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heavenlyhischier · 2 months

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𝐆𝐢𝐯𝐞 𝐌𝐞 𝐀 𝐑𝐞𝐚𝐬𝐨𝐧 | 𝐉𝐨𝐡𝐧 𝐌𝐚𝐫𝐢𝐧𝐨

word count: 4k

summary: Friends with benefits never works out. Someone always falls, but will they fall, too?

warnings: mild angst, drinking is mentioned, MINORS DNI 18+ content under the cut -> unprotected sex, slight hair pulling from reader to john, that’s it i think?

note: first johnny baby fic. hope you guys like it<3

The first time you met John Marino was in some dingy bar when your friend invited you out after a particularly long and strenuous day at work. Her boyfriend and a few of his friends were going to be there, and she thought it would help ease some of the stress that had accumulated over the last few days. You were initially hesitant to go, knowing that Jack’s friends were likely going to be his hockey teammates, and you weren’t sure if you wanted to be around that specific group of people, but you went anyway.

You ended up having a great time, mingling with some of the other girls and guys who were there, and you also met John. He introduced himself to you, casting you a bright smile as his brown eyes bore into your own. He didn’t bother to be subtle in his advances with lingering touches and brief glances to your lips, but you didn’t mind it all that much. After all, he was easily one of the most attractive men you’d ever seen.

You end going home with him that night, spending the rest of your time out tangled in his sheets with his sweaty body pressed against your own. When you slip out of his apartment the next morning, you tell yourself that it was just a one time thing, that it was never going to happen again, but then it did. And again. And again. It happened so many times that the two of you had to have The Talk about what you were, ultimately agreeing on the notorious “friends who just hook up sometimes”.

It was a bad idea, and you knew that. You know that no matter how many times one says that there are to be no feelings involved, someone always falls. Someone always breaks the one rule that shouldn't be broken, and of course it was you who did. You had fallen for John Marino, and you didn’t know what you were supposed to do.

Going out wasn’t exactly something you wanted to do. In fact, you would have much rather stayed home in the comfort of your own bed and slept through the weekend. You’d had yet another shit week at work, and nothing seemed to go in your favor from the moment you woke up Monday. All you wanted to do was relax, but, in true Macy fashion, she convinced you to come out with her and the guys to celebrate whatever win they had secured.

At first, you were having a decent time surrounded by a slew of hockey players and their friends as they drank and had fun. You did your best to avoid John like you had done for the last few days, not wanting to think about the way he made you feel. You wanted to temporarily forget about all of your stress for the night, and that was arguably the most stressful of them all.

You were pressed against the bar, sweaty and sticky bodies bumping into you as they passed behind you. It was taking all of your willpower to not turn around each time someone would push into you a little too hard, but you kept your composure to preserve your decent attitude. You thanked the bartender and told him to put it under Jack’s tab before turning around to rejoin your friend, but you froze when you saw him.

John was sitting on one of the stools, a beautiful girl leaning on the table as she talked to him. She was slightly leaning forward, her chest on full display before him as he smiled at her, and even from there you could see his eyes dart down below her face. From where you stood, it looked like he brushed the skin of her arm with his hand when he brought it up to adjust the hat on his head, but if you were closer you would be able to see how uninterested he was. Yet the thought alone was all it took to ruin your mood.

The sight in front of you suddenly made the urge to go back home trump any desire you’d previously had to stay at the bar. Initially, you came to appease your friend because you knew she’d tease you all weekend, but now your obligation was out of the window. There was no coming back from the sour mood you were in, and you didn’t want to ruin her own, so you chose to place your still full drink on the bar and beeline to the exit.

You ordered an uber the moment you stepped outside, leaning against the brick wall as you hugged your arms against your body. Of course you knew you had no reason to be upset. It was you who made the suggestion that you could still see other people because you weren’t dating. It was you who made a point to stress that there were to be no feelings from either of you, but you’d always been bad at listening to your own advice. After all, it was you who fell for him.

When your ride pulled up to the curb, you finally sent Macy a text telling her that you were going home and that you would see her later. You knew she’d come outside had she known you were out there waiting, and you were too frustrated to deal with what would’ve been her pleas to go back inside. You loved her, you really did, but you just wanted to go wrap yourself in your blankets and forget about everything before you had to do the same routine next week.

Pulling up to your apartment complex, you thanked your driver and slipped out of the car. The air was cool against your skin as you walked into the building, greeting the overnight doorman who looked like he’d rather be anywhere else than there. The elevator ride to your apartment felt like it lasted a lot longer than usual, and you’d never felt more relieved about anything than when you had finally stepped foot in the comfort of your own home.

“Finally,” You muttered to yourself as you stepped out of your shoes.

Your clothes felt too tight and your skin felt sticky and disgusting. Your hair felt like it was a knotted mess and you know your makeup had ran a bit while you were in the bar. On top of that, you felt like you wanted to cry out of sheer frustration. All you wanted to do was shower, crawl into bed and put on some shitty tv show until sleep graced your exhausted body.

You had just slipped on fresh clothes after your shower when you heard the sound of someone rapidly knocking on your door. Initially you ignored it, but it happened again a few minutes later, so you begrudgingly went to see who was bothering you so late at night. When you looked through the hole in your door, you saw the last person you wanted to see.

“What do you want,” You snapped as you flung the door open, glaring at John as he stood there with his hands in his pockets.

John looked slightly startled at your harsh tone, but he quickly recovered before speaking, “Macy said you left because you weren’t feeling well, so I came to make sure you were okay.”

It was your turn to be taken aback as he looked down at you, the nerves radiating off his body meshing with your own. Every feeling you had been trying to suppress came flooding to the surface the second you looked at him, and him standing outside your door with his soft brown eyes was doing nothing but making that worse. You needed him to leave so you could force yourself to swallow your feelings and move on.

“I’m fine. You can go,” You grumbled, attempting to shut the door, but his hand slapped the wood, keeping the door open just enough that he could see through it.

“What’s wrong? You’ve been ignoring me,” He rushed out, voice hesitant as his eyes stayed focused on your own.

Your breath caught in your throat as you stared at him, slightly caught off guard at the directness of his question. When you didn’t answer for a few moments, John caught you off guard and shoved your door open enough for him to slip inside your apartment. He ignores your quiet protests as he shuts the door, his body so close to your own that you can clearly make out the scar on his cheek.

Blood was pounding in your ears, your heart thudding so loudly in your chest that you’re certain he was able to hear it. He was peering down at you, a multitude of emotion swirling within the depths of his dark irises. Your fingers twitched towards him, aching to pull him close, but you forced them at your side as you swallowed the lump in your throat.

“What did I do,” He asks, his voice so quiet that it was almost a whisper.

You let out a sigh, running your hand through your hair as you look at the ground, “Nothing, John. You did nothing, but you need to go. I’m sure you have some girl down there waiting for you.”

“The only girl I want is standing right in front of me and she won’t tell me what’s bothering her,” John admits, his gaze on you unrelenting and unwavering.

Your body stills as you let his words ring in your ears, coherent and well-strung thoughts fleeing your mind as you try to wrap your head around what he had said. Surely he hadn’t meant it in the way you wanted him to. Surely he was just saying that because his bar girl fell through and he knew all he had to do was mumble a few words and you were putty in his hands.

John whispers your name like it was delicate, like it was going to shatter if he uttered it with too much force. Your eyes snapped to meet his own, both of you staring at each other like you were afraid of what could happen next. Neither of you spoke, letting the silence envelope you in the most uncomfortable and nerve wracking hug as John’s words echo around you.

“Nothing is bothering me,” You whisper, tears threatening to prick the corners of your eyes.

“Then why haven’t you been talking to me? You didn’t even look at me in the bar,” He forces out, voice laced with sadness and uncertainty, “Talk to me, please. I want to know what I did.”

He had stepped closer to you now, your back pressed against your door as you looked up at him through glassy eyes. When John notices the uncried tears brewing in your eyes, his hands are cupping your jaw, his thumbs rubbing against the skin of your cheeks. His tender affection is what breaks the dam, and you’re squeezing your eyes shut in an attempt to slow the rush of tears.

“Baby,” He murmurs, “I need you to work with me here. I can’t help you if you don’t talk to me. Is it– Did you find someone else?”

You can hear the way he has to force himself to say the words, almost as if he’s suppressing anger or disgust at the thought. It almost makes you want to laugh; the fact that he thinks someone else is the reason for your behavior rather than yourself. You were the cause of your own heartache.

“Of course not,” You shake your head, breathing shaky and uneven, “It’s just— John, please don’t make me say it.”

