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#cw implied bigotry
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Not my uncle being a dickhead again
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sparkedblaze · 8 months
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Hi this is Blaze's fucked up lil Refuge hc
Emphasis on fucked up
Please read at your own risk
Thank you @noxexistant for checking over my t/w and making sure I had everything I needed for it
T/W: Homophobia, transphobia, transmisogyny, period-typical attitudes/bigotry, implied s/a
So technically the Refuge is an orphanage. It’s also a jail.
And a conversion camp.
Snyder would use the typical methods of ‘straightening kids out’. The stimulants, the nausea inductions, the violence. He’d also use more… unorthodox methods.  If someone was suspected of participating in sodomy, and the usual methods didn’t work, he’d start trying to beat them into submission. If someone was suspected of cross-dressing, depending on who they were he would try and… coerce them back into the proper clothes.
I personally hc Tommy Boy and Bumlets to both be transmasc, so they’re who are currently living at the forefront of my brain with it.
Bumlets was the first to be caught. He would be dragged to Snyder’s office, kicking and screaming, trying to get away. He’d come back changed. Emotionally, mentally, and physically. He’d come back dressed to the nines in skirts and frills and whatever the hell else Snyder decided.  And he’d play the part inside the Refuge. Small, helpless girl, shying away from the boys.  Out on the streets? He’d kick their asses with ease. 
Tommy Boy was slow to catch on. Couldn’t figure out why Bumlets would say that he was a girl when he was in the Refuge. Couldn’t figure out why he would throw away the thing that connected them and built the foundation of their friendship.  And then, he was taken to Snyder’s office, just like Bumlets had been.  He didn’t come back the same kind of changed.  He was jumpier, scared of anyone and everyone. He’d gotten quieter.  The only person he trusted was Bumlets, but that was only when he was living as himself, instead of how Snyder was trying to parade him around. If Bumlets was letting Snyder control him, Tommy trusted no one.  He stayed to the side, was dragged back to Snyder’s office on nearly nightly basis, but he stayed true to himself.  He was showing everyone that it couldn’t be a crime for him to live as himself. And that he wasn’t letting anyone take that away from him. No matter how often Snyder tried to tear him down.
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evil is arbitrary, or, i’m begging you all to be normal about hyde (and queerness)
so like. does anyone else think it’s weird when people conflate hyde’s actual evil with hypotheticals about his gender identity/presentation? here’s a post about that.
cw for discussion of general queerophobia and specifically transmisogny
to contextualize this post going forward, i'm going to lay down this principle: that what we consider evil is totally arbitrary.
"evil" is a concept, and like all concepts, we made it up, both as a society and as individuals. there are some things that basically everyone (individuals and society) can agree and have agreed, across time and culture, are objectively evil, like straight up murder. there are other things, however, that are morally neutral, or even good that have been deemed as "evil/morally wrong" within certain societies (which shape individuals), like queerness.
following so far? excellent.
there are two aspects to what i am reluctant to call hyde's "evil" considering the above, but keep in mind this idea of evil is filtered through two lenses: the individual (jekyll) and the society (victorian england). the two aspects are the canon/textual and the subtextual.
the canon is what we directly see on the page, and what we see on the page amounts mostly to two things: hyde's violence and cruelty towards others. when it comes down to explicit, textual evidence of hyde's evil, those are the examples we can pull from. these are also things that can, pretty objectively by many individuals and society, be considered evil. murder is bad. not really inventing the wheel here.
the subtextual is, obviously, very different. technically, it doesn't exist. the subtextual nature of hyde's "evil" is going to be different for everyone because it's what we think exists underneath the actual canon. based on textual evidence, we build a subtext that explains or expands on themes, characterization, messaging, etc. based on canon evidence in the novella, many people read in a degree of queer subtext, regarding both jekyll/hyde's gender and sexuality. jekyll is some kind of queer and has repressed that due to the heavy stigma and bigotry present during the time, and this emerges in hyde along with his other "base urges." but that doesn't actually exist in the text, it's just one reading that you can have.
hyde does some things in canon that are objectively evil (violence and cruelty) and could have done some things if you read the subtext a certain way that were arbitrarily evil, based on jekyll and the society that molded him (queerness).
so why do modern readers, modern queer readers treat these things as equally evil?
honestly? fucked if i know. but i have some theories.
this problem may be the opposite of the "sir danvers problem," which i've talked about before. while that comes from people woobifying hyde and wanting to remove any ill intent from his canon, objective evil, i think this problem comes from people wanting to put ill intent into his subtextual, arbitrary evil. with this, people lump in hyde's subtextual, arbitrary evil, specifically this reading of queerness, with his canon, objective evil and judge them as equally bad. which is just fucking not true!!!! i don't care how tired you are of people calling hyde a poor little little meow, it's a weird, poorly analyzed take.
if we take that reading of queer subtext, we can understand why jekyll and victorian society would conflate these things as equally evil, but as modern readers we don't have to. and we shouldn't! we should understand the nuance between which of jekyll/hyde's behaviours are actually evil, and which are only treated as evil. to imply that these, (again, because they're based on subtext) hypotheticals of hyde getting it on with other guys, or not adhering to binary standards of masculinity is just as bad as him killing a man in cold blood is gross, plain and simple.
it's especially sinister since i see this most often paired with the idea that hyde is in some way gnc. he's a drag queen, or a cross-dresser, or just more effeminate than jekyll, and that is supposed to make him more evil or just generally more "unpleasant." that's some straight up alfred hitchcock's psycho level transmisogny. if you want to make hyde any of those things, it should to be to question what "evil" means, who or what decides what evil is, and whether or not that is a correct judgement to make. (hint: it's not. gnc men/transfem ppl are not inherently evil. jesus.)
tldr; there's a lot going on. evil is arbitrary. some things are pretty objectively evil and hyde does those in canon, and some things are not and hyde could have done those in subtext. treating them as equally bad is weird. have all the queer readings of the text you want, just maybe interrogate why you're making those readings and how you pair them with the actual text.
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sn0wp1anets · 1 month
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my take on the black family
ok disclaimer this isn’t going to be super detailed with evidence and quotes from the books because a) i haven’t read them in a while b) all my energy is going into school rn BUT i try to adhere to canon as much as possible and reference it wherever possible
this will be split into these main parts:
abuse + dynamics
politics + ties with voldemort and DEs
wealth + status
CW: abuse mentions, general bigotry
ABUSE + DYNAMICS
THE ABUSE
imo right now most portrayals of the dynamics of the black family, especially surrounding sirius + regulus and later on draco a bit are really black-and-white, and lack the nuance that already exists in canon. there is a common trope of the black family, especially walburga black, being very physically abusive to the point of using unforgivables (the cruciatus most often, but i have seen imperius use too) on sirius and regulus- that there is no love between walburga+orion and their sons.
i disagree with this for several reasons:
a) characters, espcially in a dynamic that is clearly affected by generational trauma are complex and morally grey, and it is unrealistic that walburga weas simply a disney cartoon villain who just enjoyed inflicting torture on her children.
b) there is a quote by kreacher that says that walburga’s heart broke when sirius left- although it is more than likely that kreacher was exaggerating as he was very attached to walburga, it still makes sense that walburga loved sirius to some extent- he is her son.
c) it is canon that there is emotional + psychological abuse, and most instances of these abusive dynamics happening irl are the result of messed up/twisted ideas of love, generational trauma, etc. for example, sirius is referred to multiple times as being a disappointment, and this would probably be due to a combination of the fact that sirius was against the fundamental bigoted values that the family is firmly rooted in- and actively acting against them publicly- humiliating them and their family name and legacy, and the fact that sirius would have disappointed walburga+orion by not conforming to their ideal of a heir. therefore, there treatment of sirius is likely because they wanted “more” for him, and wanted him to fit into their predetermined familial dynamic, rather than just calling him a disappointment for no reason (which makes no sense).
d) there is no canon evidence for physical abuse ever happening to any members of the black family HOWEVER, i believe it is very plausible that there was some degree of violence in the households, but this would probably not have been things such as the cruciatus curse (if it was that extreme it doesn’t make sense that it has never even been implied in canon), but instead minor hexes, or boxing(?) ears, etc. it’s also possible that there were punishments such as being withheld supper, or being made to stand in a corner for extended periods of time (i personally think this is what happened: and it would’ve been done under a misguided notion of teaching resilience and dignity and self-discipline, which seems very in-character for the family). these types of abuse would have been unfortunately quite common for the time period- and walburga+orion would’ve mostly likely viewed them as a form of discipline, punishment, or even ‘tough love’ rather than a genuine attempt at harm. (i am not in any way defending this type of abuse, this is an explanation on how this dynamic would’ve been seen during the period and in the situation)
e) sirius himself says to harry that the reason for him leaving is because he hated them and disagreed with them, rather than being kicked or driven out, or under so much physical torture that he had to leave. the breaking point of him leaving the family was most likely, imo, an argument with the family, and probably comments towards not just himself but also at james (because we all know he is kind of obsessed with him, and would defend him over anyone else).
SIBLING COMPETITION
walburga and orion comparing sirius and regulus in a very harmful way is canonically confirmed: sirius says he is reminded often that regulus is a better son than him.
do i think that the parents always favoured regulus? NO.
sirius is, in canon, probably one of the most powerful and smartest characters in the series. he is a powerful magician that can keep up with bellatrix in duels even while out of practice, he became an illegal animagus while still a teenager, he was part of creating the map and the twin mirros. he is also extremely intelligent, and it is pretty much outright stated that this comes very naturally to him: he is described as exceptionally smart by the teachers, he finds all his exams easy despite never studying etc etc. so he was most likely very bright and gifted from a very young age. he was also the oldest son, making him the heir. this creates a very clear dynamic between sirius and regulus, sirius is the perfect heir, more intelligent, more gifted than regulus could ever be. while it is also true that he has always been independent, and even rebellious (he happily talks abt breaking black tradition on the train with james) he would’ve been preferred by his parents and received lots of attention and favouritism. regulus would have been the spare. although his parents probably liked regulus better as he was more obedient, sirius was the heir, they were proud of sirius.
the problem comes in when sirius is sorted into gryffindor. the black family have traditionally always been in slytherin, and there are clear ties between the house of slythering and wealthy, high-status pureblood families, like the blacks. this is when sirius begins to step out of the mold as the perfect black heir. i personally do not think that sirius’ house was the singular reason while he becomes a disappointment and outcast of his family, but i do believe this event acted as a catalyst. the real problem arises when sirius begins to become dealigned with the values that he grew up with, and he starts to go against his family’s values and politics, and he does so publicly. he befriends well known blood traitors (james potter), half-bloods (remus lupin), muggleborns, and people from families that would not have been highly regarded by the blacks (peter pettigrew). he comes home from hogwarts and starts rebelling against his family by hanging up gryffindor colours, putting up photos of muggle women, and probably getting into disagreements with family members over their bigotry.
