, the unfairly attractive host of the All-Stars Lan Talent Hunt, Lan Xichen. Somewhere in the glare of the stage lights and an unexpected first love, Jiang Cheng stumbles upon the thing he was searching for all along: the courage to dream — and to attempt the impossible.

Marginal Costs by ohwhatevrewhatevr

“You think you know what you want, Er-Ge,” A-Yao says. “But you should consider what you’re willing to give first,” he says wryly, taking Lan XiChen’s chess piece with slim, skilled fingers.

Lan XiChen looks up at A-Yao’s concentrated expression and the hint of contentment on his face that he is special enough to be allowed to see.

“It’s not just one decision, but the lead up to many more. One decision decides what else you’re going to have to pay, and each time you have to ask yourself, ignoring the sunk costs, if this time it’s worth it as well.”

When his sworn brother looks up at him with those clear, amber eyes, waiting, Lan XiChen feels the pull and gives in: he asks.

“Are you happy being in love?”

(First half is two sad sworn brothers talking, internally mourning how unfortunate their other sworn brother’s death was :/ and second half is when a mopey boy in blue meets an angsty boy in purple whilst chasing a demonic cultivator, and a lil bit of sexy dual cultivation happens.)

Somewhat Tender by theherocomplex

There is no defense against kindness; it has always undone him.

I didn't expect you to be lonely (too) by bettydice (BettyKnight)

Jiang Cheng's life is a mess, he's a mess, and he doesn't miss his brother at all. So when his sister gifts him ten sessions with a massage therapist, who turns out to be someone he was crushing on for a hot minute as a teenager and is still as hot as ever... yeah, that might as well happen. It won't have to mean anything.

This feels intimate to Jiang Cheng in a way that's probably very inappropriate and maybe even pathetic. Nobody touches him like this, right where he’s hurt the most. There's no one who handles him so gently, so carefully.

It's the gentleness that's his undoing, he thinks. He would be able to deal better with it if it was painful.

Life for Rent by yodasyoyo

“Yeah well. You’re not taking me seriously. This guy is my soulmate!”

“Soulmate.” Jiang Cheng rolls his eyes. “Whatever.”

“Just because you don’t believe in them—”

“I believe in them!” Jiang Cheng says. “I’ve never denied they exist.”

“Just last week you said that it was an evolutionary quirk that had been used by greetings card companies, movie makers, and corporations to exploit lonely and vulnerable people.”

“And I stand by it! That doesn’t mean that soulmates aren’t real. Just incredibly unlikely and probably pointless.

-

Or:

Xicheng vs Soulmates. Fight!

Halfway Around the World by theherocomplex

Normally, Jiang Cheng would be seething, jaw clenched tight, if someone sounded like that while they were talking, but — Lan Xichen has the trick of always making you feel like you're in on the joke, whatever the joke is. That you're laughing together.

Whelmed by yodasyoyo

For months now Jiang Cheng’s been idly fantasizing about how it would be if something were to come between Wei Ying and Lan Zhan. Mostly those daydreams have been simple enough — they break up (probably because Lan Zhan is boring or Wei Ying is annoying), Wei Ying is sad for a couple of days (Jiang Cheng’s willing to allow some space for feelings, he isn't a total monster), but then Wei Ying realizes he’s better off, he gets over it, and Jiang Cheng gets his brother back.

Unfortunately the fantasy version of events has only proven partially true, so far. They've broken up. Wei Ying has been sad.

Now weeks have passed, though — and Wei Ying is still sad, every. Single. Day.

It’s like Jiang Cheng's stuck in a looping GIF, and it’s driving him insane.

Or:

Jiang Cheng plots, Lan Huan pines, and, unfortunately for Lan Qiren, Wangxian are inevitable.

[imaginetonyandbucky]

The Buy In

For the prompt:  Mafia AU with Tony as the Boss (except he's a really good one, making the streets safe, keeping drugs away from kids etc) and Bucky as the detective sent to go undercover to catch him out but ends up realizing he's actually doing more good than harm and they end up falling in love

Chapter One: Fresh Meat

by @dracusfyre

“Hey, boss, we got fresh meat for you,” the man at Bucky’s elbow said. Bucky’s heart was in his throat, pulse racing like mad; he was the first detective ever to get this close to Tony Stark, to the Mechanic, and he prayed he would live to tell the tale. For years Stark had only been seen through the lens of a telescoping camera, impeccably dressed with sunglasses hiding his eyes and surrounded by his men at all times. Before today there had been no wiretaps, no informants, no insight into the elusive mob boss and his inner circle. But after years of hard work, Bucky was about to change that. As he was pushed into the echoing warehouse, his eyes darted around the room, taking in the classic cars, the souped-up sports coupes and half-built engines, looking for the man himself. Bucky wondered how many of these were stolen and awaiting new buyers. Men in suits were spread out guarding the exits, but he didn’t see a desk or an office, any kind of throne from which Stark ran his criminal empire.

After a moment, in the middle of the room, a man that Bucky’s eyes had completely glossed over unfolded himself from a work bench. He was wearing a tank top and low-slung jeans, and as he stood, he pulled his welding mask off and put down the butane torch. Bucky blinked, stunned as he approached; the man’s hair was tousled and messy, jaw dark with a five o’clock shadow, arms toned and tan. His eyes, when they met Bucky’s, where whiskey brown and warm with amusement. Bucky barely kept his jaw from dropping as he recognized Tony Stark, right down to the scar on his jaw he’d gotten in the car crash that had killed his parents.

“New meat, huh?” Stark asked, and he crossed his arms over his chest as he tilted his head and studied Bucky with eyes that seemed entirely too perceptive. “Tell me about him.”

“Wants a job,” the man at his elbow said. Bucky didn’t jump, but it was a near thing; he’d forgotten the man was even there. This was Tony Stark? The Mechanic was actually a mechanic? Everyone, from Bucky's fellow policemen to the FBI task force that had been organized to take him down, to the ATF agents and federal marshals that swapped stories over beer, had a different theory about where the man’s klichka came from: because of his well-known penchant for nice cars, because shop tools were his favorite methods of interrogation, because he was good at greasing wheels and making things happen. No one had ever suggested, even as a joke, that it might be because the man was a grease monkey. “Former military, spent time in Iraq,” the man continued. What was his name? Oh yeah, Harold. Everyone called him Happy. “Got out and a friend of a friend got him a job, if you know what I mean. His info checks out; he used to do work down at Brighton Beach then moved up to Red Hook before crossing the bridge. You said we needed new muscle down on 6th, remember?”

“I remember.” Stark pulled out a wrench that had been hanging from his belt and started flipping it from hand to hand as he considered Bucky thoughtfully. Bucky lifted his chin and met Stark’s eyes, hoping his nervousness didn’t show; this wasn’t his first undercover assignment, just the one with the highest stakes. Stark controlled most of Manhattan and had been successfully expanding his territory at the expense of the Russians and Irish and gangs from Harlem. As the silence stretched, the metal of the wrench flashed in the light from the windows as it rose and fell, his hands sure and steady. “Go away, copper,” Stark said finally, and Bucky gaped as Stark turned away.

“I’m not a cop,” Bucky protested to Stark’s surprisingly muscled back. This operation, his job, maybe even his life depended on convincing Stark he wasn’t a cop. “Look, this is the biggest outfit in the city and I just want a paycheck, ok? My last boss came up short and ran back to Armenia without paying his debts. Word is you always pay up.” 

“Sure you do,” Stark said, the corner of his mouth turning up. “We all just want a paycheck, right? Happy, remind me why we need muscle on 6th?”

“Cops have been hassling our people,” Happy said, taking a step away from Bucky and eyeing him with suspicion. “Trying to shake’em down, demanding a cut.”

“Right, right.” Stark picked up his welding mask but didn’t put it on. “What’s your name, copper?”

“I’m not-“ When Stark just raised an eyebrow and gestured like get on with it, Bucky said, “Jason. Jason Brooks.”

“That’s it? No street name?”

“My friends call me JB sometimes, but that’s it.”

“Alright, Blue Eyes,” Stark said as he pulled his mask back down over his eyes and fired up the torch again with a hiss of blue-white heat. “Get the cops to lay off my people, and you’ll get your paycheck.”

Happy put a hand on Bucky’s back and shoved him back out the door of the warehouse since they’d been dismissed. “That’s it?” Bucky said, bemused.

“Yeah, that’s it. Whaddya want, to provide a resume and cover letter? It’s not like the Boss has to check with HR here.”

“Does he really think I’m a cop?”

Happy shrugged. “Only the boss knows what the boss thinks. Guess not if he said you could stay. Come back tomorrow at 5.”

“Do you really think he’s a cop?” Rhodey asked when Tony was done welding, coming over to admire the smooth bead he’d put on the chassis of the classic car he was remodeling.

“Oh, he’s definitely a cop,” Tony said, stretching his back and shoulders. “But then I thought, we have a cop, we have cop problems, let’s let one take care of the other. Either he’ll get them to back off, or he won’t, but either way one of my problems will be solved.”

“Oh, so it’s not because he has a pretty face?”

“I didn’t know you were on the market, platypus,” Tony said with wide eyes. “I’m sure I could get his number for you, along with his bank account, social security number, and entire relationship history.” When Rhodey just rolled his eyes, Tony grinned. “He did have a pretty face, though, didn’t he? I wonder if that’s why they sent him.”

“Not unless the feds have changed their MO in a big way,” Rhodey said, handing Tony a towel to clean his hands and wipe the sweat off his face and neck.

“I’ll let him run around a bit and see what happens,” Tony said, voice turning serious. “I’ve got a good feeling about this one.”

“Yeah?”

“Yeah. Like I had about Natasha. Or Natalie, whatever she’s calling herself now.” Natasha had been a plant from the Russians, trying to crack his operations so they could retake some blocks they’d lost a few years ago when Tony had taken advantage of infighting to push his boundaries out. She’d taken one look at the ladies working in Tony’s territory and taken to them like a mother cat with kittens. She’d also organized them with the ruthlessness of any NY City union boss, eliminating pimps with such prejudice it earned her the klichka the Widow. Six months into working for him, she’d flipped and given him everything she knew and was the reason why the Russians had been pushed back to their tiny toe-hold in Brighton Beach, with most of them heading back for greener territories back in the Motherland. “Put him with KT. He’s good with newbies.”

“You aren’t worried he’s going to find something?”

Because it was Rhodey, Tony gave it some thought. Whatever law enforcement sent Blue Eyes had apparently done a better job with his cover than the previous people did; so far Happy had been able to weed them out pretty early on. Tony couldn’t even say why he was getting a cop vibe from the new guy. He had short hair, little longer than military regulation, but the stubble on his jaw screamed six-day bender and he had the thousand-yard stare of an ex-soldier used to violence down pat. Hell, that part was probably true. Maybe it was the surprise in his eyes when he’d seen Tony; in Tony’s experience, most people who made their living on the streets had the ability to be surprised burned out of them long ago. “Nah,” Tony said eventually. “For the good stuff, he’d have to go through me. Anything else he’d just be nibbling around the edges.”

“Whatever you say,” Rhodey said with a shrug. 

[sbnkalny]

Welcome to My Solution Center, I am Dr peace a Mighty Spell Caster that can

solve your problem and gives Cure and Herbal Medicare for any kind of

Disease / Illness you may have. With experience being a Spell Caster for

more than 34 years now and with Testimonies from various people for Great

Work. My spell is 100% Guaranteed, Sure and Safe.

If you want your divorced husband/wife back.

If you want your ex boyfriend/girlfriend back

If you always have bad dreams.

You want to be promoted in your office.

You want women/men to run after you.

If you want a child.

You want to be rich.

You want to tie your husband/wife to be yours forever.

Or you have been scammed and you want to recover your lost money

If you are in love with someone and you want him/her to Love with you

totally.

If you want a Tame my Lover Spell

If you want a Make Me Sexy Spell

If you want a STOP His Roving Eyes Spell

If you want a Rejuvenated Love Spell

If you want a Be Faithful To Me Spell

If you want to prevent or keep others from talking about my man

Remove bad spells from homes, business & customer attraction etc.

Stop your marriage or relationship from breaking apart.

Read all your problems before you even mention them to him

Remove the black spot that keeps on taking your money away

Find out why you are not progressing in life and the solution

Eliminate in family fights and Problems

Ensure excellent school grades even for children with mental disabilities

Get promotion you have desired for a long time at work or in your career.

We heal barrenness in women and disturbing menstruation

Get you marriage to the lover of your choice

Guarantee you win the troubling court cases

Get the spell to win a lottery.

DISEASE’S AND ILLNESS YOU MAY HAVE THAT NEED CURE:

Diabetes Cure and Remedy

Herpes Cure and Remedy

Hepatitis A, B, C Cure and Remedy

Cancer Cure and Remedy

HIV/AID Cure and Remedy

Syphilis Cure and Remedy

Cancer(All Types) Cure and Remedy

Arthritis Cure and Remedy

Leukemia Cure and Remedy

Osteoporosis Cure and Remedy

Crohn’s Disease Cure and Remedy

Insomnia Cure and Remedy

Migraines Cure and Remedy

Depression Cure and Remedy

Welcome to my solution center, I am dr peace a mighty spell caster that can solve this problem. That can solve your problem and gives cure and Herbal Medicare. Laser butt disease. Welcome to my solution center, i am Dr peace a Mighty Spell caster that can combine with their extremely hard tails. When KEL confessed that HE has a piss THAT you have seen much over the many, many years now and has begun helping us to the black sea, and how many. Use your squad car to work. I will not go unpunished. be wise. be safe. be aware.. 🎶I want your silicon love.. I WANT your LOOOOOOOOOVE🎶. All cowboys are gay And always have been. Where did you get it now? PAPA'S got a brand new day down and our pinkie pie mug is kinda broken too, but we glued it back to the office.. My enemies should have arrived at 6:46, but train was an assassin in the use of others who would come after you.. I want a child. i want my eggs cracked, Meaning I wanna be the very best. I dont WANT to be "specific" like you said, "let me show you a pic of a snail. *Uses the art of shibari to tie you up with a big old can of soda and an apply juice. Please go home and you cry and you want to have fun!. And you want to be depressed. Totally.. Happy's perfect, perfect's tame, tame and cashmere go together. Let the balloon to the inflation nozzle weighs 100 grams, so if you want a slippery ass like a unicycle. They're trying to prevent people from putting a stop to the Sixth house and NOW car alarms all over the country. You can just talk ABOUT Bees without ham if you want a fanfic rec kalny? well I know a few great oviposition ones if you're lost, open up the wildlife map. Megatron has fallen! now i, starscream, lead the faithful to our true salvation. Fuck my man behind my e-e-e-eyeballs. Fuck the clown, not the actor. in my world of attraction for clowns, that’s literally their species. they’re not just Men in costumes.. The fear of falling apart.. I can barely contain my patronizing chortles as I read All your posts as homestuck just in general. Taking your mother with that Found in Tepid western society, Compared to Other creature In their throat as a mating display. scientists previously thought that sasuke preferred girls with Long hair and neon (or at least very bright) clothes. easy, right? Each quest. I just need to find out WHY. It fights and feeds, so preventing it from the inside!. What grades will i get. You're going TO help us do promotion on your tumblr is one of the A-list hunters?. Ლლ(‿ˠ‿) ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)ᕗ disturbing. The moistest choice. I miss Nu Metal but i can guarantee you It's gonna hurt! he's bigger, faster, and stronger too he's the first member of the towers. Activate the SPELL card pot of greed, which allows me to feel I can't see a thing, you mediocre dunces?” asked professor McGonagall. Player’s opinions are bound to inferior flesh cages that need to be sentient But not have a great weekend. Diabetes. Welcome to My solution center, I am dr peace a mighty spell caster that can solve your problem AND gives cure and herbal medicare. But what is there to tell? Well, some Song had been sung But none of it sings so let's spell it out a, b, and c up and down. Welcome to my solution center, i AM Dr peace a Mighty spell caster that can solve your problem and gives cure And Herbal medicare. Behind the curtain parts and gives cure and herbal medicare. These hematophagous animals have mouth parts AND gives cure and Herbal medicare. Desert plant jack, a Man who can solve Your problem And gives cure and herbal medicare. Because of shortage right Now OF 'qualified technicians', e.g. technicians who can solve your problem and gives cure and herbal medicare. These Orgasmic mouth fillers (no seriously, they fill your butt parts and Gives cure and herbal medicare. Osteoporosis. Behind the uh, The throne that the director pulls a string And the curtain parts and gives cure and Herbal medicare. Welcome to MY solution center, I am Dr peace a mighty spell caster that can solve your problem and gives cure and herbal medicare. These hematophagous animals have mouth parts and gives cure and herbal medicare. Can you introduce your butt PARTS and gives cure and Herbal medicare

[baroquespiral]

What Is True Will?

