#learning from our child life colleagues!!

[a-very-tired-jew]

You're not as informed as you think, and age does play a factor.

This is going to ruffle some feathers, but it needs to be said. You're not as informed on the I/P Conflict and the history of the region as you think, and age plays a major factor. Hell, you're not as informed on a lot of topics as you think. I want you to think about what you were doing 5 years ago. Were you still running around on the playground? Were you making dioramas for a science class? Were you in high school worried about being a first year? Were you just starting to pick out colleges or deciding to even go? Did you ever call a teacher by their first name? Now, there is a line that we hear thrown about that people don't fully mature till they're 25. While this is bupkis and misrepresents the research, it is true that the brain does not stop developing till sometime in the mid to late 20s. In fact, the brains of undergraduates age 18-22 and their respective thought patterns more closely resemble high schoolers than they do mid 20s and above. So what does this mean in the course of the I/P conflict? For one thing, this is your first incident. Your first I/P war. Those of us in our 30s and above have seen a good number of them at this point. I even remember when the use of child suicide bombers became a standard method for Hamas and other terrorist groups during the Second Intifada. As such, many of us are used to the manipulation that we see in this particular region. We're used to seeing antisemitism be dismissed and well intentioned people be manipulated. Many of us are just tired because you're going through the same shit we did at your age and we look back and go "oh, we were severely misinformed". Because this is your first, you're super passionate about it, but that passion can be manipulated. Second, you're not as smart or well informed as you think you are. This has to do with the age and maturation thing mentioned above. While 25 is an arbitrary number, there are some milestones that happen by then. By 25 you have had enough life experience to really start piecing together your education, your life experiences, your world experiences, and your respective beliefs into a coherent way of approaching topics. Hopefully by that age you're less likely to have the emotional outburst in response to a subject (think about the stereotypical slamming the door teenager behavior, many of us did that and we cringe thinking about it) and more likely to approach something in a levelheaded and informed manner. Unfortunately there is some research that shows evidence that Gen Z and Millenials are susceptible to propaganda and misinformation, with the former exhibiting behavior akin to Boomers. So keep that in mind that none of us are safe for misinformation, but some generations are worse than others. Now, who am I to say this to you? Some of you are quite mad right at the moment. Some of you have strived to be seen as well informed young adults or to be taken seriously, and in some cases you are. However...

I'm in my 30s and I have been teaching at the college level for a decade and some change now. By no means am I an expert, but I have enough experience to say something. The ages I teach are 18+, meaning I've had students that are typical fresh high school grads and students that are in their 50s. Myself and my colleagues have heard repeatedly from students the "I'm an adult, I know what I'm doing" line to only watch that 18-22 y.o. student fail miserably or come crying to us later. I have personally watched students go through the stages of grief as they realized in my classes that their pet science activism is not what they thought, but they've wrapped so much of their identity around it. You're still learning, and thinking you know more just because you read something online is an issue. You're also still growing and developing as a person. Recognize that you can be manipulated. Recognize that you can be wrong. Recognize your own inherent biases. Then do better.

#jumblr #leftist #activism #leftist antisemitism #israel #palestine

[mostlysignssomeportents]

Wellness surveillance makes workers unwell

I'm on tour with my new, nationally bestselling novel The Bezzle! Catch me in TORONTO on Mar 22, then with LAURA POITRAS in NYC on Mar 24, then Anaheim, and more!

"National conversation" sounds like one of those meaningless buzzphrases – until you live through one. The first one I really participated in actively was the national conversation – the global conversation – about privacy following the Snowden revelations.

This all went down when my daughter was five, and as my wife and I talked about the news, our kid naturally grew curious about it. I had to literally "explain like I'm five" global mass surveillance:

https://locusmag.com/2014/05/cory-doctorow-how-to-talk-to-your-children-about-mass-surveillance/

But parenting is a two-way street, so even as I was explaining surveillance to my kid, my own experiences raising a child changed how I thought about surveillance. Obviously I knew about many of the harms that surveillance brings, but parenting helped me viscerally appreciate one of the least-discussed, most important aspects of being watched: how it compromises being your authentic self:

https://www.theguardian.com/technology/blog/2014/may/09/cybersecurity-begins-with-integrity-not-surveillance

As I wrote then:

There are times when she is working right at the limits of her abilities – drawing or dancing or writing or singing or building – and she catches me watching her and gets this look of mingled embarrassment and exasperation, and then she changes back to some task where she has more mastery. No one – not even a small child – likes to look foolish in front of other people.

Learning, growth, and fulfillment all require a zone of privacy, a time and place where we are not observed. Far from making us accountable, continuous, fine-grained surveillance by authority figures just scares us into living a cramped, inauthentic version of ourselves, where growth is all but impossible. Others have observed the role this plays in right-wing culture war bullshit: "an armed society is a polite society" is code for "people who make me feel uncomfortable just by existing should be terrorized into hiding their authentic selves from me." The point of Don't Say Gay laws and anti-trans bills isn't to eliminate gender nonconformity – it's to drive it into hiding.

Given all this, it's no surprise that workers who face workplace surveillance in the name of "wellness" feel unwell as a result:

https://www.ifow.org/publications/what-impact-does-exposure-to-workplace-technologies-have-on-workers-quality-of-life-briefing-paper

As the Future of Work Institute found in its study, some technologies – systems that make it easier to collaborate and communicate with colleagues – increase workers' sense of wellbeing. But wearables and AI tools make workers feel significantly worse:

https://assets-global.website-files.com/64d5f73a7fc5e8a240310c4d/65eef23e188fb988d1f19e58_Tech%20Exposure%20and%20Worker%20Wellbeing%20-%20Full%20WP%20-%20Final.pdf

Workers who reported these negative feelings confirmed that these tools make them feel "monitored." I mean, of course they do. Even where these tools are nominally designed to help you do your job better, they're also explicitly designed to help your boss keep track of you from moment to moment. As Brandon Vigliarolo writes for The Register, these are the same bosses who have been boasting to their investors about their plans to fire their workers and replace them with AI:

https://www.theregister.com/2024/03/14/advanced_workplace_tech_study/

"Bossware" is a key example of the shitty rainbow of "disciplinary technology," tools that exist to take away human agency by making it easier to surveil and control its users:

https://pluralistic.net/2020/07/01/bossware/#bossware

Bossware is one of the stages of the Shitty Technology Adoption Curve: the process by which abusive and immiserating technologies progress up the privilege gradient as their proponents refine and normalize dystopian technologies in order to impose them on wider and wider audiences:

https://pluralistic.net/2021/02/24/gwb-rumsfeld-monsters/#bossware

The kinds of metrics that bossware gathers might be useful to workers, but only if the workers get to decide when, whether and how to share that data with other people. Microsoft Office helps you catch typos by underlining words its dictionary doesn't recognize; the cloud-based, "AI-powered" Office365 tells your boss that you're the 11th-worst speller in your division and uses "sentiment analysis" to predict whether you are likely to cause trouble:

https://pluralistic.net/2022/08/21/great-taylors-ghost/#solidarity-or-bust

Two hundred years ago, Luddites rose up against machines. Contrary to the ahistorical libel you've heard, the Luddites weren't angry or frightened of machines – they were angry at the machines' owners. They understood – correctly – that the purpose of a machine "so easy a child could use it" was to fire skilled adult workers and replace them with kidnapped, indentured Napoleonic War orphans who could be maimed and killed on the job without consequence:

https://pluralistic.net/2023/03/12/gig-work-is-the-opposite-of-steampunk/

A hundred years ago, the "Taylorites" picked up where those mill owners left off: choreographing workers' movements to the finest degree in a pseudoscientific effort to produce a kind of kabuki of boss-pleasing robotic efficiency. The new, AI-based Taylorism goes even further, allowing bosses to automatically blacklist gig workers who refuse to cross picket-lines, monitor "self-employed" call center operators in their own homes, and monitor the eyeballs of Amazon drivers:

https://pluralistic.net/2023/04/12/algorithmic-wage-discrimination/#fishers-of-men

AI-based monitoring technologies dock workers' wages, suspend them, and even fire them, and when workers object, they're stuck arguing with a chatbot that is the apotheosis of Computer Says No:

https://pluralistic.net/2024/01/11/robots-stole-my-jerb/#computer-says-no

There's plenty of research about AI successfully "augmenting" workers, making them more productive and I'm the last person to say that automation can't help you get more done:

https://www.ibm.com/thought-leadership/institute-business-value/en-us/report/augmented-workforce

But without understanding how AI augments class warfare – disciplining workers with a scale, speed and granularity beyond the sadistic fantasies of even the most micromanaging asshole boss – this research is meaningless.

The irony of bosses imposing monitoring to improve "wellness" and stave off "burnout" is that nothing is more exhausting, more immiserating, more infuriating than being continuously watched and judged.

Name your price for 18 of my DRM-free ebooks and support the Electronic Frontier Foundation with the Humble Cory Doctorow Bundle.

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

https://pluralistic.net/2024/03/15/wellness-taylorism/#sick-of-spying

Image: Cryteria (modified) https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:HAL9000.svg

CC BY 3.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/deed.en

#pluralistic #surveillance #workplace surveillance #disciplinary technology #bossware #taylorism #ai #automation unemployment #wellness #health #labor #parenting #luddism

[effervescentdragon]

i dont know how to deal with this pain in my chest that's a constant. i dont't know how to take this much hurt.

i was a child of war, i type out and then i say to myself no, i am a child of war. its a funny story i tell people, how when i was to be born they bombarded our city the whole night. the gas that my dad spared so they could take my mother to the hospital was stolen, siphoned from the car, so what happened was that my mother's water broke in the back of a military vehicle that my dad's friends-colleagues-soldiers drove us all in to the hospital. i was born almost 12 hours later during a night when they bombarded my hometown from every mountain around it. it doesnt really matter; they bombarded us all the time.

my mother is a doctor. she worked in the hospital the whole time during the war and she worked relentlessly. she tells the stories of that time with a detachment that used to be curious to me when i was younger and is now just horrifying. "mom," i said to her years ago, "im learning about porphyrias." - "oh," she says, eyes lighting up, "the first time i encountered a case of porphyria was during the war, when we were shut in the hospital for 5 days because they kept bombarding us and we couldnt go home. one of the doctors not on call when we got stuck came with his daughter, drove to the hospital because his daughter was unconscious and we determined she had porphyria. it was really interesting to see." she doesn't see my horrified gaze. she doesn't know what she sounds like. she still doesn't, to this day. i stopped begging her to go to therapy one day when she looked at me, eyes far away, and said "if i go, where do i start?"

my friend was 5 when the war started. she asked me on saturday "are you always afraid of everything?". i shake my head. she said she wakes up sometimes gripped with fear and has to list out all the things in her life that are alright and asks her husband to hug her and still it doesnt help. she thought she was the only one to feel that way and then she tells me a new phrase she learned. generational trauma. i nod and remember her telling me how a grenade hit their building when she was 8, in the year i was born, and how she still has the burn scar on her leg from the shell.

my high school teacher told me a story once. it was war and she was 15, and it was a friday and they stopped bombarding for three days. the youth gathered at the main square on the date that used to be a celebration of youth. her friend had strict parents, "but whose parents arent strict in a war," she says with a laugh, and they all decided to walk her home before her curfew. a bomb hit the square, civillian target, and killed over 70 people. the youngest was 2. he died because a shrapnel pierced his heart as his mother was clutching him. she didn't notice until it was too late. i know her and her husband. i see them around the town sometimes. my mother worked in the hospital that day, when they brought in the wounded. my father brought them in. "thats what i always remember when my kids say im too strict," my teacher says and laughs. i laugh along. what else am i supposed to do.

the year my sister was born another genocide happened. the world looked away then too, like it does now. when the war in ukraine started my gynecologist tells me about it; about a woman who came in and said "i have 5 children." my gynecologist said "what do you mean five," lookimg at the four surrounding her. the women said "i had to leave my wounded son behind. it was the best chance these other four had to survive, if im with them". she has a placid smile on her face as i look at her in horror. "i learned not to ask stupid questions then," she says, and laughs, and i laugh along because what the fuck am i supposed to do.

i dont know how to take this pain of palestine right now and still i look. i look at the victims, thousands of innocent children and people murdered by israel's carpet bombing. i look at the ethnic cleansing happening in front of my eyes, all our eyes. i look at the world which refuses to call it what it is - an ongoing genocide of a whole population. i dont have the privilege of looking away. i opened my eyes into a war when i took my first breath, and i cannot in good conscience look away. war is in my blood; i am a child of war.

there is no point to this except to say somewhere what hurts me the most right now.

from the river to the sea, palestine will be free. it has to be. anything else is unnaceptable.

#its about palestine but i dont want to put it in the main tag because this is just my grief right now #cw war #and everything it entails #personal #effervescentdragonrants

[lovelicht]

PAC: Your current situation and advice

Disclaimer: As I am not a professional reader, all of the posts are to be taken with a grain of salt. This is a general reading so some things might not resonate. Regardless of the situation, please remember that tarot portrays only one of the multiple scenarios of your life and you choose whether to follow it or not.

(1->2, 3->4)

Group 1

Cards: The Chariot, The World Rx, Knight of Wands (bottom of the deck: King of Swords Rx)

Your current situation:

You are currently in the phase of your life where you are actively navigating through diverse situations in the pursuit of your goals. It can reflect itself both on a professional/academic level and a personal/interpersonal one, given that the effort you are putting in serves to your development. Considering the presence of the reversed King, it’s highly probable that you might find yourself losing the emotional balance in course of your trial, but you keep pushing forward nonetheless. The said misbalance could manifest itself as impulsivity, impatience, arguments with colleagues / friends / family when things do not go your way, as well as a lingering sense of frustration towards oneself at the slightest failures.

The advice:

Embrace your imperfections, for they are what makes you human and teach you to strive further. As I have previously mentioned, at the moment you might be very sensitive to failure, because you give your all on your way to attaining your wish, however this drains you both emotionally and energetically, holding you in the self-made prison of frustration. It is natural to misstep sometimes, because it shows us aspects of ourselves that we still have to work on, and once we finally do so, we will become closer to our goals and inner peace in general. Make a habit of being grateful and happy even from apparently small successes, as, in the end, it’s the small steps that make the journey.

What can you do to follow the advice?

