#Appropriations Clause

[dontmeantobepoliticalbut]

The New Civil Liberties Alliance (NCLA) filed a lawsuit Friday against the Biden administration’s new student loan income-driven repayment (IDR) plan.

The lawsuit comes after the Department of Education launched a beta website this week for the Saving on Valuable Education (SAVE) application, the new IDR plan the White House has dubbed the “most generous” for student borrowers.

The NCLA, on behalf of the Cato Institute and the Mackinac Center for Public Policy, filed a suit in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan to stop the implementation of this plan.

The NCLA is arguing that the new IDR plan violates the Constitution’s Appropriations Clause, which allows Congress to be in charge of what debt owed to the Treasury can be canceled.

Under the SAVE plan, loan forgiveness would come quicker for many borrowers. For one, the plan allows borrower whose student loan has an original principal balance of $12,000 or less to get forgiveness after 10 years of payments.

It also allows certain periods of deferment and forbearance to count toward the time needed to get full forgiveness on an individual’s loan.

“In the Nebraska case, the Supreme Court struck down the Department of Education’s brazen attempt to pull a billion-dollar ‘elephant’ out of a statutory ‘mousehole.’ This time the Department’s loan-cancellation scheme does not even pretend to have a statutory ‘mousehole,'” said Sheng Li, Litigation Counsel for NCLA.

“The [Public Service Loan Forgiveness] and IDR statutes require borrowers to make a certain number of monthly payments before earning forgiveness. By trying to count non-payments as payments, the strategy seems to be to cancel $39 billion faster than a court can review and stop this blatantly unlawful act,” Li continued.

Along with the $39 billion the NCLA says the Department could cancel almost immediately, it would allow debt to be canceled for 2.8 million more IDR borrowers in the future.

“Instead of promulgating the plan through the required notice-and-comment and negotiated rulemaking process under the Administrative Procedure Act, the Department simply issued a press release that did not identify any laws to justify it,” the NCLA wrote.

The challenge to the SAVE plan comes two months before student loan borrowers will be forced back into repayment after the three-year COVID-19 student loan pause.

The Hill has reached out to the Department of Education for comment.

#us politics #news #the hill #2023 #president joe biden #biden administration #student loan forgiveness #student debt forgiveness #student loan debt #student debt #debt forgiveness #New Civil Liberties Alliance #Cato Institute #Mackinac Center for Public Policy #U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan #Department of Education #income driven repayment plans #Saving on Valuable Education plan #us constitution #Appropriations Clause #Sheng Li #Administrative Procedure Act #department of treasury

[petermorwood]

Sound FX oopsie or not?

I was watching a couple of episodes of "The Crown" last week, and picked up yet again on something I'd noticed - heard - before. Unless there's something going on that I don't know about, the sound the show used for phones is incorrect.

They (w)ring wrong. In fact they ring American.

UK / Irish bell-ringer phones, the ones I grew up with - and which you'd expect to hear in Buckingham Palace, Balmoral etc. - had a short double ring, like so: Brringg-Brringg ... Brringg-Brringg ... Brringg-Brringg.

US bell-ringer telephones had a single long-ish ring, like so: Brrriiinnng ... Brrriiinnng ... Brrriiinnng.

It probably sounds unimportant for those too young to have heard these phones unless they've installed a "old phone ring" in their mobile.

However for people who grew up with a particular ring (not that long ago, the phones in those pics brring'd on in homes and offices on both sides of the Pond well into the 1990s) the incorrect sound can be as odd as, for instance, seeing US or Irish / UK cars driving on the wrong side.

It takes a couple of seconds, and then "Oh, that's not right..." (or not left, as appropriate).

Despite more on-line searching than I should have wasted time on, I haven't found either "goof" or "reason why" to explain how those phones in "The Crown" rang the way they did, and it's an itch I'd love to scratch.

*****

Another sound error is depicting modern British emergency vehicles as having two-tone (dee-dah-dee-dah) horns. Not any more - even though an EV going somewhere in a hurry with lights and sounds on is AFAIK still "running blues and twos".

Nowadays "twos" have been replaced by wailer, yelper and oth-er kinds of electronic siren - none of which, IMO, are as efficient as the two-tone either for cutting through ambient noise or indicating which direction the sound and vehicle is coming from.

I've also got a memory of a documentary sometime in the past year about the Battle of Britain and the Blitz (i.e. 1940-41) where whoever dubbed in the sound-effects clearly assumed that a dee-dah tone has always been the British police-fire-ambulance warning.

Ahhh... No.

British emergency vehicles in the 1940s didn't use sirens, horns or klaxons; they were fitted with hand-operated or electric bells. At that period, the two-tone warning called a Martin-Horn...

...was AFAIK exclusively German...!

All this sounds picky-picky, but while using the wrong plane or ship or vehicle because no example of a real one exists any more is one thing, making a mistake in something as inexpensive and easily-reconstructed as a period sound is another matter.

Of course it's a well-known truism that while the contract for a movie / show's historical consultant says they must be paid, there's no matching contract clause that says they must be heeded, so for the sake of their scholarly reputations those consultants sometimes demand to be removed from the credits.

Looking at you, Ridley...

*****

ETA: Some days later, with that original post still queued, I may perhaps have found an answer. :->

I've just watched "Thirteen Days", that rather good, properly tense movie about the Cuban Missile Crisis, in which Kevin Costner's character had two phones at home. The black one was domestic with a US single ring, the red one was Official...

With a UK-style double ring.

Without bothering to re-watch each relevant episode of "The Crown", I'm now thinking those "incorrect" phone-rings may all have been internal lines and - like the Official phone in "Thirteen Days" - had a different ringing pattern to denote they weren't a "civilian" call.

In addition, the Costner character and his wife both react to the double ring with alarm, indicating they know its significance.

All of the above makes sense when you consider that custom ringtones were half a century in the future, and there's only so much the electrical pulses driving a pair of metal bells can do...

#The Crown series #Thirteen Days film #US - UK telephone ring #on-screen accuracy #sound effects #Youtube

[gusty-wind]

Additionally, according to one of the filings, Attorney General Merrick Garland’s appointment of Smith in November 2022 was illegal because the Senate had not given its approval beforehand. The filing also mentioned that a prior argument had brought up the “serious problem,” which is why the Appointments and Appropriations clauses require this.

“The Appointments Clause does not permit the Attorney General to appoint, without Senate confirmation, a private citizen and like-minded political ally to wield the prosecutorial power of the United States,” Trump’s lawyers wrote.

“As such, Jack Smith lacks the authority to prosecute this action,” they added.

#the great awakening #war is real #ncswic #treason

[ineylesian]

i’ve seen a lot of cod hc posts on tiktok recently- the ones about ghost are just???? so many people are saying he’d be an outright abusive partner and since you’re really good at writing him i just wanted to know what you think.

yeah, i’ve definitely seen my fair share of them too.

in the new, reboot version of modern warfare two, simon “ghost” riley does not have a cannon past. the 2009 version is what many people look to as ghost has a series of comics dedicated to his story, which include many clauses that can be used to make headcanons. i’m about to display some of what are technically my own headcanons here, but i want to debate certain points made about ghosts based on logic.