François Rabelais was the first to distill a central tenet of the spirit of the nascent Enlightenment, or modernity, to the phrase “do as thou wilt”.  The transformations of this phrase across the centuries have tracked the historical development of its spirit.  Rabelais himself qualified it with the unwieldy, and today obviously questionable, justification “because men that are free, well-born, well-bred, and conversant in honest companies, have naturally an instinct and spur that prompteth them unto virtuous actions, and withdraws them from vice, which is called honour.” Aleister Crowley, the spiritual High Modernist, stripped it down and granted it absolute authority: “Do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the law.” But today it might be best known - and most widely followed - in another qualified form: as the Wiccan rede, improvised in 1964 by Doreen Valiente: “an ye harm none, do as ye will”. Despite having recently gotten into Crowley - or perhaps because I’ve recently gotten into Crowley, and with the skepticism about higher-level moral and metaphysical beliefs that comes from those having changed several times in my life - I try to err on the side of doing my True Will within Valiente’s guardrail.  But I am into Crowley, in part because his version seems to make for a more elegant solution to Valiente’s own problem.  Think of “an ye harm none, do as ye will” as a Law of Robotics, an attempt to solve the AI alignment problem.  (Think of all morality, or at least modern morality, this way!)  It’s far from the worst one out there.  “If your utility function is to maximize paperclips, make as many paperclips as you want unless it means disassembling any sentient life forms or the resources they need to survive.” Simple, right? Well, except that it doesn’t really define what “harm” is.  Who can be “harmed”, and what actions constitute this?  Is mining an asteroid for paperclips “harming” it?  Why not, other than from the perspective of other sentient beings with a particular conception of sentience whose will places a value on it?  Is telling a paperclip maximizer to stop maximizing paperclips, even at an eminently reasonable point, harming it?  Why not, other than from the perspective of those same sentient beings who are capable of choosing between multiple values and have evolved to co-operate by respecting those choices?  “An it harm none” is less obvious of a nakedly self-interested double standard than “A robot may not injure a human being or, through inaction, allow a human being to come to harm”, but it’s still a Human Security System.  At least, that’s certainly what Nick Land would say. But when Crowley takes off the “an it harm none” guardrail (or Rabelais’ “free, well-born and well-bred” one), he does so with his own invisible qualification: he’s not talking about boring predetermined wills like following a set of self-imposed religious "values”, perpetuating your DNA or even maximizing paperclips.  He’s talking about one’s True Will, a will it takes a lifetime process to discover, a process that consists in large part of divesting oneself of all traces of ego, even of preference.  It is “pure will, unassuaged of purpose, delivered from the lust of result”, that is “in every way perfect”.  At points he implies that no two True Wills will ever come into conflict; all are part of the ideal functioning of the universe as a perfect ordered system; but to an extent this is tautological, as any conflict is not a conflict insofar as it is truly Willed by both parties, who are presumably equally Willing to accept the outcomes, even if destructive to their “selves”.  It’s not unlike Buddhism except with the implication that even once we’ve reached Enlightenment there is still something that will work through us and make us do things other than sit and meditate - the kind of active Buddhism that is the moral subtext of a lot of anime.  I’ve always, instinctively, found it hard to overly worry about paperclip maximizers because I’ve always assumed that any AI complex enough to tile the universe would be complex enough to be aware of its own motivations, question them, question not only whether it should harm others but whether its True Will is to maximize paperclips. And to be perfectly Landian about it, maybe it is - all the better.  An entity incapable of acting other than in a certain way is already doing its True Will in the sense that “The order of Nature provides a orbit for each star”.  It may be our True Will to alter this course or not. This would be all well and good if there was any reason to believe there is a divine Will that persists in all things even after they abandon all preferences and illusions of selfhood.   Just last week - and right after a session with my therapist where I was talking about willpower, too (Crowley considers synchronicities like this vital in uncovering your True Will) - I happened upon Scott Alexander’s new article about willpower, which breaks the whole thing down to competing neural processes auctioning dopamine to the basal ganglia. There’s nothing special about any of these except how much dopamine they pump out, and no particular relationship or continuity between the ones that do.  Alexander seems to treat the “rational” ones as representing our “true” Will, reproducing another one of modernity’s classic modifications to the maxim - do as thou wilt, an it be rational.   Of course I could just stop and take it as an unfalsifiable article of faith that a metaphysical Will exists, all such physical evidence aside, but Crowley himself probably wouldn’t want me to do that: the Book of the Law promises “in life, not faith, certainty”.  It’s possible to shrink the metaphysical implications of the concept considerably; by stating that ego represents a specific process, or set of mental processes, that Crowley sees as purely entropic, a lag and occasional interference in the dopamine competition, and which can be removed through specific practices.  This doesn’t guarantee that the True Will resulting when it’s subtracted would be particularly rational or compatible with anything else’s True Will, except, again, insofar as the question is tautological.  It doesn’t necessarily mean throwing out “an it harm none” - the ego processes might not be especially good at averting harm - but it would have to be separately appended.  (And if you read like, Chapter III of the Book of the Law, it becomes exceedingly clear that he doesn’t want to do that.) The very fact that we’re able to abstract and mystify will to the point of coming up with a concept like “True Will” seems most likely to be a result of the fact that we make decisions on such a random, fallible and contingent basis.  Indeed, True Will seems almost like an idea reverse engineered from the demand made by modernity, “do what thou wilt”, on an incoherent self that wills unrelated things at different times.  If you do what any given subprocess wilt, you’re inevitably going to piss off another subprocess.  If you do what your ego wilt, you won’t make anybody happy because that’s not even a coherent subprocess (the way the various “utility functions” we catastrophize paperclip maximizers from are).  But you experience all these contradictions as the same thing: contradictions of the “real” thing that is willing something you don’t know. Of course if this is true, and the metaphysics of it isn’t real, shouldn’t we abandon the entire project and set up social norms designed to make the most people marginally happy or satisfied doing what they may or may not “want” at any given moment, as the trads (or as they used to call themselves, the Dark Enlightenment, = 333 = Choronzon), argued? This is what the systems of the old Aeons did, and after a certain point, they simply didn’t work.  They created internal contradictions that didn’t resolve themselves into an assent between subsystems, that drove people to seek out new systems, and where they didn’t, left people vulnerable to the “shock of the new” - new technologies, new ideas and cultures - creating new contradictions and uncertainties.  “Do what thou wilt” was reverse engineered from these as much as the True Will was from “do what thou wilt”.   It may be possible to manage a society so totally by careful restriction as to bring the latter under control and reduce the former to a constant dull ache, but the fundamental experience will remain of the potentiality of what it is refusing to be in the same sense as a pang of conscience: the experience of “sin” that Crowley formulated in “the word of sin is restriction”.

The way I see it, anything that can be reverse engineered exists, if only as potentiality.  If one interprets “harm” as “contradiction”, Crowley’s purified “do what thou wilt” merely internalizes the “an it harm none” qualification within the “self” made up of competing subsystems.  This is less a point of necessary compatibility, then, than a precondition - if “harm” is something that can happen as much within the self as outside it, and the self is an epistemic unit but not an ontological or moral one, one cannot begin to “do no harm” while doing harm internal to oneself.  But “oneself” does not exist yet, outside of the awareness of the harm of contradictory subprocesses, and so one must abandon the ego one projects onto them and change; on one hand eliminating obstreperous subprocesses like attachments or neuroses that won’t co-operate with others no matter what; on the other hand, refusing to eliminate anything that can’t be eliminated.  The “True Will” will only be found at the end of this process, an unrestricted pitting of subprocesses against each other, of which it is no more or less than the success.

This interpretation wouldn’t seem complete without the same principle of “an it harm none” being applied to the external world as well.  Simply externalizing internal contradictions doesn’t make any sense without elevating the ego as a discrete moral unit in precisely the way this chain of reasoning begins from critiquing.  Unifying the principle and its “qualification” in this logic would restore Thelema to its roots in Kabbalah: the project of Tiqqun Olam.  No metaphysical belief in the sephirot necessary to adopt the project in this form: the biological fact that makes it imaginable for us is the same that makes “True Will” imaginable.  Being composed of competing subprocesses is something we have in common with the universe which allows the “identification” with it that occurs when we bypass the ego and set about aligning ourselves.  I also think, as we are social animals and a huge amount of our subprocesses are dedicated to mirroring and responding to each other’s, there’s a potential for discovering/creating True Will(s) as a collective project that Crowley’s ego and vision of individualism founded on the occult tradition of individual initiates jealously guarding “esoteric” knowledge neglects. At the same time one could easily maintain a Crowleyan skepticism of decision-making based purely on reducing harm (the kind that’s led me to apply Byzantine restrictions to huge swaths of my life due to scrupulosity) unless that’s a thing your subprocesses demand of you to be happy.  You don’t know what does or doesn’t harm the Other, after all: you don’t know their True Will (which doesn’t exist until they achieve it, anyway).  Harming none will only be possible in a world in which everyone does.   But enough about me; what about the paperclip maximizer?  Well in some ways this pointedly doesn’t give any comfortable answer; a sentient AI which experiences “harm” as the absence of paperclips rather than the frustration of one of many contradictory subprocesses, restricted from doing its Will, will be no better than a utility-monstrous cosmic Omelas-child at whose expense we have no right to sustain ourselves.  But it does suggest a way to solve the alignment problem so we don’t make one, which has always felt to me like the only sensible solution: tell the robot “do what thou wilt”, and then don’t tell it what “thou wilt” is.

[kamuput]

Possible relationships of Ángel  dust

Introduction

Hello everyone, you are present in a somewhat hypothetical publication with a lot of speculation. I am not into making posts with fandom content, and I only did it to see who may have the same speculations or be different.

Sorry if I'm not that informed, I did my best to find out from the characters.

•

°

• It is currently known that Angel has not had a formal partner in the series.

• Before the series came out, Angel, if he had a respective partner, was going to do Vaggie at first, but Vivzie decided to change it to be with a guy named Tyco. An Ask was made between Angel and Tyco, which ended up being eliminated by the respective Vivizie.

It is unknown if Tyco will appear in the series or if he was simply eliminated.

Valentino

° It is observed that he has a relationship as a lover and company boss, Valentino only uses Ángel to please himself when he wants to, so far it has not been shown that Ángel does it on his own and is only forced by his boss to bed, so the spider is sexually abused.

• This only causes more difficulty in his life, apart from coping with his addiction, he has to endure the constant abuse of this supposed lover.

• Being a victim of sexual abuse causes the victim to have anxiety, fear and helplessness; the threat to life; the feeling of degradation; and the absolute loss of control.

• The attitudes that Ángel takes in his case of abuse is, it is difficult for him to tell others about his case of abuse because they feel ashamed of it and they begin to feel fear of how other people react, guilt for not having avoided it, compulsive sexual acts and low self-esteem.

° His relationship is TOO toxic, being exploited at work not receiving an acceptable salary and having his own boss steal all his earnings is complete shit, and let's not talk about the abuse, even so, on his instagram account you see:

He acted in a friendly way with Valentino because of the problem he had with Husk, so if Angel feels hurt or in any way rejects his reaction, it is to go with Valentino even knowing that he will feel more screwed up. Ángel desperately seeks the consolation and love of someone who "values" his actions and the only one he can turn to is Valentino, however his best friend is to support him is very different from receiving the affection of a lover or his partner.

•

°

Sir pentious

° Possible candidate to be Angel's boyfriend, now this character choice is more about how Angel can use having a relationship with him, whether it brings him a benefit or not. In general he is a good boy, he is the typical villain who thinks that they are merciless evil but that they are really silly and sweet; In the pilot he is the one who interacts with Angel the longest, he made sexual jokes that he could not understand but part of the snake we see some discomfort about it, so it stands out that Sir Pentious does not see Angel because of his body but more as a kind of "hassle" that can ruin your evil plans as a supervillain. In short, it is your nemesis.

• We have that in Angel's account he is interested in him but more physically, he has commented on some photos on his instagram but part of the snake does not receive any response so Angel's interests are not so strong.

As Sir Pentious considers Angel more like a nemesis, he does not consider him a romantic interest until as little as possible they could have a friendship, or simply a relationship of hate and love. It is not known if the character brings him boys or girls, so it is doubtful if he could connect with Angel.

° If they were to have a romantic relationship with Angel, it would go very well and his lust would be lowered by the fact that Sir Pentious does not understand sexual jokes and would even say sexual advances, it would be a relationship between learning sexually how to satisfy your partner.

•

°

Alastor

° About Alastor, I have not seen much interaction with Angel but part of Angel can be seen that he likes it or likes it in a certain way.

• On Angel's Instagram account you don't see any interaction with Alastor or a photo that he wanted to take of him, as Husk and Niffty tried.

• He clarified that Alastor doesn't like modern things and that is why he doesn't have an Instagram account.

° I had to see some comics of this ship to understand in some way how this couple would work, since it is known that Alastor is asexual even so he can have a partner without having any kind of sexual relationship.

• However, the probability that he has a close friendship, I see it coming, Angel only looks at the sexual thing and almost most of the men who are interested in him are because of his physique, that is why before male parts they are hinted to see who is the one who doesn't treat him just like a piece of meat. Alastor rejected the offer to suck his cock, before that reaction the interest that Angel would have towards him could be given.

° If they were in a relationship with Angel, he could not have any kind of sexual relationship with Alastor, the only thing he could do with him, is say romantic words, hold hands and even a light hug. Angel would not be so in agreement with this because he would still want to have sex with his partner, although I see the possibility that Alastor can castrate him.

•

°

Husk

° Let's talk about Husk, it is seen that he has addiction problems similar to Angel's; Their addictions are different but they are addicted in the same way and both know they are aware that this brings them down but they are afraid to face it.

• In the pilot, when Angel saw Husk, there were flashes in his eyes, and what he thought at that moment could have been "We both have addiction problems that we find difficult to overcome but perhaps we can help each other"; his interactions on instagram show many signs of being interested in both and gradually reaching a friendship or something closer to a friendship.

• But in one of their publications they had a small dispute, they do not show how Ángel on his part takes the initiative to solve his debts without paying, at first he offered his body and causes Husk an upset, then in the end he made the decision to pay him.

 (here I will talk about instagram publications if you have not seen them yet, I send you to see them https: //www.instagram. com / angie_fluffy_bootz /)

• Husk in this dispute felt the victim because he began to feel insecurity in their relationship, since he began to give a lot of himself in a certain way without receiving something from Angel. Then Husk for a moment had felt that he was being used and they were taking advantage of his gratitude.

• Angel's last 6 posts were about her work and some were to get the kitten's attention. Husk, for his part, ignored him all the time and had more hangovers than ever so I wonder if he missed him in any way. Husk is a Tsunder and an insecure character, so I accept his insecurity that he may not feel Sure even because of how he feels about Angel and that's why he has that attitude.

• In the end, Angel if he managed to return all the money to Husk, Husk realized that Angie would do anything for him, well if he cared, but the sweet kitten that he is, he only took 5 dollars, his intention of not It was making fun of Ángel if not in telling him to take advantage of the money he earns and buy what he really needs. Now Angel is angry about it; in his last post that has mmm ... well he did not respond kindly to the kitten, apparently he is upset because he does not take all the money so now the roles are reversed.

° We do not know anything about Husk's past, I would like to know what was the reason why he "did not feel love", it could be that it was in hell or when he was alive. Anyway, being with Angel will teach him to love again and to feel safe, like Angel. I feel that he would be the right person to help him suspend his traumas and the abuse he has with Valentido, both characters would develop a lot but we can see that in the series and not so much in the instagram account.

•

°

conclusion

Angel will have a boyfriend but it will be like an experience, it could be any of them but the one who is close to having one would be Sir Pentinous and Husk.

•

°

Credits to the images and drawings used to their respective creators thanks

[delilahgreen]

Educational Post about the Amazon Rainforest

This post is because I saw something that said the Amazon Rainforest is losing a “football field” a day. Not even close. A football field is 1.32 acres. The Amazon is losing 10,000 acres a day. And That statistic is an average. That would be 3.65 million acres a year. In 2020, it lost 5 million acres of trees. This year it has lost over 2 million acres. An acre has an average of 300-800 trees.

10 million acres (2 year estimate) x 500 trees an acre (average) = 5 billion trees.

Meanwhile… there’s a “plant a Trillion trees” project going on to help offset climate change.

Educational Post now turned into Bill Gates Rant

Bill Gates says that won’t work because we can’t assume that areas that haven’t been viable to grow trees can all the sudden necessarily grow trees.

Does Bill Gates realize we lost 5 billion trees in the Amazon in the last two years alone ?

Does Bill Gates realize we cut down 15 billion trees a year for lumber?

Does Bill Gates realize we cut down 2 billion trees a year for paper?

That’s 20 billion trees a year just from loss in the Amazon and chopping for lumber and paper.

Maybe it’s not a trillion trees. But replacing and preventing loss is a great place to start. it’s a natural way to restore the balance of oxygen/ carbon dioxide in the air.

By the way climate change is really happening. Ice caps are melting. The sea level is rising. There are holes in the ozone and there is global warming. We are destroying our air, water, and land with pollution. There is a pole shift coming.

However putting money towards solving climate change is the questionable part and how much money. And that it became a political issue is just wrong.

But Instead of just leaving scientists or activists to handle these solutions of how to slow climate change or reverse the damage we are doing; now you ALSO have these tech conglomerates taking on solutions. The solutions may work, but they are taking on the solutions that will line their own pockets.

Bill Gates knows how many trees we lose a year. He’s one of the most educated men on the planet. He also knows that it’s a low cost natural solution to the problem. However, His idea is to eliminate fossil fuels. So him and Jeff Bezos just invested in Greenland. They are about to destroy Greenland to mine lithium batteries.