there is a common trope of regulus feeling upset at this because he wants to stay with sirius etc. and while i do think they had a relationship as brothers, i believe regulus would have secretly enjoyed sirius becoming more of a disappointment in his parents’ eyes. they are now embarrassed of sirius, and proud of regulus. when sirius left the family, would regulus have been sad? yes, probably, they are still brothers, still family. yet sirius’ departure changes the dynamic completely, in regulus’ favour. sirius is gone now, he isn’t just the embarrassment, he is no longer the heir, regulus is. regulus now has his parents’ undivided attention (i would say love, bc i believe they still loved sirius, but obviously he has just left them so like…), after being the 2nd choice for years and years of his life. regulus is just a child (14?15?) he would have wanted to be loved by his parents, and this is his chance.
ik that people either say that regulus was forced to become a DE or that he did it as an act of rebellion (more on this later). i personally HC that he genuinely was an extreme believer in voldemort’s views, especially as having seen first-hand the way that sirius left him and their family after deciding to go against the views. still, at 16, i don’t think it’s very likely that he joined at such a young age out of pure political views, rather as another attempt to be loved and valued by his parents, and to make himself more different from sirius.
i also think that the dynamics between the black sisters were equally as toxic and harmful. i don’t have too much material to work with, but anyway. after andromeda left, it was .just bellatrix and narcissa. we know that during the era that the books take place, the two have quite a close relationship- they spend time together, use nicknames, seem close generally, however, it also seems kind of strained? or like a bit off idk how to dsecribe it. anyway. i think as children/teenagers there was A LOT of comparison between the sisters, i think especially between andromeda and bellatrix; first, on the surface level, they are described to look very similar to each other, so subconsciously people would be likely to compare the two of them together, and think of narcissa as a separate unit because of how different she looks. secondly, i hc adnromeda and bellatrix would have been very similar in personality and skill: they would both be ambitious, outspoken, very very powerful and intelligent. (narcissa would also be really smart but in a more cunning, discreet way, compared to the two). as a child, i think narcissa would’ve been more obedient, more conforming to traditional gender roles and ideals of a noble, pureblood woman- following from this, i think she’d be more well-liked and more praised by druella+cygnus, the ‘perfect’ daughter. from this, i’d say that andromeda and bellatrix were closer as children, and even later on, until andromeda leaves the family. with andromeda gone, it is just bellatrix and narcissa- they’re both blacks, both intelligent, both powerful, but are so completely different from each other. where narcissa is strategic and restrained, bellatrix is bold and blunt. where narcissa is haughty, bellatrix is arrogant, etc etc. this then relates to how later on, narcissa fulfills exactly what is expected of her: she marries into one of the richest (probably THE richest? if im being honest) wizarding families, she has a son, she is smart and she keeps her family close, and most importantly she works from the inside- this is what the blacks do, and this is something bellatrix cannot do. bellatrix also marries into a rich wizarding family (the lestranges), but then she joins the DE- and furthermore becomes Voldemort’s right-hand not on account of her family name but her power. this causes problems for one main reason: she is now high-profile, and her hands are ‘dirty’ in a sense; the blacks work from the inside, they may agree with voldemort’s ideas, but they would never fight alongside him- they’d pay for the masks but never wear one themselves.
FAMILY RELATIONS
i think by now it is a relatively widespread hc that bellatrix’s favourite cousin was sirius and narcissa’s was regulus. i actually love this hc- i think bellatrix and sirius are mirrors of each other; they have very similar personalities in that they are both arrogant, bold, independent, and most of all they are intensely loyal. bellatrix to her family, sirius to james. sirius, as a child, thinks bellatrix is very much The Shit, he is happy to be like her. they look down on their “soft” siblings. when sirius becomes disillusioned with the family, that’s when things change, because sirius is no longer bellatrix’s parallel, he is andromeda’s, years later, sirius and andromeda are on the right side of the war- they’re proud of this, but one cannot escape their own blood, they are still blacks. when andromeda gets mistaken for bellatrix, when sirius, after decades, looks back at himself, they see bellatrix and they fear they are no better than her. narcissa on the other hand is regulus’ parallel- they are obedient, they grew up in the shadow of their louder, more powerful sibling, and they know in the eyes of their siblings they will forever be the ‘soft’ ones.
i think the previous generation is also interesting in this regard. unfortunately i do not have the brain capacity to understand who is actually related to who because they’re all inbred. i wonder tho; were cygnus and druella jealous of orion and walburga? they produced a male heir to the black fortune, in fact, they produced a spare too. were they actually happy- when sirius left, when regulus joined the DEs and died at 19? that would’ve left bellatrix as the heir(ess), surely. and also alphard is so interesting i wish i had enough energy to look into this more but i do not so.
POLITICS + TIES WITH VOLDEMORT AND THE DEATH EATERS
THEIR VALUES
toujours pur. always pure. the fact that this is their family motto makes it very clear that purity is at the centre of their values. i think in fanon this is kind of tunnel-visioned into just blood purity alot- and while yes, blood purity is a big part of it, i think this is referring to the isolationist nature of the black family- their inbreeding, their social circles. obviously there have been others married into the family, and they are selectively chosen, they will forever be outsiders in the eyes of the blacks. druella black, to them, is still druella rosier. (i can’t think of more examples, which honestly just shows how isolated the blacks are as a family/house). sirius mentions to harry that the blacks were convinced they were some kind of wizarding royalty- whether they are actually of this status or not, i think this is a good example of how the black family functioned- the way normal people are received by the royal family and even the press when they marry into the family.
obviously bigotry is a large part of the black family, mainly blood purity, but i’ll talk about that in the voldemort part. regarding other types of bigotry, although not explicitly stated i think it is pretty clearly implied? for example, sirius is a very queer-coded character, in regards to his family experience. i imagine the blacks have very traditional conservative values, and i think it’s interesting to see the politics of the uk in the 70s and 80s reflected back in the family and the wider scene of the first wizarding war at the time. although i can’t imagine the blacks caring for matters that they probably considered to be very muggle-centric, like feminism, and queer rights, it’s interesting that the first wizarding war- essentially a fascist movement that promotes the supremacy of purebloods coincides with the rise of social conservatism and thatcherite morality, which is largely family centric, which i think makes sense actually? with the black family at least, who care about purity as a means of protecting their own. (if this is incoherent im sorry its 4am)
SUPPORT FOR VOLDEMORT
it’s pretty much stated that the black familyas an institution has basically the exact same values as Voldemort and the DEs. i truly dislike the hc of walburga and orion forcing the dark mark on regulus , and trying on sirius, or even encouraging the idea of joining the DEs because
a) the blacks are a noble, generational-wealth type family. these types of families do not get directly involved in conflict, they are not on the battlefields, on the missions. it’d be unlike them to get their hands dirty or be involved with the DEs in any incriminating way. (if they are caught somehow i’m sure they have good ties to the wizengamot, but the blacks are calculated, they are strategic, they would not want to risk their own blood being spilled, especially in a state of war when the ministry is being headed by people such as moody and barty crouch sr.
b) they would believe it is below them. they don’t concern themsleves with such trivial matters. the blacks are haughty and arrogant if nothing else. the DEs ranks include werewolves, half-bloods, and those from less-respected wizarding families. getting involved would only taint the pure, the pristine reputation of the family.
although they are privately in agreement with voldemort, the blacks would not want to physically lift so much as a finger to support his cause. i do not think they would have liked regulus’ involvement.
do i think as a family they were involved in the war? yes. perhaps not in a physical way, but in OOTP we get a close look at 12GP, and what we see is that the blacks have unparalleled access to the dark arts, dark magic, knowledge, and wealth too. this was probably the extent of the blacks’ involvement with the war (except for bellatrix, regulus, and sirius ofc), and it would only be to further their own interests.
WEALTH AND STATUS
WEALTH
the blacks are extremely rich. this is likely all generational wealth, they are old-money. we can see this through how we do not know anything about where their fortune comes from, it’s certainly not from the hard work of orion, or cygnus. i think a good family to contrast them with is the potters- though they have several prominent ancestors, these ancestors are not wealthy- at least enough to last them through several generations. the potters are rich, but they are part of the nouveau riche- their money primarily comes from fleamont potter’s invention of hair potions; the potters are businessmen! the blacks are simply wealthy.
however, it’s also noteworthy that the blacks were probably wealthy in a combination of connections, status, and estates rather than actual, physical money. in canon, the black vault is well guarded and important, but not as deep or grand as the lestranges’ family vault. many families with generational-wealth are actually not as rich as one may expect, or are even declining, which may be the case with the blacks, especially if you compare the state of 12GP to other homes such as the malfoy manor. yes, 12GP is their traditional home, and has ancient magic etc. but it cannot compare to the size and grandeur of malfor manor, which is a good indicator of their actual financial state.
STATUS
so the blacks obviously were of high status: described as one of the oldest, wealthiest and most prominent families in the wizarding world.
i see some things about the sacred 28 being all nobility and aristocracy- however, in canon, this is literally jsut a list written up by a member of one of these families, and in fact, some of the families such as weasley and gaunt were not of significant financial status. but i do believe that having the claim of being a pureblooded family gave the blacks some type of status, especially among the blood purist families/cicles. the blacks also tend to be intelligent and powerful (sirius, bellatrix, etc.), which helps further to elevate their status and i also hc that they’re all really hot so that helps too. i do think out of tradition, and just because blacks are probably the longest-standing pureblood line, and are connected with every other significant line, the black family are the most highly regarded or prominent wizarding family; linking to sirius’ claims that his family believed themselves to practically be royalty. there is no wizarding royalty, and although the blacks are not the outright wealthiest, due to their status, fame, political power/influence, etc. they are probably as close as you can get. however, the idea that you can get close to being royalty may be problematic, but we also have to remember that the wizarding world mirrors the muggle world- the monarchy is constitutional and they have no real power other than influence- which is what i think the blacks have. sirius’ phrasing, though, is kind of indicative of the idea that maybe the blacks were a little delusional, and perhaps believed their status to be more inflated than it actually was- we don’t actually have any solid evidence of the blacks being of higher status than the malfoys, or the lestranges, or the rosiers, etc.
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nerves-nebula · 5 months
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CW/TW: body shaming, transphobic parent, eating disorder, parent won't respect boundaries
Regarding the last ask about parents making their kids uncomfortable
I feel that, I was venting about how my mom keeps talking about my body and telling me to eat healthy and exercise and implying I'm fat and like,,,
I know already
I don't need to be told constantly that I'm not the thin pretty girl she wants me to be. I'm not even a girl, I don't need body shaming on top of the transphobic bigotry when I'm already dysphoric as fuck
I have trouble eating or even recognizing when I'm hungry half of the time. I don't need someone constantly commenting on that shit
And it's not like she doesn't know, I told her repeatedly and EVEN THEN she know I'm off my anxiety meds atm cause I'm changing them and I'm pretty fucking vulnerable and get triggered so fucking easily
My mom doesn't understand boundaries, takes it like a personal attack when I set them and won't listen
Sorry for the rant
yeagh that sucks shit. personally i dont speak to my mom unless it's strictly necessary because you ever know when she's gonna hit you with a three hit combo of Shit I Couldn't Have Even Imagined She Would Say
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palipunk · 1 year
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Saw that you don't support Dalishious. Can I kindly ask why? I find it very hard to navigate around this fandom.