“GHOST WOULD BE ABUSIVE.”

— ghost would not be an abuser. he is a man built off of the horrors induced by his father and wants to be nothing like him. ghost lets old habits die hard along with his father, and wouldn’t dream of laying a hand on anyone he cares about. it’s not his style, at all. any and all pent up violence he holds against his upbringing is taken out on his enemies.

“GHOST DOESN’T CARE ABOUT OTHERS.”

— many people say ghost doesn’t care for others’ emotions whatsoever. this can be proved false, considering how he develops quite a bit of altruism throughout reboot mw2, as we can see in missions like “alone” and the cutscene “no one fights alone.” ghost is very capable of providing support to those he sees struggling and cares about the welfare of those close to him. he even decides to humor soap in “alone”, he knows his teammate is in a rough place and tries to help him relax out of free will. we can also see this point dispelled in the ghost comics, as simon willingly helps pull his brother out of addiction and helps him get his life together.

“GHOST WOULDN’T TOUCH ANYONE OR LET ANYONE TOUCH HIM.”

— something that’s on the more difficult side to discern is whether ghost allows himself to be touched/and or touches others. in the ghost comics, he was violated many times, which, in my opinion, falls into line with things more related to sexual trauma. ghost doesn’t serve much of a reaction when he‘s touched in the reboot, rather it seems he’s just not used to it happening. many people think ghost is horrifying and want to stay as far away from him as possible, which is why he isn’t touched often. as for others, i think it would take a while before he’s comfortable with the idea of casual touch, as adding to the last point, not many people get that close. being social isn’t something ghost is super big on, so he wouldn’t touch others unless he’s sure the timing is appropriate and they’d be alright with it.

“GHOST WOULD NEVER BE IN A RELATIONSHIP.”

— being in a relationship with ghost takes a lot of encouragement. this is something beyond causal ideals, which opens an entirely new door in his head. ghost does not allow many people to get close to him, choosing to act closed off to prevent others from finding too much out. he doesn’t talk much, so the effort of others to peruse him is uncommon. however, if you happen to find him intriguing and push, he wouldn’t be so fast to shut you down. of course, people genuinely wanting to get to know him is a rare concept, and he’ll be quizzical as to why you’d choose him to talk to out of everyone else. he might even ask you why, and if you decide to flatter him, he might just laugh.

— building a relationship with ghost requires a lot of trust, and frankly, he has to be sure you’re not trying to stab him in the back (if we’re consulting the comics, this has happened numerous times). ghost believes in actions over words; throwing yourself in the line of fire for others means so much more than promises. when he’s sure he can trust you, prepare to be accompanied by him a lot more often.

— something i definitely agree with that i see on some headcannon videos is what happens after ghost commits to a relationship. there’s no magic light switch that turns on in his brain when he becomes someone’s partner, and he treats life the same way that he usually does for a while. having had such a rough childhood, ghost most likely wasn’t interested in relationships as he wasn’t stable enough to handle them. because of this, he’s not entirely sure where his duties lie and has to learn that it’s more than just loyalty that brings two people together. when ghost sees how happy you are to simply be around him, he makes an effort to see you more. the fact that you care about what he thinks touches him, and he learns to be more social outside of the field because of it. it takes a lot of time and built trust for him to be open to things like taking his mask off and sleeping in the same bed, but he’s definitely capable of it, just as he’s capable of being a human being, as many people fail to see.

#arqhms #🐚 arqhmssummer23 #call of duty modern warfare #simon ghost riley #ghost mw2 #simon ghost riley x reader #simon riley #ghost x reader #cod mw22 #simon riley x you #simon riley headcanons #ghost headcanons #simon ghost riley headcanons #simon ghost riley x you

[trickricksblog08]

BREAKING: A federal judge in Texas has ruled that the $1.7 TRILLION spending bill the house passed in 2022 was unconstitutional because Democrats passed the bill without establishing a quorum "In sum, the Court concludes that this case is justiciable and that the House of Representatives’ passage of the Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2023 violated the Quorum Clause." "The Court orders that the Attorney General, the United States Department of Justice, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, Charlotte A. Burrows, Jocelyn Samuels, Keith E. Sonderling, Andrea R. Lucas, Christopher W. Lage, their divisions, bureaus, agents, officers, commissioners, employees, and anyone acting in concert or participation with them, including their successors in office, are permanently enjoined from enforcing the Pregnant Workers Fairness Act"



5:26 PM · Feb 27, 2024

[perpetual-stories]

Common Grammar Mistakes: Part 1

Hello, hello. It’s me coming back at ya with another segment of grammar basics. Last time I posted about grammar, I had talked about punctuation. This time I will be going over common grammar mistakes that writers often make. Plus it’s been a while since I’ve posted about grammar.

1. Run-on Sentences and Comma Splices

Run-on sentences are known to be sentences that combine independent clauses without punctuation or the right conjunction needed.

Comma splices are known to be similar to run-on sentences but instead uses commas to combine two clauses that have no appropriate conjunction.

I know, I sometimes fall victim to comma splices.

Fixing a run-on sentence or a comma splice can be done in five methods.

Sentence example: Rachel is very smart, she began reading when she was three years old.

Solution 1: Separate the clauses into two sentences: Rachel is very smart. She began reading when she was three years old.

Solution 2: Replace the comma with a semicolon (my favorite one): Rachel is very smart; she began reading when she was three years old.

Solution 3: Replace the comma with a coordinating conjunction: “Rachel is very smart, for she began reading when she was three years old.”

Solution 4: Replace the comma with a subordinating conjunction. “Rachel is very smart because she began reading when she was three years old.”

Solution 5: Replace the comma with a semicolon and transitional word or phrase. “Rachel is very smart; as a result, she began reading when she was three years old.”

Pronoun Disagreement

Some of the most common grammar mistakes are pronoun errors. They occur when pronouns do not agree in number with the nouns to which they refer. If the noun is singular, the pronoun must be singular. If the noun is plural, the pronoun must be plural as well. For example:

Incorrect: “Every girl must bring their own lunch.

Correct: “Every girl must bring her own lunch.”

Pronoun errors are common in modern English, as writers try to avoid awkward phrasing or the implication of sexist language. Although this is an admirable goal, it is still important to learn the correct grammar and use it in more formal situations.

Mistakes in Apostrophe Usage

Apostrophes are used to show possession. However, you do not use an apostrophe after a possessive pronoun such as my, mine, our, ours, his, hers, its, their, or theirs. For example:

Incorrect: “My mothers cabin is next to his' cabin.”

Correct: “My mother's cabin is next to his cabin.”