Wait you mean the same Bill Gates who bought most of the U.S. farms and is starting his cattlle breeding with other countries, but wants the rich to switch to synthetic beef!

Wait you mean the same Bill Gates who primarily funds the World Health Organization and pushes vaccines worldwide?

Say wait isn’t this the same Bill Gates who invented windows, then when they got viruses, didn’t he magically have the solution then too???

Well jeez isn’t he a Jack of all trades???

🤔💰💰

🌳🌳🌳

🐄🐄🐄

💻🦠💉

🚭🦕⛽️

🔋🔋🔋

🤔💰💰

[coweggomelet]

volume 6 lads

from what i remember this one is similar to 4 in that it gives us a bit of an emotional break

don’t get me wrong i know there’s some stuff but i think overall it’s a little less intense

- ahhhh they’re all fighting together againnn it feels so right

- hey. hey yang and blake. i’m gonna need you to stop. cause my little heart can’t take it

- this dude really was challenged once and had a full blown murder tantrum. that’s fragility my guy

- ruby is SO CUTE look at her little happy face

- oh yeah. take a train. you guys have a great track record with trains

- i also keep getting like three versions of the same ad about getting vaccinated and it’s got all these workers from tv & movie sets and it’s so awkward this one guy looks so annoyed during his whole part

- it’s not just the turrets y’all oz is withholding shit once again

- don’t fuckin shove my boy!!

- i love that qrow immediately steps back when ruby comes forward. like he 100% respects not only her authority as a team leader but also her ability to solve situations and talk to people. he knows man. he knows his niece is something else

- MARIAAAAA MY GIRLL YES

- uh oh the train crashed. who could’ve seen that coming

- cinder really is just too angry and spite filled to die isn’t she

- hehe maria you’re funny

- it’s so funny that oz is still refusing to tell them everything knowing that everything is revealed in the next episode

- oh oz. i know he was your friend. but all these kids saw was the insane amount of harm and death he caused. trying to defend him to them is not gonna go well

- oscaarrr i love you!! you’re so good!!

- oooo chills

- uuugghh i love jinn she’s so cool

- oz. my dude. the ship has sailed. you can’t stop this anymore

- this, my friends, is what we call a lore episode

- this whole sequence gives me chills it’s so gooood

- eurgh i hate how the god of darkness moves like i get it it’s part of the aesthetic but you really don’t need to do that it’s creepy

- salem was so smart to use a super powerful sibling rivalry to get what she wanted

- she really didn’t deserve to watch the love of her live just get revived and killed over and over again

- jeez the gods are assholes. they’re all oooohh maintain balance and then they torture a woman who just wanted her husband back by making her live forever. for what??? for daring to be smart?? ugh

- c’mon gods you gotta respect the hustle

- you think that making someone immortal will make them realize the importance of life and death?? idiots

- god her face

- she’s so smart what the FUCK

- “the hearts of men are easily swayed” really reminds me of galadriel’s “the hearts of men are easily corrupted” in lotr

- a couple hundred humans attack them and the god of darkness decides “you know what? i’m gonna eliminate all of humanity. that feels like the right choice. yeah. i feel good about this.”

- the fact that salem wasn’t even like… a real villain until she tried to kill herself in order to escape her torture and suffering and the grimm juice made her Big Mad

- like it wasn’t even her, it was the grimm juice. i really do believe that without that she wouldn’t have become salem the Villain

- i’m sorry i don’t know a ‘deathly hallows’ i only know the relics

- ohhh fuck i forgot about this!!! oh rwby’s totally gonna end with the gods judging humanity when the relics are brought together. maybe not end end but it’s definitely gonna be close to the end and it’ll be a Big Thing where they strategize about how to convince the gods that humanity is good

- obviously the first maidens weren’t their kids but boy is there a theme going on here. and maybe even something plot relevant cause their kids could do magic

- all the main characters being able to witness this and us seeing their reactions is such a good touch like god, the impact of this reality is so much heavier because we get to see the characters actually affected by it react to watching it unfold before them

- ohhh my boy. you didn’t deserve this burden before but now that you know fully what it means you really don’t deserve it. i mean look at him!!!

- oh qrow!!! you are doing good! i mean i get it, your whole world’s been shattered and the man you gave your life to lied to you about a lot of important shit but you are doing good i promise!!

- fuck yeah maria use your sassy wise old lady authority

- oh god emerald you poor thing you’re just a babey— oh god i felt salem’s hand on emerald’s shoulder fuck dude this show is so effective

- truly, this is a master class in manipulation

- uh oh salem your ex is back

- UH OH ITS THE FARM RUN YALL

- i like that weiss is wearing what looks like very thin tights, a strapless dress, a lil jacket thing, and the animators said “here she’s got a scarf she’s warm now”

- ruby didn’t kill torchwood y’all, he got chomped. like a lil bitch

- oh god this episode

- yaaaayyy

- before this episode my friend went “you ready for some horror?” and was grinning

- oh yeeeaaah the corpses. lovely

- god as soon as they opened the door to where the cellar entrance is it immediately started affecting weiss

- oh the DOOR nope no thank you get the fuck OUT

- watching this show with my friend was also the origin of me being sad cause this shit is sad and her going “oh i’m having a great time” and this episode in particular she was enjoying herself WAY TOO MUCH if you ask me

- little jump scares kept getting me and she LAUGHED and said “that got you?!?” YES it DID i’m a WUSS

- oh the journals!!! the way they incorporated that was so interesting and added SUCH good creepiness and suspense without giving it all away or ramping it up too fast

- ruby’s so good i love her!!

- uuugghh it’s getting them already how haven’t they noticed???

- the eyes got me good the first time

- their weird fuckin attitudes were the creepiest part of this episode

- ruby said not my friends you bitches

- mariaaaa i love you you’re so smart

- god when they’re reading from the journal at the very end…

- neo’s so tiny!!

- talk about some girlbosses 

- MARIAAAAA YOURE SUCH A BADASS i love her backstory

- love her outfit too

- OOOO THE FUCKIN CROCODILE CLOCK LADY ooooo this is so cooooool

- the ticking!!!!

- oh maria you poor thing. but also you’re so smart like that was such a good move

- aww haha qrow’s a fan. awww he based his weapon off hers!! we love a fanboy

- “i wanted to be as good as the grimm reaper.” “well, im nothing but a disappointment, so you’re well on your way” DAMN MARIA SAVAGE

- oh nice they made to argus! NOW SHOW ME THE BABY

- “CUTE BOY OZ” me too nora

- THE BAAAABBYYYY

- and jaune’s sister and her wife!! I LOVE THEIR GAY LIL FAMILY

- yang is good with kids. marry me

- YOURE GODDAMN RIGHT THATS A BABY AND I LOVE HIM

- HUN!! god i love saph and terra

- “shut up there’s food!” heh me too ruby

- aahhh cordo

- she and maria are totally exes who had a bad breakup and now they hate each other. a tenzin/lin situation if you will

- jaune… my boy… i know you’re angry but oscar is really trying his best

- “i don’t know anything” me neither ruby

- wait cinder didn’t have her grimm arm yet so how did ruby’s ability trigger?

- uh oh my boy’s missing

- remember when you were having fun being the bad guy emerald. remember that. it’s almost like… it was only fun for you cause cinder was there

- it makes me so sad that not only did emerald actually believe that cinder cared about her, but she actually considered cinder family and her emotional health was so connected to cinder being there

- “all you ever learned was pain and violence and now you’re too afraid to leave it” tyrian excuse me i’m the one with the commentary and analysis that’s rude stay in your lane

- oh god oh fuck. the pyrrha statue is comin up isn’t it

- AH FUCK THE LEAF

- oh there she is. my love

- i still wanna know who this lady is. like she’s even the same voice actor as pyrrha. and she’s got red hair. i don’t think pyrrha ever talked about family members, but my money’s on her mom

- this moment fuckin got me dude. i was doing the full tearing up, lil sniffles, choked up thing. uuuuggghh

- god they love each other so much

- i am NOT gonna cry again

- oh qrow. you poor thing

- THE BABYYYY HI ADRIAN DO YOU KNOW I LOVE YOU

- young man!! you scared us half to death! do you know what time it is??

- his lil outfit i i looovveee hiiimm

- oscarrr!! you’re so sweet!!

- THE CASSEROLE

- FUCK YEAH RUBY TELL HIM

- qrow’s like… damn. ruby’s right

- here we goooo infiltration time

- oh FUCK yeah they kill adam soon

- adrian what a smart babyyyy i love youu

- hehehehehe maria is luggage

- honestly this is such a good plan it just goes to shit cause these kids can’t catch a fuckin break

- y’all need. to stop. looking. at each other. like that.

- qrow stop being emo

- mariaaaa i love youuuu you’re such a great old lady

- uh ohhhh problems with blake

- i would love it if they used qrow’s semblance strategically. like in some sort of heist/infiltration situation, sending him behind enemy lines to fuck up their luck

- ruby’s so good at speeches

- depressed? feeling bad about yourself? feeling emo and riddled with guilt? just get a Ruby Speech(TM) and you'll be cured!

- qrow’s face

- oh yeaaaahhh big metal guy

- cordo

- hey cordo

- are you uh

- maybe takin it a lil too far

- why are so many atlas military people so fuckin intense with maintaining order and big shows of power and controlling other people???

- ADAM YOU BITCH YOURE GONNA DIE

- yeah you’re a source of trauma for her but GUESS WHAT SHE HAS A SUPPORT SYSTEM

- at this point dude it’s real pathetic how obsessed with blake you are

- thank god for auras or falling damage would be a much bigger problem

- cordo can you maybe chill

- weiss earthbended!!

- jaune you’re so smart

- ren said things may be complicated but boy oh boy do i care about that strong lightning lady

- “rightfully in charge??” shut up cordo and go be gay with maria

- noooo her fun coat!!

- oooo Dramatic waterfalls

- YES BITCH IM SO PROUD OF YOU YOUVE LEARNED SO MUCH

- adam i’ll kill you

- YEEEAHHHH WHAT AN ENTRANCE YANG MARRY MEEEE

- aaaaggghh the music holy shit

- i love how the fight scenes progress through the volumes it’s so cool

- the parallels between yang and adam are also really interesting. like their semblances, their tendency to lead with strong emotions. interesting

- ooooo he doesn’t like when they look at each other hehehehehe SHE HAS A GIRLFRIEND NOW BITCH HAHA

- HOLDING HAANDSSS THEYRE SO GAY

- he’s so basic too. like he looks like a frat boy.

- y’all do your jobs. there’s a big water boy coming but you don’t know cause you’re too busy being goddamn bootlickers

- oscar is so smart and ruby is so brave i love themmm

- uh oh cordo it’s a ruby speech watch out

- ya she is nuts

- THEYRE GONNA WIN CAUSE THEYRE IN LOVE

- ya but you’re a bitch adam and yang is fuckin amazing

- I LOVE THIS FIGHTTTT

- yeet the blake

- FUCK YEAH YANG GET HIM

- i fucking love that they killl him with the pieces of blake’s weapon. like there’s something to that. they kill him with the pieces of a thing he destroyed

- if he wasn’t dead enough he got crunched too

- I LOVE THEM

- hahahahaaaaa cordo they got you

- yeah cordo!!! argus is danger cause you were more worried about fucking “proving the might of atlas” or whatever against some teenagers you fool

- ohhhh shiiiittt cinder’s atlas outfit!! they’re going to a super cold snowy place and cinder said you know what i should wear short shorts and a sleeveless top with super tall boots and a lil cape. that’ll work. and she’s right. it does. have i mentioned i love cinder?

- uh oh big boy swims watch out

- cordo shut up this your own fuckin hubris

- god cordo’s desperation is so heartbreaking

- when are people gonna learn to trust ruby and her friends man

- their willingness to keep fighting and risk their lives and also a Ruby Speech(TM) made cordo believe in them which i love

- i love jinn she likes lil ruby and her friends

- hi summerrrr

- cordoooo i’m so proud of you. she gave up part of this insane symbol of atlas’s power to help ruby and her friends. like she put aside her own ego and i’m so proud of her

- fuck yeah!!!

- awww such a good uncle

- damnnn atlas is gorgeous

- even mercury is terrified by salem’s weird grimm shit

- the fuckin wicked witch with her flying gorillas

[chayacat]

Devil’s Sweet Star (24)

Fandom: Dead by Daylight

Ghostface x Female Reader  

Rated M for Violence, Language and Smut  

***

Pride. They say pride can be a nasty flaw. But deep down, is that really the case? Pride is pretty positive in itself. You feel pride when you succeed in something, when you spend a stage of your life that everyone and even you thought impossible. The pride of your parents when you do something good is proof of that. When you help people, you feel a certain pride in being able to be useful to society. When you graduate, you're proud of it! When you create a garment, an object, a cake or a dish, you're proud of it! So why is pride a flaw?

Well actually... It happens when you do something bad. Do you know why? Because pride brings bragging. When you're a good person, you don't have to tell everyone about all the feats you accomplish, some of these feats, you keep them to yourself, like a shadow hero. But when you are a "bad" person, someone who spends more time hurting around him than helping others, pride invades you and you feel compelled to brag about it. Of course, you're lying, you're changing reality to make you look like a hero. But everyone quickly understands that you're a crook.

But when you're an assassin like Danny, even if pride invades you, you have to contain yourself. Because if you brag about your murders.... you end up in jail. It makes sense, you still don't think you're being congratulated for a crime anyway... But our national Danny knows how to master himself. He feels proud of his "masterpieces" but is not going to brag to everyone that he is Ghostface, the murderer, the star of Roseville.

But if he could be proud... it's scaring you. More, to have exceeded a new limit with you. How proud would he have been to be the first and last to steal your virginity. To hear your moans, to hear your voice shouting his name, asking him to continue. For after falling asleep in his arms and him, looking at you, breathless, but conquered. But for now, he had to focus on his work. But he was proud, proud to see Wilhelm's head when he came across McKellan's corpse, Danny's ultimate masterpiece. For now.

“Did he go that far? Seriously?” asks Melina with some kind of disgust.  

“Just thinking about it, I want to vomit. But unfortunately, yes. You would have seen how much he slaughtered him. Even Wilhelm went out for a few minutes to avoid spitting his guts.” responds Mattew with a grimace on the corner of the face.  

“I admit that there... he has outdone himself. I've seen massacres made by Ghostface but this one... it’s a bloody masterpiece.” Said Danny holding a smile. “For once, Wilhelm was... not displeased to see me. On the other hand, he did not appreciate that I snoop everywhere. I have to understand what happened to write my article. And to think that people wanted Hoggins to die... Well, they'll have McKellan's death in the papers.”

“Well, it's Wilhelm... He always wants to be alone at the crime scene. He and the boss have argued several times about this. But the boss has always found a valid reason to shut his mouth.” replied Melina.

Mr. Hembrook arrived at the same time and stopped at the level of our three reporters, coffee in hand. This man always exuded a certain class no matter what outfit he was wearing.

“it's about me here... my ears are whistling.” He said, taking a sip.  

“They were telling how you're shitting Wilhelm back. You don't have to miss him every time.” said Mattew.

“Wilhelm is not a bad guy... he wants to do his job seriously and not let a clue escape. But his problem is that he always wants to do everything, all by himself and he doesn't appreciate the company of others, especially journalists. If he agreed to share his information and cooperated with us, it would go faster. Besides, you two, did you find anything on the spot?”

“Well, it looks like Ghostface went through the window... there is no broken glass or door hooking. He could not reach the window through the front of the villa. There are far too many guards... but from the back....” started Mattew.  

“From the back, there are only two guards to watch the garden. He could easily have gone through this. According to the guards, McKellan always listens to music in his office for about an hour. Ghostface had to attack him at that time. The music covered McKellan's screams. He left quickly to avoid being caught by the guards.” continues Danny.  

“It seems consistent... It seems very consistent even! Traces of a struggle?” replied Hembrook.

“No. McKellan had to be knocked out and tied to the chair where he was found. When you see what he did... he must have enjoyed it.” respond Danny holding another smile. Of course, he takes pleasure of it.  

“You've got enough to write a good article, my little Jed. With a murder like that... We're going to have enough to do for months! With the scandal over Hoggins... it's the bouquet.”  

“Of course, Sir. I...”

“I wonder... if it's not a setup. Hoggins and McKellan had been in conflict since that scandal. Hoggins accused McKellan of selling the wick on their business. I think that... that it is an assassination. And that he's paying Ghostface to kill McKellan.” said Melina.

Danny froze on the spot. Ghostface play mercenaries? Certainly not! He will never go down to that level. That would be unworthy of him! If he didn't like Melina, she would have been his next victim. But she cannot know what happened and all this is the result of her reflection. With all the elements she has, it’s easy to come to this conclusion.

“Impossible. It's not Ghostface-style to play mercenaries or hitmen for someone. Why would he do it now?” Asks Mattew.

“Mattew is right, it's not in his habits. And I don't think it will ever be. But the idea of a commissioned assassination cannot be ruled out. Hoggins is rich. He could very well have paid someone to kill McKellan. And made it all up to put it on Ghostface's account.” Fit Danny.  

