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sweetfirebird · 1 year

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I have a messy rant about some historical docs that I needed to get out. It's incomplete and not well-written, but, yeah, I had to get it out of my head. So it's going behind a cut. Free free to ignore it.

It's amazing how many documentaries about notorious historical figures will do their best to avoid any thought or commentary about the systems these people lived in (and sometimes ruled over). They might do a passing mention of something terrible in the person's childhood or something. But it's only ever in passing and it's not even a guarantee that it will get mentioned at all. (Maybe it's the shitty documentaries and I need some better books on the subjects.)

And I am not excusing any of the things these people did if they did do them. It's just incredible to me, though I shouldn't be surprised because we don't even really do this now for our current notorious figures.

As one example, though, I've watched/listened to a lot of things about Richard III and not one has really gone into any depth about the warring all throughout his formative years or how that was pretty normal? for the ruling class of that time and place? His brother had his other brother executed (for reasons but nonetheless he did it). His brother also (more than likely) had the previous king murdered. This was the procedure. This is a system that encouraged this and allowed this--as long as you held the throne once you had it and gave your supporters their cash money and honors.

Is (allegedly) killing your tween nephews bad? Yeah obviously but it also... is the logical outcome of that system. It was as close to perfectly normal as a system that allows taking leadership of a country by force and bloodline can be. He just failed at holding the throne but he wasn't like... unusual.

But they don't want to talk about that because, I assume, it sort of reflects badly on the entire still going monarchy business. (And yeah yeah Tudor propaganda but I'm not talking about that right now. I'm talking about the lens with which we are examining these people now.) Probably no one wants to talk about that but my annoying nerdy ass, i know.

Or, okay. Let's say you have people accused of Bad Things ranging from general debauchery and reckless behavior to... possible devil worship... to serial killing with a frankly ridiculous number of victims. Or let's say you are discussing a few cases of "mad" kings. Or de Sade or someone like him. If you set aside the validity of many of the charges against these people (it's easy to accuse someone who is already behaving badly of behaving VERY badly in order to get what you want) and acknowledge the difficulty of diagnosing anyone hundreds or thousands of years later, you have... people being punished for being, like, too obviously the logical outcome of their time and place and then failing instead of succeeding. That's it. These monsters (to us) could only exist in those places. They are products of those places. But these specials never go into that. They just popped up out of nowhere! Amazing! A mystery!

Like, these people were just embarrassingly too much of the thing they were supposed to be and it was making the rest of those in their stations look bad, which set their peers against them and made them easy targets (for land grabs or whatever).

Or when they did succeed (while being horrible), the docs try to excuse it, and maybe this is why you get modern historians trying desperately to say that Henry VIII must have had a head injury or madness from syphilis to explain his behavior and not just....

he was never told no, guys. No one ever told him no. There was no way TO tell him no (if you wanted to keep your head). Henry is what happens when you do that. Henry is what happens when the world says women do not really have value outside of childbirth and fucking anyway. Henry is what happens when you say kings are divine--and he's also what happens when you come from a violent class and culture and you've recently had a long civil war that killed off most of the other possible claimants to the throne so there is no one to really oppose or stand up to you.

Or the slutty slutty drunken Earl of Rochester having no known childhood behavioral problems being carted off to school at thirteen and then suddenly becoming reckless and violent and lecherous? I wonder if the set up for abuse of all kinds at those schools had anything to do with that, and then also the general world for noble men of that time which allowed them to do whatever they wanted, particularly with (lower class) women with little to no repercussions. hmm a mystery where he came from.

He's not actually that unusual, he just wrote slutty slutty poems about it so he gets remembered. There were tons of dudes like him who probably did worse. They just also did enough of the things they were supposed to do that no one cared about the rest. He's not really an outlier. He is representative of the time and place.

These are ruling class people, and it's Europe, so there is also the Church to consider in all of these things, like, intricately tied up with the misogyny and classism and everything else is the Church. It is also a thing with beliefs that these docs do not want to get into. And I'm not going to go into it either right now. It's just a pattern I've noticed and it's irking me.

Heroes and horrors are created by their times. I mean... no. NO. I'm going to stop there before this gets any longer or more rambly. They still do this now, I know. But I guess I expect historians to have the distance to really look.

But as I said, maybe I just need to watch better docs.

... You can see now where Larin came from though, I bet.

#taji from beyond the rings #history nerd ranting

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promenadewithme · 3 years

Note

May I please have prompt 62 with Simon Basset x female!reader?

Of course! Thank you for requesting!

Pairing: Simon Basset x Fem!Reader

Prompt: 62 (”She doesn’t belong with him” “Than who does she belong with?” “...with me.”)

Warnings: very slight angst with a happy ending. I'm sorry, but I just had to include him saying "I burn for you".

Word count: 1.7 k

Tell me if you want to join my tag list!

Oblivious

__________________________________________

Dearest Readers,

it has come to this author’s attention that Lady (y/n) (y/l/n) and Lord Benedict Bridgerton were seen promenading earlier this week. We all know Miss (y/l/n) to be a close friend to the Bridgertons, but will she officially become part of the family? Rest assured, if there is an engagement this author will find out.

Your’s Truly,

Lady Whistledown.

__________________________________________

YOUR P.O.V.

“This is absurd!” you exclaimed. “We were seen walking and now we’re to be married?”

“Calm down, (y/n). You know Whistledown is just a gossip, no one will remember this in a week.” said Benedict, putting down his sketchbook to look at you.

As soon as you woke, your lady’s maid showed the infamous society papers and you all but ran to the Bridgerton estate. Benedict was, as always, in the drawing room sketching away. He had already read the paper, but thought nothing of it. He was calm, so calm it irritated you.

“Ben, you don’t understand! If people think I’m engaged to you, they will stop courting me and, unless you plan on marrying me, that is a disaster! I have to marry this season!” at this point Benedict stood up and caressed your arm in an attempt of calming you down. To anyone else, this scene would be scandalous and incredibly improper, but you and Ben have known eachother since infancy and were the best of friends, so there was nothing romantic about the gesture.

“(y/n), my dear, what is this rush? We are still young, you can see so many more seasons before being considered a spinster. You are beautiful, smart, accomplished and any man in the ton would be more that lucky to have you as his wife. If they don’t see it, it’s their loss. As for the rumors chasing them away, I believe it will do quite the opposite.” he said with a smirk.

“Whatever do you mean? If they believe I am to be married, how would it attract them?” you asked, incredulous.

“Well, not to brag, but I am a Bridgerton. If they think you caught my eye, they’d be curious to know what’s so special about you. So, don’t fret. All will be well.” With one last reassuring squeeze, he turned around and sat back down. “Now, are you going to Lady Danbury’s ball this evening?” he asked, narrowing his eyes at his sketch, not quite contempt with the shading.

“Of course I am, it’s the biggest ball of the season!” you exclaimed, sitting down on the sofa in front of him.

“Thank the heavens! If my mother tries to push eligible ladies my way, I’ll run in your direction.” he said, still sketching. Benedict stopped for a second and looked up at you “I heard a certain Duke will be there.” he stated with a smirk. You rolled your eyes and said “We all know he is bewitched by Daphne, it does not matter if he will be there.”

“Of course it matters, you are in love with the man! And, to be completely honest, I don’t believe it is my sister who his heart belongs to. I’ve seen the way he looks at you, it’s the same way Colin looks at maps or Eloise looks at books.” He was leaning forward now, elbows on his knees, hands loosely clasped.

“Like I’m an object?” you said, kidding of course and dying to change the subject. You had the tendency to get your hopes up and the last thing you wanted was to believe your friend and end up with a broken heart.

“Like you hung the moon and the stars.” he had a serious expression and your heart skipped a beat with the thought that Simon would ever look at you that way, but you knew it would never happen. So you waved your hand, smiled and said “I think all the charcoal and paint is going straight to your brain, Mr. Bridgerton. I expect to see your hands all clean if you are to dance with me to trick your poor mama.” Standing up, you curtsied mockingly and said your goodbyes before walking out the door.

SIMON'S P.O.V.

Simon woke with news from Lady Whistledown. He was never one to believe in gossip, but Daphne was always talking about the society papers during their fake courting, so his curiosity got the best of him. What he did not expect was to read (y/n)'s name.

He had sworn to himself that he would never marry, but arriving at the beginning of the season he couldn't help but be smitten by you. He tried to fight it, but every time you smiled he saw himself smiling along, every time you wore his favourite colour he forgot how to breathe, and every time he saw you with Benedict Bridgerton he couldn't control his jealousy.

He confided in Daphne about it and she guaranteed (y/n) and the second Bridgerton son were just close friends, but Lady Whistledown seems to think differently. To be married? Was this true? If so, he knew it was for the best. He would be able to keep his promise to himself, but he could not help the ache in his heart as he dressed for the day.

(Y/N)'S P.O.V.

You looked at yourself in the mirror, pleased with the outcome. Your lady's maid had weaved delicate flowers in your hair, that was pulled up loosely and you wore your newest dress, long white gloves and the family diamonds. Madame Delacroix really outdid herself this time. It was your favourite colour, with princess sleeves, only slightly puffed, and had embroidered tulle at the hem and bottom part of the skirt. You looked truly beautiful.

"(y/n), it's time to-" your mother paused at the door and looked at you. She smiled softly at your reflection. "You look so beautiful, my dear... Do you think a certain Lord might like it too?" she said smiling softly.

"It is not the Lord's attention I want, mama. You know Ben is just a friend" you said, playing with the skirt of your dress.

"I know, sweetheart, I just don't want you do get hurt. All I want is for you to be happy and what better than to marry your best friend?" she hugged you from behind and kissed your cheek, still looking at your reflection.

"To marry the one you love..."

SIMON'S P.O.V.

"You really have outdone yourself, Lady Danbury." Simon said, looking down at the woman who practically raised him. She was wearing a white gown, a tiara and long white gloves, radiant as always, leaning on her cane.

"I always do, my boy. Now, look at that! Your beloved has arrived." she declared with a small smirk.

"I have already spoken to Daphne" he said, nodding in the Bridgerton family direction, however his heart was beating out of his chest as he turned to look at (y/n). It seemed impossible, but she was even more beautiful than the last time he saw her. Simon looked away before he was caught staring.

"We both know I'm not speaking of the Bridgerton girl. You are not as discreet in your brooding as you like to think." he looked at you again, but you were already speaking to Benedict, who was leading you to the dance floor. "What is bothering you, boy?"

Simon stared at the pair dancing for a moment before responding. "She does not belong with him."

"Than who does she belong with?" (y/n) was laughing at something Benedict said and Simon could not bare the view anymore.

"...With me." he mumbled before heading to the gardens.

(Y/N)'S P.O.V.

The song finished and you curtsied, smiling at your best friend. The smile slowly turned into a frown as you saw Simon walking out, into the gardens.

"Go after him." Benedict whispered.

"What? We would be unchaperoned, it would be scandalous!" you answered, only loud enough for him to hear.

"I'll stand at the door and make sure no one sees. Go!" you smiled and wished you could hug you best friend. "Thank you, Ben." you said as you went into the garden after the man you love. The weather was pleasant and the garden was completely empty, with only the Duke passing back and forth close to the bushes.

"Simon?" he stopped in his tracks, looking surprised as he gazed back at you and stepped closer.

"What are you doing here, if we were to be caught unchaperoned yo-" you stopped the nervous man by saying "Benedict is at the door, no one will see."

"Of course he is." he mumbled, but you heard.

"What does that mean?" you asked, not understanding his sudden dislike for the lord.

"It means he is always around, always with you." he spat out.

"Well, he is my best friend." you could not believe what he was saying. "What do you have against him?" you questioned.

"Are you truly to be married?" he demanded, ignoring your question.

"What?" you replied, completely incredulous.

"Please don't." he murmured.

"Simon, I-" you tried to answer but he cut you off.

"Before you say anything, please listen to me. Don't marry him, please." he paused for a second, adjusting his posture. "I love you. You..." he shook his head. "You don't even know what you do to me. Ever since I can remember, I have promised myself I would never fall victim to love, would never marry, would not let my family name carry on. Then came you."

Simon took a step closer and continued to speak. "You changed my plans, awoke desires I never knew I had, you have stolen my heart and my soul... I burn for you." he took your gloved hands in his, caressing them softly. "Don't marry him, marry me." he gazed into your eyes, waiting your answer.

"Simon... It was never my plan to marry Benedict, I was completely honest when I said he is nothing but a friend." you smiled up at him before saying "you are the one I love, always have been."

Simon grinned before pulling you into a passionate kiss, one hand on your back and the other behind your neck. It was a good thing Benedict was at the door, if anyone saw this scene and the rumours reached Lady Whistledown... You didn't even want to think about the ruin it would bring upon your family.

When you and Simon finally parted you managed to mumble "We truly have been oblivious, haven't we? I thought you were in love with Daphne." he chuckled.

"And I thought you to be with Benedict. Good thing you followed me out here, my love." he said, tucking a stray hair behind your ear.

"From now on, it's all I'll ever do."

#simon basset #simon basset x reader #bridgerton #bridgerton x reader #bridgerton imagine #simon basset fanfiction #simon basset x (y/n)#simon basset x y/n

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stark-tony · 3 years

Text

most recent bookmarks (1/20/21)

* = incomplete

bnha

how he live forever but ain't got time for his kids?* by virxil

summary: “At the time it made the most sense that All Might was your father. But now, given your multiple quirks—”

“I just-it’s still just one quirk! My quirk is just weird!” Izuku protested weakly. No one seemed to acknowledge it.

“—given your multiple quirks, in combination to your relationship with All Might,” Todoroki continued, monotone, mercilessly objective, as Kaminari watched on in increasingly wide-eyed delight, “it makes more sense for his enemy from Kamino to be your father. The one with a lot of quirks.”

Todoroki posits a new theory on Izuku's parentage. It's all in good fun, until it isn't. Then it's the custody battle of the century.

pairings: toshinko, inko/ all for one

tags:

warnings: none

mcu

do you even remember what the world looks like? by iron_spider

summary: Tony’s heart has been working on overdrive since this whole thing started. Friday has a countdown clock plastered on the heads up display, but it feels like hieroglyphics to him at this point, like some ancient language he could never master.

Because when Peter Parker is missing, things start losing their meaning real quick.

“Should be around here,” Rhodey says on the com. May is still on the other line, listening in, because once a certain amount of time goes by without word from Peter, things move into Extremely Worried Aunt territory. They’re already in Tony Is Panicking territory, and when both of those territories overlap it’s never a good time for anybody.

Time? What the hell is time? His mind is blanking numbers out entirely. Minutes are seconds are hours are years.

pairings: none

tags: hurt/comfort

warnings: none

quaranteens by blueh

summary: “Peter Parker,” Cindy says. Peter’s head snaps up so fast that it almost looks inhuman. “Did Tony Stark just waltz in and pick up his child in the background of your Zoom call?”

Peter freezes. Wide-eyed, with ‘guilty’ written on his forehead in 72, bold, Times New Roman font. It takes a solid thirty seconds before he can put himself together enough to click the unmute button.

