#However I'm putting it here specifically so I can avoid an argument over it
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"I Will"
Sam Winchester x Reader
This was based on Mitski's song, I just love her music so much.
Authors note: Suprise!! A comfort fic!! I haven't been doing the best lately, my mental health is really getting to me. I think writing this may help :) Beware of any writing mistakes, it's 4 am right now so criticism is welcomed. (silly hours for me) Non-specific reader and this one might be a little small.
Reblogs are appreciated!! <3
He was always so caring and lovely no matter what, you knew that.
However, something inside of you just ate at you for days, weeks even. It was different and difficult, causing the past to reel you back in. The 'What if' thoughts were consuming you once again.
What if that never happened to you? What if everything you went through was for nothing? What if this was the last week for you? What if you're just making it all up? What if.
The sadness was a persistent parasite, you wanted it out of you.
You were a little avoident and dismissive about it, throwing "Yep I'm good"'s at him.
He knew something was actually up with you, he attempted to try to fish it out of you.
You started to refuse to sleep in the same bed, if you did it would only be for a little bit before rising earlier than he did. You slept in the library or even the kitchen, your excuses with research and exhaustion weren't cutting it anymore.
He didn't do anything wrong, it was you being you.
He was finally able to corner you, catching you up in your lies.
You two were sitting in the impala, Dean in the store for some food on the ride home. You, in the backseat, pretending to be asleep so you could wiggle your way out of the tense situation.
"You're getting worse, I can see it. Please just talk to me, I will take good care of you."
You took a quiet deep breath to reject the tears.
You couldn't explain it to anyone out loud, it felt like an internalized argument with yourself.
An argument of upset and angry thoughts. You wanted help but the shame and bravery of asking for help was overwhelming to ignore.
His hand patiently reached for yours. It was warm and soothing. You ached for his love yet you couldn't bring yourself to embrace it.
"I'm sorry," is all you could mutter out. How could you explain to him?
Sorry Sam! The thoughts are getting worse and I'm not sure if I'll make it this time. I hope you can understand!
As if that was okay to tell him, it'll raise him to questions and concerns.
Dean came back to the car, putting an end to the situation. He was aware of how your mental state was, you weren't too hard to read.
He offered you food and you accepted it out of a hint of guilt if you didn't. You just placed the food next to you and watched the environment move when he backed out of the parking lot.
The drive was going normal, their normal brother bickering and silence. They were having a talk about the hunt you all got done with yesterday.
You decided to tune it all out, ruminating in your own world.
You thought of ways to tell him. Maybe you didn't need to, you could just lock it all away to eventually forget.
You started to feel a sense of dread building up in you so you attempted to sleep it off.
You woke up with soft whispers of your name, Sam's voice trying to wake you up.
Due to the lack of sleep and high alert you bolted up, sitting straight and facing him.
"We're here now, come inside so we can talk."
Those words made you feel small as a little kid would when they get in deep shit. You thought about it more, that's all you've been doing as of lately.
You got out of the car with Sam trailing behind you.
Dean must've been inside already, ready to booze and snooze.
The two of you just walked in the same tense atmosphere as before, making your way to your shared room.
He closed the door behind and immediately wrapped his arms around you in such a gentle way.
Obviously you couldn't help but sob in his care, you needed it so much. Repeating the words 'I'm sorry' to him over and over.
It never felt enough.
He never said anything during it, he understood sometimes you struggle. He played with your hair, guiding you to the bed to sit down with him.
"It's okay to feel this way", he replied to your aftermath of crying.
"I'm always here for you. I will always be here for you. There's no need to run and hide from it." The way he spoke to you in that tone, you wanted to melt in his love.
"Do you want to talk about it?" You shook your head still unsure of how to talk about it. He gave a simple nod and hugged you a little tighter before letting go.
"We should go clean up, we're dirty from that hunt."
Sam held your hand the entire time as he lead you to the showers.
You both stood in silence again, just appreciating each other while the water ran. You wished the peaceful intimate moments with him lasted forever.
The night ended with him holding you, the tense atmosphere now replaced with kindness and comfort.
"It's just getting really bad again, I just want it to stop."
"We can get through it together, please just stay with me for now."
#sam winchester#sam winchester x reader#x reader#fanfic#comfort#supernatural#supernatural x reader#supernatural sam#supernatural dean#dean winchester#help me im so fucking sad#comfort fic#comfort is good right?!?!?!#god i yearn for this man#im gay for sam winchester
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about Kyle and HUMANCENTiPAD
I only feel comfortable talking on this specific issue because it's not solely regarding head-canons or ships and I prefer to avoid infighting over more inflammatory topics to the best of my ability. Also, Tumblr allows for more nuanced discussion so I'm putting it here
This is not an aimed post, it's just my two cents
I want to start by saying I don't think someone is horrible for preferring to draw the most “canon-compliant” version of characters. I follow this in my own way. I'm commenting on why this is a concern to me as one Jewish fan. I don’t speak for anyone but myself.
While there are exceptions, it is discomforting to see Kyle with these mouth scars for many reasons. I think S15E1 is pretty torture-porn-y as far as South Park goes (I don’t have a better term for this, sorry). No, I honestly don’t feel grossed out or disturbed by most episodes. Yes, it’s a comedy, and rightfully, if you don’t have the stomach for South Park, don’t watch it; to some extent, this also applies to the fan works which explore canonical dark tones. We also know Matt and Trey can take it too far and have in the past. S15E1 just is one of those personal thresholds for me, although this post isn't really about the morality of the episode.
Anyway, there’s a big argument about Kyle’s scars representing his overcoming of trauma, etc. but I disagree with this defense on why they should be there. If we genuinely wanted to talk about Kyle overcoming trauma, we would talk about the primary source of his trauma: how Kyle, even in more recent plots, is constantly harassed for being Jewish. We would also allow for more open conversation about antisemitism in the fandom, especially in the form of fan art. Kyle’s religion is irrelevant to how he wound up in the situation of S15E1. Therefore, the “overcoming trauma” point feels dishonest and inaccurate to me, especially considering the episode is just one long joke (vs South Park storylines which are more serious). It’d be fairer just to claim drawing it for fun.
For comparison: Butters has an eye scar; this is widely accepted within fanon. I have depicted it too. However, the optics of giving a blond-haired Roman Catholic white boy a minimal scar over his eye is way different than giving prominent scars over essentially half of a Jewish character’s face. Plus, it’s fair to say that an eye scar is usually regarded as a “beneficial” character design element regardless of origin.
Butters’ scar, while it would be a traumatizing injury, was accidental. Indeed, the conceit of “Good Times With Weapons” is the shitty way Butters is treated by the people around him. Kyle’s scars, on the other hand, would be from purposeful torture, and it’s lately been depicted not just as two sutures on the sides of his mouth but as large amounts of scar tissue shaped like an eerie smile. If it's to be scientifically realistic, then fine, but by that logic Butters should be blind in one eye or even more likely missing it, and other characters would be visibly scarred in different ways as well.
In addition, Butters’ appearance is widely and commonly depicted as “cute” - for lack of a better word - so adding a comparatively small and pinkish scar to a generally positively-regarded character (at least in terms of conventional appearances) is not the same as adding highly exaggerated scars to a Jewish character that fans generally don’t seem to think of as “soft” or even approachable the same way they see Butters. I draw Kyle with his kidney surgery scar, so I hope I am making it clear that scars are fine on characters. Of course, facial scars are very different. Still, when you stretch the scar tissue into an uncanny smile over half the face of a minority character from a one-time torture porn gag, it’s fair for people to be upset.
From my point of view, it’s off-putting because it’s about how a Jewish person (myself) sees fandom treat a Jewish character in particular; one who is frequently on the end of vitriol from within canon (Cartman’s abuse, most often) AND fans (that is: a whole subset of fans who think Kyle is cruel, heartless, and manipulative, and stress it) and it is arguably a symptom of something more insidious and deeply alarming than folks might want to admit.
I’ll be the first to say that Kyle’s canon features deserve faithful depiction, even within stylization. Moreover, facial scars don’t carry inherent personality traits in real life. But fictional character design does not exist in a vacuum, and some people are virtually insisting that Kyle be as aggressively caricatured as possible. Please remember that for centuries Jews have been (subjectively but societally) associated with ugliness, weakness, dirt, and disease. Be mindful when portraying Kyle as extremely blemished and essentially inferior or ostracized. It’s not because facial scars are these negative traits: it’s about what they mean in context to certain characters. We all internally moralize what we dislike. As such though, it’s troubling to observe that this fandom scrambles to talk about why “feminizing” Kyle is hurtful to Jewish people, yet there’s no such section defending it as there is one defending Kyle's stigmatization.
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Conflict!
It is often said that "conflict drives a story" and while that is mostly true, it isn't helpful writing advice. It's just an observation. A story is about a character wanting to do something, and their struggles to do that are the conflict, that's where the conflict stops. You don't need antagonists or villains or fights or even arguments in a story, you just need stuff, and conflict will arise.
Essentially, conflict brings about character by putting individuals in unusual situations and showing off facets of them that aren't usually on display.
But what happens when two characters are in conflict with each other? Then (if the writing is decent) you get an emotionally dense few moments, and in a musical, you get a song like Old Wounds.
Let me explain.
SPOILERS AHEAD
This isn't a long song, and there aren't that many branching paths (you get two choices in the entire song). But there is a lot going on here, emotionally speaking.
I noted in another post that Persephone is heavily associated purple. And that remains here, although it has softened slightly as you have got to know her to a more maroon-ish palate.
Appollo is also associated with a colour, that being blue. As in, he's the sun and the blue that surrounds him is the sky. Hence why this shot is so cool:
It's Grace literally having to choose between her two allies. Also notice what is happening. The blue light is shining over a plant, helping it to grow, while the pink shows an image of Calliope. It could be a photograph, it could be a painting, I'm not sure. The blue represents the future, while the purple the past.
Also, Persephone has an image of somebody she knows looking regal in her office. Why does she have this? What is the history between these two? (Historians will say they were good friends)
Anyway, what are these two characters arguing about? I mentioned conflict, and there is definitely some here, but what is it? The two of them just start bickering out of nowhere. And that's exactly it. Apollo picks fault with Persephone's wording, then they call each other blind, then the real wounds come out.
What's interesting here, is that Persephone has been established to have an old wound, Hades, and this song explores it. But Persephone doesn't engage this, Apollo does. Apollo is the one who starts the fight. Why?
Guilt. In my reading of this song, Apollo is playing incredibly defensive here. He has accepted his guilt and his need to change earlier in the story, at least verbally. But when push comes to shove and the consequences of his actions come into play, he immediately lashes out verbally.
And it's what he takes issue with that piques my interest. Persephone has rationalised that people deserve what they get, actions have consequences. Apollo doesn't agree with that.
Then there is this shot. As the two of them bicker and talk over each other, the camera swirls and the colours that represent them become intermingled, a neat little metaphor for the difficulty of this situation. And above Grace's head, forgotten by both of them in this moment, the reason they are both here, and the consequences for both of their actions.
"You abandoned me to a terrible fate."
"You replay your injuries till it's too late."
"This is not about you"
Here, the theses of both characters. One is stuck in the past; one is avoiding it. One is trying to grow away from the past without truly reconciling with it, the other has rationalised in a way that is self-destructive. Neither can move forwards without the other, there is a balance that needs to be struck.
What strikes me, however, is how similar these two characters are. They use the same insults for each other, they believe extremely similar things. When we met Apollo, Phantom Pains was almost exactly Persephone's current viewpoint. That's why they are so irreconcilable. These are two characters with some deep self-loathing issues who see themselves in their opponent. Specifically, they see the worst parts of themselves. Guilt, loss, anger.
That's what this conflict is about, looking to the past or looking to the future. Grace needs to take a middle road, but she can't because these two can't get over themselves. That's why this final choice is so difficult, because they are both so right, and both so very wrong.
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#rants#literary analysis#character analysis#literature analysis#what's so special about...?#greek mythology#stray gods#stray gods persephone#stray gods the roleplaying musical#stray gods the musical#stray gods spoilers#stray gods game#stray gods apollo
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Chapter 204 Trivia
What we thought may be a politics arc may in fact become a brotherly feud…
Galileo's quote is taken from his book "The Assayer", considered to be one of the pioneering works of the scientific method. At the time, most science was done by philosophical arguments rather than observation and trying to understand the mathematics behind them.
Math is the universal language because the symbols may change, but the meanings/axioms cannot. Because of this, the cover of the Golden Record placed on Voyager 1 (the probe leaving our solar system) has instructions written in math in the hopes some future beings can understand.
Ryusui wasn't wearing two swords last chapter, I wonder where they came from and why he's wearing them now…
(Maybe this is why Sai was running from him haha!)
Mathematical errors have ruined a lot of space missions: the Mariner 1 was destroyed because of a missing hyphen, and the Mars Climate Orbiter was destroyed on landing because of a failure to convert units.
Avoiding these errors was very difficult when it was all done by hand.
This seems to be at least partially true, however the practice has lessened over the decades. Indian-educated parents and grandparents may remember, but students these days probably only need to learn up to 19x19!
The HR industry in India is incredibly large, and are a very useful resource to have for any business looking to scale up. It's not surprising that the Nanami Corporation set up a university there!
Sai appears to be the 554th most popular name in India and can be used for both genders, but it's generally a male name.
The equations in the background here I haven't identified yet, but the gamma (γ) thrust here may be alluding to the thrust equation used with rocket engines in space. The gamma is the specific heat ratio of the gas.
The day is October 1st, so the team likely left Spain sometime between September 15th-20th if it did in fact take them 10 days to travel the distance (with some delays because of the Suez situation).
The food here may be a somewhat generic curry as the sound effect seems to indicate, or it could also be lamb gosht based on the color, region, and spices used.
Technically we don't know that Ruri specifically called for the defensive positions, but we do know everyone in Japan is probably in them.
I think this is the same sky image as the one Tsukasa saw in chapter 188, but with a different star pattern.
The Fellenius method and what Senku is actually doing here is dividing the slopes into segments and calculating how stable each one is using the properties of the dirt and rock. Putting the segments together should give you how likely a rock slide is. Strata are layers of rock.
The many-armed pose Sai is found in is a reference to Durga, a major Hindu deity. She is associated with protection, strength, motherhood, destruction and wars.
This comment I believe is Chelsea's from the "I'm not a fan" part, with the "baaad" learnt from Chrome's habit.
The meaning of her comment is confusing, but it might be because the last pretty-boy character introduced was a villain (Stanley), however shes also a fan of Hyoga…?
Sai's outfit is very simple and rather lacking compared to Ryusui's, however they share elements such as the collar type and addition of a belt.
The belt buckle is very interesting, it doesn't follow Ryusui's nor Nanami Corp.'s branding and looks like a C+.
My guesses for the meaning:
-C+, the programming language, based off the fact he was petrified on his laptop presumably.
-C, the Roman numeral, indicating 100+ because of the million-times brainpower comment (million in Japanese is 百万, 百=100).
-C, from E=mc^2, for light speed.
Sai's odd yell ("peegyaaaah!") may be a computer joke, as the sound effect "ピ" (pi) tends to be used for computer beeps, like pressing a button.
A similar sound has been used in the past for Xeno's encryption device.
Sai's character could go a lot of directions since he's unlikely to be one of the traditional nerds they described, nor one like Joel since Joel exists. What Ryusui did to scare off his older brother though, I'm very curious about…
#trivia#dr stone#chapters#sai nanami#204#bit of me-trivia here: i got spoiled from the leaks from someone updating ryusui's wiki page to include sai and i assumed it was a joke#until i read the chapter and was like “ah.”#i still wish there were more hints to sai's existence before he suddenly appeared out of nowhere
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luca marinelli character FIGHT: propaganda submission for the final
we've reached the final round of our tournament, which will be: nicolò di genova vs primo nizzuto. however, as these were both automatic entries and therefore received 0 submissions, the only arguments for either one were provided by me. so, to rectify this, i've opened a new submission form (that will be open for the next couple days) for YOU to submit your arguments for either one of them. the RULES of the hypothetical fight, just so we're all on the same page here, are as follows:
no outside help. this one should be clear but i felt like throwing it in
weapons are not strictly banned but i do recommend considering different possibilities. would the availability of guns change the outcome over a no-weapons cage match. who knows. this is largely because i didn't ban them for the rest of the tournament so i'm not banning them now and also i can't decide which is better
regarding the fact that nicky is literally immortal, the fight would end if primo successfully killed him. primo's not so lucky but for the sake of argument he'll be fine. just to add a fun little constraint here and to avoid that being the determining factor
the above are all actually just guidelines. you can just tell me why you like one over the other. or ignore everything ive said. we're just having fun here
there is ALSO an option to submit bonus rounds. if you have a specific conbimation you think would be funny that's where you put em. we'll do some of those after the final probably.
finally! if you'd like your submission quoted in the post, please let me know in the form itself! if you want me to add your url then put that there too. otherwise enjoy anonymity. depending on how many submissions i get it might be that not all of em are posted or i put them under a readmore. any submissions you DON'T say i can quote may be paraphrased by me but not directly quoted.
form HERE. have fun
#luca marinelli character FIGHT#this is also because ill be busy tomorrow + possibly for a bit so im letting this run in place of the actual final#also i really could use better arguments because i'm not very good at it. so. nows your chance.#apologies if this post doesn't make sense and if the rules are contradictory. ive had a strange day and im tired#BUT. enjoy.
