I love when people try to gotcha me on my stance that all sports should be gender integrated with "even American football???" because I can instantly come back with "oh lmao, no, I don't think ANYONE should play American football at all, it's way too dangerous" like nice try but I know no amount of testosterone is going to protect you from the profound, life ruining health issues caused by getting repeated severe concussions over the course of several years. No one should play this sport.
Like do you really think muscle mass or gender/sex can protect you from CTE?? You think men are naturally more resistant to concussions?? Because idk how else you square this sport being too dangerous for cis women and people afab but perfectly safe for cis men and people amab. Having a testosterone dominant endocrine system isn't gonna do shit in the face of traumatic brain injury. Be serious. This sport should not exist.
Honestly it's pretty weird to me that people dismiss the harm football players go through as fine because they're men, especially when so many players are black men. Always remember the argument that women are weaker than men is also an argument that men are stronger than women and can withstand more injury and abuse which isn't true, and absolutely ties into eugenicist beliefs about black bodies while obscuring their suffering as not existing because they're men and football is only dangerous for women, so how could they be hurt?
Systems can exploit men too, especially non-white or otherwise marginalized men who also deserve to be defended and liberated from said system's devaluation of their humanity and mistreatment.
Sorry we really went from free the nipple, take back the night, slut walks, and ending gender/sex segregation in sports being fucking milquetoast feminism 101 concepts to fucking girl dinner and "I just worry about fairness if we let trans girls play against cis ones" and "it was right of that woman to call the cops on a black man for existing near here in public during the day time because men are all violent monsters" and "radical feminism isn't transphobic we just need to kill all men including trans ones those oppressive traitors" and I will legit never be able to be normal about it. What the FUCK happened. I'd say I wonder what the feminists of my youth would say about this but I'm one and lemme tell ya I want to throw up. Go fucking read bell hooks or do something else useful please because all of this learned helplessness, gender essentialism, and transphobia dressed up as feminism is actively holding us back.
......suddenly struck by the idea for a piece of worldbuilding of "fae don't like iron bc it is the most stable element*"
*as in elements higher you can extract energy via fission and lower you can extract energy via fusion but iron itself there is no excess binding energy to extract at all
i don't care if it's nazis, mormons, or a bunch of misguided autistic people. if anyone ever tries to tell you your soul is from another planet and you're actually part of the class of impressive people that secretly did everything cool in the world but is now extinct and lives on through your broken genome, you RUN. YOU WILL RUN AWAY. YOU WILL SPRINT FULL SPEED AWAY FROM THAT.
grabs you by the shoulders listen. listen to my words. i understand the urge to make fanfiction about yourself and to find a reality in which you're super awesome and great and everyone who hates you is wrong and dumb. i get it. you're better than that. you can love yourself without putting other people down, dehumanizing and generalizing, and retaliating against your oppressors.
there's no NPCs. there's no aliens coming to save us. we're not the next step in human evolution. our hyperconnected nervous systems give us terrible sensory overwhelm more often than they make us geniuses. neurotypical people are sentient, conscious, aware people who are capable of understanding you. we're more the same than we are different. we're more the same than we are different. we're more the same than we are different.
I saw this when running newpipe. But wait, it gets deeper. I clicked on the details buttons and it said as of today, we have 83 days left until Google rolls out this new requirement for apps inside and outside of the google play store. If any developer disagrees with their new terms and fees, they will be blocked!
I'll share some of the info below:
Looks like they're trying to nuke the remaining privacy and freedoms we have left on the internet.
What to do?
-Get your developer friends to not comply to their new guides
- Sign the open letter on the site and take action by checking out the full resources list on their website as well!
To summarize, this is all daunting especially when you feel all alone with unfair and inhumane regulations comming out faster than improvements but we got this working together!
Share the link with your friends, family and anyone who will listen!