A few things, I have it all under their username if you search up Dalishious or Kispesan on my blog, but if it’s difficult to put together - they had originally written a very poor and tone deaf article about Eurovision that completely ignored the concerns of Palestinians and knew of the boycott Palestinians had asked for with the event but watched it anyways? 
Half of their apology was directed to others and essentially was just a link to my post to explain what was wrong with the article and didn’t elaborate or really say themselves what was wrong? I had reblogged their apology with these concerns and a few others I had but their reply was condescending and tried to say they had talked about Palestine on their blog before (they actually hadn’t, the org they listed was about various different struggles in the Middle East, which did include Palestine - but it’s a bit weird to say you talked about Palestine when you were just citing an org that talked about the Middle East as a whole, since we’re not homogeneous?) 
I’ll put the rest under the read more because it does involve the discussion of the buffalo shooting (cw shooting mention, antiblack violence mention, bigotry towards Palestinians, antisemitism mention) 
Sometime after that they received an ask about Palestine and had answered it with a link that was connected to another post. This was the ask:
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Which I will say its very ironic that they want to be more supportive and respectful of Palestinians all the while conflating Palestinians and our liberation with antisemitism (which BDS or antiSemitism was not even mentioned in the ask), if you check this post now, Lydia has deleted the link after being called out on what it contained - but the linked post was a very misinformed post about BDS and that BDS was targeting jewish organizations and students for no reason (which they weren’t, and this has been debunked for months), but the most insulting and quite frankly extremely bigoted part of the post was the implication that BDS was inspired by the Buffalo shooter and that BDS was comparable to post 9-11 surveillance of Muslims. Which if you aren’t aware, BDS is the main Palestinian led organization calling for boycotts and sanctions towards Israel and there have been attempts to criminalize the boycotting of Israel. 
I believe the op of the post has deleted it (Good ) but there are dozens of people who saw it that can attest to it’s existence, including the people under my post, my Palestinian mutuals, and in the notes of theirs. Lydia received another ask about Palestine and their stance and Lydia basically denied anything happened and continued on as normal, which was incredibly messed up as they had just linked something that implied Palestinians were inspired by a white supremacist that had just murdered ten black people in buffalo. (if you can figure out the wayback machine, it was under this link: https://www.tumblr.com/blog/view/benedarkmansabookiread/686650329403670528 )
after their behavior towards me and my friends and their arrogance I have no interest in supporting their content or posts and I would implore others to do the same and hold the people around them accountable for bigotry - Palestinians shouldn’t be thrown under the bus 
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pigeonwhumps · 6 months
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Disowned
Immortal Cannon Fodder masterlist
Taglist: @extrabitterbrain @wolfeyedwitch @whumpinggrounds @ailesswhumptober @painful-pooch @i-eat-worlds
Ai-less whumptober: alt 7: disowned by family
Phoenix is disowned.
1.6k
CWs: minor whump (Phoenix is 16), child abuse, implied child abuse (against Alicia, 13), immortal whumpee, disowning a child, wishing a minor character was dead, homophobia, transphobia, homophobic slurs and general bigotry, homelessness, punch to the face, minor injuries, manhandling, religious talk in an abusive way (not actually sure how to tag this but Phoenix's parents are Christian, it gets brought up about praying for Phoenix to change), Phoenix's parents are utter pieces of shit, HEED THE WARNINGS
Phoenix keeps their hand held out for Alicia to tap on as they flip absently through their new textbook. It looks phenomenally boring. They wish it hadn't had to be their parents' choice but it's only two years now. Two years and they're out. Best to obey them. Two years isn't long. Obedience is the best way to go.
Where their parents are aware, anyway. They're terrified... but the admin officer said their parents wouldn't be contacted, right? She definitely said that. It's illegal (although that might not mean jackshit), and they were promised, and maybe it's worth the chance to be called the right name. The name they chose. The teachers and staff weren't born yesterday, they know it's not always safe, they wouldn't tell, especially when Phoenix specifically said no.
Phoenix felt more certain of that earlier.
They glance at their bed, seeing their rucksack peeking out from under it. Okay. They have that, if it all goes wrong. It's completely packed, they did it this morning, Mr Frosty's even in it.
Alicia's just as nervous as they are. Phoenix hopes they don't have to leave her. Leave her alone in the hands of their parents.
Not quite alone. She has people to help. But none... none in the house.
The phone rings shrilly downstairs. Phoenix flinches and Alicia claps one hand to her noise-cancelling headphones, the other squeezing their finger. Phoenix figures it's as much contact as she can take at the moment.
"We'll be okay... eventually. Even if, um, if we're not now, we will be. We will."
They're trying to convince themself as much as Alicia, starting to deeply regret that meeting earlier.
There's quiet from downstairs, then angry murmuring, angry talking, common but never failing to set them and Alicia on edge. It could be minutes or hours that they sit there, tense, waiting, waiting, waiting. Minutes or hours, they'll never know how long, until their dad booms, voice echoing through the house like a foghorn, "Fiona! Get down here this instant!"
A bucket of ice pours down Phoenix's spine and it takes a little push from Alicia to get them moving. No.
No.
Maybe... maybe they missed a plate when they did the washing up. Maybe they forgot a chore. Maybe it's just... maybe it's something else.
They come to a stop just inside the living room, finding the alternate reasons drying up in the face of their mum's stone-faced anger, their dad's simmering fury. They fiddle with their hands behind their back.
"We just received a phone call. You were going to change your name and pronouns at your school behind our backs? How dare you? After all we've done for you?"
"Dad, I–"
"What kind of a name is Phoenix, anyway?" sneers their mum. "Who made that one up? Utterly ridiculous."
Phoenix draws into themself, looking down at their feet, feeling so small. "It was just, um, an idea. I just– I just wanted to try it."
"That wasn't what it sounded like. You were going to change your name permanently, without our consent, without planning to even tell us!" There's a pause filled with heavy breathing. "Look at me when I'm talking to you!"
They swallow and look up. Their dad has almost worked himself to incandescence. Phoenix has no idea what damage control they can even do at this point.
They regret everything.
"What possessed you to do that?" asks their mum, sounding almost curious – they know better, though.
"I wanted to try it, mum. I'm, um, I'm sixteen, I can, legally, so I just thought, but, um, I won't, if you're so against it. I, I'm sorry."
Their dad snorts. "You're not. I already knew you were a freak and a disappointment, I didn't realise you were a faggot as well." Phoenix flinches, each word hitting like a stab to the heart. "God. I really don't know where we went so wrong with you. Your mum and I have prayed for years that you'd be fixed, but it appears you've only gotten worse. At least Alicia has good grades. We should've gotten rid of you when we first found out about your powers. That should've been enough. It would've been easier then."
Phoenix's heart cracks, and they can only manage a hoarse whisper through the thickness in their throat. "Fixed?"
"You've got powers, you're lazy, your grades are atrocious. I could go on. You never seem to learn. I wasn't expecting this though, even from you. Do you have an explanation?"
Phoenix swallows and stands their ground. No, they don't, not that their parents will accept.
"I, um, I really am sorry."
"Not enough. This is the last straw. I will not have a faggot in this house, Fiona. Get out."
Phoenix looks at her mum, but she's not budging either. She hasn't actually said anything yet though.
"I'm still your child, please! Please don't kick me out, please–"
There's a sharp burst of pain around their eye and they cry out, stumbling backwards into the doorframe, seeing stars. They only really realise what's happened when they see their dad's fist retract.
"The hell you are. I wish you weren't immortal, so I wouldn't have to deal with this nonsense."
It takes a beat to penetrate, and then Phoenix staggers back further, into the hall.
"You wish I was dead?"
Their voice is barely a croak. Their mum's eyes are stone, their dad's a burning steel. Neither look like they're going to regret their dad's words.
They never do.
"You're an embarrassment and a disgrace to the family, and now I find out you're a gay disgrace. Get out of our house. And may God forgive you."
Phoenix is managing to hold back tears by a thread at this point. A fraying thread. But their parents aren't crying, so– so they shouldn't be either.
They have nothing to lose, now.
"Can I just– please, um, Alicia–"
"Oh, for–" Their dad marches forward and grabs them by the scruff of the neck, dragging them to the door. "Get out, before you contaminate Alicia, our only child, any further. And don't let me see you again."
And he throws them bodily out the door, slamming it behind them.
They hit the paved garden path hard, palms skinning with the impact, breath knocked from them. For a minute they can't move.
They didn't... they knew this could happen, but somehow they didn't expect it to feel anything like this. Like they've been torn asunder, every part of them flapping, looking for something to latch onto. Their heart's splintered into tiny pieces, and they're not sure they'll ever be able to put it back together again.
They can't even think about moving when all they can hear is their parents wanting them dead.
It starts to rain. A light drizzle, and it should be more, shouldn't it, enough to drown them, but it isn't.
But it doesn't matter. They don't need the rain to feel like they're drowning.
It gets dark, eventually and straight away at the same time, and they push themself to their feet, stumbling, feeling like half the gravel on the path is now stuck in their skin and slightly torn clothes. They don't have shoes on at the moment but if they're lucky, in the bushes, if Alicia managed it–
There. There, in the spot they planned, if something happened and either of them needed supplies urgently. There. The strap of their rucksack peeking out from behind a branch, and a plastic bag.
Phoenix takes the trainers out of the plastic bag and shoves their feet into them, stowing the bag in their pocket. Their feet are wet and dirty and they're making their shoes wet but at least they'll get less looks this way.
They should be grateful. They like this garden. They don't have much of it.
They throw their rucksack onto their back and start off down the road, towards the town centre. They hunch into themself, pulling their sleeves over their hands, hood over their head, making themself as small as possible. They don't need to be bothered, if there's even anyone around, they're fine, leave them alone.
If anyone does try to approach they don't notice anyway, mind occupied with their parents' words during their... no, not argument, argument would imply they had much of a chance to speak.
Well. They didn't deserve it anyway. Why else would their parents care so little about them?
Phoenix doesn't notice where they're going, taking random turns, distracted by their thoughts as they walk as far as they can. Their exhaustion is starting to get the better of them, and when they've stumbled too many times they sink down to the ground, choking on a sob.
The soft ground.
They look around and laugh, the giggle turning into another sob halfway through. Of course. Of course this is where they've ended up. This is the park their grandma used to take them to feed the geese.
Phoenix's tears are indistinguishable from the rain on their cheeks, now, but they scrub at it with their dirty fist regardless.
Their cheek throbs as they touch it. The skin around their eye is swelling and bruising already. By tomorrow it will be gone, washed clean as thoroughly as their blood and skin and marks on their garden path.