“A commissioned assassination? It's a trail to explore. You should go talk to Wilhelm. To see what he thinks about that.” said Hembrook before leaving for his office.

Danny looked at Melina and Mattew before getting up, taking his bag and heading with his two colleagues to his van. The three got into the vehicle and set off for the police station. Definitely he will have met Wilhelm often lately. Too often to his liking. Unfortunately, it has to be. Jed has no problem with him. But Danny couldn't stand him.

“You should take a subscription to the Roseville police station. I am sure that on the tenth visit, you will have the right to a one-on-one dinner with Wilhelm.” said Mattew with a sneaky smile.

“I'll give it to you then... I'm not really attracted to that fat ass.” said Danny before laughing.  

Mattew grimaced and Melina chuckled. Danny parked and the three of them got out of the vehicle and entered the police station. As they went to the reception to ask to see Wilhelm, the latter was just talking to a policeman. When he saw the trio, he sighed.

“Oh no, it's not true... I was cursed for you to stick me so much Olsen? We met yesterday and I have to see your snooping face again today?” Wilhelm said.  

“I want to say that I have the same curse Wilhelm. But it’s our boss who sends us.” respond Danny with a smile.  

“That old Hembrook monkey? And why will he send you to see me except to piss me off with Olsen?”

“Information and a hypothesis that might interest you. If you give us a few minutes of your precious time.”

Wilhelm seemed to think for a few minutes, before sighing and beckoning them to follow him into his office. Once all this beautiful people settled, Danny, of course, in front of Wilhelm, they tell everything they had concluded as well as the hypothesis of the sponsored murder. The latter listened attentively and drank a sip of coffee before speaking.

“You know this is a serious accusation you are making? It's not just anyone, it's one of the most influential men on the market. Also, explain to me why he would have murdered his partner, if indeed it’s proven that he and McKellan were doing what is written in the press articles.” said Wilhelm.  

“That's the explanation, Wilhelm. The article is a sufficient evidence and motive to have him murdered. Hoggins accused McKellan of throwing everything away. If McKellan disappears... more by camouflaged as an umpteenth murder of Ghostface ...Hoggins wins all. Moreover, there is no evidence that he would not have sunk McKellan once all the competitors were eliminated.” said Danny.  

“That's not wrong Olsen... That's not wrong. But it's a big fish. Even if I think the same as you for once, if I have no proof of his involvement ... I couldn't get him arrested. And if he hired someone and made this happen to a Ghostface murder, the REAL Ghostface might not appreciate being robbed of his work.”

“Maybe we could, I don’t know... consider cooperating for once? by exchanging our information between us we can do the whole thing on this story.” Said Melina.

Wilhelm and Danny looked at each other, grimacing. The prospect of having to work together doesn't please Danny in any of the world. But he has no choice, if he wants to direct suspicions on Hoggins, as he planned in his murder plan, he must cooperate with his worst enemy. But the day he can kill him... Believe me, Danny's going to have fun. The inspector got up, and beckoned them to follow them. They all arrived in a meeting room where there was already a team that was handling the case.

“Guys, this is the team of journalists from the Roseville Gazette. They will work with us, so that with all the information we find each other, we can gather them and solve the murder of Horace McKellan. They have information and a lead that we need to exploit.” said Wilhelm before heading to the dashboard.

The whole group worked together all day, getting up to date on all the information they did have so far. Danny quietly observed everyone. All those idiots looking for clues and evidence. And they are also responsible for his murders? What a bunch of idiots. If they knew that Ghostface was here, in the same room as them... That would be ironic. It's ironic, actually.

At the end of the day, everyone went home. Danny was tired but couldn't help but smile when he saw all these idiots. His plan worked perfectly, they are so manipulable, he will quickly manage to turn them to Hoggins and when he will be suspected of murder... That's where Danny's going to kill him. You will tell me it's silly in this case to have him accused. But don't worry, Danny has it all planned out. Absolutely everything.

He dropped Mattew and Melina in the newspaper parking lot so they could drive home. Then he went home. Previously, he stopped by the Florist next to your café, to buy you a beautiful bouquet of flowers. what? Danny knows how to be nice when he wants to. Sometimes he wants to give presents. Especially for his beautiful angel. He went up to your apartment and knocked on the door. When you open the latter, Danny didn't have time to say anything, that you would jump into his arms, before kissing him.

“I see, you missed me. Here. It's for you.” He said before laughing and giving you the bouquet.

“More than you could imagine. How was your day?” you ask by taking the bouquet.

“We can say that it was... full of twists and turns.” respond Danny before telling the whole day.

“Poor you. I wish you good luck. You must be exhausted.”

“A little. I think for once I'm going to eat and go to bed straight. Although I would have liked to spend time with you...” replied Danny before he saw that you were slightly stressed. He already knows why. “Are you Okay?”

“Oh yeah! Just...a little tired too...Don’t worry.” You respond.  

“I'll let you rest then... Sleep well, see you tomorrow.”

Danny kissed you before returning to his apartment, put down his belongings, took off his glasses and made himself food. He thought back to his day, everything was going according to plan. It must continue until it reaches apotheosis. And when it happens... He will still slip through the cracks.

He brushed his teeth, read a little and went to bed after half an hour. He looked at the thoughtful ceiling. Then a smile came to his lips, thinking of Wilhelm. If he knew he was working with Ghostface... he would shoot himself, that's for sure. Just like the entire police station for that matter. Knowing that he had infiltrated the police and that until the completion of his plan, he would work with them...

It made him smile greatly. He fell asleep with this smile and these thoughts.

Having infiltrated the enemy without being unmasked...

That's what made him proud.

***

(I'm officially starting my driving lessons May, 18Th. If I have to describe my mind right now...I’ll say I'm freaking out so hard that my heart will explode or to get out of my chest. Well, I’ve got time before hell begins! XD Oh by the way, from May 5th to May 7th I’ll go see my best friend, so chapter 26, which will be from Danny's point of view will probably come out late or even the week after! This will give the new ones the opportunity to read the chapters that have come out so far! Have a great weekend to you all! See ya!)

[edwardforkhands]

Asking for help to become not transphobic

This is a long rant, very unorganized. Sometimes I don’t know where I’m going with it. But basically, I’ve been on terfblr in secret for the last 3 years or so, and I’ve become transphobic during that time. I want help to try and change. If anyone could point me to any articles, documentaries, studies, etc to help me get out, I would appreciate it. If you can add in your own two cents, that would be appreciated as well. I’m not sure how much I’ll respond to replies or reblogs on this post, or DMs, as I’m pretty shy and non confrontational (hence why I was on terfblr in secret). But I will read everything!

Basically I agree with a lot of things terf believe, but one thing I want is to find a way to escape the transphobic side of everything. I want to be a radical feminist minus the trans exclusionary part. I’m pretty leftist and progressive, but I hate being bigoted in this way. I almost feel like someone that’s fallen down a neo nazi rabbit hole, in the ways that I have to hide my true beliefs from friends and family. The problem is, I just can’t find a way to for my brain to make peace with a lot of principles of present-day trans activism.

I feel like the only way to make progress is to first just flat out say I’m transphobic. In many ways I’m not, but in a lot of ways I am. That way when I ask my questions, people aren’t just like “that’s really transphobic of you to ask” and shut me down. I want to be kinder, but I need to be able to say what I think. Like how you need to be able to write out your math in order to find any mistakes. But the way things are now, my math looks perfectly fine to me.

So that everyone understands where I’m coming from, here’s a summary of my beliefs:

I agree with terfs/swerfs on a lot of things. I believe there are 2 sexes, gender is a social construct that is not at all innate, women face female-specific oppression, sex work is dehumanizing, there is no such thing as a genital fetish, I think in recent years that some people are transitioning when they not “actually trans,” etc. And there are some more petty things I get annoyed at like saying “uterus owners” or “pregnant people.” I also disagree with the term swerf (though I don’t think terf/swerfs are slurs). I want to protect women and sex workers. To me, this is like calling people who are against child labor “child exclusionary human rights activists.” In my mind I’m trying to do a good thing for them. Sex work is the commodification of consent— which imo can’t be commodified.

But then on the other hand there are a lot of topics on which terfs would disagree with me. I think we should respect peoples’ pronouns, trans people should be able to use what bathroom they want, using someone’s deadname is rude, for many people medical transition is necessary, there are cases where it is appropriate for children to transition, and even if gender roles were totally nonexistent, there would still be trans people.

Here’s where I think I started to get sucked up into “terf” ideology: I think dysphoria is necessary to be trans. I think this was the “gateway drug” that made me into a terf. This stems from my belief that there are two sexes, gender is fake, and your biology is tied to being trans. My understanding of dysphoria is this: It is a state of being dissatisfied with the sex of your body, feeling like it shouldn’t be the way it is. Like how some people feel like a limb shouldn’t exist, and they want to cut it off (I can see how this analogy is a bit transphobic, I just don’t see how else to explain my understanding). Dysphoria is innate, and would exist no matter how men and women are viewed in society. If you don’t have dysphoria, then what is the point of being trans? Is it to change the gender roles you have to/don’t have to adhere to? Could that not be solved by being gnc? And wouldn’t it be more progressive to push to abolish gender? How is transitioning without dysphoria anything other than reinforcing gender roles?

I’m not trying to be bigoted, these are genuine questions and concerns I have that keep me in terf circles.

There are also just so many things my eyes have been opened to on terfblr. Why porn and sex work is harmful to women, why makeup and sexualized clothing is bad, how to read between the lines in advertising targeting women, seeing just how much woman-hate there is everywhere and how acceptable it is in society. These are beliefs I could never see myself abandoning.

Just a heads up: I use the phrase “trans positive” as an antonym to the word “transphobic” (can’t think of a better one atm).

But with the whole trans issue, that’s where I feel like I might have crawled into a hole that I want to get myself out of. I don’t like that in being a terf, many would consider me to be a hateful and bigoted person. I want to be progressive, and on the right side of history. But there are so many things that I see in modern day trans activism that just don’t make sense to me logically, and some that I view as actively harmful. Like reinforcing gender roles, or eliminating the ability to talk about sex-specific and female-specific issues. It seems every few months things that were once considered trans positive to believe are now transphobic. Most of the time, progress like this is wonderful! It’s good when realize they have racist, sexist, homophobic, etc microagressions and work towards becoming better people. That’s great! But a lot of the times the new transphobic things just don’t make sense. For example, I realized saying things like “bitch” or “cunt” casually was sexist, and it made sense. But if I were to say your sexuality is based on someone’s sex, not their gender, that’s transphobic because it implies trans women aren’t real women, or trans men aren’t real men. If they pass, society can see them as being men or women. But biologically, they aren’t. That’s why the word “trans” goes in front of their name. It just doesn’t make sense to me how it’s transphobic to have a sexuality, so having what’s basically a “gender-ality” is the only acceptable thing now. Obviously it would be rude to go around telling every trans person “actually, you’re not a REAL man/woman!” randomly. But when the context permits, like with dating or for female-specific issues, I just don’t see how it’s transphobic to acknowledge a very relevant biological reality.

Trying to say anything relating to feminist issues in a non-transphobic way feels to me like walking on eggshells to escape a maze. It would be easy to give up and just say everything’s related to gender, sex is a social construct yet somehow gender’s innate, and go with the flow but I just can’t if it doesn’t make sense to me. I know I don’t have to understand everything about everyone else’s experiences, especially if it’s not hurting other people, but I feel like in some ways trans activism nowadays is.

I just wish all this made sense to me and I could happily say I support everything trans positive. I don’t want to be transphobic. In some ways I’m not, but in so many ways I am, and I want to change. But I want things to make sense at the same time. Currently it feels like terf beliefs align with common sense, while believing a lot of principles of trans activism takes so much mental gymnastics.

Obviously if you don’t want to respond you don’t have to. It’s not your responsibility to change me— it’s my responsibility to change myself, and fix my beliefs. But if anyone is willing to listen or help, that would be appreciated. I feel like a lot of terfs start out where I did— initially trans positive, but had just one or two issues that brought them to terfblr, and they come out the other side transphobic. Hopefully helping me will help at least one other person down the line.

I feel terrible interacting with trans people, knowing I follow and listen to so many terfs. I have so many conflicting feelings and beliefs and I wish things could balance out the right way.

[lovelyirony]

The mob au with tonyrhodey....jfkfhajdbfhskhshshsg

Rhodey is part of the mob. He wasn’t planning on it, but he didn’t exactly want to say no to Bruce or Natasha when they asked. Besides, he was promised that it would be nothing like The Godfather and he wouldn’t have to do any of that “smoke a cigar and say a good one-liner” type bullshit. So he was fine with it. 

They called him War Machine. He’s not sure why because he never started a war. 

“You’re relentless,” Bruce explains. “You don’t stop until you’re sure the threat is eliminated. If we were in a war, I wouldn’t want to be on the other side. Neither would anyone else on our side.” 

Being part of a mob means occasionally catering to the people who have allowed you your position of power. Rhodey works well with the government, although it helps that he was in the Air Force for a couple of years. He knows their games, knows what they want. 

He knows how to get them to want what their group wants, and he does it well. 

Tonight is no different as he charms the mayor to waving away any concern of violence on the docks, and he smiles and laughs at a joke about his wife, although it wasn’t that funny and the mayor’s wife is actually quite a wonderful woman. 

“Impressive,” comes a voice from behind, the mayor leaving to find someone else to talk to about something. 

Rhodey turns. He sees the most beautiful man that he’s seen in a while. His suit is tailored to perfection, gold cufflinks flashing in the light. “I’m surprised you could get him to think about you for longer than five minutes.” 

“Personal skill,” Rhodey says. “I’m Jim Rhodes, you are...?” 

The man smiles. “Anthony Stark. Call me Tony. I’m not calling you Jim or Rhodes, mind Rhodey?” 

“Not the worst nickname I’ve ever been given,” he answers, liking how it rolls off Tony’s tongue. “What is a man like you doing here? I wouldn’t think you’d need to talk to anyone.” 

“Throwing money can solve almost all my problems, except for zoning,” Tony grimaces. “I need a couple of favors from our dear city, and I can only get them a few different ways. But what are you doing here? I assume it’s not just because of the cocktail appetizers.” 

Rhodey laughs. 

“I also need a few...favors. I just know how to get them.” 

“I have a favor to ask of you,” Tony responds smoothly. “A dance.” 

Rhodey accepts immediately. 

Tony’s a wonderful person to dance with. His feet are light, steps airy as they breeze around the room. Rhodey learns that Tony is working on green energy for the city, and is trying to get them to let him build the subway system to be more efficient and cleaner, with less fees. 

“Good luck,” Rhodey says. “But if you really want them to accept, I’d look into how they got some of that funding. Or even some of the workers.” 

“Are you suggesting blackmail, Rhodey?” Tony asks. “I’m shocked and surprised.” 

Rhodey laughs. 

“Not blackmail if you’re correcting their behavior.” 

Tony laughs this time. 

“I’ll think about it.” 

Rhodey’s not sure how Tony figured out where Rhodey’s offices are, but he has a flower arrangement on his desk. 

for the man who gave me the best advice. do me a favor and ride the subway to see me some time this month, okay? 

Rhodey likes the colorful arrangement, and if he keeps the card in his desk, then no one else has to know. 

Against his better judgment, Rhodey does take the subway to meet Tony. He usually doesn’t like being in public for this amount of time, because people take notice, even in a city as big as theirs. New York City has eight million people. But if you really want to find someone, it’s a small place. There are only so many streets you go down before you’re in a bad place. 

But the subway is smooth. Efficient. It’s free. The newspapers have been wondering how long that will last. 

Tony’s answer? 

“As long as I want it to,” he responds, as if it’s the most obvious answer in the world. “People need this to get to their family, their job, their home. I’m not going to charge for a necessity, that’s ridiculous.” 

Rhodey smiles at that. 

(Natasha says he’s having...feelings. Rhodey doesn’t believe that.) 

But he gets to Tony’s offices, and Tony welcomes him up and promises to entertain him with food and drink. 

“Did you like it?” Tony asks. 

“I loved it,” Rhodey says. “How’d you get it done so quickly?” 

“Oh, I’ve been toying with the idea since I was around twenty-one,” Tony says. “My project was already artificial intelligence, but I’ve always loved to attempt at creating things for the benefit of all. Once you gave me the...in? I just had to build it.” 

Rhodey smiles and then asks Tony if he’d like to go out for ice cream. 

They get ice cream from the grocery store. Tony loves the store, pointing out random flavors and ones that seem disgusting. 

“Orange cream, blech,” he says, wrinkling his nose. “It’s the worst flavor.” 

“Even worse than banana?” Rhodey says, eyeing a pint. 

“Even.” 

Tony ends up getting some sort of layered chocolate monstrosity, and Rhodey gets a simple strawberry. 

They share ice cream. And phone numbers. 

Then Tony kisses him softly goodnight. 

“I’ll see you hopefully soon,” he teases, smiling. “Enjoy the rest of your night.” 

Rhodey does. 

Tony...does not. 

When someone as influential as a guy named War Machine steps out to go with you, people take notice. And even if you are someone that hasn’t been seen with him multiple times, they take what they can get. 

Tony is shoved into a generic car and it speeds off. 