“I—no?” Peter says. His voice is startlingly high pitched and his expression is nothing short of horrified.

Damn, if that isn’t anything but a confession.

Or: a day in the life of the quarantined high school spider-kid, as seen through the eyes of his first-period chemistry class.

pairings: none

tags: fluff, humor

warnings: none

spn

Down to Agincourt * by seperis

summary: There is no such thing as a guarantee when it comes to war.

The outcome's known. Why try? Return your rusty sword to battered sheath, bow your head and bend your stubborn knee. Why take the field when you cannot win the war? But Harry -- he went down to Agincourt.

--Harry Takes the Field by bratfarrar (AO3 link here.)

pairings: destiel

tags:

warnings:

One Species Too Many by wallmakerrelict

summary: While Dean is laid up for a month after breaking his leg on a hunt, Cas decides that it's a perfect time to adopt a litter of kittens. But even though he's gotten better since Purgatory, Cas still isn't quite the same as he was before fixing Sam's head, and being trapped in a cabin with him for weeks on end is making that all the more obvious to Dean. When Sam takes off on a hunt, Dean has to figure out on his own how to navigate his new relationship with Cas while also helping to raise a bunch of fuzzballs that aren't even cute. Not even a little bit. (Well, maybe a little bit.)

pairings: destiel

tags: fluff, angst

warnings: ableism

Good girl. by orange_crushed

summary: (In which Team Free Will gets a four-legged mascot.)

Sam drives her to a veterinarian’s office one day, in the stolen car he is now increasingly regarding as his, and she comes back sort of sulky and depressed from having been tricked into getting a series of vaccinations.

“I know the feeling,” Cas says, at floor level with her, while the puppy licks the underside of his wrist and makes sad eyes. “I was once immune to tetanus, but now I am forced to endure booster shots.” He looks over at Sam and Dean, and lowers his voice to a whisper. “They told me they were taking me to the zoo,” he says. He pets her ears. “You will learn to trust again.”

pairings: destiel

tags: fluff

warnings: none

Within White Space by mustntgetmy

summary: Non-magic AU. Remus spends his all his lunch breaks the same way: he sits at the university cafe, orders the cheapest thing on the menu, and stares at Sirius. Getting a good long, look at Sirius (and fantasizing about said look) is all Remus expects from Sirius. But Sirius has never been one for fulfilling expectations.

pairings: wolfstar

tags: fluff, angst

warnings: none

Heir to Nothing but Herself series* by dirgewithoutmusic

summary: It was not Harry’s heroism, Ron’s desperation, her mother’s love, or her brothers’ toilet seat humor that brought her back (though the toilet seat helped). Ginny breathed deep at night. She wept. She remembered how to rage. She snuck out at night and stole each of her brothers’ brooms in turn. She took to the skies and brought herself back to life.

pairings: hinny

tags: angst

warnings: victim blaming

atla

Growing Pains by carolinaa

summary: Nobody's really sure how to take the new Fire Lord. Actually, nobody's really sure if he'll last long enough for them to get used to him. Zuko, existing in the uncertainty of a life after the war, is right there with everybody else.

pairings: none

tags: fluff, angst

warnings: none

#bnha recs #mcu recs #spn recs #atla recs #hp recs #my fic recs #most recent bookmarks #ableism tw #victim blaming tw

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tea-mew96 · 4 years

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Analysis: TFP Optimus Prime and a Discussion on Revenge

Disclaimer: This post is going to be a long vent about my frustrations with TFP Optimus Prime, specifically with the advice he gives to Arcee and the audience in regards to revenge. So if you’re someone who does likes him or hold similar views to him, you are probably not going to like or agree with what I’ll say in this post and that’s completely ok. The whole point of this post is to provide another perspective and open discussion with me and anyone else about this (But do so respectfully, please).

Also, there are going to be spoilers for Transformers Prime in this, so skip this post for now if you don’t want the show to be spoiled for you.

So without further ado, let me explain why TFP Optimus Prime’s stance on revenge is wrong.

For those who aren’t familiar with Transformers Prime or don’t remember everything, one of the biggest subplots of the show was Arcee and the loss of her partners, Cliffjumper and Tailgate. Throughout most of Season 1 and Season 2, Arcee is on the hunt to find out who killed Cliffjumper and to get revenge for Tailgate by going after Arachnid.

Everything with this arc was going ok...until Season 1 Episode 20, Partners.

During this episode, Arcee ends up following Arachnid, much to Optimus’ distaste. After Optimus saves Arcee from Arachnid, he tells her that seeking revenge for Tailgate is a bad idea. Later on in the episode, Starscream lets slip that he was the one who killed Cliffjumper, and Arcee reacts accordingly by attacking him. She almost kills him, but is stopped when she realizes Bumblebee is watching them and she lets Starscream go. The episode ends with Arcee saying that she thought settling scores would allow her to move on but that her actions instead lead to the Autobots losing an ally. Optimus comments that wisdom is gained, not automatically earned. This arc continues in Season 2 Episode Episode 10 Armada, where Arcee ends up trapping Arachnid in a stasis pod, ultimately ending their rivalry. The pod is taken back to base, where Ratchet says Arachnid “deserves worse”. Arcee responds that she “intended worse, more times than you know” and Optimus responds that Arcee is “stronger” for her choice.

These series of events are what ruined both Optimus as a character and Arcee’s arc for me.

Optimus tells Arcee that seeking revenge is bad and that she’s a “stronger person” for giving Arachnid a fairly merciful fate of being put in stasis. There’s one problem, though: he’s wrong. And apparently no one on the writing team knew that.

What Optimus ends up implying is that Arcee’s anger at both Arachnid and Starscream is not justified, that being mad at them for hurting her makes her a “bad person” and wanting them to suffer consequences for it is not the right path to take. Except none of that is true.

I think it’s fair to say that Arcee is victim of murder, and has a lot of trauma and emotional damage because of it. She has lost two partners that she clearly cared for and were close to, with one of them (Tailgate) dying right in front of her optics. She displays signs of depression throughout the series, and if the flashbacks in Season 1 Episode 12 Predatory are any indication, Arcee probably has a good case of PTSD too.

The thing about people who have been severely hurt and traumatized by others like this is that they need closure, and there are many ways that this can be accomplished. Forgiveness is only one way. Sometimes closure comes in the form of having the aggressors be given jail time or the death penalty. Sometimes with bullying, a victim will find peace by seeing the bully getting in trouble with the teacher and being suspended. Some find peace through therapy. Sometimes, people can only find peace by taking matters into their own hands and punishing the aggressors themselves (victims fighting back against their bullies and the story of Gary Plauche are good examples of this one). The point is that victims and their friends/family members affected by murder, rape, bullying, or any other hurtful acts is that they don’t have to forgive the ones who committed the crime, nor are they required to. In fact, many people don’t.

This is something that Optimus Prime simply doesn’t understand, and many adults don’t either.

I want you to take a quick read at these statements that people often give as solutions to bullying:

“Don’t react, just ignore them. They’ll go away.” “Don’t fight back, that’s stooping to their level” “Tell them to stop saying/doing those things, they’ll listen”

On the surface, all of these statements sound correct because these are all very tame, non-violent solutions. They’re all moral high ground statements. But almost any victim of bullying can tell you that none of this advice ever actually helped, and if you ever told a teacher someone was bullying you, you at best got ineffective solutions/similar advice to the above and at worst did nothing about it.

Optimus Prime’s statements about not seeking revenge come from the exact place that the above quotes come from: a place of wanting to appear moral and above-it-all but having none of the experience or knowledge to actually back it up.

Optimus wasn’t as close to Cliffjumper as Arcee was. Optimus didn’t see Tailgate’s gruesome death first-hand. He may be older, but being old doesn’t automatically make you right. And I find it ironic how Optimus states that wisdom is earned at a cost yet he’s the one who is clearly is struggling with that concept when it comes to Arcee.

It upsets me to no end how Optimus is contantly tellling Arcee that she’s the one who has to be the more moral, bigger, stronger person. But Starscream and Arachnid? You know, the ones who caused all of Arcee’s anguish to begin with? Naw. Arachnid can continue to tease Arcee by asking if she’s lost any more partners and Starscream can pretend to feel bad about killing Cliffjumper and then immediately brag about it the next day. Yeah, those two don’t need to change. ARCEE DOES. CUZ REVENGE BAD.

Remember how Arcee said she intended a worse fate for Arachnid and Optimus praises her for it? While the show treats that as “closure” and the end to that rivalry, I’m not convinced. For the longest time, Arcee wanted Arachnid dead. So for her to all of a sudden switch to being merciful to Arachnid seems off to me. And thus I began to wonder: Did Arcee decide to not kill Arachnid because she had a genuine change in morals, or did she do it in order to make Optimus Prime happy? Or in other words, is this a genuine change of character or this just the writers’ last-ditch attempt at pushing the “no revenge” narrative into the audience’s face? I don’t know for sure (although I’m pushing for latter in both questions) and the show doesn’t address this. And this is bad because depending on this answer, this could mean that this arc was never truly finished. If Arcee still didn’t believe or feel that having Arachnid in stasis was good enough closure, than the story isn’t fucking over. But no one of the writing team thought this far. No one was willing to put this kind of depth into the show.

Furthermore, I’d argue that this constant talk about Arcee being a “better person” is causing her to be critical of herself over things that aren’t really her fault or that she wouldn’t be able to predict the outcome of.

One is Arcee blaming herself for Smokescreen’s “death” in Season 2 Episode 21 Alpha/Omega. The other is Arcee regretting her attack on Starscream and losing a potential ally. But the reality is that Starscream is extremely fickle and having him join the Autobots wasn’t guaranteed to end in success to begin with. Even if Starscream did join the Autobots, there’s no promise that he would side with them forever. Almost all of his decisions are based off his own goals, and many times that can go against the ideas/goals of the group he’s in. Actually, Starscream does end up betraying the Autobot’s trust anyway in Season 2 Episode 23 Inside Job where Starscream uses the Autobots’ (ok, most Optimus Prime’s) trust to steal the Omega Keys and use them in order to gain Megatron’s favor again. Unsurprisingly, trauma victims in the real world also blame themselves for what happened to them too.

There’s many things about TFP Optimus Prime I can forgive. Boring characterization? Fine. An intriguing characterstic (lack of outward emotion) that has potential to be interesting but the writers never decided to explore it? Whatever. But I draw the line at shitty advice presented as a good lesson, especially when your audience is young kids who don’t know better and may need desperate help.

Kids get bullied and abused. Kids need to be told that fighting back against bullies and abusers who have hurt them doesn’t make them a bad person because the “lessons” and “solutions” that many schools and adults teach or tell rarely work. And telling them otherwise because it sounds right isn’t going to help. If anything, it’s only going to hurt those kids in the long run.

TL;DR Arcee is a good girl who deserves hugs and therapy, and Optimus Prime is a self-righteous moron who deserves to be thrown into a smelting pit.

#transformers prime #tfp #arcee #optimus prime #bullying #philosophy #revenge #tf critical #tf analysis

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miracul0us-multishipper · 5 years

Text

Welcome to the back (Part 9)

First Chapter Previous Chapter Next Chapter

- - -

I know, I said the next Chapter would go up on Monday but it’s getting really long and I had to split it up. Also, I really wanted you to know how Sentiquill’s costume looks like, I spent hours mulling over that! (When I say he’s wearing tails, I mean the evening dress. Does the English language seriously not have a better word for that?!) So here’s the first part, three days earlier than planned:

- - -

Marinette had been witness to more Akuma’s than she could count. As Ladybug, she had a place in the first row guaranteed. She‘d never seen the transformation itself, but the outcome was always the same: disaster, and a villain she had to defeat. Akumas consisted of negative emotion blown to their extreme, concentrated until the person underneath all but vanished. They weren’t the people they had been anymore. These people were simply the host of what had possessed them. As far as she knew, there was no way to stop it once it had begun.

She clung to Felix anyway. Logic and reason didn’t matter anymore, only that this was her friend, her most trusted confidant, and she couldn’t lose him.

“Don’t listen to him!”, she begged and buried her face in the curve of his neck. He was trembling, his eyes unfocused. “Please, don’t listen to him!”

Her fault, this was her fault! He’d been fine just seconds ago, but she just couldn’t keep her mouth shut, could she?

“I’m fine, you see? We don’t need him, we can d-do this on our own!”

A sob escaped her and she tightened her grip, as if she could keep him here with sheer strength alone.

“Please, Felix, stay with me!”

His arms closed around her, and a quivering “Yes” tumbled from his lips. A cold feeling washed over her.

She pressed her eyes shut, imagining it had worked. She’d succeeded. The Akuma had given up, and when she opened her eyes, it would be Felix’ cool grey eyes she’d look into. It would be his voice that told her not to worry, it would be him.

“Marinette.”

She stiffened and took a shaky breath. He still smelled the same. Of ink and fresh paper and coffee. It was easy to pretend nothing had happened.

“Please, look at me.”

She shook her head and Felix sighed. His hands grasped her shoulders and he freed himself from her - supposedly - iron grip to stand up. Even though he made sure to be gentle, the superhuman strength in his arms was still palpable and only confirmed her fears. When she looked at him, she knew she had lost.

“Felix”, she breathed hopelessly.

But it wasn’t Felix, was it? His skin was even paler than before, almost paper white. An inky black mask covered the skin around his ruby red eyes, and his usually combed back hair framed his face freely. She’d never noticed how long it actually was.

A red beret sat on his head, it’s brim decorated with feathers. It was the same color as the uniform jacket that hugged his torso, reminiscent of the British Royal guards. On second look though, it looked like he was wearing tails.

The arms ended in white cuffs that looked more like the nibs of a fountain pen than uniform cuffs.

And in the hand that had held his pen - this goddamn pen - he held a huge... something. It’s hilt was formed like the nib of a quill, and it’s blade looked like a feather, complete with a hollow shaft, downy barbs... There was no use talking around it.

It was a sword. A giant sword. A very sharp looking sword as well.

Oh fuck.

“Sentiquill.”, he introduced himself. Or maybe he was correcting how she’d called him earlier. “Don’t be afraid.” Says the guy with the giant weapon! “It will be alright, now.”

The same words he had used to comfort her earlier now filled her with dread.

“I’m sorry!”, she blurted out. “I’m so sorry! Please, just turn... turn back. We can expose Lila on our own, I’ll think of something! A really good revenge plan, with all kinds of strategies a-and traps!”

Fe- Sentiquill smiled and shook his head.

“I’m not out for revenge. I couldn’t care less about Lila.”

Was that a good thing? Or something even worse?

“Marinette, you mean so much to me.”, he said softly and kneeled down in front of her, since she was still sitting on the ground. “More than you know. Why would I care about something as petty as revenge when I could use my power to protect you? To...”, he pulled a grimace at the pun, “...stand sentinel over you?”

That sounded too good to be true. Too pacifist. She knew Hawkmoth, and he would never create an Akuma with this mindset.