As thoroughly as anything their parents ever do.
They take a deep breath and force themself up, settling under a weeping willow that they could find blindfolded in their sleep. They curl into a ball, shoving the rucksack under their head as a pillow.
Tomorrow they'll find somewhere to stay. Call Abbie, the leaflet with her number is in their bag. Just– they don't know. Find something.
But, for now, they curl up, shivering, arms wrapped tightly around themself, and cry.
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yuripoll · 2 days
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KNOCKOUTS: Savior (2021 - 22)
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Savior is a Korean webcomic illustrated by Jo9 and written by Junqi about a vampire being caught between her most devoted friend and a sweet christian girl.
Wohn Ku is a vampire that needs human blood to survive. As a tenderhearted child, she led a tortured existence until a girl named Seyeon willingly became her steady blood source. Seyeon stood by Wohn throughout their school years, defending her from bullies. Fast forward to the present where they move in together ahead of their freshman year of college. Seyeon remains fiercely protective of her friend, but Wohn is ready for a fresh start. When a devoutly religious sophomore girl named Juyi showers her with kindness, Wohn emerges from her shell only to realize that Juyi had once been her father’s kidnapping victim, a potential blood source she had refused to bite. Juyi grows closer to Wohn without remembering the incident, fueling jealousy in Seyeon. Will Juyi prove to be a savior washing away Wohn’s guilt, or will she ruin a vampire’s dream of redemption? - Webtoon
Original KR available on Naver & offical ENG is on Webtoon.
CWs under the cut. General severity rating: moderate. Webtoon advises it for readers over the age of 15.
suggestive scenes
blood & violence <- injury isnt especially graphic and theres no detailed gore. notable violent scenes get warnings at the start of the chapter
blood drinking
toxic relationships <- overly possessive behaviour; isolating a partner in ways that include going on their phone and blocking their contacts, on top of a machiavellian degree of manipulation.
self harm <- warned for in chapters where its shown. while its mostly used to fascillitate blood drinking, its implied thats being used as an excuse.
kidnapping <- part of a main character's backstory. brought up semi regularly.
child abuse <- inflicted by fathers. every main character has had stuff thrown at them. one character was also confined as a child. another character is subject to heavy religious pressure and control from both parents. abuse is brought up frequently throughout, specifically after ~ch30, but significant instances get a warning at the start of the chapter.
suicide <- ch26 has a parent commit suicide in a flashback; method is not feasible irl. one of the mains has self worth issues and sometimes expresses suicidal ideation.
animal death (rats) <- baby vampire eating rats in ch1
homophobia <- throughout, comments are made and rumors are spread about the mains' relationship. adults around the leads talk about queerness being a phase. in ch34 a man reacts violently to the idea that another man would be interested in him.
bullying <- in backstory. bullying gets used as a tool of manipulation in the main plot.
unwanted advances & harassment <- seyeon gets hit on by men every now and then and she is Very uninterested. in ch13, theres a flashback involving a young boy flipping his classmates skirts & the teacher gets sexist about it.
religion & religious bigotry <- christianity, specifically. religious parents putting heavy restrictions on their daughter based in gender. other men in the church act misogynistically, particularly in ch47.
misogyny <- in context of the two points above.
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angorwhosebabyisthis · 2 months
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Pericles and Purple Scarves (or: why the fuck is the parrot so horny, and why does it matter)
(or: did i think about this way too much, or exactly the right amount? yes.)
[cws: fantasy racism/ableism, dehumanization, mention of homophobia and canon-typical grooming, non-detailed discussion of canon-typical SA/sexual harassment and canon-typical bestiality. this show is a thing and a half]
-
something i think about a lot is that like.... i joke about how delightful it is for various reasons that they made pericles So Relentlessly Horny, and it's fucking hilarious to me to see in real-time the dawning horror of people watching the show for the first time and realizing he's sexy. (their reactions to the tentacle scene are comedy fucking gold every time.)
on a doylist level the creators are obviously paying homage to his voice actor, making him stand out from the other mascots, and trying to make him charismatic, memorable, and that much more uncomfortable to the audience. and it worked! pretty much everyone thinks he's one of the best scooby-doo villains out there, and they're right.
(i'm not biased, i swear.)
when you look at it in-character, though, it makes a lot of sense that he'd be that way, and that's important. he's doing it on purpose.
for one thing--again--he stands out among all the other talking animals we see, because he is the one who comes across most as a depiction (an intentional one, anyway 🙃) of an actual person who happens to be shaped like a bird. the others all are Some Kind of Uniquely Goofy in the way that they act, be it how they talk or their general mannerisms or the fact that none of them seem to really have an implied Age. pericles is the only one who doesn't have some kind of silly voice or speech impediment or catchphrase what-have-you, and he's also the only one who comes across as being in specific life stages you could map onto a human corresponding to how old he is. he's even the only time we ever hear mention of a talking animal being a child, or having been once. everyone but pericles is just Mascot-Aged.
(fwiw, my personal read is that scooby is about the same age as the gang or equivalent. also there is So Much to unpack here about all that re: the mascots in general but that's a post for another time)
and the one thing they all have in common except pericles is that they are NOT supposed to be sexy. if anything, the ones we actually see talking (in a fever dream, to be fair) except scooby and pericles are obviously meant to be borderline or outright really goddamn annoying. (reggie/dyno-mutt is adorable but he is also on thin ice with me on this one, sorry little guy.)
and like. all of this lines up with the fact that the talking animals very obviously represent disabled people. even moreso than they represent racial minorities, which they very much do! they're a lot further toward ableism on the sliding scale of xeno bigotry (which is a big reason i'm iffy about just calling it fantasy racism). the infantilization of disabled people is, you know, A Whole Ass Thing, and being aggressively desexualized is a major part of that. Disabled People and Disabled Mannerisms are a Bonerkill.
enter pericles, who does not truck with any of this shit.
i've already got a lot of posts planned going into this subject in general, because there is So Much. but in short, the thing to remember when you examine anything about pericles is that he lives in a world that draws zero distinction between people like him and animals.
practically everything he does is, on some level or another, him yelling FUCK YOU LOOK AT ME I AM A PERSON, LOOK. I'LL MAKE YOU IF I HAVE TO. and what's something animals don't do, whether actual animals or annunaki descendants (at least the latter ones he's probably been around most)? they don't flirt. they aren't sexy. they don't act like a brand of seductive, even skeevy, person you might feasibly meet irl, if maybe a theatrical larger-than-life one who runs in certain circles.
(gay ones, to be specific. super, super gay ones. more on that in a minute.)
and, what's more: they don't flirt with humans. we never see anyone really comment on the very obvious Thing he's always had going on with ricky; but that doesn't come across as them thinking it's normal or acceptable so much as not noticing that it's a thing at all. it is that aggressively unthinkable that it would be. and this is backed up even more by the fact that people hear scooby ask shaggy if he's cheating on him by having a girlfriend and think nothing of it, and it continues to be treated as Romance vs Platonic Friendship/Pet Ownership. Gal Pals, but Worse!
so yeah, we have no idea what society would think of anunnaki descendants having sexual/romantic relationships with humans that they couldn't ignore. presumably it would be Pretty Well Disapproved Of, but like. who the fuck knows.
what we DO know is that pericles is considered so utterly beneath personhood that no one would so much as blink at him fucking an honest right to god animal. if it were anyone other than, y'know, pericles, they might even think it was cute.
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(AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA.)
(moving on.)
so all things considered, as you can imagine holy SHIT would he have a reason or two to broadcast as hard as he can that not only that he is A Sexual Being, but one intended to appeal to human standards. it brings to mind queer people presenting in ways meant to be attractive to other queers, not straight people, except, well. instead of trying to get the attention of supportive people like you on the downlow, because you don't want the majority to know what kind of sexuality you're announcing, he's blaring I AM ONE OF YOU at that majority out of desperation and spite.
which, speaking of signaling queerness: pericles is a hundred percent gay-coded, as in the actual definition of 'as close to explicit as they could get away with, done on purpose.' there's the obvious--his relationship with ricky--but his VA, who he is to some extent modeled after, is an openly gay indie horror film icon, and given that and the time period he grew up in i don't think it's a coincidence that the one piece of clothing he chooses to wear is a purple scarf. (they even made him a sexual predator! yippee!)
so like, if anything it's pretty feasible that he might have actually observed that kind of thing as a phenomenon, especially with the demographic he'd actually be interested in, and pick it up accordingly. who knows if he ever managed to actually, y'know, Involve Himself with any human men--my interpretation is that he did and it went poorly 🥲--but it makes sense to me that he'd wear something like that; that he'd use his one opportunity to express himself with clothing to go HI HELLO I AM A PERSON DID I MENTION I LIKE MEN. WHO ARE PEOPLE. BECAUSE I DO
......and he STILL gets ignored no matter how hard he tries. i feel like that's one of the reasons he ended up being such a creep, honestly: operating on similar logic to the tag rant in this post, the conclusion he comes to is that well fuck you, you can't ignore me having a sexuality if i make it a problem for you. even if you try to pretend sexual violence and harassment aren't sexual, or don't recognize that it's happening at all, you are not going to walk away unaffected by it. if the only lasting evidence he's able to leave in the world that he's a person is causing damage that can't be shrugged off or undone, so be it.
(a real irony, isn't it, given how things turn out in the end.)
and like. this is one of the things that really bothers me about people trying to act like you shouldn't ship pericles or think he's attractive because Ew Gross Cringe That's an Animal (or transparently pretending it's because Problematic, not because cringe). either way do what you want 'cause a pirate is free, to be clear, but like... that's the point, man. that's the whole point. the writers are assholes who wanted you to miss it, and you did.
basically: just about everything pericles does is acting out in some way or another, and that's why we know what this man would sound like busting a nut. you're welcome.
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threeclans · 1 year
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I feel most comfortable addressing this via anon but want to make it clear this ask is not coming from a direction of a malice but of making the blog a better one. You don't have to answer this ask directly but ask to at least consider the points Addressed. Considering the sensitive situation with a former member are there plans within the Moderation Team to clarify the rules over that specific issue from that of an unspoken condemnation for the concerning material one to one written out clearly in the rules. In a similar way to the rules on bigotry being stated within the rules despite being an unspoken rule of being on the internet. This is not to imply the Team was in some way “asking for” this unprecdented thing to happen because there wasn’t a rule on it before by the way.
Along these lines are there plans to safeguard how accounts for new members are evaluated for these type of so the risk in future openings so that the possiblity of another similar situation is less likely to happen before the oncerning member has had the chance to become apart of the community.
Our response to the following ask has been placed under a "read more" with the appropriate CW for brief mentions of sensitive adult topics such as proshipping, sexual assault, and other related matters. Please read at your own discretion. 
TLDR, for those uncomfortable with such matters: ThreeClans condemns the usage of these topics in any material within our server, and we do not endorse individuals who center their media exploration around such matters either.
