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bonetrousled · 2 years

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the TAPE WOMAN INCIDENT is as follows. under a cut because this is a LONG ass ride

okay so to preface i need u to understand two things

1) i live in the middle of nowhere. i personally live in the middle of a CORNFIELD and it takes me fifteen minutes to drive to where i work and even that location is pretty non-notable. i work on the weekends and it gets pretty dead past 6 pm

2) i had a coworker we’ll call Sheldon who was one of THE worst people i’ve ever met. the most unbearable obtuse cishet white gay guy you can imagine. like “lesbians get too much rep” kind of guy. would follow you around WHILE you did your job stocking shit and talk your ear off to hear his own voice . beyond that he was super weirdly violent. he’d make up stories about himself to sound cool but instead of being like “yeah my dad works at minecraft” he’d make up stories abt himself beating the shit out of people and like. wrenching their hair out.

if anyone else said these things to me i’d be scared shitless but i knew i could take him in a fight but it was still fucking WEIRD. talked abt wanting to hurt a higher-ups kids and he STILL wasn’t fired for that (eventually got fired later thank god) but he constantly did things that were borderline like. budding serial killer behavior ON TOP OF being unbearable to work with and constantly stealing my sales to make my numbers look bad

so. one of my coworkers had to leave early bc she was sick and i was given an ultimatum. i could either A) close alone for the very first time and be by myself for like two hours with no prior warning OR B) have sheldon come and close with me. of course i picked the former with NO hesitation. i figure yeah this is a scary and sudden happenstance but also if i had to be around him any longer id freak the fuck out. plus im like it’s like what. 5pm already? it’s not gonna be bad. i can deal w this.

so i’m sitting in the back alone and relaxing and whatever. i did everything i needed to do for the rest of the night earlier and since nobody was in the store i was just new boot goofing. the only thing of note that happens is that these middle school age boys come in and buy perms and leave. they will be back later

i go back to the back room and i’m enjoying myself when i hear the door ding so i go up to the front. in comes the omen: a woman in a tank top, coated in orange spray tan, with a bedazzled cross necklace. she’s the normal amount of annoying for any given Customer Interaction. HOWEVER

i go to cash her out. and i’m waiting for her to press a button on the card scanner but i don’t get the chance to be like “hey you need to do this for me to even start scanning your shit” because she begins telling me about an experience she just had

she goes “well. just so you know, i saw a woman in this parking lot, and she was sort of peering around into people’s cars, and she came up to me- and her face was ALL taped up.” so at this point im thinking like. gauze?? medical tape??

and she continues- “and she wanted a ride. so i said, okay, and i let her into my car. and she wanted a smoothie”

(i have to interject here to say there is NOWHERE to get a smoothie near me. i have no idea what she’s talking about)

“so i took her to the smoothie place. she also had a BIG bag of carrots, and she wanted them to put the carrots in there. so they did, but then she decided she wanted them to remake the drink because they touched the carrots. anyway, i decided that was too much, so i had to drop her off. i let her go at starbucks, so, you know. if you see her, BE CAREFUL.”

okay so let’s unpack this. FIRSTLY i have had a woman made up to me. this is completely unbelievable from start to finish. i have no fucking idea what she’s talking about . SECONDLY: BE CAREFUL??

so i’m just like. sure this might as well happen . and i’m just like “ooh. um. haha yeah okay” and finally get to scanning her shit. and she goes to leave and stops at the door and her face falls as she STARES at me and whispers:

“i don’t know if you believe in this sort of thing, but i think god is watching. ALL the time. and i think he really, really wanted me to give her that smoothie. but i just COULDN’T do it.”

and she fucking leaves . so i’m just left there like 🧍 and i go sit back in the back. and im chilling out back there when i hear the door ding, so i go up and i’m greeted by the perm boys. they forgot some stuff they needed, so i’m like. ok cool no prob, heres what you need. while i’m helping them i hear the door ding again, but i’m helping the perm boys, so i figure i’ll finish with them and then see who came in and what they need.

we go to walk up to the register and someone’s facing away from us in the aisle. so i’m like “oh um excuse me! just gotta sneak past ya” and the Person turns around.

the tape woman. imagine if you will a lady with her ENTIRE HEAD wrapped in duct tape like the INVISIBLE FUCKING MAN. with a hole cut out in the duct tape for her mouth but NONE FOR HER EYES . there’s a single tape hole right next to her nose that she’s using to look out at me and in order to see me she has to lean all the way back to look at me with it . ADDITIONALLY she is carrying a fucking DUFFEL BAG that’s OPENED and filled with LOOSE BABY CARROTS

so while my heart takes a fastpass route straight to my stomach i am faced with a MYRIAD of realizations:

FIRSTLY the tape woman is fucking real. the omen i was given not even an hour earlier had come to pass and she was now in my store. SECONDLY i am the only person working. i can’t even look at anyone and be like HEY WHAT THE FUCK IS GOING ON because my only witnesses are the goddamn PERM BOYS and THIRDLY i have to act like her head is NOT in fact covered in duct tape because like. i dont know what the hell is going on i think if i react in any way i will be in danger

so the tape woman scoots out of the way and i check the perm boys out. and they BOOK IT out of the store . so i am now left alone with the tape woman

and i’m like <:) ..... do you. um. need any help with finding anything? and the tape lady turns around and she points at a bottle and goes. “is this shampoo?” and i’m like “ohhh um no that’s color sealer. this is shampoo here” and like. despite looking 100% like she was going to axe murder me she was one of the nicest people i had dealt with all day. she was just like “oh okay! thank you”.

and she asks me how much is so i tell her and she’s like oh alright. i only have five bucks on me right now so i’m gonna go into the parking lot and see if i can find any money. and i felt bad because like. i was going to offer to pay but the registers don’t let you cash yourself out if you’re ringing on them so i was just like “oh! alright!”

so she leaves and comes back a minute or two later and she’s very nicely just like “oh um don’t worry about it, i’m not gonna get anything today. have a nice night” and im like oh you too! and she leaves. and i watch through the front window as she goes to leave and this guy gives her like 20 bucks . so i’m thinking “oh she’s gonna come back and buy it right”

she comes back into the door. and stops in the doorway and she says to me

“um, don’t worry about it, actually. i’m not gonna get that right now-“

and she lowers her voice before going:

“because i have to pray. and if the prayer turns out RIGHT. i will come back. and i will buy it.”

and she LEAVES without a second word. did not even see her in the PARKING LOT for the rest of the NIGHT . i have asked MULTIPLE PEOPLE who work in the same plaza if they encountered this lady and NOBODY HAS. i asked the people at STARBUCKS and they say they haven’t ever seen her. my ONLY witnesses are these middle schoolers trying to get perms. i have been thinking about this at least once a day since the event has happened. i haven’t even seen the first lady who warned me about her since. i think i was contacted by spirits or something

tldr two separate women channel god in a beauty supply store in the middle of country bumpkin nowhere at 7:30 pm while i closed alone

#txt

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aroacesafeplaceforall · 6 months

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You’re pissed that no one took any accountability for their supposed “aphobia/arophobia” but where is the accountability for the constant inhumane and disgusting homophobia, biphobia and transphobia STILL spewing out of ace spaces like puss? When will you all realize you feel that way because you are directly adjacent to the oppressor class and have next to nothing in common with the LGBT community as a whole but nearly everything in common with the average cishet? Y’all aren’t queer for not wanting to fuck, only fucking sometimes “if you emotionally connect”, or being emotionally unavailable to romantic partnership. And if you aren’t also gay, trans, or bisexual, you never will be.

I got my laptop out for this, goddamn. Where would i even start?

"You’re pissed that no one took any accountability for their supposed “aphobia/arophobia”" This tells me everything about you, you possibly don't believe in aro/ace identities. You don't believe people can hate on, or be hateful to, aro/ace spec people. And yes I am pissed. Because it was fucked up.

I would try to justify it with "if this was transphobic/homophobia you wouldn't be acting this way" but im guess you don't care about that as you obviously don't see it the same way.

you were also probably someone who sent asks like this (but more hateful) in 2016 and before, you were probably also someone who posted and reblogged aphobic content and said it was "just a joke" later while still sending asks like this to people. Take of that anon and show your face coward.

"where is the accountability for the constant inhumane and disgusting homophobia, biphobia and transphobia STILL spewing out of ace spaces like puss?"

where is the accountability for the homophobia, biphobia and transphobia still spewing out of ALL lgbtqia+ spaces? Where is the accountability in the REAL world? Where is it anon? Where is the accountability for the acephobia, the arophobia and so many other "not real sexualities/gender identities" -phobias?

You saw a post about aphobia, and instead of being like "yeah that was f-ed up" or "i dont care" you went "but what about meeeeee" which is very all lives matter of you. (I am not comparing racism to homophobia, however the "what about me" bs can be summed up very easily using all lives matter as an example) For the fucking record, all spaces have assholes, all of them. On behalf of the "normal" aro/ace spec folks, i apologise for any homophobia, biphobia and/or transphobia you have experienced from us. "When will you all realize you feel that way because you are directly adjacent to the oppressor class and have next to nothing in common with the LGBT community as a whole but nearly everything in common with the average cishet?" This is a main aphobe talking point so thank you for doing this by the text book so i can break it down easier!

Three pages about asexual hate crimes which im sure every average cishet has to deal with (assuming their white and male) 1 2 (a booklet for asexual people to be actually fucking included) 3

An incredible interview is here but im going to quote a few things from it as theres a 99.9% chance aphobes wont click a link

"We know aromantics and asexuals have existed for as long as humans have. However, it’s only through the terminology recently going mainstream"

"Because of Freud’s influence, many of us grew up learning that our sex drive is the primary motivator of human behavior, but that isn’t the case."

"That mindset replicates itself within the community so that when a new identity emerges, or when people try to explain themselves, there is resistance and pushback from within the community with the mindset that “if we let these kinds of people in, then that will dilute the access to power and resources we have.” And it forces the community to maintain adjacency to white supremacy, patriarchy, capitalism, ableism and classism, all while leaving behind entire groups of people."

" Do you think there will be more identities joining the LGBTQIA+ acronym? JP: Yes. The more words we have to describe ourselves, the better we are understood."

