The first video to come up on my fyp after I’d deleted tiktok for 4 months

FLA vs. OTT || Nov 27, 2023

Eat Your Young - Chapter One

Pairing: Spencer Reid x Reader

Summary: Your return to the city is welcomed by a plague of ritualistic murders. Even in the middle of a murder investigation, you can't help but fall for Agent Doctor Spencer Reid.

Warnings: fluff, Spencer being adorable, mentions of murder, usual cm behaviour

A/N: I hope you guys enjoy this first part! It really is just an introuduction at the moment, and I know irl, the BAU wouldn't be allowed to investigate the case due to conflicts of interest but we move! Please let me know what you think and let me know if you would like to be tagged, I love you all! xxx

Chapter One

Cold rain lashed itself against your car window as you pulled up outside the Quantico office, the sound of your son playing some zombie killing game in the passenger seat. If there was one thing you were going to miss about Florida it was going to be the endless sunshine and the sweltering heat. When you flashed the visitors pass at security – and after a bit of interrogating – they let you up to the BAU floor.

“There’s my boy,” you heard a voice echo down the hallway.

“Uncle Derek!” Sam grinned as he practically ran into his god father’s arms. Derek grinned as he glanced at up at you, pulling you into a hug.

“Killing loads of zombies, kid?” he asked, ruffling his hair.

Sam nodded and a tall man walked past, glancing down at the video game, “woah! Is that ‘The Collapse?’”

Before Sam could reply, Derek introduced you, “Y/N, this is Spencer Reid, Spence this is Y/N Rossi and her son Sam. I’ve known Y/N since she was in diapers.”

You smiled as Spencer gave you a wave, looking politely startled, “it’s nice to meet you.”

“You too, Rossi as in…” he trailed off and you nodded.

“Yep, David Rossi is my dad,” you glanced at Derek, “I take it he’s on a case?” Derek nodded at your question.

Sam didn’t look too convinced of Spencer as he eyed him – he was always wary around new people, rightfully so – when you nudged him, he finally spoke up, “you play, ‘The Collapse?’”

When Spencer nodded, he asked, “have you done the secret levels?”

Sam’s face lit up and the both of them launched into chatter.

Derek smirked as he looked back over at you, “how long are you in town for?”

“Yeah, that’s what I didn’t tell you on the phone, I’m moving back,” when Derek raised an eyebrow you elaborated, “Sam’s twelve and hardly knows his dad, Nick and I are gonna give it another shot.”

“Oh, Y/N. Please don’t tell me you’re getting back with him,” Derek groaned.

You pulled a face, “what? No, ew! We’re gonna try and co-parent properly this time, I thought it would at least be easier if we were in the same city. He’s a good dad, he deserves to see his son.”

You looked over to where Sam was chatting with Spencer about their shared interest. He’d been having a rough time lately and that was part of the reason that you decided to move back to the city.

“Are you going back into teaching?” Derek asked, drawing your attention back.

You nodded, “yeah, I’m teaching a class on Folklore at the local university,” you laughed, you had a flair for the dramatics.

“Folklore has a lot of uses to today’s society,” Spencer spoke up. Clearly he and Sam had finished their conversation.

Derek narrowed his eyes at his friend, “I’m pretty sure you called Folklore ‘hogwash’ on our last case.”

Spencer went bright red, “no, I didn’t - I didn’t mean,” he began stuttering and you had to put the poor guy out of his misery.

“It’s okay, Spencer, really. If he ever tried something like this again,” you jabbed your thumb in Derek’s direction, “you let me know and I’ll show you the baby photographs. Morgan in diapers is hilarious,” you smirked while Derek glared at you.

Spencer’s hazel eyes lit up as he chuckled, “I’ll remember that.”

You spent a few moments chatting with the two men before you had to get Sam home so he could get settled for school on Monday. You said your goodbyes and made your promises to catch up soon. Sam seemed to be in a chipper mood as you drove home – the weather had significantly brightened – he didn’t even pay attention to his videogame. Though, that didn’t stop him from giving you the low down on the storyline and the lore.

When you were making dinner that evening, Sam spoke up as he helped set the table, “can we go and see Spencer again soon? He was really nice.”

You thought it was a little odd, he didn’t normally take to people so quickly. Maybe it was because Spencer was friends with Derek, and Derek was practically his hero. You laughed a little as you got the garlic bread out of the oven.

“Yeah? You spoke to him for five minutes’ sweetie.”

“But, he doesn’t think I’m weird mom, and he said he’d teach me how to play chess,” there was a little whine to his voice that melted your heart.

“You’re not weird baby,” you kissed his forehead as you gave him his portion of spaghetti, “but I’ll see what I can do about arranging something.”

Settling in went okay – better than expected – Sam was doing well at school and you were comfortable in your new job. You’d hardly seen Derek or your dad due to back to back cases but it was okay. You knew how busy they were.

Then, you got a call at 2am on a random Thursday night, the call that changed everything. You groaned, squinting against the light from your phone, “hello?” your voice was groggy and you ran a hand through your hair.

“Hey baby, it’s Derek, you have to come in. I’ll pick you up,” the tone of his voice pulled you out of your sleepy stupor and your heart dropped like a rock.

Twenty minutes later, you were sitting in an FBI interrogation room opposite Aaron Hotchner and Spencer Reid. One man looked stoic and stern, the other soft and kind. It was Spencer who spoke first in a soft voice but his handsome face gave nothing away.

“You understand why Derek or your dad can’t be here right?”

You nodded, sitting back in your seat, they couldn’t be here because it was a conflict of interest and you still didn’t know why you were here. But you had a pretty good idea, “who is it? Who’s dead?”

“One of your students,” Hotch started, his hands resting on a dossier folder. He must have seen the panic on your face because he held up his hand, “we know you didn’t do it, we put his time of death between 8pm and 10pm. Your dad told us you were grabbing a late dinner before dropping your son off at his father’s. We just want to ask you a few questions.”

You nodded, feeling sick to your stomach, “who was it?”

“Michael Roberts,” Spencer started, “his girlfriend told us that you argued?”

“We didn’t argue,” you sighed, “I caught him dealing on campus so we had a heated conversation, that’s all.”

“And you didn’t report it to campus police?”

You shook your head, “he was there on a scholarship and he promised he wouldn’t do it again. What happened to him?”

Hotch and Spencer exchanged a glance before the older man slid the folder across to you, you felt sick as you opened the folder. He’d been found outside his dorm room with a wooden stake through his heart and a clove of garlic forced into his mouth, “he’s been killed like a..” you trailed off.

“Like a vampire,” Hotch finished for you, his hand rubbing against his jaw.

“Do you know anyone who would want to hurt him, or kill him in this way?”

You shook your head, “I didn’t really know him, he only took my class because he needed extra credit,” you paused, remembering a rumour you’d heard, “there was a rumour going round that he was cheating on his girlfriend but I don’t know with who.”

Hotch nodded, a sympathetic look on his face as he looked at your tired eyes, “I think we’re done here, just let us know if you think of anything else.”

You nodded and left the room with the two men, going to grab yourself a coffee from the break room. Your dad was standing against the fridge as you walked in and he pulled you into a tight hug.

“Dad,” you giggled, “Dad I’m fine.”

“Come on, let me drive you home.”

“Dad, we had a bottle of wine each at dinner, I am not trusting you behind the wheel,” you laughed at his mock offended expression.

“I can drive you,” you glanced over at your shoulder to see Spencer with a shy smile on his face.

“Sure, thanks,” you smiled and said your goodbyes.

You were silent as Spencer drove you home but you could see him glance at you every so often, you knew he wanted to check on you. You weren’t ready to talk yet; you knew you shouldn’t have asked to see the photograph of the crime scene but you just couldn’t help yourself. Finally, as you rounded a corner, you spoke up.

“Who would want to kill college kids? And do it straight from a horror film.”

“That’s what we need to find out,” he mumbled, “are you okay?”

“Okay, as I can be,” you were silent until you came to a horrible revelation, “do you think it was someone from my class? Someone familiar with Folklore?”