Anonymous submissions of concerns are understandable — we can see that it may be intimidating to face such sensitive topics in a forthright manner. We would like to state, to begin with, that as an apparent member of our server and community, we hope that you are already aware of the fact that ThreeClans does explicitly condemn material of a certain subject matter in our guidelines. Beyond previous in server discussions, which may not have been observed directly, and asks that we have answered on the matter regarding topics like proshipping, you can find more than unspoken condemnation by reading the "guidelines" section of our Carrd, linked here, which makes our stance on the subject clear.
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However, the unfortunate truth of the matter is that regardless of how clear we have made our stance, our views may be disrespected by those who oppose them. For example, in an ideal world, a "do not follow" list may establish a boundary that will ward off people who offend any standards set by the person making said list, but in the end, if someone wishes to break those boundaries and follow you regardless, they may do so. It will then be on you to take the burden of blocking them, after noticing that they do not adhere to this rule set that you have established, and cutting off contact from there. This is what we attempt to do as moderators. If it is brought to our attention that someone has disrespected rules that we have put in place, we will take the responsibility of cutting off contact between them and the community we have fostered according to our judgement on their rule breaking. Once again, in a perfect world, people who do not adhere to our standards and rules would not attempt to join our communities to begin with, but there are always instances that may go against this. As far as future safeguarding goes, we want to be transparent and state that each time we open our server, we do use the resources available to us to evaluate new prospective members. Providing links to social media during the application process allows us to do some semblance of a "background check" in which we can scan for any immediate red flags, and, if any are noticed, discount an applicant from being permitted to join our server. Of course, this is not a flawless system, as we, moderators of a Warrior Cats roleplaying group, do not have the resources to run background checks that legitimate companies do, and even beyond that, people are plenty capable of obscuring their true identities online. There have been multiple times where the moderators have come across instances of behavior from applicants that have led us to discount their applications as a precaution — some people do not care to be dishonest or intentionally hide unsavory behavior — but when such behavior is buried under layers upon layers of intentionally obscured information, or we are not given the proper avenues to access it, then we may not be able to immediately ward off concerns. At this point, our next option for action is to remove any offending parties when we do become aware of rule breaking behavior, which we have done in the past. As a result, the best we can promise is to always take concerns from the community seriously and with weight. Managing and moderating a server is not easy, but we do our very best to act with the proper discretion, maturity, and caution needed in delicate situations like this. We never want our community to feel unsafe, and we also want you all to understand that we are as much a part of the community as members are. This weighs heavily upon us — finding out that people we hoped to place faith in were not who they claimed to be is heartbreaking. Going forth, we intend to reiterate what we always have. ThreeClans has not and will not ever welcome the endorsement of topics such as sexual assault, incest, age gap relationships, "proshipping," or other affiliated topics. We are not a space in which people who build a foundation upon these subjects are welcome. Harm caused to our community is taken seriously, and we do our best to keep an eye out for those who threaten it. Although this has been stated on our blog and in our Carrd, we will be adding a mention of it explicitly in our server today to further establish our stance so that there is no confusion on the matter. If we are ever given explicit proof to indicate that someone within our community is breaking our rules or going against our stance on this subject, then we will, of course, handle things accordingly.
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altairattorney · 2 years
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The callout post against st@ff was not harassment: a compilation 💕
THE TITLE IS IRONY AND I AM NOT AFFILIATED WITH ANYONE. ~ CW: discussion of CSA, pedophilia, antisemitism and nazism
Premise: the original post that the OP got banned for was added again in the Google doc, so I had the chance to see it. It was NOT making the extremely serious accusations that we have been talking about, however: it was an ad-hominem exposure of a st@ff's member blog that implied a connection between her own private and, let me repeat, not "problematic" art and the inaction of st@ff in banning terfs.
I completely agree that supporting JKR in any way is awful. However, this means literally supporting the woman in her bigotry, and you cannot assume liking her franchise is the same. It was (WAS) a cultural phenomenon in a past time and it had uncountable fans. I was a huge fan in my early teens, I obviously am not anymore, but that originally happened because her whole body of work got mediocre and unhinged really fast - it just preceded its creator in obviously falling apart. Her being a disgusting person came later and became the main reason not to return to it or even speak about it. I cannot understand how anyone continues to like it, but that is a far cry from publicly implying a fan automatically supports all of the woman's views just for that reason. Even if OP did not spell it out, they 100% meant it, and this is not a justifiable accusation in any way.
So is alleging that a member's liking of specific media is the reason st@ff doesn't properly moderate the site. Not only is it bewildering OP even thought of the connection, it's also asinine in the understanding of how the moderation of an enormous social media website works, especially in a time where understaffing is so common.
If the post wasn't harassment itself (which is debatable) it was certainly a personal attack and a bomb waiting to explode. Tumblr is quick to start enormous amounts of harassment off these bs callout posts. So yes, this was a hazard to the member's safety on her workplace and OP got exactly what they deserved.
THAT SAID
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Right after deletion: read all about st@ff member being a freak 💕
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"OP never implied that member was ACTUALLY a terf!" aside from the fact they did, if OP didn't do that, well, a certain user took care of what their post was lacking!
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Pictured above, completely reasonable criteria to determine if a certain person is prone to a certain type of SA and is a danger to the real lives of real vulnerable children. I must comment here, this is a very dark and touchy topic and it's completely true that fan content can be used by real pdos to groom people. That, however, is on the pdo - it doesn't automatically make that content CP. Some can obviously be. Certainly not a g-rated and barely romantic (if you can say so, even) art of child characters aged up to their teens.
Also, someone has a different idea than you on what constitutes risk behavior for something as serious as pedophilia? They are all pdos now! Talk about taking it lightly!
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OH OOPSIE! Maybe calling st@ff member a nazi and a freak was a little too much! Let's change the contents so that we can't be accused of that in the future! 💖
You can still read the Google doc for yourself, with new and improved title, here:
This is so you can read yourself and disagree with me if you see fit. I just felt that there was too much going on here to ignore.
What st@ff did must have had a Streisand effect they didn't expect, and I mean, who in the fuck would ever react to moderation as censorship if not the geniuses on Tumblr.
However:
this shit is exactly why they removed the post
Because they knew OP's already baseless and offensive implications could generate harassment of this kind.
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empty-masks · 2 years
Text
Book Three, Chapter Eleven
CW: Strong Language, Sexual References, Graphic Violence, Fantasy Bigotry, Smoking, Alcohol Use, Light Body Horror
The Corpse, the Medic, and the Detective shoot their hands into the air as the gangsters’ pistols are pulled and the barrels are leveled their way. “What the fuck do you think you’re doin’ back here, huh? This is a private area, you fuckin’ idiots!” one of them says, shirtless, pushing the master clothier behind him with his free hand. “Get the fuck out!”
    Meat looks around the room. This is it. This is what they remember, a back room full of expensive suit-making fabric, pre-made three-pieces hanging from ceiling to floor, a full body mirror, and private appointments with the local master anytime they wanted. The gang pays for everything, but you couldn’t have more than a couple suits if you were a lackey. Meat remembers having more than a couple in their time.
    The floodgates are closing. The memories are settling in their mind, quickly sinking below to act as silt in a river of flame. In a desperate attempt to keep them flowing, Meat asks, “Wait, who’s the capo?”
    They look at one another, then at the Clothier, who looks as though he could put a stain in his pants at any given moment. The shirtless one cocks his head to the side. Not in a way that implied disbelief in the confidence of his victims, but rather genuine confusion that a talking skull would ask such a question of him. “The fuck did you just ask me?”
    “I asked who the capo was,” Meat repeats.
    “Why’s it matter?”
    “Doesn’t it?”
    The gangster’s face contorts. “What’s that supposed to mean?”
    “My memory’s gone. I don’t remember a lot, but I remember this,” Meat says, gesturing to the room. “Can you tell me who the capo is?”
    The gangster and his cohort look at one another again. Still holding their guns to the group, they convene for a few moments to discuss. In hushed conversation, they assess the situation in-depth, or at least as in-depth as a couple of ground-level pawns in organized crime can get. Eventually, the shirtless one responds, “It’s Leslie Carnevale, still. Hasn’t changed for years.”
    Another spark sends Meat’s memory into overdrive. Leslie Carnevale, the capo of the surrounding area, the guy in charge of keeping Shepherd Gemstone out of their northern territories. Rumoured former union worker who didn’t like the post-capitalist environment and abandoned it to do things his way. Both overly ambitious and overly familiar with anyone he thinks has promise.
    “The boss,” Meat says. “He’s still the boss.”
    Again, the gangster’s face contorts in confusion. So much so that he drops his gun arm in disbelief. “Who are you, anyways?”
    The Corpse shakes their head. “I don’t know. Leslie was my boss, though.”
    “Shit, man,” he says, tucking the gun back into his waistband. “You were one of us? What the fuck happened to you?” He approaches Meat carefully, looking to put a hand on their shoulder for comfort. “And who are these clowns you’re saddled with?” he quietly asks, motioning to Brie and Roxanne, who remain silent.
    “Friends.” Meat looks the gangster in the eye, and he quickly takes his hand off their shoulder. “Can you take us to Leslie?”
    “Hey, hold on a freakin’ minute,” the other gangster interjects, raising his gun again. “You’re that guy. You remember what the boss said, Tommy? About the Dragon thing, about how we was sackin’ that buster for good?”
    Tommy’s eyes widen and he jumps back a few steps. His gun is quickly swiped from his waistband and aimed at the group again. “Ho-ly shit. Nearly got chummy there for a sec! Thanks, Mickey,” he says. “Yeah, we can take you to see the boss.”
“There a problem?” Meat asks.
“He’s out for your head, buddy. And that means you’re comin’ with us whether you like it or not.”     Meat sighs. Though it’s better than nothing, being dragged to their former boss— that they just remembered they had— against their will isn’t what they would’ve preferred when attempting to remember their personal history. They turn to look at Brie and Roxanne. Brie looks surprisingly calm, inquisitive, and Roxanne seems similarly annoyed at the circumstances. At least there are no objections.
Back at one of the Carnevale’s HQ offices, the back room of a local florist’s shop, Jules finds himself before the desk of the capo, Leslie Carnevale, who has leaned back quite far in his cheap, faux-leather office chair. As Leslie takes a puff from a cigar, he motions for the Vampire to sit down opposite, in a far less comfortable plastic chair.
Jules does as he’s told and says, “So, as I was saying, there’s been a problem.”
    “I can see that,” Leslie responds. “I can also see that you’ve been runnin’ with some lady I’ve never met until now.” The Capo’s tone turns ice-cold. “Let’s talk about that first, Jules.”
