Possum Time

I'm Possum • late 20's • she/they • queer • mostly fandom and videogames • terfs and bigots fuck off • sorry my dumbass doesn't tag anything • dreams-like-clockwork is my side blog for all the fanfics i read/fic recommendations

[animentality]

[emberglowfox]

depression is over it’s done it is obliterated look at this fucking shirt i found at the thrift near my house

[emberglowfox]

i need you guys to know that when i brought this home my mom was like WHAT is THAT. well i think you’re the only person on earth who would wear that, good that you found it

i show her this post every time it hits another thousand note milestone. she thinks we’re all ridiculous but no longer underestimates the Gay Desire For A Fun Shirt

[donnerpartyofone]

It's hard to say this without sounding like a right wing dickhead, but the thing about progressive spaces is that they may naturally attract people who are always on the lookout for excuses to start a fight. Like you can find yourself faced with someone whose political outrage is totally justified, and whose humanitarian ideals are right on the money, but simultaneously they are carrying a ton of psychological baggage about being wronged and getting revenge, and they will exploit literally any opportunity to live out this psychodrama with anyone in their line of vision. I have thought of several related anecdotes since I started typing this post, but I'll limit myself to the thing that inspired it, which is that I just visited this ultra-lefty cafe/bike shop/community gathering space where I've heard that the proprietor is constantly in a fight with everyone around her. When I paid for my stuff I noticed that there was no tip option, but I thought I had heard something about this, so I snuck away to look at the website and it made me really glad I didn't ask! I think there should have been a really enticing and exciting way for her to say "I've decided to be the change I want to see in the world, so I'm paying my baristas a full living wage, I'm making sure EVERYONE feels welcome and comfortable here, and I'm selling products I believe in!" -- but instead all the web copy sounded more like "You're either with me or against me, you're a fucking piece of shit asshole if you can't handle the inclusive atmosphere here, and by the way tipping is for fascist cavemen and if you ever try to tip someone you are refusing to relate to them authentically and you are enforcing a dangerous and evil power dynamic that should be purged from human society (so therefore I pay my staff well)." Like everything she stood for was totally agreeable, but why did she have to put it like it was directed at her worst enemy, rather than at the kinds of people she wants to attract? If the word on the street is to be believed, the reason for this posturing is that she spends quite a lot of energy making as many enemies as possible, and she probably likes it that way. I guess I'm just reminding myself, and perhaps others, that while one might think of "politics" as being broadly social and theoretical, no individual can fully separate the political from the intimately personal. Even somebody who seems to want to uplift and protect their fellow humans may be getting some perverse inner satisfaction out of that valiant crusade, and you may never realize it until you find yourself in a confusing fight with them.

[author-by-night]

I ran a LARP for a few years explicitly aimed at being queer friendly and accessible, and eventually cut it short mainly for this exact reason. You wouldn’t believe the amount of abuse my staff and I took for reasons that felt genuinely insane. I got called ableist for telling someone they couldn’t be invincible in my game of make believe, more than once. Defended myself, multiple Jewish players, and a conversion student from accusations of antisemitism based on alleged lore we’d never written / suggested / that simply and plainly did not exist in game. Had a staffer try to talk to someone about how a joke she made was uncomfortable only for this person to retaliate in epic proportions full white woman crocodile tears style, trying to get this staffer removed and eventually escalating into a full public hate campaign when she didn’t get her way. All that’s still just the tip of the iceberg.

Progressive spaces are naturally populated by traumatized people, and unfortunately trauma makes people more difficult. (I’m not excluded in that. No one is.) Running a progressive space is doubly difficult because a lot of left-facing trauma was inflicted by authority, so you’re setting yourself up to be the windmill that someone tilts their displaced rage at. I don’t really know what the solution is, but I do know that this is one of the huge reasons it’s so hard to find community: the people with a bone to pick can’t reach the ones who actually hurt them, but they’ll sure find you along the way, and the safer they feel around you the safer they’ll feel coming after you.

[ariaste]

Once again I am begging everyone to read Never Split the Difference: Negotiating As If Your Life Depended On It by Chris Voss.

Voss spent 25 years as a hostage negotiator, meaning that his job was to talk to guys on the phone who had literal guns to innocent people's heads. He KNOWS how to compassionately de-escalate a conflict and have productive, constructive conversations with people who are highly activated and reactive.

Especially if you are neurodivergent, read this book. The communication tools are specific, concrete, easy to implement, and will dramatically reduce the psychic damage you're taking just from trying to navigate the conversation.

[thelawfulchaotic]

Adding the book Nonviolent Communication by Marshall Rosenberg. Rewired my brain and also changed how I communicate with myself, if that makes sense.

And there is an additional problem, which is that leftists are often uncomfortable being authorities themselves and acting like it. (Not saying this was true of any previous posters! It is simply a common Thing.) Leftists like being inclusive and being relaxed on rules. But the only way to make a truly safe space is to protect it, and that means having someone who is willing to say “no.” People feel safe when leadership has their back.