“If it is anything close to what I want it to be, I need you to say it. I need to hear it come out of your mouth,” He’s pleading with you, begging you to give him exactly what he needs to make his next move, “I need you to give me a reason to stay, or a reason to leave.”

With his eyes unrelenting from your own, you force yourself to speak through the nauseating nerves, “You’re the only one I want, too. I don’t ever want anyone else.”

Not even a second later, John surges forward and slams his lips on your own in a kiss that would’ve sent you toppling over had you now already been pressed against the door. You’ve kissed John before, plenty of times, but this was different. This was searing, blinding in a way that made you feel like you were floating above the clouds.

John tastes the salt from your tears on your lips, his own meshing with yours in a way that leaves him wondering why he had ever kissed anyone else before. He always thought you were made for him, that you fit perfectly against him, but this was different. This was much more real than it ever had been.

You dropped your hands down to the hem of his t-shirt, slipping them underneath the material so you could delicately drag your nails across the toned muscle. John falters, his teeth accidentally clashing against your own as his body shudders underneath your touch. You can’t help but smile against him, relishing in the fact that you had the same effect on him that he did you.

“Johnny,” You mumble, every nerve in your body desperately screaming for his touch, “Let’s go to my room.”

“Are you sure,” He asks, pulling away so he can clearly look at your face, “We don’t have to— We can just hang out.”

“John,” You start, voice serious and flat, “I don’t want to “hang out”. I’ve been stressing myself out trying to avoid my feelings for you, and I’ve had a shit week. I need you to take me to my bedroom.”

“Fuck. Yeah, okay. Let’s go,” He rushes out, his hand falling down to carefully grab your own and drag you down the hallway to your bedroom.

He shoves through your bedroom door, tugging you back into his chest as he reattaches his lips back to your own. Your hands fly up to tangle in his hair, gently pulling on his curls as you move your mouth against his own. John’s hands are on your hips, keeping you steady while he walks the two of you backwards until he feels the mattress on the back of his knees. Without breaking apart from you, he sits on the bed and guides your hips so that you’re straddling his waist.

You grind your hips down against him, your hands dropping to the hem of his shirt as you began tugging up his torso. John pulls his mouth away from yours so you can pull his shirt over his head, him doing the same with your own. His eyes immediately dart down to your naked chest, his tongue swiping across his bottom as he cups one of your breasts in his hand. You’re grasping at his shoulders, trying to keep yourself steady on his lap as he begins to suck on the skin of your neck.

Your fingernails dig into his back, breathy pants passing though your lips as his teeth graze over the sensitive spot he’d marked. John groans when you push yourself further onto his bulge, squeezing the flesh in his hands as he drops his head to your shoulder. You slowly grind your hips, creating enough friction to your core that a quiet moan of your own fills his ears. You’re able to find a painfully slow rhythm, but John drops his hands to your hips and keeps you in one place as he meets your lips in a hungry, painfully needy kiss.

“John,” You whisper against his mouth, “Need you now. Please.”

He doesn’t hesitate to lift you off of his lap and place you on the bed, moving away so he’s kneeling in front of you and able to slide your shorts down your legs. He briefly falters in his movements as his eyes drag down the length of your body, drinking in every inch of you as he silently worships you like your body was sculpted for him. Your cheeks flushed, like they always did when he looked at you that way, and you dropped your eyes to the waistband of his jeans as you unbuttoned them.

John watches your fingers fumble with his zipper, his breath hitching in his throat when you flatten your palm against him and press down on him. He throws his head back, but the feeling of your hand was gone almost as soon as it arrived and he felt you tug the material down his toned legs. He kicks them away from him before looking down at you, a smug smile forming on his lips as he watches you clench your thighs together at the sight of his cock in front of your face.

No matter how many times you’d seen him before, the sight in front of you made your mouth water and the wetness between your legs worsen tenfold. You carefully grasp him in your hands, rubbing your thumb over the precum that coated the sensitive head. You feel him shudder from your touch, and it only encourages you to lean forward, but he stops you by taking your chin between his fingers.

“Not tonight, princess,” He lowly speaks, his thumb ghosting over your lips, “I’ve missed you too much.”

You swallow thickly, your eyes wide with anticipation as you look up at him. He’s got his head cocked to the side, his curls an untamed mess on his head as the corner of his mouth twitches. He drops your chin, jerking his head to silently urge you to crawl backwards onto the bed. As you’re doing that, you watch as he walks towards your nightstand and moves to open the drawer that typically houses a small box of condoms.

“John,” You call out, pulling your lip between your teeth, “We don’t— It’s okay tonight. Just don’t, you know.”

“Are you sure,” He asks, dropping his hand away from the handle.

“Yeah,” You nod, “I’m sure.”

A few seconds later, John is back on top of you with his lips on yours as he uses his forearms to bear most of his weight. You tangle your hands in his hair, tugging on the curls as your mouth moves in sync with his own. You can feel his stiff erection pressed between your thighs, and you lift your hips up in a desperate attempt to get any sort of friction. John moved one of his hands down to grip your hip, his fingers splaying against the skin as he pushes you back down.

“I’m getting there,” His laughter vibrates against your lips, “Just wanted to kiss you first.”

“Wanna feel you,” You whined, his fingers lighting the skin underneath them on fire.

John mumbled under his breath, his eyes darkening as he slides his hand from your hip to grasp his length. He glances back up to you, keeping hold of your gaze as he slides himself between the slickness of your folds. Breathy whines begin to spill from your lips as you pull at the strands of his hair, the teasing anticipation making your heart race more than it already had been.

He slowly pushes himself into your entrance, hissing as your walls clench around him when he bottoms out inside of you. He carefully rocks his hips into your own, keeping himself steady above you and his movements short. Your bottom lip is pulled between your teeth, your eyes screwed shut as he lets you adjust to his size for a moment. Small, shallow whimpers are the only thing he hears as he slowly increases his rhythm as he dips his head down.

“That’s right, pretty girl,” He whispers into your ear, his chest pressing against your own, “You’re doing such a good job. You always take me so well.”

“Harder,” You choke out, pressing the back of your head into the pillow beneath you.

John doesn’t need to be told twice as swiftly grips the bottom of your thigh and bends your leg over his shoulder before he harshly slams into you, your cries bouncing off the walls of your bedroom. Your hands fall down to his back, fingernails digging crescent shaped indents into his tanned skin as he finds a pace that he’s learned drives you insane in the best way possible.

His name falls from your lips like a prayer, filtering in through his ears and making the blood rush straight down to his cock. He loves watching you slowly fall apart underneath, feeling your pussy clench around him like it was made for him. One of his favorite sounds were the moans and whimpers that you made when he was buried inside of you. That sound alone could make him cum.

“Harder,” You repeat your plea from moments ago, deliberately digging your heel in his lower back in an attempt to push him further.

“Fuck,” John groans, his curls sticking to his forehead as he does exactly what you ask.

Skin slapping against skin echoes around you, your whines lacing with his low grunts as you explore the planes of his back with your hands. You feel yourself reaching your release, nearly toppling over the edge as John hits into you so deeply that it was the only thing you could register. You know he’s close too, judging by the way his hips keep faltering and stuttering against your own.

“Johnny,” You murmur as the knot in your stomach begins to come undone, “I love you.”

John swears his heart stops beating in that moment, but he doesn't stop his movements as your walls flutter around him and your nails scrape down his back. He fucks you through your orgasm, his head buried in the crook of your neck as he forces his own back just a little longer. He wanted to feel you wrapped around him for as long as he could, but he knew he wasn’t going to last much longer.

“I love you,” He whispers against your neck, peppering small kisses to the skin as he feels you relax underneath him, “So much.”

John feels himself reel into his own orgasm, and he quickly pulls out of you, letting your leg fall back to the mattress as he grasps his length in his hand. He releases his load on your stomach, careful to not get anything on your mattress or your face as he lets deep moans fall from his lips. Your eyes were drooping, your body coming down from the blissful high still hazing your mind as you watch his head fall backwards.

His chest is heaving as he tries to catch his breath, his lips parted and his eyes closed in a way that makes him look unreal. You’d always thought John was pretty with his curly hair, his brown eyes, and his soft features, but the way he looked before you completely took your breath away. There truly was no one else who even came close to him.

He carefully leans over you and presses a small kiss to your lips before he slides off the bed and darts into your bathroom. He’s back almost as quickly as he was gone with a towel in hand, batting your hand away when you try and take it from his grasp. He wipes away the warm, sticky liquid from your skin, making sure to clean you up entirely before he does so himself. He makes sure to put the dirty towel in the basket of already dirty clothes before he returns to you.

“Up,” He instructs, “I can see the goosebumps on your arms, you’re getting under the blanket.”

“I don’t think they’re from the cold, John,” You snickered, but you pushed yourself off and shoved the blanket down underneath your body.