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Frislandic Verbal Morphology Part 4
OK, person marking. Frislandic verbs are technically polypersonal, as you may have gathered, but the system is a bit messy and inconsistent, as these things tend to be in most languages really.
There are two parts to the person marking on the Frislandic verb. The prefixal marking we have covered before, as it's the same pronominal prefix set that crops up on inalienable nominals and postpositions.
1SG: me+
2SG: ke+
1PL: se- [e]
2PL: be-
3: ∅+~e+
These prefixes generally mark a morphological direct object: me-niv-k 'you touch me', ke-luok-a 'I choose you', ∅-ez-er 'we/you turn it'. However, remember from Part 2 that the presence of the applicative prefix entails that the argument thus marked is a raised oblique argument, and in the case of the existential ijð this includes predicated possessors, thus me-ð-ijð tæj 'I have a dog'. Additionally, in the progressive the pefix can in some varieties (not standard) can mark an intransitive subject, likely an Irish import. Thus in Dorsiðesi we find forms such as me-ðell-end 'I'm shuddering' (standard am dell-end). As has been noted elsewhere, these are marking rather than agreement, as the 3rd person prefix/lenition does not occur with
For the most part these prefixes are added regularly (including lenition). However, there exist a few frozen expressions where the presence of a prefix has resulted in more radical alternations, e.g. bust 'fuck' → k'urutt(e)! 'fuck you!', diri 'sprinkle on, wet' → meðrij usob gæm 'aspurge me with hyssop' and so on. Additionally, there is some variationamong speakers as to whether there is a supporting schwa prefix for the 3rd person, usually phonotactically conditioned: in particular, in phrase-initial position an s- initial verb will typically have a schwa due to avoid a word-initial rhotic, e.g. e-rijl-a 'I twist it'. Some speakers, e.g. in colloquial Ojbare, also prefix this schwa with n- initial verbs due to the absence of lenition with this consonant, thus e-nuol-a 'I drag it' (standard would accept nuol-a). Note that this constraint does not apply in varieties where there n- does alternate under lenition, thus Sændetolle ∅-õõv-ã 'ibid.' (note also the nasal vowel of the 1SG suffix too).
The other half of the person-marking then are the suffixes. There are two main sets, active and mediopassive (which we have somewhat covered before, because of the ambiguous status of the -t form), separated here by /.
1SG -a~v/-ta
2SG -k/-ðek
1/2PL I-r/I-st
3 -∅/-t
Additionally, there also exists an imperative, which we didn't cover in the section on mood but probably should have. In the 2SG it's often -∅, but in careful speech (or if you wish to seem especially vituperative) a consonant-final verb will be appended with -e [ə]. Meanwhile the 2PL imperative has a dedicated form I-æ. In colloquial varieties all over the country we find -t(e)/I-tæ, but it's not typically included in the standard language (though nor is it specifically discuraged, simply that a hortative with g'=i+ and the normal mediopassive would typically be used instead). Thus an angry resident of Bondeduo might tell you to burst-et(e) [ˈpuʂʈətʰ(ə)] 'get fucked', while being on the receiving end of a practical joke in Eran might be accompanied by cries of buon-t(e) 'get recked' where the standard would instead favour g'=j-wst-ek~g'=j-urutt-ek and g'=j-wn-ek respectively.
These forms mark a subject, whether transitive or intransitive. The -v variant of the 1SG active is primarily used with non-high vowel-final roots, e.g. sa-v 'I put', sjæ-v 'I burn' and so on. In varieties which retain an overt reflex of lenited *k this does not occur, thus e.g. Sændetolle saah-ã [ˈsɑːɣɑ̃], Dorsiðesi soh-a [ˈsoɦɑ]. Additionally, as was noted in Part 3, the 1SG also is accompanied by some formal changes in TAM suffixes which precede it: in particularly the past perfective -te-a fuses as -sja while the conditional -jo-a is shifted to -eva [eβɑ].
The extent to which Frislandic is pro-drop for subjects is somewhat unclear. As is the case in Irish, forms which are unambiguous, in partcular the 1SG and 2SG forms, generally license pro-drop. The 1/2PL form, being syncretic, is a little more complex: dropping is somewhat permitted when context makes the reference clear, for example in a conversation between two people the reference would likely be an inclusive plural. Indeed, due to the existence of a separate 2PL imperative, a construction like g'=i-næb-er would (outside of quite formal situations) be interpreted as a hortative 'let's go'.
More importantly, however, these subject-marking suffixes are defective. As was noted in Part 3, for historical reasons the progressive -nd and indirect I-ið do not take these suffixes, at least in the standard. Thus, pronouns are required to express the subject in these TAM forms (at least in the standard; the dialects are a bit more variable). In the latter case of the indirect, the lack of person marking is also reflected by the full form of the existential verb ijð, which is a defective verb which doesn't take subject-marking suffixes anyway.
I might give a full paradigm of a verb at some point, but that's basically all the verbal inflectional morphology done now, so we can take a look at the derivational morphology.
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You recognize by voting for a party on the condition of "they want a nicer genocide" just bolsters the party into believing they can get away with reactionary or conservative policy, right? This is the problem with liberal capitalist democracy. If you vote for the one guy who is 1% nicer than the other, their win just proves that the voters are willing to put up with (or agree with) bad policies for minorities.
If you want to do this whole crystal ball game about somehow "knowing" that Labour will be better than Tories, or Democrats better than Republicans (in both examples they work together to pass the SAME social policies while fighting over their minor disagreements usually through economic policy), then I could run the reverse argument at you. How do you *know* Tories won't face harder consequences from voters, and Labour won't reform to win the next election, etc.? The point is you literally don't know so acting like trans people, or any minority group targeted by bigoted policies, should sacrifice time to vote for someone who *MIGHT* go about making their life hell but maybe not *AS* hellish is an absurd, and completely un-materialist position. I'm not passing judgement on you personally I am simply giving my own perspective as someone who has gone through this as a minority who voted for "the lesser evil" many times only for them to stab me, my loved ones and my community in the back.
I think that if voting is a lot of effort for you, and you don't see that major a difference between the two parties then you shouldn't do it, you're right. But where I live, voting takes like 30 minutes at most, and usually around 5 or 10, and you don't have to go somewhere to do it, you can do it online or via the mail, and that's with one of the most complicated voting systems for elections (in terms of what information the voter has to provide) in the world. If voting is significantly harder than that for you, or you find doing what I just said a lot of effort for any reason, then what I said about voting doesn't apply as much.
However, I disagree with you about it being basically unknowable that one party will be better than another. Left leaning parties usually have to pretend that they support minorities, or at least have some level of plausible deniability. This makes it much harder for them to implement the more extreme bigoted policies, whereas if a right-wing party does it, most of their voter base will be cheering them on. A few years ago, I looked at the policy history of representatives in my area, and I can tell you for sure that the right wing representatives voted much more often for harmful or bigoted policies than the left wing ones. Maybe this doesn't apply internationally or even in the rest of Australia, or maybe things have changed since I last looked into that, but it seems to me that while left wing parties can be bigoted as well, they very rarely do as much harm as the right wing ones.
As I have said before, I don't know anything really about british politics specifically, and should not have commented on a post about it. That was a mistake on my part. Most of my political knowledge is based on Australia, and because of our voting system allowing you to vote for multiple parties in order if the major left or right wing party decide to do a bad thing, they will loose votes to smaller parties. If the major left wing party here did something like that in Australia, many people would change their votes from 1. major left wing 2. minor left wings 3. major right wing 4. minor right wings, to 1. minor left wings 2. major left wing 3. major right wing 4. minor right wings.
This would show the major left wing party that they can't do what they did, while still preventing the right wing parties getting into power. The major left wing party would probably still win, but they would have to make compromises with the minor parties which they don't want, so they would avoid that in the future. I probably should have considered that other countries don't work like that, especially in posts where I talk about how australia's voting system is better than most. I'm still not sure what you are suggesting the alternative is, and why it would be just as bad for someone who will probably betray you to get in power compared to someone who has repeatedly stated that they want you dead and they are definitely going to go through with that.
I understand not wanting to vote for someone when you have been betrayed over and over again, but every alternative I've been presented with has been worse. Things seem hopeless, and like they can only get worse, but that's not a reason to give up. If every option is bad, and will make things worse for you, you have to keep delaying the inevitable and hope that another option presents itself, not give up and refuse to do anything, at least that's my opinion. And it is definitely possible to both protest and vote, you don't have to pick.
Another thing that's worth mentioning is that if refusing to vote becomes common that causes problems too. If people of a particular political ideology will commonly refuse to vote for reasons the politicians see as random or unreasonable (and a lot of the politicians will see refusing to vote in the USA or Britain that way, even if people are clear about why they are not voting), then I think the politicians will stop catering their policies to that demographic, viewing them as unreliable, and they will decide not to make policies in their favour since if the politician does one thing the demographic doesn't like the politician will loose most of their support. I'm not saying that's an accurate way to view things, but I think it's how most politicians would view things.
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I need to not engage in a direct argument about this with someone who definitely does not need to hear it from me right now so I'm just going to yell about it on tumblr:
If you believe people should only have autonomy when they aren't hurting themselves then you don't really believe people should have autonomy. "When they're hurting others" is a justifiable boundary because your autonomy shouldn't allow you to infringe other people's autonomy, but drawing the line at hurting themselves is essentially saying you should get a greater say over their well-being than they should, which is the complete opposite of autonomy.
I acknowledge the nuance that sometimes people would have a deeper general preference to have their autonomy overridden in specific instances and respecting them may mean helping them with that but you still don't just get to assume that's the case because you want it to be true.
#Poorly chosen hills to die on#I know this is a very unpopular opinion and people will probably want to argue with me over it#However I'm putting it here specifically so I can avoid an argument over it#Anyway I get more sympathetic to the 'fuck psychiatry' position every day#And this is speaking as someone who started from a position of defending it because I wanted the help it promised#And think I personally would overall benefit from it#And my personal experiences has been positive! But the way I hear about other people interacting with it#And the way I hear people from it *talk* about other people#Makes me feel a bit sick sometimes#You know what I think I'm going to say don't reblog because I really don't want to start shit with this one#(this also means please don't start shit with me over it even by means other than reblogging)#(anyway by psychiatry I here mean psychiatrists and therapists and anyone who endorses the previous two doing the what I'm talking about)#(also if you think this is about you it isn't it's about a situation I am completely tangential to and hearing about second hand)#(and when I say tangential I do really mean tangential so also please don't worry it's not about me or anyone I directly know)#(just putting that disclaimer there before anyone jumps to any conclusions or incorrectly connects any dots)
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new hoshi ref finally dropped
(please click for quality ohmygod lmao)
Hoshizawa's new ref is finally here, dear lord that took a while! (and. totally not 6 entire attempts...)
I just wanna post this one faster so that I can actually get to actual content again! Which... I'm super busy so press X to doubt but hey.
Also for the new hero name, I'm only lumping in post rework content in it! so certain posts past march whatever and here on out, they're different enough one of them he's just sad and the other ones hes sad but more violently.
(ALSO his quirk is pretty well and reworked as well! Details below xoxo)
So Nebuleus is here, Astro is dead, and your shit is wrecked.
Stepping in the gates of UA for the first time, he's obviously a bent screw. They're very aggressive and tend to get in pointless arguments with just about everyone that will have them. And while they can be mostly quiet or chill, he's pretty easily riled up.
Hoshizawa, If you're fortunate to find them in a good, well adjusted mood, they can be a good person to talk to. They can have some odd ways of expressing some things, and can often come off quite blunt and especially rude though. he's usually quite easy to read, they don't usually hide their feelings in any normal circumstance, but if he decides to keep something secret, it will stay like that. Or at least, they ain't admitting shit.
If you manage to gain his favor, while the chances one will actually get there are incredibly, incredibly unlikely, Hoshi can retain deep loyalty (to his own displeasure) and it's hard to actually get them to turn against someone they like. They can drop people, but it will be absolutely devastating. Especially if his own trust is being broken.
However, Hoshizawa rarely admits to their own kindness. More often, they'll outright deny it, and prove this by being the worst they can be. Puts a massive front of assholery, and tries to be as rude as possible. They start shit, get hit, and start shit again.
Hoshizawa is typically found where they're not supposed to be, whether in that moment or in general. They'll climb shit, get in trouble, sit on roofs, etc. Sometimes it's just a matter of not wanting to be around others, and other times sheerly because it's either cool or funny.
They're quite easily upset, someone or something getting on his nerves is a completely regular occurrence. He often chooses to loudly proclaim their issues, and make it clear what's upsetting them (even in absence of why)
They often take to people watching, almost on main just in absence of anything else to do which he sees as productive. They'll hide out in someplace, and just write what they see. They do this far less in UA for time, but still enjoy sitting around to watch people around.
Hoshizawa is most well known, however, for getting into fights.
He can be devastating. Both incredibly powerful, and incredibly unyielding. Their style of fighting is just confusing. A lot of fake outs, self sacrifice, sheer tanking, being Incredibly slippery, using the environment and improvisational weapons, etc. They're incredibly, incredibly strong, and quite regularly training and honing his abilities, though often fakes out with "mistakes" and making themself seem weaker. And while he's never had someone to specifically learn from, he's learned a lot just from experience.
However, their weaknesses are, difficult. At first, she avoids her quirk almost completely. Unless it's absolutely necessary and might possibly actually help, he's likely only going pure hand to hand. Their other things is, their right arm is sensitive from a past injury, which, while they're able to overcome this with confidence in most altercations, if an opponent catches on, it can be easily taken advantage of.
Hoshizawa has a much greater keenness for revenge over any sort of security. In tandem with an unrelenting form of punishment and rage, Hoshizawa can be a powerful force. At a great expense to everyone involved. Almost especially himself.
Their blatand disregard for the safety of himself and others often leads to several dangerous situations, which they can often then turn a blind eye to the dangers they'd caused, or simply revel in it. In less serious situations, often saying it's just that, not serious, but in more cataclysmic situations, he'll often justify it with preventing, or punishing a greater one.
Quirk:
Stardust States.
His quirk is really... A lot of things. His body can create and manipulate a glass-like substance from their blood, being able to expel it as a gas and further manipulate its state from there. Each state inflicts different effects, and can vary by its temperature as well.
Gas is the most useable one. It's what they learned first and the easiest to control (though they're all very difficult to control) It creates clouds of light, which can act either as a stunningly bright cloud of pure light, bright enough to blind in even minimal density, and then a dimmer one which is more like a bright smokescreen.
Can cause:
- Blindness
- Disorientation
- Irritation
- Hyperthermia*
- Stunning*
Liquid is... the weirdest, probably. In terms of temperature, it's the closest to their body temperature, so it often presents while expelling stardust, especially in their throat which can cause worse and worse choking if they can't stop using the quirk. It's incredibly good at burning though, and sticky enough to be hard to get off. It's about the viscosity of honey, more or less depending on temperature, and in colder temps it can be gritty or grainy, hotter ones flowing almost more syrupy.
Can cause:
- Severe burns
- Irritation
and to himself:
- Throat dryness
- Choking/suffocation
Solid is the least directly dangerous. Look up prince Rupert drops, It is like that, but can be in any form. So thus despite it being glass-like, is incredibly strong in blunt use. That said, it is hard to keep up, and specific weak points can make it shatter into stardust. It will typically last a few seconds.
No particular effects, but can be formed into very strong short living constructs.
Plasma is especially strange in that it is. plasma. But it's basically what explosions are. The stardust itself splits and causes a chain reaction of splitting creating an absolute nuke of power which is just plain cataclysmic, as well as just being very hard to control! So they have to be extremely careful with it. This does mean other electric quirks can explode stardust also, and if it goes inside him, boom boom.
can cause
severe electrical burns
blinding
disorientation
stunning
explosions (not a side effect it just does that)
Apart from just what it does, it comes with a variety of side effects that can affect their regular life. Because of how dangerous his quirk is to everyone, they choose not to most of the time.
Will be edited more later!!! i just want to post this already omg.