Your phone is about to stop being yours. In September 2026, Google will block every Android app whose developer hasn't registered with them.
also here is a whole website that not only has a shit ton of adventures and such but lets you search for any item or npc or whatever and see their stats and info at your fingertips
Three friends traveling to the city stop off at a hunters camp to purchase a vampire for one of them to research at the university he will be attending. They purchase something a little different instead.
note: I've taken great liberties with this little german mythological creature. its physical appearance is about ninety percent human in this story. Its name and m.o. are borrowed from folklore
Three friends traveling to the city stop off at a hunters camp to purchase a vampire for one of them to research at the university he will be attending. They purchase something a little different instead.
note: I've taken great liberties with this little german mythological creature. its physical appearance is about ninety percent human in this story. Its name and m.o. are borrowed from folklore
What would you do if you were scrolling through recommended tumblr posts and one was from someone you don't know and it was just a picture of your dad captioned "fucking hate this guy" and it had hundreds of notes
The vampire hunters’ guild was an unassuming brick building with no signs. Oliver went up the stairs to the entrance and pushed the door open. The lobby was spotlessly clean but worn, and there was a big wooden desk with neatly stacked paperwork. No one was sitting at the desk, but there was a bell with a “Ring for Service” sign. He thought he could hear some people talking down the hallway, but otherwise, there was no sign of any occupants. He tapped the bell and waited.
He wasn’t prepared for a man to come bolting down the hall at top speed. He was tall with broad shoulders, wearing a sturdy shirt and slacks, and his face was flushed. “Welcome to the guild!” he said, holding out his hand to shake. “Are you interested in the noble profession of vampire hunting?”
Oliver shook his hand, his fingers slightly crushed by the hunter’s grip. “I’m interested in consulting with a vampire hunter,” he explained.
“I see,” he said, looking a bit deflated that Oliver didn’t want to rush out and slay vampires. “My name is Benjamin, and I’d be happy to consult with you about your problem. Right this way, please.”
Benjamin’s office was unnaturally neat, so much so that it didn’t look as though it were in use. It was primarily occupied by a large desk and a number of filing cabinets, although there was also a trunk, several swords in a holder, and a crossbow hanging off the wall. Bulbs of garlic were strung up over the door and window. The hunter sat down behind the desk and pulled a legal pad and mechanical pencil from a drawer, poised to take notes. “Tell me, what seems to be your trouble?”
Oliver had decided to keep the parts of the story about Alexander vague. Despite Sue’s words, he still didn’t feel comfortable putting Alexander in the crosshairs of a hunter, not after he’d gone through the trouble to try and warn him. “One of my patrons warned me that there’s an important vampire auction happening soon, and that he thought I might be a target. He advised me to lock myself into my apartment at night,” he said. “And that very same night, I heard someone or something break into my shop and rattle the door to my apartment. I’m afraid there might be a vampire after me, one willing to go through considerable trouble to capture me and place me on an auction block."
“That sounds serious.” Benjamin’s eyes were wide. “We suspected that there was a large auction imminent, as vampire activity and human disappearances have both been common this week. My colleague was monitoring one of their clubs last night, and she reported that it was packed to the gills with vampires dressed in their best. That usually means that the old and powerful vampires have been stirred up by something.”
“So there really is an auction this week?”
“Most likely,” said Benjamin, as he stood up and began pacing. His strides were large enough and the office was small enough that he could only take two or three paces before needing to turn around. “It’s a ghastly event. Vampires kidnap innocent humans off the street to serve as merchandise. It’s said that the most desirable humans are sold for thousands of dollars, maybe as much as ten thousand.”
“Ten thousand dollars to buy a person? What makes any person worth that much to them?”
“No one knows exactly what traits a vampire finds important or why. It most likely has something to do with blood quality, properties that only a vampire can sense. They also target people who are alone and less likely to be missed, as well as people who respond easily to their mesmeric techniques.”
Oliver swallowed hard. He certainly fit the bill of a person who was entirely alone and not likely to be missed. If a vampire kidnapped him and locked up the shop afterwards, his absence might go unnoticed indefinitely. And as for responding to mesmeric techniques… whatever Alexander had done to him yesterday had put him in a daze right away. Alexander certainly seemed to think that Oliver was an enticing target for a vampire, and he might know from personal experience.