    “Well, uh,” he starts. “We met on a security job. Before I was in the family. And we fell in love. And now she’s my fiance?” His voice peaks at that word, “fiance,” and it struggles to leave his throat. Lying outright is a difficulty; things are so much easier when you can cover something up by simply not saying anything. As if to add some sugar to the dreadfully told lie, he smiles, raising the tips of his carefully groomed mustache in the process and baring his fangs sweetly.     “C’mon now, Jules. You think that line’s gonna work on me? We all know you’re gayer than a fuckin’ fruitcake. I know, all the boys know, I wouldn’t be surprised if most of the northern territory knows,” the Capo responds, leaning forward in his seat. “There’s no way you’d fall for a chick, and I know she hasn’t been in the picture since before us, so don’t feed me that bullshit. Tell me what’s been happenin’ between you two. Be straight with me— and I ain’t tryin’ to joke around, here.” Leslie chuckles, his dour expression tilting up at the corners.
    Jules’ smile fades and he clenches his jaw, rocking his head from one side to the next like a child caught in a lie before he spills, “We’re partners. Met when I was working that job for Shepherd Gemstone. We do bounty work now, usually outside family territory. But, our current quarrel led us here. And so, here we are.”
    Leslie frowns. “I see. And you like her?”
    “I thought you just said you knew I was gay, boss?” The corners of Jules’ mouth pull down further, mirroring the boss’s frown.
    The Capo chuckles. “I ain’t talkin’ about that. I’m talkin’ partner-wise. ‘Cause we could get you a new partner, Jules. You’re worth a lot to me, and if she’s givin’ you trouble, we could do a lot to solve that problem.” he says, moving to open a cabinet.
    Jules’ eyes widen, and he holds up his hands in protest. “No, no! She’s my best goddamn friend! I wouldn’t swap her out for the world.”
    “Just checkin’, Jules,” Leslie leans back in his seat again. “‘Cause we saw how she was lookin’ at you, and I figured that you might be trapped with her or somethin’.”
    Jules thought about this for a moment. “No, sir, I think right now she’s trapped with me. If you wanna put it that way.”
    “How so?”
    “Well…” he starts, before there’s a series of knocks on the door behind them.
    The Capo holds up a finger, and calls out, “Hey, what the fuck’s the deal? I’m havin’ a meeting here!”
    From the other side of the door, a muffled voice says, “We’ve got’em, boss! That guy you wanted!”
      Jules now stands behind the Capo and Meat stands on the opposite side of the desk, their hands bound with rope and with Tommy and his pal, Mickey, sticking their guns into their back.
    “Are you Leslie?” Meat asks.
    “I sure am,” he responds. “And you’re supposed to be dead.”
    “I’m just as confused as you are.”
    “Confused isn’t the word. I’m absolutely fuckin’ baffled. We sent you to fuckin’ die, Mack. You shouldn’t have come back.”
    “Mack?” A tickle of a memory begins to burrow into the base of Meat’s skull.
    “Your name. It’s Mackenzie,” the Capo raises an eyebrow. “You know, somethin’ just hit me. You’ve obviously been turned to a piece of charcoal by that fuckin’ Wyrm. There’s no doubt about that, but what I’m wonderin’ is, did you actually die? Is the person I’m seein’ now the same person I knew?” He takes a deep puff of his cigar. 
“I’ve got a hunch. Grab their medic friend, I wanna hear her opinion,” he says, motioning toward the guards.
    Mickey and Tommy look to one another, then to Leslie as Tommy asks, “What about the nerdy looking one?”
    “What’s she gonna do, take you both down? Ain’t like there are cops to run to. Just get the fox broad.”
    Soon after, Roxanne is brought into the room. She shoots a nasty look at Jules, who shrugs, before she turns to answer the Capo’s question. “Yes, they’re quite dead. Their heart isn’t beating, and their lungs only work for show. That’s as far as my field diagnostic went.”
    “So they’re a Notus?” asks Leslie.     Both Mickey and Tommy lean around Meat to stare at Leslie with dumb looks, partially out of a sudden feeling that they’re out of the loop and partially because the word drives them to bear an expression akin to that little kids wear when they can tell someone’s swearing in another language, if only by tone. The ignorant but curious looks make Jules chuckle, and neither Meat nor Roxanne take the sound lightly, glaring at the Vampire.     Leslie rubs his brow with a ringed hand. “It’s an old legend. If someone with unfinished business dies in a fire, there’s a chance they’ll sit back up. Sometimes they’ll keep their memory, sometimes they’ll only remember enough to keep the lights on. And they always come back with enough firepower to wipe places off the map. Literally.”
    “I knew that,” Mickey says.
    Tommy’s curious expression shifts to a glare, pointed directly at his peer beside him as he growls, “No, you didn’t.”
“Both of you shut up,” snaps Leslie. The Capo points to Meat. “You’re one of those things now, aren’t you?”
    Meat doesn’t respond. Their mind has been put in the metaphorical meat grinder. Leslie clearly isn’t a spring chicken, and by the way he’s looking at Meat, they can tell that there’s some quiet fear in his eyes over what they could do. He’s looking at them and seeing a burning city. And that terrifies Meat, too.
    “The dead are meant to stay dead,” Leslie says. “Ain’t supposed to be an issue for livin’ people, and on top of bein’ a monster, you’re a liability. It’s a shame, ‘cause you really were good. Boys?”
    The gunshots don’t sound out. Both Tommy and Mickey are staring at something, something behind Jules and their boss, and the shirtless man asks with a hint of trepidation in his voice, “What the hell’s that?”
Behind Leslie, a bright light slowly begins tracing its way up the wall, forming a right angle, moving horizontally, then turning again as it moves back down the wall. Everyone in the room notices as well, as a result of the loud hissing, alongside the smoke that comes with melting mud-brick, the interloper carving along like a hot knife through room temperature butter. Before long, the cutout has been kicked down by a monstrous, clawed foot.
    Blondie trods inside, leaving burning prints in the stone behind the florist’s shop. “Am I interrupting something?”
==============================================================
    “Okay, but her? You literally just met.”
    “Penny, I don’t know what isn’t clicking.” Janet smiles over at the werewolf, brown hair pressed back out of her face by a delightfully kitsch red hairband with white polka dots. “Connect the dots, then get a swimsuit on and join me. It’s boring to swim alone.”
    Hickory lets out a huff and sits herself down in one of the deck chairs beside the pool, a drink in one hand. “I don’t feel like swimming and I didn’t bring a bathing suit,” she replies, her red eyes watching the human drift in the water. “What dots are there to connect, Jan? You— you—”
    “I ensured the financial stability of my children’s future and maybe landed a new partner, not a big deal.” She shrugs, adjusting the big, round sunglasses that covered just about most of her upper face. “If I didn’t know any better I’d think you felt jilted.”
    A heaving shrug is given in response before Hickory takes a long sip from her glass, which is filled mostly with some kind of frosty slush cut by a sour, acidic fruit and no small amount of alcohol. “I’m not jilted. You know I don’t swing that way. I was just surprised to see that you swung that way, Janet. I half expected you to go for someone like…  like Gilroy or—”
    “I wouldn’t sleep with Harry if he were the last man on the continent,” Janet points out, resting her arms on the cement border around the pool, “And I’m glad to hear you aren’t upset. It’s funny you mention assumptions, since I had assumed you were about as straight as a circle. Well, that’s neither here nor there. It’s not as though I don’t like her, Penny. She’s really nice.”
    “Is she?” Penelope’s lips pull into a half-frown, eyes narrowing down at her drink. “Seems like another crazy adventuring type to me.”
    Janet laughs, and it’s a soft, confident sound. “I had two kids and a decent marriage with one before, so I don’t see how it’s all that different to pick up another when the old one kicks it.” She lifts her glasses to try and make eye contact with Hickory from the poolside, and it takes a moment or so to stick but in time the suited werewolf is stuck looking her in the eyes properly, rather than staring into her drink. “It’s what I’m into, Penny. You can’t go wrong with a lycan who likes to get their hands dirty, especially the ones willing to do high paying work. Don’t act like this is all her doing. She fits the bill and is willing to help— and those shoulders are to die for.”
    “I guess being a killer has some benefits to the physique. Come on, though. Is it really that easy to replace Blondie?”
    Janet brings a hand to her own collarbone, feigning offense. “I guess I should be insulted that you think it’s just replacement? You know I cared for Blondie, but we were friends. The whole marriage thing’s mostly been transactional, you know? I thought we’d have some cute kids, and with our combined incomes we’d live like suburban royalty. With Blondie gone, there’s a space there, one best filled by someone like him. Someone interested in that sort of thing, Penny.”
    The point lands, and Hickory chuckles. “You know, I wonder if it’s accurate to call you bisexual, then. Is there a word for attraction toward moneyed, aggressive lycanthropes?”
    “I’m not interested in such specific labels, Penny.” Finally, Janet pulls herself up and out of the pool, sitting with her feet still gently disturbing the water. “My relationship with him was like living a dream. If you were living your dream, would you want to wake up?”
    Hickory’s eyebrows raise. “No, I don’t think I would.”
    “Exactly. We understood each other and when he was here, he tossed money at us until he had nothing else to toss, and took us on stupidly expensive vacations. He prepared funds for the kids’ education, he gave them toys, he got me shiny new things and sometimes we might’ve hung out for a little while to enjoy our time, but it was nothing more than that. Blondie and I were friends with rings who fucked. That was my dream, and in a moment,” Janet snaps her fingers, “it seemed to be over. But, when I lost a friend, I was gifted the opportunity to make a new one. My boy’s going to be an adventurer and my daughter’s going to go to one of the best colleges in the world.” Her lips part in a grin. “If Piper goes where I think she’s going, she can do that for me, for my family.”
    Hickory considers this, taking a sip of her slushy drink. She has to at least get some of it in her system before it melts, as philosophizing with a housewife takes time. As she does so, Janet rises again, steps her way over to stand beside the reclining Hickory, and undoes the werewolf’s bun to let her darker, coarser brown hair fall in wild curls, and Janet says, “Please treat her right, Penny. For me? Though I’m confident, I can tell that she’s got— what’s the word, a little more pride and a little less skill, than Blondie? Bluster. She’s an investment at the moment, and I would like to see it realized.”
    A long moment of consideration passes, as does a carefully manicured hand through Hickory’s hair as Janet pats her atop her head. “You’re asking me to give her a boost.” Hickory states, flatly. “You know that’s not allowed.”
    “Aw, don’t be like that. Did you see the way she jumped at the chance to get into his old gear? She’s got the chops for it, but I have a feeling that she’s a little low on experience. I’m not asking you to promote her,” Another unerringly pleasing laugh exits Janet, and Hickory lets out a sigh. “I’m just asking you to make sure she doesn’t bite it before things become stable down here. Pretty please?”
    The Werewolf looks to her drink, then to the woman, and finally to the pool. “I’ll see how long of a leash I’ve got. Hey, let’s talk about this later. If you’ve got any of that bastard’s swim trunks, I can cop one of his shirts to go swimming. None of yours will fit me.”
    “I’m not short, Penny,” Janet says as she leans in to prod one of Hickory’s cheeks. “You’re just tall. And once we’re done and the kids are asleep, how about we go out and see a show? Plenty’s going on.”