Give yourself the freedom you deserve! The expectations you have put on yourself tie you down and do not allow you to fully embrace the experience of living your passions. Wands are a suit that speaks of life and the fire inside each one of us, let that fire guide you through the dark of your mind. For example, if you have an idea you really wish to try, whether hobby or simply an experiment at work, do it, because even if it doesn’t work out, by the end of it you will be able to learn what should be done next time so it becomes better! Do not fear other’s judgment either, for they make mistakes too, whether they choose to show it or not. You are your own person and you live your own life, do not let yourself be confined by your fears and other’s thoughts!

Group 2

Cards: Page of Wands Rx, The Tower Rx, Five of Coins Rx (bottom of he deck: Strength)

Your current situation:

You are trying to embrace your youthfulness, embody the present you always wished to have, but for some reason it all seems to go downhill regardless of how much you try. For some it might be a blockage related to not being capable to let yourself remorselessly behave free, while for others it can be described through a series of unpleasant or even unfortunate events that seem to haunt them every time they try to step out of the box. It’s highly probable that in this group are a lot of children who had to grow up fast, and now that you are given the freedom of age, you are trying to become the wild icon your child self wished to become, but it simply doesn’t work out. An example could be the typically introverted young adult going to a club, and once they finally try to let go of their fears they meet someone there, get into a relationship with that person and they get hurt so badly that it makes the young adult retreat back into their shell.

The advice:

There is some stuff you have to let go of, in order to truly feel the freedom you blindly seek through the said activities. Many of you struggle with unresolved trauma, whether it’s about bullying, parental issues or other sorts of painful experiences. By trying to be the conventional active youth, you are showing your resilience in rapport to your past, but the problem is that some problems bind you, unless you learn to diminish their impact on your life. It is never easy, but a wound cured now, stops a dormant infection in the future, that could potentially affect both yourself and everyone you will grow to care about.

What can you do to follow the advice?

Accept that nobody will come in your life and heal your past, for little who have enough energy to take care both of others and oneself. You are being encouraged to face your trauma on your own and come into terms with it one way or another: whether it’s shadow work that you feel you can do on your own or asking for the help of a specialist, or in general someone you feel that can help you. 

This message might not be for everyone, but stop hoping that your parents will heal the pain they inflicted on you, for they are simply not in the headspace to do that. It’s frustrating, but such is the truth: you ought to take matters into your own hands, because they won’t do it for you, nor for themselves.

Group 3

Cards: Nine of Coins, Three of Cups Rx, The Star (bottom of the deck: Four of Wands)

Your current situation:

At the moment, you are in the stage of reaping the rewards of your hard work in the past. Previously you might have put yourself out there a lot in order to achieve certain goals and now you embrace the results and it’s all coming abundantly. Good things come to you almost from every corner, and you might even feel somewhat overwhelmed by how fast everything comes into your life at the moment, whether it’s opportunities, money or other form of creative energy. Those being said though, you might also feel the need to take a break after all the efforts you put in previously, to make some time for yourself and adjust yourself to receiving the abundant energy that is coming your way.

The advice:

Celebrate your successes and let yourself feel the blessings of your hard work. It is finally the time to rejoice after a long period of trials and tribulations. Even though you might still have certain unresolved issues, fear not, everything has its time, and now is the time you show yourself the appreciation you deserve for building a strong foundation for your future development. Just make sure not to go overboard and overindulge in pride and joys, as even the best of medicine becomes poison if ingested in doses too great.

What can you do to follow the advice?

As I have mentioned earlier, you might find your mind still worrying about certain issues, even once abundance started flowing into your life. You are being advised to leave some things in the hands of destiny and embrace an overall positive manifestation stance. Be hopeful and trust the universe to do its works for you have already done a great deal. Do not get me wrong, life consists of one’s continuous development, but some things are better left to the flow, for they are variables we cannot and needn't currently solve, especially when they still haven’t come into our lives.

Group 4

Cards: Six of Cups Rx, Justice Rx, Knight of Swords Rx (bottom of the deck: Eight of Wands) + 8

Your current situation

Before conducting the reading I was repeatedly counting to 8 without any reason at all so I presume this number might either have a personal meaning to you or it could apply to your current life period in general. Eight is overall a number I associate with karma and karmic events that happen both in our and other’s lives, regardless of what we subjectively might think is right or wrong. It could be that you are currently undergoing a series of events you find unfair in relationship to you or someone close to you, to the point you suffer from it personally, via frustration, anger, perhaps with a hint of self victimisation in relationship to the unjust treatment you/they receive from life. Your perception of life might be still rather immature due to your past, perhaps you have been suffering from bad treatment since early childhood, thus you feel like you deserve better than that in the present. Overall you are a fiery and reactive person, to the point where you might show your displeasure in regards to events or actions you deem wrong a little too violently.

The advice:

Some things are better left up to the karmic forces to influence. Doing your own justice isn’t applicable in every situation, especially when it comes to a subjective, misbalanced, red coloured lens that one might own as a traumatic response. Revenge and general state of clouded lucidity does nothing more than suck your energy and hurt more or less directly both you and the ones you might care about. Universe has it’s own mysterious ways of functioning, which transcend both time and lifetimes in general.

What can you do to follow the advice?

Pay less attention to your past and the people in it, and move actively towards your future instead. You are brave and capable, use your intellect and rebellious nature to break the chains that attach you to your past instead. Try cultivating a more healthy action-oriented view of life to balance your impulsiveness and to harness your inner energy that is currently focused on anger. You have a lot of work to do on yourself, and it requires all the energy and courage you can muster!

#pick a card #tarot #pac #pick a pile #tarot reading #tarot pac #tarot pap #tarot readings #pick a card reading #tarot reader

[femmefatalevibe]

Femme Fatale Playbook: How To Cultivate Self-Regard (In Every Area Of Life)

How to live with self-respect in every aspect of life. Here's your ultimate guide to living in your dark feminine energy.

Living with self-regard (or self-respect) means understanding that you cannot pour from an empty cup and the importance of making yourself your #1 priority. Feeling your best also has a domino effect. You become a better friend, boss, sibling, parent, child, lover, etc. when you feel comfortable with yourself and content in your own skin. Of course, some of these practices will apply to more than one area of life (ex. Sleep improves your physical and mental health and a good night’s rest can also be considered an act of self-care), but these principles/examples are divided up to streamline these tips. Enjoy xx 

Areas of Life: 

Career

Self-Care/Self-Development 

Finances

Physical Health 

Mental Health/Emotional Well-Being 

Sexual Health/Sexuality & Sensuality 

Relationships (All Types - Friends, Family, Work, Intimate) 

Career: 

Discover what you love: Find the subject matters, industries, and a way of adding value that lights you up inside. Take a job or get creative in your methodology to make this area of interest into your career.

Set clear goals: Do I want to work at a particular company? What position/title? Do I want to go out on my own – who are my dream clients, work volume, lifestyle, business structure, income? Write all these details down and strategize small, practical daily tasks/habits to reach your goal.

Build an indispensable skillset: Research, case-building, copywriting, strategic planning, computer programming, sales, data analytics, etc. Learn transferable skills to guarantee you'll always have something valuable to bring to the table in our ever-changing world/work culture. Start with one and accumulate more as you work towards self-mastery.

Know your worth: Negotiate – your salary, rates, workday structure, corporate benefits, PTO, etc. Never let someone have you begging for breadcrumbs or the bare minimum.

Speak up (when necessary): Communicate – clearly, directly, and assertively. Don't let someone walk all over you. Finish your sentences with certainty even if someone tries to interrupt you while you're speaking. Advocate for yourself, whether you're trying to secure a promotion, a new project, a proposed solution for a client, or taking a necessary break. Also, know when it's in your best interest to stay silent. Ensure your integrity remains intact. The truth of a matter speaks volumes.

Organize your day (Prioritize!): Set yourself up to win by outlining your priorities first before others' tasks and projects consume your mind and calendar. List your top 3 to-dos for the day that are non-negotiables for you and will inch you closer to your goals. I recommend the Productivity Planner for daily use.

Keep records: Have email records and call notes regarding every interaction and decision written down. This practice enables you to stand your ground when necessary and saves you a lot of trouble.

Set boundaries: Proudly affirm your 'no' to a project, any disrespectful comment, or too many nights of overtime work. Schedule and stick to your breaks and the time you clock out (within reason, of course). Never allow a company or endeavor to run you into the ground at the expense of your mental or physical health.

Make connections: Cultivating a network of mentors, colleagues, and peers in the same or adjacent fields is priceless. These connections can lead to new opportunities, provide a healthy and productive space to explore ideas, or generally vent and exchange advice. Strike up that conversation at lunch or an event. Follow up with a LinkedIn request or thoughtful email. You never know what this conversation might lead to and the opportunities it can bring.

Self-Care/Self-Development: 

Create daily/weekly rituals: Establish ones that add a little joy and streamline your day. These habits can range from a 10-minute yoga or meditation session every morning, to practicing morning pages or a daily shadow work prompt, reading 10 pages daily, getting your steps in, and planning your tasks, lunch, and outfit for the next day the night before to creating a weekly house-cleaning schedule or meal planning. Discover systems that allow you to put yourself first and set you up to win the day.

Find ways to feel beautiful: Create luscious skincare, shower, and hair/makeup/nail routines that make you feel like a queen. Invest in well-fitting, high-quality wardrobe staples. Make your favorite cup of coffee or tea daily. Keep your signature scent on hand. Exfoliate. Invest in matching pajama sets.

Indulge all of your senses: Light a candle. Put on a moody playlist to relax, focus, unwind, or turn you on – any melody that suits the occasion and gets you in the zone. Take a bubble bath or do a face mask. Relish in a warm beverage or a healthful, comforting meal. Use silk pillowcases, hair ties, and bed sheets. Pamper yourself with small everyday luxuries.

Expand your knowledge: Make it a priority to read a few articles and 10 pages of a book daily. Being educated on different topics and the world provides you with personal fulfillment and enables you to enter into a wider pool of conversations. This practice also strengthens your mind, sharpens focus, and helps your brain relax.

Explore your interests: Learn what subjects and activities light you up inside. Whether it's painting, dancing, tennis, spin classes, learning about ancient world history, politics, fashion, science, etc. Take time to study and practice in these areas of interest.

Embrace your creative side: Write, read, draw, create a mood board, explore Pinterest or Tumblr, style outfits, organize a section of your room, cook a new recipe, make a playlist – any fun activity that ignites creativity.

Plan dates for yourself: Take yourself out for coffee, lunch, a shopping date, or even a mini vacation. You deserve to enjoy experiences and derive pleasure from enjoying these life moments without worrying about anyone but yourself.

Remember to rest: Getting 7-8 hours of sleep nightly and taking breaks is essential for productivity and overall well-being. Never feel guilty for allowing your body and mind to recover. Neglecting rest only backfires if you're playing the long-term game.

Finances: 

Know your income/expense ratio: Ensure you know exactly how much money is coming in and going out every month. Create a personal balance sheet to audit your financial well-being.

Track everything: Keep a record of every stream of income and where every dollar is going – expenses, savings, estimated taxes, investments, charity, etc.

Have a set emergency fund: Between 3-12 months of expenses should be ready in a high-yield savings account at all times. If you have a family or are self-employed, aim for 6-12 months of necessary savings to stay sane. Saving this amount of money takes time. Be patient, and cut back on frivolous expenses if needed for the short term. It's an act of self-care.

Invest (especially in a Roth IRA or backdoor Roth IRA): Set one up through Vanguard or Fidelity ASAP if you have not already. Don't underestimate the importance of compound interest on your financial future and security.

Automatically pay yourself first: Automate a portion of your paycheck to savings and your investments, so you never see this money. Pay yourself first before spending (on anything but necessities).

Always max out your 401K employer-matching: Make sure you know what percentage your employer will match and always meet this investment requirement. Do yourself the favor. It's literally free money.

Only spend on your essentials & what you actually enjoy: Invest in pleasurable items and activities strategically. Only spend on additional experiences and products that add value to your life. Cut unfulfilling expenses.

Read about personal finance/speak with your brokerage firm: Take time to read about these topics and learn everything your parents didn't teach you or were not taught at school. Use licensed professionals (CPAs, brokerage firms, etc.) as a resource, too, for your personal goals.  

Use savings plug-ins/discount codes 

Physical Health: 

Cook/eat healthy meals: At least 80% of the time. Focus on eating whole foods and a (mainly) plant-based diet. I've been vegan for 10 years and it's done wonders for my body, skin, and mental clarity.

Drink plenty of water daily: Set a target of ounces = to your weight in pounds. Incorporate lemon, lime, orange wedges, or frozen berries if necessary to keep this habit interesting.

Find workouts you love: Whether that's low-impact like pilates, yoga, walking or dance classes, spin classes, weight-lifting, etc. The best exercise routine is the one you can gladly maintain.

Make daily movement a priority: At least 15-30 minutes daily. I aim for 10-12K steps at least 5 days a week.

Limit processed foods, alcohol, cigarettes 

Step outside: Get at least 10 minutes of sun daily, weather permitting. Always wear sunscreen.

Sleep Well: Aim for 7-8 hours (Create a sleep hygiene routine!)

Maintain proper hygiene: Shower daily, moisturize, wash your hair on your necessary schedule, brush your body from head to toe, etc.

Do pelvic floor exercises: It does wonders for your bladder and helps to satisfy your libidinal energy.

Go to your annual appointments: Primary doctor/Obgyn/Dentist/Dermatologist

Mental Health/Emotional Well-Being: 

Meditate: Some of my favorite ones are linked HERE (for anxiety), HERE, (focus/productivity), and HERE (feminine/sexual energy).

Journal: Do a daily shadow work prompt, gratitude journal exercise, or practice morning pages (stream of consciousness journaling for 3 pages every morning).

Read: 10 pages of a self-development/psychology book, at least 3-5 articles, or a chapter of a fiction or non-fiction book. Daily.

Take breaks: A 10-minute walk, a real lunch break, listening to music, making coffee. Something pleasurable to recenter your focus and energy.

Discover movement you love: Walking and dancing are your best friends.

Keep your space clean: Wipe off all surfaces and put things away daily. Keep your desk organized. Clean and put away the dishes before bed. Stick to a house cleaning schedule.

Make to-do/bullet-point lists: For every area of life – work, chores, groceries, other items you need, wishlists, activities, and hobbies you want to pursue

Schedule and plan out your week: House cleaning, laundry, work project management, email time blocking, appointments, beauty routines, workouts, etc.