No.

He twisted his victims motivations until they fit his own goals. They were means to an end, and that end surely wasn’t Marinette’s safety.

“And how do you want to do that?”, she whispered, almost afraid to ask. The grimness in his face said everything.

“You’ll go after them.”, she derived. “You’re going to hurt my friends.”

“They’re not your friends!”, he spat and jumped up. “They failed you, betrayed you! But this was the last time they made that mistake, I’ll make sure of that.”

His face turned pleading.

“They have to be punished. For you! So you won’t be hurt anymore.”

His eyes were eerily red, but the look in his eyes was sincere. Genuine conviction that he was doing the right thing.

“You don’t have to worry about a thing, Marinette. Just... just stay here and let me take care of everything. And after that, we can do whatever we want! Wait here. Okay?”

No. I am Ladybug, and I have to stop you.

But first, she needed to transform, and that required solitude. So she nodded. As soon as he was gone, she’d run away and hide to change into her spotted costume.

But Felix knew her too well. And that meant, Sentiquill did too. The look on his face made clear that he saw right through her.

“Of course you won’t.”, he sighed. “You’re you, after all.”

He raised his sword and Marinette backed away. They were in the corner of the yard, behind the stairs. Right above them was the walkway to the classrooms on the second floor, if she managed to dodge the first blow, she could run up and-

Before she could fully form a plan, Sentiquill’s sword was between them. But... he didn’t strike her. Instead, he pointed the tip of the hilt - the one that was formed like a nib - at himself until it rested directly on his chest. Black swirls of color appeared on his body, spreading over his jacket as if they were being sucked into the sword.

“I’m scared of becoming like my father.”, he admitted out of the blue and the ink like darkness intensified as it filled the hollow shaft of his quill. “I hate loud voices because he used to yell so much. Being around people drains me and I’m more ashamed for that than I’d like to admit. I’m afraid you won’t want to be around me anymore if I tell you how I really feel.”

The ink only filled up a quarter of the length of his sword, but it seemed to be enough. He lowered the sword again and the black swirls vanished from his body like smoke.

“What... What are you doing?”, she asked and took another step back. Why had he told her this? And what was it about the ink that had appeared out of nowhere?

“Don’t worry, Marinette.”, he said gently as he raised the blade again. “I’ll come back for you as soon as I’m done. I promise.”

With that, the quill sliced through the air and released the ink it had gathered in a powerful torrent. She screamed, but the black fluid didn’t seem to be bound by any law of physics. It spread through the air weightlessly and formed an opaque barrier between her and Sentiquill; a wall that surrounded her like a prison. She jumped up and tried to escape, but as soon as the ink had reached its intended shape, it dried and solidified.

“It won’t be for long!”, Sentiquill’s voice promised from the other side of the wall. She couldn’t see him, couldn’t see anything. The only source of light was the opening of her cylindrical prison, at least three meters above her head.

“No, wait!”, she shouted back. “Don’t go! We can... We can find another way. Come on, don’t leave me here!”

There was only silence from the other side. Then:

“I’m sorry.”

His footsteps receded quickly, likely towards their classroom. Lessons must have begun at least fifteen minutes ago, everybody would be in there. She had to do something!

“I messed up, Tikki!”, she whispered horrified when her Kwami zoomed out of her purse. “It all happened so fast, I-I couldn’t react.”

“This is not your fault!”, Tikki hurried to assure her. “You’ve had enough troubles to begin with. Right now, we need to take care of this particular trouble.”

The tiny creature smiled and patted Marinette’s shoulder.

“We’ll talk about Adrien later. Let’s just hope Chat Noir arrives soon and get to work!”

She nodded. She’d get her best friend back, and if she had to claw him out of Hawkmoth’s cold, dead hands - then so be it!

“Tikki, Spots on!”

Alya yawned. She loved Madame Bustier’s lessons, she really did. And she wanted to pay attention. But she was simply so tired! Staying up late again probably hadn’t been a good idea, but if Lila needed her help... the poor girl had so many problems to deal with already, it was only right to do some of her homework for her. And it was not like Lila was simply foisting her work off on her, like Chloé used to do with Sabrina. Nah, Alya had offered it herself when Lila had told her how busy she was organizing the Journalism Junior contest. In return, she’d promised to talk to the hosts about Alya’s report, and she’d even given her another interview.

It was the right thing to help Lila out. But god, it sure got draining after a while.

She looked up when Nino elbowed her lightly.

“You okay?”, he mouthed quietly and she gave him a wobbly smile.

“Yeah, just tired.”

They’d barely had the time to talk, the past weeks. Not that Alya didn’t want to! But every time she tried, something got in the way. Either an Akuma, her blog, Lila’s stories or the ongoing drama between Felix and Lila... there just wasn’t a calm second anymore. And now...

She looked to the back, where Marinette and Felix usually sat. Felix had stormed off after he had yelled at Lila some more - this guy had nerves! - and she didn’t care whether he returned or not.

But where was Marinette?

Her girl had acted so weirdly since she sat in the back. No, ever since Lila had arrived! Alya just didn’t get it. Marinette was awesome, and so was Lila. If that girl would just get over her jealousy, she’d see that too. And damn, someone with Marinette’s talents combined with Lila’s contacts and experience... They’d be a power duo! And they could all hang out at once, which would make Alya’s time management a lot easier. She couldn’t remember the last time she’d been alone with Marinette.

A groan formed in her throat. She was still mad Marinette would choose Felix over her, Alya, first with the seating and then this morning. But... god, she missed her.

Sure, Marinette’s chaotic, clumsy and bubbly personality were a handful from time to time. Lila was right about that. But it was also what made her so charming! She was always genuine, naturally positive and her dramatic humor was just endearing. Being around her always made Alya lighten up, stop her brain for a moment to just... be. Have fun a little. Get down from all her passions and work.

Yep. She really missed that. The more she thought about it, the more absurd Lila’s theory sounded. Marinette wasn’t turning into a bully. It just... wasn’t in her nature. And once everything had settled down a bit, Lila would see that too. Not that she was accusing Marinette of anything. She was just concerned.

“Adrien”, she hissed under her breath, not capable of staying quiet for any longer. The blonde turned around, careful that Mme Bustier didn’t notice. “Where’s Marinette?”

His face darkened all of a sudden, which was so unusual for sunshine boy that Alya had to take off her glasses to clean them for a second. Adrien merely shrugged and turned around, which Lila didn’t miss. She scribbled something on a note and gave it to Alya.

Marinette confessed and got rejected by Adrien, that’s why she’s not here. Poor girl!, it said. Alya gasped. Oh no! Why would Marinette confess all of a sudden when she hadn’t even been on a proper date with him yet? And why hadn’t she told her best friend? Jeez, she was probably heartbroken right now...

She sighed.

Alya might be biased in Marinette’s favor, but she knew that Adrien wasn’t obligated to return her feelings. Still. This sucked.

As soon as she saw her, Alya would tell Marinette to forget Adrien. Wait, no, that was probably too direct. Maybe... gently nudge her away from Adrien? Towards Nathaniel maybe, he was cute! Or that Luka she had told her about? She’d have to be discreet about it, so she wouldn’t upset her any further. Maybe-

A loud crash ripped her out of her thoughts. The door to the classroom was ripped out of its hinges and thrown at the opposite side of the room; her classmates screamed. Alya jumped and hurried out of her seat, pulling Nino and Lila with her to the back. It had been so many attacks the past year, at this point she knew exactly what to do.

“Akuma!”, she warned the class with a shout, just when a tall figure entered the room. Despite the mask, the strange color scheme and the guard-like evening dress it was absolutely clear who he was. Felix’ stern look was unmistakable.

“I apologize for the late arrival.”, he deadpanned and raised what looked like an oversized quill. “But Agreste caused a lot of trouble that I will have to correct.”

Adrien? Trouble? Was he referring to Marinette’s rejected confession? Her eyes widened. Marinette! Had she been with Felix when he was akumatized? Had he hurt her?!

She forced herself to breathe. No, she had to be safe. Felix might be a prick, but everyone could see he had a soft spot for the cheerful designer. She couldn’t exactly fault him for that.

His eery red gaze roamed over the students that had fled to the back and fixed on Lila, who swallowed hard. Alya paled when his face contorted into a malicious grin.

“I think I’ll start with you!”

He pounced and time seemed to slow down. Logic told her to stand back, to escape. What if Ladybug needed Rena Rouge? She couldn’t afford to get taken out of commission! But the emotional side of her mind screamed Lila and Friend and Protect. So she stepped forwards and gave Lila a shove out of the way. Felix’ sword hit Alya instead, directly in the chest. An icy sensation washed over her as the rest of the class watched in horror. But to her surprise, it wasn’t the blade that had stabbed her, but the nib-like hilt. She didn’t feel any pain. Just numbing, terrifying coldness.

“How sweet, a volunteer!”, he mocked her and she trembled. A vague, undirected fear rose in her chest and formed a lump in her throat.

“Felix”, she whimpered, surprised by her own, scared voice. He shook his head.

“It’s Sentiquill. Now how about you show your friends what dark places you hide from them?”

His face darkened.

“Not that you know much about friendship. Why would you abandon Marinette for someone like Rossi?”

She didn’t plan to answer, wanted to scream at him to buzz off, but her mouth didn’t comply her.

“I feel so boring next to Lila’s adventures, so small.”

What?! No, no, no! She didn’t mean to say that!

But she couldn’t stop, not even as black swirls of ink appeared around her, aiming for the sword. She felt as if her greatest fears and demons were sucked out into the open.

“I’m scared to be forgotten, to never reach my dreams. But Lila helps me with that.”

Lila hid behind Madame Bustier, eyeing the door. Was she searching for an escape? Wasn’t she interested in what Alya was forced to admit?

No, of course not. Alya wasn’t important, after all. Just some girl that clung to Lila. She was no one.

“Is that why you leave Marinette to herself?”, Sentiquill snarled gleefully. “Because you’re a pathetic nobody?”

“Marinette thinks Lila is lying. She’s acting so aggressive all the time.”, Alya was forced to say. Sentiquill leaned in, as if he planned to whisper. But when he spoke, it was loud enough for everyone to hear.

“Let me tell you a secret, Césaire. Lila is lying, and you are wrong.”

The darkness around her amplified as she looked at him in horror. If she’d been in her right mind, she could have denied his words easily. But whatever spell he had her under made her vulnerable to his influence, as if he were forcing the words directly into her brain, making her doubt herself.

“But she’s done so much for me and my blog.”, Alya whispered shakily, trying to fight his magic. “If she lied, all of that would be for nothing. She can’t be lying. She can’t.”

He lowered his sword and Alya broke down, feeling empty. She was no one, she was useless. She had given up everything for a lie. She was a monster to the people she cared about. What had she done?

Her muscles didn’t work, her body didn’t obey her as she fell to her knees, hugging herself. She couldn’t move. Guilt and terror weighing her down like chains.

The only thing she could do was watch as Sentiquill raised his sword, it’s hollow shaft filled halfway up with the ink he’d created from her confessions. A single strike released enough of it to block the door, trapping everyone inside. Everyone? No, Adrien wasn’t here anymore. Must have slipped out when the rest of the class had been frozen in terror. Maybe he’d get help.

Not that she deserved it.

With dull eyes she watched the Akuma walk towards Lila, raising his blade again. This time it was Mme Bustier that sacrificed herself.

“I don’t know how to handle conflict. I don’t care enough to learn.”, he dragged one secret after the other out of her. “I try to make my students clear trouble out themselves because I’m scared they won’t like me anymore if I get too strict.”

Alya heard her, but didn’t really understand her words. The pain in her head was too great, the hopelessness in her stomach too heavy. Only when Lila hid behind Nino - brave, kind Nino - as Sentiquill went after her again she managed to look up.

He’d attack her boyfriend next.

He’d make him just as miserable as her.

She couldn’t let that happen.

Her body slumped, ignoring her wishes. She couldn’t do anything. She was nothing.

The last thing she saw before breaking down for good was a red yo-yo breaking through the window, just in time to knock the quill away. She sighed as the world faded to black.

Nino would be save.

That was all that mattered.

Adrien had hid beneath his desk when the door had been kicked in, and slipped out of the room the second Sentiquill had spotted Lila.

Typical for Felix.

Once he had made an enemy, he couldn’t think of anything beyond petty revenge. And now this idiot had gotten himself akumatized.

“I hope Marinette’s alright.”, he told his Kwami as he hid behind a locker. “If she was with Felix when the Akuma possessed him, she was probably his first victim.”

Plagg raced around him before giving him the dirtiest glare Adrien had ever seen.

“If anything, she was your victim first!”, the tiny cat snarled. “What were you thinking?! You were acting like an ass!”

Adrien scowled.

“It’s not my fault she’s so obsessed with Felix that she can’t see reason anymore. If she’d listened to me in the first place, we wouldn’t be in this mess!”

“Gah!”, Plagg groaned. “You’re so incredibly dense, kiddo! Transform already, before I forget myself and claw your blind little eyes out!”

Adrien pouted.

“Hmph! You’re being ridiculous. Plagg, claws out!”

As soon as the transformation was complete, he went back to the classroom. The door was sealed shut by a solid black substance, but luckily for him, the classroom had windows to the yard he could see through. Ducking so he wouldn’t be noticed, he glanced inside. Alya was on the floor, holding herself as if she might fall apart. Lila was hiding behind Nino, and Sentiquill stood in front of Bustier, who said something he couldn’t hear. Black ink floated around her before streaming up the quill’s nib. When Sentiquill stepped back, Bustier fell to the ground and wrapped her arms around herself, mumbling incoherent words. So that was how Sentiquill’s power worked. He made inkwells out of people, turned their secrets into ink to fill up his sword, then used it to create barriers and walls or whatever. Kind of stupid, just like his costume design.

This would be too easy.

He froze, an idea creeping up on him. Sentiquill’s power wasn’t very challenging for him and Ladybug, that was true. But... Ladybug wasn’t here yet. And if he took out the Akuma on his own, his Lady would only be here to purify the Akuma and disappear again. He hadn’t spoken with her since their last disastrous patrol.

Slowly, he started to retreat, then broke out running and jumped on the roof. There was no need to rush things. He would wait for Ladybug and use the chance to be around her for as long as possible. There were still a lot of other people ready to sacrifice themselves for Lila, so revealing her lies was no immediate threat. A smile appeared on his face when he spotted something red, just before Ladybug’s yo-yo broke through the window.

He’d been right! Now they could talk about why she’d freaked out at him the last time.

Or... he could wait some more. To make his entrance as dramatic as possible, and to remind her how great he was as her partner.

Chat Noir sighed.

He truly was brilliant, from time to time.

#miramu writes #welcome to the back #wttb #felinette fanfic #ml felinette #miraculous ladybug #mlb #marinette dupain cheng #adrien agreste #ml felix #felix leanne #ladybug #chat noir

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harborslice3 · 3 years

Text

Locate A Workplace Moderator For Disputes In Between Partners As Well As Staff Members.