“It’s certainly possible, someone suffering from delusions. Rossi is going to send an Agent to your lectures just in case,” this whole thing just got a lot scarier, “we’re going to keep you safe, Y/N. I promise.”

hobbyist antiquaries ~ trystan x nora

Nora's resourcefulness is deterred due to an unexpected surprise. Trystan assumes the role of a verbal Wikipedia. Just two very sane people dealing with interesting wine glasses, nothing to see here. (Crimes of Passion) Painting: Still life with plums and goblet - a print from Postcard from Provence by Julian Merrow-Smith

Strong language | Teen+ | 2.5k+

A/N: This was a fic based on a prompt by @starsarewithinme. The prompt being: "Can you do a Nora x Trystan date in a museum, I would love to see Trystan spewing facts about everything" (thank you so much for the prompt! <33) and though, yes, there is a "museum" and there is a lot of Trystan talking and Nora listening, I -- might have changed a few things. You'll see! (This took me like, so long to finish, I am so glad it is done)

“This is just a box full of letters.”

In the early 1960s, Dr Strangelove or a film commonly known by the title, Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb, had a moment when one of the titular characters had their actor breaking character which shared a commonality with an opera, Pagliacci in the 1890s which had the fictional actor kill his wife and her lover on stage with the most celebrated final line ever to be heard - “The comedy is finished!”. Much like those two separate forms of art, there really was no reason for Trystan to be writing elaborate letters when he could use his computer instead. There were actual short stories in the box, addressed to people- Cristina, Nicolas and someone who just went by ‘Barman’. 

“There are some unsent letters too.” Trystan knelt down, arranging box after box. “I thought you were helping me look for the --” - he snapped his fingers, “-- the thing, the -- piece of the heir apparent crown that they gave me that I am planning to forge into a bottle opener. I just need a reason to be shuffling through these things.”

“Must you have to be this extra? You can just get a pint of paint and-- we have work to do, today, Jesus fucking Christ. I’m not going to help you go through fifteen or so boxes just because you want your Mean Girls moment.”

“What is a mean girl if not for this deplorable behaviour I am witnessing right now?” Trystan gave her an incredulous look, arms folded as he leaned against the wall in the walk-in closet.

“Well -- that’s just like your opinion, man. What do you want me to do anyway? Read them? Find the -- jewel or something from these boxes of letters? Did you write down some ‘X marks the spot’ place and then just toss that piece of paper out the window?”

“Yes, yes and yes.”

“I’m not doing the finding busi--”

“You must! I would love for you to help me.”

“You do realise Mrs Chalice has given me ten calls asking us for updates and I haven’t even opened her goddamn folder yet? Mafalda’s got the PTA meeting and after her distraction gets over, we’re going to die. We’re actually going to die, goddamn it, Trystan.”

“Oh we all know Mrs Chalice’s husband has moved to Miami, Florida in the south and has a rental company and is having his own affair under the guise of a ‘long sabbatical’ when really, he is not authorised to go on sabbaticals, nor is he a professor of liberal arts at the hilariously made-up name, the Dewey Community College. Anyone with a pair of eyes can see directly from the documents that Mrs Chalice is completely aware, they had a divorce not a long time ago and they are not even called the Chalices anyway. Her name is Paula Munsky.”

Nora blinked. “I thought I kept my books locked."

“You left the key behind, which means you can no longer bind me to this closed case that you have continued to-- taunt me with.” he didn’t bother hiding his smile. “Help me look for it, please. I will give you anything and in exchange, I will also give you full permission to ask me any questions about anything at all.”

“Why do I need to do that?”

“Because you happen to like interrogating. Sort of. Detectives are always very -- invested in such things.”

“That’s just fallible logic. If I like something, it doesn’t mean it has to happen or it has to be brought to me that very instant. You don’t know the first thing about detectiving -- or whatever you call this stuff.” Nora gestured. “But I won’t say no to a discussion. You seem to avoid a lot of questions - especially when I ask about Drakovian history.”

“It is very bloody.”

“That’s your response all the time. What’s really up?”

“The nice marble ceilings.”

“They aren’t marble, they’re cement and bricks. The jig is up. What is this really about?”

Trystan seemed to deflect his eyes away from the box of letters in front of Nora. Sighing, she removed all the loose leaves of papers away - some written in hasty Drakovian with likely foul language and some written in hasty English with very obvious foul language and some in French, which was just a list of alcohol preferences for a pub in Drakkos City named The Rosetta Stone (could have been a very informal invoice). All yellowed with the faded ink. Some were written to several museum directors across the globe, which didn’t exactly ring any alarm bells because it was on-brand for Trystan to write to the museum director of the Dimitrie Gusti National Village Museum and write to the nearest Macy’s for their appalling collection in perfumes within the same hour. 

There were old gift certificates as well. Nora had to remove a block of them all strung up with twine. 

“Okay, I don’t know. What’s all this? You can’t charades your way out of this, c’mon.”

Trystan paused, as he thought for a minute. “Two things. One, you must ask things so you do not seem like my accomplice. Two, because you are -- interrogating me, quote-unquote - it is upto you to decide whether this answer-question session goes on a record and I take it you do not have a pen and a paper with you or a tape-recorder. That will be all.”

“What the fuck?”

“American law is frivolous to understand, Detective - I have tried many, many ways to understand it. I even bought a book to help me understand, but I fear I may have bought the wrong book because nowhere does it say anything about law and now I think that it might have been airport fiction under the guise of a leatherbound book that looks like a book but is not a book. I hope you keep all of this in mind. And also--” he pointed his index finger at her, almost accusingly. “-- it is important you keep us in mind.”

Perplexed, Nora looked at the letters again. They weren’t Trystan’s handwriting nor was it addressed to anyone that was a part of Trystan’s circle of close friends and allies; not even the museum letters, apparently. 

“Trystan, why does it say King Aleksandr at the top of the page?” Nora swallowed. “And why does this one have a diagram of the palace, with Dunstan the Terrible’s name on it? And did they really call him Dunstan the Terrible when they imported all that gold to -- holy shit. These are original. These are original fucking documents from the --”

“-- 13th century, yes. Although Dunstan the Terrible was not really called ‘terrible’ rather, it was a lost-in-translation -- thing. It was a bit like how Napoleon Bonaparte’s height was severely misconstrued because they had different units of measurement back then. Drakovian has Montenegrin roots and shares a common ancestry with other Slavic languages dating back to what the Macedonian Slavs spoke and wrote down in Thessaloniki in Greece in the 9th century and--”

“Now is not the time, Trystan--” Nora dug through the other boxes to find museum artefacts such as old postcards from King Alexsandr’s reign (Trystan’s great-grandfather) depicting schoolhouses and scientific literature translated into art-form; letters from years and years ago about setting up the first automobile manufacturing plants in the south of Drakovia; armour trade from the 1910s - first editions. All of them were original copies of historical events. Original things.

If Dr Strangelove stopped truly worrying (Nora has not seen the movie, contrary to popular belief) and tried a bag of salty chips, he would call it an original flavour. The original. From when people started salting potato chips before they realised you could certainly add turmeric and oregano and whatever that was in a kitchen -- they were original, not-forged.

“Oh so now you do not want to listen to me tell you about history.”

“What the hell is going on here?” Nora asked, breathing heavily as she reached into a different box to find a chalice with wine stains on it from God-knows-when-th century. Trystan could’ve actually taken the Holy Grail and nobody would’ve known.

“That is a chalice that has only now been elevated to heirloom status. My ancestors lived to appreciate Shakespeare. Engraved is a soliloquy which was translated from English to Drakovian written by Shakespeare. We also wrote to Shakespeare by the way - asking if we could use a quotation from his work, Hamlet because back then, there was no conception of copyright or public domains but it was the closest we could use something of his in our culture, since my ancestors did express an interest in commissioning a written work from Shakespeare--”

“Stop saying Shakespeare!”

A pause.

“Methinks you are not taking it well.”

“Trystan--” Nora rubbed her forehead. “What is all this doing here?”

“The Queen sent it to me for safekeeping. Of course I am kidding, I -- might have stolen them.”

“You what?”

“I might have stolen them!”

Nora gaped at him; a ‘you are serious, you are actually serious’ look that she often wore when Trystan were to say something utterly outlandish, like, “I have personally met the band, ABBA on tour” and “Thank you for being such an important part of my life”. 

“You’re kidding.”

“No.”

“You stole --” Nora swallowed, the words dying at her lips. “You’re --”

“A final act of rebellion.”

“Did you have to steal from the treasury though?”