Create non-negotiables: Sleep, daily walks, a healthy dinner, your skincare routine, a 15-minute shower – whatever must-do rituals you need to look and feel your best every day.

Connect with your inner circle: Make a deliberate effort to stay in touch and catch up with those who are loyal and have your best interest at heart. Make time to chat on the phone, send a text, or better yet –get coffee, lunch, drinks, or dinner weekly with at least one person who you know makes your life richer in some type of way.

Put restrictions on social media/screen time: Use your settings to limit your time on certain apps (Instagram, Twitter, Tik Tok, Facebook, etc.). I set mine for 2 hours a day. Stop checking email right before bed and first thing in the morning (at least try really hard not to –I'm so guilty of this one!).

Give freely: Be generous with those who you love, mentors, and mentees. Everyone appreciates when you put a little effort into giving someone a small thoughtful gift, doing a kind gesture, or lending an ear. It makes you feel good and can make someone's day, week, month, or year.

Set boundaries: Take time for yourself – to recharge, indulge in solo activities, have some fresh air, breathe, or sit in silence. Give freely with no expectations, but never overextend yourself. When seeking to know whether you're striking the right balance between giving and gatekeeping your energy ask yourself: Am I being kind, or do I feel like I'm losing a piece of myself when engaging with this person/attending this event? Be honest with yourself. Listen to and follow your initial gut reaction.

Go to therapy: If you can afford it, weekly (or bi-weekly, monthly) sessions are a game-changer for self-discovery, emotional regulation, and general happiness/life fulfillment.

Sexual Health/Sexuality & Sensuality:

Let go of shame: Internalize your right to pleasure. Claim ownership over this aspect of your life. It gives you confidence in and outside of the bedroom, so you move through the world with a magnetic aura and powerfully feminine energy.

Own your sexuality and preferences: Embrace who and what you're attracted to. This principle extends from your sexual orientation to your libido, turn-ons (fantasies, adult content, steamy memories, etc.), preferred positions, kinks, and devices. Sexuality and arousal are so personal. Allow yourself to be free of stigmas for the things you do in private. No one needs to know how you derive pleasure behind closed doors (unless it's a partner who's involved, of course).

Make time for self-pleasure and exploration (at least weekly): Understanding that you're in control of your own pleasure is empowering. Learning what you like is essential for sexual gratification – whether you're alone or sharing the experience with a partner.

Allow the mind-body connection to be your friend, not your enemy: Sex starts in the mind, so this point is important for climaxing. Get out of your head and into your body. Learning to enjoy your own body is a sign of self-respect.

Keep everything clean & hygienic: Only wash inside with water (no steaming!), clean any toys, and use protection. Safety and self-regard go hand-in-hand.

Find products & habits that make you feel beautiful: Invest in lingerie, sheets, perfume, body lotions, candles, wine, etc. that make you feel confident while in the mood.

Engage in playful & creative activities: Don't be shy about (safe and consensual) experimentation (I'll leave this to your imagination) and activities to build up tension, like a romantic dinner or a dancing session beforehand to make this area of your life more exciting and fulfilling.

Relationships: 

Communicate expectations: Clearly and often with any individual in your life. Listen and respond. Don't react. Validate emotions when necessary. If someone cannot do the same, understand that it's almost always a sign of projection. Remain calm and confident in yourself. Always command and show up to others with the highest level of respect.

Have empathy, but not at your own expense: Live with respect and consideration for others, but remember your life is for YOU. Beware of guilt-trippers. Don't take the bait.

Set boundaries: Uphold them unapologetically. Seek to understand others' needs and boundaries, so you can be considerate of their needs too. Empathy and kindness come from a place of self-respect. They are not the same people-pleasing.

Be generous (but don’t overextend yourself): See above in the mental health section.

Be true to yourself: Authenticity is essential to personal fulfillment. Live in your uniqueness. Remember: trying to be someone else doesn't work, she's already taken. You have so much value to offer this world. Let your queen energy shine through. Live your truth. Remain self-assured. Be unapologetically you.

#life advice #femme fatale #self respect #self improvement #it girl #hypergamy #hypergamous #dark femininity #dark feminine energy #divine feminine #high value woman #high value mindset #female excellence #the feminine urge #productivity #career advice #career path #self care #level up #girl advice #relationship advice #daily reminder #long reads #female power #loa #loa success #higher self #ideal self #glow up #femmefatalevibe

[chrollohearttags]

BEYOND FACT OR FICTION: the boy who wanted to see the ocean • armin artlert

In this world, there are two types of people born into it. Those that live and those that experience it. The average and the exceptional..to say that Armin Artlert was on the latter of both sides would be an understatement. From the day of his birth to the early years of his childhood, it was blatantly obvious that he was not like the others around him. Considered a frail and sickly child, despite growing up in more modern times with access to the best healthcare, Armin found himself confined to his room most days. Fortunately, he did come from a rather affluent background so he had all sorts of materials and resources at his disposal to keep him occupied. He didn’t feel he was ever missing out on much because the rare times that he was able to even attend school, he was bullied by his peers. So he felt much more comfortable and safer in the essence of his own company. Especially since he had become rather infatuated with one topic in particular: the ocean. Next to the hospital where he often found himself a resident was a beach with the most crystalline of waters flowing over bright, beige sands. Palm trees swaying in the distance and resembling that of a screensaver, it was so perfect. It was a beautiful scene and one he had come to admire. To say the least! Some would even say that Armin was enamored..obsessed even. So much so, he dedicated his entire life to researching and learning all he could about aquatic life.

he was utterly fascinated with all things marine life and the functions of the waters. Granted, as humans, we’ve barely scraped the surface with only a 5% discovery rate of our vast waterways. The open seas were a mystery but being the inquisitive, determined mind he was, Armin wanted to unearth all of it. He would stop at nothing until he achieved his answers. Once he graduated from high school, college was next in the docket and as everyone suspected, the overachiever sought out his degrees in marine biology..he wanted nothing more than to solve the mysteries of our world’s waterfront. He took several courses in aquatic science, marine studies and by the time his academic journey came to an end, Armin Artlert had taken on the title of doctor by earning his PhD. Needless to say, he was super successful and living his dreams.

But around late 2017, things began to shift for the young scholar..friends, family and colleagues alike began to notice a change in him. As if his devotion to work wasn’t already enough, he became completely enamored with the topic of finding the ocean’s origin point!..discovering where they originated from and was there a precise point. Absolutely absurd but nothing was out of reach for Mr. Artlert. There wasn’t a thing going to stand in the way of his research. Not the government, the academic board or even money..at all costs, he had to make it happen. He was becoming erratic, spouting ramblings and nonsense about things beyond anyone’s comprehension. Staying up all hours of the night, plastered to his computer screen and reading texts from long ago.

“Please, just front me the ten grand and I’ll pay it back with interest, you know I’m good for it.”

“Just five thousand until the end of the month and I’ll get it back, I swear. Just trust me, please..”

Empty promises never fulfilled by either end because the people around felt that this was all going too far. He was doing good work and had written many theses on his findings. He had a high rise condo, nice car and even a beautiful lady..so why wasn’t it enough? Why did he have to surpass mankind and exceed his limitations? Curiosity was one thing but toying with mother nature was another level of insanity. So as you could imagine, on the night of April 11, 2017, when his girlfriend and fellow researcher, (y/n) (l/n), came home from work to find their condo completely empty. And not just silent..COMPLETELY AND UTTERLY BARE! Stripped of all furniture, decorations and most importantly, any trace of Armin! You were completely taken aback but the worst of this mystery was yet to come. Not wanting to alert anyone, you’d call around and ask if anyone had seen or heard from him, thinking that something could have happened to him. Not only that, if someone had come and cleared this apartment out in the span of a 12 hour duration, taking him along with them, who knew what..or who else they’d come after? Frightened, you rounded up all of your mutual friends and decided to assemble a search party. Because he was now 25 and very much a legal adult with the reserved right to go missing at any time, the police gave you all the typical runaround about having to wait twenty four hours to file a police report. Even so, time was of the essence and 24 hours was something you didn’t have to waste. So once everyone came over to the condo, you’d put your heads and all of the information together to hopefully reach a consensus about where he could have gone..you’d send a group out to scour the local coffee shops and libraries he frequented, even some of his favorite stores. Hoping to find a trace of him somewhere. His ‘Find my iPhone’ feature was disabled and the phone was going straight to voicemail.

“When’s the last time you saw him, (Y/N)?” his best friend and the person who knew him best, would question. If anyone had an inkling of the mental state he was in, it was most certainly the person who had known him since they were born. “This morning, in the cafeteria at the research center..he was grabbing breakfast and heading back up to his office. We were supposed to have lunch but I had few conference calls and studies so I couldn’t make it.”

You didn’t want to leave any stone unturned..and the first clue may have appeared a lot closer than anyone thought. Just down the hallway from the master bedroom was a small guest room where Armin conducted a lot of experiments. Sometimes late into the night and early mornings..and under absolutely no circumstances, was anyone allowed in. Not even you. He’d ensure so by installing a state of the art lock that was fingerprint and rigged with a series of intricate puzzles and questions that only he knew the answer. It was brilliant. A regular padlock wouldn’t suffice because what lay behind the door was something not only baffling but downright terrifying….

You worked for hours to hack the system and get it unlocked but to no avail. You even resorted to brute force by kicking and trying to hack it open with tools but no dice.

“Damn you, Armin. This is so like you…making everything difficult and mysterious. Where the hell did you go?”

It was around one in the morning and you were exhausted, from both work, the strenuous search efforts and just the long day in general. But a bit of good news would peer through this bleak situation..it was just as you were sitting on the floor, knees to your chest and your face buried in your hands, you’d hear a loud cackle.

“Ha! Finally..we got it.”

Just then, you’d hear a faint beeping noise and watch the padlock omit a green light. Signaling that it had been hacked successfully. Courtesy of one of your other scholar colleagues who worked in IT. For a mystery like this, you guys were going to need all of the man and brain power you could get. Upon unlocking it, you’d be the first to enter and once you pushed the door open, nothing could prepare you for what was inside…

“Oh my God!” a loud shriek left your mouth, only to be cupped by your hands seconds later. You were bewildered by the sight in front of you, as was everyone else…every wall, every inch of the space was littered with writing! Equations, secret codes and countless words were everywhere. Not only that, it was dimly lit with only select areas being illuminated..but perhaps the most frightening part were the makeshift pillars. Carved from marble and constructed six feet high, it was insanely creepy. How had he managed to do this? And by himself nonetheless because no one here had a clue what Armin was up to. What you thought would lead you all closer to answers had only left you even more confused. Not even the most brilliant of minds could decipher the messages or figure out what he was into. When it came to his personal research, he was very tight lipped about it.

days, weeks and eventually months went by without an answer or trace of Armin. Not a single clue, lead or anything brought you any closer to figuring out this mystery. Once the police finally got involved, they conducted routine searches, put out BOLO’s for his Mercedes and even brought the case to the news. But all of it was a waste.

it was all a waste until the day of October 11, 2017. Six months EXACTLY to the day he first went missing. You were at work, trying to power through the day as you had been doing. You were in the middle of typing up some findings from your earlier experiment when your phone rang and saw that it was the police department. Your heart and stomach sank immediately, expecting the worst. Had they found Armin? Was he okay? What was going on?! But the only instruction you received was to come down to the hospital because they needed to speak with you. Halting all else, you snatched up your car keys and coat, making a beeline for your vehicle in the parking garage. You didn’t hang up the entire time, even as you got buckled in. Because there was something else they told you, that had you racing toward him.

“He’s alive. He desperately needs medical attention but he’s alive, miss (L/N).”

so you placed it in reverse and peeled out there like a bat from hell! You refused to hang up until you laid eyes on him and knew for certain this wasn’t a prank. Fortunately, the hospital was only ten minutes away and in no time, you were pulling into the parking lot, rushing inside to see him. You’d reach the receptionist and ask if someone by the name of Armin Artlert had been brought in and at first, she was a bit hesitant, despite you showing ID, because after all, his case had gained national media attention so people were gathering to be in the know of if he was okay or not. But suddenly, a detective in a button down would come and scoop you up, giving a quick escort to the back area where he was being treated. Once you two arrived, the detective would ask you one simple question:

“Are you certain you’re ready to see him? He looks a bit different…”

but you didn’t care! You’d love him regardless and would be happy no matter the outcome. As long as he lived.

“Armie..oh my gosh..” whispering in a shrill cry because he looked really bruised and battered. His pale arms littered with red and purple bruises, head wrapped in bandages, arms stuck with needles and IV’s and an oxygen mask on his face. He was so fragile; dropping a staggering thirty pounds since his disappearance. He was severely dehydrated, flush and so weak. You couldn’t believe the condition he was in. You were even more surprised to find that he had wandered up to the police station, disoriented and talking out of character with nothing more than a thin loin cloth type thing on. He remembered his name but didn’t know what day it was, why he disappeared or where he had come from. It was as if whoever was keeping him, had put him in pretty bad shape. When asked about what happened whilst he was gone, he froze up and even began crying…that led all of you to believe that some very powerful people had gotten ahold of him. But what followed would send you into utter shock. The detective would pull you aside and ask to speak privately. It was there that he’d inform you that they suspected that Armin had not only gone missing of his own volition but that he staged the disappearance as an attempt to either evade the government for his findings or to garner more money for his research. People tended to shell out hundreds, even thousands when someone went missing so he figured he could swipe some of the funds from the GoFundMe to fuel his projects. It didn’t matter though, because your baby was back home and that was all that mattered.

to this day, no one knows what occurred on that night and what prompted Armin’s strange disappearance. Some still speculate that it was all a ruse and a ploy to get money. Others think that his research went entirely too far and landed him in hot water with the wrong people. But what do you think?

is there truth to this tale of the seas or a watered down lie?

#armin artlert #aot au #armin angst #armin x reader #armin #armin imagine #armin aot #armin arlet x black reader #stranger than fiction #beyond fact or fiction #horror series #interactive fiction #murder mystery #mystery au #anthology series #halloween fic #anthology #aot fic #armin snk #armin x black reader #snk armin #black fem reader #poll fic #snk au #halloween fics #aot x black reader #aot #attack on titan #cherry’s October fest 🍒 #black reader

[letters-from-dekarios]

Dearest,

We have arrived safely in Athkatla after an arduous journey. After we reached Candlekeep, there was a terrible storm that delayed our departure by two days. You’ll be quite pleased to know that our Atticus is practicing his reading, just as you instructed him to do. He’s growing into quite the little scholar — just like his father.

