#workplace parental policies

[bookishbrigitta]

Welcome to my unhinged Star Wars WIPs and headcanons focusing on women and women's issues! 🙃

Here's a snip from a WIP/scenario that grew out of hand. Shortly after ANH.

This was not how Luke Skywalker had planned to see his first in-person breast.

In the supply closet Luke had opened, a green-skinned Twi’lek woman sat on a folding chair, one breast out and the other attached to what appeared to be some kind of mini-vaporator. 

Luke froze – though, to his credit, he froze with his eyes downcast. This was not what he’d been sent to fetch.

“Why are you here?!” the woman screeched. She reached behind her back for her jacket and threw it over her front to cover herself. 

“I, uh, I’m looking for wing foil grease…”

“This is the lactation closet!”

“Sorry, um–”

“Get out!”

He fumbled for the door handle and stumbled back into the corridor.

Kriff, kriff, kriff! There you go, Wormie. Kriffing things up as usual.

A few paces from the door, he leaned against the wall with his head back and eyes shut, trying to control with rapid breath and shaking knees.

Why did you just stand there like a sleemo? How did you pick the wrong supply closet? Everyone’s going to know. There’s no way they’ll let you stay in the Alliance.

Losing the battle with his jelly legs, Luke slid to the floor.

I’m going to get kicked out of the Alliance! I’m going to get kicked out and end up back on Tatooine, homeless and alone, living in a speeder by the Judland Wastes. They should just blast me with the ion cannon now and get it over with.

#star wars #workplace parental policies #luke skywalker #hera syndulla #women and womanhood #post-ANH #bookishbrigitta babbles #homeless and alone in a van down by the river

[bigdatadept]

Navigating Modern Masculinity, AI, and Societal Growth: Insights from Steven Bartlett and Scott Galloway

In an era where societal norms, technological advancements, and personal development intersect in complex ways, understanding the nuances of these interactions becomes crucial. This blog post delves into a profound conversation between Steven Bartlett and Scott Galloway, which sheds light on modern masculinity, the societal impact of artificial intelligence (AI), economic challenges facing young…

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#AI Impact #Economic Policies #Future of Employment #Modern Masculinity #Parenting Values #Personal Development #Regulatory Oversight #Societal Challenges #Workplace Culture

[bluefirewrites]

Hey shout out to the Federal Labor Laws and my company's employee handbook.

Now me and my coworkers can't stop saying 'those who express breastmilk' without dying laughing 🤭 EXPRESS??

(Though on a serious note, why is our lactation break policy kinda whack?)

#in our handbook it says that lactation breaks should be taken concurrently with other scheduled breaks #so ur telling me other people can enjoy their lunch while other people would have to pump?? #i aint even a mom but the US needs to provde better resources and policies for parents in the workplace #but also 'express'??? #why not 'produce'?? #idk it got us all giggling like an asshole #blue rambles

[octuscle]

Sustainable changes

Nicolas had just been promoted to Senior Product Manager. But the condition was that he had to take a foreign assignment for two years. He had reckoned with Germany, the USA or maybe Japan. India would also have been okay. But he was supposed to go to Turkmenistan. His employer had just bought a large agricultural cooperative there, which was now to be converted in the direction of ecological and sustainable agriculture. On the one hand, this sounded like a completely unknown field of work. Nicolas had previously worked more in the consumer goods sector. On the other hand, anything that bore the label "sustainable" was naturally a career driver at the moment. So he took a cautiously optimistic approach.

Once Nicolas arrived at his new workplace, the optimism quickly evaporated. He had arrived somewhere in the middle of nowhere. There was no office building, there were only barracks. Mostly not air-conditioned. He had expected to be put up in some hotel. But he had been given a room with a farmer. Toilet in the yard. Bathroom was an outdoor shower served from the cistern. He felt infinitely silly in his outfit.

In the first service meeting, a colleague asked him if they could tweak Nicolas's resume a bit for the presentation to the workers. It might be good for his credibility if they could give him some local roots. Nicolas was tired. The trip had been exhausting. He remembered his parents' Russian gardener. A picture of a man. Former combat swimmer. And of the Turkish cook. So he answered, one may mix in there with pleasure something Russian and Turkish. The main thing was that he was allowed to retire now.

The night had been hell. It smelled like a pigsty in his room. And he could hear the pigs too, as if they were sleeping in bed with him. There was no hot water to shave with. And company policy forbids the use of shower gels containing microplastics without functioning wastewater treatment for environmental reasons. So all he can use is a bar of curd soap. When introduced to the staff, he looks appropriately a bit bedraggled. One of his colleagues asks Nicolas to say something in Russian. He has to think a bit. His grandmother sometimes spoke to him in Russian. But it's enough for a "I'm happy to be here and look forward to working with you. The employees cheer for their new boss.

Before Nicolas takes a shower the next morning, he drives the pigs out of the barn. If he's going to share the roof with them, he might as well make himself useful. His hosts invite him to breakfast. The conversation in Russian is still a bit bumpy. Nikolai hasn't spoken his father's language for years. And his host family, of course, actually speaks Turkmen. But with hands and feet it works. And so it goes on in the office. The team meeting was supposed to take place in English. But the interpreter dropped out. With every hour it gets better. The memory of his father's language comes back.

At breakfast, Nikolai realizes that he understands Turkmen better than he thought. It definitely works out that his hosts ask him in their native language. But he prefers to answer in Russian. Nikolai speaks it again as fluently as he did when he lived with his father in the Sevastopol army barracks. At work, they discuss the tasks for the next few days. Nikolai considers the projects for preventing soil erosion and unused surface water runoff to be urgent. Everyone passionately discusses the possibilities of transforming agriculture to get by without artificial irrigation. But Nikolai realizes that it will be difficult to irrigate only naturally in the desert.

The next morning, Nikolai surprises your host family with a few words of Turkmen. With his fluency in Russian and Turkish as his mother's language, it's not that hard for him to learn the language. On the job, they speak almost only Turkmen anyway. Today, his job is to drive the fields and inspect and document the environmental damage. Nikolai doesn't even need to shower for that. It will be hot anyway. And air conditioning is only for wimps. The point is to save energy wherever possible. In the afternoon, he gets a call from headquarters. They are very pleased with his work on site. It is clear that the project would not make an economic contribution. But the advertising impact is enormous. Whether he is interested in accepting a junior director position at the headquarters in Paris.

Nikolai turns his camera, bares his left breast and says in broken French that his heart beats for his new home. He won't leave until the desert blooms again.

#male tf #muscle tf #chronivac #tank top #race change #male transformation #muscle transformation

[nkjemisin]

I remember reading in one of your author bios that your workplace was extremely flexible in a way that let you finish your first novel. What did that look like in practice, were you working part time? From home? I ask because I'm starting to think of finding a new job, but I don't want to get locked into something that'll sap my energy for writing

It wasn't "extremely" flexible; it was a pretty standard flex time setup. Flex time is more common in certain industries than others -- tech especially -- and it's becoming less common as people have no choice but to work longer hours to make the same money. (sigh) But it works in other industries, provided you've got management that understands the concept. In my case I wanted one day during the work week to do the businessy stuff my writing career required, like interviews and meetings with my publisher or agent, so I asked to do four 10-hr days per week instead of five 8-hr days, and my boss agreed. Boss got to say which day, so for a while I had Fridays off, then Mondays at one point, then Wednesdays, but that was fine as long as I had time to plan. Usually I came in at 9 like usual, just worked 'til 7, and along the way I took 2 thirty-minute breaks for lunch (I called it "lunch" and "afternoon snack") instead of one hour. I was still doing the same amount of work, just arranged differently.

It helped that it was good for my office; we had a lot of after-hours student issues to deal with, so that landed on me. Good for everybody.