“They are not exactly from the treasury. The Palace has its own collection of artefacts from the region - some, they stole from black market cooperations and I hope to return it to some actual museums and other museums from where it was stolen, than have it in the Palace for them as a last minute option for them to sell. Besides, it is a final act of rebellion.”

Nora didn’t say anything. She didn’t know whether to laugh or laugh some more, out of the last ounce of respect she had for Trystan’s parents. She didn’t know whether Trystan’s Robin Hood act was commendable, since it was absurd at best. It was the kind of thing that made Nora go through what she’d done - a kind of retrospection in the supermarket zucchini she called her life. 

“But did you have to steal?”

“I dunno, did I?”

Nora stared at him.

“That works best if you said ‘can you have to’ - never mind.”

“I’m -- friends with a criminal now.”

“Not everything has to be about you, Detective. Sheesh. And we are dating, by the way. Clarification. You must help me.”

“No. Absolutely not.”

“Be my character witness.”

“One trial didn’t do it for you?”

“I have been reading the law very thoroughly!”

“Trystan, you stole from your royal treasury, were kicked out of your family and  -- forget the law. They’re going to send assassins after you.”

“Oh you do not have to worry about that. I fabricated the evidence, which, yes, does not sound good but works out perfectly for the both of us. Now -- where were we? The chalice is actually symbolic of the years and years of literature and art that the people turned to, as a result of being invaded so many times. It is patriotic, while being a nice cup to drink wine out of. It appears gold, but is made out of brass and the gold comes from the process of electroplating. It was a huge thing in the 1800s in Italy, when Ion Minovici, a then pharmaceutical chemist, learned and brought it to our region. You might know him as the distantly-related, never-before-mentioned relative of Nicolae Minovici, who was a Romanian forensic scientist who made some very impactful contributions to the field.”

“You -- fabricated the evidence.”

“But the chalice!”

Nora sighed. She could only sigh. She could only exhale air out of her mouth in desperation. She could only express fatigue through involuntary expressions such as this. She could also call her fist through the nearest wall another involuntary expression, but that might be a step too far and a therapist’s visit in the making. So she groaned, as if it was an everyday occurrence that Trystan would just rob his family who had expressed a severe disinterest in him.

“Okay. What do we do?” Nora asked.

“I am contacting some museum curators in Drakkos.”

“So you’re giving it back?”

“I have no business with these letters - apart from learning that my great-great ancestor had an affair with a merchant in France and that is precisely why we have an indecipherable painting in the foyer. The chalice - I might keep it for my own selfish consumption.”

“That’s all? A couple of letters and postcards and this?”

“What? I am not a -- Scooby-Doo villain, Detective, to rob gold and diamonds.”

“I don’t believe it. Remind me to check your car trunk later.”

“The boot. It is called a boot. Anyway.” Trystan sat down on the closet floor, “Will this jeopardise what we have?”

“The chalice is oddly nice for a two hundred year old object.”

“Try six hundred.”

“They had this back in the fifteenth century?”

“I believe so. When did Shakespeare write Hamlet again?”

“I didn’t take AP Lit. I think it was 1599.”

“But fifteenth century does not mean fifteen-ninety-nine. That is the sixteenth century. The Gregorian calendar says so. Shakespeare was predominant in the seventeenth century.”

“So, why does this predate Shakespeare but -- have Hamlet written on it? Or is it really Hamlet?”

“I do not know, this -- is really old Drakovian and I can barely understand it, much less read it. Do you know of any pawn shops nearby? Can we consult Rick Harrison from the History Channel?”

“I think we should approach this with rationality and calm.” Nora insisted. “Let’s put this away. I’ll contact some people I know - don’t ask who or what - but some people and maybe we can get some answers.”

Trystan knew Nora would come through for him. It was nice to know he wasn’t completely lonely to deal with the pitfalls of this incredible plan he’d thought through, till its execution. As he paced around, waiting for her to finish her phone call, he couldn’t help but feel a new sense of gratitude. Sure, they were dating and they did sobbingly declare they liked each other like teenagers under the bleachers in those American teen movies but there was something so particularly poignant about them as a team. A problem-solving team. One of them created the problem and the two solved them. It felt nice, it felt great. 

“How expensive would it be to stage an assassination?” Nora asked.

“I can get you one for fifty three dollars - I am sorry, what?”

“My underground friends have no idea. We should take our shovels, drive up to a highway and bury this.”

“Or we could drink out of it. They do belong to my grandfathers, after all and they would want it to be used as a utensil. It is like one of those family glass bowls that are passed down to children and their children and they hold fruit, as in actual fruit.”

Nora took a deep breath. “You knew this was coming, right?”

“I planned it until the very end of this operation. Except I have to have a confidant and I only ever trust one person as of now. Unfortunately you are also a detective and I thought it would be nice if you found out on your own, so you are not an accomplice and you choose to keep this secret out of your own free will. Man can do what he wills.” Trystan quoted. 

“I’m not arresting you. I don’t think I can even turn you in. My rights as a private detective are severely limited. The most I can do is call up Captain Thompson, which I would rather drink bleach than do that.”

“Great. Let us drink something -- pleasant instead.”

“It’s ten in the morning. And no to drinking out of that cup. We’ve got to get it tested, examined - it’s centuries old. Restored, maybe. And we need to check if it is dishwasher friendly.”

“The manual might have something about throwing ancient fiery goblets into the dishwasher. Anyway--” Trystan stood up and went to the kitchen counter. “Two glasses of orange juice, then?”

“Might be a bit late to ask, but do you have other things I need to know about? Artefacts, human -- I dunno - skulls?”

“Those books are ancient. I have a first edition copy of Pride and Prejudice. Also a family treasure that I did not steal - no, I found it in the library and it deserved a better place than a dusty section marked English Literature in weary handwriting. Hiding in plain sight. Enough to fool a detective, even.”

“I was perfectly happy not having to worry about this.” Nora swallowed her orange juice like drinking vodka out of a shot glass. “Anything else?”

“Thank you. You are wonderful. And brilliant at detectiving. Simply the best. Thank you for coming through for me. It is important you know how grateful I am.”

“You don’t have to thank me.”

“We might have to take a personal sabbatical on our own and track down the primary origins of the chalice. It will be fun, nonetheless. Right up your alleyway or in your personal domain of interest -- or whatever expression that is. It will be fun!”

“Knew this was coming.”

“Have I mentioned you have really wonderful eyes?”

***

Tagging:

Perma: @quixoticdreamer16 @tessa-liam

Crimes only: @peonierose @cassie-thorne @jerzwriter @trappedinfanfiction @ao719 @lilyoffandoms @fuckitweball0000

some ttpd speculation/predictions/hypotheses under the cut. don't take this too seriously it's just Vibes

fortnight: it's gotta be like 'it's been two weeks since we broke up' or 'it's been two weeks since we last spoke' type of vibes right??? i'm thinking something in the same vein of 'now that we don't talk,' reckoning with the weirdness of not having your person in your life anymore. the post malone verse is making me feel like this is gonna be less angsty than some of the others

the tortured poets department: i think this is gonna be a reflection on the speaker's relationship, the 'how long could we be a sad song' of it all, discussing being stuck in a sad loop with someone where you're both depressy all the time but staying because you love one another, 'don't want no other shade of blue but you' and things and such

my boy only breaks his favourite toys: no major thoughts on this one. maybe a commentary on the tendency to hurt those we love the most??? or feeling objectified or disposable in a relationship, not unlike a toy. perhaps both

down bad: this has to be a play on words right. like being 'down bad' for someone, but emphasis on the bad? or maybe just general depression vibes because down = sad. if this is a literal generic 'falling in love with someone new' song i might be disappointed

so long, london: i'm guessing that feeling of leaving somewhere you love behind, seeing it in a different light for the first time, london used as a metaphor for a relationship where the speaker felt trapped or otherwise 'caged in'

but daddy i love him: i think it's gonna be about the feeling of like. being in a toxic relationship, and everyone around you can tell that something is up, but you're so deeply entrenched in the dynamic that you can't take an objective view of it. hence friends/family/others seeing it in a negative light

fresh out the slammer: i feel like this is pretty self-explanatory, that sense of escaping from a dynamic that felt more like a punishment isolating you from others than a true equal relationship. i can see it not unlike cowboy like me with extended crime-related metaphors and similes