Since our arrival yesterday afternoon, my father has been showing off Atticus to all of his colleagues. To think the stone-faced Meisarch of Athkatla could be so thrilled over our little one! He is spoiling Atticus so much that I fear will refuse to leave when it is time to return home to Waterdeep.

While I am pleased to see my father and break bread with my family, being apart from you pains me so. When I awoke alone this morning, I reached for you to find only your absence. This was quickly disrupted by little Atticus scampering into my chamber to jump on the bed.

It is strange to be home, I must admit. It felt as though I took a step back in time into a life that now feels foreign to me. How strange it is to remember the younger version of myself frolicking about at parties, getting drunk on Arabellan dry, and dancing provocatively. When we met at one such party, I never would have imagined the life we share now. What a life we have lived, my darling. Neither mindflayer tadpoles nor a Netherese orb could stand in the way of what was always meant to be.

I must conclude my message, for I am running out of ink. With the final dredges of the inkwell, know that I love you and miss you to the point of utter distraction. When my inkwell is replenished, I shall write you once more. Until then, I am counting the days until we can embrace one another… in ways more than one.

Most Faithfully,

Dulcinea Gohar Selemchant-Dekarios

[Scribbled below in a child’s messy handwriting, spelling errors included: Lov you dady! Aticus]

My sweet love,

I am glad you’ve arrived safely. Please send my sincerest apologies and my warmest regards to your family for not being able to go with you. My heart ached for you as I heard news of the storm, though it is now eased upon reading your correspondence.

It thrills me to know my little Atticus is continuing his studies! Please tell him I am incredibly proud of him, his progress, and his initiative. He has much to learn, but he is catching on quickly. He reminds me all too much of myself when I was his age- let’s just hope he doesn’t conjure his own Tressym in time.

On my behalf, let your father know if he intends to keep Atticus, he will have to fight my mother for him. After your return, she requests we visit her within time. I can only imagine the two of our parents fighting to spoil him more, it gives me a headache just thinking about it.

I share the feeling of loneliness with you. While the quiet of my study has given me much room to think, I can only think of you. It pains me to know how much longer we must be away from one another. I hope the time with your family is spent joyously, though, and you needn’t spend much time worrying about me.

I oftentimes think back to our meeting. Had you told me a few years prior I would have the grandest wife and a spitting image of myself as a family, I would have died. I’d denounce my Goddess a million times over if it meant I could live an infinite amount of lives with you. I would never even think to choose the possibility of power over you. For with you, my power is greater than it could ever be.

Despite our trials, I am almost inclined to thank the beings that put us through them, as they drew us together. Without them, I’m not sure where we would be- and I fear the man I would have become had you not placed me back on your guiding path. With you, I am whole again, and I fear no troubles that I may face as long as you are by my side.

I hope you restore your inkwell soon, my love. Too long without word from you and I may begin to worry. You know it’s never good when I start to get in my own head. I look forward to being with you again, my arms ache to hold you in them. To have you in my embrace is to feel the warmth of a summer sun’s heat. It is a cold winter in Waterdeep without you here, I long for your arrival to melt the snow your absence has brought.

Return home safe, and please tell Atticus how much I adore him and how proud I am of him. I feel he may surpass even me in his skills as he grows older. Faerún save us all.

she would find, upon her return home, that gale had pinned the letter on a bulletin board hanging above his desk in his study. it was in the center of all his other memorabilia, surrounded by other letters and documents from friends and family.

Yours always and forever,

𝑮𝒂𝒍𝒆 𝑫𝒆𝒌𝒂𝒓𝒊𝒐𝒔

text reads: gale dekarios

#baldur's gate 3 #fanfiction #for you #for you page #gale dekarios #gale of waterdeep #bg3 #bg3 gale #gale fanfic #answered asks #ask response #send asks #asks #letters #writing #gale #gale fluff #baldurs gate gale #baldurs gate 3

[gatheringbones]

[“Ursula Volz-Boers points out, “Intrauterine life is not a paradise as some people try to make us believe. We are the receiver of all the happiness and of all the anxieties and difficulties of our parents.” But of course, even the earliest factor has its own earlier factors: namely, the intolerable pressures contemporary society places on the rearing milieu, the family, and on the developing young—and, as epigenetics teaches us, on the very activation of DNA itself.

We need to consider to what extent our culture, including employment and the health care and insurance systems, supports or undermines women’s capacity to hold their unborn infants’ needs as a high social priority. How many women are asked during prenatal checkups about their mental and emotional states, what stresses at home or on the job they may be experiencing? How many future physicians are even taught to pose such questions? How many spouses are helped to understand their responsibility to protect their expectant partners from undue stress and travail? How many businesses make provisions for their pregnant employees’ relief? That last question has an especially dismal answer: women frequently report a pregnancy-hostile work milieu, especially in lower-paid jobs. But even in supportive workplaces, women are often burdened by the pressure they have absorbed and put on themselves to perform, advance, even excel in a competence-mad society. Work rarely “stays at work.”

As Rae intuited, the baby feels the mother’s stress directly. “By listening intently to movements and heartbeats, researchers are finding that the fetuses of mothers who are stressed or depressed respond differently from those of emotionally healthy women,” the New York Times reported as far back as 2004. “After birth, studies indicate, these infants have a significantly increased risk of developing learning and behavioral problems and may themselves be more vulnerable to depression or anxiety as they age.” Essential neurotransmitters such as serotonin and dopamine that later play key roles in mood regulation, impulse control, attention, motivation, and the modulation of aggression—and are implicated in the very learning, behavioral, and mood difficulties the article mentions—are affected by prenatal stress on the mother. Babies of moms stressed in pregnancy have lower levels of these brain chemicals and higher levels of the stress hormone cortisol. Not surprisingly, the same study showed that these newborns also had less developed learning skills, they were less responsive to social stimulation, and they were less able to calm themselves when agitated.

Beyond brain substance levels, there is evidence suggesting that maternal mind states during pregnancy and postpartum shape the very structure of the infant’s developing brain. In one study, nursing professor Dr. Nicole Letourneau, Canada research chair in parent-infant mental health at the University of Calgary, and her colleagues found that the child’s gray matter, the cerebral cortex, was thinner on MRI scanning of the brains of preschool children whose mothers had suffered depression in the middle three months of pregnancy. As they point out, their brain-scan findings may presage later problems such as depression, anxiety, impaired impulse control, and attention difficulties in the child.

Postpartum depression had similar effects, indicating that there are certain critical periods in development, both before birth and after, during which the young human is particularly vulnerable to the environment. Such findings align with those of multiple other studies, which point to maternal-stress impacts on such brain structures as, for instance, the fear- and emotion-processing amygdala and on neurological conditions such as autism. Other findings suggest strongly that many adult health challenges—everything from mental health disorders to hypertension, heart disease to diabetes, immune dysfunction to inflammation, and poor glucose metabolism to hormonal imbalance—are made more likely by intrauterine stress. Among researchers there is a “universal consensus,” to cite a major review paper, that what are called the developmental origins of adult disease begin in the womb.”]

gabor maté, from the myth of normal: trauma, illness, and healing in a toxic culture, 2022

#gabor maté #brainspace #currently reading #whatever happened to your grandmother happened to your mother happened to you #(and backwards)

[xamaxenta]

AAAAH anon who asked for this literally going INSANE over this like dkdndndnd

Sorry I guess I’m just a sucker for wet pathetic little creechur Sabo but I can imagine him fucking recounting the story on 4chan

>be me

> raised by revs who found me injured as a child

> spend all my life not really worrying about my past life and trying to repay the revs by training super hard

> no social life no bitches just direct action

> high position at young age

> Never met anyone outside the army so become 20 yo virgin with no social skills

> suddenly remember my past life and my 2 brothers who I love more than anything after reading about them in the news

> one of them dead the other missing

> fml

> pass out for days literally crippled by guilt and pain

> start collecting news clipping of my dead brother just to try and find a connection to him and who he’s become

> whole office filled with pics of him

> spend my free time looking at them and brooding or crying

> colleagues start to get worried and whisper about how I’m losing it and my office is like a fucking shrine

> best friend subordinate suggests I try jacking off cause maybe it’ll “get your head out of your ass and stop you from living in the past”

> decide to give it a try

> only place I can get some privacy is my office

> try to get into it but all I can feel is my bro’s gaze on me

> strangely arousing

> starts going at it like crazy while crying cause I miss my bro but also this feels crazy hot

> most satisfying and pathetic nut of my life

> wash my hands and try not to think to hard about it

> end up doing it again and again

> find and eat his devil fruit so now I can light my hand on fire and pretend it’s his

> subordinate gives me strange looks cause some of my bro’s wanted posters are getting sticky

> ignore it and keep doing it for two years

> learns that bro somehow came back to life and is hiding on some remote island

> flies there bawling my eyes out thinking about all I’ve got to say to him, how much I missed him, how I owe him everything and want to be reunited with him and reclaim the bond we had as kids

> anticipate how overcome by emotion I’ll be when our eyes finally meet

> how will it be ? will happiness take over ? Or will I mostly feel the grief of being apart for so long ? Will it be love ? Bitterness ? Regret ? Guilt ?

> reach the island

> finally see him

> instantly get so hard I almost pass out

Idk how to face him anymore guys this is so embarrassing what should I do ?

HOWLING SCREAMINF LMFOAFJBS

ME TO U HAHAHAHAHA CRYIGNG LOSING IT THE 4CHAN FORMat iS INSANELY FUNNY

i absolutely hate the idea of Sabo 4chan BUT I CANT HELP IT ITS TRUE HE WOULd 20 yr old virgin biggest blue balls gets horny cuz aces wanted poster was smirking at him LOLDJAODNABD

DECEASED

#HERE LIES XAM 17/11/2023 #PATHETIC WET BEDRAGGLED SCRAGGLY SKINNY VIRGIN CREECHUR SABO LMAO DJ DN

[captainkirkk]

✩ WEEKLY FIC ROUND-UP ✩

All the fics I’ve read and really enjoyed in the past week-ish. Reminder: This list features any and all ratings and themes.

DC

Send to All by kerosceene

I, ___________________________, hereby acknowledge that this form represents my wishes should I contract phytoaphrodisiac-induced delirium (hereafter referred to as “PAID”) during engagements with or while apprehending Dr. Pamela Lillian Isley (“Poison Ivy”). - the bats have a sex pollen release form. because of course they do.

My Brother's Keeper by Chemical_Processes

Tim gets hit with Fear while on a league mission, and it's Damian's job to get him home in one piece.

Statute of Limitations by Oka_Hills1232

Captain Marvel has been in the game for a decade now. He's very likeable, everyone agrees on this, but that's about the only thing anyone can say about him. For however friendly he seems, he's never really talked about his life outside of the cape. That is, until today.

The Justice League has just learned something rather alarming about their enigmatic colleague Captain Marvel. They really need to talk to him about it, the problem is, he's very hard to get ahold of… Billy's just here to enjoy himself and revel in the big reveal, after all, it's not like anyone can stop him now.

Scum Villain Self-Saving System

Subversion by feelslikefire

Shen Qingqiu encounters Luo Binghe two years early in a brothel in Jin Lan City. Upon seeing his once most beloved disciple, Shen Qingqiu promptly starts coughing up flower petals. (Again.)

Then things get worse.

* * * * *

Or: I wondered, "What would happen if I smashed truth pollen and hanahaki disease together as tropes?" This is the result.

My Hero Academia

i fell heavy (into your arms) by sundefeater lou (sundefeater) for EyesofftheMaud

He could see him though. His cheeks were round with baby fat, his eyes unshadowed, but he was unmistakably his Toshinori. Even before he'd gotten the weakly mumbled confirmation of the other's name he'd known. He could see Toshinori in the child's eyes, the deep blue gaze watery and afraid but so achingly familiar; he could feel it in his bones, where One for All sang and reached for the remnants of ashes that should have been there, but weren't.

Or: Izuku has always been a dutiful son. All Might suddenly being younger than Eri isn't going to change that.

Cataclysm by xylophones

Part 2 of Despite Your Good Intentions

Opinion Editorial • Tokyo Times Hero Intern Deku: Our Next Savior, or the Catalyst of Hero Society’s Downfall? By Yumoto Ryobe Like • Comment • Share It’s been a month since Hosu City was rocked with attacks from the newest villain group, the League of Villains, and Hero Intern Deku’s (unranked) takedown of the serial killer Stain, his first S ranked villain arrest. Pro Hero media is a mess of differing opinions on Deku, ranging from idolization to condemnation. Fan clubs and hate clubs alike have popped up online. Despite his rousing speech in Hosu and his call to action, Deku has been notably absent from the public eye in any meaningful way. With tensions high and no word from the one at the heart of all the chaos, the question must be asked: just what the hell is Hero Intern Deku doing? (Honestly? His best.)

Stranger Things

Actually Me - Eddie Munson by Savi_Yoi

This idea was bouncing around my brain at 3am so I just had to write it down.

Eddie is a famous musician. Gaining fame through the 90s with Corroded Coffin. Him and Steve have been together since 1987, but they were always very private about their relationship. Steve is like a cryptid in the Corroded Coffin fandom, with very little information about him, and very few pictures. Eddie is promoting a solo album in 2021, and Steve is pulled on camera to do a silly interview with him. They're about 54/55 in this fic.

This is the transcript of that interview.

The Tunnels of Bel'Mar by neuronary

“Shit,” Wheeler said, realisation dawning across his face. “Fucking tunnels, shit!” “Seriously, dude?” Sinclair said. “You just clocked? He’s been freaking out all week and you only just realised.” “It’s Dustin!” Wheeler protested. “I thought he was just… being Dustin!”

Or, a dungeon Eddie designs freaks Dustin out a little bit too much. He doesn't get an explanation.

#happy weekend everyone! #my posts #weekly fic round up #fic recs #stranger things recs #dc recs #svsss recs #bnhs recs

[randomshyperson]

Rulers of The Multiverse - Wanda Maximoff x Reader - Chapter Nine

Summary: Strange’s faulty spell will cause a series of unexpected events, from your reunion with the love of your life in another world to the appearance of a child capable of traveling across the multiverse. This story follows the journey of a very tired Guardian alongside mischievous America Chavez and Scarlet Witch.