"The biggest comparisons are the lack of visibility and exclusion from communities on the basis that they’re weird, different, othered or “don’t belong in this space.” Every queer person has experienced this narrative and as more join under the umbrella, the newbie will experience the same challenges, discrimination and misunderstandings as those who came before." and here is another article that has a quote i just live by

"When did trauma become the mark of queerness?"

but back to the aphobe ->

"Y’all aren’t queer for not wanting to fuck, only fucking sometimes “if you emotionally connect”, or being emotionally unavailable to romantic partnership. "

if you think queer = sex then so help me. queer does not equal sex, queer is sexuality. and guess what that is NOT always sexual. sexuality is who your attracted to, whether it be romantically OR sexually.

and Asexuality is a spectrum, some asexuals never have sex, some don't want to have sex but have had it due to trauma or peer pressure, some don't care for it, some did it for a partner but just dont care about it.

same with aromantic. Its a spectrum. By your process here, so so so so so many people are removed from the lgbtqia+ community but you couldn't possibly mean that-

"And if you aren’t also gay, trans, or bisexual, you never will be."

-oh you did.

So none of these are part of the community either then? Agender, Bigender, Intersex, genderfluid, pansexual, omnisexual, Omnigender, Questioning, transgender and queer?

interesting anon.

Anyways i hope my followers enjoyed that! Let me know what you think if you finished reading all this!

Love;

An aegosexual, pansexual, aromantic, trans guy with to much fucking time on his hands.

#tw apobia #ask #asks #aromantic #asexual #aroace #aro #ace #aro pride #pride #lgbtqia #ace pride #ace problems #aro problems #cw aphobia #aphobia

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puttingherinhistory · 10 months

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Excuse me while I sound like a crotchety old geezer for a minute here

I've seen this attitude pushed more on social media that "kids and especially teenagers are naturally defiant and naturally want to upset and piss off adults and parents and teachers need to just accept this and deal with it" and tbh, I don't agree. I don't remember wanting to piss off or upset anyone on purpose for fun as a kid or teenager.

What I do remember is that when I was getting a budding sense of morality and justice I would stand up to misogyny / racism / homophobia or general cruelty from adults and/or peers and it would usually be dismissed as "oh she's just at an age where she wants to be rebellious for the sake of it, she just wants to defy adults for fun because she's at that age" and that logic was used to dismiss it.

Likewise the same logic was being applied to kids, I'm talking especially privilged kids like the white kids and the boys especially the cishet boys, with budding cruelty that was a result of unchecked privilege. Like boys being grossly misogynistic and homophobic, "oh he just wants to be rebellious and piss off adults, it's fine". Do you see the issue of brushing the behavior of marginalized kids who are developing a sense of justice with the same stroke of privileged kids being cruel and bigoted? Oh that they're both just being rebellious and trying to get a rise out of you and it's fine just ignore it don't try to actually address it or do anything about it?

I think kids and especially teens usually have more complicated reasons being their behavior than "oh it's hard wired into their biology that they just HAVE to be defiant for the sake of it at that age" and using that logic prevents adults from actually having to think about and address the root of their behavior.

It also lets adults off the hook from actually having to do something about dangerous behaviors kids and especially teens do, like binge drinking until they have to be hospitalized. "Yeah it's just normal and natural because they have to be rebellious and make stupid decisions at that age, it's just hard wired into their brains that they gotta" is just fucking lazy. When I was at that age I understood drinking until I blacked out and needed to be taken to the hospital was bad and should be avoided because adults in my life had taken the time to explain to me it was bad. I was actually capable of rationalizing "hmm, alcoholism and alcohol poisoning are bad and I should avoid those things" and being warned against it did not tempt me to go out and drink dangerous amounts. Why the fuck would it? That makes no god damn sense and is just a lazy excuse not to actually teach kids better in a way they can understand.

Also I mean sure, part of it is laziness, but I also think some adults are so scared of looking like the buzzkill killjoy to young people because they're afraid of aging and actually having to look like a grownup. A lot of this is our culture's worship of youth and demonization of aging, so a lot of people are really scared of looking "out of touch" from the youth and really want to look like the cool hip understanding adult.

But also part of this is privileged adults wanting to protect the behavior of privileged kids. Just rebranded "boys will be boys" if you will. Of course an adult man is going to say "oh come on he's just a teen, teens are gonna be stupid and want to break the rules" about a teenage boy behaving in a reckless and cruel way. Of course white adults are going to say this about white kids behaving in a reckless and cruel way. They got away with it when they were teens so of course they want the same for today's youth who share their privilege.

Anyway it's time to stop being lazy caregivers. Kids aren't a bunch of stupid animals that just have something hard wired into their brains telling them to break rules and be defiant with no deeper motivation to their behavior than some "rebellious defiant" hormone in their brain mindlessly controlling them. It's degrading to oversimplify their behavior like that, they are human beings after all. There are almost always going to be deeper reasons for their behavior, most often that they're an underprivileged kid with budding morality and justice, or that they have a privileged background that has resulted in their more reckless and cruel behavior going unchecked. If you're someone who is a guardian or caretaker over kids and teens you do actually have a responsibility to exam the deeper reasons behind their behavior and address it instead of just dismissing it at "oh well it's just their weird hormonal teen brains commanding them to break rules and be rebellious without any deeper reasoning, time to just ignore it and not take it seriously"

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dataalfa109 · 7 months

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Okay, this post is the last political post I'll make today because I understand how terrifying project 2025 is to people.

It's important to spread the word about this plan because if they get their way, we're gonna see an American culture that...

Takes away children from single parents and non-cishet Christian parents.

Arrests educators for not teaching children in line with conservative Christian values.

Takes away discrimination protections for Trans people and people in the LGBTQ community in general.

Arrests people who AREN'T cishet white conservatives because they view anyone else as pornographic.

Removes the rights for blue states (or sanctuary states in general) to make laws that combat nationwide conservative legislature.

Censor any educational content that shows how economics and history don't fit with the watered-down information they feed you.

And the list goes on.

I'm gonna link the pdf here

Though I'm going to preface it with this: this is for informative purposes, not to shock people or scare people. I know this is a hard topic to talk about, especially nowadays, and i also know that you're probably tired of this stuff. I know, I sure am, too. I also know that if we know what they're doing, then we know how to stop it.

I was a child born to a single mom, and I have people I love who are LGBTQ+. I might not have a horse in this race, but it's clear people following this manifesto are going to actively hurt everybody who doesn't fit their definition of "normal." Ignoring plans like this is going to actively hurt people in the long run.

The manifesto is so stacked (like 900+ pages) that they're counting on people like you, and I, to not read it in order for their plan to remain secret until it's too late. However, it's important that I share this information and tell you to read and understand this information for yourself so those of us living in america can all fight it while we still can (or even run while we still can).

So don't be like me. Stay informed, stay ready, and stay fighting. Because if conservatives are cooking up plans like this, we must never let them take office ever again.

Thank you for reading, vote blue, and never stop fighting.

#us politics #politics #long post #important #lgbtq #blm #black lives matter #lgbtq community #vote blue #please vote #late stage capitalism #project 2025

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lurkingshan · 8 months

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Only Friends and Engaging with Queer Male Media as a Cishet Woman

I’ve had some good conversations this week with friends as we’ve been unpacking our early reactions to Only Friends, which has only just begun getting into the messy dynamics we know the show is going to explore. One of the things that has come up in conversation is our different reactions to the scene between Boston and Top in the shower stall, and how we each read that in terms of consent, sexual coercion, and what it says about each of the characters. Some of us were relatively unfazed by the scene, finding it to be a fairly realistic depiction of a pushy aggressor and his conquest who is not that into him, but also not really opposed to getting sex anywhere and any way he can. Some were more uncomfortable, recognizing behaviors we might call assault in other contexts and wondering whether we should be condemning the character or the scene for the behavior depicted.

For me, this discussion brought up a lot of my previous fandom experiences, taking me all the way back to ye olden days when Queer as Folk (US) was airing and the majority cishet woman fandom spaces were scandalized, scandalized I tell you, by some of the aspects of gay male culture it depicted. It was not the first or the last show to do so, but it stands out in my mind as an important cultural moment at the turn of century as I was coming of age, when the internet was booming and the proliferation of online fandom spaces was rapidly accelerating. Because QaF did it all—casual sex, cruising, group sex, very public acts of indecency, aggressive boundary pushing and peacocking, open and polyamorous relationships, cheating and betrayal, age gaps—and it depicted it all quite explicitly, which made a lot of people uncomfortable. Especially women who were used to thinking about sex and relationships through two primary, and heavily socialized, lenses:

heteronormative romance, and

heterosexual rape culture.

Let’s take a moment to unpack those terms. Heteronormative romance is a big, broad term that I’m using as a kind of container for a lot of things, including patriarchal structures, misogyny, rigid gender roles, purity myths and fetishization of virginity, courtship rituals, promiscuity and respectability politics, the madonna/whore complex, sex as an act primarily for breeding and procreation, expectations of sublimating sexual desire in service of caretaking for others, and so on. Basically, all the bullshit cis women get jammed into our heads from birth that gives us so many hang ups about sex and love. With heterosexual rape culture, I am referring to the undeniable culture of sexual violence women also endure in a majority heterosexual society, in which we are in constant danger of having our boundaries transgressed, being physically and psychologically hurt, and then being told it doesn’t matter because our personhood has always been in question and never mattered as much as any one man’s power or pleasure. I’m not going to drop a bunch of citations for the above because this is tumblr and I have escaped the icy grip of graduate school, but if any of these ideas are unfamiliar to you, google is your pal (and please read about intersectionality as it relates to these concepts while you’re at it, because there are layers of identity that make these dangers worse for some, like our trans and BIPOC sisters, and all of this is undergirded, as ever, by white supremacy).

So, yes, engaging with media about sex is fraught for women, especially when that media does not conform to our heteronormative ideas of morality that have been shaped by all of the above, and particularly when we as individuals have not done the work to unpack and interrogate our socialized beliefs, which is often the case for cishet women especially. Many of us instinctively cringe away from unromantic depictions of sex. Many of us can’t stand cheating and betrayal in our love stories. Many of us shy away from media that depicts the unfortunate reality of grey and dubious consent. All of that is valid, to an extent, and rooted in the way we have been taught to think about this stuff from birth, and the ways we’ve had to adapt to survive.