    Finally, Hickory’s prodded enough that she gets up, hands on her hips and her drink abandoned on a small table beside her chair. “You know what? I’d like that. I’ll think about all this shit later. It’s not like anything important’s happening.”
Chapter End.
============================================================== 
[ Table of Contents ]
Blondie & The Smokestone March is © 2020-2022 Empty Mask. All Rights Reserved.
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keep on loving you
by karl_jenkins
Stede Bonnet is 43 years old, divorced and living on his own for the first time. One night he ends up in Blackbeard’s Bar, seemingly unaware of the reputation of the place and its owner. For Edward Teach, it’s love at first sight.
Words: 2125, Chapters: 1/13, Language: English
Fandoms: Our Flag Means Death (TV)
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Categories: M/M
Characters: Blackbeard | Edward Teach, Stede Bonnet, Lucius Spriggs, Black Pete (Our Flag Means Death), Frenchie (Our Flag Means Death), Wee John Feeney, Jim Jimenez, Oluwande Boodhari, Roach (Our Flag Means Death), The Swede (Our Flag Means Death), Buttons (Our Flag Means Death), Israel Hands, Fang (Our Flag Means Death), Ivan (Our Flag Means Death), Spanish Jackie (Our Flag Means Death), Mary Allamby Bonnet, Doug (Our Flag Means Death), Alma Bonnet, Louis Bonnet, Nigel Badminton, Chauncey Badminton, "Calico" Jack Rackham
Relationships: Blackbeard | Edward Teach/Stede Bonnet, Oluwande Boodhari/Jim Jimenez, Black Pete/Lucius Spriggs, Mary Allamby Bonnet/Doug
Additional Tags: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Fluff, a bit of angst, show-comparable angst, Happy Ending, Pining, Blackbeard | Edward Teach Loves Stede Bonnet, Stede Bonnet Loves Blackbeard | Edward Teach, He Just Doesn't Know It Yet, Oblivious Stede Bonnet, Love at First Sight, POV Alternating, POV Stede Bonnet, POV Blackbeard | Edward Teach, Bartender Blackbeard | Edward Teach, Alcohol, Swearing, Implied/Referenced Sex, Homophobia, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, Implied/Referenced Sexual Assault, Attempted Sexual Assault, Mental Health Issues, Implied/Referenced Domestic Violence, Bigotry & Prejudice, will include chapter CWs in authors notes, I know the tags sound heavy, but the overall tone is light
source https://archiveofourown.org/works/40261806
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bisexual-blackstone · 2 years
Text
The Tale of a Wraith: Part 1
Aka: I started rambling to my rp discord about Teithor's life and ended up with some of a nice biography, in my opinion. Prepare for quite a ride. And worldbuilding. Expect part 2.....sometime.
CW: very brief implied attempted child sacrifice, death, bad coping mechanisms, violence, fantasy bigotry, captivity.
Other things to note: this is approximately two and a bit stories condensed into one post so it's long, the names of Teithor used in these parts of their life are Kasti and Alagos, yes Teithor's parents are polyam, I - and headspace Teithor - are delighted to answer any questions.
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More than a thousand years before today and sixteen after their elder sibling, a second child was hatched to Birast Drauna and Alian Drauna of Clan Morevel. This hatchling was named for the gleam in their dark eyes: Kasti, the Bright. Those eyes were unexpected in their shade, but it was of no matter; Alian and Birast knew each other's loyalties and latent features were not unheard of.
Kasti grew quicker than their agemates for a time, bold and brash and seemingly knowing no concept of shame. They commanded attention with a ringing voice and an ever-present grin, enough strength in their words without Intent to on one particular occasion convince their teacher to allow themself and their classmates to take recess early.
When Kasti was still a hatchling, just barely twelve years of age, they were playing in a tamed portion of the forest by Kruinbor - their home citadel - when they wandered off and came upon a strange silver tear in the fabric of the fog. Plagued and blessed with deep curiosity and too young for much sense, Kasti passed through the portal and found themself in a world that was sharp and green.
Unknowing of why they were shaking, Kasti continued their wandering, exploring the area surrounding that silver sliver until they were found by a group dressed in face-concealing robes. These robed people spoke in words that Kasti could not understand and carried them to a fire, for which Kasti was grateful.
Within the fire resided a being of power and flame who called itself Viknas. To Kasti, its mind felt like the heat of the lava oceans and the shifting of Birast's broad shoulders when it spoke in feelings and concepts. Kasti responded with a shining enthusiasm and curiosity that took Viknas off guard within its rage at the robed ones attempting to sacrifice the child to it through the fire. And as the rage subsided, its effects having scorched the clearing to cinders, Kasti's mind flashed with something overwhelming and new before Viknas could reel its power fully back in.
When Kasti awoke, they lay in a hammock of warped vines, a Presence hovering nearby that wrapped around them like a weighted blanket and lulled them back to sleep.
As far as Kasti knew when they were returned to the edge of their previous playground, they had simply wandered farther into the forest and fell asleep. Birast and Alian rightfully assumed that the Warped Forest Core - one of their gods - was involved, but just like their child had no way to guess what had actually transpired. Kasti's life went on as normal.
In the next several years, Kasti found a love of many tasks: alchemy, music, smithing, combat, textiles and sewing, and writing. They bounced from one to another without any clear connection, going from project to project to project with varying degrees of success but unlimited passion and delight. Despite other things that took their fancy, they always came back to the same handful of interests.
But as adolescence loomed on the horizon, sometime during Kasti's thirty-fifth year, a tragedy struck that changed the path of Kasti's lifestream.
While gathering ingredients on the edge of a soulsand valley, Kasti slipped and fell farther than they could climb back up, their grappling hook and ingredient satchel left on the ledge where they had been before. Tales abounded of the dangers and horrors of soulsand valleys, all of which flooded Kasti's mind as they searched frantically for a way back up to safety. But all their searching was in vain, for behind them from the grasping soil rose a skeleton archer, its eyes agleam with a glow like soulfire.
Kasti heard the rattling of the bones and the creak of the drawstring, turned, then started to run in terror in the direction they happened to be facing, only wishing to find some shelter from the arrows they knew were coming. They tripped. An arrow loosed. And the soulsand drank greedily of the black blood that flowed.
But instead of finding themself in the quiet of the Great Library where the Keeper of the Dead would guide them further to their soul's resting place, Kasti awoke. In their bed. In their home. To the sound of their younger brother singing at the top of his lungs in the kitchen.
Kasti laid there for several moments, remembering how to breathe, before they sat up slowly, one hand going to where they knew the arrow had pierced their spine. At first they thought there was nothing; it had been a nightmare, it was morning still, they had yet to go out at all. Until their fingers found a small scar directly in the middle of the back of their neck. Until their eyes focused on the empty place where their grappling hook normally hung. And Kasti screamed.
When their younger brother arrived at their door, Kasti was curled up in the corner of their room with one hand clamped firmly on the back of their neck, eyes glazed with panic. He promptly decided it wasn't something he could help with and ran to find one or both of their parents or at least their parents' new lover.
Alian was the first to arrive, pushing Kasti's bedroom door open gently and kneeling in front of them with kind words laced with an Intent of Calming. Kasti slowly unbunched themself and after a tight embrace long enough that Birast was able to join too, they shakily told what happened. How well their ingredient-gathering had been going, the slip, the fall that miraculously broke no bones, and…the skeleton.
None of them knew what to do, so the logical course of action was to take the happenings to the Head of Clan Morevel, an old scholar named Arist'. Arist' took the three of them to the deepest parts of Kruinbor's archives and to a book that spoke of a type of being called a Worldwalker, a being who could return from the dead and travel the fabric of the universe, carrying even armies with it. Kasti had heard of Worldwalkers before, had heard the stories of Nekhadis Kymakhmora of the now-dead Clan Aleri who had brought destruction and death to so many at that time. And now…Kasti was revealed to be just the same.
They withdrew in fear of themself and how others would react, losing their friends in the process. They poured themself into their hobbies, growing visibly in skill but plummeting in the quality of work they turned in for classes. And when they weren't working on some project, they dove into those ancient archives to learn all they could about Worldwalkers and try to find a way to not be one anymore.
When the time came to prepare for their Journey Trial, Kasti threw themself into that with an almost fevered fervour. They'd learnt that there was no known way to stop being a Worldwalker, but perhaps the Warped Forest Core would have a way. And the Journey Trial was the easiest way for them to meet that god. And yet, for all of their preparation, on their seventy-second birthday, the day they were to take that Trial, they had yet to decide their adult name. For all that it was highly important, choosing the name they'd use for likely the whole of their adult life had seemed like a small thing compared to the potential of becoming an ordinary Xevar again, one who wasn't cursed to forever be undead.
They returned from their Journey Trial a week late with a new outlook and a decided name: Alagos, the Chosen. They would never be able to not be a Worldwalker, but they had learnt many things in the time they'd been gone. While those decades of fear and self-imposed solitude were not gone, Alagos' discussion with the Warped Forest Core - and another god that had coincidentally been visiting the Core at the same time - had convinced them that it wasn't something to be ashamed about.
Alagos spent a few more years with their parents, deciding if staying in Kruinbor was really what they wanted to do, before trekking back into the depths of the forest once again with no plans of return. Not for a long time, at least. And after another - much shorter - discussion with the Core, a silver sliver tore through the air in the clearing where Alagos stood.
Sharp air and surrounding green once again filled Alagos' senses, though they didn't know it was the second time they'd ever left their home. Bright light that they couldn't name stung their eyes, a wealth of sounds and smells entirely new flooding their conciousness. They sat down heavily, vaguely aware that what they sat under was a tree, and tried to isolate each sense so they could adjust.
A voice cut through the havoc, a woman speaking words that Alagos couldn't comprehend. But her tone was gentle and when she knelt in front of them her eyes were kind. She offered them a shawl to shield them from the cold and the brightness; they accepted gratefully, unaware of the awe and befuddlement that also traced her face at their inhuman features.
Through miming and slow mimicry, Alagos learnt that the woman's name was Abilene and she was the herd of the strange fluffy white animals grazing nearby. As the brightness began to dim and the blue ceiling was painted with colours, Abilene rounded up her animals and the only-hip-height netrana without tusks or a mane that Abilene called Gilbert. Together they all went to Abilene's house, Alagos still wrapped up in her shawl.
There they met her family; her parents and her brother Peter and their tiny orange stripy korr named Holfast. Abilene spoke quickly with her family while Alagos stood off to one side near the fire, only listening with half an ear. After that conversation Abilene gave Alagos a bowl of some kind of meaty soup and they all ate together. That night, Alagos slept by the fire, preferring the hard floor and the heat to the offered softer bed that was also colder.
The next long while, Alagos followed Abilene around as she did her everyday tasks, learning bright-eyed and curious. The syllables of Abilene's language were strange on their tongue but with stumbling infinite tries it slowly became steady as basalt in their mind. But they learnt so much more than language. They learnt the blue ceiling was a 'sky', not a ceiling at all, they learnt about seasons and shepherding and shearing...and of water.