florida!!! ft. florence + the machine: the exclamation marks are making me nervous. lol i think this will be almost a continuation of fresh out the slammer, escaping a relationship that was on its last legs for some time and tasting true freedom. it's still painful but slightly more optimistic than the above tracks. idk all bets are off with this one

guilty as sin?: once more the question mark is throwing me off here. perhaps a reflection on the part of the speaker on their own behaviour, how they could have done things differently throughout the relationship, to help themselves if not their partner. idkidkidk

who's afraid of little old me?: again with the punctuation!!! mayhaps this is more of a self-deprecating take on the prev song, the speaker truly taking accountability for their actions but in a tongue-in-cheek way. think anti-hero 2.0

i can fix him (no really i can): i think this will be about returning to the aforementioned toxic relationship time and again under the misapprehension that, this time, things will be different, that your partner will be different and you'll be different with them, ending with the realisation that you can't make someone change or what have you

loml: i think this is gonna be another twist on the expected, like 'you were the love of my life but you're not anymore' type of vibes. or maybe 'you will always be important to me but i will have many great loves in my life, not just you'

i can do it with a broken heart: something something the pressure to perform while heartbroken??? we all go through Struggles and heartbreaks but we can't necessarily see that in someone at first glance, we just need to keep it pushing or whatever

the smallest man who ever lived: the diss track to end all diss tracks. need i say more

the alchemy: i'm thinking ariana grande supernatural vibes, meeting someone new and having it feel like this unexpected cosmic collision, the magic that comes with being able to move forward

clara bow: it's giving the lucky one/tlgad where the speaker is singing about someone else's journey with fame, acclaim, and notoriety, but really singing about themselves

anyway again this is all just for fun and if ANY of this comes true i will be shocked. mwah

The text murals 'Alex Nieto' and 'The Future is Black' that were at Bernal Heights Park before their sudden removal by San Francisco's Parks department in April 2022.

"The murals served as reminders of racism and police brutality.

One, reading “The Future is Black,” was painted during the Black Lives Matter protests that swept the nation in mid-2020.

The other was a tribute to Alex Nieto, the 28-year-old Bernal Heights resident who was shot to death in a barrage of bullets from four San Francisco Police Department officers in 2014. The Nieto memorial was painted just weeks ago, around the time of the eight-year anniversary of his death, March 21.

“Covering this mural represents the continued erasure of Brown people in the Bernal, but also SF as whole,” said activist DoggTown Dro in a statement to Mission Local. “We’re murdered, incarcerated, and aggressively displaced by over policing, economic exclusion, and gentrification. They erased his life and then erased his name.”"

‘The Future is Black,’ Alex Nieto murals erased from Bernal Heights path - Mission Local

28 year old Alex Nieto had been sitting in the park on the evening of March 21 2014, eating a burrito, on his way to work as a nightclub bouncer. He'd lived in the neighbourhood his whole life, was a licensed security guard, a sometime youth counsellor, and a practising Buddhist.

A white "professional", Evan, who recently moved in to the area was walking his dog, which went after Nieto, attracted by his food. Evan meanwhile was apparently too distracted ogling women jogger's to deal with his dog's aggressive behaviour. A row broke out when Alex Nieto pulled out his work taser to defend himself. Evan racially abused him and later texted to a friend how “in another state like Florida, I would have been justified in shooting Mr Nieto that night”

Soon after, a white tech couple who had also recently moved into the area were unnerved by the sight of Alex, who was apparently upset (whilst being Latino), and one claimed to see him holding the taser which he thought was a gun. Another witness at the time however stated that he saw nothing unusual.

Of course the police were called.

Five minutes later Alex Nieto was dead, riddled with 59 bullets, after a one-sided confrontation with the 4 police sent after him. The police later claim they felt threatened and that he had aimed the taser at them (highly unlikely for obvious reasons).

A witness to the encounter stated that Nieto had not even raised his hands. The police simply shouted stop and then blasted away with their guns.

The family fought for a trial of the police, which finally happened in 2016.

On Thursday 10 March, after a mere afternoon and morning of deliberations, the eight jurors – five white, one Asian woman and two Asian men – unanimously ruled in favour of the police on all counts.

This jury found that the four San Francisco police officers "did not use excessive force" when they shot a virtually unarmed man 59 times, a man who'd just been trying to eat his dinner in his local park.

totally forgot i watched the new beyond our ice BUT here are my Thoughts: dewey 2, Shark Guy. it’s the best thing i’ve ever seen. i have never ever seen that man so smiley and he is geeking out and naming these sharks, like the hyperfixation is showing my little ocean guy. also his dad calling him ‘con’ tugged on my heartstrings. so cute. oh my GOD and he used to wear a necklace with a shark tooth. DORK. YOU GODDAMN DORK. THE CUTEST EVER. and another thing. them smashing down raspberry twisted teas so shamelessly like they’re teenage girls is so correct in every way bc yea that is them. teenage girls on a yacht, the deep sea fishing was just a front actually (not for dewey 2 he came for BUSINESS). dewey 1 already being shirtless five seconds into being on the boat is such slut behaviour, but can you blame him? he’s on his Land, at home with the rest of That florida energy. oh and finally boldy with the sunnies in his hair was just nope. i cant handle him. i have to not look at him because i will just Want him.

By: Ari David Blaff

Published: Sep 12, 2021

The National Student Clearinghouse (NSC), a non-profit education organization, published a report earlier this year that ought to have alarmed many Americans. Compared to the prior semester, the decline in male university enrollment was double that of women:

Enrollment declines are steeper for men than for women across all sectors (declined by 400,000 and 203,000 students, respectively). This trend is especially visible in the community college sector, with male enrollment dropping by 14.4 percent compared to a 6 percent decline in female enrollment. Also, the increase of 44,000 female students (+1 percent) is contrasted with a drop of 90,000 male students (-2.7 percent) in the public four-year institution sector.

If this trend continues, an NSC executive confirmed, “In the next few years, two women will earn a college degree for every man.”

This isn’t news, however. While COVID-19 has played a major part in the overall decline in enrollment, the unfortunate reality is that boys and men have been struggling academically for decades. Male and female academic performance began to diverge in the 1950s:

The Harvard economist Richard Murnane has tracked high school graduation rates since the 1970s and concluded that men have essentially stagnated at around 80 percent (slightly below the ~85 percent indicated by the table above), while women continued to rise, today approaching 90 percent. Women are the principal reason that national graduation rates are up.

The educational advancement of women is strange when viewed alongside the floundering of men. By the end of the 2021 academic year, roughly 60 percent of all college students—a record high—will be women. Estimates from the American Student Government Association now peg female leadership at around 60 percent of all student body presidents and 74 percent of vice presidents. Douglas Belkin recently explored these issues in the Wall Street Journal and found that, of the 1.5 million fewer aspiring students who colleges drew in the past five years, 70 percent of the decline was attributed to men. “[H]igher education’s dirty little secret,” as one consultant called it, is now so bad that certain schools have quietly implemented an “affirmative action for boys” to balance the groaning gender disparity.

* * *

This is an unwelcome development for boys already struggling to tread water alongside resilient girls. Boys, particularly black boys, are disciplined at higher levels than girls. In 2017, a team of researchers led by MIT economist David Autor analyzed a decade of Florida schooling records from 1992 to 2002 which revealed that boys were penalized more frequently. Rather than simply comparing gender disparities in suspensions and school absence, the group analyzed brothers and sisters from identical households and discovered that boys received more suspensions and were absent more often despite hailing from the same social environment. Summarizing the research, Jeff Guo wrote in the Washington Post, “It’s not yet clear why girls are so tough, but they seem much better suited to the challenges of modern childhood.” Indeed, childhood adversity holds long-term negative influences for male development to which women appear to be far less susceptible.

These findings were echoed in a study by Brown University’s Jayanti Owens in 2016 that found four- and five-year-old boys were “less likely to learn and more likely to be held back in school” than girls for exhibiting similar misbehaviour. Despite boys exhibiting higher rates of maladaptive behaviour such as difficulty paying attention, “regulating emotions, delaying gratification, and forming positive relationships with teachers and peers,” when such traits manifested appeared in girls, they were treated differently. “Implicit stereotypes,” Owens writes, “may lead to increased grade retention and disproportionately harsh discipline, such as school suspension or expulsion, which in turn are associated with lowered achievement and, ultimately, attainment.”