But, here’s the thing, girlies: most of those socialized hang ups I just talked about? Do not apply to a story by, for, and about queer men.

Before you start yelling, here is your disclaimer: of course patriarchy and misogyny also hurt men. Of course rape culture also exists in queer communities, and of course some queer people engage in heterosexual sex, so these are not mutually exclusive categories of people. And, importantly, cishet women are not the only ones who struggle with these tensions—just the ones who are most relevant to this particular post.

So, after that long and winding road, back to the point: this debate about the bathroom scene in Only Friends is the same shit that’s been debated in majority female fandoms around depictions of queer male sex since time immemorial. And whatever your personal feelings are on that scene, or the no doubt numerous other depictions of questionable romantic and sexual etiquette and dubious consent coming our way in this show, what it boils down to is this: can a majority cis woman fandom step outside of our own conception of sexual morality to engage with this show not with judgment, but with curiosity about what sex and relationships look like for queer men? This show has an entirely queer male writing and directing team. It is made with love by people of the community, for the community. They know what they’re about, they have resumes demonstrating they are damn good storytellers who understand safe sex, consent, sexual health, and sex work, and they are here to tell us a story grounded in their reality. BL has been moving in fits and starts toward depictions of sex that are more honest about queer male experiences, and Only Friends, spearheaded by the Jojo Tichakorn Phukhaotong (who demonstrated quite ably that he has a firm grasp on consent, sexual assault, and the damage that dubious consent can cause in The Warp Effect), is the next step in that evolution. The key point is that sexual activity simply does not mean the same thing or carry the same associations and hang ups for queer men as it does for cis women. With that in mind, can we try our best to process and critique this story on their terms, instead of our own?

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: Only Friends is not going to be a good time for people who are looking for romantic depictions of relationships and sex or invested in identifying heroes and villains amongst this cast of characters. This show is about deeply flawed people hurting each other, rooted in the lived experience of the Thai queer male community—and those of us who do not share all of those lived experiences may not understand the nuances of every single thing that is happening. We can be sure that the characters will all be wrong sometimes and they will all do things we think are stupid or reckless or unkind. Does that mean we can’t have empathy for them? Do they have to act in a way we think is morally “correct” in order to love them? You don’t have to be comfortable with the things these characters do, and it’s certainly valid to point out when you think lines have been crossed. But attempting to sort them into “good” and “bad” camps is pointless, and moralistic judgment of their behavior is out of place, particularly when it comes from a place of trying to force them into our own irrelevant frameworks for sexual politics.

And with all that said, I am passing the baton over to my dear friend @waitmyturtles, because there’s an entire aspect of the intersectional cultures at play here that I have barely touched on—Only Friends as an Asian queer story that is building from a specific lineage of Thai queer media. I’m gonna let her take the mic for that part, and say thanks to her, @bengiyo, @neuroticbookworm and @wen-kexing-apologist for reading this over and helping me think through what I wanted to say here, and shoutout to @williamrikers whose post I also linked to above.

#only friends the series #only friends #ofts #thai bl #shan shouts into the void

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in-danmei-hell-send-help · 1 year

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I think what kills me about Jiang Cheng antis is that a lot of their talking points reek of anti survivor rhetoric. As someone who is a survivor and has done a lot of advocacy for victims and survivors of power based personal violence, I want to be the first to inform you that the narrative of the “pretty survivor” (which is steeped in cishet normative, white supremacist, and ableist ideas) is an extremely rare case. Trauma survivors are rarely pretty. The Wei Wuxian’s of the world are incredibly uncommon.

Trauma--especially intense, horrific trauma like what Jiang Cheng went through--often leads to intense issues of anger and hatred. It makes you deeply emotional and can often lead to you becoming unstable. Jiang Cheng lost his entire family and community in the span of a few years. He didn’t have access to therapy (something that literally anyone would need to heal from that), he had to rebuild his entire sect, likely had to fight an uphill battle in order to be a significant part of Jin Ling’s life, all while cleaning up the mess that Wei Wuxian left behind.

This is not to hate on Wei Wuxian, he’s my third favorite character (after Jiang Cheng and Lan Wangji) and I love him deeply, but he left behind a legacy that Jiang Cheng had to clean up. Whether or not he realized this would happen, Wei Wuxian created a cultivation path (gui dao/ghost cultivation) that is extremely dangerous and horrific. While I still don’t know if I believe that Jiang Cheng killed every demonic cultivator he came across, I don’t know that it was necessarily a bad thing that he did kill them. We’ve talked a lot in the cxc server about gui dao and demonic cultivation and just how much it harms the mind and body. Wei Wuxian is the exception to the rule in having such control over it and even he eventually succumbed to it. If demonic cultivators are causing great harm, then a cultivators job is to stop that harm and the source of it. That may mean killing the demonic cultivator. I think people get mixed up when (I think it was Jingyi) said that Jiang Cheng kills the wrong person. I believe it was @twilightarc-gm who said that “wrong” doesn’t imply innocent but rather the fact that the person isn’t Wei Wuxian. We know that Jiang Cheng spent thirteen years trying to find Wei Wuxian and when he does find him, he doesn’t kill him despite having literally every reason to.

Like idk y’all, if the guy that got my entire clan wiped out, my sect burned down, and caused the deaths of my sister and her husband died and came back from dead, I wouldn’t just threaten him with a dog and yell at him. I would kill him. But he doesn’t he has every opportunity to in multiple instances after confirming that it’s Wei Wuxian, but he never does. He seems more interested in dragging Wei Wuxian home (literally stating that he’s going to bring Wei Wuxian home to Lotus Pier to kneel before his parents’ graves). Like that doesn’t imply that he’s going to kill Wei Wuxian, but rather make him repent.

I think it’s telling that despite a lot of Jiang Cheng’s hurt and pain, he still chooses to not severely hurt or kill Wei Wuxian, it would be within his right to do so, but in the end after it’s all over, he let’s Wei Wuxian go. He doesn’t tell Wei Wuxian that he sacrificed himself for him, because he knew that Wei Wuxian would feel guilty and obligated to him, just like Wei Wuxian knew Jiang Cheng would feel guilty and obligated. That to me shows a survivor choosing to break the cycle of hurt and pain and I have to question why Jiang Cheng antis so often choose to ignore the side of him that does love Wei Wuxian (it’s up to the viewer whether they see that love as romantic or platonic), enough so to let him go and not burden him with pain.

Jiang Cheng’s story and character arc is at it’s core about trauma, survival, and rising above dire circumstances despite the odds. He attempts the impossible and manages to succeed in it. And to ignore that is a disservice to his character, survivors of trauma, and the effort MXTX put into creating such a complex and interesting character.

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criticallyacclaimedstranger · 4 months

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Reminder [Tim Rockford x f!reader]

Read on Ao3

Rating: Explicit

Fandom: Merge Mansion ad (can't fucking believe this...)

Pairing: Detective Tim Rockford x you/cishet f!reader

Tags/Warnings: reader wears sexy lingerie but no description of body type, blowjob, deepthroating, workplace sex.

Summary: Tim Rockford works too hard, and too late. You have to remind him of what's waiting for him at home.

Words: 2,165

A/N: Y'all I am adding a new character to my menagerie of Pascal men! Dunno if I get Tim Rockford but I've been thinking about sucking his dick since I first saw him. He just has that vibe about him. Enjoy.

He is sitting astride a chair in front of a huge notice board filled with photos, notes, clippings, clues pinned to it, connected by red twine. The white shirt is straining to reach across his broad upper body. You remember a time when it had the shape of a V, now it's more of a U before connecting with the still narrow hips and flat ass.

You nod a thanks to the officer who let you in, and when he closes the door behind him, you lock it.

"Detective," you quip teasingly, but there's no response except a neck roll. He sighs deeply as he rubs his neck.

He's been working around the clock on this case. You avoid looking at the notice board, the pictures of bloody crime scenes, as you walk up to the chair.

"Tim," you speak softly, your hand landing on his shoulder. Tim twitches and looks up at you. It takes him a moment to recalibrate his brain to reality.

"What are you doing here? It must be like ten o'clock."

"It's past midnight, actually," you correct him with a wry little smile. He sighs again and takes your hand away from his shoulder, bringing it to his lips for a kiss.

"I'm sorry, my love, I'm gonna pull an all-nighter again."

You grunt. He knows what it means. You've been over this before.

He rises from the chair, moves it away before turning to you. He smells of stress and determination: smells that you know well. He's always like this when he's working a case. You don't like it, but you've grown to accept it.

He pulls you in for a hug, so fast that you almost stumble into him. His broad chest, the soft stomach with the buttons ready to pop. He refuses to go up a size for some reason. The shoulder holster, the gun at his side. Your hand slides away from it, not wanting anything to do with it, only wanting your soft man.

"I'll come home in the morning for a shower," he promises in a low whisper against your hair. "Have breakfast with you."

"No, you won't," you calmly point out. "You'll get terrible coffee and a bagel from the diner around the corner, and your stomach will be a mess by the time this case is solved."

Tim chuckles a little at that before seeking out your lips. He tastes of stale coffee, and sweet and sour pork; the flavors of a murder case unsolved.

"Go home, get some sleep," he tells you gently. "I'll call when I leave."

"Aren't you wondering what I'm doing here, at this hour?"

He blinks, like he's only now realizing what time it is, and that you're actually here.

"Is everything okay?" His hands come to your cheeks, and he searches your face. You cover his hands with yours, lowering them as you smile reassuringly.

"I'm good, Tim, nothing's wrong. But I knew you'd be working all night, and I wanted to bring you something."

His brows draw together when he waits for you to elaborate. You untie the belt around your waist, and button open your trench coat. His nostrils flare and his eyes widen when you reveal yourself to him.

You're only wearing a bra, lace panties, and stockings underneath. It's cheesy, but he likes it.

"I came to make sure you were okay," you purr, smiling at how he swallows hard, his glassy stare.

"Baby..."

"Just let me give this to you."