About five days after Alagos' arrival to Abilene's world, in the morning before the time to feed the sheep, it rained. Curious about what the sound was, Alagos opened the door and stuck their hand outside only to yank it back immediately with a pained cry. Where the little droplets had hit, their skin sizzled and hurt in a way that they'd never known before.
Abilene's brother Peter had been the only other person in the main room when this happened. He did his best to help them, but water burns weren't something anyone there had experienced before. Eventually Alagos' hand healed, but even after the scars faded they found themself tracing the spots where the rain had first fallen.
After about seven years of living as a shepherd with Abilene, Alagos was noticed by a travelling merchant in the moment that they knocked out a man who'd picked a fight with them. It took some convincing, but shortly Alagos had a new job as a guard in the merchant's caravan and was able to put to use the sword and armour they'd brought from their home. The look on Abilene's face when Alagos stepped out of the barn armed and armoured was one that Alagos would savor for quite some time before even realising why they were savoring it.
Alagos spent the next two decades as a guard for that merchant caravan, bringing gifts for Abilene every time they passed through her village. During that time Abilene fell in love with and married one of the local carpenters, so when Alagos found out they started bringing gifts for her wife too. And when the merchant retired, Alagos returned to the village and became a rather odd auncle to Abilene and her wife's kids.
When Abilene and her wife eventually fell to old age, Alagos once again took up the job of a caravan guard for a few years until that merchant retired. Then they settled in a decent-sized border town as an assistant alchemist, using the techniques they'd learnt back in Kruinbor and the new ones they learnt from their alchemy master together with sometimes quite interesting results. For a while, there was peace, and like they had been before Abilene's death, Alagos was happy.
Unfortunately, the peace was not to last. The king of a neighboring country decided he wanted to go to war with Abilene's home country, the one Alagos was living in. He started this by attacking the border town that Alagos now called home. The soldiers killed many, but captured Alagos instead after how fiercely they fought to defend their new friends.
They and some other captives were taken to a camp of sorts where they were kept until a group of people came through and took them away one by one. Alagos was taken by a tall, bald woman who they never learnt the name of on a three-day ride to a city with rust-red stone walls and a massive amphitheatre. It was to this amphitheatre they went, with the bald woman shackling them and the few others she'd brought to a wall soon after arriving. She returned several moments after, followed by a man in fine clothes and with a beard dyed with strips of crimson on each side.
The finely-dressed man, Alagos discovered, was named Ixar. They knew the language that he and the bald woman spoke, but in a brief moment of wisdom decided to pretend as if they didn't. In this way, they learnt that they were slated for the arena as a pit dog for their ferocity. It took all of Alagos' self-control to keep their temper with the comments that Ixar and the bald woman made about Alagos' inhuman traits. Meanwhile, they thought of a plan.
Since they couldn't just escape, they would just...not sleep until they could get killed in the arena and in that way be sent back to the border town or perhaps even the pasture that had been Abilene's. Yet that plan was not to succeed, for they fell asleep from exhaustion no more than a few hours later, and so they were well and truly trapped.
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[Part 2]
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traumacure · 2 years
Text
cw lesbophobia, transphobia, translesbophobia
i don't know why there's this conception that bisexuality or asexuality is the most commonly invalidated sexuality. i had way more people just accept my sexuality and support me when i was identifying as bi or ace, but since coming out as a lesbian, everyone wants me to change my mind. my girlfriend has had the same experience, as someone who also used to go by both those labels for her sexuality at various points, before settling on lesbian. they tell us it's either impossible or bigoted for us to not be attracted to men and we've both faced so much more shit in regard to our sexuality since coming out as lesbians. since coming out as lesbians, we've lost former bi friends who apparently outright believe that lesbianism is just a form of bigotry. the fact the me and my girlfriend are both trans doesn't matter, we still get called transphobic for not making room for cis or trans men in our dating or sex lives. we get called "misandrist bigots" for not wanting to sleep with the men who want to sleep with us, most frequently by other gbtq people within the community. we've had ace people be homophobic to us and tell us not to talk about our relationship and make disgusted faces whenever we show any kind of affection. some of them even imply the love we share isn't nearly as deep or pure as theirs because sexual attraction happens to be a part of it, nevermind the fact that both my girlfriend and i would still be just as deeply in love even if one of us decided we never wanted to have sex again. they reduce our love to lust and act as if that's not an act of bigotry. certain transphobic cis lesbians treat us like the plague, calling us monsters and degenerates masquerading as gay women. i once had an ostensibly trans-supportive cis lesbian support me up until she learned i was nonbinary, and dropped me like a hot potato. we aren't any more accepted by cishets than they are, but we're still less accepted even within what's supposedly our own community. literally the only people who ever seem to reliably accept us are other trans lesbians. every other subgroup within the lgbt community seems to believe there's something inherently hateful and perverse about lesbianism, or being trans, or both.
i'm sick of being demonized for my lack of attraction to or romantic interest in men. even most of the lgbt community wants nothing to do with me, just because i'm not attracted to at least half of them. lesbians genuinely face huge issues due to the intersection of misogyny and homophobia, but no one wants to talk about that. they just want to act like lesbians, especially trans ones, are some sort of evil intracommunity oppressor even though we suffer from at least 2-3 intersections of oppression at once by default, disregarding any others any individual lesbian might also exist along. people treat us like shit for our identity, and then call us the bigots for calling them on it. it sucks.
as someone who's experienced aphobia and biphobia during periods in which those were the labels i identified with, none of it was a fraction as bad as what i've faced for being a trans lesbian. people want to believe trans lesbians are the villains in every instance, because we inherently exist at the intersection of so many kinds of bias and oppression. we're a convenient scapegoat for everyone who has any privilege over us, and by god do they use us as a scapegoat for everything. we're blamed as the primary perpetrators of transphobia, biphobia, and even homophobia against men within the community, while no one will lend an ear to our own struggles or examine the very real ways in which they actively treat us with bigotry. in the lgbtq community, lesbophobia and translesbophobia aren't taken seriously at all. it's considered normal for others within the community to distrust the hateful, transphobic, biphobic, misandrist dykes. after all, a lesbian said something to them they thought was mean once (likely in response to an act of lesbophobia or misogyny on their part 🙄), and that proves all lesbians are evil, hateful dykes who can't be trusted 😢 unlike other identities, no one even questions whether we're really as inherently bigoted as they make us out to be. people just hate gay people, trans people, and women, and if there's one thing they hate even more than any of those, it's someone who's all three at once.
anyway. that hairy man-hating trans dyke you think is a hateful bigot is probably upset for valid reasons, you're just too caught up in your own translesbophobia to see it.
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fruit-kick · 2 years
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link to pfp // link to header // dreamwidth: lotusburned // mastodon: stardropped
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[Image description: a banner with the word "Introduction" in a bubbly vintage font. the background is a picture of a neighborhood. there are orange dividers on the top and bottom. /END ID]
🍂 This blog doesn't follow a specific theme, I just reblog things I enjoy and post stuff I've made sometimes!
🍂 My current fandoms are Reverse 1999, Blue Period, Camp Camp and Saiki K!
🍂 My ask box is open to those curious and I accept basically anything, its just open for fun!
🍂 Note that I reblog some things for awareness but it doesn't mean that I personally experience those, if you dont want someone out of an experience reblogging your post, then please let me know and I'll gladly remove it! <3
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🍂 I tag things as I go along this blog so if for example, I tag "unsanitary cw" today, I might've not tagged a post with unsanitary subjects yesterday. the date beside the tag is to let people know when I added that tag so they don't scroll past that date on my blog :)
🍂 Mentions are tagged as of 10/8/2022
🍂 Implications are tagged as of 10/24/2022
🍂 Tags are formatted like "subject (mention/implied) tw/cw". mention/implied are in parenthesis to indicate that they're also tagged when mentioned or implied
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[ID: a banner with the words "Current Tags" in a bubbly vintage font. the background is a picture of a sunset. there are orange dividers on the top and bottom. END ID]
#🍊fruit.posts🏀
#🍊fruit.draws📙
#🍊fruit.edits🧶
#🍊animal.time🦀 • 9/12/2022
#🍊fruit.rants💥
#stimmy • 9/29/2022
personal tag for my favorite stimuli
#dont rb
posts i dont want anyone reblogging
#reblog
#self rb • 12/17/2022
for my own posts that i've reblogged
#positivity • 9/13/2022
#bigotry (mention/implied) tw • 9/7/2022
general tag for any form of bigotry
#ableism (mention/implied) tw • 9/7/2022
#queerphobia (mention/implied) tw • 9/7/2022
general tag for any discrimination against queer people
#transphobia (mention/implied) tw • 10/23/2022
#transandrophobia (mention/implied) tw • 10/23/2022
#transmisogyny (mention/implied) tw • 10/23/2022
#amatonormativity (mention/implied) tw • 10/23/2022
#bodyshaming (mention/implied) tw • 10/2/2022
#racism (mention/implied) tw • 9/7/2022
#colorism (mention/implied) tw • 9/7/2022
#xenophobia (mention/implied) tw • 5/2/2023
#misogyny (mention/implied) tw • 9/7/2022
#classism (mention/implied) tw • 9/7/2022
#residential schools (mention/implied) tw • 10/1/2022
#antisemitism (mention/implied) tw • 2/15/2023
#sexism (mention/implied) tw • 4/24/2023
#drugs (mention/implied) tw
#death (mention/implied) tw • 9/7/2022
#cults (mention/implied) tw • 1/5/2023
#violence (mention/implied) tw
#substance abuse (mention/implied) tw • 12/18/2022
#eating disorder (mention/implied) tw • 12/18/2022
#murder (mention/implied) tw
#pedophilia (mention/implied) tw • 11/4/2022
#blood (mention/implied) tw • 10/5/2022
#cannibalism (mention/implied) tw • 9/28/2022
#suicide (mention/implied) tw • 9/7/2022
#injury (mention/implied) cw • 9/7/2022
this is for wounds and such, so like an obvious scratch or bruise. doesnt apply to a video of someone falling off the stairs and ending up completely unscratched or scars so keep that in mind!
#gore tw • 10/16/2022
#flashing lights cw • 9/7/2022
#jumpscare cw • 9/7/2022
#eyestrain cw • 9/7/2022
#suggestive cw
#explicit cw • 9/7/2022
#unsanitary (mention/implied) cw • 9/7/2022
#rape (mention/implied) tw • 9/16/2022
#sexual assault (mention/implied) tw • 5/2/2023
#abuse (mentioned/implied) tw • 12/11/2022
#unreality
im not sure if I'm tagging this one properly so do let me know if something needs to be tagged/untagged! i tag this for posts that talk about fictional events or situations as if theyre real, and i do it for religion and other beliefs such as that. so ARGS, posts from x timeline, shifting, etc
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byebye!
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