#i did the shading in about 5 minutes.#I just went ''man i should just finish it :/''#bnha oc comeback#Tano Hoshizawa // Nebuleus#↑ new tag but not retagging#old hoshi is astro new is nebuleus#i need to go to class now— very much will be updated later.
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Anon, sorry for taking so long and the length. There was a lot to address and I tend to ramble. Due to the length I am going to divide your ask in chunks and respond to each paragraph individually for clarity's sake.
I'm curious as to why you have addressed this to Sesskagu shippers both here and later. TBH, this alone will make many doubt that you are truly neutral because you seem to have fallen for the common but false claim that the anti sentiment has it's roots in bitterness over a lost ship war.
Those supporting the end are made up of a variety of people who are simply united in their dislike/disappointment. Among them are shippers and non-shippers, antis, neutrals and even some SR fans who are bothered by how their ship is portrayed.
Personally, I don't think it takes any kind of mental gymnastics to have a problem with how Sessrin is depicted in Yashahime. There are some antis who probably do purposely make the worst possible interpretations to fuel their disgust/anger. But most are being completely sincere in their belief that Rin was married and pregnant by the time she was 15. You have probably already seen and dismissed all the anti arguments to support this view so it would be pointless to rehash them. You can believe it's just about disliking Sessrin but there were many antis like myself who were willing to accept the relationship even if we found it distasteful had Sunrise gone about things differently.
Each "hater" has their own reason for continuing to watch the show and I can't speak for them. Or as a "hater" either as I enjoyed the show. But I also think it's a trainwreck with many issues and problematic portrayals.
If people are targeting individuals and maliciously interacting with their posts then that is definitely harassment. However, I suspect you also mean the general posts made by antis criticizing those who watch the show.
The belief that watching/supporting Yashahime equals supporting a p*dophilic portrayal of Sessrin and other unsavory stuff is an opinion I disagree with. But I also disagree that expressing that opinion is harassment.
I get why you find it to be extremely harsh and hurtful but I also think you are taking it very personally when you needn't.
Consider my position. I'm an anti that still enjoys Yashahime. Most of those posts are made by my moots, some of which I have very friendly interactions with. I have even more reason to feel personally attacked by them but I don't. Just because I respect someone's right to an opinion that doesn't mean I am obligated to agree with it and make it apply it to myself. Unless you agree that liking Yashahime means condoning p*dophilia, then I'd advise you to take the view that those posts don't pertain to you at all.
As for petitions, bad reviews, being glad Yashahime is almost over... Well that's some of the least offensive actions an anti can take. Two of the three are against corporations, not fellow fandom members and the other is just a celebration amongst themselves.
They don't affect anyone else unless the petitions and bad reviews are substantial enough to put the shows future in jeopardy. IMO, the correct counter action is good reviews and supportive petitions, not telling antis to stop. They have the right to express their opinions.
I have seen many grooming and csa survivors say they also don't view Sessrin as having those aspects. However, there are many survivors on the anti side that strongly disagree. While I think that the opinions of those who have endured similar circumstances have more weight, it also creates kind of a never ending tug of war situation where neither side can really "win" the argument because they are equally balanced. For every survivor saying it is, there is one saying it's not.
Generally, I choose not to use the words p*dophilia or grooming when describing the Sessrin relationship or say that everyone who likes the pairing is a P&G apologist.
Many antis don't agree on this, but I think it's possible to have headcanons and scenarios that result in a version of Sessrin in which those things are not present. Fanonwise anyway. To me, the canon situation can definitely be interpreted to believe that they are present.
Mostly, I tend not to use the terms because they have specific psychological and legal definitions. That makes it very easy for SR fans to completely dismiss the idea that they could apply to Sessrin because it's not a perfect fit. I think if it turns out to be part of actual canon or if it's just part of one's own headcanon that Sesshomaru was "waiting" for Rin to grow up and courting her with gifts like the kimonos then that means he had a romantic interest in her when she was too young for it to be acceptable.
He might not be a technical p*do in that he is attracted to children, but his thoughts and actions are of one with regards to Rin. I agree with those that say Sesshomaru would never intentionally manipulate or pressure Rin to be with him, thus not "technically" grooming.
However, informing her via courting that he wants to be with her when she is older does put a type of manipulative pressure on her. For years, she will have to live with the knowledge that her literal savior, the most important person to her in the world, someone she loves and doesn't want to disappoint, is waiting for her. It will absolutely influence her life choices and who she becomes.
No need to apologise, I don't mind being vented at and am clearly prone to long-ass messages myself.
I think you do have some valid frustrations but I don't think they all are.
It's often forgotten that antis are major fans too. Many wanted to love Yashahime but in their eyes Yashahime "bashes" the OG and it's characters. It's ruined something they held near and dear. And they are highly upset about it.
Think about it, that's probably why you and others are so angry at the criticism. It's bashing something you all enjoy or maybe even love and it's making you highly upset. You all are more alike then you realize.
You can let it all impact your fandom experience or realise there is very little you can do about it because that criticism, even if you find it unfounded, harsh or extreme has the right to exist provided it doesn't break the rules of the website. You won't be able to block it all away.
it's a tired old cliche but it's true that you can't control what others do, only your own reaction to it. And frankly I think some of your reactions are as extreme as to what you ascribe to antis. I mean, you want them to stop celebrating the end of Yashahime. How does that really personally affect you?
A change in perspective as I described earlier goes a long way in not taking anti criticism personally. It even works when you are being personally attacked. I have seen posts about me specifically saying I am a deluded and deranged individual with real life mental health issues just because I think Kagura is the mom. Those people don't know me and I know the truth about myself. So why let someone's unfounded false world view affect me or my fandom experience?
Anyway, you probably just wanted to rant and weren't expecting or wanting this massive response. I hope you find a way to deal with the negativity because it's not completely avoidable but it will die down eventually.
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hi!! I just followed and saw your open request for hp fics!! congrats btw!! I was wondering if you could write for me either a Fred Weasley x reader or Sirius Black x reader with Enemies to Lovers? If y/n could be a hufflepuff that'd be awesome too lol ❤️❤️ also I'm here for the banter + unresolved sexual tension 👁️👄👁️ thank you!!
Gryffies and Puffies [F. W.]
Pairing: Fred Weasley x Hufflepuff!reader
Summary: Fred and [y/N] were never close, in fact, they hated each other, but Angelina is determined to change that.
A/N: Hi! Thank you, really! I tried to follow your request as much as I could, sorry if the Hufflepuff portrait is not much Hufflepuff like, I’m not one and I don’t have many friends that are, but I tried to keep it as I knew. Hope you like it! (gif not mine)
Last chance to send a request! || Harry Potter Masterlist
Although, generally, [y/N] doesn’t bother doing her homework way earlier than needed, this time she knew she had to start soon if she wanted a good grade.
Professor Snape wasn’t very fond of the Hufflepuff’s students, so, as a proud member of her house, [y/N] felt like she had to prove the Professor wrong, and show the authoritarian how smart Hufflepuffs can be.
It was the third book she had got from the Library, and this one specifically was just about the subject — Ageing Potions — but [y/N] seemed more lost than before while reading it. Sh even asked, politely, to the Librarian if the book was in English because she couldn’t understand a full paragraph.
“Having trouble there?” asked Angelina Johnson before sitting down in the chair next to [y/N]’s.
[y/N] smiled at her long-time friend. Angelina’s mom was a great friend of [y/N]’s mom, and so, they grew up together, as a weird but cool duo. Angelina had a more explosive personality, when [y/N] was generally softer and prefered to talk instead of punching.
“A lot, actually,” [y/N] sighed. “Have you started yours yet?” the sixth-years Hufflepuffs and Gryffindors shared Snape’s classes, so [y/N] knew Angelina had the same assignment as her.
“Oh, haven’t even started,” answered Angelina, catching one of the books in front of them and flipping through it.
“Angie! Professor Snape already has something against you, don’t give him an extra to work with!” [y/N] retorted, genuinely worried for her friend.
Angelina chuckled. “By something against me, you mean because I sit with the twins?”
“Exactly!” the girls burst into soft laughter.
Angelina knew that [y/N] was out for the Weasley twins ever since third-year when they painted the whole Hufflepuff common room black for one week. Professor Flitwick had to step in to help get rid of the magical paint.
But that wasn’t just it. It seemed as if whenever [y/N] got into trouble, the twins, and more specifically, Fred Weasley, was around.
“So... Hogsmeade this weekend. You comin’?” asked Angelina when the laughter calmed down.
“Nope, got this to finish,” [y/N] sighed, pointing to the parchment blank. “Or gotta start it.”
Angelina protested, “come on, you never come!”
“With you, I don’t!” [y/N] frowned. “You always bring them!”
“They’re my best friends!”
“Ouch,” [y/N] pretended to be offended, but only gained a shove from Angie before her best friend started laughing again. Those two were always laughing.
“I promise they’ll behave,” Angie sparkled her dark brown eyes towards [y/N], and seeing a pit face, [y/N] knew she had lost.
“Fine,” the Hufflepuff agreed, closing the books in front of them, knowing very well that no preparation in the world would make her homework worthy of a good grade in Snape’s eyes. “But you owe me one.”
“Put it on the account,” smiled Angie.
***
“Here she comes, the Hufflepuff princess,” smirked an inpatient Fred Weasley, watching with a brow raised as [y/N] finally got out of the train.
Without staring the identical redheads, [y/N] apologized to Angelina, “sorry, got stuck with Bryan and Clary, they were tellin’ me about the...”
“No one cares, puffie,” Fred whispered, in a voice that sounded almost like a whistle.
“Shut it, Weasley,” [y/N] warned, with a tired look. If her visit to Hogsmeade was going to be like that, she did not know if she’d be able to honour the motto of kindness and forgiveness of her Hogwarts House.
“Oh, she acknowledges I’m here,” Fred smirked again, “finally.”
[y/N] rolled her eyes, wrapping her arm around Angelina’s, while she murmured apologies. The two girls took the lead, while the twins followed, and [y/N] could swear that every announced turn she and Angie decided to take, she could hear Fred sighing in complain — and she was loving that.
“First stop: Honeydukes!” [y/N] shouted, stating the way.
Angelina stopped when she noticed Fred had stopped too.
“No way — Zonko’s first,” he debated.
[y/N] turned around, facing the redhaired boy — really facing him, like she had not done yet. She sometimes forgot how cute he was.
Well, any boy taller than her, she considered cute really, because she loved how they leaned down to look at her — and Fred had a lot of leaning down to do.
“Honeydukes,” [y/N] said, hoping her voice sounded as scary as Professor Snape because he was the one she was trying to imitate.
“Look, you can eat later, puffie, but the good products will sell out if George and I don’t go to Zonko’s now,” he continued his pledge.
“You two go then — I’m going Honeydukes first,” [y/N] was trying her hardest to stand her point, but when Angelina and George puffed next to them, she lost a bit of her posture.
“You expect George and I will let you two girls walk around alone?”
“I don’t need a bodyguard!” [y/N] shouted, crossing her arms.
“If that’s supposed to be your scare-people-away face, then yes, you need bodyguards,” Fred argued.
“Let’s go to Zonko’s first, y/N. It’ll give less time for the chocolates to melt,” Angelina stepped in the argument, knowing that the two would continue to argue all day if they could. In fact, Angelina had already witnessed them arguing two whole hours about which team was better at Quidditch — and it seemed to be horrible to [y/N] offend Angelina as a player just to win the argument.
Puffing the whole way and not daring to face Fred, [y/N] followed them to Zonko’s. It was easier to avoid looking at him when the boys entered the store (already crowded) and got lost from the girls in the middle of the shelves, their eyes shining with new and classic products.
Taking advantage of the momentary peace, [y/N] wandered around the store, looking for something that could be used for good fun, like some board game. She didn’t realize that Fred was right behind her until he opened his mouth.
His voice a whisper so close to her ear, that it shivered all over her: “you should buy it if you can’t stop staring,” he smirked.
She turned around to face the boy way too close than she expected. Trying to step away, she bumped into the shelve, but fortunately, nothing fell.
“I don’t want a stupid...” [y/N] battled with herself if she should say or not the next word, “furry bear,” she ended up saying because she hated leaving phrases unfinished.
“Yeah, okay,” Fred pretended to believe, puffing his chest.
“I don’t,” [y/N] stated again.
“Sure, if you say so,” he continued his little game.
“Just because Hufflepuffs are kind, it does not mean we like all cute and fluffy and soft things, okay,” [y/N] tried to prove her point using of more complex sentences, but noticing his smile, she thought she only contradicted herself.
“Not all Hufflepuffs are the same,” Fred tried to help her.
“Exactly,” [y/N] crossed her arms.
“But you like the fluffy and plushy,” Fred raised an eyebrow, but he did not look into her eyes.
“Yes,” [y/] agreed, before even realizing what she was saying yes to. She only had time to listen to Fred burst into laughter, she could no longer take back what she said.
But for a second, it didn’t matter; his laugh was worth it. Until it wasn’t.
“So you like plushy, huh,” he repeated non-stop.
“Oh, for Helga’s sake,” [y/N] she puffed, desperately trying to get away from the ginger boy.
***
When the boys had finally bought all they wanted from Zonko’s, [y/N] and Angelina were already outside waiting. There weren’t many things that the girls founded interesting there. Angelina favours Quidditch stuff and, [y/N], as pointed out by Fred himself, prefers fluffy things.
“That took a while,” you pretended to whisper when actually you spoke loud enough for the twins to hear.
“Oh, did we make you wait, puffie?” Fred teased, but [y/N] just rolled her eyes, not ready to fall into his traps again.
“Well, for fairness, it’s you girls’ time to pick a place,” George said, and [y/N] involuntarily smiled at the more delicate Weasley twin.
“Honeydukes!!” [y/N] shouted before Angelina could say anything, but it didn’t matter. The three Gryffindors immediately started giggling at the girl’s excitement to visit the candy store.
Angelina and George got themselves involved in a talk about the new best broom in the market, leaving Fred and [y/N] behind. They both played Quidditch too, but George and Angie made no effort to include them in the conversation.
“See,” [y/N] decided to tease Fred since they were closest, “if we had gone to Honeydukes first, you wouldn’t need to carry those many bags around.”
Fred almost forgot how to walk. He was generally the one that started the teasing — [y/N] wasn’t much of the provocative kind unless she was provoked. However, Fred liked it.
“You would be the one carrying the bags then, genius,” Fred pointed out, turning his face sightless to the right to get a glimpse of her reaction.
“How many sweets do you think I’m buying?” she asked, analyzing the three plastic bags in his left hand and the two others in his right one. She compared it to the three chocolate bars and a couple of chocolate frogs she had in mind, and she was sure it would be just one bag.
Fred shrugged, letting out a soft chuckled. [y/N] might have had a point, but he was not going to admit it.
When they finally arrived at the candy shop, Fred lost sight of [y/N] because she fastly ran inside. Angelina entered the shop too, but George and Fred had so many bags they were afraid to walk in, so they decided to take turns inside.
Fred went in first, excited to see how [y/N] would be in her environment, but he didn’t like what he saw. As soon as he walked in, he saw her in a corner on the left-back, surrounded by some boys. At that distance, Fred would not guess they were Hufflepuffs.
His first instinct was to suppose she was in danger, but then she laughed. Really laughed, in the sweetest way possible, in a way she had never laughed to his jokes.
He knew she was alright, but he wasn’t. He rushed out of the store, surprising George.
“Back so soon?” George asked.
Fred was not in the mood to tell his twin that might have caught feelings for a certain uneasy girl, so he lied.
“Yeah, had no money left. I mean, if I still want a butterbeer,” Fred said, shrugging and taking his brother’s place as the guard of their Zonko’s products.
George said no more, glad to have the chance to buy something sweet for himself. In the middle of the night, after running around with Fred, George loved having a chocolate frog to recharge his energies.
“Next stop,” said Angelina, once the three got out of the candy store, “Three Broomsticks.”
Everybody agreed with ununderstanding whispers.
[y/N], as she planned, got out of Honeydukes with only one plastic bag, that she teasingly raised towards Fred, who rolled his eyes, with a troubled expression.
His reaction wasn’t the one [y/N] was anticipating. She wanted him to make a quick remark, mess with her bad eating habits, anything like that. But ignore a clear chance to mess with her — she did not expect that.
She rushed to Angie’s side, happy to get a chance to gossip with her best girl about what the boys she had met in the shop had just told her.
“So, Luke told me that Cormac McLaggen is chasing after your friend Alicia, is that true?” [y/N] asked.
Angelina turned her face to her best friend, confused with such a question. Not that the two never gossip before, but [y/N]’s tone was generally less invasive and judge than this.
“Why? Are you interested?” Angie asked, raising a brow.