National Household Mediation Solution

Content

Grievance Mediation And Also Dispute Resolution.

St John Road Xmas As Well As New Year Opening Up Times.

Business.

One example of how mediation services can benefit a conflict resolution situation is when both sides cannot settle an issue between themselves due to long delays in reaching a conclusion. If one of the parties considers leaving town for an extended period of time, or if a parent is ill or in danger of losing work, the other spouse or parent may petition the court to have the case remanded back to the trial. Under certain circumstances, the court may grant a motion to remand the case to a lower court, which will assign a family or peers mediator to assist the parties in working out an agreement. The mediation can provide a forum for discussions that would not occur otherwise.

A face-to-face mediation meeting aids "bring the youngster/ young adult out of the documents".

Regional authorities mostly base their decisions on written info offered to them by moms and dads, the child or young adult, the education provider and also various other firms.

Our conciliators can see you to listen to your troubles and can assist you exercise an agreement with the various other person.

Sometimes a dispute arises between two or more parties, which do not involve any type of legal proceedings, and in which both parties would prefer that no legal proceedings take place. In these situations, it may be in the best interests of the parties to use mediation services to settle the matter, instead of going to court. Even in this case, it's not guaranteed that the outcome will be favorable. Sometimes, it's better to attempt to resolve the matter informally, through the use of arbitration or mediation. When you ask for mediation assistance from an experienced professional, it's important to make sure that the individual has experience in representing both your parties, and that they can be comfortable working in your situation, without having to take sides.

Grievance Mediation And Conflict Resolution.

Not all mediation services utilize qualified, trained, and registered professional mediators. Some organizations offer "mediation workshops" that do not require formal education or certification. These workshops generally focus on skills necessary to facilitate discussion among disputing parties but do not provide much in the way of actual training in conflict resolution techniques. Some workshops focus on preparing the mediators for the job, teaching them negotiation skills, and teaching them how to apply theory to real-life situations. However, these programs do not necessarily offer students the training or skills they will need to effectively deal with real-life disputes.

Some other situations in which mediation services could be helpful are when a minor is involved in a school matter, or if one party is taking a leave of absence from school. If a divorce is pending, or if a parent needs to care for a sick child, a mediation specialist may be able to help a student reach a fair resolution in which both parties receive what they are entitled to. Mediation can also be useful when one party feels trapped by their partner, or a marriage is coming to an end. In some cases, a person may feel uncomfortable asking for legal advice, but in reality, the advice that they are seeking could be quite valuable. By using mediation services, individuals can receive fair representation and can learn how to remain calm during a difficult situation, without making a rash decision.

St John Street Xmas As Well As New Year Opening Times.

In some community mediation services, the conflict is between parents and their respective children. In these instances, both parties are usually represented by their respective attorneys. For instance, in a parent-child mediation services case, both parents would have their attorneys present their side of the matter before the mediator and would have the opportunity to voice their opinions, dispute the accusations leveled against them, and choose whether or not to partake in the children's play. In some cases involving domestic violence, there may be an attorney representing one party and a victim representative, or a mediator representing the victim, the accused party, and the other party. This is a good example of how the mediation services provider can help to facilitate the resolution of a conflict.

In a traditional court proceeding, the parties may face off with attorneys representing themselves. In these instances, there are often substantial time restraints placed on the parties, and disagreements can easily lead to the filing of additional litigation. By utilizing mediation services, parties may save money by avoiding prolonged litigation and the high fees associated with protracted litigation. https://workplacemediations.co.uk/conflict-resolution/brighton/ results in a quicker resolution of the conflict than would occur through the normal course of a typical trial.

There are many other uses of community mediation services, ranging from divorces to personal conflicts between children and parents. Regardless, of what a person needs resolved, community mediation services can be extremely helpful in resolving everyday conflicts, saving money, time, and stress. With so many different types of disputes, from simple disagreements to big legal battles, mediation services can be the ideal solution.

Another use of mediation services is during real estate closings. When sellers and buyers are close to closing on a home or apartment, often a host of issues can arise, such as how much money should be paid up front, what is owed on the property, and who should be responsible for cleaning up. Through the use of mediation services, both parties are able to submit a list of demands to the other party, which is then reviewed with a mediator. The mediator's goal is to ensure that all sides are satisfied with the outcome. They can also help to mediate a settlement between a seller and buyer, if a buyer wants to void the purchase. In these cases, mediation services are helpful because the seller and buyer are able to settle their differences without going to court.

Many people mistakenly think that legal representation is required during mediation services. Mediation can resolve issues without attorneys, but it is important to maintain a lawyer if any legal issues are present. details can help clients negotiate better contracts, settle disputes, and litigate cases that go beyond a simple divorce or child custody case. Furthermore, an attorney can provide crucial information about employment and landlord/ tenant laws. This type of legal representation is usually the preferred method for people who cannot represent themselves due to financial or legal constraints. In some cases, legal representation is not even required; however, most mediation services do require at least one attorney to provide the individuals with advice and guidance throughout the dispute process.

youtube

Mediation services, also known as conciliation, refers to an alternative method of resolving disputes including employment disputes. This alternative method of dispute resolution is gaining popularity in the United States and elsewhere in the world. The purpose of mediation is to provide a neutral forum where both parties can communicate their positions and negotiate amicably, without fear of being sued. When parties agree to mediate, they typically pay a fee for the services.

Many of the disputes that occur in mediation services are ones that do not involve money or property, such as marital and family disputes, professional misconduct, and disagreements over children. Therefore, individuals who have unresolved conflicts over money or property may find that mediation is an appropriate venue for resolving their issues. Those who are experiencing financial hardship can also use mediation to resolve their disputes. These individuals may have a problem with one partner denying them payments for bills, while the other spouse continues to pay.

What should I bring to mediation?

Separation/Divorce Mediation Checklist 1. Legal Custody (who makes major decisions about the children regarding education, religion, and major healthcare issues) 2. Physical Custody (the times the children will spend with each parent) 3. Communication (telephone, email) 4. Spousal Support and Expenses: 5. Child Support and Expenses: 6. Equitable Distribution of Property: More items

A further area in which mediation services can be of assistance is in the handling of personal injury claims. These depend upon the nature and sensitivity of the matter involved. Some of the categories in which mediation occurs are: abuse, harassment, adultery, slander, contract disputes, birth and pregnancy issues, and misrepresentation claims. In some of these cases, where an arbitrator isn't possible, or the situation is too sensitive to allow clear communication, the mediation process serves the necessary function of providing a neutral third party with the ability to provide impartial guidance, as well as the skills needed to resolve the issue.

In summary, mediation services provide a reliable way for parties to communicate and reach a mediated agreement. There are a number of mediation processes including round table meetings, face-to-face negotiations, and telephone conferences, among other options. Individuals who are interested in availing of mediation services should contact a qualified mediation provider to schedule a mediation consultation.

Maui Mediation Services Announces Scheduling Changes Caused by COVID-19 Response - Maui Now

Maui Mediation Services Announces Scheduling Changes Caused by COVID-19 Response.

Posted: Sun, 22 Mar 2020 07:00:00 GMT [source]

#mediation services eu #mediation services europe #workplace mediation eu #workplace mediation europe #business mediation services eu #business mediation services europe

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notalwaysthevillian · 4 years

Text

Parent Trapped

Warnings: Food mention, anxiety

Pairings: Eventual Romantic Remile, platonic LAMP

Word Count: ~1.7k

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Masterlist

Chapter 8: Auditions

A few weeks passed, and it was the week of auditions. Logan had eagerly joined the astronomy club, making a few other friends. Patton had joined the cooking club, becoming a favorite of Mrs. Calypso with ease. She’d given him a recipe to try at home, with permission from his father, of course.

Which lead him to now. He was working on mixing his ingredients in a bowl, listening to Roman do his monologue.

“If, however, your feelings have changed, I will have to tell you: you have bewitched me, body and soul, and I love, I love, I love you. I never wish to be parted from you from this day on.” Roman finished, before doing a little bow. “How was that?”

“That was amazing, Ro!” Patton squealed, putting the mixing bowl down and running over to hug him. “You’re definitely going to get a part!”

“Yeah, not bad, Roman.” Virgil said as he walked in from the entryway.

Roman whirled around. “When did you get here?”

“Just now. I heard the last bit.” Grabbing his water bottle, Virgil chugged a good portion of it. When it was empty, he unscrewed the cap and put it in the sink. “Pat’s right, there’s no way they won’t give you a part.”

“I’m glad you guys think so.”

The twins turned toward him in sync. Patton was the first to break the short silence. “Do you not think you’ll get a part?”

“I know I want a part, but that doesn’t mean that I’ll get one.” Roman’s shoulders were starting to droop. “What if there’s enough people better than me? I know there’s a ton of leads in the cast, but that doesn’t guarantee me a part, you know? And if I do get a lead, there might be some seniors that get mad that they didn’t get a part.”

Virgil sat on the stool next to him. “Roman, you’ve never cared what people think of you. Why start now?”

“What?”

“You’re one of the most outgoing people I’ve met in my entire life.” Virgil explained, turning to fully face him. “I’m a little jealous that you’re brave enough to just go for things, no matter what the outcome might be. You were in the play and did amazing. I’m sure Mx. Stokes and Principal Sanders are going to remember that. Just go up there and do your best.”

Glancing up, Virgil caught his dad hovering in the doorway. Emile smiled and gave Virgil a thumbs up before heading down the hall and out of sight.

“Can I hug you?” Roman asked, already halfway off the stool.

With a sigh, Virgil opened up his arms, hugging Roman back with force.

“Thank you.” Roman said once they pulled apart from each other. “Now go take a shower, you smell.”

The temptation to show Roman a choice finger was there, but Virgil caught the look Patton was giving him from across the island. Instead, he lightly stepped on Roman’s toes as he left the room, not bothering to hide his laughter when he heard Roman’s dramatics from down the hall.

Once the day of auditions rolled around, Roman was exceptionally nervous.

“It’s normal to be nervous for something like this.” Virgil said as they ate lunch. “Just let the nerves melt away when you get onstage and you’ll be good.”

“What if they don’t melt away?”

Virgil whacked him with his fruit by the foot. “Stop being so anxious, that’s my role in this friend group.”

When Roman started laughing, they were all relieved to see some of the tension melt from him.

Once the final bell had rung, Virgil headed to track practice. Auditions weren’t until four, which gave some of the students time to head home and eat if they needed to.

“Coach Leo?” He asked as he walked onto the track.

The coach looked up from his clipboard with a smile. “Virgil! How is my track star?”

Virgil flushed at the nickname. “Alright. Um, there’s auditions today and I was hoping to go for moral support.”

Coach Leo nodded. “No worries. We’re having a short practice today, with plenty of time for you guys to hit the showers before auditions. There’s plenty of kids here that do track and act, so we do our best to work the schedules out.”

“Oh, that’s awesome! Thanks.”

Once practice was over, and they had info about their first meet that weekend, the team headed for the locker room.

Virgil quickly realized he hadn’t showered in here yet, and he really didn’t want to. But if he didn’t shower, he risked smelling awful during auditions.

“Hey, V!” Ted’s voice cut through his thoughts. “I’m heading home to shower quickly and then coming back to watch Tanya’s audition. Need a ride?”

Thanking his lucky stars, Virgil nodded. “Yes, please.”

The two of them beelined for the front of the school, knowing they only had half an hour to be back before auditions started.

Mrs. Task was waiting in her van, a bit surprised when Virgil climbed in after Ted. “Oh! Virgil, good to see you.”

“Is it alright if Virgil rides with us?”

“Oh, of course!” Mrs. Task said, pulling out of the parking spot. Glancing up, she met Virgil’s eyes in the rearview mirror. “Honey, anytime you need a ride, just find one of the triplets. It’s no trouble in the slightest.”

“Thank you.” Virgil picked at his backpack. “I haven’t showered there yet and I won’t if I can help it.”

Ted nodded, pulling a granola bar out of a side pocket and munching down. “Dude, I feel you. I’m not going to be the victim of a towel whipping.”

Soon enough, Mrs. Task pulled into her driveway. Virgil raced across the grass, giving a thumbs up as Ted said they’d be leaving in twenty minutes.

By four o’clock, he was entering the auditorium with Ted. Patton waved from where he and Logan were seated.

“Did you want to sit with us?” Virgil asked, waving in the direction of his brother.

Ted shook his head. “Nah. Thanks though.”

He headed off to find his own friends. Virgil took his seat next to Patton, jumping slightly when the lights were lowered and raised.

“Alright, we’ll be starting auditions here in two minutes.” Mx. Stokes said, a microphone easily carrying their voice across the buzzing auditorium. “First up is going to be Tanya Task.”

“Hell yeah!” Came Ted’s cry, earning a giggle through the audience.

Tanya was more than happy to go first. Once she got the signal from Principal Sanders, she launched into it. Patton gasped when he realized it was the speech from the end of Legally Blonde.

A few more people went, some doing well and others not. Roman was one of the last few people to go.

When he reached center stage, he glanced over at his friends. Virgil could see how nervous he was. Patton and Logan each gave him a thumbs up, but Virgil let out a loud whoop. Ted echoed it back from the other side and soon the audience was cheering.

With a huge smile on his face, Roman went through his monologue. He captivated the audience, the rise and fall of his voice perfectly matching the tone of the words.

As soon as he’d finished, there was an uproarious applause. Beaming, Roman gave a small bow and headed to his friends to watch the final few auditions.

After the final person finished, Mx. Stokes flicked the microphone on again. “We have a very talented bunch for this musical. Give yourselves a hand!”

Once the applause died down, they continued. “Thomas and I have our work cut out for us. We’ll take the weekend to go over your auditions and post the cast list on Monday before school. Thank you and have a great weekend!”

People started filing out of the auditorium, heading outside to get picked up by their parents.

Ding!

All four of their phones went off at the same time.

“Dad’s wondering if we can ask the Tasks for a ride home.” Patton read off the screen, squinting through his glasses. “He has a late client.”

“Our dad said to either walk or find a ride.”

Across town, Remy slipped his phone back into his pocket. He’d been meaning to give his sons a ride home, but it was taking him longer at the library than he’d expected.

Looking at the slip of paper in his hand, he headed to the 520s.

“Oh shit.” He mumbled, realizing there were a lot more books on astronomy than he’d thought.

Knowing he could only check out a limited number of books due to his lateness in the past, he grabbed the first four he saw and headed toward the front desk.

“Remy?”

Emile Picani stood in the front area of the library, looking at the stack of books in his arms. “Do you need some help with those?”

“I guess I could use some help.”

Emile took the top two books off the stack, following Remy to the check out desk. The librarian took their books.

“Library card?”

Remy handed it over. “What are you doing here?”

“I had a late client, and then I decided to stop by and grab the boys and myself a few books. It’s supposed to storm all day on Sunday so I figured we could turn on the fireplace and read.”

“Sir? You have fines on this card.” The librarian said, holding it in the air. “I’m afraid I can’t allow you to check anything out until they’re paid.”