If you're looking for a new job, make sure you ask during interviews about whether the company has a flextime policy. When I did this during job searches, some companies/schools would immediately lose interest, and some would tell me their flextime was only for certain employees (disabled people and new parents most often), and I didn't qualify. A few employers even seemed freaked out by the idea that I had a secondary (this was before it became primary) career. But that was a good thing, because I didn't want to work for an inflexible company, so asking the question was a handy way to weed those out. Good luck!

#answered asks

[guzhufuren]

Taiwan 🇹🇼 A Guide to Some of the Best Queer Asian Shows

Full list here.

1. History3: Trapped mafia boss/policeman

The story of a police officer who becomes trapped in the underworld, as he develops feelings for a gang leader.

YouTube or Viki

2. Kiseki: Dear to Me mafia; age gap

Bai Zongyi, an exemplary high school student with dreams of becoming a doctor, is one day unexpectedly drawn into the world of a charismatic and mischievous gangster Fan Zerui, who blackmails him into taking him in and treating his wounds. Just as their love story begins to unfold, Fan Ze Rui's criminal life catches up with him. On the other hand, Chen Yi and Ai Di are two orphans who grew up in the gang together. Ai Di has always loved Chen Yi, but Chen Yi only notices their boss.

Viki or GagaOOLala or YouTube

3. My Tooth Your Love dentist/chef; trauma healing

Bai Lang is a successful bistro owner with an severe fear of visiting the dentist... until a toothache forces him to come face to face with the handsome yet cold dentist Jin Xunan.

Viki

4. Anti Reset android/human

When Chu Yi Ping, an emotionless man, dislocates his hand in an accident at school, his uncle gives him Ever 9 as a caretaker, an experimental intelligent robot that his company is secretly testing.

Viki or iQIYI or GagaOOLala

5. History2: Crossing the Line sports; high school setting

When an injury sidelines a high school senior from the volleyball team, he develops feelings for a recruit.

YouTube or Viki

6. Be Loved in House: I Do workplace romance; roommates

When the new boss arrives at the company, he immediately clashes with a headstrong, hot-blooded employee over a controversial workplace policy. Although their relationship starts off combatively, the two of them develop a bond as they work and live together.

Viki

7. We Best Love: No. 1 For You, We Best Love: Fighting Mr. 2nd enemies to lovers; secret crush; university setting

Zhou Shu Yi has spent his entire life as second best thanks to Gao Shi De, whether it be academics, arts or sports, Gao Shi De always managed to beat Shu Yi. Many years later, Shu Yi can finally breathe a sigh of relief when he and his nemesis part ways for university. However, as fate would have it, Shu Yi finds himself defeated once again when Shi De transfers to Shu Yi’s college for his final year. Could the reason that Shi De is seemingly following Shu Yi be something other than to torment him?

WeTV (S1) & WeTV (S2)

8. About Youth high school setting; popular boy/musician

Ye Guang is an elite high school student and a popular campus idol, while Xu Qizhang is an exemplary guitarist who normally has a weak sense of existence but completely transforms himself when on stage.  Smitten by the kindness that Ye Guang showed him on one of the saddest nights of his life, Xu Qizhang is more than happy to repay that kindness when Ye Guang starts having a hard time with his parents. But will this newfound friendship develop into something more?

Viki or GagaOOLala

9. Stay by My Side roommates; enemies to lovers; university setting; ghosts

Bu Xia finds himself with an unwelcome new roommate, a student by the name of Jiang Chi, whose cold and studious temperament could not be more different from Bu Xia's. Bu Xia has an inherited ability to hear ghosts, but while trying to get rid of Jiang Chi, Bu Xia makes a discovery: that the ghosts are silenced when he is physically close to Jiang Chi.

Viki or GagaOOLala

10. Plus & Minus best friends to lovers; lawyers; secret crush

Zheng Ze Shou and Fu Li Gong have been best friends for over twenty years. Now, they work as divorce attorneys in the same law firm. Despite their close brotherly bond, this friendship never escalated affectionately until now.

Viki or GagaOOLala

---

You can watch some shows for free on YouTube, and watch others on the streaming websites by setting VPN to Taiwan. In other cases I recommend paying for subscriptions to show appreciation and support of content in order to get more of it in the future, but if you can’t, watch on KissKH (better quality), Dramacool or get files from MkvDrama. Enjoy!  🏳️‍🌈🏳️‍⚧️

#mygifs #mine #taiwanese ql

[skippyv20]

Skip, Julie here. I worked for 43 years in fantastic jobs. Some as an employee, in HR, and in Senior Management. My employers were very well known Companies or Government. They had sick leave policies where employees from CEO to newest employee were entitled to medical leave and privacy of all medical information.

As a Manager I was aware of some very serious medical issues and we offorded those people complete privacy. Time to heal was dependent on their medical team despite how much they might have been needed in the workplace (perhaps being the only person with authority or highest level skill to deal with something vital).

A couple of these medical issues dealt with very serious surgery plus complications, and convalescence to deal with consequences of how their bodies or lives were changed and the mental processes they had to go through to understand and accept the changes.

Under no circumstances would I have ever thought it necessary to inform the other employees what was happening with the ill employee other than to update the return date. These people worked closely together but knew the value of allowing the one who was ill the time and space to fully recover. My contacting the employee for an update on whether they needed us was their choice to make, not mine or the company.

Princess of Wales is a senior member of a firm and a much loved member of a family. In her case she has a world wide family who care that she has been seriously ill and as family members we just want her to fully recover physically and mentally from her ordeal. We care and I think that says so much about how highly people around the world think of her.

As a senior member of the firm her bosses are aware of her illness and prognosis and have given her sick leave based on medical advice. I know the taxpayers of the UK keep up the mantra of BRF works for us, we pay them. Ok they are shareholders in the Company and they have an interest in ensuring the Company is providing the service they expect from it. The Company is BRF but no Company provides health information on senior employees except the CEO for obvious reasons. The company continues to operate even if a very important senior staff member is unwell.

My personal view is Catherine has been through a major abdominal surgery that has immediate and long term consequences for her. For HER, her husband and her 3 children. She does not owe any of us an explanation or an update. She loves her job and she does it brilliantly. She is totally loyal to King and Queen, her parents, siblings and the Commonwealth. She will never intentionally cause harm to her husbands family members.

People need to give her the same space we would all expect if we were seriously ill. I know people want to know what happened to her but really it is none of our business. Our role is to allow her time to fully heal so she can return to her role in the Company as soon as possible. No doubt she is already working behind the scenes.

I’m sorry this is long winded but I feel for her. 20 years of trying to please everyone yet when she needs some help people turn on her some will be because they are worried others for their own reasons. People need to send a private message of support but otherwise let her heal.

Princess of Wales, Catherine, God bless and keep you and your family fully protected and return you to full health We await your return, with patience, to your essential role for the Monarchy and we look forward to seeing you with your beautiful family vase soon as you feel you are fully recovered.

This is a lovely, thoughtful post Julie…no not too long.  I greatly appreciate the time and your experience you have shared with us.  I am quite proud of the fact that the people that come to this blog, are sensitive and caring and express nothing but support for Catherine and her family.  People are so concerned with “accountability “ these days….people are simply forgetting that behind the public life….is a real life going on, and people are dealing with all the same issues as everyone else.  The old “walk a mile in my shoes” comes to mind!  Thank YOU again Julie!🙏🏻❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️

[lilmissnatcat24]

are you ready for the trope i've been foaming at the mouth to finally write

“Vakarian?” Pallin’s voice called out from his glass office. He gestured him forward with a flick of his fingers. “Can we talk? Now?” 

It was never a good sign when Pallin called someone aside. He, like most other turians, was professional, bordering on emotionless. Which made it all the most devastating when he would pull someone from the case, or fire them with a neat little severance package, or tell them that they needed to go pick out chunks of a vorcha out of a car grill on Tayseri (and, speaking from personal experience, was probably one of Garrus’s least favorite days working for C-Sec). 