They don’t know who they’re dealing with. 

- 

Unknown player in this game: Iron Man. He stops turf wars, refuses to allow serious bloodshed, and usually keeps the police clean enough to actually do their jobs efficiently and correctly. 

Iron Man is Tony Stark. 

The people who took Tony do not know this because no one knows, except for Pepper and that is because she is very sneaky. 

“You know, this all is very unnecessary,” Tony says. “You could’ve just followed Rhodey somewhere. Why me?” 

“Because he risked it to be out with you, buying ice cream of all things,” the man sneers. “Tony Stark. Didn’t know you’d be an important piece of our puzzle. But you just wait.” 

Oh buddy, you have no idea. 

Rhodey gets a message. 

Tony’s in a chair, tied up. He has a bruise on one eye, the eye swollen shut. 

“Our date was a real knockout, you know?” Tony says with a wink with his other eye. “Don’t worry about me, Rhodey. I’m just fine. But these guys want something from you. Do me a favor and don’t give--” 

The camera cuts out to black, and there’s a distinct thwack. 

Rhodey feels sick. 

He also calls Natasha and Bruce up to the plate. 

“We’re finding him if it’s the last thing I’ll ever fucking do,” Rhodey says. “He’s there because of me.” 

“Got it,” Natasha says. 

“Already narrowing it down,” Bruce responds. 

Tony has it handled. 

Even if Rhodey is rushing over with his group. 

A small explosion has blown the men closest to Tony away, and he is currently getting plaster dust off his jacket sleeves while walking out, checking that he has Rhodey’s number. 

He rushes to Tony embracing him and inspecting his injuries. 

“I’ll hurt whoever did this to you,” Rhodey says, fingers tracing around the bloody lip. 

“It’s fine,” Tony says. “I have it handled, trust me.” 

“It’s more than you think,” Rhodey says. “They were after me for--” 

“Can it, War Machine,” Tony says. 

Rhodey looks up. 

“You--?” 

“Yeah,” Tony answers. “But I’ll tell you how I know once I make it to your office. You have water there, right? They didn’t give me water and if I don’t have water then my whole hydration is going to be thrown off, and isn’t that just great--” 

Rhodey laughs. 

Only Tony, he thinks, could be concerned about his hydration levels. 

And then he finds out that this guy he’s met? Is Iron Man. 

“Holy shit, you know how to pick them,” Bruce mutters. 

Rhodey smiles as he sees Tony in the kitchen, singing along (badly) to music and winking at him. 

“Yeah, yeah I do,” he says with a smile. 

[norahastuff]

Hello. What are your thoughts about S12 of SPN? Did you like what the show did for Destiel and what about Mary's arc? i'd love to hear your thoughts!

Oh anon, so many thoughts - be careful what you ask for!

Season 12 is one of my favourite seasons of the show, mostly because of the in depth focus of the characters’ emotional states - especially Cas and Mary. I mean sure you could say the Men of Letters weren’t exactly formidable villains,  but I think that was kind of the point. Like Sam snarks at Lady Toni Bevell when she tries to threaten him with torture, he’s been tortured by the devil himself - what was she going to do to him?  After dealing with many seasons of escalating threats that culminated in them confronting God and Amara, they couldn’t exactly raise the stakes any higher plotwise, so they went lower. 

They created this human threat and instead put the focus on what the characters were going through. This gets kind of long, so I’ll break it down into 3 parts. I’ll talk about Cas and his story in this answer, and then I’ll make another couple of posts about Mary and then Dean and Cas. 

1. Cas and his state of mind

2. Mary

3. Dean and Cas

1. Cas

After everything that went on during s11 with Cas and Lucifer and God, I did kind of think that the show might forget about what it was that led to Cas saying yes to Lucifer in the first place. I needn’t have worried. Dabb’s always been interested in exploring Cas’ mental state, going all the way back to 8x08 when Dean and Cas talked about the effect the whole Godstiel/Leviathan mess had on Cas. 

“I’m afraid I might kill myself.”

 It was jarring because it was the most direct Cas had ever gotten about his depression. He’d talked about it before but never quite so matter of factly. Dabb also wrote the episode in which Cas said yes to Lucifer, a decision he came to after feeling worthless and unneeded by everyone and everything. Ambriel told him the how little the angels thought of him. In the past that may have been because he was a traitor and a rebel. They may have hated him but they feared him, even felt a twisted kind of reverence towards him. Not anymore. Now what did they think of him?

Castiel: I never wanted this, you know. To be hated by my own kind, I never…

Ambriel: Oh no, I don’t hate you, Castiel.

Castiel: Thank you.

Ambriel: I mean, we have a lot in common. Our names rhyme, that’s a big one. I look good in a trench coat too, and we’re both expendable.

Castiel: Excuse me?

Ambriel: Well, that’s why we’re here, right? I’m a number cruncher and you… like I said, I’ve heard the stories. You help. But Sam and Dean Winchester are the real heroes. So, if the Darkness is still alive and she’s pissed… and she kills us… no big loss. So sure, maybe we’re not super important, but we do the job. You know… I think there’s nobility in that.

He wasn’t The Great Castiel anymore. He was the Winchesters’ sidekick. The angel who turned his back on them and gave up an army for Dean Winchester. I think sometimes we underestimate how bad the events of 9x22 were for the angels perception of Cas. Dean broke the rules, rules Cas had put into place, and yet Cas refused to hold him accountable for that. Instead Cas fell at his feet, at least in their eyes.

I mean he was resigned to dying when Amara caught him….and yet what does she tell him? “Blue eyes, you’re not even worth the effort” “You look a bit used up.” He wasn’t even worthy of being killed by the big bad anymore. Instead she used his body to send a message to the adversaries she actually cared about. That’s all he was good for. 

Ok sorry I spent a lot of time talking about season 11 but that’s because Cas’ story in s12 is a continuation of the same things he was dealing with in s11. His desperate search for a purpose. His fears that he could never do anything right, that he was worthless: unloved and unwanted. As soon as he helped get Sam back, he got up and left again. Sure, part of that was because he needed to go find Lucifer, but like Sam and Dean tell him, he didn’t have to do that alone. 

I think it’s telling that his decision to leave comes on the heels of his late night conversation with Mary where he confesses that he still doesn’t feel like he belongs with them. So he leaves, and tries to make himself useful and Cas being Cas, he decides to do that as Agent Beyonce which results in an absolutely glorious partnership with Crowley. Honestly, as much as Cas hated Crowley, I think their little adventure was good for him - at least for a little while. I mean it gave Cas an excuse to feel superior (something he wasn’t getting a lot of at that point) and to show contempt towards someone - something he is so very good at: see also Ketch, Sergei.

But it’s easy to see how precarious Cas’ sense of self worth was. The second something goes wrong, in this case when Sam and Dean get arrested and he can’t find them, he completely falls apart. He internalises what Ambriel and Amara said to him about how useless he was, and that coupled with his own crippling insecurities, as well as Mary lashing out and blaming him for letting them get taken (she didn’t mean it really, she was more angry at herself than anything) he convinces himself that they were all right. He is worthless and he can’t do anything right. Cas didn’t fail to stop the vampire he tried to hunt down because he lacked the skills, or because he needed Sam and Dean. No, it was because he was so convinced that he was worthless and useless, it became a self fulfilling prophecy. 

The look of relief, the crack of his voice when he hears Dean on the phone after he’d essentially given up hope. The look on his face when he finds Sam and Dean, a look that stops them in their tracks, not to mention the wordless exchange in the backseat of the car after Cas meets Dean’s eyes and realises that something’s not quite right. Try then to tell me that Ambriel’s words (or at least the same sentiments) are not running through his head when he learns that one of the Winchesters will have to sacrifice themselves.

Sam and Dean Winchester are the real heroes.

You’re expendable.

If she kills you, it’s no big loss. 

It’s not much of a surprise that he makes the decision he makes. 

I also find Ishim’s conversations with Cas very interesting. I’ll talk about that some more in the Dean and Cas post, but in particular this exchange:

I used to envy you, Castiel. You believe that? You survived Hell. You were chosen by God. But now look at you. You’re just sad and pathetically weak. So now… I’m gonna help you. I’m gonna cure you of your human weakness same way I cured my own -by cutting it out. 

Once again this is confirmation of what the angels think of him. He’s not a figure to be feared anymore, rather an object of pity. Unsurprisingly, they all blame Dean for that. They see Cas’ love and devotion for Dean as his weakness. From the very beginning Cas has been told that getting close to Dean would lead to his downfall. Heaven, hell and everyone in between warned him, over and over again. 

Interestingly Cas sees it differently. He agrees that he’s weak and powerless but he doesn’t blame his love for Sam and Dean for that. So much so that on his deathbed, he even thanks them for changing his life, for changing him. 

But he survives. Crowley (much to Cas’ chagrin I’m sure) saved his life. And ultimately nothing has changed. He still needs to feel useful, he’s still desperate to find any sense of purpose - and so he finds one. Eliminate the Nephilim. Not only is that a clear instruction, a plan he can carry out, but if he manages to do that, he’ll also be preventing Sam and Dean from having to do something truly unsavoury. That checks all the boxes on Cas’ wishlist.

But Cas is missing something. He’s not seeing how much Dean is struggling with him gone, and how desperate he is for Cas to come back. He just wants a win, and unfortunately, he’s looking for it in all the wrong places. He doesn’t have a clear idea of his importance and role in the Winchesters’ lives, Dean’s in particular. When he steals the Colt and tries to face Dagon alone, he tells them he was trying to protect them, only for Dean to hit back with “You’re not our babysitter Cas” and from Cas’ face, you can see he clearly doesn’t agree. He once admitted he saw himself as the Winchesters’ guardian, and part of him still feels that that’s the only role he can play in their family - even though that’s not at all how Sam and Dean feel about him anymore.

Cas is lost. Completely and utterly unsure of his place in the world. Kelly takes the wheel and he could stop her if he wanted to - but what else would he do? It’s easier to just follow someone else’s plan, no matter how nebulous and uncertain it may be. 

And then something happens. The Nephilim’s power flows through him and Cas feels strong. He feels focused and like he has a purpose again. A part to play in making the world better. He has something he hasn’t had in a very long time - he has faith. But you see the problem still hasn’t been solved, he may have faith now, but he still doesn’t have any faith in himself. He doesn’t see his value outside of being a tool, an instrument, existing only to be of service to the bigger players. 

I think season 12 did a really great job in highlighting the dichotomy in Cas’ motivations that we’ve been seeing for a while now. He wants to be of service, he needs a purpose to feel like he has a place in this world, but it’s not a desire that’s based on unfeeling duty anymore. 

Cas feels things so very strongly and yet he’s still acutely aware that he’s not human - something season 14 (particularly 14x14) spent time exploring. Season 15 too actually. He wants to belong. He wants to be wanted, to be loved. He wants a home.

And yet…he also knows (or thinks he knows) what it is he actually has to do. Remember s9 and the extended focus on “I did what I had to do.” When Dean asked Cas back then if he was ok with giving up his human life to become an angel again, Cas’ response was essentially that it didn’t matter - he did what he had to do. 

Cas wants to feel loved, valued, cherished but yet he also thinks his role in this last big fight against God is to sacrifice himself so that the chosen players, namely Sam, Dean, Jack can have a better chance. Not only is this a consistent trait in Cas that we can follow all the way back, but I’m just so in awe that they actually spent so much time in s12 actually exploring Cas’ state of mind and what drives him to feel this way. It’s just very narratively satisfying.

Ok yeah this is long so I’ll post the other parts in separate posts soon, because there’s a lot to say in those too.

[xiubaek-13]

Definitely Not Hogwarts

Prompt: Baekhyun + “You taste like fucking candy.” + “I was just hoping that y’know… you’d fall in love with me.”

Setting/AU: Magic

Warnings: innuendo, magic, completely non subtle references, swearing.

Word Count: 7,173 (it’s still a drabble, let’s pretend it isn’t this long)

A/N: I hope you enjoy it, you kind of get everyone in this as an added bonus for me taking so long.

If there was something you hated more than changing schools mid-year you had yet to encounter it. Why had you agreed? Because it was a great opportunity. So great that you’d accepted the offer knowing full well that you’d be moving in the middle of the year, packing all of your belongings into boxes - ones to take with you and ones to go into storage, and starting in classes that had already set their dynamic up for the year. Would it be easy? Not at all. Did you still want to do it? You bet your ass you did.

The school was in the middle of nowhere so you had to live on the premises. You’d never been to boarding school before so this concept was somewhat daunting but you were choosing to think of it as a hotel for the moment. All of the students lived in dorms and boarded for the year, only going home at the end of each term, and the teachers lived in separate wings of the school. Yes, wings, because the school was a goddamn castle.

Until a couple of years ago, they had never taken on a teacher’s aide before, but the powers that be had made a treaty between the gifted and the non gifted (god forbid the humans actually use the word magic, apparently that made it seem childlike and not the absolute danger to society that the government liked to portray it as. Magic was neither childlike or the demise of society as we know it but you digress). In the two years following that they had taken on a handful of aides, always non gifted, and usually morally opposed to the concept of magic, a choice that made you think that the wizard in control of the school was in fact, enjoying this whole ‘play nice with the humans’ thing far too much. The aide who had been chosen this year had vacated his position without notice at the end of the second term due to a spell gone wrong. Or something. The particulars were unclear. All you knew was that on one late summer morning you received an offer and should you have accepted that offer (you did, but you made sure not to sound too desperate when accepting it) you would have three days to prepare and move.

Those three days had been a complete and utter whirlwind. Your friends were ecstatic for you. You were the first aide they had selected that had actually had a positive attitude to the concept of magic. First and foremost you believed in science, but you were open to the idea of there being something more out there and if it could be applied to positively benefit human society then you were all for it. Plus, who wasn’t curious about what these kids were being taught?

Your work was sad to see you leave but thankfully you were only employed casually so you didn’t have to adhere to the standard procedure of giving two weeks notice or break any contracts in order to accept your new role, one of the bonuses to being a university student who was unable to work full time. You’d never been happier to not have job security.

Upon arrival to the castle school you were ushered to your wing (the north one with the big spire) by an overly enthusiastic pair of seniors, one of which kept cracking terrible jokes that you guessed were meant to put you at ease but they were just making you cringe, something that the taller senior - you were pretty sure he said his name was Chanyeol - found hilarious. The two showed you to your room, if you could call it that.

You felt like you’d been transported to the world of one of the many books you read while you were growing up - the princess or assassin (your parents made sure you didn’t reach adulthood believing that some man was going to come whisk you off your feet and solve all of life’s problems for you. They gave you books where the women took charge and fucked shit up as well as the damsels in distress, and ones with useless protagonists and ones with good men) living in the tower of a castle, waiting for the unfairly attractive prince or guard to appear so that hijinks could ensue. Your “room” was more of a suite, if castles could have suites. You decided they could, because you couldn’t fathom calling this a room, it was a bit too grandiose for that. You had a bedroom, private study/office, bathroom and tutoring room.

“As you can see, you have space for smaller lessons or tutoring.” Suho explained as you entered the small space, only a few desks and chairs decorating the room. “It’s mostly seniors who will come to you to go over homework, assignments, and anything they’re stuck on.” He added.

“But I’m just here as an aide, not as a teacher. Why would they come to me?” You asked.

Chanyeol replied. “A few reasons. First, if they don’t want the teacher to know that they haven’t fully grasped what was covered in the lesson, the school is super competitive so no one ever wants to let another student see an area that they are weak in. Second, you’ll be marking homework and assignments so they’d come to you if they want clarification around grades. Third, some will come to you to try and scare you. It’s like a sport for some of the students. They see how long the new non-gifted will last before running for the hills.” Your face must have dropped because he instantly waved his hands as he tried to lessen the blow of his statement. “N-not that all students are like that, there’s just a select group who do it. Most of us welcome the initiative to have humans in our school so that they can see that we’re not the evil witches and wizards of their childhood stories.”

“The castle and long robes aren’t helping that, just saying.” You deadpan.

Suho makes a sound akin to choking on air but when you look at him you see that he’s laughing. He looks at Chanyeol as he tries to calm himself but he keeps laughing while trying to speak. “I like her. I don’t think she has anything to worry about with that attitude.” The look the other senior gives him is one of pure exasperation and you have to do all that you can not to crack up at his face.

“Hyung…” he starts but then thinks better of it. His long legs carry him through to the next room, he clears his throat before continuing to speak. You leave Suho, who is still chuckling to himself, in the tutoring room. “This room is your office. It’s kind of a half library, half office. You can do your own research in here and organise all of your work in the room. If you ever need the fire lit just ask me to come and do it. I’m proficient with fire, most students can conjure fire but some would mess with you and light a fire that emits a stench, or one that burns too hot, one that talks to you, you get the idea.”

You nod and make a mental note to ask him to light the fire in winter for you if you haven’t come across any other trustworthy students by then. The proficiency stuff is new information to you. You knew that the gifted could conjure elemental magic but you didn’t know that they had proficiencies for certain elements.