Remy sighed. “How much?”

“It totals to $30.43.”

“Crap.” Remy pulled out his wallet, finding no cash. “You can just put those back then, I’ll pay off the fines and come back for those later.”

“Are those astronomy books?” Emile asked, picking one of them up.

“Yeah, I was hoping to understand at least some of what Logan talks to me about.” Remy slid his wallet back in his pocket, grabbing his keys instead. “Roman’s been over at your place most of the time, so Logan doesn’t have anyone to talk to except for me.”

The sad look on Remy’s face tugged at Emile’s heartstrings. Before he could think he had his wallet out, handing two twenties over to the receptionist. “I’ll pay the fines.”

“Emile -”

“You’re just trying to understand your son. That’s admirable.” The librarian handed the change back to Emile, who put it away. “You can just pay me back later. Deal?”

“Deal.”

#platonic lamp #platonic moxiety #platonic logince #sanders sides #sanders sides fic #logan sanders #roman sanders #patton sanders #virgil sanders #ts sleep #remy sanders #emile picani

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vanline44 · 3 years

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Regarding Mediation

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Content

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kdtheghostwriter · 4 years

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SNK 4-Pack

Just to avoid any confusion, yup, it’s just what it says on the tin. I’ve gathered my thoughts on four chapters here. A combination of IRL obligations, lifestyle and equipment changes all of which has been more or less rectified. For now lol. To those who reached in the past months, I appreciate the thought. Apologies for keeping you waiting. Accept this humble offering and enjoy the new chapter release.

123 - Turn Me Loose

We’re in a very distressing place both in-story and IRL. So here:

It’s Mikasa’s first taste of ice cream. Feel better? Cool. Now let’s talk about the end of the world, pls.

I’ll get the obvious out of the way first. Just what did you think The Usurper meant when he said [checks notes] “I’m going to put an end to this world?” This isn’t Sword Art Online. He wasn’t talking about a virtual world. It’s closer to the SpongeBob bit where Squidward runs into his place of work to exclaim that robots have taken over the world, before he clarifies “Our world!” Paradis was merely a blip on the radar before the Royal Family lost the Coordinate. It was fun at first to rattle their cage and watch them war with eachother. Now the war is about to leave the shores of the Island and no one is laughing.

I don’t have much to say about this development in particular because I predicted it nearly one year ago. No one wanted to hear it, but I said to any ear that listened: if Eren is going to play the Bad Guy, he needs to be the Bad Guy. You can go back and read it. I said Eren Jaeger will be the new villain of the story. Well, there’s a word we use for the person who wants to exterminate all life on Earth and it’s not Samaritan.

But for every villain, a foil must rise. Reiner is the easy choice here. Not the wrong one, but easy and predictable. Eren and Reiner have been intersecting since the 104th squad’s first expedition. When Eren could have hidden during Marley’s 11th hour raid of Paradis, he chose to confront Reiner and expose himself for the sake of a fight he knew he would not lose. This is why I don’t have Reiner in this role. Reiner’s role is what we all thought Eren’s was up until Chapter 120 or so. He is Lady Fate’s whipping boy. Beating him down again and again while calling him and dummy for trying to resist against his lot in life. If Reiner steps to Eren this time, it will be more than just humiliation awaiting him. Yes, it’s still Mikasa. I doubt Eren’s plan (whatever the full scope of it is) can even be stopped but if it can she is the one to do it. It can only help that she has the God of Destruction on her side.

Getting ahead of myself, though. We have the famous confrontation to speak on. You know the one.

I understand the sentiment by Eren here but he was never going to get an accurate answer. At least not immediately. The poor girl is shocked. She’s been interrogated time and again about her loyalty to Eren and what exactly it means. The one person who has never questioned her further is the man himself. One can imagine how long he’s sat on this inquiry. He knew what he had to do. No answer she gave would have diverted his path, but maybe he wanted one last thing to feel good about before he doomed the world.

Either way, the team runs in to interrupt them like some teen movie and they all proceed to get drunk with the family of the Middle Eastern boy they aided earlier. Ever since this type of story analysis was popularized online (and especially on YouTube) people have fallen into the habit of using the word “filler” without knowing what the word means.

Because we are consuming this series week by week and because Eren’s descent into arch-villainy has lasted well over a year at this point this current disaster really does feel like it would in real life. A long, brutal decline with only one outcome and no way to stop it. This chapter was a palette cleanser after months of endless despair. If you can remember there was indeed a time where everyone was friends and Eren wasn’t trying to KILL THE WORLD. This chapter was a reminder of that. The faintest light shines brightest in total darkness. That light is what Mikasa is doing her best to hold onto.

124 - All Falls Down

The most interesting part of this chapter, which is largely set-up, is Jean’s assessment of the situation from his perch on a rooftop. It’s muted and resolute. The usual emotion is missing entirely. The fire is gone as he accepts the world’s creeping fate. The story’s most morally consistent character is seen trying to work out the thought process behind ending the world. They’re our enemies. They were going to attack us eventually. We were sitting ducks. Maybe this was always going to happen. His last observation is less rhetorical. In order to protect his friends, Eren has sacrificed the entire world. This includes the Subjects of Ymir who all received Eren’s message from the last chapter.

No time to contemplate that horror with the fresh hell of Zeke’s titanized victims running wild in Shiganshina which sounds mighty familiar. There’s a poignant scene that follows of the 104th cutting down their fellow soldiers, many of whom helped train them. It shows how far they’ve come and the overall affect their adventures have had on them that they are able to destroy their comrades without hesitation.

Ah! But this is SnK after all. The horrors are often double stacked. The time has come to decide which titan Falco gets fed to. Before anyone can note what terrible timing this is with a horde of Titans destroying the village around them, Connie makes an executive decision to nab the unconscious boy and feed him to his stranded Titan mother in his hometown.

Of course, no one believed at the time that Connie would be able to go through with such and act especially on someone as sweet and naïve as Falco, but it really drives home the not-so-quiet desperation of these characters and how each of them reacts to it. Mikasa and Jean are both trying to keep a level head. Armin isn’t in hysterics by any means but is missing his usual confidence. Connie, having already lost his best friend and half his squad is the first to let the despair of the situation get to him. It’s the same reason Armin volunteers to go after him. No it won’t solve any of their macro problems but reconciling with young Gabi and feeling like a hero again can at least make you feel useful in the face of your best friend trampling the world underfoot.

The reveal of Annie at the very end of this chapter after more than half a decade gone is classic Isayama melodrama and it’s one of the reasons that, despite monthly leaks, Shingeki no Kyojin is still a worldwide best-selling phenomenon. I don’t have much else to say about it other than having her gasping for air like a fish out of water after being encased in a Disney Princess Prison was a nice choice. One would have to think that seeing Annie again would have some sort of affect on Eren even in his current Kaiju state. Eh, I’m getting ahead of myself though.

Stray Thoughts

- Jean continues to be my favorite character in the story. With Pixis gone and Hange out of action, he’s the easy choice as acting Commander. Leading his own squad and the neighboring soldiers into battle against the rampaging Titans is heroism that stands out even more after sitting through months of the Jaeger Brothers’ power play.

- Shadis returning to aid the cadets that beat him down at Floch’s behest is all you need to know about his character. He’s a gruff man and his stint as the Survey Corps Commander left him emotionally busted. However, he never once forgot why he started doing this in the first place. He can’t save the world but he can save these kids, dammit.

- All Titan hardening has been rendered inert by Founder Ymir throwing off her chains. This includes Reiner who reveals to Gabi that his Titan’s armor fell off as the walls came down. Nothing in SnK happens on accident so we’ll put a pin by this and see where it goes.

- Reiner explains to a distraught Gabi, who is looking for Falco, that Eren is extra unstoppable because with full control of the Founder he now has full control of all Eldians. One has to wonder if the Ackerman Loophole is still in effect.

- Gabi used the same gun that started The Rumbling to save Kaya from a 2m Titan. Alright, jokes aside, I can put on my critical hat and say that this callback to Sasha was a bit ham-fisted and you could have found a less visceral way for Gabi to realize the error of her ways. (Avatar: The Last Airbender will always hold the title for this trope.) All that can be true and I still like Gabi showing some agency here. Being insistent on finding Falco and helping him is pretty key development imo. He’s the main reason she’s still alive.

125 - The Next Step

Annie is me when I write exposition. I know you think it’s “boring” and “filler” or whatever but I don’t care! Shut up and learn something for once, eh?

Anyway.

Annie and Hitch have catching up to do. I was about to say they were former roommates but as noted above, Hitch spent four years watching over the captive soldier. Now that she’s free and the world is ending she sees no reason to hold on to her backstory any longer. Annie was adopted and the man who trained her was also the man who raised her. It wasn’t until she was about to set sail for Paradis that he showed any remorse for her indoctrination. Even still, Annie never forgot his words and has been trying to get back to him as soon as she can by any means she can.

Taking off my critic hat I have to wonder what her mindset was locking herself away in that crystal. Obviously if she hadn’t the outcome is almost certainly being devoured by Eren or someone else as they were but a few short months away from learning the truth behind Titan Succession. Still, there’s no guarantee that she ever escapes at all. I was half convinced that Isayama was working toward the biggest troll job in the history of fiction by ending the story with Annie still in captivity. He didn’t though, so we have the rest of the narrative to work out what that means.

Sorta like these two.

Eh, he’s not wrong but his frustration is misdirected here. Mikasa asked a very valid question about what to do about the World Killer that happens to be their (former?) best friend. Mikasa is the only one in the group asking this question because she’s the only one that no longer id’s Eren as the hero of Stohess. Connie is a minor distraction especially compared to the army of Colossals; Armin knows this too but Connie is a distraction from the creeping dread that Eren is now unstoppable.

And Mikasa’s face here…oof. That’s two of her soon-dead Titan Bros who have yelled at her today. Should it hurt more? Probably but she is so far past hurt feelings at this point. She’s a soldier and she has work to do. Asking for a directive isn’t something to get triggered by but Armin is at his breaking point here. The little things that add up to make your shit sandwich 12 feet high. And so we hope that his side quest brings him peace.

I love this character.

He never once falters in his moral fiber. The depression keeps him from recognizing this but he is indeed special in his own way. After all is said and done that’s really all that can be expected of us. Shadis, ever the mentor tells his kids not to be heroes. Really, this quote can be transplanted to our current political situation IRL. There’s a lot of things wrong with the current system and we’d all like to make it better but we still have work and school and various other obligations to deal with and those don’t go away because we want to “make a difference.” The time will come to make your voice heard. Be ready when it happens, not before.

I do like how Shadis basically accepts his fate as a sacrifice to Floch’s faction as his only other option with the other heads of military dead are going on the run like Solid Snake and he is not about that life. He would rather take the rest of his lumps and be done with it.

This Fucking Guy

This is peak Lord of the Flies shit. Society has dissolved and the chain of command has been broken so just do whatever, dude! Think about what Armin said before. History always repeats itself without the proper prevention. The best prevention, of course, being education. Floch is the best example of why eliminating one side does not truly extinguish conflict. Even at the start we see various Shiganshina residents rightfully blaming Eren for his role in the destruction caused by the walls coming down.

The only way to reach consensus is with terror. We got a mere preview when Zackley got TNT’d so many moons ago. Now we see Floch Forster doing his best Neegan impression, splattering a volunteer’s brains across the floor. I won’t repost it but that panel is probably up there with Ymir’s cannibalization for most visceral of the story. Brutal in its suddenness, it almost becomes a smash cut. After so much death and destruction this act of violence isn’t lost in the pages because of how much grislier the executions are rendered. The intimacy of a human ending another’s life without the aid of a fleshy mech. I digress, though. Floch must be stopped or the future of Paradis is sealed, Rumbling or not.

Stray Thoughts

- “I’ll tell Connie! That even as a Titan overturned on her back, his mom is fine as she is!” My goodness this story is dark.

- I have been mercifully absent from fandom developments, so I have no idea if people are still as turnt about the Gabi character as they were when I left. With that said, it’s fun to see some good logical development, just like every adult fan of this series predicted there would be.

- Again, is Kaya being saved by Gabi in a direct parallel to Sasha doing the same a bit on the nose? Quite so. It isn’t good or bad and, honestly, judging by some meta I’ve seen in the past I don’t blame any author for erring on the side of the obvious.

- Have I said this next one before? Who knows? Reviving Erwin on that rooftop instead of Armin wouldn’t have changed much besides short-term strategy. Once the Usurper started down the Dark Path even Commander Handsome would be powerless to stop him.

126 - Hold the Line

Levi and Hange are on the lamb in the Forest of Big Ass Trees and the set up for this detour is a solid string of pages with Hange building shelter, tending to Levi’s wounds and picking off the new Survey Corps members that have been sent by Floch to find them be cause War is Hell.

This opening stanza is good because it highlights one of my favorite aspects of this character: their resourcefulness. First impressions being what they are lead people to take a throwaway joke about Hange keeping a pet Titan and let it inform one-note headcanons of their entire character. It shouldn’t be said but I will anyway. Hange is a clinical genius with a sharp wit in compliment. Their best skill is problem solving which would explain partially why they work so well with Armin. However, their particular thought process makes the kind of executive planning required from a Commander extremely challenging. Hange is better at devising a plan then receiving the instructions necessary to carry it out, if that makes sense.

Isayama, per usual, doesn’t spend the whole chapter on backtracking. He could have maybe but we do still have a story to get through. Isayama is a good author to study for improving your exposition. He conveys so much information with so little real estate. I still struggle and I’ve been at this for years.

I digress, though. Now we have Theo Magath lifting his gun to a crippled Levi in order to cope with the fact that he is A) stranded and B) not even slightly in control of this hopeless situation. So he listens and it turns out all four of these folk want the same thing, which is Zeke’s head on a platter. A very popular menu item to be fair.

For the uninformed here I am a fan of good dark comedy. This panel right here had me howling. As predicted by [checks notes] everybody, Connie did not have the gumption to callously lead this innocent child to their death. In one last effort to preserve his own conscience he explains that his Titanized mother who has been stranded for four years needs to be cleaned. Like you do. Every little detail eight down to his face when he thinks Falco has him made is so well done.

Of course, Armin and Gabi show up just in time. Armin, still haunted by Levi’s choice to save him, makes a bet on Connie’s bond with his squad that he did not seem overly confident in being correct on. Can’t truly call yourself a 104th alum until you’ve accepted your own untimely death.

Skipping ahead a bit now. Floch is very busy being The Worst and if there hasn’t been a better collection of panels to illustrate the moral of the story. Yelena and Onyankapon have been lined up and are set to be publicly executed for their “crimes” against Eldia. The notable bit here for me is the way Isayama depicted the spectators. The have gnarled, twisted visages, some of them literally frothing at the mouth. You see, because extremist nationalism is bad and racism makes you ugly in every sense of the word.

Jean is tasked with gunning down Onyankapon but fires four rounds into the ground instead. This begins a series of Hashtag Machinations that will no doubt become clearer as the story unfolds. Jean and the two POWs escape in the Cart Titan’s mouth and the rest of the 104th leaves to collect Reiner and try to (somehow) stop Eren.