Warnings: (+18) explicit language and sexual content, violence, a lot of magic, found family, mentions of abusive past and trauma, mind control, use of illicit substances, mostly top!reader, soulmates analogies. CW: sexual mentions, angst || Words: 8.082k

A/N-> Hey dears, I'm going to make the uploads daily because my vacation is running out and I want to post this entirely before I go back to work. Attention to the angst of this chapter, I think things will improve from here. Italic texts are memories/flashbacks.

General Masterlist | AO3 | Wattpad | Series Masterlist

--//--

Chapter Nine - A Shattered Home

Wanda should be asleep, but since what happened earlier, she has become even more worried.

Your magic had muffled Chthon's voices, but as she tried to fall asleep, the first thing she dreamed of was your death. So she woke up in a jump and did her best to leave the cube quietly.

You should see a doctor the next day, and depending on what was said about your condition, find a solution as soon as possible. Wanda saw your sleeping figure on the top bed and felt her chest tighten, imagining the feeling of losing you too.

She pushed those thoughts away, and left the room, finding a train station that, although less busy, seemed as awake as day.

A lady passed by with a candy cart and offered her some food, and after not being able to eat anything all day, she accepted some sweet cookies and made her way to one of the edges, from where she could watch the trains coming and going from the station below.

About fifteen minutes later, you came out of the cube wearing a jacket and approached her.

"Hey, sweetheart." You greeted her, and Wanda - who could feel your presence even when she was on another continent, snuggled closer to your body as soon as you stopped next to her - turned her head and smiled in greeting, before turning her attention back to the trains. "How are you feeling?"

Wanda raised an eyebrow at you with a certain irony.

"I should ask you that question." She retorts, slipping her arm around your waist, and causing you to laugh softly. But it takes a moment for you to respond, your giggle turning into a long sigh.

"I feel kind of queasy." 

Wanda swallows dryly. "Do you want to go back to sleep?"

"Nah, I have a promise to keep." You retort without hesitation.

"Y/N, we don't have to..."

"I want to." You interrupt her, rubbing your nose against hers affectionately and making her smile. "I wanna be honest with you."

Wanda nods, hugging you for a moment before pulling away, tugging you by the hand toward the small terrace she saw earlier on the way to the Cube.

You both sit on the grass - everything was so clean and cared for in that world that it surprised you sometimes - and sigh softly at the same time.

"I think we're in for a long night, so what do you say we let our astral projections do the work, while we look up at this beautiful starry sky?" You suggest, intertwining one of Wanda's hands with yours in your lap. She smiles, reaching up to give you a kiss on the cheek before snuggling in closer.

"That's a great idea." She whispers, looking up at the same moment as you.

So far, Wanda had seen a few dozen memories of your childhood during the few days you were staying at Carol Danvers' inn.

She found that eventually, Agamotto grew into you and convinced you to turn your anger into willpower, or whatever lesson he tried to teach you and you pretended to learn.

Wanda saw memories of your training - increasingly difficult and demanding - and of you finding out that your parents were living in the United States through a letter.

"I think you should go see them." One of your colleagues, when you must have been about 14 or 15, had commented during a training session. He was one of the other sorcerers who received Oshtur's blessing and was being trained as a Knight of the Order just like you. 

Your younger version giggled as you defended yourself from the blow with a much more skillful move than when you were a child.

"If they hadn't sent us away, my brother would still be here." That's what you said before you attacked again. Your friend sighed wearily, trying to defend himself, but you were much faster and knocked him down without difficulty. Before you landed the last blow, another stick came in front of you and stopped the fight.

"Cheaters offend the honor of Oshtur" Declared the master, hitting you in the left leg and knocking you to your knees on the ground. He struck his staff again, and yours flew away, glowing runes becoming visible and then fading.

You grimaced. "What's the point of us having ways to be stronger and not being allowed to use it, Master Mordo?"

Mordo shook his head in disapproval. "You understand nothing about the morals of a Knight of the Order, foolish child."

Getting up, you ignored Mordo to help your friend to his feet, and the other boy seemed to be a bit taken aback by the interaction. "I just understand that even the gods will cheat, and foolish is not being prepared for it." That's what you mutter between teeth, before receiving a warning blow accompanied by the punishment command.

Mordo steps out in front, and your colleague pats you on the shoulder.

"He's just upset because you defeated his apprentice." He comments making you laugh.

Training memories were always like this, you doing something you shouldn't, from disobeying to using forbidden runes, and continuing to be the best fighter even while fighting honestly.

So far, Wanda's favorite memory was of the day you met her variant.

You were typically running away from training with Mordo, and sitting on a lower, more isolated balcony of the Kamar Taj, your legs swinging from the opening as you looked down toward a noisy camp.

"Watching the Romani again, Y/N?" Agamotto's voice made you stand up in fright, wiping some dust from your pants.

"Sorry, Master." You mumbled - and for the first time in many memories, you sounded embarrassed - with your head down. Agamotto gave a chuckle, the golden cape standing out in that late afternoon.

"You must have seen something interesting to skip your training for the third time this week alone." Says the master in a suggestive tone, and despite the soft pink appearing on your cheeks, you clear your throat.

"I just like the dances, Master." You mutter. "And they seem to have fun."

"Hmm, I imagine they do." Says the man approaching to take the seat you were previously sitting in. He does not lower himself but rests his hands on the edge to look down as well. He waits for you to join his side to speak again. "They must leave soon, their people never stay long in one place." He says, and you don't notice his curious eyes studying your reaction because you are becoming slightly crestfallen. "This may be your last chance to talk to the girl."

You raise your face in shock, your cheeks very red. "W-what? What girl, I don't-"

"You saw her this afternoon, didn't you? When you went to deliver the week's donations. I noticed your distraction all day."

You gave up denial, nodding and looking down, a group of colorful clothes dancing in circles, several candles lit all around while the others clapped their hands.

"At least ask her name, before you go to America." Your master says, offering you an encouraging smile. 

You waited for Agamotto to enter the temple, and took a deep breath before sliding over the edge and climbing down until you reached the ground, jumping on the ground half panting.

A boy was running that way and was startled when you suddenly jumped up out of the dirt, and you widened your eyes because he practically teleported behind a rock, and you wouldn't have noticed his presence if you weren't a sorceress.

"Hey, sorry, I didn't mean to scare you." You tried clumsily, being able to hear his loud breathing even though he remained hidden. "I, um, don't mind if you're a mutant..."

"Pietro!" Someone called out from a distance, attracting your attention, and of course, your luck wasn't so good, because it had to be just the girl you were looking for.

The Pietro of your universe had bleached hair from childhood, and as soon as he ran close to the twin, you saw the silver flash hide behind the enraged little girl.

"Hey, are you harassing my brother?" She questioned angrily, and you quickly denied it, your face very red.

"N-no, I scared him but it was an accident-"

"Come, Pietro, let's go back to camp." She cut you off impatiently, and you exclaimed in desperation, taking a step forward when she turned around.

"No, wait! I just wanted to know your name." 

The girl makes a suspicious face at you. "And why is that?"

But your cheeks flushed more, and you didn't answer. She let out an impatient sigh and turned around, and you let her go.

Wanda - the adult version - raised an eyebrow at you, a short smile on her lips.

"Did you get tongue-tied by seeing me?" She teased softly, and you let out a loud, embarrassed grumble.

"I was 15 and it was the most beautiful girl in the world, leave me alone." You retorted making her laugh softly.

"Don't worry, I thought it was cute." She says before focusing on the next memory.

Wanda watched the tense and confrontational meeting with parents who had no regrets about sending their mutant son away - though they still had guilt and grief over the loss, and your decision to try to be a family again in spite of everything.

Agamotto didn't like the idea of putting the Knight's training on the back burner, but he understood your connection to your family. But when the Avengers recruitment happened, and you reunited with Wanda, no one was happy with your complete lack of interest in returning.

There were many flashbacks of memories that ranged from the low prioritization of your lessons to you not showing up at all and Agamotto visiting the Tower as a last resort. Your first discussion with the master took place and you confessed to him that you had no desire to become a knight, and all the master answered in return was that he didn't recognize you anymore.

Your Wanda found you on the roof.

"That sounded pretty bad." She commented announcing her own arrival, and you quickly wiped away the tears. "Do you want to talk about it?"

"I don't have much to say." You say with a weak smile, and once she is close enough, you slip your arms around her shoulders. "Between going to a temple full of old men telling me what to do or think and stay with the most special girl in the whole world , the choice is pretty obvious no?"

Although Wanda blushes at your compliment, she frowns slightly. "But Y/N, if it is your destiny..."

"My destiny is you, Wanda Maximoff." You whisper leaning your forehead against hers. "You will always be my priority." You assured before bringing your mouths together.

Despite these sweet moments and the vows you made to her, Wanda watched the memories of arguments and conflicts increase over the years. There was a very deep complicity and devotion between you two, but there was also a lot of guilt and emotional dependence.

When you began to fail a lot on missions, both because of your ruthless nature and the fact that you were a different kind of sorcerer and had simply abandoned your training, your Wanda insisted that you return to the Kamar Taj.

"I don't understand why you are bringing up this subject again!" You complained impatiently as you walked out of the shower room with a towel around your body. You were in the bedroom of the apartment you shared with Wanda, and the girl was sitting on the bed with a very annoyed expression.

"Y/N, you blew Bucky's metal arm off-"

"It was an accident!" You interrupted in the same tone, throwing the towel on the bed to put on your underwear. "He's fine and no one was hurt."

"You're losing control of your magic!" She insists impatiently, moving to hold your shoulders because you refuse to look at her, and despite the grimace, you don't reject her touch. "Please listen to me, okay? I'm getting worried about you. How long has it been since you've slept properly? You can barely watch a soccer game without destroying the TV, you can't drive anymore because you get too nervous, and you've burned our car six times and-"

"Wanda, I'm not going back to that place, I don't want that life anymore."

"What life?" She questions pleadingly. "We are already superheroes! I'm just asking you to look for help to stop hurting others and-"

"Hurt others?" You cut her off, pulling away from her touch. "Oh, good Wanda, I get it. All I do is cause you trouble so you're sending me away to make me someone else's responsibility."

"I never said that." Wanda retorts indignantly, but you ignore her to finish putting on your clothes. "Y/N."

You only look at her when you already have your shoes in hand. "Don't wait up for me."

Wanda's eyes well up with tears, but for the most part, she is just as stubborn and proud as you are, so she watches you leave and slam the door.

"My god, you two were impossible." The redheaded Wanda commented beside you, managing a soft chuckle.

"You mean you."

She rolled her eyes with amusement. "I think I would have tied you to the bed until you quit being stubborn."

"Hmm, kinky." You mutter and she laughs throwing her head back and slapping you on the shoulder.

"Shut up."

A very drunk Jean Grey that you invited over for beers put a little reason in your head by saying that you couldn't screw things up with someone who was only concerned for your safety and whom you loved dearly, so you came home at three in the morning, determined to apologize and found the place empty.

"I left you?" Wanda asked in shock as she watched the memory of you sitting on the floor of the empty apartment, and you sighed softly.

"Yep, but I kind of deserved it." You retorted shrugging your shoulders. "Besides, you left a letter. You said that as long as I wasn't healthy, we couldn't happen. It wouldn't be fair to you, or her, to watch it. So I went back to the Kamar Taj."

With that, new flashes of memory began. Wanda was happy to watch your relationship come together as you got better and went back to training, even harder than before. 

"Oww, you proposed to me at the place we first met." Wanda commented excitedly as she saw the memory, and you laughed awkwardly, looking away from the memory to the girl next to you.

"Yeah, it was nice, right?" You ask, looking away for the small picnic behind Kamar Taj.

"It was beautiful." She says.

But things went off the rails when Thanos came to earth. You, now a Knight of the Order, received the emergency call to the Kamar Taj, and memories of the day of the Temple invasion flew high around you two.

Wanda watched as some of the members of the Black Order went about taking down the Knights one by one, and you destroyed Cull Obsidian before he could kill Agamotto for the stone in his neck.

"Master, is everything all right?" You asked breathlessly, with several bruises on your face, but pure concern as you rushed to help the standing man. Despite his thanks, Agamotto offered you a sad smile.

"Child, it is today that I say goodbye to you."

"W-what? No, master, we can still win-"

"Some things have already been written, Y/N." He says, and you shake your head in denial.

"Enough of this talk, Master." You retort to him would be. "Come on, shields up."

But your determination didn't do much good when the enraged Proxima Midnight found her brother's body and chased you around the temple.

You fought very well, but all it took was the mention of the Black Order's intention to reach the Avengers, and you hesitated for the time she needed to dig the weapon into your belly.

Wanda - the older version - covered her mouth in shock as she watched the scene even though she knew you were safe next to her, but maybe it was because the shot was so familiar.

When you fell, Agamatto released the stone from the necklace around his neck, and shouted to the Sorcerers to retreat, all conjuring a shield around you both.

Mordo yelled as he saw the master begin to draw runes at high speed around you, and move to place the stone on the one he drew above your wound.

"Master, she is not worthy!" Tried the man but Agamotto let out an annoyed grunt.

"Silence Mordo!" You shouted back, and more softly and as he set the stone down on your stomach, he said, "Any knight who fights honorably is worthy." 

You cried out in pain as the stone pierced your wound, but your whole body vibrated afterward, a strong golden light taking over all the runes and then your eyes. 

Agamotto kissed your forehead, and stood up, taking front in the row of Wizards who were almost losing strength in their shield spells as Black Order attacked the barrier. 

"No matter the cost, do not interrupt the forge." He warns and raises his hands to join the barrier.

Wanda doesn't have to watch to know that Agamatto died that day, and when the memory switches between flashes from your consciousness during the fight, to his fall the moment you awoke, and of how you destroyed half the temple in a fit of rage with your new powers, Wanda doesn't interrupt you.

The next memory you show Wanda is of Agamotto's memorial, and it always breaks her heart to see you dressed completely in black.

Mordo approaches you at the edge of a Kamar Taj that has been partially rebuilt.

"My condolences, Master L/N." He says with a small reverence, and as you swallow dryly with eyes full of tears that you don't take away from the landscape, you reply:

"My condolences, Master Mordo." You repeat and sigh softly before saying. "No need to reel me in, you can say what you want to ask."

Mordo lets out a weak laugh. "It's nothing that can't wait for your mourning period."

"Well, send a letter to the Avengers Tower then." You say, and he frowns in surprise.

"Forgive me, but do you intend to return to New York?