Garrus ignored the immature chittering that came from Chellick, Ridgefield, and Lamont as he joined Pallin down the hallway into an empty office, normally kept clean and tidy for telling families that their children and their parents were found somewhere on the Citadel murdered. Pallin gestured at one of the seats for Garrus, pacing back and forth with a datapad tucked underneath his arm. 

Pallin looked incredibly uncomfortable. He was fidgeting with his armor, fidgeting with his gloves, fidgeting with his mandibles, fidgeting with just about everything in a five foot radius that could be fidgeted with. Garrus realized he’d never seen Pallin look so nervous before. 

He placed the datapad down on the table, looking up at Garrus expectantly. “Is this true, son?” 

Garrus was terrified to pick it up. It could be just about anything. Saren’s orders to fire Garrus from C-Sec, transcripts from a listening device that implicate Garrus in his investigation, a paper trail linking him to a sex club… He picked it up and read: 

Consensual Relationship Agreement

Citadel Security is committed to creating a work environment free from harassment, discrimination, conflicts of interest, exploitation, and favoritism. 

It is against Citadel Security policy to use a position of authority to induce another person to enter into a nonconsensual relationship. Indeed, even consensual relationships in the workplace can cause disruption and other problems in violation to company policy. 

The purpose of this agreement is to affirm that Delia Shepard (Officer- Drugs and Trafficking) and Garrus Vakarian (Officer- Homicide), both employees of Citadel Security, have agreed to engage in a welcome, consensual social relationship--

Garrus’s tongue felt like a foreign object in his mouth, his stomach dropping down several levels. What the everliving fuck was Shepard thinking? His entire face was so stupidly warm, so warm that he was sure that Pallin could feel it from across the room. 

“I--” 

“Listen, Vakarian,” Pallin said in a fake sort of soft professional voice. This was why he was so uncomfortable; dealing with HR matters like this always made him unsure of what to say, or how to say it, or where to put his hands when he talked. “I’m not going to be the one to tell you who you can and can't see when you’re not at work or how to spend your free time. But are you absolutely positive that this is how you want to play this?” 

“Um… I mean… we-- I guess, the two of us… um…” Garrus had no idea what to say. Luckily for him, neither did Pallin, evidently. 

“I don’t need to know the specifics, please,” he put his hand up, a pained expression on his face. “Just… just make sure this doesn’t get in the way of your work, yeah? No… no quickies in storage closets.” 

“No, sir,” Garrus said so quickly it sounded like one garbled, stuttering mess. 

“I better not be able to smell her all over you.” 

“No, sir.” 

“And I sincerely hope you don’t spend all of your time on the seventh floor at her desk. You need to be at yours, working. Is that clear?” 

“Yes, sir.” Pallin opened his mouth once more, then thought better, closing it. He waved Garrus away, a clear end to the conversation. Garrus stood, his head feeling as though someone replaced his brain with feathers and flies. And, doing exactly what Pallin told him not to do, went straight for the elevator and punched in the seventh floor.

#mass effect fanfiction #mass effect #mass effect fanfic #shakarian #ao3 fanfic #shepard x garrus #femshep #garrus vakarian #turn left

[crossdreamers]

It is time to step up the defense of transgender people in Britain

What The Trans has published an urgent call for action in a thread over at twitter. We are taking the liberty of republishing it here so that it can reach as many as possible.

Here’s the thread:

//A lot has been written and said about the nightmarish situations facing trans people in the United States. The UK situation has become almost as terrifying. Here is a thread breaking it down Please read, please share. Many aren't aware of this.  Change that!

The government seems to be removing protections for trans people

Just under a year ago Rishi Sunak promised to review the equality act in regards to trans people. He was vague, but over the last few months the direction of travel appears to be removing protections for trans people from the equality act.

What this means in practice is defining sex purely as 'biological' with the goal of allowing service providers the option to lawfully bar trans people from single sex spaces.

How would that play out? It would mean that a trans woman could be barred from using the women's toilet if she is out with her friends at a bowling alley it means a trans man could be barred from using the men's toilet at the pub.

Many trans people already struggle to access these spaces. Either they use the one's that align with who they are, and risk being clocked as trans and shouted at...or they go to the wrong ones and get told they are in the wrong one and get clocked as trans.

If you need to understand more how this would effect someones life, ask yourself... ...have you ever worked at a place, not from home, and not used your workplaces toilets at all during the day? Could you do that?

The UK government is considering gutting the equality act to allow places to essentially make it potentially impossible for trans people to leave their homes for longer than their bladders can hold out. That is the reality.

Forced outing of trans kids 

2. Education guidance is incoming (and it doesn't sound good) For months the department of education has been promising to issue guidance on how schools deal with trans pupils.

The government are currently briefing the press the following: That schools will be forced to tell parents if their child has come out as transgender That trans students will be forced to participate in sports activitys of the wrong gender.

If you don't understand why the first would be bad, a report by @JustLikeUsUK revealed that almost half of young LGBT adults are estranged from their families. AKT has reported that 77% of LGBT young people said their homelessness was caused by family rejection and familial abuse.

If a child was to reveal to their teacher that they are trans, the government is briefing the press right now that they want to force teachers to out the kid to their parents. Looking at the situation now, it is clear how dangerous this could be to the child.

When it comes to sports, this policy risks excluding and marginalising students who already face significant levels of bullying and ostracisation from their peers. This proposed guidance risks making trans lives so much harder for our youngest.

Biggest rollback of rights ever

The UK's transgender community is facing the biggest rollback of their fundamental human rights, ever. For centuries we didn't have any rights at all. Since the 1970's the trans community has won many battles to get to this point of protections that aren't exactly perfect.

The government are contemplating making our lives unliveable outside of our homes, and potentially unlivable inside our homes if we happen to be children.

This is monstrous and the result of 7 years of anti-trans moral panic by the media giving the impression that there is something for politicians to gain from being absolutely horrific to the UK trans community. You must show them otherwise.

You must write to your MP, email them, call them, go see them, do all of these repeatedly. Form queues outside their constituency offices, fill up their mail bags, crash their email servers with the sheer number of messages, showing that these policies will cost them.

You must organise and attend protests. Radical, disruptive, marches, static, as many as possible, as frequently as possible with as many people as you can gather. Make them loud. Make them constant. Be as annoying as possible.

You must show up whenever political leaders show up in your area for campaigning or anything else.  Ask them difficult questions, shame them, make it very uncomfortable and tell them what this is and how it would hurt trans people.

This is a red alert for the trans community in the UK. This is a fight we cannot lose.//

Women’s Institute express strong support for trans people

Let us add an example of what can be done:

The Women’s Institute will continue to “celebrate” the lives of the transgender women enriching its membership, the head of the organisation said on Tuesday, following reports that it was facing a bid to overturn inclusive policy.

Good!

What The Trans homepage.

Illustration by Midjourney.

#trans #transgender #lgbt #lgbtqa #queer #transphobia #UK #politics

[cathkaesque]

Around 500 workers in the garment industry gathered in Leicester’s Spinney Hill Park on Sunday, 1 October to protest the worsening conditions workers are facing amid factory closures in the city. They were joined by labour rights campaigners and trade unionists. This was the first time workers had gathered to publicly protest their situation, but workers said they were ‘ready to speak’.

Suppliers have warned that fashion brands sourcing garments in the city are demanding price reductions, often on orders of clothing already made and delivered, which is making businesses unviable. In turn, garment workers in Leicester report significant reductions in hours and factory closures, increasing pressure on already low paid workers on the frontline of the cost of living crisis. 40% of children in Leicester are living in poverty, including those where parents are in work.