[y/N] almost choked.
“Interested? Me?” she puffed. “Please.”
Behind the girls, one of the twins was paying very close attention to the conversation.
“He’s not really your type, is he?”
“I’m not interested in him,” [y/N] debated. “I could be, but I ain’t.”
Angie turned her face to the front again before pulling the door of the Three Broomsticks. The four got in, and George was looking around for an empty table when [y/N] asked: “what are you guys taking?”
“Butterbeer,” the three Gryffindors answered together, causing the girl to smile at their synchronization.
“I’ll get it; you go sit down,” she was actually being nice because, of all of them, she was the one with fewer bags.
Being friends with Madam Rosmerta had its privileges, such as [y/N] was first attended as soon as she reached the counter.
“Hey, Madam Rosmerta! How’s it goin’?” [y/N] asked, working extra hard her charm. The whole counter was staring at her, half angry, half not believing, that she was being served before them.
When the woman finally gave [y/N] her drinks, she headed to the table her friends had picked, noticing with an exhalation that the only chair left was in the middle of Fred and George.
“That was fast,” pointed out George, getting his butterbeer with a smile and tossing you a sickle.
“No need, it’s on me,” [y/N] said, giving George his coin back. “Actually on Rosmerta, but that’s supposably to be a secret.”
Angelina smiled, reaching for her cup and savouring the butterbeer as if it was more tasteful because it had been free.
Fred looked at you without exactly turning but grabbed his drink anyway.
“Thanks,” he whispered, this time Fred’s tone had no sign of banter.
[y/N] was scared they would remain in that dreadful silence, bt Angelina took her chance to tell everyone about her father’s newest accomplishment and how it would affect them — he had a bought a summer house near the beach. She was sure he would allow her to bring them for a weekend.
“Wow, Angie, count me in! Would love beach day!” [y/N] beamed.
Angelina chuckled. “I’ll see if we can go next holiday.”
The whole table cheered in excitement, and George was so happy that he decided to buy them the next round of butterbeer.
When the day in Hogsmeade was over, [y/N] and Fred got back to their usual bickering. George knew that would happen, but Angie was, in fact, hoping for them to finally develop a real friendship, better than the day to day teasing.
Days and months went by. [y/N] ended up getting the better side of Professor Snape, after all — he said her essay was the best one from that class.
Angelina kept trying to connect Fred and [y/N], but it was like she was running from him. Fred seemed neutral about it all, and that was a first.
“So my father got back to me...” Angelina started telling the twins as soon as the Quidditch practice was over.
“And?” George was genuinely enthusiastic.
“And we can go for the Easter holiday!” cheered Angelina. “Unless your mom doesn’t allow you to come...”
“Molly will be pleased to have two less in the house,” admitted George.
“Is [y/N] coming?” Fred asked, raising his voice so he could be heard since he was in the back of the tent.
Angelina exchanged looks with George before answering, scared that he wouldn’t like her answer. “Yes, she is, and I hope you behave.”
“Are you saying that to her?” Fred retorted.
“Don’t pretend you aren’t the one who messes with her,” Angelina tilted her head towards Fred, who just shrugged, puffing as if he was innocent. “Well, gonna invite Alicia and Katie. See you later.”
***
Part of [y/N] wondered why she had said yes. Sure, Angelina Johnson was her best friend of all times, but still, as her father drove you two to the beach house, all she could think of was that it would be a house filled with Gryffindors and she would be the only outsider.
She wasn’t friends with the others. She could become friends with Alicia and Katia, she guessed, and George was somewhat of a colleague, but Fred? Oh, Helga, she signed in for a nightmare.
Since the Hogsmeade trip a couple of months ago, things without explanation kept on happening with [y/n] more often than before. Clothes coloured in bright pink, her cat turning in with two tails instead of just one, and she even received letters with nothing written on — those were the most confusing of the pranks. Again, she was almost sure it was Fred’s fault, but since the pranks were harmless, she never confronted him about them.
Angelina and [y/N] had time to settle themselves down in a room just for the two — Katie and Alicia were getting another one, and Fred and George the one far most at the end of the corridor.
When the six kids were all together, things started getting, well, exciting. There was no way Fred and George were going to let that trip be a bore.
Without parents around, you six stayed on the beach until 4 a.m, watching the sun rising far away. Alicia had brought some firewhisky, but since it was only two bottles, the group decided to save for later.
When [y/N] woke up on the second day, she found herself lying in a mattress-shaped floater, tossed in the middle of the pool.
“WEASLEYS!!” she shouted, waking the whole house up.
With no wand around, [y/N] had no option but to jump in the pool and swim to get out of there. When she managed to cross half of the backyard, Fred and George appeared at the door, and you took a glimpse inside the house, where the girls ate breakfast like nothing was happening to [y/N].
“Morning-swim, huh?” Fred crossed his arms, smirking slightly.
“You’ll pay for that, Fred,” she replied, shaking, the coldness of the water that soaked her combined with the wind of the beach was not doing her good.
“Cute pyjamas, puffie” he continued teasing as she passed him by — his eyes following her back as she went upstairs. The nickname was not something she was quite fond of, especially because she knew he used it just because of her house.
George nudged his twin. “Don’t ask why she doesn’t like you,” George said, leaving his brother at the door and sitting down next to Alicia.
“What? You helped,” pointed down Fred, sitting too.
“Yeah, but she likes me,” George raised a brow, his confident expression did not even shake at the dark look his twin cast.
***
When the night came, [y/N] was sure she had gotten a tan, but after she got in the shower and took a good look in front of the mirror, it was like the tan was gone. She wasn’t hurt, though, so it wasn’t all bad.
Getting downstairs, she noticed that the group hadn’t been able to keep themselves away from the firewhisky any longer, because the only two bottles were displayed in the middle of the table set outside in the backyard.
[y/N]’s white dress was practically sparkling in the dim light of outside, and for a minute, Fred was out of breath, staring at her in a way he had never before.
Well, actually...
Never before since they arrived. But Fred was not gonna mention the other thousand times she left him breathless by her looks.
“Where’s Angie?” [y/N] asked before sitting down, noticing that her bestie was the only one left.
“Still showering. Angie says she can feel the sand everywhere yet,” explained Katie.
“And who’s to blame...” [y/N] wondered aloud, trying to provoke the twins who had been fighting everyone in the sand earlier.
Even though Fred teased her the whole afternoon — how she would never win him in the fight, how she was laze, how he was fast — she didn’t give in, preferring to get sunbathed. It didn’t work though, but at least she didn’t have sand in all weird places now.
Angie finally got outside, wearing a beautiful set of shorts and a floral blouse.
“Let’s start the game, come on, I really need it,” she said, and the whole table agreed.
They played an updated version of beer pong, the muggle game, and [y/N] was losing badly to everyone else. That meant that she was the one drinking more, and, for Helga, she was not used to it, but with time, the effects seemed to disappear.
When the game was over, [y/N] had been sitting for minutes at the edge of the pool, wetting only her feet. There was a cup of firewhisky in her hands, but even if not drunk, she knew she shouldn’t keep drinking it.
Someone found a way to play muggle music, and Angelina, Alicia, Katie and George were having the time of their lives in the improvised dance floor.
Fred was walking, as silently as he could, towards [y/N]. He wasn’t very fond of the music playing, and he wasn’t as drunk as the others. Generally, he would have pretended to be, like George was doing, just for the fun of it, but watching [y/N] all alone, he knew he had to something about her.
“Hey,” she smiled softly, noticing the boy sitting down next to her.
“Are you okay?” he asked, but she never answered. She put the cup down though — Fred thought that was a good sign. “I’m sorry about the pool earlier.”
[y/N] stared back at him, this time trying to analyze every aspect of his face. Like how he had moe freckles on his left cheek then the right. How his nose was big but yet perfectly pleasant to look at. How he was leaning towards her even though he wasn’t noticing. But she did. And she leaned in too.
“You know, if you wanted my attention, there were other ways to get it,” she said, surprising herself with the bravery to speak up.
Fred froze.
“You could have apologized to my cat, that would’ve been nice, for starters,” she said, this time surprising him, who laughed it off.
“He didn’t like the extra tail?”
“He actually did,” she joined him in the laughter, remembering her pet playing with a smile in her dorm room because he now had two tails. “Hey, how did you found out that he was my cat and not any other?”
Fred smiled in the dim light.
“He was the fluffiest,” was his answer. [y/N] elbowed him, pretending to be angry, but she knew that, unfortunately, her cat was the furriest cat Hogwarts had ever seen.
After a moment of silence, [y/N] decided she better get back to her room — and she hoped this time she would wake up there too. Getting up without warning, she ended up scaring Fred.
“Where are you going?” he asked, getting up too.
“Back to bed,” she said. “Better get a good night sleep before tomorrow — it is our last day after all.”
Fred wrinkled his nose. He knew she was right, but he also knew that it was his last chance to do something with her, at least, under the spark of the moon.
But she seemed so far away...
“Well, at least let me accompany you,” Fred offered [y/N] his arm, which she took with a smile.
They walked in silence — the rest of the group didn’t even notice they were gone.
[y/N] was about to get to her room when Fred stopped her.
“Wait,” he was confused whether it was the best time or not, but it was his only time so... “wait here, I’m gonna grab something for you.”
He walked to the end of the corridor, rushing to his room. Fred was rummaging through his suitcase, looking for what he wanted to give her.
[y/N] waited patiently — and quite anxiously — for whatever Fred was going to give her.
“Here, ” he said, giving her something he had hidden in his back. [y/N] grabbed from his hands, surprised with the texture of what she got. “I don’t know if Angelina ever mentioned me and my brother want to open a joke shop, and well, this product... You kinda inspired me to do it.”
She studied the hairy, yellow ball in her hands. Thankfully, she held it gently, because when she turned the thing over, she noticed that two little blue eyes were staring at her, startled.
“Oh my Helga, Freddie, is this alive?” she asked, but the answer didn’t really matter because she was already petting the small furry ball.
“It’s she, actually,” he smiled, noticing how happy she was with the gift. “Has no name, though.”
“What is she?” she asked while playing with the pet, noticing she was warming up to [y/N]’s touch.
“George and I named it Pygmy Puff — a miniature Puffskein,” Fred explained, petting the furry ball too. “They are generally pink or purple, so yours was made with a lot of care.”
[y/N] looked up from the yellow Pygmy Puff to Fred and tilted her head, uncontrollably smiling.
“Guess the Pygmy Puff has something to do with me too,” [y/N] teased.
“The whole thing has something to do with you,” Fred let out, blushing immediately, but [y/N] didn’t notice. Fred fake-coughed. “So, what will you name her?”
[y/N] thought about it for a while.
“I guess it would only make sense if she was named Gryffie. After all, her creator is a Gryffindor,” [y/N] blushed but avoided looking at Fred, focusing solemnly in the Pygmy Puff.
“It makes sense,” Fred looked from the pet to the girl and bit his inner cheek. “Two houses come together for an invention.”
“That’s the Hogwarts spirit,” [y/N] laughed it off. “Thank you, Fred,” she said before leaning on tiptoes to place a kiss on Fred’s cheek.
The Pygmy Puff enjoyed the time with no attention and walked from [y/N]’s hand to her shoulder, and Fred stared at the fluffy thing while [y/N] kissed him.
And somehow it felt like the pet was trying to say something.
[y/N] stepped away and said good-night, entering her room with a sad look. She didn’t want the night to end. So, after placing Gryffie on the bed, she turned to the door, ready to open it again. But Fred was faster.
They stared for a full second before both rushed towards each other, locking their lips in a soft but potent kiss.
Fred’s hands found her waist and pulled her closer, as closer as Fred could — close as he always wished she was. [y/N], of course, ran her fingers through his hair, something she had been wanting to do for a while now, and she was glad to find such fluffy and soft hair.
They were breathless, but neither wanted to pull away. Fred leaned to her neck, finding her sensitive spot right away, and there was nothing better than hearing her moan so close to his ear.
Behind them, the Pygmy Puff made some sound weird, but they just laughed it off and pulled each other closer again, as if they could be closer than they were.
The Pygmy Puff cried again, and this time non-stop, so [y/N] had to pull away. She was the mother of that pet for only a couple of minutes, but she was very protective over it already.
“What is it?” she murmured towards the fluffy ball at the same time Fred cleared his throat, making [y/N] turn to Fred again, who was looking at the stairs.
“Hi, little love birds,” giggled a very drunk Angelina.
Fred and [y/N] were instantly red, from head to toes, but Angelina and the rest of the group didn’t even care, they just couldn’t giggling and bumping into each other.
“Hey, George, I think I’ll better sleep in your room,” Angelina spoke again. “I believe you’ll have an empty bed.”
“Good idea,” George said, locking arms with Angelina to protect her from falling — she could do it at any moment now. “Good-night, love birds. Or should I say love puffs?”
The four teenagers were laughing out loud, they could wake someone up if only someone were sleeping. George and Angie closed their door as soon as they walked in and winking at [y/N] and Fred, Alicia closed the door of hers and Katie’s room.
“Well, I guess I just lost my bed, puffie” Fred sighed, pretending to be upset, leaning on the door frame.
His eyes sparkled in the dim light of her room. [y/N] smirked, pulling him by his collar, suddenly very aware of her Femme Fatale powers.
“Good thing I have an extra one here,” she said, kissing him again, and again, and again...
#fred weasley#Fred and George#Fred and George Weasley#fred weasley x reader#fred weasley x hufflepuff!reader#fred weasley x hufflepuff#pygmy puff#gryffindor#hufflepuff#fred and george imagine#fred imagine#angelina johnson#george weasley
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Dude, there has been soooo much drama everywhere lately it seems like and it's always the same shit??? I'm looking to maybe to a thesis for my brain and cog sci & psyc degree about these "collective identity" argument and the black-and-white thinking that pairs with the us-vs-them mentality. Of course I'm doing (and have been doing) actual research, but got any thots to throw my way?
(I saw that post about whatever their username was. Started with a d, may have been derranged-something or delirious-something (how fitting lmao) or whatever, and thought it would take in nicely with what I'm working on)
man, I have no idea. it’s such a broad subject, but it is something I’ve been noticing for a while. I think way back in 2012/2013 even, I was looking at this webbed site and thinking to myself that a lot of people on here would be the sort of people likely to end up in a cult.
I think, in its most simplistic form, black and white thinking is absolutely imperative to an us vs them mentality, because when you organise like that you absolutely need to put things in boxes. what makes us Us, and them Them? there has to be a kind of guideline, I suppose; an easy way to run through a checklist and find out what “side” somebody is on as quickly as possible. obviously this is a very complicated thing to do, as the human experience is vastly nuanced and impossible to describe from person to person, even regarding the same exact subject or identity or experience. so what a person has to do, in order to achieve the impossible, is grow stricter and stricter with the parameters. this quickly results in black and white thinking -- if something is this, it’s that, and if something is that, then it also has to be this. from there, it’s just a slippery slope.
of course, a lot of people slip into this through purely innocent reasons. it’s human nature to want to belong. we’re a social species. we instinctively seek out similarities, and it’s fun when you see something highly relatable and assign it to an existing part of yourself. it’s validation. to a certain extent, this is normal bonding behaviour. however, it definitely has a dark side, and it’s very evident on this website and over on Twitter. I’ve spoken before about the posts on here that’s like “gay culture is [highly specific thing]” or “only people who are [identity] do [thing]”, and how while they seem jokey at first and many are posted in good humour, the overall attitude they encourage is harmful. not only does it encourage black and white thinking, it also makes people who don’t relate feel excluded from groups they belong to, and it can also foster an us vs them mentality within the groups themselves. when you add in all the other, more insidious lines being drawn, it certainly encourages the right kind of mindframe for people to end up getting really lost in the sauce.
basically, at its root, I think it’s a form of protection. in a lot of high-drama situations, these people think they’re championing a good cause. for some reason, a lot of people seem to believe that in order to champion a good cause, you have to be Pure and Perfect yourself, and if you’re not, that somehow invalidates the cause you support. naturally, absolutely nobody is free of sin, or of making mistakes, or of having occasional bad judgement, but in the current political climate an innocent mistake or an edgy joke made when you were 14 is enough to get you, a grown adult who has matured and moved on and is barely recognisable to who you were then, thrown out of your social group for crimes against humanity. every single person -- every single one of us -- has multiple things in our past that could cause this reaction, and a lot of these people are living in fear of it being exposed and essentially ruining their life (or at least a sizeable chunk of it). so what do you do, when faced with something like that? you keep moving the goalposts. you keep redrawing the lines. you water things down to their bare essentials. if you do this you’re bad but if you do that you’re good, and I do that so I am good. if you’re in this group you’re bad but if you’re in that group you’re good, and I am in that group so I am good. if you like villains you’re evil and if you hate villains you’re good, so I am going to make posts about how much villains suck just so everyone knows I do not support genocide. the lines get crazier and crazier, and before you know it the situation is so far past anything that’s rational to apply to human behaviour at all that there’s no point arguing. it becomes performative and empty. everyone’s blogs are posting the right things, but you know what’s going down in their Discord server.
so, in conclusion? the more people strive to appear perfect, the more inevitable it is that they’ll be exposed. nobody is perfect, everyone has secrets, and as soon as one is discovered the rest of the social group will self-cannibalise in order to expel the problem and divert attention from themselves. then they will be safe, until the next slip-up. rinse repeat. it could all be avoided very easily, but I think we can all agree that that horse bolted years ago.