Since boys are also expelled more, they spend less time in classrooms learning, accelerating the already yawning educational gap behind studious girls. While a host of factors contribute to the ongoing academic struggle of boys—such as single-parent households and the disproportionate influence of low socioeconomic status—administrative discipline compounds these underlying issues. Taken together, boys’ behavioural issues alongside educators’ unequal treatment, Owens estimates, account for nearly 60 percent “of the gender gap in schooling.”

Nor is America exceptional in this regard. Across the mostly developed Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), boys are lagging behind girls. A meta-analysis led by a team of Australian academics concluded, “Overall, girls had significantly higher grades than boys by 6.3 percent.” Likewise, male enrollment throughout the OECD has been largely declining since the 1980s.

* * *

The accomplishments of women across the developed world over the past century are truly remarkable and merit acknowledgment. Issues along socioeconomic and racial lines linger, but the trajectory of female inroads in education and employment has blazed a trail for women to achieve a level of success, independence, and autonomy unthinkable even two generations ago.

The same cannot be said of men. Lost education and lost prestige have been exacerbated by an inability to discuss men’s issues thoughtfully. Partly, this is a by-product of the toxicity found in certain corners of the men’s rights movement. However, much of it comes from the corrosiveness of gender politics. Modern Americans struggle to square the stereotype of white male privilege with what the title of Warren Farrell’s brilliant book calls The Boy Crisis.

Speaking with Jerlando Jackson, a department chair at the University of Wisconsin, Douglas Belkin writes that many campuses avoid the issue altogether because of bad optics. “[F]ew campuses have been willing to spend limited funds on male underachievement that would also benefit white men, risking criticism for assisting those who have historically held the biggest educational advantages.” Jackson, an African American academic, argues, “As a country, we don’t have the tools yet to help white men who find themselves needing help … To be in a time when there are groups of white men that are falling through the cracks, it’s hard.” Another issue Belkin highlights has been studied by Keith Smith, a mental health counselor at the University of Vermont. Smith found that men face disproportionate disciplinary consequences for misbehaviour while under the influence of drugs and alcohol. As a result, he proposed the creation of a men’s center catered to helping them through the difficulties of university. Women on campus were having none of it. Smith reported that “Why would you give more resources to the most privileged group on campus?” was a common objection.

Unboxing the illusion of male academic privilege is something that should have been done decades ago. Beyond the extensively documented academic decline of men across most developed nations, boys are far more likely to be disciplined, face expulsion, and therefore lose valuable time learning. Accordingly, boys “report significantly higher rates of grade repetition (by 4.5 percentage points) and lower educational expectations.” These problems are compounded by boys being diagnosed with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) at four times the rate of girls, with the former representing a comfortable majority of special education students. By 2018, when Stanford researchers released a landmark study assessing 10,000 of the country’s 12,000 school districts from 2008 to 2014, the findings could not have been clearer. “In no district,” the New York Times summarized, “do boys, on average, do as well or better than girls in English and language arts. In the average district girls perform about three-quarters of a grade level ahead of boys.” By comparison, gender parity in math scores has largely been achieved, though in some districts boys outperform girls.

Researchers place the roots of academic divergence around the fourth grade as reading habits solidify amongst girls and wither for boys. This produces dramatic consequences for their development as girls subsequently consume approximately 100,000 more words per year than boys. To say, then, that boys and men are “the most privileged group on campus” is to be intellectually stuck in the America of a century ago.

* * *

Unfortunately, it’s such outdated thinking that has left Americans incapable of understanding any issue affecting men beyond hot-take headlines. The reality of boys struggling throughout the educational pipeline is all the more uncomfortable given that these academic environments can be most hostile to them. Gender studies academics who decry “bro culture” and “patriarchy” ignore the tragic condition of some boys today. This enables activist scholars to dismiss reforms that may be beneficial. For instance, the gender reading gap converges later on in earlier adulthood. According to an OECD working paper, once boys and girls “leave compulsory schooling and have greater opportunities to choose their own reading materials or are required to read at the workplace,” they display similar reading skills. So, perhaps greater educational flexibility through revising assigned reading lists would address male reading underperformance better than claptrap about patriarchy and privilege.

Exploring the issue of gender representation at the teaching level could also be an interesting avenue for further inquiry. Since the late-20th century, teaching has actually become more gendered, skewing female. Whereas two-thirds of public-school teachers in the early ‘80s were women, by the 2010s that had crept up to three-quarters. Coupled with the stigmatization male teachers face in a predominantly female profession, we should consider whether the absence of male role models influences the outcome of impressionable boys. After all, racial disparities are shown to have an educational impact. Research from the Brookings Institute notes that the implications have yet to be determined for the teaching gender gap but such questions, once again, fall outside the purview of activists searching for a male bogeyman.

Christina Hoff Sommers documented much of this two decades ago in her seminal work, The War on Boys. “Schools shortchange girls,” the American Association of University Women then declared. Patricia O'Reilly, a professor of education and director of the Gender Equity Center at the University of Cincinnati, argued, “It is really clear that boys are no. 1 in this society and in most of the world.” Evidently, having a ringside seat to the unfolding crisis doesn’t move certain educators. Moreover, these very people have promoted an academic environment in which universities stumble over one another to announce funding, grants, and initiatives for women, while carefully avoiding the third rail of male academic failure.

* * *

The good news is that the issues affecting boys today are not the result of female success; the levers by which we can help men should not come at the expense of women. But that is precisely how gender equality discussions have been framed. The website of the global humanitarian organization Plan International has a page dedicated to explaining “a Man’s Role in Gender Equality Activism” which opens with an instruction that men must acknowledge their privilege. While it is demanded that men “stand with women and girls in their daily struggles for the eradication of patriarchal, sexist, and misogynist constructs,” there’s no mention of the hurdles men face. To suggest that boys might not have it all made within such circles is tantamount to sexism.

This zero-sum competition for sympathy and attention has distorted our ability to be compassionate. Look no further than the well-established fact that men commit the overwhelming majority of suicides across the globe. Instead of addressing the topic as part of a gender equality movement by advocating on behalf of struggling men, the Australian charity, One Woman Project, published a 2019 blog post entitled, “The Gender Disparity in Suicidality is a Myth.” Eleanor McKelvey, the organization's Head of Online Engagement, writes: “[W]hilst it is true that 75 percent of deaths from suicide in Australia are male; suicidality is not an exclusively male epidemic. Women are three times more likely to attempt suicide than men.” What exactly is she fighting about? It seems that the problem is understood as a contest in which the winner is determined by whoever has the more distressing suicide statistics. Distastefully, McKelvey uses the tragedy of male suicide to crowbar in the gratuitous assertion that “young, white, straight cis-men have not been the primary victims of our historically ignorant stance on mental health.” This is the politics of resentment at its worst.

That same year, the Washington Post ran an op-ed entitled, “Why the Patriarchy Is Killing Men,” about this very issue. This is in keeping with incendiary tweets sent by Chidera Eggerue, another prominent feminist commentator, following a question about male suicide. “If men are committing suicide because they can’t cry,” she wrote, “how’s it my concern?” Eggerue insisted that the comments served a higher cause. “My points run deeper and I’m requesting that we create a dialogue about the bigger issue of patriarchy.” If dying men are a political football to gender equality activists, imagine the controversy helping men on campuses would provoke.

The taboo against humanizing the struggles of boys and men must end. True gender equality activists should re-commit themselves to the principle embodied in their name. When we see young men, regardless of race or ethnicity, struggling in school while their female peers glide past them, we should help them, not condemn or belittle them as progressive activists have tended to do. Young boys will be the true victims, falling ever-further behind, if these gender turf wars thwart our ability to speak to and hear one another.

[ Via: https://archive.md/89S4p ]

==

When attempts to help those who need help the most must be conducted in hushed tones for fear of the wrath of shrill scolds, the "privilege" cannot lie where they pretend it does.

We're not supposed to notice that those we're most afraid of, the ones who get their way the most often, the ones who silence, the ones who control policy, are the one who claim to be, or claim to speak on behalf of, the ones who are "marginalized."

"Privilege" is being able to control society - from government to industry to media to entertainment to education - and still pretend you're the real victim.

JUNKIE BOI HEADCANON TIME!

First off, go read their post, because I like a lot of those head canons.

He likes a good shower, will spend hours in there at a time

Despite this, roadhog will spray him with a spray bottle, and Jamie hates it.