Garment workers are calling on fashion brands to take urgent measures to support the industry in Leicester. They want brands to commit to orders from local suppliers with decent wages and standards safeguarded in the contract price, and for a long-term commitment to the area. At the rally, women spontaneously spoke from the crowd to express their anger and frustration at the lack of work as well as the discrimination they face. Women spoke of being given unpaid trial shifts, zero predictability of the amount of work they’d be offered and the struggle to access services and support without speaking English.

A Leicester garment worker said: “Brands should take responsibility and commit to orders in Leicester. I know that the factories here have been running for many years. I speak to other workers who have been working in this industry for 20+ years. This is the time when workers are in need of work the most because of the cost of living being so high but instead the factories are slowly closing one by one. Thousands of workers are dependent on working in the factories in Leicester and most of us are migrant workers who have moved to the UK because of our suffering and for a better future ahead. 

We want factories to stay open and busy, we want improved working conditions and better workplaces with correct rules and regulations and factories that look after workers rights and pay national minimum wage, holiday, and sick pay.

Dominique Muller, UK Policy Lead at Labour Behind the Label, said: “It is high time for UK fashion brands to accept they are responsible for the present crisis garment workers are facing in Leicester. We’ve been here before: during the pandemic revelations about the industry in Leicester forced brands to take measures to improve the treatment of workers. But once public scrutiny moved on, all that remained were vague and aspirational pledges towards a more ethical industry. 3 years later, we see they have failed to live up to their promises. 

If brands are serious about building a fairer, more sustainable industry, they must commit to it. They must adopt an ethical sourcing strategy which includes assessing the working conditions of workers in their supply chain and making improvements. In this case, it means committing to UK suppliers and supporting workers in obtaining decent work. The workers who have given brands years of their labour and millions in profits deserve nothing less.”

[transgenderteensurvivalguide]

Pls help this is very urgent, I don't feel comfortable nor feel safe going to either women or men's lockeroom can I like find some way around that like use the nurses bathroom or aomwthing??

Lee says:

When I was in high school, I brought my clothes with me and changed in the regular bathrooms instead of the open changing area in the gym locker room.

You may have to keep your PE clothing and sneakers in your locker room locker if you don’t have room for them in your normal hallway locker or backpack, which would mean you’d have to enter the locker room, get your items, and then leave.

So if you don’t think it’ll get you in trouble, just get your clothes from wherever they’re stored and then change in the nearest bathroom without even asking the teacher.

If your school has a gender neutral bathroom, you might have better luck changing in there, even if it’s a bit further away than the nearest gendered bathroom is.

But if you’re out as trans, you could explain that you’ll need privacy to your gym teacher, and ask them to be allowed to change elsewhere, like in the nurse’s office bathroom, and that way you can get informal permission to not change in the locker room and won’t be marked as late.

If you don’t want to out yourself, you can tell your teacher that you have anxiety about changing in the gendered locker rooms and not mention the trans thing at all.

If you don’t think your teacher would be open to making informal accommodations for you, or you asked your teacher and they said no, speak to the guidance councilor or whatever school official is in charge of creating formal accommodation plans and see if you’re able to persuade them.

Whether you reach out to a trusted teacher, school counselor, or administrator, explain your concerns about using the gender-specific locker rooms and express your need for a safe alternative. Make sure you explain why you feel unsafe in detail and provide any examples of incidents that would support your concerns. They're more likely to respond if it's presented as a safety issue (and you said it was!) instead of just a personal preference.

If you do go to the top and ask a school official, you an also ask if there are any single-occupancy staff restrooms that you could use. That isn't ideal for you or the school but you can always ask!

Sometimes, having a written request can make the process more formal and may be taken more seriously. It also provides a record of your request, so if you are talking to school officials get everything on paper or in email.

If your parents are supportive, they can back you up and write a note to help excuse you. When you speak with them about this issue, be clear about why the current situation is not working for you and what would make you feel safer because they might not realize how important it is to you.

If even a parent's note doesn't help, familiarize yourself with any non-discrimination policies your school or workplace may have. Many institutions in liberal-leaning have policies in place to accommodate individuals who do not feel comfortable in gender-specific spaces, so you may be able to point at a policy and get backup that way.

And depending on your location, there may be laws that protect your right to safe and comfortable accommodations. Knowing these can help when discussing your needs with officials.

It's also important to know if a law isn't in your favor because then you will have more success just doing it instead of asking because if the school gives you permission they may get in trouble so they might be trying to avoid that. Organizations like the ACLU or local LGBTQ+ advocacy groups can sometimes provide guidance or intervene in situations where individuals are being denied reasonable accommodations, but that can be hard to do if you have unsupportive parents.

Remember, your comfort and safety are paramount, and you have the right to access facilities where you feel secure. Don't hesitate to advocate for yourself, and seek out allies like other trans people at your school or members of the GSA club who can support you through this process. They may have experience with similar situations and can offer advice or advocate on your behalf.

If you have a supportive friend who will stand up for you and come to the bathroom with you or change together with you in the locker room, that can be a great way to plan for your safety until you're able to access alternative facilities. I would honestly consider that to be your first step to help you stay safe while you work everything out.

Finally, it's clear that situations like these can be stressful! Consider speaking with a school counselor (keeping in mind the requirements of mandated reporting) or a therapist for support.

Followers, any tips for anon?

#Lee says #schools #trans #bathrooms #locker rooms #school

[steveyockey]

There are many things that nonbinary identity “does” well. The term is sufficiently broad and expansive to encompass a wide range of experiences, offering lots of space to negotiate and explore different forms of gender expression. Calling myself “nonbinary” has given me the necessary breathing room to negotiate my gender presentation in a way that’s generally legible to everyone from colleagues to partners to parents. It works as a valuable shorthand for articulating a break from traditional gender norms. In these ways and more, it is a worthwhile and validating label.

All that said, I think we have to recognize the ascendance of nonbinary identity as correlated with a major uptick in anti-trans violence and legislation. Obviously, the popularity of nonbinary identity doesn’t cause trans antagonism. But it also doesn’t prevent it. We live in a strange moment where, in many contexts, nonbinary identity seems so commonplace as to become boring, as Colyar’s essay suggests, even as transgender people continue to be disproportionately incarcerated, brutalized, and evicted. That so much of the conversation around nonbinary identity remains fixated on gender-neutral signage and pronouns proves that there’s a clear disconnect between identity as it’s sold by Condé Nast and as it’s experienced in real life.

If nonbinary identity was truly as revolutionary as it imagined and marketed itself to be, then perhaps its most prominent mouthpieces would be united with the wider transgender underclass in advocating for a concerted, collective counteroffensive—and not stumping for gender neutral nail polish. Nonbinary identity, signaled and expressed primarily through they/them pronouns and fashion, is both something that must be integrated into mundane workplace policies and also, allegedly, advance us toward the undoing of gendered society? It’s a difficult balance, one not unfamiliar to the gay rights movement of the late twentieth century, which found itself torn between abolishing the heterosexual family and demanding the right to recreate it. Ultimately, the side that was more amenable to capital won out. What makes us as nonbinary people think we’d fare any better?

Alex V Green, “Gender Blur,” The Baffler, October 24, 2022.