You undo his belt, knuckles brushing against the soft fat of his tummy. Tim exhales in a low sigh when the belt releases its hold of him. With heavy-lidded eyes, he gazes adoringly at you as you unzip his pants. Softly, he trails his hands along your sides, goosebumps rising in the wake of his touch. Your nipples knit, and his gaze drop to the stiff pebbles showing through the lace fabric of the bra.

"You're too good to me, baby," he sighs, and then his eyes fall shut as you slide your hand inside his pants. "Oh."

You cup his still soft cock through the underwear, stroke in carefully as you lean in to kiss him. His lips betray a hurry that's he's loath to rein in, but when his tongue tries to pry in between your lips, you pull away with a smile. Tim doesn't smile back, but stares at you with a drunkenness in his eyes, mouth open and begging to be kissed again. You lean back in and nibble at his full lower lip, cup his cheek with your free hand, and stroke your thumb over his mustache. His cock hardens against your other palm, and you encourage it with a firmer touch.

"Tease," he groans, hands landing on your hips, fingers playing with the waistband of your panties. A shiver runs through you.

"Takes one to know one."

You press your lips to his anew, and now your hand slips in under the worn elastic of the waistband. His cock jumps at the direct contact and your feel a patch of wet rub off on your hand. Your fingers close loosely around his cock, thumb smearing out the precum as your tongue plunges into his mouth for a hungry kiss. Tim's strong arms wrap around you, the smell of his sweaty pits hitting your nose but not in a repulsive way, instead you feel the crotch of your panties get wet, and your kiss turns more insistent. You suck his lower lip between your teeth, pull it out, and release it with a pop. Still holding his cock, you step back, pulling him gently but firmly to make him follow you. And Tim follows, hands reaching all over you, eyes burning with desire, lips swollen with kisses. You direct him to his desk and pull down his pants and underwear before giving him a little push to make him sit down. His cock is now as stiff as it can be, and you separate his legs, keeping eye contact as you kneel between his thighs.

"Oh, baby..." he sighs, surrendering to you with a pleading look on his face. "Baby, you're so good to me..."

"You deserve it," you purr as you nuzzle his cock, kissing its length, flicking your tongue at it. "You work so hard, you deserve to relax a little."

He moans again when you hand closes around the thick root of his cock. You trail your tongue up his length, ending with a soft swirl around the head, the glistening precum bringing a sharp taste to your mouth.

A few night shift officers pass by the door, but apart from that you can only hear the drone of the air conditioning, and Tim's heavy breathing which turns into an audible gasp bordering on a moan when you open your mouth and take his cock into your mouth. He breathes your name, looks down on you as you smile up at him, his cock in your mouth, one of your hands wrapped around the root, the other cupping his balls. He draws his fingers through his hair before dropping both hands to your head, petting it softly as you pop his cock out of your mouth and proceed to licking and stroking it. The low lights are casting shadows over Tim's face, but you can see his eyes, half closed and staring down at you in complete surrender. You squeeze the root of his balls firmly and are rewarded with a sharp hiss as Tim draws in breath.

"Sweet baby..."

Your cunt is heavy and warm, and your arousal starts to drip into your panties. The mossy, heavy scent rises to tickle your nose through the musk of your man, and you moan low as you suck the head of his cock before flicking your tongue at the frenulum.

"Fuck, oh God..."

Second that. You enjoy sucking his dick, always have. The different textures, the scent, the way it makes him twitch and curse and finally beg you. The sloppiness of it when you drool, the rush of adrenaline when you manage to take all of him, the tip bumping down your throat, Tim losing it when you massage his balls while letting him fuck your throat.

You draw a deep breath and swallow all of him, balls deep. Your lips shielding your teeth from grazing him, you immediately start to salivate, the pressure against your throat almost too much. You will yourself to calm down, to breathe through your nose as you know you can, and start to fuck him with your mouth. Your eyes fill with tears, and when you look up Tim, he brings a trembling hand to wipe away the first one that falls. You pull back, a string of saliva connecting your lips to his cock, and lean into his palm cupping your cheek.

"Don't hurt yourself, sweetness," he mumbles hoarsely. "You're doing so good."

"I can do it," you promise him.

"I know you can."

You devour him again, tongue pressing flat against the veiny underside of his cock, your eyes falling shut as you focus on the act, on breathing, on controlling your gag reflex. Tim's breaths come in choked groans above you, his fingers tangle into your hair, petting and gently pulling while he showers you with gratitude and praise. The cold linoleum floor is hard on your knees, but you don't let that hold you back as you do your best to blow Tim’s mind. The taste of cum grows stronger, and you press your fingers against his taint while still fondling his balls. That's his undoing: his balls twitch and you feel the length of his cock pulsate as he shoots his cum down your throat. You almost choke, so you pull back, coughing as the last of his cum splatters your chin and chest. He crouches in front of you, wobbles like his legs don't carry him, panting like he just ran a marathon, but still searches your face as you fight to find your breath through the coughing.

"I'm good, I'm good," you wheeze, but Tim doesn't stop his scrutiny of you until you've found your breath.

"Okay?"

"Okay," you nod, smiling breathlessly. He smiles back then, and heaves a big sigh.

"Goddammit, woman..."

"What?" You bat your eyelashes innocently.

"Look at the state of you. A pornographic mess."

He wipes his thumb over your slick chin and closes his eye with a deep exhale when you grab his hand and bring the thumb to your mouth, sucking hard.

"You'll be the death of me."

"What a way to go, huh?"

His chestnut eyes are warm when he opens them anew.

"I'd prefer to live for as long as I can, as long as you're in my life."

"I'm here," you reassure him, your hand coming up to his cheek, which has not seen a razor in days. He leans in for a kiss, licks at your lips and into your mouth where you share his taste with him.

He finally helps you up and tuck himself in before grabbing a couple of tissues for you from his desk. You wipe yourself clean, but when you're about to wrap the coat around you again, Tim stops you.

"What about you?" His eyes are like molten chocolate when he slides his hand inside your coat and brings you snug against him.

"What about me?"

"You're so wet I can see it through your trench coat, honey."

You chuckle. You should have known.

"Sweetheart," you tell him, languidly wrapping your arms around his neck. "If you wish to pleasure me, you have to come home."

"Oh, so only you can do dirty things to me in my place of work?" he grins, hands sliding down to your ass cheeks, barely covered by the lace.

"That's right, detective." You kiss the tip of his nose. "Gotta have something to bring you home."

"I do have that," he replies softly, touching his lips to your forehead. "I'll come home in the morning, I promise."

Before you can answer, there is a hard bang on the door, followed by a call:

"Rockford, we brought in your suspect!"

His countenance changes: his eyes turn sharp, his lips austere, his shoulders squared. He is no longer your Tim; now he's Detective Rockford.

"I'm sorry, I gotta go - "

" - and you won't be home for breakfast," you finish his sentence with a practical shrug as you straighten out his tie for him. "I know. Go do your thing."

He dips his face down to kiss you.

"I'll be home," he renews his promise. "And I'll bring bread rolls from that place you like."

You smile against his lips, his warmth spreading through your body, your cunt bottoming out at the thought of a slow morning with him.

"I'll hold you to that, Tim."

He brushes his lips over your cheek, his breath warm when he whispers:

"Keep that underwear on."

#tim rockford x you #tim rockford x reader #tim rockford fanfic #merge mansion fanfic #my fic

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letrune · 29 days

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You know what annoys me in Harry Potter?

And let us imagine for a moment that the author is Hatsune Miku. That it is an adaptation of Neil Cicierega's Potter Puppet Pals. That Warner Bros is not holding the franchise with patents and trademarks well beyond the powers of even millionaires.

Ah, nice to imagine, isn't it? Still with me?

The books are wasted potential. Every new thing coming in helps to show how the magical world is as flawed and xenophobic as regular, mundane version of it. Slavery, segregation by "blood purity", racial segregation, magic supremacy and cishet white male magic supremacy, too.

And then a downtrotten guy shows up. He is a hero, has loads of cash and a fame beyond his age. You would think the dude from the literal closet would CHANGE THE SYSTEM. To push along a new, better, more liberated, more equal world. Maybe even prevent the next bad guy from rising by removing the key aspects that made him rise to power, like slavery, the segregations, the supremacist ideas, and so on. Even if just pushing it in a way.

You would think the main character would fix the system. You know why?

Because every fantasy story, even if by just getting the just and wise king or queen on the throne, does that. The Lord of the Rings does not end by blowing up Sauron. It goes on, the world has to be changed to prevent a new, different Sauron. We saw glimpes on how anyone, even the purest heart, could go down that path.

So why can't this boy who lives in a closet? It is WASTED POTENTIAL. Imagine the stories you can tell! Now that you got a better world coming, would the old jerks not hate it? Would some change? What new issues arise? It is a fantasy, so you can do whatever you want - and then go the Man in Black route and have the magical slowly dripped into the mundane. Or, again, as with the (comic book) Men in Black, we had shown how even the utopian parts get issues not seen before, all based on xenophobia, human folly, etc.

You make a status quo that sucks, and then GO AND CHANGE IT. The big bad in a bad system is not the guy with the biggest gun, but the system that fails.

Oh, sure, you can make a story about the cyclical nature of revolutions - and yes, a bloodless revolution is the best for the little people, but in fiction, we may have the bad guys represent issues. So, you can make a story where a revolution leads to another in the next cycle. But...

You have to change the bad systems. Say that some things may change. Even if it is just a new school being put forward in the end, with empathy, and two characters talking about how the world will change if they keep going on... You have to change. The utopian status quo is the only one what the audience may like to be returned to.

When Bilbo comes back to the Shire, it is almost the same, but Bilbo himself changed. It was a bit for the better, but not that much that new stories could not be told... and what he thought as the status quo is shown to have changed. He became more artistic. He wrote a book, inspired by his "miserable adventure"... and then, later, Tolkien slipped in the ring from the sequel. It was not in the original draft! The ending did not changed, but we had a plot hook.

Though, Tolkien already had given us all the potential in the story. He hinted at a bigger world.

So imagine Miku, writing a thing but then she does not develop the things. The potential goes wasted, and when it returns, it has this "stop nagging me, here, a stupid retcon for your stupid questions" thing. Potential squandered! Wasted! No wonder the fans would go to write their own, for better or worse.