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Peace! It's nice to meet you, fellow mbti person! I'm so glad to have stumbled upon an ISTJ who is into typology! I have a request. I typed Elsa from Frozen in a post (I'll tag you) and I argued that she is not an ISTJ. I wanted to know what you thought, particularly if I made any mistakes in understanding the ISTJ personality type. Thank you so much in advance! I hope it's not too much of a bother. I'm an INTP btw.
Hi,
I want to start out with the following: for anyone reading, do not make a habit of having me analyze your posts about fictional characters. I am happy to help you type yourself, or answer questions about MBTI. However, in case it was not clear from the fact that I have only typed fictional characters in response to direct questions, that my answers have typically been very brief, and that I’ve repeatedly directed people to blogs that specifically focus on character typing, I’m not really interested. I should note: I had fun because I love picking up my metaphorical red pen and writing “wrong” over every other sentence, but it did also take me like an hour and a half and it’s over 3 pages long, and I don’t have time to do that regularly.
With all that said, the post had sufficient issues with both basic logical argument structure (I would very strongly recommend you revisit that INTP typing of yourself and look at something with high Fe instead) as well as understanding of MBTI that, because you asked directly, I will go through said issues. I want to make it very clear: this is going to be harsh. For both that and for the length I’m putting it below a read-more such that if you were looking for a brief thumbs up or down and not for extensive criticism, you are welcome to ignore it, block me, or whatever is best for you.
Basic argument structure: you open repeatedly with the most subjective arguments - that she gives off Fi and Ni vibes and you don’t see the Si in her. This will convince no one but yourself.
This argument is also mostly focused on “other people think this, but I don’t” which I find is only useful in a process of elimination argument. We’ll get to the final typing eventually but it is generally stronger to argue in favor of what you believe and then address potential disagreement rather than the reverse; by the time you get to ISFP I’ve read so many incorrect assumptions and subjective asides that I’ve long since stopped valuing the analysis of the work.
Issues with the ISTJ argument
(note: I have, and continue to type Elsa as an ISTJ so this will be the longest section in that I’m both pointing out flaws and arguing in favor of ISTJ; the rest will be solely focused on MBTI misconceptions or logical fallacy).
While it’s true people often mistake trauma for Si, this argument seems to equate trauma with being stuck in the past (people can just be stuck in the past without trauma for whatever other reason - it’s not healthy but it does not necessarily indicate literal trauma). There is also a false opposition here: It’s absolutely valid to argue that Elsa is traumatized, but that does not preclude her having Si, merely removes one argument in favor of Si.
You define Si (gathering concrete details to understand what to expect) but don’t actually argue why Elsa doesn’t do this. I’d argue, in opposition to the statement later in this paragraph, that she does. She is aware from the past that her abilities can harm her sister. She is aware from her past that when she avoided Anna, Anna was safe. She hasn’t been happy with the “conceal don’t feel” line, but it has achieved her goals and her expectation is that she’ll hurt someone if she stops following it.
If you’re referring to an Si-Fi loop (wallowing in self-pity), it doesn’t use Te since that’s how loops work. You don’t explicitly say this is in the context of looping although you introduce looping in the second sentence, but if you are referring to a loop this is incorrect. It’s true that ISTJs are often likely to use Si (preference for familiar/existing structures) and an Fi understanding of morality to direct their energies when they wish to change something (ie, they will change things through existing channels) but the focus on speaking out about injustice here is much more in line with enneagram 1 - a very common enneatype for ISTJs and an enneatype that’s rare for any non-TJ types, but not the enneatype I’d give Elsa nor an inherent ISTJ trait itself.
The part about self-discipline is mixed - a lot of ISTJs are very disciplined in certain areas (particularly professional/familial) but can neglect the self (not getting enough exercise/not eating well, not addressing burnout or more emotional issues) and I’d argue again, Elsa shows this: she’s not addressing the fact that she’s lonely and miserable, but she’s highly disciplined with regards to concealing her abilities and avoiding Anna even though it’s the very thing making her lonely and miserable.
I don’t necessarily think Let It Go is indicative of an Ne grip, but one can make changes outside of a grip, so this isn’t a useful argument, as it argues why an Ne grip is wrong, not why ISTJ is wrong - I would merely argue she’s not gripping at that time. Which is a general issue here: the argument you provide in this paragraph isn’t arguing against ISTJ, it’s arguing against other people’s arguments for ISTJ, which is an important distinction.
The final paragraph of the ISTJ section has numerous issues: ISTJs are not rebellious. They are not as resistant to change as stereotypes indicate, but even a healthier version of ISTJ Elsa would be unlikely to rebel and rather try to understand her parents’ argument, research other options, or look for a way to gain control over her powers while still working within the normal hierarchy. I addressed self-discipline (I should add: I don’t think a child/young woman having difficulty controlling magical powers with no training is an argument against self-discipline; my argument for self-discipline is that she stays in her room and away from her sister despite clearly hating it). It is also, to be blunt, mind-boggling that you (correctly) argue that trauma responses are not inherently Si but then refer to obsessive-compulsive behaviors as Si when that’s also a medical disorder completely divorced from the MBTI framework. Finally, her continuing to follow an order from her parents after they die is first, quite literally the definition of self-discipline (she’s the queen; no one else is going to discipline her for it, after all) and second, entirely in line with Si (this is what she has always done and it’s not great but it works) and is, arguably, if not medically obsessive-compulsive, an obsessive need to follow a compulsion. To be clear: this isn’t healthy ISTJ behavior, but since you’ve acknowledged grips and loops here I think an unhealthy interpretation of the type is very much on the table. You say her behavior is more in line with F types; it’s not and you don’t explain why.
If I may it seems as though, much in line with the argument here being against other arguments but ultimately not debunking the typing, your arguments against MBTI stereotypes focus on what’s incorrect but they tend to merely swing the pendulum to the opposite side (eg, that ISTJs are likely to rebel, in opposition to the stereotype that they’d mindlessly follow orders) rather than find the more nuanced middle ground of how people of a type or with a certain function behave.
Issues with the INFJ and INFP sections:
Ne users can and frequently do go out into the world; simply because Ne can be engaged without external physical stimulation doesn’t mean it never is. I’m also not really a fan of reading being classified as a strictly introverted pursuit; that’s falling into a pretty significant stereotype trap. Going out and exploring is a thing anyone can do but if anything I’d either associate that more strongly with high sensing (either Si or Se) or with extroversion.
My biggest issue here is the implication that searching for a meaning for existence or a purpose is in itself an indicator of Ni. This is just the human condition. If you’re going to argue that Si users are driven to rebel against injustice I don’t see how you can miss that that might in turn be driven by a belief that this is their purpose. Perhaps Si-Ne users aren’t as invested in having a single purpose, but wondering why you are on this earth and what it is you are here to do is just being a person, and to be blunter than I have been, I am struggling to understand how there has been so much effort made earlier to push away from stereotypes to the point of overcompensation in the opposite direction and then when it comes to the idea that only Ni users have a desire for meaning in life you just accept it without question.
Issues with the ISFP section:
At this point I’ve probably covered most of them though I’d like to point out that I don’t think there was an argument ever made explicitly for introversion; while the structure of the earlier arguments and focus on debunking was, as stated, flawed, I would at least round it out by eliminating ESFP as an option.
The argument here rests heavily on Let it Go, which is interesting because most of the terrible arguments for Elsa being an intuitive also rested squarely on that same brief if admittedly pivotal section of a full movie; in attempting to differentiate itself from those arguments it has in fact replicated the most significant flaws. Anyway, I’ve addressed that I don’t personally think Let it Go being indicative of a grip is how I’d argue for ISTJ, so that becomes invalid; I’ve tried to focus more on issues with logic MBTI than the contents of the movie but I’d add that “she was happy” is open to interpretation and her emotional state was probably fairly complicated. Relieved, sure, but she’s still ultimately isolated. (Also while mentally singing Let it Go, I realized that here’s that rebellion you were asking for in the ISTJ section).
You also outright say that when Elsa tries to reassert control it’s through Te. Yeah. That’s what a high Te user does. An ISTJ in a grip would indeed use Ne, but in quite literally any other circumstance (looping or just existing as an ISTJ not in a grip or loop) would reassert control via Te, so again, your argument does not sufficiently eliminate that Elsa is an ISTJ, just that she’s not a gripping ISTJ, which I’d agree with.
“She acts out when she is stressed and makes bad decisions” is also the human condition (and why I’ve frequently on my blog argued very strongly against typing via stress behaviors, because in the end most people...act out and make bad decisions when stressed), so this isn’t useful as an argument for anything.
In conclusion: multiple misconceptions about Ni and Si; no argument that I could find presented for high Fi, just Fi in general; inconsistency regarding whether or not Elsa rebels, and an overall reliance not on making a new argument but on arguing why other arguments were wrong. Given the title of the post you asked me to analyze I have to (admittedly this is extremely cynical of me) wonder if there was an underlying goal to come up with a typing that was different from commonly accepted arguments, rather than to simply type for its own sake.
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I want you to understand the cause and effect of what has led to what is going on in texas at least re: abortion laws.
First off let me clarify: Roe v Wade was not law...yet. When you see a ___ v ___, that is an opinion. Not in the sense you may think. It's an opinion decided through litigation which means it's a powerful opinion that has been hammered out through the judicial process of a lawsuit being drawn up, and worked out in court. It could be a local, state, or federal court. Typically the ones that are most significant are federal, or ones that have come before the US Supreme Court - either because it is the federal government that is being challenged, the defendant petitions to move it to federal, or that the case has been elevated through appeals.
There are particular circumstances that determine if a case can go federal level:
"Federal court jurisdiction, by contrast, is limited to the types of cases listed in the Constitution and specifically provided for by Congress. For the most part, federal courts only hear:
Cases in which the United States is a party;
Cases involving violations of the U.S. Constitution or federal laws (under federal-question jurisdiction);
Cases between citizens of different states if the amount in controversy exceeds $75,000 (under diversity jurisdiction); and
Bankruptcy, copyright, patent, and maritime law cases.
In some cases, both federal and state courts have jurisdiction. This allows parties to choose whether to go to state court or to federal court."
Federal courts may hear cases concerning state laws if the issue is whether the state law violates the federal Constitution.
In the case of Roe v Wade, the attorney's filed to the Supreme Court since the argument was that the state law was a violation of a federal law - specifically the 14th amendment assertion of right to privacy. That is what determines the jurisdiction in this case.
RvW was decided in 1973 with a 7-2 ruling in favor of Roe's right to privacy and ultimately right to choose how to treated her pregnancy. Why hasn't it been turned into law? Obvious reasons over the years include what party is in power in executive, congressional, or even judicial circles. Right now though we have a D in the executive and congress, but something many are overlooking is the critically important and understates judicial branch - which holds significant changes Trump installed.
Also regarding congressional, though there is a stronger hold on the house (even with 3 vacancies), the senate is just barely D majority with 50 R, 48 D and 2 independent as shown in the charts below. The two Independent Senators, Bernie Sanders of Vermont and Angus King of Maine, caucus with the Democrats which brings it 50/50 and the US VP - Harris (D) in this case - is the President of the senate and ultimately serves as a tie breaker for votes as well as situations like this even divide of party members. Were the VP a republican than republicans would still have a senate majority.
I will dive more into what's going on with the senate and why even with a D majority it isn't where it needs to be as it's a bit less straight forward.
So how the hell are abortion rights being challenged? Why aren't the all powerful democrats doing anything?!
Well, they are and have been doing a lot - and I urge you in moments when you are frustrated by feeling as though "dems aren't doing anything" to dig deeper to understand how our government operates. It's very clear there is a poor comprehension of our civics system by the general population which is why I'm using this as an opportunity to not only inform but also to learn more myself. I was educated primarily in Texas public education system. I was privileged enough to have decent teachers, but there is still much to learn. I'm doing research as I write this. I've already learned a lot. Come learn with me!
Alright, you're on board with learning more? Great choice! Let's get into it.
So with dem control of executive and congressional branch, all that is left is judicial.
"Trump appointed 54 federal appellate judges in four years, one short of the 55 Obama appointed in twice as much time."
Trump also had a major influence on the nation’s highest court. The three Supreme Court justices he appointed – Neil Gorsuch, Brett Kavanaugh and Amy Coney Barrett – are the most by any president since Ronald Reagan (who appointed four) and the most by any one-term president since Herbert Hoover
Donald Trump has appointed and the Senate has confirmed 220 Article III federal judges through November 1, 2020, his fourth year in office.
The average number of federal judges appointed by a president through November 1 of their fourth year in office is 200.
Judges are supposed to be neutral impartial parties who use only what is presented in court and through the judicial process (which involves looking at current standing laws) to determine their decisions in court instead of using their personal opinion or political sway to inform them. However, as we saw all too often, trump was not interested in impartiality. He was interested in control, asserting his own personal opinion, even on occasion insisting he himself as president had more control than the constitution actually allows. So with that conflict and the fact he installed so many judges really makes huge impact on the judicial branch of our government. Since every branch is supposed to be fair and equal this causes a lot of road block when one branch is neither fair nor equal. You can't simply use the other two the gain up on the third - though in this case that would be convenient for dems, it would be much less convenient when the parties were reversed. It's also important to acknowledge the reality that D are not always impartial either - which again we will get to after judicial chat - nor are all R unfair. This can be a hard pill to swallow, even for me. Reality is not always easy to accept.
So of course appointments made by trump, of which there were many, can not be trusted to actually be acting in good faith, but in favor of personal or political interests (which also often come down to personal interest of a financial persuasion). When judges are not impartial, they may make decisions that ultimately contradict what was presented in court or what the law of the land says. Typically if a hearing with the Senate Judiciary Committee (you can see an example here of the first day of Amy Comey Barrett's hearing day 1/3) determines that there is a conflict of interest or that they are illgitimate, then ideally a judge will be blocked from appointment. This clearly also depends on the makeup and impartiality of the Senate and thus the Committee. The Committee will debate and vote on whether or not to confirm every nomination made by a President. (it used to require 3/5 of the senate or 60 votes but since 2017 only requires a "simple majority" or 51 votes for confirmation)
I want to take a quick aside here and go a little philosophical in understanding judicial impartiality, because I hope it will help you have some perspective on how it's an inherently difficult matter. Ultimately the court's impartiality comes down to checks/balances and faith. Not religious faith, but faith in humanity and honesty. Trusting that there is no hidden motive or lies or manipulation at play. We tend to have to rely heavily on the checks and balances part since faith in humanity can be easily manipulated with lobbying and politicians eagerness to look bipartisan for popularity in elections (appealing as more bipartisan is considered a way of winning over more votes like centrists and those just left and right of it). Checks and balances allows oversight of the 3 branches over one another and attempting to keep the scales balanced in order to prevent any one branch being too powerful and ultimately to avoid the US being something more like a monarchy - which was a primary goal at the time of forming the constitution and government since it is what we had fought to escape in the first place.
"So judges aren't allowed their 1st amendment rights?!"
Humans are merely humans no matter what title they have or role they play and humans are inherently flawed and partial. Nobody is perfect and some make mistakes as well as bad faith decisions for ulterior motives (could be a matter of loyalty to well funded lobbyists or even general unchecked and ultimately supported ignorance or a power grab). After and throughout checks and balances, that is where the faith part comes in that we hope we can trust judges to put their personal opinion aside and go with what the evidence presented in court and the law and super precedents tell them. We trust the Committee to do their due diligence in researching nominees and asking them tough questions. Realistically everyone can and likely will have some kind of opinion on any major issue, so it is not that anyone expects a justice to not have a personal opinion, only that they not use it to determine their decision in court. So, say i was a judge looking at a defendant accused of a civil rights infringement and i personally felt that they were guilty but there was no or not enough "valid" evidence to prove it, I couldn't assert they are guilty just based off my own opinion. I would have to depend on the evidence shown in court proving that it has infringed on precedents or existing law.
(All the appointments made by trump can be viewed more in detail here.)