John’s cheek slightly flushed at your comment before he was slipping back in bed, pulling the blanket back up over you and tugging you into his arms. You placed your hand on his chest, nuzzling your head into the crook of his neck as he dragged his fingertips down your back. For the first time in a long time, you felt yourself truly relax, and it was all thanks to some guy you met in a rundown bar.

#john marino #john marino x reader #john marino imagine #john marino smut #john marino fic #john marino one shot #nhl imagine #hockey imagine

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fairuzfan · 2 months

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As an american myself I can understand why people are so scared that arab-americans are refusing to vote for biden since im terrified of what trump will do to our country. I very much feel forced to choose between two very evil people where i have to choose who will probably do less overall damage. But yelling at arab-americans isnt the right move. Im terrified at what decisions ill have to make with voting, but its not like all arab-americans who refuse to vote for biden are trump supporters and in fact many of them were going to vote for biden before october 7. I dont know what we should do about voting, but yelling at grieving arab-americans who cant bring themselves to vote for biden when biden helped kill their family is just wrong. I get the fear, i really do because i feel it too, but that doesnt make it right.

Like as a disabled person I'm pretty nervous about trump presidency ngl. I need meds that allow me to function on a day to day basis. But I cannot in good conscious vote for the man that killed my family's loved ones. Not to give too much info but a family member's best friend was Heba Abu Nada... when they learned of her death they cried for three days straight and asked me not to say any news about Palestine for a week back in October. Even when I told them that Heba's poem became viral, they just nodded at me and said "a lot of talented people in Gaza died" before going quiet, staring out in the distance. That's something that will stay with me for the rest of my life and I can't bare to think of voting for the man that caused that amount of sorrow to anyone. So imagine every single Palestinian family — they all have their own stories and their own grief. So telling them "that means absolutely nothing" and being told to suck it up isn't going to make anyone want to trust you that you have people's best interests in heart. I don't know. It just is so so obvious how little people care about other people and to me that's the most.... shocking thing.

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catdemonb-tch · 10 months

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I wanted to request headcannon of a Sinner!Reader that gets send to heaven, like the program really worked!! Like put all Hazbin Crew who grew very close to the Reader and maybe also add the 3 V's, Katie Killjoy, Tom Trench and maybe Lucifer and Lilith if you want.

Reader gets into Heaven

The Hazbin Crew

Charlie and Vaggie are in awe, they are ever so happy their methods worked

However they are so upset to see you go

Charlie stares at you with tears running down her face, Vaggie trying to console her while hiding tears of her own

Alastor is in shock

He was the one that doubted this the most

But he was very proud

Of you, of Charlie and Vaggie, of the Hotel

It made him swell with pride

Angel is upset as well, hes losing his best friend (or lover if you like him)

Hes sobbing, begging you not to go even though he knows its for the best

He feels selfish but he only has you and Cherri

Husk on the surface is as emotionless as ever, but on the inside hes in shock

He didnt want to be rehabilitated but he also believed it wasnt possible

Niffty is so excited for you, running around you and giving you multiple hugs

She wishes you the best and says how much she will miss you

Lucifer and Lilith:

They cannot believe their daughter did it

Both of them, in this moment, become so incredibly proud of their daughter

They dont really care for the fact that they are losing souls to rule on their end

But their love for their daughter, and this accomplishment that everyone deemed impossible, trumps everything they believe

The King and Queen of Pride really live up to their name with their daughter's success

The Triple Vs:

Holy shit

None of them thought it was possible

Hell all 3 of them laughed at Charlie

None of them want to be redeemed but theyre sure as shit surprised

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mostlysignssomeportents · 6 months

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Big Telco’s fury over FCC plan to infuse telecoms policy with facts

I'll be at the Studio City branch of the LA Public Library on Monday, November 13 at 1830hPT to launch my new novel, The Lost Cause. There'll be a reading, a talk, a surprise guest (!!) and a signing, with books on sale. Tell your friends! Come on down!

Reality has a distinct anti-conservative bias, but conservatives have an answer: when the facts don't support your policies, just get different facts. Who needs evidence-based policy when you can have policy-based evidence?

Take gun violence. Conservatives tell us that "an armed society is a polite society," which means that the more guns you have, the less gun violence you'll experience. To prevent reality from unfairly staining this pristine ideological mind-palace with facts, conservatives passed the Dickey Amendment, which had the effect of banning the CDC from gathering stats on American gun-violence. No stats, no violence!

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dickey_Amendment

Policy-based evidence is at the core of so many cherished conservative beliefs, like the idea that queer people (and not youth pastors) are responsible for the sexual abuse of children, or the idea that minimum wages (and not monopolies) decrease jobs, or the idea that socialized medicine (and not private equity) leads to death panels:

https://pluralistic.net/2023/04/26/death-panels/#what-the-heck-is-going-on-with-CMS

The Biden administration features a sizable cohort of effective regulators, whose job is to gather evidence and then make policy from it:

https://pluralistic.net/2023/10/23/getting-stuff-done/#praxis

Fortunately for conservatives, not every Biden agency is led by competent, honest brokers – the finance wing of the Dems got to foist some of their most ghoulish members upon the American people, including a no-fooling cheerleader for mass foreclosure:

https://pluralistic.net/2023/03/06/personnel-are-policy/#janice-eberly

And these same DINOs reached across the aisle to work with Republicans to keep some of the most competent, principled agency leaders from being seated, like the remarkable Gigi Sohn, targeted by a homophobic smear campaign funded by the telco industry, who feared her presence on the FCC:

https://pluralistic.net/2023/03/19/culture-war-bullshit-stole-your-broadband/

The telcos are old hands at this stuff. Long before the gun control debates, Ma Bell had figured out that a monopoly over Americans' telecoms was a license to print money, and they set to corrupting agencies from the FCC to the DoJ:

https://pluralistic.net/2021/11/14/jam-to-day/

Reality has a vicious anti-telco bias. Think of Net Neutrality, the idea that if you pay an ISP for internet service, they should make a best effort to deliver the data you request, rather than deliberately slowing down your connection in the hopes that you'll seek out data from the company's preferred partners, who've paid a bribe for "premium delivery."

This shouldn't even be up for debate. The idea that your ISP should prioritize its preferred data over your preferred data is as absurd as the idea that a taxi-driver should slow down your rides to any pizzeria except Domino's, which has paid it for "premium service." If your cabbie circled the block twice every time you asked for a ride to Massimo's Pizza, you'd be rightly pissed – and the cab company would be fined.

Back when Ajit Pai was Trump's FCC chairman, he made killing Net Neutrality his top priority. But regulators aren't allowed to act without evidence, so Pai had to seek out as much policy-based evidence as he could. To that end, Pai allowed millions of obviously fake comments to be entered into the docket (comments from dead people, one million comments from @pornhub.com address, comments from sitting Senators who disavowed them, etc). Then Pai actively – and illegally – obstructed the NY Attorney General's investigation into the fraud:

https://pluralistic.net/2021/05/06/boogeration/#pais-lies

The pursuit of policy-based evidence is greatly aided by the absence of real evidence. If you're gonna fill the docket with made-up nonsense, it helps if there's no truthful stuff in there to get in the way. To that end, the FCC has systematically avoided collecting data on American broadband delivery, collecting as little objective data as possible:

https://pluralistic.net/2020/05/26/pandemic-profiteers/#flying-blind

This willful ignorance was a huge boon to the telcos, who demanded billions in fed subsidies for "underserved areas" and then just blew it on anything they felt like – like the $45 billion of public money they wasted on obsolete copper wiring for rural "broadband" expansion under Trump:

https://pluralistic.net/2022/02/27/all-broadband-politics-are-local/

Like other cherished conservative delusions, the unsupportable fantasy that private industry is better at rolling out broadband is hugely consequential. Before the pandemic, this meant that America – the birthplace of the internet – had the slowest, most expensive internet service of any G8 country. During the lockdown, broadband deserts meant that millions of poor and rural Americans were cut off from employment, education, health care and family:

https://pluralistic.net/2021/02/12/ajit-pai/#pai

Pai's response was to commit another $8 billion in public funds to broadband expansion, but without any idea of where the broadband deserts were – just handing more money over to monopoly telcos to spend as they see fit, with zero accountability:

https://pluralistic.net/2020/05/26/pandemic-profiteers/#flying-blind

All that changed after the 2020 election. Pai was removed from office (and immediately blocked me on Twitter) (oh, diddums), and his successor, Biden FCC chair Jessic Rosenworcel, started gathering evidence, soliciting your broadband complaints:

https://pluralistic.net/2021/03/23/parliament-of-landlords/#fcc

And even better, your broadband speed measurements:

https://pluralistic.net/2021/04/14/for-sale-green-indulgences/#fly-my-pretties

All that evidence spurred Congress to act. In 2021, Congress ordered the FCC to investigate and punish discrimination in internet service provision, "based on income level, race, ethnicity, color, religion, or national origin":

https://www.congress.gov/117/plaws/publ58/PLAW-117publ58.pdf

In other words, Congress ordered the FCC to crack down on "digital redlining." That's when historic patterns of underinvestment in majority Black neighborhoods and other underserved communities create broadband deserts, where internet service is slower and more expensive than service literally across the street:

https://pluralistic.net/2021/06/10/flicc/#digital-divide

FCC Chair Rosenworcel has published the agency's plan for fulfilling this obligation. It's pretty straightforward: they're going to collect data on pricing, speed and other key service factors, and punish companies that practice discrimination:

https://www.fcc.gov/document/preventing-digital-discrimination-broadband-internet-access