In the case of it's, the apostrophe is used only to indicate a contraction for “it is.” For example:

Incorrect: “Its a cold day for October.”

Correct: “It's a cold day for October.”

Lack of Subject-Verb Agreement

Confusion over subject-verb agreement can be the source of many grammatical errors. When speaking or writing in the present tense, a sentence must have subjects and verbs that agree in number. If the subject is singular, the verb must be singular. If the subject is plural, the verb must be plural as well. For example:

Incorrect: “These recipes is good for beginning chefs.”

Correct: “These recipes are good for beginning chefs.”

Misplaced Modifiers

To clearly communicate your ideas, you should place a modifier directly next to the word it is supposed to modify. The modifier should clearly refer to a specific word in the sentence. Misplaced modifiers can create confusion and ambiguity. For example:

Incorrect: “At eight years old, my father gave me a pony for Christmas.”

Correct: “When I was eight years old, my father gave me a pony for Christmas.”

Sentence Fragments

Sentence fragments are also common grammar mistakes. A sentence needs to have a subject and a verb. A fragment often happens after another related idea has been expressed. For example:

Incorrect: “Sharon stayed home from school the other day. Because she was sick.”

Correct: “Sharon stayed home from school the other day because she was sick.”

Missing Comma in a Compound Sentence

A compound sentence expresses two complete and related ideas, and it usually includes a conjunction to connect these two parts. There should be a comma before the conjunction to indicate the two ideas are related. If that’s missing, it’s a mistake readers will notice. For example:

Incorrect: “Jim went to the store and Ella went with him.”

Correct: “Jim went to the store, and Ella went with him.”

No Clear Antecedent

An antecedent is a word that comes before a pronoun and helps the reader understand what the pronoun means. Generally, you can clear up this confusion by rearranging the wording. For example:

Incorrect: “The dad found the boy, and he was happy.”

Correct: “The dad was happy when he found the boy.”

Ending a Sentence in a Preposition

Another common grammar mistake is ending a sentence with a preposition. A preposition, by its nature, indicates that another word will follow it. In casual conversation, this type of error is no big deal, but you should avoid this mistake in your writing. For example:

Incorrect: “What reason did he come here for?”

Correct: “For what reason did he come here?”

Please follow, like, comment and reblog!

#writing #writing advice #writing tips #original writing #writers on tumblr #writersconnection #writerscommunity #short story #storytelling #writersupportingwriters

[em-writes-stuff-sometimes]

How to Write Medieval Smut - A Guide to Insanity

Well, hello. You’re here for that very important reason, aren’t you? You got a hankerin’ for some dude in a tunic and breeches or a lady in a sexy-ass gown, sayin’ some old-timey stuff in a swag accent. They make you feel things. You wanna do things with them. You wanna write about doing things with them. But how to go about it?

Please keep in mind I was asked if I could share some tips; I’m not a writer by any means, but I AM a fanfiction addict, so I like to think I’ve picked up on some important stuff over my years as a horny reader. Without further ado, let me just - well. Get into the nitty-gritty.

1. THE BASICS

If you are going to write anything, you need to consider some key things. Firstly, are you confident in your punctuation? This is one of the biggest elements to readability, and English is one of those languages that totally sucks when it comes to the rules of properly punctuating sentences. And even then, in narrative writing, you CAN play fast-and-loose with the rules; but the key is to know when to do that.

We can’t cover everything here, of course, but I’ll just share one of the most important things when it comes to writing dialogue. You must always punctuate within the quotation mark. If someone is just saying something, it’ll look like this:

“They’re over there,” he said.

We use the comma (,) to join these two clauses together. This is because ‘he said’ is NOT a complete sentence by itself - it needs the previous clause, ‘They’re over there’, to make sense. If you have someone exclaiming or asking, you do exactly the same thing as above, just switch out the punctuation mark:

“They’re over there?” he asked.

“They’re over there!” he exclaimed.

Even though we traditionally understand that (!) or (?) ENDS a sentence, it functions differently inside a quotation mark. That is why the next phrase ‘he exclaimed’ does not start with a capital ‘H’. I admit I am guilty of forgetting this rule at times!

If you are unsure of your punctuation, see if you can find a beta - someone with a little more confidence in writing who can pick up those little mistakes and correct your grammar. Hell, hit me up here if you want - I’m a demon with the grammar, and I’m always down for it. Just know I’m quite merciless with the edits, haha!

2. WORDS TO AVOID IN MEDIEVAL SMUT

If you’re writing medieval smut, you have to think about the types of words that might not be used in old-fashioned time periods. One of the quickest ways to jolt someone out of the immersion in your story is to start using commonly-accepted euphemisms for acts or parts from today’s world. SOME words are from the approximate time period, e.g. clitoris, but aren’t traditionally used in medieval entertainment. Here’s some of the words I can think of that you shouldn’t use (bold), as well as some suggestions for what you can replace it with (= italics):

Clit, clitoris = pearl, bud

Dick, penis = cock, length, member

Balls, testicles, sac/k (only use this one in conjunction with one of the latter list) = stones, jewels, pouch

Boobs, titties, boobies, badonkadonks = bosom, breasts (polite), tits (vulgar)

Vagina, vag, pussy, vulva = cunt (vulgar), cunny (a little less vulgar), entrance, core, womanhood, mound (for vulva)

Asshole, anus = arsehole (English sp.), hole (personally hate it but appropriate)

Butt, buttcheeks, bum = arse, rear, backside, bottom

I’ve actually researched the above and these are all era-appropriate! When in doubt, consult a thesaurus or dictionary to determine time period of origin! Also, might be worth adding this little addendum below - appropriate names for ‘slutty’ or ‘skanky’ characters.

Ho, skank, slag = slut (only as ‘slut’, if you want ‘slutty’, use ‘sluttish’ instead), tart, trollop, hussy, whore

Hope this helps!

3. DESCRIPTION

Don’t be afraid to describe beyond actions - so much smut has the bare minimum ‘he sticks his peen in, in-out-in-out, nut, goodnight’. Describe the experience - what does something look like? Feel like? Taste like? Don’t be afraid to get weird with it. For example:

While your husband takes his respite, you look inquisitively down at his softening length – your dealings with this part of him only ever feature him firm and forbidding, a lance with which to impale your depths with raw impunity. Even lying sated against the sac of his stones, its dimensions are considerable, and you do not think even in its current size that it would be effortless to take within you. A fleshy fold of tissue has extended itself over the purpled head, no doubt protecting it from injury in its unused form.

Basically, this is an extended piece about what a soft dick might look like, lol, including some foreskin action. Try where you can to reference body parts like this euphemistically - especially if writing as a highborn individual. They won’t know terms like ‘foreskin’, because it’d be considered impolite and vulgar.