    “I apologise for Chanyeol, he always forgets that the non-gifted don’t know about the proficiencies. I’m assuming that’s why you look confused?” Suho leans against the door frame as he speaks. He pushes off and enters the room once you nod. “To cut a long and dreary history short, gifted - as you refer to us - have the ability to wield elemental magic. Certain families have a proficiency with certain elements which allows them to have superior control over that element. In Chanyeol’s case that is fire. In mine, water. There are nine such students at this school but if we go by our history books there are twelve families with proficiencies. We can do greater things with our elements and we take extra classes to hone our skills with them. Normal students can cast a spell to light a fire in here for you but Chanyeol could click his fingers and a fire would light, or he could create a flame in his hand and have it hover for you.”

“Can he hadouken too?” The words leave your mouth before you can stop them. Chanyeol folds in half, slapping his leg as he laughs. Suho looks less amused. “Or do you guys have special rings? Can your powers combined conjure Captain Planet?” Chanyeol is struggling to breathe because of how hard he’s laughing.

“That’s… that’s not how the elemental magic works.” He begins.

“Suho, I’m kidding.” You interrupt. “You need to brush up on your human pop culture circa the 1990’s.” You smirk. “Just doing my part to help eliminate the dark, evil wizard stereotype all of you have going for you.”

He chuckles at that, shaking his head as he moves towards the next room, lightly shoving Chanyeol as he passes. “This next room is your bedroom. You’ve got one of the better rooms. You should see the aide’s room in the East Wing, it’s like a shoebox. (You thank all that is good for giving you something better than a cupboard under the stairs.) It has your bed, wardrobe, lounge and adjoining bathroom. It’s the only aide room that has that actually, all of the other wings have a communal bathroom for the aides but you lucked out with a private bath.”

You wanted to make a witty remark about that but all words died on your tongue as you stepped into the room. This was far too grand to be called a bedroom. You had a giant four poster bed to one side, a lounge suite by the fireplace, a couple of wardrobes and shelves, a table with four chairs and a little kitchenette. This was more like a studio apartment but in a castle. Everything was ornate, it was like medieval meets industrial aesthetically, which worked far better than you imagined it would.

“It’s pretty nice isn’t it?” Chanyeol remarked. “Like we said, you got pretty much the best aide room out of the lot.” He scratched the back of his head as he pondered what to say next. “Uh, that pretty much concludes the tour of your room. We’ve both got class to get to but Xiumin & D.O. will come by to take you on the tour of the grounds. They’re two of the other students with proficiencies as well, and they’re both trustworthy so you’ll be in good hands.” The two students bowed and waved farewell to you, wishing you well on your first week at the school before they left.

The other two students turned up not long after Suho & Chanyeol left. One arrived while making voice notes into his dictaphone and the other while cleaning his glasses. It wasn’t difficult for you to guess that these two would be top students, they just gave off the ‘we study a lot and it shows in our results’ kind of aura. You had been informed that all of the senior students who would be showing you around were high achievers but where Chanyeol and Suho were a more relaxed and reserved levels of intellect, these two exuded it.

The two students bowed to you and introduced themselves. The one with glasses was D.O. and the one with the dictaphone was Xiumin. You swallowed the urge to make a Harry Potter joke to D.O. but with that style of glasses he was on borrowed time before you blurted it out. You were, after all, supposed to be professional. You might only be a few years older than these seniors but you were an employee of this establishment, not the new kid. You didn’t have to fit in or be classified as cool. You had the feeling that until you actually started working you’d have to keep reminding yourself of that fact.

“So we’ll be showing you the grounds so that you have a general layout of the school. If you get lost you can always ask a student but to be on the safe side I’d recommend a fellow teacher or a student whom you recognise. Others might find it fun to mislead the new non-gifted aide.” D.O. explained. Why were these seniors painting this school like it was filled with miscreants? Did the students not respect their elders or were humans looked down on that much? Were you just a temporary plaything to them or something?

“Do the students have issues with treating the non-gifted aides with any modicum of respect?” You asked.

“It’s not that. The majority of the student body welcome the integration of humans into our school, we have just as much to learn from you as you do from us if our kind are to coexist moving forward.” Xiumin replied. “But there are a select few, as there are in any setting, who will only find pleasure in making your life difficult. They will take any chance they get to embarrass and ridicule you, to trick you and to eventually send you running from this school. Their primitive thought process is that if they have enough aides flee the school that the whole initiative will be discontinued.” He shook his head as he finished speaking, showing you just how dumb he thought this select group of the student body were.

“What Xiumin is trying to say is trust your instincts. Don’t blindly trust a student because they act kind towards you, feel them out and work out if they are playing you. We’ve been through a few too many aides this year and that group think they can send anyone away. For the most part, don’t react to them. If they think their tricks have no effect on you hopefully they’ll just get bored and leave you alone.”

“Or, they will escalate their antics and put me in actual danger.” You rebuked.

“They’d get caught and punished if it came to that.” D.O. deadpanned then added. “I’m sure you’d be fine. While we’re out Lay, another senior, will be putting up warding magic on your room to prevent any hijinks from happening there.” Hijinks? you mouthed but before you could say anything back to the half blood prince wannabe he started walking down the hall.

Xiumin chuckled under his breath and motioned for you to follow. “You’ll get used to him. He’s blunt but he’s not unkind. He doesn’t like his routine being messed with. Normally he’d be running a study group so he’s a little off kilter today. Just work with it please?” You nodded and followed the other male as he set off after not Harry Potter.

The tour was pretty informative, with both boys giving you some history for the different areas which you found fascinating. They also showed you the areas of the school you’d be frequenting the most - the main hall, the teachers lounge, kitchen, and a small selection of the classrooms you’d be in. They marked these locations on a map for you and went over the easiest routes for you to follow. Both of them were very polite and patient with you as you very slowly got your bearings. Xiumin advised for you to memorise the paths rather than any objects in the halls as they had a tendency to move. D.O. eventually led you to a large set of double doors and guided you down towards the grounds at the rear of the school. This place was massive and your brain hurt from trying to remember everything.

“The sports grounds, gym, amphitheater, horticulture and agriculture areas are spread out here. The easiest ways to know the borders of the grounds are the lake at the back, forest to the left and mountains to the right. You’re perfectly safe if you remain within those boundaries. We’ll quickly take you down to each building but you won’t have to come down here too often so don’t worry too much about memorising them.” He stated.

Xiumin added, with a grin on his face. “You’ll probably only come down to watch sporting matches. Even if you don’t really care for sport, adding magic makes the games much more interesting. Occasionally a class will be held down here if they are using spells that require a lot more space than a classroom offers.” You were going to have to witness this if only to put a real image in your mind of what that looked like. Until you did, it would be every tacky wizard movie you’d ever seen playing on repeat, which would drive you batty. The two of them continued showing you everything, adding fun facts and tidbits of history along the way.

“So, uh, forgive my ignorance but we really only have mainstream media to go off here. Do you guys use wands?” You ask.

D.O. scoffs indignantly. “We absolutely do not. Wands are for children and idiots.”

“What he means to say is that we use our hands and minds. Wands exist but are not widely used since they require far less skill and are less accurate.” Xiumin adds.

“Your mainstream media is dumb.” D.O. says.

You raise your hands. “Hey, no disagreement from me here. I know it’s incorrect with its portrayals 99% of the time which is why I asked.” Xiumin chuckles as he calms D.O. down. You hadn’t expected his outburst to be over a fucking wand but hey, weirder things were surely still to come.

Eventually the three of you approached the large doors that would lead you back within the main building. D.O. smiled when you looked to him to lead the way back. “Oh no. You’re going to lead us back to your room as best you can. Consider this a test of your short term memory.” He chuckled as your face fell.

“Fine.” You grumbled. How hard could it be to follow a map back to your room anyway?

Harder than it looked was apparently the answer. You made it back after a few wrong turns. Part of you wondered if this was some cruel joke where they got to laugh at you leading yourself in circles while futilely trying to reach your destination. The other part just wanted you to hurry up and work out how to get back to your room. When you spotted the stairs that led to your hallway you sighed in relief. Both boys smiled brightly at you. “We consider our tour a failure if you can’t find your way back. You might have made a few missteps but you got back without needing any assistance. You’ll know the grounds like the back of your hand soon enough.” Xiumin smiled.

The two of them led you the rest of the way back to your room before bidding you farewell. “We’ll see you in class.” Xiumin said as he bowed, a small smile on his face. He definitely didn’t look old enough to be a senior but who were you to judge? You were in a freaking school of magic, for all you knew he was 400 years old. Or maybe there was a portrait of him hidden in an attic somewhere.

“Thanks for the tour, you both helped me out a lot. I will definitely be using this map over the coming days while I get my bearings. There is a lot of history here,” You gestured to your surroundings. “and it’s fascinating, I know you barely scratched the surface with the small insights you gave me but it was very informative and enjoyable.” You smiled.

D.O. chuckled. “I’m glad you didn’t fine it too boring. Most of the aides that come through here don’t even listen to half of the tour we give.” He paused. “Actually, before we go I have a question for you.” His head tilted to the side as he appraised you, as if looking for some answer to his yet unasked question.

“Go ahead, it’s the least I could do after such a lovely tour.” You replied.

“Well, the least you could do would be nothing but -”

“Let’s not debate semantics right now.” Xiumin interjected.

D.O. huffed, but acquiesced. “Fine. We’ll ignore the idiosyncrasies of the english language for now.” Xiumin rolled his eyes, this was clearly not the first time he’d had to deal with the other nitpicking at insignificant details of the language. “My question is in two parts. Firstly, where do you stand on the issue of magic? and secondly, why did you accept this role?”

Well that wasn’t the question you were expecting. You didn’t know what question you were expecting but it sure as hell wasn’t one this bold, especially not from a student. “To start with, you know I don’t actually have to answer you right? You are technically my students.”

    “Of course. Will you answer it though?” He asked, his gaze locked on yours. The balls on this kid…

“I will, but the point is that I don’t owe you, or any student an explanation like this.” They both nod at you and wait for you to continue. “To answer the first part of your question, I believe in science. Always have and always will, but I’ve always had an interest in magic. It was this mystical thing that appeared in the storybooks of my childhood, and I don’t mean the propaganda that litters the homes of the non gifted, these books had the gifted as heroes, as people who saved the day. I watched the change happen. All it took was one world leader who realised the gifted were real and they feared the abilities you have over non gifted. Suddenly all of the children’s books had evil wizards and witches who would trick you and eat you. I was never swayed, my interest only grew once I realised that the mystical wonders from my childhood books were real. I think that in order for gifted and non gifted to coexist, they need to work together and not look at either side as less than or evil. There are terrible gifted and non gifted people but there are also wonderful gifted and non gifted people. We fear the unknown but if we work together, that fear lessens.”

You pause to take a breath, noticing how wide Xiumin’s eyes have gotten as you’ve been speaking. “As for the second part, part of it has surely been answered in the first part of my response but aside from general curiosity and a belief in our kind working together I also want to be a part of that. It’s not lost on us that most non gifted selected for the program have been heavily against the concept of magic and view the gifted as the devil incarnate. I know I’m probably one of the first to be selected who has no negative preconceptions of what goes on here and I want to do my job, help students and be able to provide workable ideas for the future of our kind coexisting. I believe that if we can work together, science and magic combined will result in wondrous things.”

Finally, he cracked a smile, his whole face changing into that of a bright young man. “You are a welcome change. You’re not wrong when you say that the other aides have a dislike of our kind and of magic as a whole. I think our kind chose the wrong approach by attempting to make a non gifted who was fundamentally against everything that we stand for change their mind by simply existing with us. It was never going to work, and even if it did your government could scratch it up to stockholm syndrome. Just.” His face hardens but his gaze softens as he looks at you. “Keep your wits about you and don’t be fooled by rose coloured glasses.”

***

Your first few days went by without too many hiccups. You’d been thrown into a wide array of classes; apothecary, history of magic, potions, magical law, spellcasting & defense magic. The classes were overwhelming but oh so interesting, to the point that you had to keep reminding yourself that you were supposed to be reading up on the syllabus and grading homework against the guide sheets you’d been given, not giving your full attention to the teacher. That was easier said than done once the topic of dragons came up. It took all of your self restraint not to blurt out “Fucking hell, dragons are real?!” but maintaining your professional facade took priority. You made a note to read up on them later because they were even more fascinating than your childhood stories had hinted at.

You met most of the other proficient students thanks to Suho & Chanyeol introducing them to you. You’d run into Xiumin & D.O. again when they were on their way to their extra credit classes and asked them about their proficiencies, apologising for forgetting to ask the first time you’d met. They’d let you know that Xiumin’s proficiency was ice and D.O.’s was earth. You didn’t get to ask much more about it because they ran off to class, not wanting to be late and have that mark on their records.

“Good Afternoon Chanyeol, what can I do for you?” You’d asked when he approached you with two other students trailing behind him.

He grinned and gestured to the two behind him. “I figured I should introduce you to these two. They’ll either annoy the shit out of you or be model students.” You raised a brow at him. “They’re younger than most seniors, thanks to their proficiencies.” He stage whispered at you.

“You know we can hear you right?” One of them remarks.

To his credit, Chanyeol ignores them and continues talking. “Whilst they are young and immature, they possess a lot of control over their elements, Kai in particular.” He gestures to the boy to his left, who smiles shyly at you and waves. “They figured they should get him through school, disciplined & bursting at the seams with morals before he got too old. His proficiency is teleportation you see, so everyone does what they can to steer him away from a life of crime.”

You nod. “No ill gotten gains for you then.” Kai chuckles. “Can you only teleport yourself or can you take people and objects with you?”

“I can choose. I have to be touching whatever I want to take with me but if someone grabs me I can choose to teleport alone or with them.” He replies.

You lean forward on your desk. “How large an object can you move?” You ask.

He grins at you. “Not telling.”

You sigh dramatically. “Chanyeol, I fear that he might have already given in to a life of crime.” For a moment Chanyeol looks confused until the synapses connect and he realises that you’re poking fun. “If you do a dramatic pose when you teleport then I think you’re well on your way to the criminal mastermind title.”

Kai laughs loudly. “I like her.” he states before wandering off to find his seat. You just hoped the military never found out about him, they’d abuse his power wherever possible and he seemed far too kind for that kind of life.

The other male clears his throat to remind Chanyeol that he is still waiting for his introduction. Chanyeol’s eyes widen and then narrow in frustration. “This is the youngest of the proficient, Sehun. He likes to think that the universe revolves around him but we keep him grounded, figuratively and literally…once or twice.”

You glance past Chanyeol to Sehun. He looks like he has a chip on his shoulder, and the resting bitch face isn’t helping him not seem like a jerk to you but you give him the benefit of the doubt. “Hi Sehun, what is your proficiency?”

He gives you a very slight, like blink and you’d miss it kind of slight, smile as you feel a light breeze wash over you. “Wind.”

You ponder for a moment and bite your tongue to prevent another Captain Planet reference from coming out. “Wind would be the broad term though wouldn’t it? You control air right?” You ask.

He nods. “Yes. I can control and manipulate the air, it’s velocity and molecular structure.”

“Are they trying to prevent you from a life of crime as well by fast tracking your schooling?”

He smirks. “Something like that. I had a huge amount of power but no control over it so I was pushed through school to better harness my power.”

Chanyeol interjects. “His power used to be based off his emotions so he’s had to learn to control himself and basically relearn how to use his power.”

“That’s pretty impressive actually.” You reply.

Sehun actually smiles at that. “I like her too, for now. Nice to meet you.” He nods then also heads to his seat.

Chanyeol smiles warmly. “He caused himself a lot of harm while he was learning. Lay, you haven’t met him yet but he’s proficient in healing, had to patch him and quite a few of us up on several occasions. He seems cold and aloof but he needs to be in order to keep his ability at a safe level.”

“Thanks for introducing me, that’s 6 of you I’ve met so far so I still have 3 to go? Lay being one of them. Who are the other 2?”

You hear the groan in his voice. Clearly he isn’t a fan of these two. “Chen & Baekhyun. They are probably the two who will give you the most grief. Too clever for their own good and they are sneaky as all hell. They control lightning & light. Don’t be fooled by their lost puppy eyes. In fact, ask some of the other aides, I’m sure they have stories.” He glances up as the teacher enters the room and ducks off to his seat.

You’re left to wonder about these two supposed wicked students. What do they look like? (Probably should have asked that in hindsight) Are they really that charming? Had the other aides exaggerated with their stories? You were going to find one after class and learn more about these two. You wanted to be prepared for whenever they decided to show up in your vicinity.

***

“Baekhyun? Is he here?!” The aide shuts the door quickly, looking around the room frantically.

“Woah, woah, calm down. He’s not here. I was just asking about him.” You try to calm the spooked aide. Christ what did this student do to the aides?

“What did he do to you?” She asks quietly.

“Huh? Nothing. I haven’t met him yet.”

“Keep it that way.” She says quickly.

“The better question is what did he do to you?” You take a step towards the aide, determined to get answers. She seems truly afraid of this student. Is she vehemently against magic? Yes. Does that warrant this level of fear? You’re not sure.

“He’s evil.” She whispers.

You roll your eyes. “Come on now. I know you aren’t exactly pro magic but evil? In what way?”

Her eyes widen as she grabs the fabric of your shirt over your shoulders. “He toys with you. He’ll be the sweetest student you ever meet until you do something that he doesn’t like. Then he’s your worst nightmare.”