They had to try. Even at the cost of their own security it is difficult to agree with mass genocide. Having Annie on the team will be interesting as she and Eren were close. What’s left for me to wonder is how they plan to reach Eren, physically or otherwise, while he’s like…that. Every month more questions for each answer but after a decade you get used to it.

Stray Thoughts

- Pieck’s surname is Finger? Or is this some Hange headcanon?

- We know Isayama is a big GoT fan. Apologies if this take has appeared elsewhere but an Ackerman keeping their promise seems to be his version of a Lannister paying their debt.

- Years after his death, the spirit of Erwin lives on in these characters. For some, it inspires strength; for others, only guilt.

- I’ve gone back to the interaction between Mikasa and Louise several times to try and get between the lines. Mikasa asking for her scarf back seems self-explanatory since it’s hers but Eren telling the girl to “throw it away” intrigues me. Seems to me that of all the things he had to give up to walk this path that his relationship with Mikasa is what he mourned the most in that cell.

- Always a good time to see Jean being a clever boy.

- Hange/Pieck banter is not something I knew I needed until I read this chapter.

- Hange’s fierce protectiveness of Levi makes more sense when you realize that these two are the only ones left of their original squad. The veterans of the military have all been cleared out, some more violently than others.

- It’s all but stated outright that Ackermans are part Titan. Goes a long way to explain their freakish strength and athleticism and their durability. Evidenced by the fact that Levi was apparently further from death than Zeke after the latter blew them both up.

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mikeholdher · 4 years

Text

Here’s the problem...

Instead of debating, arguing, or whatever you call it for simple understanding. People always want to be a clear winner. So from that point forward you undermine the whole conversation.

You aren’t listening for understanding anymore. You’re listening so you can respond. And when that happens you cloud your own judgement and ability to think rationally. Something someone said that makes perfect logical sense you write off completely cause it doesn’t fit your narrative or if you agree with them you feel like you are losing.

I really wish less people had this mindset cause it ruins not only so many potential friendships but also the opportunity to mentally grow. You can learn so much from other people if you just listen with an open mind.

Scenario from earlier:

“Well I’m not going to date a tumblr person ever so...”

“Out of curiosity why is it a bad thing that I have a Tumblr??? Like what is a Tumblr person? So if I didn’t have a Tumblr you wouldn’t care?”

“Nvm. Too much to explain u won’t get it.”

“Thanks for insulting my intelligence there. So instead of explaining it and helping me to better understand something. He won’t get it... I'm not going to push the subject anymore. It's obvious I'm not worth your time or the explanation. I honestly pray your situation gets better and you find whatever it is you're looking for.”

“See what I mean ? U spin it to make yourself the victim. I dont date people I meet on tumblr. That's just my rule. There happy ?”

“See here's the problem. You're speaking from a place where there needs to be a clear winner and clear loser in this conversation...meanwhile I'm just trying to better understand a situation. I don't care if I lose. I can admit I'm wrong. I can agree with someone even if the outcome isn't ideal for me. I'm not sure you can do the same. In all seriousness I'm not being sarcastic here or trolling.You're right you don't owe me an explanation. I asked and instead of saying no. You told me I wouldn't get it.Those are two completely different answers. One simply says no. The other says I won't tell you cause you won't understand.There is no victim card there. It's a simple fact...you think I lack the capacity to understand = insulting my intelligence. How is that playing the victim?”

“It's like like a teacher going through a whole lesson...getting to the end and a student raises his hand and ask them to elaborate on something. And the teacher tells them they wouldn't understand...that's exactly what it is.

“ Ok.”

“We went through this whole talk earlier and this whole time you still think its because i want to make you feel inferior or force you to date me...that's the sad part about it.”

“I'm already off that. I'm thinking in terms of how I can better understand you. or any female for that matter so that it doesn't happen in the future.”

“ Like am I making any sense at all? “

And to be honest with you after reading I come off as condescending I think. And it’s not intentional at all. It’s a literal condition that I have from going through chemo and radiation that messes with my short term memory. So I struggle to get my point across.and have to re explain stuff I tell everyone this ahead of time and it’s like they just ignore it. It’s why I tell everyone I hate texting...verbal communication with tones and inflection are so much easier for me. It’s not me being creepy or trying to finessed a phone number or anything it’s legit an easier form of communication.

It’s frustrating getting profiled cause I’m a Male over the internet who slides in a DM and no matter what I say people don’t believe me.

I’m getting off topic. But the point I was trying to make is that everyone is so stuck in an “I don’t owe you an explanation,” mode or “you wouldn’t understand.” That it hurts society as a whole.If people were more open about sharing experiences and facing their traumas they’d realize a lot of the things they go through some of the people right next to them deal with as well. Anxiety, depression, feelings of loneliness, inadequacy, unrequited love, irritability, financial instability, and whatever else you can think of.

Like whenever someone ask me about cancer even though I’m still processing things from it I don’t turn them away. It makes things easier honestly. I get things out that have been weighing on my mind and stopping me from moving forward. And they learn more about something they are curious about. It’s a win win scenario.

“You are living proof that life is tough. It takes a incredibly strong person to fight like you did and continue to fight when your world is turned upside down. Seeing you fight is inspiring and makes me appreciate every little thing so much more. Bro if you ever need somebody to talk to, a ear to vent to or just somebody to bullshit with I’m here. I know we’ve never met and we don’t really know each other that well. But just know I care about you and that’s the least i could do, in return for the way you inspire the world.” - Frankie

“You are a fighter. Your mentality, positivity and strength throughout this difficult time has been an inspiration!” - Nikki

“Legit you’re put thru trials because you can handle them.you are an amazing individual for having the strength you have and you inspire me!everyday is a blessing not a guarantee. Stay strong brother you’ve made an impact on this life” - Andrew

“Damn man that last part hits different cause I always talk about how I just want to change people's lives and just be a positive influence. I'm glad to hear that. Let's me know I'm making progress on being a better version of myself. Not only that but making sure the people around me feel the same way.” - me

“Yes sir I’m aware about the people around me trust I’ve had a very interesting up bringing and I notice peoples struggles. And I’m open to peoples struggles. Your story is inspiring and I love that! You have affected me in a positive way so thank you 🙏🏾 you’re a fighter and I respect and admire that more than anything” - Andrew

“Thank you for the warning. More thankful for the sharing of honest words and REAL photos. While you may struggle with pride, your willingness to be vulnerable is admirable. Keep sharing. Keep fighting. ❤️.” - Kelli

These aren’t even half the people that I’ve talked to or shared my experience with. But each and every one of them has made this a lot easier to deal with. Now Imagine going through all of this alone. If I would have turned everyone away because I thought they were all the same.

So please don’t judge people from jump and assume that they are all the same. We aren’t. With everything going on in my life it’s a waste of energy to be petty, negative, or manipulative. It only hurts me in the long run cause I lose out on life changing experiences. And I know better than anyone tomorrow isn’t promised so I have to live in the moment.

“You have about 4 weeks to live...”

“This is above my pay grade so I have to send you up the road.”

“We’ll do our best to save your eye and make sure we don’t damage the brain.”

“We don’t know what it is. Cause it behaves like fibrous dysplasia but that take years to grow. This keeps coming back in months.”

“He’s coding... What happened?” passes out*

“He’s not responding to the epi pen.”

The list goes on...

#Me #Personal #Fuck Cancer #chivalry isnt dead #dating #relationships #friendships

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theanimeview · 5 years

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Controversial Opinion: The Rising of The Shield Hero, I don’t hate it + Why

By Peggy Sue Wood | @peggyseditorial

Top of the controversial titles to like this season in anime, according to most everyone I know's list, is The Rising of the Shield Hero. Why? Well, as you may have heard, it starts off with a false rape allegation against the protagonist and that is enough to have it burned from most watch lists as a potentially good anime or manga in the western (and probably everywhere else) anime watching community. HOWEVER, I think that focusing on this aspect without consideration for the rest of the plot and characters is faulty reasoning. There are lot of animes with messed up sh*t that happens--including murders (One Piece has a ton, and that plays off as a generally happy-go-lucky series), torture (Overlord anyone?), and instances where rape is heavily hinted as an outcome for a character in addition to assault that actually took place (SAO tentacle scene ringing any bells?). Considering that I’ve met at least one woman in my adult life that is like the redheaded princess that made a false claim in the anime and manga (and presumably light novel the series is based on) in real life - a long story for another day - it doesn’t seem impossible. It’s rare, for sure, but not impossible.

Taking a moment here, in American culture, of which I am speaking as a female, American citizen, false rape allegations are a major issue because women already struggle to be believed when they are indeed victims. So many women do not go forward about assault as it is and media that portrays women in such a poor light only reinforces the horrific mindset of “she probably wanted it” or “she probably just regretted it” or "she's making it up" that seems to be so prevalent in our culture. When false allegations are made, it only hurts real victims more. Media often likes to villainize groups of women as a result, and it makes it harder for real victims to come forward out of fear that they will be penalized for speaking the truth--which also happens way too often for anyone to feel comfortable with in the current state of affairs right now. Looking at this anime, it is hard for some to get behind the portrayal of this in any sort of media since we know how much it hurts real victims, but let’s take a moment to look at the anime/manga’s response to this setup. (*Please note, this is not an argument defending rapists or anything of the like. I am an avid supporter of victims of sexual assault and kindly ask that you don’t misconstrue my words. If you would like to question me further, wish to see me amend something stated here, or want to debate about what I’ve written regarding this subject, please feel free to message me. I am always open to criticism or revisions.)

What happens initially after the rape allegation is that everyone, save for the blacksmith after a short while and the people that later get to know Iwatani Naofumi (the protagonist), believes the victim. That is super rare for our culture, and even after the allegations come to light as being false, not everyone believes that he’s really innocent. Instead, the people continue to see him as a villain/rapist, which is even more surprising given the fact that he should have a lot of support given his prior actions and title. His title alone should have given him status enough to stand against her - I mean, he is (1) one of the four summoned heroes; (2) a hero that protects the masses more than the other three; (3) one that advances the most by investing in/learning about the culture he’s in and not just making assumptions because it reminds him of a book/game/whatever; (4) one that tries his best despite his severe disadvantages that continue throughout the series thus far (I’m only at chapter 50 in the manga); and (5) thinks critically about the state of affairs for the people beyond surface level (like cleaning up the corpse of a slain monster that one of the other heroes killed and left on the ground where it began poisoning the land and people living there).

SIDE NOTE: Even after being proved innocent, the Spear Hero still says stuff like this (chapter 44):

By the way, chapter 44 is where the ranged/arrow hero’s bad side really comes out. Just saying...

Naofumi lives through the allegation because he is a hero, so his status is helpful in that regard, but look at him compared to the others. Because of their hero status, the other heroes get away with a lot of ridiculous behavior, including their lack of foresight and not having to listen to the queen of the country they are summoned in (its a matriarchy system by the way, so they’re literally insulting the head of the country they live in and get away with it whenever they disregard her--which is something NO ONE else would be able to do). And yes, the manga makes it clear that the reason he is disregarded so easily is that he is the “shield hero” and not many respect the shield in this particular country, BUT he is still one of the four major heroes that they NEED. Angering him is not in their best interests, yet they still disregard/disown/hate on him because of this allegation (even after it is proved to be false). The situation, the society, is vastly different from our own and that’s something I appreciate from the series. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not a fan of the rape allegation opening, but I can still appreciate that the author used it as more than just a means to put the hero in a bad starting position. As with most starting plot points, the allegation puts the protagonist into place for his hero's journey adventure while also setting up one of our antagonist for the series’ first arc. In addition to this though, it adds a world-building element to the story. Here, women are still considered relatively weak and damsel-like when it comes to fighting, but they have way more political and social power than men by comparison. The other three heroes don’t really experience this initially because they act like this is all a game and exist/live maintaining their patriarchal perspective hence the way the spear hero--a man who acts like he is all about women (protecting them, showing off to them, etc.)--doesn’t consider how the female characters that want to be with Naofumi feel. This idea could be applied to the others too since all the heroes disregard the queen regularly after the king is removed from power (before they were very amicable toward the king). If you are counting, that means the scene does three things. First, it acts as the starting plot point--setting up the protagonist’s starting point and an antagonist. Second, it shows that this is a matriarchal society in which women have more political and social power than men. Third, it shows/helps the protagonist understand the society is truly different here. The rules are different here. By extension, that means it is not a game--in games, justice always prevails (typically), but that is not the case here.

The anime is pretty different too in the set up since they reveal more differences right off the bat than letting you know over time (like how the country is a matriarchy) and having Myne, the accusor, put a lot more work into tricking Naofumi than in the manga (in the manga, she never fights for him or tells him much about the world, instead letting him figure it all out after they’ve parted). In the manga, Naofumi is an active character, while Myne is bidding her time for that evening to trick him. Naofumi buys her the gear to protect her without instigation, while she tricks him into buying gear for himself that she uses to win over the spear hero. Moreover, Naofumi has to convince the court to let him live because of his role in the manga, whereas in the anime they say they’re letting him live because of his role, essentially taking away an important essence to Naofumi’s character (the essence that he is capable, more so than the other’s even realize, of adapting to the world around him). Another change that I’m not a particular fan of is the other heroes saying that he should at least do his job of saving the world after all this--one that they wouldn’t do at all without proper payment according to their anime selves. There are a lot more differences too like in the payment scene where Naofumi is given more than the others, or how--- way too many changes for me to get into that are not important right now. The changes all make Naofumi out to be more passive and victim-like, maybe because those adapting the series knew that the start was really controversial and want to make Naofumi as likable as possible before his inevitable, anti-hero-like personality comes into play, and while I don’t like it I can kind of understand it from a storytelling perspective since there is no guarantee that this series will get a second season (and as things stand now, it probably won’t) so lets move on.

Emphasizing the difference between him and the others, in a way that is more obvious then the other three continuing to think this is a game over the course of the series, is how much knowledge Naofumi gains about the world which brings us to another controversial subject in this anime/mange: slavery. (*Please note, I don’t condone slavery either. I’m just analyzing its role in the manga and anime as critically as I can.) (Check out chapter 16 to see how the three still think it is a game even though they are on the verge of defeat.)

Having distinguished that this is another world with rules different from our own, we find that here (in the summoned world), slavery is real, and Naofumi uses that to his advantage. He doesn’t particularly like the idea, but he’s not in a position to change it or really go against it. The anime doesn’t let us know how against it he is, choosing to stay out of Naofumi’s head for most of the episode, but it’s pretty obvious in the manga, and manga spin-off which features the spear hero as the protagonist, that Naofumi is not a supporter of slavery. Still, he’s not in a position to change the rules of the country. NONE of the heroes are, and Naofumi understands that better than most considering that he is thrown from grace in the summoned queendom early on. With not many options, none at the start really, he buys a slave, but despite his hard words, readers can see that Naofumi isn’t planning to force the slave-girl, Raphie as I will call her from here on, into doing something not up to a skill level that he can’t defend her from, at least at the start.