#when she drops the benedict anderson imagined communities citation. OH baby #reading #alex v green

[shyvioletcat]

A/N: EDIT! So I uploaded this on my IPad because i literally couldn’t wait to post so now it’s all prettified and I’ve added the tags too. If you’ve already read thank you so much, if you’re reading it because of the tag also thank you very much. Based on this prompt from @rowaelinprompts  

~~~~~ It was just after lunch when Rowan got the call with a few good hours in the work day. It was coming from the high school his two eldest children attended and being in the middle of the day that was never a good sign. So he left the email he was working on half finished to see what kind of trouble one or both of his children had managed to get into.

“Hello,” Rowan said in his politest phone voice.

“Hello, Mr Whitethorn. This is Hazel calling from Orynth High School. I’m just calling to let you know that Elspeth isn’t feeling too well and it would probably be best if she was picked up.”

Rowan rubbed his forehead, it always stressed him out when any of his kids weren’t at their best. Aelin took a small amount of joy in pointing out his fussiness. “Okay, well my wife is at home. It might be best to give her a call.”

“Elsie has requested you specifically, and would very much like for you to be the one to come get her,” Hazel explained.

That made Rowan even more concerned. The high school had a strict no phone during school hours policy, and while he was on board with that action within the school right now he was resenting it. “Yeah alright, let her know I’ll be there in about 20 minutes.”

“Thank you, Mr Whitethorn. See you soon,” Hazel said and hung up.

Rowan took another minute or two to finish off the email on his screen, then he closed his laptop and slipped it into his bag. He sent a text off to Aelin letting her know that the school had called saying Elsie was unwell and that he’d text her with an update when he had it. For 16 years he tried his hardest not to keep his daughter waiting for him, and he wouldn’t be starting now. On his way out he stopped by his boss’s office and found Lorcan hunched over his desk, staring between a desktop and laptop screen. Rowan gave the thick wooden door a hard knock to get his attention. Lorcan looked up with his standard workplace scowl set on his face.

“Elsie isn’t well and needs to be picked up so I’m heading out to get her,” Rowan said.

Lorcan nodded, that scowl taking on a more parental quality. “She okay?”

“I’m not sure, they didn’t give me much information so she’ll have to fill me in when I get there,” Rowan explained.

“Let me know how she is,” Lorcan said, he’d always had a soft spot for Elsie. “Korby hasn’t been saying much lately, I think sports is picking up so they’re not spending so much time together.”

“Will do.”

After that it didn’t take Rowan long to get in his car and to be heading across town to the high school. Now that he thought about it Elsie hadn’t been looking well these past few days, she’d been pale and quieter than usual. That was mostly noticeable because her siblings had been a little more chaotic without her steady presence to calm them down. She hadn’t come to him, or Aelin for that matter, about anything. So it could be possible she was suffering in silence over gods knew what. The more Rowan thought about it, the tighter that knot of concern twisted in his gut. As parents he and Aelin had worked very hard to be open and honest with their children, they wanted them to know that they could come to either one of them with anything without judgement. If something was wrong and Elsie hadn’t felt that she could approach him about it…

With his parental instincts activated, Rowan had no time for hesitation when he arrived at the school. Yanking the handbrake up and getting out of the car was a series of fluid motions that had him moving as fast as he could. He headed to the administration building, his driver’s licence ready to show as proof of ID.

“Whitethorn, I got a call to pick up my daughter Elspeth Whitethorn-Galathynius,” he said as he laid the card down on the small counter. The woman at the reception took a look at his licence and then nodded.

“If you’d like to come through you can help her with her bag. She’s not looking well at all,” the woman said and pressed a button that released the lock on the security door.

“Thank you.” He was heading towards the door before the words had left his mouth.

The sickbay was just by the door he’d come through and Rowan readied himself to see his daughter. What he hadn’t expected was to find the room empty besides her floral design backpack. Behind him Rowan heard the sound of a toilet flushing and then another door creaking open. He turned, ready to move out of the way of whoever needed it, but found Elsie instead. She looked awful, her face was devoid of colour and she was slouched over herself like she could barely hold herself up.

“Elsie, love,” Rowan said softly, resisting the urge to sweep her into like he would have when she was little.

“I threw up,” she said, sounding as miserable as she looked.

“I’ll grab your bag and we’ll head home.”

He heard Elsie take in a deep breath. “They gave me some sick bags for the car, they’re on the bed.”

Rowan spied them and picked the few plastic bags up as he swung the backpack onto his shoulder. Elsie was leaning on the doorway, arms wrapped around herself. It made his heart ache to see his little girl in so much discomfort. He wrapped an arm around her shoulders and let her lean on him. She almost gave him her full weight. Rowan wasn’t going to press her while they walked to the car, it was clear all her effort was going into keeping herself upright. When they got to Rowan’s silver SUV he opened the door and helped her in. Elsie managed to get her seatbelt on before she slumped in the seat.

His lips tightened, he was nearly biting his lip. She was seriously unwell.

Whether or not he should just take her straight to the hospital was rolling through his mind as he got into the driver’s seat after throwing the backpack into the back. Rowan knew he was jumping the gun and that he needed to talk to Elsie first before he made that decision. Hopefully she would be well enough to have that conversation with him. He started the ignition and Elsie groaned as the vibrations unsettled her, he needed to find out what was happening before he gave himself a brain aneurysm.

“I know you’re not feeling great, love,” Rowan said, “but I need to know if I need to take you to the hospital or not.”

“I don’t need to go to the hospital,” Elsie replied, sounding like she was about to cry.

“What’s wrong then?” he pressed, sounding entirely like the concerned father he was.

In response Elsie heaved, and Rowan blindly handed her the sick bags he’d stuffed into the centre console. She managed to sort it out before the heaving started in earnest. Rowan just waited, knuckles turning white on the steering wheel. When she was done Elsie grabbed a tissue to wipe her mouth, she chucked that into the bag before sealing it up.

“Elsie, love,” Rowan’s tone was near pleading now.

The first quiet sob shouldn’t have taken him by surprise, but it did. He risked a glance away from the road to see her with her face in her hands. Rowan didn’t want to push her but he was starting to panic. Something in his gut knew this was more than just a regular virus or a bug, and very honestly he was starting to have a suspicion and he was praying to the gods Elsie would deny it.

“Da,” the way she said that word had him bracing for impact, she hadn’t called him that in years. It reminded him of all those moments she had needed him when she was younger, when just the whisper of her voice and that single word would make him come running. Elsie took in a shuddering breath and said, “I’m pregnant.”

Rowan’s heart stopped in his chest. He’d heard her, but he couldn’t quite believe it. Elsie didn’t have a boyfriend, so if she was pregnant did that mean she had one but hadn’t told him? Had something else happened? If someone had hurt his baby girl Rowan might just be going to prison if he couldn’t get away with murder. That filled him with rage, so fast and fierce that he would need one of those vomit bags in a second. He’d skin whoever was responsible alive.

“Elsie, I know you’re feeling a lot and you’re probably freaking out right now, but I need you to tell me how this happened,” Rowan managed to get out as measured as he could. “I need to know so I can stay calm and do what’s best for you. You understand?”

“Yep,” was her simple answer.

“Okay, what I’m going to do is pull into that car park over there,” he nodded to the fast food restaurant just a little ways up, “and you can tell me everything and then we can go from there.”

There was a very loud sniffle. “Okay.”

Rowan nodded, bolstered with something to focus on. He’d once told himself that the first time Aelin went into labour was the longest night of his life, but as he cut through the traffic towards that car park this might be the new front runner. Five more minutes and he would have some answers, he could wait five more minutes. He’d waited hours and hours for Elsie to come into this world—this was nothing. The way his heart was pounding in his ears told him otherwise.

Pulling into a spot in the corner of the parking lot so they would be less likely to be disturbed Rowan turned the car off. He looked over at his daughter, her green eyes were still filled with tears and she was still looking deathly pale, but she looked a little better, like a little bit of weight had been lifted off her shoulders. Now Rowan just needed to help her bear the rest of it.

“How long have you known?” He thought he’d start with something simple.

“About a week,” Elsie admitted.

Rowan nodded, his eyes focusing on nothing as he bit down on the reflex to ask exactly why she hadn’t said anything until now.

“Did someone…” Rowan swallowed as the words got caught in his throat. “Elsie, did someone hurt you?”

He watched his daughter intently, watching for even the slightest hint something was amiss. But Elsie just shook her head, her fingers absentmindedly weaving together.

“No one hurt me Dad, I promise,” Elsie said and looked up at him, the last bit of confirmation that told him she was telling the truth.

“So, there’s a boyfriend then,” Rowan theorised.

Elsie shook her head this time. “Not exactly.”

Rowan was taken aback by that answer. He’d expected an admission of a secret rebellious boyfriend. Teenagers were teenagers, and Rowan wasn’t ignorant of what they got up to. He’d been fairly mild himself but he had been privy to what his friends got up to in their spare time. Lorcan and Fenrys in particular didn’t hold much back in their storytelling. Elsie didn’t seem the kind for a careless fling, and yet here they were.

“Alright, not exactly a boyfriend. Who’s the—“ he literally stumbled over the word. This was a concept his brain was struggling to get up to speed on. And maybe he could do without knowing right now. “Can you enlighten me on the situation some more?”

Elsie’s fingers unwove, her hands were trembling a little.

“Elsie, what’s going on?” Rowan asked, his nervousness spiking again.

“I’m gonna tell you but you have to promise me you’ll let me get it through it all before you say anything, okay?” Elsie was sounding more herself so Rowan nodded. “It was a friends with benefits situation. We, ah… it was a trust thing  to start with and then we decided that it was fun I guess. I’ve been—“ while she spoke her emotions had built up again and tears were falling onto her cheeks. “I didn’t know how to say any of this. I didn’t want you to be disappointed with me.”

“That’s not what I’m thinking about right now.” Rowan tried to keep his voice even. It was passable. “Does he know?”

“He doesn’t. Only you do,” Elsie said.

“Alright, okay,” Rowan muttered, then he put on his bravest face—the kind only a parent could summon when they were reassuring their child when they weren’t all that sure themselves. “I think I need your mother before we talk more about this.”

Elsie laughed, wiping at her nose. “You always need Mum.”

Rowan smiled. “That I do. But first do you need anything?”