Jamison is either from, or spent a good amount of time in the Northern Territory. (The Florida of Australia)

Junkrat is shockingly good at maths and science and shit.

No junkrat is intelligent in general. He doesn’t have social/life smarts tho. But man is an excellent engineer to start with. He also has a massive vocabulary.

I think he would have found and read/watched old books/dvds/vhs tapes and shit. Large portion of his smarts.

So we all agree man has ADHD. That’s basically unanimous. But I think he also has some autism signs. Adhd with autistic behaviours.

Definetly fruity. The only question is what kind

I'm honestly kind of curious about how you decided on different people's powers. With Avi, you said it was because of the reactor and because of Avi liking dragons. What about some of the others? Pick a group and tell me about the ones you've revealed so far. (Also, how's writing going?)

I'm gonna do VoicePlay since they were most definitely the first and had the most thought put into them:

Geoff

Geoff being a demon is because he's often nicknamed the "bass demon" in comments and since lots of the characters he plays in music videos have demon vibes or are villains (Oogie Boogie, Baron, his costume in My Mother Told Me, Geoffsula, Mr Hyde, a vampire, Tamatoa...). It just really fits with the glowing red eyes, claws, wings... but it also immediately gave me the idea for a storyline of him not wanting to be that evil monster that people see demons as because Geoff is a really caring person but the aggression from his demon blood sometimes takes over.

Eli

Eli's super speed comes from his general behaviour. If you've watched him while he's singing - especially live - you'll see he's almost constantly moving. People always joke how Geoff needs his hands to sing, but they’ve clearly never looked at Eli. The best example of this might be him singing Superstition. Not the new cover with Omar, one of the first videos on VoicePlay's channel where he sings it solo with a band. Another influence is his vocal agility (his runs, the way he can sing so many different notes clearly and quickly and how his very fast parts are also always easy to understand lyrics-wise) and how quickly he talks. Also, he stated in the VoicePlay True Stories stream that he's never late and he gets very rushed and anxious if he is. Also, vibes.

Earl

Now, Earl's super strength was prompted by @florida-irl, actually. Also, look at him. That's a strong man. It's almost too obvious what his superpower has to be. Also, this video. He literally flexes and tears his overall doing it. That just sealed the deal. He had to be a super strong gummy bear vibes person.

Evelynn

For Evelynn, being my OC, I knew I wanted something special. The whole thing each of the groups is known for is music, so somebody had to have some sound-related power. Well, Layne also does, but that's something for another day. Evelynn's powers are inspired by comments saying things like "x's bass could cause an earthquake" or "i'm surprised y's high note didn't shatter my windows". Of course, it's scientific nonsense, but, y'know, what if it wasn’t? Partially inspired by Viktor in The Umbrella Academy, Evelynn can use the vibrations created by sounds and make them stronger to either make objects or her environment vibrate or turn them into a shock wave sort of thing.

Writing's going pretty well, though not for this AU. Not yet. Another plot bunny appeared and demanded my attention. BUT I made some rough concepts for this story on my ride home today and figured I could write something for it tonight. Then again, this AU would just take the special bond between Evelynn and Austin as a given fact and that would rob me of my epic reveal moment by spoiling it. So, I think I'll write the reveal tonight! Tonight meaning now, actually, it's 9pm already, I gotta get started already

𝐟𝐫𝐚𝐧𝐤𝐢𝐞 𝐜𝐚𝐬𝐭𝐫𝐨   ;    ʙᴇᴀᴄʜ ʜᴜᴛ ᴘʀᴏᴍᴘᴛ !

what are your thoughts on max & dejan’s exit last night? why didn’t you vote for them?

         “ man, was that only last night ?  that feels like ages ago. ”  frankie waits for clarification from the camera crew.  it’s true what they say — a day on the inside feels like a week on the outside. “ sorry. so much has happened in the past few days, it’s just like... the inside of my brain right now looks like you gave a child a magic marker and just let them go absolutely balls-to-the-wall wild with it. ”  last night, she’d been crying about max leaving ( but it was hay fever ), fighting with callie, and then attempting to patch things up with her. today, she can’t even think about any of that, because she was yanked out of bed at the crack of dawn and transplanted to a new villa, with six new people.  “ i wanted to vote for them, but callie wanted rhys and bash. she’s been here longer, she knows the group dynamics better, so ultimately i let her do the choosing. it hurt to see max go, but i trust callie’s judgement. ” 

how are you feeling about the start of casa amor?

        “ honestly, i’m not gonna lie, i still don’t really know what casa amor is ? it’s like, we’re taken from our original partners and given all these new options ?  why not just put them in with all of us ? ”  unless the intention is to see if their behaviour differs when they’re away, like a boys holiday to ibiza where everybody fucks a stranger. but nobody’s official at the moment, so it feels like there’s not that much at stake. “ it’s actually nice to be away from all the drama. i know some of the originals — us, not the vampires — are super depressed about the whole thing, but that’s such a buzzkill for the new people. like, they’re just trying to have a good time, don’t shit all over them because you can’t get your dick sucked. i’m just gonna go with the flow and try to enjoy it, because you never know when you’re gonna get sent home to florida. ”  

are there any new islanders that have caught your attention? who?

      “ yeah, but more in a you seem fun to hang out with way than in a damn girl way. val’s sexy, mali’s cool, layla has a good vibe. even phoebe, which shocked me, because i did cheer in high school and had a really bad experience that basically scarred me for life. you ever see the movie easy a ?  it was like that but with cheerleaders. but phoebe’s not a bitch. uh... who else ?  miles caught my attention, mostly because he blundered through his introduction. ”  frankie’s snort-laughing as she attempts an impression. “ hi, i’m... smoking hot ! ”   she’s definitely not gonna let that one go.  “ but it was actually really endearing. he’s hot, he’s made it pretty clear he thinks i’m hot, and josh said he’s into me and that i should give him a shot. jury’s still out on whether i will. ” shrugging her shoulders, she bites down on her lip. “ i’m not actively looking to get to know someone, because i’m very happy in my current couple. but if somebody stumbles into my eyeline and there’s a vibe ?  i’m not going to shut anything down before i decide it’s run its course. ”

are there any new islanders you don’t see yourself vibing with?

     “ adela, which is a bummer because she’s super cute, but i can already tell she doesn’t like me and has like a wasp in her vag about it. i don’t know if she feels threatened because the title of resident sporty good time girl has already been claimed, or if she just hates the fact that everyone wants to fuck me, but it sounds like a her problem. i’m not getting involved. take it up with the ofcom therapist, dude. ”

do you think that your head could be turned?

        frankie purses her lips, considering her answer ( which is more than she’s done for any of the other questions ).  “ honestly, not really. i think they’d have to graft really hard to turn my head. callie and i have a good thing going, i’m excited to see if it becomes more than what it is. but at the same time, it’s been four days, and i said i wanted to keep my options open so... i’m not gonna shoot anyone down on day one. if they want to put their grafting boots on, they’re welcome to — who am i to stop people from telling me i’m sexy — but yeah, i don’t know if anyone else will have that same intensity and that chemistry with me that callie does. ” 

what do you think your ‘other half’ is up to in the other villa right now? how are you feeling about them?

    “ oh man, callie is gonna be so pissed about this. i’m just hoping she takes this as like, a good opportunity. obviously you get tested in the real world. people will hit on me, people will hit on her, sometimes we’ll want to explore that, and we’ll have to navigate that as a couple if this is going to work. ”  all of that’s true, and it doesn’t help that probably six out of six bombshells will be attempting to whistle careless whisper against callie’s snatch, but frankie has faith. “ selfishly, i hope she isn’t currently dry-humping some random from michigan, but i don’t put it past the bombshells not to lay it on like war paint. callie’s the fittest girl in there, she’s got a good heart, and she’s popular with viewers. i wanted her enough to steal her, so why wouldn’t they ?  i just hope she decides that i’m worth the trouble of sticking around. ”  

idubbbz's apology was much needed and long overdue, I myself consumed a lot of his content because I didn't wanna be like other queers / poc and wanted to be accepted by the "cool" kids. It led to years of internalised homophobia, transphobia, and racism. I do personally forgive him because his apology seemed sincere but the damage he has done is forever.