Only after the pivotal scene in which Naofumi allows Raphie to make her own choice about continuing to fight does their relationship (him forcing her to fight and keeping her as a slave) change. After she agrees to continue fighting for him he never really orders her to do anything like that again, and the tone of the story and their relationship hints that she’s free to go whenever she likes if she chooses to do so of her own free will. In the manga, when the spear hero, most loudly but not alone, confronts Naofumi about slavery, the Spear Hero acts high-and-mighty and is silenced temporarily by the response he gets from Raphie before making up his mind that she must be brainwashed. Even after the rape charge is cleared and a bunch of other things happens, none of the heroes can forgive Naofumi from being a slave owner, but that only makes them stand out even more as flawed heroes. (Not just because they don't listen either.)

See, the beauty of this show is that the hero’s path, no matter which one you take, is one uniquely flawed. The Shield Hero has disadvantages and to overcome them he has to get his hands dirty with sins he never would have considered otherwise. The other heroes choose to be lone wolves, playboys, and snobbish--they suffer from hubris, and so while they are not aware of their sins, their path is as stained with blood as Naofumi’s is, if not more. The only difference is that Naofumi is aware of it and trying to use these sins to help others. With Raphie, for example, instead of buying a strong slave that he could have gotten in order to level up faster, he chose one he could help get stronger and healthier because if he had to have a slave, he felt that he might as well chose one he could help. The others, however, justify their sins in ridiculous ways, the most egregious of which, I find, is their sheer lack of concern for the people of the land. They constantly take care of surface level issues without concern for the deeper problems or nuances that come from such situations. Like killing a monster to upgrade their gear and not caring that the corpse literally poisons the land meaning the people can’t grow food or drink the local water without suffering from contamination. Or invading on another person’s hunting territory during the leveling island adventure thing and not caring that it upsets people and prevents them from leveling up in ways that may allow them to protect their homes since heroes can’t be everywhere.

I wouldn’t be surprised if all of the other heroes ultimately suffer horribly by the end with Naofumi living quite well-off for his efforts--maybe even being able to abolish slavery, though that does not seem to be a priority for him at all right now. And the good end wouldn't be simply because he's the protagonist, it would be because he's worked for it. If you take the spin-off as canon (I don’t know if it is), the spear hero certainly suffers betrayal at the end. That aside, I wouldn’t be surprised with the other three heroes suffering has nothing to do with their dislike of Naofumi, after all, Naofumi doesn’t make it easy to be likable to other characters (an anti-hero to the readers, in my opinion). The reason I wouldn’t be surprised if the other heroes ultimately suffer a bad end is because the other three heroes suffer from hubris while Naofumi does not. If, like me, you're a fan of ancient Greek and Roman heroes, you know that heroes who have hubris tend to fall on their own sword because of it. Already we see that their arrogance is causing the heroes that once were superior in fighting strength begin to suffer greatly for their hubris as the waves have been getting harder and harder and the other heroes are falling more and more behind Naofumi in necessary skills for living, and fighting, in this world.

In the end, it’s hard for me to hate this series when the storytelling elements are so strong. It paints its world as one filled with complicated grey areas, which is true of our own world and circumstances. By doing so, The Rising of the Shield Hero seems to be a transformative element in its genre. Not that other isekai’s aren’t attempting this kind of nuance in their writing, but the depth of this series stands apart in the current season and I don’t hate it.

#the rising of the shield hero #shield hero #rising of the shield hero #rise of the shield hero #yari no yuusha no yarinaoshi #Tate no Yuusha no Nariagari #A day in the life of the shield hero #long analysis #analysis

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frankencocksupremacy · 5 years

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You don’t have to answer this if it’s too personal I was just wondering how did you deal with the negativity/stress around phalloplasty? I’m having it soon and it’s a serious downer hearing both the negative talk from non-op guys and stories from people have regretted surgery (even if that’s rare). I’d appreciate any advice if it’s not too much to ask

i don't mind answering this at all, no worries. this sort of thing has actually been on my mind for a long time and this gives me an excuse to talk about it lol. please note that just because something made me feel better that doesn't mean it'll work for you. we're all individuals and i'm no therapist. also note that i'm still in recovery and my main way of coping with anything heavy is cracking jokes (INCELS STILL WISH THEY WERE ME) so try to take particularly specific things i say with a grain of salt and feel free to toss out whatever advice seems unhelpful. if none of this works for you, i apologize, but maybe someone will find it beneficial.

ANYWAY here's whats been helping me get through my days (i tried to condense it but it ended up being a novel anyway oops):

⦁ post-op depression is real and it happens to lots of people. it can be coped with. keep yourself as mentally well as you can post-op. seek the support of people who care. immerse yourself in things you enjoy (just be careful if those things are drugs or sex. ask your doc about what your limits are while you're healing). develop a strong sense of humor. and be patient with yourself if you get frustrated or insecure. post-op depression doesn't last forever, and contrary to what some people believe, it also doesn't mean you've made a mistake. it's completely normal to feel shitty when you're in pain and exhausted for a long time

⦁ don't share more then you're willing to, no matter what. you don't owe nobody nuthin. transition is personal and nobody is entitled to the details, esp if they just want to know how to better shit talk you. be polite towards the well meaning, but set your boundaries and don't let people bully you past them. there are some trans people who think we must share all of our experiences, that we must make ourselves vulnerable for each others' sakes, but i promise you nobody will die if you choose to keep things private

⦁ understand when people are speaking in bad faith. non-ops who find bottom surgery "faulty" or are jealous of it don't care about the actual results, they just want you to feel bad for either living differently then them or for having what they don't. spiteful detrans people don't care about the thousands of happy post-op people who live and die as their transitioned gender, they're bitter about their own difficult experience. trans people who regret bottom surgery have their reasons to and that should be respected, but those reasons are entirely theirs (read: not a reflection on you or a guarantee that you'll feel the same way). Their_Experience_Is_Not_Universal.jpeg. none of these people having different lives or opinions needs to mold your reality

⦁ in addition to that, realize when people are speaking from a place of bias. of course someone who hasn't/can't have this surgery may talk shit, that's what sour grapes and internalized transphobia do to you. of course shittier people who've detran'd think nobody can be happy with the outcome of surgery, they're focused entirely on their own pain. of course people with surgical regret may try to disuade others from surgery, it wasn't what they wanted/needed/expected and they typically think they're doing you a favor. don't buckle to other people's perceptions of this operation without asking yourself what's motivating their mindset and what they'd get out of you believing it. everyone has intentions and they're not always good

⦁ don't argue with people who have made up their minds that they dislike your body, your decisions, or you as a person. you will not win, and you won't change their mind no matter how you respond to them. they'll just drain your energy and convince themselves that your reaction proves they're right. if someone makes a disparaging comment in person, subtley express disapproval at their social faux pas and then ignore them. if you get nasty messages online, delete them without acknowledging them publicly at all, even if you have the sickest of burns ready. and then reward yourself for staying mellow by doing something you enjoy, esp if its with people who actually respect you and make you happy

⦁ you are not a hypothetical or a statistic, so don't cling to them and psych yourself out. many men have this surgery and are thrilled with their lives after, and no percentage of people who encounter A Bad Thing That Happens Sometimes has ever changed that. live with what's happening right now in mind, not what could happen or has happened to others. this isn't to say you shouldn't be aware of or prepared for things like complications or difficult feelings, of course, just don't borrow trouble

⦁ in case it ever comes up: anyone who says your penis "isn't real" or "isn't functional" is wrong. your penis will be real, and chances are that if you've elected to get phallo, it will have the functions you'll need for it to be worth it to you. i can't predict your surgery outcome, and i'm only 6 weeks out as of yesterday so lord knows what's in my future, but my penis is very much a penis and it becomes more like how i want it to be every day. it's my own flesh and blood, i urinate through it, and someday i will have sex with it. cis =/= real and we'd all be better, happier people if we stopped pretending that was the case

⦁ reach out to other men who've had this surgery. feeling isolated and alone makes it easier to fall victim to the negative mindsets of (internally) transphobic people. frankly a lot of us are very happy to share because too many of us had to go through our transitions without much guidance or support, and we get that from discussing it with each other. if you need explicit permission to feel comfortable reaching out, though, my ask and IMs are always open and i love talking to other trans people about medical transition wink wink nudge nudge

⦁ don't be hard on yourself if you have transphobic or unsure thoughts. this is normal and almost impossible to avoid regardless of how things go. beating yourself up fixes nothing, least of all negative thinking. instead, if you find yourself half-believing non-ops who are insulting this surgery, question yourself. would you berate or judge another man getting phallo? are your thoughts framing cis people and their bodies as superior to trans people and theirs, and if so, why? are you dwelling on your own insecurities or dysphoria with little else backing your logic? if after surgery you start panicking because of things detrans or regretful trans people have said, keep asking. has this change actually made your life worse, or are you just anxious about it hypothetically being a regret someday? does focusing on the negative experience of others actually benefit you in any way? do you genuinely relate to the experiences these people have when they share why they're regretful? self interrogation might keep you from feeling like you're just ignoring narratives that make you uncomfortable, all while letting you constructively work through your feelings

⦁ remind yourself that no matter what anyone says or thinks, you're not changing for them. naysayers of phallo never prevented me from getting - and loving! - mine. ignorant detrans people have never made me go back to being a girl. others' surgical regret and post-op horror stories have not kept me from getting any surgeries. my life is mine, i choose what to do with it, and no matter how much hate or misinformation i've been faced with, i have persisted because my transition is for me and i know i'd regret it if i never took my chances with it. phallo wasn't for any romantic partners, or my family, or society, it was truly for Me. your transition is for You. you have one life. do what you truly believe will make it the best it can be, and no matter what happens you will be better off in some way for having tried

if you can maintain a healthy, productive way of thinking that focuses on self acceptance, you're golden. it's not easy, i know, but even the smallest effort to try makes a noticable difference. you're gonna do great. keep your chin up

(small note: i mention detrans people a lot here because they are among the people who experience surgical regret and some are loudly opposed to surgical transition because of it. i have no issue with people detransitioning. but notice how each time i bring them up i'm describing ones that are volatile and intentionally hurtful. those are the kind of detrans people i don't care for. plenty of detrans people are chill. don't listen to the ones that aren't)

#asks #mine #phalloplasty #bottom surgery #here i wrote a book on accident #if even one person is benefited by this post i'll be glad to have written it

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sheinthatfandom · 5 years

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So with all the posts going around blaming certain people for the events of the umbrella academy I decided to share my own views. This is all my opinion. This will be going by who did it up to whose the real cause of it. Also this is my second time writing this tumblr ate the original which was funny and educational so if this sounds angry I’m angry at tumblr not my damaged babies.

- Vanya even after feeling bad about killing the two drunk asses outside of the parking lot she still had no problem going all dark Phoenix. Refusing to listen to her sister no matter how much she tried to warn her. Hell attacking her sister to the point where she legit thought she murdered her. Then going off and killing pogo and mom and anyone else just cause she could. She had no empathy or sympathy just empty. She let her pain and anger lead her to ending the world instead of you know remembering the shit she wrote in her own book and realizing everyone in the family was screwed up and she didn’t get to claim sole victim to a shitty loveless abusive childhood.

- Luther refusing to listen to anyone and get vanya out of the chamber. Letting his pain and hurt and drive to be in charge, make dad proud and complete obsession (with Allison screw the rest of his siblings) ruin his life and break the world. Always thinking he knew everything but had no real life experience or even a basic understanding of other people’s lives and refusing to learn from others experiences. I mean he legit told Klaus he wanted to be an addict like him because he seemed carefree.... like real talk he didn’t even see Klaus’ suffering at all. At any point in time he could have talked to Vanya, helped her when she came to him instead he kept telling everyone to attack her cause he’s emotionally repressed. He shoulda been a Winchester

- Diego you shoulda just let her out. You should have wrote on a piece of paper bbiaf and when Luther left you should have opened the door and talk to her for fucks sake. You knew better your mom raised you with love and you showed that love to your siblings in any way you could. So you coulda stayed there and opened the door.

- Allison my god woman if you ever in your life attempted to have a conversation with someone and get to the fucking point nothing bad would ever happen. But no too used to relying on rumoring to the point where there is zero conversational skills. Every time you had something to say you didn’t say it. If it didn’t start with I heard a rumor you didn’t know how to speak, raise a child, get a job, or have a relationship.

- Hazel/ cha cha #5 was the best of the best working with him would have guaranteed no apocalypse maybe even shutting down the commission or rebranding it to something good . Hazel figured it out in the end but still

- #5 the worst thing was something he didn’t even realize not to do and that was come back from the commission headquarters. Reversing vanya finding her dads book under Leonards bed, Allison and Luther moving on together and going to see her daughter. Diego getting mom out of the house and getting her to finally reveal the truth. And Klaus getting clean and seeing Dave. In coming back he guaranteed the apocalypse a new timeline that moved onward towards the apocalypse.

- Klaus as a junkie he knew he could have taken the papers and the book and left them anywhere in the house before selling the box instead of in the outside dumpster where anyone/Leonard could get it. Also as someone who was locked in a mausoleum as a child he most certainly knew better. He should have snuck down or stayed down and then opened the door.

- Leonard/Harold asshole who decided to mr miyagi a nuclear bomb even after he overheard the others talking about how he’s responsible for the apocalypse. He wallowed in his victimhood to the point where he didn’t notice or care when he was using and hurting someone who genuinely loved him.

- The commission pretending to be neutral when really the whole thing is evil and intentionally pushing for the worst outcomes. The handler even said it they had to account for free will and send assassins out to get things back on track.

- Reginald pretty sure created the 43 but we’ll stick to exact canon. Abusive manipulative cruel he is the only one who deserves all the blame. First off with throwing out Harold who was just a kid and needed help but fuck it he didn’t even love his own kids so turning some human into a wanna be syndrome from the incredibles never entered his mind. Refusing to get close to the kids teach them basic compassion and empathy. Wouldn’t give them fucking names so they at least feel like people. Forcing vanya to take pills instead of teaching her to you know not kill the nannies and turn her into a secret sociopath. Locking up Klaus when he needed help and then seeing him become a junkie just to deal with the pain and fear he still didn’t give him the power suppressing pills. Putting children in harms way until Ben died. Never letting Luther grow up and move on. Mixing him with monkey dna, seriously richy rich can afford to buy 7 babies but can’t afford o blood bags in his med wing or you know take Luther to the hospital and pay for a med wing. Then send Luther up to the moon for nothing. Just more abuse and manipulation. He never had to buy the kids, he never had to “raise” them. They probably woulda been better off with their own families. In preventing the apocalypse he not only put it in motion he kept it in motion.

Extra points I’m not blaming mom and pogo cause they were created by Reginald so I can’t believe they had the capacity or free will enough to put a stop to the abuse let alone reverse the effects of it.