There was a moment of silence where Elsie just looked downright confused, like maybe she had expected him to drill her for more information or scold her or maybe just brood in silence. While those options were tempting, that was not what his daughter needed from him in this moment. It was clear she was hurting and probably scared out of her mind. Losing it on her in any way would not be beneficial and Rowan was starting to feel out of his depth. It was time to regroup with Aelin by his side.

“We could take our chances and see if the ice cream machine is working,” Rowan jerked his head towards the fast food restaurant. Elsie’s eyes lit up and she nodded. “Let’s go then.”

Rowan spent the rest of the drive home expecting Elsie to hurl her guts up again. He hadn’t been able to stomach one himself but it seemed the frozen sugar filled dairy was in fact what she needed. Just like her mother when she was pregnant. That thought was jarring to say the least and Rowan tried not to dwell on it. He just concentrated on getting home and how they were going to explain this whole thing to Aelin. They drove up the driveway and he stopped outside the garage door. Elsie was looking up at the house with wide eyes.

“No escaping this one,” Rowan said. “We go in, tell your mother, and then we talk about this some more, okay?”

“Is she gonna be mad?” Elsie's eyes darted over to her father.

Rowan sighed. “Probably, it’s going to be a shock and we all know Mum doesn’t take surprises well.”

“Unless she’s the one springing them,” his daughter added.

Rowan huffed a laugh. “Exactly. But remember love,” he touched her cheek to get her attention. “No matter what, we’re on your side.”

Elsie’s lips twitched in a brief smile. “You always are.”

“Now give me that bag of spew and you start getting yourself inside.”

Rowan hadn’t cleaned up Elsie’s vomit in years and it was as gross as it had always been. Regardless he still did it, throwing it in the trash then following Elsie to the front door. She was moving slowly, most likely waiting for him so they could face Aelin together. Rowan understood her hesitancy, and was understanding why Elsie had asked for him to pick her up. Aelin’s temper ran hot and fast, something Rowan loved about his wife. But it was sometimes hard taking the brunt of it and he hoped today she had a saint’s patience to level it out. This would test her.

Leading the way into the house, Rowan announced their arrival. “Fireheart, we’re home.”

“Finally,” he heard from the living room. “You didn’t text me anything, I was getting worried.”

Elsie grimaced at those words.

Rowan walked into the living room just off their entryway. “I was driving.”

Aelin barely gave him a second glance before she rushed past him and had Elsie in her arms. Her hands were checking for temperature, her turquoise eyes running a scrutinising gaze over her. From how awful Elsie still looked it was very apparent that something wasn’t right.

“What is it, Elsie? What’s wrong?” Aelin asked when she came up with no conclusions of her own.

“We should sit down,” Rowan said and Aelin’s eyes narrowed.

Elsie ended up in the armchair and Rowan took Aelin to the long couch by the hand. They sat down and Aelin kept hold of his hand as she cocked her head at him.

What is going on? Her suspicious eyes asked him.

Rowan sighed, giving Aelin a look of his own. We need to listen to her.

“Mum,” Elsie said, her voice sounding so small, but it drew their attention. “I need to tell you something.”

Aelin looked between her husband and her daughter, knowing that she was the only one in the room without the vital information.

“I’m listening,” Aelin said.

“I’m pregnant, Mum.”

“You’re what?” Aelin’s voice was sharp and Rowan gave her hand a squeeze as a quick reminder to stay calm.

Their daughter took in a deep breath and Rowan knew she was about to divulge everything. “I’ve been sleeping with Korbin, it’s a friends with benefits thing and one time we got careless and I thought I was at the part of my cycle where I couldn’t get pregnant but I did. And I’ve only known for about a week and I’m so scared, Mum. I’m… I just…”

By the end of her little speech Elsie was crying again but Rowan didn’t see it, he was busy watching the reactions from his wife. Aelin’s jaw was tight and he was sure that if it had been any quieter he would have heard her teeth grinding together. Rowan knew she was weighing her words before she spoke. Rowan found himself reeling at that new little bit of information Elsie had just dropped.

Rowan’s brain went painfully still. Korbin. Korbin was Elsie’s best friend since she could walk. He was just a year older and nearly all their lives they had been inseparable. This was a development in their relationship Rowan was struggling to get his head around. Seeing them together there had been no hint of romance, not ever. Korbin Salvaterre had got his daughter pregnant.

“Korbin?” Aelin’s voice was a little too high, clearly struggling just as much as he was.

Elsie nodded.

“Does he know?” Now she was sounding more lethal.

“No, only Dad knows and I told him today in the car,” Elsie said.

Aeln’s hand went to her mouth, her eyes going a bit distant. Rowan wasn’t sure if that was just shock or if she was planning some kind of slow torture on the Salvaterre boy.

“Fireheart,” Rowan prompted.

“Hmm,” she hummed but didn’t say anything else for the moment. “He’s ah… he was your best friend.”

Elsie swallowed hard. “He still is.”

“Are you in love with him?”

The question caught Rowan off guard, so much so he nearly jumped. He looked over to Elsie to see her reaction, a new wave of tears had started and she nodded furiously before she buried her face in her hands.

Holy gods Rowan had missed that entirely.

“Oh, my little love,” Aelin said and then she was moving, squeezing onto the armchair beside her daughter and wrapping her arms around Elsie’s shoulders.

This was a development Rowan wasn’t expecting. Today he not only found out that his daughter was pregnant to the son of his best friend, but also that his daughter was in love with that son and yeah, maybe he was going to be a grandfather by the time he was forty five.

“Elsie,” Rowan said and two sets of eyes landed on him. “What do you want to do?”

“We will support whatever you decide,” Aelin added without missing a beat.

“I want to keep it, I think,” Elsie said bravely.

Something flipped in Rowan’s chest at that but it was Aelin who said, “Okay, we can work with that.”

Elsie turned and threw her arms around Aelin’s neck and let her mother hold her close for a long while. It was Aelin who eventually pulled back, brushing Elsie’s blonde hair away from her tear stained face.

“Why don’t you go up and have a shower and then we’ll talk about this a little more,” Aelin said softly. “Make some plans?”

Elsie nodded and left, Rowan blew her a kiss that earned him a sad smile. When she was gone from the room he turned back to his wife who was sitting very still. “Fireheart?”

That sprung her into action and she was on her feet, pacing in a way that could only be described as furious.

“Pregnant,” she hissed. “Our 17 year old daughter is pregnant. How did this happen?”

The shock was leaving him and it was being replaced by something that was suspiciously close to delirium. “Um…”

Aelin threw a silencing hand in his direction. “Do not try and be funny right now.”

Rowan kept his mouth shut. His wife paced some more before she gasped on hand on her chest. She looked horrified.

“I’m going to be a grandparent,” Aelin turned so she was facing Rowan fully. “Not only that but I am going to be a grandparent with Lorcan Salvaterre.”

She said it like her worst nightmares were coming true, it made Rowan chuckle. Which in turn earned him a scathing look.

“We’ll get through this, Aelin,” Rowan said. “We always do. To whatever end, remember?”

Aelin came over and flopped onto the couch next to him, sighing and staring up at the ceiling. “Our baby is having a baby.”

Rowan pulled his wife closer and kissed her forehead. “Yeah she is.”

They sat there for a long while, just processing everything. The reprieve was broken when the front door was thrown open and as if summoned by the talk of children their two youngest ran in. They both yelled their hellos before running up the stairs.

“Evalin! Adaira! Shoes off please!” Aelin called after them. At 9 and 8 respectively the shoes off at the door rule was sometimes overlooked.

Their middle child closed the door for his siblings and did indeed take his shoes off.

“Thank you, son,” Rowan said to Cinaed. “Can you give the little ones a hand? We just need a moment.”

He shook his silver hair out of his turquoise eyes. “Sure Dad.”

“The bus with the other one should be here soon,” Rowan said, returning his gaze to the ceiling.

Aelin sighed, sounding tired. “Let’s hope he’s a little more quiet than the others.”

Rowan hummed his agreement and was preparing a speech about leaving their eldest sister be for the rest of the Whitethorn-Galathynius children when Finnian walked in. That was expected, but Rowan wasn’t prepared for who he else had stepped under his roof. Both Salvaterre boys walked in behind their own son and Aelin tensed beside him. Rowan rested a hand on Aelin’s knee to keep her where she was. Seeing Korbin after everything they had learned today was like putting a finger on the trigger of a gun. One wrong move and the calm they had managed to keep themselves in would be lost.

“Hey Aunty Aelin, hi Uncle Rowan,” Eamon said. “Finn said there would be snacks.”

“Of course he did,” Aelin breathed. “Finn, can you go upstairs and tell Elsie to stay in her room for a bit?”

“I heard Elsie came home early,” Korbin said, dropping his bag by the door. “I thought something was up, she hasn’t been talking to me as much lately.”

“Is that so?” Aelin bit out, if the boy had been smarter he’d be running for his life.

Korbin’s dark eyes were darting between the parents in the room. “Why are you looking at me like that?”

Rowan thought he was doing a good job schooling his features. But now that he was a little more conscious of what he was doing he realised he was glaring.

“Finnian, now,” Aelin added when she saw that their son hadn’t moved. He groaned in that dramatic teenage way like he’d just been asked to run a marathon and loped towards the stairs.

Unfortunately, because he didn’t listen the first time, Elsie was halfway down the stairs before she saw who was in the living room. Her hair was still wet and she looked a bit brighter than she had before.

“Korbin,” she whispered. “What are you doing here?”

His face turned charming as he slid his hands into his pockets. “I wanted to see how you were. I heard around school that you were sick and I wanted to check on you. They said you threw up and everything.”

“Oh,” Elsie said, then her mouth clamped shut and tears were brimming in her eyes again.

The silence that developed was tense and Korbin moved towards the stairs, Elsie seemed frozen in place. Rowan was about to get up and step between them as his protective instincts rose to the surface but Elsie took her own initiative.

“I’m pregnant,” she blurted.

Korbin took a single step back.

“Oh, shit,” Finnian said, reading the room a little too well.

“Yeah,” Korbin said, sounding as though he was in a daze and scrambling back a few steps. “Okay, yeah.”

And that was all he said before he just turned on his heels and walked right back out that front door. Rowan was up then, not quite believing what he’d just witnessed.

Eamon was confused, unlike Finnian he hadn’t quite caught on. “What just happened?”

Elsie was looking towards the door, stunned and any energy she had recovered drained right out of her again. In that moment Rowan hated that boy, he hated that through a few thoughtless actions he had caused Elsie so much pain. The only thing stopping Rowan from chasing after that idiot boy and hauling him back by the scruff of his neck were the tears in his daughter's eyes. He could only watch as Elsie fled up the stairs and Aelin rushed after her a heartbeat later.  

“What just happened?”

It took little Eamon voicing his confusion to get Rowan moving and he was heading up the stairs, taking two at a time. Elsie’s door was half way closed, but Rowan stepped through the doorway into the room. The sight that greeted him nearly broke his heart. Aelin had her arms wrapped around Elsie in a hug, his daughter wept and Aelin had unshed tears in her eyes. His wife looked over at him, her face set in a determined fierceness that told him that she would defend Elsie’s fragile heart at all costs.

Gods help that boy when his consequences came chasing after him.