On the other hand, Moistcritical's responses to Ian's apology have not only been dogshit but also insane because 1) the apology was not meant for you because you never had to endure any discrimination or trauma because of Ian's content 2) discounting the usage of slurs and making bigoted comments all the fucking time is not "edgy". It's bigoted 3) this behaviour was never acceptable, it was just mainstream 4) no one was "living in harmony" are you insane????? 5) the apology was not. for. you.

It seems to me like Charlie felt attacked by Ian calling his audience struggling basement dwellers because he is a part of that audience and he still thinks saying slurs as a joke is okay. And the fact that he doubled down on it was fucking insane to me. How can someone make something completely unrelated to them about themselves?? He needs to get his head out of his ass.

I'm disappointed but then again I should've known better because he's a cishet white man living in Florida lmfao. Also funny how he did not mention that interaction with the trans fan at all... Idk I just felt so uncomfortable that I unsubbed. I cannot consume his content anymore without feeling weird about it

My usual clothes + stuff are black, grey, brown, etc. or dark colours like mustard, oxblood, navy. My usual purse is a black leather one or a reusable tote from a vet’s office. I’m not fancy or expensive + I don’t need or want that stuff.

But since the #DontSayGay bill + internet homophobia + transphobia is more blatant, I'm working to become Aggressively Gay. I don't know how to but I HAVE been described as "aggressive," so...

I don't have the money to be as #gay as I'd like. 🏳️‍🌈

Please consider sending an #AggressivelyGay fund to

C/A $PerthroSupplies or

p@ypal: PerthroSupplies (all one word.) 💜

for me, being queer is just... one part of my whole personality? Being queer is not necessarily a personality. It is an attribute, like when you look at DnD books and characters have inherent attributes, like one race being strong by default, or one being tall.

But people have a Problem with existing while Gay. Existing while Queer. We’re promoting hate crimes if I kiss a girl, or if a guy wears leather at Pride (uh, Judas Priest? Yeah, that one. You’re saying Judas Priest shouldn’t be at a Pride festival because... what. k.) And I’m queer in Florida all year round.

Many of us queers may be familiar with the viral hoax “Relentlessly Gay,” where a woman claimed that a neighbour wrote an anonymous letter telling her to “tone down” her yard because it was becoming “relentlessly gay.” That particular incident was fake. She made it up for a Go Fund Me scam. But... that isn’t too far off from how we ACTUALLY DO experience things. I don’t get a GFM set up because some college guys drove up, almost hitting the sidewalk, and threw a drink at me because I’m a fucking queer. But THIS WOMAN. The audacity. And we gave $43K USD in all. (She had to return it but still.)

Instead, I submit to you “Aggressively Gay.” Aggressively Gay is something I bet most people, esp outside the US, would not know about or remember. Aggressively Gay is what a nominee for Secretary of Defense called an ambassador nominee, stating that the guy was incapable of doing his job because being gay is inherently hated and wrong. #ThanksObama but for real, you picked this homophobe to be Secretary of Defense. Obama was a centrist Democrat, which aligns more with what AT THE TIME was a liberal Republican.

See, every country shifts what defines Left v. Right, so what is acceptable to be defined at “middle” will shift Left or Right- ie, you get very extreme behaviour, polarizing sometimes. This can even happen in one person. So *at the time* before Trump, Obama was seen as this Extremely Liberal, Progressive Guy in public. He was a Black man, the ONLY Black person to ever be President, and had a lot of good-sounding progressive ideas. He made jokes to point out the xenophobia of Republicans, who have ALWAYS been on this “no forreners aloud” thing. Behind the scenes, he actually EXPANDED prisons and wars, not stopped them like he’d campaigned on. So to hire someone who is anti-gay is not at all a surprise.

Which brings me back to “How the fuck does one act AGGRESSIVELY gay? Is that like... I don’t know. Porn? Or just existing?”

It’s gotta be something to do with rainbows? That’s what straight people think of when they think GAY, right? Rainbows.

So I gotta turn things rainbow. Or at least, very very colourful.

character name: Chloe Williams age & birthday: 27, June 10th, 1994 gender & pronouns: cis woman & she/her place of birth & time in Fallbrook: Miami, Florida & Been in Fallbrook since high school district: Rosewood Hills occupation: Owner of Blossom Boutique faceclaim: Ryan Destiny secret: the last few times Chloe went to Miami to visit family she ended up hooking up with a married man.

CHARACTER BIOGRAPHY TWs: alcoholism, death, abuse, harassment

PAST

Chloe Williams was born on one of the hottest days that year, further amplified by the beating Florida sun and her mother always said it was due to this that Chloe had a fiery personality.

Her and her older brother had a pretty mundane childhood and in the early years their household was full of laughter and love.

When Chloe was 10, things began to shift for towards the unstable when her father dealt with the loss of his sister and shortly after the loss of his job. The grief was coped with one too many drinks to the point her father became reliant. He’d be gone days at a time and return either hungover or drinking still. Her mother did her best to maintain semblance of a happy household, but one argument too many and she’d had enough and kicked him out.

Chloe didn’t talk to anyone about what was happening at home but teachers could make some guesses in the way she acted out. Things escalated when her father kept coming in and out of their lives; consistently calling, asking for money, showing up at his kids schools. Her mother wasn’t that much better off because she bartended all night and was barely home and when she was their was some man, her boyfriend of the month, that occupied the space that was supposed to be safe. Her anger about the situation her family was in resulted in destructive behaviour that didn’t have any intention of slowing down.

Chloe started high school and was immediately cutting classes, hung out with other people who she felt she could relate to and her mother decided this wasn’t going to cut it anymore. She packed up their entire lives in a day and by the next morning Chloe, her brother, and mother were entering Fallbrook city limits.

The Williams’ began living with their maternal grandparents in Rosewood Hills and Chloe started a week later at Fallbrook High. The town was nothing like what she had imagined, her grandparents usually visited them in Miami and the last time she’d been there was in Kindergarten. For the first time in a long time Chloe began being hopeful of her life.

PRESENT

Chloe finished high school and completed a business degree at Cooper University. She took sometime off from school to pursue her passion for fashion designing. Taking trips to NYC occasionally and sometimes even back to Miami. She loves making clothes and was able to open up her own clothing store

Now, she is back at Cooper taking her MBA and maybe hoping she could be a consultant and help those with potential in running their own businesses.

Wanted plots & Headcanons (if any)

Chloe moved to Fallbrook because she had more family there, I’d really love to have some cousins/aunts/uncles on her moms side that help them acclimate to their move.

I also see her mom meeting someone and they’re dating so maybe his children? Maybe they get along, maybe they don’t!

She still lives with her grandparents but is thinking of moving out so maybe potential roommates.

Chloe is pretty big on instagram and has done some modelling for ads.

The person she’s having an affair with

dear kids here's a lesson

if you want to dehumanise others into suckin yr dick or fucking yr ass or this or that

listen it's all basically passive 'service me' behaviour ok

i mean i've had everyone including Babybruce and Babycuck looking to make me into what is known as

a service top

they don't necessarily see it that way because they may be picky about whether my tongue is licking their dick or my tongue is licking their ass

but outside of the phony world of 'alphas and faggots' that a bunch of quasi-incels have concocted online

there is a real world

and in the real world, there are the people who want to do the work of sex -- labour and tops -- a service top

and a bossy entitled bottom

now, it's not a good look to be an entitled bossy baby bottom like Babycuck or Babybruce

however much they've fooled themselves into thinking wanted to be serviced is alpha

it's just a lie because if my tongue were on their other side they'd freak out

what they want is to be SERVICED

a top doesn't want to be serviced

so, you have to figure it out mmmmkay

nobody's sayng you can't be a bottom who wants to be serviced on yr feet your asshole your anything but make no mistake

if you expect to just

KICK BACK RELAX AND LET THE TOP DO THE WORK OF PLEASING YOU

you are a bottom no matter which part of you is being serviced

and from my perspective, society is made up of wayy wya wayyyy too many bottoms

the USA is a service economy

everybody expets me to service them

and make no mistake there is no way i'm ever asking anyone to be serviced

but you know, just for once -- just for fucking once -- some top energy in the sack with me who's not a 65 yr old molestor (that guy in florida Dave from Wendy's really was uh not my type)

you know what i'm saying kids

i mean it happens on occasion

the ginger from Minneapolis was a top and i was smitten

bottom is a-ok

i just

the whole point of this is just a reminder that i have never seen Babybruce and Babycuck in the ways they see themselves because i have real life experience in bed

i think of them as Christcucks looking for a service top to service them and they'd expect like christian purity not a drop spilled if you had sex with them it'd be really gross and awkward

so i mean

the point is do the work, learn the work to please somebody

you have it all confused because you're living in too many online constructs and read too many stories about A FAGGOT SUCTH A DICKTH A REAL MAN EAT AN ASSHOLE

like you're so confused kids

there is active activity

and there is passive activity in america

whether they're licking the front or the back of you doesn't change who's on active duty and who's being babied