"BLAHBLAHBLAH WHAT ABOUT THE SUPREME COURT"
It would be too tumultuous for me to dig into each of the 3 Supreme Court judge appointments by trump in regards to current issues around Roe v Wade, so I'm going to focus on one that is likely most relevant in particular: Amy Coney Barrett. Barrett was an appointment made when Ruth Bader Ginsburg's passing caused a vacancy in the court. (Why didn't she retire under Obama? The Senate was GOP controlled which made the odds of a pro-choice appointment being confirmed low). RGB was well known for being a strong advocate for the right to choose and for a long time was a stronghold in the court to ensure Roe v Wade was upheld. Since trump wouldn't want to lose too many votes from women and allies to women, he made the clear choice to appoint a woman which is what i would call performative in the case that though Barrett is a woman she does not particularly stand on the side of women's rights.
In day two of Barrett's confirmation hearing, Senator Klobuchar honed in on Barrett's opinions regarding Roe v Wade - especially as to whether it is considered what is called a "super precedent", an important matter when talking about codification. Klobuchar makes it clear that Barrett has said she finds Brown v BoE to be a super precedent despite the Supreme Court never impressing that opinion, but refuses to consider Roe v Wade a super precedent despite that being a Supreme Court opinion. Barrett's argument is that "scholarly literature" she has read has asserted it is not a super precedent because calls for its overrule has never ceased, where as cases such as Brown v Board "nobody questions anymore". Klobuchar digs in again asking if US v Virginia Military is a "super precedent" and Barrett refuses to answer - or as she phrases it "grade" - because it wasn't one of the cases Barrett spoke about in an article she had written.
After Klobuchar asked Barrett if Roe v Wade is a super precedent, Barrett asked Klobuchar how the Senator defines a super precedent. Reasonably so, Klobuchar - who is a senator and not a judge - scoffs and puts that responsibility back on Barrett who was nominated to be a Supreme Court judge. Barrett obliges and asserts a definition that she uses is of (supposedly not conservative) ONE scholarly opinion which depends on a case being "so well settle that no political actors and no people seriously push to overrule"
In a scholarly opinion in 2006 by Michael J Gerhardt at University of North Carolina School of Law defined a super precedent in many ways one being "decisions whose correctness is no longer a viable issue for courts to decide; it is no longer a matter on which courts will expend their limited resources."
However:
in the Roberts hearings, Charles Fried, a prominent conservative legal scholar at Harvard, agreed explicitly that Roe was a superprecedent. As solicitor general under President Ronald Reagan, Mr. Fried had asked the court to overturn Roe. But testifying on behalf of Judge Roberts, he said that Roe had become a super-duper precedent that would not and should not be overturned, because it was reaffirmed in 1992 and extended in subsequent decisions protecting gay rights and the right to die.
Here is a good example of what happens in academia and why i take "scholarly research" with a heap of salt since I have experience in doing scholarly research. When you are doing research, your audience is trusting that you have run through all the hard work of researching both sides of a specific matter - not just looking up opinions based on whether they are from a conservative or a liberal as that is not supposed to be what determines their opinion on any particular matter.
You are supposed to be actually looking into all the differing opinions on the specific subject matter. While it does help to have a context of the profile of the one giving the opinion, it is the evidence they present in their argument that is what should be prioritized in research. The audience is also trusting that the sources the researcher uses are valid, researched, and impartial and that any studies they use are peer reviewed and use proper methodology and are also impartial without any sway from funders. Since many academic resources that would elaborate on these details are often gatekept through paywalls or language or other accessibility barriers, it can be difficult for the general population to do their own research - the majority of which do not have access for one reason or another - they are left with nothing but to choose to have faith the researcher they are reading did their job earnestly.
Barrett focusing on opinions from scholars (actually it seems she is more dependent on one particular scholar's opinion - Gerhardt as seen in notes 128-132) based on whether or not they are typically conservative scholars is basing it on an irrelevant matter when she should have been taking on all opinions about super precedents and digging into comparing and contrasting them based on whether or not they hold water. It seems more like she sought a defense for her pre-determined opinion and insulated it from challenge by excluding any other assertions despite their significance. She ultimately failed at her responsibility as a researcher.
On Wednesday 9/2/21, the Supreme Court voted 5-4 to not block Texas SB8, a decision that weakens Roe v Wade.
Now this has been a very long form way of spelling out just SOME of the impact that trump has had on the judicial branch. I want to now go back to 2016 when he was elected, and try to extrapolate why what happened in that election was a serious failure in regards to those responsible for casting their votes: The People.
"We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defence, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America."
"We the people" is every single resident and/or citizen of the nation at any time. The constitution is essentially a contract drawn up between every single one of us including those born and raised here, those who move here, those who's communities were here before the formation of the nation, and those who may be a citizen but living elsewhere. The diversity of The People in every faucet of human life makes this document necessarily complicated and amendable. In consequence the way in which our government is also complicated but also amendable. One matter that has been a point of contention since the dawning of the nation is the right to vote.
Who could vote & When (.):
1776: white men over 21 who owned land
1870 Racial barriers eliminated tho 15th is not enforced by states
1920: white women can vote
1924: Native american's given voting rights
1964: Civil Rights Act - all above 21y/o may vote regardless of identifiers such as race - ensures Black people's right to vote
1971: Voting age lowered to 18
1984: Accessibility extended to disabled americans by setting accessibility standards
In between all of these are other matters that challenged the accessibility to voting for one population or another such as literacy tests, naturalization, and polling taxes. Many of the challenges were directly challenging to People of Color particularly Black Women. To this day there are still many who must fight to assert their right - a right that should never be denied, never be thought of as less than inherent. Access is less a concern for the wealthy and well to do as their needs are never on the line the way it is for people who are poor, Black, disabled, immigrant, or even just have a primary language other than English.
For those of us who have never had to fight to utilize our right to vote in our life have too often shown that we do not respect the power in this right. Or rather know exactly how powerful it is and choose to use that power in a destructive way because we aren't getting our faves. For the first many many years I was eligible to vote, I refused to at all because I do not like how our government and politicians conducts themselves. As soon as I learned about the filibuster I was so pissed I didn't want to partake at all. Have I be impacted by this personally? To an effect, but not in a way that impacts my life significant enough for me to really notice. But in congruence with other privileged decisions not to vote, it has certainly impacted many lives. In a nation where communities are still fighting to have the law meant to protect them properly enforced, it is entirely a privilege abused to choose not to vote.
Though I was 18 in 2007, 2016 I cast my first vote.
Why? Because it was finally looking as though I may face personal consequences if I didn't. Prior to 2016 i wasn't worried bc there was obama, i wasn't old enough to vote when bush was up for relection and seeing him win again embittered me further. by the time I was 18, I saw how unreliable 3rd party was despite my parents being all in that gambit, and otherwise it all felt like nobody was paying attention to the issues only on popularity contests. All i thought of though was my perspective on the matter. It was all me-centric, my choice to withhold from voting in any election. When trump started to look less like a joke and actually got traction, I saw my neighbors trump signs and i looked at where i was in life. I had also began to actually do the work and stop letting apathy guide my decisions, but to rather listen to my humanity and my responsibility as my neighbor's neighbor.
Quite literally. At the time my neighbor was a Black woman. I only spoke to her once and it was when she came by to selflessly make sure I was going to be ok when our landlord was kicking us out to sell the place out from under our feet - something I hadn't even considered doing yet seemed like second nature for her to do (to be fair i was struggling to find a place but i've no idea about her life). I wish i had gotten her name and stayed in touch, it's kind-hearted people like that that are hard to come by. I'm still working on being as selfless.
I was and am proud to have not only voted in 2016, but for my first vote to have been for a woman. I was scared and for someone other than myself for once in 2016. I had high hopes for Clinton based on name recognition and basic common sense.
Humans are not perfect. Nor are they inherently humble.
Trump encouraged arrogance among the most ignorant leaning right. Sanders encouraged arrogance in the most ignorant leaning left. Clinton seemed to always get the most dramatic fire though from both sides, which signaled to me some kind of mess was going on. My own parents tried to sell me on Sanders, but by this point I had a better concept of how to properly research and untangle the mythologies that were parroted by my own parents about Clinton. Even when I proved their parroted lies wrong they were unwilling to concede, only to move the goal post or deflect.
Now, I get to my point.
Which is to really smack upside the head of anyone who chose not to vote in 2016, everyone who is left or liberal but voted for trump, everyone who wrote in someone else. If trump hadnt made it in as POTUS, paired with the republican majority senate, the landscape of the judicial branch would not have faced such a conservative shift, it wouldn't have given mcconnell so much influence, it wouldn't have resulted in the pandemic being so much worse than it needed to be. Many lives would have been spared. You can only blame the government for so long until you realize we are the government, we install the government, and we hold power we must use wisely. We the People.
Many who voted for clinton have been critical of her. As we always should be critical of those we choose in any level of government. We the people hold responsibilities that build this nation from the ground up, and without adherence to those responsibilities it puts other's rights in danger. When we decide that something doesn't matter that much to us or weighing it against the consequences we may personally face - you're failing in your responsibility to your neighbor who is likely doing far more justice to you than you are extending to them.
Yes my white people i look at you.
Yes my white men I look at you.
Yes my white queers I look at you.
Yes my white degree holders I look at you.
Yes white youth I look at you where I once was. When I was younger and arrogant and naive and apathetic and bitter and I let all that guide my choices instead of my concern for the neighbor who was looking out for me.
I still matter in the formation and function of tomorrow's government and I'm going to make sure I let my impact be constructive for all my neighbors who have extended such courtesy to me by not shirking my main duty to make an informed vote in every election i may partake in from local to national.
The differences among us in this nation may seemingly tend to fall along party lines, what the real metric is:
Do you give a fuck outside your own home?
Or is it just about what you want, what you think, what you feel? Nothing in this nation is just involving you or your bestie or your family, we're in this together whether we like it or not. Trust me as someone who struggles daily to find the humanity in others, I know how toxic that can be to your perspective when you give into it. Believe in benefit of the doubt, believe in change, believe in your power to do good for others. Believe and invest in your humanity.
While i can be mad at conservative votes for trump that was to be expected. I'm far more disappointed in the right AND DUTY to vote being given up by so many on the left simply because their fave didn't make it to the finals. That is not how establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defence, promote the general Welfare, or secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity. AOC and Pressley and Porter did not make it where they are by their supportive constituents abdicating their right to vote.
I accept my faults in never having voted before 2016 even in local elections. It was stupid and selfish and 2016 woke me up to that reality. You don't go from 0 to trump overnight. Do you accept your fault in not voting in 2016 when one of the most detrimental candidates was running and won?
#education#politics#abortion#roe v wade#judges#executive#judicial#congress#senator#senate#vote#voting#preamble#constitution#law#amendment#rights#civil rights#black lives matter and we need to act like it#dont use your vote as a petty bite-back. use it wisely. not everyone has the privilege#apathy is a drug. detox now.#trump#clinton#obama#mcconnell#history#right to vote#power#legislation#amy coney barrett
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Raleigh Apartment Culture
So I'm of the mind that Raleigh is a great place to live. It has my favorite things, my favorite people, and I'm too broke to move anywhere else.
Raleigh works for me, but I recognize it doesn't work for everyone. Some people had less than ideal childhoods and wanna escape the state ASAP, some just want to live closer to their dream jobs or have new opportunities. That's all fine, but what if this describes where you are now?
What if, for the sake of argument, you're outside of NC and wanna move in? Moving is expensive, time-consuming, and risky at the best of times; so you wanna make sure that wherever you're landing is at least as good as where you started 90% of the time
"But RL," I hear you say, "you make Raleigh sound like an idyllic dreamscape populated with parks and a diverse kumbayah of peoples living in harmony"
I do talk about Raleigh in a positive light but, like a life saving medicine flavored like ass, sometimes you have to take the good with the bad.
So before you spend thousands of dollars on moving vans, boxes, and grits; here's a crash course on what it's like living in a Raleigh apartment, coming from someone whose majority of Raleigh Living (heh) has been in apartments.
First off, location. Any realtor will tell you that location is 80% of the sale to sound profound, and as anyone who has lived in the middle of ass-backward nowhere can tell you: It sucks having to drive 30 minutes to go anywhere.
Good news: With the Raleigh Beltline and connecting roads, there are very few places in Raleigh where your trip will last longer than thirty minutes one-way. Bad News: where you set down still matters because cutting down on travel is important for car and mental health.
North Raleigh is different from south Raleigh is different from northwest Raleigh, and the locals aren't the only difference you'll find between locations. Each segment of Raleigh has something to offer, with easier access to some attractions than others and neighboring cities for when you need something outside the RDU area.
Using downtown as the center of our wheel, people generally divide Raleigh into North and South Raleigh (with distinction given for NW, SE, NE, etc when needed). N.Raleigh is considered generally more upscale, a slice of suburban living interspersed with plenty of shopping centers for families and the moderately wealthy; but it's boring as all hell.
Want some fun? Excitement in the evenings and a more traditional urban experience with bars, night clubs, strip clubs, and more? South Raleigh is your best bet, at the cost of being the "sketchy" side of Raleigh. That kind of place where you'll see a bunch of auto shops that look abandoned but haven't been closed in the past 5 years and there's at least one customer from time to time.
Of course, this is a lot of generalizing but you'll find that it's still mostly accurate. The main exception in this is Capital Blvd, a highway cutting across north and south Raleigh on the eastern half of the city; a high crime corridor that's undergoing some changes in the northern half that have (somewhat) reduced crime but most people will still associate that area with the majority of Raleigh's crime and debauchery.
More importantly, is the distinction Raleigh citizens put on inside the beltline versus outside the beltline. The I-440 and 540 highways that wrap around Downtown form the mythical beltline, and to a degree what you have access to. Inside the beltline is the majority of workplaces, stores, and shopping centers; while outside you'll still have these things just to a more... dispersed extent.
North Raleigh actually kinda exemplifies this perfectly. Living inside the beltline, you have access to places like North Hills, Crabtree Valley mall, and Triangle Town Center. Live outside the beltline, like I currently am, and you're looking at 10 to 15 minutes to the nearest sheetz for that late night double hot dog fix.
So for point one: How important is it that you're near things? The majority of apartments and rental properties are in or around the belt-line, but if you want to save some cash on rent checks the cheaper properties are gonna extend your trips a bit.
Next, what can you expect in terms of neighbors? Does Raleigh have a hip party scene full of teens renting cheap apartments and blasting trap music at 3AM?
Depends on where you live
I swear not every point is going to be this, but there's an important distinction this time that affects the type of people your complex will likely have surrounding you; are you in North or South Raleigh?
North Raleigh has a ton of pre-schools, k-12 public schools (Leesville, Hillburn, Lead Mine, just to name a few), and office complexes that make up the job market. As a result the majority of apartment renters in north Raleigh tend to be families with a few small kids or so.
As a result, living off of Glenwood North and Edwards Mill I never had any noise problems from neighbors, the worst being kids playing outside at 3PM sounding like they were being murdered (which apparently is a common thing and I apologize to any neighbors I frightened with ghastly shrieks).
What I did have a problem with, however, was the typical Karen's you hear people complain about online. Renting a property now, we have access to our neighborhood's NextDoor page and it's hilarious sometimes to go on and read the comments, but living at a certain property we had a sort of mini-Facebook for residents
That thing was always full of either people who were moving out looking to sell their furniture or people passive-aggressively challenging each other/the apartment managers with comments about things happening around the complex.
Once I logged in to see one man accuse another, without ever actually accusing someone specific ("I know who did it and they should be ashamed" type post) of putting glass beer bottles under the tires of his truck to try and puncture them. Everyone acts civil in public, but then online they'll stir the pot harder than a chef with a hand mixer.
South Raleigh, you have the schools like Shaw University, Meredith, and NCSU; so the people renting down there are typically college kids. You'll see more apartments that cater towards them like University Village or University Woods, but sometimes these places will cater to both college kids and working adults
Avoid these places like the plague, because despite sometimes having a lower cost to live there the neighbors and their shenanigans will drive you up the wall (unless you're the type to join in, then go wild).
I've had friends stay at places like University Village and The Proper (formerly The Vie, formerly Wolf Creek) who've shared horror stories. 3AM parties ending in property damage or vomit in inconvenient places, drug deals not even trying to be subtle, and maintenance workers doing nothing because regardless of the apartment conditions; no school's gonna pull their contract with them unless news articles start getting written.
http://www.technicianonline.com/news/article_898ddf34-82f5-11e7-b3d8-07059d248619.html
https://www.wral.com/vie-at-raleigh-residents-finally-able-to-move-into-clean-units/16887833/
http://www.technicianonline.com/news/article_ea8ed7aa-a092-11e8-a2af-e70af36566d0.html
Otherwise, south Raleigh apartments are largely like north Raleigh apartments; except the crime rate tends to be a little higher and you'll run into more singles and people working full time.