Sometimes you have to tell that woman that if she keeps picking fights she won’t have any allies to fight them. Sometimes you have to tell that guy that no, really, you have to shower sometimes, and the Stink Cloud is why people don’t want to hang out with you.

It’s okay to be the adult in the room. It is something to be done compassionately and authoritatively. I would probably drone on more in this post but my cat is headbutti g my phone out of my hands

[unhinged-kitten]

who’s been here since 2011-2014?

[genderkoolaid]

rewatching make a man out of you from mulan & with all due respect for the actual story of mulan itself. this song it REALLY does feel like something made in a lab for horny gay trans guys. like the erotic tension of this is incredible.

ohhhh no ive been forced to dress up like a boy and this hot ripped dude is making me do manual labor and bullying me into being a real man!!! im collasped on the ground and he's standing over me and glaring at me with his glistening muscles!!! and then im so motivated by him that i become the best sexiest strongest coolest man, better than all the cis guys around me, and the hot scary guy has a sexuality crisis because he has fallen madly in love with me!!!!!!!!! and i get to punch him in the face and he likes it

[depsidase]

[hanfocus]

CHK CHK BOOM @ GOV BALL 2026 (@ nutrainy_23)

[musiicpix3l]

Yes yes i know love is love. But they are still killing CHILDREN. over this.

[fluffmugger]

"Love is love" is a milquetoast cishet marketing phrase

Pride is a FUCK YOU to a society that wants us dead.

[aropride]

please god let chatgpt die out like nfts did. With a fast and graceless fall into irrelevancy

[bladespark]

Like to charge, reblog to cast.

[atwotonedbird]

This spell has a very low hit ratio, so we need a lot of us to do it.

[sandersstudies]

My sister-in-law (husband’s sister) was supposed to get married this fall but due to some immature/concerning behavior by her fiancé, the wedding and engagement were called off. (I don’t want to be too specific, but there were sudden red flags, followed by his sudden decision that he wanted to postpone the wedding months or years despite the fact that most of it was paid for already).

I explained the delicate situation to my mom, as my sister-in-law is letting the news get out by word-of-mouth from the immediate family rather than an awkward “unsave-the-date”. My mom obviously told my own family.

Apparently my dad was so angry by the behavior of this guy that in the lunchroom at work he made everybody listen to the whole story (censoring names and identifying details) and said “I’m not crazy, right? This guy sucks!” And then reported back to me all his different coworkers that agreed this guy sucks, as well as their variety of ages/genders to indicate widespread consensus.

[alexaloraetheris]

Organically sourced AITA reddit thread.

[sandersstudies]

I wasn’t sure if my vibes about this post would come across over text but you all picked up exactly what I was putting down.

[radicalgraff]

"Love your neighbors more than your government"

Sticker spotted in Savannah, Georgia

[onlytiktoks]

Can You Be Arrested for Posting ICE Locations Online? What You Need to Know

If you've seen Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents in your neighborhood and wondered whether you can legally share that informa

[forgotn1]

In the wake of Keith Porter, Renee Good, and Alex Pretti, "don't make a bad decision" feels like a threat to kill if you don't comply.

[free-and-to-none-accountable]

That's cuz it is

[liittlecreatures1985]

i love the way civil asset forfeiture cases are phrased

[liittlecreatures1985]

[overflowchute]

i learned about the skeleton recently

[littlesystems]

That one tumblr post about supine vs prone constantly haunts me. I’ll be reading a fic that’s like:

[character a] pushes [character b] onto his back, then straddles his prone body

meanwhile I’m reading like: he’s not lying on his pronis, he’s lying on his s(u)pine…

[bevsi]

I don’t think there’s anything inherently wrong with relating to characters, “they’re literally me” etc but if that’s the only way you engage with stories you’re kinda missing the whole point of Characters being vehicles through which we can see perspectives outside of our own. and also you’re going to get upset when the Character acts in a way that is not Personally Relatable to You

[bevsi]

doubly for shipping. at risk if biting the hand that feeds me, a well written fictional relationship should ideally be more than a didactic template for how to have a nice relationship

[charlesoberonn]

Female Dwarves - With or without beards?

With beards

Without beard

Voting ended onJun 9

[charlesoberonn]

Child Dwarves - With or without beards?

With beards

Without beards

Voting ended onJun 9

[charlesoberonn]

Baby Dwarves - With or without beards?

With beards

Without beards

Voting ended onJun 9

[charlesoberonn]

They shed their baby beards to make room for their adult beards. Like with baby teeth.

[yourlocalgaymafia]

The A in LGBTQIA+ stands for aromantic, asexual and agender. It will never stand for ally. Being an ally should be basic human decency. You don’t get a gold star for being one.