~~~~~

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#throne of glass fanfiction

[autisticadvocacy]

The failure to enact policies that protect abortion access, promote quality health care and advance economic justice leave pregnant/parenting people caught in an impossible bind, with their health and economic security threatened. @npwf data explains: https://www.nationalpartnership.org/our-work/health/reports/threats-on-all-fronts.html

[suzuran777]

Slow Damage: Clean Dishes Epilogue 1 Summary

This epilogue shows how Baku and Shiro met and how they eventually started living together as a couple. I do recommend reading my other blog posts which summarize the game’s plot and endings, but it’s not necessary to understand this epilogue!

Also check Slow Damage’s content warnings if you’re sensitive to certain topics, because this game is also really dark.

This epilogue starts with a flashback in which Baku is strangling Shiro. He wonders why Shiro is smiling, in a situation like this, most other people would cry, struggle or beg for their lives, but Shiro seems to enjoy it. Confused, Baku lets go of him and waits for his reaction. Shiro smiles ‘’Won’t you kill me?’’. A hand covered in blood and bruises touches his face. Shiro tells him that they are quite similar to each other, people who don’t have a place they can call ‘’home’’, who don’t really belong anywhere in this world. He suggests they should stay together, so Baku can kill him one day. Baku is not sure why he accepts his offer. Perhaps he recognized the immense amount of despair which made him wish for his death, Baku knew that feeling too well. Just like Shiro, he also had no place he could call ‘’home’’ anymore. It was the first time he encountered someone like Shiro.

After this the game skips to a different flashback. Baku was raised in mainland Japan, not in Shinkoumi. His parents worked as embalmers who took care of the bodies of those who passed away, to prevent them from decaying. They had a strong policy of being open about their work and showed it to their children as well. Therefore, death was always close to him, even when he was just a child. He was proud of his parents’ skills, but at the same time he felt lonely, after all his parents rarely had time for him. It was normal for him to come to his parents’ workplace after school, so the sight of a corpse did not faze him.

‘‘I wanted to be a good listener so I wouldn’t cause trouble for my parents, I was proud of them and their work.’‘

When he was a bit older, he started spending less time at his parents’ workplace. Two years later, during his first year in junior high school, Baku’s parents passed away in a car accident. Since he stopped going to their workplace, he only saw them in the morning and at night. He thought their deaths wouldn’t change him much because he rarely saw them, but it left a big hole in his heart. He didn’t cry, it felt like all his emotions had been sucked out of him. The bodies of his parents had been severely damaged in the accident, but Baku decided to embalm them himself. Even though he was never taught how to do it, he had seen it so often he knew what he had to do. With the help of other relatives, the funeral went by without any problems. 