Otherwise, Raleigh apartment culture is like apartment culture anywhere else in the country. You have a mix of apartments catering to those just looking to live versus more ostentatious luxury apartments with fancy pools, exercise facilities, and tech packages to draw people in.
If you're renting in Raleigh, however, do try to get a roommate or two if you can manage. Even with a decent job paying 800+ on a one bedroom one bath apartment can be exhausting at best, but with even one other person that can functionally halve your expenses
So if you're a young professional, or a student, or even if you have a small family, I can safely recommend renting in Raleigh. There's plenty of places that'll accommodate you, and cater towards your needs.
But what about everyone else? Are there people who shouldn't rent in Raleigh?
No
But there are groups who I'd seriously ask to consider their other choices before picking Raleigh as a destination for their new home.
For instance, are you a member of the LGBT community? A trans or non-binary individual? Well then, first off, I want you to know that you're loved and valid. I'm accepting of who you are and appreciate everyone's right to identify how they choose, but I'm not everyone.
Raleigh's bluer than other parts of North Carolina, as I've stated in other blog write-ups, but it's still part of North Carolina unfortunately and as a result, you'll face some challenges.
I doubt anyone's gonna burn a cross in your yard or knock over your mailbox, but Raleigh doesn't offer LGBT protections for housing, jobs, or credit/lending discriminations according to the Movement Advancement Project's website.
We have support organizations for LGBT and NB individuals, plenty of high schools and colleges have Gay-Straight Alliance clubs, and there are numerous businesses downtown that cater specifically to those individuals... but we're also the state that got into a lot of hot water because of a stupid bathroom bill, and our politicians are trying to pass anti-trans sports legislation (because they now magically care about the integrity of womens sports).
By that measure, but to a lesser extent, if you fall outside the Liberal/Conservative political spectrum then be prepared to have no one to discuss your politics with outside of a few sparse networks like the DSA.
Additionally, if you don't have someone to room with or a significant other to split costs with; you may want to try searching somewhere a little cheaper.
I've said it before and I'll say it again, Raleigh housing prices aren't terrible for a major metropolitan city, but we're not the best prices in the world.
You can get prices on apartments and rentals lower than say, California or New York. However, compared to other parts of NC like Greensboro or Garner; rentals are still a bit much.
On average, a Raleigh apartment can run you about $900 for a single bedroom and a single bathroom. You can find cheaper, but often times there's some risk associated (Crime levels, quality of the room, quality of the property manager, etc.) Looking for a two bedroom? Then your average price is gonna jump up to around $1,200, and this is all before utilities and cable come into play.
It's true a lot of companies around here will pay more than the $7.25 minimum wage, but most low-skilled jobs will pay around 10-11 an hour.
I guess though, that's kind of an obvious statement. "Don't live in Raleigh if you can't afford to live in Raleigh."
I might expand on these thoughts at a later time, but hopefully for now I've given you some food for thought; or at the very least an entertaining read for a few minutes.
I love my city, and I love the friends I've made in it, but the sad truth is that nowhere is perfect for everyone; leastways Raleigh. If Raleigh sounds like the kind of place you'd like to live in, at least take a day trip to come visit and see how things go that way. Visit some stores, meet some locals, and form an opinion off of more than travel blogs and youtube videos.
#raleigh#North Carolina#NC#north carolina#travel#photography#urban photography#city life#city#city of raleigh#advice
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Merry Christmas, @flynnifox!
The prompt by @flynnifox:
I really like soulmates, and please fluff as it's christmas, coffee shop au's are also great, I like wolf Derek, werewolves are known, all the AU's, did I say please fluff? I totally love slow burn, kissing, nipping, scentmarking, sassy Derek, sassy Stiles, Alpha Derek, having to share a bed, snow, ice-skating
Here's to hoping that I blended these elements together in a satisfying manner that captures the soulmates + scents + sass + fluffy adorableness. Most of that brought by Derek's red eartips (because he's embarrassed so frequently).
Read on AO3
*****
Chocolate and Notebooks
Stiles pulls his eyes from the road, taking a glance at the clock as the trees zip past in the dark and chilly evening. One glance at the clock confirms his suspicions.
"It's 5:43 in the morning and this is a very dumb time to be driving through unfamiliar territory." He tilts his head, as if considering an argument. "And yet, we're perfectly safe because the shields are up and the path is true." His head cocks to the other side. "And yet, we are definitely feeling sleepiness come on." He hopes the next town is near, and avoids the part of his mind that would happily confirm for him that he's getting closer to his destination.
Built-in GPS is a great tool for a spark, but it can take the mystery and adventure out of life if he indulges the spark too much. And despite what others might say, he's not entirely convinced that there isn't a limited amount of magic available to any one person or to all beings and he feels responsible for not flaunting his magic with every waking moment.
"Beacon Hills: Next two exits" reflects back at him in bright white text on a shiny green background. The name sounds like an omen. A good one he hopes, and a town with a good little history, he double-hopes. Can't be too careful when there are many town that are just full of weird and sometimes bad things. Hunters are less likely to come make a mess in a peaceful town than they are in one with a reputation for trouble. Beacon Hills is, as far as he dimly recalls, not a name that's appeared in association with anything terrible in the last many years. He and whatever supernaturals may be around should be fine, so long as nobody upsets the balance.
Which is exactly the problem: The spark that constitutes the magical expression of Stiles is actually very interested in mischief. Supremely interested in making some things very much tougher for Stiles, and he tries to remind himself it's also done a lot of good for him over the years. A nudge here to take this turn, and a thought of just stopping and waiting somewhere on the sidewalk for a minute can both lead to finding old friends and good times, or missing a falling chunk of the facade from some ancient brick building. He can't often tell ahead of time despite pleading with himself to make it work.
He's decided that Beacon Hills has to be a good place, with good WiFi and good coffee and all that stuff. Nature is also calling more insistently against his bladder and he really hopes there's someplace open this early with internet service and decent restrooms.
"If I find that nobody in this town is awake at this terrible hour, and that they haven't got decent WiFi, I'm going to write them a very bad review and hex their coffeemaker. There are standards for how these things should work and that last place was a disaster!"
Of the four diners in the last town, some eight hours ago down the highway that specifically avoids the big urban centers, he found no curly fries on any of the menus. They seemed completely unimpressed with the idea of tater tots and he considered hexing them in some way or other but ended up just snagging food from the hot case at a convenience store and busting a move out of town.
When the first exit for Beacon Hills comes up he passes without exiting. It seemed too wild, like it was a regional wildspace, or something. Maybe this was more of an industrial exit for logging and whatever else they do here. The next exit surely showed promise.
Quietly in the back of his mind, a tiny version of Leslie Nielsen's voice replied, "And don't call me Shirley."
Erica had been ready for several minutes. Derek's routine for how to open the store properly had been whittled down to just 12 minutes for the cleaning prep, six minutes to get all the food out and presentable, and another full minute just to go around and make sure everything was in order. Derek usually closed the shop up, but today claimed he was feeling restless and arrived before she had and was already bustling around.
"Derek, you pay me to worry about these things. Why are you even here?" She watched as Derek redid everything she had completed already so he could be sure it met his extremely specific standards that are in no way related to what actually makes customers happy. Well, he's the boss, so he can ask for what he wants, but she's going to do it the way she knows is best when he's back on his regular routine.
She hollers at him from the cafe's dining area while Derek is in the back organizing and cleaning things in the kitchen he'd definitely organized and cleaned the night before. "You should go run out in the preserve or something. You have too much energy to be in a confined space before 6 AM on this day or any day." Her supernaturally-enhanced hearing helped her catch every syllable in reply.
"I'm here because it's my place and I don't really need a reason to be here, now, do I? I can come whenever I like."
Erica smirked.
"Shut your pie-hole, Reyes, or I'm switching you to the lunch shift and giving your boyfriend the morning."
"He'll hate you for that."
"I'm the alpha. I can take it."
At Erica's snicker, Derek growls to himself. As the alpha, his hearing is even more enhanced, but he can also feel her perpetual sniggering through the pack bond. He tells himself he should be used to it by now but he just can't. Wolves aren't monsters, they need to behave in a respectable way.
"Are you lecturing me mentally on how wolves should behave respectably in polite society? I mean, I know these customers and though some of them are gems, some are definitely not polite and don't belong out in society."
"Erica," Derek says as he enters the room. "Keep it down. You don't want anyone to overhear you talking trash about others."
"It's three minutes to six and I'm going to open up."
"It's too early. We open at six. Don't mess with people's expectations."
"Anyone here this early is here because they have no expectations, just a demand for coffee, bossman. You really don't have anything to worry about."
Erica walks to the windows and turns the lights on in the displays. She admires the way the colorful borders around the windows twinkle in the early air. They cast bright splashes of light into the intersection, visible from any direction of the street. Derek does fine display work and has made a version of the town in a huge diorama lit with tiny LEDs in the windows of the shops and homes, and decorated with the tiniest versions of people Derek knows. Customers, family, random people who caught Derek's eye are all represented in some way in the display.
She thinks it's the softest, brightest, most wonderful thing Derek does and he pretends to everyone like it's no big deal. He's the most ridiculous rough-edged marshmallow-soft man she's ever met. When she told Boyd about it, he agreed with a knowing nod of his head before he returned to mixing beverages for the fine residents and visitors who came through the door.
The subtle change in the air alerted her to potential danger, and she spun around to catch Derek standing at the door, looking confused and surprised at the man standing there.
"Uhh, if you're not open, that's fine, but I really need to use a restroom. Can I come in anyway to take care of the call of nature? She's been really, really going hard these last few miles."
Erica's snort escapes unintended. The man at the door snaps to look at her and grins, holding a thumbs-up. He gives her a sort of look that says, "Is this guy broken?" and Erica replies with a look that yes, totally broken, and harmless.
"Hey, welcome to Beacon Hills! We're opening right now and the bathroom is right down there. Go for it."
The man exhales and seems to weaken for a moment before taking off at a fast walk between the chairs and to where Erica had pointed. "Close your mouth and the door, Derek. I hear the landlord hates when people waste energy heating the outside."
The door closes with a click at the same moment Derek's jaw slams shut. She watches him transform from bare surprise to guarded watcher in an instant. "Watch out. I didn't hear him at the door when I want to go put the mat out."
"You still have that in your hands, Derek." She looks at him as he seems to realize the truth. Derek opens the door and half throws it out, trusting it to land however it lands as Derek seems to listen to the back area.
"Are you listening to him pee?"
"No, I'm—" He flashes his eyes at her. There's a visceral reaction for any beta to the flashing of one's alpha's eyes, but Derek does it so often they've all become somewhat immune to the power of it all. Derek's mother warns him about overusing his strength when a simple word will do, and while Erica see's he's gotten better with her coaching of him, he's still got a long way to go before Talia's advice actually makes a solid difference for him. "I can't hear anything. Nothing at all."
"He's probably just shielded, Derek. There are a lot of good reasons for that, especially when traveling alone."
Derek is a good-hearted alpha, and he's young, but Beacon Hills has been stable for long enough that his parents leaving him in charge isn't a disaster. Talia and her husband are consulting for another pack in Idaho and Derek's putting his training to use at home. The pack in Idaho had lost their alpha and Emissary in an attack of some kind, and they some serious help getting back on track. The mission, as it were, will be for a couple of years, but they're not far away and so the territory isn't really at risk even if Derek has some trouble to deal with.
"I don't think he's a threat, Derek. He seems kind of fun.." Which Derek would have considered if he wasn't being totally weird about this guy.
"Anyone who can sneak up on us is a potential threat, Erica. I shouldn't have to remind you of that." Indeed, Erica flashed right back to the moment she and Boyd finally returned to the territory after having been abducted by a nutty grandpa hunter and his daughter.
"Yeah, but like you also said, we can't just go in being suspicious of everyone. What if he's one of the good ones? You're the guy in charge, so people need to know they can come to you. He's probably not even aware this is our territory."
"We can't know that."
"I can just ask him, dude." Derek looks at her with an expression of disgust. She's solid in her sense of this new guy and his not-at-all-threatening intentions. Whoever he may be, or whatever he may be, he's good people. And he's not a werewolf, so there's no direct threat there. Derek's had his heart broken and his trust trampled on extremely effectively, so he's far less willing to consider his instincts and defaults to threat mode whenever something both supernatural and unexpected comes around. She regards him for a moment.
"I think we'll be okay. I'll find out about him and you hang in the back and listen, okay?" She considers for a moment. "What do you think he likes to drink?"
"I have no idea," he mutters and heads to the back room. Derek's taking things down to DEFCON 3 from DEFCON 2, which seems like a mark in her favor. She's not his first beta, but she does seem to be able to get him to think about other stuff sometimes when other people can't. When anyone happens to notice she says it's her brilliant curls, but the blonde really does seem to get his concern in a way the rest of the pack don't. Except for Boyd, and he's too busy being silent to really help Derek so directly. She lets a smile fill her face and nods to herself. Derek is trusting them more. He's been training them hard, and it's working, and she sets herself to figuring out who the new guy is and what new guy is up to.
She forgets for a moment how weird he was when he opened the door.
Stiles throws his bag onto the bench in one of the high-backed booths with a good line of sight to both the counter and the entryway and heads to the counter.
"What can I get you?" Erica says in her warmest 6-am customer service voice.
"Well, I think I want a coffee, but I also need to sleep soon, so that's probably a bad idea. I mean, caffeine can put me to sleep if I have a little, but it's been a while since I've taken my medicine and my ADD is probably going to fight me for sleep if I don't indulge in some delicious beverage action."
Erica laughs. Stiles beams. "I'm here with the jokes, folks."
"Oh, yeah, I can tell that about you."
Too quietly for normal hearing she hears, "Ask him who he is!" in an urgent tone from the back. Erica rolls her eyes briefly, making sure the visitor doesn't see it. She growls subvocally.
"Welcome! Sorry you had such a weird first experience with my boss at the door. He's not normally a weirdo."
"Eh, I'm not worried. I'm plenty weird. But he is okay? I mean, he seemed kind of... surprised?" Somehow, in some manner she didn't interpret, she heard the meaning behind it. The boss seemed both surprised and actually afraid of something, and the new guy had picked up on it.
Erica beams. "Yeah, we get that all the time. Boss is a total weirdo." Derek growls in the back and sets something hard against the table.
Stiles glances in the back then makes eye contact with Erica. "Is he alright?" he mouths at her.
She shrugs her shoulders. She isn't about to explain the weirdness on display right now. Derek's never been like this before.
"I am not sure he slept at all last night. He normally works the closing shift. I'm here to open, but when he needs pre-dawn fun, I'm apparently the one he needs to hang around."
"Oh, really?" Stiles raises an eyebrow.
"Oh, no, not like that. I'm taken. Boyd's a really good guy and he's not into sharing."
Stiles had glanced again to the back room but that comment brings his full attention right back to her. "Oh, I'm sorry, I wasn't trying to flirt! I am just like this all the time."
Erica leans back. "Hear that, Derek? He's like this all the time." She adopts a theatrical pose for a moment. "Oh, gosh, I'm sorry, I've completely forgotten to introduce myself. I'm Erica, and that's Derek."
Stiles doesn't miss a beat. "I'm Stiles, and you're one of the betas, then? Is he the only alpha around? It seems a little..." Stiles seems to taste the air, sort of. Erica isn't sure how to describe the way he takes an open-mouthed whiff and kind of lets his eyes go blurry. "Oh, I see. Got it."
"What do you think you get, Stiles?" Erica says with a dash of suspicion. She'd heard Derek freeze in the kitchen, his heart racing now. She tries to be a cooler customer than her alpha and hopes that Stiles isn't offended. She's not really sure what a spark is, or what they do, but Derek's got an idea and it's shocked the hell out of him for whatever reason.
"Eeek, yeah, sorry! Sorry. I find I do this all the time, and usually on accident, if I haven't prepared ahead of time. I'm a Spark, and I'm really just here to find a quiet place to rest and drink something hot and warm. I'd like to write for a bit in the booth," he says, gesturing with a huge swing of his arm to the booth.
Erica nods at him. "I am pretty sure we can accommodate that request and we won't even have to do some paperwork for it," she makes a show of stage whispering, "Since my alpha is hiding in the back instead of greeting important guests like he's supposed to do."
This time the growl is clear to everyone. Erica smiles wickedly. "Alpha Hale, I believe you have some alpha-level responsibilities here with regard to our guest. Don't you think you should get out here and be polite?" She winks at Stiles, who returns the wink with a laugh he tries to stifle behind his fist.
Derek comes out and now Stiles looks at him without saying anything. He seems to close-off a bit, looking at the alpha in his black shirt and forest-green apron with the cafe's logo on it.