My absolute number one tip is to use a thesaurus - try to find ‘smart’ ways of phrasing what you want to say. When I’m writing conversationally, I sound like a literal child or a moron (or both, honestly); but the bit in bold above is ALSO me, written specifically for the purpose of narrative. People in past eras spoke differently, and they likely would have had a wordier internal dialogue. Don’t be afraid to shy away from that. But please - PLEASE - cross-reference your chosen word to make sure you’re understanding it’s meaning, as I’ve seen all too many times someone using a word that must have had a similar meaning to their original word, but the translation over does NOT work.

This is all I can think of for right now. Anon, I hope this works for you. Thanks to anyone who bothered reading this, haha! My final piece of advice - read the writing of other people. Pick it apart, and figure out how to emulate that style if that’s what you like. Human beings learn best by imitating others; it’s how we learn to speak as babies, and move around, and interact with people. If we can do all that, then by GODS we can write detailed smut, haha!

Good luck!

#house of the dragon fanfiction #fanfiction writing #medieval fanfiction #daemon targaryen fanfiction #daemon targaryen #aemond targaryen #aemond targaryen x reader #aemond targaryen x oc #aemond targaryen x #daemon targaryen x reader #daemon targaryen x oc #daemon targaryen x you #aemond targaryen smut #daemon targaryen smut #aegon targaryen fanfiction #aegon targaryen smut #aegon targaryen x reader #aegon targaryen x oc #aegon targaryen x you #how to write fanfiction #em writes guides now apparently

[odinsblog]

“Days like today are the whole reason right-wing billionaires have spent years, and billions of dollars, rigging the Supreme Court.”

The linked article from the tweet goes in depth exploring Section 3 of the 14th Amendment, and the constitutionality of whether or not it is appropriate to use the Insurrection Clause against Trump. But that analysis completely misses the point: Ginni Thomas was (and still is) herself an integral part of the January 6th Insurrection, and as such, Clarence Thomas should not be allowed to rule on the case. In a just world, Clarence Thomas would recuse himself, or there would be some mechanism to force his recusal.

At any rate, prepare to be disappointed. I listened to the arguments live, and it sure sounds like even the “liberal” justices were in agreement with the conservatives appointed by Trump; that Colorado overstepped its authority — I vehemently disagree with that. In light of Trump’s words + actions leading up to the Insurrection, Colorado absolutely made the right call. Republicans always like to whine about “states rights” until they don’t like what the state wants to do, like protecting a person’s right to choose abortion.

That all said, begrudgingly, I dO understand the “why” behind what I think their decision will be: imagine an America where the so-called “former” Confederate States of the south were routinely removing the Democratic candidates from their state ballots. Not that this Colorado decision will stop them from trying to do so anyway, but that would be total anarchy (and not the good kind).

On the bright side, if Colorado loses this case, as I think they will, there is still enough time left for them to remove Trump from their ballot but this time, proactively use whatever arguments SCOTUS used against them. But admittedly, that’s a long shot.

Bringing it back home though, the ever germane question isn’t if Colorado was right - the relevant question here is if Clarence Thomas should have recused himself. In a more just timeline, he and other biased justices would willingly recuse themselves or be forcibly removed from cases where they have obvious conflicts of interest. Almost every consideration after the question of recusal is irrelevant.

#politics #donald trump #republicans #scotus #ginni thomas #clarence thomas #14th amendment #insurrection #j6 #j6 insurrection #recusal #treason #traitors #tre45on #january 6 #january 6th #colorado

[hidden-among-stars]

I do think it’s important to clarify in your OP about the house bill that this is anti-trans legislation first and foremost. while it’s of concern for alterhumans, it is very deliberately being proposed as a way to frame trans people as animals & target trans kids—the author of the bill doesn’t actually care (and probably doesn’t know) about alterhumanity.

This bill will be used to prop up transphobic laws, and probably isn’t intended to be passed at all. I don’t think removing or ignoring that context is appropriate.

- a trans therian

I was going to make a reblog about this exact thing, but I'll say what I was going to say there here instead because I think it's important to make sure everyone gets the chance to see this. This is going to be long because I tend to ramble. TL;DR: Conservatives are not framing transgender people themselves as animals, but their arguments about/beliefs regarding people who identify as animals are absolutely deeply rooted in transphobia, which itself is deeply rooted in a fear/hatred of any "divergent identity." These two concerns are very closely entwined and are part of the same fight (the fight of "just let people be whoever they are"), but are not in and of themselves the same in the sense that this lawmaker is trying to target transgender folks with this specific bill. What makes this bill particularly concerning is the fact that it treats nonhuman-identities as their own separate issue, along with the media coverage it has been getting, which could easily spark other more "viable" anti-"furry" bills to be written and potentially passed in more conservative states across the country. However, this is not a time to panic, but rather a time to be vigilant and start thinking about how we need to prepare to defend one another against whatever comes next.

The fight for trans rights certainly still needs to be at the forefront of our minds, and we also need to be watchful for this threat that is creeping out from the cesspool that is the conservative need for any kind of new "monster" to blame society's problems on.

-Sincerely, another trans therian.

The whole "litterboxes in schools/students identifying as cats/animals" thing started with conservatives who said "if we let people identify as another gender its only a matter of time before people start identifying as animals." These people are well aware that transgender does not mean somebody who identifies as a different species - their concept of nonhuman identifying folks absolutely is rooted in transphobia, but is not in and of itself necessarily about transgender folks.

Reality is, anti-trans legislation and anti-"furry" (read: therian, otherkin, transspecies, etc. - though furries who aren't part of these labels would ultimately be affected as well) legislation are two sides of the same coin - but they are still two distinct sides. That coin is the "divergent identities" coin (and really has many facets, not just two... so... perhaps more of a "divergent identities" cube?), as I'll call it. Anything that isn't cis, het, christian, human-identifying, etc. would be considered a "divergent" identity - a disorder, an illness, something to be cured, something to be eliminated.

Yes, anti-"furry" clauses have up until now been wrapped up with anti-transgender bills. That's conservatives trying to, pardon the horrible cliche, kill two birds with one stone - but one bird they are assuming exists/believe exists because of a sensationalist story, not because they necessarily know it actually exists. Make absolutely no mistake though, now that even the slight possibility of nonhuman identifying folks is on their radar, they are going to work to - in their mind - prevent it, and "cure" (read: eliminate by whatever means they feel necessary) it for whoever already fits that description.

Up until now, it's been a side issue. Something to just tack onto anti-trans bills. The fact that some jerk of a lawmaker decided that it was a strong enough issue on its own to create its own bill is concerning because this marks the first time that it is being treated less like a hypothetical or a side problem, and more like it's own separate issue worth addressing.

However, these two are part of the exact same fight, and cannot/should not be considered entirely separate. The fight is not just about "let trans people be trans," the fight is about "let people be whoever they are." That includes being any sexuality other than allo-het, that includes any religion other than christian (not necessarily an "identity", but still), that includes being anything other than cisgender, and yes, it includes identifying as any species other than human. The focus has recently been particularly targeted at trans folks, but remember that before it was trans folks, it was anyone who wasn't straight.