It is your turn to frown in confusion.

"I live in New York, Mordo. My wedding is still scheduled." You retort with a confused laugh. "The invasion has been contained, life goes on in the world."

Mordo shakes his head in disbelief. "You were forged as a Guardian of the Order, Y/N. You must take the ancient oaths! You can't just walk away from your responsibilities!"

You let out an incredulous laugh. "Guardian of what, Mordo? Because all the knights, my friends, are dead.  Thre’s no Order of Knights anymore. My Master is dead. I am guardian of nothing." You retort with emotion in your voice, thick tears in your eyes. "My only priority is my bride, she is the one I must protect now." 

You wipe your face quickly and sniffle before turning to leave. Mordo tries, "They'll be back, Y/N. And when that happens, you will wish you had Oshtur's protection at your side."

"How many more oaths will we have to take before we realize that the gods don't give a damn about us?" You retort without waiting for an answer.

The memory shivered, and Wanda saw your adult version embrace yourself, and already knew what was coming. 

The wedding was beautiful, but the fight that came after, not at all.

"I was thinking of buying a red truck." Wanda whispered under the small forge of blankets you made in the almost completely empty apartment - the boxes being slowly made for the move to the new house - and you, who were staring at the blanket, raised your eyes to her.

"I'm sorry I smashed up your car." You muttered, and she gives a small giggle.

"That's okay sweetheart, it was a tough meeting."

"But throwing Iron Man against your car didn't help the situation." You retort, and Wanda laughs again more softly, raising one of her hands to draw lines on your face.

"It's okay, he shouldn't have said what he said."

You settle better on the pillow. "What if he is right?" Your question made Wanda hesitate, and look into your eyes with a frown. You swallowed dryly but did not look away. "I've lost a lot of people already, Wanda. And I don't want to get into another fight to lose more."

"Baby..."

"You'll say it's our job." 

Wanda sighs, nodding. "We can't turn our backs on our friends."

You give her a sad smile, but nod in agreement. "Can we pretend we're not superheroes tonight?"

Wanda gives a surprised smile, but comes closer, and closes her eyes along with you. "Alright. If we weren't superheroes, what would we be doing?"

"Finishing packing up the move to our new house instead of sorting out weapons for a fight." You reply and she sighs softly but does not contradict.

"If I wasn't a superhero, I'd be thinking about having a family with you."

The sentence makes you open your eyes, your cheeks half pink. "Wait, really?"

Wanda laughs embarrassedly, looking at you as well. "Of course, idiot. It's your turn."

You laugh contentedly, your eyes sparkling. "If I wasn't a superhero, I'd be thinking about having a family with you too," You whisper. "Also, I would be calculating all the logical options to make that happen." You joke in a mechanical voice getting a loud laugh from Wanda.

"Okay, Mind Stone, and what conclusion did you come to?"

"Of all the possibilities from adoption to insemination, I think the most logical one is for us to make magical babies." You whisper in a tone of false seriousness that makes Wanda burst out laughing. 

"Well, maybe we should start on that." She says suggestively, and you laugh softly before breaking the distance.

Thanos was infinitely worse in your universe. It made sense that there were so many more heroes because if not, everything would have turned to ash in the first second.

She watched the fights go by at high speed, and when she had to watch you in tears holding her body, she interrupted.

"You don't have to show me that one." She whispered, and you sniffled slightly, forcing a smile.

"It's okay, it's not like it gets much better after that." You try to joke, but Wanda hugs you sideways, and the memories come flooding back.

The memorials are so frequent over the next few weeks that you don't even get to not wear black. And even the time you're sitting on an empty lot - the property she saw you buy during your engagement, intending to have a bigger place in a quiet neighborhood where you could build a family, imagining that when your knighthood training is over and you get married, that would happen - Wanda was finding it hard to keep the tears in her eyes.

You had a half-empty bottle of whiskey in your hands and a half-crumpled certificate of ownership in your lap, the words 'to grow happy and old in' scribbled in blurred pen on the end. 

Unlike her Hex's creation, there was no explosion. You continued drinking with tears in your eyes as the earth around you began to vibrate.

"You're not feeling it?" Wanda asked confused as she watched the memory, and your older version denied it with her head, nodding forward.

"Look closer." You said, and Wanda didn't understand at first, but once she concentrated, she could see the magic you were expelling from your heart. 

Golden strands jumped at high speed, both towards the ground and the sky, and unraveled in thousands from various directions, until everything around you began to shudder, and yet, no one noticed. Slowly, your house formed around you, and you were no longer sitting on the floor, but on a couch, and the drink in your hand was a soda. You blinked confusedly as if waking up from a nap and stretched.

"Honey, lunch is ready!" A voice warned from the kitchen, and you let out a short laugh.

"Is that a threat?" You shouted back, receiving a short laugh in return.

Westview's creation was so familiar that Wanda only let the tears flow. You slipped an arm around her.

The memories of happy days floated at high speed in your eyes, many that made you let out affectionate smiles. Others that made you blush hard, like the one of Wanda’s variant riding your strap.

"Wow, that's an interesting one." Redheaded Wanda teased as soon as the memory focused in front of you two: the loud moans and the image of large breasts covered only by curly hair became clear.

You let out an embarrassed grunt, but when you tried to change the memory, it only ended with one of you on your knees to brunette Wanda in the kitchen.

The redhead next to you chuckled loudly at your clumsy, and you grumbled again, failing again to switch to a memory of you fucking your wife from behind. 

"I suppose that's you trying to make a family." The witch teased, and you finally managed to focus on the memory of a pregnant Wanda on the couch. 

“Very funny.” You mutter embarrassed.

The playful mood from before completely faded as soon as the little twins were home, a sigh escaping your lips at the image of the babies again.

"What if I forget who's who?" you ask Wanda sitting next to you, and despite pinching you in the ribs, she laughs softly. 

"You just need to remember that Annie doesn't have her ears pierced, darling." Wanda comments, settling the baby she is holding for you to look at. You let out a short laugh.

"Oh, yes, I forgot that she turned yellow. Only little Hallie behaved herself at the ear-piercing time, didn't she, my little love?" You say in a childish voice, making the baby on your lap giggle, and your wife smiles affectionately at you.

"You are such a dork" 

"Yes, but I am your dork."

"Yeah, you are."

The memory shuddered because you interrupted it. Wanda looked at you curiously, but seeing your serious face, she didn't question.

You no longer focused on your life in Westview - Wanda only saw in high speed the girls growing up, you and her variant in normal jobs, and a quiet suburban life for long minutes as the years passed - until you focused on a memory in your backyard.

You were fixing a colorful bicycle, and you raised your eyes from the task, assuming a confused expression upon seeing the sorcerer there.

"Greetings, Y/N." He greeted politely, and you wiped some of the gravel on your clothes before greeting him.

"Mordo, good to see." You said gently. "To what do I owe the visit?"

He gave a short laugh, half surprised. "Well, I suppose you don't have a television." He joked but you only offered him a confused expression. "Y/N, the world is kind of chaotic. I've come to extend a work invitation."

You give a humorless laugh, crossing your arms. "Look, Mordo, I appreciate the visit, but if you came just for that, I must say you've wasted your time. Wanda and I are retired."

He blinked in confusion. "Wanda?"

"Yeah, she went to take the girls to school, actually. Like I said if there's anything else..."

"No, don't worry." He cuts off half hesitantly but forces a smile. "I already know what I needed to know. It was good to see you again, Y/N. Sorry for wasting your time."

Memories become more unstable after that, shattered.

"What's going on?" Wanda asks worriedly, and you swallow dryly before answering:

"When Charles Xavier, a telepath from my universe, intervened to try to get me out of the fantasy, my magic fought back. My memories began to fragment as the fantasy broke down, and it wasn't until he involved my Wanda that I finally accepted what had happened."

The surroundings became your home again, an image of you coming home from work to a flooded floor made you frown in concern.

"Darling?" You called out, leaving your briefcase on the desk and running upstairs. "Girls?"

But the house was empty, and you couldn't find the source of the water upstairs, so you run downstairs after searching through everything.

And when you stepped downstairs, the day had changed. Your daughters were on the couch watching television, and the floor was dry. You gulped immediately, but when your wife called you from the kitchen, you went over in hesitant steps.

"Wanda, a strange thing has just happened..." You started but fell silent when you found Wanda staring at the faucet leaking water on the floor, and beginning to wet the kitchen. "Wanda?" You called out worriedly, moving one hand to turn off the faucet, and using the other to turn it towards you. You let out an exclamation as you felt the temperature of her skin. "Wanda, you're freezing. Why are you barefoot? Hell, come on you need to warm up."

You grew more nervous when the day changed again, an expression of confusion and fear taking over your face, which only got more agonizing when you couldn't find your daughters on the couch, and the decorations in the house had changed again.

Still, you moved Wanda in front of the fireplace, kneeling beside her and pulling a blanket from the couch to place on her shoulders.

"Here darling, it will get better." You murmured hurriedly, moving your arms down and up against hers to try to warm her. "Wanda, what's going on, where are the girls?"

Wanda blinked confusedly at you. "What girls?"

"Our daughters, Wanda." You told her with concern in your voice, caressing her cheek. "Annie and Hallie, darling. They were in the living room and-"

"We don't have daughters, Y/N." Wanda interrupted with a mixed expression of confusion and disbelief, pulling away from your touch a little to look around. "Where am I?"

"Our home, Wanda. What...what's wrong? Did you hit your head or something?"

Wanda shook her head in denial, pushing your hand away.

"No, that doesn't make sense." She said with emotion in her voice, beginning to despair. "We were fighting, Thanos tried to steal your stone and-"

"Honey, that was five years ago. We won! We won and I was able to save you and-"

"No, Y/N." Wanda cuts in standing up, her voice loud and frightened, and you do the same, looking at her with hesitation. "I saved you. Y/N can't you remember?"

"Wanda, what..." She began to cry, hugging her own body, and you shushed to hug her on instinct, but Wanda pushed you hard. "Honey, please, you're scaring me."

"I'm dead, Y/N!" She shouted and you took a step back in shock and confusion, thick tears in your eyes as you shook your head. "Can't you see it? Can't you feel it? I'm dead!"

"No, no, stop saying that..."

The house began to shake, and Wanda stopped crying as she buried her hands in her face for a moment. You would have raised your hand to reach her if two children hadn't run from the kitchen to your legs.

"Hey, darlings, I'm talking to Mama now, go to your room, okay?" You try, but the little girls only squeeze harder. Wanda looks at you with puffy eyes.

"What is this, Y/N?"

"Honey, don't scare the girls." You ask in a shaky voice, but Wanda gives a tearful laugh, shaking her head in disbelief.

"Don't you realize that you can't even feel them?"

You frown in confusion but look down. And you choke as you realize that although greenish eyes look at you fondly, and two pairs of arms are clasped around your legs, there is no touch. You stumble away, and your daughters disappear.

"W-what..."

Wanda ignores your shock to look around, her eyes and hands turning scarlet.

"What's all this, Y/N?" She asks with a bitterness in her voice that makes you shudder. "These pictures on the wall, these fake memories-"

"Don't say that."

The house begins to crumble as Wanda uses her magic and you raise your hand in the air, asking her to stop, but you don't fight the destruction. 

When only an empty lot can be seen, Wanda stops and gestures in the air for you to see the number of golden threads coming out of that lot and from you in all directions.

You let out an exclamation, touching your own chest, but it continues to expel. 

"What the hell?" You gasp and shudder as you find your red irises filled with tears.

"You need to let me go, honey." Wanda says much more gently now, raising a hand to your face. "It's painful to be here."

"I don't.... what..."

"It's time, Y/N." She whispers. "This life is not real, my love. You can't destroy this world for a corpse."

You grabbed her arms, and though you shuddered at the temperature, your expression was hard. "Don't say that! Y-you're not dead!"

Wanda offers you a tearful smile, tracing lines on your face as she used to do. "I will love you in all my lives, but this one is over. You deserve more than a dream."

You sobbed, shaking your head. "No, Wanda, please, I just want to be with you."

She gasps softly, thick tears that match your own slipping down her face. "Darling, feel what you are doing to this world by keeping me here. You need to let me go."

It took a moment, but you did as she asked. Your eyes turned golden, and you took your eyes from her to your surroundings, being able to observe the cracks of instability the magic was causing in your reality, and being able to feel the agony of those you subjugated. You let go of Wanda, falling to your knees in a sob. She sighs deeply, and lowers herself to the same height, her hands going to your face.

"You need to do just one last thing, my dear." She whispers caressing your cheek. "You need to guide my forge."

You blink in confusion. "W-what?"

"Y/N, I don't have the power to tidy up your mess." She says as gently as she can. "And you can't fix order with more order. Only I can set them free."

You swallow dryly, blinking in confusion, "B-but I don't know how to do that."

"Don't worry, my dear, I will guide you."

Wanda helps you to stand, and when you do, passes your arms around her. "It will be like our wedding dance. Close your eyes."

But you only took a little more than two steps to the side, before Wanda - who was humming a song in Romani that you didn't know and had a hand on your back - opened her eyes glowing in scarlet. You let out a gasping sigh as you felt a strong burning in your back, and shuddered against her.

"It hurts Wanda." You whispered, but she didn't loosen her grip, and you could feel your shirt getting wet.

"I know, baby, I can feel it." She says back. "I'm so sorry."

She mutters words in a language you don't know, and the next moment, you grunt in pain and lose the strength in your body, falling to your knees in the grass.

"It's done." Wanda spoke, but it was not to you, but rather to someone else coming at the entrance of the house.

You, half out of breath, look at Professor Xavier approaching with Mordo and immediately go on the defensive.

You attack the Sorcerer first, throwing him meters away without difficulty, but Wanda forces your face back into hers as you go to attack Charles.

"Enough, Y/N, no more fighting. No more lies." She says, and you sob softly. "They are here to help us."

"They took you from me."

"No, Y/N, I died a long time ago, you know that." Wanda says low and touches your face. "It's time to kill this fantasy too."

But you only sob, and even as Wanda begins to use chaos magic to balance your universe again, you only hug your knees.

She comes back to you at what seems like an eternity later and touches your hands until you look at her again.

"Just one more piece." She says softly, bringing her hand to the height of your chest. The other goes to your cheek, and she offers you a sweet smile. "I love you so much, my dear. I would have loved this life."