Erica notices the two of them and then grabs her phone from the counter and stepping out of the way.
"Stiles, you're welcome to be here. We have no restrictions against visitors," and by this Stiles heard between the words that the alpha meant. "of the supernatural variety." Stiles hadn't met an alpha so formal as this before. He mentally knocked his hand against his temple to try to recall proper protocols. He was not successful.
"Hello, Hale. I mean, alpha. Gah. This isn't going well. I don't do many formal introductions and I'm sorry to mess it all up. I hope you're not offended."
"No offense taken." Derek looks at the counter and then at Stiles. "Do you know what you'd like to have to drink this morning?"
"I hadn't decided that, though I imagine you already heard." Erica and Derek watch him as he catches himself glancing back. "And crap! I left my shields up without regard to any possible werewolf packs in the area. I'm sorry!" he said emphatically. "I would have taken them down in the parking lot if I'd have been thinking. It's been a long trip, and again, I—" he waves in the direction of the restrooms in the back and at that moment Erica and Derek both got a whiff of the spark without his protections. It took a moment to realize he was still talking.
"...distracted, on top of that, I've got ADD. You know how it goes? Wow, this probably explains why Alpha Hale had some trouble deciding what to do with me when I was at the door." Erica couldn't tell if Stiles noticed Derek was taking deep breaths, seemingly to scent him over and over again, which our staunch Alpha Hale never, ever does.
It was the, "You can call me Derek," said in a very warm and cozy tone that persuaded Erica to get the pack here. Whatever was going on needed witnesses, and she wanted to be sure someone else could verify this totally bizarre behavior by their alpha. Stiles didn't lie about being a spark, though if he were doing sexy mojo on the boss she doesn't know if she could tell. The scent of magic in the air happened only after he released the shield, and even hen he's been fading into the background. She snaps a picture of them with her phone and sent a broadcast message to the pack. Derek's phone vibrated, and he subconsciously pulled it out and put it on silent, no vibration, as he continued talking with Stiles.
Something is odd here, and Derek's doing things with his eyebrows that are perfectly adorable. Erica wants to find out what's going on, and she wants witnesses. While Derek and Stiles worked out the beverage order for a specialty hot chocolate, Stiles had also talked himself into a muffin and some veggie snacks. She's been providing summary notes to the pack and comes to a conclusion about this situation that she debates momentarily, then shares with the pack.
She's certain that Derek is deeply smitten by this newcomer.
By 6:45 the pack had all arrived, even those who had other jobs they were supposed to be getting ready for. Derek seems to have blithely missed the fact that the pack had arrived at the cafe and had been huddling together at one of the larger tables getting the play-by-play from Erica about whatever each had missed before they arrived.
Stiles had developed his senses such that he noticed Erica noticing them, and noticed that there were more wolves coming. Their energy wasn't hostile, but it was actively engaged. As he talked with Derek, he couldn't help but wonder why the alpha didn't seem to notice the rest of them. During a break in their chat about a particularly delightful staff he'd made friends with at a diner in Nevada, Stiles nodded to where the pack was sitting and waited for Derek to follow his gaze.
"Why is your pack here, Derek?"
"I don't know." He seemed surprised at not noticing. Derek looked at them and noticed that yes, everyone had arrived. He gave a glance at Scott who was loosely affiliated, being an alpha in his own right but mostly disinterested in claiming territory and building his pack.
"Don't you have work, Scott?"
"I'm sure Deaton won't mind that I came for the show at the cafe." Stiles laughed, and Derek looked at him, confused. "What show?"
Stiles isn't sure how to break this to him, so he tries to ease the wolf into the idea in a roundabout sort of way.
"Derek, what time is it?"
Derek glances at the clock above the exit. "It's almost seven. Why?"
"When did I arrive?"
"Just before we opened, I think." He scrunches his eyebrows. Stiles smiles, having already started learning the way the wolf's expressive eyebrows communicate thoughts he doesn't speak with his words. "Yeah, I opened the door and you were there."
"So you've been here talking with me for an hour and haven't noticed?"
Derek looks at Stiles, and the pack, and then moves to leave. Stiles gently sets his hand over Dereks' own hand, interrupting his sudden (and fearful?) escape.
He opens his backpack and pulls out a notebook. He then slides out of the booth and heads to the pack table, and pulls up chairs for him and Derek to join them. He sets the book down.
Wrapped around the book is a worn leather cover. It's got a few scratches and stains, and it is soft to the touch. Stiles loves this book, and as he holds it up for the pack and explains the leatherwork. Derek looks at the cover, surprised. Erica brings over a plate of cookies from the display and they show the same triple-spiral pattern, a triskelion, curled into itself in a familiar form.
Erica seats herself in the lap of one of the pack members. "Good morning, Boyd" Boyd nods to Stiles, unfazed by the recognition. Derek looks surprised that Stiles knows Boyd's name, and even more so that his packmate seems unbothered by the way Stiles already knows his name. Stiles says hello to each of the pack members. He gets to Scott and instead of "hello," Scott asks, "Why does your book have Derek's tattoo on it?"
Derek finds himself flushing and he's not half-sure why. The triskelion is a common symbol in supernatural circles. They've got it on their cookies, as the plate suggests. He grabs one of them and takes a bite. Stiles laughed at Scott and confesses that he sometimes blurts questions out, too. When Scott beams back at him, Derek sees how the two of them will become fast friends.
Then he tilts his head to the side. The pack takes notice, and then so does Stiles, who has turned to him with a sly smile.
"I hope you will allow me to share something with you all that I haven't shared with anyone, not even my dad." They nod, and then Stiles looks at Derek and raises an eyebrow.
"Go ahead, I guess. Not sure what you need our permission for."
Stiles grins at Erica, who knows something special is about to happen that will make all everyone's grumbling about being up early disappear in an instant.
"At three years old the little wolf, with his bare little feet and scruffy face and pointed ears, was poking around at the wild things in the area near his home. He couldn't control his shift yet, so sometimes he was half wolfy and half boy, and he barely noticed."
Stiles tilted the book at Derek who took a look at the image and said nothing, but his heart skipped a beat and his eyes opened wide.
"And the little wolf saw a lizard. The lizard told him that they could be friends, but that they needed to learn how, because one day, the little wolf might have to remind the lizard who his friends were."
Stiles didn't glance at Jackson, but a couple of the others did. Danny set his hand on Jackson's shoulder and squeezed gently.
"The little wolf did not understand the lizard. He asked the lizard how he would know him in the future. The lizard said they were family, but they didn't know that yet."
Scott's excitement overruled his better judgment again. "Jackson was a kanima and we found out that he was Derek's cousin!"
Stiles glanced at Derek and nodded. Derek avoided looking directly at anyone, but remained attentive in his listening. When Stiles continued, he looked at Jackson and smiled slightly. They had a rough go of things at first, but they've come a long way. Jackson really has worked on letting his fears go, the ones that fed the kanima and he's becoming a better man. Derek likes to think the experience has humbled him, too. After all, it isn't every day you discover that a dangerous were-creature was basically possessed by the darker side of his own fears and ended up doing some pretty awful things until they got it all worked out.
Jackson is reliable now, and Derek is one of the people he sends texts to when he is looking for advice. Derek considers it good progress that Jackson doesn't just ask about pack advice anymore, and instead about real-life stuff, like running a business and all that stuff.
Stiles has moved to a new story and Derek catches his name again. He inhales once more, and Stiles stops to scoot a little closer.
"Oh, sorry, this one is out of order. I'm not sure Derek will remember it." Derek sets his hand on Stiles' knee almost as an afterthought. It is as if being with Stiles is a thing that has already happened, and they've been together for decades. They haven't, but it's so easy to believe it, to trust Stiles, and to trust Stiles with his pack.
"When the little wolf had his first birthday, his asshole uncle creepy pants..." ("That's exactly who he is" slips Lydia under her breath, echoed by "yeahs" around the table.) "...gave little wolf a box. Little wolf was a boy at this time, almost never being wolfy at all. The box in front of him had a very interesting handle. Uncle creepypants showed little wolf boy that he could spin the handle around and around and listen to the music the box played. Little wolf boy was so excited! He squealed with delight and turned the handle in his tiny fist and laughed himself silly."
"But when the box clicked and the lid opened to reveal an ugly clown on a spring, the surprise of the moment caused little wolf boy to change, with little sharp teeth and little sharp claws and he knocked the little box over with his mightiest growl." Derek chuckled at this. The image was adorable even if he still has a thing about clowns."
("Derek's got a thing about clowns." Scott chimes in. "Perhaps we should not keep interrupting Stiles, Scott?" Lydia said with a glare. Scott was suitably threatened into silence and put his hand over his mouth as a reminder.)
"After little wolf hit the toy he ran to his father. The man was tall, friendly, and even for a human he was strong. This man was not a wolf like the little wolf was, but he seemed just as strong as everyone else to the little wolf and Derek felt himself scooped into his father's arms and held close as he cried about the toy. His father soothed him, promising to damage his uncle's personal things in retribution for such a prank. Little wolf was happy, and though he dreamed of bad clowns for a week, he also dreamed that he and his dad would fight them together."
The pack seemed to adore the stories, and Stiles kept reading. Derek would have preferred if the pack never heard some of these stories because many of them revealed parts of his life he'd forgotten about, or didn't want to talk about. Stiles was a good storyteller, though, and he found that as he wrapped his arm around the other man's shoulders, and felt the lean muscular strength there, and smelled the way the chocolate and spice and scent of orange blossoms filled his nostrils, and how there was almost a flavor to the frisson of electricity in the aura of the spark. He felt cozy, and watched as the pack listened raptly to this master storyteller at work.
"This one is set in the future. Not even today, but in the near future." The pack looked at each other. Stiles looked at Derek, sat-up so Derek couldn't read ahead, or see the drawings in the margins. He wanted them all to experience this together. After all, the future isn't set, but this particular event isn't one of great triumph or struggle, so it shouldn't impact much of anything one way or another.
"It's the kind of Christmas morning where the windows are foggy and the lights on the houses nearby are blobs of color on the glass. The snow is on the ground thick enough to muffle noise, but not so bad you can't walk through it. In the great house in the preserve the pack meets. The little wolf is now a big wolf, but not a bad wolf. He's got his own pack now, and they welcome family and friends from far away every Christmastime."
"In the kitchen big wolf makes hot chocolate using a secret recipe he's developed at his cafe and which delights everyone. He prepares a cup for his electric friend, and for his friend who knows the ghosts, and for his cousin and his betas, for his sisters and their partners. He brews a magical potion of love and chocolate for everyone and makes it only at this time of year, as a treat to himself for his birthday, and as a cherished present to those he loves." Stiles grabs a cookie and munches it and glances at his notes.
"Oh, dang. Sorry, everyone, but I need to skip the rest of this."
"What, is it PG-13? We can handle a little of that. You two are already cuddling up."
"No, it's not that. The future is not set, and these stories might be pretty close to reality, but they're not facts. I don't know if the newcomers — No, sorry, I just don't know what I should say, so I'm going to skip it. And don't go trying to get into it later, Erica, you literally cannot read it, on top of getting a nasty burn if you try to open the book without my permission." She grunts back at him something about Batman with all his tricks and traps. "We'll get to it when we come to it. Together."
Derek nudges him with his shoulder. "Oh? Have you already decided you're staying?"
"Well, yeah, duh. When people meet their soulmates they really shouldn't just keep going."
"What? You did?"
Erica takes a cookie and throws it at Derek. "You're an idiot!" Derek looks at her confused, and annoyed. Boyd gives him a look that says to Derek that he is, in no uncertain terms, "being so stupid right now I can barely stand how stupid you're being. Would you please figure this out right now so we don't have to hold your hand through this life-changing event? What the hell, dude?"
Derek looks at Stiles, looks at the pack, and Jackson says, "Yo, dude, just check your threads."
It's Jackson's way of referring to the bond the pack has, and how they're bonded together with something that mentally looks like an energy string tying them together, supernaturals and humans alike. It's also the thing that Jackson knows will have Derek realize the truth of the situation. Derek tends to have to feel things out for himself. He doesn't think his way so much as do and feel and goes with that. The pack bond is one of the alpha's most powerful tools for relating to the people he's responsible for, and Jackson knows it's the kind of thing that will quickly get Derek out of his stupid place.
So Derek does at Jackson suggests. The pack are held with bright yellow bonds, the links between betas and between betas to their alpha. There are links to his family in colors that are tinted mostly with greens. Even Danny and Scott, both of whom are loosely associated with the pack, still have bonds to the alpha which show as gold from Danny and red from the other alpha. But there's a new line now, one directly to Stiles, and from Stiles come lines to the rest of the pack. There's a sort of hum to the group, a frequency that sounds like a cat's purr, or the perfectly tuned note on a piano, or the breeze through the forest in spring.
And the smells are incredible. He can now tell each member by scent just by thinking about them. Stiles being part of the group enhances his abilities considerably. He has the scent of desert clay and expensive wine from Jackson. There's the mixed whiffs of poppy and rain from Erica and Boyd. There is a tickling scent of dust from Lydia that underrides the floral of begonias and sparking wine. Allison smells of metal and snickerdoodles, and Scott of cane sugar and browned butter.
"Why can I feel your dad, Stiles?"
"Oh, well, we're a package deal. I bet you that within two years he'll move here, become Sheriff, and everyone will know him. He's just that kind of guy."
"How do you know this?"
Stiles opens the back cover of the notebook and holds it up to Derek so that only he can see. He folds it quickly before the pack can lean over enough to catch a glimpse. "Does that answer it?"
"Yes and no. I mean..." Derek glances at the window. Erica watches, and Lydia gasps minutely before catching herself. She barks an order.
"Boys, why don't you go get those figures and bring them to the table?" Jackson and Scott rise without a thought, only belatedly realizing they came to attention at her order. She's got no direct power over them, but yet, she somehow really does. She's just that intimidating. When she and Jackson broke-off their relationship, they took some time to heal from it, and now it's genuinely a good, close friendship between them. But he still does her bidding without necessarily meaning to, at times, to his minor annoyance. Danny just laughs at the situation, having been Jackson's best friend for ages and aware that Jackson really just kind of likes to be told what to do sometimes.
Stiles sits upright as the figures are laid before them. Derek is red-faced again, up through the tips of his ears. It's easily one of his most endearing qualities that are entirely outside of his control. Stiles loves that about the man, that his embarrassment and pride show through even when he doesn't mean to. and he's adorable when he's struggling with it.
"Wait." Stiles holds one, and then taps the rest, seeming to sense something about each. "You made these figures? The whole pack?" Derek nods. "These are great! Look, you even gave Jackson a little lizard tail. So cute!" (Scott had brought the Jackson doll over and hadn't realized that feature had been added. "Asshole" is all he says before sitting back in his chair and watching his cousin squirm under Stile's scrutiny.
"They're wonderful, and I think you did a great job. You could sell work like this for some pretty big bucks online, Derek. But why are we looking at them?"
Derek rises from his chair and goes to the window display. There's a house there between some tall trees. He reaches to the back, opens the door, and looks at whatever it is outside of Stile's line of sight.
"Come on, big guy. You don't need to hide your toys. Bring it over!" Stiles says playfully, and the pack giggles. Derek's ears flush brighter red and he steps over to Stiles and holds up to him a tall, thin figure with wild hair, a backpack just like the one he's got (down to the star and moon diagram in the middle), and sets it in front of Stiles next to the figure that looks like Derek.
"When did you make this?"
"I've had dreams about you for a long time. I could never see your face, but I knew the hair, and the bag, and the flannel shirts and tight jeans. I knew you were coming, but it wasn't until a few minutes ago that I realized this was you."
Erica holds her hands out. Several pack members put fives and tens into it. "I told you they were soulmates, but you all didn't believe me. All Stiles had to say was that he needed to pee and Derek just couldn't control himself."
Stiles and Derek could not help but laugh at that. Lydia and Boyd both gave half-disgusted, half-amused looks at her. Danny and Jackson were just laughing their asses off and Jackson silently filed that quote away for use later.
On Christmas day, not a week after they'd all met Stiles for the first time, the alpha and his soulmate had organized the pack to put up decorations inside and outside the Hale family home, they'd been cooking food, with Stiles giving Derek a flavor suggestion that perfected the recipe Derek's been working on, and they gathered everyone together for a huge pack picture. Stiles' dad and Derek's parents were able to get to town in time to welcome the happy couple to their first major holiday together and celebrate the blending of their families and pack.
As it turns out, the cafe has excellent WiFi and Stiles never has to worry about his things disappearing when he has to make runs to the restroom between writing chapters of his children's books about the Little Wolf and the Boy in the Red Sweater.
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