Conservatives always need a "monster" to defeat. They rely on the outrage of the ignorant and the bigoted in order to get what they want. Its why so many of their talking points aren't really about the economy or infrastructure but instead are about things like abortion, "illegal immigrants," non-Western nations in general, religions that are seen as "foreign" or "satanic," and any identity that isn't considered "normal." The reality is, issues like poverty, poor infrastructure, and prevalent violence are issues that can't just be solved in a day - but humans like quick fixes, so some folks (especially conservatives, though they're certainly not the only ones) think if they can blame all of these issues on anyone who is considered an "other," then many people will be quick to follow them in trying to eliminate the "other" and just push aside all of the real problems that continue to, in someway or another, benefit the people in power.

It only takes one conservative with even half a braincell to decide to google "people who identify as animals" after seeing that a bill was penned to target this specifically, to discover that we therians/otherkin/transspecies folks/etc. really do exist and that the identity is starting to gain more traction especially among youth (thanks, TikTok). I don't think the guy that penned this bill is that one conservative (this dude apparently once tried to create "bigfoot hunting season" so. y'know. i don't think he's doing much research about anything lmao), but with the media attention this bill has gained, it's only a matter of time.

HOWEVER - THIS IS NOT A TIME TO PANIC. I literally cannot stress this enough. Panic is not the response we need to have, but rather vigilance and preparedness for the day nonhuman identities eventually do find their way into the spotlight so that we can be ready for whatever we need to do to fight back against whatever future bills may follow.

#therian #alterhuman #otherkin

[rayan12sworld]

🧡💙Truth Will Out (when caught on video) - End_OTW_Racism!

By:KizuKatana

Summary:

A night-hunt goes wrong, and Wei Wuxian is scapegoated for the death of the Jiang Sect Leader and the destroyed core of the Jiang Sect Heir. As punishment, his core is taken and given to Jiang Cheng, and he is stripped of his cultivation credentials and expelled from the sect.

What everyone forgot was that Wei Wuxian was wearing the standard issue body camera that each cultivator wore on training missions and high-risk night-hunts. Struggling to make ends meet, Wei Wuxian finds his way to Caiyi Town with the doctor who performed the surgery, a partial core still secretly in place. His application to work at Cloud Recesses is summarily rejected by the hard-edged Second Jade of Lan after an unfortunate initial encounter.

But things change when someone hacks into the Jiang systems and releases the footage of what happened.