This has provoked howls of protests from the ISP cartel, their lobbying org, and their Republican pals on the FCC. Writing for Ars Technica, Jon Brodkin rounds up a selection of these objections:

https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2023/11/internet-providers-say-the-fcc-should-not-investigate-broadband-prices/

There's GOP FCC Commissioner Brendan Carr, with a Steve Bannon-seque condemnation of "the administrative state [taking] effective control of all Internet services and infrastructure in the US. He's especially pissed that the FCC is going to regulate big landlords who force all their tenants to get slow, expensive from ISPs who offer kickbacks to landlords:

https://www.fcc.gov/document/carr-opposes-bidens-internet-plan

The response from telco lobbyists NCTA is particularly, nakedly absurd: they demand that the FCC exempt price from consideration of whether an ISP is practicing discrimination, calling prices a "non-technical aspect of broadband service":

https://www.fcc.gov/ecfs/document/110897268295/1

I mean, sure – it's easy to prove that an ISP doesn't discriminate against customers if you don't ask how much they charge! "Sure, you live in a historically underserved neighborhood, but technically we'll give you a 100mb fiber connection, provided you give us $20m to install it."

This is a profoundly stupid demand, but that didn't stop the wireless lobbying org CTIA from chiming in with the same talking points, demanding that the FCC drop plans to collect data on "pricing, deposits, discounts, and data caps," evaluation of price is unnecessary in the competitive wireless marketplace":

https://www.fcc.gov/ecfs/document/1107735021925/1

Individual cartel members weighed in as well, with AT&T and Verizon threatening to sue over the rules, joined by yet another lobbying group, USTelecom:

https://www.fcc.gov/ecfs/document/1103655327582/1

The next step in this playbook is whipping up the low-information base by calling this "socialism" and mobilizing some of the worst-served, most-gouged people in America to shoot themselves in the face (again), to own the libs:

https://pluralistic.net/2022/12/15/useful-idiotsuseful-idiots/#unrequited-love

If you'd like an essay-formatted version of this post to read or share, here's a link to it on pluralistic.net, my surveillance-free, ad-free, tracker-free blog:

https://pluralistic.net/2023/11/10/digital-redlining/#stop-confusing-the-issue-with-relevant-facts

Image: Japanexperterna.se (modified) https://www.flickr.com/photos/japanexperterna/15251188384/

CC BY-SA 2.0: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0/

Mike Mozart (modified) https://www.flickr.com/photos/jeepersmedia/14325839070/

https://www.flickr.com/photos/jeepersmedia/14325905568/

https://www.flickr.com/photos/jeepersmedia/14489390566/

www.ccPixs.com https://www.flickr.com/photos/86530412@N02/8210762750/

CC BY 2.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/

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am-i-the-asshole-official · 8 months

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AITA for saying I assume republicans are racist until I know otherwise in front of someone I know is a republican?

(For those not familiar with US politics, republicans are the party that often is against rights for marginalized communities)

My [23nb] best friend [24f] is open about the fact that she doesn’t follow politics at all and doesn’t care one way or the other, but her boyfriend [28m] has specifically told me that he’s a republican.

I’m vocal about the fact that I’m very liberal especially when it come to social and human rights issues and I pay a lot of attention to politics. She’s known this since long before she started dating her current boyfriend.

Recently my friend said that she doesn’t think it’s fair that people assume all Trump supporters are racist. I pointed out that while they might not be racist, they were okay voting for a very publicly racist man to be our president. I explained that because of this I tend to assume all republicans are racist until I know otherwise.

Her boyfriend said that this isn’t fair because he isn’t racist even though he’s a republican. I tried to explain that I don’t think he’s racist, but it’s simply a matter of saftey for me to be wary of people who statistically are likely to be racist even though obviously I know there are exceptions.

He was visibly bothered by my comments which by extension made my friend really annoyed. She argued with me for a while and kept saying that I was being unfair. I don’t want them to be angry with me since I truly didn’t mean to hurt his feelings but I still didn’t apologize because I don’t think what I said was actually wrong.

AITA?

What are these acronyms?

#aita #am i the asshole

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lemon-boy-stan · 1 year

Text

smutmas day two - haechan - comfort sex

"Haechan, hi." you sniffed softly, looking away, ashamed that you had even come here in the first place. But your mum had yelled at you to get out of the house and you couldn't think of anywhere else to go.

"Hey, hi," said Donghyuck, in a hoodie and sweats, a headset around his neck. You must have interrupted his game. You felt even worse now. "Hi..." you mumbled. "Um, I'm just gonna go home. You look busy." but he rushed to you at the door, taking your bag. "I'm not busy," he shook his head, "I was just playing a game. You wanna stay over?" he put his hand on your back, guiding you inside the house.

"Mum and dad are on a work trip," he said, "do you want dinner?" placing your bag on the floor as you took a seat on his bed. You sniffled, shaking your head. "No," you mumbled, "sorry for coming so unexpectedley." and Donghyuck shrugged, "no, don't worry about it. You're my best friend. Hang on, the guys are yelling at me." he put his headset back on and went over to his desk, "yeah, yeah, shut up! I'm logging off anyway. Seriously, I already got you through the first level. Mark can take over now, okay?"

He clicked away on the keyboard before shutting the screen off and wheeling back around, getting up. He put his headset on the desk hastily, "what happened?" and you looked down at your hands, ashamed again as he sat down next to you.

"My mum..." you whispered, "my mum kicked me out again. It was dark and my phone was was nearly dead. I'm sorry," you cried softly, "I didn't mean to interrupt your game, Haechannie."

"I hate your fucking mum," he growled. "Don't cry. It's okay, don't cry. You can stay as long as you want, okay? You know my parents like you." you sniffled, "I don't wanna bother you, Hyuck." he shook his head, "you're not bothering me." your lip trembled. He lifted up your chin with his thumb, "listen to me. You don't bother me. You never bother me." You sniffed, nodding at this. "Thanks," you mumbled, feeling weird now, insecure that you had been crying in front of him... again.

"It's okay to cry," he said softly, and you hated the fact that he was so good at mind-reading. He was pretty. Really, fucking pretty. Drop-dead gorgeous. So gorgeous, in fact, that you needed him to: "kiss me," you blurted out. Haechan blinked, "huh? What?" brain still in best-friend mode, his concern for you trumping his boner-making crush on you. "Kiss me," you said again, "please, Haechannie. Need you to kiss me, now. Need Haechannie to kiss me -" tears still dribbling from your eyes.

"Fuck," he grunted loudly, "fuck, you want me to kiss you?" grabbing your hip and pulling you close to him, placing his lips roughly on yours. "You want Haechannie to kiss you on his bed?" he mumbled into your lips as you squeaked, "yes! Yes, please, Haechannie, kiss me on Haechannie's please bed! Please." fuck, he loved how dumb you were for him.

"Mmmm," he mumbled, "your lips taste so good. Want Hyuck to touch you, baby? Want Hyuckie to ruin our friendship?" and you squealed even more at this, "yes, Hyuckie, please ruin baby and Hyuckie's friendship please please," words bubbling from your mouth happily.

"Mm, okay, okay," he murmured, lips grazing softly across your neck, "but what would baby's mum say about it? You know she doesn't like me." something in your glazened eyes froze at the mention of your mother. "I'm sorry," Donghyuck mumbled, "shouldn't have brought her up. Wanna stop?"

The freeze was gone and you shook your head, "no-no-no, Hyuckie don't stop please." lip trembling. "Okay," he whispered softly, kissing your lips again. "Okay, I won't stop; I promise." even though your hands were already throwing off his cotton shirt, he stopped at the lining of the pastel button-down nightie you had on.