Ben was a dead victim screw anyone who blames the dead guy forced to watch his brother destroy himself

And seriously why couldn’t anyone ever listen to Klaus he had the biggest heart of any of them and yet he was the only one who in his own words wouldn’t be missed like ugh you all suck monkey balls

#the umbrella academy #tua #vanya hargreeves #luther hargreeves #klaus hargreeves #diego hargreeves #allison hargreeves #hazel and cha cha #number 5 hargreeves #reginald hargreeves #my opinion

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fitdietpills · 4 years

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laboratorioautoral · 5 years

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Dark Jon being jealous and kicking people out of Winterfell just because he can.

This one was prompted by @circe1fanatic. I hope you like it dear.

She arrived at the gates with the first winter blizzard. A guard came to Jon with a flushed face and trying to breathe with difficulty. Jon looked at the man with annoyance. It it was an attack the horns would have been used and the castle’s defenses would be ready in a matter of minutes. A guard being sent with a message was just a minor inconvenience.

“There is...There is a girl...” The guard could barely speak and as he tried his breath turned to smoke. Jon’s senses were suddenly alert and Ghost sniffed the air as if he had catch a familiar scent.

“What girl?” Jon asked soberly as he tried to keep his expectations in check. His heart was racing as if he was drunk over battle adrenaline. Be still, my foolish hard. We’ve been mistaken before.

“At the Great Hall...” The man said. “She asks for you, Your Grace. She says...”

“I’ll listen to whatever she says. Tell the cookers to prepare her something to eat and put her by the fire.” Jon commanded. He could be wrong again, but he wouldn’t let a girl die in such a nasty weather. Whoever it was, food and warmth would guarantee that the girl wouldn’t fall ill.

“She already commanded so, Your Grace.” The guard’s eyes were as big as a plate. “She says she is Lady Arya.”

Little sister.

Jon’s breath suddenly stopped for a second and he could feel his hands trembling. Once more he tried to control his feelings and expectations, but that name was enough to bring him to tears.

Jon didn’t wait for any further explanations. He left the guard behind and walked towards the Great Hall as fast his self-awareness allowed. He was King in the North, not a green boy of six-and-ten. He had duties, responsibilities and a level of dignity that he should observe.

Ghost passed him half way to the Hall. He wasn’t so receptive. In fact he was snarling and baring his teeth as if he was getting ready to attack or to defend his master.

When he arrived at the Hall, Jon opened and closed his eyes a couple of times just to make sure he wasn’t hallucinating. She was looking straight at him and her gray eyes were teary as she bit her bottom lip as she usually did whenever she was feeling anxious.

Jon ran to her and opened his arms to receive Arya like a blessing. She never disappointed. He couldn’t tell for how long they remained like that; hugging each other so tight that they might have broken a couple of ribs. Arya was crying and Jon was mute. The only thing he could managed was to run his fingers through her hair and smell her familiar scent. This is real. She is home.

If the gods could grant him a wish, Jon would ask for that moment to last forever so he could feel that overwhelming happiness until the end of times. He had never felt like that before. Not even when he found Brandon and Rickon.

“Welcome home.” He finally said with his voice full of warmth and joy. For the first time in nearly five years, he felt young.

“I’ve missed you so much.” They said it together as if they needed one last proof that everything was real. This time both started to laugh between tears.

If only that moment could last forever and his blood remained dormant. At times he was inclined to think that his Targaryan blood was in fact a curse. Like a disease that ran in a family’s blood line, Jon could feel madness sneaking into his mind as shameful lust and jealousy ate him from inside out.

Arya brought with her a boy. A man is more likely. Gendry Waters was more than just a decent blacksmith and those were always rare and handy to a castle, but every day Jon looked at the man and convinced himself that Gendry was something like a stinking animal he would have to kick out at some point.

Arya had promised that man a position in the household in exchange for his company on her journey back to Winterfell. Jon would never deny her something like that. If anything, Gendry should have his gratitude for escorting Arya back home, but as the days passed Jon started to regret his decision and his own moral conduct.

Anyone with eyes could see the way Waters looked at Arya. Anyone with ears could listen to their little quarrels and bickering that sounded like those of a young couple. Jon wasn’t sure that Waters was dazzled by her, maybe enough to make something stupid, but he couldn’t tell if that was something mutual. In fact, Jon was more interested to get rid of that man before those feelings could turn into something else.

“You are getting obvious.” Bran told him one night as they sat by the fire to have a bit of mulled wine. “I think I don’t have to remember you that Arya will be displeased if anything happens to Waters.”

“I can find her a better put to keep her entertained.” Jon said between his clenched teeth. “I want him out of here.”

“She promised him a position.” Bran insisted as he tried to sound reasonable. “Besides...You are wasting your time if you think that even without Water and without the weight of the world “brother”, if you think Arya will ever correspond your feelings in the way you want her to.”

“And what way is that?” His voice came out dark and heavy with sarcasm. “I don’t know what you are talking about.”

“I’m talking about the tragedy of Rhaegar and Lyanna that keeps playing in your mind like an old tune. I’m talking about you noticing that she is no longer a child and that you seem to have inherited more from Rhaegar than you though. This Targaryen sickness should end.” At that Jon threw his head back and remained quiet for a second.

“I was thinking about something that might come to be a reasonable solution to our problems.” Jon said darkly. “You think that I don’t know what they whisper behind my back, but I know there are those who would gladly slit my throat to get you back on the Throne.”

“As is my birth right. You can’t simply usurp me and pretend that loyalty to my name won’t be of relevance in the outcome of this little dispute between us.” Bran answered bitterly. They could leave in peace if they put their minds to it, but Brandon would never forgive Jon for taking the Winter Throne and named himself king.

“It won’t happen, Brandon.” Jon snapped back. “I fought for this land and I got rid of Bolton while you were still trying to find your way back to home and humanity. I was proclaimed.” Jon dried his cup in one single gulp before looking back at his crippled cousin. “The war isn’t over yet and I don’t see how a young lad like you could managed to lead men into battle from your wheelchair. It is a matter of pragmatism and reason. Do you want to discuss birthrights? Fine. I will discuss birthrights and my participation in the battles to come. Do you want me to fight and defend the North? I will do it. If what you want is my cooperation and Lord Eddard’s line ruling the North, I can agree with that. I’ll take Arya as my wife and the children we will have will rule over the North for a thousand years. This is the only deal I’ll offer.”

“Your Targaryen color are finally showing.” Bran replied bitterly. “You just forgot that Arya isn’t the sort of woman that would agree with this without complains or resistance. She isn’t a hopeless victim as your mother was. My sister is made of stronger material and she won’t have you. Why would she see anything but a brother in you? Let her have a bit of happiness and a simple life with that man for all I care.”

“I am not asking for your permission, Brandon.” Jon said as he rose form his seat with a sour face. “What I want is for you to get rid of that man and I’ll take care of the rest.”

“I won’t kill a man so you can bed my sister.” Bran’s anger was finally brought to the surface and Jon could see in the boy’s eyes the strength of a fearless wolf ready to attack.

“I never said that I wanted to kill him.” Jon smiled at him with condescension. “I have a more practical idea in mind. Since you want to be a lord so bad, I’m giving you the Dreadfort as your new household and you can even call yourself Lord Stark of Dreadfort. You will take Waters with you and as a reward...I think I can reach an agreement with Reed. Lady Meera Stark…It has a good sound to it, don’t you think?”

“You are disgusting.” Bran looked at him with a livid face.

“What did you expect from a bastard?” Jon’s eyes were suddenly dark and cold. “I won’t have you threatening my claim, as I won’t have Daenerys threatening us with dragons. I’m done playing by your father’s code of honor. Since I’m damned from birth, it’s time to accept the beast in me. It happens that the beast just found his mate. You leave in a week.”

“Arya will never accept it!” Brandon growled.

“I will love to prove you wrong.” Jon turned his back at Brandon.

At times Jon was surprised at his own lack of morals. Death could destroy a great deal of things, but nothing rotted as fast as one’s soul. He was probably going mad as Bran had said. Targaryen or not, Jon wondered what would have happened if he had never found out about his true parentage. Would he still feel the same about Arya?

He knew the answer, but it was disgusting to admit that it had always been there, regardless to anything that his heritage could mean. It was in the way Ygritte’s stubbornness would remember him of a little girl. In the way Alys Karstark smiled with bravery and pride. It was in Val’s fierce nature. Only the gods could tell for how long he had been looking for Arya in every woman that crossed his path, but it took a war and years apart for the inevitable to happen. She was no longer a girl with tangled hair and scratches and bruises all over her body.

Like poison, Arya took over his body. The very blood running through his veins said that they belonged together. It had always been like this, haven’t it? With every sentence spoken at the same time; the countless embraces and kisses; and the powerful sensation of touching her hair and smelling the faint scent of wild flowers, earth and pinewood. Everything about her had been made according to all of his preferences. Arya was his confident and friend; his home and his heart. He belonged to her and Jon was getting eager and restless at the thought of claiming her for good.

He couldn’t tell if she had sensed something in the air. Arya would look at him with suspicion and cold curiosity. She wanted to ask something of him. Probably beg for Bran to stay in Winterfell. Jon could get himself a bargain out of that, but then it wouldn’t have the same taste as if Arya had surrender to her own desires. In the ended he didn’t have to wait much for Arya to come to him.

Jon was on his own chambers trying keep his mind quiet so he could get a bit of sleep later. Arya didn’t bother to knock at his door. She never did. Why would it change now? Jon being king meant little to nothing to her.

“I need to talk to you.” She said bluntly. Arya was never the sort of woman that would be discreet about her discontentment.

Jon turned to face her. Arya was wearing a nightgown and a long robe to keep her warm and preserve her modesty. If he knew her at all, Arya had tried to sleep but failed.

“What can I do for you, my dear?” Jon asked with kindness. He was getting good at hiding his true intentions.

“Is it really necessary?” Arya asked as she walked towards his bed to seat on it. Oh...If only she knew the dangers of doing it. “I know things have been difficult between you and Bran, but the Dreadfort? Why would you send him there?”

“I’m not doing it as a punishment, Arya.” What a shameful lie. “I need someone I trust to take care of the Bolton’s lands and Brandon seems to be the natural choice. Do not worry. I won’t send him alone.”

“So I’ve heard.” Her voice was suddenly sober. “Why Gendry? They barely know each other and I don’t think this is a good idea. I promised him...”

“A respectable position and this is what he will get for all the good services to House Stark.” Jon replied cautiously. “A wage, a house and a forge of his own and the honor to make swords to keep Brandon safe. Anyone would agree that I’m being very generous.”

“Indeed.” She lowered her head a bit. “He thinks you don’t like him.”

“Why would I dislike a competent blacksmith? Especially one that brought you back home safely.” Jon tried to sound convincing, but at times his jealousy took the best of him. “I just think he will be more useful if he stayed with Bran.”

“Gendry thinks you disapprove of our friendship.” Arya finally said. “I tried to tell him that it wasn’t the case.”

“You always had a talent for making unusual friends. He is just another one. I’m sure you’ll be able to see him again in an eventual trip to the Dreadfort.” Jon add as a matter of fact.

“It means you won’t let me go with them, doesn’t it?” Arya asked with a hint of sadness. “We just got together and now you are sending Bran away.”

“For a good cause, my dear.” Jon went to her immediately. He knelled in front of her and caressed her face as if she was a child. “I just want to make the right decision for us.”

“Than let Bran stay a little longer.” Arya asked.

“I’m sure you understand the kind of factions that are gathering behind Brandon. I don’t think he would try to depose me, but I can’t let potential traitors to have a name to use for their own purposes. Bran will be safe and cared for. He will even have a wife to look after him, if Reed agree with me in this.”

“You don’t think of me as a threat? I’m as much a true born Stark as he is.” Arya pointed carefully. “Do you think I could try to depose you?”

“I would never think of it.” Jon said immediately. “You are the only one that I trust. Is it a crime for me to want to keep you near?”

“I don’t think so, but still...I never thought you would sent my brother to house arrest.” Arya answered bitterly. “Don’t even try to deny it. I know exactly what you are doing.”

“This is a temporary arrangement.” Jon tried to explain before seating by her side on his bed. “Have I ever done anything to upset you?”

“No.” She answered simply. Her voice even sounded a bit childish.

Jon sat with his back resting against the bed’s headboard and mad sign for Arya to come and seat near him. A long time ago she would go to his bed whenever she had a nightmare and they would sleep together so Jon could keep the bad dreams away. He wonder if he still could keep the nightmares away, only with a different method.

“Come here.” Jon said and Arya obeyed. She sat between his legs so Jon could embrace her from behind. “You know that I would never do anything to hurt you, don’t you?” He asked before kissing the base of her neck. For a brief second Jon could feel her shivering.

“I do.” Arya agreed. “But why things have to be like this?”

“So we can be safe and prepared for the war that will inevitably reach out gates.” He insisted. “I need Bran there, keeping the peace and not giving foolish lords hope to depose me. And I want Waters there to help him, instead of keeping you distracted.”

“Why would Gendry keep me distracted? Distracted from what?” Arya questioned as she tried to turn and look at Jon’s face.

“From your true pack.” Jon said as he caressed her cheeks gently. “He doesn’t know his place and he keeps looking at you with hope that eventually you will return his feelings. This is not proper and he has no place in you life.”

“Now you are being absurd. I’ve told you. He is a friend and he helped me a great deal. There is nothing else and even if that was the case, since when you looked down on people like this?” Arya rebel nature had been triggered.

“I don’t like it when I see him looking at you as he does.” Jon said in a very decisive tone. “After all these years you are finally home and intend to keep you here. You are the Lady of Winterfell and not an adornment to be appreciated by his eyes.”

“I’m not the Lady of Winterfell. I’m not even sure of what I am now that you proclaimed yourself King and suddenly found out that you are Rhaegar and Lyanna’s son.” Arya argued. “I’m in some sort of limbo just waiting for you to decide what to do with me.” At that Jon kissed the base of her neck again.

“What would you have me do with you?” He asked almost in a whisper.

“I don’t know. Name me for a position in your council or at least let me manage the castle. I can run the household if you let me to.” Arya suggested without paying attention to how Jon’s hands slid the rem of her nightgown up.

“I have something more suitable in mind.” Jon said when his hands got near her tights. “I could make you Lady of Winterfell officially.”

“How?” When Arya noticed his hand on her tight it was too late. In a blink of an eye, Jon slid his hand between her legs to touch her in an indecorous way as he kept kissing her neck. “What…?”

“I’m in need of a Queen.” He said with his voice low, deep and dark. “I also need to put an end to those who question the legitimacy or my rule, but the main reason for it is that I can’t stand the idea of another man laying hands on you, so I’ll just make official what we have always known to be true.” His fingers sank withing her, making a little sound of surprise escape her mouth. “You are mine and I’m yours. It have always been like this, but I’m afraid my blood now demands more from you than just hugs and kisses on my cheek. I’ll have you, Arya; and I want that boy gone once he is reminded that you belong to me and no one else.”

#jon x arya #jon/arya #jon and arya #jonarya

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