I am so happy Hatsune Miku is a talented writer and not some woman slipping into right-wing hatred, akin to some dude who loves gold and the aesthetics of power, and having none of it in his tiny hands or something. That would be-

Oh. I just realised the intro to this rant. Well, now that the train is deralied, what is my point?

If you write a story with systemic issues, you should at least attempt to resolve some of them. You got slavery? Have the main character and their friends free slaves and ban slavery when they get the power to do so.

You got a sort of space cyborg wizard nazi movement? Your character has the potential to punch them in the face, alongside B. J. Blazkowicz and Captain America, WHILE ALSO breaking the systems the space cyborg wizard nazies rely on. In fact, it should be what you do, because while your heroes give the cool action scenes, they also show their intelligence and empathy by PREVENTING new space cyborg wizard nazies coming into existence and fixing the inequalities in the world.

Sure, it is not as cool to see Mr. Potter to write a new constitution about equal rights than seeing him in a wizard duel with wizard nazies, but you can have both. This is fantasy!

You can get the audience to believe that a man can fly, that a single guy can save the world by throwing a ring into a volcano, or that a boy living in a closet is a chosen one - letting them change the world for the better is not a stretch, it is catharsis! That is where the happy ending happens.

#rant #writing #personal rant

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olderthannetfic · 11 months

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I have never met people as hostile to their own cause as the End OTW Racism crowd. Do you have questions about how their proposed solutions work? You're pro-racist, you piece of shit. You want to know more proposed solutions beyond 'hire staff to review things reported as racist'? That's just what a racist would say. You think that blocking and muting people who are racist is a good step to take to protect yourself? Typical pro-racist rhetoric. You want to know how staff is supposed to deal with people reporting things to spite others, reports that are in error, and make a judgment call on what is and is not racist? You're such a fucking stan for racism, Karen.

I gather that these people think people care about some big-name anti in their midst but honestly, from their seething contempt for everyone who even asks a single follow-up question about the logistics of something to their utter disgust towards anyone who they perceive as not being on their side, they're the ones making me not have a lot of faith in this as an idea.

But if you don't have a lot of faith in it, you're of course 1. white and 2. rejoicing that an anti-racism campaign is failing, you racist. So I'm sure they read this, yelled, "fucking pro-racist white cishet lady!" and reassured themselves they're doing something great for fandom, meanwhile in reality the first time I hear about it was a white person telling my black ass that I was pro-racist for asking what End OTW Racism even was. Don't know about their campaign? You're racist. Want to learn more? Racist. Oh, sure, you can say no one told you, but that's just a lie meant to excuse your racism.

Bruh. I was SPAT ON at a convention last week for cosplaying while black, how likely is it that my tumblr, AO3, Instagram and Tiktok, which are all under the same handle, are all elaborate deepfakes by a hardcore white racist pretending to be black? By contrast, how likely is it that on a planet of 8 billion, one person might not have heard of your internet thing? Especially since my fandom is an old one that refuses to move fic onto AO3 and keeps posting on FFN? Wait, wait, let me guess - "that's just what a pro-racist would say!" ?

IDK about ending OTW racism but it's definitely helped fandom racism as a whole stay alive and thrive by giving white teens in the suburbs an excuse to call me racist with impunity so hats off for that. Really made my life better as a black trans person in fandom.

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nicosraf · 3 months

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Sorry if this gets rambly, but I just wanted to let you know how much I appreciate and admire you for turning down a traditional publishing offer to continue to write the way you want. There's a certain level of tender rawness in your works that I know would be completely stripped away by a publishing house. From the topics you write about to the way you portray queerness, it would all be soulless and devoid of any beauty if you signed it all away. I don't think I would love your work as much as I do if you didn't self-publish. From the topics you write about to the way you portray queerness, it would all be soulless and devoid of any beauty if you signed it all away. My previous experiences with reading self-published books has always been 50/50, and most of the time, I felt like they would've been better if they were polished and cleaned by a traditional publisher. In reading Angels Before Man, I've come to realize how important it is to read books outside of the "approved publisher" bubble. It feels so liberating to read something so unapologetically queer and dark and emotional. In a world where queer works feel like they're getting more and more santitized for the comfort of cishet corporate overlords, it's comforting to know that we're able to tell our stories on our own terms.

Hello!!! Thank you for saying this. I'm sorry if I also get rambly but I have a lot, a lot, of thoughts on self-publishing and the industry after I've taken some big steps away from it.

I need to make the small correction that I didn't turn down a deal itself. I was in limbo waiting for the deal and had already gotten a rejection or two on ABM getting picked up. I'm not sure how much I'm allowed to talk about but I'll try to be clear

The series of events goes: I posted ABM online in November 2022, my agent reached out to me in January, ABM immediately gets sent to a "very interested" publisher in February, then I revised the book before I sent it to other "interested/excited" publishers around March. I lasted until early August, had a meltdown, then begged my agent to tell the publishers to let go of my book so I could work on the sequel.

I'm giving context because "stripped away by a publishing house" really struck a cord with me.

Here's the thing: the publishing industry is in a downward spiral. The author dream is gone. If you sell a book, your advance is more likely to be, say, 50k instead of 100k and that 50k is going to split into 4 payments over 2 years. Publishers don't market books anymore; they just make you open up a TikTok account and tell you to dance. Editors are overworked and picking up books that either are or feel already developmentally edited and (some) are asking for blurbs from big name authors (?!) before they look at your manuscript. They want books they can line edit quickly and send to market — but it's not their fault. HarperCollins editors were on strike for an absurdly long time and have gained... well, basically nothing. Agents and editors are leaving the industry. Publishing houses are "poaching" successful indie books and stroking indie author egos to take half their royalties.

I haven't even gotten to the racism and white liberalism problem. Look at Xiran Jay Zhao having their work being held hostage by their publisher for being anti-genocide. I worry about how queerness is represented in tradbooks but maybe more deeply worry about the race problem. There were calls for diversity 10 years and they've led absolutely nowhere. "Diversity" focused imprints keep getting shut down and leaving their authors in limbo.

But about editing again — so I'm sure you've heard of this book Babel by RF Kuang. It's popular but gets critiqued for hand-holding a white audience too much. Here's the thing though — I made a similar comment to my buddy and he told me whether that's the fault of Kuang or the fault of the editor. And that made me think — how many books are critiqued for what authors may have been forced to do? Yellowface by Kuang, written after Babel, goes into a manuscript getting heavily changed to appeal to white readers. Editors say "But I'm confused" and "But it doesn't make sense to me" because your editor is themselves the inescapable, white audience. And usually the cishet audience too — the straight person sighing that your fags are too problematic in these scary political times.

So why am I saying all this?? Look, I've never thought ABM was perfect. I think it's got some mediocre lines, some things I attempted that I don't think I pulled off. I, also, got into the habit of looking at self-published books (my own included) and thinking, "Oh this needed a professional hand-holding it." Tradpub was exciting to me because I could have someone hold my hand and work on the prose with me. I wanted to make the prose better.

But so I step into tradpub and it all goes wrong. They don't know what to do with me. They suggest a revision to cut it down to a novella. I get angry and then get angrier when I'm treated like I'm being spoiled; it's not about my "vision" here. Imagine if I announced to ABM readers that I cut ABM to 80 pages for a little bit of money?? Others started implying Part 2 basically needed to go; it's too confusing, too fucked up. Part 1 was perfect. Rafael, have u considered it being more of a romantasy? Have you considered a happy ending. Have you considered Michael and Lucifer having romantic virgin sex and have you considered cutting that other part with God entirety. Have you considered whether you're just trying to shock people and maybe you need to calm down

Well, I responded to all this with "What about the readers?? I can't make any big changes. They wouldn't like that." But I saw that they didn't want my readers.

There's a publisher right now who has Angels Before Man by rafael nicolás slapped on their "type of books we want" brochure they sent to (I believe) agents. They never contacted me though. I started to see that maybe no publisher ever wanted ABM. They wanted something like ABM, the idea of ABM and the idea of rafael, the mysterious queer mexican guy. you see, the publishing dream is not dead! you too can be like rafael. you can be a nobody who gets their book picked up by Penguin Random House and Fixed to Be Good and make a hundred thousand dollars and youll get to sit at the cool kids table.

Anyway, I love to read self-published, 0 rating books. They're usually weird, full of typos sometimes, but I never care. I don't read to judge something on a merit of goodness anyway (what does that mean) but just to experience something. I love reading porn, but I'm not usually sexually tantalized but it; I just love how insane it is. And seeing someone put their whole heart in something full of typos and pacing issues and plot holes is a thousand times more fulfilling to me than reading a polished husk of 3-act structure, perfect clean characters, strong prose that was worked on by 19 people and doesn't hold the dreams/desires/flaws of anyone.

I'm really happy to self-publish. I like not having a censor and pouring my heart into something. And work! Hard work is incredibly fulfilling to me; I care more about the work I put into A&M than the product it'll end up being. But I also keep thinking of situations like Babel and I think that if my work sucks, at least it's because of me and my skill, or lack thereof. It gives me a little bit of dignity.

thank you again for the ask. i appreciate it very much.

#sorry for the ramble agh #mine #ask #publishing #self publishing

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punknicodiangelo · 1 year

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Rick Riordan is a cishet white goyische man. We knew this. But you can see this in his writing, no matter when. Yeah, he's grown, but he didn't grow astronomically.

In this post I'll be talking about how history, women, queer people, and POC are handled in Rick Riordan's YA novels. I'm Jew-ish, very queer, and was socialized as a girl, but I'm white so POC tell me if I overstep or get anything wrong and feel free to add!

Also this is long af, way longer than I intended, so under the cut it goes!