"Can I?" he half-whispered. You arched your back, "Hyuck, please." and he nodded, carefully lifting it off your head before letting out a short gasp because you didn't wear a bra under your pajamas because and you were fucking beautiful. "Fuck," he mumbled, "you're so fucking pretty."

And you giggled at this, "but Hyuckie is prettier." and and he shook his head, "aw, shucks, no I'm not." pulling down the silky pink shorts. He snickered at your undies, "you don't even like Pokemon." and you scowled, "Markie got them for me as a joke."

Haechan scowled, "well, even though they're cute, I don't like them. Always been jealous of Mark." he scoffed, taking them off. "Mm, much better," he smiled at you. You giggled, "Hyuckie's turn!" hands latching on to the band of his sweatpants.

He leant down kissed you as took off the the and you grey pants, and he twitched as your fingers pulled down his boxers. "Mmm," you bubbled sleepily, "Haechannie is big." he smirked at this, "do you think it's gonna fit?" but all you did was nod eagerly.

"Please, Hyuck," you mumbled, "want your cock please." and he groaned at this, "fuck," and and couldn't help but sliding in simply at your words. You let out a scream, "Haechan!" and he bent down to to kiss you lazily.

"Mm, feel so fucking good," he mumbled as you let out a choked sob of pleasure, "so fucking perfect, waited so long for this, fuck." moaning loudly as he thrust in and out of you, hips snapping. You grabbed on to him, "Haechan, feel so good Haechan please." and he nodded, "mmph, yeah, I know." adjusting your body, sucking lightly on your neck. "Hyuckie," you bubbled, "big, big Hyuckie!" crying softly. "So good," your lip trembled. "Shit - ah - want me to stop?" he grunted.

You cried out in distress, "nonono please Hyuck don't stop please don't stop!" and he cursed, "yeah, okay, I won't stop. "Didn't know how bad you wanted Hyuck to use you, hmm?" he chuckled softly even though he meant it as a compliment. "Yes," you moaned softly as Donghyuck hit your G-spot, "yes, want Hyuckie to use me so bad, don't care, will be his cumdump, just want Hyuck to use baby like a fleshlight please."

And Haechan snapped. "What'd you just say?" he growled softly. "Say it again," he whispered. "Said, said "want Hyuckie to use baby like a fleshlight. Baby will be such a good fleshlight please Hyuck, please Haechannie - Haechan!" and you screamed his name shrilly as he pounded into you harder than he ever had before.

"Why are you so dirty?" he whimpered, "you were my my cute and innocent best friend!" he complained loudly as he thrust his cock deeper into your cunt. "Now I've fucking ruined you," he moaned either in misery or lust as he released his load messily inside you and your eyes rolled to the back of your head and you threw it back, back, "Haechan." gripping the sheets, cumming around his cock.

"I love you," he confessed finally, as he pulled out and took a hot dishcloth, "I hope you know that. And that that you have never bothered me a single waking moment of our lives. And that I hate your mum. But I kind of thank her, because if not I'd probably never have gotten the chance to tell you I love you." and he smiled as your eyes teared up again, "I love you too. I'm sorry." but he shook his head, leaning down to kiss you. "Don't be."

>> nct smutmas masterlist <<

>> nct masterlist <<

>> navigation <<

#haechan #haechan smut #nct dream smut #nct smut #nct u smut #nct 127 smut #nct hard hours #nct dream hard hours #nct 127 hard hours #nct smut scenarios #nct haechan smut

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amaditalks · 1 month

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Heather Cox Richardson is a US based political historian, who connects facts from our history to current events to provide context. She writes daily on Substack, this is an excerpt from her March 17 post. It’s a longer read but very crucial toward understanding the American right’s plans for the future of this country, as illustrated by the close connections of The Heritage Foundation, a powerful right wing think tank, and Viktor Orbán, the autocratic prime minister of Hungary.

“The tight cooperation between Heritage and Orbán illuminates Project 2025, the plan Heritage has led, along with dozens of other right-wing organizations, to map out a future right-wing presidency. In Hungary, Orbán has undermined democracy, gutting the civil service and filling it with loyalists; attacking immigrants, women, and the rights of LGBTQ+ individuals; taking over businesses for friends and family, and moving the country away from the rules-based international order supported by the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO).

In the January interview, Roberts told Garcia-Navarro that Project 2025 was designed to jump-start a right-wing takeover of the government. “[T]he Trump administration, with the best of intentions, simply got a slow start,” Roberts said. “And Heritage and our allies in Project 2025 believe that must never be repeated.”

Project 2025 stands on four principles that it says the country must embrace. In their vision, the U.S. must “[r]estore the family as the centerpiece of American life and protect our children”; “[d]ismantle the administrative state and return self-governance to the American people”; “[d]efend our nation’s sovereignty, borders, and bounty against global threats”; and “[s]ecure our God-given individual rights to live freely—what our Constitution calls ‘the Blessings of Liberty.’”

In almost 1,000 pages, the document explains what these policies mean for ordinary Americans. Restoring the family and protecting children means making “family authority, formation, and cohesion” a top priority and using “government power…to restore the American family.” That, the document says, means eliminating any words associated with sexual orientation or gender identity, gender, abortion, reproductive health, or reproductive rights from any government rule, regulation, or law. Any reference to transgenderism is “pornography” and must be banned.

The overturning of the 1973 Roe v. Wade decision recognizing the right to abortion must be gratefully celebrated, the document says, but the Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization decision accomplishing that end “is just the beginning.””

#project 2025 #heritage foundation #fascism

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prod-ddeonu · 10 months

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TIGHTY WHITIES | p.js

PROLOGUE: core memory

pairing: college! Jay x fem! reader

CW/TW: enemies to lovers, smau, angst, fluff, smut, horrible comedy, slice of life, jay gets exposed BAD, kys jokes, assault, drinking, that's all I think for now

synopsis: You and Park Jongseong have been enemies for years. Heck, the two of you grew up picking fights with each other. A hateful war of tricks and deceit turns from bad to worse, however, when you finally trump him. Nobody can come back from having a photo of themself in tighty whities sent to the entire school, right?

status: ongoing!

taglist: open! (fill out the google form to be added! your user should be tagged on the masterlist and the next chapter after you submit!)

When you were only six years old, you gained your first core memory. On this day, you were dressed to the nines: your hair was in pigtails with little ribbons tied to them, you wore your fanciest pink dress, and your mom even let you wear your cutest flats to your playdate with the cutest boy in first grade!

Park Jongseong, a boy who recently moved from the states and into your class, was a boy that all the girls were trying to share lunchboxes with. Luckily for you, you had an insider working with you. A secret agent, nay, an ally. Codename: Mom.

Your mom was best friends with Jongseong’s mom and dad before they moved overseas. Your little self could stick her tongue out at all the other girls over this fact, but you restrained yourself. You were taught to be modest when you were given a blessing from the heavens, for they do not come to everyone.

As your parents left the two of you to play together, you followed Jongseong to his backyard. He seemed very quiet and didn’t express his happiness to see you well. If you didn’t know any better, you’d have thought he didn’t want you to be there.

As he walked to a walking trail from his yard into the woods, he bent down to tie his shoe. You, still following him, stopped behind him and smiled down at him. He looked up at you with his big eyes and cocked an eyebrow. “What?”

You pulled the best move you could as a preschooler.

Bringing a hand to your cheek, you smiled at him again. “Jongseong-ah, am I pretty?” You cooed. He coughed as he stood up, turning to face away as his ears turned red.

Rather than give you the response you thought he would, he mumbled an “I don’t know.”

You stomped your foot and repeated yourself. “Jongseong-ah, am I pretty?”

The boy stayed silent. Fed up with his silence, tiny you put your hand onto his shoulder. Before you could even begin to ask him what was wrong, his hands flew out and pushed you onto the ground.

“Yah, Jongseong-ah!” You shouted after the boy as he walked away from your tiny body lying on the floor.

He looked at you and scoffed. “Don’t talk to me like we’re friends. I’m taller than you, anyways, so I must be older than you. You’re- You,” he stammers as you tear up, “You’re ugly too! Stinky poopy head!”

You sobbed as he walked away and left you covered in dirt.

That day, when you were six, you gained your first core memory. A boy named Park Jongseong breaking your ego and your heart in one swift movement. And for the first time, you felt a new emotion: hatred.

MASTERLIST | NEXT

#enha imagines #enha smau #enhypen fanfiction #enhypen jay #enha heeseung #enha x reader #enha fluff #enhypen fluff #enhypen smut #enhypen jake #enhypen heeseung #enhypen smau #enhypen sunghoon #enhypen #🧦tightywhities

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crychaoss · 11 months

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I'd like to think that Trump's real name was Trumpet, but everyone gave him the nickname "Trump", and by the time he passed away, they just forgot what his real name even was.