Chapter:20/20

Words:178,961

Status:completed

Core transfer? His blood began to run cold. And then he got to the part that involved Wei Wuxian. The ‘choice’ he had been given between execution and removal of his core, and how—at any time—if he revealed the nature of his core injury, he would be returned to the Jiang for execution. He was on his feet with his hand on Bichen’s hilt before he had even finished reading the clause. Lan Xichen grabbed his arm to prevent him from advancing on Madam Yu or drawing his sword. Wei Wuxian was also on his feet, a hand pressed against Lan Wangji’s chest to hold him back. Some part of Lan Wangji’s brain knew that actually running Madam Yu through in the middle of a Council meeting would not be considered acceptable conduct, but he really, really wanted to. “I invoke the Rite of Requital,” Lan Wangji said through gritted teeth, momentarily cutting through the surprised voices of the Council at his actions before the room erupted into chaos at his words. The commotion nearly drowned out the voice of his brother standing beside him, still holding onto his sword arm. “Wangji!” Lan Xichen’s shocked voice came from beside him, but Lan Wangji kept his gaze locked on Madam Yu, who was looking at him as though he’d lost his mind.

~~~

“Lan Zhan, what are you doing?” Wei Wuxian whispered frantically, his hands fisting into Lan Wangji’s robes even though Lan Wangji was no longer trying to move towards Madam Yu. He had issued his challenge. He would face her at the appropriate time if the Council refused to take action. “She took your core,” Lan Wangji said, the words almost impossible to get past his throat. “She gave you a choice between execution and removing your core.” “His core belongs to the Jiang,” Madam Yu said, though her voice sounded more shaken than arrogantly confident. She appeared to be aware of the likely outcome of a duel between the two of them. “We taught him to cultivate. It was ours to give and ours to take.” Nie Mingjue and Lan Xichen looked horrified at the thought of a sect leader holding (and acting upon) such beliefs. Even Madam Jin looked at her sworn sister with shock at her words. “That is not true,” Wen Qing said, looking over to her uncle, who gave her a brief nod. “While it is true that Wei Wuxian grew and strengthened his core while training with the Jiang, my examination of his core showed that it had been developed much earlier in childhood, prior to the death of his parents. The seed of his core was not yours to take.” “Impossible!” Jin Guangshan said. “Wei Wuxian was only four or five when his parents died. No one forms their core that young.” Wen Qing eyed Jing Guangshan with thinly veiled disdain. “As the person who has studied core development for a living, and Wei Wuxian’s core in particular, I have to respectfully disagree. If the Jin are interested, I will forward the findings from my latest research for their edification when it is published.” Jin Guangshan looked like he was about to argue more, but Wen Ruohn cut him off. “In the matter of the Second Jade’s challenge, such things are irrelevant. But he cannot claim the Rite without grounds, no matter how morally offensive he finds the Jiang Sect’s actions. Lan Wangji, on what grounds are you claiming the Rite?” Wen Ruohan asked calmly. Of everyone in the room, he was the least perturbed by the turn of events. Possibly because he was old enough to remember similar challenges in the past. “Wei Wuxian is not a member of your family or the Lan Sect.” “Wei Ying is my cultivation partner,” Lan Wangji said firmly, tearing his gaze from Madam Yu to look first at Wen Ruohan, then at Wei Ying. Wei Ying was staring at him as though he had never seen him before, but he was not refuting Lan Wangji’s claim, and he did not look angry about it, so Lan Wangji did not back down. “I have grounds.”

It's an amazing fanfic, it's not like I can have all of my favourite moments in tumblr so I took this moment when Lan Wangji says that wei ying is his cultivation partner🫡

#wangxian #wangxian recommendations #mdzs #mxtx mdzs #wangxian fanfic #ao3 recs #the untamed #mdzs fanfic rec #completed fanfic #wangxian fic rec #lwj x wwx #mdzs lwj #lwj×wwx #lwj #mdzs wwx #wwx #Truth Will Out (when caught on video) - End_OTW_Racism!

[dungeonmalcontent]

I want to demonstrate one of my favorites about 5e d&d. The part of it that is unclear, RAW, is the best part. The things you could do in this game by abusing vague wording and badly thought out mechanics is fantastic.

To talk about this, I want to bring up everyone's favorite problem child of an item. The essential item every party tries to get their hands on for ease of game play. The hecking bag of holding.

See. Here's the thing. They're waaaaay volatile. Most of the item description is ways that it can go badly. But people still love it and every group tries to grab one so that they can plausibly carry a lot more things of have a slightly more secure storage system.

But the written out ways that a bag of holding don't even compare to the number of ways that you can make it waaaaay more dangerous and simultaneously more useful. So here's some bag of holding ideas.

1) the least likely to work, but it also makes sense when you think about it. Cast arcane lock on your bag of holding. Barring casting it on the bag itself, fit it with a mechanical lock that must be removed for the bag to be opened, cast the spell on that. This makes the bag password protected and significantly harder to steal from.

2) trap the bag, option 1: magic mouth alarm. Cast magic mouth on a rock, stick it in the bag. Set the magic mouth spell to go off with a bloodcurdling scream if it sees a hand other than yours. Other triggers are also available.

3) trap the bag, option 2: wait, you can do that? Cast glyph of warding at 7th level for the spell storing glyph property. The trigger for the glyph if is a hand other than yours enters the bag of holding (which you must cast the spell inside of). The stored spell for glyph of warding is contingency. The contingent spell is misty step. The trigger for the contingent spell is the application of the contingent spell. When triggered in this way, the misty step has a set destination within the bag of holding. In practice, the combo looks like this: thief sticks hand in bag -> triggers glyph of warding, which applies contingency to the thief -> the contingency spell puts misty step contingency on the thief and it is triggered immediately -> the thief misty steps into the bag of holding where they suffocate to death. Could potentially swap misty step for dimension door or another appropriate teleportation spell.

4) trap the bag, option 3: cheap and dirty middle finger Baja blast you into the astral sea. Glyph of warding at base level, spell storing, stored spell is rope trick. Pretty self explanatory. Thief reaches their hand in, triggers the glyph in the bag, rope trick gets cast in the bag. Rope trick opens an extra dimensional hole, triggering the self destructive "gate to the astral plane" clause of the bag of holding. Thief gets sucked into another dimension immediately, destroying the bag in the process.

3-4 and so on) other simple spell traps for glyph of warding that work to deter thieves reaching into a bag of holding: any damaging spell, as per the glyph of warding's intended purpose; polymorph, to turn the thief into a snail or something, ideally alongside the magic mouth option so that you know to deal with the snail; any spell which destroys the bag outright and causes it's contents to be cast into the astral plane; glyph of warding and levitate on a pouch of dust of sneezing and choking, so the dust gets levitated out of the bag and spreads over the thief. (Share your other creative ideas).

5) bear with me on this one (because I'm growing further into "creative ways to send thieves to the shadow realm" Territory) and this one is... A rune Goldberg machine. You must cast drawmij's instant summons on a bag of holding. You then cast magic mouth on the sapphire used to cast instant summons, and have it speak the words "my bag of holding". Then cast 6th level glyph of warding to store telekinesis. Thief reaches in -> magic mouth calls for the bag of holding -> glyph gets the trigger (name of bag of holding spoken in your voice) and casts telekinesis to crush the sapphire -> the initial bag of holding is conjured into the bag of holding the thief is reaching into -> gate to the astral plane. Alternatively... You potentially conjure the bag of holding into itself creating an extra-dimensional paradox and end reality. If your GM rules that telekinesis must be cast on a creature in order to crush the sapphire, hire an artificer to lend you a homunculus servant that lives in the bag to be the target that gets telekinesis and crushes the sapphire (hell, you might even make the servant out of the sapphire).

6) decoy bag. Carry a bag of holding around with you explicitly as a decoy. Fill the bag with something incredibly dangerous like baking flour and an ignition mechanism or just... A lot of sovereign glue. Position the bag so it is the most easy thing to be stolen from you. Whoever identifies the bag will learn that they can turn it inside out to empty it's contents. They do so. To horrible effect.

#d&d #dnd #dungeons and dragons #5e #ttrpg #fantasy #dumb uses for bag of holding #bag of holding

[avaritia-apotheosis]

For the PA Danny au, how would Danny deal with other billionaires like Lex Luthor, his exes like Talia?