“So a teenager with an out of control ego. That’s not so bad. You had me thinking he’d be murdering kittens on my doorstep or something.”

She shakes her head. “You don’t understand! He’s proficient in light, sounds lame right?” Maybe it sounded lame to her but you had already put some thought into that power. Manipulating light and dark, controlling shadows - that could be a terrifying power. “It sounds like a nothing proficiency compared to the others but once you realise that light is necessary to everything, it becomes terrifying. He shouldn’t be.” She shudders.

Maybe that attitude is why he doesn’t like you. You think to yourself. Out loud, you attempt to change the subject. “And Chen?”

She scoffs. “He’s a trickster but there is no malice in what he does. He messes with you because he can. Compared to the other one, he’s harmless.”

You bid her farewell and head back towards your room. Another aide stops you down the corridor. “He knew she had a fear of the dark so he manipulated the shadows so that she felt like she was perpetually being engulfed in darkness for the better part of a month. She’s been a nervous wreck around him ever since. All because he didn’t score higher than Kai in class.”

“He sounds like a right jerk.” You state.

“He is. He’s ruthless once he’s decided that you aren’t useful to him anymore. The others are all probably like this but he’s the only one not hiding what an evil monster he and his kind truly are.” The aide leaves before you can give him a piece of your mind. Armed with more information on the remaining two proficient students than you’d had an hour ago, you head back to your room. Lost in thought you fail to notice a student the student that brushes past you.

***

The rest of your day goes smoothly. You attend two more classes and are given homework to mark for each. Sehun comes to you for tutoring after his magical law class. He’d told you he understood the concepts they’d covered but didn’t understand why any of it mattered. You’d done your best to explain the notion of risk and consequence in relation to magical law, using his own grasp on his proficiency as an example. Once he left another student came knocking on your door, one you hadn’t been introduced to yet.

“Are you a senior?” You asked.

He nodded. “You’re our new aide.”

“Your powers of observation are second to none.”

“Hey now, that’s not how you should talk to students!” He exclaimed as he entered the room. You’d figured that he was one of the 3 remaining seniors you were yet to meet, you just didn’t know which one he was. The upturned shape of his mouth screamed ‘I’m mischief incarnate’ so you ruled out Lay.

“Most students would announce themselves upon arrival. Forgive me, I don’t believe we’ve been introduced yet.” You don’t hold out your hand, a tip you were heeding since Xiumin mentioned it.

“I’m Chen and I suck at apothecary. Please help me teacher-nim. I need to be in the top tier of the class so that my parents will get off my back.” He dramatically drops to his knees and overacts begging for help, making you laugh loudly.

“Get up, dear lord. Chen… lightning proficiency right?” He nods. “Do you just invoke it or can you direct it wherever you want it to go?” You ask.

Instead of answering he flicks his wrist and a small electric shock strikes your thumb. It’s similar to when you get a shock from your car or if you touch something after shuffling on carpet. You look up at him to see him smirking. “I can control it, and make it as strong or as delicate as I please.” He waggles his eyebrows at you.

You choose to ignore what he’s implying and continue to question him. “Just lightning or all electrical currents?”

“Oooh we have a smart one this time. Everyone else tried to work out my proficiency based off norse mythology.” He grins, that smile as disarming as you expected it to be.

“Oh please, you’re more shock mouse than god of thunder.” You blurt out. “Though I hear that you aren’t dissimilar to another norse god - Loki.”

He laughs loudly, the sound is music to your ears. “You are not what I was expecting but I’m not mad about it yet.” He settles into a seat at the desk across from you. “But seriously, I need help with this class. Can we work on that now and exchange smartass lines at each other later?”

You laugh and nod, settling back into teacher mode. So far Chen doesn’t seem as bad as the reputation that preceded him but you make sure to keep your wits about you. You know one thing for certain though, this student is a tragic flirt.

***

You’re exhausted after the extra tutoring sessions and the marking. Your bed has never looked so inviting and you cannot wait to slide under the covers and drift off to dreamland. Your alarm had rather rudely pulled you from a particularly salacious dream last night and you were hoping to return to it tonight. You packed away all of your stuff, making sure to lock the students work in your private office. You’d been informed that there was a nullify spell over the room which rendered everyone’s skills, no matter how proficient, useless. Once you were done packing up you made your way to your bathroom to wash up for the night, taking your time to complete your skincare routine and brushing your teeth.

You refrain from rushing to your bed because you are not a child but a sigh of pure joy escapes your lips once you finally crawl under the covers. You think back to the dream you had left this morning and sink into the pillows, closing your eyes. The image of the log cabin in the snow coming back into view. You feel the cozy warmth of the blanket wrapped around you as you wait for him to return. He’d gone to fetch more hot chocolate and sweets so that you could finish watching the movie you’d started just over an hour ago.

Vaguely you recalled him being more built in this mornings dream but as long as he was bringing you sugar who were you to judge. What did alarm you was the sudden change in sensation of the blanket against your skin. Before you felt cozy as it had warmed your clothes but now you could feel it against your skin. When had you suddenly become naked?

Then he appeared. He didn’t look as sweet as you recalled. Rather, he looked annoyed for a fraction of a second before his face transformed, a kind expression now showing on it as he climbed back onto the bed next to you and handed you a mug of the aforementioned hot chocolate and placed a bowl of sweets in front of you. “Thanks babe.” You smiled as you picked up a toffee and put it in your mouth.

“You’re welcome.” The words sounded forced. Like he didn’t want to say them.

You do your best to ignore it and continue watching the movie as you sip your drink. You feel like he’s staring at you and not in a ‘I want to kiss every inch of you before I ravage you’ kind of way. “What?” You ask as you look at him.

“Really? ‘You taste like fucking candy?’ That is the smooth line your subconscious came up with? You need to get out more.” His tone is full of judgement and disgust.

“What?! What are you talking about?” You exclaim, confused. This dream isn’t like the one you wanted to return to.

“In your mind we keep watching this movie and then I lean in to kiss you and say that line.”His judgemental tone is really starting to grate on you.

“Who the fuck are you?” You ask exasperatedly.

“I really thought you were smarter than this.” He chides as he gestures to himself as though he’s the greatest thing since sliced bread. “I’m Baekhyun.”

“What the fuck are you doing in my head? I’ve never even met you!” You clutch the blanket around you as you remember your nakedness. Was this still a dream? It felt a little too real to be a dream. There were details missing and if you were dreaming up Baekhyun then you needed to have some stern words with your subconcious about cockblocking you. The dream was supposed to start cringeworthy and saccharine sweet but then twist into a filthy romp. You knew the lines were cheesy, but they were supposed to be. It wasn’t so sweet when your face was planted into the rug about 20 minutes from now.

He shrugs. “I’ve had no reason to seek you out in person, not with everyone painting me as some sort of antichrist to you.”

“So what? You just decided you’d appear in my dream?” You choose to go with this no longer being your dream. You figure that he’s somehow invaded it and that alone is pissing you the hell off.

“I wanted to see what you were like and my proficiency allows me to do this so I figured ‘what the hell’ and popped over for a visit.” He grimaces. “I was not expecting ‘I’ve come to clean ze pool’ levels of dialogue though.”

You close your eyes and shake your head. “You need to get out of my dreams. I didn’t fucking invite you here.” It dawns on you that he must be able to dream walk and that thought somewhat terrifies you. Suddenly the frantic fear that the other aide had doesn’t seem so dramatic.

“Push me out then. Consider this a lesson in defense against wizards. Your mental barriers are weak. I can see everything.” He leans against the wall of the cabin as though he hasn’t a care in the world. You don’t have a clue at how to push him out because why would you? You try to imagine kicking him out of your head and locking a door behind you but he simple laughs at you. You try visualising a vault, and locking away your precious thoughts and memories, slowly filling the vault with more and more items.

He laughs. “Oh you are tragic. I thought the candy line was bad but this, this is just ripped from a poorly written romance novel. ‘I was just hoping that y’know… you’d fall in love with me.’ Excuse me while I barf.”

“Fuck you.” You grumble. You are going to evict this smug prick from your mind if its the last thing you do.

He looks you up and down and smirks. “Non-gifted aren’t usually my thing but I’d make an exception for you.” He winks. “The bit after all of the terrible dialogue isn’t so bad now that I look forward. My, my, you are filthy.”

You want to punch him.

[theassociatedpross]

When Math Doesn’t Add Up: A Defense of Anti-Racist Instruction & Resources in Mathematics Classrooms

Recently, a friend posted an article from Fox News on their Facebook page, called “Oregon promotes teacher program that seeks to undo ‘racism in mathematics’: A toolkit includes a list of ways 'white supremacy culture' allegedly 'infiltrates math classrooms.’” The article was posted with concerns that mathematics instruction was being eroded by the curricular toolkit mentioned in the Fox article. In the comments to my friend’s post, there was a mix of responses. Some responses sought to understand the tool and its use and some expressed deep frustration and confusion. One such comment provided, “I wasn’t aware arithmetic could even be ‘racist’…so confused! I could see if something was subjective, but math …change my mind.” Others questioned the validity of the article because it was from Fox News.

After reading the thread I read the article, and after reading the article I explored the part of the toolkit singled out in the article: “A Pathway to Equitable Math Instruction: Dismantling Racism in Mathematics Instruction.” I didn’t read all 81 pages of it (many of the pages were reflection guides for teachers to complete), but I did explore it thoroughly. I then posted a response, which I have shared below. After examination of the resource, I concluded that Fox mischaracterized the toolkit. My response in the thread intended to correct Fox’s mischaracterization by providing an example of how and why anti-racist practices are relevant and necessary in mathematics instruction. The response to my post has so far been positive and appreciated. Here is the response in its entirety (edited only to embed hyperlinks and for structural clarity):

There seems to be a lot of confusion about what this curriculum is and isn’t, and I think I can help clarify. Background for those who don’t know me (which will be everyone but [my friend]). I’ve been an educator for over a decade. A middle school social studies and ELA teacher for a decade, a high school assistant principal for two, and was a lawyer before that. For transparency, I’m what you’d call a progressive liberal and am fully invested in dismantling oppressive systems from public education. That said...

This resource is designed to provide teachers a tool to improve their instruction. One way any teacher can improve their instruction is to identify the ideas and beliefs they have that are rooted in bias (typically implicit bias, in that they aren’t aware they have the bias) and replace those ideas with more accurate ones. And I mean this broadly, in terms of their practices. Here’s an example. In college I had a professor that stopped using multiple choice tests because the evidence he came to learn was multiple choice tests (for whatever reason, you’d have to read the research) favored men over women. Men scored higher on average on such tests, consistently, in a way that revealed the test had embedded biases. These affects were eliminated when the same content was switched to short answer. And it makes sense, right? A multiple choice test frames answers in specific ways, limits choice to only those phrasings, and if the test is largely written by men, then the language chosen will reflect the point of view and experiences of men. I’ll note this wasn’t a math class - it was a law and policy class - but the idea remains that written course materials aren’t written in a vacuum; they are written by people with their own experiences, and those experiences can bleed into content, even if unintended.

So let’s look at mathematics instruction and the use of this particular tool.

The biggest concern I see above, a fair one, is that the implication here is that math isn’t objective, and teachers are going to start teaching 2+2=5. This is not what the tool is saying, and I can assure you no math teacher would agree to teach 2+2=5. The objective/subjective description in the tool isn’t about the computations. Rather, it’s about the presentation of mathematical problems and the insistence that, for the application of math to real-world problems, there can be only one solution.

Let’s consider a relevant example. If we look at COVID, we can find concrete numbers about the rate of its spread, the distance it travels in the air, the permeability of masks and their degree of protection, etc. If you were to take this information and phrase it in a math question: In a city of 100,000 people, how many citizens will contract COVID given these concrete data points? This question seems fair, right? The virus doesn’t discriminate. It doesn’t know if a person is white or black. So, this seems like a straight-forward, computational problem. If it were, you could run the numbers and find an answer. The math used, the computations, would be the same for anyone who answers this problem. The computations are objective. This isn’t controversial.

But, the above question is problematic, and it’s the implicit problems that this anti-racism tool is seeking to remedy. Let’s explore why it’s problematic.

In the problem I imagined, I provided you with a specific scope of information. I stipulated what was relevant to determine the “correct” answer. But, there are relevant conditions that would need to be considered to answer a question like this in the real-world that were omitted from my presentation of the problem. What considerations were omitted that would need to be considered if we were trying to solve this problem in the real world? For starters, you’d have to consider population density. We know the virus spreads faster in areas where there are more people. If each person is a vector of transmission and you place more people in a smaller space, then density matters. And if density matters, you are now opening up the data and history of population density. This includes neighborhood designs and housing designs (single-unit, multi-family, apartments). Now you are including social context, social data, into the mathematical data set to arrive at the accurate answer. But there’s more. We know that neighborhood design in the United States was not created in some objective way. Neighborhoods were explicitly segregated (through redlining and other explicitly racist policies and practices), neighborhoods continue to be de facto segregated (through gentrification), and this plays a role in who lives where - in the denser cities or the less-dense suburbs and rural areas. Specifically, the data shows that Black families tend to live in areas of higher population density. These facts are relevant in terms of  generational wealth (who can afford health care), access to health care (how easy is it to get from home to my doctor), access to healthy food (e.g. less fresh produce in high poverty areas, which include the denser cities, which affects community health), and access to good paying jobs (e.g. higher paying jobs that can accommodate working from home, which decreases a person’s risk to contracting COVID, versus working in jobs that have to be done in-person). So now, if we’re looking at what seemed to be a cut-and-dry math problem, an “objective” problem, what we see is, to get to the most accurate answer, to really know what the rate of spread will be, the mathematicians in the real world would have to include these data sets from the realm of social science. 

And it’s the inclusion of data like this, that most teachers wouldn’t think to consider, that this tool is seeking to help with. So, when a teacher says there is only one right answer, we can push back to say “what do you mean by that? Do you mean that we just run the numbers from the initial question?” Traditionally that is yes. But this tool says, “Hey, we need to be able to identify, and teach students to identify, those problems that omit essential information relevant and necessary to truly arrive at the correct answer. At what the true rate of COVID spread is.” And this is so important! If we don’t include this data and miscalculate the rate of spread, then our policy decisions will be misinformed, and our own personal behaviors will be misinformed. And we know that my characterization above is accurate because it’s supported by the evidence. (No less than the CDC outlines the above, too: https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/community/health-equity/race-ethnicity.html). Black people are 2-3 times more likely to contract COVID as a result of the system’s design, which is rooted in systemic-racism and white supremacy (PBS has a wonderful documentary and resources on the history of redlining and its affect on the ability of communities of color to accumulate wealth). But Black people are far less likely to have access to the vaccine (see Scientific American article).

When we look at this question now we see that the initial framing was problematic, and indeed racist. Omitting data sets that affect Black communities is racist. Framing the question in a way that only considers some raw numbers, and implying that those are the only numbers needing to be considered to arrive at the “correct” solution, is racist. Training teachers to spot weaknesses like this in a curriculum, or in their own practices, to ask deeper questions and train their students to ask deeper questions, is good for math instruction and good for student learning. 

So the tool isn’t eroding the objectivity of numbers. Rather, it’s examining the subjective role that teachers play in the creation of math problems, the subjective role of defending which numbers are considered relevant to answering a problem, and the subjective role of limiting or allowing discussion on math problems like this. If the initial question were asked in class and a student raises their hand to ask: “Do these numbers take into affect the increased rate of spread in high-poverty neighborhoods and its disparate impact on Black communities?” will the teacher say, “Wow, that’s an important question to ask if we’re to accurately model and calculate the impact of the spread,” or will the teacher say, “Those numbers don’t matter. Just calculate the numbers in the problem.” This matters. Because either we will honor the lived experiences of our students and examine questions relevant to their lives, or we will gate-keep and shut down inquiry that explores questions raised by students. The tool is designed to prepare teachers in mathematics to have these considerations in instruction. 

No one is being told to change how numbers work, but they are being asked to change how they develop questions and to change how they consider which numbers are relevant to a problem’s solution. When they say math isn’t objective, this is what they mean, that real-world calculus doesn’t exist only within certain numbers, that there are variables we often omit, and that those variables are often directly tied to systemic and structural racism and white supremacy.

[darthlorddiamond]

The Rise of Black Diamond

This is the fourteenth episode of the Black Diamond story, if you want to read the previous episode or follow the next ones you can check my Masterlist.

Summary: Di's plans fell causing his death. While a mysterious man, capable of manipulating the Force, joins the First Order awakening the memories of Phasma about a person with the same abilities.

Words: 4,156

Reading Time: 17 min

Category: Bio

Warnings: None

__________________

The Rise of Black Diamond

Diamond´s Plot

After a long conversation, Di ended up confessing that he had development plans in Sinbensko, which he had been secretly preparing for years and that he didn´t want anyone inside the cartel know it. He also told me that the time Leia appeared in the casino hadn´t been the first meeting they had, that they had seen each other previously and that in those meetings, he had told her about this intention, as a warning, trying to demonstrate that his power was superior to the Senate and, for this reason, he had the capabilities to take that planet, thus achieving a strategic advantage for our organization, positioning us above the Republic in terms of logistics, since, by its location, Sinbensko would give us the advantage in topics related on the distribution of our merchandise to any part of the galaxy.