I can just imagine him playing a little trumpet with the propeller hat and Max was like "Yeah, let's name you after an instrument". Tallulah with the flute, Trump with a trumpet and Leo and Dapper with their guitars could've made a band.

Also the fact that Trump was Leo's best friend and ever since he died, she hasn't found a close friend is so sad. Like, yeah, she gets along with all the eggs, but none of them are really, her best friends.

Trump was one of the only eggs I never got to know, so I have no idea what his personality was like :( I feel like Max didn't know how to take care of a child and was very confused and stressed when suddenly he became a father with someone that basically disappeared the next day, but he learnt so much the past month. I think he would be a great dad by now

#qsmp #qsmp trump #qsmp maximus

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evermoredeluxe · 4 months

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On evermore release night, I was listening To the album beginning to end when it released.

I got to Marjorie, and was crying while I listened… thinking of my dear grandma. I was her only grandbaby, we were each others best friends. The lyrics mirrored my childhood and adolescence with her💔

As tears streamed down my face, I was interrupted… by a phone call. From that same grandma. Who was now 100 years old, still living alone and healthy. At 1:17am.

I answered, trying to hide the fact I was crying bc I was thinking about all of our memories together and how much I loved her.

“Bonnie Clara?” (My name is Bonnie Claire, not Clara. But she’s always pronounced it that way.) “yeah, grandma? Is something wrong, are you okay? It’s so late, you never call this late”

“Well… right, I know, but.. well, I was watching the television and that nasty Trump fella said something so doggone stupid, I just had to talk to someone about it! Did you hear what that fool said today?!”

That same grandma just so happened to call me, at 1:17am, while I was crying to Taylor’s song, bc it reminded me of her… just to rant and rave about how much she hates Trump and “all those foolish republicans!”

this is just so adorable in all senses of the word 🥺 im so happy you have a great relationship with your grandmother, it’s precious

#(also we love trump shit-talking session she’s so real for that)#a113cowgirl #replies

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nanasalt · 7 months

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Hi, I'm genuinely curious why you have called Elsa "abusive sister"? What's your, as an Anna lover, main take on Elsa?

Context for my comment.

Realizing on a reread that you asked for an Elsa analysis and I kinda made it an Anna one. They're entwined, though -- it's hard to talk about one without the other, especially when the first question is why call Elsa abusive? The short answer is I was being very reductive in that post for the sake of brevity. The tag directly after is me saying in a quick, off-the-cuff way that Elsa's not wrong:

#see: Anna of Arendelle #suffering is good! #filial loyalty should trump logic! #dying for your abusive sister is good! #Elsa obviously has her own issues but from Anna’s pov?

Believe me when I say that I can go full Elsa apologist very easily. Send a second ask if you want to see that, actually, I do have a lot of Elsa Thoughts. The thing is, there's a ton of Elsa fans out there and Anna tends to get the short end of the stick, despite being - in my opinion - the better sister, and not for nothing, but I think Elsa would agree that Anna is a better sister.

The tragedy of Frozen is that Elsa isn't wrong to isolate herself and try to keep Anna safe, and Anna isn't wrong to sense her sister still wants to connect and try to make it happen. That's what makes it tragic. Anna's desperate attempt to reconnect at the party is what makes Elsa balk, and Elsa balking is what pushes Anna away into the arms of someone who isn't afraid to tell her she's wanted. (Of course, Hans isn't afraid because wanting her won't kill her the way Elsa is pretty sure wanting a sister will.) Anna coming back from a whirlwind of having fun - having a friend - for the first time in years and telling Elsa she wants to get married freaks Elsa out, because Elsa's about to lose her sister to some stranger! Elsa tries to get the situation under control the only way she knows, which is to get away from everyone and self-soothe, but Anna is fed up and presses the argument then and there, which sets Elsa off and reveals the depths of Elsa's problems.

But critically, Anna's not wrong, and she's not stupid.

A major theme of Anna's character is that nothing is explained to her, and she is mistreated as a result. We, the audience, understand why Elsa locks herself away. We, the audience, skip over literal years of isolation for Anna in a three-minute song. We, the audience, see Elsa's anxiety when alone or with her parents. Anna, on the other hand ... to pull from the musical, which I admittedly like more than the film:

ANNA: ... Truth is, I never knew why my parents ordered the gates shut, why the celebrations ended, or why Elsa stopped talking to me. All I ever knew was, I missed my sister. I spent years trying to figure out what I did. I begged to know, to understand, but all my parents would say is, it’s for the best.

Anna blames herself for the fact Elsa locked herself away, and Elsa does not, as far as we see in the story, disabuse Anna of that notion. Sure, you can argue it happens offscreen somewhere after the show, and I'd agree that the arc of Frozen means the girls are going to sit down and realize their parents kinda sucked and gave them both trauma, but that happens after. (Frozen 2 doesn't exist in my head. I don't hold with anything that doesn't admit their parents fucked up big time. The best you can say is they tried to help their daughter, and that is tragic too, that nobody was able to help them do it.)

From Elsa's point of view, she ran away and Anna followed - against Elsa's advice and orders. Elsa felt confident enough to let her sister in and talk about things -- and Elsa couldn't handle it. She shot Anna in the heart as a result, putting them exactly back where they were when they were kids and Elsa was the biggest danger to her sister. Elsa was right to be afraid of intimacy, she was right to protect Anna from herself. The biggest danger to Anna was always Elsa.

This verges into Hans apologism, but we're focused on the girls so stick with me: Elsa literally kills Anna in the story. Hans is a big asshole about this little, "If only there was someone out there who loved you," speech, but he didn't kill Anna. Elsa did. If Elsa hadn't shot Anna in the heart, Anna would not be dying now. If Hans was going to kill Anna, that would've been the place -- and instead he leaves her to die of the wound her sister gave her.

So how does Anna feel in that moment? Narratively, we focus on the fact Hans has been the biggest dick lately, so she's heartbroken by that, but I'd posit she's been let down by the two people she thought might want her: Elsa and Hans. At this point Anna was probably thinking she could get cured and maybe that she and Hans would fix this together.

Instead, her unending faith in her sister should have brought her to this conclusion: Elsa killed her, Hans refused to save her, and they've both abandoned her for dead. In the film, Elsa - by proxy - throws Anna off a cliff right after shooting her in the heart. She could not be more clear about locking Anna out. Hans locked her in, but all to the same effect: Elsa's curse is going to kill her.

Does it really matter why Elsa cursed her?

When I say Elsa is an abusive sister, I mean that from Anna's point of view, Elsa lashes out and hurts Anna because of her own pain. We, the audience, have the benefit of knowing why - but we, the audience, also aren't feeling our fingers freeze solid as our jaw locks up with ice, so maybe we're not getting the full effect there.

Frozen's magic system is simple: magic and emotion are the same thing. (Frozen 2 do not interact.) Elsa's powers are driven by emotion, and they can be driven to great heights or great lows. The tragedy is that she doesn't learn to channel positive emotions, so she only knows fear and anxiety, which spiral out of control as those emotions always do. That fear isn't irrational - she's afraid for her sister, she's afraid for her country, she's afraid to let people down - but it is damaging and uncontrollable.

It literally kills her sister.

Anna dies, not because she threw herself under the sword and got diced, but because she turns to ice. She dies because of Elsa's curse, which ironically saves her from being killed in a bloody way. In that moment, Elsa sees her worst fears come true: she killed her sister. In the musical, she sings:

Anna? Anna - no! This is what I feared, this is why I shut you out so long ago. I'm sorry, I'm so sorry ... Look at what I've done to you.

As she realizes this, the magic begins to undo itself, not because Elsa realized the depth of her fuck up but because Anna committed an act of true love. Anna is brought back to life miraculously by her own self-sacrifice because it was pure and selfless. Which is why my final tags were:

#the narrative posits that [Anna's] suffering was good #actually. #and wanting things for herself was Bad actually

Wanting Hans, the seeming first person to value her, was wrong. Throwing herself under the sword for the sister who ignored her until she murdered her was good. In a meta sense, Anna wanting something for herself was wrong, and being blindly loyal was good. She is literally rewarded by being brought back from the dead to be a continuing loyal companion to the woman who shot her in the heart.

At the end of the day, the fact Elsa feels terrible about this both makes no difference and makes all the difference in the world. Elsa has been awful to Anna, and her being able to recognize that is what makes their relationship so compelling. The fact Elsa is also abused is important; she was locked away from society just as much! While Anna was so neglected by their parents that she spoke to paintings, Elsa was being told to just get better, keep it inside and don't freak out. Like many abused people, when Elsa grows up, she doesn't know how to form a healthy relationship at first. Her first fumbling steps end in disaster, and as musical Elsa begs:

This is all so brand new Let me first learn to crawl Before I try to walk

On one hand, that doesn't matter, because Elsa did abuse Anna for a period of time, via neglect and outright harm, up to and including murder. On the other hand, it matters more than anything, because Elsa chooses love, chooses to reconnect, finds true regret and wants to be better. Anna forgives her, because she loves her.