The Pact and Wars

I think I've talked about this before (cannot find the post) but the way history is handled is so racist and antisemitic. Wars are not because of their real reasons, but instead conflict. WWII is made to be because Hades, Zeus, Poisiedon, and their kids had another spat, instead of the fascism and racism that really caused it. The Civil War, instead of being about racism, was made to be about a fight between the romans and greeks. The wars we see in series have no connection to real world events, why couldn't the old ones be the same? It also deminshes the accomplishments of real people. For example, Harriet Tubman is said to be a daughter of Hermes. To me, this says a black disabled woman can't do great things without great blood in a world where that exists

Annabeth

Annabeth is a girl boss, and this would be great, if her writer wasn't a cishet man. Being strong is equated to being mean, physically and verbally. When she thinks Rachel likes Percy, a guy she isn't even dating, she gets pissy at them for even hanging out! She constantly demeans Percy and hits people who anger her, including Percy, and this is treated as cute and quirky. And then her trauma is dismissed and diminished by a boy who went through similar treatment. Sorry Percy also was hurt by who his author is, but it makes things worse with Annabeth's portrayal. Also she once says people don't take her seriously because she's blonde. During HoO. With Piper and Hazel right there

The Hunters

The Hunters of Artemis, in mythology, are a group of women and sometimes men who joined Artemis to escape the deeply misogynistic culture at the time, and there are sapphic undertones to much of their myths! In the books, they're portrayed as man hating, romance hating, and functionally aroace. Hippolytus is completely ignored. Zoë is constantly talking down to Percy without giving him a chance and makes probably the dumbest decision by choosing Bianca for the quest in Titan's Course. Jo and Emmie were kicked out for finding love. I'm aroace. I love aroace rep. I'm overly weary of (cis white) men. But the way the Hunters are written is so similar to how angry anti-SJW youtube saw feminists

Nico

Nico is forcibly outed in one book and in the next gets a boyfriend with literally no personality or relationship with him up to that point. The drawbacks of shadow travel so clearly align with disability. He's also obviously depressed and deeply traumatized. Yet Will gives him no medical autonomy, something we disabled folk have to deal with all the time that's really very ableist. I love Nico, but the way he's portrayed just isn't great

Sadie and Carter

Sadie and Carter are biracial and look wildly different. This is good representation from what I've heard, but not how it's different or some incidental stuff. Carter, the boy, has dark skin and dark, coily hair, while Sadie, the girl, has pale skin, striaght blond hair, and pale eyes. This plays into colorism where darker people are seen as more masculine, as does Carver being the host to the god of war. Sadie is also a young girl who's put into a relationship with a god who kinda bullied her at the start. Carver is also in a relationship with a person who was hostile, but she gets better so I'll let is slide

Leo

Leo is latino, and stereotypical at that. Je is constantly flirting with everyone and looked down upon. As a Leo who is not an astronomical Leo, he deserves better especially when you consider c//leo

Piper

"I'm not like other girls" girl who's hailed as absolutely gorgeous. She was born on a rez that didn't exist at the time which just goes to show the lack of research. Her eyes are kaleidoscope, which is a trait none of her siblings, or her mom, have. She's cut off from her culture enough to not know the significance of feathers but has plenty of memories of her grandfather who lived on the rez. Also, she's a cleptomaniac. I love Piper, I like how she's representation for a person who was cut off from her culture and longs to know it despite living with her bio family because I and a few friends are the same, but Piper is still a stereotype. I also feel like the veganism plays into the whole spiritual nature stereotype, but I'm not sure so don't quote me

Frank

The only confirmed greco-roman demigod without dyslexia is also East Asian. I think the stereotyping is obvious it doesn't help that the only two Asian characters before him, Ethan and Drew, were antagonists. He was infantalized while fat and then had a magic glow up for... no reason, really, but that matters less here. Also he's dating a seventh grader as a tenth grader basically and I'm trying to not spoil stuff but the end of the Tyrant's Tomb is bullshit from a lore perspective imo

Hazel

She's a black girl whose parents both had very dark eyes and hair, yet her eyes are gold and her hair is paler than her skin, and both of those last two are described as looking like foods. Again, she is the age of a 7th grader. See Frank. And this may be the fandom's fault, but it seems she's always either infantalized or adultified from what I've seen

Will

All we know about Will Solace in BoO is that he's attracted to men and a medic son of Apollo. I bet you didn't remember he was at the Battle of Manhattan or that he's counselor because all his siblings died. And that's a lot of kids. Also he calls Nico nicknames he doesn't like. See Nico for further criticism of Will

Alex

Alex is called the adjective form of a slur multiple times. I could talk about how the grammar of that sucks, but *gesturs vaguely.* She gets transphobia from nearly everyone and disowned. I thought fantasy was supposed to be escapist, personally

Other stuff

Samirah is a hijabi, but we see under her scarf at least once and that feels really disrespectful, especially considering how observant she is of other stuff. Only women or close family (brothers, direct descendants, or direct ancestors) can see a hijabi's hair. Even if Magnus, Hearth, and Blitz are like family that usually isn't enough. She should have gotten a regular valkyrie's cloak imo. Some stuff feels off about Hearth but I'm not D/deaf so I'll hold my tongue on that as I'm not sure. Lavinia could use more yiddishisms in her speech and I'm curious to know what sect she was if her rabbi wasn't cool with her being a lesbian, but they do exist so *shrug.* There's probably something I missed with Reyna and Hylla, I feel like there is, but I can't remeber so it just gets an honorary mention

@afrolatinozuko

#rr crit #anti frazel #anti caleo #anti percabeth #anti solangelo

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ikatako38 · 15 days

Text

Squidmas Special ‘23

Rating: G, Word Count: 4,863

This special was originally posted on AO3 in two parts between Chapter #22 - 1 and Chapter #22 - 2. It takes place 8 years after the end of TPWCH. Ryland, Three, and Captain are all the same person! I also made this relationship chart to help since there’s so many characters being introduced so quickly. And yeah, Koi’s birthday is on Squidmas, so they’re celebrating both events together. The story starts below the cut!

“You’re sure it’ll be okay? It’s just… there’s gonna be so many people…”

“Yes, Capa. It’s gonna be okay. We have to let Tsuku spread her wings. She has to be able to take risks in order to live her life. We took plenty of them.”

“I know, I know…”

“And, hey. If anything goes wrong, we’ll both be there to protect her.”

The Inkling took their husband’s hands playfully. “I think that would just be you.”

“You’re telling me the Captain of the New Squidbeak Splatoon wouldn’t be able to hold off a couple of fourteen-year-olds? Because I know they could.” Eight bopped the white puff on the end of Captain’s Squidmas hat.

“I get nervous around little kids! I don’t know what to do or say! You know this.”

“Is that what it is? You’re nervous the kids won’t like you?”

“I mean…” Captain shrugged. They hadn’t been consciously thinking about that, but now that Eight mentioned it, maybe that was part of their hesitation.

“It’s all right to feel nervous… but kids always love you! Remember that one at Tako Bell who—”

“Yeah, yeah I know. I’m probably worrying for no reason.”

“Such is life.”

“And… what about the other parents? They’re probably all cishet Inklings, and we’re so much younger than everyone else…”

“If anything goes wrong, we can leave, okay? Or you can leave and I can stay… or whatever works in the moment.”

Captain nodded, and after a moment he raised his head to kiss Eight. “Okay, now where’s Tsuku?”

Captain made their way to their daughter’s bedroom door. “Hey Tsuku, it’s about time to go!”

“Ah, sorry, sorry… just five more minutes!”

“Okay koko, just come out to the living room when you’re ready!”

Returning to the living room, Captain saw Eight waiting, now with his shoes on.

“Tsuku’s still going to be about ten minutes,” Captain explained.

Eight checked his phone. “We’re going to be late…”

“That’s okay.”

“Yeah. Yeah it is.”

Captain ended up opening one of the dumb word games on their phone, and Eight did his best to help, until Tsuku appeared in the hallway. She was wearing a cute little red dress with white flats. Captain bent down closer to her and gushed, “Myushi-myushi ba~!

“Oh my cod, Fufu.”

Captain kissed the top of Tsuku’s head. “C’mon, let’s go!”

It was only a short train ride, and then they were standing at the front door of Koi’s family’s house.

“Um… do we knock…?” Eight murmured.

They looked at each other, and Captain shrugged. Then they both jumped back when Tsuku stepped up between them and gave the door a confident rap. Koi opened the door a few seconds later, and her orange pigtails flopped over Tsuku’s shoulders as they hugged tightly. Captain and Eight threw each other an awkward glance as they waited in the blocked doorway, and the two young Cephalings didn’t separate until another voice from inside the house called out, “Tsuku! You made it!”

The Inkling who had just started going by KJ ran up to them and hugged Tsuku too, although—both Captain

and Eight noticed—this one was much shorter.

Meanwhile, Koi stood on her toes and said, “Hello, Mr…. um… and… uh… sorry, are you… Tsuku’s parents?”

“Yep,” Eight said. “You can just call us us Eight and Captain… or Tsuku’s dad and parent, if that’s easier. The last names are sort of complicated.”

“Oh, okay! Welcome to our home… sorry again.”

“It’s totally okay! No harm done.”

As they entered, following behind the girls and KJ, Captain made a whining sound and whispered to Eight, “That was so awkward…”

Eight gave him a quick kiss on the forehead. “I know it’s hard. You’re doing great.” Eight also slipped his hand into Captain’s for support.

A few seconds later, they arrived in the kitchen, where René was at the dining table trying to explain the rules of chess to Cody, seemingly rather unsuccessfully. Beyond that was the living room, where eight adults sat on several sofas and armchairs arranged in a U-shape around a low coffee table, conversing in groups of two or three. A Squidmas tree in the corner glistened with ornaments and tinsel.

When René and Cody saw them, they both got up and raced toward them. Cody got there first and gave Tsuku a quick hug before rattling off a long stream of almost unintelligible words while bouncing on his heels excitedly. Then René hugged her too, but, unless Captain was mistaken, it seemed a bit more awkward than the others had been.

“Hi boys, nice to meet you. I’m Eight, Tsuku’s dad.” Eight shook each of their hands.

Captain just kind of smiled at them.

Thankfully, Cody interrupted: “René was just showing me this game called chest!”

“Chess,” René corrected.

“And there’s all these little figurine things that are so cool, my favorite is the little horse!”

“Knight.”

“And to win the game you have to trap the other player’s king, and it's called a checkmake!”

“Checkmate.”

“C’mon, René can show us how to play, he’s so good at explaining things!”

Tsuku, Koi, and KJ looked at each other, shrugged, and then started to gather around the table.

Eight squeezed Captain’s hand. “Ready?”