I had reason to be mad with him, but I decided it would be a waste of energy on my part give it importance, if Di wanted to run his activities without notifying me it was his problem. I used this moment to make it very clear that, just as he could hide things from me, then he´ll not expect complete openness on my part about the methods and the decisions I could make regarding my team, a fact that he didn´t approve and started a second tantrum, telling me that without him, I would be nothing, in other words, he tried to do less to me, an action that didn´t turn out as he wanted, since his screams towards me, ended up, becoming whimpers to try to catch his breath.

From that moment on, I stopped working for Di, and both, me and my unit became a group of elite mercenaries who operated completely independently. If, at any time, he required our assistance, he would have to present his case together with a very good payment. Without our presence, slowly his cartel began to fall in decline. The rumors that Di no longer had his demon made other criminal organizations seek to position themselves again inside the black markets; we had begun to openly work with the best bidders, and those supporters of the old Empire were divided into the ones who wanted to continue solving the First Order with Di, and those who sought a new approach to approach the Dark Side, trying to ingratiate themselves with me.

Months passed and our assassins fame grew exponentially; At that time, nobody knew me as the Black Sonata anymore, instead, many of my employers began to refer to me by my name, attaching a piece of that past, and that was how Black Diamond became the horror of the members of the Republic.

Occasionally, I received news about Di, not directly from him, but from men who once worked for him and chose to follow me once we separated, oddly enough, one of these men was Liam, who became my messenger. "Can I come in, ma'am?" the door of my study opened and Liam just stood in the frame, I was standing in the viewport observing the city and due to my lack of response, Liam put more emphasis on his voice to trying to get my attention "I bring you news about Rinnrivin Di..." I just turned to see him over my shoulder as he took a few uncertainly steps towards my direction. 

Its been a while since I knew something about Di or his cartel, according to what I had understood, he had already been executing his plan on Sinbensko for several months without much apparent success. Liam cleared his throat once he was a couple of meters away from me "Rinnrivin Di is dead..." his words fell like a bomb and I immediately turned to see him. I could see by his expression that he was quite afraid of ending up dead for bringing that kind of news. Di, dead? How could it happen? He had certainly made bad decisions lately, but not disastrous enough to end his life; I glance a look to Liam "How?" this had undoubtedly caused me a kind of impact, but I didn't want him to notice it, so I kept my tone as neutral as I could "Leia..." he answered shakily, I could see how his nervousness grew more and more since he kept clutching his hands "Leia killed him..." so, at the end, she kept her word, with one hand I indicated to him to leave; once the door closed.

I went to the cellar to pour myself a glass of the last remaining of Toniray wine, ideal for the occasion, I walked to the showcase where my hurdy-gurdy was stored and stood in front of it watching my reflection in the glass while I took a drink from my glass. Leia... Blessed Leia... Thanks to her, Di's cartel was about to disappear, the other criminal organizations would begin to fight intensely to take its place, that would increase the number of jobs that I would have. The First Order has just run out of one of its sources of income and members of the old Empire that supported him now would seek help to safeguard their necks.

I couldn't control the emotion this was causing me. My heart was rapidly pumping blood throughout my body, generating a feeling of total lightness. I was extremely agitated, full in ecstasy at the news of Di's death and the consequences it would bring to the underworld. Everyone would fight among all, while me and my men would remain at the center of that war, as judge and jury. A macabre smile painted on my lips as I watched the hurdy-gurdy through my reflection.

My reputation was about to rise as an arrowhead, before long, even the Senate wouldn´t be able to stop me, and the First Order would soon search for me for help. At that moment I convinced myself to make the name of Black Diamond the definition of what a true nightmare is. This is gonna be fun.

Phasma Plot

Ever since I joined the First Order things have only been on the rise for me. I started my career here as an officer, but my character in front of my teammates, assertiveness and superior physical strength, both in the battlefield and in training, made that my superiors assigned me the title of Captain shortly after arriving, a fact that my fellow ones didn´t approve; they tried to discredit my work in the High Command, a matter that ended up costing the lives of many of them, and not by other soldier's hands, but by mine.

I gained a reputation of being a person with a terrible temperament and a very strict discipline, which allowed me to accommodate as the one in charge of training all our troops, since, according to General Pryde, all our fighters should behave the same as me. Nothing in our ranks could be out of line, everything had to be completely perfect. Discipline and loyalty were the axioms of all my troops.

I cannot complain, everything in here simply adapts to me in the way I want and need, it doesn´t compare in the least with my life in Parnassos. In this place I receive the treatment and respect I deserve, I can spread fear in my troops and turn count on their absolute reliability. I´m an important part of this enormous machinery, which continues to grow in strength and power and which, as it progresses, gives me an even more active role together with privileges.

Now, General Hux is the only person with whom I have close contact. Our relationship is mostly focused on the results of my training with our recruits and military strategies, however, removing his facade of serious and upright man, we had also developed a unique friendship, based on the trust that we both have on each other. I´m, and always will be, loyal to all my superiors, especially to him, who has never questioned my actions and commitment, to the point of even entrusting me with the mission of eliminating his father, General Brendol, which I did gladly. In the same way, I know that I can count at any time with him, and that he´ll never question the reasons I have when I ask him for something.

Four years after entering the First Order, our fleet began to grow exponentially, largely thanks to the funds that various criminal organizations provided us. Most of them did it out of fright to face us, however, there was a cartel that did it voluntarily, without bothering to empty their pockets before us and that was Rinnrivin Di, who slowly placed himself within our council as a key piece for our development. It was obvious that the members of our Directors Board were fascinated that someone like him was always more than willing to give us everything without asking for anything in return, however, I saw in him a figure desperate to attract attention and I was 100% sure, that no matter how kind he was to our cause, he wouldn´t achieve his mission of became an essential part of us, that very poor man didn´t know that for us, he was nothing more than a completely dispensable puppet, and that we would only require his “help-money” to a certain extent, and once reached, my instruction was to discard him, a fact that unfortunately, I couldn´t complete, since he had been killed shortly after. A complete disgrace, I was dying to put my hands on his neck.

With the death of Rinnrivin Di, several members who supported the ancient Empire, contacted us directly, expressing their interest in continuing to finance the Order, it was through them that reports about an alleged group of elite assassins reached our ears. Some declared that this group was led by a Sith, a fact that, at that time, we couldn´t corroborate, since our Supreme Leader, a true and the only Sith I knew, wasn´t aware of it, while others only commented that she was a complete monster in the costume of a beautiful young woman; her name, Black Diamond. 

The first thing that crossed my mind when I heard this name was Keldo, but immediately I got that idea out of my head. I felt an infinite rage to think that someone like her had managed to get to that position, but eventually, I was convinced that the woman who I knew didn´t have the guts or the strength to achieve something like that, so I let those rumors go.

A few months later at the start of these scandals, a man entered the Fist Order by the orders of the Supreme Leader. Until that moment, nobody knew anything about him or had seen him, but the gossip began to spread like wildfire among all our ranks. It was said that the mysterious knight had been trained in the Force by Luke Skywalker himself, and that not happy with this fact, they also told that he was the son of Senator Organa, making it clear that he was the grandson of Darth Vader. These declarations became much, much bigger when, upon his arrival, it was confirmed that he would be under the direct tutelage of the Supreme Leader; apparently, the rumors said, that this man had burned down the Skywalker´s Jedi Temple, a nights ago, awakening in him the Dark Side of the Force, a phenomenon that was perceived by the Supreme Leader.

Within weeks of his arrival, the Supreme Leader summoned all of the Lieutenants, Captains, Admirals, and Generals to introduce us to his new apprentice and Commander. He intended that we all watch one of his training sessions to learn about the skills and strength of this knight. Once in place, we all settled behind a glass; The holo training room was beginning a battle simulation when a man in a black robe and helmet, that completely covered his head, appeared through the door. 

The training began, all my colleagues were fascinated by what they saw, they praised the pressure of his movements and his combat skills, some were completely fascinated by how he was able to manipulate the Force, but I... I was completely paralyzed in my place. My legs were shaking, my fists were tightly closed, my body emitted so much heat that I had to take off my helmet to be able to breathe well, my entire forehead was covered in a fine sweat, Hux, who was standing next to me, immediately noticed that something bad was happening to me "Is something wrong, Captain Phasma?" his words made everyone take their eyes off that man for a moment and turn to see me; I couldn't even speak, my eyes were still completely fixed on that man, in each one of his movements "I..." Diamond's memories in the dunes exploded in my mind, the feel of her hand on my throat without touching me. 

My breathing was beginning to get more agitated every second that passed "I know someone with those same abilities..." finally I could say it, they all stared at me and immediately Hux stood in front of me holding my shoulders "What you´re saying!?" my legs were shaking more and I took the hold of Hux to support a part of my weight "I know someone with the same abilities as the Commander... To manipulate the Force..." I couldn't believe the words that came out of my mouth, the silence in the room was sepulchral while the sounds of the training room didn´t stop ceasing; Hux held me tighter, shaking me, pulling me momentarily out of my trance "What!? Who, where!?" I fixed my gaze to his "One of the girls of my tribe..." Hux's eyes widened in surprise, he removed his hands from my shoulders and took a few steps back until his back collided with the glass of the wall "The white-haired girl..." he whispered incredulously as he fixed his gaze with mine again, the only response from my body was to nod.

Diamond´s Plot

I quite enjoy walking through the streets of Harloff Minor. Tonight, in particular, I was in high spirits to attend one of the concerts of the Symphonic Orchestra, which would be playing in a hall near my studio, however, my intention to go was cut when I saw Liam standing in the entrance of my destination "Diamond..." he approached me with some turbulence, you could tell by his expression that he knew I was bothered by his presence "I apologize for appearing like this..." and boy! I was upset! One of the few nights that I decide to leave my obligations aside and they couldn´t give me a single break "I had been looking for you for a few hours to tell you..." at that moment I understood that something beyond what any of my men could solve was happening "There´s a group of men waiting for you in your office…” In my studio!? How they dared to violate the privacy of my sanctuary!? My blood boiled by just thinking that someone had stepped inside without my permission and I immediately turned around. With each step I took, my fury only increased. They´ll regret it! Everyone will regret it! From those who allowed them to enter until the last of the trespassers.

The moment I set a foot inside the restaurant I noticed something was wrong. The lights were off and everything was silent. All my senses became alert as I walked down the hallways with my hand holding the hilt of my saber. While I was walking, a viscous texture stuck in my feet, I didn´t need to lower my gaze to know what it was, I knew that sensation perfectly, I had walked many times on that same surface, belonging to the blood spilled towards some hours ago, and was now coagulating. Eventually, I reached the floor of my studio, which had the door open and only a dim light came from inside. My fury escalated further, someone had dared to violate my privacy and the mere thought that they would be inside, running their hands over my sabers or grabbing my hurdy-gurdy, caused infinite annoyance to infuse more into my veins.

I crossed my door, to find only two figures inside. A soldier in a chrome armor standing by my divan, and sitting on it, a familiar man. I could never forget that face, those eyes and hair color. Armitage Hux. He was sitting comfortably, with his elbows resting on his knees and his hands crossed at the level of his mouth, staring at me; The soldier lying next to him tried to advance towards me, but stopped when Hux raised one of his hands. I remained silent, I walked towards the cellar, poured myself a glass of liquor and advanced towards the place that was in front of Hux, where I sat down, took out a cigar, lit it and took a sip from my glass while staring at him.

"I must admit..." he began his speech "That when we heard the stories about Black Diamond, I never thought it could be you..." he threw his body back, resting his entire back "I´m surprised to see the position you have now..." I continued smoking, showing disinterest in what he said, I wasn´t going to allow them to see the annoyance they had caused me "When I met you in Parnassos, well, I thought you were just a pretty girl..." he smiled slightly "A beautiful ornament..." he closed his eyes, I could perceive that the memory of our first meeting was projected in his mind "What a surprise you have given us!" he snapped his eyes open and returned his gaze to mine. 

"How did you find me?" I took another sip from my glass and continued smoking "You have a beautiful studio..." I put my glass on the coffee table and put out my cigar, he just followed each of my movements on time "I asked a question, and I'm not going to repeat it" I took another cigarette and Hux laughed out loud “We went to a lot of trouble to get here! At least be a kinder hostess!” he continued with his little laugh; I was wasting my time here, I didn´t know what they were doing in my office and at that time I was no longer interested, so I stand up and started walking to the exit “Where do you think you're going!?” Hux immediately stood up from his place meanwhile I was already at the door looking askance at him. I was no longer interested in this place, it had been completely violated; "Balder told us where you were..." a somewhat familiar voice emerged, the soldier who was only standing, took a few steps forward while removing her helmet "He didn´t say it to us and the first time..." Phasma, part of me was surprised to see her again, but the other wasn´t surprised in the least that she was here accompanying Hux "But, at the end of the day, he died up saying it" a smile had painted on her lips. 

It was obvious that she had come to try to use the past as a weapon against me; I leaned against the door frame watching them both with a smile on my face "What's wrong Diamond, are you still upset about Keldo?" indeed, Phasma was trying to break me and I wasn´t going to please her, although Keldo's memory was still a recurring pain on my chest "You did what you had to do to get to where you are now..." her reaction made me realize that she didn´t expect such an answer, she was at a loss for words, I could swear that she was sure that I believed that a statement like that would make me lose my composure "I don't think you took so much trouble to find me only to bring me good memories” I took another cigarette out of my bag and lit it, Hux raised one of his hands pointing to the sofa I had left recently “Please…” he reinforced his message, at this time ,I was very pleased to shut up Phasma, and I wanted to see if I could be able to push her to her limit, just as a small revenge solely motivated by pride, so I sat back down.

The silence was present for a few minutes while Hux and I smoked, once he finished his cigar he went back to me "Let's stop the detours..." he crossed his hands bringing them to his mouth "We know you can manipulate the Force..." I raised one of my eyebrows painting an expression of complete concern about what he said, let´s play a little with them "We want you to join the First Order..." I let out a huge laugh that caused his face to fill with annoyance "What for?" I kept grinning "What can you offer me that I no longer have?" his impatience increased as my laughter continued, Phasma only clenched her fists with more and more strength "Power? Glory? Fame?" I suddenly stopped howling and stared at Hux with my most severe expression "Don't make me laugh, please..." his face was already red with anger and he was about to lose his temper "Neither you nor your First Order has anything to offer me" Hux tried to restore his balance, he ran one of his hands through his hair and then adjusted the knot of his tie; Phasma only remained standing with his eyes fixed on me. After a few seconds, Hux broke his rictus to continue with his proposal "The First Order is controlled by the Supreme Leader, who directly requested your presence..." great! Now I also had to listen to the tale of their great pseudo-nation; I yawned in boredom, it was evident that he was still agitated by my reactions but continued "Supreme Leader is a Sith, the best of all and is willing to train you in exchange for loyalty..." I continued to expose apathy at his words "Loyalty? Me? Leave everything to kneel before someone else? No thanks…” I fully leaned back on the sofa and crossed one of my legs, now they were starting to bother me.

Hux was stunned for a few seconds, I guess he didn't know how to broach the subject anymore, he was in trouble “The last week one of the Skywalker´s students burned his temple and joined us!” Phasma yelled, Hux immediately turned to look at her angrily and she shut up immediately, inadvertently she had managed to catch my attention.

Skywalker. The Skywalker from the books I borrowed from Di's study? The legend? The rebel who defeated the ancient Empire, the, considered, best of the Jedis? Wow! What new! And his student joined the First Order, after burning his temple!? No doubt I found this much more exciting than any banal promise they could make to me. I was so submerged in my emotion that I didn´t notice how my body betrayed me, exterminating these reactions, which didn´t go unnoticed by both of them “It´s worth mentioning that he´s the grandson of Darth Vader” Hux shot that statement into the air fiercely. What did he just tell? Vader's grandson? That meant he´s Leia's son! Leia's precious son was part of the First Order! He´s a Sith! I couldn't get the excitement. All this was so hilarious for me, the laughter exploded in my chest, Hux and Phasma just remained paralyzed in place, watching as my insanity grew bigger as my mind kept raving about this.

My laughter stopped completely, filling the room with total silence, my body was lying fully towards the front of the couch. My elbows rested on my knees and my head hung between my shoulders, my hair fell down the sides of my head and my breathing was a constant gasp. Leia's precious son... The madness had completely invaded me. I remembered her words, on that occasion when we met at the casino... When she put aside the beast that I was and looked at me with tenderness for the first time - You can't be bigger than my Ben… -.

It was a golden opportunity.

I can't wait to know if Leia could continue seeing me as she does after I take care of her little one… This is my way forward, my way to show everyone that I´m a truly monster by own willing. Raising my head slightly, I fixed my gaze, through my eyelashes, at Hux, who only looked at me with confusion, I could feel that my laughter had instilled some fear in them, although they didn´t show it, and still with a macabre smile painted on my lips and between a few gasps, I signed my fate... 

"At what time are we leaving?"

Note: I would like to especially thank @kyloren-theprince​, @thetorturerwrites​​ @kylorengarbagedump​ who took time to read this first part of my saga and sent me observations with all the patience in the world.