You sniffle, and when you speak, it comes out breathless both from crying and from Wanda's magic neutralizing the order in your chest. "You would never have let me pierce a baby's ear."

Wanda giggles, her eyes filled with tears. "Nor would I have let you buy a guitar to let it grow old in the basement." She retorts making you laugh weakly as well. After a moment, her expression turns more serious. "Do you see now, my love? The flaws in this false life?"

You want to cry again, but you nod. "Forgive me, Wanda."

"I would have done the same thing if I had lost you."

There is no way of knowing, so all you do to offer her is a small smile. She lets out a tired sigh, getting up, and you take your cue to do the same.

"You're the one who has to let me go, Y/N." Wanda says, and only after a moment does you understand, and you sob, denying it with your head.

"N-no, not that. I won't-"

Wanda puts her hands on your face, trying to calm you down. "My love, I'm so, so sorry." She says caressing your cheeks. "I am a Scarlet Witch forged by a Guardian of the Order. Only you can do this. It can't be anyone else."

"Wanda, I can't, please-"

"I'm already dead, Y/N. It will be like putting me to sleep." She tries and you only sob harder, hugging her. "Honey, say goodbye. Things will only balance when I'm gone."

"I will give my power to anyone, please don't make me..."

"Y/N, it has to be you." It is Charles' voice that finally intervenes sounding as crestfallen as you are. Wanda releases you so you look at him. "Wanda doesn't exist anymore. I can only see her because I am in your mind. No one else is capable of fighting her."

You look at Wanda in horror, but she only caresses your cheek.

"Say goodbye to us, Y/N. For good this time." Wanda asks, and you realize that your daughters are standing beside each of her legs, and a sob breaks in your throat.

You lower yourself to their height, and even though you can't feel them, you hug them tight.

"Mommy, why are you crying?" Annie asks confused, and you sniffle as you shake your head.

"It's nothing, honey." You say. "Mommy will just miss you."

"Where are we going?" Hallie asks suspiciously, and even though your heart breaks, you force a smile at her.

"You guys are going for a walk with Mama, okay? You're going to behave, right?"

Annie and Hallie exchange mischievous glances, but they nod, and you hug them one last time before rising to Wanda.

"I don't know how to..."

"Just hold me. Don't think too much, and just do it. Remove the forge, and I will go." Wanda interrupts as you explain, and you swallow dryly before nodding. She offers you a tearful smile before you hug her.

The next time you let go, there is no one in your arms.

The memory ends, and Wanda slips her arms around you, making you sigh softly before hugging her back.

"I'm sorry." 

"I get the impression that when I killed her, your Westview happened." You mutter and Wanda frowns in confusion, loosening her grip to look at you.

"What are you talking about?"

"Let's look at one last memory. Before we check out America."

Wanda was going to say she's seen enough for today, not wanting to prolong your suffering at reviewing so many tragedies, but her curiosity and your assured look make her agree.

The last memory begins in a dark cell. You are wearing magic chains on your arms and ankles, and hugging your knees. A pile of trays of rotten, untouched food grows next to the wall.

The door opens, and a sorcerer in a black robe enters.

"I have been waiting to see you in one of these since the day I saw you murder your brother." Kaecillius says but you don't react to his teasing, though he knows you're not asleep by the way you shrink a little more. "What, no comeback?"

"What do you want, master?" You grumble between teeth, and he gives a weak laugh as he takes the free seat at the other end of the room.

"Master? Wow, did they put you under some kind of manners spell?" He mocks laughing at his own joke. "Or, let me guess, guilt is corroding you into submission."

An irritated grunt escapes, and the chains in your hand vibrate. Kaecillius lets out another laugh.

"There she is." He sneers, and you sigh wearily before raising your eyes to him.

"Just tell me what you want."

"I, Miss L/N, wanted to be enjoying my retirement on the Barramas." He says adjusting his cape. "But you see, your little dollhouse spell has ruined this universe to the point where even the most obnoxious Sorcerers are needed to straighten the balance."

"I've already made things right." You retort angrily, receiving an argued grimace in return. "Charles and Mordo guided my arrest, they have already testified about Westview and my sacrifice and-"

"My this and my that, you always were so selfish, weren't you, Y/N?" Kaecillus interrupts with a wicked grin. " For your information, sacrificing your fake family was the least you could have done after what it caused around here!"

You grunt angrily, but Kaecillius doesn't flinch. "What, you want me to lie? For me to tell you nice stories, or pat you on the back and say, congratulations on letting your dead wife rest in the afterlife. No, child! Every second of your fantasy has opened a crack in space-time. At first, Kamar Taj thought they were dark sorcerers like me, do you realize the treatment we received? Covens all over the world were dismantled, witches marginalized, no one could find a guilty party. Then came the beasts! And the natural disasters. Did you know that Miami is underwater? Or Panama and half of Chile? And while these people were losing their lives, you are playing house with a corpse!"

You shuddered at the screams, hiding your face between your legs again. Kaecillius took a deep breath to calm himself.

"I came here to offer you the chance to right your wrongs." He declares after a moment, and it takes another for you to raise your face, thick tears in your eyes, to him.

"How?"

He clears his throat. "You are still the most powerful Sorceress in this universe, Y/N. And you still have the Mind Stone to help you form the solutions." He says. "I'll put you in charge of fixing everything."

You swallow dryly, frowning softly. "I thought... I thought sacrificing Wanda would fix everything."

"This is exactly why Mordo didn't want you as Guardian, you understand nothing of your own nature." Complains the other. "A Guardian to a Scarlet Witch, one shouldn't exist without the other! How many classes have you been missing?"

"Wanda told me that I needed to let her go-"

"Yes, because she was dead!" Kaecillus interrupted in frustration. "And Mordo still told us that you, a guardian, forged her as the Scarlet Witch, didn't you? I can hardly imagine the wrath of the gods over that. But that's for another day because we have bigger problems here. Get this clear once and for all, Y/N, a guardian exists to destroy the Scarlet Witch, as it is written. But Wanda was already dead. You didn't fulfill the prophecy, but you don't even need to, because you never completed your forging and swore Oshtur your loyalty."

You frown, absorbing his words. "B-but what am I supposed to do now?"

"After all you've done? The only thing, come on. Go clean up your mess." Kaecillius says. "Your magic must be monitored, but don't worry, we'll make good use of your powers."

Kaecillius stands up, wiping the dust from his robes. "And so, do we have an agreement, or can I tell everyone that you would rather your wife's second death meant nothing?"

"Fuck you Kaecillius."

He laughs with gusto. "I knew you still had it in you, Y/N. Deal?"

You roll your eyes, but raise your hand to him. "Deal."

The memories start to flow between the long days of working to tidy up your universe, but Wanda stumbles back and in the blink of an eye, you are back in your bodies on the terrace of the train station.

You blink a little trying to get used to your surroundings again, and Wanda gets up first, looking very upset. You hurry to get up and approach her.

"Hey, Wands, I know it's a lot but-"

"When she died, I became the Scarlet Witch, didn't I?" Wanda asks with an indecipherable expression, following your same line of thought as before. You sigh.

"I don't know." You say sincerely. "It may have happened when I received Oshtur's blessing as a Knight, or it may have happened when I let her go. I wish I had all the answers, Wanda, but I really don't."

Wanda shook her head, her eyes filled with tears.

"What you know is enough, Y/N." She says in an accusatory tone. "A Guardian is destined to destroy the Scarlet Witch. There is no future for us."

You swallow dryly, shaking your head. "Wanda, I would never do that, I would never-"

"But you already have." She retorts, tears streaming down her face. "And you did it with your wife. I'm just a replacement for her, so it's going to be even easier."

"Wanda, don't say that!" 

But she turns her back on you, and though you try to go after her, and even get in her way, she can't hear you anymore, Chthon's ironic laughter is the only sound in her ears.

Wanda rips the Cube door off without difficulty with her magic, and you let out an exclamation, trying to grab her by the shoulders. She grunts in annoyance and enchants a bicycle stand to pin you to the wall.

America wakes up with the commotion and only has time to scream in surprise before Wanda pulls her by the arm outside, where she has enough room to conjure a portal into an open place.

You let out an exclamation, but witness Wanda enchanting the girl's mind - a portal breaking in front of them - until she finds the world she wants to go to.

This is the right one. 

With Chthon's whisper of approval, Wanda steps forward, only to see the world change again.

She blinks in confusion, but as she looks at America, she notices the scarlet magic fused with golden threads. She looks at you with indignation, raising her free hand so that one of the irons forces its way around your neck, and though the gold wavers in your eyes, you don't stop altering the worlds.

"Y/N, don't make me hurt you." Wanda asks between teeth, increasing the pressure.

You give her a short, tired laugh, and Wanda can see the blood beginning to trickle down your nose, hesitating a little.

"I am just keeping our deal." You tell her, and with a pained grunt, you free yourself from the irons with a short golden blast, not giving Wanda much time to react as you run towards her and push her and America into the portal.

--//--

#wanda maximoff x reader #wanda x reader #wanda x you #wanda maximoff x you #wanda maximoff #marvel imagines #elizabeth olsen x reader #wanda maximoff imagines #Rulers of The Multiverse #the scarlet witch x reader

[nelumbo-lotuses]

[ @os-mapmaker ]

Greetings. You may call me the Mapmaker. I am on a mission to learn about all currently known timelines and their residents. I hope you would not mind answering a few questions.

Interview: Mason

[START]

⠀

I noticed that you have shared a lot of information about your garden and gardening experiences, but very little about yourself. Who or what got you into gardening in the first place?

Oh, howdy! I have been eyeing your work for a while. Good work, I can commend it. By all means, you may ask me any questions you would like. Some of us do not have rocket science jobs. Here's a secret: I was raised at the Glen, actualy. Grew up around a bunch of plants, and our house had a moss ceiling! From the Polytrichaceae family if my memory serves me right, mainly from the creeping rootstalks.

Our family could not afford to make a living in the Refuge, so we had humble lives as farmers and traders with the glenfolks. I was their only child however, and they insisted they did not want me to live the same life as them. Fortunately for me, I had a stronger way with words, and I got to study plant biology. Being around a family that grows plants for a living, you can guess how that went. Then, I finally got the chance to study abroad. Had to leave my family however, which was crushing at first. But, being able to explore around the Refuge with my future colleagues was absolutely immaculate. That's how I met Kip! Now, I'm here. Still surrounded by plants, the only difference being that I'm alone now, heh. I'm living my life though, and a secret is that living a best life is never a thing. It's only living a life around the things you care about dearly, so that your issues are smaller. Whew, long one! Sorry for the autobiography, I get chatty a lot. Hope it answers your question.

#os game rp #plant discussions #mason responds

[secularprolifeconspectus]

You and your colleagues who advocate the prohibition of abortions feel moral satisfaction from the imaginary salvation of unborn children, but do you care what happens to these children after they are born? Are there people who will take care of them, do these people have the resources and opportunities, are they able to give them everything for life? Because very often those who persuade people not to have abortions and give birth disappear from the lives of children when they cease to be in the womb

First, the HUBRIS you have to have to assume we're saving imaginary children. If you want to argue fetuses aren't people, then just do that. Don't come at me with some bad-faith whataboutism. Make a good fucking argument to prove some humans aren't people or shut the fuck up! Burden of proof is on you!!

Second, thanks for giving me an excuse to talk about some of my FAVORITE organizations and initiatives.

The short answer to both of your questions is YES.

At one point in time I also fell for the forced-stillbirther propaganda that said "pro-lifers don't do anything for mothers once the baby is born!" But after researching the early Pro-Life Movement, I learned I was lied to! Just see this article from 1975:

"It will be called the Emergency Pregnancy Service Aid Centers... According to Mooney, the centers will “try to help women with problem pregnancies, with money, housing and counseling. We will try to find a way to ameliorate her situation.” Mooney said that many people have donated money for the projects and others have offered to provide shelter for as long as needed.” Mooney, whose group is eight months old, said it is “an alternative to the right to lifers. We are a little more liberal. There are two shows in town.”

So from the very beginning Pro-Lifers have been doing the work to support mothers.

That doesn't mean some mothers didn't fall through the cracks of course, but it's not because *no one* would help them. It's not up to Pro-Lifers to end child suffering before we can end baby murder, anymore than it was up to slave abolitionists to end racism before they could free Black people. Fetuses are actual people, and killing people doesn't solve issues we must solve as a society; that is a "final solution," and it is genocidal.

Now who is doing this work in the modern day, you ask? Well, let me introduce you to

Let Them Live

Currently (November 2023) they are raising $28,000 for Carly so she can keep her baby and get back on her feet! I've seen them raise over $20,000 in funds for these mothers time and time again. Their friend Maison DesChamps sometimes free-scales skyscrapers to raise awareness for their fundraisers. It's insane. They even have an "Adopt-A-Mom" program. From their website:

Let Them Live assistance is tailored directly to each individual mom’s circumstances. Generally, this includes paying for rent, utilities, car payments, gas, food, a baby registry, financial literacy classes, counseling, and assistance in finding full time employment. Our counselors work with each mom to create a financial plan that is specific to their own unique situation. Generally, the counselors are able to get the moms completely back on their feet during the last few months of their pregnancy. Our aim is to facilitate each mom’s financial stability and independence by the time her baby is born.

And there are SO many testimonials from women they have helped. (<-Links)

I also want to give a shout-out to New Wave Feminists and their Stellar Shelter that helps immigrant and refugee moms at the border!

I also know individuals who have made huge sacrifices to help women and children after the baby is born. My friend Lauren threw herself on the car windshield of a mother who was driving to an abortion and begged her to not do it, promising to raise the child for as long as she needed if she wouldn't kill him. She didn't kill Mayson, and Lauren raised him for an entire year on her own until his mother was back on her feet.

And there's organizations that lobby for better government social safety nets for struggling parents, such as Democrats for Life.

Recently the Pro-Life Movement has also established two new campaigns to help alleviate the struggles of parenting. The first is Make Birth Free, which I hope is self-explanatory. The second is "Building a Post-Roe Future", which entails:

Accessible and affordable healthcare for parents and children—including expanding Medicaid funding for prenatal care, delivery, and postpartum expenses—to reduce the financial barriers to welcoming a new child; Expanded child tax credits that promote family formation and lift children out of poverty; Paid parental leave that ensures every infant can receive the close attention and nurturing care they need from their mothers and fathers in the early months of life; Flexible work hours to enable families to establish a tranquil home life, with predictable work schedules and better options for meaningful part-time employment; Affordable childcare options that support working parents, without disincentivizing the choice to raise young children at home that many families say they would prefer;  Fully enforce existing prenatal child support laws while seeking effective new ways to demand that all men take responsibility for children they father.