“As I’ll ever be…”

They hadn’t stepped two paces into the living room when a woman with long orange tentacles jumped up from a sofa to face them. “Oh, welcome! You must be Tsuku’s parents, then? Eight and Captain, right? Here, take our seats!” She started tugging at the arm of the man next to her until he stood.

“Oh, no, it’s okay!” Eight tried.

“No, I insist. Have a seat.”

So Captain and Eight scooted in next to a pale woman with frizzy purple tentacles, just like her son.

“You must be Cody’s mother?” Eight said.

“Yep. Alicia. Nice to meet you.”

“Likewise,” said Eight.

“And you’re Tsuku’s parents?”

“Right. We—”

“Oh, of course!” Koi’s mother interrupted, now sitting on the floor with her legs folded. Her voice was so strong that the other conversations quickly fizzled out. “Everyone, these are Tsuku’s parents, Eight and Captain. Eight and Captain, you’ve just met Alicia.” She pointed to a Black family with green tentacles sitting together on the sofa against the left wall. The husband and wife seemed to be the oldest out of everyone there, while the third person was the youngest. “These are Atlas and Jeane, René’s parents. And Atlas’s son Alex, just next to them.” Now she gestured toward the couch on the right, where another couple sat, this one with magenta tentacles. “And KJ’s parents, Vanessa and Robert. Have I missed anyone? Oh, of course! I’m Koi’s mother, Amanda, and this is my husband Glen.”

“Nice to meet you all,” Eight said.

“Nice to meet you,” Captain managed to squeak out, adding a little wave.

“You know, you both look so young for your age,” Amanda continued. “I’m so jealous!”

“Actually, I’m only 26…” Captain explained.

“Oh!” Captain could see the gears turning in Amanda’s head, trying to do the math.

“Um… we adopted her when she was six. I was only eighteen, so it was a hard decision, but she didn’t have a home, and we were the only ones who could take her in. I’ve always been… something between a sibling and a parent to her.”

“I see. Well, from what I hear from Koi, you’re doing a great job.”

Captain thought of several things to say, but he couldn’t get his mouth to form the words.

“Oh… have I said something?”

“Sorry, sorry! That just… means a lot, is all. Thank you.”

Amanda directed her next question at Eight, which Captain was grateful for. “So how long have you two been together?”

Eight looked at Captain with such a reminiscent, loving expression that it nearly made Captain blush in front of everyone. “We met each other eight years ago in July, and we started dating in November. We got married three years later, and we just had our fifth anniversary in August.”

Captain was frozen the whole time, staring down at a certain spot on the carpet. But when Eight shifted and leaned into him slightly, it broke the trance, and Captain looked up at him. They shared a smile.

“Remember our fifth anniversary, hun?” said Vanessa. “That feels so long ago.”

“Well, we are getting dangerously close to our twentieth, aren’t we?” Robert said back with a chuckle.

“At least you’re not staring down your fiftieth birthday,” Atlas remarked, with such an even tone Captain wouldn’t have known what to make of it if the smile hadn’t given it away.

“Fifty? No~!” Glen said with incredulity.

“Only two months left. I might as well start digging my grave now.”

“Oh my cod, dad…” the son, Alex, groaned.

“Oh, like you’ve never been dramatic about your age. I’m 14, I’m basically an adult,” Atlas mocked, using a deeper voice.

Alex rolled his eyes and went back to scrolling on his phone, but just after the conversation picked up again and everyone else had turned their attention elsewhere, Captain noticed that Altas nudged his son, and they both shared a smirk that somehow seemed to convey a strikingly strong bond of love between them.

Captain snapped to attention when they heard their name; it was coming from Amanda again: “Thank you again for coming, Captain, Eight. I’m sure Koi will love having Tsuku here. And it’s so nice to finally meet you both! And the same to you too, of course, Atlas and Jeane.”

A knock came from the front door. Captain whipped their head around toward it and made a confused face. They were sure that their family had arrived last, and everyone who they had expected to to come was already there. So who could this be at the door? Perhaps a pizza delivery or something?

They all already knew that the kids would beat any adult to the door, so they just waited, and Captain watched the archway to the kitchen anxiously, until finally someone stepped through—

“Lyle? What…” Captain couldn’t stop the exclamation before it was already out of their mouth.

“Heya, Captain. And everyone,” Lyle said with a smug grin. Eli stepped into view a moment later, holding his husband’s hand, and with his other hand he towed little Tempest behind him.

“Hi Amanda, thank you for having us!” Eli said.

“Also, um… Tempest’s bio moms wanted to come too at the last second, I hope it’s all right that we brought them along.”

And now the Meer-Hannon family stepped forward to reveal Agents Four and Neo Three—but they really should be calling them Aubrey and Yuki in a context like this. Each one was holding an infant with yellow ink.

Amanda jumped up from her seat again to greet them. “Oh, of course! Thank you so much for coming, I’m sure Betta will be delighted to see Tempest. She’s outside with Ava and Kate.”

“Do you wanna go outside?” Eli asked Tempest.

Tempest looked toward the sliding-glass door but shrunk back away from it, into Eli’s body. “You don’t have to,” he soothed. “You can stay in here if you want.”

Then Koi’s younger sister Betta poked her head in from outside. “Tempest?”

“Betta!” And any apprehension disappeared.

Captain jumped when Alicia called out from right next to him, “Kate? Is everyone doing okay out there?”

Now the older Larsen’s face appeared in the door. “Yep, all good, mom! Betta bit Aaron’s finger, but he’ll survive!”

“Aaron, are you sure you’re okay?” Alicia called back.

“Yes, Ms. Caruso, I’m fine!” a slightly strained voice called back.

“Betta!” Amanda called over them, jumping up yet again and heading for the door. “We do not bite our guests!”

“You want me, you get the whole package,” Kate joked.

“I wouldn’t trade it for the world,” Aaron said, coming just far enough into view that Captain could see him staring into her eyes. The scene was sickly sweet. Cod, had Captain and Eight been like that when they were younger?

Yes. Yes, they had been.

Then Captain’s thoughts were interrupted by a desperate cry of “FUFU!”

“Koko… woi’e bare?” Captain responded instinctively. Then they froze. Terrified, they shot a quick glance back at the other parents. None of them seemed to be staring at him—at least not directly—which he took as a good sign.

“What is it, Tsuku?” Captain said, hoping it would encourage her to respond in Inkling.

It worked, but it wouldn’t have mattered anyway since Tsuku got close and whispered, “I forgot the gift for the Secret Snowsquid!”

The gift… had they left it at home? Wait. Captain felt his pocket and, sure enough, he felt a small box covered in wrapping paper. “Oh, I have it here! I grabbed it just in case.”

Captain held it it to her, and the distress was replaced by a huge grin of relief as she took it. “You had it the whole time? Why didn’t you tell me!”

Captain lifted their hands in a shrugging pose. “I forgot.”

They both giggled. “Thank you, Fufu!”

“Of course, Koko. Are you having a good time?”

“Yeah! I just beat everyone in Super Splat Squids!”

“I’m glad all the years of indoctrinating you into video games paid off.”

“Okay, I’m gonna go back now. Thank you!” She gave them a quick hug.

“Of course.”

And now everyone was staring at them.

“Aww, you have such a cute relationship with her!” Vanessa said.

“Oh. It’s uh… nothing special,” Three murmured.

Now Amanda returned from outside.

“I’m so sorry about that again, Alicia.”

“Oh, I’m sure Aaron will be fine. As long as Betta doesn’t have rabies!”

Everyone laughed except for Amanda, who gave a tight-lipped smile. Then she seemed to notice Lyle, Eli, Aubrey, Yuki, and the twins. “Oh! Please, come sit! Oh… oh dear, we really should have planned for this better… you know what, I’ll go get the lawn chairs!”

“No no, don’t bother! We’ll manage. I think Mako wants down, anyway,” Aubrey assured her.

Amanda looked frantically around her before finally managing to calm herself down. “Very well, then. And you must be…?”

“Aubrey. And this is my girlfriend Yuki.”

Yuki braced Seki against her chest with one arm and raised the other hand in greeting.

“Good to meet you! Good to meet you…” Amanda seemed on the verge of a panic attack.

Four and Yuki took up spots on the floor and let Mako and Seki start toddling around them. Meanwhile, Eli sat on the arm of the sofa right next to Captain, and Lyle gave everyone an almost defiant look before plopping down right on Eli’s lap.

“Wow Eli, thanks for the up-close view of your ass,” Captain murmured.

“No, thank you! That’s the first time you’ve ever complimented my ass before.”

Captain gave a clearly forced smile.

They got along fine with Eli nowadays, but they couldn’t completely ignore the small part of them that got nervous every time they were around Eli, or even Lyle. It just dug up too many old memories.

The group got to asking about the twins, and how one of the hardest times was right after they start walking because you have to chase them around everywhere, and Jeane said something about how lucky Aubrey and Yuki were to be young and agile. Aubrey seemed to relax more after that.

“You seem awfully quiet. Yuki, isn’t it?” Atlas said eventually, holding eye contact with the Octoling.

Noticing his stare, Yuki signed I’m deaf with one hand, sort of dismissively.

Aubrey nudged her and explained, “Yuki is deaf.”

“Oh, my sister is deaf, so I know some of the local sign! Um…” Robert then signed something Captain didn’t recognize, probably in Inkopolis Signed Vernacular.

“Um…” Aubrey began, also clearly not recognizing it.

Japen. Japen! Japenese Sign Language! Yuki signed to her fervently.

“Oh, we use… uh… Japenese Sign Language, since Yuki is originally from Japen. It’s… an obscure local dialect.”

Yuki signed something else Captain didn’t recognize, looking a bit less confident with the hand movements, and Yuki and Robert conversed for a few minutes.

About two hours had passed since the Meer-Hannons and Kekoa-Johnsons’ arrival when the doorbell rang again, and this time it really was just pizza. Everyone gathered around the kitchen counter, where Amanda was frantically trying to set out plates and plasticware. “Okay everyone, if you want a drink, write your name on your cup with this Sharkie, and be sure to put it back when—” But the rest of Amanda’s words were drowned out by the commotion.

Captain hung back a ways away from they’d had the the first chance crowd, figuring they’d let everything die down before going to get their food. Eight waited with them, and a moment later his hand slipped into their hand. “Doing okay?” he whispered.