Funnily enough, Danny's probably had more experience working with Luthor than Bruce. Sure, Bruce and Lex knew each other in passing when they were kids, but Danny's had multiple interactions dealing with Lex Luthor the business mogul when he worked as Vlad's PA even before Bruce came back from his training trip.

Danny's familiar enough with Lex's tics, tricks, and business tactics to know a) he does not fucking like that bald money grubbing boiled egg, and b) when Lex is Up To Something.

The latter Danny actually learned from watching Vlad work. Because while Vlad used his powers to get his money, it takes a lot of skill and business acumen to be able to actually keep his ill-gotten gains. Anticipate your opponent's moves and outmaneuver them to stay ahead. Crushing the competition is the name of the game after all.

So when the inevitable Wayne Enterprises and Lexcorp collaboration comes up, Danny watches Lex like a hawk. He watches for any sign of foul play. Any loop hole or clause or excuse Lex could use to fuck over Wayne Enterprises, and passes over any relevant info up the appropriate channels (or thwarts them himself). All the while keeping a professional and inscrutable smile on his face. (Wont' stop Danny from cracking jokes at Lex's expense off the clock though).

The one area that Danny won't directly interfere with is when dealing with Lex the Supervillain. Stopping villains isn't in his job description--and he's retired now, anyways. As long as the people in his vicinity aren't in danger of dying or getting injured, he's happy to let the other heroes take care of their rogues. Not his monkeys, not his problems. The most he'll do is tip off the heroes and help with some crowd/damage control.

With Bruce's exes though...well, a lot of the times he just takes directions from Bruce. They're his exes after all.

But some of it also depends on if they're Brucie Wayne's ex, or Bruce's ex.

I'm still gathering my thoughts on this topic though (and this ask is getting kinda long) so I'll continue on it in a bit in a reblog.

Thanks for the ask!!

#dpxdc #pa danny au #answering machine: [juno]

[charliethomascoxuniverse]

Charlie Cox: ‘I love being a superhero — I thought that ship had sailed’

Charlie Cox on the return of Daredevil, the joys of sea swimming in Dalkey and his rewarding character-driven work in RTÉ’s Kin

Kirsty Blake Knox   April 27, 2023 (X)

Charlie Cox is a busy man; he smiles widely from the back of a car as it ferries him from a physical therapy session to the set of Disney’s Daredevil.

“We’ve just kind of started, it’s really great. Pretty intense, hence the physical therapy,” he says.

Cox has returned to play Matt Murdock, the blind lawyer-slash-superhero.

The show started life on Netflix and ran for three seasons before it was cancelled in 2018.This resulted in an online #SaveDaredevil campaign which resulted in 400,000 signatures begging Marvel to bring him back.

It took a little time; a contractual clause prevented any characters from the Marvel-Netflix shows from appearing in any non-Netflix projects for two years after cancellation.

And now Cox is suiting up again in his Spandex costume, running around punching people in the face and fighting for justice. It’s a demanding shoot — the series is 18 episodes long. And he is a fan of doing as many of his stunts as possible.

“I kind of get involved as much as I’m allowed to and is appropriate. Obviously, the stunt team are professionals and there are things they can do that I can’t even get close to,” he says. “I feel like the name of the game is to get as involved as you can… it makes the scenes more realistic.”

Cox took on the role, which had once been played by Ben Affleck in 2015. At the time, landing the role came as a shock.

“I never thought of myself as being appropriate casting for an American superhero. That never really occurred to me,” he says. “And in my 20s, a lot of my friends, and a lot of British actors, had gone and done that already. So when I got to 30 I was pretty confident that ship had sailed. I was very fortunate to get a character that I’ve now been playing for almost 10 years. It’s unbelievable.”

Cox is a father to two young children (seven and three) but they are a little young to fully grasp the role their dad plays in the Marvel Universe.

“I’m not sure they quite understand… One of the books we read him (his three-year-old) is called Superbat. A bat who is a superhero. But that’s his only real understanding. And so he thinks that I’m Superbat,” he laughs.

Cox realised he wanted to be an actor while in school and studied at Bristol Old Vic drama school. His first big break came in 2007 when he starred in Stardust alongside Robert De Niro and Michele Pfeiffer.

He has performed on the West End and Donmar Warehouse, in dramas like Treason and took on the role of Owen Sleater in Martin Scorsese’s Boardwalk Empire. For Irish viewers, we can see Cox on our screens every Sunday night, as Michael Kinsella in gangland drama Kin.

It’s pretty unusual for Marvel Universe actors to appear in a homegrown Irish drama. But Cox’s wife is executive producing the series. When another project he was attached to fell through, he read the scripts and felt compelled to be part of it.

“I’ve been working probably 20-plus years, and there’s a handful of times where I’ve read a script and felt like I’m reading something written by a truly brilliant writer,” he says. “And that quality of scripts never ceased. Sometimes you can get a really good pilot episode. But then as you get deeper into the season, some of the writing starts to disintegrate a little bit, but with Peter (McKenna) that was never the case.”

Obviously, the scale of production is a lot smaller on Kin than other productions, but he says these productions can be just as, if not more, rewarding to work on.

“If you have a limited budget, the way you handle that is you write long character-driven scenes… So weirdly, the lower budget stuff often is more appealing. Because you get to really get deep into the character and the relationships and the dynamics… it’s sort of like theatre. So, from my point of view, sometimes that stuff is more appealing.”

He continues; “I’ve learned I’m not precious about my character’s involvement. I don’t care much if my character does cool stuff … what I care about is, ‘are they moving?’”

He says this is some of the appeal of playing Michael.

“This life that he’d come from…and now he’s trying to rekindle a relationship with his daughter. [The] vulnerability, and the desire, and the need to fundamentally change his nature. That was really exciting to me.”

Cox perfected his Irish accent by listening to the voice of former Dublin goalkeeper, Shane Supple. He got up to speed with Ireland’s gangland scene by listening to podcasts featuring award winning crime journalist Nicola Tallant.

“I was kind of blissfully ignorant of the whole thing,” he says. “When I actually read the first two scripts, I just thought it was all fiction and then I agreed to do the part and I started doing my research. I was like, ‘oh, shit, this stuff is happening. It’s current and it’s happening right now.’”

Despite the violent nature of the series, he found filming and living in Ireland to be idyllic.

He and his family were based in the seaside village of Dalkey — where Matt Damon was holed up during lockdown. Cox became a sea swimming fanatic while residing there.

“I absolutely loved being there… I had conversations with my wife about moving to Dublin because I loved it so much. It’s not really viable with my job… Season one, we’re in lockdown. We lived in Hanover Quay, which was delightful…

“Season two, we moved to Dalkey. I felt like it was one of the best kept secrets in Europe… I was swimming in Vico every day… I found it to be like a haven. And I would love an opportunity to go back at any stage.”

Cox is extremely polite and amenable. And modest — despite his success, Cox says he still suffers professional insecurities.

“I never think I’m going to be hired,” he laughs. “I read years ago that Christopher Walken always thinks his job he’s doing is going to be the last time he is hired. I don’t quite have that, but I certainly identify with it. I’ve never felt like ‘Oh, I’m always going to be hired.’”

He says this comes with some advantages, as it makes him more present.

“I’m filming in New York and I’m lucky enough that I’m still able to play a kind of a lead in a TV show,” he says. “You know, the time is ticking on that in a big way. And so I certainly don’t want to wish that away.

“It would be easy to kind of bemoan the amount of hours you have to work, and missing the family, but there’ll come a time where I would kill to be able to be the lead in the TV show. I think the trick is to really enjoy it while it lasts.”

As he makes his way out of his car and towards his makeup chair, I ask if he has any projects outside of Daredevil coming down the tracks.

“I’m going to be doing this until the end of the year. And then I’ll be back on the panic station wondering if I am ever going to work again,” he laughs.

~*~

#finally a new interview at last!!! 😁💗✨ #I just spent the last hour running this through at least half a dozen applications to get around the damn paywall #I was starting to worry nothing was going to work 😬 but it finally came through \^.^/ #charlie cox #michael kinsella #matt murdock #kin amc #daredevil #daredevil born again #interview #article

[unfortunatetheorist]

Is Klaus' legal logic of The Bad Beginning sensible?

* Joint Theory: @unfortunatetheorist with @snicketstrange *

Klaus's speech to the audience during the events of The Bad Beginning had a carefully thought-out structure, anchored in deeply rooted legal, but more so ethical, principles. In defence of his sister, who was forced into a marriage, Klaus appears to have adopted a multifaceted approach to challenge the marriage's validity.