“Suppose I am one of those people that the vampires want to sell at auction, for whatever reason. What would happen to me?”
“You must never allow them to capture you!” Benjamin said, slamming his palms on the desk. “We have a good idea of what the auctions are like, thanks to the scattered memories of recovered thralls. They keep people in cages, as though they’re cattle. One by one, the people are taken away, and their minds are worked over to be permanently obedient to vampires.”
“They can do that?”
“They’ve done it to countless people,” said Benjamin with a grimace. “Once they’ve put all of the humans under their hypnotic trance, they dress them up as if going to a ball — both men and women in fancy dresses and jewels — and sell them to some rich vampire, never to see the light of day again.”
“What happens to the people who are sold?”
“They become a servant of a vampire, mindlessly loyal and obedient, and of course happy to offer up their blood. They’ll be trapped like that forever unless their vile master is killed by a hunter.”
Oliver could picture himself all too vividly, his intelligence taken from him, kneeling at some vampire’s feet with a vacant smile plastered on his face. “How can I stop them?” asked Oliver desperately. “If I’m really worth that much money to them, they won’t give up easily.”
“There’s only one possible solution!” said Benjamin, punctuating his words by slapping the desk again. “We must slay the vile monster tonight!”
“I suppose that would solve the problem.” Oliver wasn’t expecting the hunter to be quite this enthusiastic about the prospect, even though it was his job. “Um, I don’t have a lot of money. What would I need to pay…?”
“Pay? Of course you aren’t going to have to pay. Protecting the innocent from vampires is my sworn duty. The only pay I require is the satisfaction of a job well done,” said Benjamin very seriously. “That, and whatever valuable trinkets the vampire may have been carrying. Unfortunately, the satisfaction of a job well done does not pay for rent and food.”
“If you’re really okay with that… I would appreciate your help.”
Benjamin had a terrifyingly intense look on his face. “And I appreciate you leading me to one of the vampires who has been rounding up people for their hideous auction. I’ll stop at nothing until every last one of them is dust.”
Oliver was glad he hadn’t mentioned too much about Alexander. “What do I need to do?”
“Take me to your home. I’ll set up a watch outside as the sun sets, and wait for your vampire stalker to arrive. Once they do, we’ll do glorious battle!” He pulled a stake from a drawer, twirling it in his fingers. “By the time the sun rises, only I will remain.” He picked up a leather belt from a hook on the wall, one with several attached pouches, and slipped the stake into a holder. The stake was followed by a silver knife, and once that was all secured, he put on a leather vest and took the crossbow off the wall. Oliver watched all of this, fascinated. Benjamin certainly seemed like the real deal.
“Before we go,” he said, rummaging around in the trunk for something, “who is this patron you mentioned, who knew about the auction house? Are you sure they aren’t a vampire themselves?”
Oliver squirmed. He thought he had gotten away with being vague. “He’s one of my best patrons, and… I don’t know if he’s a vampire or not,” he admitted. “He doesn’t seem to be a threat to me. I don’t think you need to, you know. Slay him.”
Benjamin leaned in too close to Oliver’s personal space, his eyes even more frighteningly intense up close. “Is he unusually pale or cold? Does he have out of the ordinary interests? Do his eyes seem particularly captivating?”
“He is very pale, and he buys all of my rare books concerning the supernatural, but that’s hardly proof —”
“Has he ever manipulated you, or put you under his spell?” Benjamin demanded. “It only takes a moment with some powerful vampires, and you might not even remember being hypnotized. Have you ever felt especially good around him? Looked forward to his visits? Had an urge to be of service to him? Responded automatically to his commands without thinking?”
Oliver tensed, thinking of how he’d fallen into a trance while talking to Alexander the night before, agreeing to close down his shop early. It had felt so nice to listen to his voice, as though he’d be perfectly happy to listen to Alexander read the dictionary. Benjamin’s other questions were also making him uncomfortable. He definitely had looked forward to Alexander’s visits, and he was always so eager to help him with any of his requests. Oliver thought it was natural, because Alexander had bottomless pockets and Oliver was always in need of the money, but perhaps it had been something more.