It's what makes the bones of this story so tragic and compelling. The love is real and the hurt is real. The difference is that both sisters choose to move past it, and I can see there being a good ending where they repair their sisterly relationship.

But for the duration of the story, and the near-decade before? Anna was abused by everyone in her family, and Elsa has to take responsibility for that before they can begin to heal.

#Kat Answers #Anonymous #Frozen #x: meta #this is a lot of words I hope it explained something #and feel free to ask more!#I have a lot of thoughts about Frozen and how it's about love #And semi-metaphorical doors but only because they're barriers to Love.

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murky-tannin · 6 months

Note

https://www.tumblr.com/murky-tannin/731555660173574144/personally-i-would-love-for-foolish-to-just-go?

to be fair, we don't know the federation hurt leo emotionally and physically. in fact, she said cucurucho was her best friend, and has always been excited when it shows up. who we do know hurt her forever. and anyone who said foolish was cheating. thats what hurt her emotionally and physically right in front of our eyes.

The federation heavily endangers her through the terrible dangerous living environment and hurts those in her community, which in turn hurts her. Some easy examples being them killing/taking away her best friend Trump, or kidnapping Dapper, or hurting her brother Roier in many ways. She's growing up in an incredibly dangerous stressful community because of the federation.

#murky mumbles #qsmp #qsmp leo

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friendfromdsmp · 7 months

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Are there Marinette Salt takes that you disagree with?

So we’ve established in the last ask that I think Adrien gets a bit of a bad rap with salters at times, but that’s absolutely nothing compared to how I feel about Marinette salt takes. TL;DR at the bottom since this was much longer than I anticipated, as per usual with my constant ramblings

One angle I just really can’t wrap my head around are people who think Marinette is to blame for the LadyNoir conflict overarching season 4 because, in all honesty, I don’t know if Marinette was even made fully aware that there was an ongoing issue. I’m probably misremembering or forgetting some stuff, and I’m about to go on a long-ass ramble, so bear with me on this

The conflict begins with MariBug having constant breakdowns due to her responsibilities piling up, her alter egos bleeding into each other and having zero guidance or even vent options. Back in Truth Chat said that he doesn’t mind Ladybug being the new Guardian as long as it doesn’t impact their relationship/dynamic. But due to how overwhelmed and alone she is, Ladybug can’t always be there for all the patrols and silly little things the heroes do, which leaves Chat disappointed and feeling ignored

Is he entitled to these feelings? Absolutely. Can’t help how you feel. And for the most part he doesn’t bother Ladybug with these feelings, except for mentioning it once that he misses seeing her all the time and she explains herself and promises to try and prioritise patrols more. Healthy stuff, good communication, I’m vibing so far

But Chat continues not to voice his feelings while starting to let them dictate his behaviour, and this is where the problems arise - not just with Chat, but with Marinette salters, too. I was surprised to see how many people were mad at Ladybug for not prioritising Chat more or not being more considerate of his feelings

As far as I’ve seen, Chat hasn’t voiced his concerns to her, so you can’t expect Ladybug to fix a problem she doesn’t know exists, and even then you can see she doesn’t have the mental capacity or available free time right now, every other episode featured her having a mental breakdown. At this point Chat being disappointed that he’s not his coworker’s top priority isn’t… well, a priority

People were also getting mad that Marinette revealed her identity to Alya and not Chat was also a surprise to me. Alya is Marinette’s best friend and was chosen to be a hero for her loyalty and trustworthiness (arguable whether the show does a good job at displaying these qualities but I digress) and Chat Noir, the holder of the only other Miraculous Hawkmoth needs, is the most dangerous possible choice to share her identity with, especially considering what little Marinette remembers about Chat Blanc

Plus, Alya was there. Like, physically right there. And Marinette broke under all the pressure that was put on her. You think she’s gonna break and then sit around peacefully until Chat shows up before she actually acts on the breakage?

Anyway, speaking of Alya, her becoming more involved in the hero work makes Chat Noir feel replaced, resulting in him straight-up ignoring the plan after he was informed of his role in it multiple times by multiple people during Sentibubbler. I’ve seen takes that Marinette should have apologised for him not being better informed or for not including him more in the plan, and that absolutely baffles me

This wasn’t Marinette’s plan. Hell, Marinette herself didn’t even know half the plan, and she was the only other person aware of Alya’s trump card. Not to mention there was a whole thing about how Alya couldn’t contact Marinette, so how do they expect Marinette to have any way of knowing more than what was canonically stated to have been told to Marinette? There’s no way people aren’t just making up issues at this point

Rocketear then shows us something I think highlights one of the previous points very well; Ladybug notices that Chat looks upset after he’s learned that Ladybug broke the secret identify rule by handing Alya and Nino their Miraculous at the same time back during Heroes’ Day

She asks Chat what’s wrong and if he’s okay, and you know what he says? He fkn reassures her that he’s okay and it’s nothing

There you have it, ladies and gentlemen; Ladybug noticed there were signs of a problem and asked Chat about it, only to be told there was no problem. But as all the salters have told me, Ladybug just doesn’t care about Chat Noir or his problems. How do people expect her to fix a problem that she not only doesn’t know exists, but a problem that’s now actively being kept from her?

Now we come to Chat Noir no-showing to fights, which results in Ladybug needing to call in additional backup more often. At first Chat has valid reasons for not showing up; he had obligations as Adrien that he couldn’t escape. But the problem here isn’t that he didn’t show, it’s that he took the temp heroes showing up as a sign of Ladybug replacing him as her partner rather than filling a vacant but necessary role

And the problem only worsened when Chat stopped showing up to fights even when he had every opportunity to, opting out due to being depressed that Ladybug was relying more on the temp heroes… which in turn forced Ladybug to rely more on the temp heroes. He was creating his own problem

And it stumps me how so many Marinette salters decided that it was her fault for letting things get so bad between them that he was sitting out akuma fights due to depression. Dumber still, people agreeing with Adrien and saying that Ladybug is replacing Chat and she shouldn’t keep bringing out the temp heroes and instead rely more on Chat

Guys, I’m sure she’d love to rely more on Chat, but right now she can’t even rely on him to show up to his job. What do you realistically want her to do? Fight akumas all alone, without any backup? Not fight the akuma until Chat shows up first, thus enabling the akuma to run rampant and unchecked through Paris until then? Somehow figure out Chat Noir’s identify, show up at Adrien’s house and beg him to help her fight? What’s her realistic alternative to the temp heroes?

Kuro Neko is where this comes to a head. To start we have salters saying that Ladybug’s interview was insulting to Chat, but I don’t see it at all. Her exact words were “Of course [Chat and I aren’t at odds with each other], it's just that... umm, he's a partner like any other! The most important is to pick the best superheroes for each mission, with or without Cat Noir. No matter what, we've got a great team and we'll always be here to save Paris.”

She’s saying that Chat Noir wasn’t necessary for the fight, not that he wasn’t wanted or missed. Could she have phrased it slightly better? Yes. But she was put on the spot to answer a question she doesn’t know the answer to but probably secretly fears the worst for, all while knowing that she needs to reassure the public that they’re safe and that she and all the other heroes will transform back any minute now

She was trying to say “Chat Noir’s absence isn’t because of any fights between us, and I can assure you that with the help of the team, Paris won’t be any less safe than it is when we work as a duo”, not “Chat Noir is useless and I’m phasing him out in favour of all these other heroes”

Chat finally shows up and addresses his issues, albeit totally out of the blue for Ladybug since this is the first time she’s actually gotten some form of confirmation that something is, in fact, wrong. Chat shows up out of nowhere after missing a ton of akuma fights, wants to hang out and chat while Ladybug is already on the clock, then offers to help her out by going to all the meeting spots to collect the loaned Miraculous

The problem here is that Chat doesn’t know half of their identities, so in order to help Ladybug, he needs her to break the identity rule in a non-emergency situation and reveal secrets that aren’t hers to share

He tries to argue that he already knows some of the heroes, which is fair, but even then it’s made pretty clear that Ladybug doesn’t have time to work out which heroes Chat knows the identities of and then tell him where these specific individuals are currently located

They’ll all be turning back any moment now, Ladybug included, and if she turns back then it’s game over for them all. At very least King Monkey would have only lasted another three or four seconds if Ladybug had gotten his Miraculous back, and he was left dangling from a chimney