The Real America Is A Moral Maelstrom

Rich people in the United States tell poor people, especially poor black people, that their poverty is their own fault. The American ethos celebrates the self-made man. The great American delusion is that every individual has the opportunity to make something of themselves. To achieve greatness by pulling themselves up by their bootstraps. That this analogy represents something physically impossible and that it was originally coined as a joke is, perhaps, more telling about America than anything else. Especially as the white folk have rigged the game in their favour a long time back. The real America is a moral maelstrom. President Trump Congratulates Record Breaking Astronaut (NHQ201704240002) by NASA HQ PHOTO is licensed under CC-BY-NC-ND 2.0

The Roots Of America As Slaver Nation

America was a slaver nation with half the country set up around slavery as the economic model. The rest of the country benefitted from slavery through the banks and the financialization of slavery via bonds. There were some 6 million slaves with an average worth of a $1000 per slave – that was a lot of money back then. Abraham Lincoln, the Civil War, and the 13th Amendment put an end to chattel slavery in 1865. However, Reconstruction did not serve the black former slaves well, as the South got around it by their Black Codes and peonage slavery. Jim Crow laws would establish apartheid and keep African Americans repressed as second class citizens for a hundred years. It was not until the Civil Rights protest of the 1960’s that these onerous impositions would be lifted. Americans all over from east to west and north to south took advantage of the suppression of African Americans economically. Blacks were banned from buying property on white only housing estates post WW2. The FDR New Deal reflected the racist heart of the nation because the politics of the time demanded it. The Nazis had looked to America as a role model for their apartheid and eugenics policies in the 1930’s.  Indeed, the US would take in some 10, 000 Nazi party members as new migrants immediately after the war for scientific and security purposes. America remains a racist nation and you can see this evidenced in the health and education systems. Segregation still exists in schools and neighbourhoods across the country. Too few black doctors are a direct result of racist policies by the academic medical training institutions. The imbalance in funding levels between white and black schools and campuses is huge. Democracy in America has failed African Americans. This is not a place to look up to on that score. Photo by J SWING on Pexels.com America’s Identity Politics Greedy and exploitative behaviour hides behind identity politics and social issues. Voters are more motivated by emotive stuff like cultural values than just economics. Populist politicians like Trump and the new radical reactionary GOP clothe their campaigns in anti-woke stances on social issues. They champion socially conservative attitudes about LGBTQIA people and things like access to abortion and immigration. Critical Race Theory has been framed as a socially divisive bogeyman and banned in states like Florida. It seems that sensitive white folk do not want to be reminded of their history, slavery, apartheid, and the ongoing economic disparity between whites and African Americans. Better to ban all that bad news getting out to future generations of Americans. Nikki Hayley, one of the leading GOP candidates in the party’s primary race for the presidency cannot bring herself to mention what the Civil War was all about. The GOP want to whitewash American history in the 21C, as they have for a century or more in schools and colleges across the US. Nobody was taught about Wilmington, North Carolina or Tulsa, Oklahoma at school in America. These historical race massacres were conveniently left off the curriculum, it seems. The GOP & Neoliberal Economic Policies The GOP has led the charge via neoliberal economic policies to dismantle the New Deal over the last 30 plus years. Reagan began the removal of anti-trust laws to allow for the fleecing of middle America by big business. Americans get so blinded by distracting cultural issues that they miss the main game. The divide between rich and poor has never been greater in economic terms. Manufacturing jobs were outsourced offshore to make more money for investors and CEOs. Unions were gutted and their influence made redundant. Both sides of politics embraced the neoliberal way forward. Private equity takeovers have seen healthcare and higher education become unaffordable for most Americans. Money managers have taken over the economy and despite global crashes still rule the roost. Central bank bail outs to the tune of $29 trillion have cemented the power of the banks within the economy. Most Americans despise the system but are locked into it by the two party setup. Conservative voters stick with the GOP because of their socially conservative position, even though the GOP is the party of billionaires and big business. Stupid is as stupid does, I suppose. Photo by Aaron Kittredge on Pexels.com Gun Violence Plagues The US Gun violence continues to kill innocent Americans. “For God’s sake, how much more carnage are we willing to accept? How many more innocent American lives must be taken before we say enough is enough?” asked U.S. President Joe Biden in a nationally televised address in May — days after the deadliest U.S. school shooting incident in nearly a decade. Biden joined the nation in mourning after an 18-year-old gunman wielding a semi-automatic rifle killed 19 children and two adults at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas. - (https://www.voanews.com/a/us-gun-violence-soars-in-2022/6876785.html) Photo by Clement Eastwood on Pexels.com Fox News Poisoning America With Lies & Mistruths The polarization of pollical views and increasing tribalism means that many people only consume news from within their own bubble. Fox News is a prime example of this. It was recently successfully sued for $700 million dollars for libelous false reporting about the 2020 presidential election. There appear to be no standards of reporting upheld in the American media by any agency overseeing this. Fake news amid the social media platforms is rife. Trump has been fact checked and found to have lied many thousands of times to his followers on social media. A compulsive liar being elected to the presidency has been a nadir for America. If any one thing can be considered emblematic of the decline of the US it must be this. The re-election of Trump would be terminal in its catastrophic ramifications, not only for the US but for the world. President Trump oversaw close to a million Americans die from the Covid-19 pandemic in one of the richest nations on earth. Many of these victims were African Americans poorly served by the racist health system and medical profession. #UNGA President Donald J. Trump by National Archives and Records Administration is licensed under CC-CC0 1.0 The real America is a moral maelstrom because as odious as Donald J Trump is – it is his supporters who define large parts of the country. The toxic nature of racism exploited by the politics of grievance propels conmen like Trump. Trump is primarily motivated by greed and grifts many millions of dollars from his supporters. They are paying his legal bills right now. Trump has been successfully sued for $83 million by E. Jean Carroll, a writer he sexually abused and then defamed. Trump is about to be fined a further $350 million by the New York state for business fraud. In addition, he is subject to multiple criminal indictments for election interference, the January 6th Insurrection, stealing top secret national security documents, and several other matters. His life and career is like a runaway train and right now it is leaving the rails for a date with his diabolical destiny. If Trump is the champion of America’s Christian Nationalists, white supremacists, and generally loathsome folk I hope his messy demise is a salutary lesson for this self-entitled bunch. “The louder they roar, The harder that they fall.” (The Harder They Fall, Song by Koffee) “Many explanations are proposed for the continued rise of Donald Trump, and the steadfastness of his support, even as the outrages and criminal charges pile up. Some of these explanations are powerful. But there is one I have seen mentioned nowhere, which could, I believe, be the most important: Trump is king of the extrinsics. Some psychologists believe our values tend to cluster around certain poles, described as “intrinsic” and “extrinsic”. People with a strong set of intrinsic values are inclined towards empathy, intimacy and self-acceptance. They tend to be open to challenge and change, interested in universal rights and equality, and protective of other people and the living world. People at the extrinsic end of the spectrum are more attracted to prestige, status, image, fame, power and wealth. They are strongly motivated by the prospect of individual reward and praise. They are more likely to objectify and exploit other people, to behave rudely and aggressively and to dismiss social and environmental impacts. They have little interest in co-operation or community. People with a strong set of extrinsic values are more likely to suffer from frustration, dissatisfaction, stress, anxiety, anger and compulsive behaviour. Trump exemplifies extrinsic values. From the tower bearing his name in gold letters to his gross overstatements of his wealth; from his endless ranting about “winners” and “losers” to his reported habit of cheating at golf. Trump, perhaps more than any other public figure in recent history, is a walking, talking monument to extrinsic values.” - (George Monbiot, The Guardian, 1 Feb 2024) Robert Sudha Hamilton is the author of Money Matters: Navigating Credit, Debt, and Financial Freedom.  ©MidasWord Photo by Elena on Pexels.com Read the full article