“I… may have been hypnotized by Alexander, at least once,” Oliver admitted reluctantly. “If it was only briefly, and for a benign purpose, then was it really that dangerous?”
Benjamin looked as though Oliver had just confessed to a murder. “You say that your vampire patron hypnotized you?”
“I don’t know if he was a vampire!” Oliver protested. “He does fit part of your description, and he may have hypnotized me, but —”
"Let me see your neck." Benjamin grasped his shirt and was unbuttoning it.
"What on earth are you --"
"I'm checking for vampire bites. They're usually on the neck, but can also be on the wrist or other places." He pushed aside Oliver's collar, examining his neck and shoulders as if he were a doctor, as Oliver did his best to not flinch away. Just as he seemed to be finished, he undid Oliver's cuffs and pushed his sleeves up to the elbow, running his fingers along Oliver's arms. “Wait here.” Benjamin was out of the room like a shot fired, leaving Oliver standing there, bewildered, buttoning up his shirt again.
He hoped he didn’t regret bringing up Alexander. Oliver really had grown fond of him as a patron, apart from his money, and the thought of getting him killed made him ill, even if he was a vampire. On the other hand, what if Alexander really was hypnotizing him all this time? If vampires were real and after him, if they really had the power to mesmerize a human and erase their memories of it, how could he even be sure that his mind was his own?
Benjamin returned with a glass of what seemed to be juice in his hands, oddly enough. "Drink all of this," he said, pushing the glass into Oliver's hands.
"What is it?"
"Grapefruit juice. Citrus is ideal for waking up the mind and lifting hypnotic trance."
"If you say so," said Oliver skeptically. The juice did smell and look like ordinary grapefruit juice, so he tentatively took a sip, grimacing at how sour it was.
Benjamin was staring at him intently as he drank. "So? Do you feel any different?"
"Not especially," said Oliver.
"It's a treatment that only works for light vampiric influence. If you've truly been under this vampire's sway… how long has he been visiting your shop?"
"Quite some time. Years, at least. I haven't kept track."
"…Years. How odd that he should only bring up the auction now," said Benjamin thoughtfully.
"Maybe he's not a --"
"Oh, no, your description makes it clear that this Alexander must be a creature of the night. But you needn't worry -- if he is, I will dispatch him as easily as I will any other vampire who threatens your person," he said, puffed up with confidence.
"I don't want you to kill Alexander," said Oliver, alarmed. "He hasn't done anything to me."
"If he isn't a vampire, I won't harm a hair on his head," said Benjamin. "But if he is… then he must be slain. All vampires are dangerous predators, even those that can put on a facade of courtesy. In fact, the vampires that can put on a facade are the most threatening monsters of all." He laid a hand on Oliver's shoulder. "It's likely that you only feel so strongly about this because you've been put under his spell. Once he's dusted, the residual hypnosis will gradually lift from your mind, and you'll see him for what he is."
Oliver felt uncomfortable with Benjamin's strong hand on his shoulder, but worried that he might be right. Now that he knew that vampires were real, it was hard to deny that Alexander had many suspicious characteristics. And Oliver did feel strangely drawn to him in a way that he hadn't felt towards any of his other patrons.
What if Benjamin was right? What if his favorite patron really was a vampire trying to slowly enthrall him? A possibility which would have seemed utterly insane just a few nights ago now felt terrifyingly plausible.
"You promise that you'll only kill him if he's definitely a vampire, right?" asked Oliver with a twinge of desperation.
"You have my word. I would never intentionally harm any human," said Benjamin seriously.
"All right, then," said Oliver, still uneasy, worrying that he was condemning a harmless person to death, one that Oliver might even consider a friend.
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Benjamin is actually one of my favorites and the future protagonist of the sequel... I love my uptight blorbos.