Seems to me that Ladybug is not currently in a position where she’s able to accept Chat Noir’s help, but she has made it clear that she’ll talk to him after everything is taken care of and she’s no longer racing against the clock

But because she’s turning down Chat Noir’s offer of help, regardless of circumstances, the salters blame her for it as if she and all the others wouldn’t have turned back before she even finished sharing all the heroes’ locations

There’s also an argument going around of ‘she should have told him all their identities before’, but this is ignoring that, while it’s Ladybug’s job to know this stuff as both their Guardian and not Ladybug’s place to share the secrets of others, we’ve also had several episodes detailing how dangerous it is to break the identity rule; Queen Wasp, Heroes’ Day, Miraculer, Miracle Queen, Optigami, Sentibubbler, Rocketear. Hell, three of those happened just the other week or something

And just to clarify, Ladybug still doesn’t know that this is part of an overarching issue; as far as she knows, he showed up out of nowhere after a fight, she told him multiple times that she has to rush around gathering these Miraculous and that she didn’t have time to explain where she needed to meet everyone, he was teasing and making puns while interrupting her and then she snapped that “If you want to save me time, stop wasting it in the first place!” since he was being pushy at an inappropriate time when she didn’t have the time to talk it out calmly or anything

It’s an understandable reaction when you’re trying to do something very important and someone swoops in out of nowhere and pesters you with puns and demands while you’re already on the clock, and frankly Chat did need her to snap a bit to show she was serious

And all I have to say is… that’s it? That’s all she had to do to be the bad guy in this situation, according to salters? Yes, she could’ve been more polite, sure, but Chat was the one keeping her from doing her job. Showing up with the intention of helping doesn’t absolve him of causing further disruptions. At that point he was the one disregarding social convention

And then immediately after that, Chat tells her that she should just take his Miraculous away from him as well, to which she just gives a barebones acknowledgement as she rushes away, then expresses that she doesn’t know what he meant by that. She still thinks this is just him wanting to be helpful and not taking her responsibilities seriously in favour of being playful

This is an extreme overreaction to what she perceives as just a minor bump in the road, if anything, which is probably why she didn’t catch on right away what he meant; he wouldn’t really quit being a superhero altogether just over her not having the time to talk to him right this second, right?

Plagg is the one to break it to her that there’s an overarching issue; Chat’s co-dependency issues making him struggle with the idea that he’s not necessary because job-wise he can be replaced with the temp heroes and his struggles to healthily communicate this due to his stunted social development resulting in his bottled up feelings spilling over… wait, what? He said it was because she broke Chat’s heart by not being in love with him? When the hell did that become relevant?

But some salters ate up the idea that Ladybug rejecting Chat is a moral failing on her part and all this would’ve been solved if she just dated him already. The love square isn’t even a contender in these issues, why is this the explanation? And why are people falling for it? It’s clearly just another excuse to make Marinette ‘learn a lesson’ and blame her for all this while absolving Adrien of any perceived imperfections

And to clarify once more; MariBug is now finally aware that there is some overarching conflict, but she believes it’s just Chat being butthurt that she’s still not in love with him. So nothing new. Same conflict as always

Oh, and a bit of a tangent but what the hell were the salters thinking when they blamed Marinette for going to London in Hack-San? We saw her make several attempts to get out of it, then when she couldn’t she called Alya - the second most experienced superheroine after herself and someone already familiar with Tikki and already aware of Mari’s identity - to take over for her to ensure Paris still had a Ladybug hero

Even after she was long gone, Mari was still texting Alya non-stop to provide tips for being the Ladybug hero, including special tips on how to make Chat feel valued and happy. Girl thought of everything, did all she could, and you’re still managing to complain that she should’ve just… what? Confessed to her parents that she’s Ladybug so they’d have to let her stay? Run away? Destroy all their passports?

Look, even Tom was vibing with not going, but Marinette tried every trick in the book and it all failed, so she ensured she appointed the most qualified replacement she could. That’s called being responsible

I bet those salters are the same people that got pissed off when Ladybug yelled at Chat for abandoning Paris in the New York special, despite the fact that he left completely unannounced yet pre-planned and willingly, while knowing Ladybug wouldn’t be there and without appointing anyone to fill in in his absence and as such knowingly leaving Paris undefended

Anyway, things come to a head again in the finale when Chat is yelling at Ladybug mid-battle for keeping secrets from him and being too reliant on the temp heroes rather than him and all that fun stuff. Now remember, this is once again coming out of nowhere for Ladybug, who has managed to reach the season finale without actually knowing that she’s in the middle of a season-long conflict as opposed to just same old, same old

Ladybug is trying to defend herself from both the sentimonsters and from Chat’s accusations and insults, with no idea where all this animosity has ‘suddenly’ come from

More salters argue that, once again, Ladybug should’ve caved to his whims by now, and all I can do is wonder why the middle of a huge fight is seemingly their definition of an appropriate time for that conversation, let alone any time at all being appropriate for spilling secrets that aren’t yours to share and are being kept for the purpose of child safeguarding

Salters really need to understand that while LadyNoir are equals in terms of a team unit going into battle, Ladybug is still effectively Chat’s boss due to her Guardianship role. They don’t have to be equals in absolutely every aspect, and Marinette doing her job is not a flaw in Marinette’s character or an argument towards her being a bad person who doesn’t care about Chat Noir

Then we get to the big risk of giving a Miraculous to ‘Adrien’, and salters love to claim that it’s all Ladybug’s fault because she chose Felix and not Adrien. Can you guess what I’m going to ask how, guys?

As opposed to what???

Ladybug was knowingly under the influence of an akuma that impairs judgement. She came to a very logical conclusion given the information she had that ‘Adrien’ didn’t have a mark, and thus was the only person in Paris not judgmentally impaired. She was, need I remind you, correct

The only problem is that she didn’t know - and had no way of knowing - that at that moment, Felix was pretending to be Adrien for completely unrelated reasons, just so happening to get caught up in the crossfires of whatever the hell MariBug was getting up to that day. Her logic was ‘I can’t trust myself to make a smart decision, so I’ll go to someone who I can trust to make a smart decision’. And just because Felix was already acting the part, a fact she couldn’t have possibly known, suddenly she’s to blame for the fuck-up?

Anyway, when we finally begin to conclude the LadyNoir drama, it occurs when Ladybug realised that she’s been tricked and Felix steals her yo-yo. Adrien gets in a snide comment about “If you’re gonna trust me once, please let it be this time!” which should make exactly zero sense to Ladybug

And then we get to the final scene, where Ladybug breaks down crying and apologises for lying to Chat, not listening to him, keeping him at a distance and refusing his help

And I just… what? Chat’s done all these things without context to make it understandable or called for in the moment, yet the Marinette salters are just nodding along and agreeing that she’s the one at fault. So many of them have said that Ladybug didn’t deserve his forgiveness or his loyalty or his pep talk, it baffles me

And that brings me to conclude my biggest gripe about the LadyNoir drama and the Marinette salters that go with it; MariBug was almost solely blamed by the narrative and the salters alike, but she didn’t actually know anything at all was going on until Kuro Neko (episode 23 of 26)

From there she figured it was just some of Chat’s habitual pouting on the job over his advances being rejected until the very last episode of the season but never got clarification on what exactly had been bugging him for this long, then it all magically resolved without apology or explanation

He didn’t bother with that because, by the end of the episode, Chat had gotten his way; no more temp heroes. Ladybug was now forced to rely on him and only him, so he instantly quit fighting her and carried on as though nothing had ever happened. Ladybug must’ve been reeling, no wonder she was just listing off all the bad stuff she could think of that she might’ve done; she was trying to see which one stuck. Girl lasted the entire season drama without knowing what the drama was

Marinette salters to that extent don’t take into account her perspective of many situations, and a lot of it is from Chat stans getting mad when MariBug doesn’t bend over backwards to his every whim, even when he’s actively keeping them a secret from her. She’s just supposed to telepathically know what the problem is and is expected to fix it simply because ‘they’re partners’, when even that isn’t an obligation to care for him beyond a professional capacity

Sorry I know this one is long as all hell but it really annoys me how certain Marinette salters will practically invent problems to blame her for - the show’s writers included. And to be clear, I’ve done my share of Marinette salting before, she’s far from perfect, but I do think that a lot of the salt she gets is pretty baseless

TL;DR is that my worst issue with Marinette salters is how they often blame Marinette entirely for the season 4 LadyNoir drama despite the fact that a lot of their problems with her behaviour don’t really have a reasonable alternative and she didn’t ever actually work out what the drama was truly about, having not even known there was drama until episode 23 of 26

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