Firstly, John Locke.

John Locke was one of the first people to suggest that humans have natural rights. He also wrote a book about this called the 'Two Treatises of Government'.

Klaus likely invoked John Locke's arguments on natural rights to contend that the marriage was not consensual and, therefore, violated his sister's fundamental rights to life and liberty. The idea that the bride must sign "with her own hand" is interpreted here not literally, but as an indicator of action "of her own free will," supported by Locke's principles.

Secondly, Thurgood Marshall.

Thurgood Marshall was the first black Supreme Court Justice of the USA, who fought for the rights of black citizens against Jim Crow's extremely racist ideologies.

His defence of the 14th Amendment may have been used by Klaus to argue that, in cases of ambiguity or doubt, the judge's decision should lean towards protecting the more vulnerable party. This point strengthens the point that, if there is doubt about the how valid Violet's consent is, the legal and ethical obligation is to invalidate the marriage. The 14th Amendment to the United States Constitution is crucial for establishing constitutional rights and consists of various clauses. The most relevant for Klaus's case is probably the Equal Protection Clause, which states that no state may "deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws." Klaus may have leaned especially on this clause to argue that, in situations of uncertainty, i.e. his sister's forced marriage, the interpretation/application of the law should be done in a manner that protects (in this case) Violet. This would align with the principles of the 14th Amendment, using it for equal protection under the law to invalidate the marriage and protect his sister's rights.

Third, Ida B. Wells.

Ida B. Wells was, similar to Thurgood Marshall, an early civil rights campaigner, who campaigned for anti-lynching (a word which here means, opposing the brutally violent act known as lynching).

Klaus likely drew inspiration from Ida B. Wells to assert that everyone has the right to be heard and protected by authorities, regardless of their age or origin. This argument would serve to legitimize his own standing as his sister's defender in court, neutralizing any potential prejudice against him for being a child or, perhaps, belonging to a minority (he and his sisters are Jewish).

Moreover, the presence of a judge at the ceremony should not be viewed as merely a formality, but a control mechanism to ensure mutual consent, something that resonates strongly with Locke and Marshall's ideals about the role of government and law. Thus, if either of the spouses gave any evidence to the judge that the marriage was conducted under duress, the judge would be obligated to invalidate the marriage. Violet's chosen signal was to sign the document with her left hand instead of her right hand. As the judge explained, the marriage could be invalidated due to this discreet yet appropriate signal.

Lastly, the word "apocryphal" that Lemony uses to describe Klaus's argument suggests a non-conventional but insightful interpretation of the law, something that seems to echo Marshall's "doubtful insights" and Wells' "moral conviction." Instead of resorting to literalism ('literally' - with her own hand, i.e. Violet's dominant hand), Klaus's argument was much deeper and grounded, touching on the very essence of what legislation and the role of judges are. That's why Justice Strauss was so fascinated by the young boy's speech.

In summary, the historical references evidence that Klaus wove these diverse elements into a cohesive and compelling argument, utilising the legacy of these thinkers to question and, ideally, invalidate his sister Violet's forced marriage.

¬ Th3r3534rch1ngr4ph & @snicketstrange,

Unfortunate Theorists/Snicketologists

#asoue #asoue netflix #theory #vfd #a series of unfortunate events #lemony snicket #snicketverse #count olaf #thurgood marshall #ida b wells #john locke #legally snicket #Very Fatiguing Definition(s) #'My brother's defining words again' ¬ Kit Snicket

[boxboxlewis]

a tag game, a tag game! thank you to the glorious @tackytigerfic for the tag (& check out their list here)

Rules: List the first line of your last 10 posted fics and see if there's a pattern 🧐

🧐 Bono knew what Lewis was going to say before he even started speaking, just from the way he held his body: hands by his sides, open, too casual, face turned away at an angle. 

🧐 The rain is hot, relentless, soaking through George’s race suit and fireproofs, making the track slick and dangerous, sending up a thick cloud of spume behind each car.

🧐 Alex is rolling a condom on, intent on his own dick.

🧐 These days Max is pretty much an expert at only staring at her teammate a socially appropriate amount, but she stops short, now, half-formed words falling back into her mouth.

🧐 “Hello, Doctor,” George says.

🧐 Alex and George: when they're not working or hanging out with friends or at the expensive gym down the road (George) or volunteering to teach underprivileged children to read (Alex, incredibly), they’re in the flat they share, curled up like cats on the sofa George bought from an Instagram ad.

🧐 At 4pm George gets a text from Alex.

🧐 Max’s profile said he loved to cook, so after Daniel shows him around the apartment he takes him back into the kitchen and says, “I don’t know if you, uh?"

🧐 “Congrats, by the way,” Max says.

🧐 On the whole, George is an acceptable addition to the flat, but sometimes Alex does want to lightly defenestrate him.

this was a fun one! i think my pattern is i like long sentences! can't stop won't stop, parenthetical asides i love you, colons i love you, long daisy-chained clauses i love you. tagging @powerful-owl @bighoneyenergy @janinaduszejko @goblinmatriarch @officialmood, if u want to!

#writing #games #i did a writing exercise recently where u could only write sentences of seven words or fewer #and look i do love the occasional short sentence but ONLY short sentences? i nearly died #erin if you see this ilu

[underrated-adversaries]

Have you, like me, been submitting your favs to every poll you see only to pretty much never get in because you're, like, the only one to nominate them? If yes, then you've come to the right place!

This tournament is for underrated characters & ships (they will be separate polls within this blog) that you really want to have a chance but they just can't against the Doctor Who's and Critical Roll's of the world, all you need to do is submit them in one of the attached forms which you will choose based on what you want to submit. After that, when we've either reached the week mark or rounded up an appropriately daunting amount of submissions, whichever comes first, we will have prelims which will probably be the longest lasting round. All and I mean all submitted favs will be in the prelims pretty much no exceptions unless they break the rules. Speaking of!

~The Rules~

(sorry they're so long)

• While the media the favs come from doesn't necessarily have to be underrated the fav has to be. For example Ace Attorney in it of itself wouldn't be underrated but characters could be, you could theoretically submit Ron DeLite and have him get in but you couldn't necessarily submit Edgeworth and have him get in.

• That being said I will make some caveats for things from super popular media like Star Wars for example because while a character could be underrated when somethings that popular its bound to have a ton of people know it no matter how underrated or obscure, I may be swayed with some convincing but don't get your hopes up.

• Some things I will inevitably have to ask about, because while some things are super popular I inevitably will not know something, so if I ask about something that should be common knowledge please don't make fun of me.

• Harry Potter isn't allowed here both due to the super popular media clause and also because I'm trans and don't want to worry about that stuff in my silly little tumblr tournament.

• Don't go ham on threats no matter how joking please.

• I am one person and also I've never done a tournament before and therefore know practically nothing about setting up brackets, please take this into account if you want to criticize however I end up doing it.

• Feel free to send propaganda in my asks! Also please tag me in it! Reading propaganda is my favorite part of other tournaments!

Additional notes - Macaque, Sun Wukong, MK, Mei, and Red Son from Lego Monkie Kid are all confirmed entrants as is Sebastian Debeste from Ace Attorney.

Confirmed ships are Shadowpeach, Spicynoodles, and Chimera also from Lego Monkie Kid if you want to submit other characters and ships from Lego Monkie Kid go right ahead!

Mod is @melodemonica

Character Form

Ship Form

Since a lot of other blogs seem to tag other blogs for reach I'm just gonna tag my favorites - @powerpolyculeshowdown @autismswagsummit @angerissuescompeticion @i-need-to-fuck-that-old-man @qpr-competition

tags are in order: underrated adversaries - main tag/for character polls, adversarial relationships - tag for ship polls, olly commentary - pretty self explanatory just olly's (the mod's) commentary, underrated advertisements - propaganda tag, askversaries - ask tag, alternate adversaries - other polls

#underrated adversaries #olly commentary #askversaries #underrated advertisements #adversarial relationships #tumblr tournament #tumblr competition