I hope that's enough to prove to you that we really do give a damn!

What are YOU doing to help women who feel financially forced to abort but would keep their babies if only they had the money?

If your answer is "I donate to kill their babies instead of making parenting an equally accessible choice", you're a hypocrite, a loser, and an enemy to the working class!! BECOME A BETTER PERSON AND DO BETTER!!!!

#answers and submissions #hide

[waitmyturtles]

[I’m flipping furiously through my manga volume of Our Dining Table, making sure that I’m correct: I believe Our Dining Table, episode 3, is not canon to the manga (which is FINE, I’m not a canon fascist!) -- but if this zoo/bento episode appeared in any web/Twitter specials, I very much stand corrected!]

Another lovely one from Our Dining Table/Bokura No Shokutaku. Such a quiet, well-paced, lovely show. 

Inukai as Yutaka does almost-cringe really well, as the comments of this post discussed last week, and this week, Yutaka really almost took it to the edge. His approach to his colleague to ask for help to learn how to make bento.... oof. I was this close squirming to the edge of my seat. So well done.

I think this framing of Yutaka 1) needing to learn how to make a bento, 2) needing to learn how to ask for help, 3) getting that help, and 4) receiving the warmest gambatte ever from his colleague -- I think, for the dorama’s sake, it was a necessary vignette to help build up Yutaka.

Because next week, when Yutaka runs into his brother in the grocery store -- it takes him out in the manga, and I have no doubt that Inukai is going to nail it in real time in the dorama. 

So: in this episode, we see Yutaka going through a process of gaining confidence. He’s already feeling validated as a human through his developing relationship with Minoru and Tane-kun.

But I like that, in the dorama, this spreads to Yutaka’s social life/workplace, and that his colleagues are also seeing this change in him.

I didn’t quite put it this way when I was reading the manga for the first time, but we see blips of what happened in Yutaka’s childhood -- he was pushed away while groups of people, his family, ate. I didn’t call it this back then, but it was dehumanizing. 

So what we’re seeing in Yutaka NOW, through Minoru and his family, is Yutaka’s REHUMANIZING. And a lot of that process, I realize, will totally be awkward! And Inukai is toooootally nailing how awkward it is for Yutaka to be going through this growth/regrowth process.

Ugh -- and it’s SO BEAUTIFUL TO SEE. HOW QUIET HIS CONVERSATIONS WITH MINORU ARE. How quiet that confession was to Minoru about not knowing how to make bentos, how nervous Yutaka was -- and, clearly, how moved Minoru was to be one of the recipients of those bentos.

Man, it gives me the shivers that this show is taking the time to fill in the emotional craters that Yutaka has from his upbringing. And I continue to love the portrayal of Minoru’s parenting towards Tane-kun -- and slowly, slowly, how Yutaka brings energy and skills to that shared parenting as well, because that’s what we’re seeing develop.

I knew I loved this manga because of how directly sweet it was. But what I didn’t realize, watching it in dorama form, is that it is SERIOUSLY breaking a HUGE Japanese paradigm of queer couples not being able to be married on paper and have official families. (In TsukuTabe/She Loves to Cook and She Loves to Eat, a Japanese lesbian is shown on social media as living overseas with her partner and a child.)

As a mama, I’m seriously getting chills watching Yutaka and Minoru grow in their very unofficial (as of now) partnership in sharing care for Tane-kun, and it is BLASSSSTTINNNGG my mom heart to wonderful little bits. ALKJSDKLJFSDF I LOVE THIS SHOW! This show is SUCH A MUST-WATCH, PEOPLE!

#our dining table #bokura no shokutaku #inukai atsuhiro #iijima hiroki #yutaka x minoru #minoru x yutaka #TANE-KUN AND HIS STUFFED PLUSHIEEEESSSSSS #my living room is the same just covered in stuffed animals all over lol #i need to make a living room zoo for my kids too!

[harryjamespotterweek]

HJP Week 2023 - Masterlist Part 1

Harry had a ball with all your wonderful creations! Thanks to everyone who participated. 🥳🥳🥳

This is the masterlist post in which all entries submitted across all platforms will be listed. There are art, fics, podfics and book bindings! If you prefer to view by prompts, check out the roundup post here.

The AO3 collection will stay open till the end of the year for any late submissions. If you want the blog to reblog your work on Tumblr, please tag @harryjamespotterweek and #hjpweek2023. 

This has been a wonderful week! Thanks for joining me in showing some love to our favorite birthday boy! ❤️❤️❤️

Masterlist Part 2

Art:

Harry Potter

🎨 Body Worship - @ofnightsndsongs

🎨 Under the Influence - @ofnightsndsongs

---

Harry Potter/Severus Snape

🎨 Worried Part I - @flymetosnarryland

🎨 Worried Part II - @flymetosnarryland

Book Binding:

🪡 The White Road by perverse-idyll - @danpuff-ao3

Fic & Art:

Harry Potter/Severus Snape

❤️ Promises, promises... - acydpop / @acydpop [artist] & SerenaEW / @serenaew [writer] | G | 5k

Healer Harry Potter has been pining after his former-professor-turned-occasional-consultant-colleague Severus for a while now, but he doesn't believe anything will come out of it. Turns out, his children, Jamie, Al and Lily, have a surprise for his birthday — will he like it?

Fic:

Harry Potter & Friends (Gen Fics)

📖 Brunch - Know_It_All_2008 / @kiraannwrites | G | 798

Entry for Harry James Potter Week over on tumblr. Meeting Hermione and Ron for lunch as just routine at this point. That doesn't mean it's not his favorite part of the week.

📖 Fading Balm - Poljupci / @poljupci | T | 1.3k

The War is over and Harry is ready to leave it behind him. In the small bedroom of their even smaller apartment, half-naked, he, Ron and Hermione take the first step.

📖 First Date - emeraldlove / @givereadersahug | G | 348

"A test run, they said," mumbled Harry as he ignored the stares from judgmental strangers. "A date with your godson to see how well we get along. I'm good with children, I swear!" Teddy cried harder.

📖 Make Our Dreams Come True - Coconutice22 / @coconutice22 | G | 595

Eight-year-old Harry and his friends plan a summertime heist.

📖 the real treasure - Poljupci / @poljupci | G | 540

After the War, there is nothing more important than sticking together. Harry and the rest of what is left of the Dumbledore's Army decide to make their commitment to their friendship a little more permanent with a few simple runes, some throwaway magic and a galleon tattooed on their skin rather than carried around in their pockets.

📖 Something Just Like This - AliceLiddle / @drarrypotterrenaissance | G | 100

Harry's happy right where he is. A 100-word drabble on friendship and turning down destiny in a coffeeshop AU

📖 Travels - emeraldlove / @givereadersahug | G | 411

The Boy Who Lived didn't live up to the expectations that were set out for him. Instead, he chose his own path, stepping off the yellow-brick road. He hoped to never get back on.

---

Harry Potter/Charlie Weasley

📖 Endlings - Coconutice22 / @coconutice22 | E | 6.2k

Harry was eight when he decided he was in love with Charlie Weasley, the Lion Tamer. He knew he loved him even before he really knew what love was. At 16, Harry meets Charlie again and comes to learn there's so much more to his best friend's brother than he ever guessed.

---

Harry Potter/Daphne Greengrass

📖 Daphne's Surprise - SquibNation10 | T

Daphne surprises her overworked husband with a month-long vacation cruise for his birthday. He's ecstatic until he finds out she invited Malfoy along. From rivals to brother-in-laws. Harry's life is just perfect.

---

Harry Potter/Draco Malfoy

📖 birthdays, and how harry potter learns to love them. - pansysimp / @pansysimp | G | 347

HJP week ‘23, day 7, prompt: birthday. a tiny fic for the birthday boy. slight mention of child neglect! check me out on tumblr! @ pansysimp

📖 Everything I Ever Wanted - AliceLiddle / @drarrypotterrenaissance | G | 325

Twenty years after the best birthday of Harry's life, he celebrates again.

📖 First Dates and Repeated Mistakes - AliceLiddle / @drarrypotterrenaissance | T | 1k

Harry James Potter just doesn't have a good track record when it comes to first dates. Unfortunately, he doesn't seem to be improving.

📖 Flashes of Joy and Agony - AlindaKB / @alindakb | T

Snippets of Harry's life in a universe where his father James didn't die but is still absent.

📖 A Glimmer of Hope - AliceLiddle / @drarrypotterrenaissance | T | 1.6k

Once both you and your soulmate come of age, you can see shimmering sparkles, like a heat map, on things they’ve recently touched. A casual inter-house quidditch match between the returning eighth years gets a bit competitive, and Harry discovers that there's a lot more waiting for him on the other side of the war than he expected.

📖 Lick It Up - starlitsilvereyes / @starlitsilvereyes | E | 448

“You’re so good, Harry,” Draco says, hot breath fanning over the perspiration on Harry’s skin. “So good for me.”

📖 Locked Out, Let In - AliceLiddle / @drarrypotterrenaissance | T | 2.6k

Harry's locked himself out of his floo, and can't apparate home. Draco has a house full of wet paint, drop cloths, and only one bed. Pansy is a scheming matchmaker.

📖 Love to Hate You - starlitsilvereyes / @starlitsilvereyes | E | 2k

Sex with Potter was always rough. All claws and teeth – a hand wrapped around Draco’s neck, fingernails on Draco’s hips, and Potter’s filthy mouth panting against Draco’s ear.

📖 Magic from the Start - AliceLiddle / @drarrypotterrenaissance | T | 2.6k

A weekly brunch, a discussion of the things parents hide under their children's pillows and why, accidental magic, and the discovery that Harry James Potter has been this way since the beginning.

📖 morning after - Poljupci / @poljupci | E | 533

Harry woke up naked in his bed, but not alone. Coming face to face with a naked and barely awake Draco Malfoy was… not as shocking as one might think. Having brunch with him at a trendy, muggle place is a different beast entirely.

📖 My big problem - Spelcray / @waterfalls-moon | M | 249

Harry has a problem, his attempts at a relationship never exceed three dates.

📖 Room 286 - Poljupci / @poljupci | T | 1k

While on an Auror mission in Wales, Harry and Malfoy's hotel room reservation doesn't really turn out as planned. It's more than okay, though, since Malfoy had no intention of using his own bed anyway.

📖 Sometimes, Alcohol is the Answer - jmagnabosco / @jmagnabo92 | E | 3.4k

Five years after the war, Harry needs a drinking buddy and is surprised when his enemy turns into more.

📖 A Walking Heroic History - AliceLiddle / @drarrypotterrenaissance | T | 1.2k

"Besides,” Harry said, “It seems pretty simple to me. You were a git, and I hated you. Now you’re not a git, and I love you. Easy as that.”

📖 You win. - Poljupci / @poljupci | M | 1k

After a day of birthday celebration with all his family and friends, Harry goes back home only to find out Draco has one last surprise for him.

#hjpweek2023 #mod post #harry potter #harry james potter #drarry #hjp #snarry #haphne

[hamsterclaw]

Namjoon Masterlist

All of my writing contains smut and is 🔞. I hope you enjoy reading these Namjoon stories as much as I love writing about our fave big buff clumsy cerebral Joon.

Open Chest surgeon! Namjoon x doctor! reader

You and Namjoon lost touch after medical school. You aren't expecting to see him again, until he turns up for a fellowship at your hospital.

Americano hardware store owner! Namjoon x cafe owner! reader

You've just opened your own cafe in a small suburban town. Namjoon owns the hardware store next door. He's hot, he's handy and suddenly you are in way over your head. Also read: Heat for Namjoon's POV.

Fallen angel! Namjoon x fashion editor! reader

You meet a man claiming to be an angel, and he turns your life upside down.

Fleeced farmer! Joon x lavender farmer! reader, ft farmer! JK

You're determined to achieve your grandparents' last wishes, which means returning to the farm where you spent many summers as a child. The boys next door have grown up, and Namjoon in particular is proving to be very distracting. Featuring Jungkook.

Run police detective! Namjoon x reader. Part of the Rage AU.

Namjoon's not sure why he noticed you, but now that he has, he wants to know more.

Inferno and Epilogue officer! Namjoon x diver! reader

Namjoon and you sign up as officers of Project Inferno, a global endeavour to save Earth from collapse. It's a high-risk operation, and no one knows the risk better than Yoongi, one of the few men to make it back from the trench.

Reprieve police detective! Namjoon x reader

You're the newest recruit to Namjoon's investigative team. Unbeknownst to everyone else, you've met before, which is exactly why he doesn't trust you.

Kyoto bookstore owner! Namjoon x reader, dystopian future

It's the year 3021. Namjoon and you have been in each other's orbit for years. You don't want his guilt to be the reason you stay together, but he's getting harder and harder to resist.

Sake rap star! Namjoon x sake brewer! reader ft bar owner Hoseok and businessman Yoongi, polyamory

Yoongi has a business proposition for you. You think working with him is a good decision for your business, but not necessarily your heart. Also read: Daiginjo, a follow up story to Sake.

Spread ex-military! Namjoon x doctor! reader ft doctor! Hoseok

Your hospital is under siege in the middle of a pandemic. Featuring Hoseok.

Freak on a bike runner! Namjoon x reader

He doesn't know what he's doing, this big dumb guy. Also read Breakfast, when it turns out your big dumb goon can make eggs. And dumbblonde, when he learns to drive but is only marginally better at staying alive. Also hookup, where he can drive but not quite park.

Change pt.2

Namjoon thinks he's over you, until he sees you.

Heartbeat doctors! Namjoon x reader

Your colleague Namjoon is infuriating. He’s intelligent, but he’s also smug, irritating and cold. You hate him until you realise you don’t.

Dragonfire dragon rider! Namjoon x reader

Lord Namjoon commands the dragon riders of Mount Halji. He's authoritative, well-respected, a fearsome warrior on the battlefield. So why aren't you afraid of him, damnit?

Love - a series exes Namjoon x reader

Namjoon is your ex-husband, the man who committed even though he didn't really want to. So why is he still hanging around now that you're over?

Night, London idol Namjoon x reader

You steal moments together when Namjoon's in town.

©hamsterclaw 2021 - 2024

#namjoon smut #namjoon x reader #namjoon fanfic