After this Baku’s life started changing. He used to be a quiet and obedient child, but soon after the death of his parents he started getting into fights at school. An acquaintance had asked him if he wanted to take over the family business, but he refused and moved to Shinkoumi instead. 

‘‘Immediately after graduating high school, with the inheritance of my parents and the earnings of my part-time jobs, I started working for Clean Dishes/Sara-ya.’‘

He learned about Sara-ya from online advertisements and he was hired immediately. His job is to clean the rooms in which people have died, be it suicide or murder, but it seems like most employees immediately quit because they couldn’t handle what they would find in these rooms. Baku didn’t feel anything when he saw a corpse, he was used to it after all, which is one of the reasons why they immediately hired him. 

It was one year after he joined the company. Cleaning is usually done in teams of two people, but Baku went alone because a lot of people quit the company. When he starts cleaning the room he notices something is off. There should only be two corpses in this room, so why did he just hear the sound of someone breathing? He decides to inspect the corpses and notices one of them is in fact not a corpse, but a man who’s still alive.

Baku: ‘’I heard someone died here so I came to clean it up, why are you sleepig here?’’

Shiro says he also came here because he heard someone died in this room, but he somehow fell asleep. Baku asks him if he knew the person who passed away, but Shiro shakes his head, ‘’I just like corpses, so I came to see it.’’ After hearing this very abnormal story Baku wonders if he’s lying, who sneaks into a room and then falls asleep next to a corpse? Even for him that’s abnormal. Shiro asks him if he also likes corpses, but Baku shakes his head, he’s just used to them but that doesn’t mean they share the same interests. After this first encounter with Shiro, he meets him again a few times after that. For some reason he often visits the rooms the Sara-ya employees clean.

Sometime after this Baku gets into a fight with a group of people outside. Some other people also join the fight and that’s how he ended up strangling Shiro (which is shown in the first part of this epilogue). Baku doesn’t want to get too involved with this group, so he wakes up the ‘’corpse loving man’’, who then introduces himself as ‘’Shiro’’. Baku doesn’t know if that’s his real name, but he just accepts it, his real name isn’t Baku[1] either, that’s just what some of the cleaners at Sara-ya called him. He didn’t care what people called him anyway. Shiro doesn’t question it and calls it a cute name. After that they learn a bit more about each other, like Shiro’s job as a prostitute (which is also mentioned in the third epilogue!).

‘‘To put it bluntly, it was a terrible room.’‘

Shiro’s living situation was anything but normal and cleaning didn’t seem to be his biggest priority. He quits his job as a prostitute after meeting Baku and decides to also work for Sara-ya. Because of his strange obsession with corpses, the company also hires him immediately. They also eventually decide to live together because Shiro struggles with suicidal thoughts and needs someone to take care of him. Baku doesn’t mind being in a relationship with a man because he has seen so many corpses, gender is the last thing he cares about (thank you Baku, so romantic...).

‘‘No matter what kind of person you are, you are a ‘thing’ that will eventually rot, including myself.’‘

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[1] ‘’Baku’’ is a term used for Japanese supernational beings who are said to devour people’s nightmares. However, when they get greedy they also devour people’s dreams, hopes and desires. The Sara-ya employees joke that Baku doesn’t have any dreams or hopes, which is probably the reason they gave him this nickname. His real name is never mentioned, Shiro’s isn’t either.

I already summarized Shiro’s backstory in another blog post, but this one was also very interesting to read. Even the happy content in Clean Dishes still feels a bit bittersweet compared to Slow Damage’s happy endings. 

#slowdamage #surodame #cleandishes #slow damage clean dishes #nitrochiral #nitropluschiral #n+c #nitro+chiral #visualnovel #saradame

[ones-g]

"I'm not a minor"

Synopsis: Y/N owns a piercing shop where she also does piercings herself. The rule of any site like this is to always ask for authorization from parents/guardians of minors to be able to do their job without any complaint. But this rule could be broken only this once thanks to a stubborn blonde.

—Ding Ding Ding.

The door of the premises had been opened, achieving the sound of the bell located on its threshold. A not-so-tall figure entered slowly while looking around the room.

"Welcome, please wait at the counter now I'll take care of you" You exclaimed when you noticed the presence of the feminine. You were accommodating some new products that had recently arrived, you were busy.

The blonde had heard you, of course she did. She had approached the transparent counter, inside it some jewelry or piercing materials were displayed. Natalie was entranced observing those pieces.

You finished accommodating most of the things and returned to your workplace. You met the feminine silently watching the exhibited pieces. "Thanks for waiting" You said.

She raised her head and saw you, face to face. He gave you a smile and then said. "I was passing by and... well I really wanted a piercing"

Leaning against the counter you examined it. He looked too young. "Sure... I'm Y/N, nice to meet you" You reached out your left hand towards her.

"Natalie Scatorccio, the pleasure is mine I guess..." He whispered as he shook hands with yours.

"Okay Natty, I need your ID" you informed after separating their hands and leaning back on the counter.

The blonde's eyes widened a little, apparently she didn't expect that request. "My ID?"

"That's right, you look very young honestly and I don't want a complaint to my precious place" You answered laughing a little at her, it was obvious that the girl was underage.

The girl in front of you sighed, scratched her eyebrow, and looked at you again. "I'm not a minor" He justified himself. "I implore you to remove the idea from your head that I am a minor"

You raised both hands to the height of your chest, you kept laughing at her. "In any local you're going to have to answer that question, honey."

"It's policy, a rule, something we respect so to speak." You walked around the counter until you reached her side. "You should lie better, Natalie"

The aforementioned gave a nervous giggle. "I'll give you double just for a fucking piercing," he spat.

"Are your parents capable of denouncing? Or setting the place on fire?" She fell silent after your questions. "If they are capable of that... there is the door, get out"

Natalie quickly shook her head, snapping her fingers as she approached you "Believe me, they don't even care" She clucked and crossed her arms. "But if you refuse, I'm leaving, I won't insist. It's not my style"

You narrowed your eyes, was I playing a psychological game on you? You deigned to look out through the window, you noticed that few people passed by over time. You looked back at her and sighed heavily.

"Okay Natty Scatorccio, which one do you want to do?"

"Breathe, you'll just feel a sting in a matter of seconds."

The girl had decided on the eyebrow piercing. It had surprised you since apparently the blonde was already more than sure that this was her definitive piercing.

The pointed object quickly penetrated the little meat located on the girl's eyebrow. She simply winced in 'pain'. "Okay, just let me…put this in its proper…" You placed the curved piece carefully while biting down on the tip of your tongue for concentration and balance. "Perfect, that's it" You informed walking away from the blonde removing both gloves from your hands.

The girl got up and went to the mirror in front of her. An ear-to-ear smile grew on his face. "Don't touch it so much, just to take care of it..." You said

"It's perfect..." he murmured. "How much do I owe you?"

You turned to her and shook her head "Nah, it's free"

His face changed drastically. "You're fucking with me" You denied again.

You walked back to the counter and entered it. "Are you really telling me? Are you letting me have it for free?" He asked again making you laugh

"Yes Natalie and take it" You handed her a paper which she received "It's a guide to cure it, you don't want to lose your eyebrow right?" you joked

Natalie chuckled a bit. "Thank you, you really are good at your job" You shrugged your shoulders and smiled.

"Get out before I change my mind" And without further ado, that younger blonde for a few years said goodbye to you.

But apparently he didn't realize that behind that piece of paper was your number. You liked Natalie Scatorccio.

#natalie scatorccio x reader #natalie yellowjackets #yellowjackets #yellowjackets fanfic #yellowjackets showtime #natalie scatorccio #girls with piercings #minior #gays