“Yeah. I think so. I wasn’t expecting to see Lyle and all of them.”

“Yeah, that was a bit of a surprise! Is it okay that they’re here?”

“Of course! Of course it’s okay that they’re here. It’s nice to see everyone.”

Eight met Captain’s eyes, and he didn’t look away until he seemed satisfied with Captain’s reassurance. “You can always step away if you need to, I’ll cover for you.”

“Thanks.”

They shared a smile. “Pizza?”

“Sure.”

Everyone huddled in the kitchen, making use of any chair, barstool, or—in Mako, Seki, and Eli’s case—lap that they could find, while Captain and Eight leaned against the kitchen counter, putting as much distance between themselves and the commotion as they could. Captain nodded in Eli and Lyle’s direction and scoffed. “How are they so confident? Lyle didn’t figure out he’s gay until like five years after I did. And Eli took even longer!”

“Yeah, but it went over a lot better for them. They don’t have the same trauma. And besides, it’s Lyle and Eli. Did you really expect anything different?”

Eight reached an arm around them and gently pulled them in closer.

“Merry Squidmas, Capa.”

After a glance to make sure no one was watching them, Eight gave Captain a quick kiss.

“Merry Squidmas, Eight.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

That was followed by Koi opening some presents from her family and sharing some hugs with her parents.

Finally, Amanda announced that it was time for the gift exchange. They all gathered in the living room again, with Tsuku, Koi, Betta, René, Cody, Ava, Kate, and Aaron sitting in a circle on the floor near the tree. Each held a gift wrapped in colorful paper, ranging in size from the wallet-sized rectangle Tsuku was holding to a box as tall as Betta. Captain found themself staring at each of the wrapped gifts, as if staring hard enough would allow them to bore through the wrappings and see their contents.

Who had drawn Tsuku’s name weeks ago? What would they have gotten her? What if something went wrong?

Captain somehow missed Amanda’s explanation of how the gift exchange would work and the first few gifts being given. He didn’t even notice what the gifts were, only that Betta was shouting in joy, and everyone was laughing, and everything had suddenly become very, very loud.

Captain made eye contact with Eight, who was already giving him a concerned look. Eight nodded, and Captain got up, trying not to seem too hurried as they made for the bathroom. They sunk to the floor and put their head between their knees, left by themself with their thoughts, and took several deep breaths to try to calm down.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Fourteen years ago

Ryland stared listlessly at nothing in particular as the students around him filtered into the classroom and found their seats. He didn’t even notice when someone sat just to his right.

“Hi, Ryland!”

Ryland snapped out of his daze. “Oh, Ophie. Hi.”

Ryland's and Ophelia’s fathers knew each other from work, and Ryland was pretty sure his father was trying to set him up with her, but she had always been nice to him.

She leaned toward him conspiratorially. “Who did you get for your Secret Snowsquid?”

“We’re not supposed to tell,” Ryland said.

Ophie giggled. “That’s the right answer!”

Ophie seemed to be waiting for a certain response, but Ryland had no idea what it could be, or what she had meant from her last exclamation. He just kind of smiled awkwardly at her.

Luckily, a few seconds later, the teacher saved him from having to respond. “Good morning, class. Does everyone have their gift?”

“Yes, Mrs. Ippy,” chorused about a quarter of the students. Most of the others did have gifts; they just weren’t paying attention. “We’re going to be gathering by grade, so everyone find the others in your grade and sit in a circle. First graders, up here by me…”

Ryland automatically tuned out the extraneous information, but by the time he tuned back in, it was too late, and everyone had already started moving. Ryland just followed Ophie back to the corner of the classroom near the door, where they sat on the carpet. About thirty of them gathered around in a circle, out of whom Ryland recognized Billy and his clan—Lyle,

Eli, Clyde, and Blitz. Ryland and Billy made eye contact, and the smirk on Billy’s face turned Ryland’s stomach.

Instead, he scanned the rest of the circle, trying to remember which one Cairo was—that was the name he had drawn a week ago.

“Okay everyone, put your gifts in the middle of the circle. The Class Leader will go first, and then go around the circle one at a time,” Mrs. Ippy called from somewhere far away.

Billy was up in an instant and making his way toward the growing pile of presents.

“Hey! It’s not your turn!” shouted one of the girls—Emily, he thought.

“Hmm, I’m sure the Class Leader doesn’t mind, right?” he glared at Blitz, who quickly shook his head. So Billy sauntered up to the pile and dug around for a while before finally pulling out a package. He tore it open and revealed a box of chocolates. Ryland thought he heard Ophie gasp next to him, but she didn’t say anything.

They continued around the circle, and eventually Ophie tore open her gift to reveal a pack of orange gummy candies. She frowned, probably because she didn’t like orange flavor. She looked at Ryland, and he just shrugged. “I’ll swap with you if I get something you like.”

“Oh. So… you didn’t get me?”

“No, I got Cairo. I don’t know who got you.”

Then Billy’s perpetually whiny voice interrupted them. “C’mon Ryland, that’s enough chit-chat! You’re holding up everyone else.”

Something felt wrong as Ryland got up and walked to the center of the circle. He squirmed as he felt everyone’s eyes on him. The whole room seemed more quiet than it should have been. It felt like it took an eternity to dig through the pile of presents in search of one with his own name.

And there it was: a small box about the size of a pack of playing cards. And for a minute he thought that might be what they were. He went back to his seat and sat down with it, hoping that that would reduce the number or eyes on him, but it was no use. Everyone was staring at him, as if expecting something to happen. Finally, Ryland realized he couldn’t stall any longer, and he slowly began to tear open the package.

But it wasn’t a pack of cards at all.

It was a pack of cigarettes.

It only took Ryland a few seconds before he understood what they meant. He started to shake, staring uncontrollably at the pack of cigarettes in his hand until it fell to the floor with a crash, spilling some of its contents.

Ryland could feel Billy’s triumphant glare on him, and he didn’t dare look up.

“Ryland! Are those cigarettes? Hand them over!” Mrs. Ippy was glaring down at him with her hand outstretched. Ryland shoved the cigarettes back in then grabbed the box and tentatively raised it toward her until she snatched it away. “And what were you doing with these?”

“They’re not mine! Obviously someone gave it to me as their Secret Snowsquid gift. I don’t want them!”

Mrs. Ippy just kept glaring down at him with a suspicious look on her face. Desperate, Ryland looked around and saw Billy staring directly at him with a malicious grin. And he gave Ryland a small nod, as if saying Go on. But Ryland didn’t know what that was supposed to mean, and even if he had there was no way he was letting Billy get away with this.

“Like I said, the person who brought them in the classroom was whoever got me for Secret Snowsquid! It was B—”

“Fine, then I’ll go check the lists,” Mrs. Ippy said, spinning on her heel and always making it halfway back across the classroom before Ryland could finish. Ryland looked to Ophie for comfort, but she looked just as nervous as he was.

A moment later, Mrs. Ippy was back, this time holding a clipboard. All she said was, “Ophie, I’ll be accompanying you to the principal’s office. You’re being expelled.”

Ryland was barely able to put any words together as he stared at Ophie. “No! No, it was… wait… Ophie? It wasn’t you, right?”

But Ophie was already standing. “It’s okay Ryland, don’t fight it or we’ll just both end up expelled.”

“Wait… Ophie…”

“I’m sorry, Ryland. I hope I see you again.”

But he never did.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Captain groaned and slowly pulled his hand back from his head as the memory finished playing.

Of course, that night he had remembered Ophie’s gasp and had realized that the chocolates had been for him, which of course meant that Billy had swapped out the gifts—perhaps just the tags. But Ophie had already been expelled, and who would have believed him, anyway? Ophie had been right. Mrs. Ippy had already been suspicious enough of Ryland, and Billy hadn’t left any traceable evidence. Ryland probably would have been expelled, too, if he had tried anything.

But maybe that would have been for the best.

Captain pushed themself back up into an upright position and took a deep breath.

Tsuku’s gift exchange wouldn’t be like Ryland’s. She was surrounded by good friends and responsible adults. Tsuku may have a secret just like Ryland had, but maybe Captain could muster the optimism to believe that, unlike Ryland, Tsuku would be accepted.

Captain’s hand rested on the door handle. Yes. Everything would be okay. They truly believed it.

And they pushed the door open. A few strides, and they were back in the living room. It was still chaos, but the smiles on everyone’s faces reassured them. Especially Eight’s.

They sat down next to their husband, and Tsuku ran up to them almost immediately. “Look, Fufu! Look what Koi got me!”

Tsuku was bouncing around with such excited energy that Captain couldn’t discern the object in her hands until they reached out and held the corner to steady it. It was a sketchbook, and on the cover… a silhouette of an octopus.

“Oh… that’s great, Tsuku…” Captain tried to muster enthusiasm in their response, but they just couldn’t stop staring at the octopus emblazoned on the front.

“What is it?” Tsuku finally asked.

“Tsuku… does Koi know you’re an Octoling?”

Tsuku looked at him curiously, almost confused. “Yeah, of course! All of them do. They’ve known for a while.”

Captain looked around the room at everyone, beginning to question his original impressions of each of them. “And their parents…?”

Tsuku nodded. “As far as I can tell. It’s not really a big deal.”

Captain suddenly pulled in Tsuku for a tight hug, and they were holding back tears. “I’m so glad you found them. I’m… so happy for you, Koko.”

Tsuku started pulling back after a moment, and Captain realized that they might have hugged her for too long. But she still had a big smile on her face. “I love you, Fufu. Merry Squidmas!”

“I love you too. Merry Squidmas.”

They shared one more smile.

“Now go have fun with your friends!”

Captain watched them all for a few minutes, seeing René blush as Tsuku asked whether he liked the Tableturf cards she had gotten him, seeing KJ make a remark that they all laughed at, seeing Cody wow them by doing tricks with his new yo-yo, and seeing Tsuku wrap Koi up in another hug.

“You did this, you know,” Eight said, leaning into Captain. “I mean, Tsuku deserves some credit, and I guess I was there, too. But you made all this possible.”

Eight was right, wasn’t he? Nothing could ever be perfect and easy, but Tsuku was never going to have to endure the hardships that they had.

They had broken the cycle.

“Yeah. I did it.”

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